6 Trends Advertising Agencies Need to Be Prepared For

Over recent decades that came, countless trends shaped the advertising industry into how it is today. However, the “today” that we’re all in right now is facing a new frontier, and it’s not without its fair share of new trends. Advertising agencies must adapt to these new trends to keep themselves in the game. So if you own an advertising agency, we’ll help you prepare for these new trends. In this blog, we’re going to show you six trends that advertising agencies must be ready for.

6 Trends Advertising Agencies Need to Be Prepared For

Rise of Personalized Marketing

Marketing strategies have always been significant forces in terms of promoting businesses. Personalized marketing will soon become a significant one too. But actually, it’s starting to be already. Personalized marketing, as its name implies, is a marketing tactic that engages the consumers on a more personal, intimate level. It aims to capture the very core of a consumer’s interest to convince them to purchase a product or availing a service.

Most advertisers that adopted this method did so by creating content that communicates to their audience as individuals, just like two people having a conversation about something compelling. An excellent example of personalized marketing is targeted emails and custom video messages. Those two examples directly reach consumers via their personal accounts.

For personalized marketing to work, advertisers must collect data about their market, such as their lifestyle and career. Yes, personalized marketing sounds like an invasion of the audiences’ privacy. But, it won’t matter much if the advertisers captured their interest successfully. With thorough market research, personalized marketing is achievable.

The Emergence of Voice Search Optimization

Almost all smartphones, tablets, and computers today have voice search assistants. To name a few, we have Alexa, Siri, Bixby, and Google Assistant. Because of them, voice search optimization emerged. Businesses and advertising agencies are gearing up their online ad campaigns to be reachable through voice search. They’re even smart speakers available that serve as virtual assistants. And the ones powering them are none other than voice search assistants.

According to a prediction by Gartner, voice search will soon accumulate 30% of browsing sessions among internet users. And, a report from Google implies that 62% of smark speaker users purchase items online using voice search assistants. With those in mind, voice search assistants could become a primary means of internet browsing. So, ad agencies who aren’t familiar with voice search optimization yet should start studying and practicing it.

More Focus on Cultural Marketing

Cultural marketing strategy aims at reaching out to a specific market demographic with a distinct culture. It has been around for many years. And, it’s starting to become a norm in marketing and advertising operations.

A great example of cultural marketing is Dove’s Real Beauty campaign. The target of the Real Beauty campaign is promoting the culture of appreciating women’s natural beauty and strength. Dove wants to empower women by letting them know that each of them possesses elegance. In return, women from across the world became more familiar with Dove’s beauty products.

Many ads recently have even tapped to social and cultural issues. They include messages to fight social injustices and embrace cultural diversity. If you spend a lot of time in your schedule browsing online, you may have noticed this trend. Nowadays, brands need to understand and advocate the culture of their target market. And advertising agencies should take note of that as an important memo.

Social Media Becoming a Central Marketing Hub

If people are continuously gathering in one place, businesses tend to make their presence felt on it. Because of that principle, countless ads are flashing on the phone or computer screens of social media users. Why? That’s because many of them spend several hours browsing social media. So, slowly but surely, social media is becoming a central marketing hub.

Advertising agencies, especially new ones, must learn how to create content for social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They need to analyze the browsing patterns of their target social media users to reach them successfully. And, they must focus on increasing the followers of their clients’ social media pages.

Even though social media won’t become a central marketing hub, advertisers must still use it as one of their primary advertising channels. Social media won’t become obsolete anytime soon because it’s part of modern society’s lifestyle.

The Stronger Influence of Social Media Icons

Social media influencers have a stronger influence compared to celebrities nowadays. Some companies are sending partnership proposals to them to promote their products and services, especially those with millions of followers. Plus, social media influencers are fully capable of creating their own content, and the price quotation they charge is affordable for most companies. That said, they could become competitors of advertising agencies.

More companies could start approaching social media influencers instead of ad agencies. However, influencers becoming primary endorsers is a far-fetched outcome. But, the fact that they can influence people to buy this and that is something ad agencies should prepare.

On the bright side, though, ad agencies can partner up with social media influencers. They can use them as the face and voice of their clients’ ad campaigns. Instead of seeing them as potential competition, ad agencies should try to ally with them.

Everything Must Be Supported with Research

Thanks to the internet, consumers became smart buyers. When they see ads about so-called excellent products, they don’t believe them immediately anymore. Before buying or availing a product, they research it online. Particularly, they check reviews from first-hand users to determine if the product is a subject of false advertising.

For those reasons, ad agencies must back their ad campaigns with credible, expert research. In collaboration with their clients, they need to show scientific data or stats supporting their claims about a product. In other words, ad agencies must be transparent to their target consumers.

As soon as possible, start preparing for these trends in your ad agency. It would be better to include them in your advertising agency business plan. These trends might prompt you to restructure your planning and management tactics for good. And adapting to them will enable your ad agency to continue operating for many years.

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