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<p style="text-align: justify;">The prospect of a pandemic has been a well-known risk for many years, but it was hard to predict the exact timing of the current corona-virus crisis. Digital Trends operate the same way: The big shifts might be well-known, but it&rsquo;s hard to predict the timing and shape of the bell curve that most trends follow. Will they stay niche or suddenly see accelerated mass adoption because of some external trigger?&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">At times like these, it&rsquo;s good to look at trends that are already out there but now feel primed to play a more vital role in our marketing strategy.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">My attempt below is to decode the few digital trends that the crisis has radically accelerated:</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">1. Digital Escalation of video content: 1 in 3 watch online video</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic1.png" alt="Digital video content" width="530" height="181" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While it is no secret that video consumption is high amongst the internet population, with the economy moving towards a virtual experience economy, this digital trend will gain new levels of meaning.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While brands have been striving to create good quality video content, most of us miss out on the language preferences of the video content. A significant portion of this video content is consumed on mobile phones. No wonder you see Netflix rolling out a mobile-first subscription service for India.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic2.png" alt="Digital video content- language preferences" width="494" height="227" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So as a company, if you aren&rsquo;t creating solid video content, you are missing out on reaching out to your consumers in the manner they most prefer. If you are, well, you need to consider tailoring these videos according to regional cultural nuances and vernacular preferences.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The key here is not to translate content but also to delve deeper to understand the implications of the translated content on consumers. Identify key markets for your brand where you need to build salience and dive deeper into what conversation style you need to adopt.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The companies that are ahead of the curve with localized and sharp video content are the <a href="https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/social-live-commerce-to-drive-online-fashion-biz-11646245251918.html">emerging social commerce firms using videos extensively to sell products across different categories</a>. Look at the Chinese firm TaoBao owned by the Alibaba group, which has seen a whopping 700% increase in traffic post the COVID ! This has also led to the meteoric rise of short content platforms such as Tik Tok, Vmate, and Quibi among others.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As people in India have gone mobile, and as attention on mobile is centered around newsfeeds and stories, video and, in particular, short-form video becomes an incredible opportunity to capture the attention of your target customers on a device that is with them all the time.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Something very important to note here is while the consumption of digital media on mobile is on the rise, Indians are resorting to the multi-screen phenomena to watch content. With 836 million television viewers in India, 70% of media is still consumed on television.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to a recent report by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), people are now watching TV for all seven days, with an increase of 47 percent viewership.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">That brings me to my second point that marketers need to keep in mind while crafting the media mix to put out those videos. A multi-screen approach works far more effectively to deliver reach, frequency, and brand impact compared to a single platform approach! A balanced combination of TV and digital can be leveraged to drive incremental brand impact by marketers rather than pitting one against the other.&nbsp;</span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2. Search trends are changing discovery and brand consideration&nbsp;</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The near me/hyperlocal search is the single biggest search trend that marketers need to pay attention to post the pandemic! People would like to drive higher efficiency and productivity every time they step out of the house post the pandemic. To do so, there is going to be a strong surge of hyperlocal searches so that they can be sure that their neighborhood store can fulfill their requirements.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Consumers will embrace brands and stores that are swift in fulfilling these search queries. If you manage to show up in moments that really matter to your consumers as a brand, then there is no better way of digital marketing. From an ROI standpoint, it is also hugely beneficial to be present in these moments as there is high intent to shop. As per the google report &ldquo;Insights for Brands&rdquo; some emerging &ldquo;near me&rdquo; search trends are:&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic3.png" alt="Emerging near me search trends" width="457" height="262" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A growing number of consumers are researching online and purchasing offline. This corresponds with findings that 50% of organized retail will likely be influenced by digital. While many brands are adopting an Omnichannel selling strategy, the marketing team also needs to embrace an Omnichannel information strategy, where consumers can move seamlessly between online and offline, and there is no asymmetry of information.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The other search trend that is gaining immense traction is &ldquo;the best&rdquo; searches. The discovery funnel will change significantly, at least for the next few quarters post the pandemic. Post the pandemic, consumers will be a lot more definitive and explicit in their shopping decisions. This will mean fewer window-shopping opportunities and thereby affect offline impulse purchases. Instead, discovering new products might shift online with searches and consumers demanding timely and transparent information from brands.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic4.png" alt="Digital trends-Best searches" width="376" height="384" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As per the Google report, &ldquo;While this core behavior has been consistently observed over the years, it has manifested to more niche categories as we observe a change in consumer priorities.&rdquo; Armed with this new information, I cannot help but think of the leakages and loose ends our current SEO and digital strategy has. Therefore, marketers need to focus on building a much sharper SEO strategy and adopt a method where they focus on building category leadership by building more on &ldquo;best of&rdquo; searches.&nbsp;</span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">3. Rise of Digital Gaming</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic5.png" alt="Digital Gaming" width="441" height="281" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Due to an increase in the number of mobile internet users, mobile smartphones and tablets in India have already garnered close to a 54% share of the total Indian gaming market. eSports is also becoming hugely popular with over 2 million existing viewers and is poised to grow five times by 2021.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With people having additional time at hand due to the pandemic, digital games across the board are seeing massive adoption acceleration. This has made it impossible to overlook In-Game marketing as a key tool to reach out to those digitally connected consumers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Given that video games are so immersive, the full effect of the ad registers on the viewer because they are so invested in the game. The game's interactivity also allows marketers to work their messages into the gameplay in a manner that becomes more immersive rather than disruptive.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am personally an advocate of taking this a step further and adopting gamification to convey your marketing messages. I have successfully witnessed an uplift of 30-50% in marketing message recall and conversion by successfully employing gamification.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic6.png" alt="Gamification" width="378" height="222" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Games make everything better. It is hard to ignore this form of advertising because of its inherent ability to flow seamlessly with the gaming ecosystem and its interactive nature. After all, how irresistible is the mini game in Google Chrome that pops up every time a website time out?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Abhishekpic7.png" width="434" height="248" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most consumers value enjoyable and amazing experiences along with amazing products. It is up to the marketer to deliver those experiences in their marketing campaign. Fortunately, gamification gives you an option to stand out and deliver those unique and fun experiences.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Necessity is the mother of all inventions. During the crisis, both businesses and consumers welcomed technology to make their lives easier.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here I have covered a few digital trends that seem primed for an accelerated journey. I hope these tips help you build more engaging and optimized digital campaigns. I would love to hear your experiences in these areas in the comment section.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;">This <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-trends-post-corona-world-abhishek-shetty/">article</a> was contributed by our expert Abhishek Shetty.</span></em></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Abhishek Shetty</span></span></h3><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1. What are the 5 most popular types of digital marketing?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pay per click, email marketing, mobile marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2. Why is digital marketing important nowadays?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Digital Marketing is an asset for businesses as it connects a company with its target audience, and an organization can monitor its campaigns and optimize them for better results.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3. What is the best digital marketing platform?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some of the best digital marketing platforms are social media, blog posts, and websites.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">4. What's the future of digital marketing?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Digital marketing will grow in the future. As AI evolves, businesses will automate more digital processes and make informed business decisions based on data analytics insights.</span></p>