Weekly Digital Marketing News and Trends: 1/5/18

Every week we’re collecting a host of links, videos, and assorted analysis on the ever-changing world of digital marketing. We invite you to skim, share, analyze, argue, and refute – just so long as you don’t get embarrassed at the water cooler again. Here are the latest digital marketing news and trends for the week of January 5, 2018.

Why 2018 Will Be the Year of Brick-And-Mortar Retail

We tend to focus on the consistent increases in online shopping as opposed to in-store purchases. But for retail brands, it’s not a zero-sum game, where online sales directly decrease in-store sales. In fact, online behavior often supports brick-and-mortar sales in the form of product research and store location lookup. This online-to-offline (o2o) sales pattern is one reason why Location3 CEO Alex Porter says 2018 will be the year of brick-and-mortar retail.

In a post from Total Retail, Porter shares how online user activity translates to offline purchases. Here’s an excerpt from the post:

“…users continue to become more savvy in their research for products and services. While an initial, research-oriented search may begin in an online environment, if your brick-and-mortar location leverages its online presence effectively (organic search, paid media, social media, website content, and more), you can ultimately convert that researching consumer into a paying customer in-store.”

For more analysis, including why consumers still value the in-person shopping experience and how online giant Amazon is ramping up its brick-and-mortar presence, the full post can be read here.

Amazon Testing Alexa Sponsored Voice Search Ads

A report last week indicated that Amazon has reached out to Clorox and Procter & Gamble in an effort to produce advertisements for devices powered by Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa.

In a post from Laurie Sullivan via MediaPost, Sullivan notes that discussions between Amazon and the aforementioned product goods companies have focused on advertising models similar to that of paid search on Google, where the highest bidder receives the most prominent placement for strategic search queries.

This development is just another signal for marketers and companies to start formulating their strategies for voice search ads. As Sullivan notes, this space could become especially competitive because voice assistants only provide one answer per consumer query. And with consumers becoming more comfortable with voice-enabled assistants, it will be important to keep a close eye on the latest developments as it’s sure to quickly grow and evolve.

6 Surprising Facts About The Way We Spend Our Time With Media

There’s no shortage of analysis and conjecture on the effects of media consumption, but you may be surprised by how the general population actually spends their time with media. eMarketer’s recent release of consumer behavior data revealed some assumptions about traditional media, tablets, and social media that may be overstated or flat-out wrong. Here are a few of the tidbits from the report:

US adults spend more time with nondigital radio than with social networks. eMarketer estimates that in 2017, adults spent 1 hour and 26 minutes per day listening to nondigital radio compared to 51 minutes spent on social media.

Facebook is still gaining popularity despite the rise of Instagram and Snapchat. While Facebook’s penetration has slowed, it’s still rising and so is the time adults spend on Facebook per day. eMarketer estimates adults in 2018 will spend 26 minutes per day on Facebook, up from 25 minutes in 2017.

For more insight from the data, the full post can be read here.

Video Uploads Available In Google My Business For Select Business Owners 

At least a small portion of business owners are currently able to upload videos to their Google My Business listing. Colan Nielsen of Sterling Sky posted screen shots of the feature as seen in his dashboard. These videos would be available to users searching for a specific business. This appears to be a test, but could eventually give business owners another outlet to connect with and inform potential customers.