Over the years the way that businesses have used marketing has changed, but the objective is still the same and everyone wants to reach their ideal customers just when they need it.
Digital marketing has changed dramatically in the last 5 years and with evolving technology, the landscape that encompasses SEO, social media, PPC, et al, is experiencing a dramatic shift.
Here are some of the important digital marketing trends that are going to be essential in the near future:

Digital Marketing Trend #1 Personalization
Personalization is changing the marketing from the bottom up by improving the customer experience and at the same time generating more traffic for businesses. Personalization allows businesses to do one-to-one marketing with their prospects. With the availability of even more data about customers like consumer behavior, purchase history etc, and the availability of sophisticated software/tools to analyze and implement customized strategies, personalization has never been easier.

Consider these stats:

• 63% of consumer says that they are highly annoyed by generic ads
• 80% say that they are likely to buy products/services if the business offers personalization.

Personalization if done right can reduce acquisition cost and increase the revenue of the business.
More on Personalization here.

Digital Marketing Trend #2 Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics is advanced analytics that uses machine learning and predictive modeling on new as well as historical data to forecast user behavior and trends.
The most common example of predictive analytics is credit scoring. In credit scoring, the individuals are given a credit score based on their financial behavior, which is then used to predict their future behavior.
In digital marketing, we are starting to see a lot more of predictive analytics in lead scoring, personalization, optimizing ad campaigns and to increase customer insight.
The most familiar example of predictive analytics in marketing is Amazon’s product recommendation, which accounts for approximately 30% of amazon’s sales.
With the improvement in AI and machine learning in the future, predictive analytics will play a key role in successful marketing campaigns and will allow businesses to reduce the cost of customer acquisition (CAC).

Digital Marketing Trend #3 Programmatic Ad Buying
In simple terms, programmatic advertising means using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to do real-time bidding to a more specific audience. Programmatic ad buying is much more efficient and fast and can result in higher conversions with lower acquisition costs.
According to Forrester, programmatic will be a $25 billion industry by the end of 2023. This number is enough to tell the power of programmatic ad buying in the near future.
In comparison, manual advertising campaigns take account of 3-4 targeting signals like- the keyword, time and location whereas, programmatic ad buying can use hundreds of targeting signals in an advertisement and can even target according to lifestyle and behavior habits when integrated with CRM platforms.

Here is some more information on programmatic advertising.

Digital Marketing Trend #4 Chatbots
Chatbots are AI-based software that can simulate conversations with humans in natural language through messaging apps, websites, mobile applications, etc. Chatbots have existed for over a decade but businesses have now started using them as an opportunity and a well-optimized chatbot can be a huge boon for a company as it can increase conversion rates.
Customers prefer chatbots as they are available 24/7, give answers with little or no delay and never lose patience. Many brands are already using chatbots to communicate with their customers, to provide information on their fingertips and to schedule tasks for their customers such as book an appointment, etc. Chatbot development has been advancing by leaps and bounds with more and more use of AI.
Top benefits of chatbots are:

• 24/7 services.
• Instant response to enquiries.
• Answers to frequently asked questions.

Digital Marketing Trend #5 Social Media E-commerce
Social media has been helping businesses increase brand awareness, create engagement with their prospects and drive traffic to the website/app and with e-commerce and social media both growing exponentially, people are trying hard to integrate both to engage customers and maximize sales.
Instagram has introduced a new feature of the shoppable post which lets users complete their purchase within the app. This feature will open a whole new realm of opportunities for the businesses as it can reduce the purchase abandonment rate because customers have to switch apps in order to make purchases.
This feature is currently limited to some brands in some regions but will soon be rolled out for everyone.