Digital trends.

Why follow trends at all

Trend lists are usually read not for news but for one decision: are we falling behind, and is it time to change something. That question is better answered through the filter “is my audience here” rather than “everyone is already doing it”.

Most of what is listed below are not discoveries but directions that have been gaining strength for several years running and continue to gain it. That is precisely their value: they are stable and don't require guessing the future.

And a caveat straight away. No trend replaces the basics. If the site doesn't open on a phone, enquiries get lost and nobody answers reviews, working with new formats will change nothing.

Algorithms, automation and personalisation

Machine learning has stopped being a separate topic and dissolved into the tools: automated strategies in advertising, recommendation selection, review analysis, draft copy. The practical consequence — part of the manual work goes away, and the specialist's role shifts towards setting goals and checking the result. A detailed breakdown is in our article on AI in marketing.

Alongside it — automation of routine: welcome emails, reminders, tasks for managers, automatic reports. This direction pays off faster than the others because it closes losses rather than adding new expenses.

Personalisation is a continuation of the same line. People are used to services remembering their preferences and transfer that expectation to everyone. At the same time, the line between convenience and intrusiveness has become more noticeable: an offer that knows too much puts people off.

Video and interactivity

Video remains the clearest way to explain something complex and show a process. Short clips are convenient for reach, long ones for those who are already choosing. Live streams work differently: they give a sense of honesty because they happen without editing, and they help people make a purchase decision. Formats and tasks in detail — in our piece on video marketing.

Interactive formats — polls, quizzes, calculators, try-on through the camera — engage more strongly than passive viewing. The person performs an action, and that action in itself raises interest in the result.

Online television and video services deserve a separate mention: the audience that has left broadcast TV watches there instead, and the advertising opportunities on these platforms are growing.

Messengers, social commerce and bloggers

Messengers have become a fully fledged channel: newsletters, content channels, bots for orders and support. In Russia this direction is especially noticeable because some of the familiar platforms became unavailable and the audience redistributed.

Buying inside a social platform without going to a website is another durable direction. The shorter the path from interest to payment, the higher the share of those who get there.

In work with bloggers there is a noticeable shift towards authors with a small but engaged audience. Their contact is cheaper, trust is higher and there are fewer random followers. Here too — growing interest in the people inside the company: employees' stories and accounts of how everything works from the inside come across as more alive than corporate messages.

Search that answers by itself

Search engines increasingly give the answer right on the results page, and the user doesn't go to the site. For business this changes the task: it's important not only to hold a position but to get into the answer itself. What to do about it — in a separate article.

Voice queries are phrased longer and more naturally than typed ones. Hence the practical conclusion: texts should contain direct answers to specific questions, not just keywords.

The third part of the same story is the share of mobile traffic. A site that is inconvenient on a phone loses both visitors and positions. The technical requirements are covered in our piece on mobile optimisation.

Transparency, ethics and responsibility

Attitudes to data have tightened from all sides: from the law and from people themselves. A clear explanation of what you collect and why has turned from a formality into part of your reputation.

The same shift is noticeable in the environmental and social agenda. The audience distinguishes real actions from statements and punishes the gap between them. How to talk about this without falseness — in our article on brand sustainability.

The common denominator is a human tone. Companies that talk to clients like people rather than like a marketing department win attention in an environment where there is too much advertising.

How to pick your own from the list

Don't try to implement everything. Go through the list and mark the items that answer your specific question: where to lose less budget, how to answer clients faster, what will close an objection before purchase.

Select two directions for the quarter. More won't work — each of them requires not only a launch but regular work.

Decide in advance which number will tell you it worked, and launch on a limited section: one category, one segment, one channel.

And review the list every six months. Directions live longer than it seems, but the balance between them changes fast — especially in Russia, where the availability of platforms has changed more than once.

If, of everything listed, working with paid channels turned out to be the closest — from choosing platforms to setting up automated strategies — that is our advertising setup service. We start with analysis so that new formats are compared with the current ones on the same scale.