I’m no super expert on Digital Marketing, but I do enjoy following the trends. I’m amazed at how much the mix of necessary tactics has changed in only a few short years.

The past (recent history):

• Direct mail
• Trade shows
• Cold calling
• Print ads
• Email marketing
• Website / SEO
• SEM
• PR
• Referral marketing
• Media buying
• Social media
• (What have I forgotten?)

New:

• Some of the above (less cold calling, less print, less tradeshow spend)
• Social selling
• Employee advocacy
• Influencer marketing
• User-generated content
• Customer engagement
• Community management
• #Hashtag optimization (shameless plug => @topicurious)
• Content marketing (blog, video, infographics, eBooks, etc.)
• Marketing automation
• Big data
• Personalization
• Growthhacking
• Mobile
• UX
• C-Level personal branding
• Human-to-Human (#H2H via @BryanKramer)
• Return-on-Relationships (#RonR via @TedRubin)
• (What have I forgotten? => help me expand this list by commenting)

There is still no silver bullet. A smart mix of tactics is still required, but the mix is very different than it used to be.