Top 5 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2019

Originally posted on https://www.marketingandadvertisingdesigngroup.com/top-5-digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-out-for-in-2019/

Digital marketing isn’t just about dropping a tweet or sending an email.

Understanding how you can attract and communicate with customers, clients, audiences involves staying ahead of new and exciting technological developments in the industry.

But are you too busy running your business to know what the latest digital marketing trends are for 2019?

If you are, don’t worry–here are the top 5 trends in digital marketing to look out for this year.

You could spend every hour of your working day answering questions for your customers, but is that a good use of your time? If you’re hiring agents to do it for you, is that budget being well spent?

Thanks to the expected growth in the use of chatbots, there’s an alternative. The market for chatbots is estimated to reach around $1.25 billion within six years, growing by nearly 25% in that time.

But why are chatbots growing in popularity? What is it about AI like this that businesses are so interested in?

It’s all down to time and labor costs.

These artificial bots will answer customer questions for you, 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week. They can also upsell products for you, as well as deal with any customer complaints (depending on their complexity).

As AI technology has grown, chatbots have begun to sound more like real human beings, too. Your customers are more likely to be satisfied with the responses the chatbot provides, making them a risk-free addition to your business operations.

The market for advertisers has moved increasingly toward mobile users over the last few years, with over 50% of ad revenue being generated from devices like smartphones and tablets.

For this revenue stream to adapt, new ways to advertise to mobile users have had to be generated. One such revenue stream that’s going to get even bigger in 2019 is live video marketing.

It’s all down to how youth audiences are viewing their content.

A survey found that 80% of consumers would prefer to watch a live video from a brand or advertiser than read through a blog. Time is short, and video content can be more easily consumed than text.

Live video can be streamed on existing social media platforms, or through emerging platforms like Twitch, the service for gamers.

Live video marketing, like any sort of digital marketing tactic, has to have an audience willing to consume the content. It isn’t easy building that kind of user base, however.

Our advice? Cheat. You don’t need to build up your own audience (at least at first) if you can spread your message by using influencer marketing.

Influencers are authentic, trusted, and with an audience willing to absorb and support their message, whether it’s what to wear, what to play, or what to buy.

There’s going to be increased opportunities for you to take advantage of influencers like these in your target niche.

Getting an endorsement from influencers, using marketing channels like Instagram, can help you increase profits as well as develop your own audience if that’s your objective.

Alexa, is it time to start focusing on smart searches as a marketing tactic?

There are now an estimated one billion or more voice searches, either by smartphone or smart speaker, every single month. 2019 is only going to see further growth in this emerging technological field, so it’s ripe for early adopters.

That’s why you should be focusing on building your ad revenue through voice searches, but how can you go about doing that?

Your website’s SEO will be a great help here. Long-tail keywords in your site content, for example in the form of a question, can be picked up by voice search AI and spoken back to potential new customers.

Just like MySpace and Bebo died early deaths in the battle for social media supremacy, newer social media platforms look to usurp the main players as we move into 2019.

While Facebook and Twitter still remain popular, that popularity is waning, thanks to scandals like data breaches and politicized content.

Newer platforms, like Instagram or Twitch, aren’t immune to some of these problems, but they’re growing–fast. Instagram, for instance, is expected to add almost 150 million more users by 2021.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, social media is still going to be a significantly important part of your digital strategy in 2019. It may simply mean that you need to focus on other platforms this year.

Go where your audiences are. If more and more users in your target audience are using Instagram, for instance, pivot your focus there.

Not convinced your business needs social media? Then take a look at why we think your business can’t survive without it.

These digital marketing trends for 2019 offer a taste of the future for marketing, and the business world more widely.

AI is taking hold, which is why chatbots are becoming a great way to build customer rapport with your customers without the cost of labor. New tech, like smart speakers and live video, offers new digital marketing tools to explore.

Combined with an increased focus on influencer marketing in newer forms of social media, you’ve got plenty to work with if you’re developing your digital marketing strategy for the next year.

Want to bring in some professional help? If you’re based in San Diego, leave us a message and we’ll get in touch to discuss how we can refine your digital strategy for the better.