It’s pretty impressive how fast the digital marketing space is evolving. If we think about what digital marketers would have been psyched about ten years ago, it was things like social media marketing, deeper analytics insights and the blogging revolution. Now we have literal robots built into our marketing strategies. What a time to be alive!
To summarise, here are some of the top digital marketing trends you’ll see in 2019.
People using voice search more
It’s predicted that by 2020, half of online search queries will be voice-based. On top of that, 30% of web browsing will be done without touching the screen. That means users are well and truly adopting voice search.
What does this mean for your marketing strategy? It’s time to think about gearing your web copy more towards voice search by utilising more longtail keywords, and injecting more conversational copy into your marketing. People don’t speak the way they type, so it’s important to be aware of what will sound natural read out loud to a Google Home device, Alexa, or Siri.
Micro-moment opportunities
There’s no doubt about it – we’re obsessed with our digital devices. That’s nothing new, but what is coming out of this increasing addiction is the possibility for brands to capitalise on user ‘micro-moments’.
Google describes micro-moments like this:
“They’re the moments when you turn to a device—often your smartphone—to take action on whatever you need or want right now. They’re the I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-buy, and I-want-to-do moments that are loaded with intent, context, and immediacy.”
While a micro-moment is only a split-second interaction, it’s a serious opportunity for businesses to hit customers with the exact right message at the right time. For example, imagine you’re emailing your boss to say you’re running late to work, when bam! You see an ad pop up for Uber.
Clever automated AI stuff
Many people think about AI in the form of scarily intelligent robots that may or may not take over our universe. But AI is so much more than physical robots!
One of the most accessible forms of AI for business is the humble chatbot, technology which is becoming more available than ever. You can create a chatbot for your business using a cheap or free online chatbot generator tool. This is essentially a clever way to automate responses to customer enquiries, providing quick answers without the need for a customer service officer. You can have a lot of fun with it too, and inject some of your brand personality into the chatbot.
Another example of automation that’s taking off in 2019 is programmatic advertising. This is an AI-based form of buying and selling media positions for greater exposure. Digital marketers rely on computers using data to decide what ad space to buy and how much to pay for it, often in real time.
Visual search that will blow your mind
You know how Facebook’s been doing that creepy thing for a while now where you post a photo, and it suggests the people you should tag based on its reading of the faces in the picture? That’s a basic example of visual search. This technology is set to become a more prominent digital marketing trend in 2019, following the release of Google Lens. There’s still a way to go in developing this technology, but imagine capturing an image and receiving textual information about it, based on the lens’ reading of what it’s seeing.
Video that goes above and beyond
Video is still relevant in 2019 and is as engaging as ever! Companies should be thinking of new, exciting ways to use video, however. Snapchat and Instagram have tapped into the rising trend of video filters to make their video products more engaging, while other brands have tapped into AR and VR to immerse users into a brand experience more effectively.
Hubspot predicts that video will be everywhere in 2019, in all parts of business both internally and externally. Some more ways to use video as part of your marketing strategy include live streaming, sending personalised video messages, and optimising your videos for search.
2019 marketing trends are going to reshape the online world. We’re excited to see where the year takes us, and what new wins we can achieve for our clients. If you’d like help to keep your business on top of the latest trends in 2019, reach out to us – the experts in all things digital.