No matter the scale at which you operate or the target audience you rely on, digital marketing is an essential part of business growth and development. With 2019 well underway, trends have shifted towards fully digital content delivery methods.
According to published Venture Harbour, businesses now spend 25-43% of their budget on marketing, with only 23% of marketing executives claiming to be confident in their campaigns. This further proves that the advertising landscape is changing in light of millennial and younger generations becoming more dominant on the market. With that in mind, let’s take a look at several decisive digital marketing trends which you should be aware of in 2019 and beyond.
1) Content Personalisation
Whether you deliver content via email, push notifications or social media messaging apps, it’s important to personalize your messages. Creating generic, passive content without a concrete receiver won’t get you any favours in 2019’s hectic digital market.
It’s important to research your target audience as much as possible before creating content suited for their attraction and conversion. Using a personal tone of voice and including calls to action is also a must if you want to stir up engagement. The more you know about your audience beforehand, the better your content personalisation game will be down the line.
2) AI Integration
Chatbots have become a wide-spread affair both on social media and individual company websites. These machine learning algorithms are capable of providing rudimentary customer support 24/7. They also collect data and “learn” as they engage more customers, leading to more organic conversations and positive reception from the end-users.
Chatbots have become a norm when it comes to digital marketing and user engagement, especially on official company websites. Explore chatbot integration within your own industry and try to meet audience expectations by introducing AI into your portfolio in the near future.
3) Social Media Presence
When it comes to online interactions, very few places offer so many options as social media platforms do. Industry giants such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are a must in terms of digital marketing and content publishing in 2019. People use social media not only to communicate with their friends and acquaintances but also to find interesting brands and products to try out.
Create your dedicated pages as soon as possible and start building an audience by posting blog posts and product pages from your official website. You will quickly come across healthy engagement rates due to the sheer scale of social media platforms, so make sure to curate your pages constantly to create positive brand awareness.
4) Mobile-First Optimisation
With the global popularity of smartphones and their general affordability, mobile-first optimization has come to the forefront in 2019. This means that you should keep your mobile and tablet audience in mind when creating digital marketing content.
Add to that a growing need for localized digital marketing content, and you will realize why so many businesses struggle to find a sweet spot with their audiences. According to HubSpot, 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product worth exploring further while browsing the web.
Short form content with plenty of visuals and interactive elements is a must when it comes to smaller smartphone screens. In that regard, you can refer to The Word Point as a reliable content localization service for your content optimization. Not only will you appeal to a wider audience by optimizing your content for mobile, but you will also get on SEOs good side in terms of search engine ranking.
5) Multimedia Content Approach
Written content isn’t enough to keep users engaged for extended periods, especially when you want to boost customer retention and recurring revenue. Multimedia content such as videos, podcasts, infographics and animations can add a lot to your content marketing plan.
While you should still write blog posts and emphasize healthy discussion on your website and social media pages, you should also mix up the content you offer. Don’t rely on a single type of marketing materials to carry your business throughout 2019. Find creative ways to bring a fresh perspective to familiar industry topics and your audience will follow suit.
6) Live Video Implementation
Speaking of video, live interaction is more than welcome in the age of high-speed internet. Social media platforms such as Facebook offer live video streaming which can be used to communicate with your followers directly.
You can invite prominent industry guests, host quizzes and giveaways, as well as answer relevant questions in regards to your brand and products through live video. Best of all, live video streaming costs nothing in terms of marketing budget and it can create a high return on the time investment you put into organizing it.
7) Influencer Collaboration
Popular bloggers and YouTube content creators have gained a lot of persuasive power over the years. Younger generations are also more prone to listen to advice from their favorite influencer rather than a piece of advertisement they see on social media or TV.
To that end, it’s good practice to work with several influencers in terms of creating digital marketing content for your business. You can offer these individuals free products, discounts, monetary compensation or something else entirely based on their performance and requirements. Don’t turn away online influencers because they hold a lot of sway when it comes to their audiences, some of them numbering in millions.
In Summary
While these are only several of the many prominent trends circulating the digital marketing landscape, they can be game-changing for your business. Implement as many different marketing channels as possible depending on your company’s scale and resources.
Follow your industry’s trends and innovations daily in order to stay in the loop with current events and provide adequate opinions to your followers. Once you get into the rhythm of new digital trends in content marketing, you will have a much easier time shifting your advertisement strategy in 2019 and beyond.
Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/laptop-technology-ipad-tablet-35550/
Erica Sunarjo graduated from South Texas College majoring in Marketing and Creative Writing. She used her knowledge to make a difference in the realm of business copywriting and invested heavily in travelling and language learning. Find her on LinkedIn and Facebook.
