In 2018, digital marketing trends dominated headlines inside and outside of the industry as Facebook faced the Cambridge Analytica scandal, GDPR went live, and AT&T, SiriusXM, and Adobe all made significant acquisitions. But as the year starts, we are already looking forward to seeing what innovations and changes we can expect in 2019.
We may have just begun in 2019, but some trends are catching everyone’s attention and slated to grow over the next several years. Many new digital marketing trends and strategies are evolving in the current high-tech, Internet-connected era and businesses now need to use them to succeed in their efforts because what worked last year may not work this year.
From this position, there seems to be plenty to watch on the horizon. Some digital marketing trends expected to rise up are just more mature versions of their counterparts already in play, and others are born of new game-changing technologies currently in development.
The digital marketing model that comprises PPC, SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and more is witnessing a dramatic shift. There may have been a time when you could’ve dismissed artificial intelligence or visual search as gimmicks from the latest blockbuster science fiction film, but that time is long gone.
If there is one thing about marketing that can be said to be constant, it is that it always changes. With new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), voice, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, natural language processing, and facial recognition becoming mainstream, it can feel as if marketers are always chasing their tails.
Add this to the constant, and very ad-hoc, data privacy protections going up almost by postcode, the marketing path is a difficult, and volatile, one to be treading.
So, what does 2019 have in stock for digital marketers, and marketing generally?
As the world gradually evolves, the landscape of digital marketing is also changing drastically. Today, digital marketing is solidly incorporated into day-to-day work, as the day begins with bulletin news and ends with Facebook notifications.
This leads to the emergence of new trends in daily lifestyle. The past year, 2018, has been the year of improving the social media trends of 2017. Now the question that arises is about the latest trends that will transform digital marketing in the year 2019. The other questions that will arise about the changing swing are ways to figure out, recognize, and change the advertising methodologies according to the evolving digital marketing arena.
AI in 2019 can accelerate the growth and save the costs of businesses and getting an edge over their competitors. The importance of chatbots in digital marketing will continue to have a greater impact on the industry in 2019. AI-powered Chatbots on landing pages, web pages and social media, especially Facebook will be implemented in conversational marketing. It is all about being conversational and creating a lasting impression that a brand is here to be a buddy. Almost every customer is willing to chat with the chatbots as they are very responsive and give the answers to their queries promptly and in turn, offer outstanding customer service to meet their expectations.
Uber has started using the chatbot technology for communicating with the customers.
AI can offer suggestions and information to users through the conversations. Such applications are designed mainly for the customers that do not like to waste time when engaging with brands. Videos are another form of trending means for marketing in today’s digital world. Their impact creates lots of ripples all over the marketing landscape. A lot of professionals in B2B like to read and learn new ideas, but ordinary people can take advantages of short and dynamic forms of videos for knowing the current trends of the products.
Programmatic advertising can automate the ad-buying using AI so that the businesses can target more specific audiences. Real-time auctions or bidding are some of the programmatic ad-buying types. This automation is fast and highly efficient that enables higher conversions and lower customer acquisition costs. According to the eMarketer analytics, almost 9% of all the ads in the U.S. will be programmatic by 2020. Swiftly, this is changing the face of digital advertising. Lots of new marketing trends come into play each year, some stay and transform the industries, and some fade out quickly. This year, 2019, will prove to be a lot more challenging as marketers adapt to new tools that enhance the consumer processes and provide efficient ways to transform in real-time.
Each year, new technologies come out, existing technologies get smarter, and prospects get savvier and more bombarded with marketing.
Every year, this will continue to happen at a faster pace. Having said that, the aim of marketing — and digital marketing, in particular — has always been the same: getting and keeping your audience’s attention. The only changes that will continue occurring are where the focus goes, and that’s what you need to be leveraging.
2019 is going to be a digital marketing year to look forward to. With all these new trends, there are lots of ways to attract more customers to your business and satisfy them. But there is a lot of work to be done to stay ahead of the marketing curve in 2019. Lots of content work to stay afloat amid Google’s algorithm changes, planning and set up to make great use of AI for marketing, reimagining and repurposing email as a nurturing tool, careful positioning to take advantage of the potential in push notifications…the list goes on and on.
The future of marketing is looking to become a more authentic, responsive, and analytical as we embrace new media, platforms, and opportunities.
