Apr 25 2019
As we’re almost halfway through 2019, it’s vital that you’ve achieved about 50% of your digital marketing goals by now. Or you should’ve at least started seeing positive results from your search engine optimisation (SEO), social media management or content marketing efforts.
If you’re lagging behind, it might be time to reconsider your strategies and tailor them according to this year’s trends. The marketing landscape is changing fast – if you are not doing these already, jump on board! It’s not too late!
Don’t waste your time doing what doesn’t work anymore. Employ these strategies and watch them improve your conversion and engagement rates.
Here are 2019’s digital marketing trends you shouldn’t miss.
Video marketing
The digital age has created an audience that’s highly drawn to visuals. As many companies recognise this, they do their best to rise above all the visual clutter this marketing trend has produced.
Most photos and illustrations can easily be overlooked, especially if they aren’t engaging enough with your audience. But if there’s one thing that can quickly grab someone’s attention, it’s a video.
In fact, a recent study showed that 54% of consumers prefer to see more video content from brands they follow. That’s how important videos are to your marketing strategy.
You might be thinking that video marketing will only revolve around YouTube. But with the rise in popularity of live videos, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram can also serve as effective tools for this strategy. Plus, there’ll be greater chances of your content going viral!
Scared or don’t have time to engage in this type of marketing? Chat with our team to see how we can help you.
Influencer marketing
You know how traditional word-of-mouth is said to be an extremely effective type of marketing? Since consumers trust people who’ve had first-hand experience with a business, having a strong customer base who will share to others how great your products or services are is a powerful form of marketing.
Well, that’s exactly how influencer marketing works – but in digital form. The key difference is that, unlike word-of-mouth where marketing only ever happens between peers, the people involved in influencer marketing are much more prominent, allowing them to reach a wider audience online.
From celebrities to social media stars and bloggers, an influencer can be anyone who has a significantly large following. But of course, you’ll have to choose someone who’s relevant to your market for this strategy to prove effective.
Because followers look up to their favourite personalities, seeing how these online stars put their trust on your brand will definitely encourage their audience to try out your products or services.
Artificial intelligence
Imagine if you could automate and standardise simple tasks such as answering frequently asked questions. Or if you could customise the shopping experience for your customers and serve them product suggestions based on what they like.
This has all becomes possible with artificial intelligence (AI).
Let’s take chatbots, which we’ll further discuss later on, as an example. One of the most common issues a business receives is unavailability of service when customers need it. These complaints can be minimised by using chatbots to quickly send standard responses to simple questions.
Some of the most successful digital companies have used Artificial Intelligence to build their product offerings around the ability to provide highly relevant and personalised product or content recommendations. Think Amazon, Spotify and eBay.
Artificial Intelligence learns customer interests as they browse and uses this to suggest articles, products or content that they might be interested in.
Voice search and smart speakers
Artificial intelligence has come a long way and it just keeps on improving. One of the products of its continuous innovation is speech recognition technology. This has given way to a highly advanced method of searching the internet – voice search.
In recent years, voice search has become an important tool for most people. It has allowed users to search the internet completely hands-free. Because of the convenience it offers, many consumers have started using voice-enabled devices and smart speakers to search for products and shop online.
A study revealed that 44% of people who regularly use voice assistants say they shop for products they need like groceries and household items through these devices at least once a week.
Considering this, it only makes sense to tailor your targeted key phrases to cater for text search. You should also evaluate the words that your consumers would normally use to search for your products through voice.
Chatbots
Now more than ever, customers are more inclined to ask questions first before they try out a product or service. This is largely due to the convenience that the internet provides. Everything seems to be just a click away.
Of course, customers will be looking for reliable and responsive businesses – and when they need answers, you should be ready to answer all their questions as efficiently as possible. This is where chatbots become useful.
Chatbots can cover what many companies can’t do. And that is to provide 24-hour service and prompt response to basic enquiries. This technology, as mentioned earlier, is designed to meet customer expectations by instantly sending automated answers to certain prompts.
In a study, it has been discovered that 82% of customers demand quick answers to their marketing and sales questions. Therefore, it’s evident how chatbots can play a crucial role in catering to their immediate needs. In the long run, using chatbots can help build trust among your customers and improve your brand’s credibility.
Social messaging
For more complex queries, customer service reps are still needed but the good news is customers don’t have to settle for busy phone lines and no-reply emails anymore.
The rise of social messaging apps has allowed businesses to provide a quick and more personal service to customers, leading to increased customer satisfaction and improved brand reputation.
However, social messaging is more than just a tool for answering enquiries.
Since people spend most of their time on social messaging apps, you can take advantage of this by sending in personalised deals and discounts to your customers through these platforms instead of sending them via email.
Emails are still important, but of course, you need to be able to reach your customers in platforms they’re most active on. Plus, you’re almost always sure to get a reply!
With various competitors using the internet to reach out to their market, employing obsolete digital marketing techniques will undoubtedly hurt your business.
If you need assistance in digital marketing, we at FX Web Studio can help you grow your business with internet marketing strategies that work.
For more information, give us a call on 1300 090 401 today!
