In 2019, the world will experience a dramatic shift in the digital marketing landscape. Things like machine learning, artificial intelligence, voice and image search will now become a full-fledged reality.
In 2019, businesses can no longer ignore digital marketing. Furthermore, just an attractive website design is not enough to grab attention. Now, it has become crucial for businesses to be where their customers are, which is online. The Internet is now the biggest virtual environment for a majority of the world’s population.
Businesses that are not embracing the new digital marketing trends are getting left behind. It has now become more important than ever to not only learn, but carefully master the latest marketing techniques and strategies to promote products and services online.
Here are the 9 digital marketing trends of 2019 that businesses cannot ignore:
1. Voice Search
In 2019, more people will start verbal interactions with their smart devices. Talking has always been the easiest and most preferable way of interaction. The usage of virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google has been on the rise and will continue to do so in 2019.
It is estimated that by 2020, about half the searches done online would be voice searches. Today, people can easily discover, shop and search almost anything through voice commands. Research shows that a large percentage of Americans, who use smart speakers, would not like to go back to a life without their virtual voice-controlled assistant.
Voice searches are different than typed queries. Therefore, marketers now need to optimize their content as per how people speak.
2. Image Search
Visual search tools from Pinterest and Google have taken the search experience to a whole new level. People can now take photos of anything and then use that image to find more details about the item.
It is now possible to click a photo of a business card and save the contact details automatically on your phone. You can also point your smartphone camera to a landmark and get more information about it.
With image search, there’s no need for typing queries or giving voice commands. Simply point your camera at an item and find the relevant details.
3. Artificial intelligence
In 2019, AI will become more powerful than ever at profiling buyers. Artificial intelligence is now highly proficient at analyzing consumer behavior. By analyzing search patterns and browsing history, AI can also determine the products and services that a person is more likely to be interested in.
In the next 12 months, it is estimated that 65% of marketers will use AI in their marketing campaigns. In 2019, AI can not only give one-off recommendations but also have a conversation with the buyers and provide relevant tips and information.
Today, around 2% of businesses use artificial intelligence. This percentage will rise to 25% by the end of 2020. Artificial intelligence can help businesses significantly in accelerating growth while cutting down the overall running costs.
4. Chat Bots
In 2019, more businesses will install chatbots on their website to interact with their visitors in a natural way. Primarily, this will be done through text chat, but in future verbal chatting is also possible.
Chatbots is an artificial intelligence-based technology that can chat in real-time with your customers night and day. Chatbots have now become more advanced at handling conversations and can answer the frequently asked questions in the same way that a customer service representative would.
For years, businesses have provided live chat support to their customers; however, people have always hated the long wait times. There’s no such problem with chatbots; furthermore, they are cheaper than customer support and require no staffing.
5. Video Marketing
Video is currently a big trend on the internet, which will continue to grow in 2019. It’s not just limited to YouTube, videos are posted on other sites too like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Video marketing is a very effective digital marketing tool. Through videos, it is a lot easier for businesses to capture and convey the information as well as their brand’s personality.
In 2019, it’s not at all difficult to create high-quality videos. The cost of film equipment is constantly decreasing and smartphones are becoming better than ever at recording high definition videos.
6. AR and VR
Augmented and virtual reality is the technology that is most popular among gamers. However, businesses can also make use of this technology to bring their customers closer to their brands.
Wouldn’t it be great if your customers can test and try out your products before making a purchase? Buying a newly launched product is quite risky for the customer, but you can eliminate that risk with the help of AR and VR technology.
It’s important to note how augmented reality and virtual reality are different from each other. Where augmented reality inserts objects into a real-life situation, virtual reality creates a completely new environment for the user to experience.
7. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is like word-of-mouth marketing where industry influencers deliver your message to a larger audience. In 2019, more businesses will use an influencer to get the word out about their brand.
It has been discovered that people tend to believe more in real consumer feedback as compared to corporate statements and advertisements, which is why influencer marketing is such an effective marketing tool.
Take Instagram marketing for instance. Many businesses have already ditched the celebrities and started hiring real people e.g micro-influencers in their niche, to become the face of their brand.
8. Native Advertising
People do not like it when products and services are pushed down their throat. On the internet, people get exhausted as they are exposed to so many ads on a daily basis. In many cases, website visitors get banners and pop up ads that interfere with their browsing and hamper the overall user experience.
Native ads do not actually look like ads. Unless these ads are labeled as an ad, they are designed to look like normal content on the web. In 2019, most businesses have already moved to native advertising.
9. Personalization
In 2019, it’s very important to personalize your marketing efforts. Although, email marketing is still very effective, general emails do not work.
Today, email marketing is about automation and most importantly personalization. With the help of acquired data, businesses can now use personalization to advance customer relationships.
With artificial intelligence, it is now possible to deliver personalized headlines and advertisements. In 2019, businesses must hyper-target their customers by personalizing every possible interaction.