Digital Marketing Trends For 2019 to Watch Out, Capitalize And Reflect

Today digital marketing is a multi-national country, where SEO, social media, PPC, and content marketing all have a voice in defining the official governmental policy, which is showing a dramatic shift. Due to a constantly evolving technology, a business can survive only when adapting quickly and the same applies to marketing. While basic principle, which is attracting customers and keeping them in that state is unchanged, the means of doing so a couple of years ago could be seen only in sci-fi movies and comics. Now all tenets of marketing, including SEO optimization, clients acquisition, retention, engagement and search advertising, must adhere to what’s ‘cool’, what’s ‘hot’ and more.

Today is the time of constant changes and shifting accents, so the secret of any marketing campaign success lies in the ceaseless monitoring of all innovations. That, and the timely introduction of relevant gambits into your strategizing for both defeating competition and pleasing customers.

Nowadays clients expect not just excellent service, but one flavored with everything that’s considered ‘It’ and trendy in the modern e-commerce world. See below the list of most current trends in digital marketing, which will properly shake up your stereotypes about marketing, on the whole, free you from the shackles of prejudices, and open up new venues for you to expand and develop.

Let’s look closely at those futuristic and not-so-much aspects to consider, shall we?

1. Micro-Moments are going to be BIG

Marketing experts at Google state that users are experiencing micro-moments approximately 150 times a day. This is a new type of behavior, which happens when folks grab their mobiles and start typing the ideas which are born on the spur of the moment.

There are many various kinds of those, including ‘I want to go to…’, ‘I want to do…’ and ‘I want to buy…’ moments. A lot of marketers think that in the future these impulsive decisions will in many cases trump well thought over considerations.

2. Local Influencers

Influencer marketing is not a revolutionary new concept, but concentrating on local celebrities is. Sure, it’d be nice to have Justin Bieber promoting your products, but most probably it would make your budget screaming and hide in the closet. And not the new one in your bedroom, but the old one, which about a millennium ago was tucked away in the darkest corner of your basement.

However, it doesn’t mean that you have to forego the chance of promoting your product using a well-recognized face and voice. Remembering about notoriously short attention spans, try to contact several local influencers and form long-term campaigns and promotions.

3. Long Live the Kin… Video

At the moment the video is still considered crème de la crème form of marketing and live video is the best.

According to the experts, this trend will see a tremendous rise in the upcoming year, not in the least due to the direct impact and personalization (we’ll come to that in a sec).

How to make the perfect one? First, you need to decide on the form and choose behind-the-scenes tours of your office, interview with clients or employees, product demos, live Q&As, or something else (time to get creative, ladies and gents). Go through the questions, comments, reviews and all available feedback, and try to address all the issues in that video.

Try to strike the right balance between fun, useful and helpful, and don’t be afraid to be funny and outspoken. Secondly, you need to decide on the platform. Among Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Instagram Live, Periscope and Livestream, we like YouTube Live and Instagram best, since those are popular, but not yet packed to the full with live videos.

4. Getting closer to the clients…

Whether you’re subscribed to Amazon and Netflix or not, you’re probably aware that they are all in favor of providing personalized service. Immediately after login, you’re shown banners, artworks, texts and recommendations, all tailored around your preferences.

Why not follow the example of those dudes, who have at their disposal veritable armies of marketing researchers and such, which know what services people like and willing to pay for today?

Among the many different tactics, we recommend starting with the most basic one, namely e-mail marketing, since it doesn’t look like that we’re going to stop using it anytime soon.

5. Visual Search

Everything in the digital landscape is moving fast, eh? Despite the lack of available technologies and ‘still experimental’ infant status, visual search is already changing e-commerce and tech, while still hinting at tremendous potential.

The tech part is not yet all functional and working, but just think if you’d be able to snap a pic at the street of something you like, be it a jacket for your poodle, umbrella for your sister or a bike for yourself, and get the actionable suggestions from the search engines on that picture alone?

Obviously, we’re heading in that direction, which is proven by the emergence of Google Lens and those guys usually stay on top of things. While there’s no immediate action that you might take right this second, in our opinion familiarizing yourself with AI and its numerous applications in e-commerce would pay off.

6. Explainer videos

Continuing with the theme of video acquiring more and more dominance in digital marketing, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a client, and get a fresh look at your products. Are all your offers obvious, not confusing and crystal clear? Is your customer going to understand everything with the provided info? And not frustrate you both with endless questions? Hopefully yes, possibly not and, in any case, why leave it all to chance? Consider the advantages of a few explanatory videos, which should be short, packed with useful content and fun.

Again, research Q&A and identify the most common concerns that your shoppers might have, be it caring for a dress with a lot of rhinestones after wearing it with body-paint or caring for especially delicate lace.

7. There are more than two social media platforms

The necessity of engaging on FB and Instagram due to its huge population of potential customers is now old news. What is not exactly news, but rather a portion of food for thought, is segregation of users among different social media.

Since government-commissioned annual Communications Market Review can be safely called one of the most reliable sources of information regarding Internet and Social Media usage, let’s see what they have to say on the subject matter.

• Facebook – Static or declining in most age groups except the older (55+ age group) which is now the biggest group of users
• Instagram – Increase in usage across all age groups with the largest, the 25 to 34 age group followed by 18 to 24
• Snapchat – The largest increase and biggest user group is again the 25 to 34 age

What can be derived from looking at those numbers? First, remembering that a lot of people simply can’t survive (or so it seems) without their messengers, confirms that forecasted some time ago ‘message commerce’ is an upcoming trend. Simply put, users are able to shop, book, interact with retailers, get recommendations and more without leaving messenger apps.

Secondly, it means you need to invest in your presence on several platforms, not just one or two, to engage all kinds of clients.

8. The magic of ‘secure checkout’

This year data security and privacy are going to play a big role in purchasing decisions on a global scale. Clients all around the globe want to be sure that their information is well protected, especially everything to do with their hard-earned money.

You, as a store owner, need to make your shoppers feel confident and secure, which can be done by putting relevant disclaimers and trust badges someplace where they would be definitely noticed.

Same goes for displaying payment provider logos, which will show to your clients that they can trust you with their credit cards and PayPal accounts. Last but not least, use phrases like ‘secure checkout’ and ensure that all your certificates are not outdated.

At the end…

While there are many other tactics and maneuvers, these are the ones we considered most viable and actionable for e-store owners for 2019.

With all that looked from that perspective and this point of view, remember, that trends do not substitute good old marketing.

The three best ways to succeed remain unchanged, meaning build your brand, tell a great story and provide quality content in attractive packaging. Follow those three beacons, employ the newest trends where applicable, and it’s ‘done and sold!’ (in the best way possible) for you and your business.