7 PRETTY VICIOUS MARKETING TRENDS IN 2019

Digital Marketing just keeps growing and growing and simply put, cannot be ignored! Marketing will always be an effective resource of any business trying to increase demand for its product and/or services. But the landscape has changed, and while marketing for any business is still essential, where that effort is most effective continues to evolve.

Your brand needs to be where the people are and online is the major virtual environment for everyone. From social media, to streaming to #artificialIntelligence it can be hard to master and remember what worked for brand last year may not work this year!

THE GOOD NEWS IS WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE THIS EVER CHANGING DIGITAL LANDSCAPE AND HERE ARE 7 PRETTY VICIOUS 2019 MARKETING TRENDS:

1. VIDEO MARKETING IS A MUST

The numbers say it best:

Over 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video content
72% of businesses say video has increased their conversion rates
52% of consumers say that watching product videos increases their confidence when online purchasing

While #YouTube may be the most popular way to consume videos — don’t just think YouTube. You should be posting videos across #Facebook, #Instagram or #LinkedIn. The popularity of #socialmedia “stories” is still growing as well as live video which can both be profitable formats to promote engagement and brand awareness. Most stories disappear after a set period of time but it is still a great opportunity to make good use of. Brands now use live video and stories for interviews, product demos and “behind the scenes” glimpses of events etc. You can capture and convey a lot of information and your brand's personality with video. If you have a high-quality smartphone camera why not create personalized video messages rather than calls or emails? And if you can try 360-degree video content, which allows for a more interactive experience.

In addition, #livestreaming combined with #influencermarketing has also proven extremely useful as the influencer is interacting directly with the product and your audience. The spontaneity and interactivity of live streaming is appealing but sure to choose the right personality and influencer for your brand.

2. INFLUENCER MARKETING

People generally trust public opinions over brand statements which is why influencer marketing has become a top form of digital marketing. Consumers spend most of their time online and influencer marketing is basically a form of word-of-mouth marketing that focuses on using key individuals to act as ambassadors driving your message to a larger market (mostly online).

Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you pay influencers instead to get your message out. Influencers can be anyone from celebrities and Instagram or YouTube stars to well-known bloggers and journalists who help spread the word about your brand through their social channels.

A great example of this is Sony Mobile France who wanted to promote their Sony Xperia Z5, which is known for its powerful camera that has a five times zoom. The brand then worked with 30 influencers, who helped spread the word about a competition they ran for the Z5 where they used the phone’s camera to take a very detailed photo, cut it into several smaller shots and then organized into five layers.

After this, they created 100+ Instagram accounts all joined together by tags. People then used these tags to zoom into parts of the original photo in order to find 50+ hidden surprises. In total the campaign generated 17 million potential contacts.

3. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CHATBOTS

It’s long been feared that Artificial Intelligence will take over the world! Or at some least some of the simpler jobs. AI can gather data from across platforms and use it to analyse consumer behaviour, identify patterns and help businesses understand more about their market.

#Chatbots are AI-based technology that uses instant messaging to chat in real-time with users on your site, day or night. In 2018 1.4 billion people interacted with Chatbots and it’s reported that by 2022, Chatbots will help businesses save over $8 billion per year but answering and dealing with simple customer queries. Chatbots are responsive, give answers promptly, can easily access a consumer’s purchase history, and most importantly never lose patience meaning outstanding customer service and meeting customers’ expectations in an automated format.

Brands like #Starbucks make it ridiculously easy to order your favourite drink or snack using voice commands or text messaging via Chatbots and #Uber uses Chatbots to connect people with safe, reliable transportation at the push of a button..

4. SOCIAL MESSAGING APPS

Around 1.3 billion monthly users are active on Facebook Messenger and 2 billion messages are sent between people and businesses on Facebook Messenger every month. WhatsApp has 1.3 billion monthly active users and 55 billion messages are sent via WhatsApp every day. We’re all messaging each other every day so it makes sense to market your brand where your potential customers are active. Social messaging apps will be very useful in 2019 allowing brands to send personalised messages to customers directly adding value to the users’ experience.

5. VISUAL SEARCHING

Visual search will take a user experience to a totally new level by allowing users to upload an image to conduct a search and get more specific results. #Pinterest has just released a new visual search tool called “Lens” which allows users to take a photo of an item to find out where to buy it online, search for similar products, or view pinboards of related items. There is also Google Lens which is a search engine by Google, that recognizes objects and landmarks visually through a camera app (currently only available on Pixel smartphones). For example If you take a photo of a:

Business card: You can save the email address or website URL to a contact.

Book: You can get reviews and other details about it.

Landmark or building: You can get more details and instructions to it.

#CamFind is a very cool visual search mobile app, enabling users to search for anything from their mobile phones simply by taking a picture and the app will tell you what it, find similar images, price comparisons, local shopping results, etc. You can also take a picture of a movie poster and the app will show you movie info, trailers and showtimes at local theatres.