2019 has been an exciting year in the world of digital marketing. New technologies are always offering new ways to keep up with shifting consumer habits. If your marketing tactics are in need of an update, check out some of these current trends:
AI
Without a doubt the biggest digital marketing trend in 2019 is the increasing importance of Artificial Intelligence, or AI. There is so much you can do with AI in digital marketing, including:
- Creating detailed customer profiles
- Optimizing digital advertising campaigns
Engaging in real-time conversations with consumers and improving customer experience
Voice Search
Voice search, aka voice-enabled search, allows a user to perform an internet search via voice commands. With advancements in speech recognition technology, voice search is becoming more popular, especially among mobile users who are searching for local businesses (aka Siri, Alexa, etc.). Local businesses are finding that optimizing their content for voice search helps their rankings on the search engine result pages. It’s estimated that by 2020, 50 percent of all searches will be voice searches.
Chatbots
Chatbots are computer programs designed to converse with human users, using either text or voice. They’re not a new technology, but they keep are improving, becoming more helpful and lifelike. More and more companies are using chatbots as an inexpensive, efficient way to interact with their customers. This does require some research and testing, though. To be an effective marketing tool, a chatbot must capable of providing a positive user experience for the customer. So if you go the chatbot route, make sure you’re using the best technology you can get.
Content Personalization
Content personalization, or customization, is a digital marketing strategy that creates specially targeted content through the use of available visitor data (such as location, page views, items or services they searched for, purchase history, ads clicked, etc.) For now, personalized content is primarily used for emails, but it can also be used for home pages, landing pages, blogs and product detail pages. Personalized content allows businesses to target visitors with the particular information they seek, improving the chance of converting a viewer into a customer.
Influencer Marketing
More and more companies are seeking the endorsement of popular social media personalities. Influencers are authorities on a particular topic, discussion, or niche area and can have anywhere from several hundred to several million followers on social media. As the name suggests, these social media stars “influence” their followers into buying a particular product or service.
Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing offers a cohesive solution for multichannel marketing in that customers interact seamlessly with every potential sales channels. A sales channel can be a print ad, a retail location, a website, mobile app, a promotional event, packaging, or word-of-mouth. However, unlike the multichannel approach, omnichannel marketing strategies provide a consistent and integrated brand experience across all sales channels a consumer uses. It’s like a digital handoff that smartly connects the customer buying journey. This helps create a more satisfying user experience that helps increase revenue and customer retention.
Mad Hat Maven is a communications firm that specializes in digital marketing offering services that include brand development, SEO, sales support, content strategy, video production and social media management. Contact Mad Hat Maven and let us put our 30-plus years of combined knowledge and digital marketing experience to work to help your business achieve its full potential.
