What trends in digital marketing do we need to pay attention to in 2019 and beyond?

Digital marketing is a landscape that changes, fast. What worked for your business in 2017 or 2018 may not achieve the same results next year. Technology is constantly evolving and providing ever more innovative ways for businesses to reach their target market. These are some of the digital marketing trends to look out for in 2019 and beyond.

Personalised marketing

Appreciating the power of personalisation is not new but the extent to which it can be used is. 96% of marketers now believe personalisation is responsible for growing customer relationships, from personalised emails to products and content. Key to this in 2019 is extensively analysing and using the vast volumes of data acquired about customers to create a much more customised approach.

The rise of micro influencers

We’ve seen celebrities become influencers and influencers become celebrities. In 2019, the trend for collaboration with individuals with smaller follower numbers will continue as the big influencers become more demanding and less effective. Already this year we’ve seen Iceland opt to work with “real mums” rather than influencers – the brand saw approval ratings rise from 10% to 80% as a result of partnering with Channel Mum.

Using social messaging for marketing

55 billion messages are sent every day via WhatsApp and two billion on Facebook Messenger. These are the channels where customers are engaged so it makes sense to use them for marketing purposes. Next year more and more brands are going to get in to the habit of using social messaging for marketing so it’s a trend to consider.

Micro-Moments

According to Google there are four core elements to micro-moments consumer behaviour:

• I want to know
• I want to go
• I want to do
• I want to buy

The key for 2019 will be to identify where consumers go to satisfy these wants and then place your brand marketing there. As the name suggests, these moments don’t last long so any marketing needs to be effective in a matter of seconds.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are poised to revolutionise the way that we use digital marketing, as well as how we understand it. AI is set to grow as a trend because it can provide in-depth analysis of how customers find brands. It will also drive the use of chatbots for customer service – according to Gartner, 25% of customer service will be delivered this way by 2020.

Video as part of digital marketing strategy

If you didn’t integrate video into your digital marketing strategy this year, in 2019 it’s going to become a must have. 72% of businesses found that the use of video improved conversion rates and more than half of consumers are more confident in purchasing after watching a brand’s video. Everything, from YouTube to live video, will continue to drive the trend for video creation and consumption onward.

Digital marketing trends for next year indicate plenty of movement in the way that brands communicate with consumers. If you’re looking to refresh your digital marketing or reposition your business we can help – contact us to find out more.