5 Emerging Trends in Digital Marketing You Should Be Aware Of

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In the past, advertisers could count on having a captive audience. There was no Google analytics to measure success, but there was also no skipping, pausing, or blocking ads from the customers’ perspective.

In 2019, the customer is in control of what they see and getting their attention is more and more difficult. The market is saturated. 30% of all Americans are using an ad blocker, and this number is only set to rise in the next few years.

So what does this mean for you and your business? How can you stand out when a rising amount of customers won’t even see the ads you’ve put so much time into crafting?

The best type of marketing fits seamlessly into the customer’s life by complementing their existing identity, browsing habits, and interests. Emerging trends in marketing are making this easier than ever, but there are right and a wrong ways to make them work.

Check out these five digital marketing trends set to transform the industry in 2019 and beyond!

1. Google Assistant Ad Space

20% of Google mobile searches are voice-based and it’s predicted that this will rise to 50% by 2020.

This puts businesses in a more competitive position than ever before. With text-based searches, there is at least a page one. With voice search, there’s typically only one result given.

How can you give your brand the best chance of getting that spot?

Alexa and Google Assistant will soon offer brands the option to purchase audio-based ad space. Brands will also start producing their own branded audio content to integrate with these assistants.

Domino’s is already doing this with Alexa in a way that brilliantly showcases their brand humor and demonstrates why this is one of the most important digital trends to look out for.

Start planning for this now to put your business ahead of the game.

2. Artificial Intelligence For Bespoke Automation

By providing an in-depth analysis of customer behavior, search activity and interactions (shares, impressions, likes etc.), artificial intelligence can give you a detailed understanding of your target audience.

AI also provides incredible opportunities for automation that can save you time and – when done right – give your customers a bespoke customer service experience.

Some effective way you can apply AI include:

• Propensity modeling – analyzing past behavior to predict future behavior
• Predictive analysis – predicting outcomes by combining statistical data with individual customer data
• Retargeting – using social media ads to target customers who bounced from your checkout page

The more sophisticated your analysis, the more you can automate, saving you time and money.

3. Connecting With Customers Via Social Messaging Apps

It’s now possible to use social messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Kik etc.) to directly market to customers.

How many customers can you reach in this way? Here are some numbers to consider:

• There are 1.3 billion users on Facebook Messenger every month
• WhatsApp has the same amount of users per day
• 55 billion WhatsApp messages are sent each day

What’s the best way to market through these apps?

One option is to use them in a similar way to SMS marketing (Facebook allows for setting up automated messages to reach customers who like, share or otherwise interact with your content).

However, in 2019 outbound digital marketing tactics are always second best to inbound marketing. The smartest brands have figured out ways to make the customer come to them.

A great example of this is from Sephora, who set up a chatbot on Kik during the prom season. Young customers could chat to the bot, which would recommend beauty tutorials based on the interaction. This was hugely successful, leading to over 600k interactions with the chatbot.

4. Using Micro-Influencers For Maximum Reach

Influencer Marketing is anything but invisible in 2019. Although 90% of marketers find it effective, customers are aware of it and there’s evidence that trust in social media influencers is not what it used to be.

How are the best brands responding to this?

Micro-influencers (that is, individuals with between 10k and 500k followers) are gaining popularity. By using a blend of small, mid-level and top influencers, your business can have a much broader appeal across the market than simply going for the most popular influencer.

Aperol Spritz have made very successful use of micro-influencer marketing by connecting with small-scale social media personalities who posted about their brand in laid-back party and lifestyle shots.

Follow their example and choose a variety of small, medium and large-scale influencers who embody your different brand personalities. This should give you excellent reach for your campaign.

5. Visual Search For Ecommerce

Google’s reverse image search lets users upload an image and search for a similar one.

It’s a simple concept that has great potential for digital marketing ideas.

Here are three excellent examples of this in action.

Pinterest Lens

With Pinterest Lens, customers can take a picture of an item in store and either find the exact item to purchase online, or browse boards of similar pinned items.

Google Lens And CamFind

Google Lens uses AI to add descriptive labels to objects, including buildings, landmarks, paintings in galleries and books. Customers can also view more information about the item, such as book reviews.

CamFind works in a very similar way, allowing customers to find information on movie showings near them by scanning a poster.

Learn More About Emerging Trends In Marketing

These five examples are the tip of the iceberg. Technology is transforming advertising by giving businesses new and innovative ways to grab people’s attention.

Giving customers what they want is easier, thanks to things like smart AI, visual search and bespoke chatbot experiences. 

However, brands now need to operate with restrictions that didn’t exist a few short years ago.

Want to learn more about the emerging trends in marketing that your business needs to be ready for? Check out my blog, where I provide a run-down of the 20 most-used visual advertising tactics and how you can apply them in 2019.