Yes folks. It’s that time of year when digital marketing experts and wannabe goo-roos unload their years of experience and thoughts during a quiet contemplation on the year ahead: in this case, 2019. No matter how fantastic a product or service is, businesses have always relied on content to convey the valued benefits of their product.
So, without further ado, behold your dose of gamma ray enhanced digital marketing tips for the coming year.
Vanity Metrics Be Damned
If you’ve noticed a correlation between the surge in your business website traffic and a spike in your EKG, then 2019 will be a good year to stop being so damn vain.
Sure, traffic spikes are nice to have (as long as they stay off the streets), but an increase in website traffic or your social media followers won’t help pay the bills.
Want to know what’s even better?
Paying customers.
It is important for business owners to understand that website traffic spikes are not mandatory for growth, and should never be used as a metric for measuring actual goals. This is because at best, a spike in website traffic is a vanity metric that has nothing to do with increased sales.
The take-away here is to stop stressing number of social media followers or email listings and focus more on great content. We’re talking about hiring web copywriting services that create content that actually attracts, inspires, and sells.
Influencer Marketing Gets Serious
When it comes to digital marketing and web content creation, a lot of businesses tend to go with anyone who calls themselves an “influencer” or “thought leader.”
This is a bad idea since influencer marketing is sadly not riddled with a lot of bad influencers. The bad depends on the ROI you’re going to get from the influencer.
Traditionally, influencers were actors, singers, and athletes who have been shooting commercials since the dawn of TV advertisements, nowadays, there are folks whose job description is “influencer”. There eve are many fake influencers that don’t even exist.
2019 is going to be about more than just finding an influencer who can help convert customers. It’s about finding an influencer that make an impact. So, do your research before hiring an influencer.
The Rise of AI
Artificial Intelligence, including voice recognition technology is going to take over the world, or at least, the online one. Today, AI is able to analyze search patterns and social media habits of consumers, along with utilizing data to help consumers find out the information they require. According to research carried out by Gartner, 25% of customer service will use chatbot technology by 2020. We’re already seeing businesses use what is called programmatic advertising, which uses AI to put ad buying on auto-pilot while targeting specific audiences. More automation means higher conversions while keeping customer acquisition costs low.
A Higher Degree of Personalization
The coming year will also see an increase in personalization in digital marketing. In fact, 96% of marketers already believe that further personalization helps advance customer relationships. The future is creating behavior-based personalized content in real time that includes AR and VR. Why? According to Statista,the VR and AR market is expected to reach a market size of around 209 billion U.S. dollars by 2022.
We are already seeing some of it right now. For example, log on to your Netflix account, all of the banner ads, text, artwork, carousels and even search are all personalized for you. The idea behind personalization is that it minimizes search time which in turn maximizes engagement, therefore leading to better relationships with customers.
Personal Emails Will be Replaced with 1:1 Video
You only have to look at Facebook, Instagram and other popular social media channels to find that live streaming services are all the rage these days. With the ease of shooting videos, marketers have discovered the value of lead nurturing by using personalized video messages rather than traditional email.
The 1:1 video approach can be used for offering various content which means it’s not long before you can expect to receive a personalized video instead of an email. And the use of 360-degree video content will make these messages even more personalized and interactive.
There are over 3.196 billion social media users globally, which equates to 42% market penetration. What this means is social media has become embedded in everything we do whether we like it or not. The one take-away from this for businesses and marketers is, it is no longer viable to focus on a single platform.
Get The Expert Help You Need
Let 2019 be the year where you make the most of content marketing. There are plenty of things you can do, but we’d like to help you zero in on activities that will get you the most bang for your buck.
Get in touch with us today. We’d love to schedule you for a free consultation with a content consultant. Find out firsthand why we’re recognized as a top content marketing agency on DesignRush.
