Digital Marketing Trends 2019
Chris Mulvaney is the CEO of CMDS. I make things... I’m the creative entrepreneur with passion for (re)making brands and inventing solutions to problems no one knows exist.
Digital Marketing Trends Quick Links
Change is a part of life, and the same can be said about digital marketing trends. What worked in 2018, is not guaranteed to work in 2019.
Digital marketing trends will come and go; however, you have to keep up with the latest trends, especially if you want to stay ahead of your competitors.
Brands must be willing to adapt to change; if not, your business could stagnate. Innovation is synonymous with change. When it comes to innovation, there’s no better brand than Apple.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs, a great visionary and innovator brought a lot of change to Apple. Jobs changed the way that we communicate and interact with each other.
In 1999, Microsoft’s stock was at a record high $620 billion. The notion that Apple’s market capitalization could be higher- or even twice as big- was laughable.
Apple
At the time, Apple was teetering on bankruptcy. However, the willingness of Steve Jobs to think outside-the-box and adapt to change, in an ever-changing world, is what led to Apple’s success.
The most successful brands need a vision, and both Apple and Microsoft have one. However, Apple had a more radical vision. Microsoft envisioned a computer on every person’s desk.
Apple, on the other hand, went much further; its vision was a computer in everyone’s pocket. We’ve all seen how Apple has grown tremendously throughout the years. As a brand, it’s essential that you stay up-to-date with the last digital marketing trends in 2019.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is the promotion of one’s products or services via search engines, social media, websites, email, and mobile apps.
By using digital marketing strategies, you could drive more traffic to your website and reach your intended target audience. Additionally, you’ll be able to get more leads, and improve the presence of your brand.
Now that we’ve defined what digital marketing is let’s dive into some of the top digital marketing trends that you can expect to see in 2019.
Voice Search
Voice search is on the rise and will be one of the hottest trends of 2019. Let’s face it; we live in a world where people want to do things the easy way.
Voice search will make life easier for millions of people. Also, let’s not forget that we’ve seen this technology with the iPhone’s Siri, you can ask Siri anything, and Siri will provide you with an answer.
For example, you could ask your digital assistant for restaurants, gas stations, or even movie theaters that are near you.
A considerable number of people are doing precisely that on a regular basis with Amazon, Google Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple HomePod, and Samsung’s Bixby.
Voice search is indeed not a fad and is here to stay. So, this is why it’s a digital marketing trend that you should keep an eye out for in 2019.
It’s vital that you incorporate voice search into your SEO plan. Also, the results of voice queries are a lot faster than regular searches and provide the added benefit of convenience for the user.
You have to prepare for the voice search revolution and the impact that it will have on organic traffic. Here are some statistics on voice search:
By 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches, per comScore. As you can see, voice search queries are on the rise.
According to Gartner, about 30% of all searches are expected to occur without a screen by 2020.
In 2017, 13% of all households in the US owned a smart speaker. According to OC&C Strategy Consultants, this number is expected to increase to 50% by 2022.
Voice-recognition technology is on the rise and is a trend in digital marketing that you should look out for in 2019.
Artificial Intelligence
Currently, A.I. is everywhere, and it’s responsible for virtual assistants on your smartphone, tablet, and as well as the technology in self-driving cars.
The use of artificial intelligence is expected to rise in 2019. So, this is why it’s a digital marketing trend that should be on your radar.
A.I. can analyze the behavior of consumers and their search patterns. Also, they can help businesses understand how customers interact with their products and services.
An excellent example of this is Facebook’s Messenger Bots. For example, these bots can help you better automate your customer service and improve the efficiency of your business.
When you incorporate the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, you’ll be able to find new patterns in user behavior. So, this is why you should try and incorporate AI into your digital marketing strategies.
To provide more clarity and context, here are some useful definitions:
AI makes it easier for machines to learn from experience and be able to perform human-like tasks.
You can look at machine learning as a branch of artificial intelligence. So, it basically goes hand in hand with the idea that systems can learn from data and observe specific patterns. Also, systems can make decisions with little to no human intervention.
Programmatic Advertising
An emerging digital marketing trend that you should keep an eye out for in 2019 is programmatic advertising.
Ad buying isn’t always easy; however, programmatic advertising can help simplify the entire process. For example, real-time bidding is a form of ad buying.
Automating ad buying will lead to higher conversions and lower cost per acquisition ( CPA).
According to eMarketer, about 90% of digital display ads in the United States will be programmatic by 2020. So, this is why programmatic advertising is a digital marketing trend that you should give more attention to in 2019.
Chatbots
When it comes to digital marketing trends, Chatbots have to be a part of the conversation. A lot more businesses are starting to use Chatbots.
If you’ve recently searched for a product or service, chances are you’ve interacted with a few Chatbots. Also, about 1.4 billion people have interacted with Chatbots.
Also, about 80% of savvy businesses are already using or plan to give chatbots a try by 2020.
Additionally, by 2022, chatbots are expected to help businesses save $8 billion annually, particularly in the healthcare and banking industries.
A lot of people prefer interacting with chatbots compared to a human, simply because they’re responsive and won’t lose patience.
You can look at chatbots as virtual assistants that use artificial intelligence to provide excellent customer service.
Chatbots can help you improve the overall productivity and efficiency of your business. Also, if needed the chatbot can transfer you to a live agent.
Even Uber is using the chatbot technology to communicate with their customers, thereby making it a lot easier for them to get a ride.
In the world of digital marketing trends, you should expect to see an increase in the use of chatbots by businesses and the average person in 2019.
Video Advertising
Video marketing is an advertising channel that is often overlooked by digital marketers and business owners alike.
However, video advertising is just as relevant as some of the more common advertising channels such as paid search, social media, and email marketing.
For example, YouTube is the largest video platform on the planet, which means that there’s a massive opportunity for you to reach a lot of people from all over the world.
Here are some interesting facts that you should know about YouTube:
- YouTube has over 1.5 billion users. In an average month, 18+ year-olds in the United States spend more time watching YouTube than any television network.
- YouTube is the most popular social media website for teens. According to Forrester Research, 96% of online teens in the United States use YouTube.
- On mobile alone, more 18- to 49- year olds watch videos on YouTube during prime time in the United States than they do the top 10 prime-time shows combined.
- Over the last two years, the number of small- and medium-sized business advertising on YouTube has doubled.
Understand that when people think of videos, they think of YouTube. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t use YouTube. So, as you can see, YouTube video advertising will be one of the top digital marketing trends that you can’t afford to overlook in 2019. YouTube is a great video platform that you can use to get your brand out there.
Advertising On YouTube
Advertising on YouTube is not as hard as you might think. YouTube has a lot of resources on how to advertise on their platform.
Here the three key types of YouTube video ads:
TrueView Ads
As an advertiser, you’ll only pay when viewers watch or interact with your ad. For example, clicking on a call-to-action. Also, you’ll only pay when users watch at least 30 seconds of your video or take an action.
There are two types of TrueView ads that you can customize your channel for, allowing you to get more out of your advertising efforts on YouTube.
Video Discover Ads: your ad will show up on YouTube’s homepage, search results pages, and also related videos (YouTube Video Watch Pages).
In-Stream Ads: these ads will play before someone watches the video they’ve selected on YouTube. Also, the user will sometimes have the option to skip the ad after they’ve watched it for at least 5 seconds.
Pre-Roll Ads
Certain in-stream ads can’t be skipped, and can play before, mid-roll, or after the main video. Non-skippable ads are what you call Pre-Roll ads. Also, they can be 15 to 20 seconds in du
ration.
Bumper Ads
Bumper ads are the shortest types of YouTube video ads; these ads are only 6 seconds long and will play before the viewer’s video starts.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is usually pushed aside, especially when compared to traditional advertising. The interesting thing is that certain digital marketers and small business owners have never heard of native advertising much less know what it is.
Well, native advertising is a game changer, and will undoubtedly be one of the best digital marketing trends in 2019.
According to the Native Advertising Institute, globally, advertisers are expected to move about 25% of their marketing budgets from traditional advertising to native advertising.
What is Native Advertising?
Native ads are usually found on social media feeds, or as a recommended content. The remarkable thing about native advertising is that the ads are non-disruptive. Also, the ads look like they are part of the editorial flow of the web page.
Does Native Advertising Work?
Yes, native advertising works. In fact, consumers tend to view native ads 53% more than display ads.
When you use native ads, you can expect to see an 18% increase in purchase intent.
Also, you will get better engagements because native ads are highly relevant and don’t come off as if you’re trying to sell the user on your product and services.
Social Media Trends 2019
In today’s society, social media is crucial to the success of your business. If you’re not on social media, you’re missing out on a tremendous opportunity to reach potential customers.
Social media is a part of digital marketing, so you have to ensure that you’re up-to-date with the latest social media trends.
As a small business owner, most likely, you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and YouTube. However, are you taking advantage of all that these social media platforms have to offer?
User-Generated Content
Social media is where it’s at. You can expect to see an increase in user-generated content in 2019.
These days it doesn’t take much to go viral on social media. User-generated content is content that your fans will create on their own, they aren’t paid to do it.
Content can come in the form of photos, videos, or memes. A fan could create content for your business that could go viral, resulting in sales and leads. So, user-generated content is something that you should keep an eye out for as 2019 approaches.
Augmented Reality
When it comes to digital marketing trends and social media, you can’t afford to overlook augmented reality; it’s quite similar to virtual reality.
Snapchat is an excellent example of this. Snapchat filters can have sponsors in the corner of the screen. Also, users can create geofilters if they want.
According to Business 2 Community, the augmented reality markets could generate about $300 billion by 2023, which is a staggering number.
SEO Trends 2019
If you have a website, then you’re going to need traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing. Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial to the success of any business.
There’s no point in having a website if no one is visiting it. After all, as a business owner, one of your main goals is to drive organic traffic to your website, which will help you get more leads and sales for your business.
As it pertains to digital marketing trends that you should look out for in 2019, SEO should be at the top of the list. The awesome thing about SEO is that you don’t have to pay for the traffic, it’s free.
If you put in the work, you’ll certainly get more traffic from the search engines that can help take your business to the next level.
Article Length
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “content is king” countless times. It’s true; content is king. Content plays a huge role in SEO.
However, that doesn’t mean that you can just write about anything and expect to get any organic traffic. Unfortunately, this is the mistake that a lot of bloggers make.
You have to conduct keyword research so that you can have a much better understanding of what people are searching for. In doing this, you’ll have more success with your blog.
Most businesses and bloggers alike write blog posts that are about 300-500 words long.
A 300-500 word blog post will only get you so far. You have to aim a bit higher if you want your blogs to rank better in the search engine results pages.
I want you to keep in mind that I’m not saying that the main reason why your content will perform better is that it has a certain amount of words. You have to write content that is deep and in-depth.
So, when you develop content that covers a lot of topics and provides the user with what they’re looking for, you could end with an article that’s over 2,000 words long.
So, it’s not that you’re trying to get to a certain word count, it’s more along the lines that in writing in-depth content you’ll end up with a longer article.
HubSpot
According to HubSpot, articles with a word count between 2,250 and 2,500 get the most organic traffic. So, as far as digital marketing trends go, a lot of marketers will start to write longer articles.
In addition to organic traffic, longer content gets more social shares and backlinks. So, there’s a lot of benefits that you can receive from writing longer articles. In 2019, long-form content should be part of your content marketing strategy.
Optimize For RankBrain
User experience plays a vital role in SEO. Google is all about providing users with the best results and experience possible.
So, they do take into account if someone clicks on a result, lands on a website, and quickly bounces.
You can easily see how this can affect rankings in the search engine results pages. In fact, this is precisely what Google’s RankBrain does.
What is RankBrain?
RankBrain is a machine learning system that Google uses to provide users with relevant search results.
It’s not as complicated as it sounds. RankBrain takes into account how users interact with search results and use that data to determine what results to show the user.
RankBrain is one of the digital marketing trends of 2019 that you should incorporate into your SEO plan.
You should ensure that you’re creating content that is optimized for RankBrain.
At the end of the day, Google cares a lot about user experience and relevancy. So, this is something that you should keep in mind.
LSI SEO
Optimizing your content for latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords will be one of the best digital marketing trends that you can expect to see in 2019.
By incorporating LSI keywords into your content, you can drastically improve your organic traffic and rankings in the SERPs.
What is an LSI Keyword?
You can look at an LSI keyword as a keyword that is semantically linked to the main keyword.
LS keywords can help you increase your organic traffic. It’s what a lot of the top content marketers are using and you should too.
LSI Keyword Tool
An excellent LSI keyword tool that you can use to find the best LSI keywords is LSI Graph.
LSI Graph can help you discover keywords that help you get better rankings and organic traffic.
Mobile-First Indexing
In March of 2018, Google began rolling out the mobile-first indexing. Top marketers and SEOs have expected this to happen. After all, Google is always making changes to their algorithms. Optimizing for mobile devices is important because they now account for about 60% of all traffic and that number will grow even more in 2019.
What is Mobile-First Indexing? Well, it’s exactly as it sounds; Google will index the mobile version of your website first. Understand that this doesn’t mean that Google will only index the mobile version of your site, they will, however, the mobile version will have a higher priority.
So, it’s important that your website is fully optimized for mobile devices in terms of content, speed, and the overall user experience of the website. So, you should definitely keep an eye out for the mobile-first indexing in 2019.
Linkless Mentions
Backlinks have been an essential part of SEO since Google created PageRank in 1996. However, with the changing SEO landscape, link-less mentions could very well become an off-page signal of equal weight.
According to MarketingProfs, search engines are now smart enough to determine a site’s authority by correlating mentions and brands with their websites.
In 2017, Gary Illyes, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, has also said that Google uses online brand mentions on its search algorithm.
Search Engine Land describes how Google use online brand mentions as a ranking signal.
First, it examines all properties mentioning it to get a bigger picture of the brand’s authority in a particular field.
Second, it takes into account the context of the mention: reputation, trust, advertising, complaint-solving, etc.
These are all underscores that linkless brand mentions can soon become an official ranking factor.
If you would like to leverage this SEO growth trend in 2019, then you should start by tracking each mention of your brand and start growing your mentions by doing outreach initiatives with other relevant websites.
GDPR Impact on SEO
The recently implemented General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR) has been causing some headaches across various industries; the world of SEO is no different.
This has been happening for the simple fact that this EU regulation requires businesses to implement certain systems and processes to ensure that all of their EU customer’s data are safe and secured.
From an SEO standpoint, this basically means that you should update your privacy policy and terms of service pages, especially if you have visitors from the EU.
You should follow all of the GDPR rules and regulations so that you’re complaint and won’t face any fines. So, you should definitely keep an eye out for any news and updates in 2019 as it pertains to GDPR.
Paid Search Trends 2019
Paid search plays an essential role in digital marketing. Google Adwords recently rebranded itself to Google Ads.
So, the user interface has completely changed, so now, you have to get used to using Google Ads.
New Features in Google Ads
Promotion extensions: allow you to showcase your products with a dollar or percentage discount.
Also, you can add promotion extensions at the ad group level. Promotion extensions will help your ads stand out more.
Bid adjustments for phone calls: You can now make bid adjustments to ads that are using call extensions, which will lead to those ads being shown more often.
Outstream video campaigns: Mobile-only video ads that reach potential customers on partner sites.
Bing Ads
If you’re a small business owner or digital marker, you’re probably wondering if you should use Bing or Google Ads.
Well, there’s no easy answer because it depends on your business goals and objectives.
Google has a lot more search volume; however, you can have better ad positions and lower cost per click (CPC) with Bing Ads.
As far as digital marketing trends are concerned, it’s fair to say that a lot more people will start using Bing Ads in 2019.
I say this because Google AdWords, now Google Ads has a lot of competition.
Bing Ads will allow you to reach searchers that aren’t reached with Google Ads.
Let’s look at the numbers:
- Currently, Bing has 34% of the desktop search engine market share worldwide.
- Over 5.4 billion searches are conducted on the Bing Network on a monthly basis.
- Approximately 145 million unique searches use Bing.
- You can reach 66 million searchers on Bing that aren’t reached with Google Ads.
The interesting thing about Bing is that you can reach an audience that is older and more educated.
40% of the Bing Network audience is between 35-54 years old. Also, one-third of the people that use Bing has a household income of over $100,000.
So, even though you can reach more people with Google Ads, you can reach a wider audience with Bing.
Social Listening Trends 2019
Social listening is a trend that will become more prevalent in 2019. More brands are starting to see the importance and value in knowing what their target audiences are saying about them on social media.
Social listening is a bit more than just having a social media presence and engaging with your customers on social media. Now, it’s about using social listening tools to monitor your social media platforms and look for any mentions of your brand.
B2B Digital Marketing Trends 2019
B2B marketing is continually changing. So, it’s essential for businesses to try out different digital marketing tactics and strategies to ensure that they’re staying ahead of the competition.
Thought Leadership
Thought leadership isn’t a new term; it’s been around for a few years now. The idea behind thought leadership is this; you have to present yourself as an expert in your field. You should have the knowledge and skills to engage with prospects or even your intended target audience correctly. So, this a trend that is on the rise in 2019.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
What is account-based marketing? You can look at account-based marketing (ABM) as an alternative to B2B strategy that concentrates sales and marketing resources on target accounts that are clearly defined within a market. 60% of B2B brands are aiming to switch to an ABM model.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation can help improve the productivity and efficiency of your brand. Marketing automation utilizes certain web-based services to execute, manage and automate specific marketing tasks and processes. So, marketing automation gets rid of manual, boring, and repetitive work generally seen in emails, social media, and specific website actions. There are numerous marketing automation tools out there that can help streamline your business.
Digital Marketing Agency
In 2019, more brands will start to make use of digital marketing agencies to handle all of their marketing initiatives. Some small businesses tend to have an in-house marketing manager that manages all aspects of marketing. However, is the salary that you’re paying your marketing manager worth it?
You can accomplish a lot more when you have a dedicated team behind you, one that can handle all of your SEO, PPC, Social Media, and Web Development needs.
You can get more bang for your back with a digital marketing agency. An agency will be able to develop and execute a winning digital marketing strategy that will help take your brand to the next level.
Final Thoughts
As a brand, it’s essential that you stay abreast of the latest digital marketing trends. Understand that what worked in 2018 will not necessarily work in 2019. The digital marketing world is always changing.
To gain a competitive edge, you should aim to have a similar mindset to that of Steve Jobs. Once you’re willing to adapt to change, think-outside-the-box, and implement new digital marketing strategies; you’ll be able to take your brand to the next level.