Rising digital marketing trends to watch out for in 2019
It’s hard to believe that Christmas is only one month away. While that might mean it’s time to think about gifts and holidays, you should also take some time to think and plan how to give your marketing strategy a refresh for the new year ahead. Here are the top three digital trends to watch and start preparing for.
1. Voice search
“Hey Siri”, “Ok Google” – do these phrases ring a bell? If you have ever used voice commands to search things on the internet you understand that this is one of those can’t-live-without features. If, however, you are one of those who never used it before imagine conducting a search without having to type, but just using your voice. For example, “How’s the weather in London?”, “Multiply 52×45”, “What time does the supermarket close on Saturday?”, etc. Voice is without a doubt much quicker than typing.
Voice input is considered to be one of the most efficient forms of computing and according to recent searches, it is anticipated that in a year’s time half of the web browsing sessions will be conducted by voice.
This means it’s time to look into the future and embrace it! How? The key here is to optimize your company’s SEO strategy to respond to voice search demands, build your own voice assistant in your app or even partner with the likes of Alexa, Echo and Google Home.
2. Chatbots
Have you ever thought how many times per day your customer service answers the same questions? For example, “Is your restaurant pet-friendly?”, “What are your opening hours?”, “How much do you charge for x service?”. Chatbots – an AI program designed to simulate realistic conversations with website visitors – cannot only help you reduce operating costs but also personalize and increase customer engagement.
Think about how much money you will save by having a 24/7 customer support through a chatbot rather than having employees working shifts to offer 24/7 support.
As we enter 2019, you should consider all the benefits chatbots as a marketing tool can bring to your business. To be clear chatbots are based on machine learning to gather conversational cadences so the more questions they get, the smarter they become. It might require time and considerable coding, but you will be surprised by what they are capable of! For instance, Spotify (the digital music service) through Facebook Messenger bot helps its customers find music they like by asking about their music preferences, what are they doing at that moment and what is their mood.
3. Augmented reality
Remember how in 2016 Pokemon fans were glued to their phone to catch as many Pokemon characters as possible? That’s one example of augmented reality and presents a great marketing opportunity for businesses who want to reach more and more customers. Another great example is Ikea, which offers a virtual reality catalog where you can place and arrange furniture in rooms to see how they would look.
Through augmented reality, brands like the aforementioned found a way to forge a memorable experience and catch the attention of the audience. We live in an era where people nowadays interact with technology more and more, so this is your opportunity to showcase your products and services in real time. For instance, if you own a clothing shop, consider including a functionality of virtual try-on or if you have a cosmetics store, think about helping your customers when shopping online decide whether that lip colour will suit them or not.
So are you adding voice search, chatbots and augmented reality to your marketing mix in 2019?
