Digital Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2019 | iDigitize

Digital marketing is complex and has many ever evolving elements – SEO, social media, marketing automation, PPC, and more. New technologies, techniques, and unstatic Google and Facebook algorithms keep your digital marketing teams on their toes, even ours. A major part of any digital marketing agency is to closely monitor upcoming trends to ensure client’s digital marketing campaigns remain effective and generate greater ROI. Here are 5 digital marketing trends that you must consider adopting in 2019 for your business.

#1 SEO: Be Found on the web:What is SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of online traffic. Search engine’s priority has always been quality content, which has augmented the importance of SEO. The result of a successful SEO is to get your website on the front pages of the search engines like Google,Yahoo and Bing. SEO as a Digital Marketing tool is ROI (return on investment) driven and applied to increase the overall visibility of your website. SEO attempts to bridge the gap between your business and potential customers in the digital space by optimizing your website to its full potential. Search Engine Optimization(SEO) makes you "be found" as opposed to "finding people" for the products & services you offer.

Why does website need SEO?.SEO will help people find your website. Therefore, SEO Isn’t Icing On The Cake – It’s An Important Ingredient. SEO can make your brand stronger, better and well recognized which builds trust and credibility. Customers often do their research online before making a purchase. If your website offers what the customer is looking for, chances are he may visit your website to make the purchase. Example consider your website is selling mobile phones under?20,000, & a visitor is browsing the web for the latest smartphone under Rs.20,000 and your website is well optimized for the purpose, the visitor may convert into your client by making a purchase off your website.Every strategy of your SEO campaign can be measured, evaluated and corrected. By doing this continuously, you can continue feeding campaigns which are generating high results and stop/reduce feeding campaigns which you got you peanuts. After all, our end goal is to increase ROI.

1. Influencer marketing: Influencer marketing is as good as a celebrity endorsement, which is far more convincing and engaging to your target audience. By tapping influential people on social media, you’re able to reach their audience with a voice that they trust. If you blend both influencer marketing and video marketing for your digital marketing campaign the results are jaw-dropping & over a period of time you will be known as a "helpful resource", one that other companies want to work with.You must identify the most apt influencer who reaches your target demographics directly. Brands that are leveraging influencers to spread their message are experiencing nearly 10X rise in conversion rate and we definitely recommend you to invest some time here.
2. Artificial intelligence: Computer science defines Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a device or an algorithm that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals. In the 21st century, AI techniques have experienced advances in computer power, large amounts of data, and theoretical understanding, making it an essential part of the technology industry. AI is currently used across various sectors like health, automotives, finance and audit, gaming and Advertising. Let’s look at some Advertising AI tools you must consider integrating in your Digital Marketing Plan:

Voice search: In today’s mobile-friendly environment we speak more to Alexa, Google and Siri. Hence, as a business owner you need to integrate voice search optimization, as it is a game changer in Digital Marketing. Half of the world is going to do a voice search for their needs by 2020 so you better start working on it today, to bear the fruits later.

Data Analytics: Predicting the behaviour of the buyer has never been so easy. It can predict your sales which will help you generate a return on your investments.

AI Chatbots: Customer is really treated like a king with the integration of an AI chatbot which is an automated tool that gives the impression of talking to an actual customer service person in real time.

#4 Augmented reality (AR):Augmented reality (AR) is a type of interactive, reality-based display environment that takes the capabilities of computer generated display, sound, text and effects to enhance the user's real-world experience. It uses the existing environment and adds information to it, making a new artificial environment that will stun you. It is mainly used in the retail space and has been applied to professions like gaming, healthcare, online shopping, retail apps and Advertisements.Why get going with AR?:

Ultimate engagement tool: AR uses immersive tools which allow you to engage with your customers at a different level all together. They can test out what paint colour suits your wall (Asian Paints), try on a spectacles or sunglasses (Lenskart), or place IKEA furniture in your home before you buy it.

Making experiences more meaningful: Followers of AR are geared up to elevate the consumer experience in new ways, just by bridging digital interactions with physical spaces.

Customers attention span expanded: Average attention span of a human being according to google study has reduced from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2018. With AR, it’s high interactivity and engagement tools, it has proved to hold your customers attention for more than a minute. Vallah! it’s like getting a new life in your favourite game. "The more effective your marketing strategy is in grabbing your customer’s attention, the higher is your customer engagement, the higher is your conversion".

Branding for the long run: Half of your target audience is going to interact with the AR system. Some may enjoy the experience and just share it around their circle and may not convert, nevertheless, they are doing the Branding for you. On the other hand, some of your probable customers are overwhelmed with this AR experience and finally a purchase is done. Being the talk of the town always brands you well which will increase your conversions in the long run.

Digital and physical environments will merge making AR the primary Digital marketing tool to over perform compared to your competitors. Whether your business is related to selling products online or a physical retail store, your Digital Marketing strategy needs to embrace this technology.

#5 Content and Info-graphics: A new Digital Marketing wave has been describing the convergence of info-graphics & Content Marketing. Today, these two industries have become inseparable that yields wonderful result. Use great content to maximise traffic to your website and use captivating infographics to keep the visitors engaged, resulting into a conversions.

Conclusion: According to The Global Leadership Forecast 2018, "Organizations with digitally savvy leaders, will outperform those organizations with less digitally capable leaders in 2019". So now you know where to channelise your effort and budget for Marketing. What worked in 2018, may not work in 2019. Things are getting outdated sooner than before. Technology is more refined and with innovations like machine learning and artificial intelligence knocking at the door, we are going to be on a crazy rollercoaster.

Carlshen firoze wadia, digital marketing service provider and consultant and a blogger.