Digital Marketing: 3 Trends To Watch In 2019

With 2019 just weeks away, we thought it was a great time to dig into some of the more sexy and trendy digital marketing changes we’ve seen grow this year. While there are still big things happening in content and video marketing, here are 3 major trends we predict will experience massive growth next year.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Not to be confused with Virtual Reality, AR is when computer-animated data or images overlay physical objects in real time. Today, its applications are endless. We’re seeing it used in multiple ways in consumer goods, entertainment, sports, education, defense, aerospace, tourism, e-commerce, the healthcare and medical industries, and of course, marketing.

Early signs of AR can be traced all the way back to twenty years ago. The earliest examples we’ll all remember would be that yellow line on the screen when you were watching football as a kid or teenager — but it’s obviously come a long way since then.

Today, AR is being used in marketing to integrate digital-data into real-time experiences. Brands are taking advantage of the opportunity to create interactive experiences that allow their consumers to get up close and personal with their product.

Five years ago, IKEA came out with their very own app that would allow people to get a virtual preview of the furniture they were planning to buy, through the use of AR. This isn’t something brand new, but it’s something that’s becoming more mainstream and providing a major competitive advantage for early adopters like IKEA and other brands who can find creative ways to use AR to engage their audience.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI Marketing is about leveraging customer data (big data) and machine learning to predict your customer’s next move, as well as improve their customer experience and journey. With the big data insights available today, marketers have the tools to understand their customers better than ever and can accurately predict their future wants and plans.

The applications for AI are endless, and businesses from around the globe are already leveraging it for things like customer service, continued learning, and better search engines. When it comes to marketing, we’re talking chatbots, smarter and cheaper ads, better content creation and delivery, intuitive search functions, and programmatic advertising.

Have you ever wondered how companies like Spotify and Netflix send you such great recommendations as if they actually knew you? You can thank AI for that. This is such a huge topic that we’re going to be exploring it more deeply over the next few weeks. A few paragraphs just can’t do it justice, but it’s a major trend to watch and learn about for 2019.

Voice Marketing

Would you believe that even a year ago, over 47 million American adults owned a smart speaker? Voice search has drastically changed how marketers need to approach things like SEO and getting their content found on Google. How can you get into the search results when people are asking Siri or Alexa for information instead of typing it into the search engines?

Another movement being pushed forward with AI, smart speakers are being adopted faster than most marketers can stomach. This is an entirely new medium we need to be creating content for and while on the surface that may sound like more work, it’s actually an unbelievable opportunity for brands to make real connections with their audience.

When you think about how most people are using these speakers and voice assistants, it’s quite possibly the most personal advertising medium possible. People speak to these like things like they’re humans — there are real conversations happening with these tools that live in our homes and vehicles with us. And with this comes a major opportunity to connect with your audience like never before.

Some of the content we’re seeing created for voice searches now is to help them solve an urgent problem, engage them through storytelling, inform or educate them, and build a relationship through their other connected devices.

If you want to stay ahead of the curve and either find or keep that competitive edge, looking ahead for your next marketing initiatives is going to send you in the right direction. As machine learning and augmented reality become more mainstream, businesses everywhere are going to have no choice but to get on board!