The Winning Marketing Techniques In 2019 (Expert Roundup)

2018 was an exciting year for the marketing landscape.

• Facebook has suffered from a number of scandals, readjusting their policies and monetization rules multiple times.
• Influencer marketing had its ups and downs.
• Inbound found new, progressive methods to connect with outbound and approach different channels.
• LinkedIn rapidly became a leading social network (no longer limited to B2B).
• YouTube's wild success made video a leading force across virtually all channels, and live video is spreading further.

The ongoing development of additional channels like podcasting and pushing for an omni-channel approach turned marketing into a completely different game.

Which is why I asked 10 of the best marketers on the planet the following question:

What is the main marketing technique founders and marketers should double down on in 2019?

So, what does the future of marketing hold? Let's dive right in!

1. Embrace The Growth of YouTube

"Definitely YouTube. Cisco reports that 80% of all internet traffic will be video by 2020. That's next year! So if you don't have a presence on the world's biggest video platform, you're going to be left behind.

And from working with lots of brands on YouTube, it's still relatively easy to get traction on YouTube. It's kind of like Facebook in 2010. But it's getting more crowded by the minute. So if you haven't gone all in with video yet, 2019 is the time."

Brian Dean, Founder at Backlinko, the man behind "The Skyscraper Technique"

2. Actively Repurpose And Update Content

"The main marketing technique founders and marketers should double down in 2019 is repurposing content to better leverage it across media platforms.

Instead of creating new content, it's better to upgrade existing content and create it in multiple formats (text, infographics, quote cards, and videos), so you can get maximum return from your content marketing efforts.

This also helps you leverage your existing content to quickly expand on other marketing channels outside of your own website."

Syed Balkhi, Founder & CEO at Awesome Motive Inc., the mastermind of Optin Monster and WPBeginner

3. Delegate, Build a Back End Team

"I find that founders have a problem with delegating. They tend to wear 10 hats and in the end you will be diluting the result you want to deliver. If you plan to focus and deliver high standards of work; think about delegating and building a back end team. 

I recommend using Twinsy - they act like your virtual shadow and execute for you. Twinsy is my secret tool for growth, and it will be yours in 2019."

String Nguyen, 2x Linkedin's Top Voice, Founder at Master Your Video

4. Invest In Thought Leadership

"Thought leadership is the main marketing technique founders and marketers should double down on in 2019. People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Nothing connects people to people like one on one communication, but since that's difficult to do at scale, thought leadership is the next best thing.

A talented thought leader can make their audience feel as though they know them, even if they never meet in person. They can demonstrate their personality so people learn to like them, and they can share value that builds trust."

Josh Steimle, Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Coach. CEO of Influencer Inc

5. Collect Customer Stories

"The technique I recommend, to product and service companies alike, is to call your existing customers and ask them three questions:

1. What was your situation before you starting working with us (/our product)?
2. What other options did you evaluate and why did you choose us?
3. What have you enjoyed most now that you've been with us for a bit?

I think most of us get away from this habit of collecting customer stories and yet they're profoundly useful for our own marketing messages, for how we think about differentiation, for testimonials, and frankly, maybe the most important part of it, to motivate employees because they get more connected to the impact they're having. It's not a hard thing to do, but it's easy to step away from doing it and jump onto some other "hot" marketing technique."

Chris Lema, VP, Products & Innovations at Liquid Web, 20 years of senior-level software management success and WordPress thought leadership

6. Produce More Video In More Places

"I've doubled down on this before. I'm doing it again. Video.

But in 2019, I'm doing more video in more places. Not just social media video. Founders and marketers should be doing all three types of videos with more frequency: social, content marketing and conversion.

source: Three Types of Marketing Videos

I recommend starting at the bottom of your funnel and making those conversion videos first. Those can create more demand faster than anything else. 

Once those are polished, move up the funnel to your content marketing videos. Make video versions of your top content. 

Finally, next time your promoting something important, make a 1-minute commercial for it and post it to social media. Add captions and tag/mention anyone involved in the project.

If you doubled down on video last year, it's time to do it again. Quadruple down! It's worth it."

Andy Crestodina, CMO & Co-Founder, Orbit Media Studios; Top 10 Online Marketing Expert

7. Make Data-Driven Decisions

"Think of 2019 as the year of making data-driven decisions. As marketers, we should cast a wide net and double down on the channels and campaigns that our data shows the most promise in.

With that in mind, you can't make those kinds of decisions without confidence in your data, and the related strategies for taking action. Understanding your key metrics and what dials to turn is a great place to start while you hone in on how to use data to make a real impact this year.

Something you can do right now to kick things off? Do your research on a BI tool that will best serve your team."

Rod Austin, Director of Marketing, Pagely; Growth Advisor

8. Deal With New Technologies And Buyers' Habits

"The big takeaway is that marketing is maturing: We have to deal with new technologies and new ways customers discover brands online. The key here is to be ready to innovate, that is to find new innovative software partners that will help you embrace new marketing techniques and stand out. There are plenty of examples already, including:

• https://textoptimizer.com/ - offers a new way to optimize your content, beyond keyword matching. It uses semantic analysis to analyze Google SERPs and return related concepts and neighboring terms to optimize for.
• https://sentione.com/ applies AI technology to tracking and analyzing social media sentiment
• https://rankedy.com/ uses machine learning to help you optimize your site

To sum up: the main marketing technique founders and marketers should double down on in 2019 is to research and invest in emerging digital marketing software that brings something new to the table."

Ann Smarty, Founder at ViralContentBee.com, Brand Manager at IMNinjas.com

9. Embrace Transparent Messaging

"Transparent messaging.

Consumers are getting much smarter about identifying and avoiding ads. If your product or service really is something that consumers will find valuable, feel free to expose its inner workings in a transparent, honest way.

Doing so will not only create trust from the start, but will also help differentiate you in a sea of ads that feel like they're designed to trick people."

Peter Kozodoy, Author, Keynote Speaker and Inc. 5000 Entrepreneur. CEO of Stradeso

10. Don't Forget Lead Generation

"In B2B, existing and net-new content is painfully underutilized for (1) lead generation, (2) lead nurturing, and (3) lead scoring (i.e., MQLs). This is because the process for creating “content upgrades” — normally, white papers, guides, ebooks, PDFs, webinars, etc. — is weighed down with dependencies. Also at fault is a single creative process governing all three categories.

First, separate high-yield, high-dependency assets — namely, anything that falls into category three — from every other piece of content your company creates. Assets meant to generate high-quality scorable leads can and should be driven by full-scale campaigns. Not all content will have that aim, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still generate leads for nurturing.

Second, remove as many design and development dependencies as possible to spin up hyper-relevant content upgrades to lay on top of all other public-facing content — working from your highest traffic pages down. As someone who focuses primarily on written content, this can be done through:

• Articles (CMS) or stand-alone pages to
• Templated Pages docs exported as PDFs to
• Email sign up forms (e.g., LeadBoxes, Sumo, Hubspot, Marketo, etc.) that live on-page as pop-ups (triggered either by scroll-depth or CTA text/buttons) — not as separate landing pages

In many cases, this doesn’t have to be anything more than creating a minimally branded PDF of a blog post or a collection of related blog posts. As counterintuitive as it sounds, simply adding the option to “download this article as a guide (PDF)” converts like wildfire. Especially when you compare it to the dismal conversion rates of general email CTAs.

Content is a terrible thing to waste. Traffic is vanity. But the almighty email is still the foundation of B2B marketing."

Aaron Orendorff, Editor in Chief of Shopify Plus, Forbes Top 10 B2B Content Marketer

My Take

Needless to say, I wholeheartedly agree with all of the renowned influencers who took a part of this roundup.

My number one marketing tip for 2019 is employing marketing for building a brand. The final outcome of delivering outstanding marketing results is developing a strong, active community of loyal customers and advocates.

2019 will introduce even more opportunities for solopreneurs, freelancers, consultants. Competition will be fierce, and the startup ecosystem will remain healthy for at least another year or two. A powerful brand will affect all areas of growing a business: generating leads, closing customers, building strategic partnerships, recruiting and retaining incredible talent, expanding into new markets and launching new products or services.

And guess what? The 10 strategies you went through will contribute to developing your brand further.

For more weekly strategic advice by the leading experts across the world, click the "Subscribe" button in the top right corner here on LinkedIn and stay tuned for the Friday expert series.