The world of business marketing and advertising have continually evolved for the past years and the news is… there’s no sign of it stopping.

We have seen how the entry of the internet changed the different approaches and strategies of marketing and advertising businesses. From traditional press releases or content generation for traditional media platforms, we have seen how the internet gave the chance for business owners to reach out directly through their clients.

Through social media, a layer or two of the advertising processes can be taken out of the situation. To illustrate this point, see illustration below:

Before: Business -> Advertising Agency -> Traditional Media Platform -> Audiences

Now: Business -> (Advertising Agency) -> Social Media Accounts -> Audiences  

Before, businesses used to tap the help of advertising agencies to create content for a certain media platform before it gets released to the public. For example, they would tap agencies to for the creation of a TV Commercial before it gets distributed to television stations. Therefore, you have to go through two third-party entities before you can reach your audiences.

But today, businesses can choose or choose not to work with advertising agencies in content creation. There is also no need for them to go through another third-party media platform because they can directly upload it in their own online platforms.

However, with the fast-evolving changes in the digital marketing landscape, it is difficult to take advertising agencies out of the equation. The digital developments this year might become obsolete a few years after so you need to be flexible and fast enough to adapt to these changes. If you are slow to cope with these changes, then you’ll surely be left behind.

This 2019, there will be new sets of digital trends that will revolutionize the field of advertising – again.

And the news is… there’s no sign of it stopping.

In this post, we will talk about the upcoming digital trends in 2019. This will help you set your expectations and adjust your marketing plan to keep up with the projected changes.

Rise of User Generated Content

 

 

People are getting more and more aware of the purpose of advertising – to convince them to purchase a product. This awareness has led them to be more doubtful about contents that they can identify is serving that purpose.

This doubt has led them to look for other means to verify about the quality of products and services. And this is where User Generated Content comes in.

Instead of simply trusting what advertisements tell them about the products and services, clients look into different reviews or contents given by their fellow users. We can see here how inputs from fellow clients weigh more in the purchase decision they will be making.

Thus, in order to maintain the credibility of your business, you must solicit more User Generated Content. But one thing to be careful of is that not all user generated content you will be getting are positive.

Therefore, you also have to think of ways to address the negative UGCs that you will be receiving. There are several ways to address them but addressing it correctly can alleviate the situation rather and avoid making it worst.

Voice Search is Gaining More Popularity

 

 

Using voice search is gaining more and more popularity because of its convenience.

If we used to be very satisfied getting information with just a few clicks, it just got easier with voice search. Imagine wanting to know about today’s weather. You’ll have to take your phone, open your app or search the internet, then you get your answer. Compare it to just asking “someone” and you get your answer right then and there. Even if it is just a few seconds difference, the second option is still more convenient.

According to Three Design (2017), voice searches account for almost one third of the 3.5 billion searches in Google performed every day. And it’s just continuing to rise with personal assistants like Alexa of Amazon, Siri of Apple and Google Assistant leading the way.  

The more important question to ask is… how will this affect digital marketing? Well, it means marketers have to work harder.

In the current desktop search, users will be given a number of results. Through SEO Marketing, there will be greater chances that your company will be one of those on the top list. However, in voice searches, personal assistants usually just give one option.

This will make your job as a marketer tougher since you’ll have to tailor your SEO strategy based on voice search.

By 2020, voice search is expected to rise by half. As early as now, marketers need to be familiar with how to navigate through this new marketing strategy so come 2020, it will be easier for them to fare through these changes.

Chatbots as Customer Service Representatives

 

 

I’m sure you’ve already come across chatbots in some business websites or even social media accounts. Well, they’re not going away anywhere.

Another increasing trend expected to happen in 2019 is the use of Artificial Intelligence. For now, chatbots are one of the widely used AI when it comes to business.

How will this help your business? When a client asks something through the social media account, they would expect a fast reply. There are times when humans are not fast enough to answer to these queries resulting to client disappointment.

This is where chatbots come in. They can answer Frequently Asked Questions or basic questions in an instant.

At the same time, they can gather data from these questions that can help expand the data they will be providing in the future.

This can be both cost and time saving. If your business doesn’t have chatbots yet, then start exploring this now.

Micro-Moments

 

 

With the quantity of information they are bombarded with, people’s attention span are getting shorter and shorter. This paved way to a new type of consumer behavior called Micro-Moments.

Micro-Moments is when a customer turns to a device to satisfy their need to learn something, do something, know something or buy something.

Marketers must adapt to this increasing trend of consumer behavior because being able to satisfy consumer needs during these micro-moments is crucial for consumer’s purchase decision.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

 

 

Another rising digital trend is the use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. These two digital trends are becoming more popular because of consumer’s wanting to be more engaged and have active participation in brand messaging.

This trend is still emerging as a marketing tool. But if your business can make good use of this digital trend, then better start exploring it as early as now.

The Era of Social Media

 

 

The shift to social media as a marketing platform has started long before but it’s not stopping now. Though majority of business now have social media accounts, the developments in these platforms continue to happen.

Therefore, even if you already have different social media accounts it is not a guarantee that you have used to its maximum potential. There is still a need to always update yourself on the new features of different social media platforms that can be used in your business.

Always remember that a strong online presence does not equate to just having social media accounts. You must make use of these accounts efficiently, so you will be able to harness its full potential.

Also, you must be aware of the different approaches you should use in different platforms because you don’t get the same kind of audiences. Your content in Facebook might not work on Instagram or in Pinterest. Therefore, you have to tailor fit your content based on the features and the kind of audiences you have in each platform.

Visual Search is on the Rise

 

 

Voice Search is not the only one gaining popularity. Currently, there are still limited technology when it comes to visual search. But it is a kind of digital trend you should watch out for.

How does this work? Visual Search allows consumers to identify objects in an image and search for similar objects.

How can this help your business? For example, someone took an image of a laptop. The consumer can take a picture and do a visual search. He/She will then be able to locate products similar to the one in the image.

This is a pretty amazing technology but it’s still currently on the works.

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Now that marketing has shifted from traditional to digital, marketers must constantly update themselves with the latest trends in the market.

These developments show no sign of slowing down. Therefore, it is inherent for marketers to keep up with the pace.

Every year, different trends emerge. Some of them develops into something with great impact to the marketing industry and some of them do not prosper.

This scenario emphasizes the significance of doing research so you would know which trend to apply and which trend to let go.

There are a lot of things to look forward to this 2019. Whether these digital trends will be your friend or foe, preparing for them is the best you can do.