It’s a new year, and while that could mean a new set of rules, one fact hasn’t changed: Digital marketing is still a business’ most powerful marketing tool. In this sea of changing trends and evolving tech, it’s your life vest. But to stay afloat, you need to care for it. Spruce it. Possibly even replace it.
If you’ve been avoiding updating your digital marketing strategy, the reality is you won’t progress as quickly as your competitors. A website audit will help determine exactly what kind of strategy will help your site maintain a high search engine ranking.
Don’t worry, nothing’s changed too drastically—SEO, social media, and email marketing aren’t going anywhere any time soon—but the way they’re being used has. Here are some digital marketing trends to look out for:
Smartphones, Google Home, Alexa—this new tech is encouraging consumers more than ever before to speak their queries aloud rather than type them out. It’s predicted that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches. This means that meta descriptions and image tags (think products/eCommerce) need to be optimized not for written searches, but for speech.
Influencer marketing campaigns have shown tremendous results in the last year. It’s proving to be one of the most effective, economical methods of gaining quality leads—a smart way to go for startups and small businesses.
Video, video, video. You can’t avoid it any longer, folks. This year, video ads and live video feed is expected to account for 85% of Internet traffic. An on Instagram, 65% of ad impressions resulted from video content. If it’s not part of your strategy now, these stats should be enough of a wake-up a call.
Before you think, “Wonderful, another robot,” chatbots are actually a great way to offer customers fast, personalized assistance, not to mention save time and resources for HR personnel. Consumers want convenience, and an automated helper/assistant is nothing if not handy.
This isn’t news, of course. We included this point to remind business owners that offering valuable content will never get old. Every year, search engines aim to understand target consumers at a new level of sophistication. The more focused and relevant your content is, the more impressive your searching ranking results.
No, email isn’t dead. In fact, when it comes to effective channels of communication, email continues to kill it. Then what’s changed? Generic messages don’t work anymore. Address potential customers by name (there are codes for this) and tailor your message to a specific product or service; i.e. an upcoming workshop vs. a non-specific “this is what we do—check out our services”. Follow up with an offer, exciting testimonial, or engaging video. The key is not to simply inform, but to motivate people to act.
Awkward Media helps small to medium-sized businesses implement a digital marketing strategy that yields real results. Call us at 647 849 1082 today or reach out to get 2019 off to a profitable start.
