It’s a new year and you’re likely already sick of seeing people’s New Years resolutions being posted on Facebook and Instagram but if you are like me you’re curious about what 2019 will hold in terms of marketing.
How can you as a business owner separate yourself from the competition in already content heavy world? Establishing your brands credibility and producing reputable content regularly will separate you from your competitors.
Here are 6 marketing trends you’ll want to pay attention to in 2019.
TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR COMPANY
It’s common for business owners to stay behind the scenes and let their staff take the reigns but it shouldn't be like this. Taking ownership of your company and standing at the front will help create transparency in your brand. Take Elon Musk for example, as the CEO of Tesla he has become a household name. Whether you think of the brand or the individual first they both follow suit.
Putting a face and personality to the brand will help your customers feel more comfortable reaching out to you, your brand or product and this will have a positive effect on your bottom line. Expect to see more businesses take this approach in the upcoming months.
So how can you do this? Here are three ways!
1. Do a live video on Facebook or Instagram providing an update with what is happening in the company.
2. Offer a live Q&A online devoted strictly to answering any questions your audience may have for you.
3. Create a monthly newsletter. This can house your latest blog posts thoughts and resources that can benefit your audience.
INVEST IN SECURITY FOR YOUR WEBSITE
In 2017 Google released their Chrome notification for security issues on non “https”. In 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was released giving another scare to the general public about their personal information. With these two big releases it’s clear that security is more important than ever. You have an obligation to your customers to ensure that any information you send to them or the information they see when they visit your website is safe. Implementing a program like Sucuri or McAfee will not only provide you peace of mind but your customers will thank you too.
TAKE VOICE ASSISTANTS INTO CONSIDERATION
Whether you are yelling at Google to play your favorite song on YouTube or telling Alexa to order your favorite snacks on Amazon, voice technology is here and it’s ready to make a big splash in advertising and marketing.
Changing your websites keywords to be more related to how people would normally ask a question versus how they might type something into Google is going to be a benefit for you in 2019 and beyond. Since voice searches are posed as questions, your keywords should relate to that.
CREATE AUDIO CONTENT
Finding a way to bring your brand in an audio space is just one other medium to get your message across to your customers. Audio content is constantly expanding so if you have the resources to create a podcast or small audio clips it might be worth it for you in 2019. The great thing about audio is that people can take it with them anywhere now and still do other tasks while listening in on their favorite show.
It can seem scary and overwhelming but start small. Look at content you have created through blog posts and record them into audio content to share with your audience.
CHATBOTS WILL BE MORE POPULAR
Think of a chatbot as your websites greeter. It allows users to have a conversation with a piece of software to help them complete their goal or reason for being on the site.
You might have already seen chatbots being used with Facebook with the auto response messages in Facebook Ads or Facebook Messenger.
Want a chatbot for free? Schedule a marketing assessment to see if you qualify.
