Digital Marketing 2019- What Stays, What Goes

With a variety of clients across industries, we’ve seen some crazy and not so crazy trends in the realm of digital marketing. After the technology changes, PR frenzies, and big impacts of 2018, we have some thoughts on what digital marketing trends will stick around in 2019 and what will fade away.

FAKE News Frenzy

With the rise of #FakeNews trends in today’s political environment, everyday brands have also felt the effect of the impact of consumer behaviors. People have become more skeptical of imaging, sources, and constant content to the point they are trusting online content less and less, including content driven marketing campaigns.

In order to combat skepticism and aim to win the trust of their audience, digital marketers must create their campaigns to be as transparent as possible. Transparency is key for any type of company, and any type of content in any type of marketing campaign.

Some techniques we would recommend and best practices, (that should be fundamental to any campaign) would include:

• Authenticate everything. By verifying branding for accounts on all platforms and authenticating website sourcing (.com, .org, etc.), brands can increase legitimacy to their audience and can take a more authoritative stance the content they are putting out there.
• Be easily accessible to your audience. Showing your audience you are there for questions, concerns, and feedback can give a better impression of less automation.
• Even if your content is complex, make it easy for your audience to grasp the concept as well as easy to verify your sources. By making content complicated to follow, the audience becomes less trusting of the brand’s expertise.

Design Trends- The Modern Minimal

The trend of the modern minimalist branding has been on the rise and is here to stay. Working with smaller brands, we see letting your brand do the talking as a key area of storytelling. You can even see examples of this from large corporations such as MasterCard rebranding, Verizon logo revision, and Logitech total logo change.

The idea is not less is more, but to express more with less.The aesthetic appeal of minimalism in branding gives a more straightforward approach and can tell the story of the brand without clutter and excess.

Minimalism in for the modern brand is about being intentional with every branding choice rather than just choosing minimal elements. Each of those elements have an exact purpose. The designer needs to fully understand the brand’s story, strategy, customers, and targets. By immersing in the company’s branding, a designer can create content more easily with a straightforward, intentional approach.

However, design has always been a circular trend. The last 5-10 years we’ve been able to see the hipster trend run its course. But, as of 2019 we are approaching the peak of minimalism.

“Unfortunately, there are designers and marketing people who intentionally look down on the consumer with the notion that vulgarity has a definite appeal to the masses, and therefore they supply the market with a continuous flow of crude and vulgar design. I consider this action criminal since it is producing visual pollution that is degrading our environment just like all other types of pollution.”

― Massimo Vignelli

Live Chat Vs. Automation

While chatbots offer companies higher efficiency and better response rates, the user on the other end still feels the need to ensure they are truly being listened to. Automation is the use of forums and chatbots to meet basic user needs and respond on behalf of the company. Live chat still gives way the human element allowing for customized response and more in depth solutions. Each has their pros and cons and can be ideal depending on the company.

For smaller companies, and specifically for our clients, we tend to recommend live chats and the use of platforms like Messenger. With this higher response rates is key to maintaining a connection to the customer while allowing the human interaction.

Stronger SEO Tactics in the Smart Home Era

With the rise of Alexa, Google Home, Echo etc, it is becoming more and more essential for retailers to hone in on their SEO game. The upward trend of digital personal assistants and smart technology has made it that much easier for consumers to access and purchase with the sound of their voice.

On the other hand, smart tech has made it that much harder for retailers to get their products noticed. SEO is the foundation of running a successful website and marketing for e-commerce. Some of the best practices to stay competitive include:

• Focus on phrases and keywords you want to be found for. For example, a landscaping company would want to fill its website with keywords such as xeriscaping, water saving, etc.. By working key phrases into website descriptions, smart technology will be more likely to connect you with a potential customer.
• Change or add to the copy of your website to be found easier. Updating your services and product descriptions can provide more content and more info that your customer is looking for when they ask a smart device.
• Keep the basics up to date. Multiple search engines comb through your website and data for your business’s information. Be sure to keep your location and contact information updated so searches pull the most current information.

The Basics- Video, Stories, Interactive Images

At SiarzaSD, here are a few of our best practices that just make sense and we think are there to stay. The way we see it, there are some trends that are not trends at all.

• First, be the storyteller of your narrative of your brand. Putting out content relevant to you and supporting others is great, but be sure it reflects your brand and how you want to be seen.
• Next, visual elements drive viewership. Eye Catching images and engaging videos will never go out of style, rather evolve with the tastes of your specific audience.

Bring on 2019! We can’t wait to see what new things it may hold!