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Seven Must Know Digital Marketing Trends for 2019

As 2019 quickly approaches, we have put together the top 7 trends that business leaders and CEO’s must know as they set their digital marketing strategy for next year. Is your digital marketing ready for the New Year? 

  1. Integrate Your Digital Team with A Mix of Internal and External Team Members 

As the world of digital marketing becomes more complex, customers are driving a strategic change in digital marketing teams across the board. These are no longer the days where you can ask your team members to wing it, as the consumer can tell where you are cutting corners, for example when you create graphics without a designer or use a developer to write a blog. Now more than ever, the designation of specific tasks must be in alignment with your team members skills. In our booming economy and a tight job market, it is imperative to leverage your internal team members and their skills as well as fill the other roles externally to ensure everything you need is covered. For more on building your team and essential team roles in 2019, take a look at Winning the Website War.

  1. Set A Strategy for Each Digital Channel 

The same way you need a strategy for your team, you also need one for your digital channels. The two major channels for consideration are Mobile and Desktop. Underneath the umbrella of Mobile and Desktop are all the channels people use to absorb content and experience your brand such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram etc. With tens of millions of people on these sites, do you know if they are using your content, utilizing your website or converting into sales? Your specialized team should include a social media expert who understands that this content is different from website content, and how to utilize each channel effectively. In 2019 we will continue to see each channel doubling down on their strengths and improving their core competency and reaching more people. Just as each channel is unique, so needs to be your strategy for each channel.  

  1. SEO Can Only Go So Far, Take an Integrated Approach 

SEO is changing in 2019, and it is going to have less of an impact than ever. Does that mean you can ignore SEO? Absolutely not. Your SEO does need to be another integrative approach, as your strategies in other channels will affect your growth in SEO. With more websites now than there are human beings, SEO is casting much broader of a net these days, meaning you need to rethink going after highly competitive terms that are out of reach and instead focus on your integrative approach that brings you traffic with long tail and brand searches. Launching brand new sites with SEO and targeted keywords as your plan is not going to bring you success.  

  1. Re-Think AdWords 

As SEO changes, the only way to be found through competitive terms is by using AdWords. More than ever, they offer an incredible targeting ability which lowers the cost of your ads and targets your desired niche if utilized correctly. As you are building your team, you will benefit from someone who is a specialist and understands the complexity of AdWords; someone who can build your ideal ads at a low cost to bring superior results. 

  1. Email Marketing – A Conversation with Prospects 

Email is a channel you can no longer ignore in your digital marketing strategy. Valuable content and conversations with prospects are read, saved, and shared – if you don’t add value your emails get deleted. Sharing a story, blogs, answering questions, or responding to your prospects needs – these are all ways to add value to your email marketing strategy, but again you need someone who understands email marketing and how to design and write a crafted conversation. If you can do this, you will see open rates as high as 25 – 30%. A third of your prospects reading your email is fantastic, and it all comes back to integrating your channels and information.  

  1. Be Ready for Privacy Before It’s Required 

GDPR in Europe was just the beginning, we could see a GDPR here in the U.S. as early as 2021 with roots beginning in the next year or two. With more of a privacy push coming, be pro-active in your approach to security and how your clients view you as a leader. Implement GDPR standards on your website before they are necessary by law. This is especially important for B2B businesses as people appreciate when you ask their permission to use cookies, add them to your email newsletter, and prove that their private information will be protected with you.  

  1. Digital Strategies as a Part of Recruitment Efforts 

The economy is booming in 2018 and it can feel hard to find good people. This could change in the coming years, but for now you need to position yourself as a leader and company where people want to work. The About Us page is one of the top ten most visited pages on any site and plays a part in any successful recruitment strategy. It should tell the story of your company culture, successes, and cobwebs on your website in the form of outdated or missing information will turn off valuable recruits.   

  1. Make Use of New Digital Networking and Micro-Influencers with a Punch 

Bonus trend!! We have all heard of “influencers”, successful people with hundreds of thousands of followers working with companies in successful campaigns. This can be out of reach for a lot of budgets but what is coming in 2019 is the utilization of the micro-influencer.  With less than 1000 followers, but a very targeted niche, these will start to replace traditional face-to-face networking and the exchanging of business cards as these influencers can share content into their targeted pool without the need for a large campaign or budget. Micro-influencers have the potential to cut through the noise of the Internet, building brand recognition and loyalty in a time when SEO and broader nets are no longer as deep. A specialist can work to develop your pool of micro-influencers and find those that pack the most punch for your business.  

For a successful 2019 and more growth in your digital marketing presence, contact us for your FREE website review or consultation today!

Thomas Young

Thomas Young is the CEO and Founder of Intuitive Websites. He is a consultant, award winning Vistage speaker and author of “Winning the Website War” and “Sales and Marketing Alignment.” Tom has helped thousands of companies succeed online and has over 25 years digital marketing experience.