It can seem as if new marketing trends are popping up every day, and keeping up with them is nearly impossible. So how do you know which ones are actually worth investing in, and which ones are passing fads?
In this post, we’ll look at a few marketing strategies we think will actually stick around and work for your business in 2019 and beyond.
Video
More and more marketers are beginning to notice the effectiveness of video and pushing to include more video content in their overall marketing strategies.
According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2018 report, YouTube and Facebook video ranked as two of the top three content distribution channels that marketers plan to add to their marketing efforts in coming months. And senior marketing leaders are enthusiastic about it.
Why all the hype? Because 64% of customers are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it.
Messaging Apps
Have you noticed that more and more companies have chat bots pop up once you’ve been browsing their websites for a while? Has a business messaged you via Facebook while you’re looking at their page?
Messaging apps like on-site chat bots, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat are gaining steam. Facebook Messenger alone has over 1.3 billion users, leading Facebook to launch Messenger Business, noting that among people surveyed who message businesses on Facebook, the majority say being able to do so helps them feel more confident about the brand.
And when it comes to chatbots, people are starting to see the benefits.
According to Drift’s 2018 State of Chatbots Report, 24 hour service is one of the top benefits, followed by getting an instant response and answers to simple questions you don’t want to get on the phone with a sales rep for.
Automation
Want to make your life easier? Invest in marketing automation tools. They can not only put an end to the mundanity of repetitive tasks, but help improve the timing, relevance, and ultimately user response of your marketing techniques via rules-based personalization.
Some examples of implementing automation tools can be in your social media and email marketing efforts. For example, Facebook allows you to schedule posts ahead of time using the “Publishing Tools” tab on any page you manage. You can also use tools Buffer or Hootsuite to manage all of your social media accounts from one platform.
When it comes to email marketing, solutions like MailChimp can make your life easier by allowing you to segment audiences, draft emails, and have the tool schedule them for when recipients are most likely to open, click, and/or respond.
Wrapping Up
Not only can the above three marketing strategies—video, messaging apps, and automation—help your business more easily and effectively reach customers, it can also keep you one step ahead of the competition. These strategies, along with implementing content and SEO best practices, can really help take your company to the next level this year.