2019. New Year. New Marketing Trends. Is Your Brand on Board Too?

With a new year come new opportunities.

New alliances. New 2019 marketing trends. And of course, new pressures and challenges.

Chief amongst those challenges may be ensuring that all your organization’s budgets and strategies are in order. Having a plan is always important, of course – and the more intelligent and well-conceived the plan, the better your chances of achieving real success. That’s true in any year. But as we accelerate into a brave new world of intelligent voice assistants, augmented reality, seamless streaming video and 5G connectivity in 2019, it’s even more true today.

Of equal importance is ensuring that those plans are feasible and functional. Are they on strategy with your industry at large and your organization’s annual goals in particular? Are they on budget to the degree you can compete with the challenges and leaders in your industry? Are they on message with your established or newly envisioned brand voice? And are they on point with the prevailing – and coming – cultural, behavioral and technological trends?

This last item is particularly important when it comes to your marketing plan. To realize true success in 2019, your marketing plan must tap into the top trends and technologies.

Let's take a closer look at some of the most hotly anticipated marketing technology trends for 2019 – and offer some insight and advice on how to best align your organization’s marketing plan with them.

Marketing technology trends for 2019

‍Customer Experience (CX):

• More and more, today’s consumer is seeking a truly “omni-channel” experience. According to a December, 2018 survey of more than 800 senior marketing and advertising professionals by global advertising and media effectiveness authority WARC, almost two thirds (61%) of agencies and 52% of brands cited Customer Experience, or CX, as the single most important digital transformation for business in 2019. The same survey revealed that a mere 15% of brands say their CX is currently aligned across channels.

Voice Search:

• Personal voice assistants have dominated the collective consciousness in the past year or two – with a 2017 HubSpot report claiming the number of voice queries increased 3,400% between 2008 and 2017. This trend is only expected to continue well into 2019 and beyond. In fact, a recent belief among many marketers and tech executives is that by 2020, close to 50% of all searches will be made via voice search. The earlier-cited late-2018 WARC survey found that 29% of brands saw voice search as a priority for 2019 – up 12% from the previous year’s survey. More than ever before, you’d better be listening to what your customers have to say. Literally.

Video Content:

• According to the first-ever music video aired on MTV way back in the summer of 1981, video once killed the radio star. Now video is just flat-out “killing it” when it comes to marketing efforts – and budgets. Per the WARC survey, an eye-popping 79% of marketers expect to increase their online video budgets in 2019. Meanwhile, 82% of B2C businesses report that video has become their most popular content marketing tactic. Oh, and a 2017 Forbes report claimed that consumers are 64% more likely to purchase a product online after watching a video. Those are some pretty entrancing numbers. Make sure you’re catching the attention of today’s coveted consumer eyeballs, too.

AI Technologies:

• According to a 2018 Venture Scanner report, there are now at least 1,652 AI startups and private companies that have secured more than $12.24 billion in combined total venture capital funding. Additionally, leading technology research and advisory firm Gartner predicts that 25% of all customer service departments will utilize virtual customer assistant (VCA) or “chatbot” technology by 2020 – a stunning surge from the mere 2% who did so in 2017. Among the many benefits of your organization adopting this and other AI technologies in 2019? How about reducing costs while simultaneously accelerating growth? Not to mention gaining a competitive edge in your industry and its marketplace.

It’s up to your company’s key executives and stakeholders to decide which areas of focus – and accompanying and emerging technologies – will best maximize both your budget and goals in 2019. No matter what path you decide on, the experienced, insightful and passionate professionals here at ParkerWhite can help you get ahead – and stay ahead – of the curve and the competition.

For more than 24 years, we’ve been helping our clients build not just their brands, but the integrated programs and platforms that drive qualified leads and impactful sales. 

‍Contact us today to see how we can help you move forward.