Top Marketing Trends to Strike in 2019

What does 2019 have in store for us and how can we align our marketing strategies in preparation? When we hit the new year it’s almost like a reset button has been pressed and we’re ready to embrace change, dive into new projects or re-focus on areas of the business we’ve previously neglected. We hope this list gets those ideas flowing and helps combine your marketing efforts into something successful.

Build Trust

Building and maintaining trust with a customer is crucial. Without trust and belief in your business, a sale will not happen. For example, direct mail (www.Zairmail.com) is a valued method of communication because typically, customers view it as more authentic than other forms of communication.

In fact, many businesses that turned their back on ‘old school’ methods of marketing are finding it’s crucial to return to more traditional techniques in a very digital world.

To increase credibility when sending mail, consider adding information about your team; a friendly face of the CEO or team photo where possible. This is particularly important if you are introducing your services/products to a customer for the first time. Genuine testimonials can also help add credibility.

Video Marketing

Video just cannot be ignored. It is one of the most powerful forms of online marketing. It boosts interaction, maintains engagement for longer and in most cases, increases conversions. By 2020 it’s predicted that video will be 85% of all consumer traffic within the US. So, how can you utilize video effectively?

Explainer Videos: Use these on-site to explain your service or product in a short video clip. An explainer video works well for more complex offerings.

Customer Testimonial Videos: If you’ve got the time and the resources, creating a case study video, or just compiling lots of testimonials into a video is one way to add credibility.

Micro-Video: Short clips that are usually around 15 seconds long. Instagram story videos are the perfect example of this. You can use these micro-videos to grab attention very quickly and pull social media users into your offer. You can also use micro-videos effectively within paid social media advertising to do the same thing.

A great method is utilizing an omnichannel marketing response strategy, making the most of different traffic driving methods such as email, direct mail and social media.

The Rise of Smart Speakers

We’re talking smart speakers like Amazon’s Alexa home speaker or Apple Homepod. These voice-assisted devices are set to completely change the future of marketing as consumers say they will never go back! We predict large companies like Amazon will start selling ad space connected to their smart speaker devices. We should also start to see a shift whereby more audio content is published online, in a bid to be accessed by smart home devices.

Integrated Marketing

We’ve mentioned that direct mail is a great source of trust, but we’ve also explained just how valuable video marketing is and other forms of online marketing. So what’s the best approach overall? The truth is you need to take an integrated marketing approach in 2019 and utilize both online and offline methods to get the most out of your campaigns.

The other thing to point out is that direct mail gets attention. Prospective customers may get 100’s of email messages a day so SPAM is a persistent problem. People hit delete without even reading the message. You have a lot less competition for attention in a mailbox. It requires a physical action to get the mail and it’s much easier to break through the clutter.

You have a lot less competition for the customer’s attention in the mailbox. It requires a physical action to get the mail. It is much easier to break through the clutter.

Align your campaigns so that they support each other. Include social media icons or hashtag references on offline material where relevant. Collect online data from customers who entered your funnel at an offline point. The more you can integrate all areas of your marketing, the more you will get out of it. Finally, don’t forget to maintain the same branding throughout to ensure smoother integration.