2019 will most likely be the year that you can’t afford to ignore some of the latest innovative marketing technologies and other related marketing phenomena that have been cropping up. You’re probably already familiar with at least some of our predictions for the upcoming year’s top marketing trends – but perhaps you haven’t yet taken action to understand or implement them. Let’s discuss 4 of the top marketing trends you’ll want to perfect in 2019.
Programmatic Advertising
In times past, advertising was bought and sold through human negotiations. Programmatic advertising allows ad buyers to use software to buy their ads instead of going through human mediators. A main advantage of this system is a substantial increase in efficiency in the ad buying process.
If you’re still buying or selling ads through an old-school sales team and old-fashioned negotiations, let 2019 be the year that you get serious and learn about how programmatic works. It’s likely that programmatic will revolutionize your advertising process.
Privacy Protocols
After the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation went into effect (Source: Eugdpr.org), and in the wake of the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal (Source: NYTimes.com), privacy is one of the hottest topics being discussed in marketing circles. Consumers are correctly becoming aware that they need to be more vigilant about protecting their privacy – and this newfound awareness is, in many ways, making marketers’ jobs more challenging.
As a result, ethical marketers are scrambling to figure out better methods for respecting consumers’ privacy while continuing to do the job of marketing to them. Implementing improved privacy protocols will be one of 2019’s big challenges for marketers and brands; solving the complex dilemmas surrounding privacy issues could also offer some profitable business opportunities to marketing and tech companies in 2019 and beyond.
It isn’t just consumers who need to be concerned with privacy protocols. Angela Reedman-Polinski, writing on behalf of the influential Australian education portal, Training.com.au, urges students contemplating marketing careers to be cautious in protecting their own personal privacy. This is particularly important when aspiring marketers use sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to perfect their marketing skills. Reedman-Polinski reminds readers that what you post on these sites will remain accessible indefinitely.
A main takeaway: You’ll want to think carefully about the clients you agree to promote as a marketer. Only work with clients that have integrity and align well with your own brand values, because the marketing you do for them is sure to affect people’s perceptions of your own brand – not only now, but also far into the future.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is the practice of encouraging social media celebrities or other influential individuals to share information about your brand with their followers. When implemented in an authentic and meaningful way, this type of marketing is extremely effective – so it’s growing in popularity. By all appearances, the influencer marketing trend will continue to pick up steam in 2019.
Some of the downsides to this trend: It’s far from easy to find exactly the right social media influencers for a brand to work with. Marketers have to beware of imposter influencers who aren’t really influential at all; they’ve amassed large numbers of fake followers.
Mastering influencer marketing isn’t necessarily simple, but so far it’s paid off handsomely for the brands that are doing it well (Source: ConvinceandConvert.com).
Video Marketing Online
Video marketing is clearly not a new thing, but its importance is steadily increasing. Both video ads and video content are critical components of this trend.
One thing that is relatively new in this field: the rise of “snack ads”. Snack ads are short ads that last less than 10 seconds in duration.
These ads are in large part motivated by consumers’ decreasing attention spans. There’s little point in producing and paying to run 30 second ads that consumers stop watching at around the 10 second marker. It makes more sense to run shorter ads that get to the point and make an impression on the viewer quickly.
A couple of early adopters of this ad format are Samsung and Fox Networks Group. Numerous other brands are also experimenting with it.
These are not the only important current marketing trends, but they’re 4 of the highest priority trends to focus on mastering in 2019. If any of these items is new to you, and you’d like help with implementing a strategy for incorporating it into your marketing plan, we encourage you to get in touch with us. We can help to connect you with the marketing specialist solutions and talent that will best meet your needs.
