Now that we’re almost halfway through the year, we have a solid understanding of what digital marketing trends are here to stay. It can be a lot to keep up with—but we’ve got you covered.
There are two things to keep top-of-mind when considering this year’s marketing trends: attention and feeling. After you fully grasp these concepts and how they affect today’s marketing landscape, you’ll be ready to capitalize on the latest trends.
Attention
The first thing you should be concerned with is the main challenge you’re facing, because it’s changed over the years. The challenge is no longer in reaching your customers—reach goes farther than ever now—but in holding their attention long enough to convert them. Our attention spans are shrinking every day, so it’s important to capture it quickly.
Because of the constant stream of media we’re getting throughout the day, consumers have incredibly high expectations when it comes to content—they are in control of the buying process, and they know it.
Your ultimate goal is to make your consumer’s life easier, and to do this you have to hold their attention by giving them exactly what it is they want and need.
Feeling
One thing your consumer wants is to feel something. People are constantly seeking emotions and experiences that they can’t get anywhere else, and if you want to be successful, you have to fulfill this desire. What are your customers’ passions? All of your marketing strategies should be centered around how you can help your customers with whatever they’re passionate about, not the other way around.
Most brands only care about themselves and what they’re doing. It’s a natural tendency—but you know who else cares about themselves? Your consumers—who also happen to have the money you want. Invest in them! Tap into their interests, what they’re doing, and how they want to feel.
2019 Digital Marketing Trends You Need to Care About
Value-driven Brands
What is your company’s purpose? “Selling stuff” or “providing this service” won’t cut it anymore. Really dig into the why of your entire company. Why does your company exist? To fulfill what desires? To satisfy what needs, in what way? You need to understand your company, and your consumer, inside and out.
Once you figure out why you exist, as well as what your consumers’ passions are, you can identify the intersection of those two ideas to give your consumers exactly what they want. Until you do this, you won’t get very far in 2019.
On Demand Brands
Older, traditional companies don’t have to just die out when a new generation comes. You have to think outside of the box, but you can absolutely adapt to your anti-aging surroundings—meet your younger consumers where they are right now. A great example is the New York Public Library, which launched insta novels on mobile devices. Digestible content and beautiful illustrations made something extremely traditional accessible for the tech-oriented generations.
Consider where your ideal consumer spends their time, and then adapt to that idea. Take your services and products and imagine them on unexpected platforms—visualize what that would look like and then do it because you will fall behind if you aren’t constantly adapting.
Brand Collaborations
2019 is all about collaborations. Consider what other companies could do for you! If you’re an established brand, work with a younger brand to tap into their market. If you’re a newer brand, link up with one that’s been around forever so you can gain access to a bigger audience. Find other people who share your values and goals, and create a real-life experience your consumer can’t get anywhere else.
Brand Transparency
Today’s consumers are very conflicted. They love and value personalization, but they’re skeptical of big companies and what they might do with their data. The best thing your brand can do is be honest and upfront about everything.
There’s a phenomenon called the “Streisand effect” in which any attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information even more widely. We’ve all seen this play out in real life (starting with Barbara Streisand in 2005) and we know it’s not ideal.
The simple fact is that people don’t want to work with companies anymore—they want to engage with real people. Even if they’re just buying something, they don’t want to work with a faceless corporate entity. So practice being open and honest, especially when you make a mistake, so that you can appear more human.
Brand Benefits
Think outside of the box (noticing a theme here?) about the benefits you can offer your customers. Beyond financial transactions, what does customer loyalty look like? What experiences can you use to reward brand passion?
LuluLemon is a great example. Being a member with them doesn’t just mean money or discounts—it means exclusive access to professional workout classes and other exclusive experiences. Constantly brainstorm unexpected opportunities to connect with customers, some of which don’t have to cost you anything.
Brand Communities
Speaking of connecting with your customers, being involved in your communities is a huge deal. Today, loneliness and feelings of isolation are health problems as serious as obesity and smoking, but even the biggest companies can find ways to feel smaller through community outreach.
Take Outdoor Voices for example—although they have stores across the U.S., they put on community events, host yoga classes, and start running clubs at each location—and they don’t use these events to drive sales. Everything they do is on brand, but they extend it to the communities they exist within, without immediately asking for anything in return. This goes a long way with people!
Ask Yourself
To jumpstart your marketing strategy sessions, answer some important questions like these:
- How well do you really know your audience?
- Are they at the center of your story? No? How can you make that happen?
- What unique experiences can you offer them?
- What are you doing to stoke passion in others?
- What are you doing to build community?
Navigating digital marketing requires constant reflection and introspection, because being human requires that—and what are companies if not groups of humans trying to connect?
Continue the Conversation
If you’re interested in learning more about today’s best practices and trends in digital marketing, let’s talk. Contact Uptick Marketing.
