Technology changes fast, causing businesses to adopt new marketing tools or trends quickly if they want to survive and thrive. 2018 has seen many advances that take retail marketing to the new level and there are marketing trends that will continue to be right for 2019. If you haven’t adopted them, it’s high time to put them into your action plan.
Mobile videos (especially live streaming)
It’s undeniable that more and more people own smartphones and actively interact on their mobiles. Mobile now represents almost 7 out of 10 digital media minutes – that’s why mobile campaigns should continue playing an important role in your marketing plan in 2019.
Among the content on mobile, mobile video is especially important, including traditional videos and live videos. Video consumption on phones and tablets is forecasted to grow by 25% with the average viewer watching 36 minutes of online video per day on a mobile device. Video ads are on the rise too: 65% of ad impressions on Instagram were the result of video content, and we expect that number to continue growing further.
Videos should definitely be part of your 2019 marketing and social media strategy. You can create your own video content with your in-house marketing teams – make sure all of your videos are created with the mobile-first mindset. Or you can hire a KOL or an influencer for product placement or endorsement in their videos. And if you want to engage customers more, there’s an easy way: live stream on social platforms like Facebook as viewers are found to watch live streams 3x longer than prerecorded video.
Chatbot
Chatbots (computer programs to simulate conversations with human users) help customers get their questions answered quickly and drive engagement by offering suggestions. They are not only an effective way of mass communication but also boost customer satisfaction by enabling 24/7 two-way communication between consumers and your brand.
Chatbots are on the rise and have actually surpassed the use of social media for customer service for many brands. By 2020, 80% of businesses said that they already use or plan to use chatbots, and 85% of customer interactions are predicted to be dealt with by chatbots. If you’re still hesitant about the quality of customer service handled by chatbots, fear no more: a recent survey revealed that 70% of consumers rated experience with chatbot “positive”.
So if you haven’t used one, it’s time to get a chatbot!
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Artificial intelligence (AI) to customize experiences
Combined with big data and machine learning, AI is expected to make a great effect on marketing in the coming year. It helps create more highly customized, automated content-delivery mechanisms based on customers’ persona and lifestyles. A study by Salesforce showed that high-performing marketing teams are more than two times as likely to use AI in their campaigns than underperformers. And 57% of marketers who have already used AI already say it’s absolutely or very essential in helping to increase touchpoints with consumers.
AI is usually a big investment for companies (that does pay off). If a full AI strategy is something that you can’t invest in right now, stay relevant as much as possible. You can simply divide your email lists into different target segments to deliver better customized, personalized content.