Years ago, Bill Gates said that digital infrastructures and technology, when working together, can slingshot businesses ahead of their competition. Here we are in 2019, and already this sentiment seems incredibly outdated despite it still being completely true.
Today, everything from the machine learning and artificial intelligence components of Google’s algorithm, to CRMS that integrate multiple marketing strategies that help organizations reach their growth goals, seem like the stuff from science fiction if we are to compare today’s capabilities to a decade ago. Yet we are still in the early history of the internet, and unless your business belongs to an obscure niche, your clients go online seeking your services and products.
As a CEO or member of the C-suite, your ultimate job it to facilitate growth and present impressive bottom line reporting. And in today’s day and age when marketing technology is tailored to help businesses hit their growth goals while improving efficiency through intricate integrations, any digital marketing trend you buy into must be compatible with growth enablement via the egress of technology.
That said, this article is intended to help executive management and members of the C-Suite identify their right digital marketing trends, that make sense for their business, and that will work flawlessly in a growth marketing strategy designed by a top digital marketing agency that sits at the top of the trends and tech game.
When most people think of artificial intelligence (AI), most don’t think of Google. But they should. Google’s algorithm that rewards sites with domain authority and ranking run on AI and machine learning. This means a major channel to generating traffic relies on the science of artificial intelligence.
As people enter search queries into the search engine, Google analyzes their click behavior, compares it to the search behavior of other users, is able to determine search intent, and awards ranking accordingly.
SEO in of itself may not be a trend, but what is trending are the services offered by digital marketing agencies using modern SEO strategies to generate higher quality top-of-funnel traffic, while most other agencies focus on volume. Creating an SEO strategy that appeases Google’s best practices and its AI lens for scouting and awarding content that provides the best user experience must be written with a detailed understanding of how Google awards positioning in the SERPs, while having an advanced understanding of buyer audiences and their needs. In order to drive a higher quality of traffic to your landing pages, you need to think as if your brain was a hybrid convention of machine learning and AI. Just make sure you have a growth marketing stack with a robust CRM capable of extracting valuable data from your organic leads that will allow for greater optimization efforts.
Chatbots are, arguably, the biggest trend of 2019. In fact, Larry Kim founder of Wordstream sold his company to launch MobileMonkey, a chatbot messenger marketing platform that focuses on converting Facebook traffic into customers. When asked why, Kim responded by saying the future of marketing resides in chatbots, and this statement was made when technology was still relatively new to most people.
So what are chatbots? Chatbots are really just customized software that functions as a virtual concierge assisting users in completing their goals. Whether someone is trying to book a hotel room, or purchase a pair of stereo speakers, chatbots are designed for natural human interactions, primarily through text chat windows. And now verbal interactions are not only possible, but I predict they will be on the rise. After all, smart home devices are only going to continue to grow in use, and soon this technology will be common in cars.
If your goal is to attract organic traffic, video content will never replace text. However, video with textual content can not only improve SEO but also convert more sales. Keep in mind that most people are visual learners. On top of that, more than 70 percent of Americans engage with YouTube. This means your target customers are on YouTube AND they love video content. But just because YouTube is the dominating space for video doesn’t mean your video content should only live there.
When seeking digital marketing agencies to help you hit your growth goals, enquire how they approach video content, and discover how they would potentially use it in your strategy. Video content can live on your website, exist in your blog, be part of an asset your customers can download, and it can be shared in other social media platforms like Facebook. Video content is trending, and with good reasons. Many people find it easier to digest, and it allows brands to be creative in new ways outside of text.
This article has already mentioned Growth Stacks, and with good reasons. Growth marketing stacks are the fastest growing trend, and will continue to accelerate on through 2019. A Growth Stack is a custom set of tech tools and strategies designed to work together to achieve the same goal. If executed by an exceptionally skilled growth marketing agency, their strategies are also designed to leverage one another towards maximizing the client’s investment thus helping them hit their high revenue goals. A robust Growth Stack will have a CRM and marketing automation platform like Hubspot. It will also run SEO, paid media and inbound strategies. There are a number of other strategies that can be added, based on the company, their industry, customers, and unique goals.
