3 2019 Marketing Trends You Should Be Watching (And How to Apply Them to Your Content)

The future is now. AI is driving major change in marketing operations. Voice search is transforming SEO. If you’re not staying on top of 2019 marketing trends, you’re going to get left behind — and fast.

But it’s one thing to vaguely know these trends exist. It’s entirely another to be able to apply them for your business in a scalable way. Feeling stressed? I’ve got good news. I’ve rounded up some tips and tricks to help you apply the biggest 2019 marketing trends to a marketing effort your business is probably already employing: your content. Here’s how you can leverage these trends in your web content, email campaigns, social media posts, and more.

People want personalization.

Are you collecting data on your customers? If not, it’s time to start. Even simply setting up Google Analytics (and — bonus! — it’s free) on your site can help you key into the main demographics that are interested in your products and services.

But here’s the thing. It’s not enough to just know who your customers are. In our digital age, they know that you know. They expect you’re collecting their data, and they want you to use is well. Personalization is critical to make them feel seen and heard.

Applying personalization to your content.

So what do you do? It’s easy. If you know your site visitors are primarily women, start shifting the voice of your content to speak to them. Research what’s trending in their world and write a blog on it. Tailor your email campaigns to their specific wants and needs.

Social media can also be a huge helper here. It’s a low stakes way to personally address audiences. Think along the lines of: “Are you a dad sick of seeing your kid struggle at bat? Check out our new hitting tutorial videos!”

Voice search is happening in a big way.

“Hey, Siri, call my mom on speaker.” “Alexa, turn on the house lights.” These are both sentences I have uttered today, despite the fact that I’m home alone. Digital assistants aren’t just transforming the way we live, though. They’re also shifting the way we search. As AI gets smarter, more and more people are trusting that they can simply ask their devices a question and it’ll spit out a reliable answer. (“Alexa, can dogs eat bananas?”)

The rise of voice search means long-tail keywords, especially those phrased as questions, are becoming increasingly important in SEO rankings. Get on board because it’s happening — now.

Applying voice search to your content.

When you’re writing content (or you’re hiring me to do it), whether for a primary page on your website or for your blog, don’t forget to think about long-tail keywords. And there’s a perk here. “Car insurance” is a pretty competitive keyword. Getting to the top slot on Google for that search term would definitely take time and energy. But if I’m having Siri search the web for me, I’m probably going to ask her about car insurance in the form of a question. And ranking high for “how do I get car insurance in Ventura, California?” or “how much car insurance do I need for a Honda Insight?” is a lot less competitive.

You need a multichannel approach.

If you think a potential customer is only going to go to your website to get information about your business, think again. Today’s consumer is savvy. They’ll look at your social media channels. They’ll scan your blogs. If they can find you on Yelp, you better believe they’ll read the reviews.

It’s important that wherever your customers find you, they find a consistent brand. If you want to be seen as a warm, welcoming, friendly company, you need to make sure that messaging is consistent at all touchpoints. If you want to be the expert, position yourself that way at every turn. In short, your customer is going to take a multichannel approach to learning about your company. Be ready to meet them wherever they look for you.

Applying multichannel marketing to your content.

To make sure you’re putting your best foot forward on every channel, give everything a review. Do any of your web pages need to be cleaned up? Has your blog been left untouched for months? Is your social media posting all over the place? Creating a consistent brand voice across all channels really comes down to making sure your message is both updated and consistent wherever you have information published. (Psst.. I can help with a thorough website review.)

And while you can’t control those Yelp reviews, you can at least make sure your business’s information is listed accurately there.

2019 is in full swing. Don’t get left behind!