Google reveals its 2019 digital marketing predictions: part 2

Google has looked into its crystal ball and set out what it expects the key marketing trends for 2019 to be. We recapped the first five in part one of this article and here, we’re rounding up the other five things that could well impact how and why you market your new business website design over the course of the next 12 months.

Prepare for the rise of the Chatbots Chatbots are becoming an increasingly common feature of many websites but consumer adoption has been spotty so far thanks to a few hit and miss aspects of the technology. This looks all set to change as more advanced Chatbots emerge. So much so that some expect that 85% of all brand and customer interactions won’t require a human participant by the year 2020. For now, if you are interested in deploying a chatbot as part of your marketing, look out for more advanced options which use AI and natural language processing to offer a more useful experience. 7. Data-driven personalisation Most if not all forms of marketing work best when there is an element of personalisation involved but it isn’t always easy. In 2019, expect to see more data-driven personalisation to offer a more complete and seamless experience to customers that appears tailored to them. Maite Gomez Fraile, Google Spain Industry Head says brands will need to master five key principles of data-driven marketing (audience, assets, access, attribution, and automation) to make this trend work for them. 8. Off and online content consolidation If your business website is your online store but you also have one or more physical bricks and mortar locations, don’t be surprised if content consolidation is the order of the day and a recurring theme this year. While many brands currently struggle to tie together online and offline data, some businesses are starting to do this successfully, connecting online advertising and activities with in-store sales. 9. Augmented reality will remain popular We have already witnessed AR across a range of marketing channels but, Google predicts that this will still be a key trend in 2019. The search engine gives the example of beauty brands, which are increasingly adopting AR as part of their digital marketing strategy but with brands like Ikea, Coca-Cola and NASCAR also using it, it’s a technology that seemingly knows no barriers. 10. Custom content will become even more important Each year seems to bring with it an increase in the value of online reviews , but in 2019, custom content will get even more of a boost. With research showing that the reliability of information is a key concern for shoppers, videos, content and images uploaded by peers are gaining new credibility.