The Ultimate Guide to Marketing

Trends in 2019
Allie Decker

Marketing moves at the speed of light … er, at least it feels that way
when you’re brainstorming a new campaign or strategy, and all of a
sudden, a new statistic or technology release changes everything.

On a yearly, quarterly, and even monthly basis, new trends and

techniques pop up and transform the way we attract, connect with,
and market to our audiences.

But keeping up with these changes isn’t always enough. To succeed

in the fast-paced, marketing world, you have to stay ahead of the
game. That’s why we created this guide — influenced by some of
our very own HubSpot experts — so you can bookmark and return
to some of the most important marketing trends of 2019, time and
time again.

Why use marketing trends?

If a certain marketing strategy or approach has consistently worked
for your business, why change it?

Well, just because something works now doesn't mean it'll work
again in the future. You have to be one step ahead, or at least keep
up with the emerging trends, that will impact your marketing
success the next time around. So, other than keeping up with
developments in the industry, why should your business care about
marketing trends?

Marketing trends allow you to ...

As we've said, many things change in the marketing world — and
they do so frequently. That's why we've listed some of the most
popular types of marketing trends — and an example or two of each
— to help you adapt to these developments as needed and to equip
your business with the knowledge necessary for you to succeed.

Marketing Trends
1. General Marketing Trends

General marketing trends can be applied to virtually any type of

company, no matter the size or industry. These trends will help you
effectively reach your target audience and convert more prospects
through your business's marketing content.

Two common trends today include inbound marketing and the

process of using your customers as marketers (and promoters).

Use inbound marketing to reach more audience members

organically.

As disruptive, outbound marketing tactics that interrupt audience

members from whatever it is they're doing become less effective in
reaching prospects and leads, inbound marketing has come to the
forefront of effective tactics.

The process of inbound marketing requires you to product quality,

valuable content tailored towards your target audience and buyer
personas and their needs.

Sign up for a free inbound marketing course to help you begin

organically reaching more audience members.

Turn your customers into your biggest advocates and

promoters.

The marketing funnel is old news. Today, the flywheel — and a

subsequent focus on service — have replaced the one-way
direction of the funnel.

In the world of the marketing funnel, customers were an

afterthought. Once they became a paying customer, businesses
considered them obsolete — until, of course, it was time re-sign
that contract.

The flywheel, on the other hand, places the customer in the center.
Since word-of-mouth marketing is the single most powerful
marketing tactic, it’s wise to not only serve your customers but also
equip them to become advocates for and promoters of your brand.
The flywheel illustrates this process: excellent service as its own
marketing strategy.

By keeping the flywheel at the center of your marketing efforts,

placing a heavy emphasis on customer service and training to equip
your customer service team with the tools to handle requests and
issues, you'll delight and empower your customers. This will lead to
customers who can market for you — they can promote and
advocate for your business via their networks both online and in-
person.

Featured Resource

2. Content Marketing Trends

All types of business in a variety of industries are focusing on

content marketing — publishing blogs, investing in resources to
produce unique content, and paying for content-related ads.

So, why should you also care about the current content marketing
trends? Because 47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content
prior to engaging with a sales rep, and 70% of people say they'd
rather learn about new products through content over traditional
advertising.

To ensure your content marketing efforts are as effective and

accessible as possible, pay attention to the type of content that
resonates most with your buyer personas, target audience, and
current customers.

Featured Resources

Create and share video content to connect with and engage

your audience.

Video marketing isn’t a new idea, but its effectiveness and

popularity have definitely skyrocketed in recent years. 83% of
marketers now say that video gives them a good ROI and more than
50% of consumers say they want to see video content more than
any other type of content from brands.
Alicia Collins and Megan Conley, video producers and editors at
HubSpot, weigh in: “This [consumer behavior] also indicates that
video can be used throughout all parts of the flywheel — not just as
an asset for marketing. When incorporating video, businesses have
historically used it as a means of introducing their brand and
product or service offerings. But that’s not the case anymore. Video
can be a valuable addition to both sales and customer service
efforts.”

In the past, video was limited due to costly resources and

production. Today, it’s much more accessible. With a lower cost
barrier, video has become less intimidating to incorporate into your
marketing efforts. You don’t have to hire a production team or
marketing agency; all you need is a smartphone, such as an iPhone,
and an editing software, such as Adobe Premiere Pro.

Featured Resources

Use native advertising to reach an audience you may have never

connected with otherwise.

When your brand pays to feature content on a third-party website,

you’re investing in native advertising. Unlike traditional advertising,
which is designed to interrupt and stand out, native advertising is
designed to blend in and promote your brand to a new audience
who might otherwise never learn about you.

Because native ads don’t “feel” like traditional ads, consumers are
more likely to consume them — in fact, consumers view native ads
over 50% more than banner ads. Examples of native advertising can
be found on social media, through search engine results, content
recommendation platforms (those links to various other content you
can click at the bottom of the page to read more on or related to the
topic), or in campaigns.
For example, Buzzfeed is a popular publication and blog that
routinely partners with brands for native advertising. Google Home
published content on back-to-school recipes and the only mention
of the brand is in the byline. Google Home is advertising its product
by incorporating their brand in otherwise native content.

Source

To incorporate native advertising in your marketing efforts, look for

publications relevant to your brand. Remember to sound natural and
avoid coming off as pushy or blatantly promotional.

3. Social Media Marketing Trends

In the U.S. alone, 77% of people have some type of social media
account — and globally, there are over 3.7 billion social media users.
This is why social media marketing is a popular trend that's become
a part of almost every business’s greater marketing strategy. Social
media marketing allows you to authentically connect with your
audience on a personal level, humanizing your brand.

Featured Resources
Engage your audience with both ephemeral and permanent
social media content.

Not all social media is created equal. Different types of content do

better on various platforms. This includes ephemeral (fleeting) and
permanent (long-lasting) social media content. Let's take a deeper
look at ephemeral vs. permanent social content:

Ephemeral Social Media Marketing

Today, Instagram and Facebook Stories specifically make the

creation of ephemeral content simple — Instagram and Facebook
Stories are photos and videos that live for 24-hours before
disappearing “forever”. (Well, not really … there’s an Archive feature
where all your Stories reside after they expire. But you get the gist.)

Kelly Hendrickson, a social media marketer at HubSpot, says:

“Ephemeral content versus permanent content is often dictated by
the social platform, as well as by the audience's behavior on the
platform.”

Take Instagram, for example:

“[Instagram] Stories are soaring in popularity, and the user behavior

on Stories leans toward playful, low-fi, quick content with heavy use
of features within the UX (gifs, boomerangs, polls, etc). Their
fleeting design isn’t the only differentiating factor. Instagram Stories
can be heavily edited, too, with filters, GIFs, colored text, and more.
Because of these fun additions, brands have added a brand new
strategy for producing and publishing ephemeral content that varies
from their other social media content.”

Permanent Social Media Content

Permanent content is a little different:

“Instagram can organically serve up a wall post across a wide span

of time, so there's less of an opportunity for brands to be timely
(who wants to see New Year's post when they’ve already given up
on their resolutions?!). Since Instagram users are more active on
weekdays, during the standard workday, it seems users are looking
for a break! It’s critical to use your brand voice and point-of-view to
find how you can serve your audience during that break. Should
your presence be inspirational? Beautiful? Informative? Playful?
Trendy? They all have a place on Instagram’s permanent wall, it just
needs to match your brand’s message.”

By combining ephemeral and permanent social media content on

platforms such as Instagram and Facebook that offer the ability to
create both, you allow your business to showcase more of your
brand’s personality and flair.

Kelly says, “The combo of a running clock and a lively audience is a

huge opportunity for brands to lean into quick, in-the-moment
content that showcases the more light-hearted elements of their
brand. Succinctness and clarity are key in content.”

Featured Resource

Work with a micro-influencer on social to connect with your

target audience and improve brand awareness.

Influencer marketing plays a major role in all types of modern

marketing (ads, videos, social media, blogs). But businesses are no
longer limited to major celebrities and names that everyone knows
when deciding to work with an influencer.

In fact, micro-influencers have found their niche in the social media

world, too — and it's a big role they've started to play in converting
leads, connecting with audience members, and boosting brand
awareness.

Micro-influencers are social media promoters with a smaller, niche

following (typically, thousands to tens-of-thousands of followers).
Although these folks may have fewer followers, their posts often
pack more punch due to their higher level of engagement.

Additionally, since they’re considered “average” and “everyday”

people (unlike hard-to-reach celebrities), audience members view
micro-influencers more like friends and family and, therefore, are
more likely to trust their opinions and recommendations.

Rosie, known as The Londoner, is a popular travel and lifestyle

influencer on Instagram. She has over 330k loyal followers who
interact and engage with her posts. The below image of a post on
profile shows that with almost 36,000 likes, Rosie is garnering
almost 11% engagement.
Source

Micro-influencers are the future of influencer marketing. Although it

may be tempting to only look at the number of followers a user has
to determine their influence, remember true influence lives in
engagement rates (clicks, subscribes, and purchases). They also
drive social buzz through the creation and posting of personal
content and are much more cost-effective for your business.

Featured Resources

4. Search Engine Optimization Marketing Trends

61% of marketers say improving search engine optimization (SEO)

to grow their organic presence online is their top inbound marketing
priority.
Are you one of these marketers? If so, have you figured out how
exactly you plan to improve your SEO and organic presence? When
you optimize for specific types of consumer behavior, you'll help
your business become more discoverable online.

Download a free SEO Starter Kit to get your website and content
ranking in search in 2019.

Implement voice search tactics to empower users to get the

answers they need.

It's probably safe to assume you’ve used Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and/
or Google Assistant in the last month or so. Am I right?

Not only do these digital assistants answer short, informational

queries such as “Who is the actor in Mission: Impossible?” or
“What’s the weather in Boston today?”, but they’ve also started to
process more local, conversational, and customized searches.
These may sound like, “Where’s a nearby coffee shop I can work
from today?”, “How late is it open?”, and “Do they serve iced
coffee?”

Because of this emerging behavior, businesses need to respond and

change the way they frame information. Instead of catering to
Google’s manual search algorithm, optimize your content by
framing it around questions.

When you implement voice search tactics this way, you'll empower
your users to get the answers they want and need. They can ask a
question in that conversational tone we mentioned above and, in
return, they'll get a high-quality and accurate response. They can
multi-task while asking questions and receiving answers, as well as
get those answers they're looking for more quickly.
Aja Frost, an SEO strategist at HubSpot, says: “Businesses should
look at a topic and say, ‘What questions could users ask about this?’
Then, they should plan sub-topics accordingly and look for
opportunities to insert questions as headers. This will allow voice
assistants to easily grab questions and recognize content as
solutions.”

Aja also encourages businesses to look for featured snippet

opportunities, which are the information previews Google provides
when users search for definitions or questions. Voice assistants
typically pull responses directly from these boxes.

Featured Resource

Optimize your site with a responsive, mobile-friend design so

your audience can access your site from anywhere.

48% of consumers start mobile research with a search engine, and

the first position on Google search results on mobile has a 31.35%
click-through rate.

It goes without saying that mobile usage is skyrocketing, especially

for search queries and research. Due to this, businesses should
ensure their website is discoverable and readable via mobile devices
including smartphones and tablets. Website speed is also becoming
important as Google prioritizes better performing websites in their
search engine results pages (SERPs).

Become familiar with how to design and optimize your website for
mobile use. This typically requires a responsive design — meaning
your website will “respond” and change its design and layout as
users access it on their desktop versus their smartphone.

Featured Resource
5. Technology Marketing Trends

Similar to marketing, technology is also ever-changing — and it's

happening equally as fast (if not faster). There are a number of ways
to use technology to your advantage when it comes to your
marketing, especially since so many new opportunities are emerging
every day.

Integrate artificial intelligence (AI) to help your audience and

customers solve for their problems quickly and accurately.

In general terms, artificial intelligence refers to a subset of computer

science that teaches machines to do things that would require
intelligence if done by a human. Think of tasks like learning, seeing,
talking, socializing, reasoning, or problem-solving. When completed
by computers, they’re considered AI.

AI has completely infiltrated our daily lives and tasks. When Spotify
recommends a song, Facebook recognizes and tags a person, or
you text a friend using Siri, you’re tapping into AI. As we utilize AI
more and more (especially as consumers), marketers and
businesses will need to respond.

The point of AI isn’t to replace humans or the need for a human

touch. It’s to improve and expand our ability to connect with our
audience and help them solve their problems quicker and more
thoroughly.

In fact, authenticity in marketing is more important than ever to

consumers. AI is also incredibly helpful when collecting and
analyzing data and making data-driven decisions. So, research ways
you can incorporate AI into your business's marketing strategies to
better serve your consumers and to make your life simpler.
Use virtual reality (VR) & augmented reality (AR) to improve
customer experiences in person and online.

Virtual reality is viewing a computer-generated, lifelike scenario.

Augmented reality is viewing the real world augmented with visual,
haptic, olfactory or visual additions. VR and AR offer different
experiences, but both are making waves in the marketing world
today.

They’re affecting your lives, too. Ever watched a 360° video on

Facebook? That’s VR. What about IKEA’s IKEA PLACE app which
helps you visualize virtual furniture in your very real room? That’s
AR.

VR and AR are used to supplement and improve customer

experiences online and at events. Generally speaking, this is a trend
marketers have been slower to adopt due to pricey equipment and
bulky headsets. But, as VR glasses and AR apps become more
accessible, businesses can expect to add this technology to their
marketing strategy.

Include chatbots on your site to automate tasks and assist your

customers more quickly.

Did you know that more than half of consumers expect a response
within 10 minutes to any marketing, sales, or customer service
inquiry? How can this be humanly possible?

It’s not … for humans, anyway. Enter: Chatbots.

Bots are powered by a computer program which automates certain

tasks, typically by chatting with a user through a conversational
interface. Bots are made possible by artificial intelligence which
helps it understand complex requests, personalize responses, and
improve interactions over time.

Bots provide quick, easy solutions to problems of all levels of

complexity. No longer is the need for live chat or a literal one-to-one
digital conversation. Bots provide the perception and dedication of a
1:1 service experience while working with hundreds of customers —
something that no customer service representative or team would
ever be able to do.

To the consumers who hate repeating themselves to multiple sales

or service representatives (33%, to be exact), listen up — chatbots
are and will continue making your lives much easier. If used
correctly, they manage conversations at scale and aggregate data
from multiple sources of data, from calendars to knowledge bases
to blog posts and videos.
Jon Dick, VP of Marketing at HubSpot, says: “It’s on you to make
things as easy as possible. Your buyers want to use live chat? You
should give it to them. They’ve had the same problem three times in
the last month? You should already know, and have a plan to fix it.”

Featured Resource

6. Privacy Marketing Trends

In the marketing world, data is highly valuable … and not just

valuable to you, as a marketer or business owner. Whether it's an
email address, credit card information, or smartphone location,
consumers also view their data as precious and privileged — and it’s
your responsibility to take care of it.

Give your customers greater control over their data.

Whether a software company, bank, government agency, or

lemonade stand, every business operates using data. It’s the
lifeblood of all things marketing, sales, service, and more.

And hackers know it. When data breaches happen, precious

information is siphoned into the wrong hands, leading to
untrustworthy businesses and exploited consumers.

That’s why the General Data Protection Regulation was enacted —

it's an effort by the EU to give greater control to consumers over
their data. Under the GDPR, organizations must ensure that their
data is collected legally and safely and that those who collect and
manage said data will protect it and respect consumers’ rights.

Following the GDPR guidelines might seem like a burden, but being
fined for non-compliance will feel much heavier; fines range from 10
million euros to 4% of a company's annual global revenue.
Is this a risk you want to take?

Probably not — so, do your research. Learn about GDPR and peruse
our GDPR checklist to ensure your business is compliant.

Use Marketing Trends to Grow Better

You’re up to speed … for now. If your current campaigns and
advertising don’t align with these trends, don’t fret. Slowly apply
these changes to your marketing efforts and ensure all of your
activities are compliant and legal.

As long as you’re keeping a thumb on the pulse of current marketing

trends — and always remain open to change — your business won't
fall behind.