34 Marketing Trends in AI, Automation, Omnichannel Marketing That You Can’t Ignore

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“Companies that speak in the language of the pitch are no longer speaking to anyone.” – The Cluetrain Manifesto

Today marketing is centered around personalization. It’s about having one-to-one conversations with your prospects and customers through their preferred medium and their preferred time. That’s why more and more companies have started integrating technology such as automation into marketing to build a seamless customer journey and send hyper-personalized communication. With technologies and user behavior changing so swiftly, how does one stay current with the latest marketing trends? What if a new competitor, a new technology, or tools cause cracks in your concrete marketing plans?

As we reach the mid-year mark for 2019, we spoke to 17 thought leaders about the changes in AI, the driving force for analytics, marketing automation, blockchain and everything else that will define the way we market in the next 6 months of 2019.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) 

According to Capgemini, 3 out of 4 organizations implemented AI and ML and saw a 10% increase in the sale of new products and services. Marketers believe it would give them more clarity on the problems that customers face and help in improving the customer experience. It will also revolutionize marketing by making it more interactive. Here’s what the experts in the field had to say about it.

Consent before content. In 2019, companies will focus on their data management strategies and use modern data management technologies. #101marketingtrends Ajay Khanna, VP of Marketing Share on X

Machine Learning will continue to drive better optimization and Artificial Intelligence will answer complex questions for marketers. #101marketingtrends Shreyansh Modi, Flipkart Share on X

Get insights from 101 marketing leaders and see what they have to say about the way marketing is shaping up in 2019. 

Analytics

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that analytics and marketing are inseparable. Marketers rely on analytics to analyze the performance of the campaigns, listen to what the data has to tell them, plan the next set of actions based on the data, and remove silos to build a unified customer experience.

Companies will learn the art of listening. #101marketingtrends Rebecca Martin, CMO, Calabrio Share on X

Marketing Automation

According to a study, the marketing automation market worldwide is going to grow from $11.4 billion in 2017 to $25.1 billion in 2023. Marketing automation is no longer restricted to large enterprises; even small-medium businesses have started using it as it helps them in improving customer experience.

Blockchain

After making their way into the banking and financial industry, marketers are finally paving the way for blockchain services. Marketers believe that besides improving customer experience, blockchain will bring transparency in ad buys and improve customer engagement.

Content Marketing

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories, you tell.”, said Seth Godin, Bestselling Author, and Blogger. Marketing is a perfect example of how technology and creativity can work together without any interruptions. While marketers rely on technology to personalize the customer journey, they understand that it is content that will fuel the success of the journey. Content marketing has evolved from mere text to various other formats that aid the prospect at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Let’s look at some of the predictions from the experts.

The Hottest New Job Position: Chief Content Officer (CCO) #101marketingtrends Jillian Smith, Head of Content Share on X

Content marketing in 2019 will demand more brains and most of all more heart. #101marketingtrends Share on X

I look forward to larger adoption of voice tools at the consumer end in India. #101marketingtrends Hardik Joshi, Digital & Social Media Head - Brand Marketing Share on X

In 2019, large players will begin the shift towards localizing content to suit culture. #101marketingtrends Nikhil Kant, Head - Social Media and Digital Content Share on X

Don’t miss these trends to help you succeed in 2019. Click here.

Omnichannel Marketing

Google states that 90% of the users switch between screens to complete a task. Cross-channel marketing is no more a luxury; it’s a necessity that marketers can no longer ignore. It helps marketers to create a personalized customer journey and engage the customers through emails, push notifications, etc.

Customer Engagement

Today’s customers are more empowered than ever before. They have more choices and do not hesitate to change loyalty if they are unhappy with the services rendered to them. It’s essential to engage and create positive experiences to retain them.

Customer Capital is the New Currency. 2019 will be the year brands leverage their social capital with consumers to help drive sales, answer questions, act on the brand’s behalf in times of crisis. #101marketingtrends Katherine Calvert,… Share on X

Stop Focusing on Transactions and Start Thinking about Customer Lifetime Value. #101marketingtrends Scott Gifis, President Share on X

Data-driven Marketing

Globally, marketers have spent over $20 billion on data despite the growing concerns about data privacy. Data-driven marketing equips marketers with insights on the trends that dominate their respective industry, the behavior of the audience, and enables them to make strategic decisions.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing has evolved. Today, marketers combine multiple marketing strategies such as social media marketing, Virtual Reality (VR), paid ads, etc. to offer personalized content to customers. According to marketing experts, digital marketing will evolve further and use different methods such as interactivity and immersion to connect with the audience.

Interactivity and immersion will become key to connecting with audiences. #101marketingtrends Peter Arvai, Co-founder and CEO, Prezi Share on X

Experiential Marketing

After operating digital and offline marketing in silos; retailers, e-commerce giants and marketers have finally accepted that the integration of digital technology and offline marketing is the best way to create a hyper-personalized customer journey. Experiential marketing bridges that gap between the two to establish a connection. Marketers expect a surge in demand for experiential marketing in 2019.

Gaming

A less-explored part of marketing, gaming is one area that has potential especially for a brand that targets generation Z. Marketers are expecting more cross-over partnerships and brand sponsorships in online gaming in the future.

Mobile Marketing and Advertising

A study by eMarketer revealed that marketers would spend $20 billion more on mobile ads ($93 billion) than TV ads ($69 billion) in future. With consumers spending more time on smartphones and internet giants like Google declaring mobile-first indexing as an important factor for SEO ranking, marketers have started taking mobile marketing and advertising seriously.

As our smartphone screens increase in size, so do the options and benefits of mobile advertising. #101marketingtrends Richard Shapiro, President, The Center For Client Retention, Keynote Speaker, Retail Futurist Share on X

SEO

SEO has come a long way from ranking websites that practiced keyword stuffing to ranking based on user intent. The last year’s Google medic update served as a reminder to marketers that the content on the website has to be relevant to the objective of the website and the keywords have to be chosen wisely. Besides content, experts believe that the speed of the website, the CDN, and mobile-first indexing will play an integral role in improving SEO in 2019.

CDNs will play a key role in SEO. #101marketingtrends, Nate Masterson, CMO of Maple Holistics Share on X

Social Media Marketing

Brands will move away from posting frequent social media updates to posting quality updates and will focus on select platforms instead of broadcasting on multiple social media platforms. Experts believe that 2019 will be about quality over quantity in social media marketing.

Subscription Services

An analysis by McKinsey reveals that 15% of online shoppers have subscribed to one or two subscription services to receive products in a certain interval. Online sellers have to eventually shift from the traditional business model to a subscription model to keep pace with the changing demands of the consumers.

Visual Search

As search engines get better at understanding visual components, experts believe that marketers will use visual search especially to describe products that cannot be explained through text alone accurately.

Websites

Websites developed on Angular and React frameworks are getting popular due to the less load on the browser and servers. Experts believe that Single page applications and dynamic websites will gain more popularity in 2019 due to its focus on building customer experience.

I hope these trends will help you understand the tenets of marketing in 2019. I’ve compiled these and 67 more in-depth insights here. Do take a look if you’d like to learn from 101 top marketing leaders about the definers of 2019.