With 2019 right around the corner, it is important for any business to understand current trends occurring with today’s consumers. A healthy understanding of where to most effectively spend your marketing dollars can instantly increase your brand awareness, consumer buying experience and ultimately, your sales. So with that in mind, this edition of “Gettin’ Graphic” will examine some important trends that small business should pay attention too in the coming months.
Obviously, the trends you will need to pay attention will be completely dependant on your target audience, and this article will focus more on general trends – so it will be up to you and your business to decide which trends apply to you and your marketing strategy.
1. Video Marketing Taking Over
The emergence of social media platforms like Instagram and SnapChat into the forefront of our culture has quickly shifted how business can use these platforms to market themselves. Even platforms like YouTube, websites, email marketing, Facebook and Twitter have begun focusing more on implementing videos as a way for businesses to show their products or service, rather than tell them. Internet watching is trending towards being as strong, if not stronger, than television watching causing many digital marketing agencies to turn their focus to videos.
The shift to videos has certainly impacted on user behaviour, and how consumers interact with each other and brands online. Technological advancements over the years have made video creation easier than ever before. Creating professional content provides little resistance as all you need is a smartphone and maybe a simple app. Videos can be developed related to particular products or services while offering a more authentic experience that reflects being in-store and provides your audience with better insight before making their purchasing decisions.
Video Content/Creation
A few things to remember when setting out on the creation of video marketing content.
- Length of the video – depending on what platform you have decided to use, the length of the video will vary. Apps like Snapchat and Instagram set restrictions on the length of time that your video can be. It is important to understand these restrictions before you spend countless hours and dollars building a 3 – 5-minute video that won’t be allowed on platforms such as these.
- The content of the video – of course, the content is important….but what is considered important? The easiest way to look at content is examining your product/business and note the things that make it unique. Focus on those, they will be your best attributes to focus on during your video marketing campaigns.
- Keep it fun – the draw of video marketing is that people enjoy watching videos. 78% of all people watch videos online weekly, with over 1 billion hours of video watched daily on YouTube alone. People have a plethora of options when it comes to videos, if you aren’t entertaining them, the will move on. The right video that is both informative and entertaining will see a drastic increase (over 200%) in social interaction with its audience (likes, comments, shares).
Here is a great article that talks about some of the best Apps available to create quick and easy marketing videos directly with your smartphone.
https://www.agorapulse.com/blog/top-video-creation-tools
Live videos
Live videos are becoming more popular with the “My Story” function on many social media platforms. If you stream a live video to your followers, they can be quite effective. If you have a special event or new product to introduce, why not go live? Show your consumers your business’s personality. Have fun with your live videos, don’t script them too much or overly produce them. The nicest part about live videos as they are archived within the platform for some time, so even if people miss the live feed – they can watch the video when its convenient for them.
2. Banner Ads are Burning
As mentioned earlier, the onset of the digital age has altered how businesses (brands) and consumers interact. Not long ago, blatant forms of advertising overpowered almost every website that you visited – banner ads. One of the trends for 2019 will see even more online surfers using ad blockers forcing advertisers to change the content of their marketing strategies. Banner ads will no longer be as successful as they have been in the past – forcing you to find creative ways to offer consumers brand and product information.
3. Don’t Give Up on Print
It has been said for years that print (and with it, print advertising) is dead, but I continue to work with a number of clients that have been successful with print marketing. So why is that? With so much marketing focused on the digital trends (and to be honest, rightfully so) that particular market has and will continue to become saturated, leaving more room for print publications to make an impact. I’m not suggesting that you completely abandon digital marketing – but combine the two for a more complimentary marketing strategy. Digital advertising is filling websites, smartphone apps and email boxes, leaving print marketing as a great way to break through the digital noise.
Print advertising such as brochures, posters, mailout newsletters or flyers can all be seen as a different form of advertising in your clients’ mind. Depending on the target audience it can be seen as something new or more personal, which can create memorability.
So these are some of the major trends that will be making their way into the market in 2019. In preparation for that, I have spent some time learning the ins and outs of video creation and editing. Hoping that by the time the calendar turns I will be ready to offer my clientele access to the same great marketing products that Arktos has been providing for the last few years.