“Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula”

– Bill Bernbach

There was no other better way to begin this blog piece. If there existed no idea of tapping the potential of the internet revolution, then digital marketing would also have never existed! We would never have evolved further from traditional marketing. Magazine and print ads are so passé. In fact, Mobile and Television experiences are going to rule global digital advertising, with Content being the formidable influencer in the marketing arena, as we jump headlong through 2019. Each day brings us new content formats, breaking news, and shifting promotional budgets. It is essential to keep a sharp eye on the dynamics of marketing and advertising in order to go with the flow. As evolution is all about survival of the fittest, this blog attempts to compile the trendsetters that are going to impact marketing and advertising agency in Delhi in 2019.

Ditch that Sales Pitch!

Yes, you heard it right! Tonality & context of marketing and advertising have undergone a tremendous amount of change in the past decade. The focus is more on the brand rather than products and services . Today’s consumers want to feel welcomed and experience the warmth of belonging. Your brand message should add value to the customer. Rather than details and benefits of your products and services, it should elicit more about how your company ensures an amazing customer experience. For instance Wordpress, the famous blog site, cites the following in its video ad - “More sites run on WordPress than any other platform. Build your site at WordPress.com.” Nowhere does it mention even a single feature or benefit or gives an explanation about what is Wordpress, instead, the viewer is left feeling good. Because Wordpress is a warm and friendly place where one can connect with the world and its diverse people. Brands today are not about what you want or need. They’re all about how they make you feel.

Go Omnichannel

Up until last year, Multichannel marketing was being followed. 2019 has been declared as the year of Omnichannel marketing. Multichannel marketing focuses on how you allow customers to carry out transactions in each channel. Omnichannel, on the other hand, requires more involvement on your part - orchestrate the customer experience on all channels to make it more seamless, integrated and consistent. It should be as if you are viewing from the customer's eyes. In short, it is a well-coordinated relay of customer navigation through social channels depicting pre-sales funnel, to the resolution phase which ends in him or her actually going for the brand's products or services.

Be Authentic

If you’re thinking of sticking to the old school and conventional type of advertising to save up your budget, hold it right there! Throw that thought right away! The reality is that today, the world revolves around social media and customer-centric platforms more than the Sun, pun intended! So it has become quite a mandate for organisations and brands to behave like regular people; as consumers prefer brands that are accessible and approachable when having problems.

Brands too, have to try to keep it cool and refrain from ‘trying hard to win-over’ their audience. A very popular second approach is including messages that reinforce social values, causes and challenges. In addition to steering positive social changes, it has also been observed to be a great unifying factor and helps gather a larger audience base.

The third approach is personalized brand messages which are slowly but surely gaining momentum. With decreasing attention spans and content galore, personalized messages deliver your brand message adhering to the demography, requirements and search history.

Digital Experience PWA

Creating content and platforms that are Mobile responsive, catering to smartphone users is so obsolete. The talk of the town today, is the future innovation in digital experiences that includes

Speed

Personalization

User Interfaces

It’s not only about providing an improved insight but also making the customer experience as convenient and memorable as possible. The need for speed has brought Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) in to the marketing forum. Though initiated as efficient platforms for Webinars, numerous brands have already started using them to spread their user - centric content.

Next-Gen Search

Spoiler Alert: Visual and Voice will dominate the ‘Search’ game in the market. Internet giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook have already deployed these search mechanisms at a large scale. However, it is important to note that the approach and optimisation required for Visual and Voice are entirely different from that of traditional marketing and advertising. For instance Snapchat has recently tied-up with Amazon to facilitate users to take a snap of the product they’re looking for. They are then taken directly to the Amazon purchase options page. Alexa is already gaining momentum in the global market scenario. Not to forget, Facebook and Instagram stories are a great way to maximize audience outreach potential.

Some of the other spoilers are:

Content creation, usage and mobile technology will witness a tremendous transformation, thanks to 5k technology.

The level of sophistication of TV & OTT will be as such, that consumers can directly interact with ads from their televisions and phones. That means increased product placement in streaming videos!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) augmented content will bring in more personalization within digital videos.

Triopoly

As of now Google, Facebook and Amazon are the holy trinity of Digital Age. They compete fiercely or even blend effortlessly but in all those events they’ve never failed to endow upon customers with gifted advancements in digital technology. Amazon is fast catching up as a search engine, while Facebook via Instagram has started its own shopping pages. In short the demarcations between search engines, social networks and e-carts are gradually fading away. As marketers and entrepreneurs, it is essential to connect the dots, optimize the transition across all digital platforms in order to facilitate seamless explorer-buyer journey for the customers.

Influencer Marketing

As the name suggests, it involves famous celebrities, eminent personalities or key leaders who (mostly related to the field in consideration) carry out word-of-mouth marketing. In most cases, organisations often take help of famous Youtube and Instagram personalities who spread their brand message clearly and effectively. The powerful combination of humanness and relatability makes it all the more authentic.

 92% of people trust other consumer recommendations over corporate advertising. In the coming months, influencer budget is said to increase by almost 40%! What’s more? Its two for one with both parties enjoying leverage in brand awareness apart from audience engagement and better prospects.

Creativity & Content Prevail!

With the advent of latest technology and ever changing dynamics of marketing, it has become more and more evident that innovation is key to a successful campaign. It's time for marketers and business people alike to think out of the box and put their creative ingenuity to good use! Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will open up new doors for SMEs, big businesses and marketers alike enabling them to generate consumer-centric, relevant and engaging ads. Another approach is bringing in User Generated Content. Encouraging your trusted customers to provide content in the form of blogs, vlogs, videos or social media posts for an incentive will actually help boost your consumer base creation & engagement in addition to attaining higher rate of conversions.