An effective digital marketing strategy is paramount in 2019; there's no time left for guesswork.
Experts agree that there are well-known best practices that are battle tested and work, including the 4 most effective ones listed below:
1. Improving User Experience
Priority to mobile!
This is not new and companies have understood its importance as now, the majority of sites have switched to Responsive Web Design.
Despite all this, Google reports that many sites are still too slow and for this reason has developed new technologies such as accelerated mobile pages (AMP).
In 2019, an effective marketing strategy is switching to AMP or to Progressive Web App or PWA which offers the benefit of being supported by iOS as well.
Google has just released documentation to help developers better understand the new techniques of the Web such as how to make a site "installable."
Some companies have announced a 30% improvement in their mobile conversions after converting to PWA.
In fact, the customer is not the only one to react positively to an improvement in site speed as Google in 2018 began penalizing slow sites and gradually changed its algorithm to better rank sites that' have improved their speed.
2. Digital Marketing Becomes Omnichannel
A multichannel digital marketing strategy is the use of all channels to reach the consumer; omnichannel is a multichannel evolution where the simultaneous use of available channels is better optimized.
In marketing and multichannel marketing, each department or entity is responsible for different parts of one company's services including the company website, social media, remarketing, press, phone, and more, so it's very complicated to be effective.
In contrast, an omnichannel strategy sees the plethora of services provided through one lens in one compact strategy.
This means that customers can start with one channel and then switch to another.
These complex moves between channels need to be fluid and obviously the budget should be prioritized over the more effective channels.
A third of companies is considering a digital transformation for 2019 that must address the problem of silos and integrated strategies.
3. More Advertising Investment On Snapchat And Instagram
Instagram is evolving well with its Shopping feature that allows companies to sell their products on an article or story and put them on hold to facilitate the buying process.
Recently, it is possible to tag the branded or influenced video.
It shouldn't be surprising to learn that Instagram is targeting the 25-35 age group; however, what's more recent is that Snapchat is too.
In addition, Snapchat also targets 35 to 44-year-olds; in other words, these two networks are no longer exclusively for teens.
4. Influencer Marketing Should Also Attract Small Brands
Of course, if Instagram has developed shopping functions, it's to help out as support for influencer marketing.
And that's good because more and more brands are using influencers to add value to their products.
While it's harder to evaluate the return on investment, there's no doubt that a friendly, well-known face will reassure potential customers more easily than a hype.
If only major brands deploy large-scale campaigns, it is probably because few companies can afford a tweet to $450k Kim Kardashian's account.
A Look Back
But these things change.
Studies have shown that the more a user becomes influenced, the less close he or she will be to their audience, no longer reacting to the comments and trying to develop trust.
It seems that it's more effective to rely on a network of small influencers then on a celebrity.
This is how digital marketing companies will gradually open their doors to small brands with small influencers!