5 Ways to Up Your Digital Marketing Game in 2019 Improvise your digital marketing strategy by including these trends, and you're prepared for any marketing challenge 2019 throws at you

There are only a few months to go before we hit 2019 — the perfect time to plan a fresh digital marketing strategy and capitalize on upcoming trends. After all, in a field as dynamic as this, staying ahead makes all the difference in terms of brand visibility and recall. And while certain strategies from 2018 will go strong into the coming year, there are a number of new trends you need to incorporate to see a significant boost in ROI.

Here are the top five things you can do to take your strategy from present to future:

Automate Web Communication with Chatbots

Chatbots have been gaining popularity over the last few years — and it looks like it's only going to get stronger in 2019. They use deep learning to recognize data, speech, and patterns and provide accurate results every time they face a similar query. And even better — chatbots are set to become more lifelike, thanks to Natural Language Programming (NLP). It'll save brands time and money by screening customer queries before they're sent to employees. One of the many brands already on this chatbot bandwagon is HDFC. The bank's AI-based Electronic Virtual Assistant (EVA) chatbot can answer millions of questions across multiple channels. It has the ability to collect information from thousands of sources and give you an answer in less than a second!

Increase Your Video Marketing Budget

The demand for video is growing at an astonishing pace — especially with the rising popularity of Facebook Live. These short videos boost viewership since they are in real-time. Plus, when customers watch a video on your website, Google interprets that as you providing relevant information, pushing you up the search results. Videos are especially helpful for smaller and newer businesses because they allow potential clients to know you better. So, assess how much video content you're putting out there and the ROI — if there's room for improvement, increase budgets and production.

Go for Native Advertising

Native advertising blends seamlessly with the website it's on — making it a great investment for your brand. Your marketing efforts are more likely to succeed since you're not disrupting the user experience. According to a Sharethrough and IPG Media Lab survey, out of 4,770 consumers, nearly 1 in 3 said they would share a native ad, while less than 1 in 5 said they would share a banner ad — making it a strategy must-have for 2019. That being said, for native advertising to be successful, you must know your audience well enough to create useful content. Netflix aced this strategy when they partnered with The Wall Street Journal to launch their series Narcos. The streaming service did this via a sponsored article that met the publisher's editorial standards. It was innovative, creative, and positioned Netflix as a unique content creator.

Employ Inbound Marketing

Did you know that inbound marketing's cost-per-lead is 61 per cent cheaper than traditional marketing? Yes, it's that effective. And, it's simple! Inbound marketing is all about creating content that's tailored to address the needs of your target audience. So, while creating your content, be mindful of each stage of the sales funnel — Top of Funnel (TOFU), Middle of Funnel (MOFU), and Bottom of Funnel (BOFU). Every stage requires specialized content that will appear for different customers depending on where they are in their journey.

Embrace Growth Hacking

The important thing to remember when going for growth hacking is that it's an approach, not a tool. What does that mean? It's just an all-encompassing term for growth-focused strategies. If you're a start-up that needs a shot-in-the-arm, don't dwell too much on your marketing budget — take a step back and tap into customer behaviour. Understand what they want from your company, and develop your own growth metrics. One of the simplest ways to implement this is through content marketing — including blogs, social media, ebooks, and even influencer marketing. In fact, many brands combine their influencer marketing with their social media strategy to increase effectiveness and boost ROI.