2018 may be the year your company finally goes global—or takes your activities to new markets. While global expansion has the potential to dramatically boost your profits, it also puts pressure on your marketing team to perform. Luckily, a host of products, services, and best practices are making it easier to win market share in new markets everywhere.
- Data privacy is here to stay
It is clear consumers are well aware of their rights when it comes to proper data collection and usage. What’s also clear is the arrival of GDPR in Europe in May 2018, as well as other data privacy acts being implemented and overhauled around the world, are just the beginning of further consumer data crackdown.
In fact, in its recent report, the ACCC flagged changed to the Privacy Act, which could end up looking like a local GDPR.
As a result, Australian businesses are going to have to get a lot more agile and transparent in the way they collect, store and use customer data. Even if data is used for consumer benefit, a privacy breach will see consumers move elsewhere. As Facebook and Cambridge Analytical demonstrated this year, a company is only one data breach away from disaster, and no company, no matter how big, can afford this in a consumer-driven environment.
- Customer capital is the new currency
Marketers have known for a while now that the customer must be central to every decision made within a business, meaning brands have been working for consumers. In, 2019, industry pundits expect to see the consumer working for brands as well.
For Calvert, customer capital is the new currency. “2019 will be the year brands leverage their social capital with consumers to help drive sales, answer questions, and act on the brand’s behalf in times of crisis,” she said.
“Digital social capital is a way for a brand to understand the value of its online social networks. Just as greater amounts of economic capital can lead to more opportunities, higher amounts of social capital can lead to a more significant impact on a brand’s audience.
- Inclusive creative and design
Rising concerns around inequality, unconscious bias, and stereotyping in society, and the perpetuation of all three via marketing and creative, has never been more apparent. According to J. Walter Thompson Intelligence, inclusive design is the resulting trend, and an essential step to ensuring creative is designed without insidious bias against groups of consumers.
- The rise of voice
Recent reports show the local adoption of voice activated devices and smart speakers, like Google Home and Amazon Alexa, is outstripping the US and the UK. In fact, four million local consumers are predicted to use their smart speakers for shopping in 2019, according to Versa’s The Voice Report 2019.
Brands not incorporating voice into their digital strategies will find themselves behind the pack in 2019.
“In light of launches such as Google Home and the Amazon Echo, which continue to grow over the festive season I’m sure, it’s only a matter of time before voice will disrupt the digital marketing ecosystem as we know it,” Quantcast head of marketing for Asia-Pacific, Rachael Townsley, said.
“With voice search on the up, I expect 2019 will see brands build this in to their media mix and address voice as part of their user experience. And for those in ecommerce, especially with Amazon entering the market, I expect voice ordering will push brands to focus on owning the customer in their homes.”.
- Marketing teams shift from specialism to consumerism
From content to creative, to customer experience, care, service and data analysis, the role of the CMO has undergone significant change in the last five years.
“The modern CMO understands the fundamental goal of marketing is to establish and grow authentic connections with your respective audiences,” Infogroup CMO, Tony Marlow, said. “Data is a critical first step to understanding your audience and this has already given rise to the data-literate marketer.
- Creative content is king
The consumer is demanding more bespoke content, when they want it, and on the channel of their choice. Gone are the days when the same content could be served across multiple channels without thought.
When it comes to the types of creative in-demand in 2019, video is a must-have.
“We live in a world of user generated content, there’s more video content that ever before,” Townsley said.
“Consumer attention has to be fought for and brands that use video that encourages engagement and excites their audience will win. With this in mind I expect we’ll see higher emergence of short-form video. Video is a powerful medium that works. Hubspot reported adding video to an email can boost click-throughs by 200-300 per cent and increase conversion rates by 80 per cent.
2 thoughts on “Trends in Digital Marketing: Global Context”