Digital marketing is evolving at breath-taking speed, with 2018 filled with hype about new marketing techniques, strategies and insights promising unprecedented business growth for marketers of all stripes. It seemed every other day the headlines were brimming with news about augmented reality, video marketing, influencer marketing, marketing automation and all the possibilities they offered.

Trying to keep up with every new trend is next to impossible. It seems like every new year brings with it a new innovation that will once again ‘change everything’. Many marketers get caught up in the hype, hoping to jump on the bandwagon before the competition does. But smart marketers know there is no magic bullet.

They focus on what’s best for their business, and even though they keep up with what’s happening in the digital marketing world, they stay keenly focused on the marketing strategies that deliver real results.

2019 will be their year.

Let’s take a look at the digital marketing strategies that have delivered consistent growth over the years, as well as some new strategies that will play a major role in the digital marketing industry in 2019.

1. Investing in Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing flips the idea of traditional marketing on its head. Instead of relying on the constant bombardment and interruption model of classical advertising, inbound marketing seeks to attract the attention and interest of the audience by providing them with something of value. Whether that exclusive content takes the form of ebooks, digital downloads, infotainment, how-to guides, or podcasts, inbound marketing offers the audience something of value in exchange for their time and attention.

It’s a long-term growth strategy that not only positions you as a thought leader and influencer but also generates a positive perception of your brand, showing audiences that you’re not just ‘in it for the money’.

It’s a great way for your brand to engage with its customers and demonstrate its value.

This is a strategy that will grow even more important in 2019, as more brands commit to producing and distributing valuable content on a regular basis. Marketers who invest in long-term inbound marketing plans will be ahead of the game in the coming year.

2. Leveraging Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a well-established tool in any marketer’s arsenal, but it is still woefully under-utilised. We all know social media platforms heavily favour content that is native to their platform, and it is well worth investing the time and effort to select which platforms you should be leveraging.

The key to success lies in not only creating platform-native content that is relevant to your audience but also leveraging your following on those platforms to drive traffic to your own website.

Your strategy should seek to use social media as a lead-gen tool, driving traffic to your website where you can convert users. But there needs to be a balance between posts that drive traffic, and posts that engage the audience through useful or valuable content.

Boosts and promotions should also be used strategically. When used effectively, they can be a powerful way to maximise views on social media platforms.

3. Taking Advantage of Video Marketing

With the rise and rapid spread of broadband technology and consumer smartphones becoming more powerful, video consumption has sky-rocketed. HD video is now standard, and with audiences viewing more videos than ever before, video marketing is quickly becoming a key strategic pillar for many marketers.

Social media platforms are constantly prioritizing video content over other types of content for a reason. Audiences tend to respond more favourably to video content, and many companies are increasing their video production budgets to capitalise on this growing trend. But the rules for video content are the same as for any type of content: videos must be engaging, interesting and relevant. Companies that are doing this are already seeing massive positive results coming their way.

4. Long-Term Content Marketing

In the current commercial environment, almost every company needs to have a running blog. A regularly updated blog not only showcases your expertise and point of differentiation, but it also assures the audience that your practices are current and your business takes its work seriously. 2019 will see blogging grow steadily to become standard business practice across multiple industries, helping companies communicate their strengths in a way few other channels can.

But not every company can afford to churn out brilliant content and breaking news for short-lived traffic spikes like news media companies can.

“The industry is trending towards creating evergreen long-form content, content that will be relevant not just today, but also a year or two from now. Investing in your content strategy with a long-term vision will lend a strong advantage to your marketing efforts.“ - Rantej Kandola, Head of Digital Operations for One Stop Media Agency.

Over time, as your archive of content builds, you will see bigger audiences visiting your content month after month, building steady traffic and helping you identify which content pieces are truly resonating with them. This will also provide great insight into what your audiences really want from your services.

Such content may be time-consuming to produce, but it is well worth the return. As your content pieces get mentioned and backlinks through other blogs and social media, you will see your search rankings and brand visibility improve as your website gets even more high-quality traffic. 2019 looks all set to be the year content marketing scales up in the mainstream.

5. Investing in Retargeting

People who have already shown interest in your brand or bought from you before are much more likely to buy from you again.

Retargeting allows you to reconnect with them directly with tools like Google AdWords or Facebook, which enable you to track user behaviour and retarget specific messaging to audiences that have interacted with your brand before.

This presents a powerful opportunity to upsell more products or services to an audience who is familiar with you.

These tools track those users across the web, presenting them with relevant ads and messaging that reinforces your brand. You can choose to advertise the same product or service they used before or a related product they may be interested in. You can even include a special offer to incentivise them to make a purchase.

Retargeting has proven to be one of the most effective forms of paid advertising, but the process can be very nuanced and requires the help of an expert to use it effectively.

Retargeting, when used as part of a well-rounded marketing strategy, is going to be a powerful tool for your marketing efforts in 2019.