If you are Snoozing, you are Losing

By January 17, 2019 March 25th, 2019 Blog

Strategies & Trends in 2019: Dynamic Creative & Correct, Secure Data

 

In the age of automatic updates, limited characters to display and a constantly evolving digital experience, customers expect their journey through the information superhighway to be engaging and relevant.

While we live in a consumer driven universe, thanks to Amazon & Google, the “smaller guys” must leverage high traffic volumes and the benefits of social media marketing to keep up. Here’s why…

2019 started with a historic drop—$55 billion dollars to be exact—in Apple’s stock because their projected updates were less robust than expected. Essentially, they have outpaced their own technology and cannot develop more new features because of the pace at which they’ve grown. How does that analogy apply to digital marketing? From a strategic perspective, 2019 looks to be the year of optimization and video utilization.  

Consumers expect the landscape of digital journey to change; therefore, it requires regular maintenance. Google released a thought provoking article just last week that recommends delivering a personalized experience with a seamless purchase experience and the integration of video to encourage pre-sale engagement. This journey starts at your digital home base, your website. Updating your website regularly with fresh images, updated content, blog feeds or the online payment processor pays dividends. It tells your customers that you are upgrading their “user experience”. *

Voice Search & intelligent home devices usage is ONLY increasing. Optimizing for voice search is a MUST, if you aren’t already. On Black Friday in 2018, Echo Dots were selling at the rate of 1,000 units per second. Americans over the age of 40 are now relying heavily on the search capacity of these AI home devices because it creates a conversation instead of putting on glasses to type and correct spelling on small screen resulting in a direct hit of the information your consumers want. While there is no pay to play opportunities with Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home yet, correct data across the internet through a directory listing, researched FAQ section or correct structured data of your website will optimize your business’s digital footprint and help you rank higher in voice search queries. Bottom line: if your information is “snoozing” on your website, it is “losing” online.**

Protection & Security: Facebook is tightening its Audience Network advertising platform after a disastrous year of breaches and bad news in 2018. From Campaign Analytica to privacy breaches on Facebook’s platform, consumers have been spooked. Facebook has dedicated serious engineering to increased security. Google has taken similar steps to promote safe content online, defaulting to search results that carry SSL certifications on their websites. Consistency and correctness of data also supply Google with safe content. For more on the SSL certification, read our “Secure Search” blog post from August 2018.*** Read it here.

Dynamic Creative is KING (or QUEEN). Video drives consumer engagement ten-fold more than static images and ultimately moves the dial for the end point of conversion. Facebook recently released a new initiative to take still images and create GIFs through slideshows because video leads the social media universe in 2019. Additionally, people are watching video without sound. It makes sense… people are watching videos at work, school or when they are bored, concealed underneath a desk or in someone’s lap. Enough can be inferred from the imagery that the sound is secondary. The Facebook’s Partner Program quoted the following statistics: there is a .25 second window to capture the consumers. From there, the consumer decides within two seconds if they want to stay engaged with the stream or jump to the next. Facebook recommends videos used for advertising or product promotion operate within a 15 second window. Those quantifiable practices from Facebook also apply to streaming systems like Apple TV, Roku and Sling where the OTT technology brings the ads to the front of the screen with a forced click to close or the option to skip when available.

Digital Marketing continues changing the way people use traditional media. This is nothing new, but calls to action on TV send you to the internet! Consider GEICO, an insurance company that is driving traffic to their website from prime time television to capture consumer data as they engage to choose their favorite commercial. Unsuspecting potential customers see it as engaging with a trendy contest, but it’s a way to capture Pixel data and retarget to those who visit the website with the hope of gaining new customers. The other creative television tactic creates the opportunity to watch ROI in real time through analytics because as people sit on the couch, they also have a computer, tablet or smartphone within arm’s reach.****

At Digital Tulip, we have our eye on the prize: placing your product in front of your exact audience with pinpoint accuracy. We carefully listen to our clients’ goals and crafting unique, dynamic strategies across a variety of platforms to deliver a unified message, empowering the end point consumer to access and engage with the brand at hand.

In a nutshell, ramp up your digital strategy to cross pollinate multiple platforms with your business’s most correct data. Explore new, video-focused media initiatives. And, update your website to freshen your content and the customers’ digital journey. If this sounds overwhelming, contact Digital Tulip today! We specialize the development and implementation of unique strategies that produce results and streamline your business during that process. We LOVE all things digital and can provide tailored solutions to optimize the way your business operates online in 2019!

Resource:

*: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/meeting-customer-expectations/?utm_source=content-alert&utm_campaign=2019-01-15-twg-US-content-alert&utm_team=twg-us&utm_medium=email&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRaa1pqTXdZelJtTkRsaiIsInQiOiJHTGhlYUtDXC9mTGVHNzFmK1VrSTFUXC9CVnQ0MUo5U0YyQTQwU2FNMkNIRUczcFRaejhvMUpsbmU0Y3pZdU5zZHdMcmlMZ0htOFJDSHkrdXFXTW9iUXZtcjZ2T2NKRkpYRllwS2hRSG1DbEh4a01kT0locDdxcWV2aGpBc0VoYlRBIn0%3D

**: https://www.yext.com/blog/2018/12/organic-search-trends-to-watch-in-2019/?utm_campaign=YEXT%20Customer%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=68897165&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8c0GTjekZf4K4KYUpXlnblZSC5piDD1mawOsUKXiv098MDe9wCNZDhA2o8yWVmfYmBvRcZL0-dEqe4QbZ2w0iwPa00kQ&_hsmi=68897167

***: https://digitaltulip.com/2018/07/12/google-goals-a-secure-search-tipping-point-on-the-information-superhighway/

****:

https://www.geico.com/bestof/