Google reveals its 2019 digital marketing predictions: part 1

Hot off the press – Google has outlined what its top digital marketing predictions are for the year ahead. The search engine has outlined 10 trends which it believes will dominate your digital marketing activity over the next 12 months. So, to get a sneak peek into how you’ll be marketing and promoting your new website design in the coming year, read on.

1. Omni-channel marketing Creating a totally seamless user experience should have been on your radar for a while now but expect it to take on even more importance this year as you hunt for ways to give a frictionless experience whatever the device. The goal here is to allow someone to browse your site on say, a desktop device then pick up on your app or continue on your mobile site or social media channel later without there being any kind of lag or jump at all. 2. The mobile web You’ve heard about how important progressive web design is but with more and more users opting to search from a mobile device, expect 2019 to be the year you fixate on how to upgrade the mobile experience. From making mobile web page loading speeds as fast as possible to using AMP for content and maybe even considering progressive web apps, elevating the mobile experience should be front and centre in your digital marketing plans. 3. Online video will overtake TV – what does this mean for your budget? If you’re a brand that advertises on TV, 2019 might well be the year that your budget makes a big shift. According to research cited by Google, users will spend more time online than watching TV in 2019 for the first time ever with average online video viewing time set to peak at over 80 minutes at the end of the year and start of 2020. As a result, TV ad budgets might get swapped to online video production investment. You may also find yourself producing much more video for online purposes as the year progresses. 4. Voice search will also be important As you populate your new business website design with content, you’d be well advised to consider voice search optimisation. Google is confident voice search will boom in 2019, with smart speaker sales leaping by 50% as we reach the end of the year. 5. Partnerships will prevail If you have an ecommerce website, you – like many retailers – might well find it impossible to compete with the millions and billions of pounds of investment platforms like Amazon make in technology. The answer says Google, is partnershisp and it predicts we will see more of them this year.We’ll be sharing part 2 of Google’s predictions next week so check back for our next post on Tuesday.