Marketing trends for 2019

I know to repeat all the time that the changes are accelerated with this new economy, bored. But the speed that technology brings does not give us any respite. And badly that we regret, this new dynamic forces us to take into account the technologies that are trends and associated practices, when planning our marketing strategies for next year.

A large part of the companies start in October to prepare the drafts of the strategy to present their plans before the end of November, and thus obtain the approval of their budgets.

Therefore, we will briefly review the three trends, which in my opinion are the most novel, which are already quite clear because, after direct observation, they have been validated with market studies.

The penetration into Spanish of the Intelligent Speakers begins
Last June I took the elevator at Corte Inglés. I was surprised by the call-to-action that invited me to take advantage of the launch offer of Google Home in Spanish at only € 54. I almost bought it to try it out! But not being sure if it would work in Buenos Aires, I restrained my impulse. The truth is that, until the launch of the Spanish version, in Ibero-America we saw the use of Google Home or the Amazon and Apple versions as a fixed device in the home (not mobile phones) far away.

But in English-speaking countries, these devices have been used for a couple of years now and consumers love them: 65% of people who have a smart speaker in their home say they do not want to go back to their lives without an assistant who controls only with his voice.

One in the functions is that one can ask Google Home to tell him "the latest news". The assistant then gives way to an audio in which an announcer relates the informative Flashes.

What does this imply? That this type of audios (as well as music) will begin to have advertising guidelines, because that content must be monetized. A new platform is then added to take into account.

Live video will continue to grow
It is not a novelty that live broadcasts from Instagram, Facebook and YouTube have been used since 2016.

But it was not until the end of 2017 that it began to gain strength, for example, the live and direct transmission (via networks) of concerts and recitals. According to the surveys carried out, 67% of those who saw an artist or band live streaming, are much more likely to buy tickets for an event of that artist / group or similar. And 45% said they would be willing to pay if they could watch their favorite athlete or team (not TV) or their preferred musicians and performers live on networks.

Being aware of what events will be broadcast live via networks, opens the possibility of not staying out with guidelines.

And finally, but in my opinion the most complex to implement and also the most novel, is the active incorporation in Networks of the CEOs of the companies, to counter false news.

Increase in the Social CEO
Faced with the proliferation of false news in networks, the presence and intervention of Directors and Senior Executives can make a difference to increase the reputation of the brand.

If the top managers of a company in addition to having a profile on Linkedin, also have a presence on Twitter, increases the confidence of users in the brand (their managers give the face), and this fact, in addition to curbing possible online crises, also It attracts talent.

The way in which executives can have a voice (in the face of growing mistrust in the media) is publishing on the company's blog and sharing those links on Linkedin and Twitter, in their personal-professional profiles.

We always repeat that, in these times of connected users, "communication" by organizations has become strategic; because every message that the brand publishes in the digital ecosystem, is exposed to no less than an active population in networks of 2,800 million people and this can be a blessing or become a real nightmare.