Dove Direct Print & Marketing Blog - “How Print Improves 2019 Digital Marketing Trends”

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "How Print Improves 2019 Digital Marketing Trends" identifies the top digital marketing trends emerging for 2019 coupled with print's direct mail marketing platform, that when used together increases ROI. Regardless of the marketing mediums, or channels a brand may be investing in to publish and distribute marketing messages, it all comes down to how human behavior responds to and receives the information they are searching for. That said, instant gratification has risen to new heights, thanks in part to technological advances. In fact, it matters little on which devices are being used to access the online environment, from desktops and laptops, to tablets, and even smartphones. If the experience fails to be seamless and easy, you can rest assured that lead generation as well as the ROI goals will fail to meet expectations.

Neither B2B buyers or B2C shoppers have patience when they are confronted with roadblocks that interrupt their online experiences. Digital channels have increasingly provided shortened sales cycles, and that goes for the longer sales cycles typically associated with B2B purchases.

Yes, even B2B buyers can be affected when their experience to gain knowledge of a particular vendor results in a discombobulated online mishap. Therefore, going into 2019, the online digital marketing experiences will have to be on par with what buyers and shoppers are expecting. That said, let's take a look at the top emerging digital marketing trends for 2019, and explore why direct mail marketing is the icing on the proverbial digital marketing ROI cake.

Google's Micro-Moments

Micro-moments, a term coined by Google, represents the continual, reflexive moments in a consumers life, when they seek instant gratification - increasingly while using a smartphone, during which the user wants to do one of four activities, namely "to learn something," "to do something," "to discover something," or "to buy something." Google is making the case that in order to better serve online visitors' penchant for achieving instant gratification, marketers need to amend their sales funnels to include a real-time focus that provides engagements dedicated to providing outstanding micro-moment experiences.

For brands that are looking to improve online experiences based on micro-moments, the overall conjecture is to ensure that any aspect of the user's search criteria is not only available and easy to access, but is also able to answer any questions. Other aspects related to achieving a successful micro-moment experience includes making sure that the website is always up to date with the most recent and best answers. Sites that contain regularly refreshed blogs and some type of knowledge base are the primary assets that Google utilizes for the purpose of indexing search results.

The Rise of Instant Messaging

Lifestyle behaviors have become altered to reflect how much of the day we spend online. Moreover, as we have shifted to being online all the time; we find drivers texting en route (not recommended), and a ton of folks multitasking during a phone conversation; responding to emails, texting, searching for a recipe, and of course, shopping. All these instances and more are now the norm. No doubt, this kind of nano-second activity is bound to present marketing challenges for both B2B and B2C brands.

While marketing via instant messaging is becoming more of the norm, the viewing public has not necessarily embraced reviewing marketing messages on their instant message platforms. The instant messaging marketing tactic that will rise in 2019 is live chat. Further, and according to WIX, live chat platforms are now considered an asset and customers are now looking for them as they visit websites. The beauty of live chat technology is in its ability to produce answers and generate automated messages 24/7. Having a live chat component on a website is like completing a hat trick (hockey term). The hat trick of live chat is in its ability to converse with new website visitors, answer questions, and capture leads.

Think about that for a micro-moment. A brand can literally have a site attendant so to speak that can accomplish a number of issues automatically. In fact, website owners who took the plunge to add live chat to their sites enjoyed a 33% increase in reservations and a 39% uptick in sales after a single month of deployment. Look for live chat to replace online communications and continue to surge well into 2019.

Video Marketing Engagement Rates

Video marketing has been on the rise over the last few years, particularly since online viewing technology has come of age. We now live in a visual age, and to that end, it's not surprising to notice that billions of videos are viewed on a daily basis. Depending on the brand and the marketing strategy, video response rates tend to lead in that category. Video marketing has become ubiquitous in that everywhere we look odds are extremely high that videos are in the mix. Further, it makes little difference where the videos are being accessed from; i.e., social media channels, websites, Vimeo, YouTube and others, the end result is that videos account for outstanding response rates.

Marketers and brands have reported that approximately 76% of video marketing efforts have produced an increase in ROI. It is also important to understand that video production technology is vastly improved and therefore provides a wealth of new interfaces and apps designed to aid production and distribution. In addition, video production capability is so streamlined that videos can be repurposed in a marketing campaign thereby extending the purpose(s) and shelf life of a single video. As a result, video marketing is a must have going into 2019 and beyond.

Automated Marketing

Communicating with prospects and customers in a timely fashion makes all the difference when it comes to cementing a relationship with the brand. Responsive customer service begins with timely communications, which suggests that each time a prospect or customer engages with the brand, those brands that have invested in an automated marketing tool will generate higher engagement rates simply by letting customers know they are important to the brand.

Besides developing simple automated responses such as a 'thank you" after a purchase, automated marketing tools can create a number of complex processing experiences such as building the brand's database for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) capture.

In short, automated marketing tools present a plethora of instances that are far reaching, such as database manipulation, real-time campaign analysis, and a host of other creative applications that can assist in just about any online strategy. The resources saved and the data capture will help automated marketing tools to become mainstream in 2019 and the foreseeable future.

Database

Database manipulation is now affordable and can be integrated with automation tools. Through database led tools, brands are now able to assess just about any visitor parameter in real-time. Once a user accesses a site that is set up to capture data via some type of contact manager component, that visitor's data is in front of the brand. That data can range from pages viewed, time spent viewing each page, actions taken on site, i.e., completing a form, site visit duration, and of course sites equipped with a live chat component can gather even more data, by which all of those subsequent actions can be saved and fed into a database coded for instant responses and most importantly, tracking and providing deep insight into each and every visitor. Lastly database tools allow brands to provide visitors with exactly what visitors are looking for at the time they are looking for it.

How Print Improves Digital Marketing Efforts

The digital environment is awash with technological improvements coming to fruition each and every day. Marketers are faced with the greatest challenge in the digital marketing space which is threefold; getting their ad campaign viewed, then opened, and finally responded to. That's no small feat in an environment that pushes out on average some 10,000 marketing messages per day to each individual in the online community. Therefore, even if a marketer or brand is fully implementing and executing these aforementioned 2019 digital marketing trends, it remains to be seen exactly how many of their campaign posts will ultimately cut through the clutter?

Direct mail, as Google has discovered can make a significant difference when it comes to directing prospects to online destinations. In fact, tech-based organizations such as Direct TV, AT&T, Comcast, Xfinity, Dish TV and others all use direct mail in conjunction with their online marketing strategies. Why? Physical mailboxes are not overflowing with 10,000 pieces of marketing collateral. In fact, a direct mail piece is viewed as a stand alone and does not have to compete against other direct mail pieces to the extent that digital content competes in the online world. Further, recent reports indicate that direct mail actually increases online destinations, and more importantly increases purchasing rates. Therefore, having a direct mail component tied to your digital marketing strategy is a win-win!

The Net-Net

Both B2B and B2C marketing efforts will fair far better in 2019 by applying these digital marketing trends, and that includes investing in a direct mail program that can be tied to the database and automation tools. Lastly, live chat and video marketing are also extremely important and represent a high value investment to convert prospects into customers that buy. Thank you for reading "How Print Improves 2019 Digital Marketing Trends."

Let's have a conversation about direct mail strategies, printing, print software, transactional documents, variable digital printing, brand equity and unified marketing collateral during our next Open House. We invite you to join us on Thursday, December 20th, 2018, for an hour or two, anytime between 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce your costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop and mailing capabilities. Dove Direct does have an official USPS certified bureau located within our offices that will save you time and money. And, if you bring us your files, we will create a demo file for you. For more information call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Atlanta based print and mail solutions provider offers organizations end-to-end data, printing and mailing solutions: Data Management, Variable Digital Printing, LetterShop and Fulfillment, Fully Automated MLOCR Presort Bureau, Marketing and Production Management Support and Secure Data Life Cycle Management.

If you don't want to wait for the Open House, you can reach Dove Direct today by calling 404-629-0122 or use the contact form for Dove Direct.