The speed of technology evolution is becoming faster and faster.
Along with this, consumer trends have changed significantly, and marketing is required to constantly revise its strategies.
What sectors should we invest in going forward, and what are the latest marketing trends? This time, we will look back on marketing in 2018 and provide the latest information for next year, 2019.
We hope that it will be helpful for your company’s marketing, media strategy, advertising production, etc.
2018 Marketing Review
2018 was a year of big changes in marketing.
We believe that over the past year, many companies have revised their strategies, reconsidered their budget allocation, and changed their investment destinations.
We will look back at the major trends using three keywords.
■AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Until recently, I had the impression that most of the work was done by small and medium-sized companies, where cutting-edge technologies like AI were still out of reach, but since the beginning of this year, the trend has changed dramatically.
Data analytics and measurement tools equipped with AI are becoming readily available to anyone, as exemplified by Google.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is now natural to utilize AI in marketing. There are many different types of AI used in marketing.
For example, there is a movement to use AI in tools such as CRM to increase customer acquisition.
More familiarly, there are AIs that supplement SEO, AIs that generate and write advertising copy, and AIs that optimize creative content.
With the power of AI, it has become possible to quickly analyze large amounts of data and find patterns and characteristics that cause customers to respond positively, buy, or conclude a deal.
■MA (Marketing Automation) Marketing automation
Opportunities to use MA in marketing have also expanded.
Simply put, MA is the automation of marketing activities, but its original intent is to conduct marketing efficiently and connect it to sales.
Recently, it has become mainstream to quickly grasp the interests of customers and communicate in detail according to each prospective customer.
MA is very effective for analyzing the attributes and needs of many prospective customers.
Starting from the first contact, we continuously provide content in a timely manner, ultimately leading to business negotiations and purchase actions.
By analyzing a series of results, it is also possible to manage a company’s PDCA cycle.
This MA has led to an increase in the number of companies collecting large amounts of customer data and prospective customer information. Based on this data, it is imperative to link it to activities that will generate sales.
It is believed that combining MA and AI will enable more accurate corporate activities. In the MA market, which is expected to expand further, we will likely see an increase in the number of MAs equipped with AI.
■Digital marketing
Digital marketing is emerging as an alternative to traditional marketing methods.
Simply put, this means conducting marketing activities by making full use of digital devices and technology.
The purpose is to promote products and brands using various electronic media.
Digital marketing involves using not only the Internet, but also a variety of channels such as email, apps, digital TV, and podcasts.
It has become indispensable for corporate activities because it can instantly verify whether the deployment was effective by looking at customer reactions based on content viewing status, checking frequency, time, conversion rate, etc.
On the other hand, it was also a year in which issues became clear regarding the diversification of digital channels and how to utilize large amounts of data. The number of media that can be introduced at a lower cost than traditional media is increasing, and competition is gradually intensifying.
What will happen! ? Marketing in 2019
Based on the above, marketers are required to understand the latest trends and carry out effective marketing activities while utilizing resources.
Highly accurate marketing is essential for further development of corporate activities.
Here, we will use two keywords to predict what marketing will look like next year in 2019.
■CXM (Customer Experience Management)
The importance of customer experience has long been noted.
Customer experience refers to the points of contact between a customer and a company as a series of “experiences,” including the stages before a customer purchases a product.
Companies are starting to think about how to manage contact points in order to create experiences that exceed customer expectations.
This CXM is expected to become even more widespread in 2019.
Because CXM includes traditional CRM concepts, customer experience can be considered from a higher perspective.
Nowadays, channels have become more complex, and customer attributes and ways of thinking differ depending on the channel, and the quality required for the experience and touchpoints themselves change as well.
In order to improve performance with limited resources, a holistic management perspective will be needed.
■Blended AI Fusion of AI and humans
There is no doubt that the power of AI will continue to attract attention next year.
As a result of actual use, we know that there is a difference between “what we expect from AI” and “what AI can do.”
The limitations of AI have also been pointed out, especially in areas that require human touch.
It is necessary to recognize that AI is not something that can be achieved by simply introducing it, but rather that it is something that can be achieved through human intervention.
It will be important to think and practice the concept of total management, which uses AI and humans in good combination to produce integrated results.
summary
How was it?
AI, MA, and digital marketing, which became trends in the marketing field in 2018, are expected to continue to be actively used and evolved next year.
In addition, in 2019, perspectives such as CXM and the fusion of AI and humans will become even more important in the pursuit of further added value.
As customers’ purchasing activities have become more diverse, marketing methods have also become more sophisticated and complex. On this site, we will always monitor and disseminate the latest trends.
I hope you will refer to it in the future.