Images_Digital_Edition_January_2019

www.images-magazine.com JANUARY 2019 images 23 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT belonging in a sci-fi-like future, but they are very much here and slowly creeping their way into businesses‘ marketing activity. They may still be at a very early stage, but it’s a great time to invest in them and explore their capabilities. VR/AR gives your customers the chance to be both engaging with your products and/or services and actively participating in your marketing activity in ‘another reality’, putting them at the heart of your business. Voice Search I first discussed this in Images in September last year, and 2019 promises to be an even bigger year for voice searches and queries. Almost one-third of the 3.5 billion searches performed in 2018 were carried out by voice assistant devices, with Apple Siri, Google Home and Amazon Alexa leading the way, and this is expected to grow to almost 50% of searches in 2019. You need to consider optimising your online content specifically for voice searches – start by focusing on ‘position zero’, aka the featured snippet in Google search results, local SEO and creating content around questions your customers may ask. Andrew Langridge is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk I am very fortunate to participate in a wide variety of conferences and events promoting screen and digital printing technologies. From inkjet developer events showing the latest engineering advances through to visiting some of the world’s most outstanding screen printing plants, my chance to appreciate trends is accelerating. As I look to 2019, my aim is to share the insights that I gain on my travels. As a printer, I know how busy life gets in production and how hard it can be to look beyond the schedule of urgent orders and daily troubleshooting. Whilst the challenge is considerable, the value of reviewing your business will help determine the course of the year ahead. Markets continue to shift and develop with many new opportunities often driven by online ordering. The growth of web-to-print providers backed by companies like Cimpress, Amazon Merch and Bravado continue to show the business benefit of creating online stores for communities whether they are music, sport or lifestyle. The message is find a niche and work it hard; the way to protect margins and add value is by getting closer to the consumer. Innovation is another way to stand out. I met with a printer recently who sets aside 10% of their production time to develop new special effects through screen printing. This yields a stack of samples to inspire clients to take the plunge and become more ambitious, and the outcome is that the business has established relationships with many luxury brands. My prediction for 2019 based on my travels is the rise of sustainable screen and inkjet printing via the use of ethically manufactured garments with water-based inks, as the negative aspects of ‘fast fashion’ become more visible. Make 2019 count. Reinvent, be passionate and dig deep to continue making your mark. And venture outside of your shop for a bit, visit some trade shows and network – there’s a lot to gain. 2 018 was a big year for digital marketing in many ways: social media platforms offered businesses more functionality than ever before, the continued rise of video marketing, the roll-out of mobile-first indexing by Google and, of course, the introduction of the four words we all love to hate: General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This coming year, we can expect social media interaction with customers to continue to grow and develop. Video marketing will continue to dominate and grow rapidly with user-generated content through Instagram, YouTube, Facebook Live etc. Businesses will continue to strive to create ‘positive social proof’ of someone customers can deal with and have a great experience with. With the introduction of new technologies to the marketing mix, it promises to be an interesting year. Here are three key trends to keep an eye on in 2019: Chatbots There is no such thing as ‘opening hours‘ online. Customers have access to your business, its website and social media 24/7. Chatbots are becoming an increasingly important way to deal with customers‘ queries. Currently frequently used on Facebook to help customers communicate with a business, chatbot usage is expected to rapidly grow. They can be integrated into a website, an app or on your business’s social media accounts, and are capable of dealing more quickly than humans with customer requests. They can also provide a more personalised service by gathering user information that can later be used to tailor your business‘s marketing campaigns. VR/AR Virtual reality and augmented reality are seen by many as Digital marketing trends for 2019 FESPA: LOOKING FORWARD Graeme Richardson-Locke is technical support manager at Fespa, a global federation of national associations for the screen printing, digital printing and textile printing community. If you have a question for Fespa, please ema il editorial@images- magazine.com with Fespa in the subject line. www.fespa.com