While a continually shifting landscape in the marketing world is nothing new, keeping up with those changes and trends can be difficult. But staying on top of trends in marketing strategy and technologies better positions your business to stay relevant with today’s prospects and customers, stay ahead of the competition, and respond to changes in the market. In their recently released The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Trends in 2019, HubSpot has organized the top marketing trends into 6 helpful categories that they see as most critical to the success of today’s marketing professionals. Here’s a quick recap: 
General Marketing
General marketing trends are those that are applicable to almost any type of company, regardless of industry. One of HubSpot’s identified trends is the practice of turning customers into advocates and promoters for your business. Sounds logical, right? But now, with new marketing technologies, this is made more effective and aligns directly with HubSpot’s Flywheel concept, which places customers at the center of your business. By following this process, you can create better relationships with prospects, and retain a stronger relationship with your customers.
Content Marketing Trends
Content marketing trends refer to the type of content you are publishing, both on your website and through your paid promotions. With customers and prospects having constant access to your resources and content, becoming a successful content marketer is critical for your business. 
If you haven’t noticed already, video is everywhere and provides marketers with an engaging platform that particularly resonates with an increasingly mobile audience. 83% of marketers now say that video gives them a good ROI.
Social Media Marketing Trends
Think this social media thing might really take hold? If you hesitated even for a second, you’re probably on the wrong side of that equation. According to HubSpot, 77% of people in the U.S. have a social media account. Facebook alone has 2.41B (with a B) active monthly users worldwide (that’s about ⅓ of the world’s population). Using social media as a marketing tool has enabled businesses to authentically connect with their audience at any time with incredible ease. Learning the right moments to use ephemeral social content (like Snapchat and Instagram stories) and permanent content like a tweet, Instagram or Facebook post can dramatically increase audience engagement and drive more traffic to your website, blog, events, and other content.
SEO Marketing Trends
SEO marketing trends focus on updates to search engine algorithms that drive search results. 
Improving search engine optimization (SEO) helps your business become more discoverable online (duh, right?). Well, if you’re not working on it, your competition is — 61% of marketers say that SEO is their top inbound marketing priority. Beyond getting the basics of SEO and metadata right, optimizing your site for mobile with a super fast, responsive layout is a must. Mobile device usage shows no let-up in its explosive growth, so being discoverable and readable to those 48% of consumers that start mobile research with a search engine is critical.
Technology Marketing Trends
Like marketing, technology is constantly undergoing change. Put the two together and you’re talking about trends that can truly move the needle for your business. 
Chatbots are one trend within technology that is dramatically impacting how we engage with prospects and customers. Chatbots can handle the initial interaction with a website visitor, giving them what they need, like booking a live meeting, providing service support, or directing them to a live service rep. These automated responses occur quickly, satisfying the consumers’ expectation of a response in under 10 minutes. You can’t always be available day and night but with chatbots, someone can be.
Privacy Marketing Trends
Keeping up with privacy marketing trends isn’t just important, it can help you avoid legal problems and a black stain on your company. 
Today, honoring your customers’ privacy is paramount, and staying up-to-date with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is necessary, particularly if you’re doing any business in or have website visitors from the European Union. Without following these guidelines, your organization is at risk of being fined. Stay ahead of the curve and keep your business safe.
In Summary
Change in marketing is constant (and accelerating). And as your prospects and customers get younger, many of whom never knew a world before the internet, what you once considered bedrock marketing practices may go the way of the buggy whip. Keeping up to date with marketing trends is essential to staying relevant to your audience, and ensuring that your business can continue to grow. To get the full story, check out HubSpot’s report!