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With the speed at which modern technology is growing and evolving, it is no surprise that everything that relies on it must move at a similarly breakneck pace. Digital marketing is no exception.
With constant updates, new techniques, and changes to algorithms, digital marketers are frequently scrambling just to keep up. Being aware of emerging or continuing trends is a vital part of staying on top of the game.
With a brand-new decade rapidly approaching, here are some of the top marketing trends for 2020.
To gain an edge over your competitors, you must always find ways to stay one step ahead of them. Now that 2019 has come to an end, and we are well into the new year, it’s the perfect opportunity to re-evaluate your marketing strategy.
The best marketers follow the trends. But the early adopters of those trends typically get the lion’s share of the profits. So don’t be the last person to jump on the bandwagon.
Continue doing the things that are already working for you, like SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, and mobile-first optimization. But you still need to keep your finger on the pulse.
Based on my research, I’ve identified the top 10 marketing trends that you need to watch out for in 2020. Keep an open mind, and don’t be afraid to leverage new technology and marketing strategies.
Shoppable Posts
It’s highly unlikely that you know anyone who doesn’t use some form of social media. Given its ubiquitous nature, social media has understandably become an integral part of online marketing. What may not be as obvious is just how many users shop on social media networks.
This represents a tremendous opportunity for businesses, given that 72% of Instagram users have purchased a product on the app. Even more impressive, a survey of more than 4,000 Pinterest users found that 70% use Pinterest to find new and interesting products.
Fortunately for merchants, these platforms have made it easier for them to use the power of social media to reach their customers. Whether you use Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram, there are now ways for e-commerce stores to create shoppable posts, making it easy for users to shop directly from your post.
Social media offers you the ability to reach new customers quickly and easily, shortening the sales funnel and making it easier for users to shop. By 2020, shoppable posts are expected to be the norm.
Virtual And Augmented Reality
In recent years, both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have become massively popular and are emerging as top trends in marketing. In 2020, AR is expected to surpass VR in popularity, despite VR’s early lead.
Already, many major companies are making use of AR. Ikea, for example, has an app that allows users to visualize what a piece of furniture would look like in their home before making a purchase.
Interactive Content
Today’s buyers are looking for new experiences when they go online, and for many, that means greater interactivity. A whopping 91% are seeking more visual and interactive content. There are several reasons for this:
• Interactive content is different and new, and as such, it stands out more.
• This type of content serves to keep visitors on your page longer.
• Interactive content is immensely shareable, and when users share this content, it helps to grow awareness of your brand.
• Simply put, interactive content is more engaging. Users enjoy it more than other content.
Personalization
2020 is going to be the year of personalized marketing. Consumers are quite adept at tuning out generic ads that have no real connection to them. Accordingly, traditional means of advertising are becoming much less effective. So, what can be done? Personalize it!
In a survey of 1,000 people, 90% remarked that they found personalization appealing. More important for your business is the fact that 80% admitted they’d be more likely to give their business to a company that offered them a personalized experience.
Email lists are an old standby of marketers, and they lend themselves well to personalization. Segmented lists with personalized email blasts have been shown to perform more than generic emails sent to an entire list. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
Google Ads Smart Bidding
Those involved in digital marketing are already familiar with automation, but now Google has announced Google Ads updates that will likely lead to automation and smart bidding becoming the new normal.
Google Ads makes use of machine learning to optimize your bids. This gives you several new abilities to help you maximize your conversion, including:
• The ability to choose conversion action at the campaign level
• The ability to set your bids to change automatically when sales start or stop
• The ability to optimize bids over multiple campaigns with a chosen set of conversion actions
While there are a variety of new trends to keep your eye on, that doesn’t mean that all the old methods have become outdated. Several marketing trends have been big in the past and are expected to continue into 2020.
Content Marketing
For years, “content is king” has been the axiom of digital marketing. As we move into 2020, it continues to be true.
High-quality content allows you to show your expertise and communicate with your customers from a place of authority. Your content is also what search engines provide to searchers online, so continuing to produce high-quality content is a must.
Video Content
Customers respond well to visual content, making video an important digital marketing tool in 2019. It will continue to be important into 2020 and likely beyond that.
Don’t overlook live video. On average, live videos on Facebook Live and Instagram Live keep your audience watching three times longer than recorded ones. The daily watch time for Facebook Live videos has quadrupled in a single year, and they produce six times as many interactions as traditional videos.
SERP Position Zero
Being No. 1 is no longer the goal. The top spot in SERP is now position zero, a featured snippet of text appearing above the search results. This prime location often provides information relating to the search query, while also providing a link to the page from which the information is drawn. Position zero is the first, and sometimes only, result that some users will view. As such, it is highly coveted and should be the focus of your efforts.
While many business owners appreciate the fact that marketing continues to change at a fast pace, those who are willing to adapt and evolve will continue to attract high-quality customers in a digital world.
Over-The-Top Advertising
I believe 2020 will be the year that over-the-top (OTT) advertising starts to dramatically accelerate, as more brands realize that the hyper-targeting and ability to integrate connected TV into their overall digital strategy can supplant more of the traditional ad buys. Adding on the fact that OTT campaign attribution versus traditional TV will provide a much clearer ROI, will mark 2020 as the beginning of a dramatic shift.
Technical Fluency
Google's BERT update in late 2019 set a fire under SEO professionals to learn more about natural language processing, neural networks, and machine learning. The importance of technical fluency will grow, and digital marketers will be looking to arm themselves with SERP data. You can't optimize for the BERT update, but you can make sure your content is optimized to answer searchers' most important questions.
More Direct Communication
The industry is backpedaling a bit and shifting focus toward direct and personal customer connections versus the broad and impersonal connections that most social platforms offer. Old tools like text messaging platforms are resurfacing and offering customers that personal and direct connection that they're looking for with their favorite brands. I see this as a big 2020 focal point for brands and agencies.
Deep Dive Into Research
The best in the PR industry know that clients expect campaigns informed and backed by research, yet in the past, this has been expensive and time intensive. For 2020, research that can be done efficiently using AI, including pulling natural language trends combined with incredible content writers, will be the most impactful and valued trend.
More Demand For Facebook Ads
When I started 15 years ago, I saw a storm of demand for Google ads. It was searched all day every day. Today I feel the same thing about Facebook ads. The demand has never been greater. As Facebook becomes more of a mature ad platform, I see budgets shifting from existing digital campaigns flowing to Facebook. As long as the return on ad spend (ROAS) can support the hypothesis, this will continue to be the trend.
Growth Of TikTok
TikTok is moving at lightning speed, with users already gathering millions of followers and advertisers scrambling to spend money on the platform. I reckon they'll release ad bidding for agencies and the platform will go to the next level in 2020. Yes, we're already on it, plus building channels, too!
Intent Data
Intent data will rise in importance, offering marketers the ability to reach the right prospect with the right message at exactly the right time in the buying journey. We see great potential in combining intent data with high-quality, targeted business contact data to empower marketers to truly take their data-based marketing campaigns to the next level and drive stronger impact and ROI.
Data-Driven Storytelling
Data-driven storytelling will be key. Big data isn’t just changing our clients’ business; it’s changing ours, too. Using big data to help understand trends and hot topics, identify white space and create engaging content will accelerate in 2020 and beyond.
Marketing Silos Finally Breaking
Marketers will start breaking down the silos between channels and begin using multichannel strategies to complement each other. TV will complement web traffic and sales, social will complement retail transactions, and direct mail will complement email and display. Who knows -- maybe even Amazon will begin using direct mail.
Increased Accessibility Across Channels
Across multiple channels, brands must optimize their touch points to be accessible to all. This can be subtle but essential -- one cannot assume everyone accesses their content in the same way. This is now table stakes versus an upgraded best practice for any modern marketer.
Flexible Talent Strategies
With the rise of premium marketing talent migrating to independent work (for more flexibility and autonomy), brand marketers and agencies slow to adopt an open workforce not only miss out on quality talent but also miss out on a competitive advantage of leveraging talent beyond the physical walls of their offices. Teams that adopt remote and flexible talent will have a competitive advantage.
Sensory Immersion
Consumers are officially saturated with content. In a world where everyone has a personal computer attached to their hip at all times, capturing attention requires going beyond engaging just one touch point. To create memorable impact, brands are building interactive marketing experiences that engage and delight each of the five senses, deepening impact beyond what’s possible from only a screen.
Voice Search Optimization
Voice search is on the rise and users are using voice search assistants like Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, and Bixby to answer their questions. No matter which industry you are in, optimizing your website for voice search in 2020 will be critical.
Conversational Marketing
I think 2020 is the year conversational marketing will become the industry standard across the digital marketing spectrum. Conversational marketing is the practice of engaging with customers in real-time, rather than requiring them to wait for a response. This is commonly seen in phone and live chat support, but I’m anticipating conversational marketing will move in the direction of more AI in 2020.
Brands As Executive Producers
One of the top trends that I am anticipating this year within the branded content world is that brands are now looking to become executive producers of premium content, including television and film. As executive producers, they help fund content that connects with their brand values, not their products. Brands are bringing back the "brought to you by..." custom.
Sources:
https://www.mcdougallinteractive.com/blog/seo/10-marketing-trends-2020/