Marketing Trends that
Will Be Huge in
2020
Table of Content
Introduction
Technology is growing at a breakneck speed. As marketing trends in the digital space are transforming every day, marketers are increasingly looking answers for where to start, what trends to follow, what skills to nurture and how to get ahead in this game.
This article provides the solutions for all those, and more. Let’s read on.
SEO used to be so simple. Just bang in the right number of keywords and build backlinks and you were assured of success. However, as AI is increasingly becoming more ‘intelligent’, traditional SEO is changing course.
In 2020 ranking on the first page of the search engine is just not good enough! It’s time to aim bigger and fly higher. Have you noticed that Google now displays a featured snippet above the search results for every search query? When a search query has an exact answer for written exclusively for it, where does the lion’s share of the clicks go?
That’s right, to the snippet. A snippet is nothing but a long tail keyword used on a landing page for a search query.
How do you get your snippet featured?
A simple way to do so is to pose your keywords in question form. Let’s say that you sell mattresses, and someone is searching for king-sized mattresses. What questions might they ask? These could include words like, “Which brand offers the best quality king-sized mattresses?” A brief answer to this question can be used to promote your website/product without much effort.
We’ve heard it all before– personalization is essential. Consumers don’t respond to generic advertisements anymore. This calls for personalized marketing campaigns tailored specifically to fulfil a need and answer a question. Digital marketers thus must segment the market. Think of ways that you can use to group similar clients together. This could be in terms of demographics like age or location. Or you could group them together in terms of past purchases or buying patterns.
What you want to do is to find people with common interests and buyer instincts. That way, you can create a more targeted campaign that will speak directly to the needs of those consumers. This tailored approach increases conversions and reduces client irritation. They won’t be flooded with irrelevant marketing messages, so will be more inclined to read your next email.
Do you know anyone who don’t use social media?
The answer to that question is likely to be, “No.” As a result, social media pages and posts have become an integral part of our marketing strategies. That’s not going to change in 2020, but it is going to evolve.
Today’s consumers expect multi-channel buying options.
They don’t want to have to leave Instagram to go and search for a product they like online. That’s why creating call to action shoppable posts has become more important than ever.
On the upside, most social media channels are now facilitating shoppable posts. Imagine the impact of combining a shoppable post with the power of social media. If someone buys a product, then all their followers on the site will see what they’ve bought. You’ll get more exposure as a result.
Ignore these at your peril. 3.7 million VR devices were shipped in 2017. By the end of this year, that figure is expected to be 6 million.VR was the first stage onslaught. AR is fast taking over, though. As headsets are becoming more affordable, we’ll see an even bigger growth in demand.
If marketers don’t take advantage of this, they’ll get left behind. How do you get this right? Ikea provides an app that lets you “see” what their furniture will look like in your space.
Marketers could use VR games, or even AR to help create a buzz about product launches and so on.
Bonus -
Ensure your new product launch reaches the right audience with access to a comprehensive customer and target company data
Buyers today are quite jaded. They’ve seen it all and done it all. Or, at least, that’s how it feels to them. That’s why we can’t expect to succeed offering the same old content we always have. We need to jazz things up a bit. We need a new gimmick to get people’s attention.
Interactive content could offer the solution. Why?
- It’s different. It helps you to set your site apart from the millions of cookie cutter options out there.
- The more there is for the visitor to do on the page, the longer they stay. This improves the chance of you converting them. And, even if they don’t convert, your site appears more valuable to search engines because they’ve spent some time on it.
- Interactive content allows you to cram in more information without the page looking intimidating or too cluttered. For example, if someone hovers over a product name in the text, the full product description could show. Alternatively, consider adding videos using the same principle.
Running a Google ad campaign, in theory, is simple. In practice, though, it’s tough to get the bidding right. Google realized this and so are working toward making the process easier. They’re working towards more automation and allowing smart bidding.
What that means for you is that AI will step in to find ways to give you optimal results. You’ll be able to:
- Set the conversion action for the entire campaign instead of subsections on it.
- Set the bids to update automatically at the beginning or end of a campaign.
- Optimize your bids across several different campaigns.
In short, we’re looking at Google Ads for dummies. And wouldn’t it be nice if these updates were implemented soon? More automation means more time to spend selling products. It also means a better ROI for each campaign.
Content marketing, done properly, is the gift that keeps on giving. Unlike an ad campaign that has a limited duration, online content has an indefinite lifespan. You might, for example, create a stellar blog post today. It’s an evergreen post, and so it remains relevant for many years.
And, as a result, brings you potential leads over and over again. That’s one of the reasons that content marketing brings in three times the number of leads that paid advertising does. The other is that content marketing provides value to the client and allows you to show off your expertise.
High-quality, valuable content is more likely to be shared. It’s going to keep eyes on the webpage and so it’ll also contribute to your search engine rankings and online reputation management.
The key question is not, “Should we run a content marketing campaign?” Instead, it should be, “How do we run a killer content marketing campaign?”
- Content marketing is all about the client. Provide content that they want to consume and will find useful. This is not a sales exercise, but rather a branding exercise. This method works because people believe that they’ve come to the decision to buy your product on their own. They won’t realize that the content that they’ve read has been leading up to that.
- Content must be of a very high quality. If you’re not willing to put the time in, then it’s better to avoid this form of marketing. Keep in mind that you won’t see results instantly. Over time, though, as the content starts to gain traction, you will.
- Do SEO optimize content for optimal results.
The modern consumer responds well to video and it’s not changing any time soon. But here again we’re starting to run into a more jaded consumer. People want more novelty.
So, how do we change our video content?
To start off with, it’s essential to start thinking about different forms of video content. Vary the length, the angle, and so on to create videos that look completely new.
Don’t dismiss the power of live video either. Live videos allow your audience to connect with you at a deeper level. There are no retakes and no do-overs. This makes your brand seem more relatable overall.
Why not try to throw in a new type of video content as well?
If you’ve focused on creating sales videos and tutorials, why not throw in a listicle? Think of ways to liven up the mix that your audience will appreciate. Final Notes
According to the established “rules” there’s no explanation why live videos outperform prerecorded ones. Experience, however, shows that they do. Part of the reason for this is that today’s consumer is looking for a more novel approach from marketers.
The exciting thing about digital marketing is that it’s never stagnant. Take advantage of the ephemeral nature of the medium by jazzing up your tactics a bit. Take one or two chances with new content and see where it leads.
Chris Usatenko
Author
Chris is a computer geek, writer, and content creator. He is interested in every aspect of the IT industry and marketing. Freelancer in his nature, he is willing to get experience and knowledge from around the world and implement them in his life.
