I’ve drawn together a list of 11 hot marketing trends for 2020. Some of my own ideas and then some from the top marketers in the field.
Here is reference to 3 articles, where I’ve taken a couple of points and merged with my own opinions.
Marketing insider group – trends you need to know
1. Expanding Power of the Google Eco-System
If you haven’t been living under a rock you’ll notice Google adding more and more features to their armoury.
So 2020 is more about Google wanting you to use more of the Google ecosystem.
From Google My Business to Google Flights, Events, Local Services, Podcasts, Trends, Data Studio, Google shopping, .
Importance: The more you engulf your brand into the Googlesphere the more they will reward you.
2. Google My Business
Related to the first point Google wants you to live and die by your Google My Business page.
Google My Business aides the Local Search, (3Pack/Map Pack)
Local businesses in particular need to have an optimized profile, use all the features available, and be active by posting content, responding to reviews etc.
Secondly, more customer interactions will happen within the GMB platform. GMB will take more of the transactional sales.
Eg. search for a plumber, read the google reviews, make the call. No website visit.
Importance: Where are the transactions happening, on website or GMB?
Higher value services, where consumers do more due diligence and research will see more web traffic.
What’s more important for them is a highly intuitive and optimized website
3. Everyone must use video
We’ve known about the importance of video for years and many business have shied away from it. The fact is that your users are expecting highly engaging and interactive content.
Why you need to use video:
- Video breaks trust barrier – in this digital world a video can bring back the human element
- Social networks are rewarding users who create video content.
- Video is a chief learning tool (compared to txt based reading)
- Ad spend is cheaper for video right now
What to do: Create your corporate video. Chop that video into multiple shorter clips to use on social media and ads.
4. Multimedia strategy is your best marketing strategy
Yes there are 101 marketing activities you CAN do, however we’re not asking you to stretch yourself.
FOCUS is your primary goal.
Pick a few channels that are crucial for reaching your target audience and then be active, engaging, and lead thought provoking conversation.
A study from SAP showed that multi-channel (also known as omnichannel) is paying off – big.
A multimedia strategy is great for trust building. The more channels you are seen on, the higher level of trust is created.
Tip: Check out this article – Managing Multi-Channel Marketing (Without Losing Your Mind!)
5. Automation and personalization merges.
Automation got a push back in 2019 for being cold, unpersonalized, and non-human.
2020 will see the merger of automation and personalization.
How this might look?
Email campaigns with personalized video / content – check out Lemlist
Personalized landing pages. Meaning, marketing campaigns will have the ability to use responsive landing pages, changing content and wording depending on the user behaviour.
Example: A landing page with the prospects name, company name, company logo, and responsive text according to the specific Ad campaign itself.
Personalization speaks to your audience and garners better response rates
Remember: Automation saves times, Personalization build meaningful relationships. Blend the two.
6. Strategy-first companies will win the game
You won’t get to where you want to go without knowing how to get there.
A clear marketing strategy will lay out that vision, will keep you from straying of course, and inspire confidence amongst your team.
A strategy-first approach to marketing is essential and may include areas like:
- Perfect profiling – get to the heart of your avatar, using emotion-based selling.
- Channel Mapping – where can you find more customers online
- Competitors Analysis – what’s working for the top guys in your industry
- Align marketing with business goals
- Content roadmap – structure and organise your content
7. Offline marketing helps online.
An effective SEO strategy is now supported by many offline activities.
Offline events can boost your profile online.
Google wants to reward real companies doing real things in real life.
Examples: Exhibiting at a trade show, keynote speaker at an event, podcast appearance, charity event partnerships, local sports team sponsorships etc.
Achieving brand mentions, backlinks, and having great local content will work wonders for your SEO.
In Short: Google rewards will reward you when others people are talking about your brand.
8. Closer to the Zero Click
Following on from point 2, Zero Click is the number of searches that end without a click.
The recent stats say that, “the majority of Google searches (50.33%) now end without a click on an organic or paid search result.”
Google wants to get the right information to the user in the fastest time possible, which means having more Rich Results in the Google SERP. Features Snippets, Knowledge Panel, Q&A.
For a businesses this means less clicks to the website, but possibly more exposure of the brand if you optimize for Rich Results.
Learn more about Zero Click Searches
9. Voice Search
It hasn’t reached the masses yet, but Voice Search is one to consider when creating content.
At it’s core, optimizing for voice search is similar to a solid SEO strategy. You need to:
- Create robust, compelling content that answers your users’ most common questions and solves their pain points.
- Adopt long-tail keywords optimized for semantic search.
- Use Schema to mark up your content and tell search engines what your site’s about.
- And, for goodness’ sake, you must be optimized for mobile.
Importance: Think of how people would search for your services using voice.
10. Focus on Customer Retention, Loyalty and Advocacy
Many business often forget to complete the full circle of the customer journey.
Meaning they forget to engage the customer after the sale.
Companies in 2020 will need to focus on the Repeat and Refer end of the journey.
11. Optimise for customer experience (CX & UX)
The bread and butter of online marketing is a solid Website.
- Technically, is needs to make Google happy.
- It needs to flow
- The users need direction
- It shoild tell you story
- itshould speak to your audince
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