Technology has turned the world into a global village in terms of effortlessly connecting people from different countries and cultures. In the digital era, sharing information is easier than it ever has been before. Each year, new tools and technologies have emerged and the marketing technology landscape has swelled to 7,040 solutions. Marketers can now choose from a dizzying array of options to connect to new audiences, promote their products, or build brand loyalty.
According to eMarketer, “worldwide digital ad spend is predicted to reach over $375 billion by 2021.”
To keep up with your competition, you must keep up with the trends. Take a moment to think about technology’s impact on your business and how you can take advantage of it. What new tools, technologies, or platforms can you use? Are there ways you can streamline operations? Improve customer support and customer experiences? Optimize lead acquisition? What tools do you actually need? What’s just fluff and unnecessary overhead?. Now that’s a lot of questions, but in order to run a truly successful business in 2020 at Esquire Creative, we recommend each of our clients to seriously take a good hard look at how you can optimize your business for success!!
Critical analysis will help you identify what you should invest in now, what you should cut, and where your industry is moving in the future. Don’t get left behind and continue with the status quo. Your business will grow if you proactively engage customers in new ways and retain them through excellent experiences.
That being said, we’d like to share 6 digital marketing trends for 2020 you should watch out for:
1. Chatbots Take Off
Many companies will continue using a chatbot, they’re effective software programs that interact with website visitors and customers. Chatbots communicate naturally with people viewing the site and can answer their questions in real-time. At Esquire Creative we offer in house customized chatbot configuration and set up for your business with built-in AI which will learn and help for better quality interaction with your customers current and future!.
Chatbots either use verbal interactions or chat windows to help web users find what they’re looking for.
Hiring an individual to monitor and communicate with visitors on your website can be expensive, but chatbots save costs by answering common questions on your behalf. And subsequently, customers tend to appreciate the personalized service and getting their questions answered quickly.
Additional Benefits of Using Chatbots in Digital Marketing
It Saves Time: Unlike humans, a chatbot can provide answers quickly to all kinds of questions. And quick responses mean that customers can make decisions faster.
Customer Satisfaction: Unlike humans, the chatbot doesn’t need time to rest. Any time the customer wants information, it’s right at their fingertips. And as the chatbot responds more accurately, your sales conversion rates will increase as well.
Good Humor: A chatbot is never moody. You will never hear customers complain about being turned away. They are unbiased, clear, and informative- all the qualities that make your customers feel at ease.
2. More Brands Use Private Messaging Apps to Connect Directly
Many companies will start shifting their focus on how to better use private messaging apps. Smartphone apps like WhatsApp, Viber and WeChat have already gained massive popularity. Instead of using emails, cutting edge companies are adopting the use of private apps as well as private messaging groups. In Australia we know a large number of Asian centric and African businesses widely use WhatsApp, WeChat and even Telegram as a secure and trust messaging platform
3. Next-GEN SEO is Here
Right now, a lot of different changes are taking place in the search engines industry and updates are happening constantly. These changes have profoundly affected the user’s search results.
Most notably, Google’s BERT update has made a major impact on the SEO world. The BERT abbreviation stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. It’s a deep learning algorithm that’s related to natural language processing. Google is striving to make its search engine smarter and improve its ability to understand the complex nuances of language and the searcher’s intent. According to Google, BERT will affect complicated search queries that rely on context.
Here’s what Google says: ” Well, by applying BERT models to both ranking and featured snippets in Search, we’re able to do a much better job helping you find useful information. Particularly for longer, more conversational queries, or searches where prepositions like “for” and “to” matter a lot to the meaning, Search will be able to understand the context of the words in your query. You can search in a way that feels natural for you.”
What does BERT mean for you?
If your website is poorly written and lacks clarity, you may see a decrease in traffic. There isn’t a quick fix or tactic to bolster rankings. Instead, you need to remember that your website is for people, not just algorithms. Think about why people come to your website. What is their intent? Now, answer their questions as clearly as possible and organize the information in a logical manner. When you write for people, you’ll see success.
Every new algorithm comes with different benefits or problems, depending on how you look at it. As always, Google’s algorithm updates are focused on improving the search experience and giving people the best possible answer to their question.
Therefore, you will see in 2020 and beyond that the quality of search results will improve dramatically.
4. Personalization Moves Beyond the First Name
Many companies are dabbling in personalization, but only a few are excelling at it. Giants like Amazon, Target, Netflix, Nike, and Spotify have the data and analytical prowess to develop highly customized experiences. Customers are given relevant messages at the right time and place—and they love it.
Amazon grew its business by analyzing customers’ behaviors and promoting products based on intelligent assumptions and the user’s past purchase history. It showcases products that a person may be interested in by putting forth similar or complementary products in a Recommendations tab, and Amazon found that this upsell tactic works in getting more business.
Personalization is truly the future of digital marketing. And these days, it’s what consumers expect…one study even shows that 79% of consumers feel frustrated if the content their viewing isn’t tailored to them.
According to Gartner, by 2020 at least 90% of online advertisers will start using marketing personalization in some shape or form. And by 2021 there will be a significant increase in fully personalized websites.
Personalization is truly the key to a successful digital marketing campaign in 2020. According to Dale Carnegie, “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
This quote says it all in terms of the importance of personalization. This is one of the reasons why companies and marketers address you by your first name whenever you see it in your emails.
It is ultimately the best tool for increasing conversions, and this is the reason why some marketers have been leveraging it for decades to improve their marketing efforts. One study shows that personalized email campaigns receive 29% higher email open rates and 41% higher click-through rates than traditional emails with no form of personalization.
That means if you haven’t tried out personalization in your digital marketing strategy, then you’re leaving a lot of benefits on the table. Here are some reasons why:
The primary benefit of personalized marketing is having the control to reach a specific group of customers. And by collecting user data from list segments, surveys, or studies, you’re better positioned to create more relevant and effective email campaigns towards targeted audiences based on their buying habits, interests, and behaviors.
For example, if your target audience likes movies and general entertainment, you can embed pop culture references when sending your emails, creating blog posts, or even in your email opt-in forms to deliver a more personalized experience with your content. Hopefully, your audience will appreciate the references and better relate to your brand which will ultimately boost conversions.
5. Advertising Targeting Improves
Companies use digital ads to market their products, but have you ever come across an online ad that was straight up annoying or had nothing to do with you? Not only do online consumers tend to ignore these ads, but they may also end up hating the product and doing everything in their power to stay away from the brand.
Forbes magazine states that because of this overwhelming digital connection, unrelated ads or brands that keep on bombarding people with their irrelevant ads will be disregarded by 49% of people.
But on the other hand, people love great content.
If your brand consistently sends tailored messages, then 36% will respond by buying the product.
Many companies are aware of this trend and are already planning accordingly most companies will be targeting precise audiences and users will only be viewing (and responding to) hyper-relevant ads.
6. In the MeToo Era, Consumers Demand Transparency
Research indicates that companies producing transparent and easy-to-digest information are likely to retain 94% of their customers.
However, how you handle a customer’s private data is vital. In 2018, the GDPR policy was more actively enforced to ensure that companies handle customer data transparently.
This means that there will be more emphasis on this in the future; companies will be required to be completely transparent on what kind of information is being shared to promote their products.
Here’s a Tip on How to Improve Transparency
Establish your company’s core values.
Make sure that selling is not your only goal.
Be an open book to your customers- tell them as much as you can about who they are doing business with.
If customers raise some concerns or questions, respond immediately.
Be able to take constructive criticism from your customers and respond in a friendly, non-judgmental tone.
Create space and encourage people to give different suggestions to help improve your products- facilitate a community around your brand.
Conclusion
If you are operating a business, it’s important to know about current marketing trends and be able to stay on top of where digital marketing is headed in the future.
And just like Amazon and many other successful businesses you can start personalizing your products, using social media to answer questions, and implement video marketing to gain trust and show your brand’s transparency. Remember, if you are handling any client data then transparency is critical. And there are plenty of marketing software systems that can streamline all your online activities and customer relationships.
Need help putting together a marketing strategy that meets the trends of the future? Then reach out to Esquire Creative Digital Marketing Agency and let us help you get your business to the forefront of your target market. ‘Your Success Is Our Story’
