Digital Marketing Trends To Look Out for In 2020

When I entered the world of digital marketing, it was very different than today. There weren’t as many channels, and there was definitely less competition. Today, the situation is quite different.

For one, consumer habits are changing faster than ever before. And Google, Facebook, and all the other big sites and constantly updating their algorithms to better suit the needs of the users. It’s very difficult to keep up with all the changes, but the fact remains:

Digital marketing is the biggest key to growth for any business!

Digital Marketing Trends To Look Out for In 2020 digital marketing

And whether you are a beginner or a digital marketing specialist, if you want to hit it big in 2020, here is exactly what you need to do:

Digital Marketing with Hyper-targeted advertising 

Digital Marketing is king, and most brands have caught on. As a result, there are more digital ads than ever before. According to Forbes, because of this a lot of people are bombarded with completely irrelevant ads.

Perhaps this is no news to you, and just like 49% of people you completely disregarded them. But these unwanted digital connections might be even more harmful than you think. Other than brands wasting a lot of money in futile efforts, something worse is happening. 

The desired effect of digital marketing efforts is attracting new customers and forging value-based connections with them. Brands that constantly bother people with information and offers that they don’t like, might make them hate the product, and do everything in their power to stay away from the brand.

How can you avoid this?

The solution to this problem, both for your brand and the customer, is personalized ads. People find it easy to simply scroll by digital ads, but they LOVE great content. So much so that they might even search for it. According to this study, if your brand continuously sends personalized messages to the customer, the chance of them buying the product is 36%.

If you like the sound of that, here is exactly what you need to start doing:

  1. Invest time and effort to deeply understand your customers. Answer these key questions: what are their pain points? What other brands do they like? What are they interested in and want to attain? And, which one of your products are the most likely to buy? The answers to these questions are the markers of your ideal customer, and you should use them to identify him online.
  2. Understandably, you will have different kinds of customers, so define multiple personas. Create different ads that will be tailored for all of them, both from a visual perspective and when it comes to the message. 
  3. Don’t be afraid of failing: test, test, test! Don’t make the decision for your customers. It’s okay to hypothesize, but ultimately, you should let your customers tell you what they like. If you follow the numbers and adapt constantly, you can’t go wrong. 
  4. All the people love good humor. Use it to attract attention and make people feel good. When your brand makes people feel good, there is an instant connection. 

Voice search is going big

Voice technology has developed significantly in 2018 and 2019. Just as an example, in January this year, Amazon announced that they sold over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices. Our phones are also far more advanced than they were in voice recognition and interpretation.

According to Search Engine Land, 20% of all Google search queries now occur through voice search. And some experts say that by the end of 2020, at least half of the requests will be made through voice search. It is quite clear to see the potential that this technology has to change the way we browse, and in some ways, live. But what do these changes mean for digital marketing?

Voice searches are a little different than text. You might type: pet shops near me, but you would say: Where is the nearest pet shop?. This is one of the reasons why Q&A sites like Quora are booming right now.

What you can start doing?

The content on your website should “talk back”. A simple thing you can do is add FAQs to your page. That means incorporating more keywords like: “when”, “how”, “what” and “who”.

Stop sending interruptive push messages, because, in the world of voice, they won’t work. Instead, start thinking like the customer and communicate your core value in a simple, straight forward way. Talk like people do.

And lastly, you should definitely focus on mobile search. Already, 80% of the searches are done on mobile devices, so this is another must. That means you should first and foremost focus on your mobile site or app. Be quick to adapt, because, in the digital world, every second can mean a fortune gained or lost for you and your brand.

Digital Marketing Trends To Look Out for In 2020 digital marketing

It’s all about position zero in digital marketing

In the past, people used to fight to be number 1. Now, they are in the race for position zero. What does this mean? 

When we search for something on Google, the first thing we usually see is a Featured Snippet that appears even before the paid ads. Google thinks that this is the answer we are looking for, and in most cases, Google is right. So when it comes to SEO, zero is the new number one.

Position zero isn’t necessarily new, being around for a few years now. But with voice search, Google now uses these easily digestible snippets of information to answer the questions we ask. Google is good, and often we don’t bother to look at the other offered answers, especially on the phone where this coveted position preoccupies the whole screen.

Literally everyone will be racing to get there, but only the best, most simple and straightforward answer will make it to this praised pedestal.

What you can do that your competition still hasn’t:

  1. Identify position zero opportunities. You should find keyword phrases that have a featured snippet. Also, see what keywords you already rank well for. The position zero snippets come from high ranking results, and in this case, good content is what makes one a winner. The most important keyword should also always be in the title.
  2. Producing really good content is a must. There are no shortcuts when it comes to SEO. You probably already know that one of the best ways to improve SEO is to have a blog, but what you might not know is that the longer the blog, the better. Aim for 2000 words and up. Another no brainer is to write in simple terms and have flowed to the sentences – Google is smart enough to detect and favor that too.
  3. Position zero comes in different forms, most frequently a paragraph, a list or a table or chart of data. Include definitions for complex terms, how-tos, comparisons, “best” lists, and of course, questions and answers
  4. Start the piece of content with a direct and simple answer to a question. You can also modify old content to make this one simple addition to revive it and give it a necessary boost.
Digital Marketing Trends To Look Out for In 2020 digital marketing

Video marketing is here to stay

Consumers really like video content. It’s more attractive, easy to remember and ideal for consumption across all devices. According to Renderforest, every day, 5 million videos on YouTube are watched. Videos area great way to share information that the consumer can digest quickly and easily.

So, it’s not surprising that 70% of marketing professionals report video to be more effective than any other medium. And according to Cisco, by 2021, the video will be responsible for 80% of all consumer internet traffic. Video content might be time-consuming and require more skills to produce, but it has such a big potential that you should definitely start utilizing it in some way. Video drives engagement and boosts SEO conversions.


How can you use video to promote your brand?

Website visitors are about 70% more likely to convert after watching a product video. Including a video on your homepage can increase conversion rates by 20%. Live videos are the most popular. With videos, you can show off your products, create how-to-use tutorials, and even record your workplace and employees to attract the attention of your potential customers.

Another thing you can do, which has been a rising trend lately, is using the most recognizable face in the company, the CEO or founder, to create content. Even traditional media businesses like Vogue have started doing this, as well as newcomers like Rayan Sherant.

Something to pay special attention to:

When it comes to videos, you must be careful about the quality and sound of the video. To ensure that you meet the ever-rising consumer standards, you might want to engage with a professional to handle it for you. If working with a professional is too expensive for you at the moment, what you can do is talk to the youngest members in your team first if they have some experience and are interested in trying it out.

A few years ago, it was much easier to win the attention of the audience. But now, with such a big competition, every click matters. You can’t afford to ignore the changes and trends – instead, you should embrace them and use this knowledge to your advantage.

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