Where is Digital Marketing Heading in 2020?

As the Digital Marketing universe continues to move and evolve, it’s important to know where marketing trends are headed. Below are some of the most valuable trends that we at OITC believe you need to know right now to stay ahead of the game.

Increased focus on customer behaviour and personalised marketing
What is Personalised marketing? Simply put, it’s having the control to reach a specific group of customers within a larger group of customers. Companies will continue to collect user data from list segments, surveys, or studies, allowing more relevant and effective email and social media campaigns to take place targeting audiences based on their buying, interests, and behaviours on-line.

Right now, one of the most topical behaviours is how consumers interact with social media influencers. Just recently, studies show that about 86% of women have to consult social media before deciding on a product. Proving that consumers want brands to be reliable and personable.

So in 2020 and beyond we will continue to see companies wanting to work with influencers who connect with their communities in an authentic way.

People want to watch video, it’s as simple as that.
If you’re not already incorporating video into your content, now is the time! Marketing through video content was a dominant marketing trend in 2019 and will only continue to grow. Video is undoubtedly more engaging as it appeals to our visual and auditory senses together.
As a business, its the ultimate storytelling tool, you can easily get your message across to your consumer. Think product reviews, How to use videos, customer testimonial videos, behind the scenes or event coverage videos. All are great content examples to further improve customer engagement with your brand

Podcasting is the next frontier
Becoming one of the fastest-growing mediums online is Podcasting. As our pace of living changes, people are valuing their time more than anything else and are wanting meaningful content to be readily available anytime. Listening is a sense that can be done on the move, following customers anywhere they go i.e. car, walking, exercising. As a marketing tool, there are limitless possibilities with podcasts, by offering longer and more conversational content unlike the bitesize nature of video content, you can personally connect with your listeners and share honest and meaningful content, through a natural style of promoting ‘sales’ messages.

If you are interested in diversifying your marketing effort your business should have a podcast in 2020.

Social Awareness & Transparency
This has been the hot topic of 2019 and the next decade will only see the conversation expand. Brands need to continue to be socially aware. It’s going to become much more important for young consumers to know the brands they love and trust are transparent about their impact on society and the environment. As a business, you need to be asking yourselves ‘How are you helping?’ and ‘Why are you even in existence?’ as consumers will be making decisions based on how you market these answers.

To be transparent, and you need to:

Work out your brand’s core values be willing to share and integrate these into marketing campaigns
Make sure that ‘selling’ is not your only goal.
Be open with your customers- share with them as much as you can about who you are as a business.
Create a safe space and encourage customers/followers to give suggestions to help improve your products or services, basically facilitate a community around your brand.
If customers have concerns or questions, respond immediately by setting up the proper channels ( facebook groups, chatbots, Instagram DM)

Resources

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/online-video-shopping/

https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/blog/12-digital-marketing-trends-and-innovations-for-2020/

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/informeddecisionmaking