Whatever your business type may be, you cannot d without digital marketing. It is the necessary evil for every business these days. It demands efforts, time, money, and an effective strategy but is all worth it. There was a time when adding a business listing or making a community page on Facebook was enough.
All other means of marketing were in play but the effect was negligible. But those were the earlier trends. It is no secret that digital marketing is an ever-evolving world. The pace of evolution is so fast that no business is immune to its effects. If you are not keeping up with the current trends of the market, you are not performing well.
At a time, innovative marketing trends such as artificial intelligence and voice search engine marketing were considered ambitious to be true. Who knew these will be among the priorities of business owners in 2020.
If you are a business owner looking for ways to develop the best digital marketing strategy, you need to be in touch with current trends. As you know a marketing strategy needs to be adjusted and tweaked every now and then. This is the perfect platform to learn about the top 10 digital marketing trends and imply them for your success.
It is good to remember that reliable digital marketing means need a bit of time but generate consistent results. Make sure to set realistic goals when you are designing a strategy for your business.
1. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has been on the horizon for some years now. It was predicted to be an effective tool in the future. Well, here you are. The year 2020 is all about incorporating artificial intelligence into your marketing strategy. A lot of businesses are now waking to its dominance and it is already taking over a lot of simple jobs.
When you want to succeed you need to look towards successful businesses. Let us take the example of Microsoft and Uber. These companies have been using robots to “patrol parking lots and large outdoor areas to predict and prevent crime. The robots can read license plates, report suspicious activity, and collect data to report to their owners.”. The price of hiring these robots is much less than hiring a human guard on an hourly basis.
It provides a competitive advantage over other businesses. A business owner has to conform to the customer needs and AI seems to be the next big thing.
2. Automated Advertising
Artificial intelligence can be used to automate ad buying so that you can target specific audiences. One popular type of automated advertising is real-time bidding. The automation makes the ad buying process much more efficient which means you are spending less and gaining more customers.
It is swiftly changing the face of marketing that 86.2% of digital display ads in the U.S. will be programmatic by the end of 2020. The programmatic tools are so efficient as they can hundreds of targeting signals at the same time to find the best audiences. It individualizes the advertisement according to customer behaviors.
3. Chatbots
If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few years, you must have noticed the popularity of chatbots. More and more businesses are implying chatbots to improve their customer engagement. This is another AI-based technology that can communicate with your customers at any time of the day.
Surveys have revealed that 85% of customer service will be provided by chatbot by 2020. The top advantages of using chatbots include 24-hour services, instant replies, and answers to simple queries. It is predicted that by 2022, the chatbots can benefit the businesses over $8 billion per year.
The best thing about chatbots is that they never lose patience and cost you a fraction of human customer representative.
4. Conversational Marketing
The discussion about chatbots and its benefits has cleared one thing, customers prefer conversations over traditional marketing. People want it that way and you can’t do well without paying heed to it.
Customers are not known to be patient individuals. More than 82% of the customers prefer a business with immediate responses. Conversational marketing enables one-to-one connections between customers and marketers.
The good news is that you have got multiple channels to initiate conversations and reply to queries. Some of the most popular means are social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. It is important, more than ever before, to be available across a broad spectrum of communication channels.
5. Visual Search
Have you notices the small image icon in the search bar of Google? That little sign is a very important aspect of future digital marketing. It can take user experience to another level. A user can upload an image and find results similar to that image.
Visual search offers more specific results. Some of the popular sites that have incorporated visual searches include Pinterest and Google. The feature is also known as “Lens” so it helps you find the related images to your query. It turns your phone camera into a search bar and that is quite fascinating.
It is not surprising that Pinterest has witnessed 140% uptick since the launch day. If you are running a business in Fashion, Food, Home Décor, Art, outfits, or beauty industry, visual search is very important for you.
6. Audio Search
Experts predict that 50% of all searches would be voice searched by 2020. The increasing use of this technology has made the companies rethink their marketing strategies. Your SEO strategy should be more focused on long-tail keywords.
Voice search is the future because it provides the most relevant information to the user. You must have heard the names of Siri, Alexa, and Google. All these names are tied to audio searches. A lot of popular brands are incorporating audio searches into their digital marketing strategies.
Optimizing for voice search is a great way of increasing brand awareness. When you are writing content for your website, think about the words people speak rather than type.
7. Personalization
Personalization of your marketing efforts is the best way to stand out. You will be focusing on personalizing emails, products, content, ads, etc. If you were not aware, about 63% of the customers are annoyed by generic marketing.
The simplest way to analyze your marketing strategy is to put your feet in the customer’s shoes. They prefer businesses offering personalized experiences y 80%. It is an appealing change that can increase conversion rates.
Some of the most successful businesses such as Netflix and Amazon are using the power of personalization. Incorporate a data-driven email campaign and you are bound to see amazing results. AI is an effective tool to design personalized marketing campaigns.
8. Video Marketing
Video marketing is one of the most popular trends in modern digital marketing. It is going to stay for the next 5-10 years so you should not skip this important aspect. More than 70% of the consumers have shared a brand’s video and more than 72% of businesses have improved their conversion rates by using video marketing.
It is an effective means to learn about the product, how it is used, how to maintain it, and simple repair tricks. Videos can be used to make the product much more beneficial for consumers. About 68% of the customers prefer short videos to get introduced to a brand. The numbers are massive.
YouTube reigns the supreme when it comes to video marketing but there are many other platforms that can be rendered useful. Focus on video SEO and you will notice a significant improvement in your brand awareness and conversion rates.
9. Social Messaging Apps
If you have only been using social messenger apps to send messages to your friends, it is time to rethink its usefulness. 1.3 billion users are active on Facebook Messenger and you can reach them via the free messenger.
Social messaging apps are increasing in popularity day by day. It makes sense to use these apps for your marketing efforts. These apps are very effective in sending personalized messages and communicating with the customers instantly. These apps add value to the user’s experience and they are more likely to contact you again.
10. Influencer Marketing
Customers prefer word-of-mouth over every other marketing channel. A simple way to promote your brand through word-of-mouth is to focus on influencer marketing.
It focuses on using key leads to spread the message to their followers. They can be actors, celebrities, YouTube, or Instagram influencers. You have to find the influencers with a huge niche following. It is very effective in targeting your audiences.
The Final Word
As the digital marketing trends are discussion it is essential to put forward the most important fact. Invest your time in making your product useful and reliable and even little of your marketing efforts will be fruitful. Think like a customer and cater to their needs accordingly. This is a tried and trusted recipe for success.
Author Bio
Mike Jackson interest in digital marketing led him to start his own marketing agency Citylocal101, which he’s been running now for a few years. His tactics and marketing strategies are not bound by any form and he closely follow the latest trends and happenings of digital marketing.