19 Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2020

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With only few days left to 2020, it is time to upgrade your digital marketing strategy and make the shift to new tools and techniques. The digital marketing landscape has witnessed a dramatic shift and there might have been a time when you dismissed artificial intelligence or visual search but that time is gone.

This comprehensive article covers 19 top digital marketing trends for 2020 for marketers. Read on these trends to prepare the next digital marketing strategy.

In fact, big and small businesses are investing millions in establishing and growing their online presence. But digital marketers face the challenge of aligning with the ever-changing algorithm of Google.

There is no one-size-fits-all rule that they can follow as marketers need to keep pace with the changing trends and algorithms. You can learn one-to-one marketing to get deeper insights into upcoming digital marketing trends.

Digital Marketing Trends for 2020

There are different digital marketing trends for 2020 which you need to use to achieve success in your marketing strategy. What worked for you in the past might not work in the coming year.

1. Artificial Intelligence:

Artificial intelligence is going to take over the world and all the simpler jobs in the world. AI can be used to establish search patterns and analyze consumer behavior.

It will help businesses identify the patterns of their users and understand how they search for products and services. It will also offer additional information to the users through chatbot technology. Businesses using AI will manage to bring down costs and increase growth.

2. Programmatic Advertising:

This is a form of advertising which uses artificial intelligence in order to automate the process of buying an ad so that you can reach out to more specific audiences. Real-time bidding is a form of programmatic ad buying and it is efficient as well as fast, this means you will enjoy higher conversations and bring down the cost of acquisition.

3. Chatbots:

You will see a lot more chatbots in 2019. It is an instant messaging tool that helps consumers to chat in real-time in the day or night. More than 80% of businesses plan to use chatbots by the end of 2020.

It is expected that chatbots will also help save a huge amount in the healthcare and banking industries. Consumers prefer to interact with chatbots because they are responsive and can immediately recall your history without losing patience.

4. Personalization:

In order to stand out in the coming year, you need to personalize the marketing techniques. This means you need to offer personalized emails, content, and products. Customization of content has become easier with information like consumer behavior and purchase history.

It will also help develop strong customer relationships. It has been noted that personalized emails are much better than regular emails which land up in the spam.

5. Video Marketing:

Video marketing has helped improve the conversion rate for a business and when consumers watch the product videos online, they are confident of the purchase. A lot of executives call the vendor after looking at their brand video.

Video marketing is now possible through Facebook, Linked In, and Instagram. Live video has also gained popularity and a lot of businesses are using the same. It brings down the cost of marketing and makes it possible to personalize the videos instead of making phone calls or sending emails.

6. Influencer Marketing:

Influencer marketing is similar to word of mouth marketing which lays focus on driving the brand’s message to a wide group of consumers. This is a form of marketing where you pay the influencers to get the word out for you.

It works to attract customers and is very effective. You can choose influencers from Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. People trust consumer opinions and influencer marketing is all about the same.

7. Social Messaging apps:

If you thought social messaging apps are only for chatting with your friends, you are wrong. There are millions of monthly users on Facebook Messenger and more than 1.3 billion active users on WhatsApp. This shows that the increasing popularity of social messaging apps can help grow your business.

People are spending more time on the apps and a lot of customers are hanging out there. You can send personalized messages to your customers directly and enhance their experience.

8. Visual Search

Visual search will take user experience to a whole new level. You can upload images to conduct a search and reach specific results.

You can use the visual search tool which allows the users to take a photo of the item they are looking for and then find out about it online. They can also view related products through the same.

These are some of the top digital marketing trends which will rule the industry in 2019. If you have not joined the bandwagon yet, now is the time to do so. Do not overlook the importance of these products because it might cost you a lot of customers.

9. Storytelling Content

Undoubtedly, the content has always been the building block of a digital strategy and it continues to be the same. However, the trend has shifted to user generated content rather than just high-quality write-ups that are optimized with the right keywords.

The idea is to serve valuable information to the users and engage them with interesting stories about products and brands. User-generated content like reviews and testimonials is also becoming a clear winner.

10. User Intent Optimization

The user is at the center of a successful digital strategy and a website that is optimized for user intent climbs to the top. In this context, SEO no longer remains to stuff the high-search keywords into your content. It is more about understanding the intent of the users when they search for products and services and related information.

Accordingly, the websites that are optimized to answer their varied queries are prioritized by Google and ranked higher than the ones optimized conventionally.

11. Mobile Optimization

As people increasingly rely on smartphone devices to search online, mobile optimization is not a choice for businesses today. This makes sense because users are happier searching on the go and want websites to load super-fast across all devices.

Moreover, a website that is not mobile-optimized is likely to be penalized by Google and lose its rankings. Unless you follow this trend, sustenance and growth in the era of Google’s mobile-first index are practically impossible.

12. Diversity is the recipe for success

2019 is all about diversity when it comes to whipping up a successful digital marketing mix. The focus earlier was mainly on search engine optimization and search engine marketing.

Though these strategies still retain their importance as this post explains, there are many more that marketers are embracing today. Content marketing and email marketing, in particular, are fast emerging as effective and result-oriented strategies for businesses that want to ace the game.

13. Social Media will Game Changer

Besides the conventional tactics like SEO and SEM and innovative ones like content marketing and email marketing, social media remains another strong pillar of a successful digital strategy. We will surely emphasize social media in our list of digital marketing trends for 2020.

Without a strong presence on social media, a business cannot expect to grow its audience and win them as loyalists. Therefore, they must ensure an impressive presence across diverse social platforms and also work on establishing and growing online communities.

14. CRO will Emerge Stronger

Another trend that businesses cannot afford to miss this year is that of conversion rate optimization (CRO). This is the technique that encompasses the improvement of website experiences with the objective of enhancing conversions.

It mainly involves the assessment of the user journey on the website, right from landing to conversion. Further, efforts are made to simplify the navigation and make it easier by eliminating flaws and making changes for the better.

15. Voice Optimization:

The growing popularity and usage of voice assistants like Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and Amazon Alexa have brought voice searches to the forefront this year. Consequently, digital marketing has also witnessed a shift in voice optimization.

Essentially, this means that the websites need to have conversational content that answers the search queries of the users. This is because people who search via voice generally use questions of who, what, where, why, and how.

16. The Generation And Talent Gap

One of the first things to start understanding digital marketing in 2018 is the gap in talent. Most of the marketers in their respective positions simply have not been trained to work with the most effective marketing tools today. What this results in is an unsuccessful campaign, or worse, one the ruins the company’s reputation.

Classic marketing training just does not cut it anymore. If left unchecked, such marketers could end up pouring money into campaigns that don’t work, data that doesn’t apply, or forging ahead when they need to pivot. It is hence of the utmost importance that all marketers are updated on the latest digital skills. They need to know how to work with social media platforms, for one.

At the same time, younger marketers have a much stronger grasp on digital marketing concepts for the current age. Still, their experience is not vast enough for companies to hire them in place of their senior counterparts. So here, digital marketing would need a bridge between the two parties.

As a result, the best way out would be with the younger marketers being trained in the basics. They would then be allowed to practice their core skills in a modern and applicable manner. As for the older generation of marketers, they would need to hone their interest and talents in SEO, social marketing, personalization, content marketing, etc.

17. Personalization On Top

We’ve often heard the phrase, ‘content is king’, but don’t realize how much personalization is a part of content creation. Of course, every customer is different. One can’t hope to create a different kind of content for everyone. What we can do, though, is personalize as much as we can using automation.

Online websites are now a must for any business that wants to make it big in the modern world. Websites are going to get more and more dynamic as the years go on. For instance, potential customers could visit a website and choose whether they are first-time visitors or have been previous customers.

Depending on their answer, the website’s content would be tailored accordingly. In this manner, a company can have a different message for different kinds of clients. This automation can help personalize in even more detail. Just one fun example is a page that lets customers customize their cookies in terms of flours, fillings, toppings and etc. before they place an order.

18. Value Of Content Developers

Content creation isn’t an easy skill to adopt or even find. It requires a lot of practice, experience, and training to produce content that is attention-grabbing, personal, unique, and adventurous.

At the same time, one must be careful about producing high-quality content which is enjoyable and informative. Plus, a content developer must take care to ascertain that no one gets offended. Companies hence need to invest in content writers and creators who can fulfill all of these criteria. The writing should not only be fluent, but their skills need to be flexible.

After all, they have to attract audiences from all kinds of fields, interests, and niches. A professional writer is nothing to sneeze at. Businesses need to realize that they have to offer very competitive salaries for writers who are at the top of their game. A good writer would pull in the reader,

make a story, and relate to the customers at a level that is unrivaled by generic advertisements. It is thus important to invest as much or more in content development and creation as one spends on other forms of marketing and advertisement.

19. Making Influencers Out Of Customers

Social influencers are not born; they are made. The traditional way of thinking maybe that an influencer gets approached by a company. However, it is absolutely possible that a company could actually make an influencer out of an existing customer.

When a certain customer is absolutely loyal to a brand, they can spread a lot of positive marketing for them. If the marketing department of that brand is smart, it would find a way to make that positive energy work for them. The best and most genuine way is to provide for the customers in order to make them happy and more sincere.

In this manner, one customer could spread the word so far and wide that they generate a whole group of influencers. Since everyone is online and going live these days, anyone can make a video showcasing their love for a product.

For instance, a foundation that stays on all day is likely to get picked up quickly by beauty bloggers. Even if the blogger is just starting out, they can get the message to a host of potential customers.

All this creates a sort of snowball effect. Companies can speed up the process by providing benefits and samples to those who would try out their product online.

They could open up reviews, comments, and generally invite feedback. This is the time where people place faith in customer reviews and real-life experiences. Hence, digital marketing needs to enhance public opinion in a positive direction.

Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2020: Conclusion

The digital marketing trends listed above would hopefully help marketers to develop the best marketing strategy possible. There is still time to enhance the process on plans to use in the coming year.

Hopefully, being aware of these trends would greatly increase the number of acquired leads, engaging content, connections, conversion, and customers which in turn increase your sales.

We believe you will really like our article covering 19 top digital marketing trends for 2020 for marketers. Read on these trends to prepare the next digital marketing strategy.

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