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With the start of the new year, we are in for some exciting changes in the digital marketing tactics landscape that are reinvigorating the entire industry from the top down or, should we say, from the smallest data point to the largest segment of the industry. In this guide, we'll go over five of the most interesting digital marketing trends you can expect to take a greater hold in 2020.
While we have seen personalization become the new standard for marketing for the past few years now, expect 2020 to take it to the next level and make it the gold standard for online marketing practices. With a plethora of targeting tools thanks to the massive amount of data on social media for both content and product categories, not personalizing your online marketing strategy can prove to be a detriment to your overall business strategy. You might find yourself wasting crucial advertising dollars on an audience that has no interest in what you are trying to distribute when, a little research and specific targeting, could really stretch those dollars effectively. Amazon, for example, does an excellent job at this with their recommendation algorithm that pushes forward products based on what the consumer has previously purchased.
While Facebook does still control the largest market share for social media ad spend, an interesting trend in mobile ad spend has been rising for the past few years. You can't spend five minutes on Instagram without scrolling past an ad that has been targeted around people you follow or your interests and now with the rise of Gen Z sweetheart app TikTok, expect advertisers to increase ad spend on mobile through the app that has proven to be a hit with the youngest spending demographic on the planet. If you have a product that is geared toward this age group, investing in a micro-influencer on this app can be an extremely savvy digital marketing business decision.
Speaking of influencers, something interesting has been trending amongst influencers that are looking to connect more directly with their audience. Enter SMS mass messaging, an old marketing tactic that has laid dormant since the advent of social media marketing. A tool used by internet personalities like Gary Vaynerchuck and Jose Zuniga, this method of marketing offers major and minor influencers a way to directly connect with their fans on an extremely personal level. Only time and results will tell whether this proves to be a marketing tactic that stands the test of time or just proves to be a vintage fad that will end up lying dormant again. Companies like JookSMS, EZ Texting, and Text Marks are proving to be market leaders when it comes to this kind of service.
With all of this talk about social media and mobile-based advertising, you might think that direct website marketing is dead but that couldn't be further from the truth. Thanks to the rise of voice search and the increasing complexity of Google's SEO algorithm, it now presents a unique and special opportunity for new marketers to get into the written content game. Because they are nimble and don't have as many restrictions on the kind of content they push out, new marketers will have the freedom to experiment and see what works via search engine optimization. Building up your content warehouse to include content that takes into account common human speech patterns like 'Where can I find coffee in Toledo' as opposed to 'coffee near me' will be important for anyone embarking on an SEO strategy today as voice gains momentum and Google shifts its algorithm to mirror this more sophisticated method of communication.
Thanks to the growing number of online users, rich data is here to stay and the marketers that understand how to take advantage of it are going to be the ones that get ahead in the future. Taking stock of all of your online assets and studying their data points will be crucial to your success whether you are pushing a type of content or product.
It is going to be exciting to see how this year turns out thanks to the rise of personalization and a greater and more sophisticated SEO methodology as a result of voice search. Expect to see successful marketers continue to experiment with what works and what doesn't as the landscape continues to shift.
Taking Personalization to the Next Level
While we have seen personalization become the new standard for marketing for the past few years now, expect 2020 to take it to the next level and make it the gold standard for online marketing practices. With a plethora of targeting tools thanks to the massive amount of data on social media for both content and product categories, not personalizing your online marketing strategy can prove to be a detriment to your overall business strategy. You might find yourself wasting crucial advertising dollars on an audience that has no interest in what you are trying to distribute when, a little research and specific targeting, could really stretch those dollars effectively. Amazon, for example, does an excellent job at this with their recommendation algorithm that pushes forward products based on what the consumer has previously purchased.
Watch Out Facebook: Mobile Social is Coming for Your Ad Spend
While Facebook does still control the largest market share for social media ad spend, an interesting trend in mobile ad spend has been rising for the past few years. You can't spend five minutes on Instagram without scrolling past an ad that has been targeted around people you follow or your interests and now with the rise of Gen Z sweetheart app TikTok, expect advertisers to increase ad spend on mobile through the app that has proven to be a hit with the youngest spending demographic on the planet. If you have a product that is geared toward this age group, investing in a micro-influencer on this app can be an extremely savvy digital marketing business decision.
SMS Marketing to Reach Customer Base
Speaking of influencers, something interesting has been trending amongst influencers that are looking to connect more directly with their audience. Enter SMS mass messaging, an old marketing tactic that has laid dormant since the advent of social media marketing. A tool used by internet personalities like Gary Vaynerchuck and Jose Zuniga, this method of marketing offers major and minor influencers a way to directly connect with their fans on an extremely personal level. Only time and results will tell whether this proves to be a marketing tactic that stands the test of time or just proves to be a vintage fad that will end up lying dormant again. Companies like JookSMS, EZ Texting, and Text Marks are proving to be market leaders when it comes to this kind of service.
The Rise of Voice Search and a More Sophisticated SEO Situation
With all of this talk about social media and mobile-based advertising, you might think that direct website marketing is dead but that couldn't be further from the truth. Thanks to the rise of voice search and the increasing complexity of Google's SEO algorithm, it now presents a unique and special opportunity for new marketers to get into the written content game. Because they are nimble and don't have as many restrictions on the kind of content they push out, new marketers will have the freedom to experiment and see what works via search engine optimization. Building up your content warehouse to include content that takes into account common human speech patterns like 'Where can I find coffee in Toledo' as opposed to 'coffee near me' will be important for anyone embarking on an SEO strategy today as voice gains momentum and Google shifts its algorithm to mirror this more sophisticated method of communication.
Data, data, and...more data
Thanks to the growing number of online users, rich data is here to stay and the marketers that understand how to take advantage of it are going to be the ones that get ahead in the future. Taking stock of all of your online assets and studying their data points will be crucial to your success whether you are pushing a type of content or product.
It is going to be exciting to see how this year turns out thanks to the rise of personalization and a greater and more sophisticated SEO methodology as a result of voice search. Expect to see successful marketers continue to experiment with what works and what doesn't as the landscape continues to shift.