I’ll skip the joke about 2020 vision and get right down to a few trends you should be looking out for this year and capitalising on to make your marketing strategy a success this year.
Automation
It is critical now to have an integrated marketing stack and to automate your processes, channels and data. This trend has been around for a while now but this is the year that you must complete the work or you will be left behind. Aim to bring your tech stack together so that your analytics, data, social media, CRM, email, sales funnel, call logging, search strategy and the full suite of activity can be fully automated with smart testing and clear focus on your KPIs.
AI
Use of AI is now common. Do not get left behind. You should be using it to profile your customers based on behaviours not just demographics. Look to learn from on-site behaviours and post purchase behaviours. Beyond acquisition you should also be considering this for retention and loyalty.
Voice
This is a trend I have talked about for years. Voice search contributes to grow with IOT and mobile usage now very high. Consider semantic search and natural language in your strategy.
Personalisation
This remains key. Beyond simple salutations, look to personalise your messaging, timing of messages, recommendations and content with true personalisation based on behaviours and smart segmentation. No one should be receiving irrelevant ads or comms from you in 2020.
Video
Video marketing has been a huge part of content for some time now. If your strategy is not where it needs to be then 2020 is the year to fix that. Engagement rates and advertising response is fantastic. Do not underestimate the potential here. Build out a smart content strategy around this to answer questions, address needs and bring your content to life. Get it disseminated broadly across social as well.
Do not neglect this channel. It remains a hugely effective means of communicating with consumers of all ages. Review your comms to ensure you are sending the right emails to the right people at the right time. Keep them informative, interesting and interactive – the three I’s.
Privacy
Less exciting but hugely important. Ensure your strategy includes thought on this both now and in the future. It affects everything we do and regulation will continue to change. Ultimately if you are considering privacy effectively you will be rewarded by your consumers and have less work to do as regulations change so keep it in mind for everything you do.
More importantly than anything else, stay on target. Don’t be distracted by new initiatives and tech if they don’t add value to YOUR strategy. I hope 2020 is a hugely successful year for you.
If you’d like to learn more about how to ensure your strategy is as effective as possible you can get the second edition of my best selling book Digital Marketing Strategy at the link below.
Happy New Year.
