Modern technology is constantly evolving and at an increasingly fast pace. As a result, marketers need to stay up-to-speed with updates, new techniques, and emerging trends. Marketing has completely changed in the past ten years, so with a new decade fast approaching, here are nine key marketing trends to be aware of for 2020:
- Shoppable Posts
It’s highly unlikely with today’s digital savvy customer, that a large percentage of your target audience aren’t on some form of social media platform. While advertising on social media is still very cost-effective and can result in excellent outcomes, more and more people are shopping directly through social media platforms. In 2019, 72% of Instagram users purchased a product directly through the app. Whether you use Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram to reach your customers, there are now ways for e-commerce businesses to create shoppable posts – making it simpler than ever before for your customers to get their hands on your products.
- Photo and Video Marketing Experiences
Photo and video marketing are still incredibly popular, with research consistently showing that posts with images or video reach a wider audience than text-only posts on social media. Thanks to modern technology, your audience can actively participate in the photo and video experience, which is especially useful for brand tours or events. Digital photobooths are continuously developing, with some including features such as Boomerangs. This gives marketers more opportunities to directly engage with their prospective customers, and more opportunities to create marketing touchpoints through encouraging users to generate their own content and share it on social media.
- Augmented Reality
Virtual reality hasn’t quite taken off as predicted and is unlikely to become popular any time soon due to the high costs incurred for creating marketing collateral, as well as the high costs, and therefore lack of availability, of VR-related equipment. However, augmented reality is becoming more and more commonplace. Online retailers such as Amazon sellers have started using AR, which enables potential customers to visualise what certain furniture and accessories would look like in their own homes before committing to purchase.
- Interactive Content
Marketers are continually seeking to push the boundaries to amaze their audiences, and with 91% of online users seeking more visual and interactive content, marketers are always being kept on their toes. There are many great reasons for marketers to invest in interactive content, including: increasing engagement, increasing shareability, and increasing time spent on-site. Interactive 360 footage and video is one great way of giving your audience something new and fresh to engage with.
- Personalisation
We view more advertising now than ever before, which means audiences are becoming more adept at tuning out generic messages that don’t connect with them. Targeted advertising has become increasingly popular and will only become more commonplace as a recent survey of 1,000 consumers highlights that 90% found personalised advertising ‘appealing’ and 80% would be more likely to give their business to a company that offered them a personalised experience.
- Content Marketing
Marketers have known for a long time that ‘content is king’ – but going forward in 2020 and beyond, this under-utilised and highly-effective form of marketing is going to have much more marketing budget spent on it. Smart content helps to tell your company’s narrative, engages with your target audience, and gives your business a voice of authority among your competition.
- Experience Marketing
If you’re looking for ways to truly ‘wow’ your target audience, consider how you can make use of experience marketing. Advancements in technology mean you can make use of show-stopping marketing techniques that can have huge impact at trade shows, exhibitions, conferences, and events. Capture the attention of your target market using tools such as our Mirror X.
- Live Video
Facebook Live and Instagram Stories are continuing to grow exponentially in popularity, making them one of the most important digital marketing tools for 2020. On average, videos on Facebook Live and Instagram Stories keep your audience watching three times longer than recorded ones posted to walls and grids. The daily watch time for Facebook Live videos have quadrupled in a single year, and they produce six times as many interactions as traditional videos.
- Privacy and Data Protection
Security breaches by organisations such as Facebook and Google, scandals such as that of Cambridge Analytica, and the introduction of specific legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulations, mean consumers are increasingly aware of their own personal data, how it is used by organisations, and crucially – how they can opt-out from receiving marketing communications. As marketers, it is equally important to understand your obligations under the law and how to comply. The maximum penalty for a breach of GDPR is up to £17.5m or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is greater. Record fines were issued in 2019 under GDPR, including £183m paid by British Airways for a breach of customer data and £99m paid by hotel chain Marriott for failing to protect personal data in guest records.
Ready to take your marketing to a new level? Contact our creative team today.