7 Marketing Trends to Invest in for 2020

When it comes to being a leader in any industry, being at the forefront of marketing trends is the number one way to maintain that image. Staying up-to-date on the latest trends helps your business stay relevant to potential new clients (PNC) and allows more of those PNCs to actively have a better perception of your company before even landing on your website. 

7 Marketing Trends for 2020

We understand that as a marketer or business leader, you can’t be wasting time and money on gimmicks that will only be in style for the next 3-6 months until the next trend comes around. For that reason, we have cultivated a list of the top 7 Marketing Trends for 2020 that are already proving themselves to be the next major marketing essentials. 

1. Voice Search

24% of U.S. households own at least one smart speaker, according to the latest survey done by Nielsen. Though they are primarily being used to play music and look up the weather, another survey showed that 60% of smart speaker owners have used the device to purchase items in the past year with about 22% saying they had done so in the past week. 

Currently, the market trend for Voice Search has shown positive signs for retailers, foodservice and hospitality. This will begin to change as more smart speakers begin to move away from being just towers and begin to also incorporate the use of small screens on the device’s interface.

Optimizing for Voice Search has become increasingly easy with companies like Jetson.ai leading the way in increasing exposure through their platform. Comparably, Jetson.ai is like WooCommerce for smart speakers. 

We only see this trend becoming more and more accessible for other goods and service companies as the software continues to progress.

2. Chatbots

Chatbots are super nifty! They allow your website users to instantly connect with a “member” of your team.

Chatbots serve two great features, one for your company and one for the user. The user is able to get questions answered that they might have before making a decision to use your company. You get more detailed information about what the PNC needs and can, therefore, better prepare your sales team for the initial sales call.

Chatbots are easy to install and integrate onto your website. They are much cheaper than hiring an individual to monitor and communicate with every single site visitor. Subsequently, customers tend to appreciate the personalized service and getting their questions answered more quickly and with less hassle of talking on the phone.

Thinking of adding a Chatbot to your website? Reach out to us and we can get yours up and running in no time!

3. Video

Every year seems to be “The Year of the Video.” Well, 2020 is no different. 

Video killed the radio star back in the 80s and it continues to be the most preferred form of content created and absorbed by the mass population.

Investing in video content for your website, social media, email marketing, etc. is one of the best things you can do for your marketing budget in 2020. Hiring a video professional - like Sauce - that can take your brand and marketing strategy and transform it into multiple videos to improve your website and social content is key in taking your marketing to the next level.

Video allows you to connect with your audience through storytelling that expands their understanding of your brand and your products or services. Take this video by Dropps, aptly titled “The Naked Truth About Laundry”:

The CEO of Dropps, Jonathan Proper films himself - naked - explaining the newest laundry pod product his company has created. The market has been flooded recently by laundry pods but this video helps explain how his product is vastly different from other pods on the market in a funny, engaging way that immediately captures the audiences’ attention. It’s explanatory of the product and gives you an insight into the company brand and culture which entices viewers to want to continue watching the video and convert those views into sales.

Proper is deadpan most of the video but the video’s pace and Proper’s commentary keeps you engaged so much so that you don’t even realize you are watching a full 2-minute commercial. Video gives you auditory, visual and written cues that photo and text alone cannot offer PNCs.

Look to video as being a powerhouse in marketing for many years to come.

4. SERP Position Zero

No, this is not the latest Mission Impossible movie. SERP Position Zero is what marketers refer to as the featured snippet block that Google promotes at the top of the search results page. You typically see this result when you search for the answer to a question.

This snippet of information is called Position Zero because it is placed above all other available links related to your search but just after the ads (because Google is still getting paid to promote those links). 

This placement is crucial. It gives searchers an immediate answer in the form of a paragraph, list or chart. Since Google released this feature, links with this placement have seen increased click rates and often times this is the only click received from the search.

The nice thing about this position is that it comes from having organic content on your website in the form of blogs, news, copy, etc. The only set back is that your content must rank on the first page of Google for it to obtain this coveted position. This is why consistently creating content is highly important; it tells Google you are a verified leader in this subject matter which is how Google’s algorithm ranks you higher in general.

5. Personalization

We all have a million emails coming through our inbox in a given year (or a month if you sign-up for newsletters like I do). A lot of the time we ignore these emails and put them in the ‘Junk’ bin without giving them a second thought. When I see an email with my name in the subject line or with a question or statement I am interested in, I tend to click on them more often than ignore them.

This is true of 90% of survey takers. Epsilon conducted this survey to determine how consumers respond to personalized marketing materials. They were able to determine that 80% of people are more likely to do business with a company that offered them a personalized experience when it came to the marketing and advertising they saw on a daily basis. 

Adding personalization to your email marketing is actually fairly easy and the pay-off is exceptional! Instead of spamming your email list with content they don’t care about, taking the time to segment and add personalization to your consumers wherever they are in their buyers’ journey will help you see a higher click-through rate and ultimately an increase in conversion from PNC to verified lead.

6. Hyper-Targeted Advertising 

In addition to personalization, Hyper-Targeted Advertising is another way in which companies are seeing increased click-through on web and social advertisements. 

Think of all the random ads you see on Facebook or Instagram that are completely irrelevant to you. Now think of the ones that come up multiple times, over and over again. I bet you can name at least one company that seems to spam your social feeds. Rather than giving in and clicking on the ad, what do you do?

If you’re like me and nearly half of consumers (49%), you will completely ignore the company and find any way to avoid seeing their content at all costs.

Don’t spam people! You hate it, I hate it, PNCs hate it. Instead, target your demographics with specificity and ensure those you are advertising to actually want to see what you’re selling - even if they don’t know they want to buy what you’re selling just yet.

7. Shoppable Posts

Shoppable posts are proving themselves to be valuable investments as it allows you to promote ads on social media that link directly to the items you are selling within the post. Shoppable posts aren’t limited to just one social media type. You can find them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The power of being able to cross-post these ads allows for you to be able to span a wide range of PNCs wherever they prefer to shop or browse for content. You might find that someone will scroll past your ad on Instagram but the same person will click over to your site when they see the ad on Pinterest.

Casting a wide net like this gathers more fish - I mean PNCs. 

There are many cool, innovative and creative new ways to engage with Potential New Clients. Incorporating these proven marketing trends into your budget and plan for 2020 will see more ROI from your marketing budget next year. Partnering with an agency that can track these results and provide you insight on how these trends will affect your bottom line can also help. Luckily, at Sauce Agency we are here to help. Contact us today to schedule a one-to-one call and we can discuss your company’s growth goals and create a personalized marketing strategy plan.