The beginning of the year is a moment to look back on the year that has passed, but it’s maybe even more so a great time to look ahead at where we’re going. At Textmetrics, we believe that looking ahead makes more sense. What’s done is done, right? So, let’s look ahead at the brand-new decade that’s upon us. Where are we going and what marketing trends can we expect for 2020?
Trend 1: It’s all about customer experience
Customer experience (CX) has been a buzzword for quite some time now. That won’t be any different next year. In fact, the focus on customer experience might even increase. This is mainly due to the growth of online content, which has given customers more power. They are no longer waiting for you to tell them why they should buy your product or use your service. They do their own research and find what they want online. They base their decision to choose your company over another on their own experience.
But what exactly makes a great customer experience? Some key factors are:
- Convenience: think of a website that is easy to navigate, has easy payment options and a great mobile experience.
- A friendly, fast and knowledgable service: especially in today’s day and age, customers don’t want to wait too long to have their questions answered.
- Personalization: customers want to feel like you understand what they need and want you to address them personally.
Trend 2: Personalisation
We’ve already mentioned this trend, albeit in a slightly different context, but 2020 will be the year of personalized marketing. Generic ads are losing their effectiveness as potential customers don’t feel a real connection to them and tend to tune them out. So much for traditional marketing! Personalized ads, however, are becoming increasingly appealing.
Luckily, you have the tools required to create personalized ads for your potential customers. New technologies, such as AI, the increasing amount of data you can collect, and insights from social media all give you the opportunity to take a very personal approach when it comes to advertising and attracting new customers.
Trend 3: AI-based automation
We briefly mentioned AI above when it comes to personalized ads. Big data supported by AI and predictive analytics helps companies learn more about their audience and customers. And the more you know about your audience, the more personalized your ads can be. But there is even more that AI can help marketers with. It is one of the major technologies behind voice search and smart assistants. And those chatbots you see more and more of on websites? They are also made possible by AI.
To come back to the importance of a great customer experience, chatbots are one of the many innovative solutions that can help improve your company’s customer experience. To sum it up: AI technology and automation take over some of the workload from marketers, so they have more time to focus on the marketing strategy and creating a great customer experience. Over the last few years, an increasing number of businesses have adopted AI-powered technology and automation to assist in their marketing efforts. For 2020, this number will probably increase. Businesses use AI for voice search, smart assistants and chatbots. We will see the latter on more and more websites. All in all, AI is a great tool to help to assist marketers, so they have more time to focus on the marketing strategy, and it also helps enhance the overall marketing efforts of your company.
Trend 4: Voice search
As we said above, voice search is one of the many tools powered by AI. Currently, around 20% of online searches are driven by voice. The expectation is that this will rise to about 50% in the next year. That’s a huge increase, and even if this figure isn’t entirely reached in 2020, voice search is still something you have to take into account when creating content.
Potential customers who use voice search to find products or services online use different keywords. Instead of typing one or a few words into a search engine, they use longer, more conversational queries. Using these search phrases as long-tail keywords in your content can help you pop up in the search engines. And if your content answers these questions, you could even end up as a featured snippet or in position zero on Google.
Trend 5: Content marketing
Content is king, right? That’s what we have been hearing for years now, and that doesn’t change in 2020. Only by sharing high-quality content can you show customers your expertise. For your marketing efforts, it’s still very important to been seen as an authority. High-quality content also helps you pop up on the first page of search engines.
Of course, SEO is still an important factor here, but search engines increasingly value the quality of your content. Search engines want to offer their customers high-quality results, so keep producing that high-quality content and let the search engines and potential customers know that you’re the one they need to turn to.
Could you use some help with implementing and optimizing your marketing efforts in 2020? Textmetrics is here to help! Our tools help you monitor the quality of your content, help you create valuable SEO content, and make sure that your content is fully targeted at the right audience.