Marketing trends are constantly evolving – and 2020 is no different. Knowing how marketers will prepare will help you with your strategy this 2020.
Ranging from emerging channels to A.I, here are things marketing leaders are focusing on this 2020:
Marketing Trend 1: Investments in Emerging Channels such as TikTok
TikTok app still feels a bit of a mystery, especially to marketers. But TikTok is now one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. It allows users to create videos with music, filters and other catchy features.
As of November 2019, TikTok has reportedly reached 1.5 Billion downloads worldwide and boasts 1.4 million active users in Australia and New Zealand, driving 1.6 billion video views every month. TikTok was announced to be the 7th most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019. The majority of TikTok’s users are Gen Z’ers, but many millennials around the world are also using it.
According to WARC, marketers are increasing their investments in this emerging channel and decreasing in other older ones such as Twitter and Snapchat.
“If you market to a pre-teen demographics, YouTube probably performs well, but layering in TikTok could be a powerful way to expand your brand story,” said Heidi Bullock of Tealium.
The Australian Reptile Park uses TikTok to boost its popularity by posting cuddly and cute wildlife videos that capture the audience’s attention. They once posted a video of their supervisor milking a snake and rapidly gained 3 million views overnight! The video now has more than 13.1 million views.
Rebecca Plumridge, the Content Marketing Coordinator at ARP, said: “We feel the key to success on social media is staying relevant and relatable to online audiences.” She adds that the most successful videos always include the presence of a keeper and stay as “educational, fun and engaging” for audiences.
Even the AFL is gaining viewers through TikTok. Kylie Robertson, AFL Creative Strategy & Innovation Manager, said that it uses the channel to engage with the audience, especially with the young people and kids.
“Tik Tok is a wildly creative, fun platform that provides a strong connection point to today’s youth. Not only does it enable us to continue to build relevance with the next generation of fans and players, but it also provides a wonderful opportunity to listen to what our fans want,” Robertson said.
Other Australian influencers include the hilarious @ianz95, the goofy @roryeliza, the real-life doggo @amospearce and more.
Aside from creating organic TikTok videos, to promote your brand, one can use paid ads to drive huge impressions. However, since ads in the platform are rare, they come at a premium cost with an average rate of $10 per CPM (Cost Per 1 Thousand Views). If you decide TikTok is a worthy investment, you create a TikTok Ads Account, create a campaign and determine your placements and budget.
Marketing Trend 2: Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram still take the biggest share
The giant platforms still remain to have the biggest share of the marketing ad revenues. For example, Facebook posted $17.4B at the last quarter of 2019. Youtube’s 2020 revenue is estimated to be $24.7B, according to BMO Analyst Dan Salmon. But marketers are exploring emerging channels to reach the younger audience.
James Ciuffetelli of Yellow said that Facebook and Youtube are essential platforms to visually tell their stories. “Visual search will take the user experience to a totally different level and channels, such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube will be essential marketing platforms for small business,” Ciuffetelli said.
Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger still win against TikTok. According to the WARC survey, 93% of marketers are still using Facebook this 2020, 34% are planning to increase ad spending and 20% are reducing. The cause of regression is attributed to the rising concern for privacy and the use of shared information.
Marketing Trend 3: Growing Love for Video
Marketers are aware of consumer’s increasing love for video and are maximising reach through video-sharing platforms.
Youtube is clearly the leader, which is expected to see consistent growth this year. As stated, Youtube remains to have the majority of market spending but its younger peer, TikTok, is now catching up to capture the platform for the younger generation.
Videos are easier to consume. Videos can be inspiring, entertaining and educating, or can be all-in-one at the same time. Videos give real-scenario of things, showing things as they are. Which leads us to mention Live-Videos.
According to WARC, live video broadcasts such as Facebook Live and Youtube Live, are a continuing trend for marketers. Three-quarters of respondents say it’s either quite (43 percent) or very (31 percent) important to themselves or their clients in 2020.
Forbes magazine reported that customers are 64% more likely to purchase a product after watching a live video. Facebook released that viewers spend three times more watching live videos than on-demand videos.
Marketing Trend 4: Dramatic Growth of Google’s Discovery Tool
Google’s Discovery Tool is a silent but rapidly growing search tool launched in 2017. It primarily sits in Google Assistant’s home feed and surfaces relevant content to you when you’re not searching. It’s about you and your interests, and you can customise what you want to see.
More than 800 million users benefit from Discovery Tool to stay up to date with their interests. You basically get fresh content from sources you’ve never visited before, creating a magnetic experience, alluring users to keep coming back. Discover can predict your level of expertise on a topic and help you further develop those interests.
HubSpot’s Manager of Pillar and Acquisition Content, Christina Perricone, believes that this AI-driven tool will continue to experience dramatic growth and serve personalised, high-quality content to users in 2020.
To optimise your business’s presence for Google’s Discovery Tool, Perricone recommends that you build the “Topic Clusters strategy” on your website, use large (1200px), high-quality images because the tool fetches and displays attractive imagery, and create all content using the language of your audience.
Marketing Trend 5: Mobile-First Marketing
Since 2015, mobile internet users eclipsed desktop users. Mobile internet has been growing steadily since!
As of 2019, there are 5.11 billion unique mobile internet users in the world, almost 68% of the global population. Mobile devices make internet access more affordable and accessible across countries.
Consumers now spend more than five hours a day on their smartphones and has 88% growth year over year.
In Australia, mobile users are forecasted to reach 18.1 million by 2020.
Undeniably, mobile is the future. Marketers must optimize their website and marketing campaigns to suit this trend. Here are some of the most important techniques:
Optimize the website to be responsive
Avoid using website elements that get unreadable in small sizes
Interactive ads and videos
Mobile apps
Geolocations
Text and multimedia messages
Email marketing
Marketing Trend 6: Email Marketing
Is email marketing dead? Study says: not a chance. It’s in fact the queen of customer interaction, the most cost-efficient strategy and has the highest ROI.
If done correctly, it produces as high as 4400% returns. That means for every dollar marketers spend on a campaign, $44 returns.
Email is the dominant marketing tool to stay in touch with your current customers and raise awareness in the minds of your potential ones.
Email on mobile continues to experience growth. In 2016, open rates reached 68% and are expected to grow year on year.
The key to successful email marketing is starting with a clear goal and objective. Here are some of the most important:
Inform – email for providing business, product or service information to a client. For example, you can inform them about your new branch or new renovations in your office.
Attract – you may think that there’s no need to attract your customers because they’re already committed to you. The fact is, they can stop patronizing anytime. Keep them attracted by sharing recent awards, along with customer reviews.
Convert – client conversion is the ultimate goal of email marketing. You can achieve this step by consistently attracting, nurturing, and delighting customers that eventually do the marketing for you through word of mouth or referrals. To convert, you should also provide them with info about your latest products, services and special deals.
Content consumption trends continue to evolve, pivot and change, and the marketing landscape are becoming more competitive. Marketing teams that learn from others, push their limits, and innovate with technologies will set themselves apart for success in 2020 and beyond.
If you need some help with your strategy, contact us today!