When it comes to marketing trends in 2020, it’s important to not only keep ahead of the competition, in this strange, uncertain time, it’s crucial to adapt and refine how you reach your target audience.
Whatever business you’re in, our four key marketing trends are easy to adopt into your strategy and can make all the difference when it comes to both established and new customers.
1. Mobile-optimised websites
Get ready for a new Google algorithm update in 2021. Websites need to be mobile optimised, not just mobile friendly. Why? To ensure web traffic isn’t penalised – and to give customers the best experience online.
Get optimised
A mobile optimised site is different to a mobile friendly site. Whilst mobile friendly sites may display accurately on smaller screens and be functional, a mobile optimised site goes much further as it not only reformats itself for mobile devices for proper display (and thus easier navigation) it also reformats your content and your images, and larger navigation buttons are better displayed too.
Further benefits: Websites load quickly (websites that aren’t properly optimised take longer to load) especially useful if they use Flash. Web content is easier to read. Images reformat and are clear. Easy navigation and click links can be seen without the need to zoom in. Customer engagement is easier to achieve as users feel more inclined to navigate – and interact with – a site that loads with ease.
2. Good content still matters
There’s still a great need for well-written content that uses natural language. And yes, that includes the ever important SEO, but you need to let your copy flow to attract and engage customers.
You can’t fool Google
Google has led the need for good content and their 2019 update, the BERT system, reflects this.
Designed to help Google understand the natural language people use when they search online, there is now a greater awareness of writing content that is natural for people, not for Google. SEO is still great, but if you just drop in keywords for Google, it won’t work; especially since the Google Hummingbird update.
Further benefits: Good content will attract, inform, educate, persuade and interest your audience. This leads to improved conversions, greater trust in your brand and better social media interaction too.
3. Chatty but useful chatbots
Gone are the days of static chatbots that weren’t helpful or human-like. Chatbots are now hugely popular with both businesses and customers, who want an efficient way to get information, fast and 24/7.
Chat and get a Lyft
Chatbots such as rideshare brand Lyft allow customers to hail a ride in seconds, and they can check on the location of their driver and share their ETA with friends easily too. The Lyft app offers interactive help through a chat-like experience. Questions are anticipated and predicted via AI and then personalised for the passenger to conversationally solve queries.
Jaime Gilliam-Swartz, Director of Voice of Customer, at Lyft said in an interview with VentureBeat: ‘A lot of customers are saying, ‘If it is easy, if it is quick, for love of goodness, don’t make me go to an IVR, and don’t make me talk to somebody. We’ve seen an uptick in the adoption of our interactive help, and we work hard to make sure that the majority of people leave with a resolution in less than 30 seconds. That’s shown to be highly delightful, especially for passengers who are experiencing that right now.’
Further benefits: Resolve issues quickly and easily. Reduce agent transfer times. Cost-effective. Instant access and assistance for time-strapped consumers.
4.Try social media stories and stickers
Visual stories on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat (the first pioneers of the ‘My Story’ concept) are powerful at hooking in customer’s attention online.
Oh no, FOMO
There’s an interesting aspect to social media, and that is FOMO (fear of missing out) and because social media stories disappear after a set period of time, people are more likely to take a look.
Consider creating a bespoke set of Instagram stickers for your brand that customers can use on their social media stories. The Ambulance Staff Charity did this to great effect when they launched their own branded set of GIPHY stickers with the support of Rawww.
Benefits: Creating your own branded GIFs is a clever and stimulating marketing tactic as they deliver emotional impact in an easy to consume way.
Which marketing trend of 2020 do you want to try first? These strategies are easy to apply, and they can make a huge difference to your sales and the way customers interact with you.
