Blog | VideoSmart

4 Major Digital Marketing Trends in 2020

Written by VideoSmart | Jun 7, 2019 11:00:00 PM

Even if you don’t yet want to admit it, the summer is almost over and we’re heading towards 2020. A new decade is upon us.

Some of us might have expected 2020 to see flying hoverboards as a mainstream way of transportation but unfortunately, we aren’t quite there yet. Nonetheless, marketers are expecting some exciting trends, primarily related to digital marketing and technology. Without further ado, here are the ones that VideoSmart are looking forward to in the new year.

Online video outshines traditional television for younger generations

Online video has replaced traditional television amongst the younger generation and will continue to do so in 2020. Although Generation X and especially the Baby Boomers continue to spend a great deal of time watching television shows, the number of Millennials watching is declining.

We’re also seeing more and more people streaming video online or downloading it straight onto their device. As a result, less marketing will be spent towards television advertising and more will go towards digital marketing aimed at smartphones, internet, digital video and social networks.

Technological advancements in voice search

One very exciting area of growth in marketing and communications is voice search. Although 1 in 4 adults in the United States already have a smart speaker such as Amazon Echo or Google Home, voice search is  still relatively underdeveloped.

Theedigital found that 31% of smartphone users worldwide occasionally use a voice-activated search like Siri. However, users do sometimes complain about poor quality. Occasionally, the smartphone doesn’t register the voice request because it doesn’t process the sound correctly or the request appears incomprehensible.

That said, voice search is expected to reach another level in the near future. Requests made by people with speech defects are increasingly delivered successfully and this will only develop further. The technology is improving as voice input is deemed more practical and convenient, thereby gaining relevance among service providers and marketers. As a result, experts believe that by next year, at least half of search requests will be made through voice searches. That makes voice search one of the biggest online marketing trends of 2020.

Shoppable posts are gaining further momentum

By now, most people are aware that social media is a huge part of online marketing. What a lot of people do not realise is just how many of us shop via social channels. 60% of Instagram users say they discover new products on the platform and in a survey of over 4,000 Pinterest users, a whopping 70% said Pinterest helps them find new products (99firms).

The platforms are evolving and have made it easier for companies to sell via social media. Over the past few years, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook all have ways for ecommerce stores to create shoppable posts using a native integration that makes it easy to tag and shop products directly from your posts. For online retailers, this is a successful way to drive traffic to their companies’ web pages.

Marketing continues to rely more on data and analytics

Digital marketing is one of the fastest growing segments of today's market and it therefore has the greatest consumer focus.

By 2020, more marketers expect they will interact directly with their customers through technology and personalisation. With traditional television becoming less popular, the days of indirect interaction through media and advertising are fading. The future of digital interactions depends on data and analytics, as most value and ROI can be gained through personalised customer experiences.

Theedigital found that 80% of people are more likely to do business with a company that is offering personalised marketing experiences. Marketers have grasped the benefits of using personalisation to target large audiences in a very smart way.

Although many are focusing on the content, for the new year, it is important to take a seamless customer journey into account. In order to create the right personalised marketing experiences, the communication must work across multiple devices and channels.

What’s more, for a true personalised experience, creating both a digital and physical output maximises the brand opportunity and customer engagement. To read more about how this can be achieved, read our blog on our Capita omnichannel pension campaign - https://www.videosmart.com/blog/post/capita-omnichannel-campaign

Of all trends, video was a digital marketing must in 2019 and it will continue to be one in 2020.