"Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present will miss the future." a famous quote by John F. Kennedy. Forever online marketers, change is not just the law of life but also the law of success.
Without a keen eye on the future and thoughtful application of forward-thinking strategies, a marketer cannot address the rapidly changing needs of customers and stay on top of digital marketing trends.
Keeping the quote of President Kennedy in mind, we move into the year 2020 and showcase four important digital marketing trends that every online marketer should work:
Conversational Marketing
This is the first digital marketing trend of 2020 that every marketer should know. Conversational marketing is the model for engaging customers in real-time, capturing their needs, and offering them solutions.
It has taken the form of live chat or inbound phone support but as the technology is getting advanced it is quickly moving in the direction of chatbots, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).
In this world where everything and everyone is connected to the internet, consumers have fit in with fast-paced living, instant interactivity, and personalization. These customer behaviors conflict with many traditional marketing strategies.
According to the 2019 State of Conversational Marketing, almost 42 percent of internet users expect a response within 5 seconds, and around 36 percent of them expect a response in less than 5 minutes.
This is why conversational marketing is important because a customer needs a quick and easy response regardless of the brand. This fact highlights the need for a useful and reliable conversational marketing tool that enables a team to both automate responses and keep customers happy.
In 2020, we expect to see more and more companies leverage conversational marketing tools, to meet the needs of their customers and keep up with digital marketing trends.
Data management powered by AI and ML
We have been listening to artificial intelligence and machine learning for years now. The way companies are collecting data on their potential customers, parsing through relevant information, enriching it, and then packaging the data for sales and marketing teams has become discouraging.
The rate at which we can process information, identify patterns, interpret digital marketing trends, and make sound recommendations is getting more difficult, but these tasks can be more manageable.
From leads to a person's insights and customer divisions, artificial intelligence can make the consumption of data more smooth and easy.
In the future, marketing technologies (mar-tech) will integrate with AI and ML; they will help marketers to understand the global market and this is going to be the next big digital marketing trend in 2020.
Community Marketing
It is a way for brands to drive harmony by creating spaces for people to discuss shared interests, answer common questions, and build relationships. Well, communities have always been there but why it is a major digital marketing trend in 2020?
People are craving community now more than ever. Social media groups, meet-ups, and online forums. The world is looking for like-minded individuals they can trust.
As marketers, building a strong community that allows people to achieve this objective is not an easy task. With patience, dedication, and a commitment to customer-centricity, community marketing will enable strong bonds and big payoffs for your brand in 2020.
Consumer Privacy
This might be the most important part of the digital marketing trend in 2020. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California's Consumer Privacy Act(CCPA) have talked about the importance of managing customers' details for businesses. So, while using cookies while advertising their products or services, every marketer needs to need to think carefully.
The main question here is how a marketer should address this change. To comply with new regulations, we expect to see an increasing number of marketers prioritize privacy.
All marketers use privacy as a tool that helps them to put their customers at the center of everything they do. In addition to rethinking data management, we also expect marketers and mar-tech companies to look for alternatives to the 'tried and true' usage of tracking cookies.
To anticipate the 'crumbling cookie,' the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) formed a working group of technical experts to rethink data transparency and privacy controls in the year 2014.
The product of these discussions has prompted investment into things like advertising IDs and 3rd Party software solutions that include device-based statistical identification and universal login.
Forecasting the industry is all about finding the perfect balance between art and science. Therefore, it's crucial to keep in mind the digital marketing trends mentioned above.
As marketers, you are excited to engage these digital marketing trends and unlock opportunities in 2020. Based on some of the exciting advancements happening around us, it's safe to say that the future is something we donut want to miss out on.