6 Marketing Trends for 2020

Have you already started planning? Here is what you shouldn’t miss.

2020 is less than a month away and it’s about time to start coming up with a tangible plan for the next 12 months. Next year also marks the beginning of a new decade and can potentially mark the beginning of a new era for marketing.

Here are some trends that you should look at while drafting your marketing strategy for 2020.

Trend #1: Personalization

In simple words, your consumers will want to be addressed personally. It has started happening for the past couple of years and 2020 will only reinforce personalization.

Today’s consumers are spoilt for choices and they want to be treated right. They want to see that brands care about them and that these brands are ready to start listening to them.

How many newsletters do you receive a day? I receive dozens of newsletters from brands that I’ve chosen to connect with. Sadly, many of them push the content they think is relevant to me. In reality, I spend less than 10 seconds going through a newsletter, because I see no relevant content.

It’s time for brands to take control of their data. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gaining momentum and brands should tap into it more. Use the data to analyze who your consumers are and what they want. Stop hard-selling in your communication, rather connect with the audience.

Trend #2: Subscription model for marketing

This strategy is one of my favorites. It is becoming pretty popular in Malaysia (where I’m based), however, it’s still at a very early stage. It also would not work for all types for businesses, but some should definitely consider integrating it into their plan for 2020.

For example, today I am subscribing to my coffee, my shaving kit, and oral hygiene items. How? Simple. It is possible to estimate how long we will use a certain product before it finishes and we’ll need to buy it again.

Think about it. I drink coffee once a day. It means that a 500g packet of coffee lasts for roughly 1 month. My online coffee vendor is able to make these calculations based on the standards (how many spoons of coffee I use per cup, etc.) and estimate when my coffee is about to end. Before that day, a new pack of freshly roasted coffee gets delivered to my office.

The same goes for oral hygiene or shaving kits. By estimating the consumption with a couple of simple questions, businesses can ensure a seamless experience of supply to their customers.

This model may not be suitable for all businesses, but if it is possible, I think more businesses should apply it. It’s awesome marketing from consumer’s stand-point.

Plus, this also works perfectly well with the first point — personalization.

Trend #3: Emergence of short & engaging videos

With a fast shift into the 5G network, videos are likely to continue gaining momentum. More and more people across the world have access to fast internet and in general, the world’s population is well equipped with mobile devices.

Did you know that 67% of the world’s population are mobile users? Meanwhile, 45% of the world’s population are active social media users.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the TikTok app. Who hasn’t? It has basically exploded to be one of the most downloaded apps from nowhere. And it just proves that short video streaming is coming with a bang.

Brands should tap into a short video marketing in 2020. The best part about it — it doesn’t cost a lot to produce a video since it’s short and should often be amateur. Consumers are tired of non-engaging, long video ads that just take up their time.

Have you noticed that every time YouTube is about to show you an ad, you’ll keep your mouse pointer next to the time counting button to switch it off immediately? It’s because we subconsciously know that the ad we are about to see will be just a waste of time. It won’t be engaging nor useful.

Short videos, the ones we see on the TikTok platform, are engaging and they conquer our attention. That’s where video marketing should start heading to in 2020.

Trend #4: Emergence of shoppable posts

Social media is not going anywhere. In fact, it’s changing. More and more brands start using shoppable posts to entice their audiences to buy directly from the post on social media. They have shown some success in 2019 and it’s certain that they will carry on gaining even more momentum in 2020.

In fact, when you think about it, shoppable ads can become extremely powerful. They give brands a chance to show items in real-life situations, for example, worn by people, placed as decor in the house, or anywhere else.

Once a shopper taps on your image, the product tags will show up over the items that are sold. If a shopper is interested in a particular item, all they have to do is tap on the details to be redirected to the product page on your website.

This is a powerful marketing strategy on social media networks that are predominantly visual — Instagram and Pinterest. The two platforms often serve at the ideation stage of what to buy, therefore, having real-life photos of products could encourage consumers to purchase more spontaneously.

This represents a tremendous opportunity for businesses, given that 72% of Instagram users have purchased a product on the app. In the U.S., 55% of Pinners use Pinterest to shop, while 67% view saved content on Pinterest while shopping.

Trend #5: Content will remain the King

“Content is the King” is a common statement in marketing. It’s nowhere to change in 2020.

High quality, engaging and useful content can still reinforce your brand awareness efforts. Moreover, it also shows your expertise and allows you to interact with your audience with a certain degree of authority. Being an expert within whatever you do is extremely valuable and it will be more and more important, as the competition will only grow.

It also goes without saying that concent is something that helps you to be discovered in search. Therefore, producing high-quality, relevant content to your audience will remain a must.

However, be creative and take a broad definition of content. Anything that you create is, in fact, content. Enhance social media artworks, write engaging and educating blog posts for your corporate website, create a funny product video, have an Instagram live — this, and much more can be content. Make it work for your brand.

Keep in mind though that your content should be more educating than hard-selling. Consumers have grown to be immune to sales-related content, such as web banner ads, flyers, discount vouchers, etc. Did you know that on average Americans are exposed to between 4K to 10K ads per day? That’s insane! No wonder, consumers have grown to be immune and simply ignore them.

Trend #6: No more excuses for bad UX

To put it simply, UX is very important because its primary role is to fulfill your users’ needs. Positive user experience keeps your customers loyal to the product and your brand. Imagine if a visitor came to a complicated website, where it took them a lot of effort to find whatever they were looking — no questions, this user will not come back.

On top, a meaningful user experience contributes to general marketing efforts. It helps to define and understand the customer journeys on your website and provides insights if any changes are required.

I’ve mentioned it several times — consumers are spoilt for choices nowadays. Therefore, there can be no excuses for bad customer experience.

So, here you have it. 6 tips that you should consider when crafting your marketing plan for 2020. I know that there will be much more work for us, marketers, but it doesn’t mean that we should give up. Quite contrary, we should look for ways to enhance whatever we currently do.