Technology is turning the entire world into an international city in terms of connecting individuals from different cultures and countries.
Nowadays, the Internet makes information sharing more accessible than ever before, thus giving all brands and businesses the chance to improve their brand’s awareness, market their products and services, and scale their operations.
Digital marketing and branding aren’t just trends. If you run a business, you’re probably aware that the digital environment is simply the most profitable marketing channel that you can leverage to get your brand known and to improve your ROI.
The “problem” is that your competitors are not blind. They’re also jumping on the same train, hoping to get their own piece of the pie.
So, what then?
What can you do to stand out from the crowd and take your digital branding and marketing to the next level?
The solution is simple…
You need to outwork and out strategize your competition in any way you can. In the present moment, the most effective way to do that is to keep up with the latest technology trends and quickly adapt your business processes in order to generate more significant results.
In today’s post, I’m sharing 8 digital branding & marketing trends for 2020. Let’s see how we can take advantage of the biggest technology shifts and updates.
Transparent Branding
Recent research suggests that companies who are totally transparent with their brand are likely to retain 94% of their prospects and customers.
This includes being transparent regarding what type of data you’re collecting and sharing (GDPR) but also relates to the type of content you create. Here are some tips to improve your branding’s transparency:
- Ensure that your main goal is to provide value, not to make sales
- Establish and showcase your company’s values
- Always be open with your customers
- Always respond to your customers’ queries and concerns
- Accept constructive criticism and provide friendly feedback
Chatbots Become More and More Popular
Chatbots are extremely trendy right now. A chatbot is an amazing software whose purpose is to interact with your website’s traffic. Most chatbots can naturally answer people’s queries in real-time, providing an excellent customer experience.
- Chatbots save time (quick answers to all sorts of queries)
- Chatbots save money (no need to hire an individual to interact with your customers)
- Chatbots provide user satisfaction (a chatbot never needs rest, it is never moody, etc.)
Super Targeted Advertising
Most internet users are getting tired of irrelevant ads that keep popping up. In 2020, brands that will effectively tailor their ads to the customers’ needs, problems, and preferences will have a lot to gain.
By 2020, targeting precise audiences will no longer be a “bonus”, but rather a big must. Great content is also very important. In fact, it is the most important aspect of your digital marketing campaign. If you’re not an excellent writer, I’d highly suggest you consider assignment help and leverage the best paper writing services to outsource high-quality content. Here’s a list of services I’ve used in the past:
Social Media Stories are Becoming Even More Relevant
Social media stories are an uprising trend that you shouldn’t miss. It all started with Snapchat’s “My Story” concept. It didn’t take long until Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube introduced the same feature, packaged in different formats.
Because these stories only last for a specific period of time (few seconds, 24 hours, etc.), the fear of missing out arises. Customers are constantly checking new stories in order to stay up to speed with the latest updates. Here are the benefits of social media stories:
- Every-day engagement with customers
- Increased brand awareness
- Extremely cost-effective
- Additional traffic
- Great way to reach younger audiences
- More Personalization
Giants like Amazon have already understood the true power of personalization. Now, after witnessing the remarkable benefits, businesses from all over the world are starting to treat personalization with more care and interest.
According to Gartner, more than 90% of digital advertisers plan to leverage advertising and marketing personalization in 2020 in one way or another. Here are some examples of personalization:
- Including your customer’s name in emails, product packages, and ads.
- Suggesting relevant products based on the customer’s past purchasing history
- Retargeted ads
A Higher Focus on Customer Retention
In 2020, companies will shift their focus from acquiring new buyers to making sure that their existing customers remain engaged and satisfied with their brand.
Customer retention is a huge trend that you should carefully assess. The main reason why customer retention is so important is that it costs way less money to preserve the happiness and satisfaction of existing customers than to constantly focus to gain new ones.
When aiming to improve your customer retention, marketing segmentation, personalized data, and high-quality content that provides a lot of value are some of the key processes you need to consider.
New Customer Preferences
There are two things you need to consider when aiming to capture the attention of new customers in 2020:
First, video content. Studies suggest that more than 95% of prospects have watched explainer videos related to products and services. Alongside that, most people are more comfortable watching content than reading it.
Second, influencer marketing. Studies show that over 86% of women are deciding to buy products only after “consulting” their social media. Therefore, pay attention to your reviews and try collaborating with well-known individuals who are able to provide honest and relevant testimonials.
Social Messaging Apps
There are many social messaging apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger that are quickly becoming more than instant messaging apps. Many successful brands are already leveraging social messaging apps to engage and communicate with their fans and customers. For example, as of 2019, there are over 10 billion messages exchanged between companies and individuals on a monthly basis.
These apps bring a lot of potential because it is extremely convenient for users to interact with brands using the social apps that they’re already using every day. Here are the business benefits of social messaging apps:
- Great personalization
- Establishing closer relationships
- Boosting leads and sales
- Regaining potential leads
- Excellent customer support
- Improving the volume of sales
Takeaways
Staying up to speed with the latest digital branding and marketing trends is a key aspect that every modern business should commit to. Unfortunately for many and fortunately for you, not every entrepreneur, manager, or marketer is paying attention to the significant changes that happen in the digital environment.
Regardless of your type of industry, you can take a step forward and break the ice by implementing fresh strategies that have never been seen before. That will not only help you outshine your competitors but will also give you the chance to become an authority in your niche. Now – what are you waiting for?
