11 Marketing Experts Share Their 2020 Insights and Predictions

Business owners need to be aware of the most innovative digital marketing trends in 2020. Every company needs to remain competitive and adapt to the evolving changes in the field. Read on to find out the predictions of 11 marketing experts regarding digital marketing and get tips on how to help your business thrive.

I would start with AI which is now real and present. It’s already being used for customer service, particularly in B2B and of course the new emerging Virtual Assistants are powered by AI ie. Amazon Echo with Alexa inside, Google Home with Google Assistant inside, plus Cortana, Siri etc. We’re increasingly going to be interacting with our devices by voice and voice search will grow significantly in 2020.

Next would be AR - Augmented Reality. This is effectively an extra layer of data/ a heads-up display adding information to the real world. It’s one of those technologies we’ve been hearing about for several years now, mainly from futurists and conference speakers; however we are at last beginning to get some real-world case studies. https://visualise.com/case-study/selfridges-digital-falls. This is one to watch in 2020. After this, we’re straying into the realms of Black Mirror/ Science Fiction. Technology which exists/ is perfectly feasible would include Virtual Reality (VR). The barrier to VR however is that it requires the extra hardware; despite this, the experience is stunning and Oculus Go is currently being offered by Amazon at under $200. Brands are already beginning to create case studies around VR.

As for the Internet of things (IoT) it will be interesting to see how quickly our household appliances all get sensors and transmitters and work together to enhance our lives. However, and perhaps fortunately, I don’t see a real-world Mr Kettle emerging in 2020.

Finally and to be blunt, real-world (digital) marketers should stick to real-world channels - so back to the SEO, PPC, email, online display and mobile apps and let’s give the emerging technologies a couple more years to emerge.

Happy Holidays!

Artificial Intelligence is a top priority trend for 2020 as it will further establish its way into marketing. It’s not just as an effective way for audience expansion: It will be a necessity for marketers to analyze consumer behavior and achieve relevancy in marketing messages. Relevancy may seem like an obvious objective, yet with customers being bombarded with all types of messages, the noise and clutter keeps making it more and more difficult for advertisers to attract their attention.

Marketers also need to be alert about the growing use of voice search. More and more households are now using smart speakers which are continuously improving. An additional trend will also be visual search: With AI advancements, more and more people are also using visual search as a popular and efficient method for online search.

Video was a digital marketing must in 2019; it will continue to be a dominant one in 2020 and as more and more people watch streaming or online video, for marketers it will be the most popular way for customers to be informed about new products:

Marketers also need to be alert for 5G technology which will be a fact in 2020. 5G is expected to dramatically increase the usage of mobile devices. This will transform the way people access and use content.

2020 is expected to be a year of changes and challenges in the Digital Marketing world as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Chatbots, Programmatic Marketing and the list is endless, are on the rise!

Nevertheless, from the vast number of digital marketing areas I believe that the below technologies and developments will have a great and immediate impact on companies during 2020:

The year of Social eCommerce

Facebook has already rolled out Marketplace, a space where people and companies are able to showcase and promote their products. In the US, Facebook is currently experimenting with the buying and selling of products through Facebook and Instagram via Commerce Manager, a platform which lets merchants manage their products and orders. 

I would expect that this service will be globally available very soon and social eCommerce will become even easier.

Programmatic Advertising for more personal experience and higher conversions

With the rise of AI, programmatic advertising has evolved in another level and leveraged automated ad buying so audience targeting can be more precise, accurate, yet instant, based on real-time bidding. As a result, automation is much more efficient and faster, which means higher conversions and lower customer acquisition costs.

I believe that for 2020 programmatic advertising will go more mainstream, with more options in regard to PA platforms and wider acceptance by companies. It has proven that it can achieve higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and this will be the main drive behind its success.

Personalized Digital Customer Journey through Marketing Automation

Online consumer behaviour has shown that buyers are more than willing to switch brands if communication along their buying journey is not personalized and streamlined. 

Marketing automation is expected to simplify even more communication, especially with new clients, in order to provide superb customer experience with the sole goal of maximising conversions.

Therefore, I predict that companies and brands will pay more attention to generating engagement with consumers using marketing automation technologies. Nonetheless, communication should be multichannel, since an important part of the customized journey is reaching consumers on their own terms, through the channels of their choice.

Influencer Marketing game changer

In closing, I would also like to point out a game-changer update. In the event that Instagram proceeds with shutting down post likes, the Influencer Marketing landscape could totally change in 2020. Big influencers will give space and more value to micro-influencers. Big brands will suffer and small brands/companies’ influence will grow further. 

In 2020, the online customer’s expectations will continue to increase. What makes such a great buyer experience is the unified communication between the sales and marketing team, which many companies lack. Therefore, the need for B2B marketers to exchange the un-personalized automated sales and marketing tools to strategically choosing target accounts, develop a highly personalized content strategy and adopt longer sales cycles will be necessary in order to stand out from the online noise and reach their ideal prospects. The ideology is known as “Account-Based Marketing” and slowly on the rise. B2B Corporations who choose to integrate this strategy in 2020 will be at an advantage from those who don’t since it is built with many pillars that are the key to effective marketing: personalization, organizational alignment, and the focused pursuit of high-value customers.

The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing. In 2020, trends like video marketing, chatbots and voice searches will continue to be effective. I personally believe that some of the digital marketing trends that will take center stage in 2020 and that every business should invest in, are Google Ads Smart Bidding, Interactive Content, Virtual and Augmented Reality. 

However, I personally believe that the most important digital marketing trend that you should invest in for 2020 is Personalized Marketing. 

New technology such as AI and machine learning have taken the pre-existing technique of personalization and made it into a more effective tool for marketers. Thanks to technological advancements in AI and machine learning, marketers now have access to more in-depth information about their consumers than previously possible. Marketers no longer must rely solely on consumer demographics to inform their decisions. Access to data on habits, activities, and purchasing preferences are now all one click away, which means that companies can use this data to boost their sales by understanding and delivering exactly what the consumer wants. 

Amazon is an example of a major retailer leveraging AI solutions to incorporate data from numerous sources to produce a detailed picture of the buyer’s persona. The collection and understanding of data such as transaction history, trending sales, competitive info, and CRM data allow Amazon to create private label merchandise, which enables them to compete with other retailers directly.

If you still are not convinced that personalization is a powerful tool, then consider this- 90% of consumers have claimed that they found personalization appealing while 80% admitted that they would prefer giving their business to a company that offered personalized service.

Finally, keep in mind that today’s consumer has gotten adept at blocking out generic ads that don’t relate to them in any way. Which makes personalization one of the most important tools for marketers as we move into the new year.

Digital marketing will continue its fast-paced, unpredictable evolution journey in 2020!

Across the board, consumers are changing the interaction they have with brands—and customer service is no exception. With private messaging be on the first line of this communication battle!

2020 will also see Facebook monetize WhatsApp with ads within the ‘Status’ tab, following up on Messenger Ads. This will bring the apps’ personalization value into the advertising environment.

Both marketers and consumers have wanted more personalized content for years. And this year..I mean next year is where tech it’s finally catching up on to this demand,

Shifting the game of content creation from marketers to users, giving them the “power” to co-create and have a voice, with interactive formats.

But here it’s the catch; giving users the voice, we as marketers need to maintain our brand’s online reputation. It’s no secret that public perception and online reputation are vital to a brand’s success and from now on it’s a must-have card!

However, Social media isn’t simply an online forum to chat, browse, and share—it’s now a place to shop. Social e-commerce will thrive in 2020; with more apps adding this feature and becoming a marketplace.

Of course, the above-mentioned trend wouldn’t be the same without some “influence” and talking about that from now on it will be a lot more of micro-influence. Who are proven to have more engagement and seeing as a more trusted channel of communication contrary to influencers.

Rumour has it that in 2020 it’s the year we might lose likes but this should not impact any social strategy.

This potential loss of ‘likes’ is part of a larger shift from vanity to authenticity. With Short-lived stories to lead this path of authentic more real and diverse content which will increase engagement.

2020 is definitely serving up a host of fresh opportunities and challenges – See you at the field!

As more and more data become available to marketers, we will face a big challenge to analyse and learn from all this huge source of data. Analysing the data from all marketing campaigns and websites performance, will give us a vital insight of our consumers’ needs and preferences in order to predict their behaviour and attract the right people at the right time. Following this, marketeers will be able to target their campaigns more precisely as well as personalize them in order to increase the engagement and conversions. This way, users will receive the message that most interests them and will be much more possible to convert.

Another important trend that will dominate online marketing is the Video Content as the content will remain to be critical also for the next year. Users are bombarded by thousands of images and texts online but videos with a quality and inspiring storytelling always appear to have the biggest influence to the potential customers.

Turning to smaller numbers

As we move forward to the online game, it is clear that referring to the masses is not as effective as it used to be. This is why looking for more private conversations looks to be the ideal online marketing strategy at this moment.

Creating fresh, genuine, unique content in a more personalized way can be beneficiary for the brands. Reaching the people who matter most to brands’ philosophy is only better than targeting the masses.

So, brands should try and focus on the platforms their community is found and excel there. They can also invest in micro or niche influencers instead of generic influencers with big followings. 

At the same time, content is still the king. The quality of the content equals the success of brands’ online reputation. Video, Instant Replies and Voice Marketing will only grow bigger and should be distributed even daily. This is why having a strong presence in fewer platforms performs better than having a casual presence in more. 

Lastly, with the Ad Costs continual increase and platforms’ efforts to focus on quantity (through hiding the number of likes a post earns), Personal Branding can help each Brand to stand out. Brand / Startup owners should be the persona of the Brand and build trust through their voice and active online presence.

From my point of view... The general aim of marketing doesn’t change for decades now, ‘‘‘you have a message and you want to communicate with the most effective way. As a result to make a sale!’. Now... with all this data available it’s easier to hit the right target (with less budget) for your clients! So if we understand the human mind, how people tend to think, behave and how they make decisions, all we need to do is to focus on simple desirable messages that relate with our market! If you achieved that and bombarding all media with the same message. Success is predictable! And of course, with the right partner Hey Oliver Success is over-predictable!

In 2020, I believe that the use of social listening by marketers will be increased. Social listening is very helpful for B2B or B2C companies to improve upon the product or service they provide to their customers. Another benefit of social listening is that it can help businesses attract new customers, but also to provide exceptional customer service.

Influencers have been playing an important role in marketing, and this rise will continue. I believe that in 2020 micro-influencers will dominate social media. The reason is that a large percentage of people rely on social media before deciding if they will buy.

My final prediction is that live content will be dominant in many social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. The reason is that we've seen a rise in viewing hours of live video content over the past few years.

The AI adoption will be increased and especially for the eCommerce industry since previous purchases is a useful tool for retailers in order to offer relevant suggestions to their visitors. For the next few years, more and more small businesses will start adopting AI.

In 2020, AI will aid the generation of texts and the classification of images using recognition capabilities. This will create a seamless experience for customers and will also help marketers to provide personalization to increase customer retention and loyalty. It will also be helpful for marketers with the aim to increase sales using relevant offers but in a way that is friendly to the user.

Finally, VR will play a crucial role in 2020 since it can help clients assess their experience beforehand. VR and AR both have the benefit that they don't require a great deal of hardware. However, these new technologies need to be used correctly in order to be useful and provide value.