Clients, customers, consumers… All different, all human, all changing. But what can we do as Marketers to make sure we are staying up to date and keeping up with an ever changing point of view.
Here are the top 3 trends that we’ve got on our radar for 2020.
1. Voice
“Alexa/Siri/Google/Cortana… “[insert name of device here]” – like it or not voice is becoming more and more part of everyday life with more than a third of UK homes now owning a voice activated product. According to ComScore, over 50% of the searches in 2020 will be from voice search – that’s something to start thinking about.
Now, voice search is not “the new kid on the block” instead it’s the kid that went home over Summer break and came back, after having a 6ft growth spurt – not new, just back with a new attitude – and it’s one that people are starting to follow.
With the rapidly increasing use of voice activated products, the change in consumer behaviour has begun to shift; making it more natural, more human – less fractured, less robotic (ironic).
So, how are you combatting this with SEO? How are you optimising your content? How are you going to use voice to help convert your sales?
2. Customer Experience
Customers are at the advantage – FACT. The omnichannel campaigns we (as marketers) keep pushing out are giving our consumers more ways than ever to get in touch, to get to know us and at its essence, communicate with us.
So let me ask you a question, are your customers experiencing the ‘real you’?
Is your messaging consistent across all of your channels? Are you on the right channels? Do you actually believe in the story that you’re telling to people or is it a load of…
Communicating effectively means putting the customer first. Are you meeting all of their needs? Are you speaking in a way that they understand? Are you acknowledging their feedback and using it to better your offering. If not or if you’re unsure – why?
Putting the human back into the communication you have with both your customer & your client allows authenticity, a sense of relationship and ultimately, trust.
As a consumer yourself just think – treat people the way you’d want to be treated. This applies to both B2C & B2B markets.
3. Personalisation.
Let’s be real now… we all want to achieve more sales, gain more engagement and develop a better quality lead generation service for our businesses. But how?
Personalisation. Personalisation. Personalisation.
Okay… not that groundbreaking, and you may already be implementing personalisation into your campaigns – but is it scalable? Is it intelligent? Are you getting everything out of it that you can? – With a proven average increase in sales of 20% when using personalised experiences, I hope so.
Personalisation is a key part of the customer experience, allowing you to use intelligent data to create unique and fun opportunities for you to engage with your customers.
Spotify’s “Thanks 2016, it’s been weird” campaign is a great example of how a company took an incredible amount of data and used it to target consumers, personalise individual channels and point out ‘Dazza’s love affair with Dolly Parton’.
81% of consumers want brands to get to know them and understand when to approach them and when not to (source).
Having a more direct line of communication with your users, can boost engagement and encourage immediate action from the first point of contact.
It’s worth remembering though that just because you change the first name of an email that’s your personalisation complete. You should tailor the content they receive, the products and services you promote,
Conclusion
Whether you’re the head of marketing, an executive or an entrepreneur these are all trends that aren’t going away and shouldn’t be ignored. Some may seem more complicated than others such as voice, but there are tools and options available to help you get an edge over your competitors and ensure you’re engaging with your customers effectively.
Hiring a marketing agency such as Catalyst can plug that skills gap and help you to grow your business. Already have an internal team? No problem, check out how agencies can benefit your team here.