At the end of every year, agencies around the globe publish their thoughts on what hot digital marketing trends to keep an eye on for the upcoming year. But for small business owners, how do you know what exactly those trends mean? Are they relevant to your business, and even more importantly, how do you act on them?
That is where Vivial steps in. It is our goal to take complex marketing strategies and simplify it so that no matter your industry or business size, you can take our information and apply it.
After the release of our 2020 Digital Marketing Trends eBook, we felt it was important to bring in our strategists for a webinar discussion about their insights and why they believe these trends are essential to success. Don’t worry if you missed it; we have it for you on-demand!
If you don’t have time to watch the full webinar at this moment, here are three key takeaways to get you started:
1. Focus on the User’s Experience
There is a common theme this year that we see across all avenues of digital marketing. As the internet continues to grow, so do the options people have. How you stand out this year is by providing the best experience for your user. This means delivering precisely what they are looking for as quickly as possible.
2. Consistency Across All Channels
With so many ways you can touch and influence someone during their buyer’s journey, it is crucial to have a consistent look, feel, and message. A great example of this is the journey someone takes when clicking a paid search ad. Let’s say they initially saw a Facebook post from your company about a product or service. It got their attention; however, they didn’t have the time or desire at that moment to click. Then, they see a similar paid search ad with the same subject matter. They recall seeing it on Facebook, and this entices them to click. Now your landing page needs to mirror the messaging that the user saw in both the Facebook post and the paid search ad.
3. Google My Business and Other Online Directories are a Must
Over 50% of searches this year will be by voice command – many of which will be to find a location and contact information for a local business or service. Therefore, it is not only important to optimize your website content for voice search, but also continuously monitor and manage your directory listings.
Google Maps is one of the top directories, and if it isn’t already, it needs to be a priority in your 2020 marketing strategy. For many small businesses, customers aren’t even making it to your website when they are looking for your information. Your Google My Business listing is the first thing they see and has information for them readily available. So, use that to your advantage.
While these are just a quick snapshot of a few trends we discussed, we dive into them in more detail in our webinar. We also discuss topics such as the desire for more video content, the best ways to do keyword research, using text messaging as a communication tool and writing crisp, and concise paid ad copy. Make sure you check out the full webinar, and if you have any questions for our team, shoot us a quick email, and we’d be happy to answer them.