The 5 Big Disruptions to Marketing in 2020

Marketing has evolved a lot over the centuries, and it will keep on changing. There are various factors, such as fashion, culture, and technology that contribute to the changes. It will not be a wise decision to sit back and relax, particularly if you own a business or if you are working in a marketing field. If you do not update yourself, you will cease to be relevant. 

One of the most revolutionary technologies that impacted marketing was the Internet. After the evolution of the Internet, we got digital marketing, huge internet-based corporations, and more. 

Over the past few years, we saw many revolutionary technologies that impacted marketing significantly, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, Big Data, and so on. All of them have affected a lot on how we carry out marketing operations. 

According to Statista, the global revenue of marketing research companies exceeds $45.5 billion. In this rapidly changing world, you can expect the growth of the income of marketing research companies and the introduction of new marketing strategies and disruptions. 

The growing shift towards digital marketing has increased the value of digital marketing. If you want to capitalize on the massive shift of money towards digital marketing, I recommend you to opt for digital marketing training. It will help you get started with your digital marketing career and keep you updated with the latest marketing tactics that work for businesses.

What are the top marketing disruptions to watch out for in 2020?

We witness a lot of minor changes in today’s marketing all the time. However, there are some major marketing disruptions that you cannot ignore. In this article, I will reveal the top 5 marketing disruptions that you cannot ignore in 2020. 

1.  More marketers will shift from guesswork to a data-driven creativity approach

According to Mckinsey study, around 80% of business decision-makers believe that improving customer experience is the most critical factor that contributes to the success of the business. They also think that customer loyalty plays a crucial role in business success after customer experience. 

The guess works cannot offer customers what they want. The marketers are starting to realize it, and they are now opting for data-driven creativity. It allows businesses to create the right content that caters to their targeted audience. 

The IoT and Big Data technologies have now allowed marketers to pull out filtered data from various sources. After gathering the data, the marketers will know what their targeted audience wants. 

They also know the types of marketing channels that would help them better reach out to their targeted audience. With that information, the marketing campaigns will produce a better result. Furthermore, it will also reduce the cost of marketing campaigns. 

Today, marketers can get quick access to real-time data. It allows them to create better pieces of content at a faster rate. They can also capitalize on the recent trends before it dies out. 

Useful reading- Remarkable Marketing Strategies to Survive COVID-19

2. Voice search will see explosive growth, while visual search will also start taking off 

Voice search volume has now surpassed one billion searches. According to the study, voice search will comprise of 50% of the total search volume by 2020. More and more people are getting familiar with searching and buying via voice assistants. 

The study also shows that voice shopping will rise from $2 billion to $40 billion by 2022. Those who are ignoring voice search optimization will start getting serious about voice search. The businesses will risk losing the massive opportunity of raising brand awareness and increasing revenue without voice search optimization. 

There will be more attention towards optimizing websites and sales pages for voice search. 

Let’s get into visual search now. Google’s reverse image search has been around for a while. 

Some marketers are focusing on voice search, but they have ignored visual search. Search engines have improved their ability to identify images due to the recent upgrades in technology. 

Search engine users are using images of food categories, fashion items, home decor items, vehicles, pets, and so on to know more about that specific thing. You should focus on using images and optimizing them to rank well for visual search queries. 

3. Retailers will fight back with experimental commerce

We have seen the rise of eCommerce showing an entry path to many huge retailers. It is not that eCommerce market growth will slow down, but what I’m saying is that retailers will stay on the game with experimental commerce. 

Like I’ve said in the earlier part of the article, the customer experience plays a vital role in determining business success. That is what experimental commerce is all about. The experimental trade is about refining your strategies for offering the best possible experience to your customers. 

It is possible to build strong customer loyalty if we offer a great shopping experience for them. The key here is to focus on customer loyalty, rather than a one-time transaction. 

The growth of augmented reality will play a vital role in experimental commerce. Most of the customers search for product information via their smartphone. We are likely to see retailers using augmented reality and providing great mobile experience to offer them real-time data to make them visit the store. 

We will also see many online brands shifting to the traditional retail model. The study shows that the customers who purchase the product via both online and offline have a 30% extra lifetime value. 

4. More focus on personalization, but in an ethical way

In the early days of the introduction of the Internet, all marketers were reluctant to send bulk emails to their list without taking care of any personalization factors. The aim then was to get a few sales out of the bulk email campaigns. However, the same approach will not only be a colossal flop, but it will also be liable for a fine. 

The trend today is personalization. Businesses are now focusing on getting as much information as possible about their targeted audience and customers to offer the most relevant and exciting content to their users. There are revolutionary technologies like AI, Big Data, and so on to help marketers customize at a whole new level. 

However, we are only doing a basic level of customization. In 2020, the term “one-to-one marketing” is likely to gain momentum. The focus will be on the creation of a single view of a customer. 

Microsoft recently announced the Open Data Initiative to allow companies to connect their data in multiple ways and create a single view. Companies will focus more on building an agile marketing execution model that would enable professionals from different areas to leverage the available data more efficiently. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be stricter, which will force organizations to collect and use information by following the rules. 

GDPR is one of the biggest shocks to digital marketers, as they are no longer free to market their products and services like before. There are plenty of things that one must consider before sending emails to the list. Here are some of the useful hacks that can help you personalize your emails in an era of GDPR:

Try to collect just enough information from your customers by asking their permission

Having a lot of information about a specific customer will not help you enhance the quality of your personalization. Instead, you will be stuck with analysis paralysis. It means that you will be overwhelmed by the quantity of information that you collect. Furthermore, the customers may feel awkward with your brand knowing a lot about them. 

You should collect just enough information that is not super personal, but good enough for you to personalize. It will let your company be on the safe side and will not alert the customers. Furthermore, you will only have crucial information that will save you time and enable you to create on-the-point sales copy. 

If you are collecting leads, start by collecting only their email address. The first-time visitor often does not want to fill out a lot of information, and a single email address is enough to foster your relationship with your potential client. Also, make sure that you are asking their permission to send continual email letters. 

Clean your list and give your audience clear information with compelling headlines

This point might sound counter-intuitive, but it is not. By getting rid of unengaged people on your list, you will be able to focus on people that are more likely to do business with your company. You can also dedicate more time to knowing more about those people for giving them a better experience. 

Over 80% of the income usually comes from 20% of the customers. In addition to that, you should have great headlines telling your audience what you will do with their information. Be transparent so that they will not feel hesitant to give away their data. 

5. More marketers will start focusing on understanding Gen Z

Most of the marketers, still to this date, are only focusing on how to lure millennials to buy more products and how to win their loyalty. It is logical to focus on millennials as the significant chunk of the US population and in other parts of the world are millennials. As a matter of fact, there are over 82 million millennials in the US. 

The millennials have money and making them your customer can bring you a ton of revenue. With that said, millennials are not the only people that need attention from the marketers. 

Gen Z is a generation that needs a lot of attention. After all, they are the ones who will be a significant chunk of customers shortly. It is essential to build up a sharp brand image among them if you want to sustain your business for a long time. 

Gen Z is starting to enter the workforce, which means they will start generating income. If they can spend, it means marketers need to understand their taste and preference to market products and services to them in an efficient way. 

The Gen Z generation is more tech-savvy and exposed to social media platforms. They want authenticity. We can expect more and more marketers to customize their strategies to cater to Gen Z in 2020. 

A few things marketers must know about Gen Z

There is plenty of information that you need to know about Gen Z as a marketer. You will get to know more about them over time as you market your product/service. However, the information that I’m about to reveal will help you get started.

Try to sound intelligent

Do not assume that the young generation is unaware and stupid. It might set you back as a marketer. Gen Z is aware of the current events and market. You need to sound intellectual when you are dealing with Gen Z so that they will feel that they are doing business with a reliable brand. 

Do not try to act like you have the perfect solution

Nobody's perfect and trying to fake it will only make things worse when you are dealing with Gen Z. Be genuine and honest to make your Gen Z audience feel that you are a real person with flaws, which will help them resonate with you. 

Gen Z expects more from businesses

This study finds that over 70% of Gen Z finds technology helpful, while over 45% of them find tech stressful. Gen Z expects honesty, transparency, and more out of the information that they share with businesses. They want technologically-optimized messages. It is a huge factor that determines your chances of winning the heart of Gen Z. 

What’s Next?

It is tough to predict the future of marketing. However, we can say that the current technologies will be better in the future by looking at the massive investments pouring into them. There will be new trends and techniques that will impact the way we market our products and services, as innovation never stops. 

The new changes will pose challenges for marketing; however, we can expect better and ethical marketing strategies in times to come. Have I missed out on any considerable marketing disruption? If yes, you can add value to this article by letting us know in the comments below.