Experts say that the world will never be the same after 2020. COVID-19 had such a tremendous impact on many industries all around the globe. It is difficult for anyone to predict what will happen next.
Seeing how the world manages the crisis, almost every business is getting affected. Digital Marketing is one of those industries that took a massive hit. However, the crises will pass, and things will get back to normal. But will they ever be the same?
The expectations and predictions for 2020 are all irrelevant now. Things change every day, and it’s clear that the virus sets new rules. In this article, we will focus on the digital marketing trends important for the next decade, but will inevitably change.
Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends In 2020
1. Implementation of Artificial Intelligence
The global AI market in 2018 was valued at $24.9 billion. Artificial intelligence, at the moment, is used in the voice search industry, drones, chatbots, digital marketing, autonomous vehicles, and other industries. Do you see a connection between all of those mentioned?
They are all working with the help of robots or computers. People will continue working from home and become more isolated, leading to less contact with other people. This will force all industries to turn to faster AI development.
In digital marketing, AI sees a vast use in social media marketing and the chatbot industry. Expect this to be even more important.
2. Customer Service Being Completely Replaced by Chatbots
Even now, in the middle of 2020, around 85% of all customer service is replaced by robots. The AI we just mentioned is taking over the customer care industry. According to Statista, it’s worth around $20 billion at the moment. The predictions are that it will be worth around $30.4 by 2027.
The chatbot industry alone is worth $2.9 billion. Approximately, 85% of the entire customer service today is powered by chatbots. By 2030, this number will be close to 99%. People are now used to talking with a real person and don’t like robots, but this will inevitably change in the next 10 years.
AI-powered robots will be capable of learning much more and act like humans to where customers won’t notice the difference unless they see them in person. Since the communication happens over the phone or online, this won’t be possible.
3. Adapting to IOT and Voice Search
Another area of technology where AI has a great influence. Voice search plays a significant role in North America and Europe. Americans especially love the new concept called “the smart home.” The smart speakers work with the help of search engines that can listen to what people say and answer the question and complete tasks given to them.
According to the current voice search statistic, Amazon only sold 100 million smart speakers in 2018. They all have Alexa, the search engine, inside, which is one of the best-developed voice search engines in the world. The best thing about smart speakers is that you can connect them with more different devices and appliances around the house, like the lights, AC, security cameras, etc.
This is the basic concept of IoT. The internet of things means that now, and especially in the future, billions of devices will be connected to the internet. For the digital marketing industry, it means that marketers will need to pay attention to more issues and changing trends.
By connecting everything to the internet, digital marketers will have a ton of options. If everything is digitized, then it means that the possibilities to reach the customers are endless. It also means that in the next decade, these two terms will be important.
4. Benefits of Augmented and Virtual Reality
There is still no precise data about how big of an impact corona-virus had on tourism. What is certain that this industry has suffered a big hit? Almost everyone canceled their upcoming trips and vacations. Augmented reality at the moment plays a huge role in tourism. During the pandemic, people can only browse those pages where popular tourist attractions are shown with the help of augmented reality.
In the next ten years, AR and VR will see a tremendous leap forward. People staying more at home and avoiding contact with other people will spend more time online and use these technologies for so many things: tourism, learning, gaming, but also business, like real-estate, construction, and others.
The global AR/VR industry is projected to grow at a rate of 63.3% CAGR by 2025, with an expectation to reach more than $570 billion. How things look now, it might reach this number a few years sooner.
5. Social Media Influencers Replacing Classic Ads
Companies and their experts are doing everything in their power to get their message across customers, but they are having such a tough time doing this.
Today, more than ever, the ordinary person browsing the internet will ignore ads and company announcements. This digital marketing trends is about to continue. At the moment, the sources say that 74% of people ignore ads they see. At the same time, around 64% of them trust influencers more than brands.
People know that the brand’s reason for reaching out to them is marketing and getting conversions, so they don’t like the concept. You can expect firms to be turning to guerilla marketing much more than the classic ads where products are presented in the upcoming time.
6. Benefits of Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing is a crucial feature for maintaining excellent customer retention. In 2010, companies didn’t pay attention to it, but seeing how much benefit those who implemented this technology had, it is likely that everyone will start using it as much as possible in the next decade.
The facts say that companies that use omnichannel customer engagement strategies in communication with their customers keep 89% of them, which is a fantastic number. In the future, as millennials and Gen-Zers will become the vast majority of customers, this will be even more important.
The reason for this is that these generations are proven to like online written communication rather than phone calls. Having in mind that in this decade we can expect a bunch of ways to reach out. Companies will need to pay extra attention to this if they want to achieve greater customer retention.
7. Posting Interactive Content Instead of Plain Text
The easiest way to create an ad is to write a post on social networks, right? This isn’t the best way, though. Statistics show that people love seeing video content rather than boring, informative messages. Around 70% of marketers say they use videos, and 82% of them say they are happy with the results.
In the next decade, interactive content will surpass even videos. Think about images, videos, and everything there is on the internet right now but made in a personalized way. Content that will motivate users to interact more and engage in conversations.
Now think about the features we mentioned above, like the virtual and augmented reality. Think about all the possibilities these options offer. In the next 10 years, a lot of other inventions will become daily practices. Marketers need to be ready for the new stuff and always come up with new ideas.
8. Following and On-Time Adapting to New SEO Practices
Everyone who is a part of the SEO practices knows how often the rules are changing. The reason for this is that technology is changing, and clients’ needs are changing. On top of everything, search engines, just like every other company, are trying to improve their efficiency and make the whole user experience better for their clients.
With the latest events on a global level, the SEO game will transform. Some rules that were important so far will no longer be relevant, while others will be more important.
For example, the part of the SEO practice was on the rise—better mobile optimization—will undoubtedly change. People will stay home more and use the internet and computers from home. That means that desktop computers will make a comeback.
This is just one of the many issues that will arise because of the crises. When it’s over, marketers will need to be up to date, analyze like never, and be ready to make changes the same moment something new comes up.
9. Developing a Personalized App and the Use of 5G Networks
Do you remember the famous Apple phrase from 2009, “There is an app for that.” Well, 11 years later, more apps appeared, and it overwhelmed the industry with them. However, there are never enough apps, especially if you’re working for a company that is trying to reach their customers as much as possible.
In the years to come, smartphones will inevitably evolve, just like all other technologies. The IoT will have a much more significant role in their use.
It will contain almost all new inventions and technologies in the latest smartphones. This will be possible by implementing the revolutionary 5G network. It is expected to make the biggest impact on smartphones since their invention. The speed of the 5G network is 100 times faster than 4G, allowing almost anything to work on mobile data.
In short, no matter what businesses are dealing with, companies will surely need to develop their own virtual environment where customers will do whatever is needed. Think virtual retail stores, hologram professors, even complex medical procedures. For this, you will need some unique and personalized software.
10. Marketing Personalization
A survey made by Infosys revealed that 86% of customers feel somewhat influenced by a personalized ad, and around 25% of all customers say that personalization influences their purchase intent.
This is one of the digital marketing trends that will surely continue over the next decade. We must mention people’s tendency to become more alienated from each other. This means influencing large groups with one marketing strategy will become harder, and marketers will need to come up with more creative and inventive ideas to reach every single customer separately.
Now, this doesn’t mean going from door to door and talking to everyone personally, but using methods that will be provided by new technologies, mainly AI. Artificial intelligence in the research industry will give marketers all the information they need for every potential customer. Combining this technology and proper marketing strategies will provide excellent results.
Conclusion
2020 is already a tough year. Everyone involved in the tech industry knew that technology would change society in the next decade, but no one could have predicted this turn of events.
Now, it’s clear that digital marketing is just another drop in the ocean. As other industries change, so will digital marketing. It’s up to marketers to keep up with these digital marketing trends and be ready for every next step. If they are not quick enough to adapt, it will become harder for them to stay in the game.
All the standard predictions about what will be important from 2020 still stand, but some of them will be more, and some will be less important because of the changes happening. Some companies will suffer a big hit, while others will use the situation to become more successful than they ever were.
No one can predict further problems, like the new pandemics that many scientists and influential people warned about years ago. If something like this turns out to be a reality, then we can expect an even greater social distancing and home isolation, which will make the points mentioned above even more relevant.
It’s up to us to stay safe and see what 2030 will bring.
