With 2019 well underway and coming to an inevitable close, marketing experts and business executives are already hard at work in terms of predicting what the year 2020 will have to offer. Whether you are a marketing executive or a practitioner of content creation, adhering to current and upcoming marketing trends can elevate your brand above the competition.

According to CMO, companies with a strong and up-to-date omnichannel marketing presence retain up to 89% of their customer base, while 80% of organizations already aim to pour additional resources into customer experience(CX) design of their content compared to previous years.

However, how can we prepare for upcoming changes and still retain the current user base without stirring the waters in terms of current traffic and income? To answer that, let’s dive into several predictions and marketing trends CMOs should expect in 2020 and beyond in order to stay ahead of the curve in terms of upcoming shifts in the marketplace.

Advantages of Pioneering Marketing Trends

It’s worth noting why marketing trends are worth exploring for CMOs of different calibers before going further into the topic. Typically, trends are defined as actions performed by a majority of stakeholders in a single market. For example, if a majority of social media managers prefer to use Twitter over Facebook or Instagram, using Twitter is a “trending” marketing strategy.

Being part of the market majority can be both good and/or bad depending on the situation. However, pioneering upcoming trends, especially those that will take full shape in 2020 and later, can be highly lucrative for several reasons, including the following:

• Growth of positive brand recognition and business reputation
• A timely exploration of viable and nonviablemarketing strategies
• Opportunity to set trends for other brands to copy from
• High quantity of content performance data for future analysis
• Lower risk of revenue loss due to less market competition

Continued Dominance of Social Media Platforms

No matter how active or reclusive you may be as a person, chances are that you have social media profiles on several platforms. According to Social Media Today, 42% of the global population uses social media platforms on a daily basis, while 73% of marketing executives already believe that this communication channel is very effective in terms of content and advertisement.

This shows a clear growth in interest when it comes to social media platform use and market penetration on a global level. Whether you push physical products with shipping or subscription services with recurrent monetization, the rising dominance of social media platforms is undoubtedly something to keep in mind in 2020.

Personalization over Generalization

With the rising growth of competitive brands and businesses, personalization and CX have become an industry norm. According to E Consultancy, 53% of users are fully willing to share personal information in exchange for personalized shopping experiences, while 36% of customers actively express the desire to purchase personalized products and/or services.

Offering a generalized product such as “makeup A” or “accessory B” won’t help you rise above the competition and diversify in the global market. In order to do that, you should start looking for ways to personalize your brand’s shopping experience, content marketing, and customer service approach before 2020 rolls around.

Rising Reliance on Chatbots

Not every business can afford to hire and retain a dedicated customer support department – which is what led to the initial rise of chatbot algorithms. With time, however, chatbots have evolved into competent and reliable customer servicing agents capable of not only resolving support tickets but also push products and seal purchases for less tech-savvy users. According to Chatbots Life, 85% of customer interactions will be performed without a human agent by 2020, with 50% of surveyed enterprises ready to invest more resources into chatbots by 2021.

The benefits laid out by chatbots far outweigh any initial learning or resource investment into the technology. For example, the algorithm can be paired up with Spanish, Italian or German translation services you can find at Pick Writers, as well as writing platforms such as Evernote and Hemingway to ensure that as many people as possible have access to your content. This can make the addition of chatbots to your existing marketing strategy highly advantageous, so make sure to explore the possibilities they offer as 2020 looms on the horizon.

Renewed Emphasis on SEO-Centric Content

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not a new marketing strategy in the global market. However, it continues to dominate the search engine world through its continuous evolution in terms of filtering irrelevant from relevant content. According to 99 Firms, companies with blogs get 97% more backlinks than their contemporaries, while SEO itself can increase your content’s conversion rate by 14.6% on average.

This makes the inclusion of platforms such as Google Keyword Planner and SEM Rush essential to ongoing lead and revenue generation. Make sure to shift your content production to an SEO-centric philosophy in terms of topics, headlines, and keyword optimization to prepare for the increase in relevancy of SEO in 2020 and later on.

Mobile-First Production & Optimization

Lastly, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have become increasingly more affordable and easier to use over the years. This makes them the perfect communication channel for both existing and cold leads in terms of generation of sales and revenue for your business. Existing content should be retrofitted to appease the CX needs of mobile users while future production cycles should take their expectations into account.

According to Tech Jury, 63% of all US internet traffic comes from smartphone devices, with 65% of digital media time spent on mobiles on the global level. Whether you produce text-based content, multimedia or rely on chatbots and personalization, optimizing your materials for mobile will become increasingly more lucrative as 2020 comes closer.

Conclusion: The Future is in Marketing 

Whether you already feature these trends in your marketing strategy as a marketing executive or intend to explore their capabilities in the close future, their impact can already be felt on the global scene. Find innovative ways to shape upcoming trends to your brand’s image and values to further separate your business from the competition before the yearly clock spins around. If done correctly, you will effectively pioneer new marketing trends in 2020 and define your career as a groundbreaking CMO on the corporate playground.

Donald Fomby (@don_fom) is a graduated advertisement specialist with a Master’s degree in digital marketing. His career goals revolve around furthering marketing trends through research, writing, and publication of relevant case studies. In his spare time, Donald enjoys reading books written by marketing gurus and work-out while listening to podcasts.