Where to Focus Your Digital Marketing Efforts in 2020

The digital marketing world moves quickly, and things that weren’t so important in 2019 could turn out to be vital to keep on your radar this year. We’ve put together our top picks that we think will shape the marketing landscape in 2020, so read on to find out which trends could be gaining traction and where your focus should be.

Focus on the Customer Journey

There has recently been focus on replacing the sales funnel with a flywheel model, which involves changing the customer from being a product of the sales system, to being the driving force of the process. In other words, the flywheel is a more customer-centric approach which means that all aspects of the customer journey are integral to a sale. Micro-conversions and multiple touchpoints along the way therefore each play their part in making and retaining a customer, and each potential customer is important – whether they have already made a purchase, they are simply browsing your website and deciding if your product is right for them, or even if they are yet to discover you.

Focus on the Customer Experience

According to a survey, 72% of millennials prefer to spend money on experiences, rather than products. With this trend unlikely to show anytime soon, it’s important for businesses to focus on the customer experience – including ease of use, speed and convenience. This can be applied to all businesses, whether you sell experiences, products or services. Millennials may be the generation everyone cites as preferring experience over product, but every customer wants to have a hassle-free interaction with you and your website.

Increase in AI Uptake

Worldwide spending on AI is set to reach $97.9b in 2023 – nearly three times as much as was spent last year. We’re therefore likely to see a continual uptake in AI products and strategy in 2020, whether that’s in paid search, through on-page features such as chatbots, augmented reality, or systems we haven’t even heard about yet. AI in paid search can be a great help, freeing up your time from making bid changes and other small amendments so that you can focus on bigger jobs and your overall strategy, as explained here.

More Emphasis on Searcher Intent

With the arrival of the BERT algorithm, Google aims to better understand users’ search queries, and this goes hand-in-hand with user intent. What does the user really want to find, will Google figure it out and show them relevant search results, and will your website be among them? These are the big questions surrounding user intent, and this year it will be important to bear user intent in mind when devising your SEO strategy, creating content and conducting keyword research. There has been some debate around exactly how much importance to place on intent research over keyword research, but right now it’s a good idea to continue keyword research as before, but also consider the intent of your user and which pages – and how – to optimise for these intents and the customer’s position in the decision making process.

More Competition from Google

Google can be every business’s friend, but also “everyone’s competitor”, according to Moz founder Rand Fishkin. Users can now find quick answers to questions, make calculations, buy products, watch videos, check the weather, find flights and plan trips – all without leaving Google property. This means there is more pressure on businesses to improve their on-SERP SEO. Some searches even lead to no-click activity – the user types their query into the search box, sees the answer in the featured snippet or answer box, and leaves the page without clicking on any search results at all. This new behaviour means it’s more important than ever to take up as much SERP real estate as possible in order to increase brand visibility and get clicks, or be the one to provide the information even if the user doesn’t click on anything. The competition from Google as it continues to expand its verticalization could also affect local search, and it’s important to know what Google is doing and how its new offerings for users could impact your marketing.

At SilverDisc, we’re excited to begin another year of helping our clients harness the power of digital marketing to reach their business goals. Contact us to find out how we can elevate you to the next level of marketing success in 2020.