Digital Marketing is a rapidly changing industry. Tactics that worked 5 years ago—or even 5 months ago—won’t have the same impact now. To get in front of your consumers, you need a strategy that goes beyond a basic website and minor SEO additions. How has marketing evolved in 2020? Below are the 4 primary ways and the steps you can take to adapt your marketing strategies for effective results.
The Four Marketing Evolutions in 2020:
- Ease and Accessibility
- Content Saturation
- Reputation & Branding Importance
- Constant Change
Ease and Accessibility
The Evolution
With the rise of social media marketing and self-service platforms, advertising is now highly targeted and easily accessible. You can sign up for a Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn page and push out social ads to a defined target audience in minutes, or quickly pull together a website and promote it with Google Ads in an afternoon.
Even though the access to quick advertisements makes it easy for a business owner to set up a campaign, it is more difficult than ever to advertise effectively. Since anyone with internet access can purchase digital ads, consumers are bombarded with advertisements from every direction.
How to Adapt
You can cut through the noise of the oversaturated digital space by crafting highly targeted, precise, and strategic messages.
- Target your Messages – The reason why Facebook ads are so effective is that Facebook uses a targeting system to narrow your audience by demographic, interest and behavior. You can use this technique regardless of the channel you are using. Take the time to define your audience and craft an ad that appeals to your target.
- Write Precisely – Get to the point quickly and capture your reader’s attention to make sure that they get your message before they get distracted by the next thing on their browser or inbox.
- Be Strategic – Take the time to research the most effective ways to reach your target audience and make a plan to make sure that your messages stand out from the other ads out there.
Content Saturation
The Evolution
The average consumer is exposed to 10,000 brand messages a day. Content is being produced and consumed at unprecedented rates, and with seemingly unlimited distractions to choose from, consumer attention span is at all new lows. Between videos, blogs, ads and social media, there is an overwhelming amount of content and messaging being pushed at your audience at all times.
How to Adapt
Instead of waiting for your audience to stumble upon your content, you need to know where they are spending time online and reach them with high-quality and effective messaging.
- Find the right channels – Determining where your audience is spending time online so you can provide them with directly targeted content marketing.
- Develop high-quality content – Your content should serve a purpose and meet the audience needs instead of just adding to the noise. Invest in content that is adaptable and can be applied to different channels and strategies in case you need to pivot to meet changing audience interests.
Reputation and Branding Importance
The Evolution
Branding and online reputation are playing an increasingly larger role in digital marketing. Almost 93% of all website traffic starts with a search, and with online review sources easily available to everyone, the search results page is your strongest referral.
In addition to protecting your online reputation, your brand is more important than ever to increase trust and generate new customers. Having your brand look incredible online and supported by outspoken advocates is crucial to growing your business. Since everyone has access to high quality cameras, video and graphic tools through iPhones and laptops, polished high-res images are the status quo for any business or even personal branding.
How to Adapt
Invest the time to build your brand, curate your reputation and maintain quality content.
- Build your brand – What is the story that you want your audience to see? Make sure that your brand comes through clearly and authentically when a new consumer opens your website or searches for your brand.
- Cultivate your reputation – Focus on your own reputation and how people view you, to both referrals and those who search for you. Be your best self both in public and online. Carefully monitor online reviews and be mindful that any comments you leave in any online channels may come back around to you.
- Maintain quality content – Your customers are hiring you in a professional capacity, so make sure that your photos, logo, website and other branding materials are sharp and up-to-date.
Constant Change
The Evolution
The landscape of digital marketing is constantly evolving. Methods are changing rapidly everyday and new fads, trends, and outlets are always creating new opportunities for your marketing strategy. To stay relevant, you will need to stay nimble, flexible and in touch with the latest changes.
How to Adapt
By researching, exploring new concepts and always evolving, you can stay ahead of the trends—and of your competition.
- Do your research – Spend time each month digging into the latest digital marketing news to look for new trends and ideas to incorporate into your strategies. Attend digital marketing conferences, sign up for digital marketing newsletters and check the latest stats to stay on top of the latest developments.
- Explore new concepts – Make sure you are always putting your business in new places where the audiences are. Sign up for the new social media channels and other popular content outlets to make sure you are positioning your content where it needs to be.
- Lean on partners and your network – Check in with experts and colleagues in your network to stay on top of new trends and ideas. Consider hiring a consultant if you don’t have time to do the research yourself, and connect with colleagues and friends to learn about how different techniques are working for them to get new ideas for your campaign.
Lean into the Evolution
Be proactive to use the constantly evolving nature of the digital marketing landscape to your advantage. By strategically providing relevant and engaging high-quality content to your defined audience, your content can cut through the noise and stand out from the competition. Also, continuing to build your brand will keep your customer base loyal despite the changes in the marketing landscape. The most important key to success in the digital marketing sphere is to be open minded and adaptable. We don’t know what the future holds in 6 months, but continuing to do your research and being ready to pivot your strategy will set you up for success regardless of what comes next.
