Four Ways Marketing is Changing in 2020

The smartphone is overtaking the television among young adults, with smartphone use outpacing TV by about four hours per week.

That’s just one of the many changes driving marketing trends.

As 2020 draws to a close, savvy marketers are taking a look at which of the most jolting lessons of a year characterized by the pandemic should be carried into future strategies.

Shifting Significance

Just a decade or two ago, couch potato culture told marketers we could only be reached in front of our televisions. Today, even a walk to the couch and a search for the remote is just too much trouble. Young adults are spending more time on the entertainment in their pockets, and older segments aren’t too far behind them.

This trend might require a shift in how you think about your marketing budget. Should you be funneling more money away from television and instead invest more in social media marketing, for instance?

Voting for Video

Seventy percent of consumers report sharing a video from their favorite brand, and 83% of corporations point to video as a source of added conversions.

In a time when people are working from home and have fewer avenues for entertainment, hobbies, and socializing, they have a need for connection. Brands that were late to the party on video marketing are finding that it adds a level of authenticity they need to engage their audiences.

Flexibility and Agility

It’s easy to understand that companies with a history of making quick and agile changes to their marketing plans would fare better in a pandemic.

But even if agility and flexibility haven’t been a hallmark of your past decisions, you can still adopt this approach.

One of the critical elements of agility is solid data. If you have good information about who you’re trying to reach and where they spend their time online, you can make quick decisions about how to connect with them

Automation

From SMS to email and social media, you have a lot of touchpoints with consumers, and it can be a lot to manage. Whether it’s because half of your team was being quarantined or because you would simply rather your talent spend time on more strategic planning, you learned the value of automation in 2020.

More and more companies are embracing automation for their marketing needs, finding new ways to reach leads and improve conversions, while spending less time on manual marketing efforts.

To find out more about which 2020 trends you should carry with you into the new year, schedule a quick call with one of our advisors and we’ll discuss our platform and if it’s a fit for you. If not, we can always point you in the right direction.