The world of marketing is constantly changing. Every year, consumer behaviours and preferences change, and new trends and techniques pop up and transform the way we connect with our audiences. That’s why marketers can no longer rely on guesswork and traditional methods. Knowing the right marketing trends and statistics is key.
To discover today’s hottest marketing trends and which strategies marketers are embracing in 2020 and beyond, we surveyed 38 marketing professionals and experts. Want to know what they said? You can get an in-depth look at the results in the Wired Plus State of Marketing Report 2020.
If you want some quick insights, here are the top 6 takeaways. Enjoy!
1. A website is the backbone of a business
"Which marketing channels does your business currently use? Select all that apply."
A business website is the most-used channel for marketers.
In today’s marketing landscape, a website is a company’s most powerful tool.
Your website should support all of your digital marketing efforts. Every type of ad, content, or communication that you put online will ultimately lead the consumer back to your website, so it’s important to make a good impression. Your business website should give visitors a clear idea of who you are and what type of products or services you offer.
In 2020, build your website strategy around your audience’s needs before anything else. Your website is the number 1 tool for building trust with prospects and customers. Providing a great user experience will drive more leads and, ultimately, more sales for your business. And remember – make sure your site is optimised for mobile!
2. Content is still king, but it needs to be valuable to the reader
"Which marketing tasks take up the most time in your organisation?"
86% of marketers state that most time is spent on creating content.
Content marketing has been proven to produce amazing results for businesses, no matter what industry they’re in. According to our data, many businesses are investing time and money into content marketing.
With an effective content strategy in place, you can increase brand awareness, convert more leads, and connect with your audience. However, it’s easier said than done. With new channels, tactics, and trends emerging every day, and consumer attention spans getting shorter, it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts.
To make sure you’re on the right path, it’s good practice to regularly run content audits. They’re an excellent tool for planning your content and providing you with insights into how you can improve your content for higher conversion rates. Keep track of everything – including blog posts, social media posts, website pages, and events.
3. More and more marketers are embracing automation
"Do you currently use automation tools?"
57% of marketers say their company uses marketing automation.
Powerful tools and technologies are a must-have in any modern marketing team. The amount of data at our fingertips is constantly growing, and it can be overwhelming to know what to do with our ever-increasing piles of data. As a result, many businesses have come to rely on marketing automation.
Marketing automation platforms can connect all of your disparate data and turn these into actionable insights and target customers with automated, personalised messages. With features like lead scoring, workflows, segmentation and more, automation gives you the ability to deliver a relevant experience to every customer, every time.
4. The rise of the all-in-one marketing platform
"On a scale of 1-10 (10 being extremely important, 1 being not important at all), how important are integrations in a marketing platform?"
100% of marketers cite that integrations are somewhat important when choosing a marketing platform.
As we move further into 2020, more and more businesses are investing in technologies that make it easier to manage multiple activities in one platform.
Integrations exist to connect the tools you use, so all of your data can live in one central location with no manual entry required. By integrating your different apps, your information will be shared from one system to the next and you can achieve a much wider range of tasks on your one integrated platform.
"Would you prefer your business to work from multiple systems, or use an all-in-one platform?"
61% of marketers would prefer to use an all-in-one platform rather than multiple platforms.
And the best part? Integrations don’t only benefit marketers. They can enable every team in the business to be more efficient, including sales, IT, finance, and HR.
5. Email marketing is still relevant
"What are the features you look for in a marketing platform? Select all that apply."
39% of marketers cite email marketing features as a must-have in a marketing platform.
Email is here to stay. Email gives you a direct line of communication with your audience and it still remains an incredibly powerful marketing channel. Everybody uses it – marketers, consumers, millennials, employees, gen Z, students… The list goes on. Businesses use email because it works.
However, you need to use it creatively, or else you risk drowning in the flooded inbox. Batch-and-blast campaigns are a thing of the past. Your emails should be relevant, personalised, and timely – all while looking the part, too.
Thankfully, designing emails doesn’t have to be a headache. By investing in a powerful marketing platform, you can create eye-catching custom emails, without any HTML knowledge.
6. Customer experience is what set brands apart – not price or product
"Rate these marketing goals as ‘Important’ or ‘Not important’."
100% of marketers rated ‘Customer-centricity’ as important.
Customer experience marketing is about providing valuable content and positive experiences across all touchpoints. Today’s consumer is pickier than ever, so simply selling a good product that fulfils their needs is no longer enough.
Each interaction that a customer has with your brand shapes their overall perception of your business. It leaves people with a lasting impression – whether it’s positive or negative.
In 2020, the customer matters more than ever. With more choice and more information, the customer has the power. Delivering great experiences will help you drive customer loyalty and increase your revenue in the long run.
Wrapping up
And there you have it! The 6 biggest marketing trends that you shouldn’t ignore, taken from the data in our State of Marketing Report 2020.
As the research shows, the strongest marketing teams have shifted their strategies from marketing at customers, to focusing on what customers want at every touchpoint. It’s all about enhancing the customer journey and staying ahead of the game by embracing automation and personalisation, which will ultimately drive big wins for your business while keeping your customers happy.
If you’d like to know about optimising your marketing strategy, or if you’d like to get started with powerful automation, then get in touch with the Wired Plus team.
