2019 has been an all-time high point for marketing advancements. So much so, that it’s hard to see what could possibly come next, but we’ve delved deep into last year’s results to see what the future holds, and we’re excited to predict that:
- Personalisation is a must
- Automation will take over PPC
- Site animation and voice search is on the rise
- Off-site conversion will become key
- And Amazon will become a key player
Let's delve a little deeper into what each one of these themes entails to provide you with more detail on our predictions for the year ahead. Enjoy!
1. Up Close and Personal ?♂️?♀️
Addressable TV Serves Personal Ads
Addressable TV is on the rise and gives marketeers the opportunity to serve different ads to different households, even if they are watching the same programme at the same time. ITV are the latest channel to jump on board with ‘Planet V’. Not only does this launch represent a huge shift in the way ITV sell their inventory, it will bring fresh and healthy competition into a marketplace largely dominated by Sky AdSmart. Adland have rumoured that Sky, who have just added Virgin to their network, were keen to add ITV to Adsmart’s offering. Either way, Planet V may come as a spanner in the works to the Sky team eager to expand their reach and network size.
Websites will be Personalised to the User
Users now have an expectation that their on-site experiences are going to be tailored to them. 46% of advertisers are doing ‘some kind’ of website personalisation, and for those who are, 91% want to expand on it for 2020. The value of personalisation has been proven, so we predict that the focus will shift towards breaking down the barriers to entry.
92% of execs said they believe in personalisation, but only 23% of companies can consolidate their data into a single view. This makes the challenge feel unattainable and messy. It feels like a big holy grail that people can't attain due to lack of data, compliance, audience building, prioritisation, measurement, etc. However, you can start small and build up. We like Acquia's Crawl-Walk-Run approach to on-site personalisation.
Data will be Key to Personalisation
80% of consumers said they would purchase from a brand that provides a personalised experience. The market is flooded with marketing messages, but how many are relevant to the individual user? Increasing amounts of data collection, as well as technological advancements (such as AI and automation) mean personalisation is possible and at a very large scale, making ads and content more relevant to the target audience. Consumers are far more likely to become a customer if the messages are tailored to them; personalisation will help you to break through the noise!
2. Intelligence vs Automation ??
PPC Automation will Take Over
Automation and smart bidding will become normalised, meaning PPC professionals will no longer need to spend hours tweaking bids. This might feel like a slight loss of control to some but automating smaller tasks will save valuable time that can be spent managing, optimising and analysing campaigns. Now it will be up to PPC pros to figure out how to use these new automated tools in the most effective way possible, to drive the best results.
3. Sound and Vision ??
Sites will need to be Optimised for Voice Search
As of June 2019, 20% of UK households owned a smart speaker, but it’s expected that 55% of households will own a smart speaker by 2022. To optimise site content for voice search, we believe that brands will need to leverage more natural language in their site text. Sites will also need to incorporate more location information as the majority of voice searches are performed on mobile with the intent of finding local information.
Descriptive Animations will Save Site Speed
Users are scanners; they skim through content and pick out the most relevant information to them. This is why on-site animations are becoming more popular. If we can tell the brand story in a short moving graphic, then we both engage and educate the users as quickly as possible. Believe it or not, it can also be beneficial to site speed. Where video can be heavy on load time, SVG animations can be lighter, smooth and mobile optimised. See Kallik and HFT Smarthouse for examples of our work.
The Rise of Video will Continue
We predict a significant increase in video being used in digital marketing. Video has always been popular, but never more so than now. Over 80% of businesses already use video on their sites and 77% use it on their social media. Facebook and LinkedIn’s algorithms favour native video sharing and these posts can see higher engagement than non-video posts. If a user enjoys a video, they are statistically more likely to remember that brand. In fact, just over half of marketing professionals worldwide have suggested video is the most likely type of content to produce the best ROI.
4. Off-site Conversions ??
Shopping Directly on Social Media will Rise
Since adding a new product tagging feature in Instagram, shopping directly from the social media platform has been snowballing ever since. Instagram later launched a "donate" sticker for Stories and a "donate" button for people's profile pages, meaning charitable donations can now be made directly on the platform too. We predict that more customers will make spontaneous purchases on social media. Instead of walking down a high street and spotting a product they like, they'll be scrolling through social media and be able to explore products with 360-degree video, try on sunglasses with augmented reality, add virtual furniture to a photograph of their living room, and donate to their favourite charity without even lifting their head up from their phones.
Zero-click Searches won’t be all Bad
Recent studies have found that more than 50% of Google searches end without a click, meaning that brands are getting less traffic to site and therefore fewer marketing opportunities. Brands will need to adapt by using tactics such as featured snippet optimisation, using newer schemas, image targeting and favicon optimisation to both increase clicks and ensure your brand is seen on Google. We’re seeing more brand marketing occur on Google itself than websites, so it’s going to be especially important in 2020 to make sure you’re taking this into consideration for your SEO strategy.
Google and Facebook will Rule Lead Generation
We expect to see lead capture forms become much more common place within Google and YouTube video. 2019 saw a sharp increase in Google Betas for lead generation forms within video advertising and based on the strong results we have been able to drive for our clients via these opportunities, we expect to see lead generation forms within video continuing to grow in 2020.
5. Amazon ??
Amazon will Provide Revenue Growth
Amazon is still playing catchup with Google and Facebook in the digital marketing space, however, their rich source of data combined with improving DSP and ad solutions will mean that more and more advertisers will have to develop and nurture their own Amazon marketing strategy. 2020 will see Amazon close the gap between them and Google and Facebook.
Amazon will Own Valuable Insight
Advertisers and marketeers are craving richer insights and reporting data from Amazon to support planning and reporting. Companies will soon be compelled to increase budgets to invest into Amazon Marketing Services and we expect to see Amazon start to roll out tools and programmes to meet the needs of advertisers in response to this.
Prime is on the Up
Amazon Prime Video is set for exponential growth in 2020 with Amazon branching out into new content areas such as sports, with deals including exclusive coverage of selected Premier League football matches. With this growth comes increased opportunity for advertisers and opportunity to reach audiences at scale through video.
If you want to know how to prepare for what’s to come in 2020, contact us below.
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| Author | Jamie Mitchell |