We all know how hard it is to get someone’s attention these days. It’s a cluttered market space and being able to see through the clutter is tricky. Marketing is continuing to evolve at warp speed, and in 2020, it’s imperative to adapt and evolve to stay competitive and retain those high-quality customers. Have a look into the marketing crystal ball to see what your future should include:

1. Marketing automation has been around for a while, and if you are in a competitive space and don’t have a marketing automation platform running your sales and marketing relationships, you likely won’t remain competitive to maximize value for customer good will. To help with sales and marketing collaboration, and touching your existing and potential clients in a personalized way, platforms such as Marketo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or HubSpot and Infusionsoft for smaller and mid-market businesses, you need to assess the right platform for your business and commit to it sooner rather than later.

2. Market Segmentation is essential, and if you aren’t already participating in this, you should be worried. If you want to spend your marketing dollars wisely, you must also segment your customers to cater your messages appropriately. This isn’t new, but in an ever increasing and overcrowded market space, SPAM is not the name you want associated with your brand. There is no one-size-fits-all message, product or service anymore. By customizing your marketing messages to solve your customer’s pain points, your business will always yield higher results, thus building your brand awareness, and increasing revenue along the way. It’s a win, win if done correctly.

3. Content is and will continue to be king of everything. Well written and authentic content that makes your business a subject-matter-expert is a must. In the virtual world we live in, the more content that’s quality, authentic, and relevant to your product or service will also help your SEO when the keywords in your content are used to search specific topics. If you don’t have a well laid out content strategy for 2020, hop on the bus before you get left in the dust.

4. Video content will continue to grow. Video provides a personalization for your product or service, and according to Smart Insights, live videos on Facebook and Instagram Live keep your audience watching three times longer than recorded ones. Beyond this, personalization is key to good video content to build that subject matter relationship by giving your customers content or experiences they relate to.

5. Personalization is super important. Big companies such as Amazon are already doing this well. It’ll continue to be essential to analyze customer behaviors and promote products based on the user’s past purchase history so your products can be showcased to the right person. One study showed that 79% of consumers feel frustrated if the content they are viewing isn’t tailored. Are you starting to see the trend circle here?  Market segmentation is essential to content that is personalized to your customer retention, and the circle is starting to get bigger. According to Gartner, by 2020 at least 90% of online advertisers will start using marketing personalization in some shape or form.

6. The marketing funnel is a thing of the past. As our world changes, using the classic “marketing funnel” approach is old school and could be the root cause behind declining sales. The funnel approach attracts new customers and engages them in a business or service to turn them into a quantifiable lead. Flywheel Marketing, which was founded by HubSpot, has pioneered a buyer journey by using all client facing roles such as customer service, marketing, and sales to interact with customers at every stage of the sales cycle – even past the point of purchase. The Flywheel approach continues to attract, engage, and amuse the customers, meaning the company continues to interact with its customers instead of treating them as a one-and-done prospect. By building a long-lasting relationship with a customer that is personalized to address their pain points, businesses are yielding a much higher return on investment that is long term and sustainable.

7. Augmented reality is a thing, and yes, we’re seeing it more and more in the marketplace. Have you ever shopped on Wayfair and it allows you to see the item you’re looking at in the room where you want to place it to help seal the deal? If you could use an interactive experience to sell your product, now is the time to act.

8. Chatbots will get much bigger this year. For companies selling products, using verbal interactions or chat windows to help web users find what they’re looking for is essential. Chatbots save time and can provide answers quickly to all kinds of questions, and quick responses means that customers can make decisions faster. It provides a higher level of customer satisfaction because the answers are at their fingertips. Plus, chatbots aren’t grumpy, and if done correctly, will provide solutions that should make your customer feel at ease.

9. Social media shopping is all the rage. I’ll admit, I’m a victim of this. When I’m on my social feed, I see an ad populate in my feed, and I click to learn more, and now I’m a proud owner of a car windshield interior cleaner that I didn’t really need, but have always thought of buying. With the click of a button, you can go from scrolling on Instagram to populating your credit card information and completing a purchase. Because these posts have shortened the sales cycle, e-commerce sites are taking advantage of this trend to take you from prospective buyer to customer with a simple click. Be careful, however, as Facebook and Instagram are working to keep those counterfeit sellers at bay, but it isn’t a perfect science, which is why your brand recognition is so important – it’ll help you float to the top against those shady seller’s.

Each of these marketing aspects connect and provide a circular approach to a successful marketing strategy.  As transparency, brand trust, improved customer experiences, and value float to the top, is your company ready for the next generation of business?