OUTMarketing has summarized the report and presents you with the most interesting conclusions:
Marketing is becoming (much) more automated – here we are talking about automation and the trend points to its increasing use. 72% of the 300 respondents say it is essential for success. Another interesting figure, along the same lines, is that 86 percent of executives believe that digital marketing in 2020 will be mostly managed by software. But there is another associated trend: the use of outsourcing. And the thailand number for whatsapp forecast is that the use of this service will increase exponentially as automation becomes faster and more complex, requiring someone to create, operate and humanize it. With regard to Marketing automation, we cannot fail to mention that, at OUTMarketing, we began to introduce ourselves to the wonderful world of automation tools in 2015, through the Partnership established with RD Station | Marketing, which is here to stay ! Currently, 51% of companies are using marketing automation tools, with more than half of B2B companies planning to use this technology ( Emailmonday )
Something is going to change… but we don’t know exactly what – There are numerous signs that new disruptions are coming. However, it is not yet possible to be certain which technology will trigger them or in which direction. It could be mobile marketing (where the focus is), smart TV, 3D printing… there are countless possibilities. And, when everyone talks about integration, there are those who believe that there will be a setback. Or at least a slowdown. The reason for this notion is related to the fact that, currently, only 25 to 30% of the companies surveyed in the study have their mobile and social channels fully integrated with the marketing platform. This is a contrast to email marketing and websites, which are more advanced in this area. If in 2015 it was still not clear which of these technologies would trigger and succeed, today we can say with 100% certainty that these 3 have arrived and are here to stay! Mobile marketing is essential if we want our website to appear at the top of the search engine results pages. As far as Smart TVs are concerned, they have transformed not only the television sector, but also the way we consume TV – who here is not always connected to Wi-Fi when watching TV or doesn’t prefer to turn on Netflix instead of watching a general channel? It is due to this paradigm shift that so-called Smart Home Players grew 12.3% in the first quarter of this year in Portugal!
But these are not the only trends to consider. Steven Van Belleghem once wrote about “ Are you ready for marketing 2020 ?” in Our Social Times. In the text, he argued that marketing, to be successful, should focus on four fundamental principles:
Invest in your own content – the important thing here is to have control over your own content that is published on the channels where your technology company is present. You don’t want to publish an article that is not controllable and that ends up lost somewhere on the internet; this issue becomes even more important, because it is through content that you will demonstrate your authority on a topic. If in 2020 you still don’t do this, know that it is comparable to having a store without a window! Think that if your target audience comes across your content, they will want to know more and your company can give them this possibility through CTAs: subscribe to a newsletter, find out more about your service or request a demo of your product. And so your (own) content will help them advance in the Purchase Journey !
Using content to obtain more data – why not use your own content to achieve greater interaction with customers and, with that, obtain more information that can and should be used to provide a better service? We have already exhausted the topics on this subject! Since 2015, we have been reminding Technology companies that one of the greatest advantages of Inbound Marketing is the fact that each and every action can be analyzed and measured. The so-called Big Data is not only important for providing better decision-making, but also a way of predicting possible behaviors – through Predictive Marketing !
Mixing short and long stories – people are starting to be captivated by humanizing content these days. Transmitting stories of life experiences that bring the company closer to its customers. But the trick is to mix short stories with deeper themes. What are we talking about? If in 2015 people were slowly starting to talk about storytelling, what about 2018, 2019 and 2020! Storytelling is here to stay, and if your company is an Information Technology company, then you should know that you are missing out on a unique opportunity to capture the attention of your target audience through stories that sell.
And last but not least, design – no matter how interesting and important the content is, it is worthless if it is not accompanied by an equivalent design. A good image/video/infographic makes all the difference and is what captures the first interest. And, as this notion is incorporated into the philosophy of companies, designers will become (even more) important.