There was a time when artificial intelligence, data-driven marketing and voice search engine optimization (VSEO) were ambitious concepts bordering on the ridiculous. Today, these innovative digital marketing trends are among the top priorities for most business owners in 2020. What trend do you think will benefit your business in the years to come and what won't? Use the link on the presentation cover page to have your say. Thank you!

1. Digital Marketing Trends for 2020-2021
By Sergiu Birzu / w poll included here

2. Digital Marketing Trends - preamble
At one time, artificial intelligence, data-driven
marketing and voice search engine optimization
(VSEO) were ambitious concepts bordering on the
ridiculous. Today, these innovative digital marketing
trends are among the top priorities for most business
owners in 2020.
Make no mistake: We live in a time when technology
marketing moves fast and consumer interests and
behaviors are hard to predict. Marketers can no longer
stick their heads in the sand and hope that educated
guesses and the same old methods will work forever.
If your business has any intention of remaining
competitive in today's online landscape, you must
adapt to the rapidly evolving changes in digital
marketing. “Each business is a victim of Digital Darwinism, the evolution of consumer
behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit
it. Digital Darwinism does not discriminate. Every business is threatened.”
Brian Solis

3. 1. Artificial Intelligence
If you haven’t already realized it, 2020 may be the year that a lot of people wake up to the dominance of
artificial intelligence (AI). It’s sure to be at the heart of global business and industry in the future – and it’s
already taking over many simple jobs.
For example, Microsoft and Uber use Knightscope K5 robots to “patrol parking lots and large outdoor areas
to predict and prevent crime. The robots can read license plates, report suspicious activity, and collect data to
report to their owners.” You can rent these R2-D2-like robots for $7 an hour – which is less expensive than a
human security guard's wage:
Artificial intelligence is the biggest commercial
opportunity for companies, industries, and nations over
the next few decades” and “will increase global GDP by
up to 14% between now and 2030,” which means that
“AI latecomers will find themselves at a serious
competitive disadvantage within the next several
years.”

4. 1. Artificial Intelligence
If you haven’t already realized it, 2020 may be the year that a lot of people wake up to the dominance of
artificial intelligence (AI). It’s sure to be at the heart of global business and industry in the future – and it’s
already taking over many simple jobs.

5. 1. Artificial Intelligence
AI can analyze consumer behavior and search
patterns, and use data from social media
platforms and blog posts to help businesses
understand how customers find their products
and services.
One exciting example of AI in practice is
chatbots (more on that later). Mastercard
created a Facebook messenger bot – which
uses natural language processing software to
decipher what the customer wants and
respond as if it were a real person – to
automate handling payments:

6. 1. Artificial Intelligence
Businesses adopting AI in 2020 will be able to cut
staffing costs and accelerate growth, getting an
edge over their competitors.

7. 2. Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising means using AI to automate ad buying so you can target more specific audiences.
Real-time bidding, for example, is a type of programmatic ad buying. This automation is much more efficient
and fast, which means higher conversions and lower customer acquisition costs.
It’s changing the face of digital advertising so swiftly that, according to eMarketer, 86.2% of digital display
ads in the U.S. will be programmatic by 2020.
“Most search-driven manual advertising campaigns (even those performed with professional tools) take
into account three or four targets: the keyword, time of day, and location. Such tools like programmatic
demand-side platforms can use hundreds of targeting signals to individualize the advertisement and even
target according to lifestyle or behavior habits when integrated with customer data platforms.”
Irina Kovalenko - SmartyAds

8. 2. Programmatic Advertising
Nice guide here as well:
https://www.ppchero.com/getting-started-with-
programmatic-advertising/

9. 3. Chatbots
Chatbots will continue to be an important part of digital marketing in 2020. This AI-based technology uses
instant messaging to chat in real-time, day or night, with your customers or site visitors.
Surveys show that:
Chatbots will power 85% of customer service by 2020
Top benefits of chatbots are 24-hour service (64%), instant responses to inquiries (55%), and answers to
simple questions (55%)
63% of respondents prefer messaging an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand
By 2022, chatbots will help businesses save over $8 billion per annum
80% of businesses want chatbots by 2020:

10. 3. Chatbots
Many customers prefer interacting with chatbots as
they are responsive 24/7, give answers promptly,
accurately recall your entire buying history, and
never lose patience. These virtual assistants offer
outstanding customer service by meeting
customers’ expectations and automating repetitive
tasks – which means that you can focus on more
important work.
Many brands already use chatbot technology,
including rideshare brand Lyft. You can request a
ride from Lyft via chat (Facebook Messenger and
Slack) or voice (Amazon Echo), and their chatbot
will let you know the current location of your driver:

11. 4. Conversational Marketing
With all that talk about chatbots, the reality
of modern marketing becomes clear: it’s
more conversational. People want it that
way, and so brands are reacting. When
consumers have a question, 82% want an
“immediate” response.
Conversational marketing facilitates a one-
to-one, real-time connection between
marketers and customers:
“Today’s buyers expect to find what they’re
looking for now, not later. As we prepare for
the future, it will be more important than
ever for businesses to be available across a
broad spectrum of channels, and to make
sure you’re communicating the way people
prefer to communicate.”

12. 5. Personalization
If you want to stand out in 2020, you need to personalize your marketing – and that means
personalized content, products, emails and more.
Consider these personalization stats:
• 63% of consumers are highly annoyed with generic advertising blasts
• 80% say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized
experiences
• 90% claim they find personalization appealing
Kevin George from EmailMonks asserts that “personalized, triggered emails based on behavior
are 3x better than batch-and-blast emails.”

13. 5. Personalization
EasyJet launched a data-driven email campaign that uses
customers’ travel history with the airline to build
personalized stories, which then suggest where they might
like to travel next. About 12.5 million unique emails have
been sent, which had a 25% higher click-through rate than
non-personalized emails.
Cadbury’s created a personalized video campaign that
matches a Dairy Milk flavor with users based on data from
their Facebook profile, including age, interest and location.
The campaign generated a 65% click-through rate and a
33.6% conversion rate, proving that the personal touch
works.
Starbucks uses a gamified mobile app that draws on data
like purchase history and location to get as personal as
possible, allows customers to customize their drinks, and
encourages further use with its rewards system – which
skyrocketed their revenue to $2.56 billion:

14. 6. Video Marketing
Video marketing is one of, if not the, most important
marketing trend today and likely for the next 5-10 years.
These numbers show the importance of incorporating
video into your digital marketing strategy in 2020:
• 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video
• 72% of businesses say that video has improved their
conversion rate
• 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes
them more confident in online purchase decisions
• 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a
vendor after viewing a video
Video is by far the most popular way customers want to
learn about new products:

15. 6. Video Marketing
And don’t just think YouTube. There are plenty of ways to drive higher engagement with your video marketing, as you can make a video post
or start a live broadcast on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
One of the issues that marketers have faced in recent years is the growing shift to mobile devices. Those long-form sales pages and emails of
yesteryear are fading fast because they’re simply too difficult to read on small mobile screens. However, video can present the same
information in a format that works perfectly regardless of the device.
If your site includes video, it’s 50X more likely to drive organic search results compared to text. Why? Because people find video content more
compelling, so Google pushes pages that include videos higher in the rankings.
One of the best things about video marketing is that it makes it easy to reformat your content. Imagine that you’ve recorded a video for your
YouTube channel. Instead of just publishing it on YouTube, you could also:
• Get it transcribed so you have a text version of the video
• Publish the transcription on your blog under an embedded YouTube video for better rankings
• Upload the raw video with the transcription as subtitles to Facebook (native Facebook videos get a much higher impression share and
engagement than shared YouTube videos)
• Turn the transcription into a standalone blog article with a short rewrite and addition of relevant stats and images
• Rip the audio alone and use it as a podcast episode
• Use video thumbnails in your email marketing campaigns and the word “video” in subject lines to increase open rates by 19%

16. 7. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a type of word-of-mouth marketing that focuses on using key leaders to amplify your brand
message to a larger market. Influencers can be well-known celebrities, but more often they are Instagram or YouTube
personalities with a huge niche following who can help spread the word about your business or product through their
social channels.
Because influencer marketing is generally more authentic than corporate advertising:
• 63% of consumers trust influencers’ opinions of products much more than what brands say about themselves
• 58% of people have bought a new product in the past six months because of an influencer’s recommendation
For this reason, Iceland, a popular British supermarket chain, switched from ads with celebrities to a campaign that features
real-life moms. Teaming up with YouTube community Channel Mum, it now works with a number of vloggers to promote
its products in a more “authentic” fashion. And research shows that 35% of moms trust online videos like the one below
more than traditional ads:

17. 7. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is also going to be affected by
artificial intelligence. With each year, AI is making the
process of finding the right influencers to partner with
easier and faster. It’s helping identify those with better
engagement, fewer fake followers, and a higher chance
of generating a positive return on investment (ROI). In
addition, artificial intelligence is transforming influencer
marketing in the following ways:
• Image recognition with ANN (Artificial Neural
Networks)
• Determining influencer performance with NLP
(Natural Language Processing)
• Predicting incentives with ANN
• Determining an influencer's influence
• Flagging posts that don’t follow disclosure guidelines
• Elimination of fake engagements and spam bots

18. 8. Social Messaging Apps
10 billion messages are sent between people
and businesses on Facebook Messenger every
month
WhatsApp has 1.6 billion active users and 55
billion messages are sent via every day
The top three social messaging apps –
WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and
WeChat – have more combined users than
Facebook or YouTube
These statistics show the popularity of social
messaging apps, and since people are
spending more time messaging each other, it
makes sense to market your company’s
products and services where your potential
customers are hanging out.

19. 9. Visual Search
Visual search can take the user experience to a totally
new level: People can upload an image to conduct a
search and get more specific results.
A) Pinterest Lens
B) Google Lens
C) Camfind
D) Bing Visual Search
As per Social Media Today:
62% of Millennials are more interested in visual search
capabilities than any other new technology
Images are returned for 19% of search queries on Google
There are over 600 million visual searches on Pinterest each
month
Marketers can get the edge on competitors by jumping on the
visual search trend in 2020 to draw customers and serve them
the perfect product.

20. 10. Micro-Moments
A micro-moment is “An intent-rich moment when
a person turns to a device to act on a need – to
know, go, do or buy.”
People generally make instant decisions within
these four Micro-Moments:
To take advantage of micro-moments in 2020, you
need to be where consumers are searching for
information in the moment – or, as Google puts it,
marketers have to “be there, be useful, be quick.”
The growing popularity of micro-moments means
that marketers must rethink the linear marketing
funnel that follows a set path: awareness,
consideration and decision.

21. 10. Micro-Moments
The growing popularity of micro-moments means that marketers must rethink the linear marketing funnel
that follows a set path: awareness, consideration and decision.
In 2020 and beyond, the customer journey will be more dynamic and unpredictable, as it needs to respond to
rapid changes in consumer desires. After all, in the mobile age, people have become accustomed to instant
gratification. If they think or talk about something, they want to learn more, see more and buy more of it with
just a few clicks of a button.
“When we act on our needs in the moment, our expectations are high and our patience is low. This makes the
quality, relevance and usefulness of marketing more important than ever.”
To get the most out of micro-moments in 2020, you should:
• Identify your consumers’ “I want to buy” moments
• Be there in these moments of need
• Deliver relevant content
• Make it easy for them to make a purchase
• Measure every moment that matters

22. 11. Voice Search & Smart Speakers
The increasing use of voice search has made it
important for companies to rethink their digital
marketing strategies in 2020. Consider these numbers:
• 50% of all searches will be via voice by 2020
• 55% of all American homes will own a smart
speaker by 2022
• 72% of people who own voice-activated speakers
say that their devices are used as part of their daily
routines
Voice shopping is set to jump to $40 billion in 2022,
up from $2 billion today
Global smart speaker shipments have almost trebled
between Q1 2018 and Q2 2019, growing from 9.36
million units to 26.1 million units
Overall, people expect to be using voice search far
more in the future:

23. 11. Voice Search & Smart Speakers
Adopting a voice search strategy isn't just about remaining relevant – it’s also about creating a unique and
optimized customer experience that will foster relationships and build brand loyalty.”
• Patrón Tequila helps consumers access personalized cocktail recipes
• Domino’s allows pizza-lovers to order from the comfort of their couch without having to pick up the
phone or even place an online order
• PayPal users can engage Siri to send money to friends, family or businesses
• Nestlé created a skill that provides voice instructions as you cook
• Campbell’s has a skill that helps hungry consumers choose and cook recipes

24. 11. Voice Search & Smart Speakers
Google Assistant has 2,000 “actions” and Alexa has
30,000 “skills,” which are functions that allow these
voice assistants to react very specifically to user
commands and queries:
And keep in mind that not only will more
companies produce audio content in the hopes of
gaining brand awareness (so you should, too), but
ads are likely on their way next. That means that
Alexa will tell you the answer to your question
along with a “word from her sponsor.”

25. 12. Social Media Stories
First, Snapchat came out with the concept of “My Story,” then Instagram and Facebook stories were
introduced, and then YouTube unveiled their own story format: Reels.
To keep it all straight, here’s a social media stories timeline:
The benefits of using social media stories include:
• Increased brand awareness
• Constant engagement with followers
• Cost-effectiveness
• Increased traffic to your web page
• Opportunity to reach younger audiences

26. 13. Browser Push Notifications
Push notifications are on the rise, with 85% of online stores using them in 2019. Consider these other stats:
At least twice as many people sign up for web push notifications compared to a newsletter.
Only 10% of the best email marketers can achieve a newsletter sign-up rate that matches the performance of web push.
6.4 hours is the average time that passes before the recipient opens a newsletter. In the case of web push, the recipient
will see the message immediately.
The updates to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and stricter filters have dented the potency of email
marketing. Moreover, the younger audience favors other methods of communication and prefers to deal with less
touchpoints when engaging brands.
As part of the bid to engage users on multiple channels, browser push notifications are something you will see more and
more brands adopting in 2020 – and they are getting more sophisticated and personalized. In fact, using personalized
push notifications increases conversions:
• 7% open rate for segmented push messaging compared to a 3% open rate for generic, broadcast messages (a 2x
improvement)
• 54% of users convert from a segmented push notification, compared to only 15% for broadcast messages (a 3x
improvement)

27. 13. Browser Push Notifications
Notifications triggered by behavior are being used to re-engage
people who have shown interest but failed to convert, and in
recovering revenue from abandoned shopping carts:
Notifications can even include
images and CTAs to maximize
conversion rates from such efforts:

28. 14. Content Marketing
In November 2019, Google rolled out some major
updates to its search algorithm. The updates
included the new BERT system, which is designed to
aid Google in its efforts to understand the natural
language that people use in their search queries.
The advice from Google’s John Mueller is that “rather
than chase the latest SEO trends, it’s more important
to ensure a site has fast speeds, useful links, and
well-written content.”
In fact, content marketing is so important that 88%
of B2B content marketers agree that creating content
makes their audience view their organization as a
credible and trusted resource:
• Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and
generates 3x as many leads.
• Content marketing has lower up-front costs and deeper long-
term benefits than paid search.
• 615 million devices now use ad blockers, which means your ads
are not being seen by as many people.
• Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads than
those without blogs.
• Content marketing rakes in conversion rates 6x higher than
other methods.

29. 15. SEO A/B Split Testing
Modern marketing is all about testing and
analysis. By using A/B split-testing, you can
isolate the variables in your campaign and
easily identify which versions are driving the
results you need. This form of testing offers
marketers a methodical approach to making
effective changes to their content.
Platforms like ClickFlow suggest pages with
untapped SEO potential — a high-impression
count but a low click-through rate (CTR) —
which you can then improve to increase traffic,
leads and, of course, conversions:
ClickFlow lets you set a target CTR value, then it serves up pages along with a keyword report that lists
the keywords that your page is already ranking for now. Better yet, it suggests valuable new keywords
that you should target to get more traffic.

30. 15. SEO A/B Split Testing
Inside the app, you make changes to title, meta description, title tag and body content, which are
automatically reflected on your site:

31. 16. Social Commerce & Shoppable Posts
With e-commerce and social media both growing at alarming rates, it’s no wonder brands are using the two together to
maximize opportunities for sales.
In March 2019, Instagram unveiled Instagram Checkout, which lets users complete their purchase from within Instagram:

32. 17. Interactive Content
In 2020, we’re destined to see a shift from traditional text-based content toward dynamic, engaging content
that offers users an immersive experience. For example, think about:
• Quizzes and polls
• Embedded calculators
• Augmented reality ads
• 360-degree videos

33. 17. Interactive Content
And here's an example of our Marketing Impact Calculator to help you calculate how much more money
you'll make with marketing:
If you need convincing, consider that 91% of
buyers are actively searching for more
interactive content.
People like it not just because it’s fresh and
original, but because it makes them feel more
connected to brands and more involved in the
buying process.
Interactive content is more engaging, more
memorable and more likely to generate the
results your business needs.

34. 18. Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing was one of the buzzwords of 2019. While the phrase may now seem a little worn out,
the strategy is as ripe and relevant as ever in 2020.
Omnichannel marketing is the process of
marketing across multiple platforms (such as
social media, apps, email and blog) so you can
connect with prospects on more touchpoints.
When you do omnichannel marketing right,
you can offer an enhanced user experience and
cohesive brand message that drives people to
action.
Stats show that brands using three or more channels in an
automation workflow can generate great results:
• Engagement rate: 18.96% on omnichannel vs. 5.4% on
single-channel
• Purchase frequency: 250% higher on omnichannel vs.
single-channel
• Average order value: 13% more per order on
omnichannel vs. single-channel
• Customer retention rates: 90% higher for omnichannel
vs. single-channel

35. 19. Augmented Reality (AR) & Immersive Technologies
Gartner predicts that by 2022, 70% of enterprises
will be experimenting with immersive technologies,
and 25% will have deployed to production.
While virtual reality (VR) makes a lot of noise and
gets everyone excited with grand sci-fi ideas, AR is
much more implementable from a marketing
standpoint. Experts predict that AR will continue to
outpace VR in terms of market share:
Brands are increasingly using this technology to
enhance the consumer experience and increase
sales.

36. 19. Augmented Reality (AR) & Immersive Technologies
ModiFace, which has recently been acquired by
L’Oreal, produces AR applications for brands.
Sephora Virtual Artist, an impressive example of
ModiFace’s technology, allows you to see how the
different colors of various forms of make-up will
look on your face, without having to go to a store
and physically apply it:
And IKEA has their own AR app called IKEA
Place which allows you to take a picture of a room
in your home with your smartphone camera (with
just iOS 11.0.1 for now) in order to “test drive” IKEA’s
furniture in it. You can move the furniture around
and check out how it looks from different angles:
With AR improving rapidly, we will see a huge uptake in
brands finding useful applications for the technology in
the future.

37. 20. Predictive & Augmented Analytics
Predictive analytics is the practice of using data
mining, predictive modeling and machine learning
to identify patterns and attempt to predict the
future. It is becoming more and more sophisticated
and widespread in many industries.
In terms of digital marketing trends, we will see a lot
more of this, as it is being used in advanced lead
scoring, as well as for segmentation and individual
personalization, which helps marketers reduce churn
and improve customer loyalty.
One such example is Amazon Assistant, a Chrome
extension from the retail giant that allows users to
permit product recommendations from Amazon to
extend beyond the website to make personalized
offers while they are browsing elsewhere on the
web:

38. 21. Growth of Geo-Fencing
While the idea of marketing to people based on their location is nothing new, we do expect an increase in the
use of geo-fencing – this market is set to grow to $2.4 billion by 2023 – along with the rise of mobile use:
Geo-fencing allows real-time targeting based on a user’s
location. A target area is defined as, say, within a mile of
a restaurant, and when a user enters or leaves this area,
they receive a push notification, text message or another
form of marketing communication.
Research shows that of people who open a push
notification, 54% of users convert from segmented
push compared to only 15% for broadcast messages.
And 52% of users enable push messaging on their apps.

39. 21. Growth of Geo-Fencing
76, an American gas company, used Waze to mark their
gas stations on a map throughout California. As drivers
approached, a logo would pop up on their map
showing them where to stop for gas and offering entry
to a competition if they filled up. Their “Tank 5”
campaign resulted in a 6.5% navigation rate to fuel
stations:
For industries that need to convert digital users into brick-and-mortar customers, geo-fencing is going to
become more and more important in their marketing strategy.

40. 22. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
Progressive Web Apps are essentially websites that
work like mobile apps.
They offer the functionality of a native mobile app –
fast load times, push notifications, working offline,
utilizing device hardware, etc. – without being limited
to one platform (which in reality means Android or
iOS).
This allows development teams to create web apps for
any device that works just like a mobile app.
By 2020, the number of smartphone users is expected
to reach 2.87 billion. With total page views on mobile
increasing year-over-year by almost 50%
worldwide, mobile is more crucial than ever to your
digital strategy:

41. 23. User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) is a potent resource for
marketers who want to tap into the Millennial and Gen
Z markets. You can encourage your audience to share
unique content by offering them an incentive, such as a
discount, or even partnering with them for a good
cause.
Aerie, a women's clothing company, “made a pledge to
stop retouching photos of models in its bathing suits.
And for every Instagram user that posted an unedited
photo of themselves in a bathing suit (using the
hashtag #AerieReal, of course), Aerie now donates $1
to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA).”
This simple UGC strategy can quickly increase brand
engagement and drive conversion rates as more people
discover your brand, and its products and services.

42. 23. User-Generated Content (UGC)
Recently, GoPro created a UGC contest with the hashtag #MillionDollarChallenge in which their
customers created and shared videos – and 25,000 people entered!

43. 24. Blockchain Technology
“A blockchain is, in the simplest of terms, a time-
stamped series of immutable data records that is
managed by a cluster of computers not owned by any
single entity. Each of these blocks of data (i.e. block)
is secured and bound to each other using
cryptographic principles (i.e. chain).”
But in 2020 and beyond, we’ll see these trends in
blockchain:
• Tracking Media Buys
• Handling Social Impressions
• Verifying Online Identities
• Elevate Transparency
• Protect Personal Data
• Pinpoint Targeting
• Authentication and Provenance

44. 25. Quantum Computing
Quantum computing is a new technology based
on a quantum physics theory, which asserts that
subatomic particles exist in more than one state
simultaneously.
“Traditional computers store data in bits, which can exist in
one of two states: one or zero. Quantum computers,
however, use a new unit of measurement, a single atom
known as a qubit (literally ‘quantum bit’), which
greatly increases the computational power of a system.”
Another way to visualize quantum computing is to
imagine a huge library:
“While a classic computer would read every book in a
library in a linear fashion, a quantum computer would read
all the books simultaneously. Quantum computers are able
to theoretically work on millions of computations at once.”

45. 25. Quantum Computing
So, how can marketers use quantum computing? Here’s what we can expect:
Improved mobile data coverage (a boon for mobile marketers)
AI becoming more human-like (Google AI is
developing quantum algorithms that will
drastically improve machine learning)
Increased relevance of ads (quantum annealing
can help advertisements reach a wider range
of people at a better cost)

46. 26. Big Data and Deep Learning
In 2020, the world’s big data industry will continue to grow exponentially, which is great news for
marketers – if you know how to harness the power of big data. A huge part of this task comes down
to the tools you use, which is something that a lot of companies find challenging.
Forbes report that 78% of organizations either already have or are developing a customer data
platform to help manage, analyze and leverage their data. It comes as no surprise that data experts
top the priority list for many enterprises, with 41% of company owners saying it’s now their most
desired skill to hire.
With the benefits of big data comes the need for companies to leverage this data better to
“significantly simplify tasks that formerly could only be completed by data scientists.” More
importantly, “This continued democratization will lead to new use cases that are closer to the needs
of business users and will enable faster time-to-market for AI applications in the enterprise.”

47. 26. Big Data and Deep Learning
One caveat is that as big data grows even more
powerful, the demands on how companies should
manage consumer data becomes increasingly
precarious.
The GDPR changes lit the touchpaper for a global
revolution on data privacy, with California set to
roll out the California Consumer Privacy Act
(CCPA) on January 1, 2020.
As such, big data is a double-edged sword, but
one that many digital marketers will find hard to
resist in the very near future.

48. 27. Automation (& AI)
Gartner projects that 30% of businesses will incorporate artificial
intelligence (AI) in their sales processes in 2020. In fairness, we
should expect more, especially when you consider the amazing
benefits of AI and automation for sales and marketing:
“Marketing will become a more even playing field and you’ll have
no choice but to use automation.” – Neil Patel

49. 27. Automation (& AI)
For example, you can use artificial intelligence and automation to:
• Improve Customer Retention and Loyalty
• Predict the Behavior of Your Customer with Propensity Modeling
• and Predictive Analytics
• Use AI-Powered Chatbots to Improve User Experience
• Leverage the Power of Audience Insights to Boost Search Ads
• Scale Up Your Content Marketing with AI-Generated Content
• Deliver a Highly Personalized Website Experience to Every User
• Optimize for Voice Search Queries
• Identify “Hot Leads” • Reduce Cart Abandonment
• Target Customers Across Different Channels
• Boost Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Upsell and Cross Sell to Customers
• Improve Blogger Outreach
• Generate Leads from Thank You Pages
• Automatically Suggest Content to Visitors
• Identify Bottlenecks in Your Sales Pipeline
• Measure the Performance of Your Marketing Campaigns
• Maintain a Central Hub for all Your Marketing Activities
• Cut Costs and Save Time

50. 28. Google Ads Smart Bidding
With intense competition on social media slowly suffocating organic reach, paid advertising will
become a more trusted force in 2020. And when you consider the Smart Bidding feature on Google
Ads, you’d be a fool not to give it a try.
“Machine learning algorithms train on data at a vast
scale to help you make more accurate predictions across
your account about how different bid amounts might
impact conversions or conversion value.”
In other words, advertisers can hand the reins of their pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to
Google’s AI system, which will then optimize their budget to maximize their ROI. This works for
any number of PPC goals, including:
• Target CPA – Generate new leads and customers for a maximum cost per acquisition that you
set.
• Target ROAS – Set your sights on getting the best return on your advertising spend.
• Maximize Conversions – Rack up your advertising conversion rates, whether your aim is to
get more email subscribers, downloads, or product sales.

51. 29. SERP Position Zero

52. 29. SERP Position Zero
In 2020, at least 30% of all Internet searches will be conducted without a screen, and since 40.7% of all
voice search answers come from a featured snippet, if your marketing is strong enough, you could be
the one hitting that coveted spot.
Also known as rank zero snippet or position zero, this is the holy grail of modern-day SEO, as it directly
answers user search queries without any need for the user to click a link. VSEO (voice search engine
optimization) can give you an enormous competitive advantage (of course, this is only good news for
one brand…).
This trend is growing, with 62.5% of mobile searches and 34.4% of desktop searches now resulting in
“zero-click search” results. And according to Ahrefs, these are the most common words in search
queries with featured snippets:

53. 29. SERP Position Zero

54. 30. Branding
We live in a time when consumers are spoiled for choice. It doesn’t matter what niche you’re in – it’s
unlikely that you operate in a vacuum.
66% of consumers say that they feel connected to a brand whenever they trust it, and to earn
their trust, you have to establish a solid brand.
The reason branding is so important now is because of Google’s E.A.T. ranking factor, which stands for:
• Expertise: the page needs to have quality content
written by an expert writer
• Authority: the site itself needs to have some authority
on the subject
• Trustworthiness: the site needs to have other
authoritative links pointing to it from trusted sites

55. 30. Branding
Neil Patel advises marketers to focus on building
their expertise, pointing out that they can bolster
their reputation with guest posts on industry-
leading blogs, speaking at conferences, and by
applying for awards. Always include an updated
author bio at the bottom of all your published
content pieces to build brand recognition and
earn readers' trust:

56. 31. Better Analytics
Modern marketing and metrics go hand-in-hand, so if
you’re not investing in better analytics, you’ll struggle
to drive the results you want to see.
The problem, however, is that the customer journey is
more complex now. We live in an omnichannel age
where the average consumer engages a brand on up to
six touchpoints before making a purchase.
With multiple channels to manage and a myriad of
ways to market your products and services, the job of
analytics tracking is fast becoming a gargantuan
mission.
As a result, many companies are looking beyond the
basics of Google Analytics for a comprehensive
business intelligence solution or analytics dashboard
like Amplitude:

57. 31. Better Analytics
There are many business intelligence
options, both paid and free, such as
Google Data Studio (Google's reporting
solution for power users who want to
go beyond the data and dashboards
of Google Analytics), Metabase and
Tableau:

58. 32. 5G Technology
“5G will enable a fully-mobile and
connected society — unleashing human
and technological possibility, and
fuelling business and financial
opportunity.”
“The arrival of 5G may also finally bring millions of rural consumers into the high-speed data lanes
where marketers increasingly sell their products. It might even disrupt the digital duopoly of Google
and Facebook by arming telecom companies with unprecedented data for ad services.”

59. 32. 5G Technology
The European Union has an ambitious 5G action plan that includes uninterrupted 5G
coverage for major roads and railways by 2025.
What’s more is that the technology is expected to power a staggering one hundredfold
increase in the number of connected devices.
Of course, this brings up concerns of adverse effects on health and the environment from RF
(radio frequency) radiation, the electromagnetic emissions produced by wireless phones, but
that is a topic for another article.
All that is to say 5G technology will transform how we access online content, from digital
marketers to the average user.

60. 33. Privacy Marketing
“In the United States, marketers have become so lax in their targeting practices that every one
of us has to take several minutes a day to delete from our inbox – both professional and
personal – the dozens of emails that are not relevant and clearly not welcome.”
People want to know they can trust brands, and that their
personal data is safe. Instead of being complacent, digital
marketing teams should get strategic to reinforce their
commitment to privacy so they can earn the trust of
potential customers.
Some of the ways brands can earn consumers' trust is by:
•Researching and understanding our audience(s)
•Developing a relevant message to get an audience to
engage
•Finding the right channel to engage with that specific
audience
•Developing an “intimate” relationship through thoughtful
engagement

61. 34. Website Security
In the same breath as privacy, we need to mention website security.
When a visitor lands on your site for the first time, they’ll make up their mind about your security within
seconds. If they don’t feel safe, they won’t hang around, which leads to increased bounce rates.
Over time, a high bounce rate is bad news for your business, as you’ll slide down in the SERPs when Google
realizes that people don’t want to stay long on your site.
Tech Republic notes that there have been over 3,800 data breaches within organizations – in 2019 alone!
While the hacks at huge companies like Yahoo, Facebook, Equifax and Marriott make the headlines, there are
plenty of breaches at smaller firms, too. As a result, just 25% of consumers believe that most companies
handle their sensitive personal data responsibly.
In 2020, website security is no longer an option. As of August 2014,
Google announced that HTTPS is a ranking signal and flags every
site as unsafe unless it has an HTTPS (the “S” stands for “secure”)
certification:

62. 34. Website Security
From now on, the bare minimum is to enable the HTTPS
protocol for your site, which will show your visitors a
little green padlock icon in the URL:
In addition, prominently displaying a security seal of trust
or trust badge on your website will reassure your site
visitors that you take their safety seriously:

63. 35. IoT Advertising (Internet of Things)
Never mind our mobile devices and laptops – from smart cars to household appliances to wearable tech, the
Internet of Things (IoT) is getting more and more connected:
“These days, it’s expected that connected devices and technologies will unobtrusively, and
sometimes stealthily, collect data on our vital functions, what we do, where we go, what we share,
what we believe, what we buy, who we know, how we move and even what we eat.”

64. 36. Long-Form Content
In 2020, shorter posts won’t get you anywhere – with
Google or your audience. Typically, posts that are at least
3,000 words long attract the most traffic, as they offer
readers an in-depth exploration of topics.
Long-form content allows content creators to establish
themselves as an expert on a subject and gives them
more scope for targeting keywords.
A study from Search Engine Journal indicates that long-
form content gets 77% more backlinks than short articles,
which is critical for driving organic traffic:
According to Small Biz Trends, 56% of bloggers generate a better ROI on their content when they spend over
six hours creating a single blog post. That may seem excessive, but when it attracts more traffic, increases
on-page time, and boosts your organic search rankings, it’s a great business investment.

65. 36. Long-Form Content
he benefits of long-form or pillar content are:
Longer time spent on your site’s pages. The more content
available for users to consume, the more time they’ll spend
doing so.
A decrease in bounce rate. If users find what they’re looking
for on your page, they won’t go back to Google to find another
source.
Backlinks and a ton of social media shares. Pillar pages get
shared widely and often, especially among influencers in a given
space.
Gets traffic throughout the lifetime of your blog or
website. Pillar content is evergreen content, so its value doesn’t
diminish over time.
A high Google ranking. The high word count, shares and
backlinks will all contribute to improved visibility on SERPs.

66. 37. Semantic Keyword Research
Here’s something you need to keep in mind when you’re creating long-form content: You must write for
people, not for Google.
Banging out a 5,000-word post every other day is great, but you won’t see the results you’re hoping for
if you don’t keep user intent in mind. Also known as search intent or keyword intent, this is the main goal
that a person has when they type or speak a search query. It could be to find a product, information or a
store location.
Think about how Google analyzes your content. The search engine doesn’t just evaluate keywords in a
search box; it considers the content of a query and drills down to determine the user search intent. In
this example below, if someone were searching for a missing cat, Google would use semantic analysis to
include concepts like:
Related concepts (i.e. “pets” not just “cats”; “lost”, not just “missing”; “pet shelters” and “animal control
centers”)

67. 37. Semantic Keyword Research
This analysis is called semantic search, and with AI and
voice search on a meteoric rise, it’s becoming a more
central aspect of how search works.
Content marketers can leverage this to their benefit by
going beyond their primary keyword to include related
terms, questions and phrases in their content. Together,
these latent semantic keywords will give Google a much
better understanding of the nature of your content, as well
as the solutions and benefits it offers to users.
In 2019, the annual Content Marketing Institute B2B report
revealed that 90% of the world's most successful
marketers put their audience’s needs ahead of
promotional targets. The companies with this attitude will
rise to the top in 2020.

68. 38. Structured Data SEO
Among all the digital marketing trends you'll hear about soon (if not already),
there will no doubt be the now obligatory annual claims that “SEO is dead.”
Ignore these claims. Once again, SEO is not dead – it’s a shapeshifter. In 2020,
we’ll see that structured data will become more prevalent in search engine
results.
Structured data is any data that is organized in such a way that makes it easier
for search engines to crawl and categorize. Content creators can do this in
their back-end code or by neatly organizing information in tables with labeled
columns and rows.
When it’s done right, structured data delivers a big SEO boost, as you may
rank in that coveted Position Zero in one form or another, such as a
Knowledge Graph Box, which displays important information about your
business:
Another possible boon of using structured data is that you can generate
Rich Snippet results, which display images, review stats, and pricing. These
rich snippets – also known as rich cards – are excellent for driving clicks,
especially on mobile.

69. 38. Structured Data SEO
Schema.org is a semantic vocabulary of tags that enables website
owners to embed structured data on their web pages so that
search engines can clearly understand, interpret and represent the
content in response to a search query. The list keeps growing but
so far, here are the content-only schema.org types that Google is
actively using:
With almost 50% of all global Internet traffic now happening on
mobile devices, the competition for these rich results is heating
up, so we’ll see a lot of marketers focusing on leveraging
structured data in 2020.

70. 39. Alternate Search Engines
Research from StatCounter shows that over 92% of all traffic on
search engines is through Google, dwarfing its “closest” rivals,
Yahoo and Bing:
The world’s most dominant search engine is a sophisticated juggernaut of innovation, finely-tuned to deliver the most relevant,
recent and comprehensive results for any user search query. It’s hard to fathom a catastrophic collapse happening any time soon,
making it seemingly impossible for any other search engine to give Google a run for its money.
That being said, DuckDuckGo – a privacy-focused search engine founded in 2008 that has gained a niche popularity among privacy-
minded users – has made some waves recently with its tagline “the search engine that doesn’t track you” because “search engines
don’t need to track users to make money.”

71. 39. Alternate Search Engines
According to DuckDuckGo’s general counsel and head
of policy, Megan Gray, this model is profitable: “We
make a ton of money. We are a privately held company,
so I can’t tell you exactly how much we make. But we
are subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act
(CCPA), which requires at least $25 million in annual
revenue, and we are well above that.”
In the spirit of online privacy (trend #33 above), while
Google has become embroiled in data scandals such as
the Cambridge Analytics fiasco, DuckDuckGo has
meanwhile seen massive growth as it hit 1 billion
searches in the month of January 2019:

72. 40. Voice Marketing Funnels
We already mentioned the impact of voice search
earlier in this guide (trend #11). What we didn’t explore
was the cumulative impact that voice-enabled devices
and voice search will have on a fundamental aspect of
business: your marketing funnel.
With these rapidly growing digital marketing trends,
there’s no way that your traditional funnel can stay the
same. It must evolve. In 2020, the linear funnel will
cease to be relevant. In fact, that transition is already
underway.
In the new voice marketing funnel, leads can enter the
funnel at different stages of the customer journey, as
many consumers now conduct a lot of their own
research online. This updated model demands that each
customer is treated as an individual instead of a generic
prospect. As a result, the funnel must cater to the
demand for customized solutions:

73. 40. Voice Marketing Funnels
The bottom line is that we can, and should, expect that technology will continue to metamorphose, so marketers must
develop funnels that are capable of reacting to constant shifts in the digital landscape.
Search Engine Journal asserts that the first brands to adjust to the demands of voice search will reap the greatest rewards,
increasing their digital online revenue by 30% or more.

74. 41. Social Media Marketing
“If your business wants to survive in organic social media in 2020, I believe that this sort of
humanization of your brand will be necessary.” – Neal Schaffer
This growth is unlikely to falter in the wake of Instagram removing likes from the platform.
From Social Media Today, here are some social media trends to keep an eye on:
•Facebook Pay: Launched in the U.S. in November 2019, this payment feature would “facilitate on-platform payments, in-
stream, making it easier for people to buy products on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.”
•Facebook Watch: Facebook's own video-on-demand service.
•Oculus: VR technology that makes social media more interactive, which Facebook is touting as “the next evolution of social.”
•Cross-stream messaging: Facebook's integration of messaging functionalities of Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
•Instagram removing likes: In response the growing realization of the adverse effects on mental health, Instagram is
focusing on better humanization of their brand.
•IGTV: Instagram's long-form video platform is not new, but will probably get another push in 2020.
•Twitter's mDAU: A new monthly and daily active user metric called “monetizable daily active users,” a move to clean up its platform from bots.
•Narrowcast tweets: An option that would “limit the audience and usage of your tweets, including the capability to remove the retweet function
from chosen tweets, and to restrict your tweet reach to only chosen hashtag discussions and/or to certain friends…[and allow you] to target
your tweets to specific audiences.”
•Tweet streaming: A new live-streaming feature.
•LinkedIn groups: Similar to Facebook Groups. Not exactly a new feature, but LinkedIn may try to push it again next year.
•LinkedIn video: Since LinkedIn users are 20x more likely to share a video on this platform than any other type of post, LinkedIn seems bent
on improving their video discovery tools and putting more emphasis on uploaded video content.
•Snapchat AR: An Augmented Reality version of its Spectacles could be on the way, which would “overlay digital graphics over people’s real-
world view.”

75. 42. Neuromarketing
Last, but certainly not least, we’ll dip our toes into one of the most wow-inspiring digital marketing trends of 2020:
neuromarketing. While this may sound like we’re quoting from a sci-fi movie, the reality is that this technology is advancing
quickly and may become a viable tool for marketers soon.
For the uninitiated, neuromarketing is a strategy that analyzes measurements of a person’s brain activity and nervous system
to determine which types of content they find engaging.
It is essentially designing marketing materials (including your website, ads, email campaigns and content) to evoke specific
neurological reactions that trigger emotions or responses that are linked to purchasing. You can use this information to
optimize your content accordingly and adjust your strategies, improving the effectiveness of your marketing.
SPARK Neuro, a neuroanalytics company that measures emotion and attention to optimize advertising and entertainment, is a
leader in the space. The company combines biometrics, neurometrics and complex algorithms to analyze attention and
emotion levels, effectively helping marketers figure out what content to focus on and what to avoid.

76. Homework

77. Thank You