Eng 2020 Trends Ebook.pdf

130 TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2020

Authors

David Tomás

Laia Cardona

Sol González

CEO & Cofounder of Cyberclick

Communication & Marketing Strategist at Cyberclick

Front-end Developer and Graphic Designer at Cyberclick

Berta Ventura Chantal India

Sofía Smolko

Enric Llonch

Social Ads Specialist at Social Ads Specialist at Cyberclick Cyberclick

Social Ads Specialist at Cyberclick

Video Marketing Strategist at Cyberclick

Pep Canals

Pere Munar

Data Scientist at Cyberclick

Data Scientist at Cyberclick

Nerea Boada

Marina Sala

Digital Marketing Inbound Marketing Strategist at Cyberclick Strategist at Cyberclick

130 TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2020

Index 1. Digital Marketing Trends................................................................................................ 5 2. Social Media Trends.......................................................................................................... 15 3. Video Marketing Trends................................................................................................. 29 4. Email Marketing Trends................................................................................................. 41 5. Programmatic Advertising Trends............................................................................ 51 6. Native Advertising and Branded Content Trends............................................. 57 7. Content Marketing Trends............................................................................................ 63 8. Inbound Marketing Trends............................................................................................ 71 9. SEO Trends............................................................................................................................. 83 10. SEM Trends............................................................................................................................. 91 11. Data and Analytics Trends............................................................................................. 99 12. Web Design and User Experience (UX) Trends................................................... 109 13. Ecommerce Trends........................................................................................................... 119 14. OOH Trends........................................................................................................................... 127



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DIGITAL MARKETING #1. Advertising for Voice Searches We mentioned this as a trend in our 2019 trends e-book, but it in 2020 it will be a reality. Voice search engines are in almost all of our homes via Amazon’s Alexa and Echo, Google’s Home and Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana. In 2018 alone, more than 1 billion voice searches were carried out every month. And it is predicted that by 2020, 30% of navigation sessions will be conducted without a screen. Marketers are beginning to recognize the power of voice searches and are continuing to evolve their marketing practices to position well for voice searches. Using a conversational tone in your written content (think words like what, when, how, who) will help maximize voice searches SEO. You can establish a unique advertising brand voice that will encourage listeners to immediately recognize your brand. Headspace has mastered this strategy, using the voice of Andy Puddicombe, the co-founder, in his ads and app. Source: Cyberclick

#2. Mobile Advertising Continues to Increase An estimated $93 billion dollars were invested in mobile ads in 2019. This means $20 billion more were invested in mobile than in television. Mobile advertising has already reached a whopping 63% of total spending on digital advertising. Companies will be allocating significantly more resources towards creating ads for mobile platforms. This includes immersive 360º content, vertical videos, and video content with fewer breaks. Source: eMarketer and Marketing Drive

#3. Shoppable Posts Social networks have become an integral part of digital marketing, especially in the retail industry. Naturally, the next logical step is the ability to shop on them. It is an excellent opportunity for e-commerces and brands, and many already use this function on Instagram, since business accounts can posts photos that allow consumers to shop directly from the posts.



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We predict that this will become a reality on the other social platforms. On Instagram and Facebook, you can label the products of your store or catalog in photos and videos. When people see your tagged products in posts, they can click on those tags and then buy them. It is important to ensure that you have added the products to your Facebook/Instagram store. You can tag a maximum of 30 items. We recommend that you only label products that appear in your photos and videos so that the posts are still relevant to your customers. Source: Facebook and Forbes

#4. Virtual and Augmented Reality In recent years, both augmented reality and virtual reality have become massively popular and are emerging as one of the great trends in digital marketing.



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In 2020, we expect that augmented reality will end up being more popular than virtual reality. Several companies have already started using augmented reality. Ikea launched its app, Ikea Place, which allows you to “test” how different furniture or objects would look in your home. Source: Forbes



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#5. Interactive Content Buyers are constantly on the hunt for new experiences and they want more interactivity. In fact, 91% of consumers prefer visual and interactive content over traditional formats, according to the Content Preferences Survey. This is because: • Interactive content is different and new, so it stands out above the others • This type of content keeps visitors on the page longer • Is has a high virality potential, and increases brand awareness • It generates more engagement because users enjoy it more than other content Sources: Forbes and Demand Gen

#6. Advergames Game Advertisements, or Advergames, are a new marketing and communication tool centered around quick video games. They can be fully adapted to your brand, or can just feature your brand subtly. The goal of advergames is not just to sell your product or brand, but to entertain the user. This method is a unique way to advertise your product or brand, and it helps to generate loyalty with the consumer. Source: Cyberclick and Medium



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#7. Integrated Campaigns Integrated campaigns use multiple forms of deployment in a single campaign. For example, a video can be the center of a campaign that also uses a website, a digital book, digital radio or podcasting ads, and a social media ad campaign. You can deploy multiple integrated marketing actions, using a single piece of content. An example is Serialify, an app that offers new ways to interact with live series. This is a product trend that many companies are beginning to hop on. Serialify is still in its beginning phases, and it will be interesting to analyze its development throughout 2020. Source: Cyberclick and Sempo



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8# Storyscaping For decades, brands have used storytelling as a way to connect with potential customers and communicate their values. This is still a very effective technique, but we’re starting to see its natural evolution: storyscaping, a new way of creating corporate stories that captivate and influence. The concept of storyscaping started in 2014 when Gaston Legorburu and Darren McColl released Storyscaping: Stop Creating Ads, Start Creating Worlds. In their words, storyscaping consists of “an environment of emotional and transactional experiences where each connection inspires interaction with others, so that the brand becomes part of the consumer’s history. Storyscaping is based on the principle that we are trying to effectively connect companies (brands) with people (consumers).” Another way to see storyscaping is that the mission or the “why” of the brand, together with the wishes and needs of the customers and the product (connected through shared experiences and value), give rise to the customer’s “hero’s journey”, in which the product forms an important part of their story. Even though this concept was created 6 years ago, we are just now starting to see its implementation in digital marketing strategies. Source: Cyberclick



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9# Viraljacking The concept of viraljacking is a concept that we created in Cyberclick, as an evolution of newsjacking. Newsjacking is a technique that is based on creating content that is highly relevant to your company, product, or service while also related to topical news. Instead, viraljacking seeks first to identify content that is viral on social media, and then transform and adapt them to your own brand. You must join existing viral conversations, and then create related and relevant content. You can join a current conversation or even past formulas, that you know work among your audience. Source: Cyberclick

#10. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) This inbound marketing trend is based on improving the ability to encourage customers or leads to perform a specific action. The CRO is closely linked to data-based marketing, as it uses the analysis of what is happening to determine how to improve metrics. The CRO helps identify and solve possible critical points and conversion problems on a website. The objective is to improve the conversion rate by introducing a series of simple changes in the key locations. Source: Dragon Blogger



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SOCIAL MEDIA Social networks are probably the most widely used platforms today by marketers and advertisers due to the ability to access such large communities and potential audiences.

#11. Transparency of Data on Facebook In an effort to resume their commitment to transparency about the storage and sharing of user information, Facebook is expanding their “Why am I seeing this?” feature. Now, if a user clicks on this button now, they will see a variety of information: • Why they are viewing a particular promoted post (for example, because it comes from a group they joined) • The information that has the greatest influence on the order of the posts • Shortcuts to personalization settings, such as “View First” or “Unfollow” By clicking on “Why am I seeing this?” in an ad, the user will be able to see information about basic demographic details, interests, visits to websites, and data such as when the advertiser uploaded the information or if the brand worked with an agency. In this way, the network aspires to create more transparent advertising.



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Additionally, Facebook has added several new tools focused on improving transparency and the control of data: • Ad Library, which allows users to see how much money political parties and social organizations invest in advertising, as well as the active ads of any brand or company. • Page Transparency, a new section that can be viewed on all pages. It shows the page’s creation date, the main countries in which it is managed, the number of people who manage the page in each country, the previous name changes of the page and all page mergers that have occurred as of September 8, 2018. Activity Outside of Facebook: Although this functionality already existed, it received some important updates in late August 2019. In this section, you can find third-party websites and apps that collect information via pixels . It also now allows users to erase their history or not allow Facebook to use it to personalize the advertising displayed by Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. Source: Cyberclick and Facebook



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#12. Messaging services for companies with Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram Facebook has focused on improving messaging services for companies through its social networks Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The goal is that brands can offer better communication and customer service through these three applications, since it’s estimated that poor customer service is responsible for losing $75 million a year. We can already find examples of large companies using these messaging platforms as their main communication system. For example, Vodafone Germany already manages 62% of its customer service conversations through WhatsApp. Source: Cyberclick

#13. Transparency on Instagram Following its parent company’s lead, Instagram is also focusing on increasing transparency. Some of these actions include: • The removal of the “followed” section, where users could view the activity of the other users they followed. • Conducting tests in which the number of likes a post received was hidden from followers. Users could still see how many likes their own posts received, the number was just no longer publicly displayed. These tests have occurred in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States. • Removing basic functions (follow, like, comment) of detected fraudulent use. Some actions that can be seen as fraudulent use include using automation to buy followers, bots to follow/unfollow, excessive use of hashtags, and an excessive number of comments. Source: Cyberclick



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#14. Threads: The New Instagram App Threads is an app from Instagram that allows users to communicate and share images with your Close Friends lists. But it goes way beyond that. As soon as you open the application, the camera is automatically turned on so that users can instantly take a picture or video and share it. Users can only share with their predetermined Close Friends list, a list they can make on Instagram or on Threads. They will then receive the photo or video as a private message on Instagram (even if they don’t have Threads). For now, you can only send photos or videos taken in the moment, not from the gallery. There has been a bit of controversy around the app due to its “automatic tracking” of users’ activities at every moment. User’s status updates will be created based on their geographic location. Therefore you will know if the person you are following is at work, the gym, home, etc. The app is now available for free for IOS and Android. You must have an Instagram account to use it. Source: Cyberclick YouTube Channel



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#15. Branded Content on Facebook and Instagram Branded content as we currently know it is going to change in 2020. With the new branded content feature on Facebook and Instagram, any content posted by an influencer will be labeled by a mark, allowing users to clearly understand the relationship between the influencer and the brand. Branded content can also be promoted, but since there is now an established relationship, the brand can carry out the promotion even if the content was published on the influencer’s networks. Another advance that we know is coming for next year is the ability to directly shop and buy a brand’s product from an influencer’s post. Source: Cyberclick

#16. Augmented Reality in Facebook Ads This function is still in the testing phase, but we can anticipate to see the first results in early 2020. An example of an AR ad could be “trying” out a product using the camera feature. This form of advertising will open up a whole new world of possibilities! Source: Cyberclick



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#17. Purchasing of Advertising Spaces in Videos on Facebook At Facebook’s Agency Day in Madrid, it was clear that video is king. In 2019, the display time of videos increased by 14x, prompting Facebook to invest a large number of resources into this format. In 2020 they will begin to carry out beta tests for the purchasing of video advertising spaces, in the style of conventional media. You can buy a single ad space or reservation buying. Advertisers will be able to buy space in certain content (such as videos of a specific program) or by category of content (for example, fashion videos.) For markers who advertise on Facebook, this option allows an improvement in the relationship with their audience, not only through segmentation but through the content itself. Source: Cyberclick

#18. New locations for Facebook and Instagram Ads In 2020 advertisers will have more options for ad placement, since two new ad spaces were added on Facebook and Instagram in 2019. • On Facebook, ads can now show up in Facebook Search. • On Instagram, ads can now show in the Explore tab, however, this is only limited to organic content. Currently, neither location can be used exclusively for ads. They must be used with other Feed spaces. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the coming months. Source: Cyberclick



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#19. The Migration of Advertising Investment from Facebook to Instagram Instagram is becoming an increasingly interesting platform for advertisers, to the point of becoming one of the trends to follow in 2020. According to Socialbakers, in 2019 spending on Instagram advertising grew while the investment in Facebook decreased. Instagram’s higher engagement levels is a direct contributor to the shift. During the last year, permanent Instagram posts reached more impressions per post than Stories. Despite this, the number of brands that used Stories quadrupled last year, with an increased investment of 213%. Source: Mehzaad Mulam, LinkedIn

#20. Integration of Talent Insights on LinkedIn LinkedIn has 645 million users in more than 200 countries. At their annual conference LinkedIn Talent Connect, they introduced the integration of Talent Insights. This information product will feature data on 20 million companies and more than 20 million job postings, with a renewed experience in LinkedIn Recruiter & Jobs. Thus, when you click on the Talent Insights Report tab in Recruiter & Jobs, the Talent Insights market data will appear. This became available in the late fall of 2019. Source: Muy Computer Pro



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#21. Recruiter: The New LinkedIn App The new LinkedIn app, Recruiter, can send notifications in real-time when a job seeker responds to a message you sent. This new app also incorporates a revamped candidate search experience, with new filters and keywords. Recruiters can now review candidate profiles or add them to existing projects, all from their phones. They can also review lists of recommended candidates made up of those they’ve decided to save, hide, or contact. Source: LinkedIn

#22. Talent Hub LinkedIn Another new feature presented at their annual event is the Talent Hub. It is a job applicant tracking solution that collects data from the Recruiter, Employment, and the Apply with LinkedIn (Simple Application) functions. Its objective is to solve the contracting problems that SMEs face. Talent Hub will offer several tools, among which is a system of recording and integrations with third-party screening services. Source: Muy Computer Pro

130 TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2020

#23. Improved Engagement Features on LinkedIn 1. Tag other users in uploaded photos: Since mid-2019, LinkedIn users have had the ability to tag their contacts, or even other users whom they are not directly connected with, in uploaded photos. This helps to increase the scope of the post. There is a limit of 30 tags per photo. 2. React in various ways to posts: Clearly inspired by Facebook, LinkedIn now allows users to react with 5 different emojis: like, celebrate, love, insightful, or curious. This is great news for companies that do content marketing on LinkedIn, as it will allow them to more accurately measure the impact of their posts on users. 3. Send videos through private message: According to LinkedIn, videos generate 20 times more interest and shares than any other type of post. In addition to already being able to post public videos, users can now send videos privately through private messages. 4. Improve the usability of the app: LinkedIn has developed a more usable mobile application, making it easier for users to post from the app. To expedite this process, a banner has been incorporated into the bottom of the screen with a “+” icon in the center position, a design clearly inspired by Instagram. 5. Improve visibility on group and hashtag posts: Another improvement in LinkedIn’s usability has been the increased visibility of posts from groups and hashtags that a user follows. Previously they used to be in the background, but now they are more accessible with just one click. In this way, users can access information of interest easier, which in theory should contribute to increasing the time they spend on the platform. 6. Share professional documents: Since LinkedIn’s inception, users have been asking for ways to share presentations and professional documents. The time has finally come! Users can now share documents, PowerPoint presentations, or PDFs, both on their page and in their groups. Source: Cyberclick



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24# LinkedIn Elevate Improve your influence by sharing smart content. Now, with LinkedIn Elevate, it is very easy to discover and share content selected by experts from your company. This new platform starts with the premise that people rely much more on corporate information that is shared by the employees of an organization than by the CEO (although this is a generalization, not a rule). Often times, other employees perceive their counterpart’s information as more authentic than their leadership’s information. Based on this knowledge, LinkedIn introduced this new tool that will make it easier for companies to share business information on social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Additionally, they will be able to measure the impact of these posts. Source: Cinco Dias - El País



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25# LinkedIn Live After the success of Live Video on Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn has also developed real-time video functionality. According to Pete Davis, the director of product management at LinkedIn, it was the most requested and anticipated feature of the platform. It was launched in early 2019 in the United States and is still in the testing phase. We estimate that by 2020 it will be available for all pages and accounts. Source: Techcrunch

#26. Increased Segmentation Tools for LinkedIn Ads LinkedIn is the perfect platform for B2B advertisers, as it allows them to reach users within a professional environment. Today, it has exclusive segmentation tools, related to their users’ experience and professional interests. As seen in the October 2019 update, they added advanced segmentation tools that allow Boolean logic to create more accurate and relevant audiences. Additionally, they are investing time and resources in making this tool more powerful, and we expect to see it frequently in 2020. Source: LinkedIn



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#27. Advertising on Tik Tok Tik Tok is the talk of the town in terms of social media marketing. The network has managed to reach no less than 500 million users in a short amount of time… and if you’re not in the right age bracket you may have never even heard of it! In October 2019 Tik Tok managed to outperform Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat in the number of monthly downloads. It has recently begun to incorporate advertising options, making this platform one of the best options for reaching the Gen Z target. If you want to learn more about Tik Tok and how to use it for your brand, check out our recent blog post. Source: Cyberclick

#28. Advertising on Pinterest In March 2019 we saw one of the biggest news in social media advertising of recent times: Pinterest Ads arrived in Spain! Such ads have been available for years in the United States, and since last year in France. Because of the particularities of the social network, advertising on Pinterest has more in common with SEM than with traditional social ads. And as always, when a new platform appears, it’s up to marketers to investigate how it works and how we can apply it to our brands. Source: Cyberclick



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VIDEO MARKETING Video has revolutionized the way we consume content. It illustrates information in a much more interactive, visual, and entertaining way, making information much more digestible and engaging for the user. Additionally, videos are a natural storytelling format, and they are more effective for persuasion and advertising. Video is clearly millennials’ favorite form of content. According to a Hubspot study, 96% of consumers aged between 18-34 watch videos several times throughout the week, and 75% of millennials watch at least one daily video. The same Hubspot study also found that videos are helping with brand engagement and sales. Videos are influencing consumer buying decisions. In fact, 64% of consumers claim that marketing videos have had weight in their purchasing decisions. Some interesting facts about videos: • More than 8 billion videos are viewed on Facebook every day. • The videos ads on Instagram Stories can increase the impact of ads, purchase intent, message association, and CTR. • Sponsored videos on Instagram generate 3x more comments than sponsored photos.



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#29. Live streaming Live videos allow users to feel like they are directly interacting with the person or brand hosting the video. This feeling of closeness encourages engagement as they expect their questions or comments to be answered in real time. Companies can use live videos to publicize: • New products • Demonstrate products • Webinars • Q&A Sessions • Interviews • Live Visits Additionally, it is a simple and free format that does not require editing or post-production work. More social platforms and networks now support live video streaming, like Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and most recently, LinkedIn. Source: Cyberclick



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#30. Video Podcast A video podcast, or video cast, is simply a podcast that is also recorded on video. Video podcasts allow listeners to see what happens during the recording of the show and give a face to the voices they hear. This format creates a new level of closeness to the brand, and it allows your audience to better connect with the hosts. In addition, it is a way to spread out content. For example, in addition to the podcast being hosted as normal, you can also post the transcription on your blog, the video on your YouTube account, and short video clips on your social media. Video podcasts allow the medium to exist in more than just one field. Source: Cyberclick

Example Video Podcast with our Spanish Podcast, Lunes Inspiradores



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#31. Video E-Learning It can be argued that video tutorials and DIY videos are the origin of the video boom we’re in now. Tutorials and explanatory videos are highly sought after content, which can position your brand as an expert, while giving value to your users. They can take several forms, from user generated content posted to YouTube, or professional eLearning videos posted by your company to sites like Skillshare or Udemy. Source: Cyberclick

#32. Video Vlogging for Companies Vlogging is a popular video trend we see today, especially on YouTube. Companies can use vlogging to bring viewers closer to their brand, and show their company in a more human way that viewers can connect with. Vlogging is the best way to humanize your brand because you’re letting the user take a behind the scenes look at your team, routines, and values. You can show them a new product launch, how you prepare for an event, or even what a typical day in the office looks like. This is also a great value for your company’s HR team. Source: Cyberclick



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#33. Shoppable Video With the success of using shoppable photos, the next logical progression is now shoppable videos. Consumers will start using videos as a direct way to make purchases and be redirected to product pages. On shoppable videos, users will be able to click on a hyperlink and go directly to the online shopping process. Source: Cyberclick



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#34. 360º Virtual Reality 360 degree videos are videos like no other. They let users consume content in an immersive, interactive, and real way. It is increasingly being used in innovative video marketing strategies and we suspect it will only continue to grow. These types of videos are especially interesting for travel and event brands. National Geographic is an example of a brand who is successfully using this video format. Source: Cyberclick

#35. Growth of Augmented Reality Campaigns Augmented reality has been around for a few years now, making it more accessible for marketers to use in their social media video campaigns. Campaigns using augmented reality are immersive and interactive, leading to an improved user experience and a higher CTR. Additionally, augmented reality videos can be especially useful for companies in the retail space, because customers can virtually “try” products. For example, using augmented reality a customer can see how a new pair of glasses would fit their face, or how a new sofa would look in their living room. Source: Cyberclick



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#36. Video Advertising Continues to Grow (Video Ads) Video ads are a win-win, since not only are they cheap to make but they also generate more engagement than photos alone. This means we can expect to see more companies incorporate video ads into their marketing plans, as well as post on more video-oriented platforms. Particularly, Gen Z is a big fan of video advertisements. They represent almost a third of the world’s population and consume 68 videos on average per day. Digital video advertising has grown during 2019. In fact, advertisers are expected to invest $20 billion in mobile video, an investment that has increased considerably if we compare the figures with 2015, which were around $2 billion. Source: Cyberclick



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#37. Greater Commitment to the UGC (User Generated Content) Users tend to rely more on the opinions of other users than on the brands themselves. This means brands should encourage their fans and audiences to produce content and generate engagement within the brand’s own communities. UGC is beneficial because its trustworthy and does not involve any type of investment. According to Adweek, 76% of users prefer to rely more on content shared by other customers than brands. Some UGC tips: • When you find valuable content generated by users, share it on social networks. This will increase your visibility and enhance engagement. • “Unboxing” and “review” videos are some of the best videos for your products, since they provide an objective and trustworthy evaluation to potential customers who are likely considering buying your product. A great example is Toyota, who increased consumer participation by 440% with UGC. Source: Cyberclick and Adweek

130 TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2020

#38. 3D Photo Advertising Applications In 2019, Facebook introduced a feature that allows users to post 3D photos on their feeds. This content is easy to create and very funny, providing a fun new medium for advertisers. Right now, 3D photos are a general trend. We expect that they will evolve into a digital video advertising trend in 2020. In fact, many companies have already started to try them. These ads are not limited to Facebook. Using the same technology, marketing specialists have developed a quick and easy way for advertisers to also recreate the 3D photos. Source: Pocket-Lint



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#39. Animated Videos In 2019, Wyzowl’s Video Marketing Statistics reminded us just how much potential video ads have: • 94% of marketers claim that videos help consumers understand the product or service of a brand • 84% say they help increase web traffic • 81% confirm that it helps lead generation • 80% of marketing professionals believe that videos improve the time users spend on a website This potential isn’t just found in live-action videos. Animated videos are just as powerful as live-action videos. According to Doxee, the three superpowers of animated videos are: • Storytelling: They allow us to transport ourselves to imaginary worlds • Explanation: You can more clearly explain complex topics to consumers • Personalization: Related to the real needs of the viewers Source: Doxee and Wyzowl



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EMAIL MARKETING Email marketing is one of the most traditional forms of marketing, but that doesn’t mean it’s no longer an effective method. In this section, we’ll analyze trends in email marketing, like subscription experiences, inbox functionalities, deliverability, email design, code possibilities, the panorama of technology providers and much more.

#40. Content Modules and Targeting Model • Cross-Media Channel: The emergence of tools such as Facebook Custom Audience or Google Customer Match (although it has limitations) allow us to reach more consumers through different channels and develop a more sophisticated view of our audiences. Twitter and LinkedIn also allow you to create this type of audience. Thanks to the expansion of these new services, incomplete customer profiles will gradually become something of the past. • Machine Learning and Deliverability: In order to offer a one-to-one experience, today’s algorithms can help us identify what content to offer to each of our contacts and when. Now that we have more information than ever, we can apply and optimize static models that incorporate crossinformation from different channels, both email and behavior on the destination site. So we can deliver content that implies that we know the expectations of the user, showing content and new products that you like. • Visibility: Tools, such as Tableau, allow us to visualize information in new ways. They take advantage of the emergence of intelligence platforms for cloud-based companies and allow you to add data that comes from multiple sources. So we can see which channels or media are impacting more on the performance of a specific email and detect opportunities to optimize the content and the medium. In addition, going one step further, we can improve the sophistication of the tools at our disposal, with the challenge of improving the approval processes of final creatives. Encouraging the end customer to approve the content by modules, and not a complete creativity, and focusing on new models of targeting, rather than audience segmentation. Source: David Tomás, CEO of Cyberclick and Morgan Stewart, CEO of Trendline Interactive.

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#41. Context Will Shape the Subscriber’s Experience Can you imagine having an inbox in your email that offers you what you need at exactly the right time? For example, imagine it is 1:45pm on a Sunday and your favorite team is playing. At the top of your inbox, there is an email from ESPN with an overview of the game and the latest results. Then, in the afternoon, around 5pm, you leave home to go to your favorite supermarket chain. In your inbox, emails with discounts for that store appears at the top of the page. This is what would happen when email platforms or providers deliver based on information related to user behavior, geolocation, and preferences. The email reader uses contextual clues to offer the best emails at every moment of the day. It is true that there is a creepy aspect to this, but users are generally willing to voluntarily share data if they then receive an incredible customer service or experience. A reality like this is already beginning to blossom, with Gmail’s Priority Inbox, Outlook’s Clutter feature, and Google Now, etc., but the technology behind these email reading platforms need more improvement. Eventually, we’ll see emails being delivered based on contextual factors and not just arbitrarily delivering emails based on “the latest.” Source: Daniel Burstein, director of the editorial content of MarketingSherpa. Study “Email Marketing in 2020.”



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#42. Millennials and Big Data will Shape the Future of Email First, millennials and their real-time use of communications will greatly influence the frequency of email, making them more functional in real-time. This new generational audience will encourage reduced response times and will consume messages faster in the form of content. Second, the use of Big Data to create emails will be increasingly extended. This is due to the influence of millennials, who are not as hesitant as previous generations in allowing their private data be used to improve their experience with brands. Communication expectations are more aligned with the expectations of the digital experience. Source: Ryan Phelan, Vice President of Marketing Insights Adestra

#43. The New Generation of Email Automation: Focusing on Content In the past, automation used to be very time focused. Email automation should not only revolve around time, but also on the delivery of the correct content. In 2020, email automation will be focused on content. Emails should be customized on a large scale using artificial intelligence to trigger emails. An example includes highly personalized texts, such as using AI elements to write the subject individually in each email of the campaign. Source: Tim Watson, email marketing consultant at Zettasphere.



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#44. In-Email Purchases Marketers specialized in email marketing believe it will be possible for personalized shopping experiences to become a reality, based on the habits and preferences of each subscriber in your database. In fact, we think that the ability to make purchases directly from email is closer to becoming a reality. The same way many social networks have integrated shopping options within their platforms, email will soon be able to host purchases without having to leave the format. Source: Tom Klein, Vice President of Marketing at Mailchimp.

130 TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS 2020

#45. New Level of Opt-In: Permission to Track Transparency and value will be a prerequisite for future emails. Currently, marketers are able to track all the actions carried out by recipients of the emails, allowing them to understand how consumers behave with their brand. For example, we can know what content they like, if an issue has worked out, what is the opening or click rate, etc. And many times the consumer is not aware of the knowledge being gathered. In order to send emails, marketers must get explicit consent. But, maybe in the future we should also ask permission to be able to track their behavior and save their behavioral data history, allowing further customization of content. Source: Andrew Bonar, founder of Deliverability Ltd. Study “Email Marketing in 2020”

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#46. SVOC (single view of the customer) and IoT Related Email Challenges 1. Emails will be used for warning messages and will be part of the Internet of Things landscape. Think of emails that will alert you when someone starts up your car or enters the house. 2. New metrics will emerge from this new IoT reality and will become important in reports. 3. Less than 15% of emails are read on a computer. We must keep in mind that notifications may be received on different types of devices: tablet, mobile, among others. 4. Apart from creating a textual version of the warning email, we must create “short messages” that adapt to devices that go beyond mobile phones, such as wearables. 5. Consumer interactions that occur through an email, branded app, or the device that generates the message (such as your fridge) can lead the user to a website. 6. Creating an email message will be easier, using for example HTML code. 7. The HTML text and subject can have the ability to change, even after sending the email. 8. Online purchases can be made directly from an email, using the fingerprint readers on our devices. 9. Inboxes will rearrange promotional emails, depending on our interest, making it easier to find a promotion to redeem in the store. 10. You can reply and read messages from your email using voice commands. Source: Cara Olson, Director of Direct Marketing and eCRM at DEG. Study “Email Marketing in 2020”



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#47. CTA and Subject: The Most Important Part of the Email Consumers are increasingly reading emails more and more from their phones. These small screens have changed the way we read, and now marketers must redesign the emails they send. In 2020 messages should be short and feature a prominent call-to-action and engaging subject line. Source: Dan Denney, Front-End Developer at Code School. Study “Email Marketing in 2020”

48# Promotabs de Gmail Google has traditionally divided its Gmail inbox into 5 tabs: • Main • Social • Promotions • Notifications • Forums Why? If we look at figures from different sources, we can see that marketers currently have a lot of competition in the world of emailing: • According to Statista, 2.9 billion people use email in 2019. And according to the same study, 320 billion emails will be sent a day in 2021 (Currently, the rate is 293 billion) • Additionally, the company Radicali has figured that the users send and receive an average of 122 business emails a day.



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Google’s idea to solve this problem may turn out to be brilliant; Marketers will be able to send their emails directly to the “Promotions” tab in Gmail. In addition, there is the option of “Emails annotation.” This annotation will allow you to highlight promotional emails within the corresponding tab. Embedding a rich code in the mail will allow you to highlight images, logos, promotional codes, expiration dates, offers, and much more in the preview. Source: Google and TapMail



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PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING #49. Investment Growth for 2020 and 2021 According to research conducted by eMarkters, more than 86.3% of the advertising investment in the United States will be purchased using programmatic technologies by 2020, which will cost $70 billion. By 2021, it will represent 87.5% and come with an investment of $81 billion. Source: eMarketer



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#50. Customized Programmatic Advertising Programmatic customization is booming, allowing advertisers to improve performance and make ads more relevant with personalized messages. With the help of Big Data, personalized programmatic advertising allows advertising creatives to dynamically change to be more relevant to users (with ad adaptation factors that include location, device type, demographics and time.) The main benefit of this technology is that it can generate feedback quickly, allowing marketing professionals to optimize in real time. Source: Centro.net

#51. The introduction of 5G This technology recently underwent its first phase of commercial deployment. This means that devices prepared for 5G can benefit from speeds of 1000Mpbs, 10 times more than 4G. This high bandwidth allows advertising technology ecosystems to load ads faster, which avoids millisecond delays that generally cause users to leave a website. Therefore, the rise of video provides the opportunity for the world of programmatic advertising to deliver higher resolution ads to its target audience. This a great opportunity for the future of programmatic buying. It is estimated that in 2025 there will be approximately 1.1 billion 5G connections. With faster transactions, this expedites the way in which ads are presented to consumers. Source: ExChange Wire and Forbes



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#52. New Metrics for Programmatic Video Advertising Brands can measure the performance of their programmatic television campaigns using traditional metrics. But brands with a vision of the future should complement their reports with more modern metrics, such as cost per view, to attribute the increase in brand and performance to OTT (over-the-top) advertising and connected television (Connected TV or CTV). The traditional way of measuring performance is with audimeters, a device that offers figures on the programs being watched in each house and which programs do or don’t continue on the grid. This system has always caused controversy, because it’s not very accurate. There are very few audimeters in all of Spain (4,755 in total) and the panelists (their owners) are obliged to keep it secret so that a manager of a chain or a program cannot “buy them”. The system’s reliability can be questioned due to several questions; Who chooses the panelists? Where do they go? How do they report their presence on the other side of the screen? Hence, the new metrics offered by the digital environment help us to clarify results and their impact. Source: Cyberclick, Puro Marketing and Huffington Post

#53. The Facebook and Google duopoly will continue to dominate the programmatic landscape Combined programmatic advertising revenue from Facebook and Google in the U.S. will be slightly above half the budget allocated to programmatic advertising by advertisers, and that portion will increase slightly until 2021. It’s true that Amazon has been following closely behind with its advertising practices, as well as the repertoire of mobile ads, over-the-top (OTT) and Connected TV, but still, in the next 24 months the duopoly will continue to dominate the programmatic landscape with an investment level of 59.3%, although if you add Amazon to the mix they collectively reach 68.1% of the investment. Source: eMarketer



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#54. Connected TV Connected TV is an opportunity to develop new business models that break the glass ceiling of advertising investment revenue stake in the traditional television systems. The growing use of automation and big data allows connected TV to deliver advertising that is increasingly tailored to the viewer’s interests. Investment in TV programmatics will reach $4.73 billion in the United States by 2020. It is estimated that by the end of 2019 there will be nearly 196 million users with connected television and above 200 million in 2021, according to data from eMarketer.

Attitudinal and behavioral insights, combined with predictive models, will make programmatic purchasing more agile and successful. In Spain, investment in connected TV (generally) reached 2.8 million euros, according to IAB Spain in 2018. Programmatic video buying accounts for 27.6%. In Spain, connected television is growing rapidly, with 57% of users with smart TVs, according to The Cocktail Analysis. 62% have some subscription to streaming platforms like Netflix or HBO. In addition, there are almost 7 million pay-TV subscribers, according to the CNMC from 2018 data. By 2020, the distribution of connected TV is expected to double to 50 percent.



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Source: El Publicista, eMarketer, IAB Spain, CNMC, and The Cocktail Analysis



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NATIVE ADVERTISING & BRANDED CONTENT At the gates of 2020, native advertising and branded content have become a valuable and effective advertising strategy. According to IAB Spain’s Study of Content & Native Advertising 2019, 6 out of 10 professionals declare that branded content and native advertising improve results and are an interesting alternative to market saturation.

#55. Native Advertising Metrics Where previously the same metrics from display advertising or email marketing were applied, more and more specific measurements for native advertising are being developed. It’s also understood now that isolated metrics do not bring much value, but should always be taken into account in the context of the overall goals of the brand. In the native advertising and branded content environment, it makes sense to focus on KPIs that are related to engagement, aka, the user’s response to content. Depending on the media used, we can distinguish between two major types of engagement: social engagement and web engagement. • Social Engagement: Getting the public hooked on your social media community is a very valuable asset to a brand. It includes optimizing and increasing interactions, strengthening the brand-follower relationship, increasing brand visibility, and strengthening trust. Interactions can be likes, comments, retweets, etc. • Web Engagement: These are the interactions around your brand, but on your website. It may be a little more difficult to measure web engagement, but Grdar proposes to differentiate between microinteractions (downloadable PDFs interactions, newsletter subscription, filling out a form, blog comments, etc.) and macro interactions (transactions) and then average from the users habits. Source: IAB Spain



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#56. Native Advertising Formats Native advertising and branded content support a wide variety of formats and locations, but until now it was difficult to establish rigid ratings. IAB USA has tried to classify the most classic and the newest formats into 6 types of ad units, which are as follows: 1. In-Feed ads: Facebook, Forbes, Twitter, etc. 2. Paid Search Ads: Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. 3. Recommendation Widgets: Disqus, Gravity, Outbrain, etc. 4. Promotional Lists: Amazon, Etsy, Foursquare, Google, etc. 5. Ads with native elements, served by their own means through their CMS or thier advertising server. 6. Custom Formats, which cannot be framed in the 5 previous categories. We’re excited to see how these concepts will extend throughout 2020. Source: IAB Spain

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#57. The Growing Use and Knowledge of Native Advertising Native advertising is more effective than traditional ads, with a 9% increase in brand affinity and an 18% increase in purchase intent. It also enhances the brand’s reputation. 71% of a product’s buyers feel closer with the brand after seeing native advertising. This percentage is only 50% for traditional banners. Source: IAB Spain

#58. Increased Investment in Native Advertising and Branded Content In Europe its estimated that the revenue for native advertising will grow 35%, from 9.8€ billion in 2018 to 13.2€ billion in 2020, representing 52% of the display revenue. By comparison, branded content should grow from €1.5 billion to €2.1 billion during this period, considering only the average paid portion. As for all owned average - which tends to account for most of the investments in Branded Content so far - similar growth is expected. The latest estimates of Native Advertising growth in the US forecasts a revenue of nearly 32€ billion in 2021. Native Advertising will reach 74% of total display billing. Although The European figures represent less than half of the US market, growth factors in both regions are very similar. Source: IAB Spain, Business Insider, and Ender Analysis



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#59. Increased Native Technology Suppliers There has been a significant increase in supply in native technology. The number of providers in the native environment has doubled between 2017 and 2018, reaching about 402 companies, many of them with a global reach. This increase is accompanied by a strong fragmentation of the offers and services to which new categories were added such as video only, in-game, attribution and analytics, etc. Source: IAB Spain and Native Advertising Institute

#60. Branded Content with Influencers Branded content with influencers has a new twist and will once again be one of the most outstanding trends of 2020. Why? Influencers will now be the direct creators of the brand’s content, rather than just one more means of launching their advertising messages. For example, Instagram now allows influencers the option to transform their account into a “Creators” account, and which can give permissions to brands so that the brand can promote the influencer’s content, although the influencer still owns the post. Segmentation is important when choosing an influencer as they cannot only work with very broad categories, such as lifestyle. Collaborations must be organic. In this sense, the content must be adapted according to the product, target, characteristics, as well as giving some creative freedom to the influencers, so that they themselves offer credible content. You need to listen to them, as they know their audience very well and the content they like. The branded content that comes from the influencer’s channel must be differentiated from the branded content where an influencer appears on the brand’s own channels. Source: IAB Spain and Cyberclick



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CONTENT MARKETING We’re looking forward to discovering what will happen in the near future with content marketing. It’s important to have a base knowledge of of this method brings value currently, and use that awareness to evolve this technique.

#61. Webinars Remain a Trend Some have a very old-school view on webinar and believe that they are just a one-hour course in which someone gives a masterclass on a topic. But, we can go much further and find wonderful ideas to turn that idea of webinars around. DemandGen has found that 66% of users say they prefer webinars to another content format, as long as they are not always using the same tools in the same way. In order to make webinars more fresh, we have proposed some trends that we expect to see in 2020: • Serializing webinars as if it were a series program • Infusing your brand into the experience • Being more interactive • Offer content that makes it possible to contact your audience Examples of brands that have been able to find an innovative format with their webinars include: • LinkedIn: Live with Marketers: They’re not presentations, but talks and interviews with marketing professionals. • Charles Schwab: Coffee Talks: Unconventional format of two people having a coffee and talking about financial issues. • Autotrader: It is a series of webinars with social media integration, and a part of it is dedicated to answering live questions. • Cyberclick: A webinar series, with 11 episodes a year. In Spanish we in depthly discuss topical subjects that interest digital marketing professionals. Source: Content Marketing World 2019

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#62. A Result from the Same Website by Search With Google’s last big update in June 2019, users won’t be able to see more than two results from the same site in the top results in a single search. If more than two are displayed, it’s because Google’s system has determined that for that specific search it was interesting to show more options. Source: Ezoic.com

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#63. Visual Storytelling Visual storytelling has grown in popularity over the past few years. This means using tools such as graphics, images, infographics, gifs or videos. The purpose is to generate more engagement with the viewers, with the aim of making them feel certain emotions, promoting interaction and motivating the audience towards the realization of an action. A person’s average attention span for ads is 8 seconds. When you use visual storytelling you should keep in mind that everything starts and ends with the idea of living an experience. So ask yourself what do you want your audience to do: • Read something? • Download something? • Buy a product? • Sign up for your newsletter? • Etc Source: Content Marketing World 2019 and Ezoic.com

#64. Educating the Consumer Today, users do not buy products, but solutions to their problems. In 2020 advertisers will stop promoting ads for impressions, but instead provide consumers with something useful and practical. This is the main objective of content marketing. Source: Merehead



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#65. Using Technology to Explore Interests Marketers do not produce content for the love of art. Instead, they create effective, high-quality advertising that is useful to the consumer. That’s why marketers need to generate, analyze, and use only high-value information that gives insight into the interests and needs of the audience. To do this in 2020, you will need to use the technology that can... • Discover the capabilities of each technology (AI, neural connections, voice search, analysis of consumer feelings, etc.) • Figure out what you need at the technological level to create content (quick video generation, add 3D effects, augmented reality implementation in your ads, etc.) • Analyze consumer reactions, because without that you won’t know how technology is helping you. Source: Merehead

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#66. Trend in Content Distribution: Social Media Wins by Far Knowing the trends in content distribution and which technologies are being used is very important in B2C marketing, but also in B2B. Social media offers a lot of important information for understanding audiences, so it should come as no surprise that 85% of marketers are using a wide variety of tools and technologies that help us process all this information. Identifying and prioritizing KPIs is the first step, but the right tools are needed to analyze information, optimize content, and extract future improvements or trends. Email remains as one of the most used channels, with 75% of professionals in the sector having it as a tool and usual software. Email automation is essential for personalization, segmentation and at the same time the success of this channel. For example, 75% of consumers prefer to open emails from welltargeted campaigns than to those that don’t. The most popular tools are as followed: • Analysis Tools (71%) • Creation And Content Optimization Tools (55%) • Cms or Content Management Systems (52%) • Workflows or Editorial Calendars (45%) • Marketing Automation Systems (29%) • Tools to Promote Content (27%) • Chatbots (12%) • Cmp or Integrated Content Marketing Platform (12%) • Artificial Intelligence (4%) Source: Content Marketing Institute Report 2019 and Thekeenfolks.com



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#67. Growth in Content Marketing Investment 57% of marketers who specialize in content creation say they have seen their brand budget increase for this type of format. 29% of brands have increased their investment from 1%-9% to 9%-28%. 29% say they have stayed the same. The truth is that this data is very positive and confirms the good health of a strong content marketing strategy. Source: Content Marketing Institute Report 2019 and Thekeenfolks.com



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#68. Google Will Stop Indexing Flash For the nostalgic, in 2020 it will be time to say goodbye to pages made with Flash. Google will stop indexing them for good. It has been two years since several Internet companies, including Adobe itself, decided to kill Flash. Its zero compatibility with the mobile world, and the security issues they include, are two decisive reasons for this action. In fact these reasons are why Steve Jobs declared himself an enemy of the format in 2010. In recent years we’ve seen flash support diminish, while support for HTML5 increases. Major browsers, such as Chrome, now block all Flash content by default, which has meant a hard hit for fans of this technology. In this case, the trend is that we will have to stop using any Flash plug-ins and migrate to more friendly media with search engines. Especially if you want to continue to position your contents correctly. Source: Google Blog



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INBOUND MARKETING When the term “inbound marketing” first emerged in 2005, the way we used the internet was very different. It is logical, therefore, that this methodology has evolved and continues to grow. On the surface, 2020 inbound marketing may look little like 2005, but both share the same spirit: attracting users to our brand organically and accompanying them on the road to becoming loyal customers. Let’s take a look at the latest inbound trends so that you continue to succeed with this methodology for years to come.

#69. Chats and Messages Direct messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger have changed the way we communicate in recent years. And now, this revolution is coming to inbound marketing. According to Hubspot data, the willingness of users to be contacted by such applications varies greatly by region. Globally, 49% of users would agree to communicate with brands through Facebook Messenger, but this percentage drops to 26% in Germany and rises to 73% in Latin America. On the other hand, WhatsApp enjoys 46% acceptance globally, but this figure is only 11% among Americans and no less than 83% among Latin Americans. In a step towards this trend, Hubspot now allows you to manage the Facebook Messenger bot from their platform. For marketers, these applications offer very interesting possibilities in the field of customer service and marketing automation. It’s time to experiment! Source: Hubspot



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#70. Video Marketing Yes, video is still trending in inbound marketing in 2020. Although this format is nothing new, the figures show that its popularity continues: • 85% of all internet users in the United States watched at least one video content a month through one of their mobile devices. (Statista, 2018) • 54% of consumers want to watch more video content related to the brands or companies that they follow. (Hubspot, 2018) • 87% of marketing professionals use video as a tool in their strategy. (Wyzowl, 2019) • Videos are what users want to see on brand’s social media the most. (Animoto, 2018) • 8% of marketing professionals are happy with the ROI of their videos on social networks. (Animoto, 2018) • Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year. That means that video marketing is a high-interest lead generation channel. (Optionmonster, 2019) • Users spend 88% more time on a website if they have embedded video content than one that doesn’t. (Forbes, 2018) • If on the same page, consumers have video and text to learn more about a product or service, 72% prefer the audiovisual option. (Wyzowl, 2018) • Video captivates more than text. 95% of the audience is more receptive to remembering a call-to-action if they saw it on video, compared to 10% by reading it. (Forbes, 2017) With improved smartphone cameras and increasingly popular formats such as live video, which requires no editing, this format is more accessible than ever for brands of all sizes. Source: Cyberclick and Mehzaad Mulam, LinkedIn

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#71. YouTube Cards for Lead Acquisition YouTube’s “i” button allows you to capture leads in a very simple way. This icon appears at the top right of the videos. You can use this tool to add text as well as a menu with visual or graphic links (known as YouTube Cards) that will be accessed by those users who click. To generate desired leads you can make your Card point to your downloadable content section (courses, ebooks, packs of “do it yourself”, etc.) You can also use other strategic points on your YouTube channel to attract and convert, like the final screen of the video, the description (where you can put links) or the video itself. Have the person in the video encourage viewers with a CTA. Source: Cyberclick

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#72. Progressive Forms Forms are necessary to qualify contacts and assess whether they are a potential customer or not. But, at the same time, asking for too much information can cause the visitor to get creeped and leave before completing the form. Progressive forms intelligently resolve this dilemma by “remembering” the user and showing them only the fields that they have not yet completed on a previous visit. With this method, over several downloads, you can complete the data you have about a lead and see if they are qualified for marketing or sales. However, you must ask the name and the email of the user every time, since this is how the software identifies and recognizes the user. Source: Hubspot and Cyberclick



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#73. From Conversion Funnel to Conversion Cycle The diagram of the conversion funnel has accompanied marketers for many years, and has guided many of their strategies, but we think it’s time for a change. In 2018, Hubspot surprised the inbound marketing community when they proposed changing the conversion funnel into the conversion flywheel, a moving cycle that covers the following phases: • Attract: Create content and conversations that generate a relationship with your audience. • Convert: Build lasting relationships with customers by providing valuable information and solutions aligned with their obstacles and goals. • Delight: Provide an extraordinary experience that adds real value and encourages clients to become ambassadors for your brand While a funnel loses energy as it progresses, the energy on a flywheel is efficiently recycled. Thus, the customers you have already gained indirectly help you generate new sales and the process starts again. The conversion cycle isn’t a new concept. It was invented in 1993 by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, the creators of 1-to-1 marketing. But this old school method has a new life in 2020: we expect to see more companies using this method to incorporate all areas of marketing, sales, and services as a whole. Source: Hubspot

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#74. Public Relations in Inbound Marketing Public relations can sometimes get a wrap for being old fashioned, but it is actually one of our top trends for 2020. This tactic is based on cultivating the brand’s relationship with the media and getting them to talk about the brand organically, without having to pay for sponsored content. A modern public relations strategy can have many advantages for a brand: more visibility and engagement, positioning the brand as an expert in their sector, and increasing leads. Source: Cyberclick

#75. Predictive Sales Rating As inbound marketing experts know, getting leads is only the beginning. The next step is to perform a rating strategy that allows us to discern whether the lead is ready to be passed to the sales team, if they need more marketing communications, or if they should be discarded. Traditionally, lead rating has been done through lead scoring, which includes assigning a series of points to the lead based on different variables. Instead, predictive sales rating automates the process by using an algorithm that analyzes what the lead has in common with clients who have converted in the past, and then gives it a score based on their conversion possibility. Source: Hubspot



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#76. Natural Language Processing Natural language processing is an area of artificial intelligence that keeps moving forward and has multiple applications for marketers, so it’s not surprising that its among one of 2020’s top trends. Next-generation language processing systems can distinguish between passing mentions of a brand and those that have an actual purchase intent, and offer the brand a list of potentially interested customers. Another high-potential application of natural language processing is creating content for inbound marketing. Although computers are not ready to replace a human editor at the moment, in the coming years we expect to see interesting developments in this area. However, there are companies that are starting to dabble in artificial intelligence and using data to create new content from previously published content. The idea is that, through the platform, you can include several links from different sources that you want to use, and then the platform makes new written, visual or video content. Source: Frase.io

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#77. A/B Testing in SEO One of the keys to success in digital marketing is testing different ways to do things, and SEO is not an exception. SEO A/B testing allows you to isolate variables that actually work when it comes to attracting traffic. With this information, it is possible to make structured changes to existing content to improve the positioning of a page with relatively little effort. To detect areas of improvement, our recommendation is that you start by looking at the pages on your website that attract a lot of impressions but a low click-through rate. You can try launching a page with two different titles and meta descriptions and see which one works best when it comes to attracting users in SERPs. Source: Mehzaad Mulam, LinkedIn

#78. The Rise of Podcasting Content Podcasts are a booming trend for 2020. According to data from Statista and Business Insider, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom have some of the highest podcast listeners (at 40%, 33%, and 18% respectively). Even more revealing, 65% of listeners surveyed in Encuesta Pod 2019 listen to traditional live or on-demand radio today. Another highlight is that the average podcast user prefers a duration between 30 minutes to an hour. Additionally, podcast listeners are very loyal. 79% of Encuesta Pod 2019 respondents said they listen to 90% of the episodes of the shows that they’re subscribed to. The most interesting information for marketers is that 40% of listeners claim they are willing to listen to ads while listening to an episode. In short, podcasts are a great opportunity to inject brands into the day-to-day lives of their target audience, offer interesting content, and generate community and loyalty. Source: Cyberclick



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#79. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Artificial intelligence has the potential to alter virtually every aspect of inbound marketing by 2020 and beyond, from intelligent content curation to segmentation and analytics. If correctly implemented, artificial intelligence can help optimize creativity, distribution, and analytics and fine-tune marketing initiatives to help create faster, better, and highly segmented marketing strategies. But despite its potential benefits, artificial intelligence still faces challenges such as consumer suspicion. In general, users want to receive familiar, personalized treatment, and if they feel like they’re “talking to a machine” they can feel rejection and resentment. That’s why marketers should start with a strategy to change customer’s perceptions of AI before including it in their marketing plans. Source: Dragon Blogger

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#80. Automation and Email Marketing According to a recent Forbes article, “email is not dead, it is evolving.” This statement perfectly sums up the current state of email marketing. A Hubspot study revealed that consumers don’t mind receiving emails frequently, as long as they’re relevant to their needs. But, sending personalized and relevant communications can be a challenge when managing a large database. The solution? Marketing automation. With a well-configured marketing automation platform, it is possible to activate email flows in response to specific events, thus increasing the emails’ relevance to users. It’s not about putting all campaigns on autopilot, but about using technology intelligently to suit users’ needs at all times. Source: Dragon Blogger and Cyberclick

#81. Big Data We’ve been talking about big data for years, and as time goes on this technology has become more accessible and relevant. We are increasingly in need of better capabilities to both analyze available data and put use it for inbound marketing campaigns. According to Nick Worth, Chief Storyteller at Selligent, big data reveals patterns, trends, and associations around user interactions. Simply put, it allows marketers to better understand what consumers are looking for and how they behave. Then they can use this knowledge to give consumers what they truly need in order to improve their experience and increase loyalty to the brand. Big Data, within an inbound strategy, can help ensure personalized and user-specific experiences throughout the buyer journey, so potential customers will become more involved with the brand. These types of technologies are already integrated into CRMs like Hubspot, where you can segment your contact base and use content features through smart tags. Source: Marketing Land and Digital Media Stream



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#82. Inbound Sales: Improved Sales Thanks to Collaborative Language This trend may sound strange, but according to Zety’s latest data, it’s true. The most successful sales managers are those who use a collaborative vocabulary. This means phrases like “we”, “us”, “together” “the whole company”, “how can we help you” rather than focusing on “I”. Collaborative language implies that there is a whole team of people willing to help you to solve the needs of the potential client. Will you then start using more collaborative words in your sales processes during 2020? Source: Hubspot and Zety

#83 Social Selling: Progressive Increase in the Use of Social Media to Start and Close Sales Processes 65% of sales managers who use social media to contact potential customers manage to fill their pipeline, compared to 47% who do without using them. Social selling is the latest sales trend. According to Hubspot, half of the current revenue of companies is influenced by social networks, especially in sectors such as software, health, and marketing and advertising. 28% of companies are already prioritizing social selling. Source: Hubspot



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SEO SEO is constantly changing due to adjustments in search engine algorithms. Google has had a dizzying evolution in recent years, and its changes now occur at such a rate that marketers have to constantly be on guard. Updates and improvements in search results have grown exponentially, causing positions to increase and decrease, thanks to the continued volatility of SERPs. So take note on what’s to come in the world of SEO.

#84. RankBrain Google’s algorithmic capacity has multiplied thanks to the interpretation of more than 30% of searches through “neural matching”, a method based on artificial intelligence. Google can now recognize the “human” concepts behind keywords thanks to RankBrain, and we have to take this development seriously when it comes to assessing what SEO trends will look like in 2020. So, what exactly is RankBrain? It refers to the name Google gives to the machine learning and artificial intelligence system it uses to help process its search results. Essentially is a machine that teaches itself how to do something. Source: SemRush

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#85. Chatbots in SEO Chatbots solve doubts and provide information much more effectively and economically than people. But there’s more: the effective use of chatbots allows companies to collect feedback and information about frequently asked questions and behavior patterns, which we can then use to create relevant content that is of real interest to a potential target. At Smartketing 2019, Pau Alpuente, CEO of Elabs Consulting, highlighted how chatbots are increasing the time spent on a page, directly and substantially improving positioning. It’s safe to say that inserting a chatbot in your website will increase one of the decisive metrics that Google analyzes, increasing your chance of having a good ranking. Source: Cyberclick

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#86. Strengthen your E-A-T on Google In August 2019, Google explained why they are constantly updating the search algorithms and their overall goals. It was in an article titled “What webmasters should know about Google’s core updates”. Essentially, it focuses on something that all content creators should do: Read and understand the “Search Quality Rater Guidelines” and the E-A-T concept (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Google EAT appeared on the scene in August 2018. With this new algorithm, Google explained the requirements and recommendations that they use to evaluate social relevance and rank content in its results. Google analyzes your website and decides “We see that your site is of quality and that you are an expert in your field, you have digital authority to prove it, and you offer sufficient confidence to the user”. So, going back to the starting point, as Google specifically pointed out to us in that blog post, E-A-T is a great tool to use when evaluating your content strategy and SEO. And how can you improve your E-A-T in 2020? • By earning links or mentions on other authority sites. • By providing E-A-T information on your website, including biographies of authors, their credentials, and links to their social networks or page. • Linked to authorized sources to support statistics, data and facts that we publish in our articles. • Periodic update of the site and publishing relevant content. Source: Google Blog



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#87. Position 0 in Google If you’re asking yourself, “what is position 0?,” don’t worry. Thanks to SERP, not many people are on top of this newest position. Voice searches are a “must” right now, but many companies don’t know how to appear in them. If, for example, a user asks “what is digital marketing”, how do you get any smart assistant to respond using your content? Well, in order to appear in voice searches you must be in position 0. This is the Answer Box in SERPs or Google search results. Being in position 0 or rich snippet causes you to be the result for voice searches on some of the queries made to smart speakers. Semantics is important in this aspect of your organic positioning. Alexa, for example, won’t read anything that isn’t readable and natural, with whole sentences and no abbreviations. A good tool that can help you analyze the entities of your content, syntax and categories (dependant on Google’s eyes) is Google’s Natural Language tool.



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For example, in your H2 do not put “Mediterranean Diet” if you are going to talk about its benefits. It’s better to put “How the Mediterranean diet can help you”. To find out what users are looking for around a topic, see the “related questions”. It will help give you ideas for your H2s. Position 0 shouldn’t only be the target for voice searches, but for those carried out in the digital environment, directly done in the search engine. Because they have a higher click rate, they position even above the official first position. Source: Content Marketing World 2019 and Ezoic.com

#88. Local SEO is Synonymous with Voice Search Everything local is synonymous with voice searches. They are 50% of the queries that are made daily. Tools like Moz Local or Yext can help you manage your local presence. If you ask your voice assistant “Which hospital is the best in San Diego?” Google will read the name of the hospital that is the highest in your local positioning, and take into account the reviews for this location and whether it has successfully completed their profile in Google Business. Ensure your content marketing is written very well along this line so as not to miss the voice searches train. Source: Content Marketing World 2019 and Ezoic.com

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#89. Web Security Matters for Positioning User safety is a trend in 2020. Although it may not initially seem to have a direct relationship with SEO, it does. If a person does not feel safe when visiting your site, it is very likely that they will leave quickly, especially if they receive a “Not Safe” warning from their internet browser. As a result, high bounce rates could affect the position of this page in organic search lists. It’s important to enable HTTPS protocol for your website. This protocol provides a secure connection that is encrypted and authenticated. According to Google, “HTTPS helps prevent intruders from altering communications from our website and users’ browsers”. Source: Cardinal Digital Marketing



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SEM AND GOOGLE ADS Google Ads is where most of the world’s investing dollars go, within the digital advertising world. The reason why is very clear: searches make most of their searches in this search engine, giving marketers clues to their needs and who is their potential target is. For example, Booking.com acknowledged that it invested $1.19 billion in marketing performance during the second quarter of 2019, with the majority of this budget item going to Google Ads.

#90. Google Ads Smart Bidding Smart Bidding is a subset of automated bid strategies that use machine learning to get more conversions or improve the conversion value for each auction; a feature known as “bids at auction time.” The different types of Smart Bidding strategy include Target Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA), Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), Maximize Conversions, and Enhanced Cost Per Click (CPCm). Smart Bidding offers four key benefits to save time and improve performance: • Advanced machine learning. Machine learning algorithms base bidding on large-scale data. This way, you can make more reliable predictions about how different bid amounts would affect conversions or their value. • Wide variety of contextual signals. By defining bids at auction time, you can optimize them with a wide variety of signals in mind. Signals are identifiable attributes of a user or their context at the time of a particular auction. • Flexible performance controls. With Smart Bidding you can set performance goals and customize settings to your own business goals. • Transparent performance reports. Smart Bidding includes reporting tools to help you get more valuable and detailed information about bid performance and resolve any issues quickly. Google has normalized the use of machine learning to optimize and automate bids, all at the same time. Thus, advertisers or marketers will be able to have new tools that will help us maximize conversions. Source: Google and Forbes



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#91. Constant Updates to Google Algorithms Google always wants to be a pioneer in creating new rules within digital marketing. That’s why with its new algorithm changes, you want to encourage digital marketing specialists to use fair practices in their campaigns. To achieve this, Google is getting smarter when it comes to improving its indexing techniques. And marketers will have to pay more attention when it comes to running their campaigns. Source: Search Logix

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#92. Everything Has Migrated to the Mobile Environment Statistics tell us that mobile internet use has grown from 48.8% in 2014 to 63.4% in 2019. With growing IoT technologies, people will be able to access more sources of information. Smartphones are now more desired than laptops or computers. That’s why professionals predict that the ratio of mobile users will continue to grow and this will affect SEM in the coming years. Not to mention, Google sinks your search results if your page isn’t responsive and adapts to mobile formats. Source: Search Logix

#93. Audience Targeting You can add audience targeting to ad groups to reach users based on who they are, what their interests and habits are, what they’re looking for, or how they’ve interacted with your business. This feature can improve the performance of your campaigns by reaching users while browsing websites, using apps, or watching videos. Depending on the different types of campaigns, you can use different audience targeting: Display • Custom audience based on intent or intent to purchase. • Remarketing audience. • Similar audiences.



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Búsqueda • Purchase intent audience • Remarketing audience. • Segmentation by customer list. • Similar audiences. Vídeo • Custom audience based on intent. • Remarketing audience. • Segmentation by customer list. • Similar audiences. Hotel • Remarketing audience. One of Google’s latest updates already allows layered audiences, placed on top of each other. This means that keyword and demographic targeting can be used together to create extremely relevant ads. Source: Theedigital.com

#94. Bing Joins Visual Search Visual searches are like text searches in any search engine, but based on uploading an image and then being given a recommendation for the same or similar. So, for example, if you take a photo of a vase you liked and do a visual search, the search engine will offer you links that take you to products that you can buy and are along the same line as what you are looking for.



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Bing has now joined this new technology and offers image search directly in its shopping section. We expect that in 2020 it will become more normal to perform these kinds of searches when we want to find or buy something and we only have an image. Pinterest and Instagram recently launched similar tools and Amazon has just teamed up with Snapchat to add more value to visual searches. Source: Thedigital.com

#95. Collaborative Filtering Collaborative filtering is a grouping system that brings users together by shared tastes or preferences. For example, if Carmen has the same reactions as Jose, it’s likely that they may have similar tastes. Filtering can be based on almost anything from age, interests, locations, or more, so you can guide users to the most engaging content. You can already see how this works when you travel abroad and search on Google. While the search engine always sends you to www.google.com, if you are on holiday in the UK, you may see www.google.com.uk. Google does this when it verifies your IP address when performing the search. Collaborative filtering can go further, adapting the content it offers to your recent tastes, browsing history and trending topics. This allows websites to remain interesting, new, and relevant to individual users. Source: Thedigital.com



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#96. SEM and SEO Integration PPC (pay-per-click) and SEO have always gone hand in hand, and now they’re getting even closer. In 2020, you will be able to see better results in your PPC campaigns if you integrate it with your organic search engine positioning strategy. A good way to synchronize both parts is to use the keywords from your PPC paid campaigns in SEO. Your content and blog posts will help you strengthen your ranking. Remember to use long-tailed keywords in both organic content and your bid strategy. Source: Thedigital.com

#97. Amazon’s Increase in Paid Advertising While Google and Facebook bask in the spotlight in the paid advertising industry, Amazon has not been far behind. It is now the third most popular paid advertising platform, and forecasters are saying it will be one to watch in the coming years, so let’s see who takes the throne in 2020. Advertisers are starting to understand the appeal of advertising on Amazon. Shoppers who are on the site have a clear intention to buy, a fact that does not exist on Facebook or Google. Your users are there to search for information. This detail gives Amazon a huge advantage. It’s no surprise that Amazon’s conversion rate is much higher than Google’s or Facebook’s. Source: Cyberclick



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#98. PPC Automation Pay-per-click automation has become a powerful way to improve the performance of our campaigns. Companies like Google have invested big budget items in R+D to create and improve their automation options. To take full advantage of the automation of the PPC, we need to provide algorithms so that Google can learn from our campaigns, allowing them to continuously improve the machines themselves. While automation does needs human oversight, it is essential for your brand because it helps free up time overall, which can then be devoted to more qualitative tasks. Source: Cardinal Digital Marketing and Cyberclick



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DATA Y ANALYTICS Big Data is transforming companies and organizations of all kinds. Infact, we’ve seen a huge and welcomed change in the data analytics field: marketers are now adapting analytics according to their needs, rather than trying to fit the data into traditional methods of analysis.

#99. Data Analysis Automation)

Automation

(Big

Data

As we’ve mentioned throughout this book, automation is a huge trend. So much so, it is estimated that by 2020 more than 40% of data-driven tasks will be automated. As a result, productivity is expected to increase globally and non-specialized data scientists will be able to take better advantage of the available data. In addition, data automation will also be a great help for decision makers, who will be able to see a step further and contribute to the advancement of their companies with the right information. Sources: Cyberclick and Gartner

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#100. Internet of Things (IoT) By 2020, there will be more than 20 billion active Internet of Things devices. And, logically, the more connected devices, the more data is available for analysis. In large companies, where IoT devices are being incorporated into day-today operations, the corresponding technology is also being implemented to be able to analyze the large volume of generated data. The result is that we will see many more analytics solutions specially designed for devices with the Internet of Things, which will not only provide relevant data but also bring transparency around them. But this trend also has its downside; 75% of organizations will not be able to reach the full potential of the Internet of Things due to a shortage of professionals in the field of data science. Source: DatSci Awards

#101. In-Memory Computing Another influential 2020 trend is In-Memory Computing (IMC). Since the cost of memory has been reduced in recent years, memory processing has become a very popular technology solution that offers multiple analysis benefits. New persistent memory technologies reduce the costs and complexity of inmemory processing. In this way, we have massive, high-efficiency memory that supports high-performance workloads. For enterprises, in-memory processing means much faster CPU performance, faster storage, and larger amounts of available memory. Many industries are already adopting IMC to improve the performance of their current applications and become future-proof. Sources: DatSci Awards and GIGASPACES



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#102. The Rise of Data as a Service Up to 90% of large organizations are expected to generate some kind of revenue from data as a service (DaaS) by 2020. Data as a service is a cloud-based technology that enables customers to access digital files over the internet. In addition, because high-speed internet is easily accessible to most consumers, the service is available to a wider audience. The globalization of DaaS will also help bridge different departments of the same company by offering them the ability to share data easily and faster. And with that, we will also see an increase in productivity. Source: IDC - Analyze the future

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#103. The Growth of Augmented Analytics The Big Data trend of augmented analytics is quickly becoming the dominant method for 2020. Augmented analytics have revolutionized the paradigm by combining machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to create a new way to create, develop, share, and consume analytics. Augmented analytics is defined by Gartner in its Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms document as “a paradigm that includes natural and narrative language queries, augmented data preparation, automated advanced analytics, and visual data discovery capabilities.” In that same document, they emphasize the importance that augmented analytics will have in 2020, acting as a driver of business intelligence, data science and machine learning. The augmented analytics market is experiencing a time of great growth, with forecasts going from $8.4 billion globally in 2018 to $18.4 billion in 2023. The advantages of this technology lie in the ability to automate many functionalities, such as data preparation, analysis, and modeling. In addition, it is much easier to interact with the information that is generated. Source: Markets and Markets

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#104. Data Security and Privacy In 2015, less than 10% of large companies were using backups and snapshots for more than just data recovery. But by 2020, Data Sci Awards expects that more than 30% of companies will use these tools to improve security, privacy and reliability. Many companies have large volumes of sensitive personal data in their backups, even if they do not intend to use them. In 2018, 10% of organizations considered backups and personal data files to be their primary privacy risk; by 2020, this will be the main concern for 70%. Without a doubt, a big data trend to take into account when choosing products and solutions for the coming years. Sources: DatSci Awards and CBR Online

#105. The Development of Personal Devices Mobile devices are being used in a lot of situations: at home, at work, on the road... At the same time, more and more personal devices are incorporating technologies such as the Internet of Things or augmented reality. The result is that by 2020 more than 50% of consumers will expect mobile interactions to be contextual and hyper-personalized based on past and realtime user behavior. Source: STL



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#106. Personal Assistant Technologies One of the most interesting data trends for 2020 is the technological advancements and changing consumer habits of personal devices. In addition to the increasingly powerful presence of voice assistants, like Siri or Alexa, it is estimated that by the next year about 5% of people over the age of 65 will have their own personal health care robot. This is a very lucrative market, so you can expect many new developments in the coming years. Source: Smithsonian

#107. The Development of Smart Cities Smart cities involve a need to collect, process and communicate large amounts of Big Data. Smart cities will use data to provide medical assistance, nursing and prevention, personalized citizen-focused marketing campaigns, and more. DatSci Awards predicts that 30% of smart cities will have robots and smart machines in their medical facilities by 2020. Available data analytics applications and solutions enable the Internet of Things to to deliver a good user experience to residents and improve their quality of life. Source: DatSci Awards

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#108. Automated Business Content Management By 2020, it is estimated that 95% of image and video content will be analyzed by machines. This market is expected to reach $59.87 billion. In all likelihood, this 95% of content will never be analyzed by a human. Instead, the machine will use data analytics to provide detailed reports that support the company’s digital initiatives. And from these reports, companies will be able to spot opportunities in mobile, social and cloud technology. Source: PR Newswire

#109. Machine Learning and the Cloud Cloud storage has become a popular means of securely storing digital files. Currently, 30% of cloud providers are using third-party solutions, i.e. infrastructure as a service (IaaS). By 2022, this figure is estimated to be 60% of suppliers. Another prediction for 2020 suggests that large cloud service providers, such as Microsoft, Apple, and Google, will use cloud-based machine learning to acquire 20% of the data science platform market. Source: DatSci Awards



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#110. Conversational Analytics and Natural Language Processing The latest big data trend for 2020 is natural language and voice processing, as it is estimated to account for 50% of data analysis requests. This will make analytics systems easier to use and available to everyone in the company through a simple search system, increasing the productivity of the entire organization. Sources: Cyberclick and Gartner



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WEB DESIGN & USER EXPERIENCE (UX) In the coming years we will see many advances in web design and UX (user experience) based on the current needs of the market, where the central axis of everything is the user.

#111. Three-Dimensional, Real-Time, Context-Based Apps Peter Smart, Global Head of Product Design for Fantasy, unveiled the brand’s newest launch, the new Royal Caribbean app. It has smooth navigation and it doesn’t operate in the typical form of screens 1, 2, 3. Instead, it works as a whole, where objects work in the same way they would in the real world. The app features 3D drawings for each ships in the fleet, real-time location, weather data by zone, the color of the sea changes depending on the ocean you’re sailing in, the tones change depending on the day or night, and there is even an “Uber” for mojitos that delivers a drink to you anywhere on the boat after just one tap on the button. The bottom line is that this 2020 UX trend is about creating experiences that have a greater impact on the user. Source: Fantasy and Cyberclick

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#112. Inclusive Design and Design Based on Diversity Designing for everyone is a challenge and can put your imagination to test. It involves coming up with new inclusive ideas and learning about diversity and the unique challenges faced by different groups. An example of an inclusive website design is one that includes multiple forms of contact. Instead of only being able to contact via phone, there should also be an email option. Error alerts should not only be auditory, but visual as well. Some tips to make the digital experience more inclusive includes: • Using titles and subtitles • One idea per paragraph • Short sentences, between 7 and 10 words • Use lists • Use images and graphics to visually translate the content • Shorten the content • Use blank space • Include a glossary for specialized terms Source: VPRO and Cyberclick



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#113. How to Design the Banks of the Future BBVA has focused on defining the role of banks in the future: what relationships will be generated, what will be the impact on the business and what needs they will have. Designers have a role as a nexus between different teams. Technology should be a facilitator for relationships and should aim for commitment and customer satisfaction. Five conclusions are: • Design is meaningful • Design is systemic • Design is business; good design has to have a clear impact on the business • Design is change • Design is action Sources: Experience Fighters 2019 and Cyberclick

#114. Design Adapted to Cultural Values Companies will begin adapting corporate design to the cultural values of people and brands. This 2020 design trend should take into account: • Creativity: Challenge the conventional. Take divergent and unusual positions. Let the designer become a creative force. • Execution orientation: Understand by doing. Think with your hands and your body. Let the designer become a pragmatic force. • Diversity: Simplify the complicated. Alight visions and increase cooperation. Let the designer become an inclusive force.



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• Empathy: Try to understand other points of view. Represent absent voices. Let the designer become a social force. This raises the question of how can multinational companies adapt their designs to multiple cultural values, without losing their essence? Designers should think about where and how they can add value. They must generate, defend and incorporate a sense of work into their design. You have to design with an intention. Source: Cyberclick

#115. Simplifying Design and More User Control Users make decisions in two ways: by intuition (the most common way) or by analysis. People do not make decisions rationally, and we are all easily influenced. Humans are also terrible at assessing value, and can be lazy and prejudiced. So, how can we make design take all of these factors into account? • Make things easy for people and reduce options. The more options there are, the more difficult it is to make a decision. • Give the user a sense of control • Set an anchor (offer price) • Have predetermined options (filters) Source: Cyberclick



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#116. Design Sprint Design Sprint is a methodology that allows you to create prototypes and validate ideas with end users quickly, in order to define the roadmap of a product in 5 phases. This method was created by Google Ventures in 2010, having studied hundreds of User Research and Design Thinking strategies. Design Thinking brings together the most effective ideas and proposes a way of working that allows you to launch early and have a successful product. Phases are carried out in 4-5 days and are: 1. Understand. The idea of this phase is for the whole team to fully understand the challenge posed by the customer. 2. Propose. As you’re clear about the challenge, you need to start focusing on solutions quickly and launch various designs or prototypes to solve the challenge. 3. Decide. Vote the best prototype or design among all proposals. 4. Create. You’re just going to build or design what you’re going to test. 5. Validate. It consists of seeing users interact with the prototype or design. In such a changing world where speed and effectiveness take precedence, this way of working will be a trend within design and UX teams. Have you tried working with the Design Sprint methodology? Source: ByBardo



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#117. Gradients If you only associate gradients with Power Points from the 90s, then it’s time to change your thinking! Gradients have made a comeback, though this time as dynamic gradients. Gradients give a bit of depth and dynamism to flat designs. In 2020 dynamic gradients will continue to take over the internet, at least for a while. Facebook has already dipped its toe into gradients, with its new corporate logo. This logo is not for the social network, but for the company and matrix of all the platforms that make up the Facebook World. Sources: Callibree and Facebook



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#118. UX Copywriter Often, an interface can fail for something as simple as the copy it uses. To avoid this problem, companies have started to use UX Copywriters. These are experts who analyze which word corresponds to each place of the website. They’re necessary, because they go beyond the simple button that says “book now” or “click here”. In 2020 the entire content strategy, in addition to functional texts and calls to action will be monitored by the UX Copywriter. Source: Proun



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ECOMMERCE #119. Re-commerce Second-hand e-commerce stores are also called re-commerces. Online stores for used products have never grown so much as they are in 2020. According to data collected with Thredup, re-commerces are about to take off in the next 4 years. From $28 billion in profits in 2019 to $51 billion in 2023. The most prominent reasons for this growth are due to three reasons: • Greater social awareness of sustainability. • The opportunity to get products of a certain price for less money. • The need to keep fashion products and other industries as a trend. Source: Thredup



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#120. PWA for Ecommerces The progressive web app is a type of mobile site that looks and feels like a native mobile app. Platforms such as Twitter and Google are already using PWA technology. This trend is expected to be embraced by the most popular ecommerces on the market worldwide. For example, Aliexpress has found great success in pioneering the use of PWAs in ecommerce. Source: Coredna



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#121. Ecommerces with Dynamic Prices By 2020 we will need to adopt technologies and strategies to help us turn our static prices into dynamic prices. This means adapting to the reality of the market in real time. The goal is to achieve the ideal optimal price at all times, using Big Data. You will have to access competitors’ prices, market demand and the perception of the value of your products. Thus, with this information you can process and analyze it in order to offer prices in real time, leading to a higher sales and profit ratio. Source: Retail Dive

#122. Drone Deliveries Will Finally Arrive This trend has been talked about and talked about for a long time, but it is expected to be a reality in 2020. Luke Fernandez of Wikibuy explains that most large companies (Amazon, UPS, Dominos, etc.) will start experimenting with deliveries using drone technology. By 2020, it is expected that 2.6 billion commercial operations will be facilitated through drones, and that 80% of packages sold by Amazon could potentially be transported using drones. What are the benefits? Packages could be delivered in an average of 30 minutes, and the price of the cost of delivery would be reduced to 1$. This could save 50 million dollars in costs for courier companies. Although, there are some barriers: Air regulations for air deliveries using drones, poor battery durability of these devices and inclement weather. We’ll keep our eye on these 5 companies (Amazon Prime, UPS, Uber Eats, Swoop Aero and Alphabet) in 2020, as they begin to test their drone services. Source: Wikibuy



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#123. D2C: The Focus on Direct to Consumer Companies like Away or Quill are using the “direct-to-consumer” model to thrive in their respective industries. The classic retail model was that the company produced the product, then passed it to the wholesaler, then the distributor, then reached the physical store and from there to the consumer. In contrast, the D2C (directto-consumer) model is committed to favouring new technologies and ecommerce, and to directly empower production companies. D2C is when the production company that manufactures and/or provides the service directly puts it up for sale on the internet using their own online store or other marketplaces. This removes multiple steps from the previous process and allows brands to make their price more competitive. Amazon, eBay and Aliexpress are enhancing this new model. Source: Kreoweb

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#124. Smart Speakers Will Be Ecommerce’s Newest Ally Virtual assistants will be the alliest of ecommerce stores, allowing users to buy directly from the speaker. For example, Alexa users can make Amazon purchases, if they give the necessary permissions. Examples: • Consumer: Alexa, I need a new USB type-C cable for my macbook pro. • Alexa: Hello! I have 20 options, with these prices... • Consumer: I want the option that is worth 9.90 euros. Send it to my work address. According to eMarketer data, in 2019 there were 39.3 million millennials in the United States who routinely use voice assistants (9.77% more than in 2018), 17.2 million Generation X (almost 3% more than the previous year) and 10.1 million Baby boomers (2% more). Source: eMarketer



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#125. Cloud Services for Ecommerce Implementation of cloud services is the main engine of opportunity for retail companies around the world. An example is the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) service that enables stores to grow globally by integrating retail software solutions into a centralized platform, providing real-time insights and predictive analytics to help drive operational excellence and help create unique experiences for buyers. On the other hand, Shrink Management as a Service (SMaaS) cloud services will enable predictive analysis and losseasing thanks to a 24/7 remote connection and monitoring that offers merchants optimal protection. Source: eShow Magazine

#126. Search Engines are Being Replaced by Marketplaces Until recently, search engines were the absolute leaders for product or service inquiries. This has now changed: 55% of Americans have started searching directly for products on Amazon. Amazon contains 44% of U.S. ecommerces and 4% of retail sales. According to Forrester, more than 50% of online purchases are made from the world’s leading marketplaces: Amazon, Alibaba, JD.com and eBay. This figure is expected to increase to 67% by 2022. This trend is on the rise because it helps us understand that in the digital environment there is only one constant: everything is always in continuous change and evolution. Source: Pixel Productions Inc. and Forrest Research



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OOH DIGITAL ADVERTISING #127. Growth in OOH Advertising Out of Home digital advertising continues to grow along with digital advertising in the online environment. Outdoor ads on billboards, stadiums, festivals, and means of transport have already reached record levels. According to Statista, global investments in OOH will amount to $38.6 billion by 2020. Although this technology is in its take-off stages, advances will continue as technology vendors connect data to the inventory source. Tests are already being done so that digital outdoor advertising is personalized. This means recognizing our phones (if for example, they have the bluetooth connection open) and seeing ads designed specifically for you, which will be different for the person walks by 5 minutes later. With continuous developments, this is a new ad channel that you don’t want to lose sight of. Source: Statista



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#128. 3D Holographic Images What new OOH techniques can marketers invent to help people pay attention to their messages in 2020? 3D holographic images are the answer. Hypervsn, for example, has created 3D holographic images from a device made up of four sheets covered with LED lights. Thus, when the device rotates, it creates a 3D image that looks like a higher quality version than the Star Wars holograms. Source: Forbes

#129. Creating and Delivering Peer-to-Peer Ads Fence advertising used to be the domain of just a select few operators. However, the industry has become democratized as digital signage makes it easier to serve ads from web-based platforms. These connect digital billboard operators with potential advertisers. For example, a company called Adomni has created an OHH advertising market for ad creation, delivery, and audience analysis. Advertisers can choose from more than 50,000 screens spread across different locations. This way, an ad can be on the market in a few minutes. The goal is to facilitate the distribution of advertising, personalization and reach like-minded audiences, depending on the time and location of the OOH screen. Source: Forbes



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#130. OOH Controlled via Mobile and Mobile Apps By integrating scannable QR codes for consumers, a brand can not only take advantage of this strategy, but also gain user data and more easily understand what the interaction with the Out Of Home ad was like. We expect to see this trend in 2020, along with many of the others that complete this ebook written by Cyberclick. Source: Informa BTL



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