How to be really good at Digital Marketing in 2020 From voice searches to videos here is everything that you need to know

With the advancements and changing trends in digital technology, digital marketing is expected to take giant strides in the future. We see E-commerce players like Amazon prioritizing marketplace and the search engine giant, Google testing out new approaches such as shopping tab to enhance customer experience and leverage buying intent and giving importance to customer experience and engagement by rolling out algorithm updates. Voice searches and Vernacular Searches are growing at a rapid pace and the trend will witness an exponential growth by 2020.

According to a survey by ET, Digital advertising is expected to grow at 32per cent CAGR to reach approximately 19,000 Crore by 2020. The data also suggests that digital media spend which is 15per cent at present, will go up to 24per cent by 2020. With CAGR growth of Video by 38per cent, Display by 36per cent, and Search by 25per cent; all three verticals are found to increase their share in spends by 2020.

So, how to become exceptional in Digital Marketing in 2020?

Integration of Technology with Marketing:

Prepare for an end to end customer experience – It is important for business organizations to merge their marketing insights with technology. The organizations are now realizing the importance of customer experience and its value to the business. The evolution of Artificial Intelligence is going to play a huge role by merging with digital marketers to provide end to end customer experience.

Automation in Marketing - Everybody prefers modified and personalized content; with data now being mainstreamed more than ever before and innumerable insights available from the huge amount of data, marketers will have to look into providing more personalized and customized content. Thus, marketing automation will not only evolve but is expected to undergo an exquisite change due to the meeting of technology and marketing.

Invest in AR/VR - The use of AR and VR has already pressed the marketers to develop strategies to provide consumers with better services via technologies. This will bring further transformation in the process of collection of information by business organizations and customers, as well. Marketers will have to bring in digital innovations to improve the overall online experience of consumers.

Facebook AR ads - Facebook has been heavily investing in AR and expect it to be the wave of the future. Organizations can interact with their target audience and make product offerings on the basis of their purchasing patterns. Facebook has provided a new platform to the advertisers to display their products by rolling out augmented reality feed ads. With AR feed ads, shopping online will become an even more interactive experience and assist the business organizations in better conversions.

Evolve in measuring Store Visits Online- For a business with an online presence, the major challenge is to determine the number of store visits or footfalls achieved through online promotions. Using the digital marketing expertise and offline behaviour, business organizations must invest in a digital tool which provides information accurately.

Separate Budget for Marketplaces:

Amazon Will Emerge as a Big Player in Digital Marketing - Amazon had recorded a triple-digit growth in the quarter by quarter ad revenue, last year. The elevated buying intent of users makes it an immense platform for any Consumer Product client. It is evolving at a rapid pace and showing how committed Amazon is to change the landscape of digital marketing.

Invest in Amazon Automation Tool - Almost two-thirds of Amazon advertisers are either using ad campaign automation tools or expected to use it within the next twelve months, the market is poised to grow significantly in the next couple of years as Amazon ads will increase their market share.

Amazon SEO Optimisation - As per industry insights, Amazon is the first choice of over 56per cent of consumers if they want to shop online, and 51per cent cross check with Amazon if they are buying from any other platform. This search behaviour is slated to increase by 10-15per cent by end of 2020. This reflects upon the importance of using "Amazon optimisation' in any e-commerce SEO strategy and also using Amazon for keyword research directly.

Become a master of Google Shopping:

In Digital Marketing Space, huge changes are expected in Google Shopping and it is advised to stay alert about everything related to Google Shopping. As Amazon is predicted to be the next big thing in the online shopping ads vertical, Google Shopping will make the inroads into the segment. Google has already started rolling shopping tabs through organic searches across the sphere providing more structured shopping options to choose from. Thus, it is important for the digital business organizations to prepare their digital wing to be shopping heavy.

Adapt and lead the major changes:

Voice Search - As the demand of the voice-based AI devices is on the rise, for example, Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant; a huge rise is expected in the voice-based advertising for marketers. By using these products, people will be able to order products by their name and size. The number of voice searches is on the rise by every passing minute and this will make a huge trend shift by 2020.

Supremacy of Video – With 30hrs/week average time spent on viewing TV or any form of video content, the video viewing quotient is already at an all-time high. This huge trend shift has taken place in the form of videos watched on Mobile and TV. There has been a surge in the content of video channels like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, Voot, zee5 being consumed at an all-time high rate. For digital marketers, the advertising usage on mobile or channel based video content will be crucial. With the leverage of the Internet by the service providers, new realms of opportunities are now available for digital marketers.

Native Ads taking over Mobile - Of the Mobile display Ad revenue, the predicted estimate of native ads on Mobile is 63per cent. This clearly indicates that native ads are dominating the display ads scenario. Native ads incorporate interesting and relative content thus, there is a possibility for higher engagement than any other display ads.

Get more personal with the Customer:

Focus on Private and Customized Messaging - In the quest to provide more personalized content to the customers, brands are shifting their focus to private messaging apps and this trend is set to continue in upcoming years also. Private messaging app advertising is an evolution in digital marketing and it will take the digital marketing space with a storm.

Advertising on WhatsApp - The huge reach of WhatsApp is still unexploited and it is the biggest social messaging app at the moment. Recently, the first TVC of WhatsApp was launched; and it is expected to grow as a mass reach marketing channel with a shift of ad budgets on WhatsApp.

A strong Presence on Social Media - One of the studies reveals 63per cent of the marketers think that Social media is going to be big as compared to apps or web. To create brand awareness and brand connectivity among the customers, the stranglehold on Social channels is a must. Social channels are constantly evolving as a lot of new features getting added to Instagram, YouTube etc. Social Media is here to stay and it is going nowhere. So, it is utterly important for digital marketers to mark their presence on social media.