14 Feb 2024
- 08 Jan 2020
- 10 Min read
7 ways to supercharge your digital marketing and SEO strategy in 2020
- by Emily Park
You’ve probably made some personal resolutions that will help to make you happier and healthier in 2020. But, have you thought about how you’re going to enhance your digital marketing strategy to reach a wider audience, build brand loyalty, and make as many sales as possible over the next 12 months?
We know that a lot of work and effort goes into running a business, so you’ll only want to try out tricks and techniques that are going to get the results you’ve looking for. That’s why we’ve put together this guide, which outlines seven ways you can supercharge your digital marketing and SEO strategy for the coming year. Start implementing these tips now, and we’re sure you’ll see more success in 2020 than ever before.
Make sure you’re following through with remarketing
Getting people to visit your website for the very first time is the biggest challenge you should be trying to solve with your digital marketing strategy. Then, once you’ve broken through that barrier, you’ll want them to come back again and again — whether that’s to make their first purchase, buy something else, or check out your new-in section. One of the most effective ways to encourage this is through remarketing your products or services to them, but it’s surprising just how many businesses don’t take advantage of this option.
If you’re unfamiliar with remarketing, it’s a type of online advertising that allows you to target people who have previously visited your site but left without making a purchase or further enquiry. These adverts might show up on social media sites and apps like Facebook or Instagram, as well as on other sites that your prospective customers look at. They’re designed to remind people about your brand and will hopefully give internet users the nudge they need to finally make that purchase they might have already been thinking about.
Here at Glass Digital, we offer remarketing as an element of our paid search service. So, if you’re worried that you might be missing out on sales because you haven’t yet explored this area of digital advertising, get in touch to discuss how we could help you out!
Don’t underestimate the power of visuals and design
Content is certainly still king when it comes to SEO and digital marketing, but it’s becoming increasingly visual. And, there are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the internet is already over-saturated with people, online publications, and businesses who are all trying to attract attention, which means you and your content really need to stand out in order to get noticed. And, it can be a lot easier to do this with graphics and images, compared to written guides and resources.
You also need to acknowledge that online users’ concentration spans can be quite limited, and it’s thought that this has a lot to do with the fact we spend a lot of time scrolling through online posts on our phones. According to Wyzowl, the average human attention span has fallen from 12 to 8.25 seconds since 2000. Plus, the average person will only read up to 28% of the content on a webpage they visit and will often leave a page after just 10–20 seconds. So, it goes without saying that you typically have a short amount of time to grab someone’s attention and show that you have something valuable to tell them. This is where visuals can be very helpful.
Infographics, for example, allow you to communicate a lot of information in a short amount of time. Plus, the fact that they’re interesting to look at can go a long way towards attracting someone’s attention, and then keeping it long enough to get all your points across.
Of course, this isn’t to say you should abandon written content completely: comprehensive resources and guides are still one of the most valuable assets you can create for your website. They should be an important pillar of every SEO strategy, and can also help to boost conversions, ultimately making you more sales. But there may be times when it makes more sense to present information in a visual way. And, more than ever before, it’s vital that you’re looking out for opportunities to do this.
Embrace conversational marketing
Conversational marketing has certainly grown in popularity over the last few months, and it’s likely 2020 will be the year it truly takes off. But what is conversational marketing, and why should you seriously consider jumping on this bandwagon?
Conversational marketing allows you to start one-on-one conversations with prospective customers in real-time. This gives them the opportunity to ask questions, raise any concerns they might have, and figure out which of your products or services are going to work best for them. This then increases the chance of them actually making a purchase and having a purely positive experience of buying from your company.
But, as a business owner, it’s unlikely you have enough time to have productive conversations with all of your prospective customers. Fortunately, chatbots can help to provide the customer service you don’t quite have the resources to provide yourself. In fact, many shoppers prefer this — 65% of consumers would rather speak to a chatbot immediately, rather than wait around to speak to a human (Userlike). Making your chatbots available 24/7 can also be very helpful, as it means you won’t have to miss out on potential sales from customers who browse your site out of hours.
Of course, a robot won’t be able to answer all of the possible questions someone might have, but your chosen system should be able to cover all of the FAQs you tend to receive. Then, if there are any further queries that a prospective customer has, they can be passed over to your or one of your customer service representatives, who should be able to provide them with more in-depth help.
Aim for position zero on the SERPs
Back in June of 2019, the majority of all browser-based searches on Google.com resulted in zero clicks for the first time ever (SparkToro). This means that most people were finding the information they needed on Google’s SERPs and, therefore, weren’t clicking through to any of the sites that were listed on there.
It was also expected that 30% of web browsing sessions would be conducted without a screen by the year 2020 (Gartner). This means that, while the vast majority of searches will still be made using a smartphone, tablet, or computer, voice search is also set to play a huge part in how people access online information. And, the answers to people’s voice queries will often come from Google’s Featured Snippets or Knowledge Graphs so, in order to increase brand awareness and reach a wider audience, it’s well worth aiming for position zero when you’re writing your content. We have a guide to earning Featured Snippets on Google, which will help you to do just that.
While this tactic won’t necessarily get you more clicks, it will help to get your business in front of more people, which might mean they think of you the next time they’re looking to buy the products you sell. And, as no-click searches are becoming increasingly popular in general, this is the main way you can still grab people’s attention. Featured Snippets are always going to be snagged by someone and, for queries that are relevant to your business, it might as well be you!
Work with a diverse range of influencers
Whether you work with influencers on an affiliate marketing or strictly PR basis, you need to ensure the list of people you partner with is diverse. Representation has always mattered but, now more than ever, consumers are happy to call out a lack of diversity in marketing campaigns — and with good reason. So, you need to keep this in mind when you’re recruiting influencers to promote your brand.
The most popular bloggers and Instagram influencers tend to have similar looks and lifestyles, but things are changing, and you can help to accelerate this shift. In order to diversify your influencer base, it’s likely you’ll need to work with online personalities who have slightly smaller followings — at least to begin with. However, this won’t necessarily mean that your campaigns are going to reach fewer people.
For example, if you work with several young, white, and middle-class influencers who all have 500,000 followers each, it’s easy to think you’ll be able to reach millions of people. But, if all of these social media personalities all look the same and promote the same things, it’s likely their followings overlap massively. However, if you ensure your influencer lists are inclusive when it comes to age, cultural and racial backgrounds, gender, sexuality, body shapes and sizes, and disabilities, it’s very likely you’ll be reaching a different audience with every post. Plus, it will help to boost the profiles of these personalities, benefitting the influencer industry as a whole.
Make your marketing more insight-driven
2020 is also set to be the year that more marketers take an insight-driven approach to their campaigns. Of course, the better you understand your audience, the better you’re going to be able to promote your products or services. So, it’s vital that you use the data that’s available to you to inform your marketing strategy.
While the likes of GDPR and browser anti-tracking measures have made it much harder to collect a wide range of information from the people who engage with your brand, there’s still sure to be some data you can use to your advantage.
This could be as simple as using your Instagram Insights to work out when the majority of your audience are online, and then waiting to post a photo of a brand-new product at a peak time. You can read countless articles about when the best time to post on your social media channels is, but nobody has as much of an insight into your audience as you do. So, we would always recommend taking your own data into account, rather than following what everyone else is doing.
You can even look into which of your social accounts are actually getting the most engagement from your customers, and then just focusing on those ones. Too many businesses feel like they need to be absolutely everywhere online, but it’s better to spend more time running your accounts that get the most attention, and your stats will indicate where you need to be focusing your attention.
You shouldn’t be afraid to ask you audience direct questions to get a better insight into what they want from you, too. For example, you could devise a Twitter poll that asks you customers why they are interested in your business. This could then inform your future marketing strategies — whether they’re attracted to your low prices, green credentials, or brand ethos in general, you can look to push this in your online activity going forward.
Give video advertising a try
If there’s one thing most marketers will agree on, it’s that video advertising is only going to become more popular in 2020. In terms of digital ad spend, display video was up 27% year on year in the first six months of 2019, according to The Drum, and this trend is only set to continue.
The popularity of video platforms and apps, like YouTube and TikTok, is the main driving force behind this, but the users of other social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, are also great targets for video advertising.
As we’ve previously mentioned, content is set to become much more visual over the coming year, and the rise of video ads is just another example of that. This kind of advertising allows you to grab an internet user’s attention, then give them a lot of important information about your brand or products in a short space of time. As a result, it’s a great tool for marketing to those who are scrolling through their recommended videos, Facebook timelines, and Instagram feeds.
2020 is set to be a huge year in the world of digital marketing, and supercharging your strategy is going to help you stay ahead of your competition and make more sales. So, keep these tips in mind over the coming months. If you’re looking for an SEO, affiliate marketing, or PPC agency that can help to boost your online visibility, get in touch to discuss your plans today!
