EPISODE 47 – 2020 MARKETING PREDICTIONS – 6 essential marketing trends for 2020

by | Nov 20, 2019 | Marketing Strategies, Podcast | 0 comments

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 47 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here.  I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you’ll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media!  I’m all about marketing your life, your business and your marketing simpler.  Because business isn’t always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler.

One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop.  To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven’t joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join!  Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like.  Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast

www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners

Today I wanted to share with you some predictions I see in the area of marketing, as we head into 2020.  Some of them are already trending, some are on the tip of taking off and some we know very well, we just need to get better at!

But before I get into all that, let’s do the discovery of the week.

THIS WEEK’S DISCOVERY!

This discovery is Google Easy PDF.

What does Google Easy PDF do?  It makes PDF documents writable – which means people can fill in forms or write answers etc on your PDF.

I think it’s a frustration of many that we download these workbooks, lead magnets, books etc as PDFs and we need to print them just so we can write on them or fill out the answers.

The second part to the frustration many of us feel, is that once we write the answers, we need to scan them back into our computer and send them back to the person via email.

It’s an arduous job!  Labour intensive and not a good use of our time.

And in the spirit of this podcast – google easy PDF will make your life simpler!

Now I have PDFs out there in the world and haven’t used Google Easy PDF.  So, it’s one of my jobs, over my December January to get things like this done.

How about you?  Do you need to go back over some items in your business and make it easier for your client or customer?  Give me a better experience?

As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am.  I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too!

Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you’d like to share, please do so.  Email me at jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple.  I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler!

2020 MARKETING PREDICTIONS – 6 essential marketing trends for 2020

My predictions for where we need to be spending time in our marketing in 2020.

I’ve come up with these 6 predictions by watching trends, doing marketing myself and for my clients and watching what works, what doesn’t and what did and doesn’t anymore or vice versa.

So, let’s get into it.

  1. Google my Business

If you haven’t already set up your “google my business” page – then do so TODAY peeps!  And start treating it like social media – post to it – put your best content on it.

Why?  Well what I’ve seen and experienced is that since the demise of Google + which shut down in about May 2019, Google has put a whole load of focus on Google My Business as it’s answer to a social media platform.

It’s like an online directory for local business.  Want to be found locally, then this is the place you need to be putting your time and energy into in 2020.

Some of the most compelling reasons why you need a Google My Business presence

  1. It’s Free. …
  2. Helps Customers Find Your Physical Location. …
  3. Better Search Visibility. …
  4. Displays Useful Information. …
  5. Another Communication Channel. …
  6. Encourage and Actively Respond to Reviews

I recently had a new prospect reach out to me and said “I just had to ring, every time I google X you keep coming up.  I can no longer escape you, so I’ve picked up the phone and called!”

So, priority number Uno (although I’m probably going to say that about all 6 points) is Google my Business. 

How do you start, just google, google my business!  If you already have a Gmail account, you are halfway there!

  1. Voice Search

This has already taken off, but I can absolutely guarantee you, these devices will be hot on the Christmas list for households without one this year!

What am I talking about?  Voice search devices, Google Home, Amazon Echo with Alexa and the one many of us have in our pockets Siri by Apple!

We have one, every morning my children ask, Hey Google, what’s the weather going to be like today” or “Hey Google, can you set a timer for 5 minutes please”

We are only going to see the rise and rise of voice search marketing.

What does this mean for small businesses?  Well frankly a lot and probably worth a whole podcast in itself.

But voice searches like “Hey Google, what’s the best pizza in town X” are going to become more and more common.

So, and this is going to be harsh, if you don’t have a website already, if your website does not have great content on it that is in the language of your customer that solves their problems, then you are behind the eight ball coming into 2020.

If you don’t already have a website – get one.  Building your brand, your business, just on social platforms that you don’t own the real estate of, not a good idea.

All you might need is a fabulous one page website, with great content on it that is in the language of your customer that solves their problems.

Voice search is not going away and if you’re honest and look at your own or your family’s habits, you’ll see that you or they are even starting to trend that way.

  1. Conversational Marketing

I have been banging on about this for about 3 years now.  So, it’s no surprise that it’s made it into my 2020 predictions.

I will say it again, loud and proud, human to human, H2H, we need to be marketing to our prospects like they are human.

Marketing is no longer about telling someone how good you are, how long you’ve been that good for and how they need you.

It’s about having a conversation with them, telling some stories, letting them get to know you – yes YOU! And leading them down a funnel path that results in them not being able to resist you and/or your services because they know you and you alone, can solve their problems or delight them.

If you wouldn’t say it to another human, in those exact words, then don’t write it as a content piece in your marketing.

Get personal too.  Do personal marketing.  Maybe it’s a piece of direct marketing – direct marketing is where the marketing is 100% personalised to that person.  A birthday card, a book sent to them you know they’d like, an personal invitation to attend an event that’s personal, a video sent when they join your world, a DM on Instagram saying, thanks for the follow, have a great day, a direct message on LinkedIn, saying, thanks for connecting or would you like to connect.  Maybe send Christmas cards or Happy 2020 cards ….

Personal marketing.

One of our best pieces of marketing in my retail days, was something we sent in a bright pink envelope with a handwritten note.  I have no doubt we had a 100% open rate, who gets snail mail or pink snail mail these days, but we also had a 95% take up rate of the offer because it was SO personal.

The businesses who get this, will win more in 2020.

Oh, and, yes, you really do have to keep showing your face and your team’s faces if you have one.

If you’re afraid of the camera, I’ll say one thing, actually two, 1. Filters and 2. It’s not about you, it’s about your customers and how you can serve them.

So, my prediction is basically, those who marketing conversationally, will win more business because humans interact with other humans.

  1. Video

Sorry not sorry!

Video is king and it has been for many years. 

Video intensives your ability to build authority as the go-to person in your industry and it also quickens the “know, like, love, trust” factors that people need to feel before they’ll do business with you or become a loyal customer or client and one of your best piece of marketing – the referrer!

I’ve spoken about video many times on this podcast before.  And I pretty sure I’ve shared this story, but I’ll do it again.

About 18 months ago, I was at my mastermind complaining to my business bestie  that I hate video.  I hate myself on video, I hate the way I look, the way I sound, blah blah blah.

His advice, swift and to the point (and a dagger to the heart), Jenn you look and sound the same to me on video as you do standing here complaining right now.  It’s only you who thinks you look different or sound different.

#truthbomb – boy did that one hurt.  But it’s so so true and one of the best/worst pieces of advice I’ve ever had.

So, if you are interacting with people face to face, whether it be 1 or 200, the way they see you, the way they hear you is the same if you put yourself on a video.

I’ll pause for affect – let that sink in.

I hope that little pep talk will get you doing more video from today onwards – don’t wait for 2020!

Set yourself a goal – do a video every day from today for 30 days.  Post them.  If practice makes perfect, then you’ll smash out videos like bunnies soon enough.

  1. Insights Driven Marketing

Businesses owns who use their analytics and insights to drive their marketing will win bigger and better and quicker in 2020.

If you have google analytics, or you are on a social media platform you have access to insights and data that can really help you up level your marketing and build strategies you know will work. 

Therefore, making marketing easier, simpler, more strategic and, what we all want, have a better return on investment.

If you look at your insights and see that you audience is more engaged on Friday nights, then heck post great content on Friday nights.

If you can see from your Google Analytics that you have a big bounce rate on a particular page of your website, invest why that is?  Is it load speed, is it not what they are expecting?

If you see from your email marketing analytics that you have a bigger open rate when you use emojis in the subject line or when you send something out on a Sunday, then what are you doing sending an email out on Tuesday?

Use all the tools at your exposure to marketing strategically.  Those who do in 2020, those people will be the ones you are admiring their growth in business and wondering how they did it.

  1. Influencer Marketing

Having someone else tell your audience just how amazing you are, or how amazing your product is, is worth it’s weight in gold if done right.

Having someone else help build that know, like, (or love) and trust factors is almost priceless.

In 2020, stop thinking about influencer marketing as paying a celeb to show your product, think of it as your customer who tagged you on Instagram when they took a photo of your product, think of it as the amazing staff member you have who always shares your stuff on their socials or to their friends, or that customer who is always referring you new business.

92 percent of people trust other consumer recommendations over business advertising.

Paying for Influencers is a trend that will grow in 2020.  However, they won’t be looking for celebs necessarily, they will be looking for people with seriously engaged, perhaps smallish, audience.

But, we as small business owners, need to look at influencer marketing even more micro and look at who we have in our world doing it already or how we can encourage it – like how can you encourage your customers to tag and share what do you or what you sell more on their social platforms?

Definitely a strategy to give weight to in 2020.

So that’s it – 6 of my predictions for 2020 and what marketing will look like.

Let’s recap

  1. Google my business page
  2. Voice activated marketing
  3. Conversational, human to human marketing
  4. Video
  5. Insights driven marketing
  6. Influencer marketing

Got questions, comments, thoughts, ideas – well I’d love to hear them all.  Head into the Facebook Book, Like Minded Business owners and tell or ask away! 

If you’re not a member of Like Minded Business Owners, simply head to Facebook, type in Like Minded Business Owners and join up.  Otherwise, there’s a link in the new notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast

www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners

I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend.  And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in.  Those things are like gold for podcasters like me!  PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying!

But that is all for Episode 47. I’d love to connect with you all on social – so let’s get social on social – I’m on all the platforms, so let’s do that!

…….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!

 

 

 

 

 

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Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

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