Marketers have had a front row seat to tremendous change in the last few years. There were periods marked by tremendous growth in digital marketing, but there’s a shift happening.
Marketers are still investing in digital marketing, but they realize that it can’t be the sole marketing vehicle. Marketers are balancing their strategies and adding more traditional techniques like direct mail and print marketing back into the mix.
As marketers rely on more marketing channels and techniques than ever before, it makes you wonder: what will the top marketing trends be for 2020?
We reached out to six expert marketers to get their predictions for the new year, spanning digital, print, social, and influencer marketing.
Here are their 2020 predictions:
1. More customer success stories are told
I believe the biggest marketing trend that will shape 2020 is brands leveraging customer voice as a storytelling tactic.
We've seen B2B-oriented brands like Square increase their brand equity by telling the stories of their customers to move their messaging, especially for the entrepreneurial audience.
Square, for example, is everywhere with Self Made, a national tour of cities like Pittsburgh and Detroit, tapping notable entrepreneurs along the way to feature in advertisements and special learning events called "Night School."
Leveraging customers as advocates in such a strategic way is like a more brand-controlled form of influencer relations. Companies are directly engaging the best customers and turning their experiences into the hero stories of their brand.
Morgan McCoy, Content Specialist, Touchdown
2. Print marketing designs take a minimalist approach
When it comes to the top marketing trends for 2020, in print marketing, it will be all about minimalism. Minimalism in graphics, texts, and style.
People are overwhelmed with flashy and poorly designed prints and lean towards quality work that goes hand-in-hand with what minimalistic design is about.
Therefore in 2020, we'll see less text-dominated prints, more well-thought layouts, colors that actually make sense in regards to the message, and—what's the most important—design that encourages people to share those prints online.
Jakub Kliszczak, Marketing Specialist, CrazyCall
3. Marketers will seek out sustainable vendors
A growing number of companies are implementing green initiatives, and as a result, marketers are more thoughtful about engaging suppliers.
Companies that prioritize sustainability realize that these practices require more than an office recycling program. To be truly sustainable, it becomes part of the company’s culture and impacts every decision made—including which vendors to work with. Companies expect not only transparency but meaning from their vendor partnerships.
For example, a company that is sustainably-minded and is looking to create a direct mail campaign won’t work with just any printer, it will look for one with a sustainable certification (in addition to printing on recycled paper) to ensure every facet of the campaign is created with the environment in mind.
The change is here. Marketers are aligning with print partners that help to address their own sustainability goals and have the least impact on the environment all while creating an amazing outreach campaign.
Kristin Spanier, Sustainability Committee Chairperson, Business Development, Shawmut Communications Group
4. Use of influencer marketing goes mainstream
I believe 2020 will be a big year within the influencer marketing space. Most people think of influencer marketing as brand awareness but this network of dedicated content creators can have a positive impact on your SEO through link building and improve your brand's digital footprint.
Highly visual platforms like Instagram and YouTube have shown to be the most successful for brand ambassadors to reach and motivate audiences to engage with a corresponding business. As to why we are estimating influencer marketing to be a good fit for brands is two-fold—accessibility and price.
There is no shortage of social media influencers in 2020, and these influencers offer a wide range of audience sizes and demographics for businesses to filter through. Due to the vast competition within the influencer market, businesses are able to match their business objectives and budget with an individual that provides the best opportunity and reach with potential new customers.
Max Prokell, Founder, CEO, Venta Marketing
5. Companies test drive Instagram’s new Shoppable Posts
With the launch of Instagram's Shoppable Posts, selling and buying on social media will become a whole lot easier. With these posts, users can buy products directly from social media posts, no need to leave the site or the app.
Before Shoppable Posts, the only way influencers could sell their products was by linking them to their bios or by links to their Instagram stories.
This new feature decreases the steps for shoppers, making it easier for them to shop for the products they want, and increasing the chances of them buying the product.
Kenny Trinh, Managing Editor, Netbooksnews
6. More companies will create promotional apparel to sell
One of the biggest print marketing trends that will shape 2020 is more branded apparel.
Not only are companies continuing to print branded apparel and give it out for free to employees and potential customers, now they are starting to brand and print custom apparel that they are selling and adding as another revenue stream.
The trend for printing and monetizing custom apparel is going to continue to grow in 2020 and beyond.
Stacy Caprio, Founder, Growth Marketing
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