Welcome back! I hope you are rested and ready to take on the new year like we are. 2020 is bound to bring on a fair amount of challenges and opportunities for the digital industry. Whether it’s the fact that Google recently decided to phase out third party cookies, or US politicians pushing to break up ‘Big Tech’ firms like Facebook and Amazon, our landscape is ever-changing and the best thing we can do is to be prepared, look ahead, adapt and keep an ear on the ground.
According to the World Advertising and Research Center, in 2020 Digital Advertising will for the first time ever make up more than half of the total global ad spend at $336 billion, with Google’s share of the global ad market being 23%, ahead of Facebook’s 13% and Amazon’s 2.5%. But what does that mean for you as a publisher or an advertiser? Below are some of the big trends in digital that you will need to keep an eye on:
Companies relying on Google Analytics will get beaten by their competitors – Not that there’s anything wrong with Google Analytics, but things are changing. New channels are being introduced constantly, such as voice search, and transactions are no longer as simple as someone coming and buying from you. On top of that, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships, affiliate marketing, and even webinars. In 2020, you will see more companies adopting business intelligence solutions. A central place where you can tie in all of your data and make better-informed decisions so you can optimize for your lifetime value instead of your short-term income.
Conversational marketing – this is thought by many to be the most exciting trend in marketing today, bringing together rapid consumer adoption of smart speakers and innovation in search query processing, conversational interfaces and messaging. However, many of these technologies aren’t expected to become mainstream for another 5 to 10 years. Of those forecast to hit the mainstream within the next 2 to 5 years, the three most significant for marketers to consider are personification, real-time and conversational marketing.
Consumer privacy – Repeated privacy faux-pas by Facebook, Google and security breaches at other brands leading to the release of customer details have highlighted to consumers that their data isn’t as safe with online brands as they may have once thought. Privacy regulations like GDPR have been enacted to improve data privacy with increased fines. This also means that the days of the cookie (and particularly third-party cookies) and digital fingerprinting may be numbered. Therefore businesses should be considering other alternatives if they aren’t already.
Martech – These days, Marketing Technology presents a bewildering choice of software services for businesses looking to improve their management of digital media, experiences and supporting data. If your business and your agencies adopt the right blend of Martech, it can help give you an edge against competitors, but if not, you may be missing out on the insights and automation processes they are using. The only way to map, store, analyze and act on the complete end-to-end customer journey is having all the data in one place using a Customer Data Platform. But it is up to each company to decide which system (or combinations of systems) is the best fit for their business.
It’s quite a lot to think about, but AdMarula is on this journey with you, as your partner in Digital.
Upwards and onwards!
Daniel Gross – CEO
