Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions: What to Expect for the Rest of 2020
Wondering how to make the most out of your digital marketing campaigns in the next few months? We’ve gathered insights from our industry experts to understand what top digital marketing trends to expect for the remainder of the year.
From adopting new online tactics to changes around consumer privacy, here’s an inside look at some of their digital marketing trends and predictions in the second half of 2020.
2020 Social Media Marketing Trends
Insights from Drew Crawford, Senior Account Manager, Ad Operations, AdParlor
To weather unpredictable events, businesses must be quick to adapt as situations change. How can businesses continue to resonate with customers?
The pandemic caused an acceleration of new service offerings, most which were previously overlooked. With 75% of Americans continuing to shop the same or more online as retail stores open, it will be important for brick and mortar locations to continue providing the option to Buy Online, and Pickup In Store (BOPIS). The move towards ship-from-store to speed up delivery times and others who adopted new delivery options for the first time will remain key in the second half of the year.
Online retail has a slew of new tactics deployed across multiple channels. While some businesses pulled back, others are expanding onto new platforms (such as Pinterest and TikTok) to expand their reach and connect with new audiences. Free shipping has become a major driver of unmoved inventory, while revised messaging is reframing everyday CPG products as essentials for our general wellbeing.
We’re still in the first wave of COVID-19 and a second one is not improbable. As cases continue to spike in the US, businesses need to plan to have these practices in place for a long time but also be ready to pivot, because if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is predictable. Those who wait will get left behind.
Learn more about AdParlor’s advanced media buying capabilities here.
2020 Programmatic Advertising Trends
Insights from Morgan Rigsbee, VP, Product & Strategy, Fluent Programmatic
What is fueling the current push away from the use of third-party cookies and what do you predict will take their place?
The main driver of this change is consumer privacy. Consumers want more transparency and control over which entities get visibility, trackability and usability of the information collected during their internet activities. While policy changes like GDPR and CCPA have certainly accelerated these efforts, Google’s plan to eliminate third-party cookies by 2022 has officially put the entire ad industry on notice. With essentially all browser traffic soon either disabling or limiting third-party cookies, the industry will need to find a new currency to facilitate targeting, frequency capping and attribution.
There are many initiatives underway, such as Google’s Privacy Sandbox and the IAB’s Project Rearc, that encourage collaboration in pursuit of identifying solutions that help to improve the digital ad ecosystem. The challenge is going to be standardizing something that works across channels, though I believe the most likely and realistic option would be to move to an identity-based identifier that’s sourced from first-party, deterministic data.
Considering these changes, how can brands, specifically those in the CPG or retail category, better connect with and tailor the consumer experience to new and existing customers?
The potential move to an identity-based identifier presents a huge challenge to CPG companies, publishers and other players who don’t have the same type of registration-based data set that’s available in the walled gardens. For brands, CPG or otherwise, the most critical thing they can do is start cultivating as much deterministic, first-party data as possible.
Whether directly, or through a partner like Fluent, brands need to create a value exchange in which a consumer knowingly and willingly provides their data and the marketing permissions to use it. Beyond this, brands need to focus on scale and portability, making sure they have the infrastructure in place to manage and distribute that data. For most brands, this means leveraging some combination of a CDP, DMP and on-boarding partner.
Learn more about Fluent’s data for programmatic targeting here.
2020 Mobile App Marketing Trends
Insights from Christina Diederich, Senior Director, Performance Marketing, Fluent
Mobile gaming emerged as a go-to source of entertainment during quarantine. What does the future of the gaming industry look like post-COVID-19?
Nationwide stay-at-home orders have changed the gaming landscape for both long-time fans and first-time gamers. Media consumption habits have increased across devices throughout the pandemic, with over half of Americans spending more than one hour playing games each day. 46% of U.S. consumers have started playing new games on their phones and other devices during this period, with 67% of them planning to continue playing those same games as states ease restrictions and work toward restoring a sense of normalcy.
The adoption of new games during quarantine signifies a dramatic increase in the overall national gamer population. For app developers who have seen a spike in new users over the past few months, the path forward will be all about retention. Engaging graphics and strong CRM efforts like push and email notifications will be key in converting newly engaged players into recurring gamers.
What can app marketers do to acquire engaged users with high lifetime value?
Once key performance indicators including engagement, retention and in-app purchase rates are established, determining your most valuable users is a critical step in assuring continuous profitability of your app. An accurate lifetime value prediction model is key in allowing app developers to create a sophisticated targeting and pricing strategy around different audience segments.
Postbacks can be leveraged to track not only top-of-funnel actions, like an install, but also lower funnel events, like a level-complete or in-app purchase within a game. This type of performance data helps marketers determine the most effective targeting and optimization strategies around their highest performing audience segments, media channels and traffic sources.
Learn more about Fluent’s solutions for mobile user acquisition here.
2020 Email Marketing Trends
Insights from Sabiha Tudesco, Senior Director, Strategic Accounts, Fluent
What are some email marketing tactics that can help advertisers win in the second half of the year?
During this time of change and uncertainty, it is important to build campaigns around messaging that makes consumers feel supported.
Here are a few email best practices to help marketers build loyalty among their most valuable customers and reengage those that have fallen off as we prepare for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
- Welcome your new subscribers immediately, letting them know you care and are excited to communicate with them.
- Establish a regular cadence for sending content that is informative, engaging, and welcoming.
- Send your consumers a “Thank You” message once every 1-2 months, sharing a discount code or short-term promotion to show your appreciation for their loyalty.
- Send a re-engagement email to less frequent openers once per month, including a discount or promotion to ease them back into engaging with your brand.
How is the value of email evolving?
Email is no longer just a tool for supporting CRM marketing efforts. As the central point of our digital identities, we use it for logging into all channels online. Instead of just running email campaigns, advertisers can leverage this unique identifier to reach new and existing customers at different touchpoints across the consumer journey.
For example, many DSPs and DMPs now offer Lookalike modeling capabilities based on first-party datapoints. This allows marketers to expand the use of email beyond CRM initiatives, using email data to find new customers that fit the same profile as their most valuable customers. As the single most valuable match key for addressability, email is emerging as the bedrock of an omnichannel marketing approach.
Learn more about Fluent’s email marketing solutions here.
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