2019 marketing trends, and 2020 predictions
By Simon Sangha, Liniar.
This month, I’m going to explore the five key marketing trends of 2019 for the fenestration industry based on my own research, and discuss my predictions for 2020.
Keywords. There has been an increase in searched keywords and phrases of terms such as ‘lean-to conservatories’, and ‘orangeries’, whereas keywords that were popular in previous years, such as ‘Victorian conservatories’, have dramatically decreased in search volumes.
If you’re in the PVCU sector, it’s worth bearing in mind that even though the acronym ‘PVCU’ is the correct term to use, the search term ‘UPVC’ is still much higher, so your website should cater for this when it comes to search engine optimisation and use this term too.
The best way to track particular keywords is to use Google Trends. You can get historic keyword data which can help predict how well a certain keyword will perform before using it for SEO purposes.
Digital Platforms. I’ve seen more of a shift to using digital platforms in the industry, with more investment in e-commerce, quoting engines and automation, and I predict this to continue to increase in 2020.
With artificial intelligence and automated platforms becoming even more prevalent, businesses will find more valuable information to use and further improve customer journeys, resulting in the generation of quality leads more efficiently. This in turn will slow down more traditional methods of marketing, as we have seen in previous years.
However, for the fenestration industry demographic, I would still recommend having a mixed marketing strategy of traditional offline channels to enhance your digital channels.
Social stories and codification. Something I’ve categorically seen a rise in is social media stories, and the concept of sharing a story with viewers to create a greater sense of loyalty with brands. There are several benefits of using stories, including brand awareness, cost-effectiveness, and increasing traffic to specific web pages.
Remember the importance of brand codification to aid recognition – this doesn’t always have to be your logo. I went to the Festival of Marketing recently and this is something that has stuck at the forefront of my mind. The significance of standing out using ‘codes’ such as your brand colours and shapes is imperative on any creative content you produce. As Mark Ritson (2019) mentioned: “Distinctiveness is a marketer’s main challenge.”
Personalisation. Whether it’s email campaigns or targeted adverts online, customers seem to react more positively to a personalised approach. An example of the way we do this at Liniar is through our AdWords campaigns, where we target individuals with dynamic content based on which pages they’ve visited and tailor our ads to match these preferences (this is also known as re-targeting). In turn, this decreases bounce rates and provokes more engagement.
SEO. Not only should we be considering voice search in 2020 (think of all the Google Home and Echo devices given as Christmas gifts this year) but we should be revisiting our search engine optimisation strategy to start ranking for position zero (P0). This is new from Google and something I will touch upon later this year.
Bonus Tip. January is a great time to set some new quarterly and yearly targets and revisit analytics and statistics to form a solid digital strategy for 2020.
