Marketing in the IT Industry - 5 Trends to Consider in 2020 -

Marketing in the IT Industry - 5 Trends to Consider in 2020 - Have you ever heard of David Ogilvy? If you are passionate about marketing and advertising, you probably know who he is.    But if you belong to the group that isnt enthusiastic about marketing, you have probably never come across this name. So who is he? David Ogilvy is the father of modern advertising who totally overhauled the traditional way of marketing. He once attributed his success to collecting customer habits intel and customizing his marketing campaigns to meet their needs. His strategy played out so well that he was able to score some of the biggest companies of the time including Rolls Royce and Shell. All this happened despite him being the head of a small company competing against established marketing companies in the 70s. Fast-forward to today, most of his marketing strategies are still relevant. However, with the emergence of new technology compounded by changing customer needs, companies are looking for better ways to market their goods and services. In this article, we are going to look at the trends making headlines in the IT industry and also how they can help a business improve the bottom line. Definition of Marketing Simply put, marketing refers to the process of attracting customers towards a business with the sole purpose of selling them products or services. It starts with conducting market research, analyzing, and understanding what interest your customers. Unlike other isolated business components, marketing touches every aspect of a business right from product development up to when the product reaches the customer. With the ever-changing consumer habits, it is important for marketers to have their firm finger on the consumers persona pulse through continuous analysis of shopping habits and the prevailing trends in the ecosystem. For this to happen, it means that businesses need to explore different methods to optimize their marketing including the use of marketing automation software. What is Marketing Automation? If you work in the marketing department, you may be familiar with repetitive tasks such as sending emails or posting on social media platforms. Marketing automation is a software application that helps in automating these repetitive tasks or any other marketing actions. Marketing automation benefits include allowing companies to nurture prospective customers with useful, highly personalized content hence converting them into actual customers. Good examples of free marketing automation tools include Hubspot, Drip, MailChimp, and Zoho Campaigns. Find here how you can create custom software to help in automating your marketing. Before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s important to mention that the type of marketing you choose is largely influenced by the business niche and the platforms your customers prefer to use. For instance, it would be counterproductive to focus your marketing efforts using print media if your customers spend most of their time online. To avoid this mismatch, ensure you collect intel on customer behavior to ensure you come up with the right marketing tools mix that actually reaches your customers. Common types of marketing that a business can pursue. .Internet marketing Internet marketing is by far the largest and commonly used form of marketing. It operates under the basis of establishing an online presence which essentially exposes a business to customers. Search Engine Optimization Commonly abbreviated as SEO, it entails optimizing the content placed on a business website. As a result, the content helps this content to rank on the search engine once customers search for the products or services that fall in a particular category. Blog Marketing Gone are the days when blogs were exclusive to the individual writers. Businesses now are able to publish content touching their industry which essentially gathers interest from potential customers browse the internet looking for information. Social Media Marketing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms have also emerged as the new kids on the block where businesses target their customers. Print Marketing Print marketing is one of the marketing methods that have stood the test of time. Newspapers and magazines have perfected the art of understanding their customer’s interests giving businesses a platform where they can place photography, sponsored articles, and similar content for customers to read. Video Marketing A few years back, no one would have believed that video marketing would match or even transcend commercials. The current video marketing trends have seen an increase in investment to create and publish educative videos to reach their core customers. 5 Marketing Trends in the IT Industry to Look Out For in 2020 AI Marketing will Continue to Grow Artificial intelligence marketing entails leveraging customer data to map out customer’s behaviors, anticipate their next move, and make improvements to make this journey easier. Over the past few years, the marketing space has seen a rise in AI marketing mainly in the area of improving the customer-business relationship. Armed with these big data insights, marketers are able to greatly boost the performance of their marketing campaigns at the same time improve their ROI. Chatbots will Become More Mainstream Customer service can make or break a business. However, a good number of customers dont feel dont have the time to wait on the phone with a customer care rep discussing their problems or even drafting an email over the same. With chatbots, its super-convenient to solve some of these minor problems and it shouldnt come as a surprise they will become major players in the marketing space. These little but equally helpful AI concierges will continue to be integrated into websites to answer to customer queries and fulfill their requests in a record-breaking time without sacrificing personality. According to a recent report by Grand View Research,   it is estimated that the global chatbot market will hit $1.25 billion by 2025. During the same period, the market will see an annual growth rate of 24.3% which goes to show how bright the future is for the bots. In fact, the same report has found out that 45% of customers prefer dealing with chatbots for customer service as opposed to dealing with a real human being. So, if you havent considered these little programs, you could lose the allegiance of customers who prefer interacting with the chatbots. Voice Search Will Dominate the Airwaves According to a research by Search Engine Land, the total commercial sales from voice-based platforms is projected to clock $40 billion by the year 2022. This growing trend means 2020 is the year of getting ahead of the pack for businesses looking to be pioneers on this front. After all, which customer wouldnt appreciate the thought of ordering their favorite product through voice command? Not only will voice search make the process of finding information online easier but it will also help reduce screen time. Use of Videos Will Continue Rising According to a 2018 survey, more than 73% of Americans interact with YouTube. That loosely translates to half of the entire American population watching videos, some of which are in the digital marketing ecosystem. As a result, more and more businesses will continue to embrace YouTube as one of the many digital platforms to market their products and services. With that said, even if YouTube is one of the most popular video consumption platforms, it doesnt mean that you should discount other avenues like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This multidimensional video approach offers the best of both worlds. It helps archive your businesss marketing strategy and at the same time help you get valuable and incredibly accurate user metrics making continuous marketing easier. Higher Appreciation for Micro-Influencers Influencer-tracking technologies have continued to grow over the last 5 years or so. Going into 2020, we are going to see more and better-equipped brands cropping up with all the necessary technology to field and manage large networks of low-following and high-engagement. This largely untapped space will see companies significantly shift from engaging mid- to high-level influencers to more relatable influencer marketing. Final Thoughts Every industry is looking for innovative ways to use technology in reducing marketing costs, improving efficiency, and reducing the time spent on marketing. And while it may hard to feel the impact of these technologies in the short-term, their potential into the future is tremendous. If you are operating in the IT industry, the above tips will help you lay the foundation for the future marketing strategy of your business.