Under Pressure - 5 Focussed Trends To Cut Your Digital Overwhelm

It’s the 4AM Report!

We’re done saying Happy New Year, yes? NO MORE RESOLUTIONS! But wait. HA! Appropriately enough for the 4AM Report, Will has a resolution - trying to get better sleep in 2020!

Here’s how….

Weighted Blanket Diffuser Sleeping mask Tempur-Pedic Pillow

Is it working? Well, Will’s anxiety hasn’t vanished yet (as he says, “BABY STEPS!!”), but it is a perfect segue to today’s episode of the 4AM Report – New Year’s Trend Reports for marketers.

Oh man. It’s SO overwhelming – alllll the things you should be using, software to buy, gear you should have as marketers – but a lot of it is geared toward enterprise-level companies with huge budgets! Budgets - and bandwidth - that the scrappier small businesses might not have!

I mean, as a small business, we all want better marketing, but let’s be real!

Boot-Strap Your Way to Better Marketing

So, ever cognizant of people’s 💸 💸 💸 AND ⏰ ⏰ ⏰, let’s look at five digital marketing trends for 2020, that are easily within reach for the small business owner!

Customer experience/User experience: This is what’s going to keep people coming back to you! Step 1, housekeeping. Make sure everything in your bag of marketing tricks is functioning properly -links, forms, technology, ensure you have clear CTAs on all your content – and make them small and bite-sized – it takes ten steps to guide a customer to actually buy – don’t put ANY roadblocks in their way!

Personalization is also important! Your web people can help you with this – using tagging, categorizing, etc. Or think about chatbots and personal retargeting. The big boys like Amazon, etc., are great at personalization – and it doesn’t have to cost and arm and a leg to integrate personalization into your marketing.

Make mobile EASY. We’re all always on our phones, searching and buying, make sure your mobile sites are optimized for purchasing!

Strong creative is key. Your ideas matter, whether images, branding, content, etc. Also, make sure your online experience is really well designed!

Stories and Micro Content: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook stories, TikTok, there are myriad micro platforms out there you can explore! Trust us, it’s helped us increase our reach from the tens to the thousands (listen to the full podcast to find out how!)

Microcontent leads to the micro-conversion idea! Putting your content into smaller pieces increases the chance potential customers will invest in the steps needed to get to a conversion. People are busy – micro content means less pressure on yourself to create and less pressure on them to commit!

It also allows you to create more content/more regularly. And it reaches a younger audience, allows for a more casual and less-censored view of your brand, and WTH it can even help create a feeling of FOMO around your brand – especially when the stories or content is only online for a short time.

Audio and Voice Search: Voice search today makes up 20 percent of all searches – and it’s projected to go even higher - reaching 50 percent soon! Think voice activated assistants, speakers, etc. So, what does voice search have to do with your marketing? A LOT. Make sure your content is optimized for voice search by using longer, more conversational queries (also known as longtail keywords in SEO speak) – have your web guys help you with this.

Also, create conversational content! Answer questions and think about what Joe Public would be googling/speaking to the speaker.

Channel Disruption!!: We all know it’s harder to stand out these days – so let’s shake things up in 2020! Think about how you can UP your visibility online and stand out from the madding crowd! Consider each platform – examine what content is considered the norm – and then turn it on its head! Don’t be afraid to have fun and start small! Visuals RULE, so use them!!

DIY Video: Yay cell phones! DIY video saves you money and time. Don’t try and be fancy and perfect with your video, and yes, while it’s important to do live video at times, create a mixture of live and pre-recorded stories. And keep ‘em short when you can (see above re: micro content). But don’t forget to always use good light though, peeps! 😂 😂 😂

Look, it’s only January – don’t burn yourself out – if you still find this overwhelming let us help you! Click here to explore what services we can bring to your marketing table this year!

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Still can’t sleep?

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