The effects of 2020: how marketing has changed forever

Marketing success now depends on adapting to digital-first customer behaviour

8 min read

✓ Accelerate digital transformation — strengthen your online presence to meet changing customer expectations
✓ Invest in digital services — make it easier for customers to interact, buy, and receive support online
✓ Embrace AI and automation — use intelligent tools to improve efficiency and customer experiences
✓ Expand conversational marketing — leverage chatbots and personalised interactions to engage and nurture leads
✓ Prioritise video and digital advertising — use video content and programmatic ads to reach audiences effectively
✓ Stay adaptable — continuously refine your marketing strategy as consumer behaviour and technology evolve

The year 2020 might not be one that we want to remember but it will go down in history as one we will definitely never forget. It was one particularly crazy time, blame it on the coronavirus pandemic that still continues to take numerous lives, threatening and devastating economies across the entire world. Even now in Australia with Job-keeper ending this month (and the vaccine rolling out) its affects are ongoing. In short 2020 was a messy and tragic year, with its effects drastically changing the way we live and behave as consumers. Be it from the types of products we buy, to the manner in which we shop.

Nobody could have anticipated how 2020 would change the essence of marketing. There was a huge paradigm shift in the market’s priorities which have forever changed the status quo. What people planned for as marketers in 2020 was thrown out the window, with our early discussions with clients this year indicating that the approach they took to react in 2020 is one which will lead their marketing this year.

What will it mean moving forward through 2021 and beyond? It is no longer a case of discount it and buyers will flock, it is increasingly a case of add more value and in doing so, build stronger client communities. But that is not to say we cannot learn from the year that was and from that, build stronger marketing strategy, and from that, campaigns that work.

A look back on the previous year

In 2020, people everywhere in the world were under stay-at-home orders for one period or the other. To cope with the isolation, people turned to the Internet, spending more time on streaming platforms for entertainment, social media for connecting with the outside world, e-commerce portals for shopping, book repositories for reading and so on.  But just as much as these services benefited, others struggled. Cruise ships and tourism in general were effectively shuttered for an extended period, as were restaurants, many retail outlets and brands that had not ever really taken their presence online.

From a corporate perspective, companies were forced to change work practices getting them to set up at home, thus ushering in the advent of the work-from-home environment. Meetings and discussions were held virtually, making platforms such as Zoom and Skype a huge part of the daily norms.

Yesteryear, before the internet – as little as 20 years ago really – changes in marketing were much slower. Practices evolved slower and were based on prior learnings, methodical market research and via learnings from other industries. However, COVID-19 forced people us to adjust and adapt to a new way of life — excessively dependent on digital technologies and the Internet –  and most organizations had to make some level of transformative change in order to respond to the shift in their customers’ behaviours. The risk of not evolving was closing down.

More businesses developed and accelerated their digital transformation plans in a bid to get and stay ahead of their rivals in the market since they understood that once people located a more convenient way to do business, once it became normal they would potentially keep them. Creating relationships with clients dependent on relevance has become a top priority for marketers. The key things that have changed and which we believe will shape the year ahead are listed below.

Reliance on e-Services

As people were required to socially distance and work remotely, digital technologies that empower strong digital e-services experience became convenient pathways for individuals looking to adjust. There has also been prioritisation by older generations to bridge literacy in the digital divide in order to benefit from essential digital experiences that directly impact their daily lives.

Openness to AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) also thrived in 2020 when everyone increased their desire to connect with others to keep busy and entertained, get medical help, and shop. A wide range of industries adopted, accelerated or expanded AI in robotics and marketing to remove human errors and optimise safety for the workforce and reduce the spread of the deadly virus.

Usage of Chatbots

Companies are open and upfront about the use of chatbots now. Conversing with the nearby music shop, many people will not fret speaking to ‘Bot Marley,’ with some brands cleverly having fun with it and customers enjoying the outcomes especially since the bots are available 24/7. BotStar, a company that makes chatbots, says they see a more need for chatbots now than any time in recent memory on the grounds that Internet shopping has shown it is a true force and will be around post-pandemic.

But beware: we’re not advocating chatbots for shopping organisations only. Other organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have likewise included chatbots in their sites to give up-to-date data to billions on the spread of disease and its symptoms. The takeout here is companies can all benefit from the benefits Chatbots can provide.

Video Marketing

The pandemic has turned video into ‘the new normal enabler’ connecting brands and customers when offline interactions are still far from reverting to normal. Video marketing has been increasingly utilised for informing, educating, engaging, entertaining, and socialising with customers.

Out of home marketing doesn’t make didn’t make much business sense when people were stuck inside. Whilst it will rise again as more people return to normalcy, video showed it was a force. Video marketing has permitted marketers to engage and connect, communicate, and retain customers thus providing tangible results.  Despite the fact that video was already on the rise before the pandemic,  the extenuating circumstances forced brands to re-examine their approach to some of the emerging video marketing trends that they were disregarding.

Programmatic adverts

Many marketers in 2020 scaled up the utilisation of programmatic advertising to meet core brand online advertising objectives. Programmatic ads have changed the digital online landscape where digital advertising space is bought automatically, using algorithms and data to help decide which ads to buy and how much to pay for them, often done in real time. With the dependence of online media and Internet use by many people, the programmatic advertising trend is expected to grow even larger into the next few years and beyond.

Conversational marketing

Another interesting development has been conversational marketing, a useful tool that improves the client’s experience and seeks to increase sales on their site. As a new customised approach to doing business online, conversational marketing moves buyers through marketing and sales funnels by using the power of one at a time questions, much like a real-time discussion. As such, it is an automated conversation with your site visitors. You can ask them various questions dependent on their prior answers, so they can give you explicit insights concerning them. This rich information can be used in that sale and then beyond for retention. When combined with a good CRM the financial benefits can be multiple times the cost of implementation.

The Future?

We make these “predictions” based on the year that was and what we have noted has happened, However, the year ahead could be just as unpredictable and thus these listed items could change. Nevertheless, our job is to stay at the forefront and ensure we are on top of things for our clients. if you need professional assistance in branding and marketing, feel free to consult us for some advice and help!