Wes McDowell, a web strategist that provides business owners solutions to make the most out of their website, posted the video “Digital Marketing Trends for 2019 Online Domination”. Today, we will be reviewing his video and determining whether or not these trends are still prevalent in 2020.

Rise of YouTube Ads McDowell recommends small businesses to lean more towards YouTube Ads rather than Facebook Ads. The reason being that they are often less costly, only charging for however long viewers watch na ad. Meanwhile, Facebook charges a certain amount for simply having the ad posted. The benefit of having an ad on Youtube versus Facebook is that users are more likely to watch the ad with the volume on, as they are already on Youtube to watch a video. Facebook users often scroll past ads without the audio turned on. As Google owns Youtube, marketers have the ability to utilize Google analytics and use knowledge such as what viewers are searching for and determine what type of ad would best target those viewers.

This trend seems to be essential for small businesses to take note of. In comparison, larger companies may have the ability to pay for the more expensive Facebook ad. Larger companies may already have strong brand loyalty, thus allowing them to use simple photos or gifs as ads. Smaller companies on the other hand may need to utilize video to capture new audiences. Therefore, I would say that this suggestion is relative to the size and prominence of the business.

Content Clusters The next trend revolves around content clusters. As there are a number of websites that cover the same topic, it is often difficult to determine which site is most valuable. To address this, Google rewards sites that cover particular topics the best. Essentially, marketers need to show that they are the expert in their topic. To do so, marketers will need to create multiple pages, or clusters, that go into specific detail on different aspects surrounding their main topic. By linking all those pages together, the entire cluster will benefit if one page works extremely well.

As content is constantly being pushed out, it is becoming more and more important to reign among various competitiors. Marketers can prove to visitors that they are experts in their topic by providing useful, linked pages that visitors can search through. I’d say this trend is quite useful to follow, as having multiple pages that are not relevant in content to each other may lead to a higher bounce rate from visitors.

Message Simplification Simplify! Attention spans are decreasing in the digital age, so it is essential that marketers simplify their main message for customers. McDowell urgers marketers to simplify what it is that their company offers, how that product/service helps your customer, and what can the customer do next.

By solely focusing on what matters and what your customers need, it is possible that transactions will take place in a much quicker rate. For instance, if a website has too much information and makes visitors dig for information, it may lose customer retention. This will further lead to higher bounce rates. So whenever and wherever you can, make sure to always simplify!

Live Chat and Chatbots What’s the best way to engage with customers without being online 24/7? Chatbots may be the next best solution to that problem. Users are frequently using the web at random times in the day. Having a chatbot readily available to answer FAQs or give recommendations will allow for better customer engagement. Often, this tactic will allow companies to retain visitors much more efficiently compared to if they did not have a chatbot.

I believe this trend is becoming increasingly important as users want to find answers in a quick and efficient manner. Live chat or chatboxes could even direct visitors to different pages of a website. Though this human interaction, it gives off the feeling of a human-like touch and much more engagement.

Voice Search Smart speakers like Alexa, Google Home, or Siri are getting much more use as of lately. Voice search allows for easier browsing and having implemented this into a website, marketers can gain a competitive advantage over competitors that do not have voice search implemented.

I would say this is an important trend to take note of, as I’m sure many websites do not have this feature enabled. This could even target a neglected consumer market.

What do you think of these 5 trends?

Watch the video attached below and tell me which trends you think have the ability to transform businesses!