No matter what your industry or size of your business, sales, and marketing is one of the most critical aspects of your company. That is how we get our brand out into the world, get it recognized, and make the audience interact with it. Thanks to technology, these aspects have seen a significant change over the last few years. Technology has completely changed our perception of sales and marketing. According to Techspot24, we don’t sell our products or offer our services as we used to before. There are new and better ways to interact with the public, and every business, whether it is a startup, small business, or a huge company, is updating itself so that they can compete in the new world.
This new world offers not only more opportunities but also new challenges and obstacles. For this purpose, businesses around the world are embracing the power of the latest technologies, and so should you. You have to know which platform your audience is using and where they are spending most of their time. You also have to understand how they are interacting with brands so that you can give them accordingly as per their search.
Here are the top trends businesses need to understand and get on top of in 2020.
1. Voice Search
More than 66 million consumers in the USA alone are using smart speakers. It includes Alexa, Google Home, and Amazon Echo. If we talk about the entire world, we know that 31% of consumers are using voice searches to find out information about the products or services. According to research, around half of all consumers will be using voice searches before long. It makes voice search one of the top priorities for any business. To generate sales, you have to know the mindset of the target audience and make sure that you come up with the results that will appear to them. Therefore, voice search is something that you just cannot ignore anymore. Another thing that changes with voice searches is the keyword. Ask any right digital marketing agency, and they will tell you that thanks to voice searches, long-tail keywords are more important now than shorter ones.
2. Sales Posts
We all know how huge social media channels have become and how much they have influenced our lives in all aspects. In the beginning, they were just being used as a marketing tool, and that is all good. Now, these channels are used to sell products and services to the customers directly. People are using social media channels more and more to shop. According to surveys, around 60% of people find out about products through Instagram. In another study of 4000 Pinterest users, more than 70% said that they found the products that they were looking for and bought them.
Social media channels were quick to identify this trend and now offer more shoppable posts to e-commerce stores so that they can sell directly through these channels. These include Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and more. You can now tag your products in your posts and drive traffic to your website or your products page quickly.
By using the leverage of social media posts, you have the advantage of reaching more customers than ever before and decreasing the number of steps that a consumer has to take to get your product in their hands finally.
3. Immersive Techs like AR and VR
Augmented reality and Virtual Reality have made their mark on the world, and their popularity has increased exponentially over the last few years. These technologies were the part of the gaming and entertainment industries alone, but they have made their way into almost every industry possible. The same can be said for sales and marketing. According to research, more than 100 million people will use either AR or VR to shop online or even in-store.
Companies like IKEA are already using AR to increase their sales. By using their app and AR, IKEA customers can find out what a piece of furniture will look like when they purchase it and take it back to their homes. They can try it in different settings and settle on different items without setting a single foot in the store.
4. Interactive Content
As the world is changing, so are the needs and wants of the consumers. Now more than 90% of consumers say that they feel better interacting with content rather than just digesting it. In 2020, one of the significant sales trends is to give consumers more interactive content. It could be in the form of shoppable posts like we discussed in the second point, or it could be in the form of surveys, quizzes, and polls. It could also be in the form of AR and VR experiences, like discussed in point # 3. You can use all these to engage the audience more.
The reason why interactive content is a significant trend is that people are bored with the same old content that they have been dealing with in the past. They want something new, something that cuts through the noise. Something unique and original. Another reason why interactive content is getting so popular is because of its high sharing abilities. Have you or your friend ever shared content like “What celebrity you look like?” or “What your birth month means for your love life?” or something like that. This type of content is beneficial in increasing your brand visibility.
6. Personalization
In 2020, sales and marketing are all about customization. People are tired and bored of the same old routine and the same old content being refurbished and shoved down their throats again and again. Now they want something more, something different. That is where personalization comes into play. In a survey of 1000 people, more than 90% of them said that they engage more with content that is personalized, and more than 80% of them said that if the content is customized, they will consider doing business with that brand.
Conclusion
The sales and marketing terrain is continuously changing, and businesses need to keep on top of their game if they want to thrive in this constantly changing world. Keep an eye on the trends shared above, and you will be able to capture more customers and increase your sales quickly.