Top 2020 marketing trends for digital and traditional media

Looking toward the end of 2019 brings into sharp relief the monumental reshaping of the marketing landscape over the last decade. At the dawn of 2010, smartphone and social media adoption were on the ascent, but growth in mobile technology and social marketing techniques have truly exploded over the last 10 years.

As we think ahead to 2020, it's hard to be certain what nascent forces will come to dominate marketing over the next ten years, but there are certain trends forming that we expect to see play out over the next year. Some are digital strategies, but others serve as a counterweight to our always-online lifestyles.

Here's a look at our top marketing trends for 2020.

2020 will usher in new trends for digital and traditional marketing.

Digital marketing trends for 2020

Emphasizing audience needs

A recent study published by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) found that 66% of content marketing programs placed their readers' needs ahead of the company's sales agenda. This is generally accepted as a best practice, but there's an additional piece of evidence for this strategy's effectiveness: It's used by 88% of organizations identified as top performers.

The message is clear. Top content marketers give their followers content that's useful for them.

We expect more marketers to shift from sales-oriented content toward research, thought leadership and other value-adding publications. Users are searching for health-related information online, and marketers can help supply some of the content.

Monitoring ROI

There's no one magical all-purpose technique when it comes to digital marketing and content strategies. Marketers need to try out a mixture of different media, messages and distribution channels to find out what gets the most value for their investment.

The same CMI report found that less than half (43%) of B2B marketers monitored their return on investment while at least 65% followed changes in key performance indicators. For top performers, those numbers went up to 67% and 83% respectively.

There's no way to improve digital marketing strategies without assessing the success and failure of your efforts over time. Taking it a step further to understand ROI enables marketing leaders to make the case for more funds or to reallocate their budget items for maximum performance.

Traditional marketing trends for 2020

Enhancing experience

Whether it's experiential marketing or quality customer service, it's pretty clear that the way customers interact with your brand matters. A PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that, for 65% of U.S. customers, positive experiences with the brand had a bigger impact than advertising. Healthcare customer service has an impact on marketing success. Good experiences also encouraged users to share more data, which enables more effective marketing campaigns. 

In 2020 and beyond, we expect to see marketing departments and customer-facing services rely more heavily on each other, and we'd expect marketers to invest more in providing good brand experiences.

Prioritizing print

The past several years have brought fake news to the fore, and with an election around the corner, we could see a spike in those same problems again. Interestingly, in this environment, according to a study from Kantar, print publications tend to be highly trusted news sources, and the amount of trust they lose from readers outperforms other media.

Throughout the next year, print advertising could be an attractive venue for marketers who want to associate themselves with trustworthy news sources

Get in touch with an Elsevier Representative today to find out how we can assist you with your integrated medical marketing campaigns throughout 2020.