9 Branding Trends to Focus on in 2020
Branding is a concept that is adopted by most of the businesses today to increase sales. Wherever we go, we come across different brands. It represents what the company is all about. So, to get people to notice your brand, planning a good branding strategy is vital.
Initially, when we talk about branding, it used to be all about the visual differentiation. But these days, with intense competition, branding has changed significantly. Branding in 2020 is no cakewalk. It takes time and struggles to adopt different techniques to sustain.
Here are the nine most important trends to keep in mind while planning your branding strategy this year.
1. Brand story
Telling a story about how the brand came so far from scratch can build human connections. People love listening to great stories and news. The emotional information, when told in the form of a story, will have a higher brand recall.
Customers relate to these personalized stories which are connected to people. A great story can make your customers feel you are genuine and also increase the reach of your brand easily. Another way of storytelling is by sharing employee stories on the brand’s social media!
2. Chatbots and other technologies
Technologies like chatbots help companies to interact with their customers instantly. The tool has proved to be of great use to many brands. It helps brands to interact with their customers quickly and to engage them on the website. It also helps in guiding the users in their customer journey.
Getting humans to perform every function will require a big team that would cost a lot. So, you can assign your chatbots to make the interactions with your brand and to get relevant messages in their inboxes.
3. Observe and serve online communities
These days branded communities are a growing trend to keep a watch. These forums provide users with a platform to share topics and experiences which are brand-related. It helps brands to talk about the products and get a rough understanding of the customers’ requirements without trying to sell.
Many brands are trying to make use of their communities for insights on the launch of the latest products and services.
4. Increase brand loyalty with creative customer experience
Make use of creative ways to keep your customers in a loop all the time. They should be able to contact your brand anytime they feel like and track their orders online and more. An integrated messaging system for them to upload instructions and post information is essential for boosting customer experience.
For creating customer loyalty, you must be able to provide an excellent customer experience in the first place. More than just giving away promotional gifts, brands must focus more on how well they can differentiate themselves from their competitors.
5. Optimize for mobiles
People are using their mobiles for almost everything today. Mobile users’ interactions are rising significantly. Those who don’t intend on including this will go down the competition. So, make sure your brand is well optimized for mobile users. Having an optimum sized CTA button and short subject lines with small paragraphs is recommended to make your brand look neat on mobile screens.
Email marketing is going to take over on mobiles by becoming more targeted and providing curated content to the prospects, rather than lengthy content!
6. Consider Native display advertising
Display adverts are not enough in 2020. The average adverts CTR is pretty low. Having a well-targeted promotional content to match the real-time queries will make sure the readers are getting more advertising content.
Native adverts are based on the content, and so they can make up a large percentage of the total display ad revenue in the coming days. Natives can Blend with the surrounding content efficiently.
7. Brand Influencers
This trend is nothing new to us, but in 2020 this trend has great importance. If we look at any renowned brand, they make use of influencers to promote their brand in some way. Many people look forward to recommendations made by influencers while they purchase. Companies, on the other hand, depend on these influencers to market their products.
So, if you can find an influencer who can well relate to your brand, then nothing like it! Make sure the partnership is transparent to the customers.
8. Always have a social conscience
A few branding trends fade away as fast as they appear. Ever wondered why? Having self-conscience of the things happening around us is crucial. Consumers are looking for companies to whom they can relate their views on social things happening around them.
Modern brands ought to demonstrate their concern towards the environment and the people. Many believe multinationals can ease social problems and wants them to do more!
9. Broad Marketing Strategy
A good strategy requires combined planning. You got to understand where to do what! A representative from each department should all sit together to plan and scheme a strategy. Every idea and suggestions got to be considered while coming up with an excellent strategy!
Producing this kind of content can be pretty tough if you are not much familiar with the digital marketing opportunities available out there. It is always advisable to hire digital marketing experts to get the process done!
10. Produce quality content
A customer associating with your brand will want to explore things before they even think of buying anything. So, if you can provide them with educational and interesting content, they can stick around your site for a while and subsequently purchase your products or services.
It is better if you can create valuable content less often rather than producing poor content frequently. People appreciate the comprehensive analysis of topics that are interesting and informative.
To wrap it up!
Digital branding is changing consistently with time. Branding is getting more characterized by these trends. Brands are trying to be more straightforward, transparent and genuine with a motive to provide a human experience. Brands nowadays are striving to become more real, conscious, and responsive!
Brand positioning will need to select a different method from traditional methods. Relating to the customers as varying levels of their journey is essential. Whether it is about developing a brand from scratch or looking to improve the aesthetic you already possess, it is vital to pay close attention to your brand presence!
Author Bio
Faiz Varghese is a social media marketer at TechWyse, an SEO agency in Canada. He is a knowledge craving techy. He loves to write quality content on the internet and has a passion for his job. While he is off work, you will find him playing football or watching his favorite shows!