Almost three out of every four people think that paid ads are the best way to discover a business. Knowing this, it is no surprise that all companies allocate some part of their budget for marketing purposes. Indeed, paid advertising has been one of the most effective ways to maximize your marketing efforts.
In the world of digital marketing, PPC stands for Pay Per Click. This means you pay a certain amount each time an internet user clicks on your paid advertisement. Effectively implementing a PPC strategy can lead to new customers for your business.
Digital marketing has never been more competitive. It is now more important than ever to keep up with the times and stay informed of the current marketing trends.
Read on to find out more about the top PPC trends for 2020.
Voice searches
Mobile device users are continuing to increase their use of voice searches. It is estimated that by the end of 2020, more than 50% of all mobile searches will be done by voice. So, why is this important?
Users often use different phrases when conducting voice searches compared to text searches. This means search engines are required to interpret the conversational phrase and provide relevant information to the user.
This will affect which PPC ads appear on the page, so every company must adapt its PPC marketing plan to voice searches if it plans on remaining competitive. Any business that does not take voice searches into consideration is likely to be left behind.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality has experienced rapid growth in the last few years. The advent of VR headsets such as the Dell HTC Vive, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest and Valve Index has allowed people to step into entirely new worlds.
Advertising in virtual reality is still relatively unexplored at this point. However, we predict that to change soon, as technology becomes more affordable and begins to reach more users.
Virtual reality will give customers the ability to get a closer 3D look at products and evaluate and assess them from all angles. There will be no need to drive to the store if you want to hold the product in front of you.
Advertising in the virtual world will allow businesses and marketers to make online shopping even more convenient. This tool is powerful, and there has never been a better time for innovative marketers to get involved.
Market segmentation
Audience or market segmentation refers to grouping users depending on their needs. If done properly, each internet user will see only ads about products and services they are interested in at any given time.
We live in a data-driven world, and companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon have access to enormous pools of data, enabling them to deliver increasingly accurate search results and ads to their users.
The good news is that Google, for example, is willing to let businesses use that data for a price. Users of Google’s ad platform now have so many options when it comes to market segmentation. You can divide users based on psychographics, demographics and even certain behavioral attributes like hobbies and habits.
Audience segmentation in PPC ad campaigns lets businesses decide which group of people will see their ad. That will increase the chances of a user seeing ads relevant to their specific situation and reacting positively to them.
Market segmentation will continue to grow in 2020 because there will be more data to use. More data leads to higher-quality segmentation, meaning marketers will be capable of developing increasingly personalized and target campaigns.
More videos
Videos are one of the most effective ways of transmitting information. In terms of marketing, videos allow brands to connect with their audience by telling a story and showing a personality. Visualizing a brand via a video makes it easier to make audiences relate to it.
Knowing all of this, it is no surprise that the average user chooses to spend 88% more time on websites with videos, compared to ones with just images and text.
There’s nothing new about videos. They have been around for a long time, but many companies still find them difficult to navigate and implement into their marketing. Most companies do not have the necessary in-house talent to create high-quality videos, and production costs can be high.
That said, data from ViralStat shows us that more brands are using videos in their marketing strategy every year. We expect that trend to continue in 2020, mainly because creating high-quality, high-definition videos has never been cheaper.
Professional video editing software and equipment are becoming more accessible, and even smartphone cameras can now produce impressive quality videos. This means more companies will be able to create video content regularly and engage their target audiences that way.
Artificial intelligence
As we already mentioned, companies like Google continuously collect vast amounts of information on their users. They use this information for various purposes, one of them being to create automation systems. The “job” of these systems is to try to understand the patterns of behavior exhibited by internet users.
Advertisers can use these predictions to their advantage in many ways. Sophisticated AI technology, combined with vast amounts of data, can allow advertisers to target their ads like never before.
More than merely getting your ad to the right person, AI can help you present your customers with your ad at the precise moment they are likely to purchase your product or service.
Conclusion
We expect these PPC trends to change the future of digital advertising in the years to come. Most of them are already shaping the world of PPC today, while others are only beginning to make an impact.
Staying alert to new technologies, advertising channels, and behavioral research allows companies to refine and adapt their advertising strategies and grow their revenue.