Digital Marketing Strategies In 2020
6 min read
The digital marketing landscape gets disruptive every single year that the previous year’s trends become outdated. Adding a bunch of thin content to your website was something you used to be 
able to get away it. Today you need content that is long form and very authoritative. We’ve reached out to the top digital marketing experts to ask them what you need to look out for in 2019 and beyond.
Hire A Professional Team
“In the ever-growing landscape of digital marketing, it is becoming more and more important to have a professional team making sure you are not missing out on any opportunities,” says Jason Thomas of Big Wave Business Solutions. It is also extremely important to find a niche to target for your agency. Specializing in a specific vertical, like automotive digital marketing, allows agency owners to build expertise and athority that clients respond to. Juliette Schmerler at sparktankfranchisemarketing.com specializes in marketing to franchises. Part of her success is her focus on addressing needs that are specific to the franchising industry.
Utilize Your Title Tag
“People searching online for services want things right now. Understanding this we’ve seen increases in call volume by simply putting phone numbers in Title Tags,” says Will Fitzpatrick of Will Power Marketing. “Your title tag is essentially what your potential customer will see when searching for what you offer online. Precisely, we use this sequence: Main Keyword | Phone Number + Free Quote. There’s not a lot of space, but if you can make it work – it’ll work wonders. Oftentimes your potential customers won’t even go to your website – they’ll just call the number to get their Free Quote!”
Marketing Budgets Moving To Digital
“Even in small-town Texas were seeing long established small businesses moving part of their marketing budgets to digital. Traditional media outlets like radio and newspapers will seemingly always have a place in rural areas but these business owners are starting to realize the power that digital marketing has. Here at Mayd Media we’ve seen an uptick in Local SEO and Social Media Management, especially, by these “legacy” companies. No offense to the local stations and papers but were excited by the shift,” says Taylor Murchison.
As marketing budgets move from traditional media to digital it is vitaly important to understand how to create a strong SEO proposal to aid your clients in making the jump to digital.
SEO-Friendly Content
“Quality, SEO-friendly content has been and will continue to be incredibly important when it comes to ranking factors,” echoes Mandy McEwen of Mod Girl Marketing. “You must know what your audience is looking for (keyword research) and you must know how to create compelling content using those keywords (on-page optimization). When you do this, not only do you increase your chances of ranking, but you increase your chances of OTHER sites linking to you (backlinks). In addition, the longer someone stays on your website and engages with your awesome content, the more Google is going to reward your website – aka higher search engine rankings.”
Ray Day of Tagline Media Group agrees that content continues to dominate. “Content quality and diversity is becoming really important for brands visibility. SEO goes beyond just ranking websites but also complimenting marketing collaterals that show up wherever and however people are searching. And don’t forget to optimize your website for higher search engine rankings”
Jennifer Beall at glasscanopy.com has a clever piece of advice for her fellow SEOs. “It’s about working smarter – not harder. If you spend the time writing an eBook on a specific subject, simply rework that content into blog posts with targeted keywords instead of starting from scratch.”
Stephanie Fehrmann at Redefine Marketing suggests that industry professionals should include low hanging fruit keywords in their content. “As the Head of Content, the most effective SEO strategy for me in 2019 was refreshing content with striking distance keywords. Content is an investment, and many marketers set it and forget it. But by identifying striking distance keywords and adding them to content they already rank for, not only are you taking advantage of that investment but youre improving your chances of ranking for that term on page 1.”
“Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be of great use to small business owners across the United States,” says Anthony DeFede of Platinum Digital Consulting. “Properly run SEO allows businesses to be seen on the first page of Google, which automatically creates not only a potential customer who sees the link on page 1, but also a certain level of trust with a potential customer. Having a business page ranked on the first page of Google immediately validates that business as a leader in what was Googled.”
Google Is Focusing On The User
“SEO is becoming a very exciting space again,” says Adam Hodson of Proper Noun. “Google seems to be shifting more and more value to things like on-page optimization, technical SEO, user experience and powerful content. ”
Worry About Today
“Whether its 2019, 2020 or beyond at anytime you can always reverse engineer what is working in the digital marketing space or Googles algorithms and apply that trend to your digital marketing or SEO strategy,” describes TJ Loftus of DIAP Media. “Its more important to be aware and capitalize on current trends vs. trying to predict the next one.”
Have A Great Google Ad Strategy
Win The Local Search Race
Website Headline
Chris Caylor of ShoreUP Consulting says to look at the headline on your marketing website.
“One practical tip for your digital marketing concerns your headlines. Take your website headline, for example. How do you find the perfect statement?It’s a simple equation. Simply fill-in this blank:
WE HELP YOU ___________________.
How you finish that sentence offers a great headline option. Take a water bottle company, for example. They might fill in their blank this way:
WE HELP YOU QUENCH YOUR THIRST.
They should take that phrase, QUENCH YOUR THIRST, and consider using it as a headline.
What makes a great headline? It speaks to the pain points of your target market and showcases how you can serve them.”
Google & Facebook Dominate
“Publishers continue to leave the Google & Facebook ecosystem seeking other sources of revenues as Google & Facebook eat most of the online ad revenue growth,” mentions Aaron Wall of SEOBook. “The dire economics of online publishing have led newspaper chains to be acquired by private equity players monetizing their brand equity.”
Adapt Your Strategies
“Always be adapting and trying new things. Google is constantly changing its algorithms and all industries are different,” says David Abraham of Bluesoft Design. “Some strategies that didn’t work for one site may work for another. SEO is all about adapting to what Google finds the most favorable in a website. Always stay informed and be open to new strategies.”
