What you’ll learn about the digital marketing landscape: 

• A lot has changed this year:
  1. BERT is changing the game for SEO
  2. Video is leading the charge in digital marketing
  3. The customer journey has changed
  4. Spending habits are markedly different

We’re days away from the end of a very intense and interesting year. While we’re all eager to turn the page on 2020, the changes prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated a lot of changes that were already happening in the digital marketing landscape. Here are four things we learned this year that will inform our digital marketing strategies moving forward. Have a look!

1. BERT’s Is Changing SEO and Content Writing

BERT (bidirectional encoder representations from Transformers) is an AI-powered update to Google’s algorithm.  What does it do? It deciphers the meaning between individual words within a search query, contextualizing each word within the full query rather than evaluating each word individually. This means that the Google search engine is now better positioned to understand a user’s search intent based on the terms they use. 

For example, an old search for “Brazil traveler to USA need a visa” might have returned sites that included information for US travellers going to Brazil. Meanwhile, with BERT, Google’s search engine now places the appropriate importance on the word “to”, which is particularly important in this search query. 

So how does it affect your SEO efforts?

1. Simpler content is king. Keep it simple and to the point, think of the questions your reader is trying to answer and prioritize those in your content
2. Snippets have taken the spotlight. Answering common user queries (that are relevant to your brand) in a concise fashion will go a long way towards having your content featured in search.

2. Video Has Become a Strategic Marketing Tool 

Video content has become a crucial component for any marketing team — particularly during the pandemic, which has pushed content consumption to an all-time high. Shopping for a watch online? There’s a video review out there. Looking for a local SEO company? You’re far more likely to click on a firm that showcases video content. As we move to order everything virtually, we have the opportunity to review products and shop around with unprecedented convenience — and video can play an important role here.

Here are three ways video content can boost your SEO:

1. It reinforces your authoritative voice by contextualizing your content and better describing what excites YOU (and your audience) about your products or service
2. It improves UX and time spent on website. Video breaks up text-heavy content and offers an easy to digest way to absorb information. On top of that, it increases dwell time, something search engine algorithms reward with high rankings.
3. It generates backlink opportunities. An authoritative or explainer video that is engaging and well-produced will be an appealing resource for like-minded content creators that may want to feature it on their own posts. 

3. The Customer Journey Has Evolved

With people sheltering in place and working from home, marketing and sales teams of all sizes have had to rethink how they capture the customer’s attention remotely. The companies that have done great work in the digital marketing landscape have executed on these three areas:

1. Speed and convenience: A website that is bogged down and not optimized correctly is likely to turn off prospective customers. Optimizing file sizes and running constant tests for their web performance has helped many persevere. Similarly, the ease of purchase has been a deciding factor for new customers. Is your site easy to navigate? Do your resources and call to actions seamlessly present themselves? Do you optimize your post-checkout process? These are all things that need to be considered as you engage with customers purely on a digital platform. 
2. Transparency and relatability: The pandemic has hit everyone. The brands that are willing to talk about their experiences and share how they have had to evolve with their communities are more likely to resonate with new prospects. Creating tangential content has allowed for companies to reach out and connect to new verticals they may have previously overlooked. 
3. Connection and support. As people are left to rely primarily on digital services, their expectations for brand interactions are higher than ever. Brands that are optimizing their communication channels and processes are bound to see success in the long run.
   

4. Spending Habits Have Shifted  

While many people have felt the financial impact of the pandemic, there is also a subset of people that is saving more money than ever before. Professionals working from home, who would typically spend money on their commute to work and multiple cups of coffee during the day, are reprioritizing this spending. E-commerce companies and digital agencies should be pivoting to find scalable offerings to peak new customers’ interests who have varied budgets and commitment levels. Look towards those in the fitness industry or food and drink industry for inspiration to help digitize your offerings. 

That’s it for 2020. From us here at Umami, we are wishing you and your loved ones a fantastic finish to what’s been an incredibly difficult year. If you’re looking for some creative inspiration during your holiday break, we’ve wrapped up the best digital marketing campaigns in 2020 in part one and part two.  We’ll be back in the new year with new content to keep you up to date in all things digital marketing!

Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash