It’s 2020, and a new marketing paradigm is emerging, one that will redefine traditional marketing methodologies. Gone are the days of linear marketing—in which you establish a set of targets and stick to them, regardless of the medium or the channel you’re utilizing to achieve them. Instead, effective marketing will be characterized by a series of pivots and experiments, some of which may even target a specific audience through specific channels — like podcasts or video tutorials for example.

Experimentation

The most successful marketer in the future will not be those who follow the most familiar paths, but rather those who experiment with the tools and techniques that are available to them and, when unsuccessful, try something new.

Consider how digital marketers approached SEO in the late 1990s. At that time, it was unfathomable to think that someone could optimize a piece of content and watch it climb the search rankings almost instantly. Not so today. With the abundance of tools available to them, digital marketers are able to experiment with different strategies to drive traffic to their site. In 2019, SEO will continue to evolve as more digital marketers discover the power of experimentation.

The ability to try new things and discover what works best for your business is a critical skill for any marketer. In an interview with HubSpot Blogs, Brian Halligan, Chief Marketing Officer of Fractl, shared, “You have to be willing to try new things. That’s going to be one of the consistent themes that comes out of this year, not only as far as marketing tactics go, but also as far as consumer behavior goes.” While experimentation will be a key tenet of effective marketing in the future, being able to measure the results of your efforts will be critical — especially considering the various channels and methods that you may use to reach your audience.

Even offline marketers are embracing this paradigm, shifting to a model in which they experiment with various marketing tactics — from SEO to content marketing, and everything in between — to find what produces the desired results. In 2019, we will see more marketers using a testing-and-learning approach to continually improve their marketing effectiveness.

Channel-Tailored Audiences

In the past, marketers generally avoided targeting consumers through particular channels because they considered the channel irrelevant to their brand. The typical response was, “If we’re not appearing on TV, the media planner isn’t going to choose our ad to air during the Television season.”

Those days are gone. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that traditional forms of media, like TV, are slowly losing their hold over consumers’ time, marketers are learning to evolve with the times, changing their tune when necessary and adjusting their messaging to match the platform.

Podcasting is a great example of this phenomenon. When the audio format was first created, there was no guarantee that any given listener would want to hear your message. However, due to the increased amount of evidence that shows how effective podcasts can be in bringing in new subscribers and engaging existing ones, more and more companies are hopping on the podcast bandwagon. As a result, we will see more brand-specific podcasts emerging, featuring marketers, product development, and creative executives — all talking about topics that are of interest to that particular audience.

Breaking Down Traditional Marketing Channels

Just as TV news outlets broke the mold when it came to how people were initially informed of breaking news events, so too will marketers be forced to evolve traditional marketing channels to reach consumers in a way that is tailored to their interests and behaviors.

In the past, marketers could rely on a variety of traditional platforms to spread their message, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV. However, as more and more people turn to digital media for their news and entertainment, marketers must take into account how to engage with consumers through these increasingly important channels — as well as how to measure and evaluate their success.

The Role of Gen Z in Shaping the Future of Marketing

Based on the most recent data from HubSpot Blogs, we know that Gen Z currently makes up 12% of the American population. But what percentage of marketers can we expect this young audience to represent?

According to a report from the Global Market Reach Marketing & Advertising Management Agency, a total of 1.7 million teens and millennials will be living in Dubai in 2020.

With Dubai being the third-largest city in the world and the most populous city within the United Arab Emirates, it would be safe to assume that a significant portion of the population is likely to be attracted to marketing as a means of making money. In fact, Gen Z is more likely than any other demographic to affiliate with an online marketplace, leading to a probable surge in marketer participation from this audience.

The fact that nearly one in ten Americans is now living in Dubai implies there is an untapped potential market for marketers in the Middle East — particularly those looking to get ahead in a competitive job market, where high school diplomas aren’t enough to land you a full-time job.

The Rise of Video Tutorials as a Marketing Tool

While most traditional marketers will continue to exist in some capacity, many of them will slowly slide towards the digital marketing specialty, taking on more of a supporting role. Video tutorials are one of the most effective digital marketing tools available today. Thanks to platforms like YouTube, which is owned by Google, creating and distributing video tutorials has become much easier than in the past — allowing anyone with a camera to quickly and effectively showcase their expertise to potential customers, without needing to hire a team of videographers.

In fact, nearly four out of ten Americans use some form of video content every day, with around 34.8 million viewers using TikTok, and 16.3 million using YouTube — meaning that video tutorials could soon emerge as one of the most important marketing tools in the arsenal of any digital marketer.

The popularity of TikTok and YouTube among adults makes it easy to understand how important video content is becoming for marketers. But it goes beyond that; video tutorials can also be a fantastic tool for in-house marketing, allowing you to showcase your expertise and teach others something new while also encouraging them to buy your product.

Podcasting As A Marketing Tool

Like video tutorials, podcasts are also extremely effective tools for engaging with consumers. However, unlike video tutorials, which are often used to simply inform viewers of a brand or product, podcasts are designed to encourage them to take some action — whether it’s to learn more, make a purchase, or try out a product — after listening to the episode.

Podcasts provide additional engagement opportunities, allowing marketers to target specific audience segments and engage them through multiple, distinct methods — from SEO to email marketing and beyond.