5 Less Buzzwordy, More Practical Trends Marketers Should Learn in 2020
Because I’m so tired of hearing about disruption, AI, AR/VR, automation, apps, podcasts, etc etc etc. Because the reality is, most industries aren’t really THERE and won’t be for a while or just aren’t suited to these types of trends.
So, my fellow marketers, if you want to expand your skills and experiences in a realistic, relevant and timely areas in 2020 to advance your marketing career, here’s what I think you should try to learn on the job this year, based on what the latest marketing job descriptions are looking for:
- “LIFECYCLE” MARKETING: To know your customer personas like the back of your hand is nothing new for a marketer, but in some companies, marketers don’t “touch” customers. An interested prospective customer is the responsibility of the marketing and sales team, but when that person becomes a customer they sometimes become the sole responsibility of a customer experience / client services / account management team. But for an increasing number of startups, marketers are involved in the customers’ entire lifecycle, ensuring they stay loyal, upselling them on new services or features, seeking referral business, and tracking lost customer data. What used to be hot is “growth marketing” (still is), and growth marketing seems to be defined by growing audiences to grow the business, but any business person knows true sustainable growth happens through loyalty and retention, which is built through all the stages of the lifecycle.
- SMS/PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: On paper, sending push notifications or SMS alerts could be seen as similar to email strategy (timely, relevant, but obviously a much smaller word count). Other times, a company can see this is a really unique marketing experience and asset, so if you have the chance to experiment, do it. [But refresh yourself on those privacy laws and opt-in notices].
- Applying AGILE or LEAN or Design Thinking Methodologies to marketing. These aren’t just for devs and designers anymore, they’re applicable to all aspects of business. So in marketing, do some version of the study>experiment>measure>pivot cycle that works for you and do it over and over again so you can show how adaptable you are.
- PRODUCT LAUNCH/GO TO MARKET EXPERIENCE. The demands of many industries is that everyone needs to be launching new products, services, or brands to keep consumers interested. So we’re seeing lots of ads for product marketers specifically. If you haven’t / aren’t able to launch an actual new product, hopefully you can find some other way to challenge yourself and your business to go after a new market or a new audience in 2020.
- DATA & CRM SKILLS: Okay you might be tired of hearing about data, data science, marketing science as well because it’s been buzzy for a while and definitely not a new trend in marketing, but what we’re seeing more specifically is requests for SQL experience and/or requests for experience with specific CRM’s in job descriptions. And not just that you use a CRM, but if you have a stack of other apps integrating with your CRM’s, you’re a more powerful marketing wizard. So if you can, learn more about a CRM… Hubspot, Salesforce come to mind as not only big players in the CRM world, but ALSO have free video training programs so you could get to know their products if you don’t use them at work.
I believe our industry — and so many others — demand continuous learning now and forever. So if not the things above, what are you learning this year? I’ll be diving deeper into marketing automation through the funnel / lifecycle!
