2019 In Search

2019 is coming to an end and the internet is already filling up with articles on how to get a running start in 2020. Heck the Guinness World Records 2020 came out in September, 2019! At bfound, we’ve already got clients coming up to us to ask how they should structure their digital marketing strategy for the coming year. We recommend starting by taking a moment to review what consumers loved last year.

The top 10 search terms of 2019, across the board, were:

• India vs South Africa
• Cameron Boyce
• Copa America
• Bangladesh vs India
• iPhone 11
• Game of Thrones
• Avengers: Endgame
• Joker
• Notre Dame
• ICC Cricket World Cup

Now you might say: “I’m a cleaning company! Why should I care if one of the top search terms in 2019 was ‘India vs South Africa’?”

Businesses scrambling to reach and win their consumers are often stuck in a rut because of a very natural inertia towards rebranding. Small and medium businesses in particular, are faced with an economy where reducing attention spans and increasing demand for ROI means that customers have no time to acquire new tastes. To put it simply, unless you’re Apple, you do not have the brand loyalty to remove the 3.5mm audio jack port and get away with it!

The modern consumer is always on the move and nobody has the time to stop and read a newspaper anymore. News updates now come through memes, GIFs, infographics and videos. This means that businesses looking to increase their market share or capture their competitors’ market share need to become comfortable with the idea of infotainment, now more than ever before.

The top 10 search terms of 2019, for News, were:

• Copa America
• Notre Dame
• ICC Cricket World Cup
• Hurricane Dorian
• Rugby World Cup
• Sri Lanka
• Area 51
• India election results
• 台風 19 号 (Typhoon Hagibis)
• Fall of Berlin Wall

You will notice that the top 10 searches related to news (in particular) did not stay on top of search trends throughout the year. In fact, they accumulated their record making search volume within a month if not less. The moral of this story is NOT that your business needs to create inspiring trending content year after year. What it means is that any content your business creates needs to be influenced by active trends, relevant and important for your target audience.

Sponsored promotion services offered by social media and search engines will always offer relevant targeting options, but that only makes sure that you get in front of the right eye balls. Hooking your audience in and driving through your purchase funnel is an objective that is influenced by the type of content you’ve created, the nature of the marketing platform (search vs social), the timing, entrance barriers, and numerous other factors.

At bfound, 2019 has served as an important reminder of the fact that businesses need to become comfortable with the idea of experimenting with different types of content. Digital marketing is becoming increasingly competitive and you cannot afford to scare your customers away when you’re spending so much to bring them to your door, which means that businesses need to follow a deductive approach to identify what works for them and their target audience.

To learn more about what can and cannot work for your business, talk to one of our experts at +971 42 49 3832.