What’s your brand’s challenge?

Cost per click, cost per lead and cost per sale. The rise of digital brought with it a belief that all marketing activities could be measured. David Aaker in his publication Aaker on branding highlighted that one of the greatest challenges plaguing brands is to treat brands as assets amidst the ongoing pressure to deliver short-term financial results. The fragmentation of media over the last decade has transformed the relationship between brands and marketing. Brands are finally conceding to the fact that not all impact on digital can be measured. Brands finding innovative ways to build a strong connection with their audience is the overarching theme of the many challenges that brands are expected to face in 2020.

shiny object syndrome
AI is the future of customer experience, influencer marketing is big, don’t miss out on trending formats, explore TikTok as a marketing channel, hacks for the rapid growth of followers and many such trends are prone to tear brands away from their focus on building a brand.

death by silence
Social media is an engagement platform rather than a publishing platform and brands will soon realise that to have a conversation the topic must be relevant to both the brand and the consumer. While brands may be tempted to stay neutral and please every type of audience, brands have to make their audience feel heard to build a stronger consumer connection. PS: staying silent kills the conversation.

going solo
We are living in an era of unprecedented collaboration. Calculated collaboration can take a brand further in 2020 by introducing the brand to a new target market. While prestigious, old brands embrace the idea of influencer and designer collaborations to stay relevant, brands that target the Gen Y and Gen Z will collaborate with their customers to customize products and services. With users becoming more paranoid about their privacy on digital platforms, customisation is all set to replace personalisation.

If the past decade was the era of measuring everything from performance to rankings, this is the decade of the hybrid brands. Brands will try and test until they arrive at the perfect amount of performance marketing to infuse into the marketing mix. The audience is tired of cold algorithms and direct selling. They long to connect with brands at a very human level, even paying more for brands with a strong personality where they feel included in the story. The mantra for 2020 seems to be declutter, connect and delight.