I promised you a bumper end of year/decade edition and here it is…
And I’m calling it my 2020 Vision for You (drumroll).
That’s because I’m going to lay out not just what I predict will happen over the coming year and beyond but what I think you should be doing to not just make the most of trends but evolve so you get ahead of them.
That takes me neatly to my first prediction which is also the one that explains that ‘evolve’ thing…
More than ever, standing out and not fitting in to the meh mass of me-too marketing is vital.
That means being unapologetically, unequivocally you in everything that you do.
So, instead of listening to Marketer A telling you to fake it until you make it or Marketer B insisting you polarise people, I suggest you just relax and be yourself.
That way, you are automatically competing in a market of one: you. If people love you and what you do, they will want more of it. Simple as that.
But don’t worry – I’m not going to leave you scratching your head wondering how you can be more ‘you.’ Instead, I’m going to give you some resources here but also reassure you that will be a cornerstone of everything I teach and share in the coming year.
So let’s get you started with those resources and this with 6 ways to bring your personality to your marketing and feel comfortable doing it:
And this on how to infuse your content with it:
If you’re not sure whether you bring your personality to your brand or not or even why it’s important (hint: you get way more sales and engagement) then read this:
That should be enough to get you started on the personality front so now let’s move on to my next prediction and that’s the growth of multichannel marketing, i.e. you need to be everywhere.
Now, before you slump into a heap thinking that’s impossible when you’re already trying your hardest to hit Facebook, Instagram, Twitter et al then I’ll qualify it by saying you get to choose your everywhere.
I’ll go even further and suggest that your social media platforms this year should focus more on Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn with a healthy dose of YouTube thrown in.
Over the coming months – actually, days – you’ll see me practicing what I preach by focusing my teaching on some of those, as I do already, and sharing current best practices on these platforms because I absolutely believe that’s where your best growth potential lies.
Yes, Facebook does still exist but it’s getting harder and more expensive to gain traction there when it comes to ads and the plateau that the Facebook audience has hit.
The other platforms I mention are far more exciting and still growing…which leaves far more room for you.
Let’s now take a look at some resources for those in turn:
Pinterest, as you know if you have taken my Pin Code course, is my absolute favourite for driving traffic, building lists and now advertising.
In line with my last prediction, I’m going to be expanding the course considerably but that of course means making it far more of a premium offering (another prediction) so I would gently suggest you get in now if you haven’t done so already.
Pinterest have just released their top 100 trends for 2020 which provide invaluable insights for marketers and entrepreneurs like you.
Use these to plan your content, find new niches, develop new products and make the most of this incredible platform – take a look here:
https://business.pinterest.com/en-gb/blog/the-top-100-trends-for-2020
As for Instagram, here’s how tips on how to make the most of this ever expanding opportunity in 2020 with a guide to creating the best Instagram post:
Plus a guide to what your Instagram strategy should be in 2020:
And ten predictions to fire up that strategy:
Moving on to LinkedIn, here are six top tips for the coming year there:
https://intricatedigital.com/top-6-linkedin-marketing-tips/
And an excellent Marketing School podcast from Neil Patel and Eric Siu with seven more tips here:
Neil and Eric are huge on YouTube and that’s another place you should be focusing your efforts in 2020 as well as on video marketing in general.
Here are some helpful tips on how to achieve that:
Along with a close look at the trends you need to know about:
Moving on from social media, my next prediction is that mindset is really going to matter this year and more and more teachers are going to integrate it in their trainings (including me) because they realise that you cannot achieve true success without it.
One of my favourite go-to people on mindset is James Clear whom I have followed for years. Here’s his classic advice on how to overcome procrastination:
I also love Lewis Howes and his School of Greatness podcast – here’s his episode on Simplifying Your Sales and there are many others that address mindset as well as business tips:
Finally, Denise Duffield-Thomas is someone else I rate highly and here is her advice on creating the ultimate lifestyle business. Again, you will find plenty on her site about having the right mindset and much more:
https://www.denisedt.com/blog/7-steps-to-creating-the-ultimate-lifestyle-business
Finally, finally – in line with the prediction I mentioned earlier, online courses are really going to explode this year.
Yes, I know they have been exploding for a while but I predict they will become more mainstream which also means that to succeed you need to do the opposite and make your courses stand out.
Yep – your courses. I absolutely believe you should be creating those and I am releasing several trainings to help you do that based on my years of experience.
You may have noticed I also hinted earlier at premium courses because you absolutely should aim at creating those along with others that fill different price points.
In this way, you offer your customers different options and solutions which help to replace the traditional ‘funnel.’
Yes, I know. Controversial. I’m not saying funnels are dying – I’ll leave that to the people who love to use that kind of thing in their head and subject lines – but there are signs that people are growing jaded with them and so I advocate using different approaches.
That applies to launches too and, again, I will be addressing that in the coming weeks and months but for now, let me leave you with these resources on the topic.
First this on the demise of the sales funnel and what to do instead:
https://www.square2marketing.com/blog/the-sales-funnel-is-dead-whats-next
And then an alternative point of view:
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/understand-marketing-funnel/312569/
That’s the main takeaway here – different opinions are healthy and there is no one route to success.
I can read the runes for you and see the stats which demonstrate which platform is worthy of your attention but ultimately your success rests, as I said at the beginning of this, on you being you.
Your TED talk will help inspire you to do that – it’s on why working from home is good for you:
