Two of the most popular marketing trends of 2020 are webinar marketing and making use of chatbots. With webinar marketing, you can cut back on the costs while chatbots eliminate the time-consuming, mundane tasks currently performed by people.

Humanity is currently facing its biggest crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has disrupted people’s lives, economies, businesses, and also robbed people of their livelihoods and lives. To curb the contagion, Singapore has put in place a series of healthcare, economic, business and social measures.

Measures implemented in the workplace include, but are not limited to social distancing and remote working for employees. This has greatly affected how companies can carry out their marketing activities during this time and could result in permanent changes even when the pandemic is over.

2 Must-Know Marketing Trends of 2020

Webinar marketing is becoming more important than ever before

One of the emerging marketing trends of 2020 which is becoming more important in the coming years is webinar marketing. The cost of organising an event in Singapore can add up really fast with venue rentals, food and beverage catering, having to provide print materials, paying for travelling expenses and other miscellaneous costs. Seasoned marketers understand that venue rental cost is one of the biggest cost items that increases depending on the event duration and room capacity.

However, with a virtual webinar, you can cut back on these costs. Some webinar platforms available on the market include Zoom, Google Hangout and NTSCollab.

NTSCollab, one of the latest video conferencing tools in the market, features a whiteboard function that allows participants to annotate and share materials real-time on the platform. Zoom, on the other hand, allows event organisers to quickly generate reports of all types, including registration and attendance lists.

Besides being cost-efficient, webinars are also convenient to organise because it not only saves stakeholders’ time but can also be conducted anywhere in the world.

Almost every stakeholder (i.e. business partners, colleagues and clients) has access to the internet, making webinars a convenient choice that helps reduce travelling-related stress and time. While physical events may still have its place in a post-Covid-19 world as it offers face-to-face interactions, webinars will become more commonplace.

Chatbots will become a mainstay feature

A chatbot is a computer programme that automates online conversation. When implemented, the chatbot will initiate a conversation with people on the platform, send messages based on a pre-defined set of rules and collect basic details like name, email, company and other information.

Chatbots will redefine the future of marketing because they eliminate the time-consuming, mundane tasks currently performed by people. For example, a chatbot can easily answer a customer’s question about whether a certain service is available, what are the business operating hours, or direct the customer to the relevant department for more complex issues. Due to efficiencies realised by businesses, chatbots will become the norm for business to engage their prospects and clients.

Another reason why chatbots are great is because they facilitate seamless live communication. When a customer has an issue with a company’s products or services, he or she can reach out to the company at any time of the day. This greatly enhances customer satisfaction as lesser time is spent on waiting for an email response or a customer service representative to get back to them.

Chatbots can also help a company scale its business and reach more people. Customer service teams are often constrained by manpower resources when attending to customers’ queries.

Chatbots, on the other hand, can serve many people at any one time, while creating personalised interactions with customers by offering reliable shopping recommendations based on a user’s buying history and preferences. Examples of chatbots in the market include Watson Assistant, Bold360, Rulai, LivePerson, etc.

Before embarking on these digital solutions, companies can check out the available financial assistance from the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Start Digital Pack under the SMEs Go Digital Programme. The programme was launched in 2019 to help SMEs embark on their digitalisation journeys.

About CLA Global TS (formerly Nexia TS)
Founded in 1993, CLA Global TS (formerly known as Nexia T.S.), is an award-winning Asia-Centred Business Advisor. An independent member firm of CLA Global Network, CLA Global TS provides a full spectrum of professional services including, but not limited to Assurance & IPO Reporting, Tax, Risk Advisory, Valuation, Insolvency & Restructuring, Sustainability & Climate Change Advisory and more.

For more information, visit CLA-TS.com.