Imagine a world without content. A world that is so abstract that it becomes a self-negating proposition in itself. One that cannot be addressed using words that set the context and induces the imagination in the first place. But, for a moment, let's give it a try. What would it mean if nothing were written, if the pronouncement "I give you my word" was sufficient as a contract? If all languages would be spoken text, except that "text" would not exist. Suppose we would have been texting with our friends but only with images but not text. If there would be products but without any expiry date or how to use instructions written on it? Living without content would have been impossible 500 years ago and it still stands true. We all connect with content daily, be it from a magazine, song lyrics, Instagram caption, banners, labels on beauty products, and much more. Even different industry players are leveraging content in the form of content marketing to gain brand recognition & position. They are building a strong brand voice that captures their audience's attention and helps them differentiate from competitors.  The power of the content has never been greater than it is today. As Content marketing has now become one of the most effective methods of growing audience engagement, developing the brand presence, and driving sales, modern businesses must work to ensure they are creating valuable, high-quality content that supports and improves the customer journey. 3C's Of Content Marketing: Content Creation  When it comes to content marketing, the first and foremost step is creating content. With more and more consumers demanding a personalized experience, brands should aim to create interactive content since it is the perfect way to grab the consumer's attention & increase engagement. Curate Brands should not just create content to gain clicks, shares, or page views but to create something that the audience finds truly useful. To create something useful, brands should know their target audience. After knowing the audience, one will be able to create content according to the interests of the target audience. Rather than just telling themselves about the brand, the focus should be more on how the brand's products and services can solve the audience's problems. Circulate Brands must spend 20% of their time in content creation, and the rest of it in content promotion. It is time to focus on content promotion & distribution through collaborations, cross-publishing, repurposing content, etc. Brandbuilders & storytellers These days brands are continually looking out for innovative ways to engage their target audiences to achieve their goals. The success and popularity of influencer marketing have made brands move towards a model that celebrates this and enables them to make a mark to establish  Relevance To add credibility to the content by collaborating with an influencer who creates relevant content matching the brand's tonality. Reach By not jumping into the influencer marketing trend haphazardly and taking time to find an influencer that matches the brand. This way, they are able to deliver an authentic message to the specific target group that the brand is trying to reach, and be upfront about it. Resonance An influencer is known for its unbiased and authentic opinions. The fact that posts from an influencer don't appear as advertisement is one of the most significant benefits of influencer generated content. To resonate with the audience effectively, The brand should boost engagement in the influencer marketing campaign through user-generated & customized content. Connecting creativity with content Creativity is critical when it comes to standing out among the noises that distract the target audience daily. To start somewhere, here are a few ideas to kickstart conversations and improve overall brand recognition:

• Brands can take the help of blog posts as they are a cornerstone of B2B content creation due to their SEO benefits & help in the process of primary content distribution.
• Another way is to use gated content that can help generate leads as it requires users to fill in their details to receive access.
• As Robert Gerrish rightly said, "You just need one person to listen, get your message and pass it on to someone else. And, you've doubled your audience", podcasts are one of the best ways brands can talk to their audience. 

Funneling Content Finding the right content to answer the customer's questions, nurture their opinion of and relationship with the brand, and ultimately convert leads into paying customers is hard. So hard that most brands and marketers are lost when it comes to choosing the right kind of content. Every brand should keep these three stages in mind as to provide the right content at the right time to their audience: Top-of-the-funnel (TOFU)/Awareness Stage At this stage, brands capture their audience's attention by providing solutions to the target audience's most pressing needs through relevant content. This must be offered without asking anything in return.  Middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU)/Evaluation Stage Once people have been introduced to a brand and have received some degree of free value from them, it's time to convert them to an actual lead. Brands should help prospective buyers make the right decision by providing case studies, product demos & in-depth research reports. Bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU)/Decision Stage It's time to present customers with an offer that naturally transitions them into a paying customer. Send out offer reminders through drip email campaigns, free trials, discounts & consultations. On Top with SEO Yeah, creating top-quality content should be the priority, but it should be optimized for search engines. Brands should:

• Foster authority & trust by using high-quality links that pass value from one site to the other.
• Optimize their blog posts for featured snippets to give quick wins and drive traffic from the SERPs.
• Create content that focuses on the target audience with the right keywords & generate high-quality links back to their website.

Grow socially High-quality content has the best effect when it gets distributed over social media. It's no wonder that many marketers say that social media and content marketing go together like wine and cheese.

• If the content offered by brands is not meaningful or engaging, it can be tiresome, frustrating, and push the audience elsewhere. Creating share-worthy content in social media is the modern-day word of mouth.
• Establish a relationship with the audience by creating authentic content, such as personifying communication tonality to humanize the brand. This shows that the brand is interested in connecting with the audience and committed to building meaningful relationships with them.
• Focus on adding value to the customer's lifestyle, which helps to build a brand's reputation & establishing authority in the industry.
• Social media should not be used as a stopgap. Initiate direct communication with the audience. But do not bombard them with everything. Play with new ways to connect with the audience. For instance, one day, post a series of Instagram Stories to give customers a behind-the-scenes tour. Next, host a quick Q&A session via Facebook Live video streaming. 

At the end of the day, content is what really matters the most. Nobody will engage if the information is not right and useful to them. Consumers want to find topics and companies that they can relate to or aspire to. The content and conversations must be true to the brand's personality, motto, customers, and business."

Gone are the days when artificial intelligence (AI), voice search engine optimization (VSEO) and data-driven marketing were considered absurdly ambitious concepts. In present times, business leaders are greatly prioritizing implementation of these digital marketing trends to drive business growth and thrive in 2020. 

In the time ahead of us, we will see out-of-touch marketing strategies gradually become extinct. This is because personalized content, video, AI-based automation, transparency and brand values have become influential concepts for organizations' survival and success. 

Quick Takeaways:

- Marketing has gone past the traditional forms, i.e. branding and advertising. Hence, marketers must collaborate across departments and focus on building customer experiences while engaging them for lasting relationships. 

- Content visualization can be seen dominating the next year, as 64% of Internet users are more likely to purchase a product online after watching a video. And marketers can observe a 49% boost in business ROI with dynamic video retargeting. 

- Infographics will be an ideal content form to reach to audiences whose attention spans are less. The collection of imagery, minimal text, and relevant charts; infographics are 3 times more likely to be shared than other forms of content. 

- Statistics indicate that content marketing holds the potential to get 3x more leads than paid advertising. 55% of marketers are prioritizing to create content for blogs as a part of their marketing strategy. And 72% of marketers are improving their engagement through content marketing.

- According to research by Statista, there are around 3.9 billion email users in the world, and the number is expected to grow to 4.48 billion users by 2024. Furthermore, 122% is the average return on investment from email marketing. Witnessing the obvious growth of the medium; email marketing, business leaders should focus on prevailing and upcoming innovations in email marketing.

Customer experience will continue to reign. 

Each year, business owners spend a majority of their time driving customer engagement and serving for seamless customer experience. However, the average time that a human being can pay attention is 8 seconds, which brings a challenge for marketers to implement strategies effectively. 

Today's customer is mostly on-the-go; hence, seamlessness plays a vital role in customer engagement. Moreover, they are impatient, and the 'quick nature' of infographics and mobile marketing provides them with the information they want at their fingertips. This results in quick buying decisions, and as a result, marketers can witness increased conversion rates, which serves as a reason for mobile marketing to dominate the digital landscape. 

Artificial intelligence has changed in the wave in the marketing sphere. The hype around AI is growing with each day. Two of the significant transformative customer experience trends; personalization and chatbots are supported by AI technology. 38% of businesses are using forms of AI technology for better customer experience (CX). And the figure is projected to reach 62% by the end of the year. 

Management experts at Bain and Company indicated that a mere 5 per cent boost in customer retention increases profit by 25 per cent. Hence, businesses need to align CX with each aspect of their marketing strategy to provide greater experience, retain customers and attract new ones. 

Immersive technologies paving the way for innovation 

The sister technologies, Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) offer a more personalized and immersive experience. It helps customers make informed buying decisions. Moreover, Augmented reality saw a record-breaking growth last year. With big names like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google making serious commitments to AR technology, experts are expecting 2020 to be a year for fast-paced industry growth. 

Consumers already lean on map services, but the use of AR in the navigation will provide detailed directions through the 3D rendering of places with precise instructions.

A BRP report exhibited that around 48% of consumers are likely to buy from retailers that provide AR experiences. Hence, brands can leverage AR-assisted shopping apps to enhance the customer experience, benefit the distributors & the manufacturers and most importantly observe increased sales. 

The future of design resides with AR and VR technologies. Brands can produce products with improved and innovative design with AR by showing an immersive, realistic experience of the product being designed.

Get caught in the web-trends for improved user experience.

When it comes to UX and UI, it's important to be cohesive and ensure web accessibility. The terms are much more than an industry buzzword; they facilitate conversions and help marketers increase sales of products. 

Once a quote by Edward Tufte, American professor and statistician, "Confusion and clutter are the failure of design, not the attributes of information" has now turned into a fact. This stays true to user experience as well. One of the best ways to stand out and stay ahead of the competition curve is to stay accessible to the target audience. Hence, brands must focus on neat minimal UI/UX for a seamless customer journey. 

The loading speed will be a crucial element to drive success through SEO efforts and an essential factor in overall user experience. Fast loading websites result in improved search rankings on Google. With the help of Google's speed update algorithm, brands can diminish page load time for their websites. 

Design accents and movements on the screen, having a water-like feel for web design will explode in popularity for the year 2020. Marketers can incorporate the new trend of liquid animation on websites to improve the user interface to ensure users stay and come back for the experience. 

Devise improved rankings for SEO efforts

Today, 50.5% of the population speaks daily to smart speakers or mobile devices to well-known attendees, Siri, Alexa or Cortana. Voice searches have emerged as the new norm, and as predicted by ComScore, nearly half of the searches in the year will be voice searches. Hence, with the use of voice search technology in the SEO strategy by optimizing content & syncing it with search intent such as location-based searches, organizations and marketers can observe increased rankings. 

Schema, structured markup is a continuously evolving concept in the SEO sphere. It helps define the context of a search query and further simplify page content for search engines to easily understand what that page is about. Once added to a webpage, it creates rich snippets in search. These snippets will result in enhanced listings which are more attractive to users. 

Google releases hundreds of algorithm updates every year and this year will be dedicated to Google's new SEO algorithm, BERT. Marketing professionals can utilize it to target relevant, accurate content, especially with mobile users.

The number of zero-click searches has increased over the last few years. Today, zero-click searches have quite an impact. According to the SparkToro report, the previous year witnessed 50.33% of all Google searches ending without a click on both organic and paid search results. By optimizing zero-click searches with the implementation of structured data on the website, a boost in online presence can be noticed. 

Ad(d) value to bring more conversions

Segmentation serves as a key element to detect and define target markets. Companies will witness improved returns on ads and attract more B2B customers by targeting niche websites.

Utilizing Microsoft audience network or Google Display Network (GDN) based on the target profiling will allow running ads targeting users' demographic, professional placements for improved campaign and performance management. 

In-app advertising will be a useful strategy for target marketing. Studies indicate that people spend 90% of their browsing time using mobile apps. So, it wouldn't be surprising to say that at times, advertising brands through apps rather than websites will ensure higher click through rates. 

Organizations can run native ads with top-performing content & create complementary display campaigns using remarketing techniques. Interestingly, as many as 96% of people who visit the brand's website aren't ready to buy. Hence, the method of remarketing can be credited as a powerful way to draw those prospects back into your conversion funnel. 

Closing Notes  

Change is an integral part of the digital marketing sphere. For anyone operating a business, it is crucial to know about prevailing marketing trends. Hence, one must keep looking out to thrive and strive to embrace upcoming technologies to stay ahead of the competition curve. 

Digital for SMEs

The small and medium businesses (SMEs) in India comprise of 63.4 million units and accounts for approximately 1/3rd of India’s GDP, offering employment opportunities to an approximate figure of 460 million people. Similarly, in terms of exports, the SMEs contribution is estimated at about 45% of the total exports.  Despite the SME sector contributing to a sizable chunk of the country’s economy, traditional and out-dated business strategies and the low rate of technology influx has started to hinder these industries in enabling them to achieve their full potential. A primary barrier has been technology adoption, and this is where SME’s must strive to understand and adopt new-age digital channels to help amplify their businesses.  New Mantra’s for SME’s  With evolving habits and behaviour patterns, SME’s must stay up-to-date with ways in which they can understand their target audience and how to maximise their satisfaction. 

• CRM tools are a great way to increase customer retention - you can only think about approaching new customers once your current ones are happy enough. 
• Similarly, to attain an even more detailed understanding of their customers, You can consider carrying out a ‘KYC’. A KYC is a detailed onboarding process where businesses can collect and store detailed information as per their requirements. A KYC process can be made mandatory and helps promote transparency along with in-depth analysis of the buyer persona.

Tools Kit The benefits of exploring a diverse range of tools are multifold. Exploring tools across multiple functions ranging from social media to sales or even email can result in an array of benefits. If you’re looking to scale your business, an in-depth understanding of digital tools is a must.

• While social media has many uses, one of the primary benefits is the influence they have in maintaining reputations of brands. This is precisely why exploring ORM (online relationship management) tools to help customer interactions is a smart move.
• Similarly, by adopting an automated email marketing tool, you can build and hone strategies to target a large number of stakeholders. These tools can help in creating highly personalized messaging in emails and elevate the impact of your existing email marketing strategy.
• Lastly, exploring a Whatsapp Business API is another innovative way to build relations with both new and existing customers by offering them digital support and assistance. This offers a highly personalized experience and helps give your brand an identity - rather than an SMS - where a string of digits do not leave the same effect. 

‘E Route’ For SME’s  E-commerce is a strategic game-changer, particularly in recent months with the focus on offline selling at an all-time low. If as an SME you are yet to explore online channels for sales, it is never too late to start. E-commerce provides you an opportunity to break free from the limitations of physical commerce-enabling you to market yourself to a larger audience. With lower barriers to trade, and lower expenses without any rent and inventory costs, e-commerce is a no-brainer. Here are some tips to optimize your e-commerce strategies -

• Consider price, features, support, ease of use and performance while choosing an e-commerce builder.

• • Augment your e-commerce platform with the help of insightful product descriptions, video content, and quirky blogs. This helps keep visitors engaged and helps offer them an insight into your brand rather than just serve as a transactional platform.
  • Tinker around with diverse sale strategies and promotional offers to help understand your audience even better, and evaluate how these strategies affect your sales and revenue.
  • There are plenty of e-commerce platforms which are offering free assistance to businesses affected by the pandemic that are worth exploring.

• Evaluate whether you need an on-premises or cloud hosting environment to run an efficient e-commerce platform. 

S for Social, SME’s & Success Along with the standard features offered, social media platforms have taken distinct measures by launching innovative offerings specifically aimed to help SME’s. These offerings have been launched in light of the coronavirus pandemic which has brought a huge burden on the shoulders of SME’s while they faced problems staying afloat. Social media become the norm for marketing strategies, so these platforms went a step further to help out SME’s - 

• Utilize Facebook’s ‘Business Resource Hub’ that includes a ‘resilience toolkit’, helping businesses prevent disruptions. The Small Business Resiliency Toolkit holds a framework for small businesses that lack the time or resources to create an extensive plan to recover from business interruptions. The Toolkit is based on best practices and is designed to educate you on basic business resilience activities and approaches.

These resources will guide your company toward addressing preparedness issues while building the flexibility to handle potential business disruptions. The Toolkit is designed to lead any business, even one with no disaster experience or knowledge, towards greater resiliency.

• Leverage Instagram’s ‘Support SME Sticker’ - a feature that allows brand users to easily show their love for businesses through stories. They can tag businesses directly in the sticker to give their followers an overlook of the account. This feature is a great way to promote local businesses and help them thrive on social media.

• Similarly, on LinkedIn, SME’s can make use of the ‘Open For Business’ feature. This feature allows freelancers and small business owners to add their services to their LinkedIn profiles, which helps make them discoverable on the LinkedIn search engine.

SME’s form a substantial chunk of the economy in our country - and often face difficulties adapting to dynamic technological innovations that spring up on a consistent basis. In the digital world we live in today, it is imperative to embrace these new innovations to fully thrive and sustain business.