#hopefully will get more copies for his NP in the future.....

[lanliingwang]

huang feihu acquired (and grailed)

[hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong]

Xiuhcoatl

Quetzalcoatl's primary Noble Phantasm was known as Xiuhcoatl, translating from Nahuatl to mean, "flame serpent" it originates from when she burnt down her own temple to prevent her rival Tezcalipoca from stealing away her own treasures while she was banished.

When she released the true name of this Noble phantasm, powerful divine flames are unleashed which not only burn her opponent but also prevent the releasing of their own Noble phantasm's true name. While in general the NP manifests as burning flames, after she got addicted to Lucha Libre, she transformed it into a powerful pile-driver! Or alternatively, a godly kick from on high!

Rex had finally obtained the fifth and final copy of Quetz's spirit origin needed to unleash the full strength of her Noble phantasm!!! It took many attempts at the summoning circle, but it was well worth it!

Quetz: you did it mi amor! You got the final piece!

Rex: yeah! Took... a few more pulls from the summoning circle then I'm proud to admit, but still I finally got it!

Quetz: hehehe, si... that silly Fate system doesn't seem to be very cooperative, unfortunately....

Rex: well still! Now that we have it, let's test out your new potential!!!

Quetz: si! Did you have anything particular in mind?

Rex: well....

In the Simulator room, Rex has requested the recreation of the fight against Ivan the Terrible, while in his huge mammoths form!

Quetz: are you sure about this Mi amor?

Rex: of course mi corazon! I'm certain that with your Noble Phantasm at full charge, you can one shot Ivan, even in his Mammoth form!

Quetz: ok then! Do you have any idea how to charge my noble phantasm all the way?

Rex: well.... I'm not.... entirely sure if it'll be able to... go all the way, but... hopefully it can still help!

Quetz: and what would that be?

Then suddenly, Rex grabbed Quetz and gave her a big kiss!!!!

*Muuuuuuah!!!*

Then once Rex had released Quetz from the kiss, she was a bit taken a back.

Quetz: wow! Mi amor that was muy increible!

Then suddenly Quetz was bursting with burning energy!!!!

Her eyes turned from Jade green, to Solar red! Flames surrounded her body, her hair burst forth like a roaring inferno! Even her very skin seemed to be crackling with the solar energy from her fully charged Noble phantasm!

Rex: holy shit! Looks like it worked!

Quetz: SI! NOW I'M CERTAIN I CAN DEFEAT THAT BEAST!!!

Even her very voice Boomed with the intense power overflowing within her!

Rex: hell yeah!

Quetz flew into the air from the snowy hillside cliff they were on, now fully engulfed with the heavenly fire and even with huge wings of flames erupting from her body!

The huge Mammoth roared in response to her rising into the air, as if to challenge the goddess!!!

Quetz: I AM THE SERPENT! I AM THE FLAME!!!

Quetzalcoatl launched herself forwards towards the titanic enemy, ready to finish him off!

XIUHCOATL CHARREADA!!!

After making impact with the mighty Tsar, a gigantic explosion erupts forth, comparable to that of a Nuclear weapon!

Once the flames finally clear up, there's no trace left of the gigantic adversary. But Quetz was there, still somewhat burning with energy, tho not nearly as much as before.

Rex: mi corazon! Mi corazon!

Rex yelled as he ran to meet up with her! Once he finally caught back up with her, most of the flames had subsided.

Quetz: hey mi amor, how did you like it?

Rex: that was incredible! I didn't think it'd be that powerful!

Quetz: si... I was surprised too.... but it felt amazing! Almost like back when I had full divine power!

Rex: seriously?!

Quetz: si, si! But let's not use it too much, could be dangerous...

Rex: good point, we'll save that power for the more major threats!

Quetz: si! That sounds good!

Rex: well either way, I'm happy we won't need to summon your spirit origin again anymore!

Quetz: si! The randomness of the summoning system is so chaotic, I'm thankful we won't need to worry about that anymore!

Meanwhile, in the control room.

Holmes: so... when do you plan on telling them that you plan to expand how strong a servant can get in the near future? And that it'll likely require more copies of their spirit origins?

Da Vinci: shh! Let them have this for the time... besides, it'll be a good while until that's ready. Until then, they won't have to worry about it.

A/N: so there we have it! Finally wrote a story to celebrate NP5 Quetz! Along with drawing some art too! If you couldn't tell, the power she unleashed was based on her huge attack from the Babylonia anime. NP5 Xiuhcoatl may not be that powerful in game, but in-story we can do what we want! Hope you all enjoyed it!

Tags

@hasspartacusdoneanythingwrong @hasishtardoneanythingwrong @havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong @hasbbdoneanythingwrong @hasereshdoneanythingwrong @haskamadoneanythingwrong @exmeowstic @chaldeamage-neo @witch-of-chaldea @grievouslyxorvia @littleminxthings @writer-and-artist27 @zantyreloaded

[fgodestinyawakenings]

Babylonia Section 19~Section 20

I thought it wasn’t bad with the first just visual story... Second half I need more cleansing of my sanity from that shit fight in the previous chapter. Good god, what the fuck is wrong with you DW?!

Section 19

Without waiting for a break after returning, a meeting immediately started in getting ideas to defeat Tiamat. 306 citizens including 212 soldiers left in Uruk... 157 survivors in Northen wall with 38 soldiers included.

Details about Lahmu followed on despite the number of citizens left... Looks like he accepted the end of his era for Gilgamesh... Tiamat’s details finally analyzed after that chaotic battle.... Hey now, it’s a Beast class you remember? At least safe to say no weakness is found yet!

2 days in total before she arrives Uruk by Jaguar Warrior’s instinct... And well, she thinks all life are equal regardless so henceforth the annihilation of humanity.

Seems like all Beasts are immortal so death never going to reach to their existence once... Definitely not going by if all humans die she will die method to kill her if humans are here to prove her existence!

So what about the opposite? as Gilgamesh and the Gudas mentioned. Oh hey, long time no see Eresh! Our King wished to borrow your underworld to kill Tiamat if you don’t mind! Ah, we don’t mind if you need time to shift Underworld right below Uruk too!

Off topic, Gilgamesh has a point for you too, Ishtar. Anyway, looks like hopefully less than 3 days underworld will be right under Uruk to defeat Tiamat. I see, so that’s why you needed Ishtar, Gilgamesh!

Gugalanna, we need your pet to help destroy Tiamat-- Ishtar... You don’t have Gugalanna with yoooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuu?!!! AND YOU LOST HIM?!?!!?!?!!? ISHTAR.... YOU USELESS NO-GOOD GODDESS!!!

Punishment for Ishtar aside for her deeds, the meeting end since no other ideas can be used to hold off Tiamat for 1 day. We’re given one more day to rest before the final battle thanks to King Gilgamesh.

At night in Chaldea Embassy, everyone drops by for both a break and bonding... Seems like Quetz knew about Tiamat all this while, or all the while she knew about Gorgon’s relation to Tiamat... She cares for Gorgon despite what happened...

And yeah, some stockholm syndrome between Jaguar Warrior and Quetz... As expected of Quetz being the good goddess, it’s like her to stop Eresh and Gorgon... :)

Outside, Ishtar and Mash talking together... We’re too used to goodbyes and meeting after 6 Singularities. Well that Gilgamesh’s “nice”, is as questionable as his AUO’s “nice”. But hey, if he’s too nice, he’s not the stupid arrogant asshole AUO that we all know and enjoyed.

Flashback previously with Leonidas and Mash... Usually this, there’s questions wondering people like Jeanne who refused to kill human life... And others that do in a war.... There’s also more details in Leonidas’s point of view on his past too 

Lastly one last detail about Chaldea, an observatory it’s called. More information about Chaldea does... Hope this isn’t foreshadowing in relations to Part 2 now.,, And poor Guda or specificially Gudako... A harem set between both sisters...

Ah seems like the Gudas and Mash decided to visit the King one last time.... Maybe a bad time since he’s busy? Okay, looks like he’s free to talk... Um thanks for giving something for us to brag about when we get back?

Hey, we feel bad we cause of that you know? The fact people died in Uruk and everything... Huh? We change the future from your vision? And even when you knew that Uruk will end, you still fight on, Gilgamesh....

Guda’s compassion to Uruk and the Goddess helped changed the fate itself... Yeah, we were told all damage will be erased once we finished the mission in the Singularity?

So lives will not be restored and what happened can never be undone? Oh right.. As Fate/Zero Accel... We can’t entirely change the past... It feels like Waver trying to save Kayneth is going to be for naught... He’ll still die along with his wife some way or another...

Life lessons from Caster Gil is really meaningful and deep... Yeah, you fucking lovable idiot, of course you’d destroy your country for an immortal herb. Yes, Siduri deserve to give you that scolding for the irresponsibility! Same old Gilgamesh with the same old quotes in Fate/Zero!

After we depart... Kingu... At the Celestial Hill, the memories of Enkidu first meets Gilgamesh.... Despite him cursing himself for being used and thrown... Gilgamesh?!

Oh come on, you don’t stumble to find your long-lost friend again! While bickering a little... The grail? He’s giving it to Kingu! Kingu will be fine after all! Even knowing that’s Kingu with Enkidu’s stolen dead body... He cares for him too as another new found friend other than Enkidu.,.. The pain in losing your friend and to avoid that.... Kingu... Please make the right choice this time

Section 20

The final day here at last! Woah, the data for Tiamat is compiled! Seems like there’s a few weak spots in terms of physical body to deal damage at! So, we’re going to start with removing the black mud first! Or known as now, Chaos Tide!

Damn it and she’s awake and moving faster than we thought! Thank god we didn’t choose to destroy the Sun stone or there’s no other Noble Phantasm to beat her!

That shouldn’t be a problem if you can piggy back us all the way while we supply you mana to deal with her legs!

One hasty sprint right outside of Uruk later, King Gigamesh standing in glory at the top of ZIggurat to announce to his citizens while he’s overjoyed at those that survived... He’s getting the citizens riled up on dealing with Tiamat as their final battle

Anyway, accepting this point of no return... Onwards towards Tiamat!! Which finally arriving on the Chaos tide... Time for a most disgusting fight with the Chaos tide!

First wave done, but definitely not giving up with many of the Lahmus and Bel Lahmu coming at us! Yup, the closer we are the higher the damage will be from the Chaos Tide!

Huh? Looks like we’re about to get killed by the Lahmu and... Backup has come from Girsu! While Jaguar Warrior tries to protect them... We’re facing again with 1 demonic beasts and 3 Lahmus at our asses!

Fucking damn it! She’s still speeding up even after we cleared the Demonic Beasts! And oh... Because of her walking that creates shockwaves... There’s a fucking russian roulette at the start!

...... My initial setup is the same after shuffle... Thank fucking god for that! I could have sworn after picking up the stuff I dropped from my table... I swear to god that it felt like it never shuffled at all!

Right below Tiamat’s leg... What the?! Ushikawamaru!! And no thanks, serving AUO later if we do summon him is enough to do for serving!

With russian roulette round 2 back here and 1.2k damage from Chaos Tide... DW really knows how to bring hell here.

Also... Bring AOE Servant and not ST Servant... Or you’re going to have a long time clearing those Ushikawamaru. Had to retry because it’s completely screw up... One of the worst fight for this entire Singularity OTL

Endless of copies doesn’t kill Ushikawamaru yet... She curses at the humans which at this point it’s useless now to convince her out of this... This voice? Benkei! But he’s completely injured and how?! Lastly... In a suicidal move, both Ushikawamaru and Benkei... Took all the hit with her from the clones...

Even the copies are not budging to move after hearing Benkei’s words about Ushikawamaru’s heart... He’s also pulling Tiamat’s authority off her! At last... Both of them departed away... Right now, Quetz, it’s time to unleash your NP! Wait NO DON’T UNLEASH! THIS IS NOT FUCKING ARASH ROUND 2 HERE!!!

Unleashing her NP... Looks like some of the Chaos tide is removed! Quetz!! Damn those flying Lahmu...! What?! Chaos Tide returned from Tiamat’s feet! Quetz, stop!! QUETZ!!!

Uh oh... Seems like Quetz is badly wounded.... She even flies?! Seriously?!! And one last mana transfer via kiss, QUETZ STOP!!! NO QUETZ!!!! ISHTAR STOP HER YOU IDIOT!!!!

QUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTZZZZZZ!!!! Not Arash all over again! Damn it not at your last noble phantasm to destroy her!!!

.... As Quetz’s spirit origin fell into the chaos tide after that suicidal NP... Tiamat continues to march on! Along with more chaos tide and 1 giant ass Lahmu!

With the wall fallen... Time is ticking before the chaos tide swallows all of Uruk! And she’s going to fly again?! From the Chaos Tide... Snake... Huh? That snake even making Lahmus complaining about it since Tiamat is being tied down!

Wait... GORGON?! Well at least she’s helping our side in her own way now that’s return somehow!

Seems like Gorgon is buying us the chance to make a quick rest when we head back to find Gilgamesh again... Despite that bitter fight back at Section 15... Gorgon... No, Ana... Please do your best! Even knowing what happens at the end...!

One of Tiamat’s horn destroyed, she can no longer fly to get to Uruk faster.. Time is running out! And GOD DAMN IT IN URUK! Good thing Gilgamesh is there to clean up the Lahmus beginning to invade Uruk.

Seems like it’s going to take a long while for Eresh to bring underworld under Uruk. While waiting for Eresh, looks like King Gilgamesh is waiting for us in this final battle

............ Now if you excuse me while I need my sanity... I need to regain myself from the feels in this chapter... OTL

[marketingcomcaio]

Marketing Trends for 2020: Here’s What Will Happen That Nobody is Talking About

The new year is right around the corner. And I know you are already prepared because you read this blog and tons of other marketing blogs, right?

But here is the thing: I also read most of the popular marketing blogs, follow all of the marketing YouTube channels, and listen to the same podcasts you do.

And I’ve noticed that very few people are talking about what’s really going to happen in 2020.

Sure, they will tell you things like voice search is going to account for over 50% of the search queries next year but all of that stuff has already been talked about.

And there are actually more interesting trends that will affect your marketing that no one is really talking about.

So, what are these trends? What’s going to happen in 2020?

Alright, here goes…

Trend #1: Companies who rely on Google Analytics will get beat by their competition

We all love Google Analytics.

Heck, I love it so much I log in at least 3 or 4 times a day. And here is the kicker: I get so much traffic that my Google Analytics only updates once a day.

I really need to break that habit but that’s for another day.

You are probably wondering, what’s wrong with Google Analytics?

There actually isn’t much wrong with it. It’s a great tool, especially considering that it’s free.

But here is the thing… marketing has been changing. New channels are being constantly introduced, such as voice search.

And transactions no longer are as simple as someone coming and buying from you and that’s it.

These days there are things like upsells, down sells, repeat purchases, and even checkout bumps. On top of that, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships, affiliate marketing, and even webinars.

This has caused companies to start using analytics solutions that tie into their database better, such as Amplitude.  Or better yet, you are seeing a big push into business intelligence.

A central place where you can tie in all of your data and make better-informed decisions so you can optimize for your lifetime value instead of your short-term income.

In 2020, you will see more companies adopting business intelligence solutions… from paid ones to free ones like Google Data Studio.

If you haven’t checked out Data Studio, you’ll want to start now because it is easy to pass in all of your business and marketing data into one place. For example, you can pass in more granular data from your Facebook ad campaigns into Data Studio while that would be a bit difficult to do with Google Analytics.

Trend #2: Companies will optimize for voice search, but not for revenue

According to ComScore, over 50% of the searches in 2020 will be from voice search. But that’s not really a new trend… everyone has been talking about that for years.

So, what’s the big deal?

Optimizing for voice search is a great way to get your brand out more, but how is that going to convert into sales?

I haven’t seen too many solutions so far when it comes to capitalizing on your voice search traffic, but so far there is Jetson.ai.

If you aren’t familiar with Jetson.ai, it makes it so people can buy from your site using voice search. It doesn’t matter if it is Alexa or Google Home, they work with most of the popular devices.

What’s cool about Jetson.ai is that it can learn from each customer and customize the interactions.

For example, if I keep ordering the same toothpaste from a specific store using voice search, Jetson.ai keeps track of that so you can easily keep ordering the same product over and over again with little to no friction.

Heck, it’s easier than logging into your computer or pulling out your phone to make a purchase.

Trend #3: Your lists won’t convert as well, so you’ll have to look for alternative communication channels

Email, it’s something we all use in the corporate world.

But here is something interesting when it comes to marketing emails… I’m in a group with a bit over 109 email marketers across different industries in different parts of the world.

And can you guess what we are all noticing?

Our open rates are staying roughly the same and that’s largely because we all know how to clean and optimizing for deliverability.

But our click rates are going down.

So far as a group we have seen our click rates drop by 9.4% in 2019.

That’s crazy considering as a group we have over 146 million email addresses.

Now does this mean email is dead?

Of course not!!!

Email is here to stay and will be here for a very long time.

But what companies will have to do in 2020 is to leverage more communication channels.

Chatbots will take off drastically. Not necessarily the Intercom’s or Drift’s of the world but more so the solutions like ManyChat and MobileMonkey.

ManyChat and MobileMonkey leverage Facebook Messenger and as they connect it with Instagram and WhatsApp it will get even more popular.

In addition to chatbots, you’ll see more people leveraging tools that allow push notifications like Subscribers.

It’s so powerful, here is the impact I’ve been able to generate from push notifications so far using Subscribers.

You can wait till next year to lever chatbots and push notifications, but I’d recommend you start sooner than later. 😉

Trend #4: Moats will almost be non-existent, other than brands

You’ve probably heard the word “moat” before. If you haven’t, just think about water around a castle.

Back in the day, they had water all around the castle and they used a drawbridge to get in and out of the castle, so it would protect them from invaders.

With your business, you may have a moat. It could be a feature, your cost structure, a technological advantage, or even a marketing advantage.

Over the years, moats in the online world have slowly been disappearing.

It’s easy for anyone to copy these days. So, what’s separating you from your competition?

Something could work right now, but it won’t last forever…

But do you know what will still be a strong moat in 2020 and even a stronger one in the future?

It’s branding.

People buy Jordan shoes because they love Michael Jordan. His brand is stronger than ever even though he hasn’t played in the NBA for roughly 16 years.

His shoes are so popular, it’s helped him boost his net worth to over a billion dollars. Plus owning a basketball team doesn’t hurt either. 😉

But what’s interesting is he’s made more money after retirement than he did as a basketball player.

And it’s not just Jordan who built a strong brand… so have the Kardashians.

Kylie launched a billion-dollar company according to Forbes and it was all because of her personal brand. Her cosmetic company isn’t doing anything revolutionary. She just has a strong brand… and good for her for monetizing her brand.

The same goes for companies like Nike, Ferrari, Tesla, American Express… and the list goes on and on.

It’s why companies are spending over 10 billion dollars a year on influencer marketing.

Just look at my agency NP Digital. It’s literally one of the fastest-growing ad agencies out there. And when I look at all of my competitors’ numbers, we are growing at a much faster pace because of my brand.

Yes, we have a great team, but again, that really isn’t a moat as a lot of agencies have great teams. It’s my brand that gave us a really fast kick start and continues to hopefully push us up.

You’ll want to build a brand in 2020. Whether it is personal or corporate, it’s the best moat you can build in marketing. Plus, it will help you with Google’s EAT.

Trend #5: Marketing will become a more even playing field, you’ll have no choice but to use automation

When I first started off as an entrepreneur, I turned to SEO because I couldn’t afford the big ad budgets as my competitors.

Heck, I couldn’t even afford to run any paid ads.

Over the years, the playing field has become more level.

There are credit card companies like Brex that make it easier for startups to get approved for larger limits and you may not have to pay them back right away.

There are financing companies that will give you cash to spend on marketing, so non-venture funded companies can more easily compete.

There are even companies like Lighter Capital that will give you loans without all of the headaches based on your existing revenue.

And to top it off, software solutions are now starting to integrate AI to give better recommendations. From Clickflow and RankScience to Distilled ODN… everyone is trying to use AI to make SEO and other forms of marketing.

Heck, BrightEdge can even automate your SEO (or at least a large portion of it). According to them, their automated SEO solution increases page views per visit by 60% as well as provides 21% more keywords on page one​.

Keep in mind their clients are really big (their software starts in the thousands of dollars per month) so they would probably see better results than most companies, but still, you will start seeing many more software companies leverage AI.

Even with Ubersuggest, I’m working on creating AI that does the SEO for you so you no longer have to spend endless hours while, at the same time, saving you thousands of dollars.

In other words, the marketing playing field is getting more even. And if you want to do well, you are going to have to leverage AI and automation.

If everyone else is using it and you aren’t, you are going to get crushed because it will make changes faster and more accurately than a human. Again, it’s the only option you’ll have if you want to continually compete.

But don’t worry, there will be affordable/free solutions that exist, it’s just a matter of time. 😉

If everyone is leveraging the same AI marketing technology, how can you beat your competitors?

Well, it will come down to everything else… price, customer service, upselling, operations, sales… All of the small stuff is what’s going to help you win.

Trend #6: There will be no more silver bullets, we will all have to optimize for marginal gains

A lot of businesses were built off of one marketing channel.

Dropbox grew through referral marketing. Invite more friends, get more free space.

Facebook was built off your email address book. Facebook used to tap into it and invite all of your contacts to use Facebook on your behalf.

Companies like Quora and Yelp were built off of SEO. All of those rankings really help drive their businesses.

But you no longer can build a business through just one marketing channel. Good channels now get saturated extremely fast.

Even if they work and cause explosive growth, it will only last for a short while before your competitors jump on board and make it harder.

Marketing is now heading in the direction of being about “marginal gains.”

There’s a British cycling coach named Dave Brailsford. His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement.

And he’s right, that’s how you win a race.

The same will be with your marketing. There will be a big shift from people focusing on one channel and trying to find the “Holy Grail of marketing” to working on slightly improving each area of your marketing.

From split testing your title tags to get a few ranking improvements to adding checkout bumps to your order page so you can spend a little bit more on your paid ads to using Google Data Studio so you can better optimize for your lifetime value…

It’s all about the little things. That’s what is going to add up to winning.

That’s what you’ll have to shift your mindset to in order to win in 2020 and beyond.

Trend #7: Personalization is the new marketing

The problem with marketing as it exists today is that 95% of your visitors will never convert into a customer. And that’s if you are lucky.

Chances are you are more likely looking at 97% plus of your visitors never converting.

The big reason isn’t that your marketing sucks or that all of those visitors are junk and unqualified.

It’s that your message doesn’t fit every single one of your visitors.

But through personalization, you can convert more of your visitors into customers.

A basic example of this is Amazon. When you go to Amazon, they know your patterns and what you typically buy so they show you what they think you want to see in order to boost their conversions.

And it works! When I log into Amazon I see tons of household supplies because that is what I buy the most often. I never buy dog food (which is smart because I don’t have a dog) so I’ll never see ads for dog food.

Businesses are also trying to personalize each and every single experience both online and offline. 

Companies like Amperity are trying to create a customer relationship engine so you can better serve each of your customers, whether it is online or offline.

Marketing is going to become a game of personalization. With ad costs and even general marketing costs rising, you have no choice but to figure out how to convert the 97% of your traffic that just never comes back.

You’ll see a big push for this in 2020.

Conclusion

I know a lot of the stuff I mentioned above isn’t talked about a lot and they aren’t popular marketing topics that everyone wants to hear… but it is the future.

These are trends that will come true, some already are, and you have to adapt for them.

Here’s the beautiful part, though. You just read this, and now have a chance to act on the information before your competition. So, make sure you go and do so.

I want to see you not only succeed but I want you to beat your competition. And I believe you can, whether you are a big company, or just starting off with very little to no money.

So, what do you think of the trends above? Do you see any marketing trends that will come true in 2020 that few people talk about?

The post Marketing Trends for 2020: Here’s What Will Happen That Nobody is Talking About appeared first on Neil Patel.

Marketing Trends for 2020: Here’s What Will Happen That Nobody is Talking About Publicado primeiro em https://neilpatel.com

[reviewandbonuss]

Marketing Trends for 2020: Here’s What Will Happen That Nobody is Talking About

The new year is right around the corner. And I know you are already prepared because you read this blog and tons of other marketing blogs, right?

But here is the thing: I also read most of the popular marketing blogs, follow all of the marketing YouTube channels, and listen to the same podcasts you do.

And I’ve noticed that very few people are talking about what’s really going to happen in 2020.

Sure, they will tell you things like voice search is going to account for over 50% of the search queries next year but all of that stuff has already been talked about.

And there are actually more interesting trends that will affect your marketing that no one is really talking about.

So, what are these trends? What’s going to happen in 2020?

Alright, here goes…

Trend #1: Companies who rely on Google Analytics will get beat by their competition

We all love Google Analytics.

Heck, I love it so much I log in at least 3 or 4 times a day. And here is the kicker: I get so much traffic that my Google Analytics only updates once a day.

I really need to break that habit but that’s for another day.

You are probably wondering, what’s wrong with Google Analytics?

There actually isn’t much wrong with it. It’s a great tool, especially considering that it’s free.

But here is the thing… marketing has been changing. New channels are being constantly introduced, such as voice search.

And transactions no longer are as simple as someone coming and buying from you and that’s it.

These days there are things like upsells, down sells, repeat purchases, and even checkout bumps. On top of that, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships, affiliate marketing, and even webinars.

This has caused companies to start using analytics solutions that tie into their database better, such as Amplitude.  Or better yet, you are seeing a big push into business intelligence.

A central place where you can tie in all of your data and make better-informed decisions so you can optimize for your lifetime value instead of your short-term income.

In 2020, you will see more companies adopting business intelligence solutions… from paid ones to free ones like Google Data Studio.

If you haven’t checked out Data Studio, you’ll want to start now because it is easy to pass in all of your business and marketing data into one place. For example, you can pass in more granular data from your Facebook ad campaigns into Data Studio while that would be a bit difficult to do with Google Analytics.

Trend #2: Companies will optimize for voice search, but not for revenue

According to ComScore, over 50% of the searches in 2020 will be from voice search. But that’s not really a new trend… everyone has been talking about that for years.

So, what’s the big deal?

Optimizing for voice search is a great way to get your brand out more, but how is that going to convert into sales?

I haven’t seen too many solutions so far when it comes to capitalizing on your voice search traffic, but so far there is Jetson.ai.

If you aren’t familiar with Jetson.ai, it makes it so people can buy from your site using voice search. It doesn’t matter if it is Alexa or Google Home, they work with most of the popular devices.

What’s cool about Jetson.ai is that it can learn from each customer and customize the interactions.

For example, if I keep ordering the same toothpaste from a specific store using voice search, Jetson.ai keeps track of that so you can easily keep ordering the same product over and over again with little to no friction.

Heck, it’s easier than logging into your computer or pulling out your phone to make a purchase.

Trend #3: Your lists won’t convert as well, so you’ll have to look for alternative communication channels

Email, it’s something we all use in the corporate world.

But here is something interesting when it comes to marketing emails… I’m in a group with a bit over 109 email marketers across different industries in different parts of the world.

And can you guess what we are all noticing?

Our open rates are staying roughly the same and that’s largely because we all know how to clean and optimizing for deliverability.

But our click rates are going down.

So far as a group we have seen our click rates drop by 9.4% in 2019.

That’s crazy considering as a group we have over 146 million email addresses.

Now does this mean email is dead?

Of course not!!!

Email is here to stay and will be here for a very long time.

But what companies will have to do in 2020 is to leverage more communication channels.

Chatbots will take off drastically. Not necessarily the Intercom’s or Drift’s of the world but more so the solutions like ManyChat and MobileMonkey.

ManyChat and MobileMonkey leverage Facebook Messenger and as they connect it with Instagram and WhatsApp it will get even more popular.

In addition to chatbots, you’ll see more people leveraging tools that allow push notifications like Subscribers.

It’s so powerful, here is the impact I’ve been able to generate from push notifications so far using Subscribers.

You can wait till next year to lever chatbots and push notifications, but I’d recommend you start sooner than later. 😉

Trend #4: Moats will almost be non-existent, other than brands

You’ve probably heard the word “moat” before. If you haven’t, just think about water around a castle.

Back in the day, they had water all around the castle and they used a drawbridge to get in and out of the castle, so it would protect them from invaders.

With your business, you may have a moat. It could be a feature, your cost structure, a technological advantage, or even a marketing advantage.

Over the years, moats in the online world have slowly been disappearing.

It’s easy for anyone to copy these days. So, what’s separating you from your competition?

Something could work right now, but it won’t last forever…

But do you know what will still be a strong moat in 2020 and even a stronger one in the future?

It’s branding.

People buy Jordan shoes because they love Michael Jordan. His brand is stronger than ever even though he hasn’t played in the NBA for roughly 16 years.

His shoes are so popular, it’s helped him boost his net worth to over a billion dollars. Plus owning a basketball team doesn’t hurt either. 😉

But what’s interesting is he’s made more money after retirement than he did as a basketball player.

And it’s not just Jordan who built a strong brand… so have the Kardashians.

Kylie launched a billion-dollar company according to Forbes and it was all because of her personal brand. Her cosmetic company isn’t doing anything revolutionary. She just has a strong brand… and good for her for monetizing her brand.

The same goes for companies like Nike, Ferrari, Tesla, American Express… and the list goes on and on.

It’s why companies are spending over 10 billion dollars a year on influencer marketing.

Just look at my agency NP Digital. It’s literally one of the fastest-growing ad agencies out there. And when I look at all of my competitors’ numbers, we are growing at a much faster pace because of my brand.

Yes, we have a great team, but again, that really isn’t a moat as a lot of agencies have great teams. It’s my brand that gave us a really fast kick start and continues to hopefully push us up.

You’ll want to build a brand in 2020. Whether it is personal or corporate, it’s the best moat you can build in marketing. Plus, it will help you with Google’s EAT.

Trend #5: Marketing will become a more even playing field, you’ll have no choice but to use automation

When I first started off as an entrepreneur, I turned to SEO because I couldn’t afford the big ad budgets as my competitors.

Heck, I couldn’t even afford to run any paid ads.

Over the years, the playing field has become more level.

There are credit card companies like Brex that make it easier for startups to get approved for larger limits and you may not have to pay them back right away.

There are financing companies that will give you cash to spend on marketing, so non-venture funded companies can more easily compete.

There are even companies like Lighter Capital that will give you loans without all of the headaches based on your existing revenue.

And to top it off, software solutions are now starting to integrate AI to give better recommendations. From Clickflow and RankScience to Distilled ODN… everyone is trying to use AI to make SEO and other forms of marketing.

Heck, BrightEdge can even automate your SEO (or at least a large portion of it). According to them, their automated SEO solution increases page views per visit by 60% as well as provides 21% more keywords on page one​.

Keep in mind their clients are really big (their software starts in the thousands of dollars per month) so they would probably see better results than most companies, but still, you will start seeing many more software companies leverage AI.

Even with Ubersuggest, I’m working on creating AI that does the SEO for you so you no longer have to spend endless hours while, at the same time, saving you thousands of dollars.

In other words, the marketing playing field is getting more even. And if you want to do well, you are going to have to leverage AI and automation.

If everyone else is using it and you aren’t, you are going to get crushed because it will make changes faster and more accurately than a human. Again, it’s the only option you’ll have if you want to continually compete.

But don’t worry, there will be affordable/free solutions that exist, it’s just a matter of time. 😉

If everyone is leveraging the same AI marketing technology, how can you beat your competitors?

Well, it will come down to everything else… price, customer service, upselling, operations, sales… All of the small stuff is what’s going to help you win.

Trend #6: There will be no more silver bullets, we will all have to optimize for marginal gains

A lot of businesses were built off of one marketing channel.

Dropbox grew through referral marketing. Invite more friends, get more free space.

Facebook was built off your email address book. Facebook used to tap into it and invite all of your contacts to use Facebook on your behalf.

Companies like Quora and Yelp were built off of SEO. All of those rankings really help drive their businesses.

But you no longer can build a business through just one marketing channel. Good channels now get saturated extremely fast.

Even if they work and cause explosive growth, it will only last for a short while before your competitors jump on board and make it harder.

Marketing is now heading in the direction of being about “marginal gains.”

There’s a British cycling coach named Dave Brailsford. His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement.

And he’s right, that’s how you win a race.

The same will be with your marketing. There will be a big shift from people focusing on one channel and trying to find the “Holy Grail of marketing” to working on slightly improving each area of your marketing.

From split testing your title tags to get a few ranking improvements to adding checkout bumps to your order page so you can spend a little bit more on your paid ads to using Google Data Studio so you can better optimize for your lifetime value…

It’s all about the little things. That’s what is going to add up to winning.

That’s what you’ll have to shift your mindset to in order to win in 2020 and beyond.

Trend #7: Personalization is the new marketing

The problem with marketing as it exists today is that 95% of your visitors will never convert into a customer. And that’s if you are lucky.

Chances are you are more likely looking at 97% plus of your visitors never converting.

The big reason isn’t that your marketing sucks or that all of those visitors are junk and unqualified.

It’s that your message doesn’t fit every single one of your visitors.

But through personalization, you can convert more of your visitors into customers.

A basic example of this is Amazon. When you go to Amazon, they know your patterns and what you typically buy so they show you what they think you want to see in order to boost their conversions.

And it works! When I log into Amazon I see tons of household supplies because that is what I buy the most often. I never buy dog food (which is smart because I don’t have a dog) so I’ll never see ads for dog food.

Businesses are also trying to personalize each and every single experience both online and offline. 

Companies like Amperity are trying to create a customer relationship engine so you can better serve each of your customers, whether it is online or offline.

Marketing is going to become a game of personalization. With ad costs and even general marketing costs rising, you have no choice but to figure out how to convert the 97% of your traffic that just never comes back.

You’ll see a big push for this in 2020.

Conclusion

I know a lot of the stuff I mentioned above isn’t talked about a lot and they aren’t popular marketing topics that everyone wants to hear… but it is the future.

These are trends that will come true, some already are, and you have to adapt for them.

Here’s the beautiful part, though. You just read this, and now have a chance to act on the information before your competition. So, make sure you go and do so.

I want to see you not only succeed but I want you to beat your competition. And I believe you can, whether you are a big company, or just starting off with very little to no money.

So, what do you think of the trends above? Do you see any marketing trends that will come true in 2020 that few people talk about?

The post Marketing Trends for 2020: Here’s What Will Happen That Nobody is Talking About appeared first on Neil Patel.

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Marketing Trends for 2020: Here’s What Will Happen That Nobody is Talking About

email marketing embedded image

The new year is right around the corner. And I know you are already prepared because you read this blog and tons of other marketing blogs, right?

But here is the thing: I also read most of the popular marketing blogs, follow all of the marketing YouTube channels, and listen to the same podcasts you do.

And I’ve noticed that very few people are talking about what’s really going to happen in 2020.

Sure, they will tell you things like voice search is going to account for over 50% of the search queries next year but all of that stuff has already been talked about.

And there are actually more interesting trends that will affect your marketing that no one is really talking about.

So, what are these trends? What’s going to happen in 2020?

Alright, here goes…

Trend #1: Companies who rely on Google Analytics will get beat by their competition

We all love Google Analytics.

Heck, I love it so much I log in at least 3 or 4 times a day. And here is the kicker: I get so much traffic that my Google Analytics only updates once a day.

I really need to break that habit but that’s for another day.

You are probably wondering, what’s wrong with Google Analytics?

There actually isn’t much wrong with it. It’s a great tool, especially considering that it’s free.

But here is the thing… marketing has been changing. New channels are being constantly introduced, such as voice search.

And transactions no longer are as simple as someone coming and buying from you and that’s it.

These days there are things like upsells, down sells, repeat purchases, and even checkout bumps. On top of that, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships, affiliate marketing, and even webinars.

This has caused companies to start using analytics solutions that tie into their database better, such as Amplitude.  Or better yet, you are seeing a big push into business intelligence.

A central place where you can tie in all of your data and make better-informed decisions so you can optimize for your lifetime value instead of your short-term income.

In 2020, you will see more companies adopting business intelligence solutions… from paid ones to free ones like Google Data Studio.

If you haven’t checked out Data Studio, you’ll want to start now because it is easy to pass in all of your business and marketing data into one place. For example, you can pass in more granular data from your Facebook ad campaigns into Data Studio while that would be a bit difficult to do with Google Analytics.

Trend #2: Companies will optimize for voice search, but not for revenue

According to ComScore, over 50% of the searches in 2020 will be from voice search. But that’s not really a new trend… everyone has been talking about that for years.

So, what’s the big deal?

Optimizing for voice search is a great way to get your brand out more, but how is that going to convert into sales?

I haven’t seen too many solutions so far when it comes to capitalizing on your voice search traffic, but so far there is Jetson.ai.

If you aren’t familiar with Jetson.ai, it makes it so people can buy from your site using voice search. It doesn’t matter if it is Alexa or Google Home, they work with most of the popular devices.

What’s cool about Jetson.ai is that it can learn from each customer and customize the interactions.

For example, if I keep ordering the same toothpaste from a specific store using voice search, Jetson.ai keeps track of that so you can easily keep ordering the same product over and over again with little to no friction.

Heck, it’s easier than logging into your computer or pulling out your phone to make a purchase.

Trend #3: Your lists won’t convert as well, so you’ll have to look for alternative communication channels

Email, it’s something we all use in the corporate world.

But here is something interesting when it comes to marketing emails… I’m in a group with a bit over 109 email marketers across different industries in different parts of the world.

And can you guess what we are all noticing?

Our open rates are staying roughly the same and that’s largely because we all know how to clean and optimizing for deliverability.

But our click rates are going down.

So far as a group we have seen our click rates drop by 9.4% in 2019.

That’s crazy considering as a group we have over 146 million email addresses.

Now does this mean email is dead?

Of course not!!!

Email is here to stay and will be here for a very long time.

But what companies will have to do in 2020 is to leverage more communication channels.

Chatbots will take off drastically. Not necessarily the Intercom’s or Drift’s of the world but more so the solutions like ManyChat and MobileMonkey.

ManyChat and MobileMonkey leverage Facebook Messenger and as they connect it with Instagram and WhatsApp it will get even more popular.

In addition to chatbots, you’ll see more people leveraging tools that allow push notifications like Subscribers.

It’s so powerful, here is the impact I’ve been able to generate from push notifications so far using Subscribers.

You can wait till next year to lever chatbots and push notifications, but I’d recommend you start sooner than later. 😉

Trend #4: Moats will almost be non-existent, other than brands

You’ve probably heard the word “moat” before. If you haven’t, just think about water around a castle.

Back in the day, they had water all around the castle and they used a drawbridge to get in and out of the castle, so it would protect them from invaders.

With your business, you may have a moat. It could be a feature, your cost structure, a technological advantage, or even a marketing advantage.

Over the years, moats in the online world have slowly been disappearing.

It’s easy for anyone to copy these days. So, what’s separating you from your competition?

Something could work right now, but it won’t last forever…

But do you know what will still be a strong moat in 2020 and even a stronger one in the future?

It’s branding.

People buy Jordan shoes because they love Michael Jordan. His brand is stronger than ever even though he hasn’t played in the NBA for roughly 16 years.

His shoes are so popular, it’s helped him boost his net worth to over a billion dollars. Plus owning a basketball team doesn’t hurt either. 😉

But what’s interesting is he’s made more money after retirement than he did as a basketball player.

And it’s not just Jordan who built a strong brand… so have the Kardashians.

Kylie launched a billion-dollar company according to Forbes and it was all because of her personal brand. Her cosmetic company isn’t doing anything revolutionary. She just has a strong brand… and good for her for monetizing her brand.

The same goes for companies like Nike, Ferrari, Tesla, American Express… and the list goes on and on.

It’s why companies are spending over 10 billion dollars a year on influencer marketing.

Just look at my agency NP Digital. It’s literally one of the fastest-growing ad agencies out there. And when I look at all of my competitors’ numbers, we are growing at a much faster pace because of my brand.

Yes, we have a great team, but again, that really isn’t a moat as a lot of agencies have great teams. It’s my brand that gave us a really fast kick start and continues to hopefully push us up.

You’ll want to build a brand in 2020. Whether it is personal or corporate, it’s the best moat you can build in marketing. Plus, it will help you with Google’s EAT.

Trend #5: Marketing will become a more even playing field, you’ll have no choice but to use automation

When I first started off as an entrepreneur, I turned to SEO because I couldn’t afford the big ad budgets as my competitors.

Heck, I couldn’t even afford to run any paid ads.

Over the years, the playing field has become more level.

There are credit card companies like Brex that make it easier for startups to get approved for larger limits and you may not have to pay them back right away.

There are financing companies that will give you cash to spend on marketing, so non-venture funded companies can more easily compete.

There are even companies like Lighter Capital that will give you loans without all of the headaches based on your existing revenue.

And to top it off, software solutions are now starting to integrate AI to give better recommendations. From Clickflow and RankScience to Distilled ODN… everyone is trying to use AI to make SEO and other forms of marketing.

Heck, BrightEdge can even automate your SEO (or at least a large portion of it). According to them, their automated SEO solution increases page views per visit by 60% as well as provides 21% more keywords on page one​.

Keep in mind their clients are really big (their software starts in the thousands of dollars per month) so they would probably see better results than most companies, but still, you will start seeing many more software companies leverage AI.

Even with Ubersuggest, I’m working on creating AI that does the SEO for you so you no longer have to spend endless hours while, at the same time, saving you thousands of dollars.

In other words, the marketing playing field is getting more even. And if you want to do well, you are going to have to leverage AI and automation.

If everyone else is using it and you aren’t, you are going to get crushed because it will make changes faster and more accurately than a human. Again, it’s the only option you’ll have if you want to continually compete.

But don’t worry, there will be affordable/free solutions that exist, it’s just a matter of time. 😉

If everyone is leveraging the same AI marketing technology, how can you beat your competitors?

Well, it will come down to everything else… price, customer service, upselling, operations, sales… All of the small stuff is what’s going to help you win.

Trend #6: There will be no more silver bullets, we will all have to optimize for marginal gains

A lot of businesses were built off of one marketing channel.

Dropbox grew through referral marketing. Invite more friends, get more free space.

Facebook was built off your email address book. Facebook used to tap into it and invite all of your contacts to use Facebook on your behalf.

Companies like Quora and Yelp were built off of SEO. All of those rankings really help drive their businesses.

But you no longer can build a business through just one marketing channel. Good channels now get saturated extremely fast.

Even if they work and cause explosive growth, it will only last for a short while before your competitors jump on board and make it harder.

Marketing is now heading in the direction of being about “marginal gains.”

There’s a British cycling coach named Dave Brailsford. His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement.

And he’s right, that’s how you win a race.

The same will be with your marketing. There will be a big shift from people focusing on one channel and trying to find the “Holy Grail of marketing” to working on slightly improving each area of your marketing.

From split testing your title tags to get a few ranking improvements to adding checkout bumps to your order page so you can spend a little bit more on your paid ads to using Google Data Studio so you can better optimize for your lifetime value…

It’s all about the little things. That’s what is going to add up to winning.

That’s what you’ll have to shift your mindset to in order to win in 2020 and beyond.

Trend #7: Personalization is the new marketing

The problem with marketing as it exists today is that 95% of your visitors will never convert into a customer. And that’s if you are lucky.

Chances are you are more likely looking at 97% plus of your visitors never converting.

The big reason isn’t that your marketing sucks or that all of those visitors are junk and unqualified.

It’s that your message doesn’t fit every single one of your visitors.

But through personalization, you can convert more of your visitors into customers.

A basic example of this is Amazon. When you go to Amazon, they know your patterns and what you typically buy so they show you what they think you want to see in order to boost their conversions.

And it works! When I log into Amazon I see tons of household supplies because that is what I buy the most often. I never buy dog food (which is smart because I don’t have a dog) so I’ll never see ads for dog food.

Businesses are also trying to personalize each and every single experience both online and offline. 

Companies like Amperity are trying to create a customer relationship engine so you can better serve each of your customers, whether it is online or offline.

Marketing is going to become a game of personalization. With ad costs and even general marketing costs rising, you have no choice but to figure out how to convert the 97% of your traffic that just never comes back.

You’ll see a big push for this in 2020.

Conclusion

I know a lot of the stuff I mentioned above isn’t talked about a lot and they aren’t popular marketing topics that everyone wants to hear… but it is the future.

These are trends that will come true, some already are, and you have to adapt for them.

Here’s the beautiful part, though. You just read this, and now have a chance to act on the information before your competition. So, make sure you go and do so.

I want to see you not only succeed but I want you to beat your competition. And I believe you can, whether you are a big company, or just starting off with very little to no money.

So, what do you think of the trends above? Do you see any marketing trends that will come true in 2020 that few people talk about?

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