To say that 2020 has been a year unlike any other is an understatement. It has overturned even the most well-thought-of and well-crafted marketing plans.
It is has been the year of the pandemic, which is not as governments worldwide had led us to believe will stay with us for a few months. The coronavirus pandemic is long-term. It's December and it's still taking its toll across the globe.
The difference between December and March and April this year is that both people and businesses are now more accustomed to the do's and don'ts of this pandemic. At least, businesses are trying to stay afloat and work around the spiky situation.
The year 2020 has been a year that has been a make it or break it year for many brands out there.
Some businesses, like those in FMCG, strived more than others, while many particularly in the tourism, oil, and transportation sectors (especially airlines) struggled.
Small businesses were among those who struggled because their budgets were not designed to withstand a standstill, let alone a pandemic.
However, companies and stores that were able to shift their business online were able to turn months of losses into better revenues and profits.
If anything, the pandemic has forced businesses across the globe to be resilient. To stand strong and to survive.
While businesses struggled and others weathered the storm, another sector was impacted by the pandemic.
The marketing and advertising sector or rather industry. While companies continued to conduct marketing campaigns, many if not all had to pause to align their messages and plans with the pandemic.
In late May, NPR cited a report by the World Federation of Advertisers which noted that “89 percent of large advertisers delayed planned ad campaigns that would seem tone-deaf during the pandemic.”
In a way, the pandemic meant fewer advertising dollars for some businesses.
Gameball was no exception. We are primarily an online and e-commerce-focused business.
That said, we had started our content marketing plan for this year but we had to stop in our tracks because of COVID-19.
We couldn't publish pieces about attending events, like Shopify Amsterdam, as we had planned while businesses were shutting doors and people were forced to stay at home.
We had to suspend our blog for a month or more till we could see what was going to happen, what was suitable to publish, and more importantly, what was helpful for our readers.
Our annual content strategy suffered a few hits but we were able to focus on what was needed while also serving our business goals.
That said, 2020 was the year the Gameball tech team held its first fully-remote summer internship program. It was an experience and a success we are proud of.
https://blog.gameball.co/summer-internship-2020-gameball-technical-team/
That's why we'd like to highlight the blog posts that garnered the most attention this year on the Gameball blog.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 blog posts that garnered the most views in 2020.
The posts are arranged in order of most viewed.
Standing at number 1 is Introducing V2.00 of Gameball Customer-facing Profile Widget by our CPO Ahmed El Assy, which passed 2,500 views. This is a product blog post highlighting Gameball's new customer-facing profile widget.
Coming in second is Loyalty Programs: The Good and the Bad, where I talk about the different kinds of loyalty programs and where some loyalty programs FAIL. This is a must-read if you want to avoid driving customers away from your loyalty program.
Ranking third is one of first blog posts, and part of the loyalty program series: Top 5 Points to Consider Before Creating a Loyalty Program.
As its name suggests, this article tackles what you need to consider before launching your loyalty program. Stuff like who your audience is and what are good rewards should be at the top of your list.
Not a top-spot contender, but the 5-points-article was translated in French during our month-long featuring on Shopify France's homepage.
Ranking fourth on the list of Gameball's most viewed posts in 2020, is 8 Ways to Boost Your Black Friday Sales This Year. As a business owner or marketing manager, you already know the importance of Black Friday in the world of commerce and e-commerce.
Add in the fact that COVID-19 turned many people who previously unenthusiastic about online shopping into online shoppers.
In 2020, Black Friday spending jumped 21.6% year-on-year to $9 billion in the United States, according to data by Adobe Analytics, which compiles and analyzes website transaction from 80 of the top 100 US online retailers.
"This makes Black Friday 2020 the second-largest online spending day in history in the United States, behind Cyber Monday last year," a CNBC report said in November, citing Adobe.
"Cyber Monday this year is slated to become the largest digital sales day ever, with spending reaching between $10.8 billion and $12.7 billion, which would represent growth of 15% to 35% from a year earlier," CNBC forecasted.
Meanwhile, mega e-commerce company Shopify reported "a whopping" $5.1 billion sales achieved by Shopify store owners in the Black Friday-Cyber Monday (BFCM) long weekend, marking a 76% sales surge compared to 2019.
"Despite sudden lockdowns and global economic hardship, independent businesses on Shopify rallied to make 2020 the most successful BFCM to date," Shopify said.
Shopify views the BFCM holiday as "a microcosm of global commerce and offers a glimpse for the year to come.
Back to Gameball's top 10 posts of 2020, coming in at 5th place is What Is Loyalty Marketing? And Why Is It Important?
This article was the first in the series of pieces on loyalty programs. The article, which garnered nearly 1,300 views, explains the idea of loyalty marketing and how businesses have been using it for decades.
Did you know that the idea of loyalty programs has been around for over a century?
Coming in 6th was our second article on Black Friday, titled Black Friday 2020: 7 Challenges and Solutions You Need to Know. In this article, we highlight the top issues businesses struggle with and how to solve them BEFORE Black Friday.
Stores and businesses need to be prepared for the big day and any big shopping holiday like Christmas or even days where sales are expected to grow like Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day, and Halloween, just to name a few.
At 7th place is the first article in our referral marketing series: How to Acquire Customers with Referral Marketing. Think of it as Referral Marketing 101.
An introduction to referral marketing both generally speaking and for businesses, in this article we focus on how store owners and marketers can use referral marketing for customer acquisition. This article has attracted over 1,100 views until 27 December 2020.
With over 1,000 views and just three months old, is 8 Ways to Increase Customer Lifetime Value, which ranks number eight.
We've talked about customer lifetime value in detail and how to calculate it for your business. In this piece, we divert our focus to increasing customer lifetime with eight tips and tricks.
In 9th place is a time-based piece but nonetheless one of our most viewed is Shopify Updates? Learn More about What Happened at Shopify Reunite 2020.
The article is written by Gameball CEO Ahmed Khairy, where he highlights the top announcements and updates that were uncovered during Shopify Reunite 2020, offering comments and thoughts about several points.
Tenth place marks a tie between The 20 Best Shopify Apps to Support Your Store and These 12 Industries Get the Best Results with Loyalty Programs.
While I enjoyed writing both, I personally learnt a lot from the industries one.
Keep an eye on the industries piece because we regularly update it.
These articles take the top 10 most viewed posts in 2020 on the Gameball blog BUT there are lots of posts including pieces on customer engagement strategies, best loyalty programs, customer retention, and lots more.
Looking for something but can't find it, use the search bar above. Still can't find what you're looking for, send us a message at info@gameball.co or message us on social media.
See you in 2021!
