We have held Google Premier Partner status since 2016 and before diving into some industry trends for 2020 we thought it’d be worth looking at what this status means.

Premier Partner agency status is awarded to agencies that can demonstrate evidence of successfully managing Google Ads budgets for clients and meeting additional certification and performance requirements.

Held by only 5% of UK agencies, this status entails:

• Strategic consulting including joint meetings (staff and clients)
• Exclusive access to specialist Google product training and industry seminars for staff and clients
• Dedicated account management
• Access to beta tests of new Google products for our clients

Our search achievements have been recognised this year at the Google Premier Partner Awards 2019 (EMEA), where we were shortlisted as finalists in the Search Excellence category. Since its inauguration in 2016, this awards programme has brought together the top 5% of online advertisers throughout Europe and Asia, to celebrate the fantastic work that has taken place over the past year.

Taking part in these awards has given our search team further insight into the online advertising landscape and what it may start to look like in the coming months.

Below we’ve outlined some trends and handy hints that will be key to overcoming the challenges that lie ahead in 2020.

Trend 1: the messy middle - in an ever-changing marketing landscape, it is becoming much harder for advertisers to strike the appropriate balance between brand building and performance. This reflects a blurring of the passive and active consumption stages for many consumers, and has been dubbed the ‘messy middle’.

• Handy tip: certain triggers play a significant role in how media is consumed. It’s key to identify how applicable those triggers are to a target audience and work with creative agencies to find the perfect balance between emotional response and logical rationale, to increase success rates of long-tail paths to purchase.

Trend 2: optimal goal setting - we all set goals - be it growth, revenue, clients, satisfaction – but how ambitious are they? This trend is all about changing things up to reflect the dynamic nature of target setting.

• Handy tip: as you begin to firm up your business goals for 2020 take some risks and stretch your goal posts. In doing so you’ll reap the benefits as you uncover new opportunities.

Trend 3: automation is your friend - automation is here to stay. This technology is not designed to replace us. Instead it will help evolve our working landscape and what our job descriptions entail. At the core of automation is the ability to help our clients profitably grow their businesses; to invest our time, our resources and insight into helping clients achieve their goals.

• Handy tip: embrace automation in 2020 as it will allow agencies to move from carrying out manual tasks to becoming a client’s partner, having a greater understanding about clients’ operations and finding solutions to overcome challenges.

Trend 4: Transformation in action - coming soon, a one-stop shop for all your Google Ads learning requirements. This new feature allows specialists to create learning paths, tailored to the journey they want to go on.

• Handy tip: using Google’s most recent suite of products will get you better results for your clients and also drive agency growth.

As devotees of growth we love our Premier status and the privilege of working with Google tech advancements to build on our extensive experience in Search.

Our dynamic, open-to-change, growth-focussed mindset continually raises the bar of our corporate skillset. This is how we futureproof ourselves and how we ensure we stay committed to exceptional results for our clients; an agency with a passion to drive meaningful change within the sector.