21 Digital Marketing tips for 2021
Are you ready to spin Marketing Magic – am Predicting, YES!
Predicting trends for 2021 seems to be challenging, as 2020 has been one irrational year driving seismic shift across all businesses and verticals. With this shift, keeping up with the latest marketing trends is imperative in this ever-changing, fast-paced business landscape. Businesses are adopting new technologies, strategies to stay on top of the game.
2021 will see more innovative strategies and those teams and businesses who adopt an organic approach with solid reasoning and expert guidance will excel and evolve to stay ahead of the game.
Most of the businesses were impacted due to COVID-19 in 2020 and hence thriving and surviving in 2021 is vital and critical for them along with keeping up with the marketing trends. Customers want a personalized experience and they are using multiple channels and Omni-channel customer support centers seem to be the next level of solution for a seamless customer engagement and journey.
Marketing, Customer Care, Sales are all unified for the customers to jump from one channel to another, offering an integrated shopping experience, Customer could be online from a desktop or mobile device, via phone, or shop in a brick-and-mortar store, and it is all about customer preferences and placing them in the driver seat of digital experience.
We have collated few guidelines to help you steer the coming year ahead to spin your marketing magic in this super-competitive business environment.
1. Video Marketing
As per Hubspot research, 87% of the marketers say that Video has increased traffic, and has directly helped increase sales. Videos are definitely engaging and with high usage of technology it is difficult for the end users to read so much data about anything and everything. So, it is all about making things easier and conveying message using Real life Videos, Animations, or even content in the form of a video for greater productivity.
When we are referring Video content, we are not restricting ourselves to only YouTube or Vimeo, these specific videos can be uploaded anywhere - on your Website, Facebook, Instagram, and can be included in emails, to drive traffic and visibility of your product/service page.
You can also make your customer journey more engaging by using interactive and compelling videos. Give them an experience that they will see and remember for longer.
2. Instagram
Instagram is very popular with younger demographic, especially who are under 30. Marketers must keep in mind that attention span is shorter and hence they need to create content that will convey the message instantly and is impactful. Crisp and clear message, well knitted in a story is something which has the potential of bringing better brand recall.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In 2021, make your website Google Algorithm proof. Yes, you heard me right, keep guidelines in mind but focus on making the journey more meaningful for your customers.
Writing content to get listing is important but writing valuable content is more important, as you are building and representing your brand with that content. Stop thinking about bots and start thinking about your customers. It’s a simple choice, isn’t it?! Would you like thousands of people reading content and dropping out in few seconds or rather you would have a small number of people reading your content and finding value in your content, maximizing user engagement and loyalty?
4. Local SEO
You may be offering a product/service to clients across the globe but you may certainly do not want to miss out on the opportunity next door. Recent research conducted by Access concluded that proximity matters to local consumers to a great extent, with more than 92% traveling just 20 minutes or less to purchase their day-to-day essentials. For any size of the business, that should be reason enough to invest in local SEO.
If your business has multiple locations do not miss out on adding those locations, and in turn enhancing your local visibility.
Engaging and interactive content will be the key focus for this year for both - B2B and B2C verticals. Your content needs to adhere to 3C’s guidelines i.e., crisp, clear, and compelling to serve customer requirements and their preferred channels.
People connect with People and your content must empathize with humanity. You need to measure your content and its effectiveness a little differently to have an impact - maybe by consumption or getting feedback.
Marketers also need to stay laser-focused on their key buyer personas and core topics; this will also help with a better understanding of ROI.
You need to have a clear understanding of the audience persona on each of the Social Media platforms - for example, the younger generation is not joining the bandwagon on Facebook, while 60+ have a stronger affiliation with it. Your messaging strategy must be aligned with these inputs, in case you are targeting your brand/product/website across various age groups.
The pandemic has brought the need for brands to have conversations with the customers, as they are looking out for authentic information, engagement, and social issues.
In 2021, Talkwalker predicts that there will be a rise in “old-school marketing”, as brands are switching back to a simpler way of engaging consumers. So, you need to keep it simple, focusing on personalized messages, journeys and experiences for customers.
7. Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
In 2021, as Paid Marketing will further gain momentum, given the amount of time people are now spending online. We are ahead by a decade or little less in terms of our online activities given the current pandemic situation.
We are observing trends of using Machine Learning for an increase in ROI to greater heights. You may have noticed the 'SMART' prefix being attached to more and more Google Services. The aim is to help businesses manage the complexity of ad targeting to increase ROI.
Smart campaigns in Google Ads have been introduced to simplify the complex process of managing Google Ads for small businesses. Google’s Smart Bidding can help manage bidding across large product inventories on Google Shopping.
8. Remarketing
The current changing trend that has been observed is that people are staying away from impulse buying and in fact they are doing their own research and are exploring various options and brands before they choose to buy.
This trend makes it very relevant and important to keep reminding them of your products or services through remarketing. It is not only cost effective but you are targeting those specific prospects that are in need at that point, having a familiarity with your brand.
9. Landing Pages:
With so much of content available on your website targeting different types of customers and selling different products and services, it becomes overwhelming and confusing for your customers.
Landing pages helps you keep your customer stay focused and they visit only with the purpose of initiating a call to action.
Create different, meaningful landing pages and target with specific keywords for enhancing visibility and website traffic with prospective clients for retaining them with great SEO and Content Marketing initiatives
10. Email Marketing
This old age method still works and will continue to work in 2021 as well. Email marketing gives you an opportunity to offer personalized and relevant communication to your specific customers.
We see businesses will focus on using more automation in 2021. Case studies of how businesses are using email marketing automation shows signs of sophisticated techniques.
For example, how Nike used automation of 10 new lifecycle campaigns and improved relevance and targeting, increasing website visits by +32.5% and automation revenue by 110% (abandoned basket campaigns were already in use), catching everyone’s attention. With automation, they segmented categories like purchase lifecycle groups, first-time buyers, inactive, and defecting customers, offering greater customer engagement and satisfaction.
11. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing continues to grow rapidly. 15% of digital marketing budget is spent in affiliate marketing in US, 80% of the brands now use affiliate marketing as one of their major sales model.
Almost every noteworthy e-shop has an affiliate program, from small specialty stores to large shops.
The most likely trends for 2021 would be Seasonal Advertising, Native Advertising, B2B Advertising, Localized Advertising and Video content.
The main aim of affiliate marketing is to increase conversions and revenue. Amidst the changing trends, it will now become more important to carry out the task of being an affiliate, influencers, and partner in marketing at the same time.
12. Influencer Marketing
As per Business Insider Publication, Influencer marketing is bigger than ever and is on the right track to become a $15 billion dollar industry by 2022. It is predicted that 63% of marketers intend to increase their budget in future.
With increased popularity, demand, and company spend for influencer marketing, it’s safe to say we can expect new and exciting things coming in 2021.
We believe following trends will rule; Micro and Nano Influencers, Performance Marketing, Video, and Value driven content, focusing on diversity and inclusion.
13. Podcast Marketing
Nearly 75% of podcast listeners in the US say they listen to podcasts to learn new things (Statista 2019). As of January 2020, there are more than 850,000 podcasts with more than 30 million podcast episodes (Podcast Insights, 2020). This is an enormous growth as compared to 2018.
Podcasts are a huge market and an excellent way to create thought leadership, increased brand recall, and more sales and productivity.
It is important to identify niche as that perfectly fits the marketing mix. Podcast hosts have very high trust and this can be cashed. Marketing budgets are increasing for Podcast Marketing for the reason that it is yielding great business results.
Your Marketing Strategy for Podcast must include the following - Create great content, eye catchy Titles and Description, Optimization for SEO, Engage your Listeners, Schedule Guests, Appear on other Podcasts, Giveaways, everyone loves them, Promote on Social Media and many more.
14. Voice Search
Although Voice search has not picked up to the expected prediction of 50% by 2020, however, it is slowly but surely gaining momentum, especially on smaller devices or while using non-conventional devices like Smart TV’s.
With rising local search queries in voice, it becomes imperative to optimize for voice searches if you do not want to miss this traffic.
Voice based searches on mobile and desktop have a minimal impact on execution of SEO for most businesses.
15. Marketing in Messaging Apps
Messaging apps are becoming even more popular than social media platforms and this means businesses are looking at a huge, largely untapped opportunity to personally connect with customers to generate quality leads.
According to Business Insider, before 2016, the race for market leadership was fierce, with Viber, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp doing significantly better than the rest. In 2019, there were still many messaging apps out there, and new ones kept appearing. However, a few uncontested leaders dominate the market while all others pale in comparison - WhatsApp, followed by Facebook messenger, and WeChat.
In order to take advantage of the popularity of messaging platforms to generate leads and/or improve customer service, here are a few simple strategies to follow;
· Build a Chatbot for WhatsApp/Facebook
· Use Facebook’s click-to-Messenger and Click-to-WhatsApp Ads
· Offer Rewards/Incentives to attract visitors/prospects and turning them into prospects
16. SMS Marketing
In 2016, Gartner reported that, based on various sources, SMS open and response rates are as high as 98% and 45%, respectively. They also argue that the severe difference in open rates can be partly explained by the sheer amount of messages received via email instead of SMS.
A new report from Forrester Research predicts consumers will get more texts in 2021 than ever before, as brands are trying to develop more direct relationships with customers amid the pandemic and economic fallout.
According to one report, businesses are planning to increase their Marketing spend on SMS marketing this year, as they want to connect with the client in a non-intrusive way.
We expect to see following trends; Integrating SMS with other channels, Automated messages, Customer Support enquiries, Promotions/Offers via SMS, and Customer retention.
17. WhatsApp Marketing
WhatsApp is one of the world’s most popular instant messaging App. WhatsApp gives you the ability to do one-on-one marketing, which makes the engagement process personalized and advanced.
Some of the useful ways of efficiently using the App - Direct messages to prospects and customers, Create Groups and share useful content – pin chats and archive old content, Set Auto replies, Quick Response Time, and Use Broadcast.
We do expect some more new features on way for WhatsApp Business in the future.
18. Personalization
According to SmarterHQ, 72% of consumers say they now only engage with marketing messages that are personalized and tailored to their interests.
Although, Data Privacy is a concern and 86% of people are concerned about it, still 80% of frequent shopper’s only shops with brands who offer them personalized experiences.
It is important to show the value add of your brand, addressing data privacy concerns and reassuring your customers about the Data safety, but personalization is something a brand cannot afford to miss out on, simultaneously.
19. Omni channel
There are clear signs that social commerce will continue to grow. North American e-commerce agency Absolunet has identified the following key signs of the popularity of social commerce:
· 87% of e-commerce shoppers believe social media helps them make a shopping decision
· 1 in 4 business owners are selling through Facebook
· 40% of merchants use social media to generate sales
· 30% of consumers say they would make purchases directly through social media platforms
This gives a clear indication that marketers need to take this particular strategy with more focused approach.
20. Micro communities
Micro-communities are on the rise because people want to connect and interact in a community of likeminded people for a similar cause. Social media users — and especially people under the age of 35 — want to relate to other people with similar interests and hobbies.
Micro-communities matter for organizations because they help to Increase sales by building empathy and loyalty, Build relationships, offering Constructive feedbacks and reviews that will help you improvise your approach and offerings.
21. Answering Specific Questions
People love to connect, collaborate and interact with others and are on lookout for feedbacks and suggestions for them to grow and thrive. Hence it is time to think beyond the FAQ pages. People want quick updates, suggestions and feedbacks and are asking questions on platforms like Quora and Clarity for a better understanding and extending their horizons. Businesses must leverage these platforms to address queries of their prospects and customers.
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