2021 will be a year of continued change in the digital marketing space. Here are seven trends to leverage.
Digital marketing has actually become a key part of contemporarily consumerism.
Providing an orginal content, leveraging chatbots and voice search, using social media marketing to a greater degree, and making avaliable an engaging user experience are among the major trends to be conscious of and use this year, 2021.
Ensure to comprehend which trends makes avaliable the greatest reward to you, as well as which trends you should emit depending on your business.
This write-up is for small business owners and digital marketers who want to need more about key trends and what they should be majoring their marketing efforts on in 2021.
While many of the principles of marketing stay the same each year, the tools businesses use to gain marketing success differ greatly from year to year. Newspaper advertising used to be commonplace; now, digital advertising and artificial intelligence play critical roles in the marketing tactics of businesses.
Some of these technological advances are commonly used among larger corporations, but small businesses can learn so much from the marketing strategies that bigger firms are using. Business News Daily spoke with marketing experts to learn which marketing trends small businesses can capitalize on in 2021.
These are five trends we believe small businesses should maximize this year 2021:
- Authentic content marketing is on the rise.
For small businesses that are tight on budget, providing original content is a great marketing tool. By adding a blog to your website, you can create interest in your products while building your brand as a thought leader in the industry. Writing about topics that your customers like is a wonderful way to build brand awareness and customer loyalty. By making it known that you care about more than a sale to your audience, you can build trust.
Even if is a social media post, a blog, or an email blast, make sure a good balance with your content between revealing your products and giving valuable, actionable advice.
2. Request for chatbots is increasing.
Based on a research from Salesforce, 69% of U.S. consumers choose to use chatbots when engaging with brands, since it often yields a speedy response. Yet most small business owners surveyed said they didn’t use the technology. A chatbot running on your website can answer customers’ major questions at all hours of the day or night, in as much as if you’re focused on different tasks.
“AI-powered chatbots can be used for customer support, expanding contact strategy dramatically with a controlled message,” said Joey Penick, vice president of marketing at Lumen Technologies. “These chatbots have become so lifelike that many customers don’t even know the difference, but they give the added reward of being able to gather, analyze and make avaliable actionable data that can be used to enhance the customer experience.”
3. Data analytics remain very important for success.
A lot of brands make data analytics a priority, but marketers still have ways to go, said Curtis Tingle, senior vice president of product for intelligent media delivery company Valassis.
Access to data for companies goes well beyond basic demographics, Tingle said. Now brands can access consumers’ online and offline media behaviors and preferences, locations throughout the day, purchase history, promotion sensitivity, etc. This, he said, allows you to customize messages, images, and offers across channels, even at the household level.
“Marketers must learn how to better use the data that they collect,” Tingle said. “Customers are constantly feeding personal information to the companies they engage with – from purchase behaviors to favorite products to the best ways to reach them through advertising and marketing efforts. With this data share, customers are looking for some sort of return, whether it be in the form of more personalized advertisements or targeted coupons/deals.”
Tingle’s observation is important: Marketers need to do more than gather data. The data needs to be meaningful, and businesses need to use that data to improve marketing campaigns. Just gathering information isn’t helpful.
“More focus is going to be added on gathering and utilizing intent data,” Penick said. “Intent data is information particularly about a person or company’s activities. It can be gathered from a company website by looking at which pages a customer visited, how long they stayed on those pages, and which links they clicked or procured from a third party. Intent data can be used to prioritize the best customer prospects and create more personalized campaigns to drive better conversion.”
4. Social media marketing will be highly needed.
Social media will continue to be crucial to famous companies’ digital marketing efforts. In 2021, Nevertheless, expect to see companies emphasizing one-on-one communication with customers via social media and using their social media platforms as living embodiments and representatives of their brand.
“Two-way communication via social media will be the name of the game next year,” said Jeremy Harrison, founder and head of content strategy at Hustle Life. “Companies will engage with customers on social media. This will make the companies more real and will open an avenue for them to listen to their customers. It’s a radically various approach since you’ll be focusing on your customers via social media. Rather than just giving news, you will also interact, making the engagement more meaningful.”
5. User experience (UX) will grow in relevance.
Modern customers expect an engaging, user-friendly, and smooth online experience, whether that’s in an e-commerce shop or perusing a website. This year 2021, expect to see a greater push toward a seamless and highly engaging UX, with an focus on personalization and speed.
“We understand that users love interesting content that speaks directly to them. Creating a marketing strategy that reels users [in] based on page experience is something that we are working to achieve,” asserted Aylon Steinhart, founder, and CEO of Eclipse Foods. “Moreover, creating great content that moves users is not the ultimate UX; it’s about speed, visual stability, mobile-friendliness, and safe browsing. Carrying out these tactics on content marketing strategies will rise in visibility and engagement.”
In conclusion, these trends are expected to have great impact on marketing in 2021 and moving forward, but that doesn’t mean you have to instantly drop what you’re doing and start using diverse and more advanced technology to sell your business very well.
