The long-awaited end of 2020 brought us a new year, a new leaf, and many opportunities. Even though the battle with the pandemic is still not done, we have more to look forward to than we had in the last couple of months. For digital marketers, these months introduced changes that no one could anticipate, many of which we cannot even fully understand.
Things in the marketing industry have changed. From how people closed their offline businesses and turned online, to the change of privacy laws in the US, there’s a lot to keep track of these days. At this point, no one can say with certainty what marketing will look like by the end of the year.
However, based on what has been happening, industry professionals have had some insightful predictions about opportunities that you should grasp this year.
Top Digital Marketing Tips for 2021
Digital marketing trends currently revolve around two concepts – general humanization and technical optimization. The first one promotes more personal engagement and prompts marketers to personalize content. The latter refers to ‘’fine-tuning to the behind-the-scenes areas’’.
Below you’ll find 10 of the hottest tips for digital marketers of 2021. By following them, you can give yourself a head-start over many of the competitors.
1. Â Exceptional customer service
Yes, this tip can be applied to every year and every business. However, as time passes, customers seem to be more and more focused on their experience. You have much higher chances of getting leads with proper support team management. Customers respond greatly to professional and prompt service. According to PWC, 73% of people state that customer experience is a huge factor in their buying decisions.
The priority this year has moved toward providing exceptional customer service, one that will keep people coming back to the business. From the first interest they show for the business to the moment when they leave a website, regardless of whether they purchased something or not, customers need a seamless experience.
Create personalized marketing messages, communicate with everyone in a professional and personalized manner, and coordinate the team to deliver great quality throughout the customer’s experience. Unless you have this, customers won’t even stop to check out your offerings, maybe not even your pricing.
2. Â Easy-to-consume content
Search engine optimized content has been the priority of digital marketers for a long time now. But, the trends in this industry change, and so should your content strategy. In the last years, people have been more inclined toward easy-to-consume content such as videos, podcasts, newsletters, and basically – concise text that gives out the point as soon as possible.
Studies have shown that in the US, 55% of Americans listen to podcasts, which is an increase compared to previous years. During the lockdown, newsletters were mentioned up 14%.
Naturally, this doesn’t mean that written text should be eliminated from your strategy. Content in the form of text remains the strongest tool for digital marketers. However, don’t be afraid to spice it up. Introduce your content in a newsletter, add a video or a podcast, and make bullet points of the key ideas.
Keep in mind that many people still prefer the written word. Many will sit through a video, but others will simply want some text to skim through because of their limited time. To make your job easier, use this free audio to text converter to provide them with both options.
3. Â Visualization
In recent years we’ve witnessed a huge interest in voice search and smart speakers. However, this does not mean that visuals and designs are out of the picture. Readable content is still very important, but it gets dull without some colors, doesn’t it?
Visual content should be one of your priorities these years. Even though voice search is popular, research shows that many people prefer seeing some visuals in addition to or even in the place of plain text. Just think about platforms like Instagram and Pinterest and it all gets clear – visualization is today’s trend. Of course, there are many more factors contributing to these platforms’ popularity, and the Pinterest statistics published on The Small Business Blog can help you understand a few of them. They provide insight into the habits of many users, that hopefully will help you resolve some of your digital marketing questions.
When you think about visualization, don’t just think of videos or podcasts. Think colors, design, images, and infographics, too. With Pinterest and Google already investing in visual search technology, you should get ahead of others as soon as possible.
4. Â Live streaming
The quarantine meant many events being canceled, including concerts, parties, and all sorts of gatherings. People had to find an alternative to this. What did they do?
We witnessed live streaming of popular artists, home parties, and inspirational videos from all over the world. The Internet was filled with branded live-streams and stories from people who aired in real-time from their own homes.
Statistics show an increase of 50% of live viewings on Facebook during the lockdown and 70% on Instagram. The quarantine changed the ways of digital marketing. Live streaming and influencers are the biggest proof of it.
5. Â Influencers
Many of the live streams were shoppable and Amazon Live became a craze for a while there. People have been purchasing things here and there on the Web constantly – and more than ever. This year, you should focus your strategy on delivering human-driven content. With an increasing number of influencers and viewers, these two strategies are essential for every good marketing strategy.
When searching for influencers, look for the ones that are popular in the industry of the brand you’re marketing. Also, make sure to agree on the terms before you get into business because different influencers have different rules and demands. To be safe, try and sign a contract. Before you do, make sure to read this Revvs guide to unilateral vs bilateral contracts.
6. Â Personalization
This year is the perfect time to get personal. People need communication and connections more than ever. At struggling times like these, people had to rely on their gut to choose products to buy that they used to purchase face-to-face from the vendors.
Today, personalization is key. If you want your strategies to work, you need to center them around personalization. If you create strategies that meet their needs, you can engage them and turn them into leads.
Don’t just look into creating something catchy for the products and services you’re marketing. Provide solutions to people’s problems. Communicate with them. Relate to them on issues and interests. Listen to what they have to say. 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company that offers a personalized experience.
7. Â Featured snippets
These last couple of years, the industry has witnessed a major shift in the SEO world. As voice and mobile search grows, people change their ways of using Google and other search engines. Ranking first in the result pages is still a marketer’s priority, but this is no longer the only thing to aim for.
The move these days is featured snippets. Over 60% of the results Google returns are featured snippets. This means that most people no longer click to go to websites to find the information they need. It is available to them on the Google search results page.
This is referred to as position zero and it’s most marketers’ bigger priority than position one in search results. The featured snipped works rather differently. It’s separated by a box and placed at the top. It presents relevant, extra information that resolves the user’s problems or answers their questions.
In other words, this offers a more accessible, effortless ‘’no-click search’’.
8. Â Voice search
Considering that this was mentioned several times already, it was obvious that voice search belongs in this list. It’s growing at such a rapid pace, it becomes obvious that you need to use it. We’ve heard of many promising statistics for it. Google said that at least 20% of searches will be voice-driven by the end of this year, while other sources go up to 50% in their predictions.
No matter what the number is, the odds are definitely in favor of voice search. People use it more than ever. Therefore, make it your mission this year to make all content optimized for voice search.
9. Â Local SEO
Local SEO has become more powerful than generalized SEO – if you are promoting a local business. This is the perfect time to update the brand’s appearance in local results. People who search for products and services within a set geographic location have a higher intent to purchase. These are the target customers you can convert easier and faster.
To do this, you need to be verified by Google first. Thankfully, this is as easy as it gets. You need Google My Business to create the company’s page and make it available for online searches.
The following is as simple as it is with general SEO. Use the right keywords, use quality imaging and content, and monitor and analyze the progress continuously.
10. AI-based automation
Robots might not pop into the world as strong as people predicted in the past, but the advancements in AI are indisputable. This is why you need to use AI technology in your marketing efforts. This is the major technology behind both smart assistants, chatbots, and voice search, after all.
Human marketing aspects are still important, maybe even more than before, but this is the time to grasp automation and artificial intelligence. You can do so by using predictive analytics and other types of big data to learn more about your target audience. You can also automate many of the processes, including voice search and chatbots.
Final thoughts
To be fair, nobody could have predicted the last months and their effects on marketing. What we can do is learn from what we see and meticulously plan out the next steps. This is the time to be brave and stand up to the challenges, and such tips are the best way to do it.
