11 Key Digital Marketing Trends That Make You a Winner in 2021
Digital marketing trends are never stagnant. They ebb and flow with the changing times. Technology and consumer behavior are one of the driving forces of change for the digital marketing industry. It is why trends are constantly evolving.
Upcoming technologies in business are leading the ‘new normal’ with the resilience of a digital economy. We are seeing digital revolutions on varying degrees, from entrepreneurs to large enterprises, in order to continue promoting touchless solutions in the face of a worldwide health and economic crisis.
And although some digital marketing and SEO trends stick year after year, like investing in SEO, upcoming digital marketing trends are catching on, improving modern businesses, especially in this post-pandemic environment.
11 Digital Marketing Trends of 2021
1. Digital Technology
If you are a digital marketer, you must capitalize on the fact that companies are moving online and are keeping up with digital transformations and innovations for business. Digital technology promotes a sharing economy where data sharing and peer-to-peer communication are the norms.
Digital technology also opens the door to greater automation in businesses, which increasingly rely on SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and Micro-SaaS technologies to thrive. It affects digital marketing significantly. Instead of going global, digital marketers should concentrate on hyper-local SEO to better align their clients with their target markets and raise ROI.
Digital innovations are now assisting digital marketers in engaging with their customers more effectively and efficiently. The use of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, automated retail, and AI and Machine Learning are now staples in digital marketing.
2. Video Marketing
Around 70% of customers post a brand's video. Video content can bring a 72% increase in a brand’s conversion rates. The combination of live streaming and influencer marketing is also powerful and appeals best to the millennial generation.
Twitch, for example, has more than 15 million daily active users who stream live videos from famous gaming influencers.
There are multiple strategies for increasing interaction, one of which is video marketing.
If your website includes video, it has a 50 times more chance of driving organic search results. Google prefers video content sites in their rankings as well, so produce high-quality video content that improves brand awareness and engagement.
3. Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing allows advertisers and consumers to have one-on-one conversations in real-time. Here are some samples below:
Approximately 82% of consumers expect prompt responses to their inquiries and prefer conversational marketing since it's more personal.
It allows brands to have meaningful consumer experiences, thus enhancing their online visibility. This feedback-driven model also promotes more significant interaction with and loyalty among your consumers.
Conversational marketing is a critical development alongside AI, and both will be more in demand in 2021.
4. Personalization
Around 80% of consumers become loyal to brands that provide a personalized customer experience. If you're a conventional business-to-consumer (B2C) or a business-to-business (B2B) company, personalization will bring more conversions.
Establish various customer personas within your target niche before you can personalize without the risk of losing your customer's trust. Identity Access Management (IAM) techniques are also used, allowing customers to sign up or login without navigating from one website to the next. This simplicity will appeal to a customer on the go because it does not interfere with their user experience.
5. Marketing in Messaging Apps
Businesses are now using chat applications like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp for marketing. Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly users who send more than 10 billion messages per month, while WhatsApp has 1.6 billion active users who send more than 55 billion messages daily.
Messenger marketing will be the world's largest marketing tool by 2028. Brands turn to message platforms because Facebook Messenger marketing produces 10 to 80 times more interactions than organic posts in the Facebook News Stream.
6. Customer Data Platforms (CDP)
Customer data is crucial for businesses because data connects them with online and offline companies and customers through websites, blogs, eCommerce portals, and the like. However, it cannot be just any kind of data.
Data must be structured, properly tagged, secure, yet accessible to be valuable and profitable. Bad data is bad for business, estimated to cost the US more than $3 trillion a year at the macro level.
In this regard, Customer Data Systems (CDPs) resolves data issues such as this. It is simply a customer account available to other programs to compile coherent customer data from various sources before being distributed to other marketing systems.
7. Total Experience
TX or Total experience is the overall experience of customers, users, and employees related to a brand. Since most of today's engagements are interactive, distributed, and mobile, the TX strategy is even more helpful.
The total experience is preferable to multi-experience technology. TX is a method that combines many experiences with disciplines that consumers, users, and employees all share.
Businesses that use TX will be able to outperform their competitors in crucial satisfaction metrics and optimize mobile, interactive, and distributed experiences.
8. Position Zero and No-Click Searches
Digital marketers don't just want to be on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP) but are on top. How about going for Position Zero or Google's "featured snippet."
Position Zero, also called no-click searches or featured snippets, dramatically improves your visibility. They show related images and details in response to the user's search intent. These featured snippets are often read aloud for Google Assistant and other voice searches, which can help you improve your brand's voice search rankings.
To get your webpage on featured snippets, go for long-tail keywords and push your content with instructional content like “8 Software Testing Trends to Expect in 2021.” Provide definitions and step-by-step lists in your content, high-quality images, and videos, and use SEO tools to put the right keywords and get the best results. Also, optimize your content’s schema and include website details such as authority, ratings, and reviews to assure users that your site is indeed trustworthy. Here are some examples of featured snippets:
9. Social Commerce
People use social media for entertainment and networking, and now for “Social Commerce.” Shoppable posts can now be found on social media, and brands use them as part of their SMO (Social Media Optimization) strategies for increased revenues.
Since March 2019, Instagram (IG) users could purchase directly from their IG app via Instagram Checkout. Since then, and mainly due to the pandemic, shoppable posts have exceeded being a trend and have become one of the staples users expect on eCommerce IG accounts.
It is not surprising when there are 4.2 billion social media users worldwide. More shoppable posts will be seen on various social media platforms. Brands will reduce cart abandonment and brand flipping with shoppable messages, which fuels visual advertising on various social media sites.
10. Omnichannel Marketing
Marketing on multiple channels, such as email, apps, social media, and blogging sites, is known as omnichannel marketing. This method helps businesses to connect more digital touchpoints with customers, resulting in a better user experience.
Using various channels allows brands to establish a more substantial online presence and a more distinct brand identity. In fact, omnichannel marketing boosts engagement by more than three times. In addition, user retention and conversion, and repeat orders rise due to increased visibility.
When marketers use three or more channels in an automation workflow, omnichannel marketing has a higher interaction rate of 18.96% than single-channel marketing. It has a 250% higher purchase frequency than single-channel marketing. Even if it's complicated in practice, there are ways to make it easier with software and automation.
11. Advocacy Marketing
More and more advertisers are prioritizing advocacy marketing as a social media marketing tool. It entails persuading consumers who have been brand loyalists to talk about your company and its products.
Since 80% of shoppers conduct research online before making a purchase, having current customers endorse and promote your brand is advantageous.
In reality, 83% of shoppers said they trusted referrals from friends and family, as well as reviews from other consumers. While word-of-mouth referral marketing is free, getting there requires various techniques to have meaningful customer experiences.
Advocacy is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve the brand's image and generate new leads. When your satisfied customers start talking about you, your goods, and your services, you will maximize your previous efforts and investments.
Conclusion: Modernize Your Digital Marketing Strategies
Brands need to modernize their digital marketing to improve their marketing strategies and boost SEO rankings in the most cost-efficient and effective ways.
Digital marketing allows you to have a local and global reach without the high costs associated with traditional marketing. It also allows you to monitor marketing activities in real-time. These digital tactics help to build brand loyalty.
A strong digital marketing strategy in line with current trends and using advanced technologies can help your brand stand out amidst a sea of competitors in today's ever-evolving market.
Collaborate with a leading digital marketing agency like Bridge Global to get more relevant website traffic, higher conversion rates, and more qualified leads.
About MAYLEEN MEÑEZ
Mayleen Meñez used to work in media before finding her true passion in NGO work, travelling the Philippines and Asia doing so. She homeschools 3 kids and loves reinventing Filipino dishes. She is a resident SEO writer for Softvire Australia and Softvire New Zealand.
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Hello there! You shared such amazing information. Thank you and keep posting!
very informative article with knowledgeable insights. Thanks and keep sharing!
I agree with you that in today’s scenario Digital Marketing is one of the best ways to expand your business. The tips shared above are very useful and informative for beginners and I’m sure there are some experts as well who sometimes miss out on this. Keep sharing such useful content.
Great read regarding the various types of digital marketing trends nowadays and their benefits for continued business success. Thanks for this.
Thanks. We’re glad that you enjoyed it.