In 2020, the world took a massive leap to digitalization, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which significantly resulted in the change of home and work life, as well as, communications, and marketing. In today’s tech-driven world consumer behaviors and interests are vastly changing and harder to predict if you are not using the right technology and marketing stack to track real-time activity and using predictive analytics through AI.
Savvy digital marketers utilize omnichannel marketing techniques to reach their targeted audiences. Since the beginning of the pandemic, and even a year later, people have been forced to change their way of life, work, and how they conduct business; which has also changed how businesses must market their products and services. For many brands and online stores, the pandemic was not a bad thing. Actually, whether out of boredom or more free time – there have been more people online for longer durations of time ultimately spending more money. Unfortunately, this was not the case for brick and mortar businesses as they were adversely affected due to having to close. This created a need to adjust the way of marketing businesses and a need to scrutinize goals, performance, and operations to thrive once again.
Discover our top six digital marketing trends of 2021 to incorporate in your business and marketing strategies
“A brand is the emotional source of an organization — its very soul.” – Aim Research
1. Brand Accountability, Values, and Customer Centricity
A brand is your business’ identity in the minds of your consumers and the marketplace. Brands are expected to show more transparency, to be a part of a change in the way business operates creating a bigger positive impact. According to Mark Pitchard, Brand Officer for P&G, Brand accountability means “being a force for growth and a force for good”,. When a brand takes a stand to solve a problem or gets involved in any social injustice, the biggest consumer group, which is today’s social media generation, takes notice. Therefore, your business has to pay attention to empowering the target audience to be the pillars of positive change.
2. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing will rise more than ever before because it is generally more authentic than corporate advertising. Sixty-three percent of consumers trust influencers’ opinions of products much more than what brands say about themselves. The industry is predicted to hit $15 billion by 2022. New social media platforms like Snapchat and TikTok have allowed businesses to target their audiences in a new, fun, and unique way that is getting massive attention from all generations. Micro-influencers having less than 25k followers will rise as they have excellent engagement rates and can offer significant results for your business as they are more likely to be engaging in real-time with their audiences.
3. Artificial Intelligence
The power of machine learning utilizing artificial intelligence is eliminating the guesswork for marketers, even eliminating the need to use A/B testing. By leveraging this technology we can better predict consumer behavior, therefore allowing marketers to uber segment omnichannel marketing initiatives. Creating this intelligent personalization helps brands have a more customer-centric approach to their marketing initiatives.
4. Video Content Marketing
In 2021, video content is the top investment for businesses. It’s the most effective strategy to connect with all audiences across multiple platforms. Many marketers consider that it’s easier to produce case studies, blogs, or whitepapers, and the concept of rolling out unique, fresh video content consistently seems to be a daunting and costly prospect. However, there are many ways that your business can utilize video without spending a fortune. The fact of the matter is that if you are not utilizing video content marketing, your brand not just misses out on great opportunities to generate potential leads, you will also lose significant ground to your key competitors. Video is by far the most popular way customers want to learn about new products.
- 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video
- 72% of businesses say that video has improved their conversion rate
- 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions
- 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video
5. Martech: Data-Driven Marketing
Data-driven marketing is essential for today’s advertising strategies as consumers demand a personalized experience. By utilizing martech, digital marketers blend marketing and technology to give consumers more personalized experiences. To assist a brand in achieving its goals and objectives, the details are in the data. As a marketer, you want to reach the right people and require unbiased and accurate assessments of your marketing tactic’s performance. Data-driven marketing will help you to get repeat customers and let you know the areas that need improvement.
6. Hyper Automation & Personalization
Hyper automation uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate processes and increase operational efficiencies. Hyper automation combines many tools in order to encourage organizations to automate, simplify, design, and manage workflows and processes across the entire organization, not just the sales and marketing departments. Businesses large and small are faced with increasing ROI pressure and market dynamics. Hyper automation is the most effective investment for businesses because your marketing budget will be less tied up with employee costs. It can even predict future campaign performance by analyzing your current marketing stage.
WRAPPING UP
For anyone in marketing, change is a constant (actually change is just constant – whether you like it or not!). You must strive to embrace new strategies, tools, and technologies to gain an edge over your potential competitors and break through the noise of all media. These are just a few of many 2021 marketing trends to keep pace with. Ultimately, marketing success will boil down to how well you can recognize, empathize and serve people’s needs. When a brand incorporates compassion in marketing strategies, it encourages a more profound relationship that a consumer will build with it and lead to significant business growth.
Photo Creds: Scott Graham on Unsplash
Sources: SingleGrain