The year 2020 has seen many marketers scrambling to sustain. It has been a year like no other. Digital marketing has done quick laps during this pandemic, with businesses using AI to bring in greater personalization and instruments like voice search, video advertising, and Google ads to retain a competitive advantage.
As a marketer, it is time to scrutinize your goals, performance metrics, and KPIs closely. To sustain and thrive again, you need to be nimble and adapt fresh strategies. After all, you can stick around for long if you are flexible in your approach. So, here are the top marketing trends your business should consider in 2021.
Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is not a new area, but it will achieve new heights in 2021. Big tech companies like Facebook and Google have stored so much data on their users. These platforms understand the users on a deeper level than any human brain ever could.
Manual segmentation is becoming outdated. From one hundred or so engagements, the big digital advertisement algorithms can micro-segment the ideal audience. The aim is, indeed, more engagement and customer retention. It leads to lower ad pricing and higher customer lifetime value.
Featured Snippets & No-Click Searches
For many years, search engine optimization has aimed to get your business listing in the “position number one” spot of search results. Currently, going into 2021, the main goal is continuing to shift to more SEO visibility in “position zero.”
Talking about position zero, it refers to Google’s “featured snippet.” The 2021 marketing trends are arranging it above everything else. This featured snippet acts differently than other search results entries.
A tiny box separates it, and you can spot it at the top. More importantly, position zero also shows additional, relevant information with the effort at answering the question by the user without the user needed to click on it.
The Addition of AR and VR
The chief significant technological advancements set to overtake the present and future of business are augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). After all, right from product development to storytelling and producing engaging content, augmented reality and virtual reality have come up as the protagonists of this pandemic. AR and VR have enabled you (marketers) to bring experiences to life, although virtually.
Video content will prevail as a dominating force in the coming years. However, VR and AR will have a significant impact in 2021. More and more marketers will use these to create 3D environments that fortify the emotional bonds between a brand, its products, and the consumers.
SEO for Voice Search
Voice search is the next boundary of SEO. More and more users currently like to talk into their search bars rather than type. No matter if people use voice-activated AI assistants on their computers or use their cell phones like walkie-talkies.
Search engine optimization experts are finding out that voice searches fetch different results than text searches. Professionals expect 2021 to start a gilded rush to crack the SEO code for voice search to grasp more of that organic market share.
Inclusivity
Today, especially young audiences and marginalized groups, wish to see a more optimistic representation of equality in the content they use and the brands they purchase from. In other words, people do not want to see the same homogeneous content that everyone is accustomed to from previous decades.
In 2021, digital marketing will encompass media and subject matters that encompass a diversity of sexualities, races, religions, etc., and represent people with disabilities and learning disabilities (PWD). You need to focus on your image and video accessible content, and even the products you offer or services you provide.
According to research, this cultural shift is already impacting the purchasing behavior of people. Nearly 41% of buyers have shifted their business away from any retailer that does not echo how crucial [identity and diversity] is to them.”
Similarly, studies show that twenty-nine percent of consumers are keen to switch brands entirely if they don’t depict enough diversity. This percentage rises for cultural minorities and the LGBT+ community.
Ad Blockers
The marketing trends for 2021 are also about surpassing obstacles such as ad blockers. With 27% of web users expected to employ ad blockers in this upcoming year, you may see the removal of your mainstream traffic at the source. It encompasses PPC campaigns.
Well, you need to check how big of a problem it is for you. Here your advertisement data and analytics can tell you what you need to know. Based on your target audience or where you publish ads, you can ensure that the damage is negligible.
To sum up, maybe these discussed digital marketing trends don’t epitomize a complete list, there is undoubtedly an excellent place to start when preparing your 2021 marketing strategy.