Digital marketing includes all marketing efforts that use electronic devices and the internet to communicate with existing and potential customers. Both, digital marketing and traditional marketing have the same goal – to positively influence your customers. However, digital marketing enjoys certain benefits over traditional forms of marketing. If you are an SMB owner who wants to level up their marketing game, you could benefit from knowing about these 10 digital marketing trends in 2021:
Personalized Communications with Customers
Gone are the days when sellers could always use a ‘one size fits all’ approach for marketing their products and services.
84% of consumers choose to buy products from a brand that understands their goals.
91% of consumers respond positively to personalized offers and recommendations.
72% of consumers engage only with personalized messaging. Sellers can push notifications, recommend products, advertise offers, and promote new products. They need to pay careful attention to personalization to make their marketing campaigns even more successful.
Understanding Customer Behavior Using Advanced Data Analytics
Sellers may not be as successful in personalizing communication unless they understand consumer behavior. Digital marketing usually targets a wider customer base. It’s not quite possible to understand the preferences, needs, and behavior of every potential and existing customer without utilizing advanced data analytics. 2020 has hit the market hard and changed the way we view the world. 2021 will likely witness several businesses struggling to get back on their feet and meet the ever-changing needs of customers. This instinct to survive could very well mean fierce competition among sellers and businesses that can serve the changed needs of customers better will have a higher chance of surviving in the longer run.
Advanced data analytics will be widely used in 2021 to create even greater customer-centric strategies and to provide data-backed insights into consumer behavior.
Allowing Social Sharing of Products
79% of consumers rely on user-generated content on social media to guide their purchasing decisions. When customers share their positive experiences about your product or service on their social media handles, they can indirectly become your goodwill ambassadors. Such experiences have the capability to influence their social media followers and encourage them to try your product. Thus, brands can benefit from allowing easy social sharing of products in 2021.
Organizing Social Media Campaigns
Worldwide, 3.8 billion people use various social media platforms. Brands can easily target a wide range of customers using social media campaigns. These campaigns can communicate a brand’s journey, its values, and establish an emotional connection between the brand’s products and its customers.
73% of marketers find social media campaigns effective. Posting interactive content on social media platforms can help you understand what’s working for your brand and what needs improvement. It can be helpful for companies to use such campaigns to get better leads, boost brand awareness, and cultivate better customer-seller relationships in 2021.
Focusing on Video Marketing
54% of consumers enjoy watching marketing videos. In most cases, people find video marketing extremely compelling. According to a
source, 72% of marketers agree that video marketing has improved conversion rates and 73% confirm that it has given positive ROI. Thus, video marketing is something that brands may choose to include in their marketing strategies if they want customers to be more confident about their purchase decisions.
Paying Attention to SEO
97% of customers start their shopping journey with an online search. This makes it helpful for brands to invest in SEO. If done effectively, SEO can drive more traffic to your website. Thus, writing good content that includes the relevant keywords to rank higher on search engines may be a popular practice in 2021.
Customers use smartphones for 58% of their internet searches. Hence, it is necessary to ensure that your website is mobile-optimized.
Partnering with E-Commerce Marketplaces to Use their Marketing Strategies
One of the best ways to get the most from your digital marketing initiatives is to collaborate with e-commerce marketplaces that make use of the best marketing strategies. In 2021, this can help you connect with the right leads and boost sales.
Creating Unique Product Descriptions
With the pandemic preventing people from physically visiting stores, vendors may need to shift focus on selling products online and using content marketing to reach out to a larger number of potential customers. Ensuring that product descriptions are informative, but not boring can help. Catchy product names, visually appealing product photos, and high-resolution product videos may also work wonders for SMBs. Sellers cannot possibly ignore the impact of powerful content marketing anymore. Thus, 2021 would be the year to invest more in content marketing and develop interactive content for your products and services.
Digitizing Marketing Strategies
Your marketing strategies can be successful if you can effectively draft and customize them to create maximum impact. Digitizing your marketing strategies can help you reach your targets quickly and at a lower cost.
Organizing Loyalty Programs
Appreciating your customer’s loyalty can never go out of fashion. Rewarding customers for repetitive purchases, socially sharing your products, or spreading word-of-mouth about your brand acts as an encouragement to them. Thus, even in 2021, organizing loyalty programs to give customized discounts, and offer deals and coupons, can serve as a great marketing tactic.
2021 will provide a new ray of hope for business owners all around the world after a rough pandemic-induced downfall in the market. Following the right digital marketing trends can help them to vigorously bounce back to normal working conditions.