It’s been a rough year with social distancing and lockdowns causing financial strain for many businesses. If organizations worldwide learned one thing in 2020, it’s time to invest more in their digital marketing efforts. With more of the population staying at home, the growth in online digital commerce has skyrocketed. As we head into 2021, many of this year’s emerging trends are set to become the new normal for some time to come.
Subsequently, new ways of doing things always mean new opportunities for companies willing to tackle innovation and change. The following digital marketing trends are ones that we believe will have a significant influence on commerce and industry in 2021.
2021 Digital Marketing Trends
More Focus on Traditional Influencers
Celebrity influencers have received much of the focus for influencer marketing campaigns but have declined in popularity over recent years due to new regulations. Moreover, new types of influencers will rise in the celebrity’s place as companies begin to rely more on the power of traditional influencers like content creators, industry analysts, and event speakers.
More Customer-Focused Content Generation
According to Content Marketing Institute, most content production focuses on an internal need rather than aligning with customers’ desires. Improve your content marketing strategy for 2021 by asking your audience’s needs and wants in a post-pandemic world. Adopt the ‘necessary’ or ‘nice to have’ strategy, for instance.
Interactive Design and Video Content
The user experience is central to every online interaction. Designers will be focusing on using different techniques to engage and delight their visitors. For instance, here’s how:
Visual storytelling using infographics and images
Veering away from asymmetric layouts to more distinctive asymmetry
Incorporating 3D graphics in mobile and web interfaces
Animated illustrations
Micro-interactions
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited budgets can use stock images and animations to create more engaging, graphically rich content. Subsequently, you can use design elements to captivate and engage any audience.
Personalized Online Experiences with Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing is a term that broadly encompasses the dialogue that occurs between a brand and its prospects. Email, telephone, and SMS are well-known examples of conversational marketing techniques you already know and use.
However, the increasing prevalence of smart speakers and chatbots supported by AI promises more advanced services that mimic a personalized experience even when no human is present. Moreover, most shoppers enjoy the convenience of online e-commerce, but they will still only shop with companies that also offer a personalized experience.
Adopt Technology for Improving Email Personalization
Email campaigns can easily be automated, but businesses will be utilizing email more intelligently in the future. In the same vein, big data analysis and machine learning present opportunities that weren’t available a decade ago. Using predictive analytics can show an organization how to improve email open rates. Here’s how you can do that, for example:
The most optimum time to send emails, even down to the individual level
Best timing for follow-up communications
Optimum segmentation and use of categories
Plan for a Digital Marketing Transformation
Companies face many challenges when it comes to integrating digital and online technologies into their processes. Moreover, organizations are implementing a digital transformation strategy. This enables them to work through the challenges and improve their online digital presence. Consequently, an effective digital transformation strategy will resolve issues like teams working in silos by adding integrated communication solutions. Similarly, work on improving the customer experience, creating omnichannel experiences, and using analytics data effectively.