THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MARKETING TRENDS IN 2021
- Prejith Ponnachan
- Jun 8, 2021
- 11 min read
I'll be honest, I've been in the marketing industry long enough to know that Marketing moves at the speed of light. One minute you'll be brainstorming a new strategy and then the next minute there will be a technology change that changes everything.
New trends and strategies emerge on an annual, quarterly, and even monthly basis, transforming the way we attract, engage with, and promote to our customers. Keeping up with these developments, though, isn't always possible. To win in the fast-paced marketing business, you must always be one step ahead of the competition. That's why, after my research, I came up with this guide for everyone to go through and learn about some of the most promising and enterprising marketing trends in 2021.
Why modify a marketing plan or technique that has consistently worked for your company?
Well, just because something works now does not guarantee that it will work in the future. You must stay one step ahead of the rising trends that may effect your marketing success the following time around. So, aside from keeping up with industry advances, why should your company be concerned with marketing trends?
Well, Marketing Trends allow you to:
Maintain an understanding of how your customers shop for and study your products and services (as well as those of your rivals).
Keep abreast of changes in customer behaviour and priorities.
Make sure you're ahead of the curve in terms of understanding who your target audience is and what they want from your company.
Listen and adapt to market developments to help you save money.
Maintain your relevance in your target market and amongst your competition (now and in the long run)
Make an investment in inbound marketing.
Customers may be your best promoters if you know how to use them.
Make and distribute video content.
Native advertising can help you reach new audiences.
Be open and honest about diversity and inclusion.
Make use of both fleeting and long-lasting social media material.
Collaborate with micro-influencers.
Content repurposing across mediums.
Use voice search techniques.
Provide a mobile-friendly, responsive website design.
Enhancing the content experience.
Make use of artificial intelligence.
Make use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) .
Use chatbots on your website.
Give your customers more power over their data.
As I previously stated, many things change in the marketing business on a regular basis. That is why I have included some of the most prevalent sorts of marketing trends to assist you in adapting to these advances as needed and equipping your organization with the information required for success.
MAKE AN INVESTMENT IN INBOUND MARKETING
The world saw extraordinary upheaval in the previous year, and outbound marketing strategies grew less efficient in reaching prospects and leads. With the move from in-person to hybrid work from home (WFH) company practices, inbound marketing has risen to the top of the list of effective approaches. For example, as a result of COVID-19, there has been a substantial increase in virtual events, prompting marketers to go innovative in order to get the attention of customers.
Through reframing your approach to encourage customers to seek out your content, inbound marketing can be a great tool in creating brand recognition and building trust digitally.
Inbound marketing demands you to create high-quality, meaningful content that is suited to your target audience, buyer personas, and their requirements.
CUSTOMERS MAY BE YOUR BEST PROMOTERS IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE THEM.
The marketing funnel is a thing of the past. Today, the flywheel and the subsequent emphasis on service have supplanted the funnel's one-way path.
Customers were an afterthought in the world of the marketing funnel. Businesses regarded them outdated once they became a paying client, until it was time to re-sign that contract.
The flywheel, on the other hand, centers the client. Because word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies, it is prudent to not only satisfy your consumers but also empower them to become ambassadors and champions of your brand. This process is exemplified by the flywheel, which uses exceptional service as its own marketing approach.
You will excite and empower your customers if you maintain the flywheel at the core of your marketing activities. It is worthwhile to prioritize customer service and train your employees to manage requests and difficulties.
This will lead to consumers who can market for you they can promote and advocate for your brand through their online and in-person networks.
MAKE AND DISTRIBUTE VIDEO CONTENT.
CONTENT MARKETING TRENDS
All sorts of businesses in a wide range of sectors are focused on content marketing, which includes blogging, investing in resources to create original material, and paying for content-related advertisements.
So, why should you be concerned with current content marketing trends? Because 47 percent of buyers look at three to five pieces of content before speaking with a sales representative, and the majority of them want businesses to develop content to pique their interest.
Pay attention to the sort of material that connects best with your buyer profiles, target audience, and current customers to ensure your content marketing efforts are as successful and accessible as possible.
MAKE AND DISTRIBUTE VIDEO CONTENT
Although video marketing is not a new concept, its efficacy and popularity have surged in recent years, and much more so since the outbreak of the epidemic.
Previously, video was restricted owing to the high expense of materials and production. It is now considerably more accessible. With a decreased cost barrier, using video into your marketing efforts has become less scary.
You don't need to employ a production crew or a marketing firm; all you need is a smartphone like an iPhone and editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro.
NATIVE ADVERTISING CAN HELP YOU REACH NEW AUDIENCES.
When your company pays to have its content included on a third-party website, you are engaging in native advertising. Unlike traditional advertising, which is intended to disrupt and stick out, native advertising is intended to blend in and promote your business to a new audience who would not otherwise be aware of it.
Because native advertisements don't "feel" like traditional commercials, consumers are more inclined to consume them – in fact, native advertisements are viewed more than 50% more than banner advertising. Examples of native advertising can be found on social media, in search engine results, on content recommendation systems or in campaigns.
Instagram, for example, is a prominent social media network that frequently works with businesses for native advertising. Brands may publish posts that appear similar to the average user's followers posting style while quietly selling a product by using the Instagram Story or Shop functionalities.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS
In the United States alone, 79 percent of individuals have a social media account, and there are over 3.7 billion social media users worldwide.
As a result, social media marketing has become a prominent channel that is now a component of practically every business's overall marketing plan. Social media marketing helps you to interact with your target audience on a more personal level, humanizing your business.
BE OPEN AND HONEST ABOUT DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.
As the Coronavirus epidemic wreaked havoc on the world, it brought to light the hardships that people faced in the workplace and in politics. Employees grew more vocal about their dissatisfaction with their uneven treatment as members of society and in the workplace. Businesses are expanding their social media plans to incorporate more diversity and inclusion programmes, which is also a solid marketing move.
Companies that want to adapt with the times should be more open about their efforts to make the workplace more equitable, as well as their ambitions to extend their diversity and inclusion programmes.
MAKE USE OF BOTH FLEETING AND LONG-LASTING SOCIAL MEDIA MATERIAL.
Not all social media platforms are made equal. Different sorts of content perform better on different platforms. This encompasses both ephemeral (fleeting) and long-lasting (permanent) social media material. Let's examine more closely at Fleeting vs. Long-Lasting social content:
EPHEMERAL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:
Instagram and Facebook Stories, in particular, make it easy to create ephemeral material. Instagram and Facebook Stories are photographs and videos that exist for 24-hours before disappearing "forever." (Well, not quite, there's an Archive function where all your Stories go once they expire. But you get the essence of it.)
PERMANENT SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:
Permanent content is a little different:
Instagram may offer out a wall post naturally over a long period of time, so advertisers have less of an opportunity to be timely. Because Instagram users are more active during the weekdays, it appears that users are searching for a break!
It is crucial to leverage your brand voice and point of view to figure out how to assist your customers during that downtime. Is your presence supposed to be inspirational, attractive, instructive, playful, or trendy? They all have a place on Instagram's permanent wall; they simply have to be relevant to your brand's message.
Combining ephemeral and permanent social media material on sites like Instagram and Facebook allows your company to show off more of its personality and flare.
COLLABORATE WITH MICRO-INFLUENCERS.
Influencer marketing is important in all forms of modern marketing. However, when it comes to working with an influencer, companies are no longer confined to large personalities and well-known names.
In reality, micro-influencers have found their place in the social media realm as well, and they've begun to play an important part in converting leads, interacting with audience members, and increasing brand recognition.
Micro-influencers are social media advocates who have a small, specialty audience. Despite having fewer followers, their messages frequently have a greater impact owing to their higher degree of involvement.
Furthermore, because they are considered “average” and “everyday” individuals, audience members see micro-influencers as friends and family and are therefore more inclined to believe their ideas and suggestions.
Micro-influencers are the future of influencer marketing. Although it may be tempting to only look at the number of followers a user has to determine their influence, remember true influence lives in engagement rates.
They also drive social buzz through the creation and posting of personal content and are much more cost-effective for your business.
Search Engine Optimization Marketing Trends
Improved search engine optimization (SEO) to increase organic web visibility is the top inbound marketing objective for 61% of marketers.
Are you one of these business owners? If yes, have you determined how you want to boost your SEO and organic presence? When you optimize for particular sorts of customer behaviour, you will aid your company to become more visible online.
CONTENT REPURPOSING ACROSS PLATFORMS.
This marketing trend will be a major focus for many marketers this year. Companies who have previously invested time and effort in developing high-quality content should make it more accessible and up to date across several platforms.
Instead of coming up with fresh concepts, marketers will take what has worked in the past and optimize it for the future.
In SEO, keeping your content up to date and full of rich, interesting material will overshadow older work that lacks keyword relevancy and has outdated data and links. Furthermore, reusing existing content for a new podcast, webinar, or blog article may be an effective strategy to keep it relevant in search engines.
USE VOICE SEARCH TECHNIQUES.
You've undoubtedly used Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and/or Google Assistant in the previous month or two. Am I right?
Businesses must adapt to this rising trend by changing the way they structure information. Rather than appealing to Google's manual search algorithm, frame your content around queries.
When you employ voice search strategies in this manner, you will empower your consumers to acquire the answers they require. They can pose a question in the above-mentioned conversational tone and receive a high-quality and correct response. They can multitask while asking questions and receiving replies, and they can receive the answers they need faster.
PROVIDE A MOBILE-FRIENDLY, RESPONSIVE WEBSITE DESIGN.
48 percent of customers begin their mobile research with a search engine, and the first rank on Google search results on mobile has a click-through rate of 31.35 percent.
It goes without saying that mobile usage is increasing dramatically, particularly for search queries and research. As a result, businesses must ensure that their website is discoverable and accessible on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Website speed is also becoming more crucial as Google promotes better-performing websites in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Learn how to build and optimize your website for mobile consumption. This usually necessitates a responsive design, which means that your website will adapt and adapt its style and layout depending on whether people reach it through desktop or smartphone.
Technology Marketing Trends
Technology, like marketing, is always evolving and changing at a breakneck pace. When it comes to marketing, there are several ways to leverage technology to your benefit, especially when so many new chances emerge every day.
ENHANCING THE CONTENT EXPERIENCE.
Clicking on a landing page with sluggish pop-ups, advertising, and messy layout is a simple method to get readers to quit. While your company's product or service should be the primary emphasis, the manner in which it is presented should be as significant.
If clients are having difficulty accessing your website, it will be more annoying for them to continue searching through it than to search elsewhere for info.
Clearing web pages with aesthetically appealing components can allow your firm to attract prospects. Web design firm Lounge Lizard, for example, depicts the future of a gorgeous, dynamic, and fast-loading home page.
MAKE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that trains robots to do tasks that would need intellect from a person. Consider the following tasks: learning, seeing, talking, socializing, thinking, and problem-solving. They are deemed AI when they are done by computers.
Artificial intelligence has totally permeated our everyday lives and tasks. When Spotify suggests a song, Facebook detects and tags a person, or you use Siri to email a buddy, you are utilizing AI. Marketers and companies will need to act as we use AI more and more.
The goal of AI is not to replace people or the necessity for human interaction. It is to increase and broaden our abilities to engage with our audience and assist them in solving their problems more quickly and comprehensively.
In fact, customers value authenticity in marketing more than ever. AI is also extremely useful for gathering and evaluating data, as well as making data-driven choices. So, investigate how you can apply AI into your company's marketing strategy to better serve your customers and make your life easier.
MAKE USE OF VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) AND AUGMENTED REALITY (AR).
Viewing a computer-generated, lifelike situation is what virtual reality is all about. Viewing the actual environment with visual, haptic, olfactory, or visual enhancements is known as augmented reality. While VR and AR provide distinct experiences, both are making waves in the marketing world today.
They have an impact on your life as well. Have you ever seen a 360° video on Facebook? That is virtual reality.
Virtual reality and augmented reality are being utilized to enhance and improve customer experiences both online and at events. In general, marketers have been sluggish to adopt this trend due to the high cost of equipment and large headsets. However, when VR glasses and AR applications become more widely available, businesses may anticipate to use this technology into their marketing plan.
USE CHATBOTS ON YOUR WEBSITE.
Did you know that more than half of customers anticipate a response to any marketing, sales, or customer service enquiry within 10 minutes? How is this even feasible?
Bots are driven by a computer software that automates certain activities, generally by interacting with a user via a conversational interface. Artificial intelligence enables bots to understand complicated requests, tailor replies, and enhance interactions over time.
Bots give rapid, simple answers to issues of varying complexity. There is no longer a need for live chat or a one-on-one digital communication. While working with hundreds of customers, bots deliver the perception and focus of a 1:1 service experience, something no customer care professional or team could ever provide.
PRIVACY MARKETING TRENDS
Data is extremely useful in the marketing industry and not just to you as a marketer or business owner. Customers see their data as important and privileged, whether it's an email address, credit card information, or smartphone location and it's your obligation to protect it.
GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS MORE POWER OVER THEIR DATA.
Every business, whether a software firm, a bank, a government agency, or a lemonade stand, relies on data. It's the lifeblood of everything marketing, sales, and service-related.
And hackers are well aware of it. When data breaches occur, valuable information is diverted into the hands of the wrong people, resulting in untrustworthy corporations and exploited customers.
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