The time has come when marketers should examine their marketing strategies and KPIs to ensure that they are positioned to successfully adjust their marketing strategy in the coming year. Only agile digital marketers who can reframe their strategies accurately and quickly will survive and thrive. The ones who emerge victorious in the end are the ones who stick to their goals and enter the next year with a solid plan. Read on to find out which 2021 digital marketing trends will impact your small business.
Conversational Marketing: Digital Marketing Trends
Conversational marketing has become one of the most exciting trends in digital marketing service that has brought together messaging, conversational interfaces, innovative processing of search queries, and the rapid adoption of smart speakers. In the Gartner hype cycle, conversational marketing emerged as a key innovation. Another technology that has made it to the list is artificial intelligence- which is the basis of conversational marketing.
Marketing through conversational UI is being served as the fastest way to move through the sales funnel using real-time communication skills. This builds a lasting relationship and creates a real value-added experience for buyers and customers. People no longer have the patience for the traditional marketing funnel that takes them through many stages that are sometimes redundant. This is because the procedures are painful, impersonal, and very cold. Less than 20% of people open the email, and half don’t even answer cold calls. Even the landing page conversion rate has dropped to just ~3%.
Conversational marketing is made up of three phases- engagement, understanding and recommendation. The lead conversion ratio also gets higher. With conversation marketing, the web portal changes from being a simple catalog to a more human-centered shopping experience. Marketers get a chance to learn a lot about customers and buyers by giving accurate context. They can understand which features are useful to them and where is the pain point. The lead conversion ratio becomes higher as you get personalized insights that are customized by the customer. It reduces the lengthy, painful process of the traditional sales cycle and brings in a better return on investment.
Read Also: 7 Benefits of White Label Online Marketing for Businesses
A Video is No Longer An Option
If your organization hasn’t already implemented video marketing, get on board now. You just can’t afford to miss out. There is no comparison between video and text content when it comes to selling services and products online.
The falling cost of data makes it possible for consumers to watch more video content than ever before. Handheld smartphones have made it possible to watch videos of just about anything, at any time. Let’s take a look at these figures:
- 71 percent of marketers believe that video content brings better conversion rates.
- 54% of consumers want to watch more videos about products to guide their buying decisions.
These statistics prove that video marketing has become a highly lucrative activity. We also see a new wave of YouTube/Instagram influencers who market products via live streaming. It creates buzz about the products and services being offered in a powerful way.
Personalized Email Campaign
Despite the prevalence of social media, instant messaging, etc., the good old email hasn’t lost its charm yet. Billions of emails are sent daily for academic, scientific, legal, industrial, commercial, and personal purposes. As long as email is here, email marketing will continue.
However, the thing here is that marketing via email is constantly evolving and getting better. Email automation has also made its way into email marketing, personalizing the entire email experience. If implemented properly, privatization can be a great revenue booster. And personal email marketing is nothing new. It has been used for many years to improve marketing efforts. All research suggests that personalized email campaigns tend to have better email opening rates and click-through rates than anonymous generalized emails. This has the potential to be one of the most powerful digital marketing trends of 2021.
So, keep in mind: If your email is missing personalization, you’re missing out. For a personalized email marketing experience, you must collect your customers’ data and create emails targeting the specific needs of customers. After collecting enough data about your potential customers, you can plan accordingly and prepare your emails by creating an approximate customer profile.
Facebook is lagging…
Facebook is no longer the king of social media marketing like it used to be a few years back. Research from Forbes tells us that more than half of its users are over the age of 60. I am not suggesting that Facebook is a thing of the past for social media marketing; Still, it can be said with certainty that it is lagging behind other channels in keeping pace with the younger generation. Young people are more prone to try new products and experiences. The interactive and more visual experiences offered by TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram attract them all the more.
Do you remember the data breach on Facebook in 2018? Add to this the brutal political propaganda and fake news. All this has created resentment and frustration among the people with its policies. TechCrunch has gone to the extent of saying that Facebook will be dead for Generation Z. So marketers must understand that while Facebook can have a significant portion of users, they must ensure that the demographic they are targeting is available on the platform and, more importantly, consider it credible. Huh. Otherwise, it may result in a wastage of marketing money and efforts.
Instagram Leading
Along the way, we also see a meteoric rise in the popularity of Instagram with the younger generation. Currently, it has over a billion users. Most of its users are under the age of 30. Other avenues of social media marketing, such as TikTok, have crossed national boundaries in terms of popularity. Influencer marketing is the most used method of marketing on TikTok. Research shows that over 85% of the marketing that happens on TikTok is through social media personalities who generate brand awareness and sales.
So, try out other channels of social media marketing, which are mainly popular with the younger demographic, and don’t just stop at Facebook.
Join, or Be Left Behind
The world of marketing is evolving. Trends and buzzwords come and go. And it was always like this. But the origin remains the same in all the ages. Marketers must connect with their audience and communicate the USP of their products and services. Consumer-centric content remains the best way to build a solid emotional bond with the customer. However, you should also make sure that your message does not get hidden in the maze of mediums. So, channelize your energy and efforts in delivering customer-centric messages according to these 2021 digital marketing trends and hire a ppc marketing agency for the best results.
