Social Media Platforms and Digital voice assistants were once called technology fads. The same technology is now the priority of every business worldwide. New technology innovations are reshaping the world of digital marketing every-other-day. It has become clear that digitalisation is key to success in future.
Some of the curious minds may wonder- How did technology climb so high on the priority list? The answer is Digital Darwinism – an era where technology and society evolve faster than businesses can naturally adapt. New and innovative marketing trends basically help businesses align with ever-changing consumer behaviours and technology.
“Be where the world is going”
-Beth Comstock
To stay on top of the marketing world, it is crucial to be aware of the existing technology and stay in-loop with the upcoming ones. Here are the most important digital marketing trends for 2021 that must not be avoided.
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- Google’s Featured Snippet
For years, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has aimed to land your website at the first position in the search results. Now, the goal has changed to the ‘Position Zero’, popularly known as Google’s featured snippet. These snippets provide the information one is looking for in a quick & convenient way, that’s what makes them popular.To have their website featured as Google’s snippet is the goal for businesses in 2021.
- Geofencing Marketing
Geofencing is a type of location-based marketing that allows you to directly target smartphone users in a specific location like a store, a restaurant, an event, a competitor’s location etc. Since it is based on location, geofencing uses technologies like Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and radio-frequency identification (RFID) to function.Geofencing is a powerful tool and an important element of the digital marketing spectrum. In 2021, the use of geofencing marketing is supposed to increase to make customer acquisition easier.
- Google Ads Smart Bidding
Smart Bidding basically allows one to increase sales and performance by optimising the bids. Google now displays the ‘signals’ that are most & least likely to convert eliminating the secrecy between marketers and the company. This is all done with the help of machine learning and AI. Successful conversion strategies will be repeated and unsuccessful bids will be avoided, it is as simple as that.In 2021, the public wants greater control over their data and transparency from the authorities as well as the companies. Google’s attempt to be transparent with smart bidding will probably not stop here and we may expect great advancement within Google Ads.
- Social Media = SALES!
“It is hard to find things that don’t sell online.”-Jeff Bezos
The successful mantra for retailers now is to find customers in their 24*7 habitat – Social Media. It is the best medium to reach & engage with customers. Social media marketing (SMM) in 2021 would mean –
- Content > Product
- Conversation = Engagement = Revenue
- Shoppable Posts
- Social Media Management (SMM) Tools
The SMM goal for most brands is to post relevant content, humanizing the brand on social media rather than portraying oneself as a corporate and revolutionizing the shopping experience for the customer with shoppable post.
Social media is past being a mere profile/account; it is now about building an empire. In the coming years, platforms like Hootsuite may continue to optimise social media management with cross-platform and automation features.
- Voice & Visual searches
The growing popularity of voice search technology can be traced back to digital voice assistants like Siri & Alexa. Users lean on the voice search options because using voice search is quick, intuitive & informal. In the coming months, we may witness a surge in new-innovative search technology like visual search.For instance, Google Lens allows users to search for whatever they can see. Similarly, Pinterest Lens allows users to search for a specific element in an image simplifying the search process.In 2021, digital marketing would mean focusing even more on sitemaps for images & image alt-text for SEO.
- One-size-does-not-fit-all.
Marketing is no more a uni-directional spray, spraying the same content in all directions. It is targeting a particular demographic keeping in mind their specific needs & demands.Customer Segmentation is a new trend in 2021. It allows the companies to group their customers as per their shopping traits, location, demographics, etc. to target a niche audience. In simpler words, customer segmentation will enable you to run small multiple campaigns relevant to each specific segment of your customer base than one big general campaign.For Example, Matsmart – the Swedish sustainable food retailer wanted to increase brand awareness on Facebook. To achieve that, the brand ran a series of prospecting campaigns segmenting the target audience by grouping them mostly by demographics. The brand then ran highly relevant ads as per customer demographics featuring different products, based on different Facebook user segments.Another brand to use customer segmentation for marketing is O2. O2 connected the dots between how customers use their smartphones and their other behaviours to run personalized & niche marketing ads with tailored messages to the consumers.
- In-Email Purchases With Sophisticated Targeting
Until now, Email marketing meant adding links to the body of the email, which would direct readers to a blog post/ product description page/ landing page, etc. However, email marketing is on the evolution track now. The popular email marketing platform, MailChimp has announced that subscribers will soon be able to make purchases right from their inboxes as a part of the marketing campaign. In addition, campaigns will offer an enhanced advertising experience with embedded video and other interactivity.Since E-commerce businesses rely significantly on emails to retract information about customers’ leanings, feedback, and recommend products and sales. The new phase of email marketing might become successful in the future.It would open ways for super-sophisticated targeting. For example, the users will have access to more data based on purchase history, Google search, most visited websites, most-used apps, customer service interactions, and much more.
Furthermore, it would allow users to expand their business opportunities across multi-channel capabilities.
- Progressive Web Apps
Another new digital marketing trend is Progressive Web Apps. It started with bigshot companies like Twitter, The Financial Times, Flipkart, Wikipedia in 2018 as they achieved excellent results.However, this trend may become feasible for smaller businesses as well in 2021. Since a mobile site is essential for scaling a business, progressive web apps are lucrative for SMEs. An appealing & responsive site can make or break the perception of a brand among customers. Moreover, if a website is challenging to navigate or lags in the user experience department, it might leave a bitter taste in a customer’s mouth and cause them to leave, or worse, it might take a swing at your reputation.Additionally, Progressive Web Apps have an added advantage as customers are ever-present on their smartphones. PWAs are an amalgamation of the benefits of both browsings on a mobile browser and mobile app.
- Hyper-Local SEO
Hyperlocal SEO is a tool that must be present in every small business’s toolkit. It is basically the new algorithmic push by Google. It works by targeting a person’s current Name, Address and Phone number in order to deliver very personalized results to their daily searches such as “Pharmacy near me” or “Best salon near me.”The hyperlocal SEO update provides upcoming brands with an opportunity to build a regional market for themselves. This is a fantastic solution for traditional businesses, especially as it is straightforward to use and apply for everyone.Whopper Detour Campaign: Burger King’s “Whopper Detour” campaign is an ideal example of Hyperlocal SEO marketing. The burger chain allowed its app-users in the vicinity of 600m of a McDonald’s outlet to buy a Whopper for a penny!This campaign combined two digital marketing trends – geofencing and hyperlocal marketing to create a buzz. It led to 1.5 million app downloads while generating 3.3 billion impressions, which $37m in earned media. Also, during this campaign, more than 500,000 Whoppers were sold, tripling the mobile sales.
- Quora Marketing
If you only think of Quora as a question-and-answer platform, you are not alone. However, you are definitely missing out on the advertising potential of Quora.
Quora has secured a place ‘ favourites’ list of digital marketers along with Google in 2021.The brilliance of Quora marketing is carried on by individuals as there is more trust incorporated with an individual’s statement than a brand. The key is the human touch. Interaction with an individual feels more genuine and believable to the audience as they feel like they are talking to someone familiar. Besides, a large chunk of the audience is probably tired of listening to advertising slogans or being a part of mass marketing strategies by brands. Therefore, the concept of individuals answering people’s genuine questions holds much scope for brands. It allows them to convey their services to potential customers if they play their cards (or words) right. This humanization element is the main selling point of Quora marketing and also the reason to follow this trend in 2021.
- Google’s Featured Snippet
The increasing competition in every domain and technology advancements can be overwhelming to anyone but the road to success in 2021 passes right through the Digital land. This is where we come to the rescue!
Nine Thirty Four will help you steer your company in the right direction with our digital marketing & web development services.