Digital Marketing Trends for 2021

The world of Digital Marketing is continuously evolving. As soon as you have mastered the art of one thing, another trend swoops in, and you’re back to square one.

Unfortunately, to keep performing and achieve your digital goals, you need to incorporate the latest trends into your marketing strategy.

In this article, we highlight our top 5 Digital Marketing Trends that are sure to shake things up in 2021.

Personalisation

Personalisation means using audience and data analytics to meet the individual needs of a consumer. 

Including personalisation efforts into your customer journey leads to stronger relationships with your clients. You’re also likely to retain these existing customers and more importantly, build your brand and create better experiences for new potential clients. 

Here are a few stats to consider:

• 71% of consumers feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal. – Segment
• 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them. – Accenture
• 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. – SmarterHQ

Inclusivity

Inclusive marketing describes campaigns that embrace diversity by including people, processes and technologies that enable different backgrounds to fully experience and connect with brands. 

While some inclusive campaigns aim to break stereotypes, others simply want to reflect people in the real world.

We believe that brands that are non-inclusive will likely see far less impact in 2021.

As stated by Forbes, “Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are increasingly becoming more important to the customers you serve, even more so when they or someone in their circle is a part of a diverse group.”

Social Media

According to the Hootsuite 2021 Social Trends survey, “The smartest brands will understand where they fit into customers’ lives on social media, and they’ll find creative ways of fitting into the conversation.”

It is up to you to determine which platforms your clients access the most and where they make their purchasing decisions.

For years, linking social media engagement to customer identity has proved an elusive goal for marketers. But with renewed momentum and executive attention on social media’s ability to retain critical connections with customers, now is the time to take steps—big or small—to bridge the critical gap between engagement and customer identity.

Voice Search & Smart Speakers

Just as social media has become a permanent fixture in the digital world, so too will voice technology.

The increasing use of voice search has made it imperative for companies to rethink their digital marketing strategies in 2021. 

Consider these numbers:

• 50% of all searches were conducted via voice in 2020
• 55% of all American homes will own a smart speaker by 2022
• 72% of people who own voice-activated speakers say that their devices are used as part of their daily routines
• Voice shopping is set to jump to $40 billion in 2022
• Global smart speaker shipments have almost trebled between Q1 2018 and Q2 2019, growing from 9.36 million units to 26.1 million units

“Businesses who want to remain visible to consumers in the coming years will have to find a way to incorporate voice technology into their digital marketing strategies.”

Content Marketing

It’s a well-known fact that relevant Content is an essential part of a marketing strategy. It is so important that 88% of B2B content marketers agree that creating content makes their audience view their organisation as a credible and trusted resource.

John Mueller from Google said it best: “rather than chase the latest SEO trends, it’s more important to ensure a site has fast speeds, useful links, and well-written content.”

Here are some interesting stats from the Content Marketing Institute:

• Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates 3x as many leads.
• Content marketing has lower up-front costs and deeper long-term benefits than paid search.
• 615 million devices now use ad blockers, which means your ads are not being seen by as many people.
• Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads than those without blogs.
• Content marketing rakes in conversion rates 6x higher than other methods.

Conclusion

Not all of the best digital marketing trends in 2021 are new. Plenty of marketing trends from previous years are still going strong and will continue to perform well in the future. 

If you still haven’t implemented them yet, there is no time like the present.

Do you need assistance with your Digital Marketing? We can help.  Get in touch and let’s get started today!

Photo by Photography Account on Unsplash