21 DIGITAL MARKETING TIPS FOR 2021 - Espial Solutions

21 DIGITAL MARKETING TIPS FOR 2021

                                       Naveen Shukla has created a list of practical tips that will aid you
                                       in transforming your business in 2021. These strategies are
                                       bound to give you results, if you align them with your
                                       organizations SMART business goals. These recommendations
                                       are based on various researches and keeping in mind the
                                       prevalent, new-normal, current trends. We hope you will enjoy
                                       learning these tips and will successfully implement the same for
                                       your organization. We are keen to hear your feedback and if
                                       you have any queries - please do write to the author:
                                       naveen@espialsolutions.com

Are you ready to spin Marketing Magic – am Predicting, YES!
Predicting trends for 2021 seems to be challenging, as 2020 has been one irrational year driving
seismic shift across all businesses and verticals. With this shift, keeping up with the latest
marketing trends is imperative in this ever-changing, fast-paced business landscape. Businesses
are adopting new technologies, strategies to stay on top of the game.
2021 will see more innovative strategies and those teams and businesses who adopt an organic
approach with solid reasoning and expert guidance will excel and evolve to stay ahead of the
game.
Most of the businesses were impacted due to COVID-19 in 2020 and hence thriving and
surviving in 2021 is vital and critical for them along with keeping up with the marketing trends.
Customers want personalized experience and they are using multiple channels and Omni-
channel customer support centers seem to be the next level of solution for a seamless
customer engagement and journey.
Marketing, Customer Care, Sales are all unified for the customers to jump from one channel to
another, offering an integrated shopping experience, Customer could be online from a desktop
or mobile device, via phone, or shop in a brick-and-mortar store, and it is all about customer
preferences and placing them in the driver seat of digital experience.
We have collated few guidelines to help you steer the coming year ahead to spin your
marketing magic in this super competitive business environment.

1. Video Marketing
As per Hubspot research, 87% of the marketers say that Video has increased traffic, and has
directly helped increase sales. Videos are definitely engaging and with high usage of
technology it is difficult for the end users to read so much data about anything and
everything. So, it is all about making things easier and conveying message using Real life
Videos, Animations, or even content in the form of a video for greater productivity.
When we are referring Video content, we are not restricting ourselves to only YouTube or
Vimeo, these specific videos can be uploaded anywhere - on your Website, Facebook,
Instagram, and can be included in emails, to drive traffic and visibility of your
product/service page.
You can also make your customer journey more engaging by using interactive and
compelling videos. Give them an experience that they will see and remember for longer.

2. Instagram
Instagram is very popular with younger demographic, especially who are under 30.
Marketers must keep in mind that attention span is shorter and hence they need to create
content that will convey the message instantly and is impactful. Crisp and clear message,
well knitted in a story is something which has the potential of bringing better brand recall.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In 2021, make your website Google Algorithm proof. Yes, you heard me right, keep
guidelines in mind but focus on making the journey more meaningful for your customers.
Writing content to get listing is important but writing valuable content is more important,
as you are building and representing your brand with that content. Stop thinking about bots
and start thinking about your customers. It’s a simple choice, isn’t it?! Would you like
thousands of people reading content and dropping out in few seconds or rather you would
have small number of people reading your content and finding value in your content,
maximizing user engagement and loyalty?

4. Local SEO

You may be offering a product/Service to clients across the globe but you may certainly do
not want to miss out on the opportunity next door. Recent research conducted by Access
concluded that proximity matters to local consumers to a great extent, with more than 92%
travelling just 20 minutes or less to purchase their day-to-day essentials. For any size of
business, that should be reason enough to invest in local SEO.
If your business has multiple locations do not miss out on adding those locations, and in
turn enhancing your local visibility.

5. Content Marketing

Engaging and interactive content will be the key focus for this year for both - B2B and B2C
verticals. Your content needs adhere to 3C’s guideline i.e., crisp, clear and compelling to
serve customer requirements and their preferred channels.
People connect with People and your content must empathize humanity. You need to
measure your content and its effectiveness a little differently to have an impact - maybe by
consumption or getting feedback.
Marketers also need to stay laser-focused on their key buyer personas and core topics; this
will also help with a better understanding of ROI.

6. Social Media Marketing
You need to have a clear understanding of the audience persona on each of the Social
Media platforms - for example, younger generation is not joining the bandwagon on
Facebook, while 60+ have stronger affiliation with it. Your messaging strategy must be
aligned with these inputs, in case you are targeting your brand/product/website across
various age groups.
The pandemic has brought the need for brands to have conversation with the customers, as
they are looking out for authentic information, engagement, and social issues.
In 2021, Talkwalker predicts that there will be a rise in “old-school marketing”, as brands
are switching back to a simpler way of engaging consumers. So, you need to keep it simple,
focusing on personalized messages, journeys and experiences for customers.

7. Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

In 2021, as Paid Marketing will further gain momentum, given the amount of time people
are now spending online. We are ahead by a decade or little less in terms of our online
activities given the current pandemic situation.
We are observing trends of using Machine Learning for an increase in ROI to greater
heights. You may have noticed the 'SMART' prefix being attached to more and more Google
Services. The aim is to help businesses manage the complexity of ad targeting to increase
ROI.
Smart campaigns in Google Ads have been introduced to simplify the complex process of
managing Google Ads for small businesses. Google’s Smart Bidding can help manage bidding
across large product inventories on Google Shopping.

8. Remarketing

The current changing trend that has been observed is that people are staying away from
impulse buying and in fact they are doing their own research and are exploring various
options and brands before they choose to buy.
This trend makes it very relevant and important to keep reminding them of your products or
services through remarketing. It is not only cost effective but you are targeting those
specific prospects that are in need at that point, having a familiarity with your brand.

9. Landing Pages:

With so much of content available on your website targeting different types of customers
and selling different products and services, it becomes overwhelming and confusing for
your customers.
Landing pages helps you keep your customer stay focused and they visit only with the
purpose of initiating a call to action.
Create different, meaningful landing pages and target with specific keywords for enhancing
visibility and website traffic with prospective clients for retaining them with great SEO and
Content Marketing initiatives.

10. Email Marketing

This old age method still works and will continue to work in 2021 as well. Email marketing
gives you an opportunity to offer personalized and relevant communication to your specific
customers.
We see businesses will focus on using more automation in 2021. Case studies of how
businesses are using email marketing automation shows signs of sophisticated techniques.
For example, how Nike used automation of 10 new lifecycle campaigns and improved
relevance and targeting, increasing website visits by +32.5% and automation revenue by
110% (abandoned basket campaigns were already in use), catching everyone’s attention.
With automation, they segmented categories like purchase lifecycle groups, first-time
buyers, inactive, and defecting customers, offering greater customer engagement and
satisfaction.

11. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing continues to grow rapidly. 15% of digital marketing budget is spent in
affiliate marketing in US, 80% of the brands now use affiliate marketing as one of their
major sales model.
Almost every noteworthy e-shop has an affiliate program, from small specialty stores to
large shops.
The most likely trends for 2021 would be Seasonal Advertising, Native Advertising, B2B
Advertising, Localized Advertising and Video content.
The main aim of affiliate marketing is to increase conversions and revenue. Amidst the
changing trends, it will now become more important to carry out the task of being an
affiliate, influencers, and partner in marketing at the same time.

12. Influencer Marketing
As per Business Insider Publication, Influencer marketing is bigger than ever and is on the
right track to become a $15 billion dollar industry by 2022. It is predicted that 63% of
marketers intend to increase their budget in future.

With increased popularity, demand, and company spend for influencer marketing, it’s safe
to say we can expect new and exciting things coming in 2021.
We believe following trends will rule; Micro and Nano Influencers, Performance Marketing,
Video, and Value driven content, focusing on diversity and inclusion.

13. Podcast Marketing

Nearly 75% of podcast listeners in the US say they listen to podcasts to learn new things
(Statista 2019). As of January 2020, there are more than 850,000 podcasts with more than
30 million podcast episodes (Podcast Insights, 2020). This is an enormous growth as
compared to 2018.

Podcasts are a huge market and an excellent way to create thought leadership, increased
brand recall, and more sales and productivity.

It is important to identify niche as that perfectly fits the marketing mix. Podcast hosts have
very high trust and this can be cashed. Marketing budgets are increasing for Podcast
Marketing for the reason that it is yielding great business results.

Your Marketing Strategy for Podcast must include the following - Create great content, eye
catchy Titles and Description, Optimization for SEO, Engage your Listeners, Schedule Guests,
Appear on other Podcasts, Giveaways, everyone loves them, Promote on Social Media and
many more.

14. Voice Search

Although Voice search has not picked up to the expected prediction of 50% by 2020,
however, it is slowly but surely gaining momentum, especially on smaller devices or while
using non-conventional devices like Smart TV’s.

With rising local search queries in voice, it becomes imperative to optimize for voice
searches if you do not want to miss this traffic.

Voice based searches on mobile and desktop have a minimal impact on execution of SEO for
most businesses.

15. Marketing in Messaging Apps

Messaging apps are becoming even more popular than social media platforms and this
means businesses are looking at a huge, largely untapped opportunity to personally connect
with customers to generate quality leads.

According to Business Insider, before 2016, the race for market leadership was fierce, with
Viber, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp doing significantly better than the
rest. In 2019, there were still many messaging apps out there, and new ones kept
appearing. However, a few uncontested leaders dominate the market while all others pale
in comparison - WhatsApp, followed by Facebook messenger, and WeChat.

In order to take advantage of the popularity of messaging platforms to generate leads
and/or improve customer service, here are a few simple strategies to follow;

          Build a Chatbot for WhatsApp/Facebook
          Use Facebook’s click-to-Messenger and Click-to-WhatsApp Ads
          Offer Rewards/Incentives to attract visitors/prospects and turning them into
           prospects

16. SMS Marketing

In 2016, Gartner reported that, based on various sources, SMS open and response rates are
as high as 98% and 45%, respectively. They also argue that the severe difference in open
rates can be partly explained by the sheer amount of messages received via email instead of
SMS.

A new report from Forrester Research predicts consumers will get more texts in 2021 than
ever before, as brands are trying to develop more direct relationships with customers amid
the pandemic and economic fallout.

According to one report, businesses are planning to increase their Marketing spend on SMS
marketing this year, as they want to connect with the client in a non-intrusive way.

We expect to see following trends; Integrating SMS with other channels, Automated
messages, Customer Support enquiries, Promotions/Offers via SMS, and Customer
retention.

17. WhatsApp Marketing

WhatsApp is one of the world’s most popular instant messaging App. WhatsApp gives you
the ability to do one-on-one marketing, which makes the engagement process personalized
and advanced.

Some of the useful ways of efficiently using the App - Direct messages to prospects and
customers, Create Groups and share useful content – pin chats and archive old content, Set
Auto replies, Quick Response Time, and Use Broadcast.

We do expect some more new features on way for WhatsApp Business in the future.

18. Personalization

According to SmarterHQ, 72% of consumers say they now only engage with marketing
messages that are personalized and tailored to their interests.

Although, Data Privacy is a concern and 86% of people are concerned about it, still 80% of
frequent shopper’s only shops with brands who offer them personalized experiences.

It is important to show the value add of your brand, addressing data privacy concerns and
reassuring your customers about the Data safety, but personalization is something a brand
cannot afford to miss out on, simultaneously.

19. Omni channel
There are clear signs that social commerce will continue to grow. North American e-
commerce agency Absolunet has identified the following key signs of the popularity of
social commerce:

          87% of e-commerce shoppers believe social media helps them make a shopping
           decision
          1 in 4 business owners are selling through Facebook
          40% of merchants use social media to generate sales
          30% of consumers say they would make purchases directly through social media
           platforms

This gives a clear indication that marketers need to take this particular strategy with more
focused approach.

20. Micro communities

Micro-communities are on the rise because people want to connect and interact in a
community of likeminded people for a similar cause. Social media users — and especially
people under the age of 35 — want to relate to other people with similar interests and
hobbies.

Micro-communities matter for organizations because they help to Increase sales by building
empathy and loyalty, Build relationships, offering Constructive feedbacks and reviews that
will help you improvise your approach and offerings.

21. Answering Specific Questions

People love to connect, collaborate and interact with others and are on lookout for
feedbacks and suggestions for them to grow and thrive. Hence it is time to think beyond the
FAQ pages. People want quick updates, suggestions and feedbacks and are asking questions
on platforms like Quora and Clarity for a better understanding and extending their horizons.
Businesses must leverage these platforms to address queries of their prospects and
customers.