Every year, digital marketers start looking at the trends and technologies that are set to make an impact next. Keeping ahead of the competition and taking advantage of emerging trends is vital in the marketing sector. However, 2021 looks like it might be an unusual year of incremental changes. Don’t make the mistake of sticking to using what worked in 2020 though. If you’re looking for ways to keep ahead of the curve with your marketing strategies in 2021, here are the key areas that you need to be looking at more closely.
Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing is already one of the big techniques causing a buzz in the marketing world, and will have even more importance in 2021. From targeted messaging to conversational chatbots, brands are realizing that one-to-one engagement isn’t just a faster way to guide consumers into a sales funnel, it’s more effective too. There’s always danger that modern, high-tech marketing becomes cold and impersonal, and that can have a very negative effect on sales figures. Conversational marketing means engaging with consumers to find out their needs. Then understanding how you can solve those needs, and making recommendations that will eradicate their pain points. If you’re not learning about conversational marketing, then it’s time to start taking a closer look.
SEO Changes
Search engine optimization remains as important as ever, and you’ll need to stay on top of it in 2021 if you want your business to grow. SEO has become a very broad subject area, with a variety of different categories that all need to be right if you want to show up on search engine results pages (SERPs). Not only does your content need to be of value, but it also needs to have all of the technical SEO implemented in the right way. Basic mistakes like having a slow-loading website will result in your being punished on SERPs. Therefore making it harder for clients to find you.
If you want your business to grow, then you need a website and hosting platform that will grow with you. There are many web hosting platforms available that can make scaling up much easier. Compare hosting platforms, and look at reviews that highlight the differences between SiteGround vs Hostgator. If your website is still using the same structure that it was using five years ago, then it might be time to migrate somewhere new.
Privacy and Consent
Big tech names like Apple, Mozilla, and Google, have all taken big steps in 2020 to afford greater privacy online. Big and small businesses need to design digital presence with consumer privacy at the forefront. This can be challenging, especially with so much focus being made on the importance of personalization. Marketers now have access to a vast amount of data about consumers, and that data is a valuable tool. Especially when it comes to providing a personalized and positive experience. However, transparency is more important than ever. As such, you need to have a clear understanding of how to use and store that data respectfully, fairly, and safely.
Marketing touchpoints need to be user-centric. This means giving consumers more control over the data that you collect about them. Your established privacy controls should be publicized and prominently displayed so potential customers develop more trust in you. That trust could be worth more than your entire SEO strategy.
There’s a distinct lack of emerging technologies in the marketing sector this year. Voice search, 5G, and the IoT are still on the horizon and becoming more relevant. However, these technologies have been coming for a long time and should already be addressed in your 2021 marketing plan. It looks like 2021 is going to be more about going back to basics than adopting the latest high-tech advancement.