Last year, digital transformation was a reality for all businesses. Even the smallest players had to start bringing their services to social media and the internet as the global pandemic shook the world and people sat at home grabbing toilet paper, face masks and bread machines around them.
The “marketing channels of the future” you used in the past may be obsolete as new trends knock on your door and the 2020s move by leaps and bounds. Think about social media for a moment - is it any more like it was 5 years ago? Are Facebook posts still being distributed at the same rate? Instagram is no longer an image sharing app, but the platform is now according to Instagram video sharing application.
Consumer needs and behavior have changed radically. So it is in which applications they spend their time in the depths of the internet and Finland. In this article, we’ll cover the biggest 2021 - and future - trends in digital marketing.
- Digital change is here to stay
The McKinsey & Co consultancy found in its study that the pandemic accelerated the roll-out of online shopping by 10 years - in just three months. In fact, 60 % companies in different industries observed a new kind of consumer buying behavior. Shopping is happening more and more online these days. Time to turn around and stay in the age of quick, easy information, and move online for your business.
Consumers are accustomed to an easy way to shop online. Long deliveries, and packages picked up from the nearest post office today are almost a curse word. Budbee transportation, home delivery, and other free door-to-door options are very popular.
There is no reason to wait for a return to “normal”. The plans you made before the pandemic are worth re-evaluating. Now is the high time to build a functional, organized and sales-driven online platform.
- Put the data to work
Big data from Latvian is so in the 2010s. But you still need it. In 2021 and beyond, it’s even more important to know what the consumer’s intentions are when he or she adventures on your site, and what he or she is really trying to find.
Interpretation of analytics is extremely important for every entrepreneur. On which pages do users spend the most time? Is the bouncer bounce rate too high? Does your lead magnet convert as well as it should? If analytics and weird marketing terms don’t work out, it’s a good idea to hire an expert.
If your page does not have a heat map, such as (Hotjar), cookie tracking, and Facebook pixels installed, you will be worse off.
Of course, also remember the data protection law!
- Post content often, or you'll be left behind
Quantity does not always replace quality. Not in the content either, because in the case of both SEO and homosexual content, the quality, authenticity and novelty of the content is important. Still, that doesn’t mean you’re doing well by posting one Facebook update and a random blog post a week.
If you want to stand out from the algorithms and the mass of continuous content crashes, you need to publish quality content at a fast pace. If you really want to scale the number of your followers, the amount of traffic to your site, then you need to dramatically increase both the quality of your content and the pace of publication.
Also, remember what search engines like. EAT, ie the creation of a reliable expert brand is one of the most important guidelines in search engine optimization of the 2020s.
- Intelligent automations are conquering the world
More than 42 % digital marketers believe in their own capabilities from segmentation. However, artificial intelligence software and scripts in modern online stores have proven to be a thousand times more effective. While most people segment consumers into different groups based on certain preferences, AI automates people within groups into dozens of smaller groups, merging these groups with each other, creating thousands of mini-target groups.
If your online store doesn’t take advantage of smart automation, you’re far behind. Unfortunately, they’re pretty tricky for a basic coder to break into pieces, and advanced, highly sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms cost a fortune.
Still, you might want to consider leveraging artificial intelligence on your site. However, you can consider cheaper-end shopping bots if you have an online store that works on a common platform like Shopify. For example, Cartloop, Ada, and Ochatbot are popular bots / AI applications for Shopify online stores.
- Influencer marketing
Yes, influencer marketing is still an extremely tough thing, and it has come to stay. Influencer marketing is the fastest growing customer acquisition channel in 2020, winning organic searches, keyword advertising and email marketing.
The best part about influencer marketing is that you can choose influencers that look just like your brand among all the masses. New micro-influenza is emerging like mushrooms in the rain, and it is usually the small influencers (less than 100k followers) who are loyal and the audience who listens to the influencer. Fans can easily buy the same products that their glorified influencer has at their disposal.
In many cases, influencer marketing can work with the smallest investment. Give a free product to the influence you want, and hope for a positive review. Donate a shirt to the flu - and ask to tag your brand in one of the Instagram posts.
Influencer marketing is a really fast way to increase brand awareness and generate more traffic. Take advantage of it!
Ps. If you work with a traditional operator, influenza works in exactly the same way. The roofing company can give free repairs to the influencer, an electrician can come install new, handsome LED lights and so on.
Summary
The 2020s and the pandemic period have proven that consumers have moved into the digital world. You want the e-commerce experience to be as easy and hassle-free as possible. If a customer has to click too much to find what they want, they will leave your page faster than you have time to tell the cat. If you do not arrange deliveries directly to the customer's door, he will choose your competitor.
Artificial intelligence is making its way into the code of e-commerce, automations are constantly evolving to be more efficient, and machine learning and marketing are holding hands more and more closely.
Influencer marketing works better than ever, and new phenomena are popping up. If you don’t publish quality and interesting content at a fast pace, you’re probably not going to make it.
So, entrepreneur, it’s time to download it at TikTok, secretly call your enviable flu, and start making interesting content on the web and online. If you feel you have better things to do, contact an advertising or communications agency as your mercenary. For example, Veppi!