The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has upended how businesses conduct business. We’ve seen more and more products and services move online, and many companies continue to have employees work remotely or in a hybrid setting. A half-year of varied customer responses to COVID-19 have given us some insights into the marketing trends that are working and what to expect in 2021.
What are the key digital marketing trends for 2021 that your business needs to consider to engage and retain current customers and generate more traffic, leads, and revenue? We’ve identified eight digital marketing trends that suggest where savvy managers should invest their time and resources next year. If you don’t know where to start, start here — because this is the best bang for your marketing buck.
1. Social Media To Engage & Retain
Organizations should be prepared to dedicate more resources to social media marketing in 2021. Social media budgets accounted for almost one-quarter of total US marketing budgets during Q2 of 2020, up from 13% this winter. During the COVID-19 pandemic, marketers are increasingly making customer retention a priority. This will continue well into 2021. The pandemic has dramatically increased the amount of time people spend online, which includes how they research products, brands, and organizations.
This creates new opportunities for marketers to increase their reach with new audiences and re-engage with long-time customers. For only a few hundred dollars a month, a good social media marketer can develop a content plan, make regular posts, monitor and drive customer responses, and attract new business. If you’ve been putting off adding social media to your marketing mix, now’s the time.
2. Improve Communication of Available Products & Services
According to McKinsey, the availability of products and services is the number one reason customers are switching their brand allegiance right now. For marketers, this means a number of things. The most obvious (if most difficult) tactic is to increase the days of inventory on-hand of products or the availability of time slots for services. With more people working from home and many kids learning remotely, some physicians and doctors offices with whom we work have reconsidered staffing toward more daytime slots and fewer night and weekend hours.
If adjusting stock levels or servicing hours is a challenge (or worse), timely communication becomes paramount. Be clear about what you can and can’t do and set reasonable expectations. For high-volume items, consider placing a banner on your cite to indicate when the product will be in-stock. If you aren’t collecting customer emails, now is the perfect time to create a subscriber list so that you can be proactive with notifying customers of availability.
3. Google Verified Listings and Local SEO
If you own a business, one of the most important things you can do is ensure your local listings are verified and kept current on various search platforms. That’s because for B2C businesses that draw customers primarily on a local level (think dentist office or car dealership), your Google My Business listing provides valuable information about your hours, services, and your geographical location. It’s one of the key factors in search and business owners are often blown away to learn just how many directories there are out there.
Having a geographically-defined service area within your local listings actually helps your business show up in “near me” searches. That’s because many search engines (especially Google) prioritize relevance in their search algorithms. Keeping your listings updated also allows your customers to know of any changes in your hours, promotions, blogs, or any other information you would like to quickly convey.
4. Automated Bidding in Google Ads
Google Ads marketers constantly tweak and adjust campaigns, keywords, bids to get the most for your advertising dollars. The problem is all of the tweaking comes at a cost: more hours, and higher management fees. Enter Automated bidding, which allows Google to automate prior moves to adjust your bid in real-time.
Now, automated bidding isn’t new, having made its debut way back in 2016. But continuous improvements, especially in the past year, mean that it’s due to break-out in 2021. Our increased reliance on automated bidding tactics means that we can devote our time to optimize other aspects of PPC performance, which ultimately delivers a better outcome at a lower cost to our clients.
5. The Power of Voice Search
Voice search is currently not a part of Google’s algorithm however it is still dictating current search results. Voice search queries often yield different results than if the user had typed in a text-based search. SEO wise, it’s a good idea for businesses to be on their toes with voice search components for their consumers who are adapting and switching over to that medium.
According to experts in voice search, content must be optimized for voice. It needs to be more direct and conversational so it will be synced with search queries. This will help boost traffic by staying relevant and more visible to consumers. New to voice search? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Check out our more in-depth explanation of The Power of Voice Search.
6. Improved Retention Via Segmentation
Because it takes less money to keep your existing customers, marketing experts always recommend exerting more effort into the middle and last stages of the buyer’s journey. Happy customers tend to tell their friends and provide referrals to help increase revenue. They are also more likely to give your direct and honest feedback about issues to improve your brand.
Be sure to keep them informed on your organizational changes or processes that would impact your relationship through email marketing or engage with them on social media. By collecting data and segmenting your customers, you have an opportunity to save costs while delivering on your products and services. You can also target them in a more cost-effective fashion, allowing you to stretch your marketing dollars even farther.
7. Interactive Content
Adding interactive elements to your website or social media is a great way to provide value for visitors, get them to engage with your brand, and learn more about them. Suppose you were a realtor and added a mortgage calculator to your website. You’re offering value to your visitors while also learning more about them based on the data being inputted into your calculator.
Other examples of interactive marketing includes assessments, quizzes, games, polls, interactive videos, surveys, and contests. Contests are a great way to exponentially increase your reach and visibility, quickly. The fastest way to get your brand in front of lots of new prospects, cheaply, is to have your current customers share a Facebook post of a contest. Many of our clients take it a step further and make it a referral contest – promising an attractive reward to the client who helps bring in the most new business.
8 Employee Engagement
HR professionals recognized early on that the COVID-19 pandemic would impact employees and productivity. For many, this was the first time they’ve ever worked remotely and the experience may have been both existing and liberating. But by now, the thrill has worn off for many. Add in distractions from children and the stress of dealing with the world around them, and it’s no wonder employee morale is suffering, and productivity along with it.
It’s critical to keep employees connected, as motivated employees will communicate better with each other and ensure better client outcomes. As a manager or business owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure your marketing team understands that even though you may not be in the office together, you’re still all working together toward the same common goal. Break down goals into sizable chunks and set clear milestones. Then, ensure that you set-up multiple communication channels and be prepared to share successes with the entire team on each channel.
Comments
Post a Comment