The beginning of the pandemic indicated that great and irrevocable changes would take place in people’s lives. When Covid 19 hit the world, and when quarantines began to take place, it was inevitable to think about how the new lifestyle would affect digital marketing flows, especially online sales. Then, you remember, the mass purchase of groceries, face masks, and disinfectants began. Posters with face masks could be seen everywhere, TV commercials were adapted to the new protection measures, they promoted social distance and caution.
What can we expect in 2021?
When it comes to digital marketing, there are definitely a few trends that will be important in the coming period. On the one hand, we can say that these trends are actually a logical sequence of events in the digital world, but it is certain that the pandemic has accelerated them further. Marketers have had tremendous pressure to adapt their solutions to keep up with world events. So, here are the most important trends you should pay attention to in the upcoming months:
Programmatic Advertising
According to estimates, in 2021, more than 88% of digital display marketing in the US will be done through programmatic advertising. But let’s see what programmatic advertising is and how we can use it most effectively. In essence, this form of advertising is the automatic purchase and optimization of campaigns. So, this purchase is made by AI in real-time, which makes it far more effective and thus avoids negotiations between the buyer and the seller.
Programmatic advertising platforms can target certain groups of people according to their:
- age
- gender
- geography
- behaviour
- shopping habits
- interests
Platforms can also determine the ideal customer in real-time. This makes it even easier for advertisers and marketers. The biggest benefit of program advertising is targeting the audience based on data, thus avoiding guesswork.
In order for program advertising to have the greatest effect, it is best to hire an advertising agency or marketing specialist to manage the platform and ads.
The rise of Conversational Marketing
Modern marketing has exploited the full potential of chatbots. However, experience has shown that more and more people want a different, closer answer. As many as 82% of people want an immediate answer. Although digitalization has intertwined its fingers in everyday communication in recent years, there is still a need for human interaction. Today, everyone can recognize the automatic message or response of a chatbot, what gives special value to your marketing is precisely the conversation between people, which chatbots are not able to lead in that dynamic.
Here are some important steps you need to take if you want to add conversational marketing to your strategy:
- Follow the customer’s journey
- Create a story for the user
- Highlight the most important issues and think about the issue that will trigger the customer
- Establish a conversation flow and take care of deviation
- Place your messages where you can (Facebook Messenger, Website)
Video Marketing – the magic of Tik Tok users
This is not really a new trend, it has been around for a couple of years and is rapidly conquering the digital market. Not only is it important as a channel of communication, but it is given much more space on social networks. Thus, Tik Tok has become one of the leading platforms for the Millennials and younger internet users. Short video formats are a hit, and advertising on them can have long-term results.
If your site has video content, it’s 50 times more likely to achieve organic results. It is obvious that Google pushes web pages with video materials more because it considers them more compelling than text.
Use the Pinterest Lens
In addition to video, images play a serious role in digital marketing. So it’s time to put some work on this segment, especially if you have an eCommerce website.
Due to the pandemic, more and more people are using digital shopping solutions. Pinterest went a step further with an image search when it developed the Pinterest Lens option.
This is a type of visual search, where you can take a picture of a product with your camera, and then search sites to buy that and similar products.
Pinterest has also developed Catalogs that helps retailers list their products and gain a competitive advantage. This is a really important advancement in personalized shopping. Another great option of Pinterest is Lens your Look, which allows you to search for clothing combinations according to what you have in your closet. Needless to say, this company has done far more for the fashion industry in the past 2 years, than some global brands.
Place your focus on social and environmental contents
The thinking and behavior of people after the pandemic has changed significantly. Brands that accept this fact have the best chance to flourish in 2021. From a rigid consumerist society, today we are turned to different values ​​and there are growing concerns about social and environmental issues and problems. It’s no different when it comes to marketing.
If you reinforce the content on social and environmental responsibility, it is possible that you will cause much more positive impressions than staying neutral on the issue. We have seen examples of brands that were particularly responsible during the quarantine period, and which gained huge public trust.Â
Make sure your marketing messages contain at least some of the values ​​that are important today – public health, ethnic issues, social inequalities, etc.
Conclusion
If you thought the pandemic turned the world upside down, you are right. One big blow also happened to the marketing sector, which had to create new rhetoric and tools very quickly and efficiently in order to survive. The trends we have singled out in this text are really important steps in digital marketing that will be further developed in the coming period. We are here to follow all the news for you and to present the most important ones. Follow us on a new journey through digital marketing in 2021.
We wish you all the best.
