So today, we’re looking at the 6 marketing trends that will surely dominate 2021.
Artificial Intelligence (or AI for short) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and exhibit traits associated with a human mind, including learning and problem-solving. With innovation being the primary focus of AI, companies are also seeking to leverage AI to automate routine tasks, freeing up the time of human employees and enabling them to focus on more important tasks.
AI solutions and tools are more accessible than ever, which is the reason why companies across all industries are slowly turning to AI technologies and solutions for marketing. AI is already the driving force behind many marketing services such as basic communication, product recommendations, content creation, email personalization and e-commerce transactions to name a few.
But why should you adopt AI into your marketing? For one, AI can analyze consumer behavior and search patterns, and use data from social media platforms and blog posts to help businesses understand how customers find their products and services.
One of the better examples is Mastercard, who created a Facebook messenger bot which uses natural language processing software to decipher what the customer wants and respond as if it were a real person to automate handling payments.
Chatbots will continue to be an important part of your digital marketing strategy in 2021. Chatbots are extremely helpful for businesses that are looking to create a strong brand image and provide the best possible customer service.
Thanks to advances in technology and machine learning, chatbots have evolved to become even better, performing a central role in customer service for various brands. Surveys have shown that customers prefer interacting with chatbots as they give answers promptly, accurately recall your entire buying history, and never lose patience, unlike a real human person. These virtual assistants offer outstanding customer service by meeting customers’ expectations and automating repetitive tasks, which allows the human workers to focus on more important work.
With the chatbot trends making headway, more and more industries are opting to use this innovative tool to automate their business processes. By virtue of being responsive 24/7, chatbots will be transforming the way businesses communicate with their customers & prospects, as well as reduce the overall workload for human staff.
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to marketing, and this is true when you are planning your marketing strategy. Gone are the days where you are creating one, unified marketing campaign. When your customer base is made up of many different customer segments, each with their own unique tastes, preferences, buying behaviour and demographics, personalization is the only way to go.
To stand out in 2021, every brand must start personalizing their marketing efforts, including personalized content, products, emails, social media posts, multimedia etc. Personalized campaigns and marketing efforts generate better results and click-through rates than generalized ones, which is why personalization has the potential to be one of the most powerful and unavoidable digital marketing tools in 2021.
The best success story in regards to personalized content/marketing can be seen in the targeted recommended products and movie listings from Lazada, Shopee and Netflix. To effectively use personalization in your digital marketing materials, using personalized data-targeting and segmentation benefits your brand greatly.
Video marketing is one of the most important marketing trends around, and it is certainly one of the most result-driven marketing tools available today. Over the years, video marketing has transformed from short ads and viral videos to vlogs, live streams and webinars. Studies have shown that users are predicted to spend 100 minutes a day watching online videos in 2021, which is a 19% increase from the 2019 stats.
The rise of TikTok and the rollout of Instagram Stories and IGTV also reflects how important video marketing has become. One of the biggest social media platforms, Facebook, reported that users view an average of 8 billion videos per day. YouTube, the original site that started video sharing, reported that they receive 500 hours of video content uploaded in the website every single minute.
There are several other ways to drive higher engagement and results with your video marketing efforts. Around 89% of video marketers say video gives them a good return on their investment, while around 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video, with about 52% of consumers stating that watching product videos and ads made them more confident towards a product and in online shopping decisions.
A single tweet, a Facebook post, TikTok video or Instagram post from an influencer to their millions of fan followers is the new social fabric of which people relate and involve themselves with brands. They could play an essential part in marketing a brand’s products or services as they already have a huge audience.
Meaningful interactions are what brands now aim for, and influencer marketing can be the catalyst for brands to provide a unique lens in relating to its community and earn its trust. According to 63% of customers, they trust influencer’s choice of products and reviews. As per to 58% of individuals, they have purchased a new product because of influencer recommendation.
However, it is essential to remember that partnering with any and every influencer will not get you the exposure you desire. You must collaborate with such personalities who have the same values and agendas as your brand. When influencers aren’t in sync with the brand values and objectives, it is no better than paid advertising.
Content marketing is still a critical part of any organization’s marketing strategy, and this isn’t about to change in 2021. Content marketing continues to flourish for one very simple reason: it’s the content that the people want. They don’t want intrusive banners, ads, and popups. Instead, people will be more likely to flock to high quality, useful, relevant, and engaging content about things that matter to them. These are the content which makes the audience view the brands as an authentic and credible resource.
Content marketing has been shown to be 60% less costly, as compared to outbound marketing, while generating around 3 times more leads. Content marketing also has long-lasting benefits as compared to paid search, helping to boost up the SEO of the website. For example, blog posts have been shown to increase up to 126% more leads, compared to other methods.
With content such as blogs, videos, infographics, whitepapers, newsletters, podcasts and more, through various media to create brand awareness., content marketing is also able to achieve other brand objectives such as driving revenue, personalizing the customer experiences and achieving cost efficiencies. This just goes to show that content marketing helps brands and businesses do more than just marketing.
Conclusion
The world of marketing is evolving and new trends come and go. Hence, the successful strategies which you implemented in 2018 or even in 2019 might work for 2021. With all these upcoming digital marketing trends available in the market, you have to remain competitive in the digital marketing field by cultivate these trends within your marketing campaigns and grow your brand accordingly.
To be successful, it is important to adapt, and develop constantly and to come up with fresh ways to communicate with your target audience.
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