Now’s the time to call your team in for a huddle, evaluate your performance and start raking your brain again for new marketing strategies, plans and innovations to grow your business in the new year.
So, how will you use marketing to grow in 2021?
In our previous blog, we discussed the 10 key trends that are expected to have an impact on digital marketing throughout the upcoming year.
In this blog, let’s delve into 8 more marketing trends that may transform your marketing, ramp up your content and meet the evolving expectations of your target audience.
Prefer to listen, rather than read? Here’s the Podcast summary!
What’s in store for 2021? 8 additional marketing trends to consider
In our last blog, you’ve already learned that consistent organic search updates and visual search have the potential to affect your SEO campaigns.
You also read that interactive marketing, AR & VR and video-based social platforms like Tik Tok are predicted to disrupt how you produce content and interact with people online.
We also discussed increasing social commerce, messaging apps, the growth of AI in marketing and big data analysis, all of which will continue to change your customer’s requirements, buying journey and purchasing decisions.
The list continues!
We’ve curated another set of relevant marketing trends to help you make more informed decisions about what kinds of marketing innovations, tools and advanced technology to consider in 2021.
1. Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR) is on the rise. However, it’s not just for goodwill – it’s also potentially profitable too.
Being socially responsible enables you to make a positive impact not just on your bottom line, but also within your community. In marketing, social responsibility focuses on being actively involved in creating a difference, supporting a cause or improving society.
People respect brands who take a genuine approach to corporate social responsibility.
Due to the different crises we’ve faced in 2020, people – especially Millennials and Generation Z audiences – expect companies to play their part in extending support to more vulnerable areas. It’s been seen that people are willing to pay more for your products and services if they know that your business is socially responsible.
Take something as simple as free-range eggs or chocolate products that are free of palm oil, for instance.
Some social responsibility marketing strategies spread awareness around certain societal issues close to your business, giving donations to charities or using sustainable and eco-friendly materials.
Just make sure you incorporate this in your marketing in a relevant and genuine way.
2. More Remote Customers
Community lockdowns and COVID isolation measures forced people to work, shop and order online.
At first, it was an inconvenience – now it’s a norm that will probably stick.
Even though these restrictions have now been eased, people will likely continue to buy and sell remotely online because of the ease and convenience it provides.
While commerce was always on this trajectory, 2020 acted as a powerful slingshot forward.
This is why businesses must find ways to effectively communicate, engage and service customers through digital methods – now more than ever.
Finding smarter ways to utilise social media marketing, providing 24/7 live chat support and offering delivery services are just a few of the ways you can adapt to the non-face-to-face setup.
Any other ideas?
For more, read: 5 Roles Copywriting Plays In Building Your Online Presence
3. Micro-interactions
How can you stand out against competitors and be more remarkable to your audience? It’s simple – find the perfect balance between being informative and entertaining.
This is where micro-interactions are coming into play within marketing.
Micro-interactions are interactive animations that show up when a user scrolls, loads, downloads, swipes or highlights something on your website. They can appear as notifications, calls to action or product links within your videos.
These little “prompts” are versatile and basically offer streamlined communications within your customer’s journey. They’re simply part of the experience.
Micro-interactions are powerful because they prompt in a welcomed way without interrupting your audience.
By delighting customers and directing their attention to valuable content with micro-interactions, you can provide a rewarding user experience on their terms.
For more, head to: 7 Ways To Increase Your Audience’s Engagement With Your Content Marketing
4. Twitch and Google My Business
Twitch and Google My Business are platforms that are expected to boom in 2021, helping you expand your reach in a big way.
As a live-streaming platform, Twitch allows you to broadcast your activities online. It has millions of daily active users and is very popular among Millennials and Gen Z. You can use it as a channel to showcase branded content or you can employ famous Twitch influencers to market your services.
Google My Business, on the other hand, allows you to optimise your Business Profile on Google by providing updated information like operating hours, contact numbers, exact location, list of products with their prices and a website link. By giving you insights about your audience and local search performance, Google My Business is also incredibly helpful when it comes to SEO and audience engagement.
For more, read: 5 Aspects Of SEO You Need To Know
5. Personalisation and Micro-communities
You can’t deny that social media is becoming SO crowded that it’s already becoming difficult to even get noticed.
There was a time when traditional marketing moved from mass to niche. It’s now digital marketing’s time.
This is where micro-communities will prosper in 2021 because they aim to solve this problem. By creating new spaces to intimately interact with customers, they allow businesses like yours to craft more personalised brand messages and solutions to a smaller but far more concentrated group.
These micro-communities are facilitated in WhatsApp, Telegram, super niched hubs or one-to-one direct messaging apps.
To learn more read: What Is Human-To-Human (H2H) Marketing?
6. Micro-influencers
Off the back of micro-communities, they are led by micro-influencers.
You don’t need to spend your entire marketing budget just to get The Kardashians to promote your products and services. The new trend now focuses on getting more niche micro-influencers to market your business online.
People are losing faith in big celebrity endorsements because they’re so ingenuine. They’re starting to look for the celebrity next-door.
From a local food blogger, mum traveller, fashion enthusiast, fitness coach to life guru and more – micro-influencers are individuals who have 1,000 to 1,000,000 followers and considered to be experts in their respective niche.
They can generate more meaningful engagement as they are more relatable and trustworthy in the eyes of your audience.
7. Conversational Marketing
Embracing the power of real-time conversations, conversational marketing allows you to guide an audience deeper into your business’ sales funnel.
However, AI automation isn’t advancing fast enough for us, it seems!
Conversational marketing utilises human-assisted chatbots and targeted messaging to engage customers, address their individual concerns and inspire them to take action.
Think of it as a blend of AI automation with a human touch.
Instead of waiting for days with lead capture forms and follow-up emails, your audience can easily get responses directly from your business through conversational marketing – preventing you from losing them in the moment.
For more, head to: What Is Programmatic Advertising And AI Marketing?
8. Marketing Ethics, Consumer Privacy and Consent
We all saw this coming a mile away.
Marketing driven by data is incredibly effective, as it accurately addresses pain points and analyses the preferences of large amounts of customers. However, that’s scaring people.
While in previous years, many were happy to give their information, that trend is turning around and being stunted by rising consumer privacy concerns.
People are being far more protective of their information due to the rampant scamming and malicious activities online – and who can blame them?
To adapt to this, you must ask for consent whenever you collect data from your audience. This will allow you to provide personalised content without violating your consumers’ rights.
But don’t just do it to be compliant with laws and regulations – do it to make people feel more comfortable. If you earn their trust and respect their privacy, it will only help your brand’s reputation.
For more, see: Data Privacy Copywriting Services
So, what’s next in marketing for 2021?
Bearing this list (and the previous one) in mind, it’s now time to examine what suits your business most and choose which to take on.
There’s no guarantee that a certain marketing trend will work to your advantage just because everyone else is doing it. You have to take into account your audience’s requirements, your business’ current position and your marketing resources.
One thing’s for certain: to achieve results, seek the help of experts. There are professional marketers and freelance copywriters who can equip you with content marketing and strategy planning services to help you be confident in your marketing next year.
You just need to pick the right one for you!
How can Melotti Media help you in 2021?
We understand you want to be fully prepared for 2021. We also know that you want to get better results through quality content.
However, you may find that you’re time-poor and spread thin or you still have a lot of unanswered questions.
You don’t need to worry!
At Melotti Media, we can assist with all your message marketing and copywriting needs while you focus on what matters most to you – growing your business.
Let’s start earning the results your business deserves!
To speak to your trusted message marketing copywriters, email us at enquire@melottimedia.com.au
We can sharpen your words to achieve your goals today!
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