What Top Marketing Trends Should You Focus On For 2021?
Written by Dana DeSantis
After experiencing the wrath of 2020, we’re all feeling fairly hopeful that we can take on anything that comes our way in this New Year. Online Marketing trends consistently change with every passing year, so we thought a run-down of how to improve your digital presence in 2021 would be a helpful tool to reference back to. This list consists of marketing ideas from Brand Activism to Augmented Reality.
So here we go: What are the top marketing trends for 2021?
1. Authenticity & Brand Value
These past few years, we’ve seen a HUGE shift in consumers wanting to know company’s true beliefs. In the 5W Public Relations 2020 Customer Culture report, the data shows that, “83% of Millennials find it important for the companies they buy from to align with their values.”
Alongside this, audiences want companies to hold themselves accountable for their mistakes and acknowledge their flaws. Don’t hold back on speaking up about how your brand is seen through the customer’s point-of-view.
2. Build Real Connections with Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
ABM allows companies to collect more data about customers and better Return on Investment (ROI) through targeted and personalized interactions. People want more than just good customer service; they want a memorable experience, a company that listens to their concerns and makes the changes that they encourage.
With younger generations specifically, without one-on-one interaction, they often find it hard to connect with businesses. If your brand is able to create a real bond to this younger demographic – they may, in return, begin to tell others about it.
3. The Art of Subtle Branding
The best example behind the art of Subtle Branding is the legendary, family-friendly film, The Lego Movie. It’s a whole piece of content that encourages the purchase of LEGO products, without ever stating it. To the average person, this straightforward marketing can be masked by the adventurous children’s entertainment it provides. Through story telling, they’re able to sell their toys to kids and parents by selling the experience of imagination.
4. User-Generated & Interactive Content
People. Trust. People.
A report by Neilsen Global Trust in Advertising stated that of online that “Eighty-three percent of online respondents in 60 countries say they trust the recommendations of friends and family.“ Consumers are aware that all brands really want is for them to purchase what they’re selling, so if a company can revolve around customer recommendations and satisfaction, they’re more likely to succeed.
Plus, getting to know your audience will allow you to target your segment demographic more easily and refine your customer personas.
5. Hope to Better Times with Nostalgia
Many individuals are not looking for brands to pretend like everything is normal or that our current situation is creating a ‘new normal’ for us. In fact, they want businesses to be vulnerable, honest, and relevant to these sensitive times.
The biggest joy that your company can bring to its customers this year is hope. Many brands are doing this by referencing past crises that we’ve overcome and some are focused on nostalgic memories of happiness to bring dopamine to the viewer’s hearts, even if it’s just for a moment.
6. Boost Your Engagement through Short Form Videos
With TikTok amounting to 800 million active users worldwide and YouTube standing behind Google as the second largest search engine, we can conclude that this content style won’t be going away any time soon. Blog articles, radio and even podcasts can be timely and boring for some due to their length and/or non-visualization. With video, those issues are washed away.
An article by Wistia claimed that, “Videos under two minutes long get the most engagement.” By keeping your video content short and to-the-point, your customers can make a faster decision on if they can trust and rely on your company and products.
7. Establish Better Connections by Live-Streaming
This style of content allows audiences to get to connect to the streamer in a different way then edited content does. Content like this allows trust and transparency to build since the audience is able to get clarification on whom they’re interacting with.
8. Take Part In Micro-Collaborations
Collaborations can lead to audience growth for both parties involved, but micro-collabs bring some added advantages. Micro-Collaborations are when you partner on a project with a local business, non-profit or small creator - usually their following is below 100k.
Why go with a smaller creator, business or non-profit?
Increased likelihood for them to accept products over payment
More connected with their audience due to its compact community
Pose less of a threat of fraud (fake/paid following - bot audience)
9. Optimize for Keywords & Voice Search
From Amazon Echos to Google Homes, these gadgets are switching up the search engines we’ve gotten used to optimizing. Because of this, we have to reconfigure the way we word our content.
For example, instead of ‘Marketing Trends 2021’ – we have to switch to what the consumer of our content would be asking the device, ‘What are the top Marketing Trends for 2021?’
10. The Rise of Podcasting
Some people love them - others just don’t get it.
Nevertheless, podcasting is a majorly untapped content source. We highly suggest checking out this Convince & Convert, LLC article that goes over podcast statistics – one statistic stating that in 2020, 37% of Americans 12 or older listened to podcasts monthly.
11. Augmented Reality
Yes, you read that right – Augmented Reality. And yes, it does sound scary.
Multiple platforms have adapted this futuristic-style of filters that captures a person’s face structure and customizes their surroundings or facial features while taking a photograph or video. This was also widely explored when Pokémon Go came out allowing gamers to flick intangible pokeballs at a 3D creature on their mobile phones.
This trend is definitely on the expensive, time-consuming side of marketing, but technology is only going to move forward from here.
We’re hopeful that the next 12 months will bring better things. Take note and implement some of these digital marketing trends, focus on your customer’s changing needs, and grow your business by improving your online presence in 2021!