Digital marketing is the new normal and will increasingly play a significant role in constantly moving brands in all sectors to the most relevant and efficient ways of meeting global demands.
The digital economy is not just for the business sector. Even government and private institutions, the educational sector, and civic or religious groups need an online presence now. Every sector in touch with people’s lives needs to utilize digital platforms to connect with the people they serve continually.
The pandemic has greatly limited our physical activities, but it keeps pushing digital interactions to expand like no other.
Digital marketing trends guide businesses and companies toward the best available techniques for getting new leads and boosting conversion rates. It is why a solid online presence is crucial in the digital marketing industry.
Because of the challenges of the current pandemic, and the changes that are taking effect, digital marketing in 2021 will continue to evolve at a breakneck pace. And because of this rapid shift, digital marketers need to stay updated and continue adapting to the latest trends to retain their strategic advantage as a brand.
What’s Next for Digital Marketing in 2021?
1. Voice-Powered Search and Digital Activities
Voice search is asking questions and issuing commands to devices such as smartphones and intelligent speakers by speaking. A person looking for something will talk to the system, fulfill their command, or answer their query.
In addition, voice search is asking questions and issuing commands to smartphones and intelligent speakers using voice. When the searcher talks to the computer, the device responds.
Although intelligent speakers and “assistants” have been around for some time, they only took off in 2017 and 2018 when people shed their inhibitions about speaking to their phones and a slew of new consumer devices such as Amazon, Alexa, and Google Home became available.
With the rise of voice-activated mobile devices, marketers have more opportunities for brand awareness. Content can now be optimized even for voice search to boost traffic and conversions.
2. More Focus on UX and UI
User Experience (UX) and User Design Interface (UI) is no longer just a trend but a staple in websites and mobile apps if you want your website or mobile app to rank high. It allows brands to create customized consumer interfaces and interactions more suited to their preferences.
UI/UX design trends have resulted in search engines considering this factor for their algorithms and SERP (Search Engine Results Page) rankings.
Google Search also considers so-called “UX cues” in its rating algorithm, according to a May 2020 Google Webmaster Central Blog post. This evolution is exemplified by adding new Core Web Vitals, which organizations will use to assess their user experience fitness.
Core Web Vitals are real-world, user-centered indicators that measure critical facets of the user experience. They quantify aspects of online accessibility such as page load time, interactivity, and the stability of content during the loading process.
Simply put, if you want better SEO results, focus on your UX/UI design. If your website has a mobile app, all the more you need to get qualified UI/UX designers to build your website and mobile app’s interface for seamless consumer use.
3. In-email Purchases and Smart Targeting
Email marketing is an excellent tool for revenues, even in the presence of newer digital marketing platforms like social media apps and the like. With email marketing plugins to suit all kinds of budgets and company sizes, digital marketers can avail themselves of free tools to jumpstart their email drip campaigns.
In addition, digital marketers can now use transaction emails, where subscribers can now make transactions directly within an email or newsletter without ever leaving their inboxes, according to Tom Klein, Vice President of Marketing at MailChimp.
Additionally, campaigns will have a more app-like interface, even within your Gmail inbox.
Users whose needs are met solely by email are delighted to learn that cross-channel technologies allow them to extend their business opportunities.
4. Semantic Search
Going forward, a large portion of the SEO community will be influenced by how people use the internet to find things. And, although that might seem to be a straightforward statement, it is rooted in something far more complicated: semantics. Semantics is the study of words, their associations, and the meanings of those relationships in particular contexts.
Isn’t that the ideal situation for search engines like Google?
Semantic search will be how search engines use the plethora of data available in 2021 and beyond to decide the context, purpose, and meaning used to extract the essential content possible.
In layman’s words, semantic search refers to the process by which the Google algorithm will parse your incomplete, grammatically wrong, apparently random search query and return the same results you sought.
5. Advanced AI Technology
For quite some time now, artificial intelligence to optimize user experience has widened the boundaries of what is possible in digital marketing. Still, we are about to see rapid growth in what this technology can do within the next few years.
Chatbots have become a customer service staple and will increasingly replace live agents as machine learning systems become more sophisticated and capable of emulating human behavior with almost supernatural precision.
Digital marketing in 2021 is becoming more conversational and customized, and chatbots allow you to capitalize on this trend without increasing your workforce or resource requirements.
Artificial intelligence is also used in advertisements. Although Google has not yet attained human-level innovation, it is now using AI to refine campaigns by finding the most effective ad designs and copy and dynamically updating them based on user interaction.
6. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are designed and expanded using current APIs to provide greater functionality, dependability, and installability while reaching anybody, everywhere, on any device with a single codebase.
PWAs combine the best of online and mobile apps by leveraging cutting-edge technologies. They are like websites created using web technologies, but look like, feel like, and perform like mobile apps.
With recent browser and service worker breakthroughs and developments in the Cache and Push APIs, users can now install web applications on their home screen, get push alerts, and even work offline.
This is a relatively recent digital media movement, having begun in 2018 with major companies such as Twitter, The Financial Times, Flipkart, and Wikipedia, both of which saw tremendous success.
Treebo introduced a Progressive Web App, which saw a fourfold rise in conversions year on year. Conversion rates for repeat users increased threefold. Petlove’s PWA increased conversion by 2.8x and page load time by 2.8x.
This alternative will now become profitable for smaller companies as well in 2021. It will improve the user interface, but the brand behind the app must also be responsive and accessible. If not, it can leave a sour taste in a buyer’s mouth, resulting in a lost opportunity or even a tarnished image.
Will you consider buying from a company whose website is always down or slow to respond? Most probably not. With the number of users using mobile devices, Progressive Web Apps, which combine the advantages of searching on a mobile website and a mobile app, are gaining popularity.
Reliability-wise, a web application is just as secure as a network connection. If your communication is weak or unreliable, the PWA can often load or run slowly. If the network connectivity is solid, the PWA can operate without hiccups.
A PWA that is both dependable and swift would be able to retain users’ attention. This is accomplished by an effective and prompt response to their inquiries.
7. Social Media Takes Over The World
Investing in SEO optimizes marketing strategies for businesses in the new normal. Social networking will continue to have a presence in every aspect of our lives and eventually become fully incorporated with online and offline services.
In an episode of Netflix’s dystopian series Black Mirror, social media has crossed over into the real world, where individuals score their relationships with others and are rewarded with better homes, work, and social standing depending on their average ranking.
Is this science fiction? Perhaps for the time being, but the future is certainly not that distant. The majority of the applications on your computer are currently exchanging data with the social media networks, and employers and recruiters are increasingly screening social media accounts before conducting interviews.
What does this mean in terms of social media marketing? A complete view of each user as a person and the ability to deliver highly personalized offers and services is now mainstream. It will become a staple as social media’s AI algorithms become more sophisticated. It’s high time to boost your SMO (Social Media Optimization) now more than ever.
8. The Rise of Micro-influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has exploded in popularity over the last few years, with top influencers on sites like Instagram and YouTube gaining millions of followers and earning six figures from brand partnerships.
However, influencer marketing is still in its infancy, even though it promises a higher return on investment than more conventional forms of advertisement, there are some wrinkles to work out.
Fake followers are still a challenge, and there have been some noteworthy instances where brand/influencer relationships have backfired negatively. Influencers with a large following are now losing their clout when they accept an increasing number of funded messages, eroding the credibility and effect of their recommendations.
When customers prioritize personal recommendations over being sold to, it makes sense to engage more in “micro-influencers” – social media users with a much smaller yet loyal community that can offer genuinely genuine brand content to a trustworthy audience.
The strength of influencers can be determined not by the sheer number of followers but by their intimate relationships with each follower.
9. Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual Reality (VR) is creating simulated worlds with the use of computing technologies. By donning a head-mounted monitor, VR enables you to explore and engage with a 3D environment that is not real. Through collecting feedback from the computer, the interface creates a 3D virtual reality that is immersive and almost real.
VR’s interaction ability makes it an effective platform for both learning and entertainment. When used appropriately, it can assist consumers in developing a variety of competencies and skills.
YouTube VR is a stand-alone application designed for virtual reality. You are already familiar with YouTube. With YouTube VR, you can watch any video in an immersive virtual reality experience. Like the YouTube app, this app allows you to log in to channels, build playlists, and view history.
Additionally, it enables users to switch between speech and keyboard controls and watch a video while still conducting a scan. Additionally, the interface features a ‘theatre mode’ that simulates a large-screen view. This app is available for download on iOS and Android.
Fulldive VR is quite unlike the other applications on this list. It’s perhaps the most intriguing and the most evocative in science fiction. FDVR technology advances beyond virtual reality headsets by integrating the user with the machine through a Brain-Computer Interface, or BCI. Gamers will use it to create a truly interactive gaming environment.
Like sound, taste, touch, and scent, any of your senses may be transferred to a video game character’s avatar for entertainment purposes. This technology has an infinite number of applications. For one, individuals may use it for recreational purposes, schooling, or even medical purposes. Seniors will use it to relive their youth. The options are almost limitless.
10. Zero-Click Search Results
Search results are increasingly directing users to Google properties such as YouTube links, snippets, and information graphs—all of which Google can serve up in search results without asking a user to “press” since it is entirely dependent on what the end-user desires.
A “zero-click” search result offers the response or details a user is looking for without the user having to click through to another page. Zero-click searches accounted for more than half of all Google searches in 2019.
Unsurprisingly, Google is becoming increasingly adept at providing users with all they need on a single SERP page through features such as featured snippets, information graphs, and video carousels. Duplicate listings, in which the owners of a snippet have earned the top spot in the standard list of search results, are now obsolete.
Conclusion: Stay Updated with Digital Marketing in 2021
Digital marketing for new businesses is continually changing and growing. The need to adapt is great to stay up on new technologies.
Many who are less used to adapting to the internet or who are less adept at maintaining a fluid attitude to their strategies must understand that 2021 is expected to introduce a series of dramatic shifts that could easily result in instability.
All marketers will need to make appropriate preparations. Brand awareness management keeps companies afloat and lets them differentiate themselves from competitors in this dynamic environment.
