Digital Marketing Trends in 2021

The world of digital marketing is developing at some speed! New digital marketing techniques come and go, it can be difficult to keep on top of the latest trends. You need to ensure that you don’t get left behind by competitors. Digital Marketing has proved throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that the industry has helped many businesses keep their head above water and allowed them to reopen once the country opens after lockdown. In an industry that is crowded, you as a digital marketer will need to keep up with industry trends if you don’t want to fall behind the rest. Here are some trends that we are likely to see either develop or continue to strive in 2021.   Alternative Search Terms People have never doubted the power of SEO in digital marketing, however, are companies utilising SEO the right way? Many companies see SEO as a way to get their web pages as high as possible for certain keywords they want to target. While this is normally the right way to go about improving your rankings, it may not take into consideration how some users search online. Many customers often search for the company before they contact them or purchase something, a big part of that research starts with the initial search. As SEO is ever-changing, it’s now more important than ever to be ranking for a range of keywords instead of obvious primary searches. You need to think outside of the box when coming up with relevant search terms. Zooming in too closely, risks you missing out on other variants of the search terms. Many companies are increasingly wary of alternative search terms and this is predicted to continue throughout 2021. Example image of finding alternative keywords on Google’s Keyword Planner.   The Rise of Chatbots Chatbots will be even more important in 2021. This AI technology uses messaging to chat in real-time to website visitors. Digital marketing techniques changes because of deviations in user behaviour. Users want instant communication instead of waiting for companies to come back to them via email or even speaking on the phone. Therefore, chatbots have become so popular with users as they now want instant communication with businesses. Illustration of a Chatbot.   Push Notifications Push notifications have become much more common over the past couple of years. This type of marketing uses clickable messages that pop up on your browser, regardless of the device they’re using. Although, email marketing is still as important as ever and a great way to reach your customers, GDPR has made is a little bit more difficult to succeed. Furthermore, young people now prefer other methods of communication like push notifications and text messages. Personalised browser push notifications often enhance the conversion rate for businesses. Example of a browser push notification.   Example of Odyssey’s Video Instagram Post. Interactive Content On the Up One of the recent digital trends that have come about over the couple of years is interactive content that brands post on their social media. In 2021, we are likely to see a shift from text-heavy content to a more interactive style of content that we see from popular brands. Some examples of interactive content include videos, quizzes, games, and widgets. This type of content doesn’t only give your social media channel fresh and engaging content, it also often makes customers feel more connected to the brand and are therefore more likely to buy from your company.   Smart Bidding on Google Automated bidding on Google has been popular for many years now, it’s quite easy to see why! Businesses can simply input their budget and target keywords and Google does all the hard work for you. However, over the last year, smart bidding has started to become prominent in many digital marketers paid ads strategy. Previously smart bidding has given marketers problems such as reduced budget control and decreased audience targeting. This year, Google are likely to improve their smart bidding algorithm, which will lead to digital marketers using the strategy more often. Google Adwords on a tablet.   Contact Our Experts for Digital Marketing Strategy If you’re interested in developing your overall digital marketing strategy, then please get in touch with us. We have years of experience in building tailored digital marketing strategies for a wide range of businesses. Call us on 0121 439 5450 or you can use our contact form. Share

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