You Can’t Ignore These Digital Marketing Trends in 2021

Posted by Convex Interactive on January 20th, 2021

We are finally done with 2020 and all the unwelcomed surprises that it threw at us. With good hope for 2021 and positive anticipation of what’s coming next, Convex Interactive like to brief you on some digital marketing trends that you’d surely not want to miss.

Phew! What a year was 2020 and we aren’t just talking about those 365 days but mind-boggling events that brought the world to a halt, literally. The unprecedented arrival of a pandemic, as announced by the world health organization in March 2020, made us question our very existence because we believed that developments within the field of medicine had long conquered common diseases making us safe and secure.

“However, the year of uncertainties, as many are calling it, kept turning it up month after month until everybody started saying, its 2020 and anything is possible!”

This year familiarized us with the concept of new normal where people started working remotely, students started learning and teachers started teaching from home, people started to stay 6 feet apart, and everybody wore face masks to stop the spread of novel coronavirus. Marketers, as the year progressed, understood that spending on conventional advertising is going to take a nosedive as businesses around the world feared closure.

• It was estimated that the advertising sector saw a decline of 11.8 percent in 2020 when compared with that of the previous year which equates to estimated spending of 517 billion US dollars in 2020.
• Well, New Year calls for a new game. Because vaccines are getting approved and already 24 million shots have been given as reported by Bloomberg, we can expect to see some major changes in 2021 when it comes to marketing and associated sectors. This is why you should tie your laces and ready yourself for a long run because this year everyone will want to make up for the time and money that they lost in 2020.

If you wish to make your mark on the rapidly changing digital landscape in 2021 then you should follow these digital marketing trends or risk your online existence.

1. Artificial Intelligence Rules!

But under the reign of humans, no need to worry about machines taking over because that isn’t even remotely possible… the rapidly changing consumer behavior has compelled marketers to adopt the latest in technology such as artificial intelligence. This adaptation has helped businesses make things easier and implement marketing methods relevant to user demands creating better conversions.

“It’s magic but only more beneficial than we initially anticipated”

From data collection to personalized user journey and usage of behavioral data to improving Customer Relationship Management (CRM), AI is making everything happen.

When you have concrete insights such as what your user prefers, from where he/she likes to buy, and what are they searching for, you are able to create unique shopping experiences for customers thereby helping them find the right product and boosting sales on your end. Ai and advertising have come a long way but if you are still struggling to find faith then know that future belongs to businesses that are taking advantage of AI.

2. The World of Chatbot Marketing

With the help of Chatbots, businesses can now care for customers proactively and ensure online presence 24 x 7, which in turn builds up confidence in the brand and helps the business to outgrow competition.

“Fast, Easy, and Reliable”

These Chatbots are actually bots that ‘act’ as a part of your customer support team to respond to common customer queries as set down by a conversation tree or by using AI. Your conversation tree doesn’t require much coding and provides your Chatbot with pre-decided answers for a prompt response to customers.

“Chatbot market may touch figures as high as $ 7.5 billion in 2024 with a CAGR of 34.75%”

For example, a shopping bot can help customers buy the right product at the best price while only marketing your product to the right audience. These bots are widely used in E-commerce and became the talk of the town due to the recent surge in a pandemic.

3. Personalization – A Consumer’s Paradise

Consumers now want to buy and browse products they like without having to deal with unnecessary hovering and pointless scrolling. In fact, customers now prefer online stores that can provide them with the product they are looking for directly without making them go through a convenient shopping experience.

“This calls for nothing but personalization and strengthens the perspective that providing users with a human-like experience can help you sell product quicker.”

Personalization is nothing short of an extraordinary marketing technique that uses AI and data insights, that can not only make your brand more visible to customers but relevant too. Personalized marketing will help you convert more and struggle less because consumers nowadays live a unique experience and are also willing to share data for that purpose. Talk about a no brainer!

4. Video Marketing in 2021

our video marketing strategy may act as an anchor point for your digital marketing efforts in the year 2021 as it’s believed that a user may spend an average of 100 minutes a day watching online videos this year. For people thinking that this strategy is obsolete, we’d advise that it’s time to rethink your preferences as online video watching might soon replace conventional television.

“Video marketing has entered a new realm on social media as the trend for short videos is quickly catching up.”

15-second videos appeal more to the new-age internet user as people now don’t want to spend 5 minutes watching a video for a product that they intend to buy. You can show the user if your product is worth it in 15-30 seconds and that’s the timeframe consumers require to make up their mind. Now imagine combining video marketing with a personalized experience; the possibilities are literally endless!

5. The Year of Visual Search

A rapid shift in acceptance of brands that have adapted visual and voice search to their websites is expected as we move into 2021. People love visual search so much so that roughly 600 million searches are carried out each month on Pinterest alone and a large percentage of the population especially gen Z and Millennials prefer to get the whole look rather than searching for a single object.

Searching what you see and seeing what you search – An infinite loop that guarantees conversion

Big names and giant brands like Amazon, Forever 21, eBay, and Wayfair have already embraced the shift as customers now like to match their searches with what they are buying. Visual search is the perfect fit for your business if you are someone who caters to an audience that ‘searches with their eyes’ and loves contemporary trends.

Google lens and Pinterest lens help you make searches online by using offline images, screenshots, camera snaps, and other images.

6. Expansion of Augmented Reality (AR)

According to statistics, the whole AR entertainment and media sectors may share an increase of 90% growth in between each other for the year 2021 as marketers press to juice technology a little further.

AR technology enhances the interaction between the consumer and products helping users to physically experience products rather than just believing the seller. This also simulates a real-time exposure of the product making it easier for customers to buy.

The top 5 trends for augmenting reality marketing are:

• Business in-house applications
• Customer support
• Augmented reality Shopping
• AR indoor visits
• AR vehicles

This enhanced interaction would mean better benefits for seller and buyer both as the middle wall of disbelief will be brought down. If you are an estate agent, property seller, builder, smart house innovator, or sell products that can use better exposure to clients then augmented reality is for you.

7. Core Web Vitals – Brainy yet Effective

Marketers have been yearning to create user journeys that resonate with their clientele since times are known and that is in fact the whole purpose of marketing a product. So what is core web vitals (CVW)?

Simply put, Google Core Web Vitals help you to analyze where you are going wrong, what areas of your website need improvement, how is the content behaving (images + texts), how are the page elements holding out?

Core web Vitals include:

• LCP – Largest Contentful Paint
• FID – First Input Delay
• CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift

If you have a strong grip on these performance metrics you can easily improve user experience and decrease bounce rate which would, in turn, mean better rankings, increase organic traffic, and so on… you know the drill.  It would be a good way to start 2021 by keeping CVW in mind while developing your online business.

8. Influencer Marketing

It’s just not going out of style!

Yes, many marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2021 because there are literally no cons of this marketing method. From the brand endorsement you see on print media to vivid ads you see on social media, everything revolves around influencer marketing. The trend is more evident in Instagram influencer marketing where blog posts, sponsored stories on Insta, and short videos help market the product.

People now accept community celebrities AKA micro-influencers much more than the common faces they are tired of seeing every day. A micro-influencer is a person who is considered an authority on a specific niche and has 1000 to 100,000 followers.

Brands are quickly picking up on this trend an example of which was Saad ur Rehman AKA Ducky Bhai telling people how to game on Samsung S10 lite in a video shared by Samsung.

You get the gist, so roll up your marketing sleeves and search for people that can make your brand more welcome in the region you are trying to sell.

9. Micro-Moments and how can you keep up?

Micro-moments as defined by Google are small powerful moments when a user reflexively picks up a device and starts searching for something they intend to buy and then makes a decision the very instant their eyes stuck up on something relevant.

Today it’s a new breed of users that marketers are trying to please. They are impatient, demanding, and more research-oriented.

This means that people are now making more informed decisions which means that brands need to cultivate data smartly if they are to grow and expand in 2021. Insights are there for you to learn and analyze but if you wish to succeed than you need to make your product visible, relevant, and informative in that micro-moment when people are searching for:

• How to do things
• What to buy
• Looking to know

Things are rapidly changing and we all know that fortune favors the brave! And with that, we sum up the trends that can make your brand more visible in 2021. It’s all about creating unique user experiences and relevant product visibility.