Digital marketing is an advertising sector in a class of its own because of how much it has evolved during its relatively short lifespan. But in no period did we see as much change as 2020 and early 2021. With the now obviously sustained increase in consumer demand for online shopping options, if your business hasn’t updated its digital marketing campaigns in the last 6 months, there is a good chance you might be behind on the times. Keep reading for our top 5 digital marketing trends for 2021 to see how your campaigns stack up.
Changes in Consumer’s Online Habits are Here to Stay
McKinsey estimates that online shopping experienced 10 years worth of growth in just 3 months of 2020, and that 60 percent of businesses saw new buying behaviors in their customers. This increased demand led businesses to add new tactics like curbside pickup, contactless delivery, and online ordering in order to meet this new demand.
But now that businesses have all of these new avenues for consumption, they may also be more vulnerable to security breaches. Think of all the new or additional information you may have collected, from addresses and phone numbers to credit card information. Is your system robust enough to protect this information? If not, now is the time to get the security you need. Consumer interest in online shopping is expected to only continue to grow, and the PR nightmare that a data breach causes can lead to a huge decrease in both sales and consumer sentiment.
Stay on Top of Changing Sentiment and Demand
Consumer demands changed at a breakneck pace in 2020 – remember when you couldn’t get any puzzles because people bought them all to keep entertained during quarantine?
Stay on top of the ever-changing demands and sentiment by tracking search queries and on-site behavior. And we mean once a week at the least, and daily if you can manage. You never know when the next big shift is going to show up, but you are more likely to see the change coming with the information that watching searches and behavior can provide.
Publish (Quality) Content More Frequent
With the increase in the remote workforce, as well as people choosing to stay home rather than going out, consumers ended up with a lot more time on their hands. This made them more likely to open emails and click on links to learn more about products and services – especially when they were comparison shopping to find the best deals or products for their needs.
If you are only putting out content once or twice a month, you are missing out on a big opportunity to keep your audience interested and engaged. That being said, you don’t want to simply put out content for content’s sake; it still needs to be quality content that serves to establish your businesses as a trustworthy authority in your industry.
Customer Experience Should Get Equal, if Not More, Focus
One of the biggest takeaways from the last 18 months has been customer interest in companies that focus on providing positive experiences. A survey from Salesforce found that 80 percent of consumers say their experience with a company is just as important as the quality of the product.
This means that your customer services options need to work seamlessly, from AI chat bots to actual customer service agents. They also need to demonstrate a genuine interest in solving customer problems in a fast and positive manner. This level of service can do wonders for brand loyalty and trust, as it shows you are genuinely committed to providing a positive customer experience.
PPC and SEO Teams Need to Work Together
If you have separate teams handling your PPC and SEO campaigns, you need to make sure they are more fully integrated than ever before. It isn’t enough anymore for each to simply know what the other team is doing; instead, they need to collaborate to ensure their campaigns are running seamlessly.
Your teams should go beyond simply sharing information, and work together to keep up with changes in Google’s algorithm (hello, page experience update 2021). By working together, PPC and SEO teams can increase ROI by making sure campaigns are covering all areas of digital marketing, from technical SEO to maximizing available SERPs features.
While tackling all of these areas might take weeks, or even months, starting now means that you won’t be left in the dust by the end of the year. And if you are looking to have some of the work taken off of your team’s plant, Gulf Coast Web is here to help ensure your digital marketing campaigns are properly integrated and running seamlessly to get you the best possible ROI.
At Gulf Coast Web, we have over 25 years of experience in managing all types of digital design and marketing campaigns – even for companies outside of our immediate area. Our staff consists of highly-trained digital design advertising professionals who are both passionate about their jobs and excel at what they do. Contact us today to book a consultation with our team. We look forward to outlining exactly how we can help you grow your business with our digital media agency services.