Let’s be frank, 2020 was a pretty dismal year for everyone, but digital marketing managed to have its most innovative year to date. The lockdown had significant effects on the industry, forcing companies to improve their strategies and create new software aligned with the “new normal”.

2021 is set to be another game-changing year for the digital marketing industry, and CEOs, managers and marketing staff should start preparing now to stay ahead of the competition. In this post, we look at the digital marketing trends you simply can’t afford to miss this year.

The 3 Digital Marketing Trends for 2021 That You Need to Know about

Digital is the “New Normal”, Expect a Focus on UX and Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

Over the last 12 months, digital adoption jumped by five to 10 times the average rate. That’s quite a jump, all instigated by the lockdowns, which saw millions of us sat at home spending a lot more time online than ever before.

Customers and businesses forced people to go online, and the marketing industry reacted. So, what changed? First of all, customers got a lot more power, and they became a lot less loyal to their favourite brands and companies. Customers need convenience as always, but also lower prices and more appealing offers.

How customers shopped online radically changed. Buying behaviours changed, basket sizes increased, and certain products came into huge demand. As a result, user experience (UX) took on a whole new level of importance for a business to succeed.

2021 is the year that UX and conversion rate optimisation (CRO) will move from a nice afterthought to a vital component of a business.

Less Advertising, More Marketing

If a business is to continue to be competitive in the new digital landscape, it’s necessary to have less advertising and more marketing. Expect to see a massive shift of focus (and funds) from advertising to SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), paid ads and content marketing.

Until the pandemic, digital marketing was instrumental in buffering other business activities, but this year it will be the dominant force. CEOs are expected to push more money into digital marketing to help acclimatise their business to the new digital landscape.

Companies should focus on updating their websites, focus on UX, SEO, CRO and building organic traffic if they want to stay ahead of the game. Many companies turn to professional help when it comes to SEO, perhaps by looking for a seo company in Denver or wherever they are based for assistance. This way, they can put their best foot forward as a business with the help of a company who knows exactly how to expand their SEO.

Welcoming New Social Media Platforms

While Facebook, Twitter and Instagram dominate the digital marketing landscape, there are tremendous opportunities with new emerging social media platforms and networks. One only has to look at the phenomenal success of TikTok to see the potential for digital marketers.

It’s crucial to review the changing adoption of social networks to spot new opportunities. This also includes the release of podcasts too! Podcasts can be shared on all social platforms and is a great way to engage consumers. So, there’s no better time really to launch your podcast. Here are just some of the social media platforms to consider for your marketing needs in 2021:

• TikTok – the video-sharing platform’s dominance is set to continue to grow this year.
• Twitch – a top livestream gaming social media platform that has monthly views in the billions.
• Houseparty – a group video platform that allows up to eight people to play games together.
• Goodreads – an old platform that is rapidly growing.
• Steemit – this Reddit-like platform that uses cryptocurrency now has more than 1.5 million users.
• Vero – an ad-free social network with substantial organic traffic potential.
• Caffeine – a livestream platform (similar to Twitch) with a huge snowballing user base.
• Nextdoor – a platform where neighbours can chat, receive updates about the area and more.
• Medium – each month this site gets over 1 million new articles published by members of the public and professional writers alike.

Marketing Software Will Move to the Next Level

When it comes to successful digital marketing, the foundation of that success is always the software that fuelled the campaign. Whether that’s SEMRush for competitor analysis, Google Analytics for customer behaviour or Moz for keyword analysis, the software and the data it provides are vital.

Expect to see the software above plus many more step their game up this year as they compete for the market share in an elevated online business landscape. More companies than ever will be relying on smart data to design and run their campaigns.

Cloud services will also be essential to keep marketing teams communicating and collaborating effectively. 2021 will see remote teams work seamlessly together through cloud-based software to achieve campaign goals and smash their clients’ targets.