8 Digital Marketing Trends to Look For in 2021

When it comes to marketing trends, they are constantly shifting and 2021 isn’t going to be any different. The previous year was turbulent in many ways, as millions of customers have changed the way they shop, and image moderation becomes more prevalent.

Marketers have before them the daunting task of figuring out to which extent the following 8 digital marketing trends are going to continue into 2021.

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Customer segmentation is expected to take off

Customer segmentation has been around for decades but this year it is expected to go full-digital. Namely, manual segmentation has seen its last days, as even small businesses are turning to algorithms to understand their customers.

The final result of this process is a higher customer lifetime value. In this sense, customer loyalty is something big players in the market are going to focus on. Customer retention is more important during the coronavirus pandemic than it was in 2019, for example.

Voice search and SEO

Speaking of the pandemic, voice search had just caught on when COVID-19 started to spread. However, search engine optimization still hadn’t caught up with this relatively novel method of online searching.

The need to optimize for voice search is definitely there, as more and more users are choosing to speak instead of typing. This method of search is especially popular on smartphones.

However, the search results aren’t exactly the same as those you get by typing in the keywords. This makes it challenging for marketers to crack the code of SEO for voice search. Folks who do manage this can expect their market share to grow noticeably.

Read more: Optimize Website with SEO Standards

Get ready for visual search

Just as voice search took the world by storm a couple of years ago, so is image search increasing popular. The next big thing in SEO is going to be to decipher how to do image and video searches work.

This is essential because you have to hire a web design agency that will incorporate visual search into your website. For example, a customer saw a pair of sneakers they like but are not branded. The only way to find them is to search their image and hope Google has more info on the product.

Ad-blockers are becoming increasingly popular

As more people are shopping online, the need for reliable ad-blockers is greater than ever before. The IT firms who make these types of programs are expected to cash in but countless digital marketing campaigns will suffer as the result.

Therefore, 2021 is expected to be a year of a full-scale war of marketers against ad-blockers. This completion is nothing new but this year it will occur on a larger scale. Digital marketers will definitely have to hire skillful hackers, i.e. IT support, to use this euphemism.

Shopping directly on social media

Advertising on social media has become so popular and lucrative that some entrepreneurs have opted to exclusively sell their goods and offer service through social media accounts.

In 2021, social media posts, even sponsored ones, are going to be even more significant, purchasing a product without ever leaving the app has become a real trend.

This form of shopping is even more convenient than buying online, as shoppers receive custom-tailored dream offers while scrolling through Instagram stories feed, to name just one example.

Asserting one’s identity

2020 wasn’t a turbulent year just because of the notorious coronavirus pandemic. There were numerous political movements across the globe, such as BLM in the United States. As a result, customers are more than ever sensitive to brand images, i.e. whether they can identify with a specific brand.

For example, brands that have repeatedly failed to demonstrate diversity have been shunned by many shoppers who were previously loyal customers. Therefore, it couldn’t hurt to demonstrate inclusivity in 2021 to perhaps get a percentage of those shoppers interested in your brand.

Content simpler than ever

Easy-to-consume content has been on a steady rise for years now. Newsletters, infographics, and podcasts have a growing audience, so your company cannot afford not to generate simple, “digestible” content.

Luckily, starting a podcast is inexpensive, as you can always enter a partnership with a radio station or a YouTuber. Such readily-available and convenient content gives your brand a human face, making it easier for shoppers to relate to it.

User-generated content is the future of digital marketing

Customer experience has reached stardom during the previous decades. Outstanding UX is not the standard but you can up the stakes by introducing user-generated content (UGC). This content is the future of digital marketing as it’s super engaging.

UGC allows you to build communities in relation to your brands, uplifting content is posted for you, and you get to meet customers in their “natural” online surroundings, without having to intrude on their world through a sponsored pop-up ad.

As you have seen from our examples, 2021 is going to be a year full of challenges. From tweaking SEO to voice and image search to advanced customer segmentation, digital marketers have a lot of trends to follow this year.

Read more: What are the Best SEO Analysis Website?