We have seen more products and services shift online, and many employees will continue to work remotely or in a hybrid environment for an uncertain date until the pandemic is over. Months of varied customer responses to COVID-19 have given us some insight into the marketing trends that are working in this new normal and what you might expect this year, 2021.
Now, Ultranet wants to share the seven key digital marketing trends for 2021 that your business needs to consider to engage and retain current customers and generate more traffic, leads, and revenue. We’ve identified seven areas where savvy managers should invest their time and resources next year. If you don’t know where to start, start here — because these might prove the best bang for your business’s marketing buck.
1. Social Media To Engage & Retain
Business owners, companies or even entrepreneurs should prepare to dedicate more resources to social media marketing in 2021. Ultranet found out that the social media budgets accounted for a high percentage all around the world especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The marketers are increasingly making customer retention a priority. This will continue well for this year and even the future with a hybrid setting of life. This is because the pandemic has dramatically increased the amount of time people spend online which includes how they research products, brands, and organizations. Whereas, this could become a habit or daily performance among society.
With that, the consumer shift creates new opportunities for marketers to increase their reach with new audiences and re-engage with long-time customers. A good social media marketer can develop a content plan, make regular posts, monitor and drive customer responses, and attract new business perhaps with a lower investment than the traditional media. If your small business has been putting off adding social media services to your marketing mix, now’s the time.
2. All-in on Google Listings and Local SEO
If you own a small business, Ultranet believes that the most important things you can do are ensure your local listings are verified and kept current on various search platforms. The business-to-consumer business is drawing the customers primarily on a local level while the Google My Business listing can provide valuable information about your hours due to the constant flux caused by COVID-19 as well as services, and geographical location. It’s one of the key factors in search and where you all should often blow away to learn how many directories there are out there.
3. Improved Communication of Availability
Ultranet cannot deny that you all need to ensure a geographically defined service area within your local listings, as this will help your business to show up in “near me” searches. There are many search engines such as Google prioritize relevance in their search algorithms. Restricting the scope of your business services may seem counterintuitive, but doing so allows you to penetrate the market more deeply in the search results. Keeping the list updated can also keep your customers aware of any changes in your working hours, promotions, blogs, or any other information you wish to communicate quickly.
4. Automated Bidding in Google Ads
Ultranet observed that the availability of products and services is the number one reason customers are switching their brand allegiance in this digital era. Whereas, marketers can meet this challenge in a few ways. The most obvious solution is to increase the days of inventory on-hand of products or the availability of time-slots for services. Get creative. For example, with more people working from home and many kids learning remotely, most physicians and dental offices with whom we work have reallocated staff toward more daytime slots and lesser night and weekend hours.
If stocks levels or repair times need to be adjusted, then timely communication becomes crucial. Be clear about what you can and cannot do, and set reasonable expectations. For high-volume items, consider placing a banner on your site to indicate when key products will be in-stock. If you aren’t collecting customer contact information, now is the perfect time to create a subscriber list so that you can be proactive with notifying customers of availability changes with an automated text or email.
5. The Power of Voice Search
Voice search is currently not a part of Google’s algorithm. However, Ultranet believes that it is still dictating current search results. Voice search queries often yield different results than if the user had typed in a text-based search. For SEO, it’s a good idea for businesses to be on their toes with voice search components for their consumers who are adapting and switching over to that medium.According to experts in voice search, content must be specifically optimized for voice. It needs to be more direct and conversational so that it will accurately sync with search queries. This will help boost traffic by staying relevant and more visible to consumers.
6. Improved Retention via Segmentation
We recommend that you all can exert more effort into later stages of the buyer’s journey since it takes less money to keep your existing customers than earn new ones. Happy customers tend to tell their friends and provide referrals to help increase revenue. They’re also more likely to give your direct and honest feedback about issues that will only strengthen your brand. Therefore, you need to keep informed about your organizational changes or processes that would impact your relationship through email marketing or engage with them on social media. By collecting data and segmenting your customers, you have an opportunity to save costs while delivering on your products and services. You can also target them more cost-effectively, allowing you to stretch your marketing capitals even farther.
7. More Interactive Content
Ultranet can ensure that it is a great way to provide value for visitors, get them to engage with your brand, and learn more about them if you get to add those interactive elements on your website or social media. For example, suppose you are a realtor and add a simple but effective mortgage calculator to your website. You’re now offering value to your visitors while also learning more about them based on the data that they enter into the calculator. This info can eventually help you refine your personas and offer-targeting.
Other examples of interactive marketing include assessments, quizzes, games, polls, interactive videos, surveys, and contests. Contests are a great way to exponentially increase your reach and visibility, quickly. The fastest way to get your brand in front of lots of new prospects, cheaply, is to have your current customers share a Facebook post of a contest. Many of our clients take it a step further and make it a referral contest, often promising an attractive reward to the client who helps bring in the newest business.
Conclusion
Ultranet noted that these seven digital marketing trends may not represent a complete list. Ultranet believes that it could still help you all develop your marketing strategy in 2021 by understanding how trends can impact your business. Therefore, we are here to share this information with all of you, and we hope that we will grow together in this competitive landscape.
Ultranet –
For enquiries on any of our expertise or services, whether it is for website design & development, mobile application development, or digital media marketing, please feel free to contact or WhatsApp +6016-2032 000, email [email protected] or visit https://ultranet.com.my Thank you.
