Well, despite 2020’s best efforts to slow us down, we’ve finally made it to the new year – and with the new year comes new marketing prospects for your business. Today, we’re taking a look at some key marketing trends that you can implement into your 2021 marketing strategy. New Year, New Marketing Opportunities!
E-Commerce Marketing
While shopping online is nothing new in the technological age, the sheer number of consumers who have turned to E-commerce for their shopping needs has skyrocketed since the pandemic, with many consumers opting to purchase online rather than make in-person transactions. Even something as common as perusing a grocery store has evolved into grocery delivery or pickup, all of which is arranged through a store’s website. It’s projected that 2021 will see a whopping $4.8 trillion in e-retail sales, meaning that if you’re looking to make a profit for your business in the new year, your digital marketing campaign needs to be on point to succeed.
Tips:
- Consider using shoppable image ads: Meaning ads that feature several popular products or services you offer along with the price of each item. This gives viewers a quick preview of what you have to offer and your price range.
- Optimize your business site for mobile: 49.2% of online sales are made using mobile devices, and that number is expected to grow to 53.9 as of 2021. Having an easy-to-use mobile friendly site, or mobile app, is highly recommended to boost your business revenue.
Social Media Marketing
Since people are spending the vast majority of their time at home right now, the number of active users on social media is growing exponentially, meaning that businesses advertising through these platforms are far more likely to be noticed by their target audience than those who aren’t utilizing social media platforms to market their brand. Analyze the media outlets that people are using the most currently and find a way to use that outlet to attract consumers to your company or brand.
Tips:
- Use video ads when possible: When scrolling through social media, there is a never-ending supply of ads mixed in between actual user content. Now, the question is – how many times did you really stop to read adverts that only featured a basic image and text? People stop to look at video advertisements more than text and image-based ads. Since video ads on social media automatically start playing as soon as they’re on your screen, they catch peoples’ attention at a far greater rate than non-video ads. People also retain 95% of a message when viewing it in video format. Only 10% of that info is retained when reading it in text form alone.
- Utilize the right online platforms for video ads: Sites like Facebook and YouTube are some of the best social media sites for video advertising.
Make Your Marketing Campaign a Glimmer of Hope in a Challenging Time
There’s no denying that 2020 was a rough year for everyone – and disregarding that fact entirely from a marketing campaign, aimed at reaching out to potential customers, likely won’t have the same impact as a campaign that addresses these issues head-on and speaks to people in a way that says, “we get it and we’re here for you.”
As an example, a hilariously blunt advertisement from the dating site Match was aired that featured the devil connecting with 2020 (represented by an actual person) and striking up a romantic relationship. The ad shows the devil and 2020 on several romantic outings until finally concluding with the pair watching a meteor shower rain down on earth accompanied by the tagline, “Make 2020 your year,” before quickly swapping it to “2021.” Given that dating sites have taken a hit due to a lack of in-person meetings, and the general frustration with 2020’s endless supply of bad luck, this was the perfect way to create a funny, relatable message for their target audience that offered not only comic relief, but also the prospect of better times to come.
Tips:
- Consider using sales and discounts if feasible: Implementing discounts or sales into your marketing campaign for 2021 is not only a great way to show appreciation to your already established audience, but it also entices others to check out your products or services. There are a lot of people out there struggling in the current economy, so offering even a small discount may make people consider shopping with you, now and in the future.
- Try incorporating user-generated content into your marketing campaign: Many businesses are turning to their consumers for ways to convey a positive message during the pandemic. Whether it be in the form of showing customers giving back to their local essential workers and healthcare professionals, or just creative ways people are staying safe in the world, providing people an outlet to spread positivity is a great way to engage your consumer base and attract new customers to your business.
Reblogging Older Posts
While reblogging and reposting older content from your site doesn’t sound like a “new” marketing opportunity, it’s actually an incredibly effective way to boost traffic to your website. By simply updating information in the blog post, improving the SEO, and adding in some additional information you feel would compliment the original piece, you can turn an aging article into a brand-new post, but even better since it already has its prior success, and possibly backlinks, to fall back on. So, before you immediately start flooding your page with all new content, consider the benefits of reblogging some of your older posts. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t still add new content, but reposting a few good blog posts here and there saves you the time spent creating a post from scratch.
Tips:
- Select your most popular posts to reblog: Check which of your blog posts have the most views or the most backlinks when deciding which posts to reblog. The most successful pieces of work will have the best chance of drawing in more views.
- Don’t choose newer posts to reblog: The blog post you choose to update and publish a second time should be around a year old at minimum. Anything published sooner than 12 months ago is a bit too new to repost.
Interactive Features
People respond best to content when they feel engaged, so using interactive features on your business site is an effective way to keep people interested in what you’re trying to market. It’s important to make visitors to your site feel like you’re not just talking at them, but also listening to their needs and providing answers to their inquiries as well.
Tips:
- Implement a way for consumers to give feedback: This could be either a simple feedback form or a poll posted on your site. Either way, it shows customers that their comments or opinions aren’t going unheard.
- Try including a chat box for customer inquiries: More businesses are using chat boxes on their websites to provide quick answers and solutions to questions asked by customers, which people like since it saves them the hassle of a phone calls or waiting for email responses.
Need Help Kicking Off Your New Year's Marketing Strategy?
These are just some of the ways you can improve your businesses performance in 2021, but if you’re still unsure of how to get started and want professional marketing help to develop a great marketing campaign for the new year, give Olive Group a call or send us a message. Our new year’s resolution is to keep providing our clients the absolute best marketing services available.