This post will highlight some marketing trends utilized in 2020 that will prove to be effective in 2021 as we shift to a predominantly digital world.

Coming off a roller coaster and life altering year like 2020, talking about forecasting and predicting anything seems like a misguided step. Considering the fact that society as we know it has shifted from anything we had previously deemed “normal”, where digital marketing is concerned, a few strategic tactics have seen success.

Note: None of these tactics are new but rather utilized more and proven to be effective.

Digital Acceleration

Technology is a key factor in driving earnings and growth in a time of crisis. But the recipe for success has shifted during the pandemic. Marketing now is really focused on leveraging technologies to re-invent and improve your business. With that being said, 2021 will see a large number of B2B companies take on a digital first approach when it comes to sales and marketing. Acceleration of digital tactics will focus on a few things already in a B2B marketer’s list, with a lot more emphasis and intent.

Here are a few focus points;

• SEO & SEM:

  With the huge spike and increase in digital activity and consumption coupled with the heightened importance of a good and functioning website, B2B marketers have to invest more heavily in SEO and SEM just as much as B2C peers.

  In SEO, marketers are heading towards a merging of content strategy and on/off-page SEO strategies. Similarly, PPC will be added to a lot of strategies that will play a huge role in driving website traffic and competing in the marketplace.

• Virtual Events:

  More and more people are working remotely now and finding new ways to stay connected. Personalized marketing will be important to replace that face-to-face value that many businesses have now lost (Mandy Vogt). Since March 2020, any cooperate event, trade show or conference seized to happen in person. The integration and utilization of virtual events became a necessity. Based on the way things are going and progressing, it is evident that virtual events are ultimately here to stay. A lot more companies have adopted this format. Companies found that by switching to virtual events, they have opened up to new audiences as they are more accessible than in-person events. For virtual events, visa issues, travel restrictions and costs aren’t as much of a roadblock vs in-person events. Companies have also found that this allows for higher attendance and more participation. That means lower cost for more people and a higher ROI. The key moving forward is to get creative and drive engagement through great speakers, rich content and some fun of course. In 2021 and beyond, virtual events will continue to be a profitable way to engage with a broad set of customers (Forbes).

• Email Marketing:

  With the focus ever so prevalent in the online space, one thing people are focused and yearning for is consistency. In the email marketing space, this is great news. Email marketing has proven to be a great and reliable medium for preserving and establishing relationships with customers. In a time filled with unpredictability around when, how and where we can interact with one another, email will be very effective in 2021. That being said, Email volume is significantly up since 2020, and more promo emails will be sent out this year. A key suggestion would be to improve heavily on personalization and data points along your customer journey.

• Social Media Focus:

  In the current climate, it is time for companies to focus on the social channels that have proven to have impact and provide results. Having a broad array of channels that are not showing or making any impact to your company’s objectives is far less important now. Decluttering and limiting social media channels to only the ones that have a proven record of impact for your company will become a necessity in 2021.

  Now more than ever, people are looking for genuine connection. Good connection can help drive 7x better results because it helps build trust and ultimately drive actions for your brand. With so much online competition for your audiences’ attention, companies will need to invest more in growing their internal and external storytelling teams in 2021.

As they say, “the only constant in life is change”, the same applies to marketing and navigating this new space that the world is in today. The above listed are just a handful of the key marketing trends that will be more likely to be heavily utilized and more effective in 2021 and beyond.

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