Top 7 Digital

Marketing
Trends to Watch
in 2021
 Top 7 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch
in 2021

Summary: These seven digital trends will shape how consumers search, buy, and
interact through 2021 now that consumers spend more time online.
If any year is poised to see a huge increase in online marketing strategies, 2021 is the
year that it will happen. With more consumers shopping online than ever before,
companies have a larger audience to reach and even more competition to
breakthrough. That’s why these seven digital trends will shape how consumers search,
buy, and interact with brands through 2021.

Social Checkout

From Instagram’s swipe up feature for large influencer accounts to in-post purchases
options on Facebook ads, leveraging social purchases will continue to be key in 2021.
However, it is important to understand how consumers are engaging with social content
to determine if it is the best investment of marketing dollars. For example, while just
19% of consumers purchased through a social media app’s checkout feature, over 57%
of consumers acknowledge finding out about new brands on social media.

As social platforms enhance their checkout features and make it more seamless for
users to purchase without leaving the app, expect the number of in-app purchases to
dramatically increase.

Short Video Strategy

As short-form video content on platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube start to
dominate how users post on social media, companies can use this micro-content to
reach more consumers. Driving click through rates and conversions will likely come
down to how quickly you can move consumers to buy with short 15-20 second ads.

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If you have not created a short video marketing strategy, now is the time to do so.
Companies that are able to leverage the short-form video content to build brand
awareness will be able to exponentially increase their brand reach – with less ad spend.

Outstream Video Ads

2020 saw an explosive growth of subscription-based video streaming services such as

Disney+, Netflix, and Hulu. With more than 107.5 million collective subscribers, in 2020,
these online video platforms offer consumers an ad-free experience. This may be great
for the viewer, but is particularly bad for companies looking to reach consumers. That’s
why the emergence of outstream video ads will be key in getting (and staying) in front of
your target audience with highly targeted messaging on the platforms they use.

Virtual Events

As 64% of all companies nationwide hosted an online event during the coronavirus
pandemic, the popularity of virtual programming is expected to increase. With the option
to reach a large, and in some cases, global audience, companies should look to
innovative ways to continue to offer virtualized experiences for their consumers.

Whether through leveraging livestream videos or more involved virtual conferences, the
technology to support these events will continue to rapidly evolve and provide a more
seamless user experience. This will enable companies (of all sizes) to engage with their
audiences in more intimate ways to build even more brand awareness and loyalty.

Avoid Brandstanding

The polarizing social and political climate in the country in 2020 saw many brands
speaking out against injustice and violence. Though many companies chose to remain
neutral, studies have shown that 75% of Millennials are more likely to be loyal to a
brand that supports a specific social justice cause.

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Though the temptation for companies may be to release statements of solidarity
addressing issues of racism, discrimination, or inequality – 60% of consumers believe
that companies are using these statements for their monetary gain. This is often
referred to as “brandstanding” and it is important for companies to move beyond their
marketing messages and consistently leverage their brand to create solutions for the
social justice issues they claim to support.

SMS Campaigns

With mobile phone use being a staple in everyday life, consumers are interacting more
with companies via text message. In fact, 43% of consumers say they have texted a
business in the past 6 months, and 65% of consumers prefer companies that offer text
communication. The key to capitalizing on this emerging trend is rooted in both
providing convenience for consumers as well as sending highly relevant and targeted
messages when consumers are ready to buy.

If consumers have to wait hours (or days) to receive a text message response back or
if they are sent irrelevant promotional messages not tailored to their preferences or
purchase history, SMS campaigns can easily become confusing or worse… annoying!
This is where leveraging geotargeting and investing in a robust customer data platform
can be helpful to craft personalized text marketing campaigns.

Personalized Email Marketing

The days of generic email blast campaigns are over, especially as consumer data
platforms can gather more comprehensive data about a consumer’s preferences and
purchasing behaviors. Marketing researcher, Acoustic found a 25% jump in email open
rates in 2020 that have continued through the year and into the first quarter of 2021.
With consumers being more engaged through email, this represents an opportunity for
marketers to further enhance the customer journey through using personalized
campaigns and leveraging email list segmentation strategies.

Consumer behavior has been forever reshaped due to the global pandemic. And, with
more consumers shopping and interacting with brands online, mastering these seven

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digital trends will serve to help create an unshakable competitive advantage through
2021. The key will be in choosing the best strategies for your brand and target market
and leveraging highly personalized approaches to break through the now over-saturated
marketing white noise.