What is Digital Marketing? 20 Tips in 2021
As is covered over at runrex.com, digital marketing refers to advertising delivered through digital channels like search engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps. With consumers relying heavily on digital means to search for and research products, digital marketing is a must for any business out there in 2021. To help you achieve the best possible results, here are 20 actionable tips for digital marketing in 2021.
Ensure that your website is responsive
One of the first things you need to do in 2021 according to the gurus over at guttulus.com is to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. This is crucial as the use of mobile devices has sharply increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of people are now using mobile devices to browse the internet, and if your site isn’t responsive, they will leave and head straight to competitors’ websites.
Answer your users’ questions
If a user feels that they aren’t finding the answers to their questions on your website, they will leave and get those answers somewhere else. Therefore, it is important to create content in 2021 that answers your users’ questions. As covered over at runrex.com, this content should inform or add value to the users’ experience, and ultimately help solve their problems.
Try out new marketing tools
2021 is also the year you should take the plunge and try out new programs and approaches which are helping businesses out there achieve optimization and streamlined methods. According to guttulus.com, they include customer relationship management systems (CRMs), analytics and reporting software, as well as SEO optimization software such as Yoast SEO, among others.
Create content that people are searching for
One of the reasons to use SEO tools and analytics reporting software like Google Analytics is that they will tell you what keywords and topics consumers in your industry are searching for, and you can then create content that is relevant to them. You can use this information to improve and re-purpose the information on your current highly searched blogs. Additionally, make sure you focus on the human connection, and instead of selling your product, provide helpful and valuable content to your audience and you will build trust, credibility, and loyalty.
Target local populations
2021 is the year that you should leverage local SEO if you haven’t been doing so already, making sure that your marketing campaigns ate customized to appeal to the local populations. Optimize your digital presence for local SEO which includes claiming your Google My Business listing as well as having a strong backlink profile. You can also leverage technology such as geolocation services to target audiences.
Use video on social media
With almost everyone having a presence on at least one social media platform, social media marketing is booming in 2021. As covered over at runrex.com, TikTok and Instagram Reels made their debut in 2020 and showed how popular video content is. Given how effective it is at generating leads as compared to static posts, you should leverage video content in your social media marketing strategies this year. Take it a step further by adding interactive elements to your marketing videos as consumers prefer interactive video content over the other types of video content.
Leverage automation
According to the gurus over at guttulus.com, automating your tasks can help you save time and prioritize higher-priority projects. Automation in the right areas can vastly increase the benefits of your digital marketing strategy. Some of the areas you should look to automate in 2021, as far as digital marketing is concerned, include marketing emails, notifications, social media posts, analytics reporting, among others.
Leverage paid ads
While we would all like to achieve success with digital marketing organically, it is also worth considering taking advantage of paid ads as covered over at runrex.com. Paid ads are particularly helpful for small businesses that may not have the resources to compete with big and established competitors organically. In 2021, make sure your digital marketing strategy includes paid ads.
Focus on user experience
Users will always prefer sites with a great page experience. Therefore, you should prioritize user experience (UX) in 2021 when designing your website as this will mean visitors are likely to stay engaged on your site rather than leaving and heading straight to those of your competitors. To help businesses measure the user experience of their websites, Google rolled out a new set of metrics called “Core Web Vitals” that help measure website speed, responsiveness, and visual stability.
Use tools that allow for digital sales
People are not willing to spend hours searching for information online which is why you should try incorporating a few digital strategies and tools on your site in 2021 that make it easy for your visitors to conveniently engage with your sales team on their own terms. They include pre-recorded product demos, appointment and scheduling tools, online transactions, and e-signature tools like DocuSign, and chatbots.
Track and measure your spending
In 2021, spend some time carefully analyzing each channel, platform, or tool and what they offer your business, and make sure you set clear and measurable goals for each activity. This will help you decide where and how much to spend according to guttulus.com. Spending and digital marketing need to be done strategically as doing things haphazardly will only lead to ineffective and unsustainable results for your business.
Take time to know your customers
As captured over at runrex.com, having knowledge about your customers and what their behaviors are will allow you insight into their respective markets. In 2021, rather than focusing only on demographics like age, sex, location, and so forth to study your customers, you should create customer personas that will help you build your digital marketing strategy.
Try account-based marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a new digital strategy method you should consider in 2021 as per the gurus over at guttulus.com. ABM is a personalized, strategic marketing strategy where key business accounts are marketed directly, and it is a strategy that is already popular with B2B marketers. Studies have shown ABM to deliver higher returns than any other marketing approach.
Go live
In 2021, it is all about interaction, and what better way to achieve this than leveraging live video content. 82% of people prefer live video from a brand over standard social posts. In a time when face-to-face interaction is limited, going live with your video strategy on social media or with events will allow you to keep up your engagement with your customers and should be part of your digital marketing strategy in 2021.
Optimize your conversational marketing
As already mentioned, you should look to leverage tools like chatbots on your website in 2021. However, with so much more purchasing occurring online, how you leverage them can have a major impact on your sale in 2021. If positioned right, chatbots can be both highly effective customer service and marketing tools. This is because, in every response, there are breadcrumbs of information that help brands to enhance their current offering and evolve their customer experience. It allows you to collect information in a way that feels natural for your buyer, increasing lead generation.
Optimize for voice search
As revealed over at runrex.com, shopping via voice search is set to reach $40 billion by 2022, which means that optimizing for voice search should be at the top of your agenda in 2021 if you want your brand to be part of the $40 billion instead of being left behind. As customers continue to embrace smart devices at home, brands that invest in voice search will have a leg up on the competition.
Start a purpose-driven campaign
According to guttulus.com, buyers today, especially Gen Z, put more trust in brands that align with their own value. 89% of US consumers are more likely to have a positive image of brands who lead with purpose, with 86% putting more trust in those brands and 83% saying they would be more loyal to them. A purpose-driven campaign allows you to connect with your audience based on a shared interest, more specifically a cause or belief. Given everything that happened in the world last year, showing empathy and a human side of your marketing is something consumers can certainly use right now.
Leverage diverse and inclusive marketing
Just as is the case for purpose-driven campaigns, inclusive marketing will continue to take center stage in 2021. As explained over at runrex.com, consumers will continue to have greater expectations to see themselves represented by brands, which means that one-size-fits-all marketing just won’t cut the mustard anymore this year.
Double down on email marketing
Email marketing will continue to stay strong in 2021 as more businesses rely on it to stay connected to their customers. Many businesses will be using email marketing to share the latest news and promotions with those customers subscribed to their email list, and you should make sure that this is part of your digital marketing strategy this year.
Be authentic
Finally, one of the best digital marketing tips for businesses in 2021 is making sure that you are authentic in all your efforts and interactions. Be true to your core values and you will build credibility and trust that will help you achieve the success you are looking for.
Hopefully, these tips will help you smash your digital marketing efforts in 2021, with more tips, insights, and help on the same to be found over at the excellent runrex.com and guttulus.com.