Businesses and marketers are now on the lookout for the best ways to step up their marketing game. With the surge of active online users, almost every brand is now busy increasing their online marketing efforts. But as the year starts to close and another makes its presence known, it is only fitting that we stay updated with the latest trends to stay relevant in the post-pandemic world. What may have worked during the pandemic may or may not be as effective by next year. This is why there is a need to keep an eye out for the latest digital marketing trends and see which one you can leverage for your business.
Want your business to stay competitive even after the year of Covid-19? Here are some marketing trends experts predict will dominate the 2021 digital landscape.
Offline and Online Marketing Integration
The world may have shifted to more online activities. But that does not mean offline marketing is dead. Whether you are a brick-and-mortar business or a purely online brand, your business can take advantage of both marketing methods. Of course, there are numerous factors to consider before this works.
For one, the timing needs to be right. It is also crucial that find the best ways to integrate your offline and online marketing to maintain consistency. The last thing you want is to spend thousands of dollars on your offline marketing but fail to make a good return on investment.
If you have B2B, B2C or both campaigns, one of the offline marketing techniques worth investing in is the direct mail marketing technique. You get to communicate, share news, and offer great deals to your target audiences. When done the right way, you can boost brand recall using printed promotional materials.
- To integrate your direct mail efforts with your digital campaigns, you can consider the following tips.
- Offer unique digital codes that customers can use to redeem online offers.
- Send direct mail with a QR code they can scan on their smartphone. This can take them to your online promotional offers or a short engaging video showcasing your latest products and services.
- Send email to follow-ups one or two weeks after sending your direct mail.
- Create a social medial sharing incentive. Add social media icons on your mail and include a QR code. When your customers scan the code, they can directly go to your social media page, store, or website.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots
Chatbots are no longer limited to answer frequently asked questions. AI-powered chatbots can now naturally interact with your clients, take into account their past conversation history, and get to know your customer’s real intent when searching. In a nutshell, AI chatbots can provide a better customer service experience to your clients by answering complex inquiries engagingly.
AI-powered chatbots also have the ability to offer proactive service whenever they detect a potential issue. You can take advantage of AI chatbots to assist your customer support team and not to replace them. AI chatbots can take repetitive tasks off of your customer support team’s hands and allow them to tackle more complex and high-impact conversations.
When choosing an AI chatbot for your business, consider what your business needs. List down all of your digital channels and choose one that can run on all of your channels. It would be best to upgrade to an AI chatbot that can learn your client’s past conversations and converse in a language your clients use.
Voice Search Optimization
Did you know that 27% of people all over the world now make use of voice search? Experts expect the number of active voice search users to continuously increase by next year. Many factors are leading to an increased number of people taking advantage of voice search.
For one, voice search makes it easier to search without typing. There is an abundance of smart products with voice search features. Voice search is also a fun way to search for the things consumers need to find online.
What you can do is to start optimizing your website for voice search. There are many important factors you need to consider when optimizing your site for voice search. Some of these are as follows.
- Google-verify your business with accurate and up-to-date details
- Ensure your business is fast, secure, user-friendly, and mobile-friendly
- Create valuable content that answers your target audience’s questions
- Focus on longer and conversational keywords
- Incorporate keywords that relate to your location (near me, landmarks near your physical business location, and words people use to describe your neighborhood)
- Optimize your business listings online
These are but three digital marketing trends we can expect to see everywhere once the New Year arrives. More businesses will focus on providing excellent customer service with the help of AI-powered chatbots. Voice searches will continue to increase, making it a must to step up your voice search optimization game. Last but not the least, we can no longer simply rely on digital marketing and should start integrating our marketing efforts online and offline for better success. Knowing these trends and checking which ones you can adapt in your digital marketing strategy can help you stay competitive and relevant in the new normal.
