[Article updated 18/12/20]

Disclaimer: I initially wrote this article back in October of 2019 when I, like everyone else, was oblivious to the events that were around the corner in 2020. Obviously, things have changed. A lot. But looking back at what I wrote all those months back, everything you need is still there and still works- In fact, at the time, I wrote a lot about what new technology is bringing to the table, and with the current situation, it’s only going to happen faster, so getting your digital marketing up to date now is going to be crucial for your business’s success in the long-run.

In a world changed by COVID-19, digital disruption stands at the forefront of marketing, but we can take that as an opportunity to elevate our brands and services to a whole new level that ensures customer satisfaction is high. What worked for your business previously to generate traffic and conversions might be unsustainable, and as the technology we use for digital marketing becomes increasingly sophisticated, the more we need to be agile, innovative and keep our ears to the ground.

This article will cover all the biggest changes and innovations happening in 2021 and how they might impact your business. Use it and embrace the opportunity to get ahead of the curve and stand out from your competition in the new year.

Omnichannel marketing

It’s apparent that most small businesses could be working their digital marketing harder by driving a consistent, systematic omnichannel approach. 2021 is only set to perpetuate this further. Currently, businesses that adopt omnichannel strategies get 91% more year-over-year customer retention rates than businesses that don’t.

As consumers and business owners become increasingly tech-native, there is an expectation that navigating between the various channels will become increasingly seamless. Your branding and business values need to reflect this by having a recognisable and voice and consistent presence across the channels. If you think you’ve still got plenty of time to adopt omnichannel marketing, remember that by 2025 tech-native millennials will make up 75% of the global workforce.

You can no longer work on one channel and expect to achieve consistent and sustainable results, particularly in highly competitive market spaces, which under current business uncertainty, is most of them.

If you want to expand your social media marketing platform, you need to ensure you go about it in a way that delivers results. If you are not sure where to start, read through our 7 simple steps to improve your social media strategy.

You need to work on your holistic marketing with personalised and targeted messaging to deliver constant leads within your business that aren’t reliant on key individuals within the business.

Checklist

Before you go on to read the rest of this article to find out how you can build on your digital marketing, make sure you already have the basics covered. If you don’t check off all the items on the list, you may need to refer to our digital marketing strategy to keep you ahead of the competition.

The following are done and drive results:

• Website
• Content marketing (articles on your website and shared across social media)
• SEO
• Regular social media posts
• Email marketing

Webchat

We live in a society which is full of businesses that not only respond to consumer demand for instant gratification but actively encourage it. Businesses failing to tap into this new cultural norm will soon be noticing a drop in customers. Part of getting your digital marketing ready for 2021 includes investing in the vital aspect of fulfilling customers’ needs- and doing so quickly.

Webchat is a great low-cost solution, enabling you to communicate quickly with customers, whether to resolve a problem or provide additional information, a quick response time is sure to increase your customer base and boost your credibility. Almost 70% of customers abandon their online shopping carts. If you’re able to communicate with shoppers to find solutions quickly in real-time, you can begin to drive this rate down.

Video

If you spend a lot of time on social media, you will notice that video is a significantly more prominent aspect of the various social channels than it used to be. This year, video marketing is used by 81% of businesses, an increase of 18% on the previous year, and 21% of the results that show up in a Google listing are video-based.

This trend is set to continue- by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer traffic. Your business needs to take this shift into account when you get your digital marketing ready for 2020.

Countless statistics support the case for investing hard in video marketing; businesses of every size should be exploring how they can implement video to generate more business.

Voice Searches

Voice searches may not be the first thing that leaps to mind when you are thinking about what you can do to get your digital marketing ready for 2020. However, if you sell to consumers, your ears should be pricking up. In 2020, half of all online searches will voice searches.

But what does that mean for your business and how to get your digital marketing ready for 2020? For a start, it means that whoever has the top spot on Google effectively has a monopoly over everyone searching for their product or service.

Voice searches aim to make the life of the consumer easier (remember that cultural and societal shift towards demanding instant gratification?) Consumers will be able to quickly make orders without having to input anything manually. However, your business can monetise it, too.

Generating revenue through voice command technology

If you are a B2C business, harnessing voice technology is the kind of innovation you need that will keep you ahead of the curve in 2020.

If you have never delved into voice command technology before, it may seem a bit alien. However, now is the time to make that transition. Many online channels are highly competitive and so saturated with marketing that it can be hard to have your voice heard as a smaller business.

However, with omnichannel marketing, new channels are emerging, which allow you to jump on new trends quickly while maximising your voice.

A great example of new services allowing businesses to utilise and monetise voice command technology is Jetson AI, which allows you to harness the customer base of Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa to sell your own products and services.

Chatbots on Facebook

Chatbots have been around for a while, but they have now been developed to a level of sophistication where they play a vital role in delivering exceptional customer service, and they are definitely here to stay. If you want to get your digital marketing ready for 2020, you can need to consider implementing a Chatbot if you haven’t already.

Chatbots are a great solution for acknowledging customer queries and keeping lines of communication open. However, before you implement Chatbots into your marketing strategy make sure it’s sophisticated enough to deal with basic enquiries and make sure you have the human resources to jump on when needed to maintain a fast response time, a lengthy response time reflects poorly on your brand.

Facebook integrating chat services

Facebook has announced its plans to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. But what do the changes mean? Someone who exclusively uses messenger will be able to communicate with people who exclusively use Facebook’s other chat services (WhatsApp and Instagram).

While this is one change amongst many leading into 2020, it signifies a larger shift towards the omnichannel approach and businesses being given the tools to provide a seamless online experience from end-to-end.

Because it is free, WhatsApp is used more than texting in most countries. Once the three chat services are synced, there will be little stopping their dominance.

Voice search Podcasts

Another change that is coming is how users are able to find podcasts. Google is making it possible to search for podcasts and specific information in podcasts by automatically transcribing them so they can be featured in the search results.

Does your business create podcasts? If so, you will need to think about how SEO needs to be repurposed outside of its traditional text-based content. This is also applicable to other non-text-heavy content such as video. If you want to get your digital marketing ready for 2021, you may need to invest more time looking into this.

Conclusion

It’s undeniable that there’s a lot of change coming to the way we execute our digital marketing in 2020. Change can be scary, but digital marketing is always undergoing some kind of change, and the secret is to embrace those changes and make them work for you instead of waiting until you’re too far behind the curve to reap the benefits of adopting change early on. Do you need help to get you digital marketing ready for 2021? Book a free 30-minute digital marketing review here.

If you’d like more information on how you can prepare your digital marketing for 2020, KUB is here to help. Get in touch to see how you could be growing your business by innovating your digital marketing strategy.