The new year is not even a month old and there is already a lot of discussion about what trends await us in the digital marketing world in 2021. Digital marketing is constantly changing and that’s why we keep you up to date on all the latest news.
You won’t be able to avoid the following trends this year:
Digital Marketing Trends – here’s what’s coming in 2021
Goodbye, Data
Last year, digital marketers had to learn to work with less data. The main reason for this was that Google is hiding more and more information. For example, in September, the search engine giant stopped listing all search terms in its Search Terms Report. This leads to digital marketers having less control over which search terms can trigger ads.
So, what can you do to stay successful despite less data and insights? First and foremost, it’s important to focus on writing successful ad copy. In addition, you should keep an eye on Google Ads’ automated bidding and adjust it if necessary.
Even more automation
While Google and other platforms are holding more information back, they continue to push automation heavily. We advertisers are supposed to trust the algorithms without knowing exactly how and where they invest the budget. That’s why it’s even more important to understand how these algorithms work.
Finally, advancing automation also has its positive sides: There is now more time available for you to take care of strategic issues and tasks, while the algorithms take care of the daily business. Therefore, providing quality information to the algorithms should be an important item on your to-do list in 2021.
First-party data
In 2021, it will become more difficult to collect data. This is due to changes in global privacy policies and restrictions on third-party cookies in various browsers.
This, in turn, means that in the new year it will be even more important to generate so-called first-party data while ensuring that data privacy is maintained, and usability is ensured.
New Instagram capabilities
Instagram’s new Reels and IGTV features continued their winning ways in 2020, and it’s only a matter of time before more ad inventory becomes available.
Here’s what you should be doing in 2021
Understand your audience and the buyer journey
As pointed out in the previous sections, you will have to work with less data and information in the new year. In 2021, you will therefore have to focus more on your target groups and the Buyer Journey again. It is advisable to find answers to the following questions:
- Why does someone buy from our company?
- How long does it take for someone to buy something?
- Where are the touchpoints between our company and customers?
- What information are our customers looking for?
- How can success be measured?
These questions and the resulting answers will help you get a better picture of your customers and target groups. And the better you know your customers, the better you can target them by adjusting your website, landing pages, ad copy, and targeting accordingly.
Diversification is becoming more important
Another impact of the loss of control on Google Ads is that other advertising platforms are increasingly being used, such as Microsoft Bing Ads.
Our advice: test different platforms and see which ones are successful. Possible platforms for diversification include Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, or even TikTok.
Perfect the advertising message
As part of automation, Google and the other ad platforms are pushing dynamic and responsive ads. With these ads, the ad platforms automatically adjust the size, display, and format to fit the ad space. To do this, you’ll need to provide ad titles, descriptions, images, and logos, among other things.
It follows that ad copy and images will play an important role in the new year, and it is advisable to invest in high-quality assets.
Test, test, test
What has been important in the past is even more important in the new year. With all the innovations, automation, and new platforms, it is still essential to test. After all, only with testing can you confidently assess whether or not a measure, platform, or feature is successful.
Mobile first
Although we are already in 2021, there are still many websites that are not optimized for mobile users. Therefore, in order to continue to be successful, companies need to demonstrate an understandable and mobile-optimized website.
A website with a focus on “mobile-first” will not only help your PPC campaigns but will also support your SEO.
2021 will bring many innovations and challenges: Having to work with less data, focusing on target groups and their buyer journey, and dealing with restrictions on third-party cookies – it certainly won’t be boring and there is a lot to do.
If you need any assistance, we’d love to hear from you.
