Now more than ever, all business owners need to be on top of their digital marketing game. The last 12 months have made all businesses re-think their digital presence and re-shape their marketing behaviour. It’s been exciting to see all different sorts of businesses evolve, get creative and reinvent their offering for customers because they could not open.

Technology is moving fast adapting rapidly through digital marketing is key as consumers behaviours are expecting the technology to be there for them. If you don’t, you’ll get left behind. If you do, you’ll thrive. Here’s 10 trends to be aware of for your marketing planning and budgeting for 2021/22:

1. Video Marketing is a must

If you haven’t incorporated video into your digital marketing strategy yet, you really should think about it for 2021 onwards. It is one of the most important marketing trends, and not to be ignored.

• 70% of consumers say they’ve shared a brand’s video
• 72% of businesses say video has improved their conversion rates
• 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions

Source: Single Grain

2. Programmatic Advertising

Defined by the Digital Marketing Institute as ‘the use of software to buy digital advertising. Whereas the traditional method includes requests for proposals, tenders, quotes, and human negotiation, programmatic buying uses machines and algorithms to purchase display space’. The benefit being you can buy better and more targeted, which should give you higher conversions and lower costs of customer acquisition. Music to any marketers’ ears. If you’re not using programmatic, time to start doing so.

3. Influencer Marketing

Influencers have large, engaged audiences across their social channels, this is why they’re called Influencers. Influencer marketing is a key marketing strategy for brands, and in reality it’s been around for years, with the use of celebrity in advertising saying ‘Hey, I use this brand and it’s cool’. The benefits of using celebrity or influencer endorsement is that it can build trust in your brand, reach new audiences, grow your social followers, increase web traffic and even increase sales. I would say however, if using Influencer Marketing it’s important that you set some clear KPIs, outline exactly what you want out of the partnership and that you have sign off. It’s important also that you let the influencer lead with the editorial content, as you want it to feel real and authentic.

4. Chatbots have the answer

We’re now living in a world where people we live in a world of immediacy, so it makes sense that the use of chatbots is going to start to power customer service. This AI tech will give customers the chance to chat any time, day or night.

5. Conversational marketing

If chatbots are going to power customer service we want a real-time connection, and that comes through being more real with our customers. Conversational marketing will make the brand feel real and authentic. At the end of the day, you don’t want to feel like you’re talking to a robot, even though you are. Some brands are doing this so well these days, I’ve heard people say, ‘I’m not sure if I’m talking to a robot or not’.

6. Messaging via social apps

Top two social apps are WhatsApp and Facebook. WhatsApp has 1.6 billion users and a whopping 55 billion messages sent every day. It makes perfect sense to be where your customers are. These apps are a great way of sending messages to customers and create a better customer experience.

7. Image search

Searching visually takes things to a new level, with users now able to upload and image search and get more specific results. You could see this working really well for in a number of categories: fashion, home interiors, property, food, beauty, travel. It’s not yet on every marketer’s radar, so if you want the edge, it’s worth considering if relevant to your category and customers.

8. Voice search

19% of households own a smart speaker as of 2021, with 23% under 55’s owning such a device. Those that own a voice-activated speak say that it’s used as part of their daily routine. Voice is set to grow, so it’s important to consider it in future strategy, not just to be relevant but also to see how it can build on your brand experience.

9. Content will still dominate SEO

Google have said that ‘rather than chase the latest SEO trends, it’s more important to ensure a site has fast speeds, useful links, and well-written content.’ So, it’s no surprise that this continues to be an area that businesses, both B2C and B2B should invest in. Again, I would draw attention to ‘well-written’ content, it should go without saying that the content should be written for the target audience and not simply for ‘key words’, make it relevant and useful and on brand.

10. Omnichannel still rules

Omnichannel has been a buzzword for a while now, but I’m pleased to say it’s still as relevant this year. When you have a consistent brand message across multiple touch points (and this means not just media, this should include physical store, social channels, online, pr etc) at relevant times, it will create action.