After such a hard year, many breaking points happened in business models, working methods, and also digital marketing trends.
2021 Digital Marketing Trends will be shaped by Artificial Intelligence, Changing Market Shares, privacy, and data science more than in 2020. Below you can find 21 Digital Marketing Trends that will appear in 2021 with relevant data and examples.
1. Decrease in Google Market Share
Google keeps the users in the ecosystem of the Google Search Engine by performing ambiance optimization with Chrome, Chromebook, Gmail, Drive, Android, Google Forms, Google Meet, Google Family, and similar products.
However, this year, after the market share of Google decreased from 90% to 86% with the phone and computer companies producing their own search engines, it may drop below 80% with Apple’s and Huawei’s new age search engines.
2. Privacy and Security Are Getting More Importance on Internet
- Safari’s IPT (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) activation
- Chrome Developers’ decision to “phase out” all third-party cookies
- Google Analytics 4 giving importance to user identity and including the c-anonymization process in its metrics
- More people starting to use tracker-blockers
- New search engines bringing users’ privacy to the forefront
- it will be normal to be more respectful to the identity and field of users
- it will be normal to start Web Analytics measurements with “missing data”
3. Artificial Intelligence Being a Fundamental Part of Web Analytics and Development
As “missing data” can be completed with the help of Machine Learning and artificial intelligence, it will be easily known to predict the behavior of users in different periods, which product will be consumed according to the stock information, and how to make better conversion-oriented updates according to the product sales correlations to the Recommendation System.
In the SEO world, processes such as automatic alt tag, title tag writing, duplicate content consolidation, underperformed web page redirection can even be managed with the help of artificial intelligence.
Content improvement with the help of artificial intelligence, content categorization and interpretation of different dimensions, and conversion to SEO Insights will begin to be the ordinary features expected from SEO experts.
4. Standing Out of Coder Marketer Profile
Knowing software and Marketing at the same time will be a market demand from marketers and software developers. In-country sectors where internal planning takes a long time, the coder market will be in a profile that can accelerate the process and accelerate the growth process by thinking holistic.
We will witness that the Software and Marketing departments are increasingly using a similar and similar language.
5. Increasing the Use of Chatbot with Artificial Intelligence
45% of consumers say that when they talk with artificial intelligence rather than a real person, they reach a conclusion faster. Companies know that when Chatbot is developed, it increases customer satisfaction and reduces company costs. Therefore, the AI-based Chatbot industry will be getting bigger.
6. The Growth of Subscription Economy Model
Instead of the “pay per product” approach, there will be growth in business models that make consumers subscribers or subscriptions.
Walmart has started to serve grocery shopping to certain houses on certain dates with a monthly subscription, while Amazon offers many advantages by bundling Amazon Prime to consumers. In addition to familiar companies such as Spotify and Netflix, we see that the “Subscription Economy” model has been adopted even in the “pet-care” and “pet-food” sectors.
Therefore, as the concept of “pay per product” will become increasingly obsolete in 2021, companies will try to surround their users in a wider manner over time.
7. Getting Flywheel Marketing Ahead of “Conversion-Based” traditional Marketing
Flywheel Marketing, instead of “linear conversion path”, is a marketing strategy that advocates that the transformation is experienced in every way, beyond the concept of “First Moment of Truth”, and in a period when everyone is a media/brand, all marketing verticals can be fed by accompanying the customer at every stage.
Today, before purchasing a product, users can read dozens of comments from different media, get answers by asking each other questions, watch videos, and experience the moment of “First Moment of Truth” while talking with their friends. With Flywheel Marketing, you have to surround the customer at any time.
8. Increasing the Importance of Video Content Marketing
According to Statista 2020 data, 60% of users definitely watch a video of the product they will buy before the purchasing activity. Videos enable users to grasp the product they want to buy more clearly.
Companies, on the other hand, should carry their product and service promotion to a higher level with increasing intensity, with examples designed in different ways according to channels such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Tiktok.
9. Increasing Micro-Influencer Marketing Studies
More budgets are allocated for Influencer Marketing as television becomes an increasingly traditional offline media.
In the marketing budget shared between macro and micro-influencer marketing, although the macro influencer provides more access, the micro-influencer provides more transformation.
In particular, medium-sized companies, therefore, we will see mass acquisition and conversion with brand-awareness magic of the budget of the micro-influencer market.
10. Using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Marketing
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies pave the way for a wider and more realistic interaction with products. Thus, it is possible to improve the product purchasing experience of the users and to establish closer contact with the product.
We will see that e-commerce sites that adapt to VR and AR technologies, especially cosmetics, clothing, and sports, come to the fore.
11. Increasing Marketing Tendency Through Communication Applications
Via Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Skype, WeChat applications, e-commerce business owners will start to make sales by communicating with their customers directly.
Facebook Messenger has already announced that it provides communication between 15 million consumers and manufacturers within a month. I think Facebook, which has a place in a blue ocean with communication applications, far from the competition area between Google and Amazon, will stand out with the concept of “Message Marketing”.
12. The Rise of Google, Apple, IBM, Amazon Monopoly Wars
While Google and Amazon are competing with each other to become a Product Search Engine and Universal Marketplace, we see that Google follows more efficient policies with Prabhakar Raghavan in favor of Organic Search.
With Apple’s entry into the Search Engine Market, I think that IBM, which already has all the necessary patents, will take more sharp steps.
13. The Expansion of the Conversational Marketing Ecosystem
Conversational Marketing is marketing realized by establishing a dialogue between a company and its customers.
Just like the rise of message applications and the shift of marketing efforts to various messaging platforms, Email Marketing, CRM Systems will gain more importance and take shape within the scope of Conversational Marketing.
Conversational Marketing has been a seriously sought-after approach, especially in the rise of Facebook, and today it is coming back to the agenda.
14. Monitoring Core Algorithm Updates and Systemization of Focusing on the E-A-T Concept
It will become a trend to review Core Algorithm Updates, to gain nuance between winning and losing sites, to obtain a Topical Authority by giving semantic and systematic signals to Google’s Machine Learning Algorithms. Although it is late, this process will be better understood in 2021.
15. Creativity for Structured Data
In May, Schema Mark up 8.0 was released. With the newly published Schema Mark Up 8.0 in 2020, many new structured data samples were added to the existing pool according to the feedback given.
Now, it will not be enough to change the design on the web page to send a message to a Search Engine on a subject, but it will be possible to talk to the Search Engine with a consistent SD Structure. Thus, a web-based, not domain-based, Source Rank understanding will be born.
16. Popularization of Short-video Content Form
We talked about the importance of Video Content Marketing, but Video Content is divided into long-form and short-form.
Instagram Reels, Tiktok contents, Facebook Stories, Linkedin Stories, YouTube Shorties are all examples of short video formats. Short video formats used to express a situation within seconds are increasingly important in marketing and influencer marketing.
The most viewed Reels on Instagram so far are Netflix, Red Bull, Louis Vuitton, Asos, and NBA Basketball.
Especially within the scope of Customer-retention, Instagram Reels is the most preferred method in terms of short-video content form. In the future, it will increase the competitiveness of the companies in this sense on the axis of “humor” and “influencer” concepts.
17. Combining Online and Offline Channels for Conversion Tracking
The permeability between Online and Offline Channels is gradually increasing. Especially in the car and automotive industry and in the e-commerce niche, where offline stores such as white goods are important, there is a great commitment between store visits and e-commerce activity.
For this, it is of great importance to follow the user, to see where the first communication channel is, and to understand how the TV advertisements are reflected on search demand.
For this, tools that can search and analyze all kinds of touchpoints such as Critical Mention or Media Analytics, regardless of online or offline, stand out.
18. Wide-spreading of “Personalization of Product Search”
According to the data of SmarterHQ, 86% of users are uncomfortable sharing their personal data and web activities, but at the same time, 90% of users are happy to receive personalized offers in one way or another or to display their unique search results.
According to the data of SmarterHQ, 86% of users are uncomfortable sharing their personal data and web activities, but at the same time, 90% of users are happy to receive their own offers in one way or another or to display their unique search results.
Generating more insight with fewer data with artificial intelligence, therefore, paves the way for what I have said about the 2021 trends. Below, according to SmarterHQ, it can be seen why users prefer “Personalized E-commerce Experience”.
19. Increasing the Omnichannel Marketing Approach
Omnichannel Marketing, as I call it, Holistic SEO will gradually rise. Without being tied to just a domain or a single vertical, the need to be active will increase at every point where competitors are active.
An example of Omnichannel Marketing comes from BanLook. By using BanLook Social Media, it increased the number of users coming to its stores at certain hours.
For example, Québec found that only 12 people in the 20-30 age range entered its stores between 1 and 2 o’clock on Fridays, of which only 2 made purchases. Using Social Media, they tripled this number.
Amazon uses offline data for online marketing by using the face and product recognition system in its stores. Thus, we can see how the online-offline conversion tracking is more closely interlinked.
These campaigns and methodologies implemented by large companies will gradually expand to medium and small businesses.
20. Rising of Shipping Wars Even More In 2021
Free shipping and unconditional free shipping will become more and more important with the gradually increasing shipping costs. This situation, referred to as Shipping Wars, shows that companies compete to ship their products both cheaper and faster, for customer satisfaction.
Amazon has started shipping using drones with the patents it has received and is considering combining Zeplin and Drones in the future.
Google, on the other hand, currently uses drones only for pizza delivery. Time passes at a different pace in the USA.
However, FedEx did not accept Amazon as a customer after demand increased by 24%. On top of that, Amazon established Prime Air Services, and also delivered 5 billion products with Prime Service in 2018.
21. Spreading of the Micro-Community Management Concept
Companies will be competing, even more, to build their own community with social media, forums, brick & mortar stores.
However, Micro-Community Management is not just about customers. By entering the points where designers, software developers, and marketers organize in small communities, companies can increase their own visibility with the work they perform free.
For example, when a company’s response is a trend on Reddit, designers can reveal viral posts on social media with different visual designs.
Likewise, marketers through many health-oriented Facebook groups can make appointments for their own customers.
We will see that the Micro-Community Management concept will rise in 2021.
Conclusion
If you know digital marketing trends that I didn’t mention in the article, feel free to write it below. And if you like the article, please share it. Thanks.