Knowing what digital marketing trends to expect will not only help your company get a head start over your competitors, but it will also make it easier for you to innovate, adapt, and improvise in the following months.
Another year is coming to a close, and as we gear up for a new chapter that is 2021, let’s find out what’s in store for us in terms of digital marketing trends:
AI upgrades in SEO tools
Once upon a time, Google’s algorithm looked at the number of links, and so link building went off the charts. Then, the algorithm paid more attention to high-quality content, which was followed by the dawn of SEO content marketing. Basically, search engines are always changing their algorithms to keep up with users’ behavior changes and the development of technology. And so, SEO marketers must adapt, too.
Google has announced its AI upgrades that will affect how websites are ranked. Changes include a greater diversity in subtopics, indexed passages in a webpage, and a new spelling algorithm, among others. With these changes, SEO is expected to become even more competitive, which will put pressure on businesses to find better search engine optimization or SEO services to ensure their sites continue to rank. Similarly, there is speculation that SEO marketers will make use of AI-backed tools to adapt to Google’s new AI changes soon–albeit not yet widespread.
Rise of information marketing
Information marketing is the creation, promotion, and sale of digital products that aim to solve a common issue within a niche or topic. These digital products include e-books, audiobooks, video training courses, software, coaching programs, and more. Unlike content marketing which focuses on producing high-quality content that ranks well on search engines, information marketing is more about the content itself.
When you pay more attention to information marketing, people who buy your information are more likely to buy your products as well. Creating digital products also require relatively smaller capital (as well as little to no overhead costs) but have large profit potential that can funnel more money into your business. So if you haven’t looked into this type of marketing just yet, you might want to get in on the trend this following year.
More voice-powered technology
With the rise of voice-powered techs like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, we can expect more search engine queries to be powered by voice search in the near future. However, the way we use search engines by typing differs from the way we search using voice commands. And naturally, marketers will need to adapt to this change by using new strategies for local voice search.
Voice search queries are more conversational, more intentional, more nuanced, and tend to be longer than queries made through typing. For instance, when a user wants to find a vegan restaurant, they might type “vegan restaurant near me” in the search bar but say, “find me a vegan restaurant within 10 miles” to a voice assistant.
For SEO marketers, optimizing for search engines can mean using keywords with voice command searches in mind (i.e. using conversational keywords), creating persona-based content, and building web pages that focus on FAQs, among many other strategies.
Increase in organic marketing
Simply put, organic marketing is the process of generating traffic without paying for advertising. Usually, traffic is generated organically through other forms of digital marketing such as social media marketing, email marketing, and content marketing.
With the economic disaster that the pandemic has brought this year, we can expect customers to be warier of their purchases, especially online. Finances are tight and they want to ensure that they get the value that they’re paying for. Hence, it makes sense for marketers to focus on organic marketing through educating, engaging, and communicating with audiences on a more personal level. As opposed to running ads, this option may be more cost-effective because paid promotions might not work as well as you want them to.
Augmented reality
We’ve seen a big rise in augmented reality technology this year due to social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders. Now that it’s not 100% safe for people to visit stores, try on clothes, or attend events, businesses have seen the value of augmented reality beyond its potential in gaming.
With augmented reality, customers can digitally try on clothes, see how a piece of furniture looks in their room through their phone, and modify their vehicle virtually, among many other retail applications. And now that things are still uncertain with the pandemic, businesses should look into this type of technology for their next digital marketing efforts in 2021.
The digital marketing scene is ever-changing, and to be able to make it to the top, you should be ready to adapt to trends that are coming our way. These are just some of the trends you can expect to see in 2021–who knows what else is in store for us next year?
