16 Digital Marketing Trends for 2021
2020 is officially behind us; but the repercussions of this strange, terrifying year are continuing to unfold. COVID-19 had a major impact on businesses, many of which had to completely change the way they operate. Lockdown measures and store closures forced more businesses to go online and offer delivery and pick-up options, and more consumers to start using digital services they had never used before to purchase products and services. As a result, many trends in marketing had accelerated during 2020, and other were born out of necessity. In this post, we outline the major trends that are expected to influence digital marketing in 2021.
1. Brands promoting social issues are expected to walk the walk
2020 was a year when social disparities could no longer be ignored. The pandemic on one hand and the racial justice protests on the other hand exposed how many groups still suffer from systemic discrimination. While many brands tried showing their support, those that were perceived as being inauthentic were chastised by consumers. Posting a black square on Instagram is no longer seen as enough (and that specific action proved counterproductive when activists’ messages were drowned in a sea of black squares).
When brands address social issues — racism, gender inequality, discrimination against LGTBTQA+, ableism, body shaming — they are now expected to put their words into action. A study conducted by Edelman during the racial injustice protests in the United States last summer showed that 60% of Americans would base their decision to buy or boycott a brand in the future on the brand’s response to the protests. A Think With Google study shows that 64% of US consumers are more likely to consider a brand’s product after seeing an ad that they consider to be diverse or inclusive.
A report from Accenture outlines several way in which brands can take action:
- Selling products that reflect consumers’ diverse needs
- Promoting products with ads that reflect the experiences of people from all walks of life
- Creating shopping environments that accommodate people’s different needs
- Hiring workers from diverse backgrounds through inclusive hiring practices
FitTrack, a company in the fitness measurement tech space, just launched a campaign titled “Live Your True Health”. The campaign, which includes TV commercials, influencer activities and social media content, depicts people in various shapes and sizes showcasing their athletic abilities. Using copy like “Turn the Scales on Weight” and “Checking Your LBS is BS” and casting real everyday athletes in the ads, the brand’s goal is to reshape perceptions of who is an athlete and bust the misconceptions tying people’s weight to their health.
2. Digitally savvy Boomers are a growing market
While many marketers tend to focus their attention on Millennials and Gen Z, they should not ignore Baby Boomers, especially in 2021. In the past year everyone has come to depend more on digital, not just the younger generations. A study from June 2020 showed that 45% of Boomers are shopping more online due to the pandemic. And now that more of them have gotten the hang of how to shop online, they are more likely to keep doing it in the future.
When targeting Boomers it’s important not to treat them as a monolith and only target them by age, but also by passions and hobbies. The two most popular social networks among Boomers are Facebook and Pinterest, but there is a growing interest in other platforms, like YouTube. In recent years more Boomers have been turning to YouTube for information and entertainment; in fact, they are now 1.3 times more likely to watch a YouTube tutorial than read an instructions manual.
3. Local search optimization is crucial for local businesses
Local SEO is always good practice, but 2020 made it painfully clear that local businesses that are not making themselves visible enough on search engines are losing out. The need to stay home and not travel far has led to an increase in searches for local businesses to serve people’s needs, as shown by the rise in Google searches for “near me” throughout 2020. On top of that, seeing small business owners struggling through the pandemic drove many consumers to shop at local businesses more than did previously.
As stay at home measures are likely to be maintained to some extent through 2021, businesses (particularly small businesses) should ensure that they are listed on local directories and verify those listings, and keep their Google My Business information updated. It is also advisable to feature local keywords prominently on the website — not only the name of the town the business is located in, but also the neighbourhood name, and local landmarks.
4. Consumers expect UX to be flawless
The pandemic has forced brands and consumers alike to go online in 2020. Many transactions that had traditionally taken place in brick and mortar settings have now gone digital. As consumers are getting a better handle on performing various actions online, they expect brands to step up their game in all touchpoints — their website, ads, apps, and social channels. Web pages should load fast, be compatible with all devices, be easily navigable, have no broken links, and provide clear CTAs. A smooth user experience has always been important, but now it has become crucial.
5. Position zero on Google is the new SEO goal
Brands used to compete for making the first search result in the Google SERP, or at least one of the first ones. But now it’s the featured snippet, or “position zero”, that has become the most coveted spot. A featured snippet is the box that displays a detailed explanation in response to the search query, and is located at the top of the search page above the rest of the results. In many cases, users don’t even have to click the link to the website as the featured snippet provides them with the information they were looking for.
Along with being located right at the very top and within a conspicuous box, another big advantage of featured snippets is that they recognize your brand as a thought leader, thereby increasing users’ awareness of it. In the example below, it is likely that many new users were exposed to The Spruce website this past year after their mask sewing guide had become a featured snippet. HubSpot provides a good primer on ways you can optimize your website to get a featured snippet box.
6. TikTok is expanding its advertising options
In 2020, TikTok’s popularity had exploded, reaching 1 billion monthly users across more than 150 countries. It’s very likely that having to stay at home throughout much of the year has driven many new users to join TikTok and lose themselves in the ongoing stream of entertaining videos.
Until recently, advertising on TikTok was costly, with campaigns starting at $10 CPM and requiring a minimum investment of $500. Some users reported campaign costs up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, which explains why most advertisers on TikTok so far have been giant brands like Nike and Disney. However, with the app recently launching TikTok for Business, it could mean that TikTok advertising will become more accessible to smaller advertisers, too.
According to Hubspot, “Businesses that will find the most success on the app are ready to, or already, create and post behind the scenes, organic content on their account. If you’re a clothing company, this could look like a behind the scenes video of a photoshoot for your new clothing line.”
7. AR is becoming more mainstream
The use of augmented reality in marketing isn’t new — brands like IKEA and home depot have been using AR for a few years now. But with a record number of consumers shopping online, and wanting to “try on” items before they purchase them, 2020 has been a catalyst in making it more ubiquitous. AR allows retail brands to create virtual storefronts and a digital shopping experience that can be almost as satisfying as in-person shopping.
But now AR in retail is also going social — in the fall of 2020 Levi’s complemented its virtual closet experience with the Squad app, which allows friends tovirtually shop together. Industry experts are also predicting that with video meetings becoming the norm, there could be a demand for virtual objects like jewelry, home décor items and apparel to improve one’s appearance and surroundings without buying physical items. Think Zoom backgrounds — but with a more sophisticated and realistic look.
8. Providing educational resources online can help brands stay afloat
Not only fitting rooms were being missed in 2020; product experts were missed, too. When you’re looking online for makeup, for example, it is not always easy figuring out what shade you need without the advice of an expert. To counter this issue, some brands brought their experts online.
In April 2020, beauty brand Clarins launched “Clarins & Me”, a personalized service which allowed shoppers to book a beauty consultation over the phone with the brand’s experts. Using social ads to promote the service, Clarins saw 30,000 visits from social during store closures, a 42% week-on-week increase in product line sales, and 450+ bookings for the service during its first month.
9. The drive towards sustainability is not going away
Remember how the climate crisis was one of the hottest news topics before COVID-19 hit? The pandemic may have pushed it aside for a while, but it is still very much on people’s minds. According to a survey by Nielsen, 81% of consumers feel strongly that companies should help protect the environment.
A local start-up illustrates the demand for eco-friendly options: Suppli, a new Toronto-based initiative, is renting reusable take-out containers to restaurants that want to reduce the waste created by single-use containers. This has been a problem for both restaurants and consumers as restaurants have had to rely mostly on take-out and delivery orders since the start of the pandemic. Megan Takeda-Tully, the founder of Suppli, says that the demand from restaurants is exceeding her expectations, and that she is getting requests from places as far as British Columbia.
While addressing sustainability issues, brands should be careful not to be accused of greenwashing, as today’s savvy consumers are adept at researching companies’ various claims about their products. In August 2020, the National Advertising Division recommended that Tide, the detergent company, change the labeling on its “Tide Purclean Plant-Based” detergent after it was found out that while 75% of the detergent ingredients were indeed plant-based, the other 25% were not, some of them being petroleum-based.
When it comes to sustainability messaging, transparency matters to consumers. Sustainable shoe brand Allbirds announced in April 2020 that it will label every one of its items with its carbon footprint. Brands looking to become more sustainable should adopt this type of transparency, but back it up with concrete actions, too, like switching to materials that are more environmentally friendly, using reusable packaging, and embracing more sustainable practices in manufacturing and distribution.
10. Co-watching will continue into 2021
In 2020 we saw companies like Netflix and Facebook offering a “watch party” feature to connect friends and family members through shared experiences. Throughout the year many people tuned in to watch games and concerts through live streams on YouTube and other channels, chatting with friends online during the events. Even with the COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out globally, no one can tell when we can safely resume social activities like going to music concerts, sports games, and movie theatres, so co-watching remains a safe way to share experiences through 2021.
11. Social media is becoming a channel for purchase
Social media used to be a channel for increasing awareness for brands, but it is now also becoming the place to shop. With Facebook Shops available across Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest shops with catalogs and shoppable pins, and TikTok moving into the social commerce scene — it is becoming easier to shop while you scroll, without even visiting the brand’s website. 30% of consumers say they would shop directly on social media platforms.
AdEspresso provides these four tips for brands interested in offering social commerce:
- Focus on lower-priced items as they tend to perform better on social media
- Create an automated bot checkout that customers can engage with directly
- Integrate social commerce into your e-commerce platform
- Partner with influencers to boost social commerce sales
12. Virtual events are here to stay
The pandemic may have accelerated the availability of virtual events due to necessity, but they will likely continue into the future. Going virtual has made many companies realize that their events (concerts, conferences, courses, screenings, etc.) are reaching new audiences who could not previously attend them due to accessibility issues, costs, or travel restrictions. Virtual events generally have lower production costs, and if more people can attend them, that means higher ROI for companies.
The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario, have created virtual versions for many of their events, such as photography classes, talks from biodiversity experts, and horticultural therapy sessions. I was not familiar with the Royal Botanical Gardens previously, but I recently saw a Facebook ad for their virtual event, “How Not to Kill Your Houseplants” (something many people who have started buying plants during the pandemic are struggling with) and signed up immediately. And just like that, RBG acquired a new customer.
13. Visual search is on the rise
Visual search is not a new concept, but it is continuing to evolve and has become available on more and more platforms in the past few years. The ability to search for products with images instead of text is highly appealing to younger consumers: 62% of Millennials and Gen Z want visual search capabilities that will allow them to discover and identify products on their mobile devices.
Platforms for visual search are already available, like Google Lens, which allows users to take a photo and search the object on the app. Some of Google Lens’s capabilities include finding similar products and where they can be purchased, identifying products through scanning their barcodes, providing reviews and summaries when shown images of books, and identifying plants, animals and landmark buildings and providing information about them.
Pinterest also has an app called Pinterest Lens, which now recognizes 2.5 billion home and fashion items. It has recently added a Shop tab to the app, which links the image to the retailer’s checkout page for the product.
As more users are now searching images rather than using text queries, brands are advised to optimize their websites for visual search by following these best practices:
- Using structured data
- Adding alt text to images
- Using descriptive filenames for images
- Having an image sitemap
- Using appropriate image sizes and file types
14. More brands are tapping into voice search
Like visual search, voice search has also been growing in recent years, partly due to the increased use of voice assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google. One third of the US population uses voice assistants and 52% of smart speaker owners use their device daily. Tying into the rise in local search, 46% of voice search users search local businesses daily.
It’s easy to understand why voice search is becoming popular: the capabilities have been improving, many find it easier to talk to a device rather than type, and the hands-off nature of voice search makes it convenient to search while doing other activities like cooking or driving.
Many brands are taking advantage of the rising popularity of voice search and incorporating it into their digital marketing. Domino’s has been using voice activated mobile ordering since 2014, PayPal allows voice activated payments through Alexa and Siri, and Campbell’s helps people to look for recipes. There are now several companies in the voice e-commerce space that offer to help brands get found through voice searches, such as Voix and Jetson.
To optimize a website for voice search, it’s important to use conversational language (focusing on long-tail keywords), include detailed answers to common questions in the content (for example, adding an FAQ page), and ensure that the website is optimized for mobile and local searches, as voice search is more likely to occur when searching for something locally and/or on the go.
15. Influencer marketing is evolving
Influencer marketing and sponsored content will continue to grow in 2021. But as more people are turning away from mega-influencers and opting to follow smaller influencers that are perceived as more authentic, trustworthy, and relatable, the influencer marketing landscape is evolving to fulfil those needs.
Later, a major visual marketing platform, is predicting a focus on micro- and nano-influencers in 2021. The chart below shows the relationship between the level of engagement an account gets and the number of its followers. The platform is also expecting more influencers to start using video, which is perceived as a more authentic, less curated format. With the general move in digital marketing towards inclusion and diversity, they will be similarly integrated in influencer marketing to showcase brands’ values.
The emphasis on authenticity will also be expressed in less “polished”, more raw images, and value-driven content focused on showing influencers’ real lives and personalities. In the same vein, “one-off” partnerships between brands and influencers will be replaced with long-term connections.
16. Privacy concerns are making an impact on marketing
What happens when digital marketing, an industry that’s highly reliant on tracking users across the web, starts facing barriers to that ability? We are about to find out. We are now at a culmination of several developments which are going to make advertisers’ work more challenging: new data privacy legislation, changing consumer behaviours about data privacy, and the phasing out of third-party tracking cookies by web browsers.
Major technology companies have been taking steps to increase privacy controls for their users, significantly affecting the advertising models of ad networks like Facebook and Google. Notably, Apple has recently swept the rug under advertisers’ feet with its iOS 14 release, in which websites would have to ask for users’ permission to track them across apps and websites. Advertisers are concerned that when given the option, users would opt out of being tracked, which would affect conversion tracking and reporting, optimization, and targeting.
The major ad platforms are already tackling the issue: Facebook has recently addressed the topic on its Facebook for Business website, and is providing guidance to advertisers on its Business Help Centre. There will likely be more updates from Facebook, Google and other ad networks in the upcoming months, so it’s a good idea to follow those updates and adjust campaigns per the platforms’ guidance.
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At ONBOARDdigital we do our best to stay on top of trends and developments in the digital marketing landscape, so if you want to discover what 2021 has in store, we suggest you keep following the blog, our social accounts, and our recently launched podcast.
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