There is a reason why brands and marketers alike are scampering for new digital marketing strategies. With increased competition especially after the advent of the Pandemic, everyone wants to cash in on the changed consumer behaviors. The pandemic has shown how digital is the way to go when it comes to improving a brand’s performance. Whether it is in terms of reaching target audiences, engaging them with content, or ensuring sales and revenues, digital marketing is the top draw. According to statistics, more than 50% of businesses worldwide spent $500,000 on digital marketing in 2020. Given this was a lean year, 2021 promises to draw in even more investments. In this article, we take help from digital marketing experts at Digitrio. We request them to help us with certain important aspects of performance marketing.

Digital Marketing in 2021: What Changed and What Didn’t?

Everyone knows that digital marketing is a highly dynamic field of activity. It is only natural that many changes have taken place in 2021 as compared to 2020. Let us look at some of them below-

Consumer use of digital platforms like search engines and social media has seen a marked increase. With the lockdown and social distancing in place, people are using and engaging with digital more than ever.
There has been radical growth in the E-commerce space. More and more people are using E-commerce platforms to order everything from pet supplies to medicines. This is expected to rise shortly.
Communication platforms driven by digital are fuelling webinars and video marketing. This has emerged as a new area to spread credibility and engage with potential target audiences on digital platforms.

While the above are some of the major changes that came about, other essentials of digital marketing continued to draw importance as ever before-

The Focus and attention on SEO as an organic digital marketing strategy to boost performance continues to operate. Blogger outreach has assumed a newer dimension in 2021.
Content is as important as it had ever been. Given that users are more evolved and aware, the requirements for great content are at an all-time high. This is why brands are seriously pursuing Content Marketing.
Local SEO platforms like GMB are helping local businesses get back into the scheme of things by driving local footfalls. GMB has emerged as a key marker for SEO and is being taken seriously by digital agencies.

Top Digital Marketing Strategies for Brands to Improve Performance in 2021

While you must have gotten a fair idea of some of the strategies, in this section, we will break it down for you even further-

Content Marketing is Leading the way-

There is no other way to say this. Almost all digital platforms, whether they be search engines or social media are prioritizing content. This is why almost all the major brands in the world are investing heavily in content marketing. From creating long format SEO-optimized blog articles to engaging with guest posting, content is playing a major role.

Video Marketing on Social Media is big-

Remember the time when everyone said that doing as many posts on social was the best way forward. Not anymore. Now, more than the number of posts, it is the quality that matters. This is why video marketing is emerging as such a strong strategy. It enjoys the highest reach, engagement, and clicks. In other words, it can deliver with performance.

Strategic SEO Campaigns are still worth their weight in gold-

Every digital marketing agency has its SEO strategy, which they feel delivers. What matters is that investing in SEO over the long-term is a sure-shot way to gain organic success. Not only will you ace the search engines, but end up winning a lot of credibilities and digital branding along the way. Brands need to take SEO seriously if they are looking for rankings.

Blogging and Influencer Marketing are here for good-

Bloggers for Search Engines and Influencers for Social Media. A brand needs both for success. There is no doubt that serious blogging, especially resource-material based can have a lot of positive impact on a brand’s digital performance. It can help direct traffic, build branding and result in direct sales and revenues. The same holds for influencers on social media.

Sales on Social Media Platforms-

Yes, if you haven’t been living under a rock all this while, you will know that selling on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram is a real possibility. With the right content in place, you can directly allow consumers to shop from your Instagram page. This will help you open up a new sales vertical that will help build revenues and eventual profits.

Digital Marketing: Future Trends for 2021

If you have been looking for ways to grow your digital marketing performance, you would have heard about the following-

Voice Search
Artificial Intelligence
Data Management
Mobile Responsiveness
Live Streaming

You can say that all the above-mentioned bullet points are the future trends for digital marketing in 2021 and beyond. While they are not defining features till now, they will be the way forward in some years. It is important to keep one eye on the future and start building your digital marketing strategies accordingly. This will help you stand apart from your competitors and develop a future-proof strategy for your brand.

The Bottom Line

As we have already mentioned, digital marketing is not static. It keeps evolving. The best thing is that it does not require you to completely abandon something and go over to something incredibly unconnected. The same goes for digital marketing strategies according to Digitrio. SEO should not be abandoned, rather newer strategies of optimizing performance should be leveraged for success. Social media too. Images and Albums are not going to bring as many views, reach, and traffic as live sessions, videos, and reels. If you are a brand venturing into the year 2021 with hope and expectations, you need to pay attention to the contents of the article. If you have any more questions for the experts at Digitrio, let us know in the comments below. We will try our best and request them to help you out.