If you’re a diligent business owner or marketing manager, you’ll already be looking ahead to 2021.
With marketing moving at such a rapid pace and the customer journey evolving so quickly, what trends will arrive next year?
More importantly, what can you start planning for today that will have a lasting impact during 2021 in terms of lead generation and brand recognition?
Here are three marketing trends we expect to play a huge role for businesses next year, regardless of their industry or size.
Trend 1: The proliferation of voice search
How often do you talk to Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant each day?
Chances are, you may ask for weather updates, timers or a quick answer to a burning question.
The latter hints at why voice search is going to be so important for brands in 2021 and beyond. In fact, research suggests that the global voice commerce market will be worth a staggering $40 billion by 2022.
The importance of voice search in marketing cannot be underestimated, but it does require a change in mindset – particularly when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO).
As it stands, your website is probably optimized for text searches, but we search for answers very differently with our voice. For instance, rather than typing ‘best Thai restaurant near me’ into Google, you may ask Alexa, “where should we eat Thai tonight?”.
This requires an entirely different strategy for SEO. Are you planning to capitalize on voice search? If so, the time to do your homework is now.
Trend 2: Google Tag Manager becomes more important than ever
Let’s get this straight: Google Tag Manager (GTM) isn’t new. In fact, it was originally launched way back in October 2012.
This free tool helps businesses track specific events and actions that take place on their website. There’s no web development involved, and the data can be shared with Google Analytics, Google Ads and several third-party platforms.
So, why should we suddenly care about GTM nearly ten years after its initial release? The answer is simple: it’ll enable you to customize the buyer journey based on their actions and jump in when they’re most likely to react positively to your marketing.
With personalized marketing so important these days and the customer journey becoming ever more complex, GTM’s range of tools will be more vital than ever next year.
Trend 3: Audience targeting goes hyper
Last year it was revealed that nearly half of consumers are using ad blocking tools.
Does this spell the end of banner advertising and pay-per-click (PPC)?
Not at all. In fact, it simply ushers in an exciting new era of hyper-targeted advertising.
You see, with so many people wary of fake news and irrelevant, obtrusive advertising, your ads really do need to hit the right market at the right time to be noticed.
Thankfully, the targeting tools offered by platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Google are getting ever more sophisticated. Next year (well, from now, really) all brands and businesses need to respect the desire for relevant, timely, genuinely beneficial ads – and use these targeting tools.
A word of caution
As with anything trend and prediction related, the above notes are of course susceptible to change. However, we think we’ve picked out the stickiest marketing trends for 2021.
Regardless, we’ll be keeping an eagle eye on emerging marketing trends as the year progresses, so remember to check back regularly.
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