Practical Marketing Practices for Your Business in the Second Half of 2021
The second half of 2021 is significant in the business landscape. But, why? It is because the world is gradually recovering from the clutches of the COVID19 pandemic.
With the gradual recovery from the pandemic, businesses are making significant efforts to build fantastic products and strong connections with customers. Companies have realized that customers prefer brands that understand them better.
If you are yet to implement the latest marketing trends, you are not too late. Here is the list
1. Social Audio
Do you remember chat rooms that dominated the internet during the 90s and early 2000s? People used to chat for hours on the internet. But, things changed from 2010 to 2014, when the major social networks AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger ended support for voice chat rooms.
You might wonder why we have referred to the old trend. Go through the following paragraphs. You will figure out why.
In 2020, the innovative Clubhouse app came into existence, making social audio a comeback. Notably, the app already has over 10 million users, despite it is still in beta.
So, history is repeating itself.
At the same time, popular social media networks are using social audio to capture their audience. For example, Twitter has launched its social audio feature called Spaces, Telegram launched Voice Chats 2.0, Spotify launched Greenroom, and Facebook rolled out Live Audio Rooms.
The return of chat rooms signifies the need for human interactions for businesses to flourish by opening up marketing opportunities.
2. Marketing Automation
During the past few years, marketing teams have increased their budgets to accommodate marketing automation to integrate new technologies.
Marketing automation finds the primary use as a lead generator. But, it also finds uses to lead nurturing and customer engagement, eventually boosting sales revenue.
Already, social media automation and email marketing automation are familiar with marketing professionals.
But, one aspect that gained the upper hand in the recent past is data-driven automation, which involves using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics tools to drive insights about the target audience and improve marketing strategy and techniques.
During the later part of 2021, data-driven insights are likely to play a dominant role in generating leads and conversions.
3. Video Content and Live Streaming
During the lockdown phase, the trend of live video streaming gained momentum. Live videos are engaging content types. The connection happens with the audience in real-time.
Moreover, you can protect your business as more authentic and realistic. So, a live video content strategy projects the positivity of your brand.
By now, 48 percent of marketers have implemented live videos in their marketing strategies.
One of the key features of live video streaming is brands can interact with a significant part of their audience that previously viewed television.
4. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been gaining popularity over the last few years. Moreover, the momentum has strengthened with the predominance of micro-influencers on social media platforms.
Interestingly, influencer marketing figured in many businesses’ marketing strategies in 2021. The trend has marked a notable change in the marketing strategies. And social media and content marketing have integrated influence marketing.
For example, TikTok and Instagram have become the most popular social media routes for influencers to connect with consumers through short, easily digestible, engaging videos.
Also, many of these influencer videos combine entertainment and education to attract and retain their audience’s interest.
Today, most consumers demand authenticity so that micro-influencers would play a significant role in influencer marketing.
5. Brand Differentiation
Today, the perception of the brand influences buying decisions. So, it would help if you made efforts to differentiate your brand from your competitors. Brand differentiation also allows you to connect with your target audience better.
Consumers today do not regard products as only products but as experiences. As such, the most successful branding efforts involve communicating authentic experiences about your products or services to your target market.
Branding also involves communicating to your target audience the changing needs and expectations related to your business offerings.
Today, brands refer to products, solutions, experiences, personality, social values, and authenticity.
It would be best if you built your brand around trust, transparency, and credibility. Only then today’s consumers will accept your business offerings, and you will become profitable.
6. Mobile Commerce and Mobile Marketing
With the predominance of mobiles among people, mobile commerce has become more popular. It is expected that mobile commerce will grow by 68 percent in 2022. So, do not fail to have a solid mobile marketing strategy to leverage the advantage of the growing mobile commerce.
The pandemic has also played a significant role in strengthening the usage of mobile commerce.
The advantage of mobile commerce is that it is all-encompassing and cuts across marketing formats from social media to paid advertising.
Moreover, you can implement innovative strategies such as push notifications and mobile SEO.
7. User-Generated Content
Encouraging user-generated content (UGC) is another effective strategy for building authentic connections.
There has been a growing engagement through UGC because it influences the purchasing decisions of 90 percent of consumers. And the underlying reason is the authenticity that UGC provides by humanizing the brand.
Consumers nowadays see a brand and its products from the eyes of other human beings. So if they get a positive perception, the corresponding brand can get business. And it is highly effective.
Therefore, you should engage and amplify content shared by users to encourage other people to get involved in the process.
For example, when you plan your year-end discount sales, it will help if you include a contest to push an appealing narrative to propagate your brand message wisely.
Bear in mind that your role in a UGC strategy is to plan, and the customer will tell stories to drive the campaign. But, you should watch the campaign patterns for insights and improve other aspects of the campaign.
Conclusion
With the gradual return of normalcy after the pandemic, the marketing trends are also undergoing changes to cater to customers’ changing needs. You can restructure your marketing campaign with the tips shared in this article.
