Throughout 2020 and 2021, digital marketing became a way of life for many businesses. The pandemic changed the focus of marketing for business, perhaps forever. Meetings with clients were done using video chat. Customers who used to rely on brick-and-mortar stores began to explore online options more and more. Even when stay-at-home orders were lifted, many people continued to prefer to shop online.
Among the biggest 2021 marketing lessons was to take your digital presence more seriously if you want to be competitive in your industry. As companies move online in droves, you can count on having more competition than ever in the digital world. It’s imperative to stay connected with your customers. Meet them where they are online.
What Are Some 2021 Marketing Lessons on Digital Marketing?
To make your website stand out, take advantage of what’s new and improved in technology. You must have a mobile-friendly site. If yours isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s time to work with a web developer. Consider investing in improvements to your website to include digital solutions such as:
- Chatbots
- Virtual reality
- Video content
- Webinars and live events
Look for innovative ways to communicate with customers in real time and listen to what they’re telling you. Machine learning and artificial intelligence provide tools for collecting information about your audience. Marketing automation, such as automated messages through text, email and social platforms generates leads and streamlines marketing efforts while increasing productivity and decreasing costs.
What Were Some 2021 Marketing Lessons about Privacy?
With an increasing number of cyberattacks and data breaches, privacy and security are top of mind. In 2021, top tech companies made changes intended to protect the privacy of consumers. The big changes that impacted marketers include:
- Apple’s changes to IOs 14. This update allowed users to opt out of data sharing, which can reduce insights previously available to marketers.
- Google’s intention to phase out third-party cookies in 2022. This makes it more difficult for marketers to collect data on website visitors, which has been used in retargeting.
These 2021 marketing lessons mean that you must rethink alternative ways to make sure your marketing efforts are effective without relying on cookies. Focus on people-based marketing, which is a way to interact with customers in ways or places that they’re interested in engaging.
What Marketing Lessons Are Important for 2022?
The 2021 marketing lessons reemphasized an ongoing lesson for marketers: the need to adapt to changes as they happen. In the world of marketing, change is constant and to be expected. In 2022, continue to build a recognizable online presence while providing authentic, personalized content. Test and analyze your strategies and be ready for further changes going forward.
Bradford Strategies can help you implement the latest changes in digital marketing. Whether you need help expressing your digital personality with expert web design, improving search engine optimization, social media marketing and paid advertising, or analyzing and interpreting results, Bradford Strategies has the tools and expertise to do that. Stand out among the competition by taking advantage of the 2021 marketing lessons and making them work in your favor.
Contact us to discuss your online marketing needs.
