Digital Marketing Strategy Tips for 2021

In digital marketing, it’s an everchanging industry.

With new applications, social media platforms and algorithms to contend with every year. Not to mention the shifting social landscape and era of digital social justice that sees the younger generations expecting and demanding a political stance from larger companies on important issues such as climate change, sustainable practices and race and gender politics.

While all of these competing priorities and issues, it can seem overwhelming for an outsider. But, it’s just par for the course in marketing. That doesn’t mean it’s still not stressful.

We pulled our digital marketing strategy top tips for the changing landscape of 2021, what you need to know, what to watch and which trends are here to stay.

The Google Update and SEO

A lot of SEO specialists have been watching as the google update approached. It was scheduled for May 2021 but was pushed to June for Google to focus on their pixel phones. There has been chatter about what this will mean for SEO and how it will affect your digital marketing strategy.

Basically, the google page experience update (the BERT system) will introduce a new algorithm that will prioritise sites that provide a good page experience to users and understand ‘natural language’ used in searches.

While you should be aware of it as a marketer, it shouldn’t affect your SEO too adversely. Do some research and make sure your technical SEO and backend of your site is optimised. Create quality content and work on your backlinking strategy and you’ll be fine.

Tik Tok / Reels

When Tik Tok launched a couple of years ago digital marketers everywhere resigned themselves to learning yet another social media platform. But Tik Tok can be a lot of fun for businesses and great to include in your digital marketing strategy.

There is an opportunity to bring a light heartedness to your brand voice on the platform. Videos can be satirical or quirky or simply no-nonsense tips or hacks. And all this content can be doubled up and shared on reels on Instagram which is a great time saver.

At the end of the day, you only need to do Tik Tok if your key demographics are using it. If you’re selling insurance for the over 50s, Tik Tok might not be your best avenue.

Tik Tok is largely used by Gen Z, with 50% of users being under the age of 34. On Instagram, the average users are between the age of 20 and 40 and on Facebook the audience is 50+.

Just keep these figures in mind as not every platform is going to reach your customer and therefore, not be an effective addition to your digital marketing strategy.

Personalised Marketing

Keeping in mind that most people have their Inbox geared to ignore a lot of business emails, personalised email direct marketing is no longer the future of EDMs, it’s whats needed right now.

An average of 60 billion spam emails are sent daily. So, it’s hard to be seen in a sea of marketing emails. Setting up personalised email marketing helps you to stand out from the rest. You can set up and automate segmented lists based on user activity and purchasing history.

Personalised marketing is going to provide a higher return and click rate. It comes back to knowing your customer and looking to meet their needs. While note a simple task, a much easier one with all the tech tools we now have at our disposal.

Reading the room – Keeping the company tone on point

Brand tone and voice have never been more important.

Consumers no longer expect a company to just be a business. They are now looking for some personality with their purchase.

In a world where we consume multiple media throughout the day, its important to cut through and provide a consistent and personable tone of voice that appeals to your ideal demographic.

If you have several different people writing content or posts for socials and the site, create a brand voice document that outlines how they should each be crafting the message.

There is nothing more distracting than scrolling through a wall of posts to see inconsistent tone across the one account.

Stay on message, stay consistent and stay relevant.

Social responsibility and speaking up

Consumers today are more politically savvy. They have a social conscious, and they expect action and allyship from the companies they support.

As time goes on this expectation is only going to increase. When it comes to digital marketing, it’s important you’re across these social justice movements. This includes being across the ongoing plan for sustainability in the company. This might be goals such as becoming carbon neutral or moving to all recycled or sustainable packaging by 2025.

This also means working with the HR department to manage and maintain consistent messaging regarding social justice movements for your company. It means stepping up and using the platform your company has to amplify marginalised voices and it means knowing when to speak and when to be silent.

Follow activists and trend setters to keep up to date on the digital social justice movements and incorporate that into your digital marketing strategy for 2021.

The world of digital marketing is in a constant state of flux but getting in the rhythm will help you keep your flow this year.

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