Marketing Resolutions: Your 2021 Checklist
2021, how we longed for your presence. Every year is a learning opportunity and the highs and very extreme lows of 2020 taught us to think on our feet, be flexible, and wash our hands. Businesses suffered greatly in the last year which is why 2021 begs for a fresh digital marketing strategy. It’s time to brainstorm, rethink, and re-strategize.
How’s your resolution list looking? “Watch less Netflix,” “call mom more,” and “sign up for an online gym” – sound, about right? For your business, there’s always new resolutions to consider.
We’ve put together a list of a few that we feel are essential in 2021. Check them out:
- Redesign Website (for today’s consumer)
- Advertise Using the Funnel
- Stay Connected on Social Media
- Sell Online (if possible)
- Personalize & Automate
Redesign Website
While we always recommend giving your website an annual review, this year, we urge you to do an in-depth analysis. The “new normal” brought new consumer behaviors, new habits, and new expectations. Today’s consumers expect seamless experiences and to-the-point content.
Website users ask themselves three questions when they land on a website page: “Am I in the right place? How do I feel about it? What do I do next?” Use this as the foundation for analyzing your website design. Then, put yourself in the user’s shoes and start navigating the site. Does everything make sense? Is any important information hard to find? Do you have to scroll far to get to a call-to-action?
If you have an ecommerce website, go through the steps to make a purchase. Find any barriers and eliminate them – simplify checkout fields and the billing/shipping process, add Apple Pay, PayPal, or Google Pay options, and ensure your shop page is easy to use.
In terms of website design, you can expect to see more stunning websites as new technology makes it easier to create unique designs that stand out. A few website design trends to consider this year include comforting colors (we’re all spend a lot of time on our computers these days), animations (scrolling, parallax, etc.), large and bold fonts, a dark mode option, multimedia, collage, and overlaying/asymmetrical elements.
Advertise Using the Funnel
Digital advertising has reached new heights in the last few years. With social media’s rise came social media advertising and ecommerce sales soared. Businesses scrambled to jump on this marketing tactic, but limited budgets, time, and experience led to some unsuccessful campaigns. For well-known brands, ad campaigns had a higher chance of performing well to cold audiences. But for most companies, it is much more challenging. So, this year, make it a goal to use the funnel in your marketing efforts, especially advertising. Utilize brand awareness campaigns and retargeting campaigns to warm up your audience. While this tactic does require a sufficient budget, the return on investment can be significant.
Other advertising tips to follow this year include using video, creating ads for mobile-first, ensuring every action on your website is tracked, and using well-thought-out audiences to hone-in on your target. Need help tackling ads? Contact our advertising agency.
Stay Connected on Social Media
Throughout 2020, businesses used social media marketing to stay connected with their audience and keep them up to date with important information like open status and new hours. Users increased time spent on social media, particularly due to the pandemic, and many depend on a company’s social profile to get all the info they need rather than visiting the company website. This will not change.
This year, businesses need to continue social media marketing efforts: updating their social profiles with recent information, consistently posting, and staying top of mind. Engage with consumers – reply to messages and comments, reach out to new users, and create a community. Facebook Groups is one tool to nurture your fans and grow a community. Try a social media marketing contest too. In terms of content, authentic wins the game. Strive to get real photos featuring your team and customers. People are tired of seeing staged, overly edited content. In this challenging time, real means everything.
Sell Online (If Possible)
Ecommerce sales increased dramatically last year. Businesses that sold online were able to bring in revenue at a time when it mattered most. For those that sell some sort of product or service, it is imperative to add an online store to your website. Physical products, gift cards, memberships, courses, events, experiences, and more can be sold online.
Consumers are now buying items online that in the past were rarely purchased online, like groceries, health and hygiene products, and other home essentials. Convenience and immediacy have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the no-contact habits they have formed will stay.
As mentioned, be sure your ecommerce website is easy to use with a simple checkout process, utilizes additional payment methods like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and optimize for mobile as most searches and purchases occur on the phone.
Personalize & Automate
These two may sounds like contradictions but they actually pair perfectly. When it comes to email marketing it is easy to personalize and ad the contact’s first name automatically in any campaign. But personalization comes with marketing automation. Stay with us.
When you set up email marketing automations, you can trigger abandoned cart emails, birthday emails with special offers, welcome emails, and more. This is the ultimate form of personalization. A similar pattern can be followed for advertising. Setup retargeting ads to those who have abandoned cart, visited a specific page on your website, etc. With these automated activities running in the background, you can focus on providing customers with a personalized and memorable experience.