In today’s age, the aggressive expansion of technology has left us adapting to the revolutionizing ideologies to the best of our ability. The current COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated an already rapidly growing technological age, seeping into all social, economic, and cultural aspects of countries around the world. It has become the very foundation of functioning everywhere. We especially see the indispensability of technology in the commercial sector, where before, real-time interaction was primary. But now maintaining connectivity through the online medium is considered to be of crucial importance. This has become an entire phenomenon that has been translated and is known as Digital Marketing.
Digital Marketing is the act of promoting and selling products and services by leveraging online marketing techniques such as Social Media Marketing, Search Marketing, Email Marketing, and many more. It is about attracting prospects, nurturing relationships, and making offers your audience will appreciate and respond to all through the online medium. Digital Marketing today uses a variety of digital channels for connectivity and fostering relationships; strategies that ensure online presence everywhere. Today, we see many trends that have been absorbed into the colloquial commercial culture and have become popularly used terms, ones that were previously considered to be ridiculously ambitious. For instance, there was a time when Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Voice Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) were considered fantastical but have now become common strategies, and this can be attributed to the growth of new trends in the past year. Following, we shall explore Digital Marketing trends that have taken over businesses and companies in the commercial sector in 2021:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial Intelligence, the heart of the global business today, is a wide-ranging branch of computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. For example, AI manifests in K5 robots that can patrol the streets and check for crime; it can analyze social media trends and consumer behavior to predict their purchases; as well as for basic communication, email personalization, and content creation. AI is capable of doing tasks of human intellect with increased efficiency and less time. Businesses adopting AI in 2021 will look forward to reducing costs, accelerating growth, and outgrowing their competitors.
- Chatbots: An important part of Digital Marketing is an AI-based technology called Chatbots, which basically is an instant real-time chatting service that operates 24/7. These chatbots give prompt answers, keep track of one’s entire purchase history, and basically act as virtual assistants offering brilliant and efficient customer service and always meet the customer’s expectations.
- Personalization through Social Media: Social Media has grown exponentially and every commercial sector business must have a social media presence if they wish to reach out to a much larger consumer base in deceptively less time. Social media trends, content, stories, reels, live, and especially personal interactive advertising are pivotal aspects in Digital Marketing today. They are all interwoven and form an increasingly complicated online network of interactions that makes marketing faster and more impactful than ever.
- Influencer Marketing: Influencers are people on Social Media like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. who have colossal reach in followers. They have carved out a niche whom they influence with their lifestyle choices, and hence businesses partner with them to market their products and services. For instance, fashion brands like Fashionova, Zara, etc. bring in influencers to model their clothes and brand and increase their customer base. This has become an important phenomenon in Digital Marketing today.
- Video Marketing: Video Marketing is advertising by popularising a video element in one’s business strategy. As simple as it sounds, it has proven to be most effective, as most businesses have seen a rapid growth spike in their consumer engagement with the incorporation of a video, as videos are the most popular way for people to learn about products and services.
- Visual Search/Bing Visual Search: This is the new rage in the Digital Marketing arena where people can upload pictures and visuals on their search engines instead of just relying on words. Bing Visual Search goes even further to allow us to look for specific objects in the picture we upload and research on them. This practice essentially renders real-time interaction useless, as we can do all the scouring and research from the comfort of our homes. This is the wonder of improved technology in digital marketing.
- Omnichannel Marketing: Omnichannel Marketing was one of the buzzwords of 2020, which has translated into a ripe strategy in 2021. It is the process of marketing across myriad platforms (social media, email, blogs, apps) in order to connect with prospects in more ways. It allows you to offer an enhanced user experience and cohesive brand message that grips the customer and drives them to action. All the channels are linked in one all-encompassing strategy for the best results.
With the onslaught of such brilliant strategies and many more that are to be discussed, Digital Marketing has become more impactful and less time-consuming than we could have ever predicted. The commercial sector will see new and more efficient trends crop up in a few years’ time and all we must do to flourish is to adapt their usage within our business modules to the best of our capability.