None of us is a stranger to influencer marketing techniques employed by businesses to promote their products and services. Digital and social media has taken off as a marketing and advertising platform in the past few years, turning influencers into a marketing tool. As content creators on social media began gaining popularity, several businesses started roping them in for enhancing brand awareness on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Influencer marketing empowers brands to market their products and services in a more personable and cost-effective way. According to a report released by Zefmo Media in 2019, nearly 65% of strategists and marketers revealed that influencer marketing had helped them substantially improve their brand awareness and recall. Around 50% of them agreed that the marketing technique is an effective way of managing the brand’s reputation as well as consumer sentiments along with reaching out to new audiences. As influencer marketing took off, it was also accompanied by social media malpractices and fraud being committed by several pseudo influencers, along with the persisting menace of fake news, owing to the lack of fact-checking and absence of concrete guidelines for influencer advertising. In light of the rising concerns regarding social media advertising, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has decided to lay down some guidelines to safeguard the interest of the public. As per the newly drafted guidelines, influencers and brands would be required to add prominent disclosure labels with all kinds of sponsored content that is being shared online. The draft suggests that all sponsored content must contain a disclosure in the description of the post or be superimposed on the video or photo in case of the absence of a description. While it is all but a new concept for Indian businesses and influencers alike, influencer marketing regulations have become a norm in several western countries in the past few years. Similar to the new guidelines by ASCI, America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also requires all social media influencers to reveal their relationship with the brands within their posts. To comply with these guidelines, social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube made provisions for the influencers to add “paid partnership with X” tags and disclosure statements. The new guidelines are aimed at promoting transparency between the influencer and their audience and also elevate the level of trust between the consumer, influencer and the brand. It would also ensure that the audience is aware of whether the post they are viewing is a paid promotion or an organic post by the influencer. Nothing, however, is written in stone yet. The latest draft of these suggested guidelines is open for debate and feedback until the 8th of March, post which ASCI would release the final guidelines on the 31st of March. The new guidelines are expected to be applicable to all sponsored content starting on the 15th of April.

Marketing is all about change, and in these unprecedented times, brands have to keep adapting to the spiking expectations of their consumers in order to provide the best products and services.  Here is where Design Thinking for Digital Marketing is helping these brands in chasing ideas and implementing them to emerge as leaders in their domain.

It is interesting how a tool like design can help drive a brand’s name, image, and message. If implemented correctly, this process can help businesses come up with many unique and exciting solutions. It further saves brands from giving out the wrong solution to their consumers and empowers them to perform better. Here are five principles of Design Thinking you must implement to have a consumer-centric outlook, improve brand preference, increase loyalty, and provide impactful user experiences.

Empathise to Realise

To empathise with their users, businesses should be on the same wavelength as their consumers and figure out why they are facing a potential bottleneck. That is how they can step in and navigate their way through a probable solution. For that, businesses need to have a thorough understanding of their consumers’ pain points. Data reveals that around 62% of consumers appreciate content that directly addresses their pain points.

Therefore, it should be ensured that the advertisements that these businesses release have an empathetic approach  to the consumers’ requirements - whether the product is not affordable, whether it has become obsolete, and so on - to drive maximum response out of them. Social media posts and other digital content designed from this approach will enable businesses to engage their consumers better.

Define to Decipher

One of the core fundamentals of Design Thinking is that businesses should always focus on collecting and analysing all the user information they possibly can to figure out what problem they need to address. Defining the problem will enable businesses to be in their consumers’ shoes and look at products from their perspective. This will ensure a good relationship build-up with consumers in the future and also bring in new consumers via word-of-mouth.

It will also help improve their ideation methods and processes when making blueprints while also being able to tackle challenges in a streamlined manner. This will enable businesses to break down their plans/strategies into critical steps/stages to integrate their ideas and data better and create a detailed customer insight for better understanding.

Ideate to Create

This is the part wherein all the teams come together to brainstorm different ideas, pool them together, and start moving towards creating an ideal solution. Businesses should continuously gather feedback and data to trigger the ideation process as this stage enables them to ask the right questions, go beyond the ordinary, and tap into innovative solutions. This often helps in solving more than one problem and creates consumer delight.

Here, businesses can make use of different marketing concepts and gauge plausible outcomes for the near future. This helps them proceed with higher assurance as to how their product/s will perform in the market. Further, ideation enables businesses to tap into areas that are otherwise left untapped or unexplored, leading to better formulations and solutions. 

Prototype to Perform

This is a big time-saver for all businesses as producing a rough draft of the product helps in providing  a snippet of the trajectory it will take once it is officially released into the market. It can help businesses decide whether the product idea should be taken forward, modified, or cancelled. Initially, providing product prototypes at a lower price will help pull in meaningful feedback and enable businesses to create products that increase brand recall and brand resonance for the consumers.

Also, prototyping gives ample time to experiment with user interfaces and include elements that provide value to the customer. It helps businesses in avoiding mistakes that are either irreversible or too time-consuming to change. Massive cost cuttings can be achieved in this stage as unnecessary elements and ideas get eliminated from the process.

Test to Analyse

Once prototyping is cleared, Businesses should release the product into the market for testing purposes and patiently wait while the feedback, data, and market performance can be collated and analysed. The test product should be allowed to speak for itself rather than the businesses giving too much information in the beginning. The raw user experience will help with in-depth understanding and insights about what is missing or what could have been better. 

This allows businesses to pick back up from one of the five stages in the Design Thinking process depending on the conversion rate in the market. Also, this stage can be carried out alongside  the prototyping stage as it gives an open front row seat to consumer experience and enables businesses to better interact with them. This helps in breaking down the results and improvise on the required solution.

It is certainly possible that there might be several blips on the radar when this process is being carried out. There may be changes in the problem statement midway or developments during the process that might change the problem statement altogether. However, since it always boomerangs to empathising with the consumers, the final solutions are real and meaningful - and that is why Design Thinking should definitely be a part of your marketing arsenal.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a significant shift in the online shopping behaviour of consumers. As more and more of them get well-acquainted with the digital environment, E-commerce businesses are trying to develop fresher strategies to attract, engage, and retain their target audience and give them an immersive online shopping experience. Businesses must adopt these new methods because the said change is expected to last years as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic after-effects.

To give you a headstart, here are five E-commerce tactics for 2021 that you must make use of to ensure quicker checkout rates and drive those big sales numbers.

Retain before acquiring

Having a well-defined customer retention strategy in place holds vital importance for E-commerce businesses. Due to excessive digitalisation throughout the pandemic, the E-commerce sector is getting a lot of new customers. Since consumers are becoming more mobile-friendly, it would be smart to run SMS marketing campaigns. As per a survey, less than 15% of businesses use this method, which is why using this method might give your business an edge over the competition. 

Efforts should be put into introducing a greater variety of customer loyalty and reward programs as this pushes customers to make a higher number of purchases to avail premium benefits and discounts. Further, including a dashboard for customers irrespective of whether they are members of your E-commerce website or not will enable them to track their purchases and give them an incentive to return for repeat purchases. 

Illustrate to demonstrate

Visuals have always been big on grabbing attention, be it through an image, a GIF, or a video. This aspect should be taken full advantage of as it will help generate website traffic and get more leads in the process. Consumers love visual demonstrations as it provides a holistic view of the product or service being offered. UGC or user-generated content should be used more aggressively to increase promotions and boost sales, improving both the brand and the customer journey.

Videos end up having higher ranks on Google, which is why they must be a go-to for marketing a product or a service. Sponsorships gather a higher number of views as well. Businesses should try and tell their brand stories via customer testimonials as their first-hand experience makes the brand sound reliable and trustworthy.

Go all out on holidays

Holiday sales usually garner a lot of success as consumers tend to make more purchases on these days since they can make the time to indulge properly in shopping. This opportunity should definitely be used in the online space to convert these shoppers into loyal customers. Businesses should personalise their websites as much as possible and give lucrative and customised offers on every landing page to drive impulse marketing. 

A separate category should be included for holiday sales, and the website navigation should be made smoother, especially during this time, to ensure that the customers do not get stuck on any page. Focusing on bundling and complementary offers on holidays will make the customers feel like they are getting value for their money which will further help make profits.

FOMO your way into sales

FOMOing is an excellent tactic that businesses can use to ensure faster checkouts and make the consumers feel like they have gotten a fantastic deal. This helps in brand development and also pulls in the crowd by the minute. Businesses can try a few interesting tactics here. They should apply time limits on offers to create a sense of urgency so that the consumers act on it before the offer runs out. 

Missed offers and opportunities should be mentioned at regular intervals during the customer visits to ensure revisits, and this process will also help with cross-sales.  Showing real-time purchases of other customers will help your customers move past their dilemma of buying or not buying a product. This will make the customers trust your brand more and will help in increasing business revenue.

Work up on sales promotion

For customers, discounts, deals, and coupons play a crucial role in their shopping - online or otherwise. Data reveals that around 92% of customers eagerly look forward to promotional deals, and these offers act as critical drivers for bulk purchases. Businesses should try and include customised discount offers in exit-intent pop-ups as this will ensure that consumers do not exit the website. These pop-ups will keep them engaged and also help with sales.

Related Article : In the Cart: The New World of E-Commerce Marketing

To promote healthy sales and maintain SKUs, product-based discounts should be offered at regular intervals. This can be done on the basis of the requirement - whether there is a declining need for a product or the promotion of a new one. Further, value-added discounts like free shipping or an extra gift with the purchase should be given. This comes across as a token of appreciation on the brand’s behalf and helps create a good brand perception.

Changes in the E-commerce market and consumer behaviour are here to stay due to the sheer convenience of getting reasonable offers from the comfort of one’s home. Consumers have begun to understand the advantages of E-commerce, which is why brands should start prioritising their digital experiences. It will ensure that their offerings are the best in the market.

Related Article. : E-commerce Must-Do’s Post Pandemic

The Ecommerce industry is ever-changing, and every year brings in several new trends with itself. However, last year has considerably accelerated the digital transformation process, accompanied by significant online consumer behaviour changes. In the time ahead, we can only expect consumers to engage more and more in online shopping. Hence, businesses must realise that their pre-pandemic E-commerce strategies will not suffice to tackle this new change.

In order to adapt to the new reality, brands will need to develop new online capabilities to win the digital shelf and ensure a positive customer experience, including fulfilment, avoiding out-of-stocks and delivery delays, managing digital advertising, etc. Here are five do's that you can action to grow your E-commerce business and emerge as market leaders.

Revamp Supply chain processes

Supply chains face many challenges like return items, unpredictable demand, small orders, etc. To meet consumers’ rising expectations within a proper time-period, businesses should redefine their supply chain networks to optimise them into lesser, but larger operations. Demand forecasting will find critical use here. A higher number of third-party logistics providers should be brought into the picture to ensure minimum cost and maximum utilisation of stock when it comes to transportation, last-mile delivery, inventory management, and so on. Storage warehouses should be reorganised for optimal product placements, and high-grade analytics should be adopted for greater flexibility and productive online behaviour of the consumers. Alternative solutions like ‘click-and-collect’ can be considered so that consumers have higher autonomy in choosing their way of product-delivery. Constant communication and coordination should be ensured as this will help in making the whole process economically profitable.

Shift retail shelves online

Due to social distancing and home-isolation during the pandemic, consumers could not visit stores physically to buy products, which is why they had to resort to online methods for every requirement of theirs. The online purchase of food and beverages during the time shot up by a whopping 285% and grocery as a category spiked like anything in e-commerce. With this upward trend, businesses should include more categories of products on their online websites, such as - a full assortment of grocery items, long-term shelf-stable products, basic hygiene and medical-scale items, etc.  They should also put a spotlight on their ‘feature’ items and deals to attract a higher number of consumers. Apart from this, the regular brick and mortar stores should have tailored purchase options to address the meteoric rise in online demand.

Ameliorate visibility on social media

Data suggests that one in four purchases are being made via social media platforms, and about 17% of consumers prefer social apps for shopping. The reign of influencers was quite a rage during the pandemic as well, which automatically makes influencer marketing an important strategy. Businesses should collaborate with social media influencers, and focus on having a strong presence across every possible social media platform to create brand awareness, have a greater reach and boost sales figures. As per a survey, 74% of consumers visit social media pages before going ahead with a purchase decision, and 82% of consumers say they get information about products or brands mostly through social media marketing. Since social media engages consumers effortlessly, businesses should ensure their visibility in that space.

Adopt immersive and connected ads

There will be tough competitions between brands when it comes to digital advertising. Everything will depend on how one’s approach is better than the other and how widespread these approaches are.  Businesses should take advantage of listing their products on Google shopping for free as it will help them directly redirect consumers to their websites. Strong emphasis should be put on email reminders, subscriptions, coupons, etc. Businesses should also diversify their advertising channels to reach potential consumers in every corner of the world. They should further make more use of 3D and CGI in their advertisements to increase click-through rates (CTR) and drive website traffic. 

Improve digital payment trends

Research data tells us that consumers make around 10-30% of purchases on an average in the online domain. Though the digital payment trend was being led by the millennials and the Gen Z, the pandemic cornered other consumers into adopting these digital techniques. It is anticipated that shoppers aged 45 and above will switch to online purchasing trends, thereby creating a brand new segment of e-commerce users. To make this switch even more convenient, businesses should try and incorporate more online payment methods like NFC (Near Field Communication) and EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) for contactless payments. They should also tap into ‘Buy now, pay later’ apps as these methods are set to gain more prominence in the coming years. LazyPay and Simpl are some excellent examples. Other options like BOPIS (Buy online Pick-up in-store) should also be considered.

Needless to say, the above-mentioned strategies will surely help businesses to go that extra mile and deliver better and wholesome experiences to their consumers. Implementing them will ensure that your methods are streamlined and structured, and as long as you are up to speed with the consumers’ changing requirements, you will definitely have a long-lasting impact on them.

Related Article : In the Cart: The New World of E-Commerce Marketing

The Covid-19 pandemic has introduced some defining changes in the world of E-commerce marketing, the implications of which are expected to have a ripple effect that will last years. Retail businesses are having to quickly adapt to changing consumer behaviour and the associated demand and supply rates. The pandemic significantly paced up the consumer mindset to browse, choose and purchase from the convenience of their homes, which consequently affected the fundamental functionings of the E-commerce industry. In evolving times like these, here are five avenues that your businesses can use in their E-commerce marketing strategies to enhance sales and increase customer delight. 

AR will drive check-out rates

Research data tells us that around 76% of the consumers will make higher purchases provided they have the option of Augmented Reality, and about 42% believe that AR will help them in making better buys. The ‘try before you buy’ trend will become all-consuming as businesses will now use a higher number of brand-specific AR filters in their social media for faster check-out rates.  Smart and interactive user manuals will be readily available, and brands will incorporate them into their websites. This will give the much-needed autonomy to the consumers and also improve automated customer services.  IKEA is an excellent example to draw inspiration from. Its own AR home decor app called IKEA Place enables customers to preview products in their own environment prior to making a purchase.

AI will improve B2C conversions

It is being predicted that in the upcoming years, over 85% of consumer interactions will be managed via Artificial Intelligence than humans. Businesses will analyse consumer data from several touch-points such as mobile apps, websites, email campaigns, etc., to provide a more hyper-personalised experience to the end-users. They will use ‘the assortment intelligence tool’ that will help in monitoring and analysing the competitor’s product and pricing strategy which will help them in gaining a competitive advantage. This way, businesses will be able to make the requisite changes for higher accuracy while targeting their audiences. They will use AI for inventory management for time-scale demand prediction of their products and reinforce learning systems to be better prepared for the future.  Sales of wearable technology will be encouraged as some of these gadgets collect a large amount of data that will help in giving personalised recommendations to the user. Furthermore, Chatbots will refine the shopping experience by looking into pre and post-sales customer service. 

Voice-search will boost SERPs

Voice-based searches will become heavily conversational and will play a key role in driving organic traffic to business websites which will ultimately culminate in good sales numbers. It will become more consolidated and better integrated with the customer experience, customer journey, secure payment gateways, store navigation, as well as personalised recommendations. As per research data, about  75% of consumers will own smart speakers by 2025, which will serve more relatable and less intrusive ads.   Basically, voice- search will become the preferred mode of communication as it takes up less time and requires no exertion. It will be a crucial differentiator, enhance the consumer experience, and help in building in customer loyalty. Related article : How Voice Search Will Change The Future Of SEO

Personalisation to reorient PPC rates

In today’s digital world, businesses have to come up with ways to stand out by creating highly personalised experiences for their consumers. On-site marketing experiences will become more popular to have an in-depth engagement with the audiences. Businesses will try new algorithms for psychographic personalisation, based on the individual’s personality rather than just basic demographics and big data. Surveys show that there is a 25% spike in revenue and a 45% downfall in bounce rates with hyper-personalisation - a fact that solidifies its importance even more. Further, tailor-made suggestions will play a key role in online search behaviour, and recommendations will pop up in real-time as and when the user moves on from one page to another online. 

Omnichannel Shopping will increase gateways

Businesses will focus on providing omnichannel shopping opportunities to their consumers that will look into providing a cohesive user experience at every touch-point across different channels and devices. Websites, payment channels, and apps will be well-optimised so that they are accessible across different devices and provide an end-to-end in-depth experience to their consumers. Businesses will also increase purchase options like - pick up from store, buy online and pick up from store, buy in-store and get home delivery, etc., to give autonomy to the customers where they have ample options to choose from.   They will try to improve their sales by selling on multiple platforms, collating data from these purchases and transactions, engaging via one on one analysis, and being present exactly where the customer is. With changing times,  everyone is trying to adapt and have a strong foothold in the market for better results. While you try to look after the needs of your consumers, it is hoped that the above-mentioned points will enable you to run your businesses in the best way possible.  Related Article : Digital Transformation Through E-Commerce

Digitalization was being adopted at a steady pace until the year 2020 brought a sea-change and accelerated the rate of digital transformation. With technology and innovation bringing in new developments almost every day, businesses will need to hone a wide variety of digital skills to take on 2021. Right from video marketing to artificial intelligence to augmented and virtual reality, this year will demand a lot of commitment from marketing managers to ensure better interactions with their consumers and achieve the desired results in the long run. Here’s a quick look at five innovative trends that will help give businesses that extra push in 2021.

Grow with New-Age Intelligence

Research reveals that AI will grow into a massive $190 billion business by the year 2025. In any case, Artificial Intelligence has already made a huge difference in how brands interact with their consumers. It also plays a significant role in managing marketing strategies; from speech recognition to chatbots, it has moved on to detecting the changing patterns in how customers interact with the brands by analyzing their online behavioral patterns and collecting data in real-time. This trend has successfully opened up a plethora of ideas and possibilities for businesses to stay abreast with the latest trends in the market.  This year will also see AI’s integration with Instant-Messaging platforms which will become a  key driver in the growth of chatbots for boosting brand awareness. It will help churn out the sales and leads numbers. Further, customer support will see a new face in this aspect. For all kinds of B2C/B2B businesses, automated real-time conversation and engagement will begin from the very start of the customer journey. It is also being said that AI will majorly help in cost-cutting and deliver higher returns to companies.

Dive into Augmented Reality

With social distancing becoming the new normal, AR and VR will have a major impact on retail, education, automotive, and the gaming industry in 2021. The boundaries between reality and fiction will slowly be blurred with the help of immersive technology and businesses will try to use it in a way that will make interactions look very easy-flowing and conversational in comparison to being machine-driven. Studies reveal that Augmented Reality (AR) will continue to dominate Virtual Reality (VR) as it did in 2020; with AR holding on to a big chunk of the market share standing at almost $140 billion in comparison to VR which stood at $80 billion.  With the entrance of 5G, connections will become faster, more reliable, and have near-zero latency, which will help brands in improving their use of AR & VR implementations. Some good examples are brands like Sephora and Timberland who have already become game-changers in the domain of augmented reality and continue to upgrade by integrating it on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to create a depth of experience.

Optimise with Position ‘Zero’

The position zero trends will come up as an integral part of modern SEO as it will provide answers to the user’s query directly in the SERP, without having to click on any links. Even though search-based trends and search engine optimization have been around for quite a while now, the rank zero aspect will take it one big step further. The power of voice search will also become much more popular in comparison to previous years as voice-searched answers will be featured as snippets at the top of the search results.  These ‘Position Zero’ snippets will directly provide answers to questions without the user having to click on different links. Research tells us that in all probability, around 30% of searches in 2021 will be screenless and pro-voice searches. Further, to make online searching easy for customers, businesses will make use of VSEO or Voice Search Engine Optimization. They will also optimize their webpages to get a higher number of click-through-rates and try to get more traffic to their websites.

Amplify with video marketing

The demand for customized and localized virtual events is expected to see an upward trend in 2021 with 67% of businesses planning on investing in web conferencing software. To make the audience feel like they are a part of the interactive process, 360-degree videos will become more common than before. They will make the consumers feel like they have control over the content which will help in increasing trust and loyalty. Businesses will have to work-out new and interesting ways to be different and better than their competition.  Another important aspect is resonating with their target audiences to hold their attention and keep them engaged. This year, live videos and real-time shopping will be frequently coupled on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, wherein marketers will be able to push their sales numbers in the moment. Linkedin Videos will become highly popular with integrated features like interactive backgrounds, better templates, AI filters, personalized addition options etc. Video marketing will definitely be an important weapon for businesses of all sizes.

Connect via Micro-Moments

For micro-moment presence in 2021, mobile optimization will be the key and it will give brands that much-needed edge with voice-based searches. As per research statistics, around 91% of consumers look for instant solutions to their problems on their phones, and about 62% of them act on their impulse and make purchase decisions. Therefore, having an in-depth understanding and knowledge of how customers behave in these micro-moments will help brands in providing an exceptional and smooth customer experience and also getting good ROIs in the future.  Further, a strong SEO presence will put brands at an advantage in the micro-moment platforms to gain visibility and popularity. It is a new-age trend that will help in empowering brands to reach out to a wide and right range of target audiences so that they can look after their requirements by acting on intent-based actions. So these were our top five picks of innovation trends that you will surely see in 2021. Therefore, it would be wise to build your digital marketing strategies around them as they will definitely help you in evolving side by side with the market and achieve your target goals efficiently.

The world of advertising is constantly adapting to the latest trends in the market and businesses are simultaneously leveraging these ideas to send better promotional messages to an expansive audience. With 2020 behind us, every business is coming up with its own set of marketing strategies to take on 2021 in a better-prepared way. With both consumers and businesses becoming better accustomed to the digital ecosystem, brands are all set to take on the upcoming challenges with several new digital advertising trends. Here are five such trends you will definitely see all throughout 2021.

Growing necessity of Omnichannel platforms

Also known as creative management platforms or CMPs, omnichannel platforms will become a dire necessity in the year 2021, rather than just being an additional bonus. By integrating all the formats of digital advertising such as banner ads, display ads, mobile ads, digital videos, etc., these platforms will help businesses in increasing their flexibility of approaching the target audience apart from giving a big push to their efficiency and productivity. This will help them create more compelling ads by continuously tracking the audience response and making the necessary changes to ensure a seamless customer experience. Since this platform will gather a lot of data due to multiple channels, the analysis will help them bridge the gap between themselves and their consumers. Research data reveals that 79 % of consumers prefer personalised customer services, and omnichannel platforms effectively cater to the same.

Increasing popularity of Programmatic TV

It is being predicted that by 2021, a third of the global TV ad revenue will come from programmatic TV, and therefore, this is one trend that brands should be careful not to miss. Consumer behaviour has changed a whole lot since 2020, and nobody can deny that this shift has been caused by the pandemic. Keeping this in mind, businesses in 2021 will give a good amount of importance to programmatic TV advertising so as to target their end-users more effectively. With new players in the market like Apple TV and Disney Hotstar, businesses will keep proper track of the war brewing between these streaming channels to keep a close eye on how the audience is interacting with their TVs. Further, businesses will purchase TV inventory via programmatic platforms and also try to bring in traditional methods of advertising under the automation umbrella to smoothen out the whole process of programmatic advertising. 

OTT will be in-trend

The growth of the OTT industry is expected to attain great heights in 2021. In India, between March 2020, and July 2020, there was a 30 % hike in paid subscriptions in the OTT industry - the numbers shot from 22.2 million to 29.0 million, and this is only expected to expand. Consumers can now go beyond borders and access international content. Hence, they will do proper research to get their hands on the best quality content and search for subscription plans that suit their needs -  whether monthly, quarterly, annually or whatever plan the platform offers. Since consumers are willing to pay money for good content, they will try and from their end that they get their money’s worth. Further, OTT platforms will also help in penetrating niche markets and reach small towns and rural areas.

Virtual Events will become more frequent

Since consumers are doing everything from the comfort of their homes, businesses will resort to hosting online events - be it for the launch of a product or sharing any kind of information. In-person events are barely an option anymore which is why virtual and hybrid (a combination of in-person and online) events will become more popular. This will be a great opportunity for businesses to engage a much larger audience because there are no boundaries for reach in the digital space. These events will be highly interactive and have question-answer sessions to invite as many attendees as is possible. Convenience is a strong factor here which holds a significant amount of importance for the consumers. Furthermore, surveys have shown that about 67% of people believe that hybrid events will be the in-thing in the future, and also, 71% said that they will continue to attend events digitally even if they have the option for LIVE visits.

Interactive Content will be the new normal

The age of one-way advertisements is gone as businesses are trying more and more to focus on higher engagement rates. For the audience to feel involved, two-way communication is necessary. This is the reason why interactive ads will become more common. Consumers will be made to feel like they are having a one on one conversation with the brand so that they do not feel like they are a part of the crowd. This kind of engagement will also make their experience more wholesome and enjoyable. The year 2021 will see a lot of quizzes, surveys, feedback forms, polls, questionnaires, etc. so that the consumers spend more time on the brand itself, and also with the brand. Statistics tell us that by 2021, growth in social, connected TV, and over-the-top (OTT) advertising will drive programmatic display to almost $80 billion. For businesses to get used to their consumers’ requirements, they will have to keep manoeuvring their lens to get the best results across multiple touch-points. So, these are our top five digital advertising trends that we think will help you flourish in your digital journey and help you in driving those desired numbers. 

The year 2021 will see many necessary and quick changes in the marketing landscape and Influencer marketing is expected to take over and be a vital element of this much-needed change. The nature of digital marketing and social commerce is ever-changing, and as it continues to create newer identities for itself, Influencer marketing is acting as a firm backbone to it. It is already very huge, and since businesses anyway map out their marketing plans days and months in advance, right now would be the best time to put your money into some influencer marketing trends. Here is our list of the top five trends that we think will be the rage this year, in 2021:

Increase in authenticity of ‘no-edit edits’

Today’s audience is smart and can very easily figure out if a post is natural or scripted. This is the reason why authenticity holds significant importance. Influencers have received criticism in the past for posting reviews that seem fake, and this, in turn, has a negative impact on the numbers. Since most can figure out whether a review is real or paid, companies will be more likely to show content that does not look too filmy or sponsored. Influencers will allow for a raw, unedited sneak-peek into their lives to have an honest connection with the audience wherein they are the truest version of themselves. The #nofilter trend will take over and owing to the originality of the content, the audience will act on the call-to-action.

Higher worth of value-driven content

Proper value-driven content can shift and change certain pre-conceived ideas and notions of the audience, thereby inviting more traffic. Generating and sharing quality content will also create and good brand image that will have a positive impact on the audience and drive brand sentiment, loyalty, and sales figures. This will also help in forming strong communities with ardent followers who will believe in what the company is trying to do and achieve. Companies too will focus on content that means something to the target audience, so that they can both relate and respond to it.

Growth and Expansion of partnerships

Rather than only doing basic sponsorships, companies will have a proper partnership with influencers wherein this relationship will continue for an extended time period. Through this partnership, the companies will create brand awareness via these influencers without trying to directly market or sell their products. This will make the audience believe that the brand cares about their needs and requirements and the results will be mutually beneficial to both parties. Since influencers are well-known and have a dedicated fan following, companies will collaborate with influencers to release a signature line of products to pull in more traction. With this kind of personal touch, brands will garner the loyalty and trust of their customers. Companies will also try and drive social-cause campaigns through the influencers to connect with the audience on an emotional scale.

Seamless integration of platforms for shareability

Since influencers are present across multiple social media platforms, collaborating or partnering with them would inadvertently imply that the reach will be there across these platforms as well. Since the follower base of the influencers trust them and value their opinions and judgements, their posts will add credibility to the brand and business. It will show that the brand is trustworthy and reliable. Influencer marketing will tap into highly shareable platforms and their integration for seamless reach and experience. More of data-driven analytics and infographics will be shared by brands and customers for a better understanding and awareness regarding usage and experience. Similarly, brands and social media platforms will be better connected as well to share updates and reviews across mediums.

An upsurge in micro and nano influencers

Micro and nano influencers will act as key brand partners in this year of 2021. These influencers will enable businesses to reach out to that audience which is otherwise unreachable, or a certain niche segment that can help improve the awareness of the brand as well as the sales performance. Micro and nano influencers will help companies create a strong foothold in the market as their reviews will come from personal usage that is open to the followers to see and judge. These reviews and posts will act as crucial drivers in the purchase decisions of the audience. The influencers will not merely help in amplifying the presence of the brand but also help in communicating important information regarding its products and services.  So these are the five influencer marketing trends that we believe influencers will shape the marketing landscape of businesses in 2021. By incorporating these into your digital marketing plans and strategies, your company will be able to perform its best by working in tandem with the requirements of both your business and your target audience, ultimately helping you to achieve the desired results.

In 2021, businesses will have to move past their losses in the year 2020, and come up with robust digital marketing strategies for long-term benefits. They will have to ensure that their approach is all-encompassing and functions smoothly across all platforms and channels. Several industries have already started taking the required steps to ensure that the evolving needs of their customers are well looked after. Last week in Digital, we discussed digital marketing trends that will pick up the pace in 2021. This week, in the third and final part of ‘Digital Marketing Trends of 2021,’ we will talk about the radical innovations that will change how digital marketing functions. Related Article : Digital Marketing Trends of 2021 - Part 1

The rise of Virtual Influencers

The audience connects with influencers authentically and organically which encourages the trust factor. Businesses will definitely use this as a key advertising strategy to communicate their messages to the target customers effectively. Brands will leverage technology to showcase their products and services by giving lives and personalities to the said influencers. In fact, influencer marketing campaigns are going to be a big thing in 2021. Micro-influencers and nano-influencers will be pulled in to reach out to the smaller and unreachable segments of the audience. It is being said that with influencer marketing, the engagement rates will go three times higher in the coming year. However, brands will have to be vigilant and take proper measures to ensure that their audience is not being misled with false information.

The upcoming era of blockchain marketing

Blockchain marketing will lead to certain kinds of small scale contracts that ensure transaction settlement only when the conditions of the agreement are fulfilled. This will help maintain transparency with work and also create a drive to fulfil tasks and achieve results. Google’s monopolisation in the ad world will decrease because brands will now be able to advertise independently on online platforms. It will also get easier to analyse the metrics of advertisement, which will help reduce cases of ad frauds and increase the return on investment. Further, fake accounts and spambots will be traceable, and consumers will be in proper charge of their data.

Instagram lite to take over regional marketing

To offer a core and legitimate experience to people, Instagram is testing the launch of Instagram lite for all those people who miss out on it due to poor network issues or just low phone memory. To make things more exciting and to bring in the sense of involvement, they are rolling it out in some major Indian languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. The main motive of launching Instagram lite is to integrate a clean, responsive, and fast experience for its users. This will also give direct competition to other apps like Chingari, MX Takatak, Trell, and so on.

The makeover of branded content ads

Branded content ads will receive some interesting makeovers and tweaks, as Instagram will enable advertisers to create branded content ads without the need for creators to post it on their own. The creators too, will have higher control and hold over giving approval or withdrawing it with respect to any ad that is published from their handle. Brands will have more flexibility and will face lesser bottlenecks while making and running branded ad campaigns. The promotion process will become much more smoother with the options of adding product tags. Also, brands will be able to extract higher value from the content as it will allow people to shop directly from the creators. Additionally, ads will also have tappable elements like hashtags, mentions and locations - both on IG reels and stories.

Multi-touch attribution model with data

Artificial intelligence will enable marketers to keep a close tab on all touchpoints of a consumer’s digital journey. This will be achieved via increased data accumulation and higher behavioural (online behaviour that the consumer exhibits) tracking - from jumping websites to comparing price points, to viewing competitor’s sites - everything will be taken note of for later analysis. The consumer’s journey will not just be analysed at the first and last touchpoint but will be captured at every step of the way. The information thus collected will be used to optimise websites for a more enhanced user experience and create content that will receive better engagement. Change and innovation are two things that are ever-constant in the digital marketing field. To be in sync with these changing trends is critical because they will help with that competitive edge over others in the market. Right now, online is where the customers are, and therefore, that is precisely where businesses should be reaching out to them. Download the PDF version Related Article : Digital Marketing Trends of 2021 - Part 2

Over the years, the digital marketing landscape has undergone several transformations for easier communication and better experience with the audience it targets. It is a continuous evolution process, and it brings in the much-needed change to keep pace with the trends. To expand their creativity and boundaries, businesses need to harness and use these new technologies, techniques, and innovations. Last week in Digital, we spoke about the fundamental digital marketing trends that we can expect to see in the upcoming year. This week, we will talk about those trends that will pick up pace in the year 2021 and are an absolute must for your businesses to adopt so that performance is at its best.

AI will induce hyper personalisation

In 2021, Ad creating platforms and software will drive hyper personalisation with their advertisements. Personalised things will become hyper personalised as brands will use more and more information about the customer by analysing their profile data, purchasing behaviour, location, demography, real-time behavioral data, and so on, to make recommendations and suggestions that best suit their time and requirement. Customers today are very technology-friendly, but they also face a time crunch owing to their busy routines. With hyper personalisation, this will become easier because AI will enable them to see the right content at the right time. AI will further help analyse written content for hyper-targeting customers keeping the readability score in mind. Customers will feel that the brand really cares about them.

Online shoppers will adopt voice-based search

Many businesses will tap into the e-commerce market because it is lucrative, and most of the millennials today prefer shopping online. Soon enough, rather than typing the words, they will be giving voice commands to their AI voice assistants to complete a purchase for them. The power of voice search can already be seen making its presence felt, and it is assumed to become the in-thing in 2021. It will personalise the user experience by maintaining a record of the individual’s preferences, save time, and will also make it much easier for the user to find a product online. The SEO game, too, will change accordingly so that voice-based searches can provide optimum results. Furthermore, customers will be more likely to give feedback, thanks to voice-aided typing.

Interactive ads will take over static ads

Static ads will receive a fine-tuning to turn into something more dynamic, that is, interactive ads, and thereby, become more engaging for the customers. Interactive ads will enable customers to see content that is relevant to their interests and needs. Rather than passively consuming an advertisement, they will now actively participate in its presentation. The usual redirecting to websites and apps will be avoided, and this will also help improve brand recall. People today prefer interactions and, therefore, look for things in an advertisement that will add value to their lives. Static ads will not be able to cater to this requirement, but interactive ads, on the other hand, will provide them with that immersive experience. Furthermore, it is said that interactive ads can increase customer engagement by 47 percent compared to traditional ads.

AR & VR will have new Avatars

AR and VR techniques can be used effectively by both B2B and B2C businesses for their marketing and sales strategies. It is expected that more than 61 percent of consumers will buy from their retailers via augmented reality services or virtual reality services. This particular trend will receive all the more hype owing to the Coronavirus pandemic. By trying on things from the comfort of one’s home, conversion rates will be much higher. Virtual reality will club action and experience together, thereby making the purchase process wholesome - providing this kind of digital experience can become a game-changer for many brands and businesses. Not just this, but AR will also help with a brand’s promotional events, and this aspect will receive a big push in the coming year.

Employees as the brand’s spokesperson

The year 2021 will see employees engaging positively with their brands on social media. Working remotely has led to the invention of several new methods. Employees will help spread the word and the brand message by being socially active, and this will have a much more significant and far-reaching impact. Brand videos featuring employees will receive the required traction because they will be speaking as internal members of the brand to the external audience - a massive boost for building that trust factor. After all, the information will be raw and unfiltered, making it more believable; and also add authenticity because the information is not coming from the company but in real-time from its people. This method will help bring in a quality talent pool for the organizations and further highlight its goals and values. All in all, these are some of the digital marketing trends that are expected to give your brands the much-needed makeover in the year 2021. Keeping track of the changes and adapting these methods will help get the brand across to the masses in both an efficient and effective manner. Download the PDF versionRequest Consultation