ConsiderationsBraveWhat will be the marketing trends in the current and post COVID-19 world and what can we expect in 2021 are two questions we try to answer this month. DaBrian Marketing helps us to do that with his suggestions where savvy marketing managers should invest their time and resources next year.

What’s already certain are the facts that we have seen more products and services move online, and that many employees will continue to work remotely or in a hybrid setting for much of next year, which is why you should consider the following impacts:

Be prepared to dedicate more resources to social media marketing next year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marketers made customer retention increasingly a priority and this as well won’t change in 2021. The pandemic has dramatically increased the amount of time people spend online which includes how they research products, brands, and organizations. This consumer shift creates new opportunities for marketers to increase their reach with new audiences and re-engage with long-time customers. So, develop a content plan, make regular posts, monitor, and drive customer responses to attract new business.

Ensure your local listings are verified and kept current on various search platforms. Since it is one of the key factors in search, just don’t let yourself be blown away by the sheer number of directories out there. Instead, ensure that you have a geographically defined service area within your local listings as this will help your business show up in “near me” searches. In fact, many search engines (especially Google) prioritize relevance in their search algorithms. It may seem counter-intuitive to limit your business service radius, but by doing so you’ll more deeply penetrate that market in search results. By keeping your listings updated also allows your customers to know of any changes in your hours, promotions, blogs, or any other information you would like to convey quickly.

Timely communication is paramount, especially when adjusting stock levels or servicing hours. Be clear about what you can and can’t do and set reasonable expectations. For high-volume items, consider placing a banner on your site to indicate when key products will be in-stock. If you aren’t collecting customer contact information, now is the perfect time to create a subscriber list so that you can be proactive with notifying customers of availability changes with an automated text or email.

Google Ads marketers constantly tweak and adjust campaigns, keywords, and bids to get the most for your advertising dollars, even if this means more hours and higher management fees. By allowing Google to automate prior moves to adjust your bid in real-time you can devote your time to optimize other aspects of PPC performance, which ultimately delivers a better outcome at a lower cost to your clients.

Voice search queries often yield different results than if the user had typed in a text-based search. For SEO, it’s a good idea for businesses to be on their toes with voice search components for their consumers who are adapting and switching over to that medium. The fact is that content must be specifically optimized for voice: it needs to be more direct and conversational so that it will accurately sync with search queries. This will help boost traffic by staying relevant and more visible to consumers.

It takes less money to keep your existing customers than to earn new ones, which is why marketing experts always recommend exerting more effort into later stages of the buyer’s journey. Happy customers tend to tell their friends and provide referrals to help increase revenue. They’re also more likely to give you direct and honest feedback about issues that will only strengthen your brand. Be sure to keep them informed on your organizational changes or processes that would impact your relationship through email marketing or engage with them on social media. By collecting data and segmenting your customers, you have an opportunity to save costs while delivering on your products and services. You can also target them in a more cost-effective fashion, allowing you to stretch your marketing dollars even farther.

Adding interactive elements like assessments, quizzes, games, polls, interactive videos, surveys, and contests to your website or social media is a great way to provide value for visitors, get them to engage with your brand, and learn more about them.

It’s critical to keep employees connected, as motivated employees will communicate better with each other and ensure better client outcomes. As a manager or business owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure your customer facing teams (service, marketing, and sales) understand that even though you may not be in the office, you’re still all working together toward the same common goal. Break down projects into sizable chunks and set clear milestones. Then, ensure that you set-up multiple communication channels, and be prepared to share successes with the entire team on each channel. (Source: DaBrian Marketing)

By MediaBUZZ