Fresh Marketing Ideas for 2021: Experts Weigh In

We're two months into 2021. Now that the year has begun in earnest, you might be looking for fresh perspectives on ideas and new angles to try out.

By now, I'm sure you know've heard all the usual tropes: Content is King. Distribution is Queen. Repurpose content, add alt tags to images and tell people to Like, Share and Subscribe. Write case studies, send newsletters and answer questions on Quora. Do these hackneyed old ideas still work if everyone is doing?

That's why we decided to survey 7 expert digital marketers for you. No need to buy them a coffee and pick their brains - we've saved you the time and gathered their expert opinion on the marketing trends of 2021 and the fresh ideas they had for 2021. Here you go:

Fresh Marketing Ideas 2020: 7 Marketing Experts Identify the Marketing Trends that will Define 2020

• Experts Roundup: What they do for their company
• Search Dominates the Fresh Ideas
• Video Search & Visual Content: Seize the Initiative
• Interactive Content: Beat Search

What the Experts are doing for their company

Compared to our experts round-up of the Best Marketing Channel of 2020, there was a clear pattern in what the experts were working on for their companies: Video Marketing and Live Chat were at the forefront.

Word cloud generated by @jasondavies via Github

The emphasis on Video Marketing and on Live Chat reflected a trend towards greater interactivity with customers and a better, personalised experience. Some of the other suggestions included 'interactive content', user research and personalised sales experiences, reflecting a similar approach.

Now, let's get to what the experts suggested as fresh ideas.

Search as the Cornerstone of Fresh Marketing Ideas

The fresh ideas from the experts fell into the category of optimizing the search channel and maximizing organic traffic. Paid traffic on any platform - no matter search or social media - are becoming more expensive than ever.

But the experts are not simply recommending "write more quality content" or "invest in SEO courses" - they have direct approaches about seizing an early advantage with video search, building visual content to augment SEO efforts, or even sidestepping search engines altogether with interactive content.

Andreea Sauciuc of BrandMentions & CognitiveSEO offered advice on catering to Google, while Veronica Vaghina of X-cart highlighted the possibilities.

Creating Micro-Moments for Google: I-want-to-know, I-want-to-do, & I-want-to-buy

By Andreea Sauciuc, BrandMentions

I think that digital transformation and marketing transformation will dominate the marketing trends in 2021.

We've experienced many challenges in terms of how digital marketing is used these days. Technology has improved the digital marketing process. It improved the digital capabilities and skills, while at the same time, integrating ‘always-on’ solutions to existing problems.

The micro-moments, as Google describes them, those I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, and I-want-to-buy moments throughout the day have increased and lots of brands should deliver content to fulfil those needs. And technology changes the way all of those micro-moments evolve and how the funnel will change. To stay ahead of competition and have more conversions we should make use of the digital transformation and pull the audience to our funnel.

Voice and Video Search are Trending; and better shopping experience

By Veronika Vaghina, X-Cart

There are trends that you are already aware of but they seem to start gaining more and more popularity in 2021:

• Voice Search Optimization: Having Alexa and Siri in our homes and our pockets, it’s no wonder that the voice search is as popular as never. Voice search optimization will become important, so make sure to do your best
• Visual Search: Have you tried it already? I use it constantly when looking for some clothes and interior ideas. And I bet a lot of people do, too, and not only while shopping.
• Visual Content: 2021 will become a year of videos and live streams. With TikTok on the market and Live Streams/Live Content  everywhere, there’s no wonder that you should be betting on video content. Infographics and checklists stay extremely popular
• Chatbots: Internet users are too impatient to wait for an email response. Chatbots are perfect for minimizing response time and increasing conversions.
• Personalization: I’m not talking about mentioning the client’s name in emails. It’s a bit more than that. The recommendations and messages should be based on their interests and personal history with your brand.

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A Hubspot survey found that consumers preferred to see video content, above all others.

Via Hubspot: Visual Content Marketing Strategies 2020

The growth of video consumption seems unstoppable, which is why Andre Oentoro and Varthika Kashyap predicts Video Search will soon become a valuable idea.

Video Search: Online Video Consumption is Doubling Every Year

By Andre Oentoro, Breadnbeyond

Focus on video will be (and still is) one of the hottest marketing trends in 2021. Video marketing statistics keep showing staggering numbers over the past few years, the video trends are not going anywhere anytime soon. Each year, online video consumption doubles every single year. This single fact is enough to prove how much internet users love videos.

I'm not saying that images and text lose their relevance. It's just video content remains the most effective tool whenever it comes to conveying information to the audience. I believe that the only way to make video trends fade away is when internet users stop watching online videos. By all means, that is nearly impossible in 2021.

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Visual & Video Content dominate the field

By Vartika Kashyap, ProofHub

It looks like that smart speaker and voice search era is only going to get an upsurge in 2021. So, the marketing world is bound to focus more on creating visual content than just creating readable content. The growth of the image focused platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, etc. reinstates the fact that visual content appeals more to today’s fast-paced generation and this trend is here to stay.

So, in the field of marketing, 2021 is going to be the year of better and new infographic content, data visualizations, images, and video content, etc.

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Adding to the discussion about visual content, Micah Bowers from TopTal highlights the value of temporal logos. As brands and apps update their logos faster and faster, a consistent brand design pays off in the form of adaptable, recognisable brand logos.

Via Toptal: Google has a library of recognisable logos for each product offering that is distinctive, yet uniquely branded.

For Daniel Ndukwu, Interactive Content is a way to beat search, while for Nash Ogden, interactivity will come in the form of personalised content.

Interactive Content will counteract Google's No-Click Searches

By Daniel Ndukwu , KyLeads

Video is expected to account for 80% of global internet traffic by 2021, Google is creating more and more no-click searches, and buyers are jaded by so much choice. To keep the gears turning and your business growing, there will be a greater emphasis on interactive content on landing pages (quizzes, polls, calculators, etc.), deeper personalization at every step of the customer journey, and more original research coming directly from brands.

I'm especially excited about the original [marketing] research. People have been talking about it for a while but no one is really doing it because it's expensive and complicated. There are agencies springing up that take care of most of it for you at a price point that would be cheaper than you doing it yourself which almost makes it a no-brainer.
Personalisation: Give your customers what they want

By Nash Ogden, TargetBay, Inc.

Personalization is going to be the key in 2021. Each user (customer) needs to be treated with unique content (products) and message to stay relevant.

That's it for our expert round up for fresh marketing ideas. Hopefully you've found inspiration for our series.

For more, check out other ideas in our expert roundup series, or look forward to the next entry on marketing tactics for the slow months.