How 2021 drives digital marketing
Written by Martina Filipović, Senior Marketing Manager at Softray Solutions
Last year has put all the world to the test and marketing was no exception. During last year, like never, the term ‘ever-changing marketing landscape’ started to make sense since everyone had to adjust the way they communicate and interact. As we are now in the middle of Q1, it is confirmed that agility and digital investment are top priorities for marketers. What exactly does this mean? First and foremost — the proactivity in the approach. Marketers must keep an eye on the industry as well as the latest trends while never losing sight of communicating the brand voice and leveraging brand influence.
When we talk about 2021, we certainly must focus on the latest digital trends and activities. The recent events with the trendsetters in the digital sphere have shown us what the marketing clash of titans looks like. Last month, Google stated it may stop providing search results in Australia should the government pass a new bill forcing it to pay the country’s publishers for the news links and snippets its search engine surfaces. Leaving Australia means its 25 million citizens deprived of the world’s most used search engine. Google claims paying for snippets undermines the idea of an open internet while also arguing the arbitration process is likely to result in unfairly high fees.
On the other side of the world, Apple and Facebook are the main topics. Apple has announced changes with iOS 14 and as a result, this will affect how conversion events are received and processed from tools such as the Facebook pixel. This will most affect businesses that advertise mobile apps, as well as those that optimize, target, and report on web conversion events.
Specifically, Apple will begin to require that all apps in the App Store show a discouraging prompt to users on iOS 14 devices, following their App Tracking Transparency framework. Apple’s policy will prohibit certain data collection and sharing unless people opt into tracking on iOS 14 devices via the prompt. As more people opt-out of tracking on iOS 14 devices, ads personalization, and performance reporting will be limited for both app and web conversion events.
What exactly does this mean?
1. Changes in cost per result
2. Loss in visibility into performance
3. Changes to a conversion tracking
4. A drop-in custom audience sizes.
However, this does not mean the end of the alterations for 2021 global marketing performance. Although “mobile-first” has been present for many years, Google has recently taken some additional steps — all the websites with insufficient mobile optimization will be penalized.
This is highly correlated with the never-ending process of the search engine algorithms being changed and that trend is expected to continue in 2021.
The change is now fully visible in Google Analytics as well. Google launched the beta version of the Google Analytics App and Web Property at the end of July 2019. The latest version, as of October 2020, is called Google Analytics 4. Google Analytics 4 or GA4, is now the standard for all new Analytics Properties.
Nonetheless, one thing remains constant in 2021 and that’s the relevance of the content presented to the audience. For several years now we have been living in the client-centric era where a company needs to give its audience information they want and need. This means leveraging beyond the information focusing solely on the Buyer’s journey and expanding it on the educational process for the audience as well. And within the client-centric era, a special focus is on omnichannel experience as the latest research confirms that more than half of consumers engage with a brand in a range from three to five channels during the decision-making process.
2021 holds many alterations and novelties for the marketing world. Several have been around for some time and are now being upgraded or re-adjusted, while some new trends are yet to take the spot within marketing borders.
No matter what the trend is, the key point remains the same — marketers must know how to align the company goals with ongoing changes and adjust the company’s strategy. Switching online has proved possible in 2020, but 2021 brings additional challenges and that’s mostly about adapting to the latest trends and remaining fully competitive.
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