2020 has pushed business owners to rebuild their marketing strategies to survive. With numerous brick-and-mortar companies closed down, many organizations have moved their operations online overnight, taking risks they haven’t considered before. This massive shift into the e-commerce world significantly increased the competition in areas such as content marketing, social media, and SEO.
The biggest challenges faced by digital marketers in the upcoming year include targeting, establishing a credible brand voice, complying with data sharing and privacy, and creating an omnichannel strategy—among other things.
Targeting
Advertising gets more competitive every day, and marketers need to improve their targeting in 2021. Multiple tools could help with targeting, but the best way to target the right audience is by creating a buyer persona. This allows marketers to visualize the ideal customer.
Find the tools that help you simplify this process and learn more about your customers by alternative and interactive approaches, such as polling on social media.
Credibility
Establishing a credible voice might not be as simple as it sounds, and for many marketers, finding this voice takes some time before capturing the customers’ attention. It’s easy to get lost in the multitude of experts that offer advice.
If you’re looking to create an efficient strategy that maintains your brand’s identity, the voice of your brand needs to be credible. And one way to do that is to leverage thought leadership.
How? Thought leadership comes from multiple sources (customers, product managers, designers) and it can help you inspire clients to act, shortening the sales cycle. Research shows that engaging with thought leadership content increases the trust level.
Privacy and Data-Sharing regulations
GDPR is one of the things marketers should pay attention to, as they can expect more such legislation in the upcoming years. So, you need to be compliant with any regulations for your target audience. Moreover, it’s always best to be transparent about your policy on data sharing and privacy. Customers expect your brand to be mindful of storing their data and maintaining compliance.
A Mobile-first approach
It’s no surprise that most customers today are shopping from smartphones. So, the mobile-friendly approach is no longer optional but vital to a business that wants to thrive and remain competitive. Creating a mobile-first strategy is one of the challenges marketers will face in the upcoming year.
To stay updated and ensure your website is set for mobile users, test all features, and streamline the online shopping experience by improving your website’s design.
Content management
Content is essential for the success of your business and responding to customers’ needs. However, recently, content overload has become one of the top challenges for many digital marketers.
The volume of content is growing, and it is becoming increasingly hard to manage effectively. It will grow even more in the next two years, so you need to be prepared to deal with silos and inefficiencies.
An omnichannel strategy
In 2021, marketers need to put themselves in their customers’ shoes and better understand their preferences for being active on multiple devices and platforms. So, your efforts should expand beyond a single strategy—such as email marketing or social media—and enhance accessibility for your subscribers and customers.
However, not all platforms could align with your business, and that’s ok: focus on where your audience is most active and deliver seamless experiences, facilitating access to all existing channels and content.
Qualified Leads
The upcoming year brings a competitive market with numerous service-based businesses that are working towards gaining more targeted leads. While paid ads will most likely rise in expenses, marketers need to learn how to use less costly lead generation strategies. These strategies include networking on LinkedIn, for example, and developing more interactive products, such as webinars.
Google’s algorithms
Google is the largest search engine, and this is unlikely to change soon. In this competitive market, digital marketers need to ensure they are up to date with the latest Google features and algorithms. One essential feature is ranking for Google Snippets. If you’re a local business, make sure your listing is accurate and current. Use the best type of content for each feature to stay competitive.
Budgeting
This remains one of the top challenges entering the new year, as budgeting can be stressful especially since content marketing takes time to reach results.
However, finding the right budget for your content doesn’t need to be complicated. When compiling your financial needs, consider the goals you want to accomplish, define your resources, determine what channels need more spending, and always check for gaps.
Conclusion
Great content marketing brings business value, so the new year will be crucial for creating a strategic direction and prioritizing relevant and timely content.
