2021 is already looking sunny and we are really looking forward to what the rest of the year has in store for the ad-tech industry. Resellers and agencies looking to not just float but swim, in the digital marketing space, must watch out for upcoming and incoming industry trends. We have rounded up our top picks below.
1| Self-Serve or DIY Tech – From the increasing number of digital-native business owners to the recent pandemic, all signs are pointing towards the emergence and importance of do-it-yourself advertising technology. For resellers and agencies to stay relevant in the upcoming years, it will be imperative for them to offer their advertisers the ability to self-service their advertising campaigns, when they want to and how they want to. And given that the global self-service technology market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.1% from 2020 to 2027, it is safe to say that DIY campaign management is here to stay.
2 | Digital Interactions – Digital interactions have increased manifold due to the recent global crisis. According to a global survey conducted by McKinsey, people are 3x likelier now, than before the crisis, to say that at least 80% of their customer interactions are digital in nature. And this consumer shift has brought about a change in the way companies promote their offerings. More and more advertisers are now moving towards digital promotions via search, display & social advertising. According to research conducted by PWC, for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, digital advertising spending grew 12.2% year over year in 2020. And that growth is expected to continue well into 2021, with Group M forecasting the increase in global digital ad spend to be 14.1%, totaling $396.8 billion.
3 | Social Media Advertising – The pandemic lockdowns have pushed people more than ever towards digital outlets, to stay connected with friends and family. In 2020, over 3.6 billion people used social media worldwide. And this uptick in personal online presence has led to an increase in online engagement with brands and advertisers on websites/apps such as Facebook & Instagram. People are using these social platforms to shop and discover new merchants. As per stats reported by Instagram, out of its 1 billion users, 90% are already following 1 or more businesses, with many visiting these profiles on a daily basis. Furthermore, Salesforce reported that 13% of US consumers are now buying products directly from social media platforms with 63% of millennials having made purchases via social platforms since the pandemic’s onset. This is too big of a market share & largely untapped potential to overlook.
4 | Multichannel Marketing – According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing report 2020, 69% of marketers say that traditional marketing limits customer engagement. Digital, however, not only offers more opportunities to advertisers for reaching their customers, it does so in many different ways. Advertisers can increase their digital presence by creating and maintaining websites. Resellers and agencies can promote their local merchants’ products and services by running search campaigns on Google and Bing, display campaigns on Google’s Display Network, social campaigns on Facebook & Instagram and business listing campaigns on Yelp.
5 | Location- Based Advertising – The pandemic has made people re-evaluate the need to support local and as such 66% of US consumers are making a conscious effort to patronize small local establishments. Resellers and agencies should encourage their advertisers to utilize tools such Google My Business and platforms such as Yelp to take advantage of this buyer trend and get their businesses in front of ready to purchase consumers.
6 | Consumer Buying – The pandemic has shifted consumer buying patterns not only towards local but also cautious optimism. So, even though consumers see a light at the end of the tunnel, they might hesitate to spend freely. In which case, it is important for resellers and agencies to ensure that their advertisers’ products and services show up in search results over that of their competitors. A great way to do that is to use the right keywords and expertly crafted, localized ad copy.
2020 was a landmark year for businesses around the world, a lot changed in terms of workforce management & how business is conducted on a daily basis. It will be interesting to see how those learnings will evolve in 2021 and beyond.