Digital Marketing Trends for Small & Local Businesses in 2021
It’s safe to say that 2020 presented a myriad of challenges for SMEs and local shop owners who were forced to temporarily close their premises in line with government guidelines during lockdowns. Many quickly adopted an online approach to their marketing in order to survive and stay connected with their customers and clients.
Digital marketing has always, and will continue to be, a fast changing landscape and the past year has skyrocketed the introduction of new features and functionality from social platforms which have been invaluable for small-medium sized business owners. Instagram introduced Reels and Shop, LinkedIn introduced their own version of Stories and TikTok added a reactions feature allowing users to record their reactions to videos and share.
There’s no question that the use of social media and other digital marketing tactics have enabled small business to stay ahead of the game, but what does the future hold? Here are our digital marketing predictions to help small and local business flourish in 2021.
1. Google My Business
Localised business marketing saw a sharp increase in 2020 as more and more businesses were forced to have more online presence. Lot’s of local small businesses have found success in attracting new clients using Google My Business. In fact 76% of “near me” searchers on a mobile device visit a related store the same day.
With an up-to-date Google My Business listing, you could increase footfall, web traffic, generate more enquiries and provide valuable information to potential customers on your opening hours and geographical location.
2. Video
Bit of a no-brainer here as video continues to be an “ace up the sleeve” of every business owner. By 2022, online video will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic - that’s 15 times higher than it was in 2017!
With the major social platforms introducing and focusing more attention on video functionality, now is the time to get onboard the video train if you haven’t already. Facebook’s EMEA VP, Nicola Mendelsohn predicted back in 2016 that by 2021 content on Facebook “will be probably all video”. Instagram seems to be championing this already and rumour has it that their algorithm favours Reels content, so you have a higher chance of getting yourself on the Explore page for more people to see if you create your own Reels.
See our 5 video marketing blunders to avoid blog to get the most from your video content.
3. Voice Search
Google’s voice search demographic statistics show that 27% of the global population with access to the internet use voice searches.
Let’s just think about that figure for a second… If 4.57 billion people around the world have access to the internet, that means that 1.23 billion people have used a voice search functionality from a smart device.
As the popularity of smart speakers and smartphones continues to grow, more and more people will turn to hands free voice search to find the information they need. So how can you turn this to your advantage?
Make sure your website is suitably optimised for voice recognition. Think about how people would ask Alexa, Siri, Google or Cortana a question about your business or products and include this in your website content. Make sure your website loading speed is fast and that you have up-to-date information about your business listing online. Remember, voice search results depend on data it can access quickly.
4. Marketing Automation
If you are a sole proprietor or trader, you might think that marketing automation and the use of AI is not for you. It’s only relevant for the big brands and corporations right? Wrong!
Marketing automation can help you with so many repetitive tasks. Not only can it help you communicate with your customers, but it can also help to free up more of your time to concentrate on running your business. Here are just a few customer focused examples that you could easily implement right now:
Social media posting
There are loads of social media scheduling apps and online tools available. Did you know that you can schedule your social posts to go out when you like on Facebook & Instagram for free? Simply use the scheduling tool through the Facebook Business Suite and schedule as many posts as you like in advance.
Email automation
The possibilities are endless with automated email marketing. One of the more common uses are abandoned cart emails where customers may have started the process of buying something from your website but then, for one reason or another, didn’t complete the transaction. You can ping them an automated email to remind them to complete the transaction, or maybe you want to offer an extra discount to sweeten the deal. Give it a go and see your revenue spike, you can thank us later.
Chatbots
Chatbots are an easy way to auto reply to some of your more frequently asked questions from potential customers which can take some time to answer. If you have a Facebook or Instagram business page, you can easily set up automated responses using the Facebook Business Suite. If you have a website, there are some great chatbot platforms on the market for you to choose from to make life just that little bit easier.
5. Interactive Content
Aside from video, interactive content is one to the best ways to engage your audience and for them to become invested in your brand. In fact, 75% of consumers want to see more interactive content from brands. Chances are you’re already using polls, quizzes or “Ask me Anything” type features on Instagram to help generate brand awareness and that’s great. As we go into 2021 and Instagram starts to push it’s Shop feature more and more, you can start to add shoppable social media posts into the mix and also encourage your followers to engage more with your Stories and share their own opinions and content for user generated content.
Be a trailblazer and get ahead of the trends.
Contact us today for free advice and to see how we can help get you on the right track and conquer 2021.
