Lordy, talk about the year that was!
With catastrophic bushfires and extreme floods during January and February, followed swiftly by a global pandemic in March, we didn’t have the greatest start to 2020. Zoom meetings, social distancing and working from home soon became the norm, while hand-sanitiser and facemasks are now lifestyle essentials.
Us Aussies are a tough bunch, but after the year that was, few people and industries remain untouched by COVID-19.
As we turn the corner into 2021, we’d like to assist you by handpicking three marketing trends that should be on your radar this year.
1. Think About Your Audience
‘Humanisation’ is now a word. And a thing. And it’s an important consideration when talking to your customers. People are drawn to sincere and personalised communication that is relevant. No need to panic, and please don’t go cancelling all your automated emails! It simply means you need to think about your content and your audience – is it personalised and timely, and will it resonate?
It’s more important than ever before to focus on content AND your database. How you can grow it? And how to better engage ‘your people’? We believe that one way to better engage your audience is to segment your database. Categorising your subscribers based on their preferences and purchasing behaviour will allow you to tailor emails more effectively. It’s about spending time getting to know your database, and increasing your opportunity to engage, educate, convert, and sell.
This is something for you to think about and plan in 2021.
2. Make ‘No-Click Search’ Your Thing
Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is optimising your website to appear in the top website search results. In the past, the goal of SEO marketing for many businesses was to reach ‘position number one’ on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), however there is now a new ‘highest rank’ in the SEO world.
Websites now aspire to reach ‘position zero’, which refers to Google’s ‘featured snippet’. This appears in a separate box above the first ‘official’ search engine result and features information to answer the searched question. This means that users don’t need to click onto the website itself, alas explaining the nickname ‘no-click search’.
So how do you get your website to become a featured snippet, you ask? The first job on your list is to ensure your SEO long-tail keyword phrases are up to date (don’t worry, we can assist you here). Your second task is to ensure your content answers the keyword question in the most succinct way possible on your website, and bulleted lists or tables are a great way to display these. Everything on your site should have tags, categories and ALT text to ensure Google knows what it is and where it should be placed in the search engine rankings.
This example shows exactly what we’re on about here, and what you should be aspiring to reach! >
3. Get your image search on
Google keywords are important, yes? But did you also know that you can upload images to search for items?
They say that a picture is worth 1000 words, and this is even more evident for users browsing the web for specific products and information. So, if you’re keen to stay ahead of your competition and have your images reaching the right audience, then start thinking about how you get involved. Here are some tips to get you started.
- Use high-quality, HD images and videos across your website
- Add descriptive keywords to your image’s filename
- Include images on your website’s sitemap
- Incorporate alt text in image descriptions
- Check out Google Lens (especially important for e-commerce brands)
With the average attention span sitting at eight seconds, the use of imagery in search engine rankings has already drastically disrupted the SEO landscape, and we only see this growing and evolving in 2021.
To recap, these are our top three ways to optimise and personalise your communication to users in 2021. Get thinking about your content and make it as personalised as humanly possible, as well as managing your database for an even better understanding of your audience. And make it easy for potential customers to find you – improve your SEO. After all, if people can’t find you, they can’t purchase from you. So, focus your efforts on growing your online visibility and brand awareness.
As usual, if you’d like a little help to make sure that your business doesn’t fall behind, please get in touch as we’d love to help you kick some goals in 2021.