2020 was difficult for many companies, as well as their marketing professionals. The brands that have adapted faster than others have survived the isolation and increased their revenue. The ones that decided not to change their approach saw a significant decrease in revenue.
Of course, only the most experienced and knowledgeable marketing experts were able to adapt to the pandemic. New specialists were mostly clueless about what to do in such times without having much to go off of. If you’re a marketing student or a recent graduate, you’ll find our article useful – here; we’ll discuss how marketing was changed due to Covid-19 and which trends we will see going forward.
Retail Transformation
Isolation has accelerated the growth of e-commerce: 15 to 17 million consumers have switched from offline to online shopping. To avoid losses, offline retail has started the process of digitalization: small companies have established communities on social networks (48%) and started online sales, and large ones have accelerated the integration of their own applications. According to AppDynamics, 65% of offline retail has implemented deferred IT projects.
Content marketing has also changed: 54% of B2C marketers have adjusted their targeting and CMR marketing strategies, 80% of them evaluate them as effective. According to Eldeman, 62% of people worldwide believe that new challenges to the pandemic require active participation. At the same time, 71% of respondents said that it would lose their trust forever if a brand puts profits above people.
A year after the pandemic began, we see that most companies and brands have adapted to the new environment. Now the main requirements of content marketing are:
- Focus on changing customer needs.
- Empathy and willingness to support.
- Promotion of goods that solve certain consumer problems.
- Social responsibility of the brand.
- Availability (blogs, social networks, podcasts, videos, cases, streams), adapted for mobile devices.
Of course, the online service businesses, like grademiners.com , had the easiest time adapting because they had no mortar-brick retail locations in the first place. In fact, due to the situation, such companies could ramp up their marketing spending and bring in more customers.
Current Trends in Content Marketing
Short Videos and Stories
With the growing popularity of TikTok and the appearance of Instagram Reels in August 2020, it became clear that short videos will be one of the most popular trends. Almost 40% of respondents spend more than an hour a week watching videos on social networks, and in 2021 it is projected that consumers will spend 100 minutes a day watching videos.
At the same time, successful videos have their own format and duration in different social networks, which requires optimizing the content for each platform. For example, Facebook’s algorithm evaluates videos lasting more than three minutes, but the same content can be divided into several smaller ones and posted on Instagram Reels, Facebook, and Instagram Stories and even uploaded to TikTok.
The most successful format for short videos turned out to be quick, informative content mixed in with jokes and memes. Due to this, it becomes more popular to employ professional writers from an essay writing service, delegating them the hard work of creating scripts and other textual content.
Live Streaming
Live streams and webinars will continue to gain popularity. These tools attract the audience: people are close to the formats of personal communication through video calling. Streaming videos have become an effective tool for attracting niche influencers and generating leads.
According to statistics, 20-40% of seminar attendees become leaders. Online trading platforms actively use streaming. For example, the Live section was in the AliExpress application before but became popular after quarantine in late March. In the US, for the first month of streaming, sales during broadcasts amounted to 125 million dollars, and users were able to evaluate the goods before buying. This is especially important for online sales. In April 2020, the coverage of the channel exceeded 39 million views.
Focus on Values
Focus on values, the use of the content for the personal or professional life of the user, and the social significance of the content. These trends of last year remain with us in the new.
Many brands realized the importance of useful content before the pandemic and compiled their cases. For example, TigerFitness created a loyal community by posting fitness content, and their organic growth over five years was:
- 308,764 YouTube subscribers.
- 90,057 followers on Facebook.
- 58,600 – Instagram.
- 11,600 – Twitter.
Development of Artificial Intelligence
According to McKinsey, 20% of respondents invest in AI development. As a result, artificial intelligence and machine learning are being more and more utilized to analyze the target audience, nail down their preferences, and discover them online to offer.
The statement “Content is King” is still relevant, however. Users are still waiting for quality content, and nowadays, many writing services that are providing academic assistance to students are also delivering marketing content creation. And although the pandemic and rapidly evolving technologies are changing their focus and delivery, content marketing remains an effective tool for brand promotion.
The Power of Mobile Applications
Today, there are more than 5.11 billion unique mobile users in the world. At the same time, 51% of online shoppers place orders via smartphones.
It is no longer enough to have a site adapted for mobile devices: mobile applications and in-game advertising have become powerful tools. Even without investment, you can host mobile versions of CTA and lead generation forms, one-click conversion funnels, optimize geolocation search, use plug-ins to integrate features that simplify site interactions with mobile devices and optimize pop-ups.
Keep This Information in Mind
If you want to stay ahead of the competition, utilizing the latest tech, then you must always keep updated on all the ongoing trends. So, continue reading up on articles and improving your marketing strategies.
