We’re Off and Running in 2021: What’s Ahead for Marketing?

If you’re anything like me, you stayed up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, not for the celebration, but to ensure that the door slammed shut hard on 2020. (I know, I know. It feels like it’s been a year since January 1, but humor me here.)

No matter who you are or where you live, that was a year for the record books. Our country, our communities, and our individual experiences changed more dramatically and rapidly than at any other time in our lives. While many (many..) days were difficult, I can also admit that some of the professional shifts we were forced to undertake were for the better. 

Look no further than marketing. Strategic marketing plans and programs were turned upside down before the end of Q1, but marketers big and small, in B2B and B2C, pivoted, injected creativity into the most traditional of programs, and drove levels of engagement never imagined.

In 2021, businesses will again look to their marketing leaders to tackle these uncertain, fluid times ahead with creativity, founded on strategic know-how. Here are a few things we expect to see and do more of in the months ahead.

We Couldn’t Undo the 2020 Growth of eCommerce If We Tried

eCommerce isn’t new, but it sure looked that way to a lot of people in 2020. According to Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, eCommerce participation in the US grew as much in 8 weeks of 2020 as it did in the previous 10 YEARS. You read that right. Ten years! So if you are wondering if your buyers are online, wonder no more. 

If you need to make the shift to online (or further embed your products and services online), it is critically important to ensure that as your entire deliverable adapts, you can provide the same, or ideally, an improved customer experience. 

A few ways to make that happen are:

• Increase the number of channels through which you sell online. Your website is great, but have you tried social commerce? 
• Reexamine your ecommerce technology to ensure it’s serving your needs
• Explore a subscription-based product or service to ensure predictable, recurring revenue

eCommerce seems easier to undertake for tangible products, but 2020 showed us that many services can be offered as digital experiences, like fitness classes and professional services training. These experiences are still critical today, even as the pandemic continues, but when we’re on the other side, people will continue with these new experiences (i.e. behaviors) because they’re more accessible or  they’ve gained an unexpected benefit (i.e. no more 5:30 a.m. commute to the gym). 

Virtual Events Are Here to Stay

Arguably the industry most hamstrung by the pandemic, the event industry was also the first and fastest to respond. So many corporate events quickly pivoted to virtual, and enjoyed success, and in many cases, even greater engagement and participation. And not only that, new virtual experiences were available, often with influencers, when in the past they might have been cost prohibitive. This also extended to our family lives, as summer camps provided online “camp” experiences – something no one could have imagined – and often with children who weren’t even planning on being in-person campers last summer!

As more of the population is vaccinated throughout 2021, we expect to see the return of live events, but alongside virtual events, and even more likely, events that combine the two. The options will offer continued safety, and perhaps more importantly, increased accessibility for participants considering cost, location, and travel challenges. For the host, this all adds up to more exposure – and more dollars. And for the rest of us? More knowledge, made more widely available. Talk about a win-win! 

Connect to Your Audience’s Beliefs and Behaviors

The impact of this may not be entirely driven by COVID-19, but it certainly shined a bright light on it. As a global community, many people are increasing their commitment to sustainability, not least of all millennials and Gen Z, two of the most influential demographics. It’s important that your brand is sustainable, authentic, and forthcoming in its beliefs in order to foster a meaningful relationship with your clients and customers.

We personally know two businesses who pivoted during the last ten months, both to refocus their efforts on using and selling sustainable products only. This was done not only as a marketing differentiator, but because they believe in it. They’re walking the talk. 

A communications strategy founded upon empathy and/or doing what’s right for the earth will increase your ability to engage with these crucial demographics. We surely expect this kind of focus to only grow over time. But be careful. If you just talk about it, but don’t do anything about it, you could become the target of a nasty online campaign (and you may need us for crisis communications).

In other words, you need to do more than just commit to something; you have to do it, live it, be it, share it. 

Personalization is No Longer Enough 

A few years ago, I was having a conversation with a friend and Tito’s Vodka came up. I like a good martini as much as anyone, but I can honestly say I’ve never searched for Tito’s Vodka, I’ve never purchased Tito’s Vodka, but somehow the next time I went to Twitter, I was hit with a Tito’s Vodka ad. At the time I was surprised, but fast forward a few years and now we know digital advertising connects to everything around us to target us, and of course, it just keeps getting smarter. 

Now we expect to see those ads, right? We understand what is happening and why. But while I was creeped out courtesy of Tito’s Vodka, it seems that the next phase of this, that consumers actually want, is for brands that we will love to find us from the beginning.  

This represents a shift from an era of personalization, to a more specific era of personal commerce. Brands should have even more awareness and responsiveness to what I need – in the moment I need it. Open up Instagram at 7:30 a.m.? Show me ads for workout clothes, because you know I just finished my exercise class. Go on Facebook at 5:30 p.m.? How about an ad for HelloFresh, to ease up the drudgery of thinking about what to make for dinner each night. Anticipate my problems and then solve them – all in the moment I have them. 

Marketing Is A Long Game

Yes, marketing is a long game, especially trying for the impatient (ahem!). Because marketing sits at the intersection of data and insights, the best marketers can combine those hard facts with the ‘soft’ stories and brand expression to best capture the audience of today, and of the future. Some marketing tactics deliver results faster than others, and that’s by design. Leads are great, but you need balance to keep your momentum up and pipeline full. And that’s what we all want, right? 

Here’s to the future!