As 2021 is going to begin so what to expect from Digital Marketing in 2021?. Before 2020 began, we were all harping about a completely different set of trends that would overtake our world. And then Covid-19 happened, throwing off all our plans, hopes, and dreams of the future. The wave of digitization suddenly swept us all off our feet and took away every lesson that we had learned so far.
Of course, it has been a boon for digitization efforts of all these years. But it is a good practice, and also useful, to go back and see what we have been doing right or wrong, and what does the future of this new world looks like.
Some of the most essential metrics of success that digital marketing agencies keep note of include Cost Per Lead (CPL), Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL), Conversion Rates by Channel, Email Marketing Performance, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Brand Loyalty, Net Promoter Score, among many, many others. Of course, it goes without saying that many of these metrics are basic, and some marketers might even say that they are no longer required since they look a bit like something we would refer to before the pandemic hit us and changed the meaning of digital marketing as we know it.
And this is partly true because the biggest factor that ensured whether your business thrived, survived or got demolished was delivering in-person experiences. Honestly, nobody saw it coming so we don’t blame you if you didn’t get it right. But look all around you and you will see the pattern. From travel to eating out, live music, movies, nothing fared well in this year, and the future picture doesn’t look very rosy either.
Digital Marketing: The importance of maturing digitally
For all the businesses that don’t really depend on in-person experiences so much, a big factor that impacted their ability to succeed was whether or not they were digitally mature. If the company did not have the requisite digital tools before the pandemic hit us all, they would have been caught off guard and thrown astray. Some managed to claw out of the mess and pivoted right in time, but most of these companies had a hard time catching up to the rest of the digital world.
According to reports, 97% of enterprise decision-makers believe Covid-19 accelerated their company’s digital transformation. So as most teams adjusted to remote work over the months, customers also made a definitive switch to digital tools and channels. So, which of the metrics are now worth looking at for a company having an in-house digital marketing agency, or a hired one?
How your audience behaves
Audience behavior has always been a key component of the marketing mix, but it is more important now than ever. Now that life experiences have been replaced by digital ones, companies ought to find a way to replicate the same or better experience, through a host of digital tools and channels. Website traffic measurement will also be a key metric in that sense since more and more people are now spending their time online, cooped up in their homes. Keep a track of your monthly volume traffic, and focus on sending out more and more marketing emails with riveting content to drive engagement.
Consumer review is key
In a digital world, if you still haven’t taken up the task of performing an end-to-end customer experience review, you are in serious trouble. You must take a close look at your content and channel strategy, and be able to effectively measure customer satisfaction through NPS or something else, revenue, sales effectiveness, web and social analytics.
Deep dive into the credibility
Transparency and credibility will be the buzzwords going forward since there is only a screen between your business and your main customers. If you have to deliver a deeper, more holistic customer experience, you have to watch what you say and how you say it. Earning trust is going to be quintessential to your success, and sometimes, the only factor that will differentiate you from your equally savvy competitor. In fact, according to a report, 29.3% of customers say that they will place an infinitely higher value on building trustworthy relationships with brands, over anything else.
Rely on crucial metrics
Assess, analyze and figure out what you can learn about your marketing tactics from your leading metrics. Keep an eagle’s eye on Google Analytics data like Daily Active Users, Unique Visitors, Time spent on a page, average revenue per user, etc. These metrics were and will continue to remain important going forward. Plus, they can help you spot issues faster and create strategies that will help fix those issues as well. Some of the other metrics that you must keep your focus on include email marketing performance, Customer Acquisition Costs, ROI, Churn Rate, among others.
And above everything else, the thing to keep in mind is that you have to keep your audience first and deliver the highest quality of experience there is. Without that in place, none of your digital marketing agency tactics is going to succeed. The road to the new year might be paved with many challenges, but with digital marketing fundamentals in place, your chances of surviving and thriving are bound to increase.
