2021 is a critical year for many businesses since it carries the aftermath of the 2020 pandemic. While I’m expecting many things to start finding their way back to normal, I must also accept that from now going forward, customers will make many decisions with the pandemic in mind. This means my marketing strategies, from boosting the ranking on Google with a Free SEO Course to social media coverage and interaction, should find the best way to communicate to hard-hit individuals while still thinking about a brighter future.

1. Relational Marketing

Many people are now even more emotionally attached to their spending habits than they have ever been before. Therefore, they will only invest in products and services they feel secure around and whose ambassadors appear mindful of the current economic wave. This means my marketing habits will have to carry the same aura.

Whether it is online or other traditional marketing platforms, 2021 will require I use emotionally appealing words, and more importantly, have the strategy and tools to follow through. Relational marketing best works where trust is fostered and retained.

2. Coming to the End of Third-Party Cookies

There has been an outcry for better data security assurance, especially in the last five years, even though many online platforms have tried to avoid the shift to privacy-first data collection methods. However, from 2021 going forward, we will have to hop on the moving train or risk hefty fines.

This link to marketing strategies is quite precise as saying goodbye to third-party cookies means a change in digital ads, especially targeting and tracking. Instead of companies banking on other brands’ data, we will all have to build our own and ensure security for the same. Even though third party cookies are disappearing, businesses shouldn’t worry as there will still be successful marketing methods out there. Companies like Epsilon, for example, can help businesses to personalize their marketing strategies without using any cookies. This should help businesses to continue growing after cookies are removed.

3. It’s More About Customer Retention

Although a significant part of marketing is about getting new clients on the list, we have to focus on retention critically. Else, our efforts will not bear many fruits. For brands that are already finding it tough to keep up after the pandemic, retaining existing regular clients might be the first place to maximize their profitability.

This means that we will focus a lot of marketing on keeping the current by improving personalized push notifications. In any case, retaining existing clients is the cheapest way to strengthening a brand.

4. Strengthening Online Operations

The importance of operating remotely could not have been emphasized enough by the pandemic. Businesses that did not believe in moving online were forced to seek the fastest ways to get onboard. This will continue for a while, making online marketing a central focus for most businesses. The best part is that online services are also getting cheaper as demand is quickly picking up. Even creating a website is much easier today and can be done in a day, compared to a few years ago.

5. The Art of Growing Communities

We kept complaining about how social media was disorienting traditional communities. Still, we did not know that it would also offer a sustainable way of building modern online communities. Businesses will have to focus on the best ways to use online tools to develop and strengthen communities around the brand.

All this starts by finding and keeping loyal customers. Even if people are not as vibrant as they were with email marketing, the platform will be an effortless way to serve customers’ loyalty agendas.

6. Videos, SEO, and Voice Searching

Image and word marketing will continue to be among the marketing strategies our businesses will have to improve on, but social videos are also taking over fast. With platforms such as Tik Tok wildly trending with the current generation, companies have to find a way to use short videos as leverage for targeted marketing.

SEO and voice searching are other particulars we have to pay more attention to in 2021 and the following years. Everyone is looking for the most convenient way to do everything, including using the voice to type and search online instead of keying in words using our fingers as before. As business owners, we should focus our SEO strategy on voice searching and ensure we are not lagging behind.