20 Jan You can score with these trends in 2021

New marketing trends await you again in 2021, but you should also pay attention to the tried and true this year. In this blog post, we will show you various trends from different areas: platforms, technology and your own company profile.

These platforms and content are trending

Social media has become an indispensable part of the marketing world. Young users in particular can be reached here. One example is the comparatively young platform TikTok. There are almost 11 million monthly active users in Germany alone. Primarily young people seem to use the app, which was established in 2018. But it is the 18 to 24-year-olds who represent the most active age group – a full 43%.[1] TikTok thus reaches a younger target group than all other social media platforms. Demographic trends play no small part in this. Many users of the predecessor platform to the LipSync app musical.ly, founded in 2014, have defected to TikTok, and the younger generation continues to catch up. Globally, it still trails Facebook and Instagram with just under a billion users, but it (still) has the most densely clustered age range of users. Incidentally, TikTok is the most downloaded app in 2020.

One marketing trick to not only appeal to the target audience, but also to retain them and thus keep engagement rates high, is interactive content. Surveys, quizzes and polls give users the opportunity to become active themselves and, if necessary, to help shape things, instead of just being passive consumers. This call-to-action stimulates engagement and gives you the opportunity to share the information with your customers in a more sustainable way. With reposts or mentions of users, their responses and content, you can reward the user for their engagement. In this way, you create a relationship of trust and show yourself approachable. In addition, engaging with your content for longer also increases relevance in search queries.

You can benefit from these techniques

A window pops up and a speech bubble asks: How can I help you? – Chatbots are becoming more and more common. Artificial intelligence (AI) helps communicate with users and offers them a platform to answer quick and easy questions. This also takes the pressure off your customer support. Over time, AI captures more and more data, so as it continues to evolve, it can answer more and more questions and provide a more personalized and also targeted service. Even though the technology behind chatbots is not yet fully developed, you should definitely keep an eye on this technology. Because as the quality of the conversation grows, so does the acceptance among your users.

Another technique that is becoming more and more popular in marketing is storytelling. Because traditional advertising doesn’t work like it used to – too pushy, too loud, the main thing is to sell (→ see also Purpose Driven Marketing below). With storytelling, as the name suggests, you develop a story around the product or your company. „Aktion Mensch“ relies on storytelling in a large number of its campaigns, but Edeka’s somewhat controversial Christmas campaign from 2015 has also stuck in the minds of many. It works because customers remember stories better than data and numbers. What’s more, storytelling also helps your social media presence. Well-packaged marketing strategies spread better than flat advertisements, add to that a unique hashtag, and you’ll also offer greater appeal to the community.

What customers expect from your company profile

With campaigns like Fridays for Future, the younger generation in particular shows its political commitment. There is more engagement with content, more questioning, the question of „Why?“ is more in focus. This is also the essence of Purpose Driven Marketing. Why does the company exist? What is the task, the meaning, the goal? The focus should not be on profit. customers, this aspect of the meaning of a company is becoming increasingly important. If you used to act with „1. what 2. how 3. why“, this order has been reversed to „why, how, what„. Because the customer can better identify with your company if it shares similar intentions as the customer himself. This is where your authenticity is critical. Purpose Driven is not a trend that you can only follow for a short period of time to be successful. The purpose of your action must have a lasting effect to build trust.

Similar to the question of „why“, the topic of inclusion is also receiving more and more attention. It starts with the composition of the team, moves on to the advertising faces and ends with the customer who is to be addressed. Diversity is the keyword. Accordingly, companies and brands that always show the same homogeneous content are losing popularity. According to Accenture, 41% of customers have already changed their buying behavior in this context and are more likely to trust companies that already address issues such as inclusion and diversity.

Conclusion

So the name of the game is to get creative! Get a message across and spread it on young channels, too. In doing so, it means: Invest in the future, be it technical or to boost customer loyalty among the younger generation. Not every new development has to be suitable for your own company. What is important here is to know your own brand and message precisely and to make them concrete. In this way, you can achieve a sustainable and credible effect and successfully take advantage of individual trends.

[1] From „OMR Podcast“ Episode 346 TikTok -Special mit Tina Neumann & Philip Papendieck