What has (and hasn’t) changed in digital marketing in 2021?

Realities of life in 2021 have impacted digital marketing in a big way. The crisis during 2020 was enough to turn the spotlight on the tools and techniques that had played a secondary role for far too long. Moreover, this short period also witnessed the rise of more technologically advanced and innovative marketing approaches. The following tools are finding their way in marketing approaches shaping up 2021:

What has changed:

Video marketing: Once primarily used as a medium for increasing user understanding, videos are now used to improve search ranking and increase engagement. Video marketing has overtaken the text-based content marketing staple. With both B2C and B2B customers preferring videos over other content types, businesses are changing their tactics and are including more videos in their campaigns.

User-generated content and live streaming: People trust user-generated content because they cut through the noise, are credible and are an ecosystem in itself. The lockdowns have up-shifted the gear for Livestream videos, which are convenient and easy to produce, and have multichannel accessibility.

Google Merchant Centre: Shopping ads on Google function as storefronts and as stores, improving visibility and performance. This provides a perfect platform to improve your online presence and reach out to those people who do shopping-related searches on Google’s both paid and unpaid channels.

Visual and voice search: This, when clubbed with a robust search marketing strategy, will boost website traffic. And if you are an e-commerce brand, then this is the best medium to use. The arrival of visual search and voice assistants has made searching faster than the traditional method of querying. In fact, it is quicker to use a voice search than to go on to a website or use an app. It is also a more accurate and interactive way of performing a search.

The above ways of marketing looked unconventional not long ago, but they are now the digital mainstay for innovative businesses. Including these in your strategy is a given in these times, and it is something that you should confer with your digital marketing company. However, the following continue to rule the roost in the world of digital marketing:

What hasn’t changed:

SEO: With more people spending time online, SEO continues to be indispensable for marketers. It is still one of the most important activities for businesses to invest their money and time.

Content: Content marketing gets creative with each passing day. With numerous platforms to choose from and different forms available, the content remains the key ingredient for getting people to discover your online presence. Today, businesses are focussing on strategies to utilize content to recover from the pandemic.

Instagram for B2C & Linkedin for B2B: With more than one billion active users, Instagram remains a viable platform for marketers and businesses alike. What’s more, more than 70 percent of shoppers use it to find new products. It has also become the go-to platform for influencer marketing in 2019 and continues to retain its prime position. In the same way, Linkedin continues to influence the B2B decision-making & career opportunities through professional networking.

Website: Website remains the prime focus in digital marketing efforts & the heart of content for brands & businesses. The experience of users going through a website is considered paramount & strategies are evolving to make the website sticky & aiding in conversions. Text/voice chats along with powerful tracking cum CRM tools are aiding in the website becoming an indispensable marketing engine.

Every business wants to succeed online—and fast! However, they need to have a clear digital marketing strategy to survive in the competitive online marketplace. Having a digital marketing agency with expertise across channels will help brands ride through the digital landscape.

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How Our Multi-tiered Digital Campaign Increased Store Walk-ins of a Fashion Brand?

 Overview

The client is a home-grown premium menswear brand with a high brand saliency across age groups. It has about 45 stores in the state of Tamil Nadu, with an expanding footprint in other southern states as well. The brand is known for its innovative campaigns, advertising, and positioning that helped to carve a niche for itself.

The Scenario

The client wanted to connect to a wider audience through digital platforms and draw them to visit their stores during the upcoming festive season. However, public concerns on hygiene, social distancing, and other restrictions kept the visitor footfall to the store down. There was an urgent need to dispel prevailing fears and engage with the public, by showcasing the store’s many initiatives in ensuring customer safety and hygiene. The client approached Pixel Studios – Digital Marketing Company for ways to connect with people and bring about a changeover in the public consciousness for shopping in-store.

The Solution

As the brand’s digital marketing agency our mandate was simple: Connect with the target audience and make them shop in-store. We decided to keep the brand’s communication simple and straight. Communication was three-tiered: Hygiene, Festive Collection, and Unrestricted Shopping.

Hygiene: We showcased how the outlets maintained and complied with the hygiene routine among the staff and with customers. The outlets were affixed with a Safe & Secure badge to improve public confidence.

Festive Collection: We executed a two-fold campaign that involved running discovery ads and conversion ads. In the first stage, we built an awareness campaign with video look books, photo carousals, collection ads, and static ads.

Unrestricted Shopping: Communication on convenience targeted shoppers emerging from the lockdowns. The store had made it easy for shoppers to pick their shopping hours, which enabled them to avoid rush hours and crowding; they were even encouraged to make a trip to the store for late night shopping with a prior appointment.

The Result

Our approach in communication and our campaign strategies increased in-store visits and built brand awareness during the festival season, a period of 60 days (Oct – Nov 2020), with the following results:

150% increase in sales

3X increase in footfalls

2X lower cost per visit compared to other platforms

55M impressions

10M unique reach

2%+ CTR

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How Bellows Systems Improved Its Visibility Radically with Our SEO Agency Help?

 

Overview

Based in Houston, Bellows Systems designs and manufactures metal bellows, expansion joints, exhaust systems, and associated products that are used in diverse industries such as oil and gas, power generation, automotive, and many more. The company planned to improve its online presence due to the changing market dynamics.

The Scenario

Bellows Systems underwent a major restructuring to serve its clients better. Its new mandate called for a focussed digital strategy that would help the company to top all the search listings—and quickly. The market was limited to the US and many players dominated the region. The competition had already covered all the tactics found in most SEO checklists. A radical digital marketing strategy was needed to bring much-needed visibility for Bellows Systems.

The Solution

Pixel Studios focused on alternative approaches to take and enable the client’s site to perform well in search listings. We employed a three-fold strategy to improve the site’s standing through our digital marketing services.

• Leverage ‘Zero Position’ in Google Search: We placed a featured snippet so that Google can showcase it on top of its search results. The featured content related to a much search about product terms. This brought about the much-needed salience for the brand. 
  
  
  
• Create a FAQ section for Google Rich Results: To ensure that the snippet is displayed, we created a FAQ section on the products. This content was tagged to Google Rich Results to ensure that the snippet is triggered during a search.
• Focus on clicks rather than impressions: We worked on improving website clicks rather than focusing on gaining impressions. To achieve this, we worked on the star rating schema. The rating tool enabled people to click on the website on the results page.

The Result

The above strategy employed ten keywords related to the client’s products and services. Within a month of implementing this strategy, there was a 100% growth in traffic to the site.

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