Have you reflected on how your marketing budget for 2021 has been shaping up so far?
If you’re just looking to invest the same amounts in the same places as you did in 2020, that’s a mistake. This is because the marketing landscape has changed as much as the rest of our lives did last year.
It’s time for a fresh approach and a thoughtful spending plan to maximize the ROI on your marketing dollars. Today’s blog post will provide a guide to exactly that – getting the most out of your marketing budget in 2021.
Top Marketing Trends of 2021 to Know
To decide how to spend your marketing dollars this year, you first need to know what trends are worth paying attention to and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
Here are the five biggest trends you’ll see affecting your marketing strategy this year:
1. Continuing Change
We’re all hopeful that 2021 will be a less volatile year than 2020, when most of our world was suddenly upended by the global pandemic. But there’s still considerable uncertainty about when life will start to return to something more normal. And we also don’t know what a “new normal” will look like. But we know we can expect plenty of continued change in 2021.
For your spending on marketing, this means that you’ll need to build in plenty of flexibility to your plans and your budget. Don’t think that you can just create a “set it and forget it” plan for 2021. You need to monitor how your marketing is going and make regular adjustments.
If you ignore your marketing for too long, you could end up wasting a significant amount of money on a tactic or channel that’s just not producing results. This is always true in marketing, but it’s never been more true than right now as change continues rapidly in all industries.
2. Do Your Research
If you’re running your own marketing strategy, you need to stay up to date on what’s happening more than ever this year. And what this means is doing extensive marketing research if you haven’t recently.
Here are just a few questions you need to be asking:
- Have there been shifts in who buys your products and services?
- Has there been a shift in who makes up your target audience?
- Do you need to tap into some new markets in order to grow?
- What parts of your offerings need to be updated right now to align with the new normal?
- What’s the competitive landscape looking like after a year of turbulence?
How customers see your ads and buy your products might have changed completely this year, and your industry may have seen significant shakeups as well.
Make sure you know exactly what those look like so you can plan your marketing activities for 2021 effectively as well and set a budget to match.
3. A Shift to Digital
Time spent online, on devices, and online shopping all skyrocketed in 2020 as we all spent a little – or a lot – more time at home. While more people will return to shopping in stores and working in offices this year, this shift to doing significantly more activities of our daily lives online will definitely persist.
Your marketing budget should reflect this fact.
Is your digital marketing budget expected to grow?
It should – that’s where the big returns are this year and probably in future years as well. Customers who got used to the convenience of buying absolutely everything online last year aren’t likely to stop that trend in large numbers. So, be sure your online marketing plan is up to date.
Right now is a great time to invest in content marketing, which is a long-term strategy that takes at least several months to see results. You can start creating content in these quiet months so your business is ready to thrive once the economy is booming again.
It’s also a perfect time to develop an email marketing strategy if you don’t have one. This way, you know you can reach customers directly wherever they are in 2021.
4. Social Media Dominance
Going along with the shift to digital marketing is the complete dominance of social media right now. There are more social media platforms than ever, and we’re all spending more time on them than ever as well. If you’re not playing in the social media game right now, you need to be.
And this has an impact on your marketing budget in 2021 as well, because everybody is in the social media game these days. That means it’s much harder to get your content seen organically. Hence, you need to pay for ads on almost every channel to get any kind of return.
Luckily, social media platforms are introducing ever more sophisticated ways to market your products and services. Both Facebook and Instagram have really great in-app shopping experiences your company should be budgeting to use wisely.
5. Get Clear on Your Brand Voice
Standing out in a crowded industry, or getting the attention of consumers who are facing plenty of other digital marketing content, is challenging. And it will be consistently true in 2021 as the world remains a busy, distracting whirlwind of change and uncertainty.
If you’re not sure how your brand should market itself, you should start by getting clear on your brand values and voice.
The next step is investing in activities that increase your brand awareness and brand equity. Staying top of mind for your customers and prospects in a busy time is a worthwhile investment that will pay off later in the year. At that time, you’ll be competing again with others in your industry who didn’t think to do the same.
What Should Make Up Marketing Budgets in 2021?
Are you wondering how to allocate your own marketing budget? Or maybe you’re not sure how much you should actually be spending on promoting your business? We’ve got a free tool to help you do just that.
We’re here to help you come up with a plan to get you measurable marketing results without wasting your time or your money.
Schedule a free business review here to find out how we help businesses grow. You can use these insights for inspiration, and let us do the marketing for you.
Sources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/
