The global health crisis has irreversibly changed the advertising scene, with more and more shoppers resorting to e-commerce and the web becoming more competitive with each passing day. Predicting new trends has become a tricky business, thankfully the team here at Vimar are up to the challenge.

Flexibility and being prepared for sudden changes have always been essential with online marketing, but some new trends are emerging, and keeping up with them could make all the difference in whether your business sees growth in the year ahead.

The insights below should help business owners make informed decisions about their marketing strategies in the future. They are also some key areas that Vimar will be working on throughout 2021.

User-generated content

With competition being tougher than ever, customers are getting fed up with generic ads on their screen and are more trusting of organic or user-generated content.

Accurate and engaging content develops trust from shoppers, leading to a boost in sales. Innovative and entertaining content is becoming more effective as it is less intrusive and disruptive to customers.

Customers are looking for reviews and testimonials when searching for new products, often resorting to YouTube for advice.

If we had only one suggestion for emerging businesses, it would be to create and curate content that your users enjoy and will engage with. This can take the form of video, audio, blog post or any other form of content as long as it is receiving positive feedback.

Customized advertising

Seamlessness has become essential when it comes to marketing, so more and more brands are turning to customized ads. Shoppers perceive personalization as interesting and engaging – and hate being exposed to generic ads, so it’s no surprise that brands are turning to personalized ads to attract and retain shoppers. 

There is a lot to learn from your customers through analytics and their engagement with your business. 

Vimar works alongside you to find customer insights, allowing us to create bespoke targeted ads and campaigns that are original and focus on your customers and brand.

Video advertising

Although video advertising is no novelty, its use is projected to skyrocket in 2021. New video communication[1] efforts are likely to emerge in 2021, with live videos being the number one trend in video advertising for the year ahead of us.

Users are fed up with being exposed to long, drab video ads. 

Short live streaming videos are more effective when it comes to grabbing and maintaining your customer’s attention, especially through live streaming via Instagram reels or TikTok. Short and direct is the way to go. 

Just check out our Facebook page for some examples of how we have been using video for both ourselves and our customers.

Mobile Advertising

People are spending more hours connected to their phones making mobile advertising one of the biggest marketing trends for 2021. With the ongoing pandemic and recurring lockdowns, shoppers spend most of their time checking their smartphones, so now is the time to invest in mobile advertising and a mobile-friendly site. 

Advertising through the “story” feature, present not only on Instagram, but also on Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and YouTube is becoming more and more attractive for our customers and other brands who are trying to make good use of the story hype. 

Other ways mobile is being used for marketing includes messaging, which leaves a somewhat personal impression on users – WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat together have over 4 billion monthly active users. 

Talk to our team about the approaches we can use and what chat feature may or may not work for your business.