Although 2020 was an extremely challenging year for many businesses, a new year is an opportunity to change things up and work to acquire new customers and retain current customers. Understanding marketing strategy trends for 2021 will help you make decisions, implement new ideas, and see results in your business. When you can retain customers with effective marketing, you’re able to grow!
In this post, you’ll learn some key marketing takeaways from 2020,
Important 2020 Takeaways
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans’ lives were changed permanently. Business owners were forced to make changes and tough decisions. Beyond that, there was an immense climb in the number of Americans who moved, whether relocating after a job change, students moving away from colleges, or families moving to more affordable housing. With Exact Data, you are able to acquire updated addresses quickly and keep mailing lists accurate, helping you grow and retain customers. As the pandemic has negatively impacted so many businesses, focusing on customer retention and growth is beyond essential.
Marketing Strategy Trends to Focus On in 2021
Getting to know and understand marketing strategy trends will help you develop a plan to recover and grow this year. Although many changes this year felt new, they are here to stay, especially as we move forward as a nation trying to curb and recover from this pandemic.
Shopping Will Continue to Look Different
When the pandemic hit in the United States, the way we shop in-store changed dramatically. From plastic partitions to socially distanced aisles and hand sanitizer stations, things are different, and they will be that way for the foreseeable future.
Curbside pickup, in-store pickup (BOPIS), and delivery are here to stay as preferred methods for many people, and businesses need to adapt to these changes. Curbside pickup is not only great for right now, but is an effective long term strategy for many businesses.
Business owners also need to understand that retaining customers now depends on having an effective e-commerce storefront (an online website for your business). More people than ever before are shopping online—over ⅓ of consumers have shopped online every week since the pandemic began and will continue to do so. That’s why understanding marketing strategy trends and focusing on online digital marketing is incredibly valuable moving ahead to next year.
Aside from a website, m-commerce is growing rapidly and will continue to do so next year. In fact, 51% of internet users make purchases online using their phones. Between apps and mobile websites, consumers are able to make purchases in a few taps, from anywhere, at any time. Having strong mobile commerce will help you create a seamless shopping experience for your customers, and provide a convenient option no matter what happens in 2021.
Marketing Should Be More Personal
People want to feel valuable, important, and seen by businesses. Personalized marketing enriches the customer experience and helps boost your ability to retain customers. Tailor your marketing efforts in 2021 to focus on the individual—who are you speaking to, what do they need, and how can you help them?
On that same token, user-generated content is more prevalent (and powerful) than ever before. Although user-generated content is always valuable, focus on saving money where you can in your marketing efforts. Repurpose user-generated content and help give your customers a voice, while boosting your organic marketing strategy in the process.
How to Retain Customers in 2021
Customer acquisition and customer retention are both important, but you should never underestimate the power of your retention efforts. Retention goes hand-in-hand with proper data hygiene so that you can reach the right people and avoid wasting resources.
Here are some ideas for boosting your customer retention to match up with marketing strategy trends next year:
- Send regular emails
- Incentivize customers to refer their friends and family
- Build trust using cohesive branding
- Offer exclusive promotions to previous customers
- Give inactive customers a second chance incentive before removing them from your list
- Continually provide valuable content and resources—go beyond selling
Start Your 2021 With Phenomenal Data Hygiene
As an industry leader with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, Exact Data is proud to offer consumer and business data designed to cater to your specific marketing needs, all while making it easy to narrow down your audience to reach and retain customers.
We use our 20+ years of experience to provide exceptional service and data that you can rely on and trust completely. We also offer a suite of data hygiene services that make it easy for you to refresh your list and optimize your marketing for 2021.
Understanding these key marketing strategy trends will help you not only retain customers, but acquire new customers and make progress on achieving your business goals next year.
Give Exact Data a call today at 877.750.6636 to talk through how we can set your business up for an amazing year. For more marketing trends and customer acquisition and retention tips, download our free guide here!
