How To Improve Your Digital Marketing Strategy in 2021

With the events of 2020 that greatly impacted digital marketing and the way people consume both media and products, advertisers are understandably cautious about what to expect this year. It is more vital than ever before to be in the know and learn how to improve your digital marketing strategy in 2021. This article will cover the following aspects of improving digital marketing efforts this year.

• Update Your Website
• Set Clear Goals
• Focus on Content
• Invest in SEO
• Improve Your PPC Strategy
• Lean into Automation—But Don’t Rely on it
• Run Paid Social Media Ads
• Hire a Professional

Update Your Website

In 2021, consumers are quickly flocking online to purchase their goods and find new services. The buying cycle for most internet users starts with an exposure which leads into a research phase before the ultimate conversion. During this research phase, a functioning and aesthetically pleasing website is essential to hold user attention long enough to capture the conversion. Here are some ways to update your website for 2021.

• Simplify your navigation
• Increase load speeds
• Structure your pages
• Add content to every page
• Make it easy for users to find you want them to do
• Put in clear calls to action

Set Clear Goals

One thing that significantly improves digital marketing efforts is defining your goals. Every company has a different objective that makes sense for its growth. While some businesses are looking for increased impressions and brand awareness, others may want to ramp up conversions and build brand loyalty. Set your goals and consider what actions need to happen to get there—here are some to consider.

• Grow brand awareness
• Increase conversions
• Improve impressions
• Expand audience reach
• Build brand loyalty

It’s vital to identify which goals are most aligned with where your brand is now and where you want to get to. Once you define your goals, you can develop a digital marketing strategy that moves toward those benchmarks.

Focus on Content

Content simply for the sake of content is no longer what users accept online—they want to see attention-grabbing, high-quality content that has a purpose. There are countless places where branded content can live and attract new users, but it must first pull their attention from the ad noise, and then it must hold their attention. Here are some tips to ensure your content meets the expectations of platforms and users.

• Hire professional copywriters
• Be clear and concise
• Hire professional graphic designers
• Don’t cut corners
• Reread any content
• Produce high-quality video and photo content
• Don’t overuse hashtags
• Make your content digestible and easy to consume

Invest in SEO

Search engine optimization is how you set your business up for long-term success in the digital sphere. While there are plenty of resources to give your company a quick injection of traffic, SEO brings the slow and steady aspect to it. Investing in SEO is essential to hit those long-term traffic goals for your company. Here are some tips to improve your SEO efforts on your site.

• Put content on every page on your site
• Build out landing pages
• Use keywords in your content without keyword stuffing
• Make it clear to Google and users what your site is about
• Get other, reputable websites to link back to your website
• Improve your core web vitals (site speed, load times, etc.)

Improve Your PPC Strategy

While SEO covers the long game, PPC is a great way to get started on that short-term growth. Investing in pay-per-click advertisements on Google can bring immediate traffic in. PPC ads work to get users to your website at the time when they are looking to convert. Here are some ways to improve your PPC strategy.

• Research keywords and invest in them
• Analyze your current ad spend and eliminate waste
• Watch industry trends and bid up or down when appropriate
• Invest in remarketing
• Optimize your website for your PPC ads—make landing pages relevant and accessible.

Lean Into Automation—But Don’t Rely On It

While most digital marketing formats are starting to push their clients toward automated tools, these are not yet advanced enough to rely on entirely. For example, Google has an automated bidding feature that is quite refined, yet manual bidding tends to bring in a better return on investment. Check out some pros and cons of automation.

Pros:

• It cuts down on time spent managing the campaign
• It can help you get started in a campaign that may otherwise feel overwhelming.
• There is no need to manually update bids

Cons:

• It may not bring the ROI’s that attentive manual bidding can
• It may not target in the most efficient way or segment perfectly
• It is not a viable long-term solution

Automation is a great asset to companies that need a boost, but it is not advanced enough to rely on entirely for PPC efforts quite yet. Manual bidding is still the way to get the most out of your ad spend.

Run Paid Social Media Ads

In 2021, if your brand is not investing in paid social media ads, it is likely missing out on tons of brand exposure. Regardless of your target audience’s demographic, they are likely on social media in one form or another. Nearly every person has at least one social media account that they use regularly. Skipping paid social media ads is accepting missed opportunities for connecting with potential customers. Here are the leading platforms to invest in.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Twitter
• TikTok
• Snapchat

Hire a Professional

Hiring a professional digital marketing agency can be just the thing your company needs to be in the know and gain insights into how to improve your digital marketing strategy in 2021. A professional agency has the experience and dedicated professionals who make informed marketing decisions for companies similar to yours every single day.

This well-practiced mindset can cut costs and improve the optimization of your digital marketing strategies to help propel you toward your goals in the most efficient way possible.