The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed business processes in both global and local markets. And if earlier it was enough to focus on new technologies and ideas that have become popular in other countries to succeed in your niche, today you have to take into account new global tendencies as well.
The pandemic has determined the development of the economy in 2020-2021: it accelerated digitalization, the development of remote services, and the growth of internal ecosystems. Taking into account the high dynamics of the business segment, many entrepreneurs wonder what key trends companies need to consider when developing growth strategies for their brands. So how to ensure stable growth of your company in 2021 and how to respond to market changes effectively? How to promote your blog so that it brings the max value to your business? Let us answer these questions for you further in this post.
How to Grow Your Business in 2021
2020 has proven that it was not the right time for long-term strategies. No business could have even imagined what happened in 2020. As the benchmarks change, the long-term strategies developed earlier will collapse as well.
On the other hand, the 2020 crisis, like any other, brought more than just troubles to businesses. It has created a great foundation for bold decisions and strategies, stop running projects without thinking but focus on the main goal. And the most important thing that the previous year has shown us is that a business could survive only when all its participants act in a coordinated, efficient manner, and with full dedication. Having analyzed the events of 2020, our experts have outlined the following trends that a business needs to take into account when building strategies to conquer new markets in 2021.
1 – Ensure Comfortable Customer Journey
The turbulence of 2020 will not disappear in 2021, no matter how much we want to hope for the better. It is now the time to accumulate strength and prepare for new challenges. The previous year has become the most powerful stimulus for the development of an online business. And there are many reasons for that.
According to Nielsen, people spend 46% more money online than when buying products in offline stores, and this number reaches up to 61% in Europe. Almost all survey participants claimed that they loved shopping on the Internet for saving time and fast order delivery. So your main mission is to ensure a smooth customer journey. To achieve this goal, you need to create a good website, build close relationships with your customers, and stay tuned to their needs.
2 – Help People Save Money
Due to the situation with the global pandemic, the real incomes of people have decreased by 7.3% in the second quarter of 2020. Until the situation improves, people will continue to look for ways to save money. Therefore, we recommend creating a digital loyalty program that will bring consistent purchases to you and help customers save money. It would also be a good idea to offer people the package of services they might need rather than selling the one that is the most expensive. Focus on stimulating the frequency of purchases. This will allow you to turn around funds faster and be more prepared for turbulence.
3 – Enhance Your Digital Customer Experience
People began to work remotely, which means doing several things at the same time. It has become completely normal to order groceries online during a long meeting at Zoom or to shop online during business hours. Now, imagine that you made an order during a business meeting hour with your manager and get multiple calls from the service to confirm the order. This is annoying, agree? People want their digital experience to be as simple and convenient as possible, which means businesses need to improve their processes. Think about the most convenient ways of communication with your customers to avoid similar situations.
4 – Take Care of Your Customers
Create products that make people’s life easier and more comfortable. We know that the consumption of clothing, furniture, and home goods increased in 2020. In 2021, this trend will continue to grow – people began to value their comfort. And you should address their desires and offer products or services that help your customers take care of themselves and their safety.
5 – Invest in Digital Advertising
At the beginning of the year, companies began to rapidly change their marketing plans for 2020-2021. Some business owners cut their budgets, while others decide to raise the financing bar. No matter what the deal of yours is, in no case should you cut corners on digital advertising. Many predict that investments in digital advertising will increase by 38% and that brands will invest 42% of the marketing budget in online, 8% in TV, and only 13% in offline advertising.
What does this mean for smaller companies? You need to become even more visible so that you are not overshadowed by big brands. Don’t just use more impressions, get more creative with your message. People are happy to respond to unusual interactions in virtual and augmented reality. This is one of the small business trends that you should follow.
6 – Add Social Media Marketing to Your Strategy
Social media strategies will be especially popular in 2021. Just take a look at the numbers that reflect the performance of SMM in the past years:
- According to Group M, the share of online advertising exceeded 50% in 2020. This figure is expected to reach 55% in 2021;
- The share of SMM expenses in the marketing budget reaches 21% in 2019-2020 and increases every year.
Therefore, social media should become the main islands of content for your business in 2021. Having a social media strategy is critical. If your brand is inactive on social media, you are missing out on the most popular place to reach customers – Instagram, TikTok, and other communication apps. If you’re unfamiliar with this idea, think of a social media influencer as a celebrity touting a product. It is one of the key social media marketing tips that will make your company rock.
Instagram is one of the main investments of recent years, which should be considered today! Social media influencers are followed by thousands, sometimes millions, of people. If you grab the attention of social media celebrities, they can effectively draw the attention of their followers to your company and help you boost your sales. I believe one common reason why social media strategies fail is the lack of consistency, and of the solutions I’ve tried, the best way to manage social media and not become so overwhelmed is with tools that can help you automate posting and scheduling.
7 – Produce Quality Multimedia Content
Audio podcasts, YouTube shows, and other multimedia content are gaining popularity in the B2B segment. They become a good alternative to traditional industrial media and social media. Competition for client attention in traditional media will grow, and there are not so many bright multimedia projects from charismatic leaders or bloggers. The advantage of multimedia content is that it can be consumed in a convenient format (audio, video, or text transcript).
But, most importantly, this format helps the viewer to get to know your company better, to understand some of its key features and benefits from using the services. By producing quality multimedia content, you will build close contact with your target audience, remove all the barriers, and make the communication more effective. With professional video software, such as Movavi, it’s way easier to create outstanding multimedia content. Some other worthy alternatives are Loopster and WeVideo. Thus, instead of producing yet another video clip, you will make creative content that effectively distinguishes your business from competitors.
8 – Personalize Everything
Another key trend of 2021 is the personalization of products, services, and content. When creating and promoting a product (service), it is no longer enough to focus on the average target audience as a whole. The high competition requires a personal approach to a potential client. Personalization delivers the best possible consumer experience across all areas – from tailor-made meal plans and fitness training to outdoor travel. Since personalization requires processing a huge amount of statistical data, the trend will lead to an increase in demand for data analysts and neural networks.
9 – Use Modern Internet Technologies
Mobile communications will become the standard. From contracting online to working from home, communication is now focused on Internet technology. This primarily affects small business owners. First, you need to develop a scalable website or start a blog that is mobile-friendly and works on a wide range of devices. Secondly, it is important that you arrange an effective way of task handling even if your team works remotely.
10 – Build Open Partnerships With the Market
In the era of digital programmatic, the role of communication with your audience is changing. It makes no sense to bargain with a bot. You should build a dialogue with a person, create new entities and additional value. At this point, you should be guided by the following principles:
- Clear goals – it is important to know that the result is achievable and measurable;
- Perseverance – the path to success is thorny, and you may sometimes need to prompt and prove your benefits to your partners;
- Flexibility – success can only be achieved by those who are quick to react and find a balance between the interests of all participants;
- Adaptation to a changing environment – whatever you plan, things will most likely turn out differently. And your goal is to react to any change immediately;
- Introspection – you should always analyze your mistakes and learn from practical experience;
- Admitting mistakes – only those who do nothing never make mistakes. Understanding and admitting a mistake is the first step towards being “immune” and minimizing the chances of repeating the same errors in the future.
When developing products, you should always be guided by the above principles and try to build open partnerships with the market.
How to Make a Lockdown a Driver for Your Business?
There is nothing easier than going without a fight. But such an approach will hardly make you a winner. Surviving in the tough conditions of a global pandemic is complicated. However, you can always make a situation profitable for you, and the following tricks will help you be at stake.
- Constant transformation is the new norm. Your company should be able to get out of the crisis faster by relying on movement and action rather than expecting a return to the stability of the pre-dock era;
- A sober look from the side will help you avoid many issues. The current situation requires careful analysis and determination of what to renounce;
- Professionalism in the application of innovations will help you bypass your competitors. If you want to build a company of the future, then you need to identify segments with high projected profitability and drive your resources in that direction;
- Management should be driven by knowledge. Do not leave unresponsive data updates and do not ignore adverse information. Get ready for a bold choice if you need to accept it;
- E-commerce will remain the most predictable and safest retail destination. The new habit of buying products/ services online will continue to grow. Food, groceries, clothing, medicines – the list of items for ordering online is not full. So make sure that you are on this list as well;
- High-quality service will become an extremely important part of any business. Buyers do not want to wait too long for delivery or tolerate impolite communication and will go to competitors. So make sure that you are good there as well;
- The online competition will become fiercer, so entrepreneurs should prepare special offers and services to retain their customers;
- Responsible consumption will become an important habit in consumer behavior. In 2021, they will buy NOT a brand but the benefit from a specific product. So your mission is to offer something really special to people.
Addressing the trends above in your business development strategy, you will receive a win-win result.
What’s Next for Business in 2021?
Most companies are grappling with the impact of COVID-19. In this volatile time, new trends are emerging and gradually affecting businesses. Today, it is important to very closely monitor the state of affairs in the world, adjust the operation of your business to the new reality, and re-equip your company. This time should be used smartly if you did not get hurt during the blackout!
See also: How COVID-19 Changed Social Media
