2020 was when most companies had to adapt to the changes the pandemic has caused, hence the new normal. Tourism, leisure, entertainment, etc., were negatively impacted by these changes. Although some businesses like home renovation and landscaping companies selling home decors, spa supplies, gardening tools, and more were booming during the social distancing and lockdown periods as interests in these activities increased, they still encountered massive changes.
Even though change, as they say, is the only thing that is constant in life, these changes were too sudden that they caught many people and their livelihoods off guard. During this time, everyone was just encouraged, to the point of being forced, to accept this new way of life. So, what do these sudden changes and constantly evolving new normal mean for the future of businesses and marketing?
Marketing Trends For The New Normal And The Next New Normals After that
So far, many businesses are still thriving despite the massive numbers of companies that had to shut down. These surviving businesses have been extra creative in finding ways to adapt their strategies to the new normal. They were able to continue their operations through new ways of working and communicating despite the social distancing, economic nosedive, and many other crises currently happening everywhere in the world.
Many parts of the world are transitioning to their pre-pandemic lifestyles even if there are still outbreaks sporadically happening now and then. These transitions are signs that many people have chosen to wing it and live with the pandemic as there isn’t much option left. Likely, these newer versions of the new normal will tremendously affect the current state and the future of businesses and marketing.
Marketing Trends That Will Continue To Reshape Businesses
The tech-savvy generation has changed the marketing world by making it more digital. As the advantages of this type of marketing outweigh its disadvantages, it will likely continue to grow bigger, especially as more businesses realize its pros during the pandemic. Here are the current marketing trends that you should be aware of as they will more likely continue until the foreseeable future:
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Marketing events will continue to be a hybrid of cyber and in-person meetings.
One of the most popular terms during the lockdown was “Zoom calls,” as most businesses had to shift to remote work to avoid the risks of Covid-19 infections. Recently, as some normalcy has resumed by allowing in-person marketing events to happen again, many people still prefer to meet virtually either for convenience or safety and avoiding the anxiety of being in public with strangers again. These reasons are why experts are predicting that partly online and offline events and meetings will continue.
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Chatbots will become more ubiquitous.
Even if chatbots were first used in the 1960s, it’s only recently that many businesses have been incorporating the technology in their marketing strategies to allot staffing for more manual tasks. Chatbots have become so prevalent in usage that in 2020, several surveys showed that 85% of the time, people are chatting with someone on a business’ website, it is with a chatbot. This kind of technology allows you to get some assistance no matter the time of the day as they are fully operational 24/7.
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Influencers will remain relevant.
The influencer culture is divisive as many people think what they’re doing is not a real job, while many in the marketing business know that that isn’t the truth as they are good at what they are doing: influencing.
Several surveys have released a report saying that 63% of their respondents trust the influencers they follow, while their recommendations influence 49%. So, it looks like they are increasing brand awareness and giving businesses the sales they need, which is why the influencer marketing culture will only continue to grow,
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SEO will continue to be utilized.
As the name of the marketing strategy suggests, SEO allows businesses to optimize search engine results in favor of their products and services to rank higher. If you need to increase the traffic on your website and boost your sales, having an SEO specialist in your company would be a good idea.
During 2020 and the succeeding years, experts believe that more companies will utilize SEO marketing, which will remain valid for marketing campaigns. SEO marketing will likely grow to become a $45 billion technology as 2021 comes to an end.
The Future Of Businesses Is In The Hands Of Today’s Marketing Trends
If you’re an entrepreneur or managing a company, you would have already adapted to the new normal. And there is no better way to allow your business venture to adapt better than by incorporating these trends into your strategies.