2021 Digital Marketing Trends Guide

Digital marketers know and continuously face the challenge of keeping up with the latest consumer and industry trends, especially after 2020’s instability. The covid-19 pandemic shifted the world as we knew it, and even though the social norms may eventually return to how they were, many digital consumer and industry trends will have been altered indefinitely.

This past year industry giants such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google experienced the harsh reality of the changes in digital user privacy, facing several state and federal lawsuits. Digital marketers have started to migrate their budgets away from these previously reliable channels due to a continuous lack of privacy. With marketer’s eyes on the shiny new idea of diversifying their distribution channels, Big Data has begun to see a decline. Despite 2020’s challenges, change is still to be expected in 2021 as digital marketing trends are constantly evolving. Marketers looking to stay on top need to consider shifting their focus and budget to low-risk, high-reward channels, such as performance marketing, and rising social channels.

Digital marketers must understand that the long awaited march towards inclusivity, representation, and social awareness has finally begun. While some trends come and go, this revolution is here to stay, as consumers in the rising Millennial and Gen-Z generations continue to occupy an increasing percent of market share globally. Consumers are not only getting serious about seeing fundamental changes surrounding social responsibility, but also around sustainable business practices and the corresponding environmental impacts. Marketers can no longer standby and wait for these movements to dissipate; now is the time for businesses to take action towards supporting these movements, or risk losing the next generation’s business.

Within our latest guide, Perform^[cb] pulls back the curtain and presents a detailed look into what marketers should anticipate in order to stay on top of the latest trends in 2021. Marketers looking to stay ahead of the curve can utilize this guide and its data to best prepare their brand’s strategy for the months and years to come.