Automation, Data and 4 Expert predictions for 2021
4 Experts Predict: Digital Marketing in 2021
We’ve got experts, we’ve got trends and we’ve got the knowledge that’s going to power you deep into 2021.
To help you start 2021 with a bang and leave 2020 eating dust (and let’s be honest, we could all do with leaving that horrible year behind and having a better one this time).
So get your peepers at the ready and have a browse through what our brain-boxes have to say.
In the piece, we cover the following:
- B2B lead management
- Sales alignment
- Google Analytics 4
- Customer experience
First up is the brilliant Gordon Savage, APSIS’ Head of Solution Sales. He has worked within digital marketing for 20+ years and is APSIS’s digital guru and sales learning specialist. Gordon owns the solution for all of our clients verticals - meaning how to help APSIS adopt a CX thinking to make your APSIS solution fit a little better - not just with the feature but with the ROI.
Customers Want One Lead Management Solution
Everyone wants value for money and that’s not going away in 2021. Many companies are questioning their investments in MarTech and looking to converge technologies to one supplier. They’re also looking away from enterprise to mid-market.
This means that smaller is better, for once. Smaller actors are developing enterprise-edge solutions at lower cost and implementation, offsetting the enterprise value model. This is down to a number of factors:
- COVID-19 impacts
- SaaS suppliers like APSIS are developing great value propositions based on affordable solutions that hits ‘wished for’ user cases.
The Shift Away From Large Scale Solutions
If we look at the B2B market, large scale enterprise solutions don't really cut it. I mean, after you invest in expensive email solutions, you still have the issue of identifying who are leads, prospects and customers (from web data and merge profile) - which is a massive hassle.
If you solve that with a CDP, then you can implement a leads strategy. But that’s not a problem solved. You still need to build an expensive integration to your CRM to deal with prospect lead management.
Many actors struggle with these issues and just end up going back to basics - guessing who is who from CRM data and uploading to EMS as bulk mails. Guess what? APSIS solves all of this at a cheaper cost.
Marketing and sales alignment can be a common area of pain for a lot of businesses, so we asked APSIS’s Marketing Operations guru Frida Bogren what she predicts for 2021. Frida has an extensive interest in marketing and thinks about it 24/7.
Marketing Automation Will Be More Important than Ever
The pandemic has changed the game in many ways and will continue to change the game in ways we still don’t know.
What we do know is that the channels we historically used to build relationships, to be personal, to stay close with customers and prospects are no longer viable options.
So how do you maintain relationships in a digital world?
We need to level up our digital efforts to stay as close as we used to be before social distancing. In 2021 we will need to rely even more on our not-so-new friend, marketing automation. To be successful in this relationship-building, sales and marketing need to be aligned.
Delivering a Personal Experience with Marketing Automation is Key
Marketing automation will serve as the key player in our important omnichannel experience. It will help us take as good care of our visitors online, as we used to when we could meet them. It will help us to make our customers and prospects feel taken care of by delivering the messages they want, when they want them.
AND it’s something we are familiar with. In a year where everyone has lost, this is a rare win-win.
Sometimes, the next big thing is just around the corner. With the right and extended strategy for marketing automation, you and your customers and prospects will stay close during 2021.
Liridona Lubishtani is an online marketing specialist who has worked extensively with Google Analytics throughout the course of her role. This is how she thinks Google Analytics 4 will shape the landscape in 2021.
Google Analytics 4 Will Provide Powerful Data Insights
Since 2005, Google Analytics has provided millions of companies with web analytics. But with major shifts in the industry and regulatory landscape changes, user expectations are rising. And the current version wasn’t keeping pace.
Built with the power of machine learning at its core, GA4 automatically uncovers insights from your data that will improve marketing performance - which could be a phenomenally powerful tool for all business to have. Google Analytics’ built-in machine learning will provide more exciting conclusions through the data you see.
Privacy and Transparency are Driving Change
It is no secret that we are living through a period of immense change and end-user privacy is top of mind. Around the world regulatory changes such as CCPA and GDPR have raised the bar for end-user privacy.
Browsers and other platforms are making changes to core technologies, such as cookies, that measurement systems have relied on for years.
End users are demanding more transparency and control over how their data gets used. That’s why Google Analytics has created a more intelligent version that’s built on the foundation of the App + Web property.
Future-Focused and Future-Proof
Another exciting trend to watch for is GA4’s deeper audience integration with Google Ads. Users can now follow visitors on the app and website, and if the visitor has completed a purchase, you can automatically delete that user from the audience list so that you don’t waste more money on someone who has already converted. Google, you little beauty.
GA4 provides a more complete understanding of the customer journey across devices from acquisition to retention, by bringing together data across app and web at scale.
Google Analytics 4 invests in a future-focused and is built to be durable and future-proof. Looking ahead, this experience will work with or without cookies or identifiers, so you can learn about your customers even with gaps in your data.
With experience within communication and data-driven marketing, Niklas Jakobsson focuses on driving change through insights, whether the work is strategic or operational. In his role as Head of Marketing & Commercial Operations, he has a holistic approach to the commercial process and the customer experience.
Customer Optimisation is The Way Forward for 2021
The job of the modern marketer is in constant change. Technology is ever-evolving, and in 2021 the digital marketer will need to take the plunge into being a Customer Experience (CX) and Customer Journey expert.
Understanding the customer journey is key and 2021 will bring an increased pressure on the modern marketer to map, understand and execute a great customer journey and experience. Solution providers are catching on. The pitch is no longer about generating revenue or growth - it’s about providing tools to optimise the customer journey.
Understanding and Collecting Data is More Important than Ever
In 2021 it’s imperative to take that next step to be truly competitive. And to do that, data will be key. Understanding where your key data sits and connecting it across systems will allow you to understand your customer journey and find the right places to improve.
One of the biggest market signs of the transition towards customer journey and experience with providers is SAP’s acquisition of Emarsys.
This strategic positioning is well in line with how digital providers are shifting their positioning towards providing something “more” than just marketing tools. This trend will grow even stronger in 2021. The change is not coming. It’s already here.
We are very happy that our post was picked as one of top pieces to be included in the email marketing trends post for 2021 from emailmonday.
