After a year and a half of mostly reactive marketing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marketers are looking to move forward with their strategies based on data. A study conducted earlier this year revealed five shifts in digital strategy that can guide marketers to success as we near the end of 2021 and move into 2022. 

The research findings included:

• There is nothing more important than customer connection. To improve customer experience, increase customer engagement and boost brand awareness, marketers must work to establish an approach that includes personalization and is driven by customer experience.
• Disregard digital marketing trends at your peril. 2020 sent “normal” marketing strategies out the window. New trends to consider and prioritize include:
  • New social platforms
  • Virtual events
  • Influence marketing
  • Retention marketing
  • Data science
  • Automation
  • Transparency
  • Adding direct purchase option
  • Authentic messaging/cause marketing
  • AI and chatbots
• Digital budgets will increase. In 2020, many organizations either froze or decreased their marketing budgets as a response to decreased revenues brought about by COVID restrictions. However, the necessary pivots in strategy also required organizations to invest in improving their digital capabilities. It is expected these investments will continue, and marketing technology will receive a large part of the marketing spend.
• Ranking quality over quantity will require effort. This is especially true for larger organizations that are more focused on strategies to move up the sales funnel, whereas smaller companies tend to focus on the bottom of the funnel.
• Account-based marketing (ABM) can help with marketing success. Marketers who are the most successful at digital marketing often use ABM. ABM is useful for promoting engagement and improving conversion for high-value accounts.