There is always a huge interest in digital marketing trends and innovation in marketing at the beginning of the year. And rightly so, since reviewing innovation in digital marketing, technology, and platforms for the year ahead can help marketers identify new opportunities that agile businesses and marketers can tap into… if they’re looking in the right place and know the right questions to ask…
Each year, for the last ten years, I have assessed the digital marketing landscape to help give recommendations on the digital marketing trends marketers should focus on in the future.
In this year’s guidance on the Smart Insights blog I will cover what I see as the main trends across our RACE customer lifecycle framework which defines 25 key digital marketing activities that can be harnessed by businesses to drive growth through:
- Improved reach via digital channels
- Increasing digital engagement of your audiences
- Better managing digital marketing to integrate it into marketing activities
Improve your digital marketing plans for growth in the year ahead
The latest digital marketing technology hype cycle
Across all digital platforms and marketing cloud services, the trends are well documented by Gartner in their digital marketing hype cycles which I summarize each year. Here is the latest visual from Gartner of the 2020 digital marketing hype cycle.
From reviewing the latest hype cycle, and from my recommendations on innovations in this post, here are the core marketing themes that I think will be most significant for marketers considering their adoption of digital technology in 2021 and beyond:
- Conversational marketing
- Consumer privacy and consent
- Artificial Intelligence and machine learning for marketing
- Personalization is referenced as personification
- Marketing Hubs (clouds) and email automation
- Fewer new innovations
E-Commerce sales went through the roof
2020 was unpredictable, to say the least. That meant that while some of the trends which were predicted pre-pandemic did end up coming to light, others didn’t emerge at all, with various forced adaptations reshaping elements of the marketing landscape.
Most notably, eCommerce sales went through the roof, people spent a lot more time on social media, and video conferencing became the norm. This has led to a major shift in the way brands connect with their consumers.
So, as we turn a corner into the New Year, what marketing trends will continue to permeate in 2021?
Here are some key trends to consider:
- Live-streams and an increase in influencer content
- More goodwill and purpose-driven missions from brands
- UGC to enhance the customer experience
- An emphasis on sustainability
- Inclusivity will be key
- Increase in voice and visual search
- Easy-to-consume content
Digital advertising global market size
- Ad spending in the Digital Advertising market is projected to reach US$398,762m in 2021.
- The market’s largest segment is Search Advertising with a projected market volume of US$171,641m in 2021.
DIGITAL MARKETING IN BANGLADESH
Today, almost everyone is online. With access to cheap data and affordable smartphones, the number of people across the country (Bangladesh) who have access to the internet has increased exponentially. This means that if the companies want to connect with their target customers, engage them, create brand awareness and sell them some products or services, they can easily do it through online channels.
Digital marketing has become quite popular in Bangladesh too.
Internet subscribers in Bangladesh 2020
The total number of Internet Subscribers has reached 111.875 Million at the end of December, 2020.
The Internet subscribers are shown below:
| Mobile Internet | 94.236 |
| WiMAX | 0.005 |
| ISP + PSTN | 5.743 |
| Total | 99.984 |
Advertisement market size in Bangladesh:
- Advertising market in Bangladesh is approximately BDT 2,000 Crore.
- It appears that digital markets earn around Tk 2,000 crore per year from the digital advertising sector in Bangladesh.
- The combined expenditure by Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink in this sector is Tk 435 crore.
- Rest of the budget TK 1565 crore expenditure by other companies like FMCG, Small Businesses and other businesses.
In the end, remember digital marketing is not all about digital advertisements. It’s more about meaningful communication & connections. Digital strategy is not measured by paid visibility but by the number of people who trust you, become your fans, spread your message willingly, promote your services, act as your brand ambassador and protect it. That kind of value can never be bought; it has to be earned.