The Top Marketing Trends in Australia
It’s no secret that Australians now spend more time online than ever before, and the pandemic seems to have expedited marketers to the next stage of this transition. With consumers forced to stay at home, they turned to binge-watching Netflix and keeping up with friends and colleagues on social media. As a business, it’s critical to pay attention to the biggest marketing trends if you want to resonate with your audience.
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In this guide, we’re going to address some of the biggest trends that have already emerged or will emerge in 2021. 2020 was a tough year and the pill is even harder to swallow when the tough circumstances are all caused by external events. Nobody could have predicted the global pandemic and the shockwaves that the virus sent through the Australian business world. If you’ve managed to survive these difficult times, you now need to spend your marketing budget carefully. There’s no time to waste and there’s no budget to waste. So, what are you waiting for?
Consumer Mindset
Those who want to get involved in marketing this year need to be aware of the changes in the consumer mindset over the past 18 months. While there was a period where consumers were buying freely online to stay entertained during the various lockdowns, these days are now over. Instead, we’re left with consumers that exercise control and aren’t so spontaneous with their online shopping habits.
With this, we think that the following consumer needs will come to the fore:
- Buying products that align with personal goals and values
- Desire to be helped through the buyer journey
A more selective consumer means that the average buyer interacts with more touchpoints than ever before. Consumers want to know a brand before they spend their money. They want to check social media pages, research more about the brand’s values, and respect brands before purchasing from them. As marketers, our job is to persuade people that our products meet their needs. Also, we need to guide people through the buyer journey rather than simply selling constantly.
Consumers don’t want to hear brands shouting about their products. Instead, they want to buy products rather than be sold items, which is a big change for 2021.
Automation
Automation was already a hot topic before the COVID pandemic, and it has become even more important now. We said that people are spending more time on social media, and this means that you probably have ad campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and others. How are you supposed to monitor and improve dozens of ads across several platforms? Unless you’re planning to live life without sleep, you’ll know that it’s an impossible task…without automation.
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It’s been said before, but automation has transformed from a luxury to a necessity. Even if you only advertise on Facebook, the value automation brings makes it worthwhile. Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, tools like Trapica quickly analyze the performance of ad campaigns before then suggesting improvements and providing other actionable insights. While some tools simply offer the insights within seconds, Trapica has automation features so that your ads are continually optimized. This includes A/B testing, targeting, budgeting, bidding, and budget scaling.
If you’re new to automation, the short story is that you’ll never have to manually optimize these various aspects of your ad campaigns again. This is critical in 2021 when you have a million and one other things to worry about. Other areas to research when it comes to AI and automation include voice chat and content writing.
Conversational Marketing
We’ve spoken about the changes in consumer mindset, and the more extensive decision-making process has also led to conversational marketing. Research suggests that most consumers want quick answers to their questions, and they’re happy to choose another service if the initial company doesn’t offer these quick answers. However, it’s not just about speed because consumers also want a personalized, conversational experience.
We believe that it’s possible to implement conversational marketing in two ways, and the first is through a 24/7 live chat. There’s no reason why you can’t implement a chatbot to cover the hours when your team is sleeping (or all through the day to save your team from answering basic questions time and time again!). Even if the customer is browsing at 3am, your chatbot provides answers and they’re more likely to choose you as opposed to seeking another service.
Secondly, 2021 will bring a need for more interactive content. Create content that users can swipe, click, or interact with in any other way. While most marketers tend to panic when interactive content is mentioned, it doesn’t need to be quite the chore you’re predicting. Instead, it can be something simple like a 360-degree video, quiz, or poll. Either way, conversational marketing accommodates the longer buyer journey and guides consumers through with fewer sticking points.
Read More: Personalize Your Business with Conversational Marketing
Shoppable Posts
In Australia, like much of the world, the pandemic led to people sitting on the sofa browsing social media. While they originally tapped on the various apps to keep up with friends and colleagues, they ended up endlessly scrolling through their feeds and, more importantly, shopping. What’s more, apps like Instagram have accommodated the trend with so-called ‘shoppable posts’.
With Instagram Checkout, for example, you can post an image to your profile and tag specific products in the image. Users can click on these tagged products and complete their purchases without ever leaving the Instagram app. Though the buyer journey is extending, and users are certainly cautious, there’s no doubting the fact that consumers are also more willing to shop on social media these days.
A quick and smooth checkout process almost eliminates common e-commerce problems like brand switching and cart abandonment.
Email Marketing
Another major marketing trend in Australia in 2021 comes in the shape of email marketing. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that modern email marketing is the same as before. Perhaps most importantly, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to email marketing. You cannot send a blanket email to dozens of people and expect results. Instead, it’s a more intense, complex process.
You’ll need three things if you’re to enjoy your email marketing adventure this year:
- Automation
- Personalization
- Segmentation
Automation helps to simplify tasks and ease the burden on your team while personalization ensures a positive user experience. As well as simply using the customer’s name in emails, personalization includes product suggestions, recommendations, and promotions. Meanwhile, segmentation is important to reach out to each group with emails that resonate. You don’t want to send people later in the funnel the same email as people earlier in the funnel (this doesn’t make sense!).
More than ever, the capacity is available with email marketing to meet the needs of your audience. After GDPR and other privacy regulations, consumers no longer receive unsolicited emails. Therefore, they expect emails from people to whom they have provided their address — it’s time to take advantage of this fact.
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Messaging Apps
When we talk about social media, most people think about the platforms themselves when the messaging apps have just as much influence in a digital marketing strategy. While they were first introduced to keep in contact with friends, consumers are now using them to message businesses, so this is a great way to extend your conversational marketing strategy.
According to the respective services, WhatsApp accommodates 55 billion messages per day while Facebook Messenger accommodates 10 billion messages per month. Over time, consumers in Australia will continue to use these two giants to contact businesses, ask questions, and move through the buying journey.
Genuine Content
The final topic we want to address for 2021 marketing is content. You may have heard the phrase that ‘content is king’, and the same remains true today. However, the days of writing content just to cram in keywords and links are over. Even more so after the pandemic, people want genuine connections with companies. Consumers want to feel respected and as though they’re humans, and the best way to provide this experience as marketers is to offer genuinely useful and valuable content.
Imagine yourself as a customer and the type of content you would like to read. Remember, not all content is about selling something. If your content adds value, consumers appreciate the effort and feel an affinity towards the brand.
In 2021, don’t just create content for the sake of it. Learn what your audience wants to read (or watch, since video marketing is also growing in importance this year!). If you aren’t sure, there’s nothing wrong with asking. With a simple post on social media, you learn the shortcomings of your audience and where their understanding is lacking. From here, you can provide the required content.
Look out for these marketing trends in 2021 to meet the needs of Australian consumers!
