7 Digital Marketing Trends You’ll See in 2021
So now that 2020 is over—finally, right?—what does digital marketing hold for companies in 2021?
Marketing and SEO guru Neil Patel recently made a video predicting seven digital marketing trends that will affect every business this year.
The video is nine minutes. I’ll summarize the trends for you in three.
Two quick things before I do that:
Pay attention to what Patel says . . . The pandemic has shoved so many people indoors and online that excellent digital marketing is essential to success—and maybe even survival.
. . . but also pay attention to what Patel doesn’t say. I see at least three interesting patterns and one major blindspot in his predictions.
Ready for a preview of digital marketing in 2021?
Trend #1: Page Speed
Page speed will be more important in 2021. Patel says faster page speeds can improve traffic and boost conversions by up to 7%!
Yeah, we’ve got 5G on the horizon. But fast Wifi doesn’t guarantee fast page loads—page load optimization does.
Trend #2: Content Length
How long should your content be?
Patel believes length isn’t going to matter that much for text content. Most people just want to consume useful information, so quality is more important than length.
For audio and video content, longer videos and podcasts will probably perform better than short ones.
Patel suggests aiming for video and audio clips between 10 and 20 minutes long.
Trend #3: The 1%
This isn’t a trend so much as Patel’s good advice. Prioritize incremental improvements over big changes in strategies, tactics, and tools (unless, of course, those things clearly aren’t working).
With so many businesses competing online, success in 2021 will likely depend on marginal gains.
So do all the little things that your competitors aren’t doing. Get better by 1% every day.
Those little improvements will add up.
Trend #4: Top of the List
You already knew SEO was important, right? Well, it’s only going to matter more this year.
35% of the clicks on searches will go to pages at the top of a Google search. Being in the top 10 amounts to being seen.
If you’re on page two of a search, forget it. I’ve heard marketers crack jokes like, “haha, didn’t know there was a second page in Google search.”
If you’re not on the first results page, do you even exist?
Trend #5: Repurposing Content
Not gonna lie. This next trend makes me feel weird about writing a fresh blog post, but I’m 300+ words in and starting my own business, so there’s no stopping me now.
There’s so much content clogging the interwebs, Patel predicts that existing content has a better chance of generating traffic than new content.
So he recommends repurposing and going super-in-depth with your content. Turn blog posts into videos or audio segments. Freshen up articles with more recent links and insights.
E. B. White says “The best writing is rewriting.”
That could be true for 2021.
Trend #6: Backlinks
Speaking of polishing existing content . . . backlinks won’t matter as much.
Instead, search engines are optimizing results for relevance. That means you should probably improve on your existing content and streamline user experience.
That doesn’t mean cutting out backlinks altogether. They’re still useful to you and to readers.
Just don’t prioritize them or make too many of them.
Trend #7: Branding
You and I both know that a strong brand is crucial to success every year.
But Patel is 100% right to bring this up. There’s a lot of competition online right now. Strong brands will be better trusted than weak brands, which translates into better traffic, higher numbers of subscribers and followers, and more profit.
Patel suggests getting serious about using the “rule of 7,” or interacting with prospects at least seven times to build trust and earn business.
Neil Patel’s Blindspot
This is all useful stuff, and I second all of it. But now let’s read between the lines a bit. First, notice the patterns:
Algorithms and 1% incremental adjustments may bring the people, but they can’t sell your products or services. Yes, obviously, adjust your tactics to meet the SEO landscape of 2021. But remember: algorithms won’t help you when prospects actually land on your site.
Every trend relates to content. In other words, whether you’re producing or improving content, you need content to compete, survive, and thrive going forward. Investing in content is a must for businesses.
Which brings me to my next point:Quality is more important than quantity. Gone are the days of keyword-stuffing and backlink-building. Keywords still matter, and so do links. But what matters most? Providing genuine value to your audience. Differentiating yourself from competitors. Answering questions. Solving problems. Flattening objections.
And THAT brings me to the blindspot I see in Patel’s predictions.
He doesn’t mention copywriting—not even once.
Strong brands? Quality content? Making money?
These things are built on copywriting.
One More Trend to Expect in 2021
Now, I’m not as smart or accomplished as Neil Patel (yet). But my prediction for 2021?
The brands that invest in good copywriting are the brands that will thrive.
I saw this firsthand while working as digital marketing manager at a nonprofit during the 2020 lockdowns.
With events being cancelled all over the world, everyone in our space had to scramble to host events online.
I learned—anecdotally from colleagues—that competitors four times our size weren’t getting as many webinar registrations as we were!
Why? Because I had spent the years leading up to this cluster studying and practicing copywriting.
Sure, I had the tools and I had the tactics. But they would have been useless if I couldn’t make our events matter to the people we needed to reach.
Want to win this year?
Prioritize your copy first.
Then optimize your digital marketing strategies around everything Neil Patel suggests.
That way your fast-loading, insight-sharing, SEO-optimized pages will generate profit, not just traffic.
Need Winning Results in 2021?
I once turned the abstract ideas of an academic nonprofit into thousands of clicks, leads, and webinar registrations. I can help your business get results. Let’s chat!
