A prediction from one of the most influential women in digital Marketing.
Privacy Focus
One of the big trends we will undoubtedly see in 2021 is an increased focus on privacy issues. As digital marketing evolves with a much more targeted approach, consumers are becoming more conscious and concerned about privacy.
As a reaction we are seeing top brands think quick: in March 2020, Safari blocked all third-party cookies, Apple is introducing intelligence tracking prevention across mobile apps, meanwhile, Google plans on getting rid of third party cookies by 2022.
As many government bodies warm up to the idea of enacting legislation to protect personal data there is no denying the data privacy landscape will change immensely — and digital marketers will have to adapt.
A recent study suggests contextual targeting might be one of the best ways to handle the transition. However, given the turbulent nature of the new landscape driven by privacy changes, I believe the best next move will be sticking to the tried-and-true practices — PPC advertising and content marketing.
The key driver behind PPC advertising — search engine queries — are not likely to be impacted by the privacy changes, and this allows brands to pursue their paid search efforts. This would be a good marketing channel to use that would see beneficial results during turbulent times.
Another classic move would be concentrating on creating good quality content. The importance of informative, educative and purposeful content positions you as leaders in the field and resonates with your audience, clients, consumers and customers.
Digital marketing cuts to come?
As for the general perspectives of digital marketing in the upcoming year, we need to take into account that funds are on a tight leash and as such, business cuts are inevitable. According to data from SEMrush, digital advertisers of all sizes have reduced their online ad budgets by 20% on average.
Whilst acclimatising to the new normal we can say for certain that online is the new offline and as we have seen so rapidly in the last few months – that online visibility, presence and exposure is here for good if businesses want to stay afloat and ideally stand out from the crowd.
I believe spend on digital advertising will regenerate and grow exponentially, and the main growth driver here will be small and medium companies.
OLGA ANDRIENKO
Olga is the Head of Global Marketing at SEMrush. Together with her team, she has built one of the strongest international communities in the online marketing industry. Olga has expanded SEMrush brand visibility worldwide, bringing >90% YoY growth from the top 10 new markets. She currently leads all SEMrush branding across over 50 countries, ensuring marketers all over the world have access to the best software to run effective online marketing campaigns. In 2018 Olga was mentioned among the 25 most influential women in digital marketing by TopRank. She speaks at major marketing conferences and her quotes on online user behavior appear in media such as Business Insider and The Washington Post.
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