COVID19 came fast & furious! Catastrophic change, chaos, and confusion forced marketing organizations to pivot in order to stay relevant. Organizations changed their messaging, responded to the new remote workforce challenge, and event teams scrambled, pushing dates out further and further until they finally embraced the new reality and went virtual.
I believe our new constant for 2021 will be: Embrace the uncertainty.
Trending in 2021:
Marketing budgets will shift focus to customer retention and expansion instead of acquisition. Business marketing budgets mostly focus on building company awareness and increasing the sales pipeline (aka customer acquisition). In Q2 of 2020, the surge of COVID19 cases almost brought spending to a standstill. Notable exceptions involved setting up infrastructure and/or buying solutions to support the new remote workforce. Q2 of 2020 saw a freeze in new purchases while customer renewals and expansion stayed steady. Many solutions that proved their ROI were implemented and facilitated these all-important renewals.
If your organization doesn’t have a good marketing balance between customer acquisition and customer retention/expansion, it’s time to consider recalibrating your budget.
“Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer. Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-95%. The success rate of selling to current customers is 60-70%. But the success rate when selling to a new customer is only 5-20%.” (source: Outbound Engine).
In addition, “a strong customer retention strategy enables you to maximize customers' lifetime value (LTV) by encouraging them to bring their business back to you, again and again”. (source: ProfitWell)
Virtual & augmented reality (VR & AR) saw a huge increase in 2020. Most events went virtual, vendors were fast to adopt newer platforms than Zoom or Webex. In 2021 and beyond, vendors will use a mix of in person and virtual events. Businesses should embrace VR & AR technology and/or partner with event companies that offer to create engaging end-user experiences. VR/AR appeals to both visual and emotional components, creating interactive experiences that people can enjoy from the safety of their own homes.
Imagine this: what if security vendors were able to illustrate the impact of a security breach and their capacity to prevent it by investing in a specific security application? Wouldn’t that speed up the sales cycle?
Non-profit organizations have successfully started leveraging this new technology for their fundraising efforts. They are already leveraging VR and AR to tell their stories and make donors more empathetic--more willing to dig deep into their wallets. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a virtual reality experience can tell an entire story while allowing users to step into the shoes of people who will receive their donations.
Here I am at the Italian Embassy Event in DC wearing the google VR, Oculus.
B2C and non-profits seem to be leading adopters of these new technologies. Here are a few examples of AR marketing, gathered by Hubspot. My guess is that this year we’ll see B2B companies follow suit.
Along with VR & AR we also saw an increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). “AI-powered chatbots is one of the top AI trends to watch in 2021. AI-powered chatbots, also known as Conversational AI, improve reach, responsiveness, and personalization of the customer experience. According to Forrester Research, AI-based conversational chatbots evolve into better customer service automation.”
In the world of content we are seeing more and more videos, including an increase in explainer videos and the introduction of quirky/homemade videos.
With budget shifting and focusing on customer retention & expansion, it makes perfect sense that 2021 will continue to see increased importance in creating product videos & services explainer videos for existing customers. New technology will also benefit prospects in the later stages of the sales cycle (evaluation phase).
Unbridled creativity is at work when colleagues discuss a feature, a function, or a benefit. Short to-the-point videos and webinars are selected over long case studies and/or industry reports.
2021 is the year that we learn to EMBRACE changes in budgeting and utilize new marketing technologies that focus on generating successful events and experiences that evoke our humanity