The Top Marketing Lessons from 2021 (And How You Can Use ‘Em in 2020)

We all hoped for a fresh start in 2021 after a turbulent 2020. (Please, no Tiger King. We can see that, looking back on the last year, we are still struggling to navigate these unknown waters, especially for those marketing small businesses.

Most companies focused on getting their businesses online to survive the 2020 pandemic. Twilio claims that COVID-19 helped companies to accelerate their digital communication strategies over six years .

In 2021, there was more online competition. The focus moved to standing apart online – to 40% of small businesses. This is their largest fish to fry in coming years.

We have good news for you if you are part of the 40%. There are many new tools and tactics that you can use to create marketing materials that will attract and hook your customers. We’ve collected seven of these helpful posts.

Thank you, 2021. Here’s how they’ll be used in 2022.

7 Marketing Trends That You Must Know About for Your 2022 Strategy

1. There are more privacy regulations on the horizon. Here’s how you can pivot your paid advertisement strategy.

In 2021, digital privacy is expected to be one of the most talked about topics. All year, the Apple iOS 14 update was a hot topic. You can now opt-out of tracking across apps – they’re even invited to! This means that you’ll miss out on a lot data to retarget prospects.

This is not the only privacy issue that can cause friction in your marketing. Third-party cookies are blocked by web browsers, which makes it hard to track users across different websites. Safari and Firefox do this already, and Google will follow suit by 2023.

Privacy features are now the norm. This means that you will need to adjust your PPC campaigns. Take a step forward. You’ll find five advertising tricks to help you overcome privacy restrictions.

2. The landing page strategy is changing: What works and what doesn’t?

For more than ten years, we have helped marketers create landing pages. But let me tell you that our tips and tricks today are quite different. Some are still valid (stick to one CTA Link, people), but latest conversion data has also revealed new best practices — and a surprising amount of landing pages that do not apply them.

A 2018 study revealed that 29.5% had landing pages with more than 500 words. This is a lot of text! These businesses could have reduced their word count to less than 100 words and joined pages that convert 50% more. Oof.

This new landing page guide was created to help you improve your ROI. This handbook is essential to keep in your pocket. You’ll find it useful this year.

3. Online competition is fiercer than ever. These are some ways to make your landing page standout.

It’s a shame to admit it, but you can find businesses selling exactly the same product online. (Yes, thought rollerblades were a great idea for dogs. There are 500,000 new landing pages being created every day. This means that there could be thousands of pages competing for your attention.

How can you get them to switch from landing pages of your competitors and go straight to yours? Through unique landing page–such as this interactive one by Jigsaw. Visitors must move their cursor to reveal headlines, making the message memorable. See more creative ideas and examples at the post.

4. Marketers still make common landing page errors. Here are the top 5 mistakes marketers should avoid by 2022.

There are many things that you should do if you have ever tried to create high-converting landing page. One CTA.. So, you create your page and publish it. The conversion rate drops to zero. What’s the deal? !

Sometimes the answer lies in what should not do. You could be checking all the boxes, including common landingpage mistakes.

Is it possible that all your prospects are directed to the same landing page? This could lead to a lower conversion ratio. HubSpot research shows that businesses with more than 40 landing pages generate seven times the number of leads than those with just one to five. Companies with 40 or more landing pages generate 12 times as many leads than those with just one to five. Woah.

We will discuss three other common errors in in this blog post . (And more importantly, how to fix them).

5. To save time and produce more content, businesses are leveraging AI copywriter tools.

Great copywriting is crucial to make your mark in the world of marketing. Unique and personal copy is what gets the most clicks. But, it can be difficult to do. (Thanks, writer’s block.)

AI-powered copywriting is something you’ve heard of and maybe even tried it yourself. But there are some reservations. ( Can AI-powered copywriting really be human-like? The Forbes Agency Council claims that these tools will be among the top 14 ways in which marketers can use AI in 2022.

As a copywriter, I view them as my assistants. As a copywriter, I like to think of them as my assistants. They create the majority of the content and then I can add my personal flair. This drastically reduces the time spent crafting copy by me.

(Pretty cool, huh? Try our AI copywriter for free to see it in action.

6. Video marketing can be great for many things, but 2021 data suggests it won’t work well for landing pages.

Marketers’ best friend is video content. The stats are clear: video marketing is more engaging, and often results in a higher return-on-investment. You would think that adding video to landing pages would improve conversions.

Wrong. We found that videos don’t increase your conversion rates in 2021. They could even harm them in some cases.

This graph shows that pages with and without video have similar conversion rates. Video could have a significant impact on page performance in certain industries like education. This post contains more graphs that compare video performance on social media and mobile traffic sources. They’re even more juicy!

7. AI is the key to success for marketers. Here’s how you can get started.

We’re not going to be so coy. AI is your ticket for competing in 2022. It’s not just us who believe it. Salesforce Research’s State of Marketing Study shows that marketers used AI more frequently between 2018 and 2020. It jumped from 29% to 84%. Your competitors may be if you don’t use it.

We have also expanded our platform to include all kinds of AI-powered marketing tools (hello Smart Traffic!). So you can collaborate with them to increase your ROI. This approach is called “conversion intelligence.” Large brands already use AI to their advantage. Netflix saved $1 billion in 2017 by using machine learning to create personalized recommendations. This helped reduce the number of people switching to competitors. We are happy for Netflix but it is time to level the playing field for small business.

Small business marketers need to get on board

The pandemic is still a possibility, but with these tips and tools, you can make it through any storm. This will help you to stand out and impress your customers with your marketing. This fish is ready for you to fry in butter.

The question is: Will you do it?

Although AI-powered marketing tools may seem daunting, they are easy to use. These new approaches, strategies, and tools are a great place to start.

You’ll start to see results if you make the leap and use AI. You don’t have to believe us. Many small business marketers are already successful. CD Baby’s Daniel Parscale used Unbounce’s AI-powered optimization tools for a double-digit increase in his conversion rates. Mats Moy doubled the growth of his consulting company using machine learning to optimize visitors’ conversion paths. You can now do the same.

Give it a try!