11 mobile marketing trends that will dominate early 2021

Members of the Young Entrepreneur Council share the mobile marketing trends they believe will take off in the first half of next year.

In recent years, digital marketing has become an increasingly important component of many businesses’ overall marketing strategies. With this digital trend comes a significant growth in mobile marketing as well. After all, mobile devices are responsible for around half of web traffic worldwide, and that number will only continue to grow.

As customers increasingly turn to their smart devices to connect with their favorite brands, companies must monitor trends in mobile marketing to stay current and competitive. Below, 11 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council predict the mobile trends that will dominate the first half of 2021.

1. APP CLIPS

I think app clips will become far more popular as a user acquisition strategy in mobile marketing. Apple’s app clip feature has come in response to their changes to IDFA rules, which have reduced data collection due to the opt-in rather than opt-out setting. In response to this limitation for running personalized campaigns, app clips are going to be big in 2021. —Asim Rais Siddiqui, Tekrevol

2. MOBILE ADS AUTOMATION

As mobile usage has increased in recent years, it has accounted for more than 204 billion mobile app downloads worldwide. Mobile ads automation has effectively contributed to return on advertising spend, cost per impression and action. There used to be a time when ads would have to be managed every hour while they were active. Now marketers can scale quickly with the aid of AI-enabled ads automation. —Kelly Richardson, Infobrandz

3. APP ADD-ONS

We will see more add-ons for apps. One example would be a connecting link, which is a link that you can put into your Instagram bio that would take users to a table of contents with all of your most important links. —Joey Bertschler, Content Marketer

4. MOBILE-BASED CONTENT

Given how popular platforms like TikTok are right now, it’s a safe bet that businesses will create more online videos. We can expect to see a rise in mobile-based content (e.g., vertical video formats on mobile social media apps). This is especially likely because the younger generation is growing into a significant market and brands need to connect with them in the  places where they spend the most time. —Blair Williams, MemberPress

5. CHATBOYS

Because a lot of us already work from home, chatbots are now more useful. From making automated calls to answering questions on social media and websites, bots make it easier for customers to get instant gratification. On that note, more apps will exist to remind users to purchase and even notify them of exciting deals and promotions. —Daisy Jing, Banish

6. VIDEO CONTENT

We are going to see marketers push out more video content to please mobile users in 2021. As it stands, videos make up 63 percent of all mobile traffic. Many speculate that, by 2025, more than 75 percent of all mobile-friendly content will come in the form of videos. I think business owners will start to transition to more video content over traditional blog posts to meet this need in 2021. —Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

7. SMARTER E-COMMERCE

It’s no longer news that the pandemic has forced an increase in e-commerce activity across the globe. Brick-and-mortar stores have been tested, with many moving online to keep the lights on. This will lead to stiffer competition on the digital side of the business. It’s no longer enough to drag and drop your way to a website. Slapping a few blog posts together won’t do it anymore. —Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS

8. STRUCTURED DATA

In SEO, structured data is going to continue to dominate. Through the first half of 2021, expect structured data snippets to be hot commodities for those looking to rank on the first SERPs. Google Search is becoming more intelligent, and you’ll need to keep up by mastering markup and ensuring every page has deep, structured data that informs page rank of each and every meta-detail of the article. —Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions

9. MOBILE VOICE SEARCH

I think in 2021 there will be increased use of voice search and voice control. With more home electronic devices in use, such as Amazon Echo and Apple HomePod, more people now rely on speaking to receive search results and answers. Next year, that number will increase as more customers buy these devices for their homes and continue using them on their smartphones. —Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

10. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Although push notifications are a nuisance when they’re badly used, more businesses will likely add them to their communication strategies. Since more and more interactions are taking place online, especially on mobile, push notifications can provide timely updates and other content besides marketing information. Thus, we’re likely to see an increase in their usage next year. —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

11. HIGH-QUALITY, MOBILE-OPTIMIZED CONTENT

Mobile marketing, just like any other form of marketing, needs excellent content in order to produce conversions. You can’t sell to your audience if you can’t use words to entice them and encourage them to act. Mobile marketers should focus on putting out more high-quality content, including interactive options. Creative content grabs consumers’ attention on mobile. —Jared Atchison, WPForms

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