HubSpot's latest State of Marketing Report for 2021 covers a wide range of topics essential for today's marketers, including:
The report is well worth a cover-to-cover read; however, we've compiled a few highlights below in case you're in more of a skimming mood.
According to the survey, marketers are investing in content marketing more than ever before, with 82% actively investing, up from 70% last year. However, only 28% plan to increase that investment in 2021. Following a year of switching mostly everything to a virtual environment, video continues to lead the way as the content marketing tactic of choice, over blogs and infographics.
In 2021, the number one way that companies are approaching marketing is through social media, with overall use at an all-time high. This differs from last year when websites were the number one channel used by marketers. Eight out of 10 companies are investing in social media marketing in 2021, and 39% plan to invest this year. While the most popular platform for marketers is Instagram, teams are seeing the most ROI from Facebook.
According to the survey, the primary tactic for social media marketing in 2021 is social listening, which marketers can do by establishing a direct relationship with their social media audience, learning exactly how to support, engage with and convert followers into loyal brand advocates.
Optimization is no longer a "nice to have" when it comes to marketing strategy in 2021. Over 69% of marketers have invested in SEO, with the majority finding that SEO and an optimized website help them achieve their marketing goals. According to the survey, strategic keywords, localization and mobile optimization are the three most popular technical SEO tactics in use today.
While measuring SEO results is not always an exact science, keyword rankings are still the most popular way to measure the effectiveness of an SEO campaign, according to the survey.
In 2021, 77% of marketers reported seeing more engagement with email over the past year, sending fewer weekly emails but prioritizing segmentation, personalization and automation. Email marketers are using hyper-personalized messages, showing transparency and authenticity in a year when there was no choice but to be up front with customers and employees alike.
While email marketing appears to be in the top three approaches for marketers, Litmus' State of Email report shows that no other channel can touch it when it comes to ROI.
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