Digital marketing is ever-changing and moves at a rapid pace.
What works today may not work as early as next year!
It’s our duty as online marketers to keep up with the growth of digital marketing in Malaysia and continue to stay relevant to the customers.
In today’s article, we will tackle an interesting topic on the key digital marketing trends businesses in Malaysia need to take note of.
Top 7 Digital Marketing Trends in Malaysia for 2021
1. The Rise of Mobile Traffic
2. Chatbot Automation
3. Omni-Channel Marketing
4. Instagram & YouTube Influencers
5. Instagram Ads
6. Conversion Optimization
7. Personalized Marketing
1: The Rise of Mobile Traffic
From our observation of running both Google PPC ads and Social Media ads for our clients, mobile traffic has surpassed by desktop traffic on average by 60-70%!
We foresee the number to be even higher by the end of 2021. Gone are the days where desktop traffic is the dominant platform.
People’s attention has shifted to mobile and the numbers are now reflecting the change.
This makes it crucial to develop websites that are mobile responsive to provide a unique user experience when the visitor is scrolling on your website.
What You Can Do:
- Take this mobile-friendly test to assess if your website is mobile friendly. If it’s not, you will need to discuss with your developer and change the layout.
- Include multiple Call to Action buttons such as “Call Now”, “WhatsApp Us” on mobile. This will improve your conversion rate.
2. Chatbot Automation
These days, we all want answers FAST.
Instead of waiting for the reply via email, chatbot helps to provide the information to your visitor as it can answer the FAQs automatically without you having to be there.
After the initial discussions are done, your sales team can then come in to take over and close the sale.
There two types of chatbot:
- Website Chatbot
- Messenger Chatbot
For the website chatbot, it’s installed on your website and will answer the common questions asked by your visitors.
On the other hand, the messenger chatbot works on the Facebook platform instead of the website. The benefit of having a messenger chatbot is you can send messages to your visitors to follow up or send them promotion offers.
As more businesses use the chatbot automation in 2020, the traditional email marketing will soon be outdated.
Watch out for these changes!
What You Can Do:
- Does your business rely on website traffic, Facebook traffic or both? Depending on your traffic types, you may consider utilizing the chatbot on your website and/or Facebook messenger
3. Omni-Channel Marketing
With the huge number of digital platforms in Malaysia, we foresee marketing to move into an omni-channel approach, where users will see the business multiple times in different digital channels.
Here are some of the key channels to leverage on – Facebook, Google, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter.
How this works is, say a person search for your website on Google, the person lands on your website, check out the product and services, and then leave the website.
With an omni-channel marketing strategy, this person will then see your brand again on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and so forth. To do this, you will need to install the Facebook pixel and conversion tracking. Get your developer to do this, it should take no more than 10-15 minutes.
This will not only help to increase sales but more importantly, it builds brand awareness in the long run as the visitor sees your brand frequently. This is the best way to out market your competitors if you are in a competitive industry.
What You Can Do:
- Set up Facebook pixel and conversion tracking on your website. This will capture the users’ data and allows you to start omni-channel marketing for your business.
- Create ads on all (or at least 3) of the key platforms mentioned above.
4: Instagram & YouTube Influencers
Here’s the best concept to increase sales – People buy people.
Influencers on Instagram and/or YouTube have spent the time to build their followers and more importantly, trust among their followers.
When the influencers recommend your product, it’s more trustworthy than you trying to convince your prospect to buy.
The good news is, in 2020, the price of influencers is still underpriced. As more brands start using influencers, the price will be much more expensive in 2021.
Search for influencers that fit your brand and those who command the attention of your target audience.
What You Can Do:
- Invest your marketing spend by testing several influencers. As the costs of influencers are underpriced, you can afford to test and assess which influencers are the best fit.
- Depending on your business model and negotiation, you may either provide a free product/service or pay the influencer for each post.
- Cover all bases by using Instagram influencers for images and YouTube influencers for videos.
5: Instagram Ads
Instagram again?
Yes, but this round we are not referring to the influencers, instead, it’s about running Instagram ads for your brand.
While Facebook ads are still working, it has become more expensive as plenty of small to large companies invest in the platform.
Here’s the thing about digital marketing, when the demand increase, the price goes up and your margins will start to decrease.
Instagram ads are the breath of fresh air with billions of users and the best part is, the ads are still not as many Facebook in 2020.
This is the best time to allocate your budget to Instagram at a cheap cost.
What You Can Do:
- If you are currently running Facebook ads, consider allocating a portion of your budget to Instagram ads
- Run both Instagram feed and story ads.
6: Conversion Optimization
This is probably the most boring thing you can do and yes, it’s not as sexy as the other marketing strategies.
However, as marketing costs increase year on year, conversion optimization is the best way to save cost and acquire leads at a cheaper rate.
The more you optimize your website for conversion, the more you can reinvest that money saved into acquiring more customers.
On your website, make it clear the benefits of your product and your core competence. Why should the customer pick you over your competitors?
Another thing you should do is include case study and testimonials on your website. If possible, get video testimonials over text.
Finally, run a split test on your website to assess which page converts better. Even if you get a 2% increase, it’s a lot of money saved in the long run.
What You Can Do:
- Discuss with your developer to run A/B split test for conversion optimization on your website.
- If you are sending traffic to other pages instead of the homepage, optimize those pages as well.
7: Personalized Marketing
We have saved the best for the last!
Personalized marketing is the key to a successful marketing campaign. Segment your audience according to their age, interest, location, and industry.
Every business should create 10-100 different audience segment and create different messaging in your ad.
For example, let’s say you have these two audience segment:
Group A: 25 years old, loves cars, live in KL, and work as a sales executive
Group B: 48 years old, loves reading, live in Penang, and work as a writer
Based on the segment, the tone and ad creatives should be created differently to match their current state.
When people feel like your business understand their needs, the chances of them buying is much higher.
What You Can Do:
- Use Facebook Audience Insights to research your audience.
- Create 10-100 audience segments and run different ad copy and creatives.
Looking to Capitalise on These Digital Marketing Trends?
At Axcel Digital, we help businesses increase sales and leads by utilizing modern digital marketing approach.
Feel free to reach out to us if you need help implementing the latest digital marketing trends and strategies for your business.
Conclusion
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article on the top digital marketing trends in Malaysia. Hop on these trends early and your business will thrive.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave the comment below or email us at info@axceldigital.com