2021 digital marketing trends
January 14, 2021

A new year brings new trends to the digital marketing space. Innovation in varying platforms and technology is held to high regard and allows new opportunities in the industry to be identified and implemented. Here are some recommendations on practical trends to take advantage of in 2021.

Assessing machine learning optimisation for paid search

Machine learning is a fundamental part of organic and paid search, especially Google Ads. Consumers are becoming increasingly demanding, curious, and attentive to machine learning that produces insincere or robotic ads. While they expect ads that are personalised and helpful, it isn't always easy. Responsive search ads enable businesses to deliver valuable ads that are relevant to consumers.


By providing 15 headlines and up to 4 description lines, Google Ads test varying combinations on how each search query performs. Those who use machine learning to test multiple creatives generate over 15% more interactions than those who don't.


Smart bidding can be highly beneficial to a campaign performance if monitored and assessed regularly. In contrast, Smart Campaigns simplify campaigns creation and delivery without requiring much input or expertise from the advertiser. Unfortunately, these campaigns lack control in campaign design, as well as reduced insight. Our advice would be to proceed with caution with any automated strategy, welcome machine learning, and strive to understand it.


As ad platforms develop, optimisation testing becomes more sophisticated

Platforms like Facebook and Google are fundamental to understand and optimise, especially since they own more than two-thirds of that spent on digital advertising.


Strive to understand desktop and mobile interfaces, and aim to optimise based on this. Utilise creative optimisation and attribution to analyse ways in which customer journeys across platforms can be targeted and optimised.


Work on distributing content across platforms in a way that's easy to access, and in a variety of platform features or placements. Use Facebook ad customisation, and discuss distributing content on Facebook News Feeds, articles, and transitioning to Instagram Reels and Stories.


Since there is no current advertising feature on Instagram Reels, publishers, advertisers, and agencies gain exclusive access to a newsletter with Reel trends, and a promise that there will soon be a branded content tag feature.


Effects of consumer privacy on the effectiveness of advertising

Following the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consumer privacy laws have seen standoffs between large digital platforms. While the GDPR was significant in enforcing transparency alongside consumer privacy discussions, change is still brewing amongst Apple's impact of tracking options. While Google Chrome still aims to protect user privacy while protecting the interests of advertisers, it seems Apple has done the opposite.


During the launch of iOS 14, users will be given the option to opt-in, and discover the ways and apps in which they are being tracked and their data is collected. When apps are attempting to track across services, users will be able to decline requests by companies and websites. Users are allowed to refrain companies from distributing the data used to personally deliver advertisements to them. Facebook pixel events will be limited to 8 events per domain, so conversion events can be limited if you currently are using more than 8 events.


While it's great news for consumer privacy, it's harmful to apps like Google and Facebook, who make money via targeted advertising.


Visual and graphic design trends

Graphic and visual design trends can impact the preference for a brand, especially during a first impression. An outdated website is easily identifiable, especially those that refrain from using or identifying any recent web or visual design trends.


It's encouraged that new design technologies are implemented, as well as considering the popularity of visual design trends among sites visited by users. Some popular design trends include minimalist landing pages, branded animations, muted colour palettes, abstract illustrations, and simple but heavy fonts. Simple data visualisations in infographics, geometric shapes, flat icons, text-heavy videos, and classic serif fonts are also among popular 2021 design trends.


Interactive design to raise conversion

Marketers should employ interactive design techniques to keep up with current market trends and increase conversion.


Animated illustrations add a human feel to infographics and digital product design. They're strong attention grabbers and add extra personality, prompting users to interact.


Micro-interactions, like Facebook's 'like' feature, are so embedded and natural to the interface that it makes no sense to get rid of them. Micro-interactions can make a huge impact and creating them can greatly improve user experience.


Three dimensional or 3D graphics surround video games, movies, and street adverts. Improvement in technology allows designers to create graphics into modern mobile and web interfaces. Creating render models makes products appear more engaging and interactive, despite how much skill they require to achieve.


Other interactive design trends include augmented reality, asymmetric layouts, and interactive video.


Omnichannel and social commerce

Social commerce continues to boom, especially since the introduction of Instagram's shop feature in a recent update. With over 40% of merchants using social media like Instagram to sell their products and generate sales, it's no wonder social commerce is expected to increase in popularity.


With 1 in 4 business operators selling through Facebook, 87% of online shoppers praising social media for their purchasing decisions, and 30% of consumers purchasing directly through these platforms, the rise of social commerce is no surprise.


Social media such as Facebook marketplace allows businesses to improve communications with consumers, thus increasing advocacy and customer loyalty.


Email personalisation through segmentation

Delivering personalised email content has now become a way to deliver relevant content and communicate with consumers. Using mail automation techniques and welcome sequences are nothing new, but they do highlight the importance of increased integration between channels. Known as lifecycle email marketing, it illustrates how email performs better when integrated with web, social media, and personal advertisements. For example, automation of ten lifecycle campaigns in Nike Hong Kong improved targeted website visits by 32.5%, and automation revenue by 110%.


Supporting digital transformation

Digital marketing research can reveal many challenges in companies today. Integrated strategy and testing focus may be low, and lack of integrated communication skills can impact company success. To combat this, many companies are implementing a digital transformation program. Businesses aim to make the most of the multitude of opportunities digital marketing presents. This is done by aiming to improve digital capabilities, as well as integrating on-brand digital marketing activities.


If your are looking to transform your business this year, get in touch with our team. We provide an holistic approach, and can help review your business' strategy. Our team can help identify and prioritise key channels best suited to achieve your goals across the spectrum of digital marketing activities (email marketing and analytics, content marketing, search, social, paid advertising, web design, and more).


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Recent Posts
August 21, 2026
The Client AGA Air Conditioning is a Canberra-based heating and cooling specialist delivering residential and commercial installation, servicing and maintenance across the ACT. AGA had built a strong reputation through quality workmanship, referrals and customer service. What it needed was a digital and acquisition sy stem that matched the standard of the business and its growth ambitions, one built to support serious, sustained investment rather than one-off campaign spend. PupDigital was engaged in a multi-year partnership to bring the website, conversion tracking and paid media strategy together into a single, connected acquisition system. The Challenge AGA was already a trusted local provider, but its website and advertising weren't working together as one system. The site needed to better communicate the quality of the business and give prospective customers a clearer path to enquire. At the same time, the advertising account needed to become far more commercially disciplined. Heating and cooling demand shifts significantly through the year, and customer intent moves quickly between installation, servicing, evaporative cooling and gas heating, each with different commercial value. Residential and commercial enquiries needed to be treated differently, and the business's own capacity to take on work had to be factored into how aggressively the account was scaled. It's the kind of complexity we see all the time working with trades, services, and building and construction businesses. It's genuinely where we do our best work. A broad, static campaign was never going to cut it here. The goal wasn't more traffic, it was a system that turned demand into real, valuable enquiries, built to scale as the business did. Our Strategic Approach 1. Rebuild the Conversion Experience The first priority was improving what happened after someone clicked an ad. PupDigital designed and developed a new website that better reflected AGA's positioning and made its services easier to understand, with: Clearer service pathways for residential and commercial customers Improved mobile usability and more direct calls to action Tighter alignment between ad campaigns and the landing pages they led to Simplified enquiry journeys The website was built as part of the acquisition strategy, not a separate branding exercise. Every campaign needed to send customers to a page that matched their intent and made the next step obvious. 2. Improve the Quality of the Data Better optimisation depends on measuring the right things. PupDigital strengthened conversion tracking across the site and ad account, including enquiry forms and tracked phone calls, and critically, stopped treating every conversion as equal. AGA's feedback made clear that phone calls often represented stronger opportunities than lower-intent web actions. Tracking and optimisation were refined accordingly, shifting the strategy away from simply increasing reported conversions and towards improving the quality of the enquiries being generated, the metric that actually matters to a business owner's bottom line. 3. Structure Campaigns Around Demand and Commercial Value Rather than one broad, always-on campaign, PupDigital structured the account around AGA's core service categories and how demand moved seasonally, giving granular control over which services were promoted, how budget was allocated, and the messaging and landing pages each audience saw. This meant investment could be increased where strong opportunities existed, pulled back where intent was weaker, and kept continuously aligned with the work AGA actually wanted to win, not just the work that was easiest to generate leads for. Scaling Investment With Confidence As performance and enquiry consistency improved, PupDigital progressively scaled AGA's monthly ad investment, growing it 300% over the course of the partnership. This wasn't a case of increasing spend and hoping volume followed. Every scaling decision was informed by conversion performance, search demand, lead quality feedback, seasonal opportunity, and AGA's real capacity to service new work. Growth in ad spend only compounds when the wider system, website, tracking and campaign structure, can convert that investment efficiently. Building that system first is what allowed AGA to keep increasing investment with confidence, rather than second-guessing where the budget was going. The Results Following the website launch in May 2025, AGA's Google Ads performance improved substantially against the preceding period: Conversions up 14% 18.71% conversion rate, a 77% improvement Impressions up 22% Monthly ad investment scaled 300% across the partnership The standout result was conversion rate, not raw traffic volume. The campaigns didn't need to chase the largest possible audience. They became more focused on reaching people actively searching for AGA's services and directing them into a stronger website experience. The result was a materially higher percentage of visitors taking meaningful action, a more efficient acquisition system, not just a busier one. Broader Business Growth: A Harvey Norman Commercial Contract Throughout the partnership, AGA continued expanding its residential and commercial workload, including securing a significant commercial contract with Harvey Norman Commercial, alongside a growing volume of rough-in and fit-off work. Landing a contract like that comes down to the quality of AGA's work and reputation, not an ad campaign in isolation. What it does show is the broader trajectory of the business during our partnership, and the part PupDigital played in making sure AGA's digital presence could keep up with, and represent, that scale of growth. Winning commercial-level work like this means having a website and digital presence that looks and performs the part, and that's what we focused on throughout. The Business Impact The most valuable outcome wasn't any single campaign result or website metric. AGA moved from a fragmented digital setup to one connected system for attracting and converting customers, and gained: A website that reflects the quality and scale of the business Clear visibility over what's actually driving enquiries, not just what's easy to report Granular control over service-specific and seasonal demand Confidence to keep increasing investment because the system converts it efficiently A digital foundation that supported the business's move into larger commercial work This is the throughline in how PupDigital works with trades, services, and building and construction businesses: advertising is never managed in isolation. It's shaped by the type of work a business wants, the enquiries it actually values, and the capacity it has to deliver, because that alignment, not spend for its own sake, is what drives real business growth. Conclusion AGA Air Conditioning shows what's possible when a website, tracking and paid media strategy are treated as one connected system, working together, rather than three separate pieces bolted on side by side. PupDigital's role was never simply to drive more clicks. We rebuilt the customer journey, strengthened measurement around what actually matters, aligned campaigns with seasonal and commercial priorities, and built a structure capable of supporting significantly increased investment, investment AGA could scale with confidence because the underlying system was built to convert it. The result: a 77% improvement in Google Ads conversion rate, a 300% increase in monthly ad investment, and a stronger digital foundation that helped support AGA's move into larger-scale commercial work.
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August 21, 2026
The Client AGA Air Conditioning is a Canberra-based heating and cooling specialist delivering residential and commercial installation, servicing and maintenance across the ACT. AGA had built a strong reputation through quality workmanship, referrals and customer service. What it needed was a digital and acquisition sy stem that matched the standard of the business and its growth ambitions, one built to support serious, sustained investment rather than one-off campaign spend. PupDigital was engaged in a multi-year partnership to bring the website, conversion tracking and paid media strategy together into a single, connected acquisition system. The Challenge AGA was already a trusted local provider, but its website and advertising weren't working together as one system. The site needed to better communicate the quality of the business and give prospective customers a clearer path to enquire. At the same time, the advertising account needed to become far more commercially disciplined. Heating and cooling demand shifts significantly through the year, and customer intent moves quickly between installation, servicing, evaporative cooling and gas heating, each with different commercial value. Residential and commercial enquiries needed to be treated differently, and the business's own capacity to take on work had to be factored into how aggressively the account was scaled. It's the kind of complexity we see all the time working with trades, services, and building and construction businesses. It's genuinely where we do our best work. A broad, static campaign was never going to cut it here. The goal wasn't more traffic, it was a system that turned demand into real, valuable enquiries, built to scale as the business did. Our Strategic Approach 1. Rebuild the Conversion Experience The first priority was improving what happened after someone clicked an ad. PupDigital designed and developed a new website that better reflected AGA's positioning and made its services easier to understand, with: Clearer service pathways for residential and commercial customers Improved mobile usability and more direct calls to action Tighter alignment between ad campaigns and the landing pages they led to Simplified enquiry journeys The website was built as part of the acquisition strategy, not a separate branding exercise. Every campaign needed to send customers to a page that matched their intent and made the next step obvious. 2. Improve the Quality of the Data Better optimisation depends on measuring the right things. PupDigital strengthened conversion tracking across the site and ad account, including enquiry forms and tracked phone calls, and critically, stopped treating every conversion as equal. AGA's feedback made clear that phone calls often represented stronger opportunities than lower-intent web actions. Tracking and optimisation were refined accordingly, shifting the strategy away from simply increasing reported conversions and towards improving the quality of the enquiries being generated, the metric that actually matters to a business owner's bottom line. 3. Structure Campaigns Around Demand and Commercial Value Rather than one broad, always-on campaign, PupDigital structured the account around AGA's core service categories and how demand moved seasonally, giving granular control over which services were promoted, how budget was allocated, and the messaging and landing pages each audience saw. This meant investment could be increased where strong opportunities existed, pulled back where intent was weaker, and kept continuously aligned with the work AGA actually wanted to win, not just the work that was easiest to generate leads for. Scaling Investment With Confidence As performance and enquiry consistency improved, PupDigital progressively scaled AGA's monthly ad investment, growing it 300% over the course of the partnership. This wasn't a case of increasing spend and hoping volume followed. Every scaling decision was informed by conversion performance, search demand, lead quality feedback, seasonal opportunity, and AGA's real capacity to service new work. Growth in ad spend only compounds when the wider system, website, tracking and campaign structure, can convert that investment efficiently. Building that system first is what allowed AGA to keep increasing investment with confidence, rather than second-guessing where the budget was going. The Results Following the website launch in May 2025, AGA's Google Ads performance improved substantially against the preceding period: Conversions up 14% 18.71% conversion rate, a 77% improvement Impressions up 22% Monthly ad investment scaled 300% across the partnership The standout result was conversion rate, not raw traffic volume. The campaigns didn't need to chase the largest possible audience. They became more focused on reaching people actively searching for AGA's services and directing them into a stronger website experience. The result was a materially higher percentage of visitors taking meaningful action, a more efficient acquisition system, not just a busier one. Broader Business Growth: A Harvey Norman Commercial Contract Throughout the partnership, AGA continued expanding its residential and commercial workload, including securing a significant commercial contract with Harvey Norman Commercial, alongside a growing volume of rough-in and fit-off work. Landing a contract like that comes down to the quality of AGA's work and reputation, not an ad campaign in isolation. What it does show is the broader trajectory of the business during our partnership, and the part PupDigital played in making sure AGA's digital presence could keep up with, and represent, that scale of growth. Winning commercial-level work like this means having a website and digital presence that looks and performs the part, and that's what we focused on throughout. The Business Impact The most valuable outcome wasn't any single campaign result or website metric. AGA moved from a fragmented digital setup to one connected system for attracting and converting customers, and gained: A website that reflects the quality and scale of the business Clear visibility over what's actually driving enquiries, not just what's easy to report Granular control over service-specific and seasonal demand Confidence to keep increasing investment because the system converts it efficiently A digital foundation that supported the business's move into larger commercial work This is the throughline in how PupDigital works with trades, services, and building and construction businesses: advertising is never managed in isolation. It's shaped by the type of work a business wants, the enquiries it actually values, and the capacity it has to deliver, because that alignment, not spend for its own sake, is what drives real business growth. Conclusion AGA Air Conditioning shows what's possible when a website, tracking and paid media strategy are treated as one connected system, working together, rather than three separate pieces bolted on side by side. PupDigital's role was never simply to drive more clicks. We rebuilt the customer journey, strengthened measurement around what actually matters, aligned campaigns with seasonal and commercial priorities, and built a structure capable of supporting significantly increased investment, investment AGA could scale with confidence because the underlying system was built to convert it. The result: a 77% improvement in Google Ads conversion rate, a 300% increase in monthly ad investment, and a stronger digital foundation that helped support AGA's move into larger-scale commercial work.
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June 11, 2026
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Futuristic city and garden scene with people outdoors at sunset, blending technology and nature
May 19, 2026
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