From data-driven technology, to optimizing for User Experience (UX) and User Generated Content (UGC) for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes, the world of marketing is changing yet again. In this post, we’ll look at 7 key digital marketing trends to help your business grow in 2022. As we roll through 2022, you can embrace some of these digital marketing trends and optimize your marketing, and keep growing in this changing world.
#1: Data-Driven Tech & Decisions
The future is littered with machine learning tools and algorithms trained for marketing grunt work for you. These smart tools will aid or take over all the number crunching, and calculations marketers do. As tools produce more effectively, consumers expect more, and to keep up, companies have to adapt.
Marketers will use data tools to predict customers behaviors using propensity modelling to predict the likelihood that leads, and customers will perform certain actions. There are many marketing tools that use predictive analysis to help you improve your site, user experience, and marketing automation processes.
Companies now use a variety of different data sources, and measure the results to keep improving. Data driven tools can keep your company organized while increasing productivity. For example, marketing automation tools will reduce administrative tasks and will save your business money and time.
While leveraging 2nd party data is the next best thing to having your own 1st party data. Proper campaign setup will enable you to generate and capture your own engagement data. Implementing and managing advanced sales and marketing tools requires striking the perfect balance of complimenting your team’s structure, strengths and resources.
Implementing and managing advanced sales and marketing tools requires striking the perfect balance of complimenting your team’s structure, strengths and resources.
#2: Video Marketing Trends with a Focus On Data
The video marketing trend has been climbing every year and isn’t new. However, it’s still growing now into 2022 and still many businesses underutilize video. 70% of consumers say they’ve shared a brand’s video, and 50% said watching a video increased their confidence in a brand.
Google has made video more important and push new videos to the top of Google above competitors that spent years trying to reach that position. Your business should produce live videos, customer testimonials videos, behind-the-scenes videos, podcast style videos and any other style you can imagine.
These videos can have production-level quality, and even a simple iPhone video works. To boost your video’s SEO power, add a transcribed text version to use so Google can see all the exact keywords.
Hosting and tagging videos also enables you to capture valuable behavioral data, while providing the marketing foundation to enable personalized ads.
#3: Personalized Advertising
Personalized marketing has become a growing trend in the last year, and consumers now expect to be shown search-relevant ads. 90% of customers report appreciating targeted advertising based on their searches, over traditional marketing that just targets based on demographics.
Google has now updated their algorithm and released new web ranking factors with frequent updates coming. Included in these are factors related to customer experience and personalization. This means the link between SEO, marketing and business management are getting ever closer. Create customer focused content that’s personalized to their searches and update your website to deliver a better user experience.
#4: Mobile-First Marketing
Now there are more mobile internet users than ever, and customers prefer browsing on their smartphones and tablets than they do their desktops. Businesses who don’t use a mobile-first approach will suffer as customers now expect notifications, applications enjoy mobile optimized websites.
Transitioning to mobile-first is a crucial roadblock to overcome. Once you’ve passed it, with a mobile optimized website or an application (or both), you can then think ‘mobile-first’ for all future content marketing campaigns. This effort into your business will make your customers have easier access to your content marketing, your brand material, and open up the gates for more customers to find you.
#5: Multichannel Marketing Trends
Omni-channel marketing, or multichannel marketing trends, is the practice of sharing content and marketing material across multiple touch points. This could be social media, email, print, mobile, website, live conference, or any other method you can think of that gets you in front of customers.
Relying on just one channel in 2022 will make your business and brand suffer as customers look for customers that reach them in multiple locations. Consumers use many social media sites and consume video, audio, and text. Multiple channels for marketing allow for better customer communication, and new opportunities for improving customer experience.
#6: Marketing Automation Tools
Marketers can now save time and effort by allowing marketing automation tools to help them with repetitive tasks. There are tools the automate posting to various marketing channels at once, and that help create content fast. AI tools can now write blog posts and design images that apply to your customers, and by using these tools alongside their current work, the marketers’ job is simplified.
The time saved by using these tools allows marketers to spend more time analyzing the data and creating high-level strategies to grow the business. Businesses who don’t use these tools will fall behind as their competitors pump out more content than ever and have marketing teams that are focused on higher-level strategy.
#7: UX & UGC
User experience (UX) and User Generated Content (UGC) are two important areas of marketing to focus on this coming year. Google has updated their algorithms to account for user experience, so now, focusing on your customers becomes an enterprise level KPI and a powerful SEO ranking factor.
You can improve customer experience by improving every step of the customer journey. From your initial content or advertising, through to your website and sign up options, then onto the offer and checkout page, and getting a customer to buy what your business sells. Make each customer journey step smoother, and the more they will spend on your business.
With current customers, you can create UGC campaigns that get them creating content for you. Incorporating UGC into customer loyalty marketing campaigns can really build a brand bond and increase social engagement. This can be a hashtag you promote, a photo contest for customers, or any other form of collecting customers’ words, images, and videos which you can use to promote your business.
7 Marketing Trends That Will Shape the Future of Marketing
If you prepare your business for these 7 trends moving forward, then every part of your marketing will improve. Your customers will have a more enjoyable experience from mobile to desktop and becoming a customer will be easy. Your content will reach prospects on multiple channels, and you will produce more content than ever with the help of AI and automation tools.
Review each of these trends on their own and start putting the steps together to implement them in your business. With a focus on strategy and innovation around these trends, you can rocket your business growth heading into 2022 and beyond.
