What Are Marketing Trends for 2022?
Discover How Trends Changed and how to Reach Your Target Market
In recent years, there’s been major shift in the digital landscape, forcing marketing teams to adapt to drive lead generation and foster growth marketing. We looked at five of the top marketing trends in 2021 according to market experts and tell you the benefits and reasons these shifts are taking place.
Businesses that will thrive during the 2020’s are going to be nimble, focus on delighting their customers, both in-person and online, as well as creating a sales and marketing plan that’s capable of shifting tactics while being able to track and measure their efforts.
A modern marketing foundation requires a brand to have a brand purpose, foster user-generated content, delight your customers with fascinating content and great customer experience.
Discover 5 Marketing Trends That Aren't Changing for 2022 and Apply to All Businesses
1. Events Gone Virtual
The CMO at 6sense, Latané Conant, noticed that “This year saw an explosion of virtual events as marketers adapted to a changing world”, and other experts also picked up on this trend. Lockdowns forced people inside, meaning virtual events were the only type possible. The shift seemed temporary, but it’s clear companies and consumers want to move in that direction.
Latané continued, “there will still be a place for these kinds of events, even after we resume in-person ones,” since workers have adapted to flexible work environments, and customers expect more virtual support. Children have conformed to live video classrooms, and we are now used to meeting with friends and family through video chats.
Moving forward companies that adapt to the rising virtual needs of consumers will thrive in this unexpected high-tech environment. Incorporating virtual events into your mix will help customers learn about your products and services, talk to support, and form groups and teams around your brand, while defining your company as thought leaders.
Running a webinar is a big undertaking and we can help with every stage- webinar management, content creation and getting your target audience registered. Webinars are fantastic for re-purposing into an eBook and your blog.
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2. Customer Experience to Propel Your Business Forward
Businesses who put CX (Customer Experience) first will overcome the challenges of their new virtual expectations. VP of marketing at Chrous.ai, Natalie Severino, stated teams who put “the customer at the center of every decision” will “weather the storms and thrive.” She adds that this is only possible through “total alignment between sales, marketing and customer teams, as all must rely on using the actual voice, pain points, and goals to create a winning partnership.”
Natalie adds “entering 2021 provides us a paradigm shift for bringing relationships and shared business goals to the forefront of every opportunity.” A question to ask yourself heading beyond 2021 is “how can we adapt to the new paradigm shifts to bring customer relationships to the forefront and optimize customer experience across all channels?”
The CX Pyramid: A Framework for Powerful Experiences
Source: A Framework for Powerful Experiences Chris Pemberton, gartner
3. Content Creates Sales-Driving Conversations
Conversation marketing is the new method of approaching customers and their natural needs. Customers don’t want to be sold, they want to be helped. If you help customers with great content, that drives conversations leading to sales. Every piece of content you put out leads to comments, shares, and an opportunity to share that content on social media. With each social media post, you invite more conversation, sharing, commenting and interest in your brand.
Lindsay Tjepkema, CEO of Casted told Christina Mautz, the CMO at MOZ, that “your audience wants to have an authentic experience with your brand and the best way to do that is by leading with conversations.”
Lindsay added that “As marketers aim to create a more human-centric experience, we will see more content pulled from actual conversations with people in the industry who can provide that genuine interaction today’s consumers are looking for.” Assess your customers’ current conversations, based on their problems, goals, issues, current solutions and thoughts about the industry or niche, and adapt a content strategy that solves problems and sparks relevant conversations.
Assess your customers’ current conversations, based on their problems, goals, issues, current solutions and thoughts about the industry or niche, and adapt a content strategy that solves problems and sparks relevant conversations.
4. Personal & Empathic Content is a New Marketing Trend
The events of 2020-21 have changed the way consumers think, adapting their desires to this unfamiliar landscape. One way the consumer’s mind has changed is by expecting more personalization based on the growing social distancing and lockdowns that occurred. Laliv Hadar the VP of Marketing for InVision Communications, said that because of the rapid move to virtual events, people “more than ever, crave professional empathy and connection.”
Laliv remarked that a significant consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic was consumer disengagement, adding “2021 will see marketers tapping into the human need for just the opposite: engagement.”
Increasing engagement and personalization through empathetic marketing requires responsive and adapting marketing campaigns, content and web pages that are personalized to the customer and adjust based on the customer’s journey. You could do this through a private membership area, personalized app, or just using the customer’s name and messaging in emails, letters and any communication.
5. RSA’s Compliment OKRs
Responsive search ads are becoming the default, after being introduced in 2019 by google, these AI powered ads will optimize your headline, ad copy and call to action (CTA) based on the audience and the search terms they use. In conclusion, RSA’s are making split testing obsolete, by having AI do the hard work for you.
Microsoft Advertising define RSA’s as making “… creating ads easier by eliminating the need to figure out which headlines and descriptions work well together.”
Microsoft, Amazon and Google are three of the top users and developers of advanced AI and machine learning, so instead of your OKR (Objectives and Key Results) being to split test ads and run many ad groups, instead focus on RSA’s and let the advanced neural nets think and split-test for you.
Ever-Changing Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022
The digital landscape is no stranger to evolution, having changed many times over my 10+ years studying and being a part of digital marketing. 2020 caused one of the biggest shifts I’ve ever seen, and companies who adapt to these changing times achieve the most success.
Think about where your business can apply these 5 marketing trends, use more virtual events, focus on customer experience first, creating personal content marketing, and optimizing systems and processes like advertising using the latest responsive AI. As you adapt, your customers will appreciate the conscious changes, and your business will flourish.
If you want to adapt to these new trends but you need some help with your strategy, reach out to one of our marketing experts today and we’ll see how we can help.
