Marketing faced many challenges similar to other industries during 2020. Digitally-first brands outperform all others on the basis of resilience and digital transformation. Digital investment remains the top priority for markets as brands try to reach the audience on digital channels. All these changes had helped marketers and businesses redefine customer journeys and analyze behaviours.
As predicted by Forrester, 2021 was the year where every company prioritized technology-driven experiences, operations, products, and eco-systems to maintain business continuity.
Digital marketing services are increasingly becoming more complex as early as 2022. To effectively market your business, you have to stay on top of trends. Therefore, your company should never use outdated or ineffective strategies to reach its target audience. Incorporate these trends into your digital marketing strategy for better results.
Table of Contents
1. Virtual Events
COVID has shaken lives up and businesses were forced to pivot and adapt. We are now in the age of virtual events. This change has come to be worth keeping for the long haul. Certainly, we would all prefer to be present at events in person, but it can be time-consuming, expensive, and difficult.
The option to attend virtually makes knowledge and opportunity accessible to almost everyone, and it gives your brand an opportunity to connect with prospects and earn their trust.
2. Micro-Influencer Marketing
Influence marketing has been widely used for years. Initially, brands believed that partnering with great influencers was more beneficial. But it wasn’t effective and was tight on ROI. In 2021, a new layer of this select group of micro-influencers emerged.
A macro-influencer is someone with thousands of followers. They are popular among your target audience. Since people realized they have an effect on purchasing decisions, this trend will blow out in 2022. Micro-influencers have more loyal followers. Most of the time, your followers will be more committed to engaging with your content this way. So start looking for influencers within your field.
3. Social Commerce
Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest have been used by brands for a long time to sell products. Social commerce is becoming a new retail avenue for brands, and this trend is about to be intensified.
Online and offline retailers are adopting social commerce at the same rate as other channels, such as websites and offline stores. As more social networks introduce pro-selling features like shoppable posts, they will evolve into retail platforms. Social commerce should be incorporated into your brands’ sales strategies to accelerate sales through social media platforms.
4. Video Content
Video has steadily gained importance and traction in the marketing world, and that trend is only going to continue. Video is consistently outperforming other content types. Viewers appreciate videos that are helpful, accurate, and authentic.
Whether you are providing tutorials, troubleshooting common problems, revealing what goes on behind the scenes at your company, or sharing some funny bloopers, it helps your audience engage more with your brand.
5. Non- Linear Customer Journeys
Consumers expect holistic interactions with brands as more and more sales are conducted online. In an ever-evolving digital world, however, the classic AIDA model and linear buyer’s journey are simply not adequate.
There is no doubt that customer expectations are considerably changing. Nowadays, making a quick and confident buying decision is rare. Hence, a funnel is not the most appropriate representation of a customer journey, be it for marketing, sales, or conversion, primarily because it is not linear.
To stay relevant, brands must think about non-linear customer journeys. According to Gartner, companies that create and use customer journey maps thrive twice as much as those that don’t.
6. Ephemeral Content
Snapchat pioneered the notion of “ephemeral” content, which disappears after 24 hours. One million Snaps are created every day by Snapchat users alone. The popularity of Snaps prompted other social media platforms to introduce analogs, like Instagram Stories and Facebook’s MyDay.
In 2022, digital marketers will have to be creative in order to capture the attention of consumers devoured by ephemeral content. In a structural sense, ephemeral content can’t be reused, so it’s harder to automate. The sheer number of eyes on ephemeral content is a “too great” trend to ignore.
7. Automated Bidding on Google Ads
Managing Google Ads campaigns can be difficult, especially if you don’t have access to a digital marketing agency. A professional agency like Pixel Studios can continuously adjust campaigns, keywords, and bids to get the most out of your advertising budget.
Google’s automated bidding, which adjusts your bid in real-time based on previous moves, can be a great alternative for everyday advertising. Due to automated bidding tactics, small businesses are able to devote their time to optimizing other operations. Automatic bidding is nothing new. As a result of continuous improvements, especially in 2021, they have been positioned as one of the main trends in digital marketing in 2022.
Bottom Line
Although many of these trends were already happening before the pandemic, COVID-19 accelerated them and changed mindsets. Marketing in 2021 will be challenging without targeted digital investment, smart use of data and marketing technologies, and putting the customer at the center.
A proactive approach to customer retention, new acquisitions strategies in the digital space becoming more and more fierce, it has never been more important.
You can use these top trends to increase traffic to your website, generate more leads, and increase sales. In addition, they provide the retention of your customer base thus far.
Are you equipped to handle the growing demand? If not, Pixel Studios can help you make your marketing efforts more effective.
