If you’re serious about marketing, you’ll rethink your strategy for 2022.  As we all know, marketing used to be all about getting your name out there. However, in 2022, it will be all about building a strong brand, presenting captivating stories, and assessing the success of those stories. Creating a brand and expecting it to sell is no longer enough. In the past, effective marketing methods have centered on leveraging the correct platforms for promotion, developing advertising that targeted certain groups or demographics on social media sites using keywords and hashtags, and retargeting campaigns when possible.

Businesses who are prepared to take risks, invest in their branding, and listen more closely than ever before when dealing with customers online will succeed in 2022, as competition continues to expand at record rates. Adam Crossling, Marketing Manager at Zenzero says, “Excellent marketing, in my opinion, involves both long-term planning and short-term quick wins, which is why effective storytelling will be more important than ever before to a company’s success”. 

The following are some of the most important trends to follow to be successful:

TikTok’s Brand Awareness Will Grow:

Around three years ago, TikTok went popular, ushering in a new medium via which marketers may communicate with audiences without being sales-y. The social media app now has 1 billion users worldwide and caters to a wide range of demographics. TikTok has positioned itself front-and-center in the race to secure the highest quality content, the largest number of users and creators, and brands that will continue to engage with it for marketing purposes, have recently launched advertising and marketing features for businesses and creators.

Sixty-seven percent of marketers plan to increase their TikTok investment in 2022, with 10% of marketers who use social media as part of their overall marketing strategy planning to invest the most in TikTok.

Video marketing is critical to your marketing strategy’s success

This may appear to be hyperbole, yet there is evidence to support it. Google has revealed that YouTube reaches more 18-34- and 18–49-year-olds in the United States than any cable network. On average, video postings on Facebook garner six times more engagement than photo or link posts, while video views on Twitter have increased by almost 160 percent.

So, what does this mean in terms of marketing?

It means you’re missing out on a major opportunity to engage with your audience and earn their trust if you don’t include video in your plan. Daniel Carter, Marketing Manager at Perspective Pictures says, Video is important for building customer interactions because it gives the company a human voice, which increases credibility and loyalty among customers.

Content Marketing Will Remain The King:

According to Daniel Foley SEO Specialist at Planday “Marketers should expect even greater fragmentation and noise as we approach 2022, making it more difficult than ever to cut through the clutter with advertising messaging alone. One of the most crucial parts of any digital marketing strategy is content marketing. Content has evolved into a potent tool for connecting with customers, engaging them, and earning their confidence. On the other side, “bad content can be terrible for your business. In terms of brand image and customer sentiment toward that brand or product, it will cause more harm than good” says, Anthony Mixides, Director at The London Vape Company Over time, good content generates credibility, which means that once you’ve gotten new leads, they’re more inclined to buy from you. On the other hand, if visitors encounter low-quality content, they may lose faith in your brand altogether, leading them down a different road while searching for similar things on competing sites, adds Anthony Mixides.

To put it another way, it’s an element of marketing that should never be overlooked. “Content marketing is a vital part of any digital strategy because it has the potential to have a long-term impact on your company, for better or worse. Effective storytelling can help a brand become something that consumers want to engage with on all levels, which is why content marketing will continue to be crucial in 2022″ says”, Shad Elia, CEO of New England Home Buyers

Slimmed-Down Media Models Will Raise the Bar:

We’ve all heard of the well-known social media platforms with large audiences. Despite widespread criticism of its methods, Facebook reported a year-over-year gain in daily and monthly active users in its earnings report. Newer platforms, on the other hand, have evolved that provides a fundamentally slimmed-down media paradigm, aimed at making socializing among narrow audiences easier to manage and safer as a community. Surprisingly, not all of them are social media sites. Podcast platforms like Spotify, live chat platforms like Clubhouse, newsletter platforms like Substack, and sub-communities within major social media platforms like Twitter Spaces are among the upstarts. Rather than depending on algorithmic recommendations for participation, all of these projects strive to allow consumers to form genuine connections with their favorite creators or communities.

Than Merrill, CEO of FortuneBuilders FortuneBuilders says, “No one is looking for a platform to be the “new Facebook” any time soon.” He explains, “the task of producing money for these slimmed-down business strategies is difficult. It’s a last-mile problem with great potential for influencers and platforms in terms of shared revenue from subscriptions, tips, and ticketed events. Twitter and Spotify may be able to take advantage of this benefit more quickly, either for current business models (podcasts on Spotify) or for new offerings (such as Twitter Tips). This, I believe, means that marketers will have to build non-attention-getting customer experience options as a result of these platforms”.

Marketing teams will increasingly use data analytics and metrics:

Andrew Dale, Technical Director at CloudTech24 says, “Marketing teams will need to place a greater emphasis on data analytics. Because businesses are spending less money, demonstrating a return on investment (ROI) will become more crucial in justifying budgets and expenditures. Data analytics will be a significant component of this process if you want more precise information on how your customers behave so that you can make the best decisions for your company. To truly understand who their audiences are and what makes them tick, marketers need access to a variety of numbers in one form or another. With so much emphasis on customer service, it’s critical for marketing teams to understand exactly what consumers think and do before making key branding or product development decisions.

Marketers will place a greater emphasis on social media content:

Since their inception, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have evolved considerably. People scroll through their feeds so quickly that marketers are finding it challenging to hold their attention for long periods. “The days of the hard pitch on social media are long gone, says Yousun Allen, CEO at Yosun UV Printer which is why marketers must lead with a story-driven strategy rather than a typical hard sell”. Because social media has become increasingly aesthetically oriented, brands must develop high-quality images and videos to pique the interest of potential customers. Marketers must concentrate their efforts on developing engaging content that will be shared by consumers outside of the brand, adds Yousun.

Marketing Driven By Consumer Demands & Not Product Features:

“Customer requirements, not sales, are the emphasis of the future of marketing,” says Daniel Foley, SEO Specialist at UNAGI Scooters. “Customers’ online activities can be used to create hyper-personalized experiences using big data and the internet. Companies that can understand their customers can form better long-term relationships with them. Understanding what makes each person distinctive, as well as how best to serve those individuals, leads to increased brand loyalty and, eventually, larger income prospects down the road,” he adds.

Companies must stop trying to force their products on people and instead focus on the wants and desires of their target audience to experience success with their marketing efforts. Instead of focusing on a message like “Buy my product,” for example, concentrate on the attributes that your prospective buyer is looking for,” adds Olivia Tan, the co-founder of CocoFax

People prefer to be addressed as people rather than simply as customers. With this in mind, before promoting their products or services, marketers should focus on creating connections and offering value; otherwise, conversion rates will suffer.

Collaboration Of Marketing & Product Development for Better Conversion Rates & Customer Experience:

Collaborating with your product development team can have several advantages in terms of design and marketing. Product teams are frequently excited about creating a great user interface or a cool new web app, but they often neglect to write strong marketing copy to focus on those parts of their work. Sasha Quail, Business Development Manager at Claims UK adds, “You’ll be able to advertise your product successfully and efficiently if you have a strong collaboration between the two halves of your company — one focused on research and UX design, and the other on messaging strategy”. Consumer experience is now at the top of any company’s priority list, which implies that all departments must work together to offer it successfully.

This reorientation is difficult, but with the right resources, it can result in a more memorable consumer experience, which leads to improved brand awareness and sales. No longer just advertisers, marketers are educators and leaders. A marketer used to be simply someone who sold items, but now they serve a different purpose. Rather than simply trying to persuade customers to buy something, they should educate and collaborate with them. For some, this is a challenging change, but it is important. As the function of the marketer evolves, so does the necessity for them to modify their perspective. It’s no longer just about selling stuff; it’s gotten a lot more complicated over time.

Marketers must begin to think like educators. It can no longer be all about selling people things. They need to take the time to explain why consumers should care about a product. It’s not simple, but it’s become a need if businesses want to stay relevant and compete against larger enterprises with deeper budgets.

Marketers who want to be successful in the coming years should focus on educating their clients. Consumers nowadays are looking for more information rather than a forceful push. You may use this moment to differentiate yourself by delivering extensive material that educates and answers all of your audience’s inquiries. You’ll be less likely to lose potential consumers because they don’t understand what you offer or how it works for them if you do it this way.

Final thoughts:

No one knows what lies ahead. Marketers rarely have the luxury of time. Taking action is the only way to deal with uncertainty. And hopefully, your path to success will become brighter as you go. Whatever the future holds for digital media marketers, one thing is certain: the future is bright. There’s never been more room for creativity, innovation, and career growth. Step into your power and seize the moment!

I hope the above list of digital marketing trends helped you make some smart marketing decisions soon.