Digital marketing is one of the most effective ways for your business to reach more customers and attain more sales. It is incredibly cost effective, provides easily measurable results and gives a huge return on your investment. In short, it can ‘no longer be ignored’.
Digital marketing trends shift and change at an alarming rate, so staying informed about the latest trends is a great way for your business to stay ahead of the competition. Here are 5 trends that you should consider for 2022 – and beyond.
THINK METAVERSE
Mark Zuckerberg, and a collection of others, are aiming their focus on the metaverse; a future that is totally reliant on the digital world:
In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents’ living room to catch up...You’ll be able to spend more time on what matters to you, cut down time in traffic, and reduce your carbon footprint.
The immersive capabilities of VR and AR will soon become an important aspect of digital marketing, integrating virtual realities with physical experiences. You may already be familiar with this technology, such as ‘Pokemon GO’ and many others that use an augmented reality space using smart phones. Expand on that and you will have a good idea of what the metaverse will be.
Recent reports indicate that the metaverse market will grow to over $1,544 bn in less than ten years...more than enough reason to hot focus on this area.
Ever increasing internet speeds and new variants of COVID will no doubt fuel this forward thinking concept. Picturing your business in the future, your staff may not be able to clock-in online if you own a coffee shop or restaurant, but your customers will no doubt be found exploring the metaverse.
I HEARD ABOUT IT FROM A FRIEND
As you know, word of mouth can do wonders for your business. For this digital marketing trend to be most effective, you must now focus on getting the right people talking about your brand online. Getting more people to hear about your business – and then getting them onto your website and into your funnel – is a great starting point for your 2022 campaigns.
If you think about who your target audience is, go a little further and think about who they are listening to on podcasts (another rising trend for 2022); what digital publications are they reading; where do they spend time online; who are they influenced by – that is where you need to be talked about the most in 2022.
As 90% of people are much more likely to trust a recommended brand (even from strangers), getting talked about will become a huge benefit for your business.
Brand development and ‘core content’ communication should also be up on your trending list. Showing a commitment to your customers (before and after a sale) will be a key factor in attaining more word of mouth.
QUALITY ABOVE ALL ELSE
As you know, content is the super-fuel that feeds your online presence. It also informs and nurtures customers, grows your SEO score and highlights your key strengths and abilities. For this reason it’s not surprising that in a recent survey of over 100,000 participants, ‘67% of respondents report they expect their content marketing budgets to increase in 2022’.
Google (and other search engines) will continue to prioritise QUALITY content in search pages as we progress through the year. Having a blog that can utilise a well thought out content strategy is a must for any business. Keeping your readers interested so that they stay on your website for longer periods of time should be a focus for your business. By doing this, your bounce rate falls and Google rewards you with a higher ranking.
The best way to achieve this is by supplying high-quality, HIGH-VALUE content. Thin pages with minimal material will start to have a negative impact on your SEO – and ultimately your ‘brand experience’ with customers.
Having a dedicated, hard working copywriter that knows the ins and outs of your brand and marketing funnels will allow them to produce high quality content quickly. It is one of the best tools you can invest in to battle the fast scrolling, digital world.
AUTOMATION & AI
2022 will no doubt see a rise in automation and AI. This trend is becoming a necessity as customers are becoming more and more accustomed to ‘instant gratification’.
We live in a world where items on Amazon have a ‘same day delivery’ option; where money can be transferred to friends and family within seconds; where food is ordered on a mobile and in your mouth within half an hour; where movies are streamed wherever and whenever you want.
There are three points to consider with this:
- Firstly, when customers have a question, they now expect a response within 5 minutes. Using chatbots that are programmed with answers to common questions will help. Your website pages must load quickly too – a 2 second delay will cause customers to leave and likely not return.
- Secondly, customers in 2022 want their time respected and not wasted! Valuing customers’ time is the most important thing you can do to provide a great online customer experience.
- Thirdly, attention spans are shrinking like you wouldn’t believe! Not wanting to repeat myself, but customers will only stop their hasty scrolling because of something worthwhile. You need to catch their attention and draw them into your digital marketing funnels with QUALITY, VALUABLE content (see above).
Email marketing will be a dominant tool for your digital marketing in 2022. As most of us are working from home and workforces are spread out, there will be a rise in automated emails using a customer relations management system (CRM). Planning email campaigns that appease the points above will help small businesses manage their communications with customers better.
Don’t forget the importance of optimising your emails for mobile devices too:
Launching a mobile-responsive email design can increase unique mobile clicks by 15%.
A STORY PLEASE
Stories told in the digital world is an umbrella that covers a large portion of outlets. In 2022, we will see a rise in short videos, podcasts, blogs and social media stories (Facebook’s new ‘Reels’ and Tiktok in particular).
It is important to consider how you can incorporate these into your digital marketing strategy. The key takeaway though is DEPTH: customers who are interested in what you offer will want to know more about your BRAND over time and how you can help them. Stories are – and alway will be – a great way to do this!
Stories that show how your business is socially and environmentally responsible is a great starting point for 2022. A survey, conducted after the first outbreak of COVID-19, suggests that eco-friendly consumerism is here to stay. You can also consider stories on how your employees feel about working for you.
This year will also see a focus on tools such as lightening offers, polls and interactive videos as a way of keeping customers further engaged. This helps to shorten the sales aspect of your funnel and pushes for quicker conversions.
To accompany this, ‘push notifications’ will also help your readers become aware of your newly published story:
In an increasingly privacy-driven world, marketers will find push notifications as a cost-effective way to stay in touch with user segments. Notifications have a 7% open rate vs. 3% of broadcast messages roughly and a higher conversion rate (of 54% vs 15% of broadcast) through segmented push notifications.
THE YEAR AHEAD
Utilising these five digital marketing trends will start your business off in the right direction in 2022. In a digital world that is changing constantly, having the right tools available will keep your funnels filled with customers.
Cadmus Copy is here to help too! If you would like to take your digital marketing to the next level, get in touch today and tell us all about what you do.
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