Marketing is among the most rapidly evolving fields in business today. Thanks to disruptive, fast-moving technologies like the internet and social media and the ongoing trend towards digitization, marketers have had to continually update their skill sets and expertise in recent years.
The slow-moving, relationship-based era of marketing and ad agencies that fans of Mad Men might associate with the field are coming to an end. In its place we find a dynamic, data-driven, technology-focused field that is as much the domain of data scientists as it is of copywriters. The field of marketing has shifted from a institutionalized, mass-media model, to a paradigm in which ad campaigns can be based on extremely detailed consumer data and microtargeted to specific demographics.
All of this means that marketing professionals have the difficult task of keeping up with the latest tools, technologies, analytics, and data in order to be effective and outperform the competition. Doing so isn’t easy, so let’s outline 6 marketing trends you will see in 2022 so that you can stay ahead of the curb.
1. Influencer Marketing
One of the most prominent trends that is sure to grow in 2022 is a focus on influencer marketing strategies. Influencer marketing is a technique that involves partnering with popular online personalities who can endorse your product or service to their audience.
Many influencers are born of the internet, building an audience by publishing online content that is journalistic, entertaining, or compelling.
Marketers can engage influencers by offering them a paid partnership to advertise their product to their audience. The best approach is to find influencers that genuinely enjoy a product so that their endorsement is genuine and their audience can tell that their appreciation of the product is authentic. Influencers will also have insight into what sorts of products would be most appealing to their audience, so offering influencers a product that they are genuinely enthusiastic to promote is often most effective.
Finding the right influencer for your product can be challenging, but a number of software tools such as Buzzsumo can help to discover relevant influencers by searching the web for popular or viral content that is related to your niche. Given the power of online personalities, the rise of influencer marketing will undoubtedly continue in 2022.
2. Social Media Advertising
One of the most effective ways to reach your target market is to run social media advertising campaigns. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest offer sophisticated, intuitive dashboards to advertisers that make creating and monitoring campaigns efficient and cost-effective.
Nonetheless, it’s important for advertisers to take a careful and systematic approach when creating campaigns on these platforms to make sure they are getting the most out of each ad dollar they spend. Rather than merely boosting a post on Facebook, for example, advertisers should first conduct research using social listening and data analysis tools to determine what sort of messaging and creative will be most effective in an ad.
Advertisers should then run the campaign through Facebook’s Power Editor, a dashboard that gives advertisers more control over campaigns and allows them to adjust campaigns in real-time and in response to new data.
Given that social media platforms are continually improving their advertising products, we’re sure to see a trend toward careful, data-driven, highly targeted social media campaigns in 2022.
3. Adwords Campaigns
Adwords is Google’s advertising product and it’s a highly effective tool for reaching consumers searching Google for keywords relevant to your product.
Prequalifying leads is an important part of a successful sales funnel, and Adwords campaigns help to accomplish this by only targeting users searching queries related to your brand.
Google has already outdone its competition to become the most dominant search engine on the planet. Moreover, it has also redesigned its Adwords dashboard to make it more user-friendly for advertisers, so we’re sure to see a trend of new advertisers taking advantage of this more intuitive interface.
Finally, since Google owns Youtube, Youtube ads are now also managed through Adwords. This will give advertisers the ability to easily reach potential customers through engaging video ads.
4. Celebrity Endorsements
Celebrities come from many different walks of life. Some are athletes that have grown an audience by succeeding in their sport. Others are actors or comedians that have built a following by appearing on television or in movies.
Similar to influencers, celebrities can provide credibility and standing to your product or service. However, celebrities typically have even larger followings than internet influencers since they rose to prominence through mass media channels such as TV and movies. Moreover, celebrity endorsement deals are typically more formal than a contract with an online influencer, and budgets must also be higher.
Many companies have made their names by being backed by celebrities like Mark Cuban of Shark Tank. Perfume and fashion brands often pay millions of dollars to have their fragrance or clothing advertised by celebrities like Johnny Depp or Jake Gyllenhal.
Since celebrity endorsements offer a fast track to widespread brand recognition, we’ll likely see more of these deals being struck in 2022.
5. Fractional Marketing and Fractional Marketing CMOs
Fractional marketing refers to a strategy in which firms recruit marketing executives on a part-time basis, or for a set time period. Many businesses are finding success with this approach since the field of marketing is developing so rapidly and traditional, rigid corporate structures can be slow to adapt to new trends.
In order to benefit from a great range of expertise, skills, and experience, many businesses are recruiting fractional CMOs that can oversee their marketing department. Fractional CMOs often work on a part-time basis, or for a limited timeframe to streamline a firm’s marketing department, eliminating inefficiencies and improving sales outcomes.
Fractional CMOs are often more experienced because of their ability to work with many different companies and develop cross-compatible skills and strategies. They are also typically less costly than hiring a traditional CMO. In this way, fractional marketing offers fast-growing, agile, dynamic companies the ability to stay lean and focus on results and outcomes.
Many firms that might not have the budget to hire and retain a full-time marketing department or executive are likely to consider working with a fractional marketing team or a fractional CMO in 2022.
6. Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to a broad range of different techniques and practices designed to improve the search engine ranking of a website.
The SEO process is detailed, systematic, and technical, but it can result in dramatic increases of traffic to a website from search engines over time.
Among the steps included in a successful SEO campaign include internal or technical SEO, backlinking campaigns, content marketing, and competitor analysis.
With more brands ramping up their efforts to increase organic traffic to their website, SEO is sure to be a prominent trend in 2022.
