With 2022 advancing upon us, businesses and brands all over the world will now have to plan their digital marketing strategy, not just for the entire year, but for the future in general. Marketers will need to be fast on their feet and be able to take advantage of any new strategies that might be useful along the way. In this article, we have collated the opinions of a panel of digital marketing experts as they share their thoughts on the biggest digital marketing trends of 2022.
1. Leave Loyalty Programs In The Past
“Loyalty programs will become a thing of the past and evolve into membership programs”
– Jay Myers of Bold Commerce
He further explains that individuals desire being part of a community which makes membership programs feel more naturally catered to the human instinct. In contrast, it not natural for individuals to want to be part of a loyalty program. Marketers have now also understood this concept and are changing along with this consumer behaviour. While loyalty points does have its merit to customers, they do not compel customers to actually stay loyal. This is why in 2022, brands will change loyalty programs into membership programs. Brands will understand that the membership model add value for the customers through benefits, such as access to exclusive launches, free delivery and even exclusive offline events.
2. Discounts Do Not Work
“Brands have been eager to move away from a reliance on using steep discounts to acquire new customers and instead identify opportunities to offer value through their products and the role they play in customers’ lives”
– Sherene Hilal of Bluecore
Sherene further explains that digitalisation has changed the way customers go through their buyer journey. Now, customers are more interested in purchasing from brands that provide good value and offers to them. Thus, in 2022, brands will realise that blanket discounts does not necessarily buy customer loyalty. In fact, customers are more inclined to make multiple purchases due to unique offerings and selling points such as free delivery, free personalizaion, and even remarkable in-store experiences.
3. Video, Video, Video
“Video will replace static assets and become the cornerstone of all marketing campaigns”
– Global marketing consultant Tim Parkin
The various outlets of Social media and streaming TV platforms will further place more focus on the video format. So much so that the retail experience will also see the integration of video to further engage customers and boost revenue. This trend can clearly be seen from the epic rise of the Tik Tok platform. This clearly shows that short-form videos that showcases an individual personality is favoured more than ever. This actually presents brands with the opportunity to start working on being on-camera and telling your story in a personable manner. Effectively, you can hand this task to someone in your company who may be a fitting representative for the brand.
4. Digital Storytelling Sells
“There has been a huge spotlight over the previous year on advanced narrating”
– Writer and originator of 3 Dog Write, Lisa Apolinski
Although this may be the noticeable trend, many organizations are still struggling to get this right. Businesses are still caught telling stories about themselves rather than how their customers can be supported through the purchase of organization’s products and services. Smart organizations that can utilise powerful narrating will have their digital content provide value to the customers. This will boost the appeal and relevancy of the organization further.
5. Email Marketing is Ever More Important
“Email has become marketing’s most important channel: 91% of survey respondents maintained email marketing is critical to the overall success of their company.”
– Melissa Sargeant, CMO of Litmus
According to Melissa, this is an increase of 20 rate from 2019, with more than 40% of organisations expecting to expand their interest in 2022. While email marketing has always been one of the backbones of digital marketing, it will see a revival in importance due to the tightening of security setting, and restricted capacity of platforms to track and analyse user behaviour. This is why it is even more important to be able to acquire and possess your online contacts yourself. Furthermore, email marketing provides businesses to reach out to their customers in a more straightforward manner with little skepticism on the algorithm that is running the campaign.
Conclusion
The year may have just started, but it is always good to be prepared and keep updated with the changes and the trends that are happening. We see the wisdom in taking heed of the expert advice on the key digital marketing trends of 2022. If ever you feel that you are behind on some of these trends, do not fret as it is still not too late to make the necessary changes to benefit your organisation. Progress is always better than staying stagnant. Good luck!
