To bring you the very best help to push your business forward in 2022, I liaised with some top experts to hear where you should focus your marketing strategy.
They had no brief from me, yet fascinatingly there were some unmissable common denominators they agreed on:
Brand Engagement and Content
Gordon Glenister, author, podcaster, and influencer marketing expert, says, “Have a content plan, so you are consistent with your storytelling and show more personalized content – we want stories with people that we can relate to. Brands will start to build more online communities allowing their customers to engage with each other. Employees will play a more significant part in the advertising messages through their content.
Neil Sheth runs Bubbli Digital, specializing in SEO, and has just launched Writeful.ly, an on-demand copywriting service. Neil believes that 2022 will see brands focus on producing editorial content, not just product, and will be spending more money on this going forward.
The second change he foresees is a vast growth in interactive content. By this, he means content that will have readers answering quizzes, giving their feedback, and any number of other ingenious ways to inspire them to engage. It is this engagement that brings fans and fans turn into brand advocates.
Amber Leach of Established by Her says that user-generated content will become even more popular with consumers – make sure 2022 is the year you get your fans talking and create a buzz around your brand!
Jon Berg of The Digital Tiger says that to make social media work FOR your business – Stop the generic, filler posts and start creating more engaging social media content. Every piece you post online should educate or entertain your audience, with the sole aim of generating an email sign-up, a high-quality website visitor, or a message to your page. Great posts could definitely go viral too, only strengthening your online reach and credibility.
Karen Webber of Goodness Marketing adds her advice to make a content plan that is aligned with what you’re about and will help your ideal buyers move through the stages of the journey towards purchasing and beyond.
And a time saver from Rachael Dines of Shake It Up Creative who says to take a double-dip approach where you can. For example, with email marketing, re-send the campaign with an alternative subject line out to a segment containing those that haven’t opened it within a set timeframe. For paid social ads, don’t just look at the Ad platform data, set up website analytics goals to track conversions and examine visitor journeys further.
And then for content, if you are putting out a piece of quality written content, also create and put live a video version of it. As marketers, we can often expect an audience to see everything we do, the first time around, but that is inaccurate, let’s not forget the rule of 7, particularly when life is back to moving at 100 miles per hour.
More and More Video
Austin Schneider, the founder of Washington-based Brandtegic, begs that If your 2022 marketing strategy doesn’t include video marketing, please – please – please put this at the top of your list. Consumers now spend almost 18 hours a week watching video, and 80% of consumers say that video impacts the sale. BUT – don’t just “post to post.” Each platform has its own strategy for video, so be sure to be thoughtful when creating.
Estelle Keeper is the Instagram specialist behind Immortal Monkey. Estelle says that marketing in 2022 is most definitely going to be focussing on video content on all platforms, including email marketing. With Instagram announcing pay-per-view on reels soon to be rolled out, now is the time to be sharpening up those video skills, even if it’s a simple introduction video to your audience. Remember, “people buy from people”! Allow you and your business to be relatable and do it via video!
Gordon Glenister adds to his advice that if you don’t have a video strategy for your business in 2022, you will soon be overtaken by your competitors. Old school advertising and cold calling are becoming less effective – it’s ALL about content and influence.”
Amber Leach of Established by Her agrees and says Video, video, video, and more video! If you are not using video as part of your marketing strategy in 2022, the algorithm will leave you behind! Start with your mobile phone, capture some behind-the-scenes snippets, share them in your stories, or post a reel, and see your engagement.
Privacy
Gary Lewis Cheetham is a digital marketing coach at G L Digital. Gary says that brands will be keen to continue to build relationships with privacy-conscious consumers. The trend towards privacy is clear and will continue to disrupt advertisers in 2022. Big tech companies can’t get away with collecting so much data anymore! It’s on brands now to build their own “first-party data,” so skip the big social platforms and connect with your customers on a more human level.
Business and marketing expert Niki Hutchison agrees this is a game-changer, saying that 2022 will be THE time to shake things up regarding how you market your business. People are becoming ever more aware of how they’re being targeted, more cynical, and more empowered in the marketing they choose to see and respond to. Over 96% of iOS14 users have opted OUT of allowing the tracking, which has, until now, been widely used by advertisers to enable precise targeting and promotional messaging. With Mail Privacy Protection also now in effect, meaning that it is no longer possible to monitor whether emails delivered to Apple users have been opened or not, the digital marketing landscape has already changed dramatically.
Don’t forget SEO, but you will need to advertise!
Martin Handley, the founder of the specialist marketing company ScrapLocal, warns Google is getting even sharper in recognizing keyword stuffing. The algorithms give you credit for the engagement with your web pages. SEO is getting more challenging, so businesses should consider investing in paid media. Social media platforms also give more exposure to business pages to paid advertisers unless you already have huge followings. You also need to keep the content authentic and natural, or Google will penalize you there too. Answer the questions your audience is searching for with open and honest answers.
Niki Hutchison says that the results of the iOS14 changes and Mail Privacy Protection changes mean significant changes for advertisers in 2022. They need to try harder what, when, and how our customers actually want to hear from us (rather than assuming we can get them interested simply by placing our offer under their nose). Advertisers will need to spend more time researching industry trends, paying attention to societal changes and how they affect our audience, creating more engaging subject lines, graphic designs, and coming up with more relevant and tempting offers. The time of being able to throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks truly is over.
Marketing Platforms
Liza Horan’s marketing tip is to reduce your dependence on Facebook. All social media platforms are considered “rented,” not “owned” by a company because that space you hold with your audience belongs to another company, along with the permission to market to those individuals personally. Instead, drive your social audience to opt into your mailing list through contests, newsletters, and must-have opportunities. You’ll capture their permission in the process for a direct relationship and cut out “the middle man” (Facebook), Liza advises.
Amber Leach of Established by Her says More shopping via social media – if your audience can’t buy your services or products directly through social media, you are leaving money on the table!
Harvey Morton, Digital Expert and Founder of Harvey Moon Digital agrees that 2022 is set to be an interesting and exciting year for the major social media channels. Here’s what you need to know to stay ahead of the game when it comes to marketing. All of the major social media networks are set to emerge as a shopping platform with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok making it easier for businesses to sell their products on the platforms and for users to interact with what they see. For instance, users might see a photo of a dress and immediately be able to find out where it’s from and make the purchase without leaving their social media network.
Harvey says that short-form video content is also here to stay, with TikTok, YouTube shorts and Instagram set to experience further growth in 2022. And despite its many controversies in 2021, Facebook still has a loyal user base and remains popular. I expect this to still be a part of daily life for many into next year, so don’t discount it. With our attention spans getting shorter, bite-sized content will further increase in popularity, so attention-grabbing campaigns should always be your top priority.”
Marketing Strategy
Karen Webber of Goodness Marketing advises revisiting your marketing strategy (or creating one for the first time). That means getting clear on your “why” – you’re not just in business to sell candles or teach yoga or bake wedding cakes. And people usually don’t just want to buy products or services, they want their purchases to make them feel like they are part of something that aligns with who they are. Reconnect with your purpose and let that come across in your marketing.
Karen continues her advice to revisit your understanding of your ideal buyers. Understand what’s most important to them and how you can help them with their challenges. Know where they hang out and work on a plan to build a consistent presence there.
Ashlee Bloom of Raffingers says her top tip for 2022 would be to make sure you plan your marketing strategy and tactical marketing plan thoroughly, and that it sits in line with the top-line business goals. Many businesses act on ‘gut feeling’ and spend time on marketing initiatives that do not drive real results. Every year, it’s essential to analyze the previous year’s marketing successes/challenges, and then prepare the strategy based on things such as the market macro & microtrends, target audience, SWOT analysis.
To summarize!
Marketing in 2022 looks exciting if you get a little bit inventive and a little bit creative—lots of video and interaction. I also came across this the other day. Interactive Revolution gives you the ability to combine and make interactive videos that look very cool. It’s more and more about brand identity, more and more about building fans, more and more about authenticity.
This incredible range of tips is the result of very generous people who know the value of collaboration. When tips resonate with you, I do hope you will leap onto their links and read more and another greart article can be read here, with another 10 marketing trends from Colour Graphics.
