4 key digital marketing trends for 2022: A Ketchup Marketing guide.
One of the most exciting things about digital marketing strategy is the almost endless innovation. Unfortunately, that also means it’s important to keep up with the latest trends to make sure your efforts are effective, which can be a full-time job in itself.
As a Google Certified Partner with a team of qualified marketing strategists, Ketchup always has a finger on the pulse of all things digital, including SEO, PPC, social media and email marketing. To help you plan your 2022 digital marketing strategy, we’ve put together a guide on the top trends for 2022, and how you can make them work for you.
TikTok Shopping
The short-form video platform TikTok skyrocketed to success in early 2020, and has been growing globally ever since. With the introduction of the new in-app shopping feature, this viral-friendly platform is one of the key marketing trends for 2022, offering brands even more opportunities to harness the incredible power of audience influence.
TikTok Shopping allows brands to create in-the-moment purchasing opportunities. By giving users instant access to the products they see in their feeds, it harnesses the “I need that now!” feeling without the user even needing to leave the app. TikTok Shopping is only available to Shopify merchants with a TikTok for Business account, and early access has been available to US and UK accounts since September.
If you think TikTok is just a platform for sharing silly videos, you’re wrong; in the right hands, it presents real sales potential. In 2021, a TikTok recipe trend caused a shortage of feta cheese, while a viral TikTok video caused Clinique's Black Honey lipstick to sell out across the US, despite being first introduced in 1971.
It’s admittedly hard to predict what exactly will go viral, but with video marketing swaying 84% of viewers to make a purchase, and influencer marketing delivering an amazing 500% ROI, it’s easy to see why more brands are turning to TikTok for their 2022 digital marketing campaigns. One note to remember, influencer marketing is different to affiliate marketing and you need to have a separate strategy for both.
Emotional investment in brands
As consumers become more aware of the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their purchasing decisions, they are increasingly careful about which brands they choose to support. In order to succeed in 2022, you need to stop selling your products, and start selling yourself.
Brand awareness and brand loyalty are far from new concepts in marketing. However, they feature significantly within the marketing trends for 2022 and have come back into focus following the initial boom of online shopping, when purchasing decisions were based on specific products and instant availability. Now, instead of buying as much as they can as quickly as possible, users are moving towards making careful choices about what they buy and where from.
Instead of spending money on a specific product, consumers are starting to shift towards a desire to invest in brands they trust. This means buying from brands that share their values, champion similar causes and are passionate about creating positive change, even if that means buying a different product than the one they were initially considering. Diversity, inclusivity and accessibility are also extremely important issues to focus on and can help you to secure a loyal customer base.
Get to know your audience and what they care about, and make this the focus of your 2022 marketing campaign. Don’t stay quietly humble; shout about your compostable packaging, carbon offset delivery and charitable donations. This type of content should make up the bulk of your marketing efforts.
Attention-grabbing experiential marketing
With so many brands vying for consumers’ attention, marketing is going to get tougher and more competitive than ever. In 2022, we’ll be seeing more brands focus on quality experiences instead of spreading themselves too thinly across multiple platforms.
It’s no secret that the global attention span has dropped as our thirst for instant gratification has been nurtured by the net. Meta revealed that each piece of Facebook News Feed content only holds users’ attention for an average of 1.7 seconds on mobile or 2.5 seconds on desktop. It’s a sad fate for that carefully crafted post you spent all morning writing.
Similarly, trending topics shift quickly online, only remaining relevant for a few brief moments. In 2013, a global Twitter trend would last an average of 17.5 hours, whereas a 2020 trending topic lasts about 11 minutes. Fast-paced reactive marketing is essential to capitalise on trends in the moment, and we’ll see more and more brands trying (and also failing) to remain relevant in the fast-moving digital space.
That’s why 2022 is likely to see experiential marketing as one of the key marketing trends for 2022, particularly as COVID restrictions ease, with a focus on fun and innovative offline campaigns. Consumers who are suffering from ‘screen fatigue’ will be much more receptive to marketing with an interactive element, like John Lewis’ real-life spaceship crash sites in London and Newcastle in November to tease their upcoming Christmas ad.
We’ve all missed out on a lot over the last two years, so creating real experiences will allow brands to form a deeper connection with consumers and encourage organic conversations. 74% of consumers say that engaging with branded event marketing experiences makes them more likely to buy the promoted products, so this type of campaign is well worth the investment.
Creating value as a priority
When you browse the internet or social media, how often are you actively looking to make a purchase?
Marketers often overlook the fact that most people are online as a form of entertainment and aren’t simply waiting to be sold the next hot product.
Consumers are wiser than ever when it comes to marketing and advertising, so blatantly asking them to buy from you isn’t always going to yield the best results. Instead, we’ll be seeing more of a shift towards creating value instead of pushing your products and services.
According to Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, only 5% of B2B buyers are in-market right now. That means that 95% of the people you’re advertising to aren’t ready to buy, so no matter how often you push your amazing new product on them, they’re not going to make a purchase.
Building brand-relevant memories and offering value to your customers will make your offering more competitive in the long term. When done effectively, this means that as soon as someone is ready to buy, they won’t even entertain the thought of spending their money with anyone else. This builds on the emotional investment in brands that we looked at above.
There’s a misconception that if you give something away for free, people won’t want to pay for your products or services. However, giving your customers something valuable can actually encourage them to buy from you in the future by helping them to get to know you, building trust, and showing that what you do or sell is worthwhile.
Start your on-trend 2022 marketing campaign
What does your 2022 marketing strategy look like?
If you’re not sure, get in touch and let the experts at Ketchup help create a marketing plan that attracts the right kind of customers to help your brand succeed.