“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell’ – Seth Godin.
An author, entrepreneur and marketer, Seth Godin – penned it down in the most appropriate manner. Digital Marketing, today, is by far the most extensive and popular extension of marketing that has touched upon dimensions that were not even known before.
Those who understand the intricacies of marketing strategies know that digital marketing trends are moving faster than the speed of a tornado. The quick response time and advancement in technological measures have brought revolutionary tactics to establish a strong connection with the audience.
To complement it further, here’s what Jeff Bezos has to say on this, “It’s hard to find things that won’t sell online.”
So, if you are here to know the scope and purview of the latest digital marketing trends, here’s your chance to gain the top insights for 2022.
Digital Marketing isn’t about walking a straight line. It is something that calls for careful observation and consistent experimentation with the tools and platforms that are available at our disposal. Say the current business scenario wouldn’t work for you if you adopt a subtle approach and sit back—- hoping the marketing work on an autopilot mode while you only remain focussed on the main line activity. It is the consistent upgradation and following the market practices to stay in line with the customer preferences that turn the wheel in your favour.
After carefully analysing it, one thing that has come up in our findings and remains the central theme of the digital marketing trend is Customer Engagement. It is the customer engagement that’s driving today’s marketing game. How well you can pull this trigger is how far you’ll be able to hook the anchor of your business growth. And that is why we feel it should be the basis of any strategy you plan to implement in digital marketing.
If you still aren’t convinced why it remains the topmost priority and should become the foundation of your marketing efforts, follow the post till the end to know why it should be the prime focus of every business.
Digital Marketing Trends to boost your Online Presence
Content Marketing
Content is King is what you’ve heard till now. However, distributing the content in a strategic and planned way is the key to gaining success in the field of digital marketing. Content Marketing, as we all know, is the cornerstone of all that we perform in marketing and when done right, can take the business to the peak of success.
When we dissect it from the centre, we will find that content marketing is the steering wheel that directs your marketing efforts and remains quite dynamic in its approach. From solving the user’s query with general blogs to issuing them specific and custom guidelines through ebooks is how diverse content marketing is – when it comes to targeting the end goal.
Let’s have some popular instances of how content marketing spilled the charm for certain brands. It created a great buzz when Coke, in its ‘Share A Coke’ campaign in Australia, invited random entries and printed 150 common yet most popular names on the bottle. It was marked as a huge success for the brand in terms of sales and popularity while giving us a valuable piece of advice on how personalisation and simple content strategy can work like magic.
According to digital marketing expert Neil Patel, Content Marketing is what people want other than intrusive banners, ads and pop-ups. So, when content seeks directional strength and gives its users what they need, marketing becomes direct and authentic instead of fake and promotional.
Personalised Email
Email Marketing, as we all know, holds great potential for business owners. It’s undoubtedly an infallible tool that can drive insane traffic along with giving you the idea of what broader outreach looks like. Let’s have it from some of the successful email marketing campaigns that have seen sparkling success, utilising the email strategy in their favour.
Uber – For instance, is known for keeping their newsletter direct and crisp, signalling the clear CTA’s for the prompt action by their readers. On the other end, Starbucks has been seen distributing its client’s loyalty points and free drinks through their latest newsletters in exchange for joining its loyalty program. Not only will it fix their brand images in the minds of their customers, but it will multiply the probability of them coming back to their counters to avail of their services over and over again.
So what did we learn from all this? The crux is to revamp the old ways of sending boring and promotional texts and emails to the readers; instead, focus on sending them the stuff that would interest them and encourage them to take the desired action from their side.
Influencer Marketing
The best way to drive fair publicity on the web is to channelise the route of influencer marketing. As we discussed earlier, authenticity is magnetic, which is why nowadays, influencer marketing has replaced the traditional ways of marketing and has spread deeper roots in the soil of marketing as far as connecting with the masses is concerned.
The prevailing trend is that people nowadays like to follow the influencers they resonate with and tend to follow them to great lengths. The business community has already realised the potential of the influencer market; that is why big brands like Adidas, Lynda, Sprint, Audible and Blue Apron are already relying on this tactic to assure massive publicity in their favour.
It works in such a way that the influencer of a particular niche- after successfully gaining a certain number of followers, say, 1k or beyond, becomes a valuable asset for the brands. Not only do they gain the power to influence the audience to purchase a particular product or service, but they enjoy a much deeper connection with the people as opposed to the celebrities who had a limited influence over the people by way of TV commercials or so.
The advantages of influencer marketing are immense as it’s much more economical and effective compared to any other way of brand promotion. Whether it’s done through Youtube Videos or Instagram Reels, the impact it has on businesses has already proven its worth, and it is well recommended as one of the latest digital marketing trends for the year 2022.
Focus on Mobile Optimisation
It’s no secret that customers have switched to their smartphones for every single task. To be precise, we’ve moved past the transition where we swapped from laptops to multi-functional smartphone devices.
Whether it’s surfing Google to find products/services or relying on smart technologies to transact business from various apps, mobile optimization is what holds the key for the business to succeed now and in the times to come.
According to a survey, it is estimated that by 2026, 69% of the total ad spending will be done through mobile. Hence, it is imperative to identify the potential that mobile optimisation holds for businesses and channelise it while it is assuring great returns.
From sending mobile-friendly emails to putting across mobile-centric notifications on your customer’s smartphone screen, it all worked like a miracle for the businesses that have witnessed massive success in the past few years.
To mention a few strategies, here’s what you can do to add mobile optimisation to your advantage:
- Improve the website load speed
- Opt for Responsive Web design
- Give due importance to user experience
- Optimise your website using the latest tools (Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool)
- Choose a reliable web hosting
Focus on Value Addition
The common denominator in the latest digital marketing trend and the Google algorithm is ‘Value Addition’. If in any way you are adding value to the experience of your customers, know that the growth would find a way back to you like a boomerang.
According to the latest Google algorithm Core Web Vital update, it is UX that influences the ranking of the websites. Moving from coded guidelines to a better user experience is how Google is finding its growth and evolution. And with it comes a lucky break for the businesses to leverage this opportunity to their advantage.
In short, all the routes meet at the same point, which calls for a supreme customer experience. Once you manage to provide a premium customer experience is when the algorithm and customer response at once would turn in your favour. Channelise the digital platforms to create valuable content for the audience, and you’ll never have to look back.
Visual Content
In these times, when it is becoming increasingly difficult to grab the customer’s attention, it is the visual content that is creating a world of opportunities for businesses to mark their effective presence. Whether it’s in the form of Instagram reels, youtube videos, tiktok reels or other short-form video content, the crisp and effective content posted by the medium of these platforms has stood far more effective than working on long-term strategic plans.
This short-form content not only provides your business with a golden chance to stand a part of their daily routine but provides a lucrative opportunity to create quick and crisp content that you can easily manage to post on a daily basis.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing, as we all know, is focused on bringing inward leads. And the secret ingredient to get the maximum out of it is to generate the value content.
With people’s increased reliance on digital platforms, there’ll never come a time better than this when you could reap sureshot rewards in return for your efforts. The more value you create on the online platforms, the more gains you are likely to draw in its direct proportion. Know that there’s no standard rule to it, and you just have to circulate the best you can- thinking in the best interests of your audience. That could be in the form of blogs, reels, ebooks, seminars, webinars and whatnot!
Include Real-Time experiences
Last but not least, grabbing users’ attention and adding to their convenience is the only way to lead the pack. Once you embrace the practices of including real-time experience in your website experience or mobile apps, you’d naturally gain your audience’s attention.
Digital Marketing trends include everything that takes the user experience to the next level, and here are the real-time experiences that not only magnetise their attention but offer them a reason to embrace all that you have to offer.
In the latest instance, Amazon introduced a real-time feature in its portal where people can actually put on the virtual filter of the shoe they intend to buy and see how it looks on their feet. Also, the prime feature of the Lenskart app allowing the buyers to virtually try on the eye-wear is something that has broken the stereotype of them prefer buying from actual stores rather than online.
Social Responsibility
It may not seem like a trend, but the relevance of social responsibility has never been under such limelight.
With the pandemic hitting the global stage and shaking the human consciousness from within, people have realised the relevance of sustainability and want to associate only with those brands that stand responsible for the environment and society and take effective measures to pay back to them in some or the other way.
For instance, if you run a product-based business, it would matter what steps you are taking to safeguard the environment. Or say, how far are you willing to go for the interests of people and communities rather than just doing an activity for the sake of labelling it as a corporate social responsibility.
If you are running a business and want to attain sustainable growth, consider providing your social responsibility with the fuel of intention and intensity and see your business skyrocketing to the heights that you never thought were possible.
It would not only generate a positive sentiment towards your business but would gain the real trust and credibility that would provide long-lasting fuel for your business./p>
Take Away
After detailed research and practical expertise in marketing, here are the latest digital marketing trends you can incorporate into your practice and progress your business by leaps and bounds.
While comparing 2021 trends with 2022, we’ve concluded that all marketing trends are climbing up the steps of progression much faster than we could ever imagine, so the best move we can make is to make hay while the sun shines! Meaning using all these tactics to your advantage before the new ones replace them.
With digital ad spending expected to reach around $565.20 bn in the year 2022, the scope and purview of digital marketing are nothing short of a goldmine. So the best way to leverage upon all we have mentioned in this blog is to understand and take full advantage of the above trends!
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