A Line from Greenline

Marketing Trends to Budget for in 2022

From target audience to brand niche, areas of practice, and menus of services, every business has its differentiators that help them stand out amongst its competitors and appeal to its target audience. As competition heats up in almost every industry, business owners need to stay on top of emerging trends that can separate them from the competition and ensure success each and every year.

In 2022 there are tons of emerging trends, and this will highlight the highest value marketing trends to budget for in 2022. This list should help you narrow down the path you want to take for your marketing strategy this year.

2022 digital marketing


Innovative Ways of Tracking Information

In order to stay ahead of trends, you need to be actively seeking them, being proactive rather than reactive. A good way to be proactive about marketing trends is to be an active monitor of social channels. Essentially you need to be hip to what people are talking about online.

2020 and 2021 have been intense years for a variety of reasons. A severe political climate, public outrage on social justice issues, and a freaking pandemic to name a few. One takeaway I found is that consumers are beginning to care more about internet privacy. This has led to businesses being pressured to abandon third-party cookies and tracking. 

Use Video in your Brand Tracking Surveys

Asking real customers what topics like value, quality, and safety mean to them can shed light on many aspects of your business. This will help you gather qualitative data as well as help find solutions to problems within your business or marketing strategy.

Mobile Market Research Methods

Smartphones and tablets are taking the world by storm, now accounting for over 50% of website visits. How can you make your research mobile-friendly? Here are a few ways:

    1. SMS Surveys, a great way to reach past customers for their thoughts on your product or service. (Don’t sound like an extended car warranty text message, be personable)

    2. Location Awareness, Advanced phone market research techniques can leverage smartphone location (GPS) information to trigger questions or simply track movement over time.  For example, you can imagine a survey question that only appears when the phone knows the user is at the gas station.

    3. Mobile Ethnography, using information like location awareness, researchers are able to gather contextual data about behaviors.

Partnerships with Microinfluencers

One of the largest marketing trends to hit the market recently is partnering with microinfluencers. That means finding someone on TikTok or Instagram with a moderately high following somewhere between 10,000 to 50,000.

marketing budget 2022

You may be thinking that those follower counts are low in comparison to well-known influencers, but it is proven that working with a number of microinfluencers on the same campaign is more effective and more budget-friendly. The more followers someone has the more expensive the partnership will be, the availability decreases, and the authenticity dwindles.

The good thing is that microinfluencers are extremely underutilized in today's market and they are all hungry for partnerships. Microinfuencers will cost less, will be more excited to partner with you, and have a much more personal and loyal relationship with their followers.

Find Your Social Purpose

Consumers in 2022 care more about a brand's stance on social justice issues than ever before. Not only will it build trust and integrity within your customer base but it will give your business a chance to impact society. The happiness of your employees also plays a massive role in the success of your business and people love working for companies that stand for something.

There are a number of ways to display your social purpose to your audience. Here are a few:

    • Philanthropy: Philanthropy can be built into a brand by setting up a product in which a portion of the proceeds are donated to an organization that provides support for your cause.

    • Social Presence: Utilize your social media following to promote a non-profit organization by informing your audience of the work they are doing and how your business is a part of that.

    • Volunteering Activities: A great way to improve your social presence is by organizing group volunteer activities for your employees. This gives you a great opportunity to once again promote an organization on your social media and it gives the employees some time to connect outside of the office.

For a list of non-profit organizations and volunteer opportunities visit Volunteer Match

Virtual Burnout

Although we have seen an increase in things like restaurant dining, box office sales, sporting event attendance, etc. We are nowhere near the numbers pre-pandemic. We know consumers want things to go back to normal and you can be right there ready to grab all the attention when they are. Over the course of the past few years, screen time for the average U.S. consumer has doubled. Consumers have been forced to view life digitally for quite some time.

While digital marketing is essential for your business, let’s not sleep on the impact of interactive marketing. The average person is estimated to see 6,000-10,000 ads in a single day, 80% of them being digital. They may remember one or two that stood out but most will be forgotten.

An interactive marketing campaign is a sure-fire way to give consumers that pre-pandemic sensation again. If executed well, an interactive ad is 5x more likely to be remembered by a consumer.

 

We live in a time where all people do is consume, consume, and consume information. Consumers have to process so much information every day that it is nearly impossible to stand out. I hope these strategies can help you gather information about your consumer, connect with them, and most of all appeal to them. The most important trend in 2022 is going to be to stand out, so don’t be afraid to be different and hopefully sneak a couple of these into your marketing budget for 2022.

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Topics: Insider, Marketing Strategy