From Surviving To Thriving: Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2022

Marketers are constantly evolving with the world around them. 2021 was about recovering from an unprecedented shock. But this year is about responding, and for those best positioned, thriving in a post-pandemic world. We explore seven trends to help marketers and those charged with building dynamic customer experiences rethink their people, data, and experience strategies.

1. Stunted economic growth
All businesses in Kenya are currently faced with two calamities. One, is how to recover from the pandemic and two, the negative effects of our ever-whirring political machine which in a few months, will reach fever pitch.

We are likely to witness accelerated economic recovery in the first half of 2022. However, the gains may not be realized immediately until the political tension caused by the intense electioneering period fizzles out. In the intervening period, we will experience reduced spending as companies adopt a wait-and-see approach. With this in mind, marketers need to formulate an aggressive six-month plan that will be able to cover for the anticipated slow growth during the political season and post-election period.

2. Social listening to guide personalization
Monitoring conversations around your brand can expose you to many insights. The learnings can, in turn, be used to improve your social media marketing efforts, better manage customer complaints, or come up with moves to counter competitors. Most brands and businesses are still struggling to unify their personalization strategy across all customer touchpoints. Thus, to be truly successful, marketing personalization activities must occur seamlessly across every channel and on every device.

3. The rise of short form videos
Edutainment video content is no longer just an option. Rather, it is now a must-have for any serious business that is keen on staying ahead of the curve. Short-form content is on the rise, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down. At the heart of its conception, is the fact that short-form video lends itself far better to the fleeting attention spans associated with modern audiences.

Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts are some top video-based content channels today. Another huge benefit of short videos is that they are just much easier to distribute. Short videos are more likely to go viral because of their unlimited replay value, easy to share and remember. Brands will need to make short-form video since the attention span of online viewers have reduced, increased competition amongst the different video viewing sites and limited time.

4. Acceleration of digital, tech, and analytics
Digital transformation is a journey that never ends. Over the past few months, there has been a transformation in the way we interact with loved ones, do our work, travel, get medical care, spend leisure time, and conduct many of the life routines.

These changes have accelerated the migration to digital technologies at stunning scale and speed, across every sector. It’s already a cliché that the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the shift to digital. But, the best companies are going further, by enhancing and expanding their digital channels.

Knowing what works or doesn’t have made it possible for marketers to be far more agile, responsive, and targeted. Marketing practitioners no longer need to rely on heuristics on where consumer interest may lie when all consumer activities are being tracked as they happen.

To survive and thrive in an uncertain and rapidly changing world, organizations will need to innovate at speed, keep pace with technological and industry change, and cultivate greater resilience. There has been a realization that digital transformation can potentially affect a huge spectrum of business operations and marketing activities. The key is to ensure that your firm has the technology, processes, and talents in-house that can be able to exploit the transformation for your betterment.

5. Leap frogging of Ecommerce
Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of e-commerce. According to McKinsey, 10 years of e-commerce adoption was compressed into three months. With all the impacts and changes to consumer behaviour during the pandemic. Many of the behaviours that consumers have adopted during the pandemic were already taking shape in recent years. The influence of e-commerce will continue to reign strong this year. While brick and mortar shopping will never cease to exist, we should expect the in-person shopping experience to continue to evolve to increase convenience for customers.

6. Rise of micro-influencer marketing
Influencer marketing has become an essential medium in the success of many strategies, showing massive ROI compared to other traditional mediums. This is mainly because referrals are one of the top reasons consumers purchase our buy into a product or brand. But with big influencers constantly changing their sponsorships, it’s difficult for consumers to trust that influencer referrals aren't being bought, which reduces their authenticity and impact.

We’ve seen the rise of the micro-influencer, influencers who might have a smaller following, but whose views are considered more authentic and trusted. In 2022, we'll see that influencers’ powers won't be measured by the sheer number of people they can reach, but rather the relationships they hold with the followers they have.

7. Increased adoption of Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality
Technology is becoming more sophisticated, and so are consumers. That’s why it isn’t enough to just engage them, you also must surpass their expectations. Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR and VR) define the two spectrums of immersive technology.

Because they create lush, immersive, and interactive user experiences and enable consumers to get up close and personal with your product or service. When used correctly, virtual, and augmented reality could improve buyer awareness, offer better personalization, and speed up the purchasing process. One of the major impacts will be the commercial rollout of Facebook Metaverse.

Conclusion
Being able to see the big picture alongside underlying currents moving back and forth in the operating business environment has saved many from severe heartache. As the world slowly builds back to recovery, it will be incumbent upon all of us to pay close attention to the above trends and see how we can leverage them for growth.