Refresh your marketing so you’re relevant and seen in the right places in 2022 and beyond.
Is your marketing ready for the year ahead? At Haynes Marcoms, we’ve analysed marketing trends over the last 12 months. We’ve pulled apart our own and others successes. All so we could compile the top five marketing trends for 2022 to help make your marketing performance stand out from the competition. Here’s our thoughts on the year ahead:
1. Authenticity
In 2021, relevance was key as consumers and business buyers looked for partners who were agile and responsive to their needs. Brands that were up to date in the ever-changing world, keeping customers informed and meeting their needs drove strong business results. This need for relevance won’t diminish in 2022, but it will be complemented by the need for companies to be authentic.
Audiences - both consumer and B2B - buy from genuine people and brands. Being honest with your audience is key to building trust, and trust is the cornerstone of strong relationships.
Be present in your community - both offline and online - so that potential customers get a chance to know what your company does and, most importantly, what it stands for. The recent COP26 in Glasgow highlighted the need to be wary of companies ‘greenwashing’ their credentials - the market knows if you are simply piggy-backing on a trend and trying to look good, or presenting the good aspects of what you do without acknowledging the bad.
To be authentic, you need to be clear on what your brand stands for. What is your mission and vision? Does your message align with your core values? Find out more about constructing your value proposition in our blog.
2. Authority
By authority, we don’t mean dictators or police. This is all about knowing what you’re talking about, whether it’s your product or your industry. From encouraging named employees to contribute articles on their expertise to your company blog to utilising original research, there are many ways you can position your company as the ‘go-to’ experts in your field.
Consider writing thought-leadership pieces for industry publications. Use LinkedIn to share news and views relevant to your business, and join industry conversations. Set up a webinar series - not just one that you speak on, but one you host looking at wider topics that impact your sector. Join industry events to speak about agenda items that you are passionate about. There are a myriad of opportunities to contribute to conversations and connect with your industry and audience.
Using authentic messages, select spokespeople suitable for each message to build authority with each audience. A CEO lends a positive weight to discussions about company results, future developments and partnerships. But think of who else you can empower to be a spokesperson. If one of your key messages is that your hotel is the cleanest and uses eco-friendly cleaning products and processes, this would mean more coming from your head housekeeper than your CEO. If your technology helps your clients connect with their customers, utilise case studies from your clients and their customers. Don’t just say something, show it with real examples. The proof is in the pudding!
3.Automation
On the surface, this may seem counterintuitive to Authenticity and Authority, but the three can work together if set up right. Automation is continually evolving, and you should be using sophisticated rules and tools to your advantage.
We don’t know of any sales or marketing team with the time to manually contact each and every one of their clients, but technology is available to help you keep in touch with your client list and potential database.
From a gentle nudge to those who haven’t purchased from you in the last six or twelve months, to a tailored offer for birthday or another significant date, setting automation rules and utilising AI tools to enhance your communications can free up marketing teams’ time to focus on creative ideas and improve the customer experience.
By automating some customer interactions, you are likely to find you’re able to offer always-on support whilst improving response times, drive greater customer satisfaction and lower operating costs. When considering where automation could help your sales funnel, keep in mind your customer experience. Any automation should improve the customer’s journey, removing barriers they may currently have to purchase and making it easy to find what they’re looking for - whether that be information or a product.
4.Strategy and Planning
The ability to throw away one plan and adapt to market needs has been key for many businesses to survive the pandemic. But those who successfully pivoted haven’t been flying blind - they’re the ones who invested time in reviewing and adjusting their strategy and plans, before taking action. Even the most ardent marketers who swear they are creative and not planners recognise the value of having a clear plan in place.
In 2022 and beyond, the need for effective Marketing Strategy is essential. With budgets under increasing scrutiny, more now than ever each marketing dollar or pound needs to be justified. Splashing the cash willy-nilly is not an option - you need to be able to plan your activity, rationalise it and report on it.
You might be tempted to throw money at a high profile celebrity to create a branded TikTok campaign, but is that where your audience is? How will you measure the return on investment for your marketing spend? As global economies tighten their belts and interest rates are tipped to rise in much of the Western world, the marketing superstars of 2022 will be those who blend creativity with a strong business sense.
5.Repurposing content
Reuse and recycle. It’s not just an important environmental cry, it also applies to marketing. Linked with the increasing demands on marketing teams’ time, 2022 will see marketing professionals being shrewd when it comes to repurposing content.
You can read more about how to repurpose content in our earlier blog post. Like any content, you need a clear idea of what you’re trying to communicate (your message) and who you’re speaking with (your audience).
If you’ve created a 3-minute video for use as an introduction at a sales pitch, consider reusing the video in other channels. Does it work - either in full, or spliced into shorter pieces - on your social channels? Can you use it on your own website? Should you be uploading it to third party sites you are listed on to promote your products or services? Can you embed it in a newsletter to your potential customer database? Can you transcribe the content and use it as a written piece?
Not all content can be repurposed on all channels - if you’ve created a bespoke piece, it may only work for one audience - at a specific time and place. But by working smarter, you can create content that can be utilised in different ways and on different platforms.
To be successful in your marketing strategy for 2022, you need to be prepared, be real with your audience and work smarter, not harder. What do you think will be the trends of 2022 in marketing? Share your thoughts in our comments box below.
Comments