We recently shared our roundup of dominant marketing trends from 2021. When they were put side-by-side, it made the year seem less chaotic and revealed some patterns about how professional marketers are dealing with overarching issues like “The Great Resignation” and, of course, our latest developments with the pandemic, which impacts every industry and business.
Now, we think it helps to consider how those previous trends will help us predict what’s ahead. Maybe it will help you remain competitive, plan your marketing strategy, or respond agily to current events in your field.
So, here are our thoughts about what’s to come for marketers (hint, it’s not about excess, it’s about doing way more with a little less):
1) Less Reliance on Video. Although many businesses are still new to video content, and it certainly isn’t going anywhere, it’s going to look a lot less like a sparkly new tool in 2022. If everyone is creating motion-graphic ads and cute little TikTok-style shorts, then it’s not going to stand out for anyone, right? Toward the end of last year, we began seeing greater success with direct email and extremely targeted messaging again. So although we might be in store for a bit of a rollercoaster with dynamic content in our Roaring ’20s, this year in particular might see a spike in personalized copy-focused marketing rather than all videos, all the time.
2) Less Influencer Marketing! Most audiences are really, really over the idea of “influencers.” From parody accounts to Saturday Night Live skits, the joke is kind of falling flat. And nobody is joking about spending money these days, anyway. Customers want info and recommendations from their own trusted peers or informed advisors. Therefore, we’ve seen marketers reel back their efforts to work with social media stars; or, at least, they’re becoming more picky about who they work with and what they’re willing to pay. But this might be the year that non-megabrand marketers let go of the idea as a mainstream effort altogether. When marketers do continue working with influencers, it’s going to come down to demanding very specific types of promotions. And expecting very specific engagement or revenue, as well. Looking cute and holding up a label for “likes” just isn’t going to cut it anymore in 2022. Audiences are alert!
3) Less Dependence on Automation? In 2021, we saw companies taking steps to automate their marketing efforts. That might have been due to staff shortages and other reasons. For the most part, it made everyone’s lives better. But in some cases, it led to depersonalization. For example, companies were automatically scheduling mindless email dumps to unsegmented lists. Ads were running long after they made sense, simply because they’d been scheduled to do so, without further review. Overdependence on automation can lead to detached or irrelevant marketing efforts. Whatever time or money you might be saving through automation can also be wasted if it’s pushing your customers and clients away. The next step in automation is sure to be finding the balance and developing processes necessary to maximize ROI.
Have we left anything out? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this year’s marketing forecast, so please don’t hesitate to shoot us an email and share your predictions!