Marketing trends are forever changing as businesses continue to harness new technologies, adapt to ever-shifting customer needs, and respond to market movements.  

2020 was the year of disruption in the marketing world, and no one saw it coming. Brick-and-mortar stores shut; customers moved online.  

Never mind if the most experienced marketers had carefully mapped out their strategy in line with the latest marketing trends, they had to do away with their plan, accommodate the shifts and embrace innovation.    

Because it is no longer just about making a big statement, here are three trends we predict will impact the marketing industry this year.  

1. Holistic customer experience 

As the world slowly came out of the pandemic, stores re-opened, customers left their homes and web traffic and online sales dipped across almost all industries and segments. By June 2021, traffic slumped 10 per cent compared to April 2019. Suddenly, marketers had to make marketing more human again.   

We believe the priority this summer will be continuing to adapt marketing strategies to focus on brilliant customer experiences, for increasingly independent buyers. This will include targeted and personalised messaging based on data analytics, relevant, buyer-focused content to help them make decisions, fantastic customer support to answer their questions, as well as flexible delivery and payment.  

Indeed, 73 per cent of people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions – including efficiency, convenience, friendly and knowledgeable service, easy payment and up-to-date technology.  

This is possible if marketers collaborate with the sales team and the supply chain, to connect the dots between data, marketing and logistics.  

2. Inexorable rise of social commerce 

44 per cent of B2B marketers have completely changed their marketing channel mix since the pandemic began, with many investing in social commerce – everything from product discovery to the check-out process happens on a social media platform.  

An Accenture study showed that the sector is expected to reach $1.2 trillion globally by 2025 – three times faster than traditional e-commerce. This growth will be driven primarily by Gen Z and Millennial social media users.  

Companies will be looking to make social commerce as seamless as possible by enabling customer payments without leaving social media apps. We see this trend continuing.  

3. Interactive video-based content 

Brands on Instagram and Facebook recorded a rise in users’ engagement with their live videos, whilst TikTok continued to attract customers with its live video features and use of influencers to promote products through sponsorship deals.   

Indeed, the Digital Marketing Institute found that TikTok was the top-earning non-game mobile app in 2021 with more than $110 million spent by its users.  

Through tools like Creator Marketplace, brand will look to nurture long-term influencer-brand relationships (rather than one-off deals) on these platforms – especially on TikTok, which has a wider reach – to build deeper connections with customers.   

The platform now boasts some 1 billion monthly active users and we see this as a major marketing focus for the remainder of 2022.  

If you are looking to future proof your business, generate more traffic and leads for your business, don’t hesitate to speak to us or find out more about our marketing talent recruitment services.