With the incoming flood of data, digital marketing has become a pretty challenging field to stay ahead of. Digital marketing seems to be ever-changing. With Google algorithms constantly being updated and new trends appearing all the time, there’s a lot for marketers to keep up with. 

The biggest difference between marketers succeeding and failing in the next few years will be how well they adapt to emerging digital trends. Adapting to the different trends will be tricky, but adopting them successfully will set some businesses apart over the next decade.

After all, with the speed of innovation, change is inevitable. So it’s time to get ahead of the trends — and make sure you’re not getting left behind.

In 2022, digital marketing is in a new phase. It’s a mature industry that is still growing fast and changing every day. There are new technologies, channels, and ways to reach customers. It will all be about improving the customer experience and increasing customer engagement. Here are some of the trends that we’re likely to see more of in 2022:

1. Add DIY Short-Form Videos To Your Content Strategy

Tiktok, Instagram Reels, Fb reels, Youtube shorts — Do you see the trend? We know, we know, you don’t want to think about it. But it’s kind of just how it is now. You’ve got no choice but to embrace that DIY short-form videos aren’t going anywhere.

Short videos show how quickly we consume content and emphasise the need for concise and straightforward messages that ask us to do something, like learning a new dance, joining a challenge, or participating in surveys and polls.

The best thing about these short videos is that everyone can make a quick video that isn’t very good on their phone. Not only that, but these short, engaging videos are candid and show the behind-the-scenes. They offer real stories from real people and are less polished than longer videos. This is what younger people want.

If you want your marketing strategy to work for you in 2022, you’re going to have to consider adding some short-form video content into your mix.

2. Stories STILL Matter

Storytelling in marketing is important to the success of your brand because it has the power to make people connect with you. Loyalty and trust are two things you can’t buy but have a significant impact on your brand and ROI.

Remember: People recall stories better than facts. Think of a story that really touched you. There are likely to be:

• About things that can be gained and lost
• About lessons learned
• Something that resonated with you
• Relatable people
• Conflicts and ways to solve them
• Enlightening thoughts

People are not like computers. They make sense of the world in ways that are hard to measure. That doesn’t change when they become a B2B client or a B2C customer. They still feel empathy. They still enjoy the emotional connection that a good story makes with them.

Humans aren’t very good at remembering exact information. But they are good at remembering facts when they are part of a story.

It’s important to tell stories when you’re marketing a brand. People don’t want to hear about how your brand thinks your goods or services are better than others. They want to know how you kept your promises. They want to see how you have done things to meet their needs and expectations.

This doesn’t mean that brands should take a step back and let their reviews speak for them. Don’t just tell customers about the benefits of your product or why it’s better than your competitors; show them through stories and customer testimonials how your product or service can help them solve a problem.

3. Customer-Centric Marketing

Customer-centric marketing is self-explanatory. Putting the customer first means thinking about them first. It’s about putting yourself in their shoes, thinking about what they are going through, and thinking of ways to help them. It means making things and services that are meant to make their lives better or easier. True consumer-first thinking goes beyond driving reach, following trends, or developing new products. It reaches into the heart of the consumer, finds out what they want and need, and then comes up with a product or service that meets those needs.

Over the last year, social media users have become tired, anxious, and even depressed because of their feeds’ constant stream of content. This is why it’s important to focus on your consumers. Some people have even gone so far as to deactivate their accounts. To say that social media is cluttered and filled with annoying pop-ups and messages is an understatement. There are a lot of ads, campaigns, and news stories that come through every day, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by them. 

Think about how many ads each person sees in a two-minute scroll and how yours might stand out. People interested in what you do will see your messages if you focus your strategy on getting to know your current customers and building a list of people who want to hear from you.

As the digital landscape changes, people are becoming more selective about the media they watch and read, and as a result, their expectations are high.

 Don’t be one of the accounts that people unfollow.

4. Respecting Your Consumers’ Privacy

Data is critical in the world of digital marketing. There’s no doubt that the rise of the internet has made it easier for brands and customers to connect with each other. 

How long it used to take you to get in touch with your target market can now be done in just a few minutes or even seconds. This means that businesses can grow faster and reach new heights more quickly than ever before.

But as privacy laws get stricter, the need to change how we collect and use data becomes more important, making it more important to change how we do it.

There is so much digital advertising that people are becoming more suspicious of the content they’re shown. So, in 2022, digital marketers should be preparing for stricter privacy rules that will change how they can track their users’ behaviour. 

For one, Google has said that it will stop using third-party cookies by 2023. This means that many marketers and advertisers will have to change their plans.

However, this is not the end of data-based content or marketing. It’s not even the end of advertising that is tailored to your needs. If you’re looking for a positive thing about the breakup of digital marketing monopolies as we know them, think about this: It’s the start of a new era of trust and transparency between businesses and their customers. 

As such, your customers should know why you are collecting their information and how it will be used. They should be able to opt-out at any time, and you need to make it easy to do so. More importantly, don’t get any more data than you need.

5. Personalisation And Content Segmentation Will Be Even More Important Than Before

Instead of making general content that tries to appeal to as many people as possible, you should make personalised marketing that is tailored to your target market. 

Research shows that personalised emails get more people to open them. Personalised digital marketing strategies result in stronger relationships with customers. 

Brands need to know and understand their customers to serve them better. We can no longer use demographics to figure out how to market our products. Customers want their brands to know more about them than just their gender, race, and where they live. People will be more likely to respond to personalised marketing that speaks to them with empathy.

If you take the time to learn about the platforms your audience uses and how they use them, you can tailor your messages to each group. This will make sure your message reaches the right people in the most appealing way. 

The more personalised your campaigns and content are, the better they will perform. That’s why it’s so important to segment your audience correctly and cater to their specific needs.

6. Conversational Marketing

In a more digital world, the best customer experiences will always be the ones that feel the most personal to the people who use them. Your consumers want you to listen. They want their needs and desires heard and taken care of. Nowadays, advances in technology made that more accessible than ever. 

In recent years, technology has made it more convenient for people to communicate with each other, whether they’re friends, coworkers, or businesses. This has led to an increase in the use of conversational marketing. These conversations can now be bigger, faster, and smoother than ever because chatbots are becoming more prominent. With this comes a lot of data that can help you figure out what your customers want and need.

This makes the brand more relatable and makes the customer have a better and more positive experience.

7. The Rise Of AI

Artificial intelligence is predicted to be an essential part of digital marketing by 2022 due to its ability to make complex decisions based on real-time data. In fact, AI has already been proven effective at improving ROI across many industries, including retail, healthcare, transportation, manufacturing and more!

AI has made it easier to read reports and other things like monitor traffic and improve search engine optimisation for organic reach. Even though AI has already helped us out, it’s time to think about what AI can do for digital marketing in the future and how it will change things.

As AI technology improves, its abilities grow as well. It moves from automated tasks and campaigns to being able to predict what customers are likely to want next, which is a big step up.

As a business, you can use AI to predict what your customers will do next. This way, you can reach out to them with the product or service they need at the right time.

8. Mobile-First Design

There’s no question that mobile has been growing in importance for some time now. In fact, Google has already started ranking websites that use mobile-first design higher than their desktop counterparts! So if you haven’t already, now’s the time to start thinking about your mobile-first design strategy.

However, if this sounds daunting to you, don’t worry. We’ve got a few tips to help make it easier. For example, if you’re redesigning your site’s navigation menu, think about where people will be tapping with their thumbs instead of where they’d be clicking with a mouse. You may also find it helpful to limit the number of options in your navigation bar so that users don’t have to scroll too much to find what they want.

How Competitive Are You In 2022?

We hope we’ve given you some insight into the digital marketing trends you need to get ahead of in 2022. These are just a few of the trends we expect to see, so don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled—especially if you’re working in B2B or B2C industries.

It’s clear that 2022 will be a year of evolution and change in the world of digital marketing. But it is also a year of great opportunity, as so many innovations and techniques come to market. In the years to come, how digital marketing evolves is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure: if your business wants to stay competitive and relevant, you’ll need to keep up with the latest trends. And if you want to get ahead of them, now is the time to start planning for what’s next!

So there you have it—our top trends for 2022. We hope these trends will give you a leg up on your competition and make 2022 your best year ever. We can’t wait to see what you do with our guide!