It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or what products and services you offer. Digital Marketing trends cannot be ignored by your business if you’re serious about competing in today’s market. A few years ago, your business might have been able to get by with just a Facebook page and a website, but now this is not enough.
If your business does not have at least a website and social media page, you’re not operating anywhere near your maximum potential. Since COVID-19, the Digital Marketing landscape has changed dramatically. In 2022, new technologies and tools will become more widely available and used. Businesses will need to adapt to stay on top.
The digital marketplace is fueled by competition. If you want your business to thrive, you should stay updated on and apply the latest tools and methodologies for boosting your online presence. There are plenty of tools and opportunities available to engage more effectively with audiences than ever before.
VIMAR Digital Marketing
At VIMAR, we are constantly reading and learning about the most influential digital marketing trends and tactics. We are a group of professionals with many years of experience helping small businesses in Ireland create a digital presence. Our work has directly and positively impacted businesses to help them increase sales both domestically and internationally.
We decided to put together our knowledge to create this marketing playbook for your business to follow in 2022. Although this is not an exhaustive playbook including all tactics and tips, we hope this will point you in the right direction.
Marketing Trends 2022:
- Outsourced Marketing
- LinkedIn Business to Business Marketing (B2B)
- Evolution of eCommerce for Small Business
- Short-form videos
- Hybrid Events Are The New Normal (Online/In-Person)
- Content Marketing
- Rebirth of YouTube
- Audio Revolution (Podcasts)
- Community Development
- Social Proof – Reviews/Recommendations
- Virtual / Augmented Reality
- Reactive Marketing
1. Outsourced Marketing
Outsourced marketing is exactly as it sounds, outsourcing your business marketing activity to a third party. An outsourced marketing team can be used in addition to an in-house team, or it could replace the need for in-house staff entirely.
Why outsource marketing activity?
There’s numerous reasons to outsource your marketing, but for most businesses it comes down to cost and effectiveness. Using an outsourced team can cost less and deliver better return on investment (ROI), as outsourcing generally gives you access to a wider pool of expertise.
What marketing activity can be outsourced?
Depending on the capabilities of the company you outsource to, you can choose to outsource all or just some of your marketing activity. For example, you can outsource all of the following marketing activities to us…
- Marketing Strategy
- Content Marketing
- Social Media marketing
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Email marketing
- Adwords & Pay Per Click
- Online and offline advertising
- Website Design and Development
- Branding & Graphic Design
- Public Relations (PR)
If you would like to learn more about Outsourced Marketing, and why it could be beneficial for your business, check out our blog Why Your Business Should Consider Outsourced Marketing
2. LinkedIn Business To Business Marketing (B2B)
LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development. The site allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.
At VIMAR, we believe LinkedIn will become increasingly used by employers when looking for candidates to fill job vacancies. Furthermore, LinkedIn will be used much more for business-to-business marketing.
What is B2B Marketing?
As the name suggests, business-to-business marketing refers to the marketing of products or services to other businesses and organizations. It holds several key distinctions from B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing, which is oriented toward consumers. In a broad sense, B2B marketing content tends to be more informational and straightforward than B2C. This is because business purchase decisions, in comparison to those of consumers, are based more on bottom-line revenue impact. Return on investment (ROI) is rarely a consideration for the everyday person, at least in a monetary sense. Money is the primary focus for corporate decision makers.
4 Reasons to Use LinkedIn for B2B Marketing: Key Takeaways
- With more than 660 million members, LinkedIn has quickly grown into the number one website for working professionals.
- On LinkedIn, B2B marketers like you can find their next business partner, introduce their company to potential customers, and attract star talent to join their companies as employees.
- Increase your searchability among potential clients and working professionals.
- Engage with your community.
3. Evolution of eCommerce / Small Business
The eCommerce industry is growing bigger and evolving. Every year, several new trends come up that change the way we make purchases online. eCommerce is becoming more viable for small businesses. In fact, we consider it almost essential for small businesses to truly compete in today’s market. At VIMAR, we believe 2022 is going to be the year small businesses go digital. As the pandemic and covid restrictions continue, we are likely to see the penetration of eCommerce continue. Many small businesses have still yet to implement eCommerce into their business plan. At VIMAR, we are constantly learning and applying our digital marketing to bring small businesses online. If you’re unsure whether your small business would benefit from having eCommerce capabilities, then consider these facts below.
- The Irish online shopping market is worth €7 billion, a figure that is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 8.6 percent out to 2021.
- Growth is being driven by a variety of positive factors. One is increased consumer spending among the 25 to 34-year-old age groups: 38 percent shop online at least once a week, which is higher than other age demographics.
- Irish citizens also spend a significantly higher amount of money online each year than most other European countries – €2,767, or 26.6 percent more than the €2,186 European average.
- Strong brand loyalty, with 83 percent of Irish consumers always or regularly doing their online shopping on the same website.
- This loyalty extends to Irish sites, with approximately 60 percent of consumers considering purchasing Irish products as ‘important’ or ‘very important’.
Adding Social Media channels as a sales channel
Social media platforms have global audiences in the billions. TikTok, the most downloaded app in Apple’s App Store, triggers users to spend £37 million every year. Most platforms are evolving to facilitate social commerce so their users can buy products from third-party retailers without leaving the app.
In 2020, Instagram launched the Shopping tab as a way for its users to explore new products. Facebook pushes retailers to use its built-in storefront and has simplified the process for uploading products. Pinterest uses buyable pins to promote items for sale.
Social media has ultimately become central to our lives and our reliance on mobile devices fuel the addiction. Over 90% of social media users access their favourite platforms using a mobile device and 54% use social media to research products.
Live shopping is one mobile commerce trend we’re expecting to see an increase in 2022 as platforms like Instagram and Facebook have their own live streaming features. To cater to both the shopper and the retailer, each platform allows brands to link directly to the products they’re talking about.
4. Short-Form Videos
Short format videos are how many, especially younger consumers seek entertainment. It’s one of the fastest growing and best ways for a business to market their company and talk about their product. It provides a quick and easy way to consume info with the regular person spending at least 3 or more hours on these fast media platforms.
A study was done by Wyzowl that showed over 84% of people were convinced to buy a product or a service based on the brands video and with people sharing videos at twice the rate of any other content it is a big deal for many business owners.
Companies ranging from:
- Instagram reels
- Snapchat spotlight
- Youtube shorts
- Tik Tok
Tik Tok has been one of the fastest growing media apps out there with over 91 million accounts created over the pandemic alone. All a business really needs to get in on this high traffic is an account, some kind of recording device and then getting in on one of those big trends.
Renderforest survey found that videos helps business increase:
- Brand awareness by 70%
- Traffic by 51%
- Sales by 31%
Video marketing has become the content strategy leader in the marketing world and is the content your audience expects in the future. The earlier you get started with videos, the better your success in the long run.
So why should you use short format videos?
- Stay visible longer on peoples media pages
- Get more exposure
- Increase the understanding of your product
- Provide a more personal way to engage with your audience
User generated content (UGC)
Consumers usually love UGC. In fact it influences their purchasing decisions more than brand or influencer content without using too many resources. Brands can publish videos to create emotions. It’s also budget friendly.
Trust is the most crucial metric for influencing consumer spending. Users generated content is delivered and produced by the people that consumers trust, so for brands, this is a great way to get around this generation’s skepticism of traditional forms of advertisement. If someone they trust approves a product, service, or brand, this can work in the same way that word of mouth does. Another term for this is Social Proof, which we will talk about more in-depth later on.
Many people nowadays are skeptical of paid actors. Consumers really do value real customer reviews. They want something more personal and closer to the real experience of an actual customer as evidence of why they should buy something.
Behind the scene videos
A Lot of consumers seek authenticity and transparent brands. Consumers tend to feel more connected to brands that show people behind the brand.
In a Sprout social study, they found that over 70% of consumers said they felt more connected to brands in which the CEO was active on social media platforms.
Businesses should try to use this more to connect with their audiences and explain their product much better.
Behind-the-brand short-form videos are an excellent way of giving consumers an inside peek into a brand’s plans. This can be service updates or new ideas and products. Promotional buzz can be generated cheaply and quickly through social media.
Everyone has struggles. Anyone can relate to times when things just got too much, and it seemed as if the dream was over. Brands or CEOs that show vulnerability stand a greater chance of being seen as credible and trustworthy by consumers and, as a result, forge greater bonds.
Educational Videos
In 2022, brands will likely focus on educational content in their short-form videos. Think how-to’s, DIYs, and explainer videos. A 2020 Wyzowl report found that viewers want to see more of these video’s from brands.
Educational videos are a great way to add content with value because they help audiences in their day-to-day lives. Brands that make education a priority in their marketing strategy can improve lead generation and build stronger brand loyalty. Similarly, explainer videos target users who are at the decision-making stage of the buyer’s journey and, if done right, they can turn decision-makers into customers.
People love to hear from experts. They trust them. A great idea for brands is to demonstrate their knowledge in their specific niche by making content that teaches consumers about how their products and shows could be useful to them.
Instead of relying on consumers to generate how-to videos that mention a product or service, brands can take control of the conversation by developing the content. Explaining the reason being certain features or decisions can help consumers understand the brand.
5. Hybrid Events Are The New Normal
Although you may be reluctant to believe it, the truth is COVID-19 has transformed everyone’s life forever. With these lasting changes, companies have suffered a major setback. But with every challenge comes opportunity. Businesses that want to recover must adapt to new digital technologies to survive. This is apparent to all those within the event industry.
Seating capacity is no longer the same in many countries worldwide and perhaps, it might not go back to pre-covid numbers for years to come. Businesses that are creative and adaptive can still host great events. Hybrid Event is a recent trend that was created in response to COVID-19. In 2020, 70% of meetings were switched from physical ones to virtual or hybrid ones. Over the past 2 years, we have seen many hybrid events. Some of these events were a success, while others were a complete failure. However, production teams are getting better at them. At VIMAR, we believe this trend will continue for many years to come.
What are Hybrid Events?
Hybrid events are a combination of live and in person elements mixed with digital online components. In other words it’s an online meeting with an audience that brings together both the online and physical world of things to interact for both communities.
Your audience won’t watch your event from their television, they’ll take part via their mobile devices or their computer, meaning they can offer feedback in real time.
Hybrid events separate you from videos and live streams. It no longer hides your audience behind their devices but encourages them to interact in real time with the ongoing event.
3 Important Ingredients for Hybrid Events
Dynamic
It must be very dynamic with multiple camera angles for better viewing and interaction. This will keep your viewer glued to it at all times, having them as close as possible to the event ensures they will stay and feel a part of it all.
Interactive
You must try to make it as interactive as possible. You need to keep in mind your online audience is as present as your physical one now. Try to keep in mind they are sitting next to their keyboards and devices so having a QnA pop up or little quiz with live answers will be a great way to make them feel involved.
Limited Time
To keep your audience focused it must be a limited timed event. This helps keep them a part of it all, being a part of the event should feel like a special experience and what better way then having it timed it makes the audience feel they shouldn’t miss out on anything.
6. Content Marketing
Traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective. Forward thinking marketers know that content marketing is becoming more and more effective. Instead of pitching your product or service, try providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers. Try to solve the issues they are having.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience, and ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
What are the benefits of Content Marketing?
Specifically, there are four key reasons and benefits for businesses to use content marketing;
- Increased sales
- Cost savings
- Better customers who have more loyalty
- Content as a profit centre
Content is the present and future of Marketing
Go back and read the content marketing definition one more time, but this time remove the relevant and valuable. That’s the difference between content marketing and the other informational garbage you get from companies trying to sell you “stuff.”
Businesses send us information all the time. It’s just that most of the time it’s not very relevant or valuable. In fact you would probably consider it spam. That’s what makes content marketing so intriguing in today’s environment of thousands of marketing messages per person per day.
Is Content Marketing worth it?
Done correctly, you can use interactive content to find out what your customers want, how you can speak to them directly,and how to use your marketing strategy to grow your brand, audience and company to new heights.
As any good marketer would ask: Is interactive content worth the hype?
The short answer is yes. Here are three good reasons why you should use interactive content in your marketing strategy
Generate Higher Engagement Rates
Competition is fierce, across all industries, and in all niches. Standing out isn’t easy, which makes it all the more important to optimize your content so that it offers a more engaging, immersive experience.
Quite often, brands offer interactive content as a lead magnet to collect email addresses. The people who subscribe to this tend to have a genuine interest in the brand. Therefore, they are more engaged and more likely to convert.
Even the most basic types of interactive content can elicit a reaction, which immediately makes it more engaging than a written article
Capture more data
This is the data-driven age, in which the data we collect about online users is arguably the most valuable information for marketers. The more data you get — and the more accurate and relevant it is — the better you can optimize your marketing campaigns.
The problem for many companies is finding effective ways of getting data in a way that people trust and respect.
When you create immersive content that grabs a person’s attention and offers a personalized experience, you’ll find it easier to persuade people to provide their info. Users will enjoy the experience, and you will get valuable data for lead nurturing.
Brand Loyalty
Creating interactive content leads to more engagement, more leads, and more loyalty from your customers. Customers are more willing to share their information with companies that go the extra mile to produce content that is genuinely helpful and engaging
Best Interactive Content to Use
So you are now convinced on how important interactive content is and now you are looking for ways to use if for your business, well here are some of the best types to use:
Quizzes
A Quiz is a form of interactive content that has already won many fans! They have become popular on the web with Buzzfeed tests and have become interactive tools for several brands.
They can be used to educate and entertain the audience, usually with a light and fun language, as well as capture insights into their maturity in the subject matter.
When they are creative and relevant to the audience, they also have a good chance of going viral!
Calculator
Calculators are interactive content that helps show how your product can be positive to the customer’s budget.
You can show how the client can save, make money, or plan financially, depending on the type of solution you offer.
This type of content can be combined with material that explains the value of your product to the market, so that the calculator corroborates what you’re saying.
If a consumer is weighing their options, an interactive calculator might offer the insight into ROI or savings that they need to make the decision to purchase.
What’s great about interactive calculators is that they demand little effort from the user. Yet, in return, they offer pure data and zero fluff, giving users precise results on which to base their decision
Videos
Videos are already a kind of engaging content because they have a more dynamic look and narrative than textual or static content. But they can be even more attractive if they invite people to interact with the content.
According to Wyzowl, 85% of marketers use video as a marketing tool, surging from 61% just four years ago
Videos are a must for your website to have, with the right content you can have high traffic build in no time. Video is, by design, an immersive experience, making it one of the easiest types of interactive content to use in marketing. Video gives marketers creative freedom with their brand messaging, and lets them engage consumers in ways that text or still imagery can’t accomplish
Ask Me Anything (AMA)
Ask me anything (AMA) is an interview format that directly targets your customers. It is prime interactive content, wherein you can let your consumers get to know you and your brand on a personal level. AMAs introduce a human element to what might otherwise be a faceless company.
This is great to build trust with your customers and start a great community that feel they can trust you by getting to know you and your brand.
Other types of content marketing (visual)
Simply speaking, visual search focuses on using images to promote online searches of products by consumers. Algorithms will take an image online and generate buying options of either that specific product or similar-looking products
Platforms like Google, Pinterest and Amazon have embraced this new technology, and it’s paying off for them. According to research, it is estimated that the visual recognition market is projected to become a nearly 40 billion dollar industry by 2025.
So why is it important?
We are very visual creatures and having a way to simply use this as a way to increase your market is a must. For businesses that traditionally have had trouble reaching younger buyers, this makes younger consumers a part of the audience and leads the business to a higher chance of making a sale.
Companies like Pinterest have been able to provide this technology as a core part of their business. Retailer brands also want to get in on the action directly. Through working with these brands, we have found that retail customers are often looking for inspiration, meaning they visit the site of the brands they love with an image of a look that inspires them. They are not necessarily looking for an exact match — they use the image as a starting point.
Ecommerce and retail are changing fast, but the changes make sense. Humans are visual creatures, and visual search represents a natural evolution as AI gets closer to developing human-level thinking. While the internet in its earliest days was composed entirely of text, today’s web is truly a visual landscape, and text-based searches are often inadequate for navigating this landscape. That’s why 62 percent of Gen Z and millennial consumers in one study reported wanting visual search more than any other emerging technology.(source socialmediatoday)
Other ways to use content marketing
You want visual search engines to be able to easily scan your site for images. Make sure to create a large image library of well-organized original photos and include those on your sitemap. Also make sure you give your images names site crawlers not only scan websites but they crawl image file names as well so make sure to name them all.
Focus on advertising on Pinterest and make sure those ads have visual search capabilities included. Make sure you understand your audience on the platform and target those ads around their needs and wants. The visual search abilities on Pinterest are well-developed and easy to manage, making the platform optimal for your business’s visual search advertising success.
Regularly posting images on social media can be great for visibility—just make sure to optimize images based on the platform you’re using.
There are many big companies getting in on this and there are many ways to use visual search like:
- Amazon stylesnap
- Snapchat camera search
- Google Lens
- Bing visual search
Potential customers will look to make any kind of personal connection with a website. Trust is critical in helping customers move towards a potential purchasing decision. Amy Vener, retail vertical strategy lead at Pinterest, said: “Visual discovery allows the consumer to generate a more emotional connection, which translates into less price sensitivity.”
Although the above recommendations are based purely around images, it is important to remember that like anything in SEO, there are many associated elements that should be considered to appear in visual search results, including:
- Your site’s accessibility
- Its overall site speed
- The freshness of its content
- The originality of images provided
- Overall site performance
There is much more info to build your company in a new and innovative way so stay tuned with Vimar. We are an Irish digital marketing company that has years of experience and we are trying to bring all the knowledge and marketing news.
7.Rebirth of YouTube
Google is the king when it comes to search engines. It’s the largest and most popular search engine in the world. In 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion dollars. Today, YouTube is the king when it comes to video. It has over one billion monthly viewers. Although YouTube is the biggest video hosting website in the world, it doesn’t stop competitors from trying to take a share of the market.
YouTube is constantly battling to stay on top of the video hosting market. At VIMAR, we believe YouTube is going to grow and be a great place for Digital Marketing in 2022.
YouTube Short Creator Fund
YouTube is giving its TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts, an injection of cash to help it better compete with rivals. The company today introduced the YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100 million fund that will pay YouTube Shorts creators for their most viewed and most engaging content over the course of 2021 and 2022. Creators can’t apply for the fund to help with content production, however. Instead, YouTube will reach out to creators each month whose videos exceeded certain milestones to reward them for their contributions.
The company expects to dole out money to “thousands” of creators every month, it says. And these creators don’t need to be in the YouTube Partner Program to qualify — anyone is eligible to receive rewards by creating original content for YouTube Shorts.
Alongside the debut of YouTube’s Shorts Fund, the company also noted it’s expanding its Shorts player feature across more places on YouTube to help viewers discover this short-form video content, will begin testing ads for Shorts and will be rolling out the new “remix audio” feature to all Shorts creators.
This somewhat controversial feature allows Shorts creators to sample sounds from other YouTube videos for use in their Shorts, instead of only using song clips or original audio. Some YouTube creators were surprised to find the feature was opt-out by default — meaning their content could be used on YouTube Shorts unless they took the time to turn this setting off or removed their video from YouTube.
Since its launch, YouTube has also rolled out other features to Shorts, including support for captions, the ability to record up to 60 seconds with the Shorts camera, the ability to add clips from your phone’s gallery to your recordings made with the Shorts camera and the ability use basic filters to color correct videos. YouTube says more effects will arrive in the future.
YouTube ‘New to You’ Feed
YouTube is rolling out a designated “New to you” tab on its platform after testing the feature earlier this year. The new tab is now available on the YouTube homepage across mobile, desktop and TV devices. YouTube says the feature will help users discover new creators and content beyond the recommended videos they usually see.
The new tab surfaces content that aligns with your viewing preferences from channels that you haven’t previously encountered. It’s meant to go a step further than YouTube’s Explore listings, which help users find content in specific topics, such as gaming or beauty, but doesn’t take users’ specific interests into account.
YouTube notes that “New to you” is personalized to the viewer, as it’s trying to strike a balance between content it thinks users might be interested in, along with content that is a bit different than what they’d typically watch.
“You’ve told us that you want to see new creators and new videos after you’ve caught up on your recommendations, so we hope this new option keeps things fresh, while also helping creators connect with new audiences,” YouTube outlined in a blog post.
On mobile, you’ll see the tab when you refresh the YouTube homepage. The company says you may also see the tab as you scroll through your feed. It’s worth noting that since the feature is personalized, it may not always be available. Additionally, you’ll need to be signed in to YouTube to see the tab.
The new feature could help creators reach new audiences by targeting those who would be most interested in their content but would not have discovered it otherwise. It could also help viewers find new content and discover new interests.
It appears that this latest feature is YouTube’s take on TikTok’s popular “For You” page, which uses a recommendation system to display suggested videos personalized for each user. The feature has largely contributed to TikTok’s success, as it helps users find more content while also helping creators get discovered. It seems that YouTube’s “New to you” feed aims to do the same thing for its users.
8. Audio Revolution (Podcasts)
For anyone that is new to podcasting it’s simply a audio series in which you the business can reach their customers in easy, cheap and fast ways, at any place a person can tune in on one of your episodes and simple learn more about your product it gives you the business moe control on what you really want the buyer to know As a podcaster, you can position yourself as an authority in a particular topos or field, which will help you influence clients and customers in ways that encourage then to purchase your products.
If one of your strengths is able to have great one on ones you mite not be able to do over a hundred one on one consultations but with a podcast you can reach many every week, it also is a great way for your business to be more open and direct will your customers with it you can only address many things from problems to promotions,You are able to integrate information about your products and service while creating a familiarity and consistency that will help develop your brand.
Many say podcasting isn’t the largest driver of leads, however it is the best education platform (beating video)
No need to break your market budget as podcasts are more of a cheaper alternative, only needing small amount of things
- Microphone
- Editing software
- Device to record it on
The length of your podcast can always vary a lot, try not to make it too short or too long, most podcasts range from 20-40 minutes, but don’t be scared to change depending on the topic.
Podcasting allows you to inject all your enthusiasm and speaking skill into the information that is often lacking in written word.
Podcasting is a simple way for a customer to listen and learn more about your product and even you as a business all they need is some kind of device to listen in on.
You don’t always have to target everyone all at once, first start a small group and grow your audience. In doing so you can make a great community and some positive feedback that can freely increase business.
As a result of its versatility, this form of media has grown in popularity since its inception in 2005. In fact, today, there are some 750,000 active podcasts, with over 30 million episodes produced. Nearly 51% of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast, up 7% from just last year. Listeners enjoy an average of seven shows per week, with 80% listening to all or most of each podcast episode.
- Podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel (94% are active on at least one – vs 81% for the entire population)
- Podcast listeners are more likely to follow companies and brands on social media
- Podcast listeners are more likely to subscribe to Netflix or Amazon Prime (meaning they are less likely to be exposed to TV advertising)
- Podcast listeners are more likely to own a smart speaker (Amazon Alexa or Google Home)
Podcasts let you reach a different audience then from people reached in previous advertising and marketing campaigns for example, most people that use media listen to podcasts, it’s also a great way to get some word of mouth exposure cause podcast listeners have been that passionate.
Coming up with a regular social media post can be sometimes challenging while podcasts can give you an easy and simple way to share what’s coming up once its posted. Also, it can increase content and traffic for your website. It’s also a very enjoyable way to market your business.
No one likes ads. They consume your precious time and space, they’re distracting, and they often make you want to turn the TV off or skip ahead. And yet, for some reason, we keep watching commercials on TV and tolerating them in magazines with little complaint. However, podcasts used to be ad-free. But there is a difference: listeners can choose which ads to listen to; that’s because podcast hosts can insert custom sponsors into their episodes at any point during the show by playing an advertisement from their sponsor’s library of prerecorded spots.
Podcasts connect to a worldwide audience.
It’s true that your website and social channels give you a potential worldwide reach. But what if instead of hoping your customers will find you, you went out and found them?
Podcasting connects you to a worldwide audience and allows you to provide targeted, on-demand content to listeners who you know want and need the content you’re sharing,
Because podcasts are free for listeners, there’s an incredibly low barrier for consumption, and having iTunes and spotify as platforms to help you gain exposure already gives you increased visibility without you having to do anything but publish valuable content.
Extra revenue for you company
When you start podcasting, you’ll realise you love doing it and it’s a lot of fun. Although, it’s also a nice way to make some extra money for your business if you’re successful and publish engaging episodes regularly. The podcasting industry is so big that the Interactive Advertising Bureau predicts the industry’s revenue will reach over £500 million.
Obviously, it’s not a guarantee right away but it’s definitely a possibility down the line the more consistent you are, the more you’ll grow. The more well-known your podcast becomes, the more likely you are to receive opportunities to monetise your episodes through sponsored content, affiliate marketing and more.
9.Community Development
The emergence of social media platforms, online forums, and company or product blogs has led to a number of consequences for brands, including an opportunity (and compulsion) to embrace new ways to connect with their target audience and a desire to build thriving online communities.
The ‘secret sauce’ that gels a community around a brand can be hard to find, but there are certainly a number of principles which can help take the right approach.
What is Community Marketing?
Community marketing focuses on the perceived needs of existing customers. This accomplishes four things for a business:
- Connects existing customers with prospects
- Connects prospects with each other
- Connects a company with customers/prospects to solidify loyalty
- Connects customers with customers to improve product adoption, satisfaction, etc.
The Benefits of Community Marketing
Communication with customers. This results in increased feedback, identification of customer needs, and customer-focused product development.
Some of the world’s strongest brands were originally built through low-cost community-based marketing. Nike Inc., Starbucks and Google are some examples. When companies focus on meeting customer needs, they don’t have to spend big money to attract new customers. And when they stay close to their communities they don’t need market research to tell them what people want. Kiehl’s, a renowned global body-care brand now owned by L’Oreal, for example has people from around the world make pilgrimages to the original New York City store. Kiehl’s packaging is plain, its stores are basic and from its 1851 founding until today, the brand has never advertised. Success has been driven by products tailored to customers’ needs, word-of-mouth promotion, free in-store product trials and the personal connections forged by requiring active community involvement of every employee.
Community brands remain relevant because they’re constantly adapting to the changing needs, interests and values of the people who give them meaning. Starbucks originally provided the caffeine addicts a “theater of coffee” experience, with each nuance carefully engineered. As more newcomers joined the tribe, baristas were trained to educate them on coffee exotica, developing a dimension of accessible adventure for the brand. When technology caused a convergence of work and home life, Starbucks lost its individuality and it was not a much sought out place for coffee due to the emerging baristas. Starbucks responded by tapping the larger cultural trend of consumption-based self-expression to offer an endlessly configurable array of unique toppings, ingredients and preparation techniques inspired by customer requests and baristas’ creativity. While Starbucks has stumbled of late, it’s telling that upon his return to reinvent the company, CEO Howard Schultz quickly reached out to the community by establishing mystarbucksidea.com.
Growth and innovation are fueled by a passionate brand community. Vans, originally a maker of cheap deck shoes, followed the interests of its dedicated customers to expand into custom surf shoes, surf competitions, skateboarding shoes and gear, skateboard parks, touring music festivals and even a feature film. And within each of those businesses, new products, features and ways of marketing were generated through a continuous flow of ideas from the grassroots. Harley-Davidson understood that while its community shared a core passion for the brand, they also had a wide variety of unfulfilled needs and challenges. By methodically focusing on meeting these requirements, the company built substantial new businesses around motorcycle customization, riding gear, motorcycle-inspired fashion and home decoration. It also created the largest motorcycle club in the world, motorcycle rentals and rider training businesses, a museum, shipping and travel services, and even destination cafés.
At VIMAR, we predict Community Development and Marketing are going to be just as, if not more important than ever before. Small businesses should focus on creating a sense of community among its customers. This will give them an advantage over their competitors.
10.Social Proof – Reviews / Recommendations
First off, what is Social Proof and is it actually important?
Social proof is based on the idea of normative social influence, which states that people will conform in order to be liked by, similar to, or accepted by the influencer (or society).
When you’re browsing a landing page and see a testimonial from an industry expert you respect, that’s social proof. When you’re cruising a pricing page and you see that an industry giant is already using the tool, that’s social proof. When you sign up for a demo because you see the tool solved the exact problem you have for a similar company, that’s social proof.
Essentially, it’s borrowing third-party influence to sway potential customers.
A popular example of eCommerce social proofing is highlighting high customer demand for a product by showcasing the amount of views, ads-to-cart or purchases that were conducted within a specific time frame. Notifying customers that, “157 people have bought this product within the last 24 hours,” for example, creates a correlation between urgency and buying in the mind of the customer, and induces a fear of missing out for not going through with the purchase.
In other words, the understanding that other people have already bought the item plays an important role in validating the customer’s own thinking to buy it as well. Uncertain customers naturally find comfort in a greater collective, and by creating the impression that everyone is buying a product, there’s a strong likelihood that these customers will, too.
In today’s increasingly consumer-centric environment, even if a brand’s value proposition is perfect it may not be enough to secure a purchase. For eCommerce brands, leveraging social proof in an offering can solidify customer confidence in purchasing decisions and help eliminate the concerns that stand between them and converting on an offer.
11.Virtual / Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging trend within marketing and sales strategies, one that allows brands to give their customers unique experiences with the convenience of tapping into their mobile devices involving brands promoting themselves and their products using virtual and augmented reality technology. The technology creates a fake but realistic environment. Sometimes VR marketing is visual, and sometimes it’s multi-sensory, depending on the device. A full virtual reality headset offers a completely immersive experience, while a VR Instagram filter simply overlays objects or pictures onto the camera view.
Using filters or Augmented Reality for marketing
Instagram users want to see more branded content. With 80% of users following a brand on the social networking app, there are over 1bn worldwide users on Instagram which makes it the biggest platform for branded Augmented Reality AR Filters. It’s a colossal amount of eyeballs looking for engaging content. And research shows that people who use AR Filters use them on average for 75 seconds – 4X longer than mobile video.
All big brands like Adidas, Lego ,H&M etc are making filters with their products in them. It’s a simple way to market your product, most of the time with someone else doing all the work for you, while there taking a selfie there also sharing your business will millions.
Social media is the go-to medium for people to discover new products from brands.
You don’t need to blow your marketing budget on one AR Filter (unless you’d like to). Augmented Reality Filters are an inexpensive alternative to other media platforms as no specific media needs to be purchased.
Companies like snapchat come with AR. It’s very simple for a brand to use this in so many ways.
Gucci have created their own app with AR they are using this Tech to try on different shoes, even now as we sit at home we can see that a pair of Gucci shoes may look nice Users can point the camera at their feet and see how different styles of the sneaker would look. The app tracks movement, so they can see the shoes from multiple angles.
Makeup in AR
It’s no shock that everyone seeks beauty and with the sudden growth of filters over the years L’Oreal Makeup Genius lets you try out a variety of hair colors and makeup styles.
Companies should strongly consider following suit and using VR to create customized shopping experiences based on customer preferences. An Accenture survey found that 91% of consumers prefer brands that provide personal recommendations.
AR Tours and Assistance
Augmented Reality offers the potential for businesses to add a digital component on top of their physical locations and products. Customers can scan a product or object to pull up an AR experience tailored either toward giving additional information about the product or some form of supplemental brand-related experience
Home furnishing brand IKEA’s AR app lets you see how furniture will look in your space before you buy. You can “try out” multiple pieces of furniture at once, including full room sets. Customers can see how pieces suit their rooms and how they look together.
The possibilities with VR and AR are endless. Getting your business in on something like these would be a huge game changer for your business, simply from making filters and utilizing the love people have for selfies can further your business so to stay updated with all the info on VR & AR news follow Vimar we are a Irish digital marketing company that has years of experience and we are trying to bring all the knowledge and marketing news
Metaverse
In this year alone 2021 that is the big talk is the Metaverse so what is the Metaverse you mite be asking right?
It’s such a hot topic huge companies are getting in on it like Epic, Roblox, facebook and fastly
The term metaverse is used to describe a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet.
One of the major advantages of this concept is that it will allow people to create their own realities and to be whoever they want to be. This will allow them to escape from this world and its limitations. It will also give them a sense of belonging in a community that they don’t have in their real life.
So why virtual reality
In today’s digital age, social media has become a major platform for people to communicate and engage in the world. With the development of VR technology, it is not hard to imagine a future where we will be able to spend time with friends and family from all over the world without having to get on a plane. This new virtual world may have some similarities with our current social media landscape, but it will also introduce new opportunities for brands and influencers that are looking to engage with their audience.
The development of VR technology has paved the way for a new kind of social media world. Although this virtual reality landscape will have some similar features as today’s social media environment, there are many opportunities for brands and influencers looking to reach their audiences in innovative ways.
12.Reactive Marketing
What is Reactive Marketing
Real-time marketing is all about being in the moment. It can be difficult to keep up with, but it’s important to understand what’s going on. It is important that companies are able to respond to real-time events in an accurate and appropriate manner. This means being able to react fast enough, but also not overreacting.
Real time marketing isn’t just about reacting quickly, it’s about making sure you have the right information so you know what response will be best for your business.
One strategy is to look at your analytics or social listening tools to find out what topics are popular among your customers. For instance, you can also see what questions are being asked through these channels which can help you focus on the content your customers care about the most.
Alot of businesses use trending hashtags on Twitter as a way to get in on some easy reactive marketing. Trending hashtags can show you what is popular and will let you comment and participate in the general discussions online. Adapting trending topics while including your businesses products or services can allow you to reach new audiences. Why not start your own trend? Just create a hashtag and use it on posts and people will be able to see your posts and comment with the same hashtag.
A recent report from Monetate and eConsultancy found that UK marketers have seen their conversion rates increase by 26% since adopting real-time marketing.
Examples of Reactive marketing
1.Radio Report 3
We all remember the semi-final match between Brazil and Germany during the 2014 World Cup, where Germany won with a 7-1 win over Brazil. Radio Report 3, a German radio channel, broadcasted the victory which was one of the best moments in football.
They aired a video of a german beer crushing a brazilian cocktail.
In 2014 at the Oscars, NASA taught us some movie lessons with a tweet. They were on point with some puns during the 2014 oscars. On the night the movie Gravity just won their award the big space giant got in and saw it as a marketing chance.
With a single tweet nasa stole the show after congratulating the movie with a picture of real gravity.
3.Specsavers
In the 2012 Olympics there was a mix up with some of the flags that caused a lot of heat and specsavers saw it as a great opportunity to get in and get some marketing, in 2012 as one of the north korean teams were about to show up The stadium in glasgow made a big error in displaying a south korea flag at this time it was very big not to mention the two countries were at war since 1950-53 but specsavers realised an Ad campaign for “you should of gone to specsavers”
Research Sheet
Forbes 5 Digital Marketing Trends
Social Media Trends 2022 Hootsuite
https://www.hootsuite.com/research/social-trends
The Top Digital Marketing Trends of 2022
https://www.theedigital.com/blog/digital-marketing-trends
LinkedIn Social Media Trends 2022
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