What will be the trends in marketing and technology in 2022 ?
This question is answered by Gartner , one of the best-known strategic consulting firms in the world.
As every year, Gartner has released its forecasts , highlighting 6.
Here they are:
- Digital touchpoints and tracking
- Smart working and new advertising opportunities
- Employee advocacy
- The B2B market
- The Virtual Influencers
- Generation Z and Millennials: New Social Buyers
Before starting the analysis, a premise: the future of marketing will have to respond to the particular and delicate social moment we are experiencing.
It will be more important than ever to build new connections with partners , customers, suppliers and employees in order to maintain the necessary resilience in an as yet unpredictable market .
The health emergency that has continued to rage since 2020 has profoundly changed world scenarios, significantly accelerating digital transformation . Going back is no longer possible .
Digital touchpoints and tracking
In 2022, the touchpoints will totally translate from the physical to the digital world , with the ever-increasing need to create new virtual connections with the various players in the supply chain.
In particular, attention will be paid to the following aspects:
- privacy
- flexibility in the workplace (smart working)
- employee advocacy
- Virtual Influencer
- trade on social media
- artificial intelligence and machine learning to implement and improve sales actions
Mobile opt-out rates are expected to rise from 85% to 60% by 2023 . This is because digital users are increasingly aware that running into Ads not targeted on their person means they are exposed to poor quality content.
This is a very important detail, especially with a view to generating the new touch points just mentioned.
With regards to online tracking systems , which are closely linked to marketing activities, Gartner emphasizes that the much feared “collapse” is absolutely not coming. At least a quarter of users still continue to authorize tracking, and just as many would do so in certain situations.
However, the privacy aspect will affect the digital experiences that brands are able to offer and must therefore be used profitably. In this sense, it is estimated that apps and websites that offer real and compelling reasons for opt-in users will experience significant increases in revenue.
So, how to behave?
The answer is to fulfill users ‘ expectations . The ways to do this are different, for example:
- offering them advantageous reasons to disclose their personal data
- simplifying the privacy setting processes
- avoiding data degradation through optimization of contextual targeting and analytics
Smart working and new advertising opportunities
By 2023, the volume of Ads Impressions on media such as TV and streaming channels during business hours (approximately 9 to 17) will increase by 60%.
This is due to the change in habits and working hours induced by the pandemic. Starting this year, hybrid or smart-working professionals will watch 20% more video content (during the day) than they did in the past.
Marketers will be able to benefit from the new routine by placing highly targeted Ads in scheduling bands that, until 2019, would absolutely not perform.
Last factor: it will be decisive to focus on the audio aspect of the ads: it will be necessary to consider the tendency, on the part of dynamic workers, to listen even before looking.
Employee advocacy
Marketing trends for 2022 also include the value that employee advocacy can deliver to their brand.
LinkedIn estimates that when an operator shares branded content, this will be able to achieve a click-through rate that is 200% higher than simply sharing it by the company.
The reason is related to the fact that the employee is a person , and that his credibility and positive perception of a message, product or brand are considered important by customers and leads.
Companies can leverage this value to increase consumer confidence in the brand.
2022 will therefore be the year in which the so-called employee advocacy will reach a new dimension in the management submit guest post and distribution of brand content on social media.
The B2B market
By 2025, 1 in 5 B2B companies will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize the management of digital customer journeys. Specifically, the technology will aim to slow and improve purchasing journeys and to create connections between a company’s customers and sales managers.
This is the continuation of a trend that has come to life since the beginning of the pandemic, and which places ecommerce at the top of the purchasing channels favored by users.
By 2023 it is assumed that digital commerce will overtake human commerce.
But beware: buyers will continue to be more satisfied if they can interact with real people , even through online devices.
Consequently, Marketing and Sales will have to join forces to create integrated strategies that, in addition to offering a high-value UI , also include human interactions capable of making the purchasing process fluid, personalized and effective.
In particular for B2B companies , the goal will be to balance digital customer engagement with the human relationship in the crucial moments of the purchasing phases.
The Virtual Influencers
By 2026, ic hief marketing officers will dedicate 30% of the budget made available to influencers and celebrities to so-called Virtual Influencers .
These are fictional (animated) characters created by marketing and PR agencies who will represent the brand (international brands such as Renault * , KFC and LG are already using them), regardless of its sector. * In the image above Liv, the official Renault Virtual Influencer.
Already extremely popular in Asia , these figures are expanding rapidly in the United States and are set to make their way to Europe soon .
The near future will therefore include animated characters to whom brands will entrust their messages, moreover at a lower cost than what they would have to invest in influencers or celebrities in the flesh.
All this, without the risk of scandals or slips which could make them unpopular. Obviously, maximum care must always and in any case be dedicated to the quality, authenticity and correctness of the message that the Virtual Influencers will be responsible for transferring.
Generation Z and Millennials: New Social Buyers
By 2026, the so-called Generation Z – as well as Millennials – will prefer to shop on social media over the well-known e-commerce channels now at the top of the preferences.
The estimated increase is 60%, and is the result of the encouragement to buy by increasingly powerful and pervasive players such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok .
Consequently, marketers and companies will find themselves where to rethink the entire customer experience and design process to foster satisfying shopping experiences on these channels, through simple but enriching paths for the user.
In 2022 , therefore, the quality of product pages on social media will need to be increased, offering messages that are truly capable of responding to the needs of these new buyers. All while always showing the utmost transparency in terms of privacy protection .
