Top 10 marketing trend predictions for 2022!

Looking back at 2021, there were many impressive moments. Whether it was the control of the epidemic or the successful hosting of major events such as the Olympics, they made us full of hope for the future.

2022 is here, what will the future be like? What changes will occur in marketing trends?

Below, I will summarize ten predictions to help you grasp the marketing hotspots in 2022 in advance.

01 Metaverse: Brand Marketing is Coming

The metaverse refers to a concept that originated from the science fiction novel "Snow Crash". It now refers to the Internet applications and social life forms that integrate the virtual and the real, which are formed under the impetus of technologies such as XR, digital twins, blockchain and AI.

In 2021, the "Metaverse" began to become popular. After Facebook changed its name to "Meta", it set off a climax of awareness around the world. In just a few months, Metaverse concept stocks, Metaverse platforms, and Metaverse IPs emerged in endlessly.

With the development of technology, the metaverse is no longer just talk, but also provides a new direction for brand marketing. For example, the virtual image "Liu Yexi" on Douyin attracted 2 million fans in 3 days; Alibaba launched its first digital employee AYAYI to participate in brand marketing activities; Coca-Cola launched NFT digital artworks, which users can purchase on the Metaverse platform...

The era of metaverse marketing has arrived, and brands should be prepared. In 2022, in addition to establishing virtual idols and creating their own NFT works, brands must also pay attention to brand trademarks and patents, and layout the metaverse in all directions.

02 Marketing to Generation Z: Brand rejuvenation is urgent

Generation Z refers to those born between 1995 and 2009. With the rise of this generation of consumers, more and more brands have realized that to win the market, they must first win their favor.

Whether new or old, big or small, they are all using youthful marketing methods to attract their attention. For example, Lao Gan Ma has started to launch joint national brands; Liushen Floral Water has launched cocktails; Kangwang has sponsored the variety show "U Can U Bibi"...

Today, in addition to youthful marketing methods, short video content and social platforms have also become the main way for brands to "find" young people. Tik Tok has become an important entry point for brands to penetrate young groups, and Bilibili and Xiaohongshu have become the main battlefields for brands to compete for traffic.

This will continue to be a major trend in 2022. For a brand, if it wants to survive for a long time. As the saying goes, whoever wins the young people wins the world.

03 Private Domain Traffic: Becoming a Necessary Choice for Brands

Private domain traffic has evolved from a marketing concept to a necessary choice for brands today. There are two fundamental reasons:

First, the marketing costs in the public domain are gradually rising, and the cost of attracting new customers is also increasing;

Second, private domain operations can effectively improve user retention and repurchase, helping companies generate revenue.

The "2021 Emerging Brand Private Domain Marketing Trend Report" released by Inspur New Consumption at the end of the year pointed out that today the private domain penetration rate of new consumer brands has exceeded 80%. This means that if brands want to develop today, they have to pay attention to the private domain.

With the development of big data and various technologies, channel diversification and channel autonomy, online and offline integration, and public and private domain integration will usher in new development in the future. Building private domain traffic for brands will remain a core topic next year and will become the norm for brands in the future.

04 Digital Marketing: Helping Brands Improve Efficiency

Digital marketing refers to a marketing method that uses the Internet, computer communication technology and digital interactive media to achieve marketing goals. It is also the development focus of many companies today.

Digital marketing channels include digital media, advertising or marketing activities. It provides technical possibilities for evaluating the marketing effectiveness of a brand. Everything from an event to a product and industry promotion, or even a department’s marketing performance, can be tracked, evaluated, predicted and assessed.

Therefore, digital marketing can help brands effectively improve promotion effectiveness and steadily increase brand awareness and user stickiness. I believe that in 2022, digital marketing technology will become more and more mature and will become the direction for many brands to seize the initiative.

05 Brand-owned live broadcast: the mainstream choice for brand live broadcast in the future

In the earliest live streaming sales model, brands usually only play the role of suppliers, selling products through anchors. However, the subsequent emergence of problems such as high slot fees, fake traffic, and self-broadcast failures prompted brands to personally participate in the live broadcast.

According to relevant reports, Douyin's self-broadcasting sales in June 2021 were more than 7 times that of the same period last year. Self-broadcasting by merchants has become a new opportunity and a new trend in the live streaming e-commerce industry.

For brands, they should realize that leaving their fate to the top anchors is not a wise option, because the high channel fees of the top anchors make it difficult for brands to make a profit. A more advantageous approach should be to build one's own brand moat. In this regard, brand self-broadcasting has become a widely accepted consensus for live streaming.

In 2022, the trend of brand self-broadcasting matrix accounts should become more obvious. Creating depth in the live broadcast room and the linkage between online and offline may also become a new focus of brand self-broadcasting.

06 Charity Marketing: Doing charity is the best marketing

Nowadays, more and more consumers are willing to pay for brands with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, and corporate charity is no longer a burden.

For example, during the Henan flood, due to the low-key donation of 50 million supplies by ERKE, a large number of consumers flocked to ERKE's online and physical stores, triggering "wild consumption" and the company's sales increased dozens of times.

When consumers use higher premiums and more money to vote for the values ​​​​represented by a brand, what they expect is not just that the company provides better products and more thoughtful services, but they want the brand to express their emotions and opinions to society on their behalf.

In 2022, more and more companies will surely incorporate charitable activities into their marketing plans. This kind of activity can not only win the respect of consumers and maintain a good corporate image, but also help business growth to a certain extent, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

07 Paid membership: User needs upgrade, membership flourishes everywhere

Against the backdrop of consumption upgrading, domestic consumers' concepts and demands are changing, making paid membership a trend.

For example, the three major video websites iQiyi, Tencent, and Youku, paid members of Baidu Netdisk, paid members of NetEase Cloud Music and QQ Music, JD Plus, Tmall 88VIP, etc.

Users who become paid members can enjoy additional exclusive rights and discounts. Enterprises can also directly obtain membership benefits, and can better improve user retention rates and increase per-customer output value.

As the Internet penetrates into people's lives, consumers' membership consumption habits will gradually form, and an era of "super membership" will come. I believe that in 2022, more and more companies will launch their own paid memberships, and brands must seize the opportunity to take the lead.

08 Sports Marketing: Sports competitions gather together and brands are ready to go

2021 is a big year for sports. From the European Cup and the Olympics to the Chinese national football team's top 12 matches, the sports industry has regained its vitality. In the coming 2022, major events such as the Beijing Winter Olympics, Hangzhou Asian Games, and Qatar World Cup will continue this sports enthusiasm.

For brands, this is a great marketing opportunity. For example, during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, different domestic broadcasting platforms launched a total of 35 related programs, attracting a large number of brand sponsorships and helping the platforms win the "marketing battle." There are also cases like Yageo giving houses to Olympic champions and Hongqi Automobile giving cars to champions, both of which have earned enough reputation for the brands.

With so many large-scale events gathering in 2022, sports marketing remains the preferred choice for all brands. You can increase brand awareness through sponsorship, or you can plan a marketing campaign like Vatti’s “full refund upon winning” to achieve both fame and fortune.

09 AI Marketing: AI is widely used in the marketing field

AI stands for artificial intelligence, and AI marketing is a method of using customer data and AI concepts (such as machine learning) to predict the customer's next action and improve the customer journey.

As the technology continues to improve, AI marketing is now used by various industries, including retail, banking, healthcare, etc. In the marketing field, marketing robots have been widely used in customer service calls, new product promotions and other fields. In addition, industries such as website editing, copyright maintenance, and brand favorability analysis are also areas where artificial intelligence excels.

Giant companies such as Google, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Amazon have all invested heavily in AI. In the future, AI will play an increasingly important role in brand marketing and business operations. Brands should incorporate AI marketing applications into next year’s marketing strategy to help their brand development.

10 5G Marketing: Brand Marketing Forms Will Be Reformed

With the gradual implementation of the 5G era, the impact of 5G on brand marketing is becoming more and more profound. The development of mobile communication technology is closely related to the changes in marketing. 5G technology will promote the accelerated transformation of information dissemination and effectively improve its data transmission and picture display capabilities.

5G not only supports voice and visual interaction, but also adds more immersive scene interactions. With the maturity and commercialization of 5G technology, new sensory-level interactive methods have appeared in the public eye, and the way brands interact with users is also showing a diversified trend.

For example: users watch videos faster, videos and live broadcasts will be everywhere, and this type of content will be the main focus of brands in the future; the completion of the Internet of Things will allow users to interact with devices faster and in more diverse forms. Brand marketers should start considering various new forms of advertising, such as AR augmented reality, online and offline full-scene interactions, etc.

Faced with a new marketing ecosystem that is intelligent, diversified and integrated, brands can only achieve sustained growth and occupy a high position in the new landscape by keeping pace with the times and rapidly iterating their marketing thinking and capabilities.