Recently, we looked back at some of the best campaigns of the year, but the marketing industry is ever-changing, so what will 2022 have in store? Over the next year, the industry will continue to evolve, and many new marketing trends will come into focus. If you want to get ahead of the curve, it’s time to start planning how you’ll incorporate  what’s to come to ensure maximum impact. To help you start prepping, we’ve gathered five of the top trends to consider for your marketing strategies in 2022 and beyond. Podcasts In 2021, we saw social media platform, Clubhouse, gain a lot of traction. However, Clubhouse does things a little differently, in that it only presents content in audio form — no visuals whatsoever. As something you can engage with almost anywhere, audio content and podcasts have seen a dramatic increase in popularity throughout the year. It’s easy to listen to a podcast while walking or washing up, but the same can’t be said for videos. Predictions also suggest that podcast listeners will continue to rise over the years, going from 82 million in 2021 (in the US), to 100 million in 2024. In order to keep up with consumer habits during 2022, marketing efforts will need to put more focus on podcasts. This could be as simple as placing advertisements within podcasts, or by creating your own branded audio content. AR and VR It doesn’t feel that long ago that augmented and virtual reality seemed like a thing of the distant future. However, it’s seen dramatic advances recently, and it’s certainly something to latch onto early. Statistics from Statista show that in 2021, the market size for AR is at 30.7 billion US dollars worldwide, and this figure is expected to be 296.9 billion USD by 2024 — that’s an increase of over 800% in just 3 years. There are many ways to incorporate VR and AR into your marketing strategy. It could be in a similar vein to IKEA’s Place app, which lets users test out how furniture would look in their own home, or something as simple as a 360 degrees video, giving consumers a much more immersive experience. Influencer Marketing What initially started out as a small trend has now developed into a worldwide marketing phenomenon. Infact, statistics show that the influencer market will over double in size from 2021 to 2027, reaching 373.5 billion USD. Having a social media influencer endorse a product gives it much more credibility and can greatly improve lead generation. These can be influencers with large or small followings. Infact, micro influencers can be  better for engagement, having a small but loyal community. Unlike traditional celebrity-endorsed advertisements, influencer marketing gives the impression that the influencer has a more genuine and vested interest in the product. This is due to them often promoting it unscripted and in the comfort of their own home. This makes it a lot more relatable to the consumer and easier to digest. Utilising both micro and

Congratulations! Your merchandise is flying off the shelves at home in the US and you’re in a solid position to bring your quality product to the international stage. You’ve shown your target market your product’s worth and you want to improve the lives of a wider consumer set by introducing the great work you’ve been doing in the USA to other parts of the world.   So where to? The UK seems an obvious choice; the time zone isn’t a million miles ahead, there’s the shared language, the various commonalities and its long-term status as a political ally. But why should your neighbours across the Atlantic sit up and pay attention to what you have to offer? Often with a well-established and successful brand, there can be a ‘build it and they will come’ mentality. However, this isn’t the case when breaking through into any new market. Establishing your brand in a new territory requires a great amount of strategic thinking, clever communication, and an excellent understanding of what makes your potential audience tick. Messaging is everything  Determining the correct message to hook your desired audience in is the key to any successful launch. Before expansion, you will have carefully considered why this particular demographic stands to benefit from your product and services. However, due to cultural, geographical and societal nuances, chances are, how and why your USA audience responds successfully to your offering won’t be for the same reasons as your UK market. And, although we share a language, this doesn’t mean your work here is done! There are a number of differences in the way we lead our lives and communicate here across the pond, noting legislative, environmental and historical elements, even spelling! Ignoring these factors by simply replicating materials that got your message across elsewhere is a sure fire way to immediately alienate your desired customer.  So with this in mind, what activity can you undertake to break into the UK? Stand by your brand  Authenticity in marketing has always been highly regarded across industries because people will always buy from companies they trust. While the way in which you convey your message may change, you should always be explicit about your why, no matter where in the world you are.  Don’t allow your reasons for doing what you do to become watered down in an effort to connect with your potential new customers. You’ll certainly have to adapt certain elements of your brand in order to successfully target a new audience, who, as previously discussed, will need to be addressed and interacted with in a different way. However, this shouldn’t mean you have to abandon what made you successful in the first place, or by neglecting your passions, values and what your company believes in; the driving force behind why you do what you do.  A great example of a company who succeeds at speaking to various localities without losing what is at the heart of its brand is Frito-Lay (Lay’s), the global crisp brand has a

In recent years, brands have seen a dramatic change in their approach to marketing campaigns; gone are the simple pleas to buy a product, and instead we now have a plethora of new campaigns that gain traction by daring to be different—and really knowing their audience. 2021 has seen no shortage of impressive marketing campaigns, whether it’s through TikTok videos, humorous tweets or intriguing billboards. We’ve compiled a list of a few of our favourite campaigns that sought to do things a little differently. Here’s to another year of creative marketing! McDonald’s: We Deliver McDonald’s saw a change in direction over the past year, both in the form of their marketing and their partnership with Uber Eats, and their latest campaign promotes the all-new delivery system.  A far cry from the days of Ronald McDonald, the campaign took a more minimalist turn and in this case, less is definitely more. Maintaining the iconic yellow ‘M’ that we know and love, the rest subverts expectations with bold colours and simple messaging—because the main thing McDonald’s needs you to take away is ‘we deliver.’ @heinzuk We spent nothing on this Christmas ad. Enjoy 🎄 #ChristmasAd #Christmas #FakeAd #Christmas2021 ♬ original sound – Heinz UK Heinz’s John Lewis Parody John Lewis’ adverts have become somewhat of a cultural icon, with many eagerly anticipating them each year. So, it was only a matter of time before other brands created their own ‘John Lewis’ parody…only TikTok style. It’s not news to anyone that TikTok is the next hot thing in marketing, and we’ve seen many brands jump on the bandwagon throughout 2021. Heinz’ recreation of the iconic John Lewis advert is comedic, clever and simple. Not to mention, it reaches an audience who are consuming media through their phones more and more.   Oatly’s Candid Billboards Compared to TikTok, billboard adverts might seem a little so five years ago, but the power of billboard marketing is still as important as ever—especially when it’s the kind of poster that garners a lot of social media attention. Oatly got it right with their array of billboards. Instead of blatantly advertising their product, Oatly leaves plenty to be intrigued with their candidly self-aware adverts which basically say what most of us are thinking—who wants in-your-face advertising?  This works on plenty of levels; it implies intelligence from the consumer and pins the brand as one that knows just what its audience wants, and it generated a lot of buzz online. This form of advertising doesn’t aim to push the consumer to buy its products, instead it creates brand awareness and promotes the company on a much larger—and more memorable—scale.   Burger King’s Branding Campaign The battle of the burgers continues, as McDonald’s is not the only fast-food chain to undergo a change of direction in marketing campaigns throughout 2021. Burger King wanted its consumers to trust the company more and believe the claims of no artificial preservatives—but merely telling the public wasn’t going to do much good. Instead, Burger

Writing website content isn’t always easy. Not only do you have to think about the words on the page, but also how to boost SEO. After all, you want your web pages to drive relevant traffic to your site to generate leads. This may sound daunting to some, but luckily, there are plenty of methods to improve your content marketing skillset. Take a look at our 13 essential tips below that will improve your writing skills and help your website rank in organic searches.  1. Define your reader’s personas  First of all, you need to understand your audience so you know who you are trying to attract. This is the key to writing a successful blog post, especially if you want an impressive conversion rate on your site. How do you define your target audiences’ personas? Ask yourself a few basic questions, such as: What is the age group of your audience? What is the professional status of your audience? What is the buying habits of your audience? What is the interest of your audience? Once you answer these, you will be ready to identify your audience. This, in turn, will shape how you write. 2. Understand the search intent for your content  Another important factor that you need to consider is your audience’s search intent. Search intent refers to what the user is looking for within their Google search. Use the most popular search queries for your benefit, and shape your content format, key message and the desired call to action that you need to include in your content. 3. Set a clear smart goal Every page of your website as a rule needs to have a clear call to action. Prior to writing the content, you need to define exactly what this will be. Think about what you want your audience to get out of it, whether it’s clicking on another link, downloading an item or even getting in touch with you directly. Being clear on this before the writing stage will help you map out your content and consider how you will direct your audience to the desired action. 4. Offer your audience solutions Websites that offer clear solutions to specific problems typically rank in the top three Google searches. Therefore, web copy should provide answers to key problems that resonate with your audience. This is where research is your best friend. Search for problems that your business will be able to provide solutions to. Ultimately, this is the key to your web page ranking high in a short amount of time. 5. Look for content opportunities and gaps This goes hand-in-hand with number 4. When doing your research for your specific industry-related issues, you may not find relevant solutions. Good news! This means you have a unique selling point that should be included on the website. Having no competition essentially means that your webpage will rank fast. Especially if you have fast good on-page SEO on organic search results.  6. Analyse your competitors It’s always good