Feb 2022 MA Final MAL46 | Page 66

MARKETING TRENDS

From Surviving To Thriving : Marketing Trends To Watch Out For In 2022

By Geoffrey Sirumba
Marketers are constantly evolving with the world around them . 2021 was about recovering from an unprecedented shock . But this year is about responding , and for those best positioned , thriving in a postpandemic world . We explore seven trends to help marketers and those charged with building dynamic customer experiences rethink their people , data , and experience strategies .
Stunted economic growth
All businesses in Kenya are currently faced with two calamities . One , is how to recover from the pandemic and two , the negative effects of our ever-whirring political machine which in a few months , will reach fever pitch .
We are likely to witness accelerated economic recovery in the first half of 2022 . However , the gains may not be realized immediately until the political tension caused by the intense electioneering period fizzles out . In the intervening period , we will experience reduced spending as companies adopt a wait-andsee approach . With this in mind , marketers need to formulate an aggressive six-month plan that will be able to cover for the anticipated slow growth during the political season and post-election period .
Social listening to guide personalization
Monitoring conversations around your brand can expose you to many insights . The learnings can , in turn , be used to improve your social media marketing efforts , better manage customer complaints , or come up with moves to counter competitors .
Most brands and businesses are still struggling to unify their personalization strategy across all customer touchpoints . Thus , to be truly successful , marketing personalization activities must occur seamlessly across every channel and on every device .
The rise of short form videos Edutainment video content is no
“ Monitoring conversations around your brand can expose you to many insights . The learnings can , in turn , be used to improve your social media marketing efforts , better manage customer complaints , or come up with moves to counter competitors .” longer just an option . Rather , it is now a must-have for any serious business that is keen on staying ahead of the curve . Short-form content is on the rise , and it doesn ’ t appear to be slowing down . At the heart of its conception , is the fact that short-form video lends itself far better to the fleeting attention spans associated with modern audiences .
Instagram Reels , TikTok and YouTube Shorts are some top videobased content channels today . Another huge benefit of short videos is that they are just much easier to distribute . Short videos are more likely to go viral because of their unlimited replay value , easy to share and remember . Brands will need to make short-form video since the attention span of online viewers have reduced , increased competition amongst the different video viewing sites and limited time .
Acceleration of Digital , Tech , and analytics
Digital transformation is a journey that never ends . Over the past few months , there has been a transformation in the way we
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