Digital marketing trends for small business in 2022
Jamie Lynn Morgan
Where is digital marketing headed? Since the digital landscape constantly evolves, 2022 will likely hold some dramatic changes. Businesses and brands must plan for the future of digital marketing and be prepared to take advantage of it. Here are a few of the digital marketing trends to watch in 2022 and how small business owners can use them to their advantage.
Influencers continue to grow (even for B2B)
Influencer marketing reached $13.8 billion in 2021 and continues to grow. Influencer campaigns are effective since the influencer is endorsing the service or product, not the company. So, should you go out and hire a celebrity to endorse your service or product? Not necessarily; find someone influential in your target market that is a good fit for your brand. It isn't always about the number of followers but the quality of their followers' engagement.
What to Do: Look for opportunities to partner with influencers in your niche. Be that someone with 1,000 followers or a million.
Need to be more strategic
As automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning take on more digital marketing work, becoming more strategic will be the name of the game, especially as opportunities continue to emerge.
What to Do: Businesses need to think strategically to focus on what drives their growth.
LinkedIn is somewhere to be
LinkedIn has always been a steady player in the digital space, but now it is moving ahead of the pack. With new followers quarterly and statistics showing more user interactions, it is quickly becoming a top platform to look at in the digital space. They continuously launch new features that drive better results for their users. It might be time to dust off that profile you created years ago and start using it.
What to Do: Go all-in on LinkedIn.
Less is more
The explosion of digital marketing options means many businesses are spread too thin across too many channels. Innovative companies focus on dominating one channel.
What to Do: Get more focused and aim to do fewer things better.
Cut through the noise
Word-of-mouth and earning social attention have been the white whale for many business owners. Is this going to change in 2022? Not likely, as the digital advertising space becomes louder, earned media and word-of-mouth become critical to break through the noise
What to Do: To earn social media word of mouth, focus on creating experiences at every stage of your interactions.
Everything is process-driven
Social media news feeds, display ads, social ads, search engine optimization, and even email are algorithm-driven. They are optimizing for the same essential thing: user experience.
What to Do: For businesses to stay relevant, they must provide a user experience that customers want. Knowing the current trends isn’t enough. You need to speak to your best customer in a way that brings value.
Now, what does this all mean for small business owners? Knowing the trends isn't enough. It helps if you learn how to effectively use and apply them to your digital marketing efforts. This is how I help businesses as a marketing coach at the North Idaho College’s Small Business Development Center
Many of the businesses we work with come to the NISBDC without a clear value proposition or even knowing their best customer. Figuring out these two things can make a huge difference in a company's bottom line. It is all about gaining clarity, and with clarity comes profit.
Being seen in a consumer's purchase journey can be difficult. If you want to stand out, businesses MUST communicate their value and what makes their business unique. Stay true to your brand and create messages and experiences relevant to your customers. Being relevant is way more important than the number of impressions.
Make sure your value proposition is clear: customers know what you stand for and what experience you offer to fulfill their need or want. With every engagement, you have to make sure your message is clear and express this along the entire customer sales pipeline.
Assure success in 2022 and make sure you set yourself apart from the rest of your competition.
To learn more about how to tackle Digital Marketing for your business or to schedule a no-cost meeting with a business coach, visit NISBDC.com or contact 208-665-5085. Click links to register for the free Business Acceleration Series or Special Topic Wednesday Webinars.
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Jamie Lynn Morgan is a business coach at the Small Business Development Center. She is a 20-year business veteran, digital marketer and co-owner of the Lake City Bicycle Collective.
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MARCH CLASS SCHEDULE
Weekly Webinars
Wednesdays at 8 a.m.
Special topics for Business Leader
• 5 ways to Improve Profit; March 2; A key to thriving during any economy is taking proactive steps to improve your key business areas. We will highlight specific steps to strengthen your business and improve your business profit even through rough times.
• Digital Marketing, A Strategy that Works!; March 9; Does your online presence provide leads from your target audience? If not, maybe a tweak or two is required.
• Starting A Business in Idaho; March 16; Join us for a basic overview of what it takes to be a business owner and to talk through the tough questions of starting a business in Idaho.
• What’s Your Business Worth?; March 23; Every business has a different value depending on who is looking at it? This presentation will review several different ways of computing values for a business, as well as factors that give a premium value to a business and those things that detract from value.
IN-PERSON
Business Accelerator Series — Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to noon, NIC Campus
“Business Basics Every Business Owner Needs To Know”
• Marketing Strategy for Profit; March 4; Marketing is the engine of your business. What problem is your business trying to solve? How big a problem is it? Who has these problems more than any others? How much would they pay for your solution? Answers to these are the difference between thriving and just surviving. In this class you will learn.
• Managing Financials for Profit; March 11; Business Financial Management is a numbers game, so to manage the business you have to know how to work the numbers!
• Hiring Winners: Operations for Excellence; March 18; With nearly half of the global population online it is an essential tool to reach & build your customer pipeline. Find out what opportunities exist and how a website, videos, or social media could help you reach your goals.
• Digital Marketing Strategy; March 25; With nearly half of the global population online it is an essential tool to reach and build your customer pipeline. Find out what opportunities exist and how a website, videos, or social media could help you reach your goals.
