By Shazia Mentoor, Managing Director of Mentor Marketing
Part of setting your business up for success is implementing current marketing best practices. Marketing trends are constantly changing and it is vital to follow those trends so that your business stays at the forefront of your audience’s interests. The past two years have affected businesses and it is time that we use our experiences to plan for the year ahead.
We had two consecutive periods of negative GDP growth during the third and fourth quarters of 2019. This resulted in the country entering a technical recession at the beginning of the year 2020. The arrival of the pandemic and its associated restrictions on economic activity in the country placed a further strain on the South African Economy.
The pandemic has taught us that the future cannot be predicted. Everything is uncertain, especially when it comes to business. However, by conducting research and taking a look at the market, we can see when new marketing trends arise. Following these trends could improve a business’s chance at thriving in the year 2022. Here we share business tips and marketing trends for 2022.
If appropriate to your audience, embrace TikTok – many businesses are making use of short video content on TikTok that keeps their audience entertained while also establishing a consistent brand presence. According to Google Search Trends, the app dominates Instagram’s short-form video content. There are more than 500 million active monthly users. This proves that as a business, there is an opportunity to create awareness for your brand on a large scale.
Make use of Influencer Marketing Campaigns – building trust amongst your target audience could be one of your business’s main marketing objectives. The easiest way to get your audience to trust you is to include influencer marketing in your marketing mix. Consumers trust brands that are recommended by people. Influencer marketing campaigns are also a great way to grow your social media following, increase site traffic, and get more leads.
Keep video content short and to the point – short videos are great at increasing awareness, driving key messages, and conveying brand imagery.
Use Search Engine Optimisation to concur search traffic – it is known that organic search results cover more digital real estate and add to credibility. SEO also improves user experience, making it easier and more likely for users to return to your website or become loyal customers.
Stay consistent on social media – make sure that your social media content is relevant, exciting and you are consistent. This allows you to grow your audience, achieve better engagement and reach.
Collaborate – working on ideas and projects with other organisations leads to skill and idea-sharing. Collaborative work also results in your network expanding which is a win-win situation.
SWOT analysis – this helps you understand and measure your business’s performance and helps to identify strengths which you can use to better penetrate the market. It also helps you analyse future opportunities and threats and how you can combat these.
There’s no doubt that consumer behaviour shifted in 2021. Budgets were cut and pressure was put on businesses to innovate and adapt or risk losing to competitors. Making use of these tips and tools can help prevent a repetition of that and can ensure that your brand message is heard and trusted, bringing out success for the business and those within it. 2022 is the time to be more strategic than ever and it is because of this that businesses need to adapt to and embrace change in marketing trends.
South Africa’s fast-growing population and markets present promising opportunities for businesses in an environment of decelerating global growth. The negatives are becoming positives – this is proof that South African businesses have the ability and capability of growth.
