Soon, we shall be seeing the dawn of 2022.
While the pandemic took everyone by surprise in 2020, everyone, including the creative agencies, seemed better equipped to handle the second and the subsequent waves in 2021. The pandemic has helped shift many paradigms in these two years, including what clients expect from agencies. According to Forrester, agencies will welcome the pandemic’s changes and aim to innovate in personnel, digital media, and the metaverse.
To emerge victorious in the coming year and many others to follow, it is not just enough for agencies and the leaders of these agencies to know about the emerging trends in the industry. Today, it is crucial for these agencies to understand what clients expect from agencies in 2022.
What Makes a Good Agency?
A creative agency works on various aspects of a brand’s marketing strategy to create engaging work and tell stories that consumers can relate to. The people who make up a good agency look for a very creative set of minds and work efficiently. A reputable firm will leverage in-house knowledge and respect your time, money, and agreed-upon schedules. When you ask for it, they will create a beautiful tale around the brand image, and they will deliver without you ever asking for it.
What do Clients Expect From Agencies in 2022?
While the pandemic brought massive turmoil in the market and businesses worldwide suffered, it also taught many vital lessons to companies and agencies, in particular. Top amongst these learnings for the most creative agencies was to be flexible and agile – to change instantly. To stay on top and get more clients to the agency in the coming new year, agencies and business leaders must be aware of some trends.
1. Technology Will Continue to Rule in 2022
The global lockdown due to COVID-19 brought an unprecedented rise in the demand for digital marketing and digital assets. This was also primarily driven by increased technology dependency and consumer adoption. TikTok, YouTube, Zoom, and other video platforms and collaborations have become the new norm over the years.
With these video platforms leading social media norms, you can expect this trend to continue and grow in the coming years. With the rise of wearables and digital assets to target the audience, it can be said that traditional marketing and branding are indeed heading towards the metaverse.
2. Mixed Media Brand Experiences on the Rise
Never had the way we interact with the world seen such a drastic change as witnessed over the last couple of years since the COVID-19 pandemic. With consumers absorbing and adopting content over the internet, it is critical for agencies to focus on blending the real, augmented, and digital worlds through mixed-media brand experiences.
3. Data is The New North Star in Digital Marketers
Data is everything. Marketing leaders and agency owners can help their clients immensely by deciphering the data and identifying where and when to find their right audience. This is especially helpful for brands when it comes to intent marketing.
With agencies being pressured to drop tracking and third-party cookies, it is also ideal for agencies to improve their ways of collecting first-party data and increasing their partnerships to share third-party data.
Another trend that agencies have begun to focus on is SEO, and other enhancements as the trends for consumer search are changing. A greater emphasis is being laid on FAQs and Q&A sections, which are expected to rise further in the coming year.
4. Partnerships and Collaborations on the Rise
Investing and expanding into m-commerce is yet another trend to expect from agencies in 2022. Thanks to the rise in the adoption of platforms like YouTube and TikTok, agencies invest heavily in partnerships and collaborations with micro-influencers on various social media.
Micro-influencers are increasingly helpful to brands in reaching out to their target audiences. Agencies will continue to invest in this area to identify the right micro-influencer and partners who can help their partner brands increase their reach. This trend is driven mainly by the reach created by smart devices and the audience also being more open to transacting on their smart devices. Intent marketing is a reality today, thanks to these smart devices too.
5. Dependency on Voice Search Expected to See Growth
A critical element to remaining relevant in search engine optimization is voice search. If you wonder what to expect from agencies 2022, implementing long-tail keywords and AI-powered voice assistants are expected to remain a top priority.
A Deluge of Shoppable Video Advertisements
Agencies will also showcase their ingenuity through direct-to-consumer e-commerce channels, such as retail media. According to Forrester’s “Predictions 2022: Media and Advertising,” income from retail media will exceed $50 billion as more stores establish networks and more brands feel compelled to be a part of them. As shoppable video advertising grows increasingly frequent, such help may be required. Amazon already allows customers to add things from video advertisements to their Alexa shopping lists. As more ad-supported providers like Tubi and Pluto enter the game, Forrester forecasts a “tsunami” of shoppable advertising.
The Year of ECommerce Expansion
We have already witnessed extraordinary growth, not just in the retail e-commerce area but in many other facets of e-commerce. In addition to the softer characteristics such as convenience and social distancing preferences post covid, the strategy behind smartphones and tablets is increasing, contributing to a boom in e-commerce adoption. With innovation and digitization growing fast, don’t be surprised if the trends change suddenly in 2022. But we should expect double-digit growth in the e-commerce sector in the following years.
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