Martech Trends 2022: 48 industry experts share their insights

The last couple of years has been at least challenging for most industries around the world. The pandemic’s impact has caused fundamental shifts in consumers’ behavior and brands’ strategy, decision-making, and mentality. For sure this forced companies across all industries and sizes, to adapt or even pivot, in order to survive the market changes but also the cybersecurity challenges the pandemic brought. But although Google recorded a +30% YoY growth in eCommerce sales in 2021, the World Bank predicts global growth to “decelerate markedly” from 5.5% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022, due to factors such as the rise in inflation, debt, and income inequality.

“The World Bank predicts global growth to “decelerate markedly” from 5.5% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022.”

So the future is far from bright and with 54% of decision-makers claiming that they spend more than one hour per week reading thought leadership according to Edelman, this data proves that the pandemic has raised the bar so high that every CEO, CMO, director, and the business organization overall, has no time to fall behind. The necessity to continuously monitor and evaluate the key industry trends, both about retail in general and omnichannel retail, and also for MarTech, 365/24/7 is here to stay.

At ContactPigeon we decided to contact 48 marketing industry experts and professionals to share their insights and predictions, in order to spot the top MarTech trends of 2023.

Here is a table of contents to help you quickly navigate through this mini-MarTech report.

Key insights: The top MarTech trends of 2022

The Top 5 Martech Trends of 2022 will be:

• Top MarTech Trend #1: AI/Machine Learning
• Top MarTech Trend #2: AR/VR
• Top MarTech Trend #3: Personalization
• Top MarTech Trend #4: User Generated Content (UGC)
• Top MarTech Trend #5: Voice Search

Other emerging technology marketing trends

• Chatbots
• Blockchain/Cryptocurrency
• Video
• Cookieless Marketing
• Metaverse
• First-Party Data Strategy
• Omnichannel
• NFTs

Other key observations:

• 29% of the experts agreed that AI and Machine Learning technologies will undoubtfully play a significant role this year.
• 31% predicted that VR/AR technologies, Metaverse, NFTs and the Blockchain technology will play a major role in the years to come
• 9% claimed that AI Chatbots will become a vital mix of brands’ marketing strategy.

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Marketing Expert #1: Dr. Saksham Sharda, Chief Information Officer, Outgrow

Since there’s a lot of digital fatigue that’s happened because of the pandemic, one of the biggest trends in 2022 would be the move away from static content like blogs and eBooks, to interactive content like quizzes, calculators, and recommendations. People won’t be willing to spend time on your website to read your tiresome descriptions, instead, they’d expect the value they expect from your website to be served immediately through a piece of interactive content that is able to give them exactly what they are looking for.

Marketing Expert #2: Gosia Hytry, Head of Content, Spacelift

2021 has been a year of NFTs, and 2022 will be the year marketing leaders are going to realize the potential of NFT in marketing. A Non Fungible Token connects all the users via blockchain – it’s a digital bond we all were looking for.

NFTs are very similar to swags the companies have already sent to their loyal customers – but NFTs are digital, making them easier to send and receive. However, the digital assets now have an identification number that can tell whether it’s the original one.

The marketing strategy where companies send digital thank you cards or ‘favorite customer stickers’ when someone consistently buys from the store – now that digital gratitude means something. The customer can actually own that sticker and display it like pride if he likes to.

Using NFTs as community-building is going to be huge in technology marketing in 2022.

Marketing Expert #3: George Mirotsos, CEO, ContactPigeon

Through all these radical changes, the Omnichannel experience has reached a point where it exceeds traditional channels and methods. The benefits of personalization are immense and according to McKinsey studies, it has the ability to generate $1.7 trillion to $3 trillion in new value. This value is achieved with new technologies that have given us the tools to access every piece of information from our phones and as consumers, we have to take advantage of that opportunity. 

Imagine being in the queue, waiting for your turn outside a brick-and-mortar store due to COVID-19 safety policies. Now, imagine that instead of just waiting idly you scan the QR code placed on the storefront and an AR-enabled experience begins. As you browse, an AI-powered chatbot extends your original product search (the main reason you visited the store in the first place) with similar, targeted recommendations. This was made possible via a chatbot that gathered information on past interactions from all the brand’s channels and suggested similar products, tailor-made especially for you and your taste. 

Since even payments can be done through our phones, the only step left is to just pay with your e-wallet and pick up your order. At this point, the consumer made an informed decision, chose an item according to their needs, and bought it on the spot, with no hassle. 

Marketing and technology go hand in hand, therefore every business should align its strategy with the new status quo and adapt to the new trends. Marketers and retailers have to finetune their means and implement them elegantly, consulting data-driven outcomes for increased conversions and brand loyalty. 

Marketing Expert #4: Chelsea Cohen, Co-founder, SoStocked

More businesses will transition to using CRM software that links marketing to sales. Since customer conversions only surface in sales reports, marketing teams often struggle to gauge their campaign performance. The advent of CRM software that integrates both of these departments helps connect inbound strategy to lead generation in a single platform. So it’s likely that Saas companies like HubSpot and EngageBay will see expansions in their client bases next year.

Virtual reality will lead to customer-centric e-Commerce. Online retail comes with its limits – the main one being that we only have digital product showcases. Customers want to see and know about as many features as possible before signing off on a sale. Interactive graphics and customizable online features help buyers engage with your product and feel more secure about their purchase.

e-Commerce platforms will leverage online communities to promote their products. There are hundreds of online social networking groups tailored to varying niches. When we launched new products this year, we posted our announcements in Facebook groups for people seeking discounts and sales incentives; and that boosted our sales.

More businesses might take advantage of these social groups to increase their conversions in 2022.

Marketing Expert #5: Leslie Gilmour, Owner, ServisBOT

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): are going to be an even bigger trend in 2022. Many sites still fail to offer a seamless experience to mobile users. This is because these sites have many videos, images, and other content that affects the loading speed.

Accelerated Mobile Pages will help them solve such issues. These pages are specially optimized to load at lightning speed. They offer great results without the need to integrate any complex code.

Single Page Applications (SPAs): Users of a multi-page website have to keep interacting with servers to load multiple pages. So, on such websites, reloading is common.

Single Page Applications eliminate the need for reloading, so they will become one of the biggest trends in web development in 2022.

AI-powered tools and AI-content: Content writing tools like SurferSEO and RankMath have started incorporating AI features.

Tools that offer AI-generated content, like Jarvis, will become ubiquitous. What is more, some clients will even start requesting these AI writing tools, especially the ones working in eCommerce where a lot of time goes into writing product descriptions.

But, like everything else, spammers will abuse these AI-powered SEO tools. Because of that, search engines will focus a lot of attention on managing AI-driven posts and pages and they will likely request sites to identify AI-generated content with a new schema.

Marketing Expert #6: Scott Steward, CEO & Founder, Hi Collectors

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Technology is always advancing, and as marketers, it’s important that we keep up with the latest trends. That can be difficult, but it’s worth it to stay ahead of the competition. So, what are the top emerging trends in technology marketing for 2022?

Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the biggest trends right now. It has already been used in gaming and entertainment, but is starting to be used more in other industries, such as education and training. Marketers can use VR to create immersive experiences for customers, which can help them learn or experience products or services before they buy them.

Another big trend is artificial intelligence (AI). AI can be used to personalize customer experiences and recommendations, as well as to automate tasks. Marketers can use AI to gather data about customers and target them with relevant content or offers.

Augmented Reality (AR) is another trend that is growing in popularity. AR allows customers to interact with digital content overlaid on the real world. This can be used for things like product demonstrations, education, or entertainment. AR can also be used to provide a more personalized experience for customers.

Blockchain technology is another trend that marketers should be watching. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that allows for secure, transparent transactions. It has the potential to revolutionize many industries, including marketing.

Marketing Expert #7: Hilda Wong, Founder, Content Dog

Quantum computing. Quantum computing is a form of computing that takes advantage of quantum phenomena like superposition, etc. This was also involved in the prevention of covid-19 and to development of vaccines. It can monitor, analyze and act on data.

Virtual reality and augmented reality. These are the next emerging trends. Virtual reality and augmented reality have provided a comfortable life to individuals. These technologies have the potential in training, entertainment, education, marketing, etc. These trends are also expected to grow in the future.

BlockChain. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrency like bitcoin, etc. but the blockchain is completely different from cryptocurrency. It can be described as data you can only add to, not change or take away.

Marketing Expert #8: Selle Evans, CEO, Masterly

I think the top trends that will emerge in 2022 are:

It’s not new that analytics are one of the most important parts of marketing. But the way we use these platforms to collect information about your prospects and create segments of our audience based on their behavior is an evolving trend.

Information collected is now used to create a personalized journey for each segment. This has proven to be a great way to engage your audience and nurture relationships.

By creating a personalized journey for each segment of your audience, you’re able to increase the engagement level and offer them relevant information.

By implementing automation into your marketing campaign, you’re able to gain better results – as long as you include personalization within the automation

That brings me to the final and most important point – personalized marketing. Use personalized elements within your marketing to ensure your efforts reach their maximum ROI.

Marketing Expert #9: Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO, Mavens & Moguls

The biggest trend is the Metaverse and the investment in virtual and augmented reality technology, it is here to stay and only getting bigger. It will be a completely new vision for interacting with the online world with Meta, Apple and Microsoft leading the way with internet access expanding. Between the new infrastructure bill that passed and SpaceX’s Starlink and other private communications satellite technology, everyone everywhere will have fast internet speeds including rural and developing areas. It will be a game-changer for developing countries and emerging markets too.

Other trends include leveraging AI and automation for increased efficiency focusing on the value created to build strong relationships and communities. There will be a bigger emphasis on Customer Journey Mapping with all the smart technology and data being captured today with a greater understanding of customers, their behaviors, and needs once the product/service is bought and getting their feedback to improve service. With the increase in AI and automation businesses are looking for ways to automate simple and repetitive processes so that teams have more time to focus on complex tasks.

Marketing Expert #10: Roy Morejon, President & Co-Founder, Enventys Partners

A first-party data strategy is a trend to prioritize in 2022.
The future is looking cookieless, and with more restrictions on gathering third-party data, marketers have to shift strategies and prioritize the responsible collection of first-party data. Customer Data Platforms can help identify customers, but only if marketers offer content valuable enough for visitors to accept cookies – instead of looking at this as a restriction, marketers should see it as a challenge to create amazing, personalized content in 2022 and beyond.

Marketing Expert #11: David Sweet, VP of Marketing, Eterneva Inc

Personalization has become a mainstay in marketing as studies have shown that promotions that utilize this technique have higher conversion rates and customer engagement. However, as more companies use personalization, other companies have decided to separate themselves from the pack through hyper-personalization.

Traditional personalization uses info from previous purchases, location, or search engine queries for promotion. Hyper personalization takes it further by taking data collected from business websites, chatbot interaction, or even internal searches, to create a customer profile. This allows for highly detailed marketing in which individualized customer needs are addressed. With high conversion rates and better customer retention, it will continue to trend in 2022.

Marketing Expert #12: Sean Kelly, Co-Founder, BookRetreats

Voice search

In 2021, voice search shows no sign of slowing down. Some households talk to Alexa, Siri or Cortana more than they speak to family members. The popularity of voice search both at home and on our phones has led to one of the most significant shifts in using keywords. I believe that in 2022, this digital trend will become even more popular.

Chatbot

Chatbots leverage AI technology to provide automated human-like messages to web visitors in real time. The benefits that our prospect love is 24/7 customer service, instant responses to inquiries, and answers to simple questions. As more consumers become accustomed to chatbots, they will become increasingly crucial for a positive customer experience.

Marketing Expert #13: Aanchal Padmavat, Marketing Associate and SEO Specialist, WriteCream

I believe that the next few years are going to be very exciting with digital marketing, as so many new technology marketing trends are emerging. Some of these trends include the speed of innovation, the new tech-savvy consumer, the shift to a more data-driven marketing process, and the rise of social/influencer marketing. So, here are some technology trends suggestions that I think are going to be crucial in 2022.

Business and Support Technology Powered by Artificial Intelligence

I think that AI systems have been extending just what is imaginable in the world of digital marketing for quite a while, but over the next few seasons, we may witness exponential jumps about what this technology can do.

As machine learning systems get more advanced and can mimic humankind with almost eerie precision.

Chatbots certainly take favor of this trend without putting unnecessary strain on our workforce and facilities. Marketing is becoming more communicative and individualized, and chatbots offer us to enjoy the benefits of this trend without putting an extra burden on our staff and equipment.

Artificial intelligence is also being employed in advertisements.. While it hasn’t yet reached human creativeness, Google is already using AI to improve campaigns by recognizing the most effective ad styles and language and automatically changing based on user interaction.

Everything is powered by voice

As we’ve seen, voice assistants have been out for a while, but they blew off in 2017 and 2018, as people mastered their fears of speaking to their smartphones and a slew of new consumer gadgets, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, reached the mainstream.

I don’t think there’s a reason to believe that the portable trend will slow down, people will increasingly want to connect with their gadgets via hands-free technologies. Voice search is thought to fuel more than half of all search inquiries.

Marketing Expert #14: Steven Walker, CEO, Spylix

2021 had been an exciting year for all of us. It had been full of challenges, and many evolving technologies came into existence this year.

Here’s a list of top emerging trends in Technology Marketing for 2022:

Artificial Intelligence: AI is one of the most rapidly growing industries beneficial for every business for multiple purposes. Industries can use the integrated approach of AI to enhance their business operations.

Digital Intelligence: Digital intelligence is new in the IT sector but can establish itself in the coming future. It uses data to help in decision-making procedures. This technology can help businesses to work more efficiently and effectively.

Chatbots: Chatbots are becoming more and more popular these days; they help respond to customer queries immediately. As a result, the customers feel more engaged and satisfied with your services and recommend your services and products to other potential customers. The immediate reply from the chatbots can also create a great first impression on the new customers.

Marketing Expert #15: Tobias Rawcliffe, Head of Marketing, Number 1 Plates

I have pictured the future of technological marketing as an improvement from the one we have today. The advancement of AI technology will surface more and more throughout the years. However, for the coming 2022, social media and email marketing will remain the top marketing strategies we will still be using.

The incorporation of technological AI advancements with social media will not go unnoticed and will significantly impact the marketing aspect of businesses. We could imagine how AI could provide 24/7 customer service on websites and messaging platforms. Customer data collected through AI could also make email content more personalized for customers, and AI algorithms enhance users’ experience when visiting businesses’ social media profiles.

Marketing Expert #16: Nathan Hughes, Marketing Director, Diggity Marketing

Digital Marketing is one of the most highlighted forms of marketing. The recent years have forced marketers to go out of their way to earn customers for their organizations. Certain trends are going to overpower digital marketing in the upcoming years.

One of those trends is the increased and creative use of Conversational Marketing and chatbots. The marketers have increased the use of chatbots on the websites to guide the customers and understand their needs.

Another such trend will be AI-powered optimization of content, search engine, and chatbots. The use of AI can be seen in every field. Thus, AI will also play a major role in the field of marketing in upcoming years.

Marketing Expert #17: Olivia Tan, Co-founder, CocoFax

TikTok has shifted the landscape of social media away from status updates and curated photo grids in favor of short video posts. It didn’t take long for other platforms to jump on the bandwagon, with Instagram launching its Reels feature and Youtube leaning into ‘shorts.’

Short videos emphasize the fast-paced way in which we consume content and highlights the need for simple and succinct messages or engaging content that asks us to participate—whether it’s learning a new dance, joining a challenge, or participating in surveys and polls.

The great thing about these short videos is that everyone has the ability to put together a quick video that isn’t super polished through their phone. Not only that, but these short engaging video content are candid, behind-the-scenes, DIY, real stories and have a more unpolished look are what younger consumers want.

Marketing Expert #18: Nunzio Ross, Owner and Head Director, Majesty Coffee

One of the rising trends in marketing technologies is conversational marketing. This approach emphasizes AI-powered solutions such as chatbots and social media channels that allow businesses to connect and interact with their audience in real-time.

With the bulk of sales journeys online, consumers have higher expectations with customer service responsiveness and messaging channels. Through AI chatbots, scaling conversational marketing on a bigger platform is more seamless and efficient in providing customers the high-quality customer experience they deserve.

Marketing Expert #19: Glen Carroll, Managing Director, Clicks Marketing

While content marketing is not a new strategy and saw a hike in 2021, it will continue to rise. It is a superior alternative to field marketing and allows the sellers and consumers of the product to communicate effectively, especially in times of covid. Another marketing strategy rising to the big picture is personalized marketing. Mails, social media ads, and more allow you to connect with your customers better. An apt example is a change from generic mailing to personalized mailing and, the change it has created in the marketing industry. A marketing technology that has changed the marketing scenario is audio, video, and live interaction. Consumers tend to show more interest in companies providing entertainment with product satisfaction. Even the big firms release podcasts and regularly conduct webinars to educate their consumers. Sellers have not realized the full potential of brand marketing. It is a powerful strategy that aims to create a brand that the consumers can trust. People have a sense of faith and closeness to the brands ruling the market.

These are some of the marketing strategies that can rise in 2022. With the coming of new-age technology, everything is getting automated, and soon enough the marketing industry will experience a massive change.

Marketing Expert #20: Taylor Ryan, CEO, Klint Marketing

In 2022, I think we should look out for Graph Technologies. As the marketing world becomes increasingly visual, the ability to more easily visualize data (and relationships within that data) will prove to be a significant advantage to businesses. Today, we are faced with a mountain of information which sometimes leads us to overlook some useful data. Whether it’s about the company’s interaction on Social Media or the number of leads they get from campaigns, there’s always crucial information that could get lost in the crowd. The latest graph technologies can help us to understand customer behavior better, as well as reveal the relationship between clients and the product itself. Graph technologies can become that missing piece to go from raw data to actionable insights. This emerging technology draws information from multiple sources to provide insights that we, marketers would not be able to see in the initial raw data.

Marketing Expert #21: Brian Bram, Founder and CEO, Home Gym Strength

In 2022, AI-integrated marketing will rise. We’re already seeing AI being integrated into almost everything around us. And next year, digital marketing platforms will be taking advantage of AI. Collecting and analyzing data from a wide range of marketing channels will become a huge dilemma for marketers. But with AI, they’ll be saved from it. Understanding your target audience’s preferences will be made easier with AI being integrated. And with it, a more data-driven decision will be your ultimate takeaway.

That being said, AI will also be seen being integrated into most websites helping visitors with their problems being addressed precisely and swiftly. More customer-centric campaigns will become commonplace then. Lots of communication gaps between customers and businesses will be bridged with AI. With all these things, businesses’ biggest challenge will be how to adjust in order to survive.

Marketing Expert #22: Cindy Corpis, CEO, SearchPeopleFree

Hybrid Events as the “New Normal”

The shift to hybrid events is one example of a change that has become the new normal. While the pandemic did not initiate the hybrid event culture, it did compel businesses to adopt this model quickly in light of remote work and social distancing. Hybrid events combine in-person and virtual components to make them more sustainable and inclusive.

Artificial Intelligence’s Potential

For quite some time, artificial intelligence has been prevalent in the digital marketing sector. However, in the coming year, businesses will incorporate AI-powered features into their SEO, SMM, and other digital marketing strategies. AI technology can assist businesses with business forecasting and predictions.

Content

Quality content has continued to be prioritized by search engines such as Google. Firms that focus on improving the user experience through the use of clear, attractive, engaging, and informative content may see an increase in rankings, leads, and conversions.

Marketing Expert #23: Dror Zaifman, Director of Digital Marketing, iCASH

I see Marketing Technology to be bigger than ever in 2022. Marketers will be drowning in data, and they will need help sorting through it all. As technology advances, marketers will rely more and more on software and artificial intelligence to understand their customer base. They will also use data to personalize the marketing experience for their customers, allowing them to tailor messages to different segments of customers based on their behavior and preferences. With an emphasis on customer experience, marketers will be turning away from the traditional marketing techniques, such as mass advertising, to embrace new digital marketing trends. This will create a paradigm shift as marketers are now responsible for understanding and delivering an experience that is most relevant to the individual customer, and the marketer will be held accountable for the customer experience. A customer-centric approach allows a brand to differentiate and build meaningful customer relationships that create loyalty.

Marketing Expert #24: Julian Goldie, CEO, Goldie Agency

Machine learning and AI

If you want to be at the top of your game, then investing in machine learning and AI is a must as it will develop better marketing campaigns. With these two, you can collect information about your audience that helps you develop better campaigns for them in the future, allowing you to create personalized content that appeals to your audience.

Video marketing

Most businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2021. As online viewing habits go, vlogs are perhaps one of the most popular forms of video content among internet users. We’ve seen celebrities and micro-influencer leverage this to interact with their fan base. We have seen several brands following suit. By humanizing your brand, the raw and unfiltered feel of vlogs allows you to connect with your target audience on a more intimate level.

Marketing Expert #25: Carol Tompkins, Business Development Consultant, AccountsPortal

The moving parts when it comes to digital marketing are too many to mention. And the fact that they are moving means change and innovation is inevitable. Given that fact, what I predict to be some of the major trends of 2022, are as below;

PPC Advertising
For this, despite the change in technology that is anticipated, this is one of the factors that will remain the same. So, I guess your question is how then is it a 2022 major trend? The answer in one word – Predictability. We cannot define digital marketing without mentioning advertising campaigns. And this is regardless of any anticipated new technology for the year 2022. Also, it would be wise to remember that businesses still get a $2 return for every $1 spent. This is on Google Ads and according to Google Economic Impact.

User-Generated Content (UGC)
Good user-generated content just shows how much your audience has trust in your brand. A brand’s search rankings, engagement, and credibility also go up. Therefore, taking advantage of UGC through avenues such as hashtags is a win-win for any brand.

Marketing Expert #26: Jeff Mains, CEO, Champion Leadership Group LLC

If you go through anything like a year-long (and persisting) worldwide pandemic, it’s reasonable to anticipate things to shift in specific ways. Marketers and change, on the other hand, are not exactly strangers. The environment in which marketing teams have always lived is one in which customers’ tastes continuously change, and they are required to react to these adjustments. In the last year, marketers have shown their ability to adapt in heaps, coping with the unexpected cessation of in-person events, a dramatic change toward digital marketing, and — for many — budget reductions.

That being said, here is one significant and emerging marketing trend for 2022.

Nonprofits will play a significant role in marketing strategies in the future.
Clients are gradually seeking businesses that have a social purpose or that give back at some point to the community. A well-rounded marketing plan should consider the advantage of this growing trend by working with NGOs and participating in it due to this growth. In addition to helping you expand your company, this collaboration has the potential to bring you into closer alignment with charitable causes that are significant to you as well.

It’s a win-win situation when you can expand your business and reach while advocating for a charity. On the other hand, your marketing strategy should not be limited to just showing support for a nonprofit organization. This must contain realistic objectives such as brand awareness, lead generation, percentage of sales contributions, and sponsorship deals.

Marketing Expert #27: Jordon Scrinko, Founder & Marketing Director, Precondo

Now that third-party cookies are being phased out, marketers are searching for new ways to target their customers, and first-party data is the most likely alternative. There will be more new data collecting methods developed. Maintaining a loyal client base is ideal since they will give the majority of the data. To assist marketers to gather, analyze, and exploit first-party data, we may expect a whole new universe of technology. This is the start of a new data commitment age. As people and organizations get more comfortable working from home, the demand for professional virtual assistants is expected to grow. Metaverse will undoubtedly rule the advertising industry, not in 2022, but much sooner than that. As social media platforms get more congested, it will provide more creative chances for marketers.

Marketing Expert #28: Ouriel Lemmel, CEO and Founder, Winit

Visual searches will be more important than ever in 2022. Technology like Google Lens helps users to recognize objects and landmarks through a camera app. For example, you can take a photo of a rug you like, and using google lens, you can similar rugs online, and be guided where to buy them.. Visual searches save time for the consumer and lead them directly to your site.

QR codes which seemed so foreign two years ago have become an absolute necessity during the pandemic. This technology will continue to grow and have more applications as the consumer has become accustomed to being able to visualize their potential purchase before they spend the money.

Marketing Expert #29: Paul Sherman, Chief Marketing Officer, Olive

No more cookies. Google has had enough and will end cookie tracking by 2023. This is an incredibly significant move by the largest search engine in the world and will impact how marketers gather data from their users.

Since GDPR was implemented in 2018, user privacy has become one of the most important phrases in the tech and marketing space so this move should have come as no surprise. However, marketers will have to find less intrusive and more user-friendly ways to obtain user data online. This will be a defining trend for next year and the years to follow.

Voice search will grow in importance. Voice assistants have been one of the best-selling tech gadgets of the last few years. They’ve made it normal for people to make search queries with their voice, which means that digital marketers have to change the way they do keyword research to incorporate both text and voice data. Based on the moves that Amazon and Google are making in the hardware and software space, it seems like they’re going big on voice, so marketers better keep up or risk being left behind.

Marketing Expert #30: Mike Nemeroff, CEO & Co-Founder, RushOrderTees

AI has been playing a huge role in marketing and adding technological experience to marketing trends. One of the top AI-related marketing trends is integrating AR and VR in marketing for brands and companies.

Ever since the idea behind the Metaverse was released, it has paved the way to integrate AR and VR experiences in marketing. We’ve already seen it slowly happening with customized filters, allowing the user to experience a game or to make choices within an advertisement or video and many more scenarios. This only shows a limited percentage of how far AR and VR will be used in marketing and engaging with consumers to create a personalized and interactive experience.

Marketing Expert #31: Jignesh Gohel, Founder & CMO, OLBUZ Private Limited

Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Like artificial intelligence and machine learning, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is another technology used to automate jobs. RPA is the use of software to automate business processes, such as: Automate repetitive tasks that people used to do.

Graph Technologies: Graph data management and analytics approaches are another latest technology trend that is constantly growing up. It helps in examining relationships between entities like organizations, people, and transactions is possible with this category of technologies.

Cloud-Native Platforms: Organizations looking to modernize themselves must consider the new data requirements of cloud native applications. By using server-less platforms like AWS Lambda and Azure Function, they don’t have to manage or worry about operations like network configuration, storage allocation and provisioning of cloud instances, and more.

Marketing Expert #32: Francis Angelo, Founder, Lupage Digital

2022 will be the year of AI writing. Every year has a “this is the year of AI” article going around the Internet. But 2022 will have this reality because of the many software that will focus on AI writing. Tools like Headlime, Jarvis, Outranking, ShortlyAI, Copysmith, and CopyAI are examples. I’ve tried some of these tools myself. Some of them are clunky, but some have proven useful in improving workflows.

GPT-3 powers most of these tools. This is a testament that this technology is in its “mature state” for mass automation. Based on where the industry is headed, there will be more emphasis on text or content automation. Given the demands in content marketing and content production, these automated tools combat writer’s block. Also, keeping up with a team’s content schedule will be less of a nightmare.

AI companies (like OpenAI which is the most popular) are sharing their machine learning software with the public. And now that the API has no waitlist anymore, more builders and entrepreneurs are joining in. The content and copywriting industry will shift and it won’t stop soon.

Marketing Expert #33: Shiv Gupta, Marketing Director, Incrementors Web Solutions

An Avalanche of Video Content

The usage of video material on social media is a no-brainer and transparent when social media marketing trends emerge because video marketing generates 48 percent more total engagement and an incredible 1200 percent more shares than text- or image-based content. The underlying benefit of video on social media for marketers is its adaptability and versatility. Both long and short video content is functional for engaging and giving value to the consumer. Live streaming on social media is one of the most effective ways to increase engagement and get immediate reactions/feedback. Choose or announce contest winners in real-time, or generate buzz about a product during its launch phase. Users value the “raw” quality and “realness” of social media videos.

Marketing Expert #34: Niels Henrik Sodemann, CEO, Queue-it

Part of dealing with supply chain woes is learning to handle the situation as it stands right now. Global supply chains will take months to sort out and online retailers need solutions now. I suspect a majority of businesses will adopt virtual waiting rooms to handle massive demand for limited-inventory products.

The virtual waiting room fairly allocates products by using two methods: sorting visitors with a first-in-first-out order or by randomizing visitors like a raffle. A virtual waiting room has the added benefit of keeping the online demand from crashing retailers’ websites or apps. As more retailers see the massive traffic peaks typical of exclusive drops and releases, I expect consumers to see more retailers controlling demand with a virtual waiting room.

Marketing Expert #35: Thomas Mirmotahari, Founder & CEO, PerkUp

Digital marketing via social media will remain the biggest trend in 2022, and will continue to remain relevant for the next decade as economies will slowly emerge from the recessional climate in the next decade. Getting more personalised marketing techniques and therefore putting a great deal of emphasis on learning more about how to directly target your brand market unconventionally will go a long way to increase sales. If content marketing was king in 2021, make your brand the centre of all social media and digital communications to greatly double visibility in 2022.

This means adopting a relevant and unconventional way of marketing on each platform and thoroughly emerging as an online business utilising all digital marketing tools available once explored via expert SEO Agencies – make sure you choose one that is at least 20 years in the business of content marketing.

Marketing Expert #36: Simonas Steponaitis, Marketing Manager, Do Fasting

Voice-activated digital assistants continue to be huge sellers. The popularity of voice search both at home and on our phones has led to one of the most significant shifts in using keywords. When writing content, choose your keywords based on the questions people may ask when using Siri or Alexa. This can increase your visibility, and this digital marketing trend shows no sign of slowing down.

On the other side of the spectrum, users can now upload an image and get information about an item just from a picture. If they’re uploading a plant photo, the search returns species information, while a landmark image will return historical data. When a user searches for a product, it returns similar products and where to buy them. Google Lens, Pinterest Lens, and related search tools turn a user’s camera into a search bar. How can you leverage these searches? You can add high-quality images and tag them with descriptive keywords. For voice search create more informative content, choose your keywords based on the questions people may ask when using Siri or Alexa.

Mobile-first websites will enjoy increased popularity. With the prevalence of smartphones for the majority of our internet browsing, more websites are created with a mobile-first design. This simply means that when the website is being designed, it’s mapped out on the smallest screen first to deliver the best experience to mobile users while including features designed to improve mobile use.

This can consist of touchscreen-friendly navigation, streamlined navigation menus, less text-heavy content, and functions like collapsible menus. The website will still work correctly on desktops and large screens, but the user experience is tailored to mobile users. You will benefit from fast page loading, improved SERP, mobile integrative features like voice detection or camera use, and an overall improved user experience to help increase conversions.

Finally, user-generated content is gold and helps build trust with your audience. It can help increase your brand’s search rankings, credibility, and overall Engagement. By leveraging your fans’ content you can create meaningful relationships that foster long-term engagement. Find this content by searching your brand on social channels or asking for users to participate and provide content through hashtags.

Marketing Expert #37: Brice Gump, Digital Marketing Expert, Major Impact Media

For a long time, the focus of marketing was on the product and its features. When social media came along, the focus shifted to consumers. The new focus will be on how brands interact with their customers and how they can make their lives easier.

The rise of VR/AR will transform the way we interact with our surroundings. It will be more than just a novelty, it will become an integral part of our daily lives. Brands will have to create content for these technologies and develop marketing campaigns that will make use of the new interface. Most brands are already aware of this trend, and we can see the various attempts made by them in order to stay ahead of their competitors. Yet, many of them have not been successful in making the new interface an integral part of their marketing campaigns. In order to drive traffic and conversions, they need to keep up with the latest trends and make use of the newest technologies.

Many businesses today use webinars to communicate with their customers, but still, there are many companies that have not tried this method yet.

Additionally, AI and Machine learning will be at the center of every process in the marketing department – from planning to execution. The technology will be useful in automating mundane tasks. In the field of analytics, marketers will have access to data that can help them make better decisions thus improving marketing ROI.

Marketing Expert #38: Nate Torres, Founder, Imaginated

It is undeniable that digital marketing is the future of the marketing industry. Martech tools, such as CRM software, social media management software, data analytics tools, are becoming the go-to strategies for marketers everywhere. The vast amount of data at hand via digital marketing has changed the face of the game as marketers can now tailor their plans to reach their target audiences, whether it be through SEO optimization or joining relevant content marketing platforms. Digital marketing allows for easy monitoring of marketing strategies. Web traffic, conversion rates, and ROI on digital marketing can quickly tell marketers whether their methods are effective or not. The future is digital, driven by data analytics tools that cater to instant solutions.

Marketing Expert #39: James Miller, Founder, Photographer Touch

Voice search is going to be a major influence on how brands create content and market themselves online. It will continue to be a major influence on how brands create content and market themselves online.

Smart speakers are booming. About a quarter of US households have them now, and probably in the near future, we’ll get to 50% of searches being performed using voice commands.

With the rise of voice search, companies are finding a whole new audience for their products and services. Smart speakers are one example of this new opportunity. Voice-search questions can provide a wealth of information about the user, such as the user’s age, gender, occupation, location, household income, and household size. This data can be valuable for retailers. The potential customer, after answering the question, may then be presented with additional information about the product they are searching for.

Even if your brand isn’t ready for smart speaker advertising, it is still important that your content is optimized for voice search. Voice searchers use searches differently than other search users. Voice searchers tend to ask longer, more conversational queries, so the format of your content should reflect this. They also ask more specific questions, so be sure to answer them directly and answer frequently asked questions. This will make your content more visible to voice searches and to be picked up as a featured snippet or shown on position zero on Google.

Marketing Expert #40: Adam Ng, CEO & Founder, Trusted Malaysia

There is always a huge interest in digital marketing trends and innovation in marketing around the turn of each year. 2022 will be no different, in fact, it’s particularly true since the pandemic has forced downward pressure on marketing budgets meaning that marketers are looking for new cost-effective techniques.

More short-form content such as Reels and TikToks would continue to be popular into 2022. The general consensus was, short-form content is more ‘impactful’ and putting time and money into creating short-form content is a worthwhile investment.

Social Selling will increase

Social media is used by practically everybody, everywhere. This makes it a prime spot for businesses to look for leads. It’s no wonder why the majority of top sales representatives rely on these platforms for their strategies.

With this, you can say goodbye to cold calling random contacts and cookie-cutter processes. It allows you to leverage social insights and online intelligence so you can zero in on strong leads before you even interact with them. What’s more, you can develop a two-way street between sales reps and consumers through social media.

The Power Of Artificial Intelligence

We will begin to realize the opportunity of an AI-driven content marketing strategy. If 60-70% of the content we create goes unused, AI will begin to force us to reconsider what we create and why. AI technology can help companies conduct business forecasting and predictions. Businesses will rely more on AI tools for digital process automation, such as using conversational AI and robotic process automation (RPA) to provide an automated response to customer queries. This could ultimately improve the business’s customer service satisfaction score.

Generated Content

When big brands share user-generated content – it typically gets good engagement. Customers love to see their content shared on a large scale and this has benefits for both parties. With more users becoming ‘creators’ or ‘influencers’ in 2021, we are expecting a greater focus on user-generated content in 2022. For brands, there are huge savings with this kind of content. You don’t need to pay a photographer, editor or a model! However, credit should always be given and influencers should be paid where relevant.

Marketing Expert #41: Michael Knight, Head of Marketing, Incorporation Insight

If there is anything we learned from 2021, it is that the market’s demands and needs shift at the speed of light. Moving forward, we’re looking at marketing techniques that revolve around AI integration and highlight user-generated content. User-generated content will be critical as consumers now heavily rely on past customer experiences before making their purchasing decisions. Leveraging product/service feedback is the digital version of word-of-mouth marketing and it will be just as big of a deal. Simultaneously, 2022 and beyond are years of transformative AI. Redefined and updated automated marketing solutions for analytics, SEO, social media, and research will be prerequisites to being an effective digital marketer. AI-powered marketing tools and AI-focused marketing skills will increase versatility in the practice. As AI becomes bigger and widely utilized, the market will demand the same accuracy from the services designed to cater to them.

Marketing Expert #42: Baidhurya Mani, Digital Marketing Expert, SellCoursesOnline

Since the pandemic hit, businesses have looked for viable ways to adjust with sustainable work-from-home solutions. Better and more innovative work-from-home technologies have become vital for most companies, and one example of this trend is Microsoft’s recent partnership with Kyndryl to improve digital workspaces.

Cryptocurrency has become more relevant now than the previous years, and many companies have been investing in including crypto and bitcoin as payment methods. And although many still doubt the potential of this medium, many financial experts and investors believe that the coming decade will prove to be pivotal for the evolution of cryptocurrencies.

Marketing Expert #43: Aseem Kishore, CEO, Help Desk Geek

It is no secret the pandemic has brought on dramatic changes in consumer behavior and marketing trends hence there is a lot to look forward to in the coming year. There will be a greater need for more data-driven content planning and documentation. Customer centric marketing, aided by technological advancements will be the rage in the next year – social media marketing tactics will be more common instead of the usual above the line advertising.

Another trend to look out for would be content having far greater accessibility on all platforms, meaning video, voice, visuals, etc. More growth in the provision of real-time insights and experiences to users, through newer technology for example Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality. This will be more important because there is a greater trend of online shopping, but one constraint to this is the lack of interaction with the product. VR helps the customer visualize what they are buying, leading to more customer satisfaction!

Marketing Expert #44: Laura Rike, Freelancer

I believe that video and SEO are both going to continue to be growing areas of trends in 2022 and beyond, with SEO extending further into social media beyond the use of hashtags. The pandemic has certainly impacted marketing, especially with the necessity for large brands to promote UGC. I think this is going to continue, with realistic campaigns as opposed to visually perfect campaigns being prevalent. My advice for marketers in 2022 and beyond would be to continue to stay in touch with trends and changes in social media algorithms, and to make sure to continuously adapt!

Marketing Expert #45: Jason Sherman, Founder, TapRm

Website optimization will become a continuous process to improve your site’s performance, drive traffic, and increase conversions. More people are shopping online than ever before. And streaming analysis of their interaction with your website will be key in boosting their user experience. Typically, there was always a delay in collecting and aggregating data. But now, it’s possible to view results live. Analytics and eCommerce platforms such as Amazon Kinesis and Apache Flink provide real-time data that enable you to see how customers interact with your website. Thus, giving you a clearer picture of where prospects drop off. Streaming analytics, along with machine learning, can help you refine your site to minimize bounce rate and maximize conversions. And as Google places a high priority on a good user experience, continuous optimization also leads to ranking higher in search results.

Marketing Expert #46: Todd Ramlin, Manager, Cable Compare

I think the top emerging marketing trend for 2022 is going to be the wider adoption of AI-based marketing tools across all industries. The combination of more data and better tools for deriving insights from that data is going to be a driving force in how marketing gets done in 2022. Customers want and expect more personalized experiences, they want to feel like the companies they do business with really know them. In order to provide that level of personalization, businesses are going to have to leverage their data and the new AI-based tools to provide customers with a higher level of personalization or risk losing the business to competitors.

Marketing Expert #47: Olivia Long, Editor in Chief, DroneGuru

Hybrid events are one of the bigger marketing technology trends that we will be seeing more on in 2022.

Although these online events in the past have been focused simply on live streaming lectures or speakers, we are seeing an upswing in having hybrid events that provide just as many features and experiences as those gained from people who are physically attending these events. This means including “swag bags”, connecting with important people, and having access to inside information so as not to leave anyone out. This is a very helpful way of including people from all around the world that makes them feel as though they are there.

Marketing Expert #48: Fay Hao, Head of Digital Marketing, OurPCB

Bitcoin And Cryptocurrency

Now, everybody knows about blockchain and how digital currency is upsetting businesses around the world. From banking, healthcare, and retail, each area could profit from a decentralized digital ledger that stores and tracks data in better places. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin influence blockchain to work with the buying of items or selling products on the web. Many consider crypto to be a significant problematic force in the eventual fate of finance.

Even though it arose over 10 years prior, cryptos are yet to arrive at their maximum capacity. The early years were portrayed by value change, however, 2021 recorded the most elevated BTC cost of more than $66,870 on October 20. Thus, far, financial experts and investors concur that the coming decade will demonstrate essential for the development of BTC and other cryptocurrencies.

Converting the MarTech Trends into results

We really hope that we kept our promise to provide you with tons of inspiration and quality insights about the future of Technology Marketing industry. Now, it is time for you make your homework and figure out which of these trends you want to invest in.

ContactPigeon has a 360-degree omnichannel customer engagement solution that has helped hundreds of brands and retailers generate six-figure revenues from personalized automations. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a free 30-min presentation.

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