When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the landscape of digital marketing changed. 

Consumers spent more time online, became more selective with their purchases, and expected an increasingly personalized experience. In 2021, we still see the ripples of these changes. 

So what can we expect from 2022? 

If you’re looking ahead to 2022 and wondering what you can do to succeed with your marketing efforts, you’ve come to the right place. 

We’re going to look at five ways you can successfully scale your digital marketing activity in 2022, starting with the most important factor of all: your customers. 

1. Listen to Your Customers 

This isn’t exactly a new theme for 2022, but it’s important nonetheless. 

Marketing success starts with your consumers. Without knowing what they want, your marketing activities lack direction. 

Before you do anything else, take the time to understand who your customers are and what they want. 

But how can you find out this information? 

Good question. You have a couple of options: 

• Conduct market research: From focus groups to online surveys, conducting market research can help you understand who you should be targeting and what your consumers want from you. The best method will vary depending on the type of business you run, who your audience is, and what you want to learn. 
• Read reports and key trends: If you don’t have the time or budget to conduct research, there’s a lot of information to guide you in reaching your audience. You can review existing reports and statistics to get a good idea of key trends in your industry. It won’t be as specific as conducting marketing research, but it’s a good starting point.

Whatever you decide, make sure that you spend some time understanding your consumers. 

2. Personalize Your Marketing

Research shows that customers want “​​personalized, authentic and contextual experiences with a brand.”

Why?

Because personalization provides a better customer experience, not to mention, it helps you boost retention and increase conversions. 

So when it comes to your marketing efforts, take this into account. Consumers don’t want a generic experience, and it’s up to you to deliver. 

So, where should you start with personalization? 

Here’s what we’d suggest:

Segment your audience 

Segmenting your audience allows you to send personalized and tailored messages to specific groups of consumers. 

For example, you could segment your audience based on age, location, or online behavior. By doing this, you can show consumers information that’s relevant to them. As a result, you have a higher chance of getting a conversion.

Send personalized emails

Studies have shown that emails with personalized content and subject lines experience higher open rates and click-through rates. 

When consumers receive high volumes of emails every day, you need to stand out from the crowd. So consider using email signature marketing and personalization in your emails to cut through the noise, increase your open rates, and hopefully increase your conversions.

3. Use Affiliate Marketing 

People want to buy from brands they trust. Period. 

So what can you do to gain trust from your consumers? 

The answer is simple: use affiliate marketing. 

Affiliate marketing is when a brand uses a third party to generate leads and increase conversions. For example, an influencer receiving payment to post about a brand on Instagram would be a form of affiliate marketing.

When consumers see people they follow online talking about your brand, it builds trust. So consider leveraging influencers or online personalities and come to an affiliate marketing agreement with them to give your brand some credibility. 

It’s also worth noting that affiliate marketing isn’t just limited to social media. Online reviews work, too. 

Take a look at this affiliate review of Motley Fool, a stock advisor platform. Simple Money Lyfe, a well-known brand in the industry, has reviewed the service. This review gives Motley Fool credibility and a chance to build trust with potential consumers.

4. Create Relevant Content 

Providing consumers with relevant content is pretty important when it comes to digital marketing. 

Think about it: if a consumer clicks on your website and is met with something completely irrelevant, they’re not going to stick around. 

This is bad for two reasons: 

1. It provides a bad user experience: if a consumer has a bad experience on your website, they’ll find what they need elsewhere. Not to mention, consumers will associate this bad experience with your brand, meaning it’s pretty unlikely they’ll come back in the future. 
2. It increases your bounce rate: if Google recognizes a consistently high bounce rate, your entire website rankings can suffer. We know it’s harsh, but that’s just the way it is. 

So you need to create relevant content. To do this, you’ve got to understand customers’ search intent (in other words, the reason behind their search). 

Imagine a consumer searching for the phrase “resources to learn German.” 

What is the search intent behind this phrase?

It could be that they’re expecting to find a list of online learning resources. Or perhaps they want to be directed to a platform that can help them learn German, like this page from Preply:

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Whatever their reason, you need to understand it. This will help you create content that’s relevant to what your consumers are searching for.

Another content to consider is creating relevant videos. Videos are more engaging than plain text, reducing bounce rates and increasing conversions. Let’s take a look at how inFlow does this.

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inFlow added a customer testimonial video on their landing page. Sure, written testimonials and 5-star ratings boost customer trust. But videos provide your audience with even more trust and insight towards your brand.

Whether it’s a testimonial, a full product review, or animations, videos keep your content more engaging.

5. Improve the User Experience 

The consumers of 2021 are tech-savvy. They want to visit a website that's fast, easy to use, and provides them with the information they’re looking for. 

So what can you do in 2022 to cater to this audience?  

A good place to start is to improve the user experience (UX) of your website. 

UX refers to the overall experience a consumer has with your site. From design and layout to navigation and load speed, everything about your site has the potential to influence user experience.

Let’s take a look at a couple of things you can put in place to improve UX. 

Implement Chatbots

Chatbots are a convenient way for visitors to communicate with you directly. It allows them to find the information they need without having to rummage around your site. 

Let’s look at an example of a chatbot in action. 

Track-POD is a website that helps users find the best route for deliveries. Its chatbot pops up on the home screen as soon as the user begins to scroll, providing them with a direct line of communication to the company. The chatbot provides visitors with a direct link to book a demo when it’s outside business hours.

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This call-to-action provides visitors with a quick and easy way to find out more about the service at a time that suits them best. In other words, it makes the customer journey more efficient. 

Think about how to use a chatbot on your website to make the experience better for your consumers and increase conversions. 

Whether you have a customer support team responding to users directly or a selection of automated responses, chatbots can certainly make your website more user-friendly.

Review your FAQs

If you don’t want to use a chatbot on your website, make sure your FAQs are up to scratch. 

FAQs provide consumers with useful and helpful information. To give them the best experience possible, your FAQS need to be flawless. 

To make sure your FAQs are as user-friendly as possible, here’s what we’d suggest: 

Make Sure All Information is Up to Date 

Put yourself in the customer's shoes for a second. You have a problem with your product, so you head to the company website for answers. You’ve found a solution, but for some reason, it doesn’t work. You’d be frustrated, right? 

It turns out that the article you’ve found is out of date. There’s a new process in place, but the FAQ hasn’t been updated. Not ideal. 

So make sure everything you have in your FAQs is up to date. If your FAQ information isn’t correct, it won’t be helpful for your customers.

Make it Easy to Navigate 

If you have a lot of information in your FAQs, visitors might find it hard to get the information they need. To solve this problem, you need to make it easy to navigate. Whether that’s categorizing your articles and videos or using a search bar, make sure you think about how visitors can navigate through your support information.

Take a look at Landbot’s support page, for example. The support articles are all categorized, and there’s a search bar for visitors to use.

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Consider putting FAQs on relevant pages 

Your FAQs don’t all have to sit in the same place. If you know that consumers have the same questions when they land on a certain page, you can give them the answer there and then.

Think about where some of your FAQs can sit on your website. They might not always be best placed in your FAQs section. 

Whatever you decide, just make sure your FAQs are relevant, up to date, and easy to find. Your visitors will have a better experience because of it. 

Plan your marketing strategy for 2022

So there you have it — some actionable advice on how you can successfully scale your digital marketing strategies in 2022. 

Although this isn’t a definitive list, it’s a good starting point. What works well for one company might not work for another, so do your research to find out what works for you and your business.