In the digital marketing world, nothing stays still for long.
What changed in 2022
The balance between offline and online digital marketing has shifted in recent years. As a result, many advertisers have switched from offline marketing to digital, which has caused the prices of digital advertising to skyrocket. This is particularly evident in the areas of websites, emails, digital ads, and SEO.
The market’s challenge now is that many people have invested in digital programs because they have become too expensive. Consequently, the return on investment for these programs has decreased significantly. To solve this problem, companies are looking for alternatives.
Incremental dollars can make a big difference for businesses and individuals, so it’s important to be strategic about where you invest them. By the end of 2022, we’ll see even more changes.
Overview of the digital marketing industry in 2022
The digital marketing industry is an oligopoly in which a few major players dominate the market. One example is Google. Companies are becoming increasingly frustrated with advertising on major platforms like Google because they do not see the desired ROI.
People in the 18-34 age range, who used to be the main target for advertising, are no longer attentive. A lot of their time is now being spent on Facebook and Google. This shift means there is a dispersion of usage, with different platforms gaining favor at different times.
To capitalize on the trend, other companies need to start looking into strategies to set them apart from the pack. The pendulum is swinging back toward decentralization. This is good news for media buying companies, as they will see a resurgence in their power and influence.
The current economic situation is challenging for businesses. Stagflation, high inflation, and deceleration are leading many companies to scale back hiring and ad spending. So, during this time, you should work harder to optimize the following areas:
- Content marketing. You need to keep creating killer content that is relevant and engaging. Keep writing longer content, and make sure you publish it frequently.
- SEO. You need a good SEO strategy that attracts your audience, creating leads to buy products or services.
- Email marketing. You can continue communicating with your subscribers or customers through relationship-building or sales.
- Ad retargeting. You need to work on retargeting to drive higher visibility and brand recognition. Use this tool and be ready to see more conversions from repeat visitors.
Main key performance indicators (KPIs) in 2023
To make decisions about whether to invest in outside sales and marketing, you need to take a long-term view of your customers. These are four important KPIs that you should monitor closely:
- Customer lifetime value. It is the total value of a customer’s business with you throughout their relationship with your company. Considering this metric, think about how much it costs to acquire a new customer. If customer lifetime value has decreased, it’s likely because the cost of customer acquisition has risen.
- Unique visits. By using data from unique visits, which are an industry-standard metric, you can find out how many people view your content within a given time frame. That way, you can quickly see trends, as this KPI offers a baseline that allows you to compare one type of content to another.
- Consumption. You need to understand how your visitors are consuming content. Views, downloads, opens, click rates, time spent, and bounce rates are crucial measurements that help you hold on to your customers. Make sure that when they click on your link, they find what they expect. If you have a low bounce rate, you’re doing things right.
- Engagement. Measure likes, shares, mentions, comments, pins, etc. These tell you whether your audience engages with your content. The more they like it, comment, or share, the more engaged they are.
Where companies are spending money
Companies are removing their less effective marketing programs, such as radio, TV, and paid media. Instead, they’re focusing on content marketing, SEO, email marketing, and ad retargeting.
This shift shows businesses know that great content is essential for a successful online presence. As a result, they will spend money in the next 12-18 months in areas where they are most likely to see success.
Differences between the B2B and B2C markets in 2023
The B2B and B2C markets started down different marketing paths in 2019. B2C started gravitating toward influencer-based marketing, while B2B focused on webinars, events, SEO, and content marketing.
The B2C side is showing a significant pullback that’s happening specifically in influencer-based marketing and social media marketing because these businesses are struggling to achieve an ROI that corresponds to the expenses they’re incurring. So B2C businesses are becoming very aggressive and renegotiating ad rates, influencer deals, and other paid media contracts.
The B2B side is better protected and less exposed. Advertisers are B2B companies and are staying true to what works. They’ve done a much better job of quantifying the results that go with that. They will have a drawdown and paid media as well as paid social, but it will be less traumatic than what you see on the B2C side.
What B2B and B2C companies should consider
Many companies have had difficulties attributing their performance to specific marketing channels. So, to begin with, your B2B or B2C company needs to look at a potential partner that can go in and efficiently drive results. Then, with an analytics layer, you can cover all your bases, from content marketing to mobile, social media, and influencer marketing.
The second step is to rationalize your costs and shift your marketing spending to match market demands.
In summary
Since you are responsible for both the B2B and B2C sides, you need to explore outsourcing some or all of those responsibilities. These could include mobile marketing, which is becoming increasingly important. In addition, whether yours is a B2B or B2C company, it’s important to invest in analytics.
As a managed content marketing service, Tempesta Media offers a platform with an analytics layer that covers all your bases: content marketing, mobile, social media, and influencer marketing. If you would like your business to keep growing in hard times, contact us today.
