These Five 2022 Channel Trends Are Shaking Up Digital Marketing

eMarketer’s recent US Media and Entertainment Digital Ad Spending Forecast reflects a lot about what we’ve been seeing in B2B marketing: increased ad spending and a focus on digital channels. Here are five channel trends and strategies that piqued my interest along with implications for how they stand to shake up digital marketing in 2022 and beyond:

 

1. Ad spend is on the rise

 

According to eMarketer, ad spending will continue to increase in 2022. It is expected to exceed a combined $26 billion by 2023 for media and entertainment industries. This upward growth “reflects robust health in the overall digital ad market.” Marketers are picking up speed in finding new ways to reach prospective customers and create the positive customer experiences those buyers want and expect.

 

2. The financial impact from the pandemic is lessening

 

The pandemic has clearly impacted many aspects of the economy and our daily professional lives, budgets included. However, the report noted that the spending effect was not as severe as initially thought in March 2020. Digital ad spending is growing across the board. eMarketer made downward revisions to their digital ad spending forecasts early in the pandemic, but by October 2020 it moved back closer to pre-pandemic levels. Since then, the digital ad spending outlook has continued to improve.

 

As operations return to normal (or a new normal), and ad spending is on the rise, more businesses and marketers are ready for growth. It’s time to leave survival-mode behind to embrace new opportunities.

 

3. Digital, mobile & video ads: Reach buyers where they are

 

According to eMarketer, mobile accounted for 76.5% of digital advertising in the entertainment industry in 2021—the highest among industries eMarketer tracks. This makes sense given that entertainment activities like video streaming, gaming, and social video happen mostly on mobile devices. But this increase in mobile tracks across industries, and is applicable for B2B marketing, too. With more people working from home, on their personal devices, and at all hours of the day, the line between business and personal is even more blurred. And more buyers today prefer to do their own research and move through the buying process at their own pace.

 

There’s also a projected rise in video ads, increasing its share of US display advertising overall, going from 50.7% in 2021 to an expected 56.7% by 2025.

All of these numbers point to this digital marketing truth: marketers need to think digital first and mobile forward.

 

4. Choosing the best channel

 

A recent study shared via MediaPost put social media and email as the most effective marketing channels. Email newsletters ranked as good or very good by 95% of those surveyed, followed by webinars (92%), podcasts (86%), videos (87%), blog posts (86%) and whitepapers/e-books (83%).

 

Given those high numbers, how do you choose the best digital channels for your offers? The short answer is you don’t. Because the reality is, in today’s digital marketplace you need to be present everywhere your customers are, which means well-orchestrated omnichannel campaigns are essential.

 

5. Creating an omnichannel approach takes coordination

 

A final question for those who already have a marketing strategy that utilizes many channels such as display, social, email, SEO: Is your approach actually omnichannel or is it just multichannel?

 

A recent Harvard Business Review article brings to light an issue we’ve seen as businesses attempt to launch campaigns on new channels. “Many B2B players struggle with the implementation of omnichannel interactions because they treat channels as silos (“multichannel”), rather than as a set of interconnected tools a customer may want to use at different stages of a decision journey, or at different points in the relationship with a supplier (“omnichannel”).”

 

A truly omnichannel approach means a seamless experience for customers. HBR says the “key is a comprehensive, cross-channel customer view.”

 

 

Whether you’re just starting an omnichannel strategy, trying to move from multichannel to true omnichannel, or looking to scale your digital marketing even more, OMI has a solution that can fuel stronger results for your marketing and sales campaigns. Go here to find out about leveraging our SMB and medical market data on the LiveRamp Data Marketplace, where 95% of our email data matches the identity graph for use with display ad marketing.