To make a business thrive and scale in a competitive market, it needs to listen to the demands and respond to the desires of its consumers. Trying to attract and retain customers, companies spend vast amounts of money. Without understanding the promotion trends, they risk wasting them. In this article, we will reveal the TOP trends that will help plan a marketing strategy for 2022 and achieve the best results.

What are promotion trends

A trend is a tendency, a current direction, or simply put, a market vector that will lead to success for those who master it in time ("ride the wave").

The emergence and evolution of trends are influenced by many factors - from the global situation in the world (e.g., a pandemic) to technological advancements (e.g., the invention of blockchain) and the emergence of new promotional tools (e.g., the rise in popularity of TikTok or Clubhouse).

Essentially, companies planning to scale and attract a large number of partners analyze market promotion methods and incorporate patterns into their marketing strategy that lead to success.

The more direct competitors in the niche, the harder it is for a brand to promote itself - to capture consumer attention and loyalty, more effort needs to be put in, involving larger budgets for advertising, etc. Therefore, the best promotion strategy is to create a comfortable environment within an aggressive market and intense competition - find your "blue ocean." For more details on this promotion method, read the article "Blue Ocean" Strategy in MLM.

However, even if your project feels comfortable in its niche, any business that wants to strengthen its connection with the target audience needs to be aware of marketing trends.

P.S.: You may have heard about these trends before, but the longer they are talked about, the more necessary they become.

Top Promotion Trends in 2022

Trend #1. TikTok will be the dominant social network and the market will adapt to it

We have all witnessed the scale of virality of TikTok content - in fact, it is a tool for multi-channel interaction with people, as videos from there spread very quickly to other platforms. TikTok caused a real stir in the industry when major advertisers joined their platform - many brands turned to TikTok to retain their audience during COVID-19, moving from advertising to more direct interaction with consumers.

Several other social networks, inspired by the TikTok video format, have already implemented remarkably similar functionality - for example, Instagram launched a video format called "Reels".

P.S.: The market is forced to adapt to dominant trends. To survive, companies adjust to the "new reality" and borrow successful solutions from each other.

Trend #2. Demand for advertising on social networks will grow

More and more people are buying online, including directly on social networks. To attract and retain consumer attention, brands must think creatively and show a creative approach:

- companies create entertaining content and integrate their product ads there;

- bloggers and influencers become company ambassadors;

- companies launch named challenges, create new masks, stickers, hashtags, etc.

For example, let's analyze Avon's promotion strategy. Currently, they have 655K+ followers on Instagram, 526K+ followers on VKontakte, 21M+ followers on Facebook. To increase engagement and maintain consumer loyalty, they popularize their brand hashtags (#watchmenow), collaborate with celebrities, and launch a series of marketing campaigns, effectively demonstrating the product quality.

Like any other business, network marketing companies need to deeply integrate social media into their marketing promotion strategy, develop the reputation of their projects online, increase visibility, and popularize personal brands of their leaders and founders.

Trend #3. Content will meet the new, post-pandemic consumer needs

To stay ahead, successful brands must keep their finger on the pulse, react promptly to changes in the tastes and needs of their audience, and adapt their content strategies to the new reality.

For example, due to the pandemic, remote work and flexible schedules have replaced the traditional five-day office routine. Therefore, to cater to a wider range of lifestyles, brands will need to offer a broader range of experiences.

In network marketing, the conditions of interaction between clients and partners have also changed in recent years. For instance, many have reviewed their logistics (terms and delivery times of products), teams have less face-to-face interaction, conduct more online meetings, enhance online attraction skills, etc. Companies and their leaders, in turn, need to update their work tools, improve the convenience of their business platforms, and modify training programs for newcomers to align with the new context.

Trend #4. More metaverses will be created.

Regardless of how fast technology progresses, people are social beings oriented towards communication, interaction, and relationships. The metaverse is the solution to how people will interact in the future, and brands that are properly equipped and understand their consumers will succeed in this new reality.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a huge asset for the retail industry and a tool that eliminates potential communication problems and obstacles with potential customers. A brand can buy the right to a virtual mirror in a game, dress game characters in its clothing, or place its advertising poster in a game metaverse - all limited only by your imagination.

For example, the iconic Brazilian footwear brand Havaianas has already collaborated with the online game Fortnite - they used physical footwear as digital gaming content.

Trend #5. Demand for communication, openness, and inclusivity.

Brands must carefully monitor what their audience reads and believes in. Share truths and facts, be mindful and socially responsible, draw attention to social issues, sincerely discuss important and even taboo topics in our society - this will positively impact consumer trust and loyalty.

Consumers have always held businesses accountable, but in 2022, it will be absolutely unforgivable to ignore important social issues or even lie to customers.

Steps Business Owners Need to Take. Conclusions

By analyzing trends and envisioning the market's development vector in 2022, the following conclusions can be drawn:

- Study your audience and follow them. A business cannot exist without consumers. Create a portrait of your target customer, find out where they spend their free time, how they interact with social media algorithms, etc. If your audience is on TikTok, your company should be there too.

- Do not be conservative in marketing. Some companies still do not recognize the potential of TikTok and refuse to believe the facts. Research the market and do not be afraid to implement new tools in your business promotion strategy.

- Diversify the project monetization.Innovations, as seen in TikTok or even YouTube, can become an additional source of income for the brand. This is not the primary goal of a content strategy, but it is worth considering when planning marketing budgets.

P.S.: Additional income from content promotion can be reinvested in scaling the business.

- Create a brand online community for transparent interaction with customers.Every brand action online should be sincere, honest, and transparent - respond to comments, conduct polls, engage the audience in your online activities, and collect honest feedback.

Marketing promotion of any business is complex. Each action needs to be calibrated, testing different methods, ways of attracting customers, and tools for tracking analytics. However, by dedicating time to developing a strategy and monitoring its performance, you will build trusting relationships with your audience, fine-tune the funnel for attracting loyal, repeat customers, and dedicated partners.

The experts of the team FlawlessMLM will advise you on how to optimize the promotion of your project and not waste time on "learning the hard way." Additionally, we will assist with software development, improving the marketing plan, optimizing work and organizational processes. To learn more about solutions for your business, contact our manager in the website chat (flawlessmlm.com)

Digital Trends 2022. MLM Business Promotion Checklist