2022 Trends in Marketing

Trends in the Marketing Industry

Marketing is an evolving industry and recently witnessed massive shifts in trends. Technology and content creation leaders are finding new ways to attract attention and engage with a targeted audience, resulting in large amounts of data to capture. Before examining three of those trends in marketing, it is first helpful to define the industry of marketing, sub industries within marketing, the size and scope of its sub sections, and a few other important distinctions. 

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) classifies marketing under the industry of Marketing Consulting Services and states that they are, “establishments primarily engaged in providing operating advice and assistance to businesses and other organizations on marketing issues, such as developing marketing objectives and policies, sales forecasting, new product development and pricing, licensing and franchise planning, and marketing planning and strategy” (census.gov, 2022). The American Marketing Association defines marketing as, “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offering that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (Nelson, 2022). It is important to note that there are different specializations of marketing. These can be broken down into different fields which have a specific focus within the ecosystem of marketing.

Marketing specializations are important as they help define the size and scope of the marketing industry. Some specializations can lean into other fields of marketing such as advertising and public relations. Several marketing specializations include market research, content marketing, search engine marketing, video marketing, direct marketing, database marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, guerilla marketing, event marketing and product marketing (Flavin, 2021).  Some of the different fields in marketing are market research, brand management, advertising and public relations, promotion, sales, and retailing (Uhlig, 2021). Influencer marketing for example is a marketing specialization trend that has seen an increasing surge of interest in the past few years. It essentially makes use of an advocate who has already established a level of social trust or “social proof” with an audience on a social media platform. They are typically hired to promote a product, brand or event. Influencer marketing could fall under a sub industry of marketing called advertising, which is the, “communication to consumers about a product, idea or service” (utexas.edu). Marketing is broad in its scope; advertising as a sub field narrows the scope of marketing to focus on a narrow aspect of customer interaction.

Marketing can be complex when trying to understand a target audience and the feedback they give. To help make sense of collected audience data and turn it into meaningful insight, businesses have increasingly made use of data visualization and artificial intelligence. Data Visualization is a trend because an increasing number of businesses use it to quickly, “break the silos between sales and marketing, increase ROI and efficiency, and boost performance” (Mtc News Desk, 2022).  Artificial Intelligence (AI) become a trend because business have significantly increased their investment into that area in recent years. AI can processes collected data much faster than a human can allowing for, “more nuanced, comprehensive understanding of their [companies] target audience” (Marketing Evolution, 2022). AI has other specific uses which has seen an increasing rise in application, such as automation, real-time personalization and deepfakes.

This paper will focus on three trends that have seen increasing usage and value in marketing over the past few years. The increasing usage of data visualization to tell a story, social media influencers, and Artificial Intelligence in marketing.

Discussion of Three Trends

Increased use of Data Visualization to tell a story in Marketing

Data visualization is data that has been turned into a graphical form, allowing complex or large volumes of information to be more easily understood (Mtc News Desk, 2022). This can be applied in a wide variety of ways such as allowing marketers to see patterns between consumers and their behaviors through interactive dashboards, or more accurately analyzing market strategies (eWeek Editors, 2022). The market for data visualization is projected to be worth 19.20 billion by 2027 as compared to 8.85 billion in 2019 (fortunebusinessinsights.com, 2020).  A few things fueling the growth of this trend are the, “rising emphasis of enterprises and businesses on information visualization, visual analytics, and scientific visualization” (fortunebusinessinsights.com, 2020). Some of the information data visualization processes include massive pools of structured and unstructured data being gathering from a variety of different sources and technologies such as mobile data, web-browser cookies, customer feedback, internet connected devices, and social media mentions (Mtc News Desk, 2022). One report from Mordor Intelligence (2022) states:

The growing penetration of digital technologies into business functions across various industries drives the market’s growth. As the digitization of processes continues across all major industries, the focus of enterprises toward capitalizing on the huge volumes of data generated is increasing, boosting the demand for data visualization solutions. Hence, data visualization tools are also becoming more critical to help end -users make sense of the huge amount of data generated daily (mordorintelligence.com, 2022).

Data visualization techniques are as old as cartography maps from the 1500’s illustrating land in its relation to other bodies of land and water (Yan, 2021).  Increasingly sophisticated data visualization techniques and analytic tools have allowed marketers to map how consumers are influenced by their peers think and how they respond at a granular level to the offered products and services (Stackpole, 2022). The trust a consumer has for the opinion for their peers is called “Social Proof” and marks a rising trend of marketers using social media influencers to engage a target audience.

Increased use of social media influencers in Marketing

In 1984, author Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion crafted the term “social proof” as viewing, “a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it” (Lua, 2022). Some of the important ways social proof is used is in the form of testimonials, case studies, reviews, expert opinions, celebrity endorsements and trust icons. Celebrity endorsement in the form of using a social media influencer to promote a product, service or brand awareness is a growing trend. Consumers have become more skeptical of brand and marketing tactics used by companies. Social media Influencer marketing allows brands and companies to advertise through, “someone that a niche community watches, engages with and trusts on a daily basis” (Mathew, 2018).

In 2021, a study found that, “63% of marketers planned into increase their influencer marketing budgets” (Santora, 2022). One reason for this increasing trend is due to COIVD-19 and social distancing regulations. The pandemic forced many people to work at home and engage with family and friends through virtual platforms. As a result of having to work and engage socially in a virtual environment, social media platforms like TikTok saw a 38% increase in usage in 2020 (Dixon, 2022). Social media platforms are projected to see stable through the foreseeable future according to a 2022 report by Statistia.com (Dixon, 2022).  

Social media Influencers have had a huge impact on marketing, and the increasing usage of them is a rapidly growing trend. Underlying that growth has been another trend, Artificial Intelligence, which allow marketers to analyze data, create content and respond to customers in real time with incredible speed. The application of AI in the field of marketing is a trend that shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

Increase use of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in marketing has been profound, by allowing business to more quickly create an environment that tracks and responds to their behavior. Automation, big data analytics, content curation and generation, behavior analysis, predictive analytics and chat bots are all examples of how AI has been used to better engage and understand consumers (Hall, 2022). The usage of AI in marketing is increasing, it is projected that the value of the AI in marketing will rise to an estimated 107.5 billion by 2028, compared to its estimated 15.84 billion in 2021 (Statista.com, 2022). One major factor has to do with the speed at which AI can provide meaningful real-time data on how a marketing strategy is impacting its targeted audience. In terms of using AI as part of a digital marketing strategy, 61% of marketers claim that AI is the most important aspect (Brooks, 2020). An article from Marketing Evolution (2022) states:

Modern marketing relies on an in-depth understanding of customer needs and preferences, and the ability to act on that knowledge quickly and effectively. The ability to make real-time, data-driven decisions has brought AI marketing solutions to the forefront for marketing stakeholders (Marketing Evolution, 2022).

An Important Emerging Issue

One important emerging issue with the use of AI in marketing is the use of deepfakes as a form of social proof to influence or entertain a target audience. A deepfake is a subset of machine learning that allows a computer to take one image, combine it with another image and create something new (Frank, 2022). Although the technology is still relatively new, it has been used successfully in feature films like Star Wars: Rogue One to fill in the performance of an actress who had passed before completion of the film (Chitrakorn, 2021). In digital marketing, it allows marketers to create new performances from an influencer or celebrity so that ad localization is completed much more efficiently and quickly than could have been done otherwise. Deepfake technology gives marketers powerful new dynamic tools of persuasion and influence by using a person or platform that an audience trusts to spread a message.

The Deepfake Revolution

At the heart of deepfake technology is a form of AI called deep learning. Deep learning are algorithms that in essence teach themselves to solve problems when given enough reference data (Frank, 2022). Videos and images can be created that look realistic and accurate enough to fool the audience into believing that the person or people in that video or image performed those actions. While there are different methods that can be used to create a deepfake, it is not limited to video and still images, deepfake text and audio has grown in usage as well.

One remarkable point to consider is how deepfake technology and social media influencer marketing intersect. It is projected that by the end of 2022, the influencer marketing industry will generate roughly $16.4 billion in revenue (Beauchamp, 2022). It has created a scenario where in just one day, Li Jiaqi and Viya, two of China’s top live-streamers sold $3 billion worth of goods in one day (Geyser, 2022). It is clear influencer marketing has an accessible and measurable place when it comes in to influencing consumer decision making. According to one study, the platforms used to connect brands with influencers are expected to reach a market size of $26.4 billion by 2025 (KBV Research, 2019).  Dr. Shawn DuBravac pushes the idea of deepfakes impact on marketing further by stating, “It would not surprise me at all if, in the next 10 years, every brand has a virtual synthetic identity” (Beauchamp, 2022). 

Personality and creativity are important factors in brands connecting with potential customers. Deepfake technology lowers the cost of in-person appearances, fixing edits and avoiding reshoots of captured footage, and altering a model’s language or appearance to increase the appeal to a customer’s personal preferences (Chitrakorn, 2021). The ability to manipulate and create a synthetic version of trusted source has some ethical implications.

Ethical issues of Deepfakes

In 2020, a State Farm commercial featured footage of an ESPN analyst in 1998 making accurate predictions about the year 2020 (Toews, 2022). It received wide acclaim as a talking point about the power of AI technology and deepfakes as many people were fooled into thinking the footage was authentic (Toews, 2022). It blurs the line between what is real and what isn’t, creating wide range of ethical issues. In a recent article, The Brookings Institution touched on the dangers of deepfakes stating that, “The capacity to generate deepfakes is proceeding much faster than the ability to detect them” and “If AI is reaching the point where it will be virtually impossible to detect audio and video representations of people saying things, they never said… seeing will no longer be believing” (Galston, 2022).  The dangers of deceptive use of deepfake technology are a very real. While deepfakes can be used as a powerful tool in a marketing strategy, it can also be used as a powerful tool of disinformation and disruption. The Department of Homeland Security released a 43-page document titled, “Increasing Threat of Deepfake Identities” where concerns over malicious entities used deepfake technology to gain access to secure systems and cause social and pollical harm were examined.

Conclusion

Technology has created trends that are increasing the ways in which businesses use data visualization, social media influencers and AI in marketing. Data visualization is one trend seeing increasing usage to tell a story of how data reveals patterns of behavior in a target audience and inform business decisions. The increasing of use of social media influencers to better connect brands and with potential customers is a trend that has seen a marked increase since 2020. Artificial Intelligence has embedded itself as a trend in marketing where it is increasingly being used is being used in everything from data visualization and analytics to content creating and deepfakes. The trends that have been examined so far are important to the marketing industry and a careful understanding of how best to use them require careful planning, research, and investment.

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