2022 : ‘New’ Way Home
As the pandemic continues to rage a war with us, we find newer ways to adapt to everything that is happening around us. Marketing too has undergone a paradigm shift. Unlike the Spiderman in No Way Home (yes I'm huge Avengers fan), we can't live in our past glory and demolish the old demons, but need to make way for the new era of marketing. Here is a compilation of what I will take into next year; trends to watch, closely follow and adopt to realize our marketing efforts.
Segmentation basis age, demographics or income is now passé. Cohorts are a grouping of consumers into subsets based on behavioral analytics, instead of a single unit. It is the new age targeted marketing. It is the way of the future because it is based on a deeper understanding of customers, achieved by slice and dice of data to uncover their common experiences, attitudes and personas.
The value of cohort marketing is its ability to drive predictive marketing- improve response rates, higher campaign conversions or better ROIs.
An example of cohort led marketing is seen in the home interiors category. The millennial who are in 38+ age group are more likely to custom make home furniture or paint walls as buying one’s own home is a sense of pride and fulfillment for this cohort as compared to Generation Y who tend to rent a home or furniture, with financial achievement being the same for both cohorts.
Trivia – Cohort was originally used to describe a military unit?in ancient Rome. The cohorts varied then, though in terms of size. The Roman legion was divided into?ten cohorts; the first cohort was made up of 800 men and the other nine cohorts had a total of 4,320.
It is forecasted that in the next decade, all of the increase of 150 million in population from 1.35 billion in 2018 to 1.5 billion in 2028 is going to happen in 35+ age group. We are no longer a young India as we grow around the belly, faster than we think!
According to a research study, the consumption of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in 'middle India' or towns with a population of between 1 lakh and 10 lakh will witness the highest growth. This makes the middle India (by age & population strata), the key growth engine as it will drive massive shifts in demand for certain products. Marketers will need to tailor offerings to serve these aspirations of the rural towns that have begun to converge with urban India, while innovating to solve for challenges (such as access to digital infrastructure, financial inclusion).
Interesting facts - The growth seen in categories like personal grooming, hygiene in Middle India in the last year or so, has surpassed a cumulative growth achieved in over a decade. Those who eat out do so 'more often' in Middle India than in Urban India. Really?!
From changing consumer segments to scarcity of materials to strained distribution channels to a highly remote workforce resulting in fewer workers, we are propelled from an era of abundance to scarcity thinking in current times.
Hyper automation benefits of increase in agility, higher quality, diminishing costs, pace of new launches, improved collaboration thus solving for a lot of the present day challenges faced by marketers.
At the current rate of adoption of hyper automation across many industries, it is estimated that in the next five years, more than?20% of all products will first be touched by a human at the time of purchase.
Interesting observation - A portable hand fan is manual. An electric fan is automated. But an electric fan that has a sensor that can adjust its speed basis the temperature in the room is hyper automation.
Direct to consumer paved the way for new entrants who could effectively build, market, sell, and ship their products directly to the consumers. But, direct to consumer does not serve solely as a channel. The start of the homebody economy saw many companies scramble to kickstart a D2C model, some are still figuring out while others are ahead in the race.
Direct to consumer channel is quintessential for every business aspiring to deepen relationships, reinforce brand proposition and stay connected with its consumers. It enables them to respond more attentively to customer feedback, get feedback on campaigns, products they’ve already launched to know what people think and make better business decisions.
Zero-party data (given directly by the consumer) is the new currency. The new privacy regulations like the iOS update and the impending removal of cookies is further pushing marketers to accelerate this channel.
领英推荐
That’s why 2022 should be about starting to own your audience.
An example in this space is the startup beauty group MyGlamm which has a robust D2C and continuous engagement with its users through beauty sessions, also operates its own training academies to be in tune with the beauty industry trends.
Loyalty programs will reinvent itself and evolve into community programs. Offering discounts, price off, freebies no longer generates the desired appeal and can easily be replicated by other competitive players. It is the affiliation to the community groups and value addition like exclusive access to products, tutorials and offline events that will create compelling differentiators for a brand.
It is a far more personal connection, and so loyalties and friendships grow when a brand nurtures communities. Consumers take pleasure in the intimacy of consuming together and interacting with a like-minded community. It's a clique that amalgamates taste, interest, experiences and ideologies.
A brand that comes to my mind and my personal favorite is Fitbit. When I bought the Fitbit Versa Smartwatch at the start of the lockdown, I was invited to the Fitbit Community that had me experience the power of a strong support network. I was particularly impressed with the Group feature that lets you discover like-minded people through topic-specific communities ranging from fitness to nutrition to wellness. Posting 'Run with me' on my account, I could challenge my friends and myself to do 7 kms each day in under an hour !
Who would have thought that 3D virtual world in which people, represented as avatars that could interact with each other and artificially intelligent agents in science fiction author Neal Stephens' novel Snow Crash, would become the future of the web?
Metaverse offers hyper-real alternative world for us?to?coexist in. It is the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality and the Internet. We are already witnessing an uptake on brands deploying AR for consumers to visualize & experience clothing, accessories, apparels or even home decor.
Marketers need to take cognizance that websites will be replaced with a virtual world that is available whenever you want to visit it. Communication will become more natural as compared to a webinar or virtual meet as people can gesture the speaker, shift a gaze or a walk upto a fellow participant for a conversation. Brands can recreate their services or build branded characters or arenas within games, natively inserting themselves within an experience in the metaworld.
The metaverse is limitless.
Interesting fact - Facebook is now renamed as Meta. While it does not suggest any immediate change for Facebook or Instagram apps or products, it certainly heralds the onstart of the metaverse journey that we will witness in the times to come.
The genesis of the above is simply streaming it live. Live is the new reality.
Live streaming has become more widespread in the last several years. From streaming live music and sports to instream shopping on ecommerce to hosting live streams with influencers, these will become even more common and sophisticated across various industries as the year moves forward.
It allows brands to showcase their personality, create authentic experiences and enhance persuasion.
So, what from your standard playbook are you going to discard and make way for the new. Would love to hear from you.
2022 is going to exciting, I am sure about that.
All interesting trends. We need to see what will scale. The middle India and 35+ is something all marketers should think about shifting from young and rural...well put Kavita