From types of clientele to subject matter expertise, practice areas and menus of services, every agency has its particular differentiators that help it stand out in a crowded field and appeal to its target audience. Facing stiff competition to win clients, agency owners need to take note of emerging trends in their industry to ensure success in the coming year.
For insight into the latest movements in the world of advertising, marketing and PR, look no further than the advice members of Forbes Agency Council share below. If you’re an agency owner, learning more about the trends that will impact your business in 2022 can give you a head start on incorporating them into your client work and your own marketing strategy and help your agency stand out from and rise above your competitors.
1. Innovative Ways Of Tracking Information
Agencies need to be proactive instead of reactive to get ahead of trends. As advertising networks are pressured to abandon third-party cookies and tracking, agencies need to find innovative methods of tracking information. They should develop third-party relationships to assist with matching the ad to the content on the page. – Albert Moufarrij, MACH9
2. Intent Monitoring
Data is everything in digital marketing today. I encourage agency owners to look for new ways to use data insights to help their clients reach the right people, at the right time and on the right channels. One strategy on the rise is intent monitoring. It’s becoming much more precise and is now being used to help B2B brands find businesses and decision makers who are ready to buy now. – Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.
3. Partnerships With Microinfluencers And M-Commerce
One of the largest trends that has hit the market recently is partnerships with microinfluencers. That means finding someone on TikTok, for example, and working to see how they can help your clients. Another trend to be aware of is m-commerce—that is, the purchasing of goods from a mobile device. Everyone knows what e-commerce is, but very few have thought about m-commerce. – Jon James, Ignited Results
4. Trends That Impact Search Queries
As consumers change the way they search for products, your agency needs to improve with new enhancements, especially in SEO. Video content in strategies, the rising importance of Q&A sections and voice assistants becoming more and more popular are all trends that will have a major impact on search queries. Optimizing for them now will put you ahead of the crowd. – Lisa Montenegro, Digital Marketing Experts – DMX
5. Agencies Sending Updates Via Text
Agencies are sending direct SMS updates to their clients and prospects. This goes beyond just blasting a message for a promotion. Instead, focus on sending informative weekly updates via direct text messages. Treat this as you would an exclusive text thread where you can send updates about new videos, events or even just #WednesdayWisdom messages, for example. This is more about building ongoing trust than anything else. – Bernard May, National Positions
6. TikTok Creators Starting Trends
Hire TikTok creators to start a trend for you. Have one creator come up with a handful of ideas, use the trend that took off the best, and then hire a handful of creators to execute that trend at the same time. – Kelly Samuel, Snack Toronto
7. Delivering User-Generated Content To Clients
Find a way to develop and deliver cutting-edge, user-generated content for your campaigns. Many companies are really struggling with influencer marketing to begin with, so when it comes to UGC—and UGC video, in particular—they are pretty much lost. If you are able to deliver these as final products for your clients to use, you will be on the winning side. – Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency
8. Finding A Cause To Support
Find your social purpose. Clients today want to work with agencies that care about more than the bottom line; they want agencies with values that extend to the real world. And your employees want that too. How is your agency uniquely positioned to make the world a better place, and what are you doing to make it happen? Find a cause to support and connect it back to your business. – Scott Baradell, Idea Grove
9. Integrating With Other Marketing Disciplines
Look for ways to integrate with other marketing disciplines. If your agency focuses on PR, for example, consider interfacing with SEO, social media and digital advertising partners or consultants. The lines are blurring more and more between paid, owned and earned media, so finding ways to color in between the lines is a great way to ensure your discipline is adding value to your clients’ marketing mix. – April Margulies, Trust Relations
10. Hybrid Brand Experiences
The way in which we interact with the world has changed drastically over the past 18 months. Forward-thinking agencies should look at the role hybrid experiences will play in a post-pandemic landscape. To stand out and offer a cutting-edge vision of marketing success, brand experiences that blend the physical, virtual and augmented worlds in accessible, mixed-media campaigns will be vital. – Chris Martin, FlexMR
11. Strategies To Facilitate Voice Search
To stay relevant in regard to search engine optimization, agencies should immediately home in on implementing strategies to aid in voice search. Implement long-tail keywords, as the meteoric rise of smart speakers, AI-powered voice assistants and accessibility awareness will only continue as time goes on. – Evan Nison, NisonCo
12. Having A Diverse Team
Now more than ever, having a diverse team at your agency is crucial. Diversity involves race, ethnicity, age, gender, professional background and more. A diverse team means your agency values uniqueness, individual cultures and needs, as well as collaboration among team members. As agency leaders, we need to ensure we practice what we preach and ensure our teams reflect the diversity of today’s audiences. – Katie Schibler Conn, KSA Marketing
13. Social Media E-Commerce And In-App Purchasing
The world of social media e-commerce is fast-changing and ever-expanding. In-app purchases are becoming the norm. It’s critical to have acute knowledge of each major social media app’s in-app purchasing options and know which marketing tactics work best on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and other platforms that have incorporated e-shopping as a major part of their advertising revenue. – Stefan Pollack, The Pollack Group
