2021 Summary and What’s to Come

We wanted to take the opportunity with one of our final blogs of the year to summarise what’s happened in marketing and the wider business world in 2021, the role of data, and what we think is in store for 2022.

2021

2021 has been yet another turbulent and uncertain year for many industries due to the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic.

Many marketing budgets have been frozen or heavily diminished at times, many exhibition events were cancelled, and the majority of those that were able to take place had significantly reduced visitor numbers. Read about our experience of exhibiting at the B2B Marketing Expo in London last month here.

The recruitment sector has been volatile. Lots of companies have continued to recruit but there’s also been many companies forced into making redundancies or downsizing.

In terms of marketing, we’ve seen a big year for email.

Before the pandemic, email was still the most-used marketing channel due to the results it continues to produce. Then the pandemic gave it a further boost as it became even more useful to communicate with customers as lifestyles changed.

This trend shows no signs of slowing down.

According to Statista, 306.4 billion emails were sent and received every day in 2020! And Statista expect that figure to grow to 376.4 billion daily emails by 2025.

“Despite the growth and prominence of mobile messengers and chat apps, email is an integral part of daily online life.” says Statista’s Joseph Johnson.

2022

It’s no surprise then that we expect to see email remain at the core of business marketing strategies next year.

Some 89% of marketers also say that email marketing is their primary strategy.

We also expect to see the continued growth in the use of video marketing. 90% of businesses say they will use video in some marketing-related capacity in 2022.

Working from home is here to stay. However, research shows hybrid working is the most effective way to ensure efficiency whilst maintaining employee happiness/job satisfaction. We expect more businesses to adopt this approach next year so that they get the best of both worlds.

In our view this shows why email, and also social media channels, will be key to any successful marketing strategy in 2022.

The Role of Data

We also expect to see the continuation of high staff turnover rates across most sectors. This means that keeping contact lists up to date and having access to fresh data constantly has never been more important.

You also need to make sure your data doesn’t become non-compliant and remains legal for you to use.

With email the main focus of most marketers we’re here to make sure that you always have access to legal, compliant, up to date and effective data throughout 2022.

We can help you with a data fitness test to ensure your data is fit for use, alternatively we’re also offering you access to our entire database for free!

Try our service without commitment by taking advantage of our offer of a 30-day FREE ACCOUNT.

·        300 verticals

·        Enterprise and public sector organisations

·        Data guarantees for accuracy, completeness, and recency

Find out more by calling our expert team on 01252 367400, emailing support@i4b.com, or completing our contact form.

All the best for 2022.

The team at i-4business