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Which key creative trends can help you achieve your business goals and why?

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May 24, 2022 | 7 min read

If you’re looking for new ways to boost your business, utlizing creative trends as a part of your strategy can be a winning solution

In the race for customer attention, brands that manage to stand out, impress and emotionally connect with their audiences will get an opportunity to become market leaders.

Whether you choose to create ads in futuristic aesthetics, shape messages based on buzzing topics, or run campaigns that provoke a strong feeling of nostalgia, all these approaches will take you a couple of steps closer to achieving your business goals in 2022 and beyond. To find out more ideas, tips, and insights on the topic, continue reading this article or participate in a free, thematic online event by Depositphotos.

Here are the objectives you can realize using creative trends in your strategy.

Grow brand awareness

Entering a new market or improving your share of an existing one usually starts with building brand awareness. Unless you’re Apple, Google or Nike, there's plenty of room for you to grow. All you need to do is captivate your audience's attention and make the right impression with the help of noteworthy marketing.

At this stage, the power of social media can come in handy. Today, channels such as Instagram and Pinterest allow you to reach and lead potential customers all the way to decision-making, without urging them to change platforms. However, social media speaks in a visual language, and eye-catching, up-to-date imagery is a must for single posts or entire campaigns.

For growing brand awareness, we advise experimenting with the metaverse trend. As the boundaries between real and digital worlds blur, brands get more tools to conquer the attention of new audiences and engage with them. Among the most popular ones are augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. They allow users to feel more present and interact with a product without actually leaving the comfort of their homes.

Make sure your designs for AR and VR include a large amount of 3D elements and motion graphics. This will allow you to stand out from the crowd, boost engagement and increase your chances of going viral with your project.

Boost conversion rates

The higher the brand awareness, the more website visits you’ll get. However, making people click the ‘go to’ button is only half the battle. The bigger challenge is to engage, convert and retain them.

According to the CrowdRiff infographic, 63% of users claim visuals are more important than product descriptions, and 53% say that images are more crucial than reviews or ratings. This means that you can add value to the interaction with your brand by creating authentic and high-quality photographs of your goods. Based on them, a consumer will judge the overall quality of a product and decide whether to make a purchase.

For boosting conversion rates, we advise experimenting with the ‘acts of self-love’ trend. In a world where diversity, inclusivity, and self-love are top-of-mind ideas, sleek, in-studio images no longer impress audiences. In contrast, people crave authentic visuals that showcase real conditions in which a product is used.

Opt for simple compositions, minimalistic post-production (or none), and natural environments when holding product photoshoots. This kind of imagery will allow you to reduce the distance between the audience and the brand, gain more trust, and boost conversion rates.

Increase brand loyalty

An essential part of brand growth is increasing the number of loyal customers that keep purchasing from you, eagerly try new products, and spread the word about them. To reach this objective, a business should be consistent in delivering expectations regarding product quality, customer experience, and many other aspects.

A dozen years ago, delivering expectations would mean ensuring decent product quality. In 2022, it means rapidly adjusting to challenges, capturing the audience’s mood, and continuously improving products and services. In such conditions, creative trends are a godsend for businesses, as they help save time and get a grasp of the most relevant themes.

For increasing brand loyalty, we advise experimenting with the ‘Y2K aesthetics’ trend. Being the largest and most solvent generations today, Millennials and Gen Z are attracted by Y2K aesthetics. In recent years, the pandemic and other global challenges caused a lack of positive emotions, and made mass audiences nostalgic for the past.

As the 2000s were the carefree years for these generations, their aesthetics evoke a high level of trust. If you plan a rebranding or launching a new project, try adding Y2K vibes to your designs. This way, you will showcase that you’re on the same page as your audience. In turn, they will aim to come back and engage with your brand more often, seeking to experience comfort in an ever-changing world.

Establish brand community

In recent years, brand communities have often been called the future of marketing. For businesses that strive for leadership positions, it's a way to achieve several goals at the same time, as well make an impact. By developing a brand community, you can:

  • Grow brand awareness.
  • Boost engagement.
  • Raise trust.
  • Extend customer loyalty time-span.
  • Establish a dialogue with your audience.
  • Strengthen an emotional connection with your clients.
  • Receive new insights for improvement.
  • Get additional income.

The popularity of brand communities is quite evident at first sight. In the digital era, the growing feeling of loneliness and insecurity pushes audiences to find a group of like-minded people they can belong to. This is one of the basic human needs, and today, brands have all the resources to help their customers meet them.

To establish a brand community, we advise experimenting with the ‘science, not fiction’ trend. Futuristic themes will be one of the biggest trends in the next few years. As advancements and innovation become an integral part of our lives, they incite us to explore what’s to come. By choosing this trend as a central theme when designing a brand community experience, you’ll get more chances to spark curiosity and attract a larger audience. We can all agree on the fact that dark shades, metallic textures, and extraterrestrial shapes and forms will all look extremely compelling to customers.

A key mistake to avoid

One mistake beginner marketers make is underestimating how powerful visual communication is. As most of the world’s population consists of visual learners, the imagery on social media, websites, leaflets, and other mediums helps audiences decide whether or not they should interact with your brand. Thus, it is crucial to carefully choose visuals for your campaigns and constantly experiment with themes and formats; all in order to find the ones that your audience will relate to most.

Want to find out more about using creative trends to achieve your business goals? Join a free, thematic online event to get data-driven insights and new ideas for 2022 and beyond.

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