Overview: Discover the differences and similarities between marketing and web design and how they can affect your business in 2022.
Marketing and web design are crucial to any company with an online presence in 2022. They are separate concepts: marketing is a general term to describe all actions taken and strategies used to sell products and services, while web design is a more specific and specialized method of reaching customers. But there is considerable overlap between the two, and when used effectively, they can go hand in hand to increase your sales and convert passive onlookers into customers.
The overlap between web design and marketing can be confusing, as they both revolve around creating and implementing plans to reach consumers. It’s possible to be a web developer with marketing skills or a marketer with web design skills – but there are clear distinctions between them.
Let’s have a look at the core differences between the two.
Understanding the Importance of Marketing:
Whether you’re a business owner or a marketing specialist, there are a few critical questions you should ask yourself before beginning the journey of selling your products online:
Has your research identified who your target audience is?
Are you aware of the needs of your customer?
Have you noticed any compliments or complaints your customers leave you (or your competitors) on social media?
The one word that answers all these questions is marketing. The importance of marketing is that it allows the customer to realize how your product can help them find the solutions they’re seeking. Marketing engages them with persuasive language and helps them make a buying decision.
Related Reading: Learn the importance of marketing for business
Importance of Web Design:
You have a product. Maybe it’s a beauty product that can help people eliminate their wrinkles and, with them, their insecurities. That’s great! But how will you reach a broader audience without working on your online presence? Your website is where you nurture “bottom-of-the-funnel” leads to boost conversions. A poorly-designed website will cause potential customers to click away and go to your competitors, so you can’t afford to make any basic web design mistakes.
Related Reading: What’s the importance of website design for your audience
Difference Between Marketing and Web Design:
Marketing prioritizes general sales and profits, while web design focuses on functionality and display of the products on a business’s website. When a marketer outlines a brand’s objectives and goals, the web developer creates a site to draw users’ attention and achieve those goals.
Marketing trends in the business world are constantly in flux, so marketers painstakingly observe the latest developments and try their best to stay ahead of competitors. Meanwhile, web designers concentrate on creating websites that are aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. One side decides how to use a website to sell products; the other side actually makes that website.
When your marketing plan works, it will attract curious would-be customers to your website. When your web design works, it will persuade that customer to click that necessary “add to cart” button. Hence, both factors are crucial, and you can’t prioritize one over the other.
Website Design Trends to Watch Out for in 2022:
Design trends fluctuate all the time. Aesthetic preferences go in and out of style as the culture significant response positively or negatively to various design choices. Massimo Vignelli, an Italian designer, once said: “Styles come and go; good design is a language. Not a style.”
The first rule of web designing that precedes trends is to ensure that whatever you choose, whether a flat, retro or traditional web design, speaks to and aligns with your brand’s values. Website design and human emotions are interconnected; the absence of one element may hurt the viewer’s emotion.
Top Website Trends in 2022:
Memphis Design: Did you think the ’80s aesthetic is no longer alive? You thought wrong! We all like vibrant aesthetics to welcome us when we visit a website. Memphis design is a distinctive style that rose to popularity in the 1980s, and has recently made a comeback as nostalgic appreciation for it grows. Memphis design includes a multitude of chaotic patterns and asymmetrical shapes.
Its popularity may surprise you when you realize that Memphis design is the rejection of minimalism and the “classy” tastes of art critics – it focuses on presenting designs that are more colorful, adventurous, and approachable than those that had been prominent in the 1970s.
The Memphis style is appealing in web design because it makes websites seem fun. Users find websites with this aesthetic to be delightfully retro and interesting to use. It’s not right for every website — it’s hard to imagine the IRS using a Memphis-style homepage — but for many businesses, it’s an exciting way to engage visitors. Read more about Memphis style here.
Typographic Hero Images: Essentially, the “hero section” of a website is the first thing a user sees when they land on that site. Many of them feature graphics or photos, but by reducing imagery altogether and allowing the text itself to carry the weight of the hero section, you can make a clear, concise first impression.
Rather than coming across as bland or bare, hero sections that emphasize typography are bold, commanding viewers’ attention the way a captivating news headline does to a curious reader. At the same time, they can provide an excellent showcase for tasteful and creative lettering styles that compliment the tone of the website.
Visible borders: One way that web designers like to grab visitors’ attention is by creating a kind of magic with the layout of a page — an illusion that the content is neatly arranged by a creative but invisible hand in a digital space. The reality, of course, is that websites are built on technical codes and a strict grid. In 2022, website designers have been focusing on creating more precise layouts through the use of simple borders and frames.
Since a visible grid distinguishes one section from another, it makes the page easier to scan and allows the page to accommodate content without feeling stuffed or crowded. These simple borders give the website a subtle, organized touch that pairs well with other current, aesthetically-pleasing trends.
Animation: Animation can enhance the user’s experience, as long as the animations you choose are relevant to what your website is all about. When used wisely, animation can capture a user’s attention and engage their interest, making them more likely to click and buy the products/services you’re offering. Some companies choose 3D animations to evoke a sense of hyper-realism — a practice that works well for gaming, interior design, and architecture companies who really want to emphasize the visual aspects of their businesses.
Digital Neo-Brutalism: Are you an architect who loves to design things with a no-frills touch? The good news for you is that brutalism is back! Neo-brutalism is an architectural movement of the 1950s – 1970s, focusing on raw materials like concrete and favoring functionality over form. The results may not appear to be traditionally elegant or ornate, but there’s a certain appeal to their simplicity.
While it sounds a bit absurd to think of a website being “built” in this style, it’s striking to see how beautiful such sites look once they’re designed. Barebones unstyled HTML, asymmetrical layouts, untreated photos, primary colors, plain backgrounds, and bold texts characterize the art of digital brutalism.
Related Reading: 60 best examples of brutalism in web design
Top Marketing Trends 2022:
Video marketing: Online video will undoubtedly continue to play a huge role in the future of marketing. Videos are a part of the everyday internet experience for most people, so marketers are finding that they need to step up their game and offer concise, eye-catching videos to make potential customers aware of their brands. Along with photos, videos have been found to generate more engagement than text – although an amalgamation of all three works well too!
Social media content: The hard sell on social media is a thing of the past – changes in marketing trends now lean toward social media using a story-driven approach to attract customers and increase engagements through the aforementioned video marketing, animations, and enticing user interface approaches.
Many brands on social media are also taking a more casual approach when it comes to their brand’s “voice” on social media. Your business’s tone on social media should be compatible with your target audience — and you can make adjustments depending on whether you’re marketing on informal platforms like Instagram or more business-oriented venues like LinkedIn.
Influencer marketing: Influencer marketing is an integral part of companies’ marketing strategies in 2022, and it has become a common marketing tactic. Research has shown that 37% of consumers trust endorsements by their favorite influencers when deciding whether to buy a product.
The growing trend of businesses making endorsement deals with micro-influencers — online influencers with small but very devoted followings — allows those businesses to reach their audience more directly than ever. The cost of paying major celebrities for endorsements is often outside the budgets of brands, so teaming up with a micro-influencer with a few thousand followers is a great, cost-effective way to spread the word.
Personalization: When customers develop a habit of using a particular product, they begin to think of it as “their” product and build a sense of loyalty toward it. Ad campaigns that evoke certain emotions, or encourage customers to think of a product as being made just for people like them, are more likely to succeed in the marketing game. The more the word “you” is used in marketing instead of “I” or “they,” the more the consumer relates themselves with that personalized content – and the chances of conversion increase.
Related Reading: 9 marketing trends you need to jump on in 2022
In Summary:
Marketing and website design are interwoven and can’t be separated from one another — where one paves the way, the other leads the way.
The marketing and web design trends of 2022 represent some predictable steps forward, as well as some surprising throwbacks. Trends change quickly in these times, and good digital designers adapt to these changes while also looking ahead to see what trends will come along next.
Do you need a new website design? Whether you’re interested in bringing back a decades-old style or delighting your customers with animations and video, Creative 7 Designs can handle all your marketing and web design needs and help you stand out in the market.
Feel free to reach out to us for cutting-edge web design trends and marketing plans to escalate your sales!
