• by Michael McLaren , Op-Ed Contributor, January 14, 2022

New year, same inbox? This one starts with millions of online shoppers noticing a significant uptick in phishing scams around the holiday season, as well as interest among marketers about consumers potentially deleting marketing emails altogether.

With inboxes full of deals from every company you’ve ever shopped with, it’s no wonder why "anti-spam" is the most-consumed topic among marketers, as measured by Bombora Company Surge. It’s become so pervasive in recent years that anti-spam laws have sprung up to protect citizens from unsolicited emails. A greater reliance on email marketing in our increasingly digital world means that senders must understand those boundaries. 

Research into “podcasting” is also up in 2022, according to intent data. Revered for their educational value, podcasts and other forms of digital audio offer a great way to grow your audience and build awareness. They also offer a long-term play, so those looking for short-term gains should stop reading here.

This kind of growth takes time – and according to eMarketer, investments in this space continue to grow; digital audio is no longer experimental for advertisers or content creators. In 2021, US advertisers will spend $5.59 billion on digital audio services ads, an increase of 16.0% over 2020.

While digital audio still reaches fewer people than radio, nearly half of internet users (121.9 million people) subscribe to digital audio platforms such as Spotify, Pandora, etc. A number that will continue to rise, growing hand in hand with subscriber growth. marketers should also keep an eye toward social audio which sits at the intersection of conversation, social media, digital audio, and virtual events.