This week in TechCrunch Experts: E-commerce trends, growth marketing predictions

TechCrunch Experts is off to a great start in 2022!

(TechCrunch+) After talking to marketing leaders for a year, here’s my advice for CEOs: Rebecca Lynn, co-founder and general partner of Canvas Ventures, wrote about the latest challenges facing growth marketing teams and shared some of the the advice she’s given and received from CEOs and marketing leads. Her post includes commentary from Lauren Weinberg, CMO at Block, One Medical CMO Doug Sweeney, and others.

(TechCrunch+) 5 growth marketing predictions for 2022: Growth marketer Jonathan Martinez shares his growth marketing predictions for 2022, along with advice on incrementality testing, influencer marketing, video ads and other tactics.

When discussing the adtech space, Martinez says, “Of all the platforms being spawned, ones that use artificial intelligence is one I’m keeping a close eye on for the time-saving ability it provides growth marketers.”

(TechCrunch+) 4 trends that will define e-commerce in 2022: Ben Parr, president and co-founder of Octane AI, helps us start off 2022 with his e-commerce predictions. Parr looks ahead at what’s coming down the pike, including web3 and NFTs, and gives his advice on how your startup should proceed.

Should online sellers start planning now to start stocking NFTs? Parr noted that Shopify is testing a pilot program for Shopify Plus customers that helps them sell non-fungible tokens via its platform, but he still suggests a wait-and-see approach:

“Unless you’re deep in web3-land or have a large enough budget for brand experimentation, you should probably wait until the technology becomes more mature or only dip your toe in the water to start,” writes Parr. “A great NFT launch requires a lot more work than making a JPEG and putting it on the blockchain.”

Marketer: Ridhi Singh, founder, 91NinjasRecommended by: Anish Khadiya, itiliteTestimonial: “Ridhi and team 91Ninjas bring in good domain knowledge, high-quality thinking, and focused execution. We chose them for their expertise, disciplined approach, and excellent work ethics. Thanks to team 91NInjas, our inbound marketing engine has picked up good momentum. After coming onboard, they rapidly kick-started work on multiple fronts. In particular, we witnessed good traction on the social media and content front. We saw a good surge in organic traffic on blogs and our search appearance on domain-specific keywords has improved a lot.”

Marketer: Ridhi Singh, founder, 91NinjasRecommended by: Udit Dhawan, Dropshop Network Private Limited, https://www.brandsofbharat.in/ (UDIT provided this link which goes to a different site than the company he works for, not sure if we should include both?)Testimonial: “I came across some social posts done by 91Ninjas for other startups and was impressed by their work. They had a very different approach to social and it appealed to me. They are a team of good thinkers and know how to tell brand stories and engage users. They hear you out, understand the business goal and then work backward to craft a custom strategy that can help you achieve your goals. Their logical approach, seamless execution, and getting work done attitude makes them stand out from others. For startups, they are a good choice given the way they work (just like your internal team) and the value they bring in.”