Your business doesn't stay the same, and neither do the marketing channels, tools and technology available to help it reach its goals. Change is the one and only constant in business and marketing.
A RAPIDLY SHIFTING MARKETING LANDSCAPE
Think about the several significant marketing trends which have achieved dominance over the past few decades:
- the advent of the internet, and with it, inbound and social media marketing
- the exponential growth of email usage, and the marketing to leverage its ubiquity
- the preeminence of search engine marketing (SEM) and Google Ads
- the increased importance of data analytics (and the personalization it enables)
- the increasing need to craft unique and valuable content
- remarketing and retargeting
- programmatic advertising
- the emergence of augmented and virtual reality
The good news is that those marketing trends enabled a more effective marketing paradigm. The bad news is that the litany of available options can be overwhelming enough to keep even the most accountable and savvy marketers up at night.
The biggest challenge for marketers is to know what developments are important and which aren't. As Forbes notes:
"With the speed at which modern technology is growing and evolving, it is no surprise that everything that relies on it must move at a similarly breakneck pace. Digital marketing is no exception. With constant updates, new techniques, and changes to algorithms, digital marketers are frequently scrambling just to keep up. Being aware of emerging or continuing trends is a vital part of staying on top of the game."
SEPARATING SUBSTANCE FROM HYPE
Each year, HubSpot attempts to help marketers by identifying the top challenges they face in its "State of Inbound" report. Those challenges vary slightly from year to year, but some remain constant. The top challenges for marketers in 2022 were:
- Training Marketing Teams
- Generating Traffic and Leads
- Demonstrating ROI of Marketing Activities
It's important to note that two of those challenges point to the scarcity of marketing dollars. It means marketers need to get a bead on which marketing strategies are most likely to produce demonstrable results, and which are less important. In other words, you need to know what's hot because lots of other marketers do it, and what's trending because it works.
2023: THE YEAR OF THE CREATOR ECONOMY AND NICHE CONTENT
What will work in the new year isn't defined by marketers — it's more about what consumers demand. Consumers are increasingly demanding a more valuable, personal, and engaging digital experience. The trends likely to dominate digital marketing in 2023 (those most likely to give customers the experiences they want) include the following five:
1. Influencer marketing
Amongst the top marketing channels in 2022, influencer marketing ranked higher than SEO marketing and just below content marketing. Influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon in this creator economy. In 2023, consider creating partnerships with creators on social media to increase brand awareness. According to Hubspot, 88% of businesses have a dedicated influencer marketing budget and most brands spend between $50,000 to $500,000 on influencer marketing per year.
2. Mobile-friendly website design
41% of businesses surveyed by Hubspot had website traffic coming from mobile devices. Because everyone is on their phones to research, review, shop, order, socialize, and more - it’s crucial to have a mobile responsive UI design and that you are optimizing the UX (user experience) for those on mobile devices. If you are adding links to your website on social media platforms, encouraging users to visit your site, it should be responsive and easy to navigate on any mobile device.
RELATED: Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly
3. Short-form video content
Short-form video is the most engaging content type. It has the highest ROI compared to any other content format. Short-form video content lives on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts and is used to educate, inspire, and entertain. Short-form video can be used in conjunction with influencer marketing and user-generated content, and to help with hiring initiatives.
4. Virtual events
We may be looking at a “post-pandemic” world, but that doesn’t mean the effects of the pandemic aren’t still lingering. When the world went virtual to avoid spreading COVID-19, some people realized that they were better suited to attending virtual events from the comfort of their own home. On the same hand, some businesses realized that virtual events were more cost-effective and had better attendance rates. Moving into 2023, there will be a continuing trend of hybrid events for those looking to attend in-person or virtually.
RELATED: Organizing Virtual Events
5. Experiential marketing
An experiential marketing strategy directly engages consumers and encourages them to participate in a brand experience. These experiences use participatory, hands-on, and tangible branding material and allows the business to show its customers not just what the company offers, but what it stands for. The goal for experiential marketing is to not come across as too salesy, and instead have consumers remember your brand for the engagement they encountered.
CONCLUSION
There's no avoiding the inevitable changes in marketing, next year and into the future. Although the nuances of things like augmented reality, social media marketing, and experiential marketing can be confusing, even overwhelming, there are experienced marketing agencies who make it their job to stay current and informed, who can give you the advice, guidance, and practical help you need to succeed.
To learn more about the ways our creative, web development, digital, print, and logistics services will keep your business on top of the latest marketing trends—and succeed—contact us today.