The it Crowd Marketing

The Top Marketing Trends of 2023

Another year has passed, which means the new marketing trends of 2023 have arrived. You may be asking “what is here to stay and what is already considered old news?” Well, we’ve done the work for you! Below are the top marketing trends and predictions expected to take center stage in the industry this year. 

Emerging Marketing Trends & Predictions 2023

1 – Influencer Marketing is Here to Stay. 

It’s no surprise that companies continue to find immense value with influencer marketing. Results have been so positive that influencer marketing will not stay a trend but be a necessity in marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes. 

The Trend Factor: 

HubSpot found in their annual industry report that 89% of marketers who currently engage with influencer marketing will increase or maintain their investment in 2023. Additionally, 17% of marketers are planning to invest in influencer marketing for the first time, making it the 2nd highest trend. 

The most exciting pull for companies considering influencer marketing is that it has the second highest return of investment (ROI), just behind short-form video.  

Implement Influencer Marketing into Your Marketing Strategy: 

There are influencers for all different types of industries and work in a variety of ways. Partnerships can look like an influencer advertising your product to their followers, promoting your brand in a blog, or collaborating on user-generated content (UGC), and more. 

• Decide the leading factor of why you want to use influencers for your marketing.
• Create a budget. Start small and grow from there. Include incentives like free products or discounts for added benefits. Influencers tend to have specific rates depending on the type of content and time it will take to create it. Do some research. Negotiate and ask the influencer what they are comfortable with. Remember this is a valued partnership and relationship you’re building!
• Create a ‘wishlist’ of local and national influencers who would align well with your brand. 
• Reach out to them and propose why you’d like to partner with them. Be sure to include what they should expect from you, and what deliverables are required.  

People will trust your brand more! Research continues to find that consumers are trusting influencers’ word and opinion over brands – almost half of consumers “depend on influencer recommendations” to determine which products to purchase, according to Business 2 Community. The genuine aspect an influencer can bring to promoting a product tends to be more relatable to the audience; (more on this below).

Overall, influencer marketing is a smart way to expand your brand awareness to your target audience, and gain new customers.

 

2 – Enhanced Interactive + Immersive + Experiential Marketing will Grow. 

Do you know what Augmented Reality (AR) is? If not, you are among the 70 percent of Americans who are unsure of what it actually is. 

The Trend Factor: 

Augmented reality, virtual reality (VR), and experiential marketing saw a booming increase during the pandemic. Companies wanting to gamify their shopping for buyers or make their overall user experience more interactive was in effort to stay relevant. Brands enhancing their experiential marketing campaigns is expected to rise. 

Implement Experiential Marketing into Your Marketing Strategy: 

• Try live in-person experiences to generate interest in your brand
• Test AR and VR platforms for an offline user experience.
• Ask your team to get creative! How can you embrace technology and incorporate it into your brand, product, or service? 

Digital access is becoming more popular across the globe. It’s likely that brands will continue to invest in flashy experiences that are shareable and fun.

Improving the customer experience is ever-evolving in a marketing strategy. Discovering new ways to reach and interact with consumers and potential customers can open a whole new world and provide great data for where you want to take your business. 

 

3 – Main Form of Communication: Mobile Messaging and Chatbots 

Automated communication through mobile messaging and chatbots is an effective way to save time and keep customers happy. 

The Trend Factor: 

With speedy response times and real-time solutions, chatbots can interact with more people at one time. Making customer service support personal and less stressful can help drive more engagement and even drive sales

Implement Mobile Messaging and Chatbots into Your Marketing Strategy: 

• Use platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and SMS texting to directly connect your brand with consumers.
• Use mobile messaging for promotional, holiday, and flash sales.

• Integrate Chatbots onto your website to automate FAQs, and provide customer service support.
• Automated chatbot messaging on Facebook and Instagram is great for satisfying that quick response to users wanting more information. 
• Chatbots can help with lead generation and even close sales on those warm leads! 
• Does your business have a club or rewards program? Mobile messaging is a great way to give exclusive access to your elite audience. 

Chatbots were created to make our lives easier. Experts say that the technology is getting even better – and if it can save us even more time, we’re listening! 

 

4 – Content Marketing

When it comes to content marketing, there are many forms of content to create and it can certainly get…daunting! While blogging and podcasting are here to stay, industries are increasing their budgets towards one dominator: short-form video. Closely following is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

The Trend Factor: 

We’ll leave it to the statistics on this one…

Short Form Video: 

Short-form video has taken the marketing world by storm, and we predict it will carry over in 2023. A staggering 90 percent of marketers using short-form video will increase or maintain their investment next year, and 1 in 5 marketers plan to leverage short-form video for the first time in 2023. – HubSpot 

TikTok will only continue to see growing brand interest in 2023, with 56 percent of those using it planning to increase their investment next year, the highest increase of any social media app. – HubSpot 

TikTok is tied with Instagram and YouTube for most ROI-generating. HubSpot 

SEO:

61% of marketers say improving search engine optimization (SEO) to grow their organic presence online is their top inbound marketing priority. – HubSpot 

Implement Short-Form Video into Your Marketing Strategy: 

The short-form video format is a quick way to catch the (very short) attention of scrollers. It’s lower maintenance, less time-consuming, and can even be cost-effective compared to creating long-form videos on YouTube. Make short-form video, SEO-focused content, and social responsibility are all highlighted in the pieces going out on all channels. 

• • TikTok or Reels anyone? Decide what type of video content makes sense for your brand. 
    • Informative, educational, funny, personal, lifestyle, or professional. 
  • Start with a small, achievable goal
  • Look at your content calendar. What current post ideas can be turned into a video?
    • Team introductions, answering FAQs, state your mission and values, “a day in the life of…”, your weekly or monthly favorites, etc.
  • Break out blogs or listicles and use the content into an engaging, digestible video for those who may not want to read a full blog post but just want the highlights.
  • Repurpose user-generated content to create video montages, testimonials, or promotional advertisements. 
• Pro tip: This also shares a direct message from peer to peer creating a more authentic or genuine experience. 

Implement SEO Optimization into Your Marketing Strategy: 

You want to make an impression on the internet but it can seem impossible with all the competition and saturated industries. That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) has become high-demand for brands and companies. Though search engines have been around for a long time now, the algorithm continues to evolve. And the amount of people using the internet to search the world wide web has only increased over the years. 

• Deepen your research on conversation search queries.
• Refresh your targeted keywords and use it to support your content strategy.
• Enhance your content strategy. Use targeted keywords in your blogs, transcribe videos or PDF downloadables into copy on your site.
• Use video marketing on YouTube.
• Use SEO as a tool to work for you. Learn how to analyze the data and use it to learn about your users, what they are searching for, and what they want. 
• Work with or hire SEO experts if you are not sure where to begin. 

There are so many opportunities that can leverage other areas of your digital marketing efforts. Ones you may not even be aware of! 

5 – Purpose and Social Responsibility: 

Gen Z’s and Millennials alike have held brands accountable to take a stand on what they believe in and put action behind it. We are so behind this and you should be too! 

The Trend Factor:

Showcasing social issues such as gender equality, inclusivity, and climate change are all important matters that can persuade a user to choose your brand over another.

It’s reported that 89% of marketers are planning to invest in content that showcases their social responsibility, compared to 45% in 2022 (HubSpot). 

Implement Purpose and Social Responsibility into Your Marketing Strategy: 

This one can take a bit of reflection. Take some time to review your core values and why you do what you do in your industry! 

• Highlight your purpose, mission, values and intent into your content on social media, advertisement, email campaigns, and website messaging. 
• Be a champion for good! Share and feature other brands, companies, and organizations who align with your vision and values – added bonus this helps with networking and brand awareness.
• Transparency is key! Speak up and view your audience as a close relationship that is constantly growing together.

Not only is social responsibility an important factor for your marketing strategy, but it joins the collective efforts of those making an impact and creating a better world. 

 

It’s important to remember that trends come and go, but you can leverage them to keep your business relevant and on top. Your message, story, and mission behind what you put out to the world is what will live on for years to come. What other trends will you be implementing this year? Let us know how we can help you incorporate these marketing trends into your strategy.