As companies learn to use new technology, marketing trends come and go, ranging from omnichannel marketing to hosting live content. This next year will be an intriguing one for marketing as directions change to take into account emerging technologies, consumer behavior, and tightened budgets in an uncertain economy.
In-house agencies and creative teams will change their approach as these major marketing team trends impact decision-makers next year and beyond.
Pulling Back the Curtain
Creative teams are requesting integrated levels of collaboration at exceptional levels. In computing science, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs, without any knowledge of its internal workings. We’re hearing creative teams say loud and clear out with the black hole that briefs go into and in with transparency and collaboration between internal and external agency partners throughout the entire project.
The concept of “black box” marketing agencies where requests are received and input into an obscure process, with shrouded systems, void of client guidance and multiple feedback rounds is falling behind in our ultra-connected, synergetic work environments. Clients want to be consulted, and have a meaningful say, several times before receiving their finished work.
Unboxing Scope
Along with cracking open internal processes and having direct communication with creatives working on projects, we’re seeing clients overjoyed at the concept of unlimited rounds of revisions. Revolutionary levels of collaboration between internal and external agencies oftentimes come with the caveat that two rounds of revisions may not be enough. Traditional agencies often include a clause for their number of allowable revisions. We’re hearing the need for pay-as-you-use services to allow for several iterations when increasing direction with production.
Agile Marketing for Active Teams
An approach inspired by agile methodology, this system of working involves rapid iterations with continuous check-ins, rather than unwieldy, big projects with fewer reviews and pivots. Agile emphasizes real-time collaboration, rather than silos and hierarchies. It’s designed with the intent for marketers to respond more comfortably to change.
Agile marketing benefits include:
- The capacity to quickly and consistently deliver value by assembling people into small, cross-functional teams that can complete tasks on their own.
- An insistence on data-driven decisions due to prioritizing experimentation.
- Improved collaboration and transparency through visible procedures and frequent touchpoints.
- Instead of activity and output, more emphasis on value and company objectives.
- Flexibility to adapt to change thanks to continual planning.
Working with agency partners that can seamlessly integrate into clients’ workflows makes agile marketing even more possible in 2023, with fewer disruptions from flow and check-in points.
Flexible Resourcing for Ups and Downs
With all the uncertainty in the past year, flexible resourcing is more relevant than ever. Many creative teams have been told to do more with less in the past six months. It’s a challenging business environment, and planning for campaigns in the coming year is more complicated with profit and loss unpredictability.
High-growth companies have additional budget pressures and are being asked to spend responsibly and prioritize. Remaining flexible with costs has been and will continue to be crucial, as marketing leads are looking to avoid being locked in on expenses that they can’t get out of.
Partnering with vendors that can ride out conservative periods and tightened purse strings, and then be a step ahead when conditions bounce back, will be paramount to long-term success in 2023 and beyond.
10 General Marketing Trends for 2023
Marketing teams are changing the way they work in 2023. Besides expectations around new processes, updated resourcing models, and methods for achieving more, and better, there are emerging trends across the delivery of content and consumer interfaces.
Targeting Solutions
New privacy rules are coming into effect as third-party cookies are being phased out by Google. Brands are testing alternative targeting solutions to continue developing customized content and ads. Geo-location, weather, and intelligent contextual targeting are all at the forefront of cookie-less solutions.
Content Clusters for Search Relevance
As search engines shift to relevance over explicit queries, Google is investing in machine learning, which prioritizes intent over explicit keyword queries. Related content like featured snippets and people-also-asked questions are dominating Google’s first page. Cluster strategies identify topic cluster recommendations based on audience size and market trends, followed by optimization of pillar pages based on tie-ins to popular, interactive content and other lead magnets.
Interactive Content
This is content that demands attention. We’re seeing a big emphasis on dynamic, two-way experiences, encouraging active engagement from the audience. This content includes: Interactive maps, videos, calculators, assessments, games, quizzes, and interactive infographics. Motion has continued to trend upward in the last few years and will continue to enhance content, adding more dynamics to interactive content.
Conversational Marketing
Shifting from an asynchronous way of marketing to real-time conversations, conversational marketing is all about using targeted messages and artificial intelligence automation to engage with active users. Intelligent chatbots, machine learning, and natural language processing can allow consumers to have a two-way conversation with your brand at any moment.
Live Streaming Video Content
Video-based content is clearly becoming king, as it captures the attention of viewers for much longer than static posts. From Instagram reels to TikToks, bite-sized videos that are happening in real-time drive engagement and increase brand awareness, especially amongst Gen Z and millennials. Paired with influencer marketing, lives allow potential customers to engage and purchase while watching the stream.
User-generated Content (UGC)
UGC material may be produced by anyone, therefore incorporating it into your marketing plan can increase the credibility of your brand, taking brand authenticity to the next level. When compared to brand-created material, consumers are 2.4 times more inclined to trust user-generated content. Now is the time to give authenticity top priority in your marketing plan.
Long-term Influencer Relationships
While 2023 will not be the first year to prioritize this type of social media marketing, businesses are using it to strengthen their ties with their target demographic by selecting long-term brand ambassadors. By consistently supporting the same business, influencers maintain credibility with their audience while also establishing long-lasting relationships with their influencer partners.
Cohesive Customer Journeys
Customers need a personalized, individualized experience that speaks to their specific demands. Since they don’t connect with companies through a single technique or channel, marketers must avoid viewing everything from a campaign-only perspective. Making a map of your customers’ journeys is one approach to better understanding their user experience. This map may be a useful tool for designing a seamless experience since it provides a visual depiction of how a consumer behaves, thinks, and feels during the purchasing process.
VR-based Tools
Meta (formerly Facebook) announced its cutting-edge metaverse in 2021. The necessity for marketers to incorporate hybrid and mixed-reality experiences into their marketing strategy has accelerated as a result. With virtual reality (VR) technology, companies may use a simulated yet realistic experience to sell their goods or services. Virtual try-ons and customized Instagram effects will still influence the marketing scene in 2023, but this year, more avant-garde VR marketing strategies should capture the spotlight.
Social Responsibility Stories
By balancing their profit-making ambitions with socially good behaviors, consumers today give higher priority to businesses that exercise social responsibility. To draw customers who want to make a difference with their purchases, marketing experts have made it a point to promote social responsibility initiatives in their marketing campaigns. Examples of this include: Promoting fair trade, recyclable packaging, awareness of societal issues, directing portions of profits to charities, company-sponsored community services, one-for-one campaigns, and advocating for social justice.
Staying Ahead of the Pack with Trends
These are a few of the trends on our radar for the coming year. We’re seeing consumers place higher importance than ever before on authenticity, transparency, privacy, and diversity. Additionally, as cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality gain popularity, marketers now have a chance to incorporate these values into their messaging in fresh, creative ways.
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