What are the most important marketing trends we’ll likely see in 2023? Here are my views and specific trends to look out for. This goes without saying that content is and will still remain the key to any trending marketing activity but to make a solid plan for the short term, it’s important to keep an eye on where you’re heading in the long term. It’s difficult to say with 100% certainty what the future of marketing will look like, but here are some useful insights. 

Saima Fatema

During 2020 with the lock down, who could predict that blog content creation services and industry will triple its revenues. That was the time more businesses realized that content marketing is the most predictable way to generate return on marketing. But somethings are certain and known. The future of marketing and business will be more inclusive, diverse and connected to real customer needs. Technology will continue to advance at a fast speed, so of course, some of these trends are focused around technology. However, there is a huge pushback against the increased automation and digitization of interactions between brands and consumers. Today, there’s an inclination to make marketing more human again. While technologies such as AI and data driven marketing continue to grow, the main focus will be on people and not technology. 

Majority of the trends will be dominated by content visualization and customer experience. 

  1. Brand Engagement in the Metaverse: With advancements in the Metaverse technology acting as a gateway to augmented reality. It will enable brands to build like-minded communities and engagements in the metaverse allowing purchases as well as increase differentiation and brand loyalty for the customer base. 
  2. Storytelling with content visualization: Voice search has become very popular, to the extent that it will influence the way we will create content. Hence, visual content cannot be ignored and needs to be a part of the basic elements for brand storytelling. Audiences are preferring visual content to plain text. This can be proved by looking at how image focused platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are growing drastically. Adding infographics, images and videos to your copy or content makes it more appealing and attractive for the message to be comprehended with the desired outcome. 
  3. Flawless Customer Experience: Customer is and will remain the KING. It is imperative that flawless customer experience drives the customers back to you, when this part is fixed then marketing becomes a lot easier and almost takes care of itself. The growth of online content has given consumers more power to do their research themselves to make a better buying decision, hence it’s not just about giving the customer information about the product itself but also to let them know how you are different through your customer experience. Things like personalization, brand image, mobile experience, and use of latest technology, design, convenience, informative and friendly service that gives you multiple payment options are the crucial elements of customer experience.
  4. Personalization for differentiated marketing: Personalization will drive effective marketing resulting in winning a customer. With so many choices in the market, personalization will make your brand and marketing efforts stand out. 
  5. Hybrid Activations – Physical & Digital: Since 2020 hybrid events have become very common but now physical events are back with a full swing, allowing marketers to create more digital AR/VR experiences, where globally audiences will be allowed to participate. So the balance between online and offline will be the key to making an impact where content will play an integral role to be more meaningful and not just an experience to depict the technologies behind it.  
  6. Conversational marketing: Customers do not want to talk to someone who is following a script. They want help that is specific to their needs and situation. They also want immediate response times. That means more and less formal communication channels. 
  7. Google Search: SEO will continue to be an important aspect of digital marketing as we move into 2023. The demand for the search engine result pages “SERP” which appear in various places will grow, but the most sought after position is right at the top of the page before the organic listings known as the “position zero” will be more in demand. Optimizing your content to be in the position zero will be required in the future to grab the attention of the audience which will make all the difference. 
  8. Social e-commerce: Brand will be using more of influencer marketing, creating ads that fit seamlessly into their social media feeds and integrate their e-commerce platform with social media channels. Creator Marketplace is a game changer from TikTok allowing more meaningful engagement between brands and customers for their shopping needs. Instagram Checkout is also making it a lot easier for brands to advertise and sell their products directly through the platform. 
  9. AI-based automation: Big data supported by AI and predictive analytics will help brands learn more about their audience and customers habits and needs. This will enable hyper-personalization of customer experiences and marketing messages. 
  10. The Internet of Everything: The huge number of connected objects will generate a huge amount of data that can be used to gain detailed customer insights. This data can then be used to personalize experiences and content and engagement with the brand. 
  11. Geo–fenced Marketing: Geo location services will become more common with the rise of IoT solutions being deployed. Location data can play a great role in building the marketing strategy for a specific area. Specific messages can be served to the target audience as soon as they enter a specific location. Use of geo-fencing to deliver personalized messaging to a very small pool of individuals who are in the location and more likely to make a buying decision. This makes marketing budgets being spent wisely and reduce wastage of spend. Geo-location and IoT combined together can ease buying behaviors like reminder on buying eggs when passing from a grocery store as the supply for it is running low. 
  12. Responsible Consumerism: Conscious decisions from consumers to buy from brands that are more responsible and sustainable is on the rise, hence marketing efforts to project these efforts by the brand will be important. Brand responsibility goes beyond marketing. Marketing initiatives that a company is doing to make a positive difference in the world may end up being more effective than advertising its products. 

Let’s get started, it is that time of the year to start planning your 2023 marketing strategy. So make sure you start the New Year with a solid plan of your goals and how you are going to achieve them. Marketing trends will keep on changing with time however the key to success will still remain the same, understand the need of your audience and communicate to them clearly and regularly. This is one of the main reasons why customer focused content has always been the best way to build great relationships with your target audience. It goes without saying that content marketing will continue to dominate the digital marketing landscape. Most of these trends rely on content in some way or the other. To be successful you will need to have a solid base of quality content across all your marketing channels.