With many of us back to the grind, and the overplayed chorus of ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ (thankfully) becoming a distant echo for another year, many businesses are getting ready to cast their nets for the year ahead.
Like every year before it, 2023 is set to be another roller coaster – particularly as we wade through financial uncertainty. One thing is certain though: Technology is developing at tenfold speed. Blink and you genuinely will miss it.
2023 is expected to see many developments in the current marketing trends, such as
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AI technology improvements, like chat robots
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Email marketing is becoming even more personalised with the help of AI
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The growth of the Metaverse
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An increase in the volume of influencers, brand ambassadors and content creators for niche markets
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Short-form video platforms like TikTok will continue to grow
Marketing isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and we’d need a mile-long document to dissect this ever changing world. So from super-clever AI dialogue tech that apologises for it's wrongdoings, to Starbucks' digitally immersive loyalty programme. We explore the forecasted marketing trends of 2023, and assess how SME businesses can jump on these trend bandwagons.
Artificial Intelligence continues to make our lives easier
AI dominates digital marketing. As smart as we like to think we are, our mere human brains are no match for the infinitely producing algorithmic AI. We've become so reliant on AI for marketing, that our strategies would simply fall apart without it. We are infinitely outsmarted by this technology - as it not only covers all the long-windedly tedious tasks, but it reliably does them with pristine accuracy.
So as AI improves, so does everything else: automation, customer-business relationships, and the efficiency of a CRM as a whole entity. Improving AI software can help tidy up these 'messy' areas of your CRM, allowing for a more free-flowing and well-oiled system.
For example, one of these popularised AI technologies is Chat GTP. This is a user-friendly AI chat software which ‘interacts in a conversational way’ (Open AI, 2022). That’s right, chat robots are becoming so well developed they’re aware of their own wrongdoings, and they’re even willing to correct themselves. Although this is a combination of both impressive and terrifying, this kind of software allows for a more streamlined customer-company relationship, which can help tidy up CRMs and improve automation. If you haven't revamped your customer communications in your CRM for a while, it might be time for a rethink.
The Metaverse meets the marketing universe
Still a vague, 'matrix-esque' term to many, the metaverse is slowly spreading into today's marketing, and it's set to continue growing in 2023. With many businesses still only having half an idea as to what the metaverse entails, Forbes defines it as
'A broad term that describes a variety of immersive virtual experiences taking place online, usually with others' (Forbes, 2023).
But the mighty metaverse is still quite a fresh concept. We're currently living through the birth of its development. Luckily, blue chip giants are the first marketing guinea pigs to test out the immersive software, while the rest of the world watches and learns. One of these metaverse-meets-marketing guinea pigs are Starbucks. They created the digital world 'Starbucks Odyssey' which allows members to take part in 'journeys' and engage in activities like 'playing interactive games or taking on fun challenges to deepen their knowledge of coffee and Starbucks' (Starbucks, 2022).
This allows members to gain NFTs in the form of 'journey stamps', which add up to prizes as part of an industry-led loyalty programme. Ultimately, this generates an online community of members who are both company affiliates, and loyal/returning customers.
So how can your business take part in this trend? Well as the metaverse is quite a fresh concept still, it's a good idea to keep up to date with developments in the metaverse, and take note of how other businesses are using it for their marketing strategy.
Influencers will appeal to more refined audiences
And what about content marketing? Well, 2023 expects to see more influencers covering niche markets, with more and more 18-30 year olds becoming social content creators and brand ambassadors. They're beginning to work more directly with brands to market products on a more customer-relatable level. Influencers are bridging the gap between audiences, with businesses utilising their niche influencers to appeal to their different buyer personas, to wholly bridge the gap between the business and its many different avenues of customer.
Email marketing continues to grow
And as for email marketing? Well it's set to become far more personalised. As AI has continued to track the success of email marketing, customer behaviour data analysts have (correctly) predicted that personalised email marketing is far more efficient at producing positive customer responses. The personalisation of email marketing is only expected to grow as AI churns out higher volumes of refined content.
If you haven't already, take a look at your email marketing and gloss over which aspects could be more finely attuned to your customer preferences. This is a core avenue of efficient inbound marketing, so it's always a good idea to check in and track your email marketing systems.
New year, new you?
January brings lots of pressure to begin a brand new year with some kind of revolutionary life change. While you don't have to completely start from square one because it's suddenly January, you might want to consider some changes in your marketing strategy this year.
There's never a bad time to revisit your marketing strategy. Start with assessing what went well last year, and what could be improved. How can your marketing reflect the data you've collected?
Whether you're revisiting your buyer personas, rebranding, or taking on a fresh new website - stagnant numbers could be a sign that your marketing needs a breathe of fresh air.
Sound interesting? Check out our free downloadable marketing guides for some insider insights, or drop us an email to discover what Method can do for your company in 2023.
