Ketchup’s 2023 marketing predictions.
It’s a new year and that means new marketing trends follow. But as consumer habits change with the current landscape, marketing should too.
However, this doesn’t mean you have to go back to the drawing board and completely revise your marketing strategy – Ketchup is here to help. Our marketing strategists Michelle, Sam and Ellie have shared their predictions for the biggest marketing trends of 2023 and advised on how you can adapt these to support your business and continue your growth strategy. Read on to find inspiration and a range of opportunities to refresh your marketing [saucy style].
Michelle
More companies will outsource their marketing
As businesses begin to tighten purse strings and cut in-house resources, we will see them turning to outsourced marketing more and more.
As the most cost-effective solution, an outsourced marketing service alleviates the pressure from internal teams often stretched past capacity. Marketing is such a multi-faceted element of any business and requires a variety of specialist skills, so usually, one person cannot fulfil all the needs of the business. That’s where expert, value-for-money agencies [like ourselves] come in. It’s a time for utilising your resources and seeking the best professional services you can find to support your business.
Building the right foundations and aligning teams
A marketing strategy is fuelled by the assets it’s built upon, so ensuring websites and social media are in ship shape before launching marketing campaigns is essential. The new year is an opportunity to audit for any SEO issues like broken links that might be impacting search rankings, as well as to review social media engagement and amend content plans according to these insights.
In order to get the foundations right, more businesses will align their marketing and sales teams to ensure every team member is working towards shared goals. This alignment will ensure that business operations and marketing efforts reflect these goals and outlines the steps needed to achieve them.
The rise of strategic SEO
In 2023, there will be more of a focus on using keywords strategically to make content discoverable to the right audience. But once businesses have achieved this visibility, they need to allow the quality of their content to speak for itself.
With this new strategic drive, SEO will focus more on generating valuable click-through rates and engagement metrics based on the audience interaction with the content, rather than valuing website content based on URL rankings. So, it’s a prime time to begin closer aligning your SEO and content teams towards this shared goal.
User experience will continue to be a focus
There’s a growing movement towards improved user experience through the use of minimalist websites, voice-activated interfaces and animated elements to add interaction across customer touchpoints.
User experience determines the quality of your offering. There are several ways that you can strengthen your user experience, such as honing in on increased page speed, mobile performance, strategic image placement and a cohesive style and tone of voice.
Michelle’s biggest takeaway
This year, there will be a shift towards optimising existing assets within teams whilst also strengthening SEO to create more value for customers. Bear this in mind and consider how you can closely align your teams to bring the customer journey into sharper focus across the entire business.
Social platforms aren’t planning to stop copying each other
2022 saw the development of Instagram Reels, inspired by TikTok’s short video content. Well, you can expect a lot more of these copycat features in the coming year.
It’s important to not lose sight of your audience. Focus less on the new channels and features that aren’t necessarily relevant to your following and spend more time exploring the platforms that best reflect your business goals and audience on a deeper level.
Whilst social platforms continue to mimic one another, strive for originality by creating engaging, valuable content suited to each platform that best helps you achieve your goals, rather than hopping on the bandwagon of every latest trend.
An increased appetite for short-form video content
Short-form content will keep dominating our social feeds in 2023. As shorter videos continue to be favoured over longer ones, many platforms are also now adapting their algorithms to favour this style of content.
By driving short-form video content, social media platforms like Instagram are ensuring that busy users don’t have to stop scrolling for too long to get their fix. So, consider a less is more approach to your content – how can you convey the same message in fewer words and in less time? [Hint: a bespoke Ketchup social media strategy can help!]
Differentiation over discounts
Whilst your competitors might try to buy their share of the marketplace with offers and price cuts, you should consider whether this reflects your brand values before you do the same.
Ask yourself, what do you offer that they don’t? Your differences are your strengths, so look to highlight these and make yourself stand out from your competitors. Don’t undercut your value, allow it to speak for itself by highlighting your USP.
Focusing on high-quality content
It’s no secret that high-quality, well-researched content ranks highest. By offering insights backed by data, original high-quality content is more engaging for audiences – and that’s exactly why more businesses will leverage it in 2023.
Sharing the insights of in-house specialists provides your audience with high-quality content, whilst asserting your business as a reliable source of expertise within your industry. Reap further benefits from this trend by utilising strong branding in your content designs to strengthen your brand identity.
Sam’s biggest takeaway
The lens is closing in on social media content, so notice the trends and use them to strengthen your brand strategically. Now is a time to carve out your brand identity and build a valuable experience that extends your customer lifetime, so invest your time and budget wisely.
Ellie
The growth of owned audiences
In 2023, there’ll be a rise in the number of brands investing in owned audiences. Increasingly, businesses are seeing the value of retaining their existing customers rather than investing funds in creating new ones. This means that crucial data insights are needed into audiences' preferences and behaviours.
To achieve this, there’ll be more and more businesses gathering zero-party data through practices like form building and offering incentives for data. So, consider how you will reward your audience and customers for offering their insights. [Everyone loves a freebie, after all!]
The recession will impact marketing
Budgets are tighter and that means businesses need to do more whilst spending less. Customer retention is central to this. Maintaining existing business and leveraging it as much as you can should be a priority, through regular [but not overwhelming] nurturing communications and high levels of customer care.
New business is going to be more sought after than ever in competitive and saturated markets. Keeping a hold of the business you already have means you won’t need to spend time replacing customers and clients. Make your budget work harder and better for your customers and your business will reap the benefits.
Improving the customer experience increases brand affinity
More and more businesses are recognising the importance of the customer experience and its relationship to brand affinity. Without the latter, purchases won’t feel as worthwhile – especially when a lot of consumers are having to stretch their money further.
This results in more competition between businesses that are fighting for their customers’ attention, so building a positive customer experience across every marketing touchpoint is key…
A shift to human-focused content
…That’s where human-focused content comes in.
A natural tone of voice that speaks to your audience as humans is likely to satisfy customer needs more than any flashy, technical approach. Gone are the days of writing content only to satisfy search engines… Now, you have to earn your audience’s interest more than ever [so use those data insights wisely].
Ellie’s biggest takeaway
In financially uncertain times, consumers are looking to invest in reliable brands. Refine your offering to highlight the true value of your brand to your audience and start strengthening your understanding of them using incentivised data ownership.
Feeling inspired?
We may only be a few days into 2023, but there’s no greater time to seize the opportunity for brand development and growth. By taking on board some of our expert predictions and beginning to align your marketing strategy to reflect these shifts, your business can unlock new opportunities.
We understand the challenges that many sectors are facing and our marketing strategists are here to guide you through uncertain times. Get in touch with us here or call us on 0115 671 3868 if you’d like to discuss any of the trends [or simply pick our brilliant brains].