5 Marketing Trends You Need to Know for 2023

As the new year approaches, it’s important to analyze and reflect on marketing strategies, tactics, and trends. What’s working? What’s not? What could we add? What could we trash? As times change, so does the definition of “great marketing”. It’s no secret that the past couple of years has drastically impacted all aspects of life – business included. The old ways of getting consumers to open their wallets to you is no longer going to work as effectively. Nowadays, consumers want and demand more from the businesses they are choosing to support. 

So, what is it that consumers want to see from businesses now and in the upcoming year? How do you market to not only acquire new customers but keep current ones coming back? If you want to learn more, just keep reading! Below, we will discuss 5 of the major marketing trends you must know before heading into 2023. 

• Above & Beyond Customer Experience
  We will start off with perhaps the most important trend to keep in mind as we move toward 2023 – And that's placing customer experience at the forefront of your marketing strategy. Customers now are looking for more than just a great product or service. They are looking for a seamless experience with your brand. In fact, Today, 73% of people say that customer experience is an important factor in their buying decisions, but unfortunately, only 49% of US consumers say that today’s companies provide that positive experience.
  
  There is a multitude of things your business can and should be doing to avoid losing sales due to poor customer experience. Here are a few of the most important ones to remember: 

• • Move away from hard, “salesy” pitches that aim to convince customers to buy your products/services and move towards retaining customers and sales through excellent customer experience that keeps people coming back naturally.
  • Promote quality and consistency across all of your marketing channels throughout the entire buying process – from start to finish. 
  • Set an overall standard of excellent customer service and have standout employees that are held accountable.
  • Keep all your platforms up to date, easy to use, and relevant to our current times. 

Overall, ensuring great customer experience means going the extra mile to put your customers first – always. This positive business culture is not only how you’ll not only close sales but create loyal, lifetime customers. 

• Personalization
  Not only do you need to provide a seamless customer experience, but you also need to provide a personalized one. One of the best ways to attract and retain loyal customers is by making them feel wanted, cared for, and important to your brand. In fact, 80% of consumers said that they’d be more likely to do business with a brand that provides a personalized experience.
  
  In 2023, Your standard and generic ads are no longer going to cut it for the modern-day consumer. To get people to give you their hard-earned cash you don’t only need to provide a great product or service, you also need to make them feel valued and appreciated by your brand – and you do that by providing a personalized buying experience for them.
  
  While personalizing your marketing efforts may seem like a daunting, timely, and expensive task, it's actually much easier than you might think. For example, by simply adding the first name of your recipient to your email subject line you can dramatically increase your clickthrough rate.Aside from email marketing, direct mail is a very personable way to market due to its tangibility. When consumers receive a postcard from your business, it makes them feel valued and a sense of trust is created. These are just two of the many efficient and effective ways to personalize your marketing messages.
  
  With the recent criticism of increased automation and digitization in today’s world, personalized marketing can mean a lot to consumers. Customers want to feel like your brand truly cares about them – not just their money. 
  
  
• Multichannel Campaigns
  Multichannel marketing is the practice of exposing your brand to consumers via multiple channels – typically both direct and indirect. It’s using social media platforms, direct mail, email blasts, streaming service commercials, postcards, display ads, etc. together in order to boost brand awareness and get your business in front of the right audience at the right time.
  
  So why is multichannel marketing so important in today’s age? Because it gives the consumer a choice of how to interact with your business. Did you know that the average consumer goes through at least six channels before they finally make the decision to purchase a product or service?
  Consumers want to have options, not constrictions. Because of this, it will no longer be acceptable to reach consumers via a singular platform. Now, you must give your potential and existing customers multiple, consistent ways to receive information on your business. By not constricting your businesses to a single channel, multichannel marketing allows businesses to reap the benefits of multiple platforms. 
  

• Content Marketing
  Content marketing is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It is the process of creating and publishing content with the purpose of attracting more leads, increasing brand awareness, and creating loyal customers. This content can include blogs, social media posts, infographics, podcasts, videos, apps, etc. But, why has content marketing become so important over recent years?
  
  Let us explain! Content marketing is a form of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a business methodology that focuses on creating content that your target audience actively seeks out as opposed to outbound marketing which forces often disruptive advertisements on consumers. With an inbound marketing strategy like content marketing, you are able to distribute information to your consumers that they truly want to see and engage with – no more worrying about “bugging” them with invasive traditional advertisements.
  
  We know what you may be thinking…if the beauty of inbound marketing is that it’s only there when the customer wants it, is it really that effective? The answer is YES! In fact, Content marketing generates over 3x as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. This means you're increasing sales while decreasing spend. Adding content marketing into your 2023 marketing strategy really will give you the best of both worlds!
  
  
• Brand Storytelling
  Getting your brand’s story out to consumers has never been more important than it is today. People want to know about the brand they are buying from. How you first got started? What is your mission? What does your brand stand for? Brand storytelling taps into the human need for connection and relationships with others around them. People want to support businesses they can resonate and bond with on a level that's deeper than just buyer and seller business interactions.
  
  Not only is storytelling great because it opens consumers' hearts, but it also opens their wallets. In fact, a popular study found that if people love a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in the future, 44% will share the story, and 15% will buy the product immediately. Much of this deep desire and need to feel a connection to a brand in order to justify purchase has stemmed from the pandemic. People have spent too long feeling denied of human connection and relationships within the last few years. By giving customers your story, you are giving them what they want and need to support your brand. 

All in all, the overall trend for businesses in 2023 is to make marketing more human again. Provide a great customer experience by personalizing messages, giving people choices, providing them with valuable content, and sharing your unique brand story. People want to support small businesses, you just need to give them a reason why they should choose yours.