Eight digital marketing trends you need to watch out for in 2023

Learn about the efforts to integrate into your marketing strategy for maximum success 

As society has become increasingly digital over the years, the digital marketing industry has quickly grown as a part of it.

With the digital marketing and advertising market expected to reach $786.2 billion by 2026—a compound annual growth rate of 9%—it’s not surprising that there are a multitude of bigger and better trends emerging in the industry each year. [1]

Join us to explore the top eight digital marketing trends you need to watch out for in 2023 to determine what efforts can maximize your success and which ones will simply fade over time. 

Trend #1: Short-form videos

With the emergence of Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, it’s clear that other social media platforms are aiming to keep up with the ever popular TikTok and its short-form videos to stay relevant with modern day consumers. 

In the marketing industry, short-form videos have become increasingly popular for businesses interested in capturing the attention of their target audience with short-form videos ranking #1 in social media formats for lead generation and engagement. [2]

In 2023, try experimenting with short-form video content on your business’s social media accounts. Brainstorm a few different ideas that align with your content strategy and test them out. Evaluate their success and move forward with what best works with your target audience while maintaining your authenticity.  

What to watch out for: Don’t get swept up in the trends. Now more than ever, consumers are most interested in engaging with authentic and transparent content. Focus on creating videos that are true to your business and its brand identity. For B2B organizations, that could be behind-the-brand or educational how-to video instead of influencer ads and challenges that a B2C company might focus on. 

Trend #2: Client experience

Now more than ever, your marketing efforts should be focused on the experience of your client, not just on all of the amazing features of your business.

Throughout your 2023 digital marketing strategy, tailor your messaging to be as specific as possible to your target audience. Walk them through their buyer’s journey and highlight how your solutions can help them optimize XYZ in their business or personal life. Optimize their buying experience by making it clear that your offerings are the solution they’ve been searching for.

Trend #3: LinkedIn for business

Although it initially launched nearly two decades ago, LinkedIn has recently grown as a social media powerhouse for businesses interested in growing their reach and generating leads, especially for B2B organizations. 

In fact, 40% of B2B marketers cite LinkedIn as the most effective social media channel for driving high-quality leads and LinkedIn is expected to attain almost 25% of total B2B ad spending in the U.S. by 2024. [3,4]

It’s clear that LinkedIn will only continue to offer bigger and better opportunities to businesses in the coming years, so in 2023, get ahead of the curve and incorporate LinkedIn as a key pillar of your digital marketing strategy. Explore opportunities to optimize your content for the platform, grow your audience, and keep an eye out for new features that can accelerate your success. 

Learn more:
Why LinkedIn is important for your business-to-business organization

Trend #4: Succinct messaging and visual content

With only mere seconds to capture your target audience’s attention span, your business must specifically tailor its messaging to be more succinct and visual in 2023 to be successful.

Pull inspiration from short-form videos, and challenge your team to create simpler, clearer messages that will get your point across in a timely fashion.

You should also focus on creating more visual content that will easily and quickly capture your audience’s attention in an appealing way. Some great ways to do this include creating original infographics for use in blogs and social media posts and crafting more video content. Both are tried and true forms of visual content with 66% of B2B marketers utilizing videos and 57% utilizing infographics in their marketing strategies in 2022. [5]

Trend #5: Social responsibility initiatives 

Corporate social responsibility is a trend that’s here to stay in 2023 and beyond. Today’s consumers are more aware than ever of the impact that their buying habits have on not just the environment, but society as a whole. 

Research shows that 77% of people are more inclined to purchase from companies committed to making the world a better place and 73% of investors cite efforts to support social responsibility initiatives as contributing to their decision to invest. [6]

People want to know that the businesses they support also support the causes that they care about. While marketing your business in 2023, don’t be shy about sharing the efforts your business is taking towards making a positive difference in the world and supporting the communities that you care about. 

What to watch out for: Maintain your authenticity. When implementing social responsibility initiatives, ensure that you’re supporting causes that align with your brand mission and values. Not only will it be most motivating to your team to get involved, but consumers will see that you’re being true to your brand identity and be more likely to work with you. For example, a commercial real estate brokerage could consider supporting a nonprofit that helps to house the homeless population in its local community. 

Trend #6: Employee involvement

If you want to succeed in 2023, your business will need to focus on making your digital marketing efforts even more personal. A great way to do this is by getting your employees—the human faces of your brand—involved in your marketing campaigns. 

Whether it’s sharing their stories in company profiles on your blog or sharing their expert insights on social media, your team should be involved and excited about this year’s marketing efforts to maximize your success. 

LinkedIn is a great example of a place where your employee’s involvement can significantly improve the success of your digital marketing efforts. Since the LinkedIn algorithm places extreme importance on personal connections, your employees interacting with your company’s page can increase engagement and visibility.

In fact, content shared by your employees can have twice the engagement rate of content shared on your company’s LinkedIn page and your employee base has about 10 times the social reach on LinkedIn than of your business on its own. [7]

Trend #7: Artificial intelligence (AI)

Rising in prominence within digital marketing over the last few years, AI is no longer an innovation of the future—it’s here and it’s ready to help businesses more accurately reach their target audience. AI is already integrated into many existing marketing efforts with algorithms deciding the social media posts you’re shown and the ads displayed on your devices.

This year, your team should learn how AI is currently integrated and on the cusp of changing the efforts you’re pouring your marketing dollars into, so that you can understand how to utilize it to optimize your strategy and improve your results.

What to watch out for: Don’t let the allure of AI trick you into automating your marketing efforts entirely. For example, although tools like ChatGPT by OpenAI can be used to support SEO specialists in conducting keyword research or finding link building opportunities, it shouldn’t be utilized to generate entire pieces of content for your website. Besides not having the care and concern of human writing, 100% AI generated content actually violates Google’s guidelines, which can cause penalties and issues for your company’s digital presence. Allow AI to optimize and support your marketing efforts, not completely take them over.

Trend #8: Digital marketing outsourcing

If you haven’t already, one of the best ways to take your digital marketing efforts to the next level is by partnering with an outsourced agency.

Whether your business is big or small, you could greatly benefit from working with a marketing agency that has the tools and expertise to implement an integrated marketing campaign that reaches your target audience and drives sales. 

Even if you have an individual or small in-house marketing team, the right agency partner can work with your team to fill in the gaps and provide opportunities that you never thought possible. 

Ready to level up your digital marketing efforts in 2023?

Our team at Different Perspective can help you achieve all your marketing goals in 2023 and beyond with our ongoing agency support services.

The right digital marketing strategy can help you grow and expand into new audiences with tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media, Google Ads, and email marketing.

We are not an industry-specific agency, but we have expertise in supporting B2B organizations in the following industries: technology, healthcare, real estate, law, construction, and other professional service businesses.

It’s time to reach your full business potential this new year!
Schedule a meeting with a marketing strategist today.

Sources:

1: Cision PR Newswire | Global Digital Advertising and Marketing Market to Reach $786.2 Billion by 2026

2: HubSpot | The HubSpot Blog’s 2022 Social Media Marketing Report: Data from 310 Marketers

3: LinkedIn | Marketing Solutions 

4: Insider Intelligence | LinkedIn will capture nearly 25% of US B2B ad spending by 2024

5: Content Marketing Institute | 2022 B2B Content Marketing Report 

6: Aflac | 2019 Aflac CSR Survey

7: LinkedIn | The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn