Author: Insider94 Staff
The marketing tactics are ever changing and ever evolving. Businesses are constantly challenged to break through to their targets and be clever about the tactics and placement of messaging to resonate with potential customers.
As a marketer at any experience level, keeping up with these changes isn’t always easy. But, to succeed in the fast-paced marketing world — and maintain a sense of relevance with your audience — it’s vital to stay ahead of them. 
Here are the top 10 trends marketers should be mindful of in 2023.
1. Influencer marketing will evolve into a common marketing tactic
Influencer marketing really picked up steam in 2022, and we predict this trend will keep pace in 2023. Why? According to HubSpot, 89% of marketers who currently engage with influencer marketing will increase or maintain their investment next year. On top of that, 17% of marketers are planning to invest in it for the first-time next year.
When marketers collaborate with influencers and industry thought leaders in their industry, they can expand brand awareness and gain fans from the influencer’s own audience.
Can’t afford to hire a celebrity influencer with millions of followers? That’s okay. In fact, more than 56% marketers who invest in influencer marketing work with micro-influencers. Who are micro-influencers? Micro-influencers are social media promoters with a smaller following (typically, thousands to tens of thousands of followers). Although they have fewer followers, their posts often offer a greater return on investment and conversion to due to their higher level of engagement.
These influencers have found a niche in their industry, too — which is why they’ve started to play a bigger role in converting leads, connecting with audiences, and boosting brand awareness. Think influencers are just for business-to-consumer brands? Think again. Influencers are equally effective for business-to-business initiatives.
2.Video marketers will keep content short and authentic
we predict it will carry over in 2023. According to HubSpot, an astounding 90% of marketers using short-form video will increase or maintain their investment next year, and 1 in 5 marketers plan to leverage short-form video for the first time in 2023.
While long-form videos can offer depth and large amounts of information about a product, brand, or services to audiences, both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketers have learned that getting to the point with short-form videos can be much more effective.
Not only does it take less bandwidth to create a short-form video, but this type of format aligns well with the fast-paced attention spans of online audiences in a variety of demographics. This is likely why platforms like TikTok, Reels, and — in previous years — Snapchat have gained quick growth and marketing interest.
3.Social media will become a customer service tool
Leveraging social media as a customer service tool is relatively new, but this trend is quickly gaining steam. According to HubSpot, more than a quarter of marketers use direct messages (DM’s) to offer customer support, and 15% of marketers plan to try it for the first time in 2023.
It’s no coincidence that this trend is emerging at a time when many social media platforms — namely Instagram and Facebook — are expanding its e-commerce capabilities. For this reason, providing customer service on these platforms will become even more crucial.
It’s also worth noting that consumers want to communicate with brands via DM’s — especially the Millennial and Gen Z crowd. HubSpot’s 2022 Consumer Trends Survey found that 20% of Gen Z-ers and nearly 25% of Millennials have contacted a brand on social media for customer service in the past three months.
4. More businesses will leverage SEO to concur search traffic
As marketers, we must ensure that our websites and content are as discoverable as possible — especially on Google — which can provide both long-term and short-term traffic returns. And, while SEO is not new, it’s strategies are becoming even more ingrained within modern day marketing strategies.
When it comes to the trend marketers will invest the most money in for 2023, SEO ranks third behind short-form video and influencer marketing. HubSpot shares that 88% of marketers who have an SEO strategy will increase or maintain their investment in 2023, which is a slight uptick from the year before (84%).
5.Aligned marketing and sales teams will win
As we move through 2023, it’s becoming increasingly crucial for sales and marketing teams to work together. When these teams are aligned, marketers can get a more complete picture of their customers, including their interests, hobbies, and demographics.
But when this doesn’t happen, it creates a flurry of problems for everyone involved. Most notably, it’s more challenging to share and access data across teams.
According to HubSpot, surprisingly only 31% of marketers say their sales and marketing teams are strongly aligned. It’s no surprise that almost half of marketers are shifting their goals in 2023 towards sales and marketing alignment.
6. Inbound marketing will remain a best practice for growing brands
In a time of digital transformation, embracing inbound marketing is an incredibly smart move and economical move. Throughout the last two years, the world’s dealt with unprecedented change, and outbound marketing tactics have become even less effective in reaching prospects and leads.
The shift from in-person to hybrid work from home (WFH) business practices have made inbound marketing come to the forefront of effective tactics. For example, there’s been a significant rise in virtual events due to COVID-19 forcing marketers to get creative to catch the attention of customers.
Inbound marketing can be an asset to create brand awareness and build trust digitally through refocusing strategy to drive customers to seek out your content.
The process of inbound marketing must be thoughtful, requiring you to produce quality, valuable content tailored towards your target audience and buyer personas and their needs.
7.Blogging continues to be important
Blogging has been a commonly used marketing strategy since brands started building their own websites. But the age of this tactic shouldn’t be a sign that it’s out-of-date. In fact, blogging has been used for so long simply because it works. So much so, one in three marketers leverage their own blog or website
On top of that, HubSpot 2022 research suggested that most consumers read blogs multiple times per week and have purchased something or inquired about a brand’s product or service after reading the company’s blog.
Aside from providing consumer engagement and potentially conversion, blogs also provide a major key benefit to your website or online pages: search discoverability.
Ultimately, sites with robust blogs have more search potential and can implement SEO strategies much easier than sites that don’t.
8.Case studies will continue to drive leads and brand credibility
Longer-form case studies offer prospects an incredibly deep and exclusive look into how people or brands benefit from a product, service, or strategy. While some businesses place them publicly on their web pages to persuade a potential buyer as quickly as possible. Others might gate them as free PDFs that require a lead conversion to be downloaded.
9.Marketers will embrace data with infographics
If a picture paints a thousand words, infographics could paint at least double.
Infographics not only have the shareability and visual appeal of a nice photo — but they’re also packed with helpful data and informative information. This makes them incredibly engaging to web visitors and social media audiences alike.
Of the marketers who regularly use infographics in their content strategy, HubSpot cites that 56% say they are their most effective content type.
Ultimately, credible data can help marketers, bloggers, and content creators tell compelling and persuasive stories.
10.Agile plans based on results
With the ability to easily measure marketing effectiveness with CRM tools, Google Analytics and conversion-to-customer metrics, marketers should constantly evaluate their various tactics and embrace agility to try new things if a tactic isn’t getting a desired result. Try many things and do more of what works and eliminate or do less of what isn’t working. It sounds simple but using data as decision support should promote agility in your 2023 marketing plans.
