As 2022 comes to a close, there’s a lot happening. The Metaverse is having a course correct, Amazon is laying people off, and let’s just say there’s a lot going on at Twitter and in the political landscape. All this in the backdrop of an economic downturn. What’s a marketer to do? Below are a few things that can improve performance in the year ahead.
1. Omnichannel Marketing and Audience Strategies
In 2023, innovations and advancements of digital technologies will lead the way. Data visualization platforms—think of them as personal trainers who evaluate digital fitness—will set the pace. Knowing more so you can do more always makes sense, but in times of economic uncertainty insights allow budgets to go further.
Audience intelligence should guide the strategy around everything you do as a business. It reveals not only the best audiences for your goals, but also what they are trying to achieve. Think of it as a conversation. The data should reveal talking points that facilitate a dialogue and an ongoing exchange. There are several ways to do this and for our buck, the best bet is an omnichannel approach allowing for optimization. This way you can interact with customers over whatever channel they prefer—at a brick-and-mortar store, over the internet, via text, or through social media. The prefix “omni” means “all,” and “Channel” is a reference to the many ways target audiences/customers might interact with a company. It’s a powerful way to meet audiences where they are, providing them with messaging aligned with their preferences and needs because than everyone is looking for the same thing, nor do all consumer info the same way even if we’re looking for the same item.
Effective omnichannel marketing happens when companies provide a set of seamlessly integrated channels, catering to customer preferences, that steer audiences to desired outcomes. But this doesn’t happen on its own, to accomplish this audience strategists act as sherpas, leading the way and making sure brand offerings are getting the attention they deserve. For example, New Balance leads marathon trainers to the finish line of running and purchase by offering a plethora of content, offers, and community interactions including an app for individual workouts and training regimes to enhance brand affinity.
2. Video Content Marketing Dominates
Video advertising is dominating the digital landscape. Incorporating video into your marketing strategy is now table stakes. In 2022 video ad spending increased by 22.6% to $76.51 billion (with a B) and is projected to account for 57% of total display ad spending in 2023 at a spend of $93 billion. Why? Because it works. It captures a viewer’s attention for a longer amount of time compared to static posts. From TikTok’s to Instagram reels, marketers are using bite-sized videos to drive engagement and increase brand awareness among millennials and Gen Z.
Social media, gaming, live streaming platforms, and the metaverse are all keeping viewers away from linear TV and VOD content. Short-form video keeps gaining momentum and streamers are now celebrities. As Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram chase TikTok’s success in cornering short-form video, the race underscores just how important video has become as a marketing channel.
Over-the-top (OTT) advertising is a great option for advertisers because it offers inventory across the lion’s share of media services and devices while dynamically optimizing delivery around performance. This allows brands to connect with consumers in premium content environments, with all the benefits of digital targeting, personalization, measurement, and automation efficiency. Whether you’re looking to measure visits, online sales, foot traffic, with the right approach, OTT can be at the core of any brand’s media mix. While it certainly is an excellent option for branding and awareness, it can evolve into a more complete performance channel to push everything from recipes to political messaging.
3. Move over Influencer Marketing, Make Room for Shoppables
Influencer marketing isn't going away but it does have company. Increasingly, shoppable content is becoming a viable alternative. In the food space, in addition to sharing features we've come to expect such as ingredient lists and "add to cart" buttons, there are now different shoppable recipe button placements prompting customers to select their desired retailer.
- Tip: A shoppable post is any content that gives your customer a direct opportunity to purchase. If you're a clothing retailer, you can add a "shop now" button on a product image or an order link to a video caption.
Walmart is also experimenting with shoppable content. In the food space, shoppable recipe sites, in addition to sharing features we’ve come to expect such as ingredient lists and “add to cart” buttons, there are now different shoppable recipe button placements prompting customers to select their desired retailer. For example, on Allrecipes, consumers can see which retailers have local offers for specific items and add recipes one at a time to their selected retailer’s cart. Shoppable receipts can account for 5% to 8% of online sales for grocers, said Jordan Bekre, founder and CEO of Tomorrow Retail Consulting and a former Walmart Executive.
4. The Use of Voice-Enabled Chatbots is Getting Louder!
Online consumers are growing more and more accustomed to encouraging chatbots on business websites and interacting with them to find answers. The chatbot market is expected to hit $10.4 billion by 2026. Chatbots have grown in sophistication since their introduction. At the outset they were used to conduct basic text conversations to mimic human interaction. Today, it is a multipurpose AI-powered software enabling a machine to not just react, but to comprehend. The results are impressive in improving meaningful personalized interactions.
- The market size of Conversational AI is expected to reach USD$1.3 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 24%.
- AI chatbots allow brands to scale their service on up to 70% of their most asked queries, allowing them to respond and resolve issues faster.
- Chatbots have been revolutionary for all businesses, with adoption rates averaging at 40%, accelerated by the pandemic.
Source: UseInsider, August 2022
5. Cookieless Marketing—Safety in a Digital-First World
As technology becomes inextricably woven into the fabric of consumers’ lives, many are realizing that the risks associated with it are amplified with far-reaching and long-term effects on society. This has resulted in movements and businesses forming innovative techniques, guidelines, and regulatory frameworks to prevent the misuse of technology. These are gaining momentum – squarely aiming to place control over consumers’ digital presence back into their own hands.
Consumers are proactively putting guardrails in place in their digital lives, hoping to secure their individual digital rights and hold digital wrongdoers accountable in the future. The following ways undertaken by organizations can help consumers feel secure about the digital lives:
- Expanding data transparency
- Decentralized social networks
- Privacy-first systems
- Legislative protections
- Safeguarding the metaverse
Source: Kantar Monitor, July 2022
- By 2025, organizations that invest in building digital immunity will increase customer satisfaction by decreasing downtime by 80%.
Facing vast misinformation and data vulnerabilities, people are finding it more difficult to ensure their safety online. To protect themselves from these dangers, consumers are turning toward alternate tools that can offer them a better sense of what is real and secure and allow them to tread in digital spaces without fear of being taken advantage of. In this regard, businesses will have to be more proactive in gathering customer data in a cookieless world.
Get Your Marketing Strategies Ready for 2023
As the year progresses, we’ll be adapting our strategies, but hopefully what we’ve shared today lays a foundation for decision-making that will increase profit margins, cash flow, resource allocation, and ultimately growth in 2023 and beyond.
