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Staying Ahead of the Curve: Digital Marketing Trends for 2023 


As a marketer or business owner, you already know how important it is to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in digital marketing. But, with technology advancing faster than we can even begin to understand, keeping up can sometimes feel impossible. But guess what? You don’t have to keep up with all the trends! 

In fact, many marketers make the mistake of trying to adopt too many trends at once, which is often a recipe for failure. Instead of chasing frantically after the latest trends and constantly feeling like you’re one step behind, why not take a simpler approach to your marketing by taking the time to better understand the different trends before diving in? Then you can decide which strategies and tactics might best enable you to attract and retain your target audience.

With this new approach in mind, we encourage you to take a deep breath before diving into our comprehensive list of ongoing and emerging digital marketing trends for 2023 and the foreseeable future. From advances in Artificial Intelligence to changes in video marketing tactics, everchanging SEO best practices, and beyond, there’s a lot to take in! 

 

AI is Coming for Us

Not to sound the alarm or anything, but Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. The trend made a significant surge in 2020 as businesses increased the utilization of tools like chatbots and automated customer service tools in an effort to streamline operations and increase efficiency. 

But if AI has been a hot topic in digital marketing circles over the past few years, why does it suddenly seem like a bigger deal? It may be the fact that AI is now being used to help writers craft everything from social media posts to long-form articles, assist designers in creating awe-inspiring graphics, aid software programmers in developing complex coding, and more. And with applications like ChatGPT allowing users to converse with an AI bot, many people are a bit concerned about what’s next. 

But relax; while its potential is unknown at this time, we don’t think it will take over the world (yet). The technology still has a long way to go. We expect 2023 to reveal additional strengths and weaknesses of AI as the technology continues to evolve and improve and as we continue to determine the most efficient and ethical ways to utilize it.

 

We’re Keeping Videos Short and…Vertical

It’s no secret that Video content has been steadily gaining popularity over the past few years, and that trend looks set to continue throughout 2023. If you want to remain in the game, your business will need to start adding videos to its marketing arsenal. 

But not just any type of video will do. There will always be a place for longer videos for product demos, instructional videos, testimonials, and films. However, short, bite-sized videos are getting the most views at the moment. So, if you want to expand your reach, short-form video (think reels and short lives) is the way to go.

But there’s another thing to consider when creating video content that’s a slightly newer trend; vertical videos. Today, most people watch videos on a smartphone (60%, according to Statista), and by default, most people hold their phones vertically, which means most videos are being watched vertically.  

 

User Experience & Customer Satisfaction are Non-negotiable

If there’s one thing we’re sure will take center stage in 2023, it’s ensuring customer experiences are exceptional – and personal – from the moment they first engage with a brand. With 73% of customers claiming the quality of their experience with a brand is a critical factor in their purchasing decisions, it seems like a smart trend to focus on, don’t you agree?

If your customers aren’t feeling wowed or, at the very least, satisfied with their interactions with your brand, it’s unlikely they’ll choose to become repeat customers. If we had to choose a trend worth chasing, this one would definitely make the cut.

 

Social Media Marketing Remains Relevant

While social media is anything but new, it’s still a relevant way to get in front of your target audience. With more than 3 billion active users across social media platforms, you simply can’t ignore this method of reaching new customers. Plus, Gen Z (which makes up over 20% of the population) is all about discovering products on social media, including shopping directly from social sites. If you’re not taking advantage of that audience, you’re missing out on reaching over 68 million Americans

But being on social media doesn’t mean you have to be everywhere, doing all the things all the time. It’s wiser to be selective about where you spend your time on social media marketing. Focus your efforts based on your team’s skillsets and where you can get the most bang for your buck. 

If you have yet to dabble in the ever-popular TikTok for your business, it’s worth looking into, especially if you have plans to ramp up your video marketing this year. According to The Business of Apps, “TikTok generated $4.6 billion in 2021, a 142 percent increase year-on-year.” 

And we’d be doing you a disservice if we didn’t mention the mysterious Metaverse. According to DemandSage, “Metaverse is on the way to acquiring 50% of the global population as metaverse residents.”

In short, just be sure to show up to the party wherever that makes sense for your industry and brand. And wherever you choose to show up, remember that short videos (and lots of them) are sure to extend your reach on any platform. 

 

Google is Hungry for Experience and Trust

At the end of 2022, Google made some big changes to its Quality Rater Guidelines (QRG) for search, adding another “E” to the E-A-T acronym, resulting in the concept of E-E-A-T. The additional E adds experience to the concept, followed by expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. 

They also reiterated the high importance of trust in the equation. According to page 27 of Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (released on December 15, 2022), “Trust is the most important member of the E-E-A-T family because untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert, or Authoritative they may seem.”

 

Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Assistant are Listening

If we’re being honest, they’ve been listening for a while now, but only some have optimized their content for voice search. If you’re among the many who have been procrastinating in this area of your SEO efforts, you might not be able to put it off much longer. With voice search and conversational AI transforming how search engines operate, long-tail and question keywords will be more important to your SEO strategy in 2023 than ever. 

Why? One reason might be that voice search results load way faster than the average search results. According to Google, they can load in just 4.6 seconds, 52% faster than other queries. Given the level of impatience we know exists among consumers today, we think that’s a good reason to adopt this strategy.

Don’t worry; writing for voice search isn’t all that hard. It’s all about using natural language and writing more conversationally. Instead of using standalone keywords, focus on creating content that answers your users’ questions thoroughly and with accurate information for best results.

 

What Trends Will Your Business Implement in 2023?

We’ve got a secret to share; we can’t actually predict the future! Unfortunately, we can’t tell you exactly which trends will go down as 2023’s hottest come next December. All we can do is educate you with what we know right now.

The best thing you can do with this information is evaluate your options and identify which strategies might fit into your digital marketing efforts based on your goals, budget, and audience. But remember, you don’t have to adopt every new trend that emerges, and we don’t recommend trying them all at once! 

If anyone knows how to shift to meet today’s ever-evolving consumer demands, it’s Pivot Creative. If you need some help implementing digital marketing strategies that make sense for your business so you can stay ahead of the competition in 2023 and well into the future, get in touch today. 

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