1. eCommerce is Here to Stay
Did you know that eCommerce grew more than 80 per cent in the eight weeks after the 2019 pandemic hit? Across the pond, projections state that by 2040, 95 per cent of all purchases in the UK will be made online. Which means there’s a huge opportunity to join the eCommerce trend.
To stay relevant, the need for a business to transition towards eCommerce or at least offer an element of online shopping for customers is vital. The benefit of this is clear: an online presence is crucial for growing your customer base significantly, and bettering your chances at survival in 2023 and beyond.
2. Social Media Marketing
Over the last five years there’s been a rise not only in the use of social media platforms, but a surge in platform options (TikTok anyone?). Ensuring that you market to your customers effectively with the right message on the right platform is key to your success.
The superabundance of social media content has created a need for niche targeting. If you want to stay on top of this trend it’s important to identify where your customers are, figure out the type of content they engage with, and use this information to build out an effective social media marketing strategy. We recommend testing a range of social media platforms to see which works best with your target audience and post content that involves and interacts with the customer frequently.
When it comes to social media, the most important part is identifying your target audience, and earning their trust. After that, it’s all about creating great content, which leads us to…
3. Content Marketing
These days, the two primary types of content in the world of digital marketing are voice and video. Voice search has increased dramatically thanks to smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, which means your content needs to account for longer-tail queries.
Video will continue its meteoric rise, which is why as an organisation your focus should be on creating quality video content. This is now the preferred option for content consumption, inclusive of live streaming on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Your video content should add value to your current assets and be adaptable across multiple platforms. For example, a video uploaded on YouTube should also be embedded on your website. You’ll want to separately upload the video on Facebook (outside of YouTube) to help it rank better as Facebook algorithms are kinder to locally uploaded content as opposed to Youtube links.
Even though video is more expensive to produce, you will get a lot more use out of it across various platforms due to its highly engaging and easily shareable nature. From the long-form original video to shorter snippets for media like Instagram stories, a video can go a long way.
4. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
If you thought that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) might have become somewhat less important as part of a digital marketing strategy, think again. Page speed, user experience (UX) and identifying user intent are still the primary ways to rank higher on Google, and this will not change in 2023.
Ensure your customers can move easily through your website and avoid slow load times. Pages should be designed with your unique sales funnel in mind. Content should be optimised for a strong conversion pathway, with the right call-to-action alongside an engaging design and user experience. This is a vital consideration for all website design, especially high engagement pages and product landing pages.
Prioritising SEO within your digital marketing strategy comes down to optimising for user intent. This is based not only on the initial query type but also your desired outcome.
5. Viral Marketing
Let’s preface this section by stating the fact that viral marketing is very difficult to achieve. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt it, but it’s at the end of our list for a reason.
Some platforms such as TikTok are far better suited to driving viral marketing content due to their current popularity, but they have a very specific audience (Gen-Z). If this is your target market, go for it. If it isn’t, then you are likely wasting your time. Viral marketing hinges on producing unique and creative content, which may put you outside your comfort zone. Successful viral marketing doesn’t follow a formula, what becomes viral may even seem entirely random. Its level of success, however, can be attributed entirely to randomness.
You can simulate virality on other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn by using the right hashtags or paying to boost posts. Still, nothing compares to a truly viral video. It’s the type of exposure everyone in the marketing industry dreams of, and money simply cannot buy.