The world of marketing travels as quickly as light.
It’s only sometimes simple for marketers of any skill level to keep up with these developments.
But it’s essential to remain ahead of them if you want to thrive in the fast-paced marketing world and keep your audience interested in you.
This list of marketing trends to watch in 2023 was compiled by the HubSpot Blog after speaking with more than 1,000 global marketing professionals and a few key opinion leaders.
The objective was to support businesses in creating cutting-edge, aggressive marketing plans.
1. Traveling to $0 CAC
One of the significant differences I’ve observed between now and the beginning of 2022 is how many businesses are attempting to depend less on paid advertising to expand.
The objective is to reduce client acquisition costs to almost nothing.
Small businesses, in particular, are beginning to understand how costly traditional advertising channels like Google and Facebook advertisements have become.
And a lot of them are working to save as much money as possible to build a runway of 18 to 24 months to endure a probable economic collapse in 2023.
- Businesses that invest the most money in sponsored advertising tend to fail.
- Don’t you trust me?
- The next time you see an advertisement on YouTube or Google for a tech firm in particular, go to Google and type up the name of the company, followed by “CrunchBase.”
- You’ll find that many organizations increasing their paid ad efforts have often raised far over +$10M when looking at Crunchbase’s data on startup funding.
- Many ad-investing firms are supported by venture capitalists and have a lot of funding available. Smaller businesses lack this privilege.
- To build their client base without having to depend on paid advertising, firms will start investing more in organic content, email, PR stunts, product growth cycles, and other strategies starting in 2023.
- So buckle up; some of these tactics are other marketing trends on our list.
Read: What Is Happening In The Employment Market 2023?
2. Top Marketing Personnel Leaving Full-time Positions
There is no question that recent years have brought about a general awakening among individuals, particularly among “knowledge workers”—those who spend their days in front of computers to support themselves.
Many people, including myself, have learned through working remotely that the standard 9–5 job is beginning to crumble.
To be productive, you don’t have to spend eight hours in front of a computer. In reality, it is essentially ineffective.
- After around 4 hours of intense labor, productivity might decline.
- And more seasoned and senior marketers are beginning to feel the effects.
- In your first year as a marketing manager, a task that would take 8 hours will take only 3 hours after five years.
- These additional five hours are now taken up by brand-new tasks that your employers have given you. Your workload increases.
- And if you’re fortunate, each year, you could get a promotion that barely covers the rate of inflation for that year.
- The development of the “interim marketer” or “fractional CMO” is what we are now seeing.
- Top marketing talent may strike agreements with a business to join for a specific period, such as three or six months, and assist in positioning the business for success in the years to come.
- In exchange, marketers get a sizable payment, stock, or both.
- Even some startups have noticed this change.
For instance, Worksome raised more than $22M to make it simple for businesses to “plug in” these outside experts to their already-existing internal operations.
However, you must be skilled in your field if you want this to work for you.
It would help if you had essential talents to make this work, whether they are in SEO (search engine optimization), email marketing, or advertising, or you know how to develop a marketing team.
3. Emphasize Organic Growth:
We saw the emergence of “growth hacking” between 2015 and 2017. We observed the expansion of “growth marketing” between 2018 and 2021.
We will also see an increase in “organic growth marketing” in 2022–2023. Just another trendy phrase.
However, this marketing age reflects our first tendency to depend less on paid advertisements to spur development.
You may advertise for $1 million monthly and bring in 1,000 clients (hypothetical numbers). You lose all your consumers the instant you stop spending $1 million every month.
- If you’re fortunate, you may spend $1 million monthly on SEO and bring in a few clients in your first month.
- However, give it six months, and you’ll have the same 1,000 clients.
- Except for this period, your 1,000 clients will continue to arrive via organic search even if you cease paying the $1M each month after a while.
- Because of this, organic growth is highly effective.
- However, it’s important not to mistake the term “organic” for any “free” advertising. Spending the same amount of money on organic growth as you would on advertising is the best way to ensure success.
- However, by doing this, you’re constructing a priceless MOAT – an asset that will make you defendable against rivals.
If you have the money, it’s simple to duplicate someone’s advertising approach. If someone is actively investing in the SEO approach, it isn’t easy to reproduce it.
Therefore, in 2023, startups will continue to invest more in SEO and other growth strategies that don’t put them in a position where their client acquisition ceases when they stop spending money.
Read: Influencer Marketing: The new Face of Social Media
4. ChatGPT and AI
Bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters, and even your neighbor’s dog will continue proclaiming that ChatGPT will revolutionize society in the next decade in 2023.
ChatGPT will undoubtedly alter how software engineers do their work (making it quicker and more accurate).
And there will undoubtedly be more incredible consumer use cases for it. However, there is still a long way to go before AI can produce engaging material.
- Marketing heavily relies on storytelling.
- It takes a lot of creativity to know your target audience and know when to evoke the appropriate emotions. one for which people are most suited.
- ChatGPT would only be able to write up the things it does now with material that humans initially produced.
- Original, controversial material that has never been published online before will always have a home. A person can only do it (at the moment).
- Google, however, has said that it opposes AI-generated content and would penalize websites for obvious SEO spam.
- Therefore, when new marketing tools emerge and people speak about them, we will see a trend in ChatGPT and artificial intelligence.
- It’s usually true when something looks too wonderful to be true. It is only sometimes the case.
5. Improved Web Layout
It’s a common misconception among marketers that we’re bad at design, particularly online design.
- The initial impression of a website is crucial.
- A robust user interface and design may persuade someone to choose you over a rival.
- It feels more authentic, thanks to good design.
- Webflow, which just recently emerged, has swiftly replaced WordPress as the platform of choice for many companies.
- Have a peek at the newest YC-backed firms.
- They all have Webflow-built websites that are exquisitely crafted.
We marketers strive to make our goods and services seem upscale and desirable. And one of the simplest ways to do so is with contemporary web design.
Read: 10 Must-have Content Marketing Tools Every Team Needs
6. Tech Firms Purchasing Media Firms
Many more prominent startups will buy established media organizations since organic growth is increasing and businesses are producing more content.
- By purchasing an established website that already receives that type of attention, companies with funds will accelerate the process of reaching 100k visits per month through SEO in only a few weeks.
- Not only with SEO material, though. We’ll see it more often with newsletters, podcasts, and even YouTube channels.
- HubSpot acquired the renowned publication The Hustle in 2022.
- Zapier acquired Makerpad.
- Stripe bought IndieHackers.
Startups are becoming aware that they may pay the attention they want.
Additionally, given the likelihood of a further economic slowdown in 2023, now would be a good moment to buy a media firm at a discount.
7. Tech Firms Transitioning to Media Firms
On the other hand, businesses unable to pay to buy a significant media organization will attempt to build their own.
The function of content marketing will broaden in 2023 to include more than simply creating blog posts and sending emails.
- Startups will be increasingly interested in producing podcasts, newsletters, and YouTube videos, and marketing teams will transform into media teams.
- Startups likely to succeed will be cautious, have a defined content strategy, and ensure that each piece of content has a specific purpose.
- The opportunists will follow trends and attempt to become “viral.”
Read: Apple “Silently” Expands Smartphone Services to Counter Google
8. More Attention Should be Paid to Affiliate Programs
Affiliate marketing is paid advertising that is predictable.
We’ll see more firms use affiliate marketing to get clients in 2023. An affiliate program’s excellent feature is that entrepreneurs, not ad networks, get to choose the terms.
- Google or Facebook may decide to raise ad prices at any time.
- In contrast, when participating in an affiliate network, you decide how much you’re prepared to spend for a consumer.
- The main drawback is that scaling an affiliate network is challenging, mainly if your brand or offer needs to be stronger.
- It is where the title’s use of the word “care” is relevant.
- The top affiliate programs will have affiliate managers working with affiliates to ensure their greatest success.
Startups will give their affiliate programs more significant consideration in the next year, including providing them with insights into what is converting from their internal marketing efforts and hosting affiliate challenges and events.
9. Greater Emphasis on Retargeting Advertisements
There is no denying that advertising expenses are rising. Retargeting advertising, however, is the most effective one.
- Comparing prospecting ad campaigns to retargeting ad campaigns, the latter always wins in terms of CAC.
- The main drawback is that your website has to get a lot of attention for retargeting advertisements to be effective (i.e., you need a large pool of people you can retarget).
- Retargeting advertisements are thus a no-brainer to stack with organic growth initiatives and other digital marketing trends we haven’t yet covered in 2023 to gain consumers at a somewhat “lower” cost.
Read: Social Media Trends 2023: See What’s Next
10. Marketing Initiatives Linked to Sales
It is a significant one, and being aware of it will make you a very useful marketer in 2023.
CEOs spend money on marketing because they think it will help their company expand. And you expand a company by bringing on more (or better) clients.
Without customers, a company will ultimately run out of money and close its doors. The days of marketers spending all day on social media creating memes are long gone.
- Don’t get me wrong, it still has its place, but as you get closer to the money, you’ll do better in your marketing career.
- Revenue will be the exclusive emphasis of quarterly OKRs.
- Any business activity that doesn’t bring in money will start to be reduced. And, regrettably, sometimes this entails reducing personnel.
- If you still need to, it is why you must concentrate on developing your marketing abilities that generate income.
- These talents include SEO, paid advertisements, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, collaborations, lifecycle marketing, and creating in-product growth cycles.
