Digital Marketing Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2023

Digital marketing has made tremendous advancements since 1994, which featured the first-ever clickable web-ad banner, the alleged first-ever online sale, and the creation of the first-ever online market, NetMarket. That year, less than 0.4%—15 million people—of the global population was connected to the Internet. Today, over 70% of the world’s population—six billion people—has Internet access, marking a tremendous 29-year increase in the digital marketing customer base.

Digital marketing initiatives are constantly evolving to keep pace with the rapid growth of its customer base and advances in technology, but what’s next? What do companies need to do to ensure the continued success of their digital marketing efforts?

Given the fast pace of technological advances, there is no simple answer. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality are significant potential game changers. Meanwhile, and perhaps of more immediate concern, marketers have to contend with Google’s imminent phase-out of third-party cookies.

Despite the lack of a “simple answer,” Naples, Florida-based Moxxi Marketing can tell you which digital marketing trends companies should keep track of during the year ahead. Read on to see how your company can utilize these six 2023 digital marketing trends.

The Power of Influencers

In a few short years, influencer marketing has emerged as one of the most popular digital marketing strategies on the Internet. Companies are reportedly making a $5.2 return on investment for every $1 spent. Influencer marketing represents an evolution of celebrity endorsement marketing, in which those with a strong or relevant social media presence help promote a company’s brand. Influencers are not necessarily celebrities per se, but those who have established a celebrity-like status from the followers they have cultivated on social media and the Internet. Whether through art, humor, social commentary, or thought leadership in a particular field, influencers’ social media posts and online activities get clicks and their brand promotion efforts tend to drive sales.

Learn More About Your Customers with Form Building

The more a company knows about its customers, the more effectively it can target them with digital marketing strategies. Rather than relying on third-party customer data collection, many companies are increasingly turning to in-house customer intel gathering through form building. This digital marketing tool is merely the development of engaging online forms tailored to encourage customer response.

Customer Engagement with Real-Time Messaging and Chatbots

With AI rapidly increasing its capabilities, companies are increasingly turning to real-time messaging and chatbots to help optimize website customer engagement opportunities. Real-time messaging allows customers to initiate or request a live chat with one of your company’s representatives, while ever-smarter chatbots can answer customer questions, provide requested information, and encourage customer call-to-action responses. The sophistication of both tools is growing rapidly, as is their uptake in use by companies seeking to take advantage of every possible customer interaction.

LinkedIn Emerging as Powerful B2B Tool

Whether Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, or some other platform, social media has been a top digital marketing trend for years. However, when thinking of social media as a digital marketing tool, few businesses consider LinkedIn. That is, until recently. According to recent market research, U.S. B2B display ad spending on LinkedIn more than doubled in two short years. The platform is expected to capture nearly 25% of U.S. B2B ad spending by 2024.

Two Other Technological Trends to Keep an Eye On

We mentioned artificial intelligence (AI) in our introduction because of its inherent game-changing power. AI is already working behind the digital marketing scene to help search engines optimize search results, analyze consumers’ website interactions, and generate targeted online ad placement. The technological capabilities are expanding so rapidly that AI will soon be able to generate personalized ad copy and images targeted to customers based on the AI’s analysis of their online activities.

While virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) also has game-changing power, their capabilities in the digital marketing sphere have yet to be truly showcased or put into practice. Numerous prominent companies are exploring how immersive customer experiences can be brought to fruition through the “metaverse.” Still, efforts to create this easily accessible online world essentially remain in the conceptual stage.

Perhaps needless to say but companies need to keep a close eye on VR/AR due to its ongoing, rapidly evolving trend-setting capabilities. And companies need to pay attention to any metaverse advancements as the concept and supporting VR/AR technology has the potential to rapidly trend.

Outsourcing Your Digital Marketing Initiatives

While it’s not a distinct 2023 trend, your company may want to investigate whether it makes sense to outsource its digital marketing initiatives. In recent years, many small businesses have turned to outsourcing to keep up with the rapidly evolving digital marketing trends and technologies. Outsourcing allows smaller companies to manage effective digital marketing strategies and helps them free up human resources to focus on core business activities. Moxxi marketing provides clients with results-driven digital marketing solutions that engage customers and keep pace with the rapid technological changes. To learn more, contact us today at 239.330.6236.