2023 Marketing Practices Revealed

The Year of Digital First, and Do More With Less

In our last post, we talked about how, as we enter 2023, organizations are in the midst of yearly planning and setting goals to keep ahead of the competition and stay in front of the customer.

Last week, eMa’s Senior Marketing Program Manager, Emerald Lindskog, and Angela Kehl, Senior Marketing Associate, held an interactive webinar where they covered:

• How buyer behaviors are changing in 2023 and what that means for your marketing plans
• How your marketing strategy needs to change alongside the latest consumer and technological shifts
• Customer retention in 2023 and how marketers can play a key role in this critical area

Buyer Behaviors and Audience

Millennials and Gen Z have taken over as the primary buying age group. Which means “Digital First” is the key phrase for marketing strategy:

• Buyers are less likely to answer the phone
• Ungated content is key
• A strong presence and engagement on social media is a necessity
• Your website needs to be a storefront with transparent pricing

We need to give people the tools and information they need to make buying decisions. At eMa we know from experience that removing gating has improved the asset experience for our own prospects. It’s important to look like an enterprise company. Many customers will see your social media before your website, so the quality has to be high in both places. Increasingly, Tiktok and YouTube are big—bigger even than LinkedIn—and many B2B firms are using Tiktok to provide educational content.

In addition to trend data, it’s helpful to have a consultant. Angela is herself a Gen Z consumer and her personal experience has helped us understand that audience. We know that today’s buyer prioritizes convenience and their focus on digital access is a result of that. There is a rejection of the typical B2B experience, and the buying committee is bigger and more diverse than ever before.

So, how can you be successful in the 2023 marketing environment that accommodates this new consumer profile?

• Appeal to emotions
• Humanize your brand/authenticity
• Embrace creatively
• Experiment outside normal offerings

Simply put, just answer the consumer’s question “What problem does your product solve?”

How the Economy Will Impact Marketing in 2023

The expected continued downturn in the economy means people are going to be more thoughtful in their buying decisions, so customer retention is the name of the game. People are looking for vendors that are customizing their offerings. Marketing has to be more than advertising—if it’s not, it won’t deliver a great customer experience. How does a company do that?

• Make a plan to connect in person
• Have high-level goals that are broken down into monthly or quarterly tasks
• Implement a Customer Success or Engagement Manager program
• Embrace B2C tactics for customer experience

Do More with Less

As companies are faced with fewer funds and staff, they will need fresh ideas for making an impact with those reduced marketing budgets. Look at what is current, trending content and decide where to focus your content creation efforts. A particularly valuable channel right now is short form video content—it’s efficient to create and highly effective when distributed right. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million pictures.

Get the eMa Perspective

We hope you will take advantage of our research and expertise. To get our full insights into marketing strategy for 2023, take a look at Emerald and Angela’s webinar on YouTube.