Digital marketing trends 2023, according to 37 experts
It’s a fresh new year and there are so many exciting digital marketing trends and opportunities on the horizon.
Whether it’s 2023 or 1993, profitability is always key. Our “How to reach peak profit potential” playbook is the defining resource your agency needs.
Whether you’re looking to finalize your digital marketing strategy, want to stay ahead of the curve, or are simply addicted to round-up lists, I’m here to deliver. I surveyed 37 experts, including CEOs, VPs, founders, and presidents across tech and business spheres, along with SEO consultants, marketing managers, content specialists, editor-in-chiefs, and more. The wealth and breadth of their knowledge is inspiring!
Of course, no one has a crystal ball, we did find a general consensus among the experts as to which digital marketing trends will be most crucial to stay abreast of as we start this year.
I’ve organized the insights into 10 categories. According to experts, the digital marketing trends you can look forward to in 2023 are:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and automations
- Expertise, authoritativeness, and trust (E-A-T)
- Metaverse and AR/AV technology
- Influencer marketing
- TikTok and short-form video
- Voice search
- Recession-proofing
- Community-driven marketing
- Audio social platforms
- First-party and zero-party data
Table of Contents
Digital marketing trends: Artificial intelligence (AI) & automations
- Brendan King, CEO at Vendasta
- Jake Munday, Co-Founder & CEO at Custom Neon
- Corey Tyner, Sales & Marketing Executive and Founder at Buy Yo Dirt
- Rhett Stubbendeck, CEO at LeverageRx
- Jack Pires, Founder and CEO at SocialJack Media
- George Leith, Chief Customer Officer at Vendasta
- Chris Gadek, VP of Growth at AdQuick
Digital marketing trends: Expertise, authoritativeness, & trust (Google E-A-T)
- Benjamin Poirrier, Founder & CEO at Prodima
- Amanda Walls, Founder & Director of Cedarwood Digital
- Teri Ambrose, Founder of Teri Ambrose Digital Marketing
- Jon Hall, Founder of Switchbird
- David Little, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Comporium
- Cheryl O’Hern, CEO & Founder of Spin Markket
Digital marketing trends: Metaverse & AR/VR technology
- Sam Underwood, Ecommerce SEO Consultant
- Aima Irfan, Editor in Chief at Inside Tech World
- Theresia Le Battistini, CEO & Founder of Fashion League
- Andrew Cussens, Founder & Director of FilmFolk and Bloomsbury Films
Digital marketing trends: Influencer marketing
- Michael Dadashi, Co-Founder & CEO of Infinite Recovery
- Mario Cacciottolo, PR & Branding Manager at SBO
Digital marketing trends: TikTok and short-form video
- Chris Montgomery, CEO & Founder of Social Ordeals
- Greg Gillman, CRO at MuteSix
- Adam Enfroy, Founder of AdamEnfroy.com
- Allia Luzong, Content Manager at Sword Encyclopedia
- Diego Kafie, CEO & Co-Founder at Playbite
Digital marketing trends: Voice search
- Natalia Brzezińska, Marketing & Outreach Manager at PhotoAiD
- Ravi Davda, CEO at Rockstar Marketing
- Will Palmer, Founder & CEO for Growth Lab
Digital marketing trends: Recession-proofing
- Azmaira Maker, Founder & Director of Aspiring Families Center
- Patrick Lum, Co-Founder & President of AsteroidX
Digital marketing trends: Community-driven marketing
Digital marketing trends: Audio social platforms
- Christy Pyrz, Chief Marketing Officer of Paradigm Peptides
- Mitchell Slater, CEO of Slater Strategies
- Robert Davis, Founder & CEO of KOR | UNLIMITED
Digital marketing trends: Artificial intelligence (AI) & automations
Artificial intelligence technology has been on the rise for years. Though AI, machine learning, and conversational chatbots may have been digital marketing trends on your radar in the past, OpenAI’s research release of ChatGPT has changed the conversation.
In fact Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, summed up prevailing sentiments in a recent tweet: “ChatGPT is one of those rare moments in technology where you see a glimmer of how everything is going to be different going forward.”
Caption: I asked ChatGPT to summarize itself for you.
Launched to the general public for free testing as of November 30th, 2022, ChatGPT has underscored AI’s incredible potential and application across business sectors. Having dominated the world’s imagination in only a few short weeks, exploring AI’s capabilities is going to be one of the most disruptive digital marketing trends carrying us into the new year.
Our digital marketing trends experts—and even our own CEO and CCO—agreed. Expect more of it in 2023. In turn, AI has also unlocked an increased emphasis on the importance of automations to reduce operational inefficiencies.
1. Brendan King, CEO at Vendasta
Digital marketing trends: We’re going to see a stepped up increase in automations making people’s lives easier and better. AI is a part of that.
“We’ve been hearing about AI for years. What’s different now is that the models have gotten to a point where they’re becoming useful. Data will become the new currency as businesses look to leverage technology—and that technology of AI has always been there. What it needs is the data underneath to train it to understand how to react, like ChatGPT. This type of AI is really part of the automation trend that I spoke about last year.”
Recommended Listening: 2022 Year in Review | Brendan King
2. Jake Munday, Co-Founder & CEO at Custom Neon
Digital marketing trends: Artificial intelligence will enhance the consumer experience.
“Artificial intelligence has been growing in prevalence in the digital marketing arena in recent years. The upcoming year will see it become more mainstream, with companies integrating AI-powered features across many areas of their business, including digital marketing strategies. Consumers are demanding quicker, more efficient response times, conversational AI and robotic process automation, and the perfect solution for real-time pre-purchase, during purchase, and post-purchase communications.”
3. Corey Tyner, Sales & Marketing Executive and Founder at Buy Yo Dirt
Digital marketing trends: In 2023 and beyond, artificial intelligence will fundamentally alter how businesses operate.
“Marketers will increase their investment in automation in 2023. Digital assistants that use AI and chatbots are already becoming more common in digital marketing.
“Even small organizations have begun to invest in AI-based marketing technologies to develop individualized customer experiences. By anticipating your prospects' next steps, artificial intelligence enables you to promote them just as they require your product or service. Higher conversion rates are attained when AI-based digital support is incorporated into your marketing campaigns.
“Spend more time on other business issues by automating typical marketing duties like tracking web traffic and enhancing SEO for organic reach.”
4. Rhett Stubbendeck, CEO at LeverageRx
Digital marketing trends: More businesses will use chatbots and AI digital assistance to give their clients a personalized experience.
“Automating marketing tasks using AI will help a business to have enough time to focus on important business matters, increase the return on investment, reduce workload stress, and increase the company's productivity. Some of the ways my business has started using AI-based marketing are to create human-like languages for customer service, collect large amounts of marketing data, or write content for our websites.”
5. Jack Pires, Founder and CEO at SocialJack Media
Digital marketing trends: Advanced personalization in automation and the use of AI software will allow agencies to set themselves apart in other areas, as well.
“Agencies that started to provide services years ago and still make it a priority to double down on continuous learning are reaping the benefits of this growth because of the exponential knowledge capital they’re acquiring. When you combine that with exceptional customer service, this small number of agencies have truly set themselves apart in the marketplace and will continue to do so for decades to come.”
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6. George Leith, Chief Customer Officer at Vendasta
Digital marketing trends: AI and machine learning will continue to drive automation and efficiency—especially for startup-sized businesses.
“There has been this massive growth of small businesses in the last six months. So coming out of the pandemic in North America, the phenomenon is that we're seeing a lot of new businesses that are starting. Automation and AI will most definitely play a role in those startups that have less than 10 employees.”
7. Chris Gadek, VP of Growth at AdQuick
Digital marketing trends: AI chatbots are driving conversational commerce.
“Customer experience (CX) has grown substantially in the last five years. The pandemic changed how people shop, and because of this, customers now have more power. For this reason, companies have had to adapt to tailor their customer experience. Previously, creating a compelling customer experience was a bit of a crapshoot. But today, successful brands are intentional about impacting behavioral outcomes.
“More businesses will be implementing AI chatbots to power communication with clients. While conversational marketing is vital to CX, it's the speed of that conversation that quickens the sales process. If your sales reps are too slow to answer questions in the digital world, your leads may jump to your competitor's website.
"But AI chatbots use data mining to understand customer preferences in seconds to immediately serve up the most appropriate information. This reduces the amount of time visitors have to spend searching for answers themselves. And as AI chatbots can drill through billions of documents and social media conversations at a pace impossible for human teams, they can predict each customer's needs and preferences more accurately. Such a high level of personalization results in better user engagement and increased conversion rates."
Digital marketing trends: Expertise, authoritativeness, & trust (Google E-A-T)
To counterbalance the buzz and enthusiasm around AI, having a human touch is one of the evergreen digital marketing trends to really prioritize in 2023. Machine-learning and AI technologies are extremely useful for specific purposes but will never replace quality, first-person content. You could say the problem with AI is that it doesn’t E-A-T.
Standing for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, E-A-T is an important principle for Google’s (human!) search quality raters. As recently as December 15th, 2022, Google has even added an additional ‘E’ to the E-A-T framework for ‘Experience’. According to Google, search quality raters now ask themselves whether content was created with a degree of experience, such as a person having actually used a product or visited a place.
Get ready to place more value in content that is unique, specific, and helpful. When it comes to digital marketing trends, authenticity and trust cannot be created or cultivated using AI. Power to the people!
8. Benjamin Poirrier, Founder & CEO at Prodima
Digital marketing trends: 2023 will be the year of the E-A-T framework: Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
“The Google Core algorithm updates of May and September 2022 made a huge impact on websites’ organic traffic.
“More and more, marketers must publish “useful,” “relevant,” and “unique” content. In 2023, this trend will accelerate. Quick and cheap content marketing solutions won’t work anymore to boost the number of online visitors and keyword rankings.”
9. Amanda Walls, Founder & Director of Cedarwood Digital
Digital marketing trends: Expertise, authority, and trust are trending heavily as businesses look to improve key relevancy and reputation signals across their website.
"Towards the end of 2022 we saw a quick sequence of Google’s algorithm updates, primarily targeted around building greater trust and better content on websites. The September Core Algorithm Update, Product Reviews Update, and Helpful Content Update were all rolled out in quick succession and this gives us some key insight as to what marketeers will be looking towards in 2023.
“Building out expertise-led content, improving off-site Digital PR/reputation management, and external reviews will all be a key area of focus in 2023 as we look to give off positive signals not only for Google, but also to users to help improve user experience and on-site conversion rate.
“In addition, I’d expect that we will see an increase in content quality across websites. This won’t just be a case of adding more content, or increasing the frequency of it; it will be reviewing existing content to ensure it answers a user’s intent and purpose and that it extols the expertise of the brand.”
10. Teri Ambrose, Founder of Teri Ambrose Digital Marketing
Digital marketing trends: Being authentic, transparent, and honest with marketing will be essential for businesses that want to succeed in 2023.
“In a world that is increasingly driven by social media and instant gratification, businesses are under pressure to be more authentic, transparent, and honest with their marketing. This trend has already begun to emerge, with companies such as Nike and Patagonia leading the way. In the coming years, we will see more businesses following suit as they strive to build trust and loyalty with their customers.
“There are several reasons why this trend will continue to grow in popularity. First, customers are becoming more discerning and are no longer willing to blindly support brands. They want to see that their values align with those of the company, and they want to know that they can trust the brand to be honest about its products and services.
“Second, social media platforms have made it easier for customers to connect with each other and share information. This has created a sense of community and accountability that didn't exist before. Finally, as businesses become more globalized, they will need to find ways to build bridges between cultures and countries.”
11. Jon Hall, Founder of Switchbird
Digital marketing trends: The pendulum will swing away from consumer trust in user-generated content and back toward trust in the experts and institutions who rank and recommend products, services, and brands.
“Marketers and business owners must identify what they can do to earn the favor of experts and institutions. For some, that may mean building relationships with influencers. For others, it will be a matter of ensuring a business performs well wherever said experts and institutions are watching.
“Perhaps no ‘institution’ is watching local businesses more closely than Google is. The search and reviews giant desperately needs new ways to find insight into those businesses amidst a glut of spam and spammy ranking tactics.
“In fact, Google has been actively cultivating new sources of un-spammable ‘signals’ by which to evaluate, recommend, and rank local businesses. How? By insinuating itself directly into customer conversations via new products like Business Messages.
“As far as digital marketing trends in 2023, marketers and business owners need to understand how customer conversations themselves will become a trove of insight partially used by outsiders like Google to establish trust in their business and send new customers to their door.
12. David Little, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Comporium
Digital marketing trends: Understanding what your reputation is in the marketplace and then maintaining that and improving will be critical.
“You can have a lot of different solutions from advertising to your website to SEO. But at the end of the day, no matter how great your lead generation tools or your awareness tools may be, if your reputation is not stellar, then you're just basically going to send those leads to your competitor.
“I know online reputation [management] is something that's been around for a long time, but it's still probably one of the most critical things a business needs to understand and to manage if they're going to succeed.”
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13. Cheryl O’Hern, CEO & Founder of Spin Markket
Digital marketing trends: 2023 will be the year of the digital expert.
“Businesses are figuring out that they can't have an internal marketing department. A Marketing Director will never be able to accomplish what an external organization [or agency] like us can. Now it’s about strategic planning, and the reporting dashboards. There's a better understanding in the world of business with marketing, just because it's online, it's not free. We're going to see that being a much easier sell than probably what it has been in the past.”
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Digital marketing trends: Metaverse & AR/VR technology
The metaverse, for the uninitiated, is the concept of a shared virtual space. The internet, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), digital communities that interface online, and more fall under the metaverse’s umbrella. While the metaverse has been thought of as the next step in the trajectory of the internet, it’s Mark Zuckerberg who really made it a household name with the arrival of Meta.
While this may all sound supremely futuristic (or maybe it’s just me!), you’ve likely already experienced or experimented with this tech before. Think virtual events, virtual storefronts, and even virtual influencers.
The way we experience things together is shifting, and digital marketing trends advise us to embrace the coming innovations.
14. Sam Underwood, Ecommerce SEO Consultant
Digital marketing trends: With the current version of the metaverse concept, there are infinite possibilities for developing memorable and effective brand experiences.
“There’s a lot of fuss and buzz in the virtual realm with The Metaverse. Despite the metaverse's existence for decades, Mark Zuckerberg's focus on it on Facebook has given it a fresh lease of life (now Meta). A transition to the metaverse need not be as terrifying as some may imagine.
“Such metaverse encounters can take place in a wide variety of settings. Sandbox, Decentraland, Spatial, Roblox, and others, for instance, have been welcomed by a wide variety of companies and creatives.”
15. Aima Irfan, Editor in Chief at Inside Tech World
Digital marketing trends: The hype of the metaverse in digital marketing is going to get real in 2023. Next, we’ll have to overcome some barriers.
“Although the metaverse has been around for some time now, the actual hype was created after Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook’s name to Meta. The metaverse provides impactful and seamless brand experiences. As a digital touchpoint, the metaverse has a lot of potential only if the barriers can be overcome. Some barriers, like the high cost of VR equipment, if tackled well, can make the metaverse a big hit in 2023 with respect to digital marketing trends.”
16. Theresia Le Battistini, CEO & Founder of Fashion League
Digital marketing trends: Apps will continue to develop Augmented Reality tech to stand out amongst their competitors.
“How do brands capture attention on social media? By providing a unique and fun experience.
“Ever since Snapchat popularized filters where users could seamlessly overlay digital elements onto their face and body, brands have been developing creative ways to connect with users. Clothing brands are integrating virtual ‘fitting rooms’ where customers can virtually try on clothes without leaving their house. Retail products stand out on shelves by providing AR experiences that begin by scanning a QR code and end in the customer stepping into the brand’s virtual interactive world.
“As this technology becomes more advanced and easier to create, brands are further empowered going into 2023 to flex their creative muscles and engage with customers in this fun way.”
17. Andrew Cussens, Founder & Director of FilmFolk and Bloomsbury Films
Digital marketing trends: Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are going to enter the metaverse marketing space and win big.
“One of the most influential digital marketing trends we shall witness in 2023 is the entry of SMBs into the metaverse marketing space. With the rapid deployment of these virtual worlds, we’ll see these spaces become more accessible to smaller businesses, who will then adopt creative techniques that offer immersive marketing experiences for digital-native audiences. Small businesses will be the biggest winners in the metaverse, as they are more attentive of individual customers’ needs, as well as adept at helping customers establish their own unique identities in the virtual world.”
Digital marketing trends: Influencer marketing
There was the era of the celebrity endorsement. Now we’re in the era of influencer marketing, and as far as digital marketing trends go, social media personalities are not going anywhere.
By partnering with social media influencers who have an engaged following, businesses can tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing and reach a targeted audience in an authentic, genuine, and relatable way.
And as we’ll see in the next section on TikTok, engaging in successful influencer marketing does not require partnering with huge names. The rise of the micro-influencer is currently underway. Creators with a lower follower count but high engagement and trust amongst their niche audience can also help businesses to build trust and credibility with their target market.
18. Michael Dadashi, Co-Founder & CEO of Infinite Recovery
Digital marketing trends: The ability to connect with actual people in real time is just one of many benefits of forming partnerships with influential individuals who can help you reach a larger audience.
“There has been a meteoric rise in the use of influencer marketing in recent years… The most valuable aspect of working with influencers is the trust they foster between companies and customers by being open and genuine in their interactions. As a result of their extensive networks, influencers may reach a far larger audience than a single company. If an influential person endorses your product or service, it might significantly boost your brand's visibility. It's a big deal when users of any social media platform mention your company or product in a post. Even if the promotion is financially motivated, your name will be spread far and wide anyway.”
19. Mario Cacciottolo, PR & Branding Manager at SBO
Digital marketing trends: Influencer marketing has proven that different personalities and senses of humor can reach a larger audience.
“We all know that influencers have taken center stage when it comes to digital marketing trends. So much so that big-name brands have recruited well-known influencers to market for them. It’s safe to say that influencer marketing will continue to boom with even more intensity in 2023.
“The new generation of professionals has changed the way we market online. The social media platform, TikTok, is a great example of this. There are all kinds of creators that market different products on their profiles. Some use humor to market, and some market using lifestyle routines, the possibilities are endless when influencers are marketing.
“Companies collaborating with these influencers tend to see a rise in sales and internet traffic. So it’s no surprise that influencer marketing is continuously taking center stage.”
Digital marketing trends: TikTok and short-form video
In 2022, TikTok claimed top spot for the most-downloaded app in the world. In 2023, it threatens to disrupt Google search. In fact, Google is taking notes from TikTok to keep Gen Z engaged.
In other words, if you still view TikTok as a children’s app for trending dances, you’re gravely mistaken. Leveraging a TikTok and short-form video strategy might be one the most relevant digital marketing trends to engage with and implement in 2023.
20. Chris Montgomery, CEO & Founder of Social Ordeals
Digital marketing trends: Agencies that leverage the power of TikTok to market to local businesses will stand out from their competitors.
“You have to pay attention to TikTok; I think TikTok is becoming not only that video channel, but it's also becoming a pretty powerful search engine. I think it’s one of the digital marketing trends that will be big for agencies to explore in 2023.”
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21. Greg Gillman, CRO at MuteSix
Digital marketing trends: Though influencers will still dominate marketing, content creators will become the driving force behind the short-form video format pioneered by TikTok.
“Brands are seeing firsthand how they can translate engagement-boosting content produced by these social media talents into revenue-generating success—without having to pay a hefty price tag.
“Through TikTok-style creative, engagement-boosting content can be produced at rates conducive to a business’s needs. In addition, the ability for content creators to use their platform-specific creative talents to celebrate brands will continue to boost brand awareness amongst new audiences. As we move forward, short-form video produced by content creators, rather than pricey influencers, will only gain momentum as brands continue to find a greater value in leveraging their talents.”
22. Adam Enfroy, Founder of AdamEnfroy.com
Digital marketing trends: There’s only going to be one platform that matters in the next eighteen months, and that’s going to be TikTok.
“The digital marketing industry has to reinvent itself from the top down in order to take advantage of the platform's popularity and will slowly, but surely begin to make all of their purpose-designed content TikTok friendly in order to reach a never expanding audience.”
23. Allia Luzong, Content Manager at Sword Encyclopedia
Digital marketing trends: Short-form video is key to successful 2023 marketing strategies, and it will thrive on TikTok.
“One of the things we're anticipating is more opportunities in short form video and micro influencers which are two things that tend to go together, especially on TikTok. Even outside of TikTok, social media platforms like Facebook have expressed their interest in pushing short form video more aggressively on users.
“However, we expect TikTok to remain king because of how much easier it is to create organic reach there versus Facebook.”
24. Diego Kafie, CEO & Co-Founder at Playbite
Digital marketing trends: Get ready for the TikTok-ification of everything.
“TikTok has made short and medium length vertical videos with an easy swipe to skip the best content format on the planet.
“Creators and brands have trained themselves to deliver impactful, helpful, and entertaining messages quickly and visually, and there's no turning back! Of course Instagram and Snapchat have copied the format, but I believe this format will keep showing up in all kinds of digital experiences as more and more brands embrace the format to promote their products or services in faster, more dynamic, and more engaging ways.
“If you haven't already, you'll start seeing your favorite DTC brands implement their own native vertical video inside their shops. Whatever niche app you use to consume content will have a tab dedicated to vertical video... whether it's food, business, finance, or health, vertical video will keep expanding to become the most prominent feature across every website and app out there.”
Digital marketing trends: Voice search
Typing is so 2022. “Ok, Google” and “Hey, Siri” are now common parts of our cultural lexicon, and consumers rely more and more on voice-based technology. From a chatty AI to Google’s E-A-T principle that rewards authentic, unique first-hand content, things continue to get more conversational in 2023 with voice search.
As searchers increasingly demand accurate results when they submit voice commands with Google, Siri, and Alexa, this is an area where B2B sellers can gain a strong foothold.
Digital marketing trends like voice search also come along with other implications, such as the impact on SEO. Businesses should consider how they can adapt their SEO strategies to optimize for voice search by considering long-tail keywords, natural language in website copy, and local SEO.
25. Natalia Brzezińska, Marketing & Outreach Manager at PhotoAiD
Digital marketing trends: As people interact with technologies in new and more personalized ways, voice search will be a big consideration for businesses.
“One of the digital marketing trends that will drive 2023 is voice search. They prefer to talk with their digital device instead of typing. No doubt this affects SEO. The language people search for information will be different, more natural, and more fluid. And marketers should not ignore it. They need to optimize their website by changing keywords and adapting them to this new way of search, preferable long-tail ones, and ones more related to spoken language.”
26. Ravi Davda, CEO at Rockstar Marketing
Digital marketing trends: In 2023 we will see more voice search for SEO.
"Devices like the Echo Dot and Alexa are getting more and more popular, and users want to type less and speak more because this makes it quicker and easier to get an answer to any question they need. Therefore, as a business owner, you'll want to start answering these questions in your content.
“For example, if you're a marketing agency, a question like 'How do I install the Facebook pixel?' or 'What's the benefit of using Google Lead Ads?' and other related questions should be in all of your content. You can either add this as an FAQ section at the end of an article, add questions as subheadings, or even use a question as your main heading if it works. Don't ignore voice search for SEO in 2023—it's only going to get bigger and bigger in the following years."
27. Will Palmer, Founder & CEO for Growth Lab
Digital marketing trends: Google is putting a huge emphasis on expanding search beyond text-based results into visual and multimedia areas, including voice.
“This is mostly amid the rise of apps like TikTok and Amazon where Gen Z’s are doing the vast amount of their online searches. This trend, however, applies more to certain industries such as hospitality, travel, and eComm. If you cater to those kinds of clients, I would keep a close eye on Google’s evolving search experience—especially for voice search”
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Digital marketing trends: Recession-proofing
Economic downturns suck, but they are cyclical and inevitable. The upside? You can strategize amd prepare to weather the storm when it comes, knowing that sunshine is waiting on the other side. Digital marketing trends in 2023 show that marketers are aware of the possibility of a recession and are ready to find a silver lining in the form of opportunities for growth and innovation.
Remember: While traditional forms of marketing may be more vulnerable to budget cuts, digital marketing allows businesses to reach their target audience at a lower cost and with greater flexibility. You’re positioned to win, as long as you don't necglect the importance of recession-proofing.
28. Azmaira Maker, Founder & Director of Aspiring Families Center
Digital marketing trends: Recession-proof digital marketing budgets for 2023.
“We’ve been teetering on the brink of a global recession for a while now. Irrespective of whether we continue swaying back and forth or finally find ourselves stepping into one, 2023 is sure to bear the brunt of it. The biggest challenge for the year will be to strategize a recession-proof digital marketing budget. And since the digital marketing clan is always up for challenges, we will see plenty of action with new low-investment trends making their debut. The winners will be trends that deliver high returns on meager resources or at least stable performance with minimal adverse impact on marketing success.”
29. Patrick Lum, Co-Founder & President of AsteroidX
Digital marketing trends: Recession-proof ads and ad campaigns.
“With a lot of uncertainty in the market, companies will scale back ad spend on top-of-funnel ad campaigns without measurable ROIs. Brands will still run ads. But those ads will target shoppers at the bottom of the funnel: Google keywords with high purchase intent, Amazon keywords with high purchase intent.”
Digital marketing trends: Community-driven marketing
According to consumer mindset expert Heather Thomson, consumer motivations have changed. Once predominately value-driven (always looking for a bargain), consumers are now more purpose-driven. They want to support local businesses and make a positive impact with the power of their dollar.
As the old saying goes, money talks. Digital marketing trends for 2023 reflect that purpose-driven consumers often want to make a difference and reinforce community when and where they choose to spend money.
30. Rengie Arnejo Wisper, Co-Founder of Ever Wallpaper
Digital marketing trends: More consumers become aware that they can vote with their dollars by supporting brands that share their values.
“One of the digital marketing trends I'm most excited about for 2023 is the rise of community-driven marketing.
“As more and more consumers become aware of the impact their purchasing choices have on the world around them, they're looking for brands that share their values—and want to support those brands with their wallets.
“This trend has been around for a while, but it's only now starting to catch on in a big way. The economic downturn has made people more aware of where their money goes, and they're making decisions based on what they believe in rather than just following trends or buying things because they look cool.
“The best example of this is Patagonia. They've built their entire business model around giving back to nature and supporting local communities, which has made them one of the most successful outdoor apparel companies in history.
“My prediction: We'll see more companies follow Patagonia's lead and build businesses that reflect this new consumer mindset—and consumers will reward them with their loyalty.”
31. Vanda Mahas, Marketing Strategist at Code200.io
Digital marketing trends: Community-driven initiatives for marketers within their own niches will fuel personal and professional growth in 2023.
“One important aspect that arose over the last few years is community. Despite heavy competition, SEO experts share quite detailed case studies and host webinars where they talk in detail about their strategies tested numerous times. The community becomes a wealth of marketing knowledge.”
Digital marketing trends: Audio social platforms
It might seem like everyone and their uncle has a podcast. The popularity of podcasts has soared in the last few years. To put it into perspective, we went from having half a million podcasts in 2018 to 2.5 million podcasts in 2022.
So how is podcasting still one the digital marketing trends to watch? Believe it or not, the space is not oversaturated. Podcasts fit every niche, storytelling will always be valuable, and listeners are still hungry to engage in this format.
So if you build thought leadership and topic authority, consider it. The prevalence of podcasts and the value they bring are only going to ramp up in 2023.
32. Christy Pyrz, Chief Marketing Officer of Paradigm Peptides
Digital marketing trends: Audio social platforms will continue to expand.
“Podcasts and audiobooks have been a major trend since the beginning of the pandemic, and the increase in users is no surprise. Social apps like Clubhouse allow consumers to directly interact with leaders and experts in a niche market, which creates more of a personalized experience for the listener and the leader.
“Users can also build relationships with other subscribers that feel like the listener is attending a panel, only virtually. People are looking for an experience, and audio platforms can give them just that.”
33. Mitchell Slater, CEO of Slater Strategies
Digital marketing trends: Podcasting is a must in 2023.
“The top digital marketing trend I’m setting my sights on in 2023 is more podcast episodes! Having my own podcast this year has been huge, so we'll be doing more of that, as well as launching our own online course for lead generation.”
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34. Robert Davis, Founder & CEO of KOR | UNLIMITED
Digital marketing trends: B2B sellers need to be paying attention to their own branding as much as they are to their client’s. A podcast can be a huge brand-builder for you and clients.
“For me, my setup is if I'm holding myself out as someone who is saying that we can help you with your marketing, your promotion, and your branding, I should at least make it look like I put some thought into my own setup.
“We are ready to launch [a podcast] that we're going to call KOR Topics. Every municipality has a community or department for business and economic development. What we've done is we've partnered with a few in our area and we're offering an intro package to local businesses that will include a podcast interview. I will be interviewing business owners in the community, profiling them, and hopefully working with them to promote their brand.”
Digital marketing trends: Goodbye third-party cookies
Third-party cookies are on their way out by 2023, which means it's time to get serious about prioritizing customer privacy if you haven't already. Marketers know that trust is key, and in order to win it, solid privacy strategies need to be in place. This means using email preference centers, segmentation, and email engagement to gather zero- and first-party data.
In the absence of third-party cookies, digital marketing trends for 2023 lean on alternate data-collecting routes. Online forms, surveys, interactions on social media, and other first-party data can be leveraged and innovated, as well as zero-party data actively shared by consumers.
35. Shay Berman, President at Digital Resource
Digital marketing trends: In 2023, Google will abolish third-party cookies in Chrome, making conversational marketing increasingly significant.
“Digital marketing trends in 2023 for small enterprises include improved UX. Website visitors demand efficient services. They want live chats, virtual assistants, and tailored emails. Waiting longer for a response increases the bounce rate.
“Most significantly, marketing organizations can't utilize cookie data to target customers out of respect for user privacy. Instead, marketers must establish personal methods and one-on-one marketing techniques. 2023 will emphasize consent. More websites will require authorization to utilize user data.”
36. Jonathan Merry, VP & Co-Founder at Bankless Times
Digital marketing trends: Digital marketing will move to cookie-less marketing to first-party data marketing.
“More browsers in 2023 will block ads and cookies (third-party) will continue to be obsolete. Other website marketing tracking tools will increase, such as Google Analytics. Professional platforms will become more popular for online marketing, such as LinkedIn and Nextdoor. Digital marketing trends for 2023 will see a move to cookie-less marketing to first-party data marketing.”
37. Dragos Badea, CEO & Co-Founder at YAROOMS
Digital marketing trends: Form building could help bridge the gap between zero-party and third-party data.
“Beyond the obvious continued growth of short form video content and influencer marketing boom, one of the big digital marketing trends for 2023 will be gathering zero-party data via form building. Gathering customer data, the lifeblood of any good digital marketing plan, is becoming increasingly difficult to do amongst rising adoption of privacy tools and legal barriers so I fully expect more companies to jump on different methods to get the data they need.
“Short form building might be the answer, assuming companies are savvy enough to use it creatively. No one is going to spend more than a few seconds filling out any sort of form to use your site, but something that takes just a second or two can be quite effective.”
Final thoughts on 2023 digital marketing trends
As we head into 2023, I truly believe that there’s no better time to be a digital marketer, entrepreneur, or media professional. From the insights gleaned from our experts, there seems to be a beautiful balance between tech and (human) touch.
Using technology like machine learning, AI, and automation to make certain tasks easier will allow for a greater focus on strategic planning and authentic, unique content creation. Personally, that is something that I look forward to exploring in the new year.