Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends for 2023

#1 The Rise and Rise of AI in Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is poised to offer affordable solutions to small businesses that benefit the most from online channels of advertising. While big brands already have a presence in the market, it is the small businesses that often struggle to create an online presence for their products. AI technology is key to create cost-effective solutions right from data collection to marketing products to the target audience.

Gartner predicts AI software will reach $62 billion in 2022 alone, an increase of 21.3% from 2021.

According to Blueshift, 28% of marketers are using AI for product recommendations and 26% apply it for campaigns.

According to Semrush, the forecasted annual growth rate of AI between 2020 and 2027 is 33.2%.

Using AI technology, marketers can now make a more accurate prediction and calculation of the advertising spends as well as cataloguing buyer interests and customer behavior. Marketers can base their campaigns on data-driven facts and analytics with AI and achieve higher success rates and conversions.

Read More: 8 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Boosting Sales!

In 2023, AI based technology and tools will play a major role in making automated decisions, data collecti36ons, data analysis and determining digital marketing trends.

#2 Voice Search – A shift in searching

Search engines make it possible for us to look for the information we want and is one of the most important aspect of digital marketing. As more users switch to smartphones, the way we search for the information has changed. Users are no longer typing, instead they simply do a voice search. And that’s not all. Voice activated speakers are present in our homes and have become a part of our lives. Users are now fairly comfortable with voice assistants like Alexa, Cortana, Siri and more. The fact that digital voice assistants have a high accuracy rate of over 97% adds to their popularity.

This has created a space for brands to advertise their products and services through promotional events, sales, discounts and deals. Businesses can create customized content according to the preference of the users – for instance – to offer tips to a healthier lifestyle while promoting their health drink.

41% of people in the US use voice search capabilities according to Google Mobile Voice Survey while 27% of the online population of the world use voice searches.

90% of users believe that voice search is easier than typing for information as per a study conducted by PwC in 2018.

50% of users expect to make purchases using digital voice assistants in the next five years according to Microsoft and Bing.

All of the above indicate that the demand for voice search would rise in the future and digital marketers must focus on optimizing their content for voice search. Digital marketers must acknowledge the voice search as one of their SEO practices in a major way to keep up with the digital marketing trends for 2023.

#3 Accessibility for Every User

According to statistics, 75% of people with disabilities access the internet on a daily basis. But 97% of the world’s top websites are not compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium accessibility standards. Digital marketers must wake up to creating advertising solutions that breaks barriers and provide every user access to the goods and services of a business.

According to the CDC, 61 million adults in the US live with a disability. ADA puts the figure of persons with a hearing disability worldwide at 466 million.

WebAIM’s Screen Reader survey states that 60% of screen reader users feel that web accessibility is not getting any better.

According to Forbes, 71% of users with disability will leave a website that does not support accessibility.

Inclusion being the key principle here, marketers have to create websites, advertisements and product promotions keeping in mind a positive user experience for people who have a disability as well as for other users. Digital marketers must develop websites that are accessibility compliant and use AI technology to integrate data as well as segregate user behaviors to provide personalized content to consumers.

#4 The Power of Real-time Data

Real-time data has been a game-changer in digital marketing trends since the last few years and will continue to dominate the scene in 2023. As contextual marketing becomes the focus of digital marketing to provide a personalized consumer experience, real-time data will play an important role.

Real-time data allows marketers to create an accurate representation of the consumer data and preferences. This helps to segregate the content according to the interests of the consumer so that he or she receives relevant information only. If you are able to deliver a personalized experience to the customer, the chances of conversion are increased manifold.

According to Accenture Interactive:

56% of consumers are more likely to shop from an online store that knows them by the name and sends personalized product offerings

58% of consumers will make a purchase from a retail store according to their purchase history and buying preferences.

65% of consumers will buy from an online store that offers a personalized experience such as storing their purchase history.

Read More: The Role Of Data In Marketing!

Real-time data creates pathways for a more direct interaction with the potential customer that marketers can use to make more sales and increase their revenues. Consumers can be influenced into making a purchase when offered real-time data related information. Travel agencies, for example, can make a more direct offer to their subscribers by sending information on locations with better weather for a holiday or weekend getaway. Real-time data allows you to know your customer preferences and makes the marketing process efficient and trackable. Using real-time data will therefore stay at the top digital marketing trends for 2023.

#5 Local SEO will Rule

Search engine optimizations is an integral marketing strategy incorporated by digital marketers to increase the online visibility of a business through SERPs or search engine rankings. Higher ranks are necessary as 75% of users do not go beyond the first page of search results. Local SEO works on a slightly different algorithm pattern as it involves geolocation to show search results. Even when a user does not state an area exclusively or adds search terms such as “near me”, the search engine looks for businesses that are geographically closest to the user.

According to BrightLocal customer review survey 2020, 93% of consumers used the internet to search for local businesses.

As per the ReviewTrackers 42% of consumers visit the local business that they searched for online and 50% conduct local searches while on the move.

A research by Think With Google found out that 28% of local searches converted into a purchase.

Read More: SEO Best Practices – Identify the right keyword with the right intent.

Local SEO will remain one of the most defining marketing trends in 2023. Marketers must focus on local SEO best practices for businesses even if they are present in multiple locations such as creating specific landing pages for each location and include factors that influence local SEO in their marketing strategies.

#6 Mobile First & PWA

With an increasing number of people accessing the internet with their smartphones, websites and applications have become more focused to providing a positive user experience for mobiles. Google rolled out its mobile first indexing in 2019 and since then websites are ranked as per their mobile usability. If websites and apps are mobile friendly, they rank higher in the search engine results.

Progressive Web apps or PWA are catching on fast and have become the rage – these are browser driven pages that resemble an app – such as Netflix, Twitter, Facebook and others. Marketers must focus on incorporating PWA in their digital marketing plans to increase the user engagement and get more direct traffic.

According to the statistics by Neil Patel, 77% of mobile searches occur when at home while 17% of searches occur during work hours.

As per Statista, 63% of all organic searches were made through mobile devices.

It is estimated that 80% of smartphone users buy from companies with mobile friendly sites and mobile apps that are easy to navigate.

Read More: Mobile app development for the success of your business.

Digital marketers must learn to harness the power of PWA and design web experiences suited to smartphones and mobile devices. Google has begun indexing newer sites for mobile-friendly features and more websites are expected to catch up to the trend in the near future. A positive user experience on mobile devices will make the difference to run a successful omnichannel digital marketing campaign.

#7 Video Content – A Powerful Marketing Channel

Video content has taken over most forms of content on the internet as users prefer to watch a short visual feed than read through text. Video provides space for more relevant information to be packed into a short time and allows for greater creativity.

According to eMarketer, US adults spend an estimated 2 hours 13 minutes per day watching videos on the internet on their mobile devices.

As per Statista, 83.3% of internet users watched videos online in the year 2020. The figure is predicted to rise in 2023.

According to Social Media Week, 78% users watch online videos on a weekly basis while 55% view video content every day.

Read More: 14 Reasons Why You Should Market With Videos.

Social media channels today offer functionality within their interfaces to users to make short reels and share with their subscribers, followers and friends. As consumers prefer to learn about a product or a service through videos, it is imperative that digital marketers plan a strategy to use video content development and marketing. The popularity of video content in the internet makes it one of the biggest digital marketing trends for 2023.

#8 Influencer Marketing from Macro to Mini

Influencer marketing refers to the term used for social media users who have a following. In recent years, brands have tied up with influencers to market their products directly to the audience of the influencers. Some influencers are celebrities in their own right and have millions of followers while some are micro-influencers who have an audience of about a few thousand. Influencer marketing has the advantage of being direct, quick, easy and cost-effective.

According to InfluencerMarketingHub, the number of companies that offer influencer marketing has grown by 26% in 2021.

According to a report by SocialPubli, 93% of marketers use influencer marketing for their products.

Read More: Successful Influencer Marketing Tips For You!

Business Insider estimated that brands are expected to spend 15 billion dollars on influencer marketing in 2019. In the post-pandemic world this figure is only expected to go up.

Another trend suggests that influencers with a lower number of followers at about 1000 are 85% more successful than others with higher numbers in generating engagement. Digital marketing trends for 2023 will see a rise in collaborations with influencers for brand marketing, particularly with micro-influencers.

#9 Chatbots to the Rescue

Customer service through chatbots will be one of the highest trends in digital marketing for 2023. Businesses offer services at a global level, however, there is a limit to the customer service that executives can provide owing to the time of business hours and other human factors. Chatbots help to fill in the gaps efficiently and save on costs considerably.

According to Mathew Barby, chatbots can generate a response 35% of the time at a minimum while more sophisticated chatbots can garner responses about 90% of the time.

As per a survey by Drift, customers like to make a reservation through a chatbot 33% of the time.

A research by Comm100 shows that chatbots can generate a satisfaction of about 87% most of the time.

Chatbots no longer have a limited functionality and can be deployed to offer more functionality to users. As they use AI and machine learning, they can be programmed to hold more meaningful conversations with consumers on their preferences and interests and direct them to a purchase. A 24/7/365 availability and the ability to handle multiple connections at a time are an added bonus that digital marketers can use to make profits and therefore, it remains one of the best digital marketing trends for 2023.

#10 Creativity Wins Hands-down

Creativity is a fundamental aspect of every business and marketing technique being used. Creativity allows you to design innovative campaigns that are quick to garner attention from consumers and help them remember your brand. This in turn influences the purchasing decision of the consumers.

Creativity needs to be data-driven that will allow for a personalized consumer experience for higher brand awareness and loyalty. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated than before and technological advances force marketers to keep up with the trends in a creative way.

Conclusion

As the technology advances and algorithms for search engines changes, marketers must remain flexible to create campaigns that are relevant to the times. With increased possibilities in the internet, digital marketing has become one of the most important advertising and marketing channels for brands. At the same time, as a digital marketer you need to make a judgment call and not blindly follow a pattern that seems to have worked for several products. It all depends on how and what you need to have potential customers connect with your brand or product. It is best to leverage on the trends of digital marketing in 2023 to keep up with the market while focusing on customer engagement for your brand.