Given the looming economic headwinds that most brands will be facing next year, winning the hearts and minds of customers in 2023 might require some swift changes to current content marketing plans.
It's clear that when it comes to marketing, customers rule. Their technology-driven mindsets and waning attention spans are becoming the driving force behind emerging marketing tactics and trends. Some trends have the possibility of fizzling out fast, but, the most successful and savvy content marketers in the business learn to keep their fingers on the pulse and continue to adapt their strategies in line with audiences’ preferences, values and buying behaviours. Join Wordsmith as we delve into the four key content marketing trends that we believe are going to be big in 2023, to set your brand up for an incredible year ahead.
1. Value-led, promotional content is your customers’ new love language
With ongoing concerns of a global recession and an increased strain on household budgets, it should come as no surprise to brands that customers are tightening their belts on spending habits and adjusting their lifestyle behaviours.
Ross Graber, Principal Analyst at global market research company Forrester, believes, “Concerns about a recession and economic instability will push companies to pursue more predictable growth strategies in 2023. These strategies will focus chiefly on existing customer growth, complemented by tightly targeted approaches to winning new business.” He continues, “However, empowered customers and buyers are not mere background characters in this story. They are frustrated by organisations’ ‘me first’ approaches that put the selling organisation’s internal demands ahead of what buyers and customers need. Winning organisations will be those that rethink their relationships with buyers and customers and re-establish how they support the creation of value across all stages of the customer lifecycle.”
But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom for businesses. Consumers may be more mindful of how much they spend and what to prioritise in 2023, but research from Kantar has shown that COVID-19 accelerated the growth of e-commerce in Asia, and it shows no signs of stopping. As of 2022, it’s the second-largest retail channel in the Asia-Pacific region.
With online shopping swiftly becoming an ingrained habit among customers, this trend is likely to stay as they try to fight back the rising inflation and cost of living crisis by curbing their expenses with great discounts and promotions offered by their favourite brands online. Statistics show that 50% of global e-commerce sales now come from Asia, while 40% of e-commerce sales in South East Asia today occur on double-day promotions where over 90% of the products are sold at a price discount. And this doesn’t only help catapult your bottom line – but it also boosts opportunities for increasing brand awareness, and attracting new customers, as research from Retail TouchPoints shows that more than 50% of consumers are willing to share information on products they like in order to get personalised discounts.
Sometimes the most strategic, value-led promotional content can come from your brand’s Loyalty programme. Bill Chemero, Chief Development Officer (CDO) of Wayback Burgers, explains that in 2023, “Every business wants to get attention. But there are two types of attention: the kind you want, where everybody’s saying how great your company is, and the kind that makes you want to lock your doors, draw the blinds and hope everybody stops noticing you.” He continues, “Marketing teams may try a little too hard to generate buzz sometimes, but any business that depends on customer retention and doesn’t have a loyalty program is missing out.” So, going forward, it’s vital that content marketers put extra effort into creating robust, value-led loyalty programmes with well-timed promotions, in an effort to increase their ROI in 2023.
2. Conscious consumers want to hear how you’re making the world a better place
With the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in November 2022, a growing energy crisis and increasing extreme weather events across the globe, we believe the word “sustainable practices” will take on a whole new meaning in the minds of customers in 2023. How brands choose to communicate their efforts towards sustainability and reducing emissions, will be a big priority for content marketers in 2023. Research shows that customers are more informed than ever before and are more inclined to spend their money with sustainable brands that they can trust.
Forrester Senior Analyst Abhijit Sunil explained that next year businesses should see, “Sustainability as a business opportunity, a matter of survival, and a customer obsession enabler as well as an integral part of business risk. Seeded with immense government investment, environmental sustainability is ushering in a green market revolution.” So, content marketers need to work on how to create impactful content surrounding their climate goals in an authentic way that aligns with the needs and values of consumers.
Nielsen data claims that in 2021, sales dollars of products that claimed to be “Plastic Free” increased by 96.4% compared to two years prior, while products using “eco-friendly packaging and “100% Recycled Paperboard rose by 1.3% and 8.1% respectively. And it’s not just packaging your customers are looking at. Nearly 20% of customers go online to learn more about a company’s sustainability practices, and more than a third use the platform to find out how ingredients are sourced.
It’s clear on a global scale that customers are now going to great lengths to interact and purchase from brands that produce products which are good for the planet. And careful decision-making is not only based on what they see on the physical shelves but what they see on the digital shelf. So in 2023, content marketers must put their best foot forward, to ensure they find innovative ways of reaching the ever more powerful conscious consumer, whether that’s through producing annual sustainability reports, whitepapers, informational e-books and perhaps going one step further to sending out interactive questionnaires to customers that gather insightful data into what they want to see when it comes to your sustainable practices.
3. Clickthrough rates in search are becoming a top KPI
Experts are now encouraging SEO teams and content marketers to focus more on increasing their clicks/click-through rates (CTR) in 2023. According to Google, there are over 200 ranking factors that determine where you sit on search engine results pages (SERPs). Some major big hitters we all know include, long-tail keywords, high-quality backlines, and meta tags, but over the last couple of years, Google has expanded their checklist, taking new markers into consideration like on-site user behaviour, page speed and, most importantly, click-through rates (CTR). But what does this mean? It means that brands showing higher CTRs could take priority in Google’s search ranking over others, regardless of other contributing factors.
Although Google hasn’t officially confirmed this, its latest algorithm, RankBrain has shown time and time again that CTRs are the best predictor of engagement and relevance and thus will ultimately rank websites higher based on this marker. And the way to increase your CTRs may be easier than you think. Neil Patel, Digital Marketer and entrepreneur explains that it’s not all “disheartening…Today, you can optimise your CTR with a few simple tweaks to the headline and description areas. Then you can combine those strategies with other tactics, such as optimising site behaviour or creating strategic ad campaigns to build brand awareness.”
4. Omnichannel experiences and cross-platform storytelling is key
We’ve touched on the importance of creating an omnichannel experience a couple of times this year, but in 2023, if you’re looking to set yourself apart from other brands, an omnichannel experience has become more of a “must-have” than a “nice-to-have”.
Customers are increasingly looking for relevant and consistent storytelling across multiple channels before investing in your products and services. Studies from Nielsen back in 2019, showed that omnishoppers, (those who shop both online and in physical stores), made up 22% of total shoppers in APAC, but by 2020, that number had risen to 82%.
Now that omnichannel shoppers have become the “new normal”, content marketers need to ensure that content surrounding marketing campaigns is spread evenly across all online and offline channels so customers walk away with a rounded experience and consistent message – as omnichannel shoppers take their research seriously. They spend more time reading up on your product’s ingredients and materials, deep dive into real customer product reviews and tune in to watch countless influencer Youtube videos, all to make sure that your brand aligns with their values.
Aside from giving the customers what they want, reaching audiences across multiple channels has its perks for you too. Interacting with your target audience at different touchpoints allows you to leverage omnichannel data by collecting and building more personalised customer profiles, based on where they shop, which product attributes are most effective when driving sales and what marketing campaigns drive brand awareness.
As we look ahead (with a pinch of uncertainty) to 2023, at least we know one thing will remain constant – the need to put your customers' forefront and centre in your content marketing strategy. If you prioritise your content around attracting, retaining and satisfying an ever-conscious, omnichannel shopper with relevant storytelling, robust loyalty programmes and value-led promotional content, you’ll not only weather the economic challenges ahead, but you’ll stand out from the competition. If you’re looking to put your best foot forward next year, why not contact one of our expert Wordsmiths?