The 5 Most Important Digital Marketing Trends for 2023

Ready for the understatement of the year?

Digital marketing is always changing.

Every year, social media platforms modify their algorithms, and search engines update their programming. If you want your brand to stay ahead of the curve, your marketing strategy needs to adapt to these changes.

A year may not seem like a long time, but those 365 days are packed with technological changes! As 2022 reaches its conclusion, it’s time for marketers and brands to start looking ahead and planning for the coming year.

And since the whole point of this blog is to give you valuable email marketing information, I couldn't think of a better time to share my research about what's transpired in 2022 and how that should be affecting your marketing plans for 2023.

This blog is the research-based crystal ball that will put you ahead of the curve, save you time, and make you money. I’ve rounded up the five most important 2023 digital marketing trends, so let’s get started!

1. Influencer Marketing Is Still Going Strong

It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that influencer marketing remains one of the most dominant forces in marketing. Much of its growth was due to the pandemic, and even though consumer habits are going back to normal in some ways, influencer marketing won't be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Between 2019 and 2020, companies increased investments in influencer marketing by a whopping 470%. To put that plainly: This digital marketing channel’s value jumped from $1.7 billion in 2019 to $9.7 billion in just one year!

That’s a massive investment, and this digital marketing trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon!

“Micro-Influencers” Are Reaching New Audiences

As companies continue to seek out that competitive edge, many brands have begun to embrace micro-influencers as a small but mighty force in their social media marketing strategy. These individuals may not have many followers, but their internet presence has established them as members of a certain group’s thought leadership. In general, these users have between 1,000–10,000 followers.

Data analysis has shown that customers prefer when marketers have a hands-off approach to their sponsorships, so businesses are giving their influencers more creativity and leeway.

This more organic content has the potential to make a huge impact on the digital world, and these promotions may even become part of a company’s overall brand identity!

The Cost and Rewards of Influencer Marketing

As amazing as this high-performance marketing strategy may be, it should be noted that it isn’t always cheap.

Even a simple sponsored post can cost $100, and celebrities will charge even more.

For small businesses, this is super expensive. However, if you’re trying to reach a specific target audience, one of your best digital channels will be influencer marketing. These individuals ultimately take the responsibility of creating content off of your hands, and they provide several critical services, including:

• Brand awareness and exposure
• Genuine customer interactions
• Interactive content
• Possible virtual events
• Promotion across relevant social media channels
• User-generated content

Notably, influencer campaigns can be used in your omnichannel marketing. For example, if an influencer promotes your brand on Instagram, your company can promote that post on your Facebook. Savvy marketers may even include these celebrity endorsements in email campaigns!

2. Livestreaming Is Going Mainstream

Livestreaming is the solution to a longstanding problem.

As great as shopping online can be, you rarely get instant gratification.

Livestreaming is different, so it makes sense that it's one of the fastest-growing digital marketing trends. It’s a form of interactive content marketing that gives customers immediate responses to their questions and allows brands to showcase their products.

In fact, more businesses are livestreaming than ever. A 2020 study suggested that 82% of all video content will be livestreamed as we end 2022 and go into 2023. While the data to confirm this analysis still needs to be gathered, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this digital marketing prophecy comes true, and this becomes an essential part of marketing in the next few years.

The Impact of Livestreaming

Depending on how much you’re willing to invest, livestreaming has the potential to outdo even the most amazing omnichannel marketing campaigns!

In 2021, customers spent a cumulative 548 billion hours watching streams. There are plenty of reasons for the medium’s meteoric rise to prominence, but marketers only need to know two of them.

• Livestreaming combines the best parts of real-time messaging platforms and interactive content. This means that a business can create a personal user experience from anywhere.
• Livestreaming is a workaround for increased adblocker use. I said it before, but I’ll say it again: The vast majority of customers 16–24 years old use adblockers. Streaming may not avoid the block, but it can provide a live way to promote your brand without flagged ads.

Basic Livestreaming Facts

While the most popular streaming website is Twitch, many social media platforms have added native streaming options. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter all have built-in live video features. Each platform caters to a unique audience, and every brand will need to work with marketing experts to determine the ideal option. The fact that this platform can easily accommodate Web 3 features like virtual reality and augmented reality makes livestreaming even more of a promising trend.

Customers also tend to use mobile devices to watch streams. On Twitch, ⅓ of all viewers use the mobile app. (This preference for mobile viewing also contributes to the rise of vertical video content!)

How Much Does Livestreaming Cost?

For all of its benefits, it’s worth knowing that livestreams can be expensive.

If a business plans to do its own livestreaming, then the digital mileage of its campaigns will be limited by its budget. Companies need to acquire proper cameras, internet, lighting, and sound equipment before they can even begin to find the right channel. This doesn’t account for the time it takes to build a sizeable following, either!

Hiring an influencer to promote your product may generate more leads upfront, but this approach has its own expenses. Streamers may charge as little as $60 per hour, but the standard price is within the $100–$500 range. Particularly popular streamers, who rake in thousands of live viewers per stream, can cost upwards of $1,000 for a single promotional spot.

3. Marketing Efforts Will Need to Consider Adblockers

A hefty 40% of all American consumers use some type of adblocker, and that number will only grow in the near future. People are fed up with pay-per-click ads! While they may have once allowed customers to discover new brands, these ubiquitous links have become a customer experience nightmare.

Companies will undoubtedly continue to invest in this channel, but the decline of PPC will definitely be one of 2023's most painful digital marketing trends for brands and agencies. Businesses need to adapt to this change, and many have started to divert funds from PPC advertising to build a more robust content strategy.

Digital Marketing and Adblockers

Let’s be honest: People aren’t generally huge fans of ads.

In fact, 65% of American adults have a negative opinion of online video advertisements, and more people are turning to adblockers. While these programs are more common on desktops, they’re also becoming increasingly common on mobile devices.

However, it’s not all bad news!

People are willing to see ads. 54% of all users have whitelisted trusted websites.

This is the key point that digital marketing experts should know. You want your ads to be verified by trustworthy sources. This will ensure that your ads are not flagged as spam.

4. Third-Party Cookies Are Getting the Axe

One of the most concerning developments for advertising professionals is Google’s recent decision to ban third-party cookies. These virtual trackers are essential to data-driven advertising, and their removal will directly impact most marketers’ abilities.

That’s not to say that this is a bad thing. While cookies are great at tracking big data points, they can also be used to harm people. This decision will protect customer data, which will help everyone!

Nonetheless, these cookies were a valuable tool for most marketers. Google’s decision may be a good long-term strategy, but its short-term impact is going to alter the trajectory of digital marketing.

A Quick Guide to Google’s Privacy Sandbox for Marketers

First announced in 2020, Google’s Privacy Sandbox project is now slated for wide release in 2024.

Nonetheless, marketers should pay close attention to its development. This new program will limit direct access to individual user data by using a combination of different APIs.

This will have a huge impact on data-driven marketing.

Instead of using many third-party cookies, Google’s Chromium browser will rely on what are known as Topics. In practice, this means that users will be assigned different interests based on their browsing history and personal preferences.

Some of the key drawbacks of the Privacy Sandbox project are:

• Advertisers will be given approval tokens through Google’s Trust API
• Data will be deleted after 3 weeks
• Firsthand access to individual user data will be restricted
• Websites will be given a “budget” and can only track a certain amount of data

How Many People Does This Impact?

About 71% of all internet users browse the web with a Chromium-based browser. The largest and most well-known Chromium browser is Chrome, which holds a 65% share of the browser industry. This is followed by a combined 6.24% share split between Microsoft Edge and Opera.

5. Email Marketing Campaigns Continue to Dominate

Finally, I want to wrap this blog up with one of my favorite statistics!

The times, they may always be a'changing, but email marketing remains one of the most effective digital channels. For email marketers, 2023 is going to be business as usual.

That doesn’t mean that email marketing teams can rest on their laurels, though! Email campaigns are always evolving, and there are plenty of email marketing trends that are dramatically changing the user experience.

Email Marketing Is Still Growing

It may seem odd to think about email marketing in today's digital world. After all, it seems like such an antiquated way of doing things. Most brands don’t consider physical mail to be an asset, so why should emails be any different?

The facts say it all, though! Even as other forms of digital marketing start to fade away, marketers continue to invest in this tried-and-true marketing channel.

87% of all businesses still use email marketing! Customers actually prefer this longstanding marketing channel, and 55% of the world’s ecommerce traffic is generated by emails.

Developments in Email Marketing

As technology continues to improve, machine learning is presenting marketers with new ways to optimize their performance. One of the most exciting marketing trends for email marketers is artificial intelligence. This tech is being used by companies like Klaviyo, which are able to implement programs that can predict performance.

With artificial intelligence, businesses can gain more accurate responses from customers. Data can be further analyzed, and those numbers can be used to create truly relevant content.

The Cost of Email Marketing

However, one of the best parts of email marketing is its cost. Emails are some of the most cost-effective ways for a business to generate leads and direct traffic to its landing pages.

For every dollar spent on email marketing, businesses can expect to see a return of $36–$42! Moreover, it doesn’t take much to get started. Digital marketing agencies like The Email Marketers are always available, and prices are low enough for any brand to get a strong start.

If your brand is ready to see the difference that a good email campaign can make, then it may be time to have a chat! You can also browse my blog for more tips about building an amazing digital marketing strategy. I’ve covered plenty of topics, including Klaviyo basics and how to spot truly amazing digital marketing agencies.