Now that we’re firmly in the throes of 2023, it’s an excellent time to explore fresh marketing strategies to expand your business. Even though the current economic climate may pose some challenges, it’s crucial to maintain a strong brand presence and provide your customers with the products and services they require. To achieve this, it’s important to stay up to date or ahead of the latest marketing trends and incorporate them into your marketing plan for 2023 and beyond.
Let’s explore some key areas that could help your business thrive in the coming years. Marketing trends are ever-changing, and several key focuses are emerging that are worth considering as part of your marketing plan for 2023 and beyond.
More Engagement with Content
Content marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on creating and sharing useful content to attract and retain customers. It’s like telling a story to people who may be interested in your product or service. Content has always been a hugely important part of any marketing strategy; it’s now essential for driving leads for your business. But while your content marketing plans may previously have felt a bit like a one-way street of information for your audience, they are now a great way to build connections and communities.
There is a huge drive for consumers to focus on the values of brands they buy from, so the more content you can put out that centers around who you are as a company, what your ethos is and how you help your customers, the more people are likely to seek you out. When it comes to recessions and financial downturns, many people are more likely to purchase from brands that continue to communicate with them. When making a purchasing decision, it’s important that they can get answers to any questions they might have, so the more information that you can put on your website and social pages, the better.
Interactive Marketing Adds Value
One of the most prevalent changes to the way consumers learn about brands, shop around and ultimately make purchasing decisions is how they interact with brands. Quizzes, polls and questions are nothing new – especially in the world of social media – but we’re now starting to see an even bigger shift when it comes to how audiences expect to engage with the companies they’re keen to purchase from. Offering tools such as interactive design features that allow your audience to collaborate with your products on many different levels can encourage them to learn more about you while also building a deeper level of trust that you may not have been able to build otherwise.
If it works for your brand and audience, it may be worth considering elements of gamification to increase your presence, stand out from the crowd and promote your business offerings. This could include something like creating an online community where users could compete against each other in various tasks or earn points, cash awards or trips by completing goals. Increase the value you add to your customer journey through meaningful experiences.
Focusing on Customer Experience
Having a great product is important, but without offering an exceptional customer experience, it’s hard to expect returning customers. A study found that 76% of the consumers surveyed would stop doing business with a company after just one bad customer experience.
It’s important to remember that customer service isn’t just for people who have questions or a complaint; it starts as soon as someone lands on your website or social media channels. Every communication you have with them, whether it’s over the phone or through emails, automated chat or any other touchpoint, is an opportunity for you to let your personality shine and give them the best experience possible.
This is where omnichannel marketing comes into its own, helping you to create standout, personalized experiences that keep your customers wanting more. In the kitchen and bath industry, creating a seamless and consistent experience for customers across all platforms is crucial for success. Many businesses invest in multiple channels, such as a website, blog, Facebook and Twitter, to engage and connect with customers. However, these channels often lack cohesion, resulting in inconsistent messaging and a fragmented customer experience. To address this issue, businesses need to adopt an omnichannel approach. This means accounting for every platform and device a customer may use to interact with the company and ensuring a positive experience across all of them. By offering a seamless and consistent experience across all channels, businesses can establish stronger relationships with their customers and build a more loyal customer base.
Artificial Intelligence
AI has been all over the news recently, with the technology constantly improving at a mind-blowing rate. Tools such as ChatGPT offer a huge opportunity to use them to your advantage. While I don’t advise relying on AI bots to write whole streams of content for your business, there’s no reason why you couldn’t use them to help you build out your content plans and get ideas for the type of topics your audience is interested in hearing more about. You also can use AI to analyze large amounts of data to help you quickly identify trends and patterns and build personalized content strategies.
Useful, High-Quality Content
Google now focuses on rewarding websites that prioritize useful content for their audiences. Nowadays, it’s all about the value that you can provide. This means that if you’re creating content, it’s more important than ever to keep the reader in mind. Answer their questions, and provide insights they can’t find elsewhere. This will have a hugely positive impact not only on your Google rankings and leads, but also on the level of trust and authority you hold with the reader.
No matter what your marketing plans are for 2023 and beyond, it’s worth doing your research and understanding what methods will work best for your business. This year is full of many new trends and ideas shaping our sector and is set to be one of the most exciting yet. ▪
Denise Grothouse has an extensive background in international business, branding and marketing. She specializes in digital and social platforms and integrating them with traditional marketing and branding strategies in the kitchen and bath industry. She is the founder of Perfect Six Marketing and director of public relations for HeroPlex.