Advertising and marketing execs share what they will be focusing on with their clients in 2023

Capitalizing on User-Generated Content Social proof has become the new word of mouth, and studies have shown that over 90% of all consumers will view UGC before making a significant purchase.

Utilizing the native content from TikTok, customer testimonials, reviews, and other forms of UGC, we will look to find creative ways to both encourage and implement the use of UGC. This content has proven to boost a brand's authenticity, which generates a greater number of conversions. With every industry feeling the pains of the economic pinch, marketing budgets are typically first on the chopping block. While slicing the marketing budget might be a short-term save, cutting back your efforts can lead to being overshadowed by the competition and a decrease in revenue. And brands can benefit by molding their marketing strategies to include out-of-home advertising, which is more affordable than other digital and traditional marketing channels. Reevaluating media plans, rather than scrapping them, will help businesses drive the greatest value at the most efficient ROI possible. At least, that's what I tell anyone who asks. 'What is a Difference Engine?' is usually the follow-up question. Well, it's based on some computing geeky history (look up Babbage and Lovelace), but for us, it means the way we think about and create differentiated businesses. For 2023, we're zeroing in on differentiation as a key growth factor for our clients. This is where micro communities come in. On the investor relations side, a lot of vendors are using platforms like Discord and Telegram to create such communities. People like real-time communications and access to other stakeholders. When they feel like they know you, and that you hear them, they'll become more loyal. While these communities may be small, the members become your brand advocates and they can amplify your brand voice in much bigger spaces. By ensuring that our clients stay true to their unique messaging style no matter where their target audience is located, we will build better relationships and increase loyalty within their markets. Being proactive about messaging consistency will play a key role in helping our clients achieve success long-term in 2023 and beyond. Every business website benefits from additional visibility on SERPs as it drives traffic and conversions dramatically.

We help our clients grow their domain ratings through strategic outreach to earn spots in acclaimed online publications. The more backlinks a business has directed toward its site, the higher the brand appears on Google search results.

There are other factors involved in optimizing Domain Authority, but backlinks are generally the 'currency' of SEO. Every business can drive higher profits and reach by adopting these and similar strategies to soar over their competition. If the quality of your content is not pleasant to read, Google and users may punish you. Therefore, Google prioritizes interactive content such as videos, infographics, original graphics and images, slide shows, clickable tables of contents, etc. The technology used to power VR has developed to the stage where it has moved beyond the entertainment industry and now it has entered the mainstream. However, with the increasing availability of the equipment required to access the virtual world, and with the cost of doing so falling rapidly, we don't think it will be too much longer before virtual reality becomes the norm for marketers and advertising personnel. As selling prices rise, clients will probably demand quality experiences, given that they are paying more. In addition, they'll be more cautious about spending money and avoid advertisers and marketers they feel could 'burn' them. Your customer experience must reflect this, regardless of whether you are running a digital or physical store. You'll be putting a face to your business (trust) and illustrating value for money at the same time. With the cookieless future looming closer, data loss on iOS devices, and organic social media reach getting harder and harder to achieve, it's more important than ever for businesses to build a 1:1 relationship with their audience, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms. This, unfortunately, leads to customer relationships being excessively optimized toward sales. But how about treating the client as a genuine friend instead of as a money bag up for the grabbing?

I want to focus more on offering (no-strings-attached) value to my clients that get rewarded with stronger relationships instead of direct sales. I have discovered that while my rivals can replicate the efficacy of my services, they will struggle to loot my clients if I build robust relationships with them.

Therefore, in 2023, I want to merge human connection in my brand-to-customer correspondence. Yes, I will still leverage automation where I can, but I will strive to flavor the customer journey with more human input, and I want to expand our relationship beyond the traditional brand-customer partnership (built on product sales) to something more personal and sentimental. The entire world has felt the effects of our economic climate fluctuation, which has resulted in more conservative budgets and more skeptical executives. That's not going to fly anymore.

In 2023, our focus is on reimagining our business model to better serve the organic growth needs of our clients. We've already started the process of updating our system of delivery, reducing project timelines, further augmenting our strategist's talents with new technology, and developing new lines of service to offer more comprehensive solutions.

The market is changing. Buyer behavior is changing. As always, we adapt and lean in. This year's economic challenges have shown the value of customer retention, cross-selling, and upselling products to drive and boost revenue. The strategy includes measuring customer health scores to manage them extensively and effectively going into the new year.

We plan to focus on customer health scores in our CMO and make it one of our priorities. We expect a more streamlined approach to maintaining this critical metric, and proven values can help us achieve this goal. By evaluating our clients' health scores in the coming years, we hope to deliver more successful and meaningful marketing strategies in the future. So, optimizing web pages and marketing campaigns with a mobile-first mindset will be the main focal point I discuss with my clients.

I've been doing B2B marketing for over a decade and the game has changed drastically in just the past 3 years. B2B Memes are all the rage on LinkedIn and Twitter. Even Instagram, which is a notoriously weak channel for B2B marketing, is seeing new life as brands shy away from coupon codes and dive deeper into 'memeology.'

Look to companies like Gong's LinkedIn presence as an example of B2B Meme culture. Or our company, which has an entire meme library.

What we're seeing is an attempt by businesses to connect with their audience on a level previously unknown in the B2B marketing sphere: humor.

Not everyone is getting it right, though. A lot of memes fall flat or cannot find an audience. Here's the trick: never make memes to sell your product. Keep them relatable to your user persona without selling.

I believe that by 2025 companies will actively pursue 'Chief Meme Officer' as a title and we will see more and more B2B memes in the wild. For any business to succeed at driving revenue, these two departments need to work together. We'll work more with clients to ensure the content aligns with sales needs and goals. That means focusing on sales enablement content and not chasing after keyword data.

Marketing is often the first thing cut when budgets tighten. This is a mistake. Most businesses see marketing as a 'nice to have' instead of an essential component because marketers haven't established themselves as critical to sales.

We aim to redefine how our clients see marketing. Our goal is for them to view it as a sales amplifier that's critical to the revenue generation of their business.

Either that, or we've developed highly customized plans for unique situations, but these situations are risky, it's like exploring the Amazon without a map.

In 2023, we're taking a more focused, predictable approach by focusing on healthcare providers and taking them through a structured set of steps to achieve success. It won't be the right fit for every client, but when it does fit, it will help those clients achieve growth much faster, at a much lower cost. In the future, just as they say 'There's an app for that,' they'll say 'There's an agency for that,' no matter what the business is.