We've delved into several marketing reports to spot common trends and challenges for 2023.
Here's what we found:
1. Marketers intend to be more creative in 2023
Most marketers (84%) believe return on investment (ROI) has become more important as businesses tighten their budgets in the current economic climate.
But despite budget pressures, half of the 100 in-house marketing professionals recently surveyed by Optimizely say they are willing to take more risks going into the new year. And almost two-thirds (63%) also say they intend to be more creative in 2023.
While marketers may want to be creative and take risks, 70% in the UK believe their ability to experiment is being restricted by the current macroeconomic environment.
That said, 91% of Marketers agree that it’s important to invest more in marketing during a recession, with more than half (55%) strongly agreeing.
2. video will be top of mind for budget spend
So what are Marketers wanting to spend more budget on?
Well, according to a 2022 report from Mediaocean, it's social advertising and short-form video that will capture more year-over-year spend increases in 2023 than any other channel.
In fact, 63% people selected TikTok/social video as one of the top trends they will be watching going into 2023. And connected TV or streaming was selected by 54% of people.
Not only that, but 82% of respondents to LemonLight's survey this year said they had made video content in the last three years, with about one-third of that group handling production internally and two-thirds seeking outside support.
It's no surprise, since 92% of marketers believe that video will play an important role in marketing over the coming years, 53% said they’d be creating an explainer video or brand video this year, and 93% plan to include video in their own marketing strategies over the next several years.
3. TikTok will continue to thrive
Where will marketers be advertising?
TikTok’s advertising revenue is expected to have doubled in 2022, while its social media rivals have reported decreasing demand from advertisers this year.
GroupM's recent report adds that TikTok’s success is likely one of the factors driving less advertiser demand for companies such as Meta and Snap, particularly since there isn’t as much of a notable drop at businesses where TikTok is less of a direct competitor, such as Microsoft.
The report also says that Twitter “remains an open question for many marketers because of the erratic product updates at the company and mercurial nature of new owner Elon Musk”. While advertising will likely be crucial for the success of Twitter moving forward after such a chaotic year, Twitter represented just 1.2% of all global digital ad revenue in 2021.
4. Marketers will need to get serious about data-driven decisions
What's the state of marketing reporting?
Well, it's not great. 43% of CMOs surveyed in Adverity's 2022 report say their team spends more time getting data in one place than they do actually using it to make decisions. And over two-thirds of them are overwhelmed by the volume of marketing data at their disposal. Being able to make timely data-driven decisions is a huge competitive advantage, but there’s still a long way to go.
So, it’s no surprise that streamlining the process of getting timely insights from data is going to be a key focus in the coming year. This is where AI might lend a helping hand.
A data-driven strategy is key to long-term success. But only 1 in 10 CMOs surveyed say their teams constantly monitor and use timely data to make decisions. On top of that, 30% of CMOs say their teams only review marketing data once a quarter or less.
The marketing landscape changes with the wind, and as digitalization increases, so will the need to keep a closer eye on the data that truly matters. Next year, any issues, trends, or anomalies will need to be identified early to maximize Marketing ROI.
