Having been in the marketing and digital ad management world for nearly a decade, I’ve seen a myriad of trends come and go. The landscape of digital marketing, promotions, and social media changes rapidly and is somewhat volatile. 2023 will be no exception.
That means there’s so much opportunity to refine and enhance existing marketing channels or launch new ones! I am always excited about leveraging fresh tactics to augment proven marketing efforts for our brand and our clients.
As we kick off the new year, I see a few highs and lows coming down the pipeline. Of course, I could be completely off base on one or two of these, but don’t hold it against me forever.
Book Funnels Are The New Low-Ticket Offer Funnel
I predict book funnels will surpass other channels for low-ticket offers and nurturing new buyers.
If you’re unfamiliar, a book funnel is similar to a standard sales funnel, but the product is a book versus a digital download or a course. This could be repurposed course material or a masterclass put into book format.
The purpose of a book funnel is to capture traffic for low-ticket offers and redirect or nurture them toward high-ticket offers or your full product suite. You could accomplish this with upsells for limited-time offers, discounted add-ons, follow-up email sequences, SMS campaigns, etc.
Over the last year, I have seen more and more brands, thought leaders, mentors, and industry voices come out with a book. It’s a sure-fire credibility-building tool that can be a different lead generation tool. Cue the amazon ads!
UGC Will Surpass Influencer Partnerships
I predict that original content created by “the gal on the street” will be increasingly more effective in the coming year.
UGC (User-Generated Content) is any content in any format that was not created by the brand itself. Anything from photo reviews on Google and video testimonials to discussions in community forums and tagged social media content. Each of these is categorized as UGC.
We’ve already seen this prediction begin to take shape, and many social media users are growing tired of influencers (always product pushing + will do anything for the cash). I’m not talking about celebrities or makers-turned-community managers or business owners sharing their products. I’m talking about dyed-in-the-wool content creators who treat their feed and their following like a business.
Of course, for many, it is a business. However, following an influencer is essentially raising your hand to say you want to be sold to because that’s what they do. Sure, it’s more nuanced and subtle, but promotion is promotion. Authenticity is harder to come by when your audience knows, at some point, the influencer will promote something they would never buy nor use IRLt.
UGC Mentors On The Rise
I predict that UGC mentors will make the marketing industry feel more like the coaching industry.
A legitimate UGC mentor can help business owners understand how UGC works from an ethical perspective and shows them how to leverage it properly in order to increase online impact. However, not all “mentors” are created equal, and there’s a reason “you can do it too” pitches are everywhere – it’s because it drives action.
Many of the TikTok UGC mentors I see lead every video with a focus only on revenue, and they close every video with the classic “ask me how.” This is not the way. It gives off serious scammy MLM vibes of the phony Instaguru “coaches” we’ve all seen. The UGC niche will grow, and I believe the end results will truly be a mixed bag, as we’ve seen with coaching and mentoring in any space.
SMS Campaigns
I predict brands of all types and sizes will finally get smart with SMS campaigns.
With the takeover of the plethora of social media platforms, I don’t believe SMS marketing truly got its moment to shine. Hands-down, SMS is more effective than email. More global. More accessible across a broader age range.[1]
It’s a non-specific channel to reach directly into the pockets of consumers without having to navigate platform algorithms and nonsense. 2023 is the year SMS campaigns dominate all touch points.
Instagram Vs. TikTok Features
I predict that Instagram will copy the TikTok photo carousel feature.
We all know this is coming. How it wasn’t Instagram that first came up with this, I cannot explain. But this is such a seemingly simple update to an already impressive suite of photo and Reel features that it’s simply inevitable.
AI Content For Inspiration
I predict that brands will leverage AI tools for content creation inspiration and various other marketing needs.
Everyone everywhere is all abuzz with everything related to AI. Especially the newest player in the game, Chat GPT. (I wrote a breakdown last month about the new OpenAI tool that you can read here.)
I have no illusions that AI writing and creative tools will ever be completely humanized. They’re in no way a replacement for human-generated, original, and custom content and copy. However, The possibilities may be endless, but the limitations are very real. These tools can serve a zillion other purposes that don’t rob the world of a uniquely human experience.
For example, Chat GPT can outline all the steps you need to use Zapier to connect your various tools and collect sources you can cite in an upcoming blog article. Designs.AI can help you create digital asset templates to inspire your branding goals, Dall-E2 can help you create any digital artwork you can possibly imagine.
Let’s not forget Durable.co, the AI website builder. This tool could help you visualize a framework for a new website, including plugging in the copy, before building anything from scratch.
Listen, no one can truly predict the future. Especially when it comes to the fickle world of marketing strategies. However, we can predict actions based on predictable humans. The scrollers. The marketing directors. The ad buyers. The influencers. And even the gurus. They all play a part in how marketing works.
That includes you! Did I miss anything? Let me know your thoughts!
Source:
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1338381/text-message-marketing-consumers-usa/
