The world of marketing is constantly changing. Trying to keep up with the latest changes is half the challenge of being a marketer because trends can decide whether your marketing campaigns succeed or sink.
Unfortunately, it can be easy to become obsessed with jumping on the latest trends to keep up with the times instead of thinking critically about every decision you take. To use a recent example, countless businesses have attempted to jump on the surge in TikTok popularity, only to find it backfire spectacularly.
The fact of the matter is that the success of certain marketing tactics can only be related to the business and industry they are being used by.
TikTok is hardly appropriate if you run a high-brow law firm or a retirement home, for example, because the app’s user base is primarily the under 30s.
Therefore, you should balance the latest trends with what is most appropriate for your business.
With that said, here are some of the most impactful forms of marketing you can incorporate into your strategy in 2023:
Merchandise
Including merchandise in this list might sound a little incongruous, given that it is usually regarded as an old-school marketing ploy. However, they say that trends are cyclical, and that is certainly true in marketing. Merch is back in fashion and can be used to great effect for your brand.
One of the most compelling benefits of merch is that it can be useful for pretty much any brand. For example, it doesn’t matter what your target market’s age bracket is because everyone finds merch useful.
It can also have a profound impact on your brand awareness. When your customers are wearing or using your branded goods, such as custom fanny packs from anthem, others will start to become aware of your business. This will gradually start to spread further and further afield until your brand has entered the cultural zeitgeist.
Social Media
Another enduring form of marketing you should consider is social media. Again, this might sound like nothing new, but the key to marketing that many forget is the platform you use, and why you use it.
The initial social media craze has now subsided. It is no longer good enough to have a bunch of social accounts that lie dormant because you need to be ‘online’.
This only makes you look lazy and non-committal. Instead, pick one platform that works best for your audience, and post every single day with relevant content.
This will help you cultivate an audience and enable you to create impactful marketing campaigns.
Email Campaigns
Lastly, email is back in fashion.
During the height of the social media craze, email marketing has been shunned as old hat and spammy. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
When done well, email has a reach and depth of impact that not even social media can match.
This is because it enables you to sell directly to consumers in a controlled environment. When written well, your emails will easily stand out against the list of boring work emails in people’s inboxes.
What’s more, the lack of awareness of email’s potential enables you to hoover up the lion’s share of the market without your rivals mounting a response.