Marketing is a perfect example of change as a fact of life. It is ever-evolving. The turn of the decade came with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the COVID-19 pandemic. The few months that followed were best described as a zombie apocalypse.

The Digital space benefitted greatly. But, much as there was withdrawal from public spaces, businesses had to carry on. Business people had to find ways to stay afloat and functional. Enter Digital marketing.

The amount of online time skyrocketed by over 70% over the past 18 months with the need to work remotely.

Data-driven marketing, automation, and AI technologies continue to grow, the focus of marketing will increasingly be more humane, diverse, and inclusive. As a result, marketing goes away from advertising and branding to solving pertinent problems, connecting with customers, and providing excellent customer experiences.

Dominant Digital Trends In 2021 and 2022

As we look ahead to 2023 and the Digital Marketing Trends that will be ruling the space, let's look back at the prominent trends in 2022.

• 70% of eCommerce shopping happened on mobile. That's around $3 trillion worth of sales where consumers shopped on their smartphones.

• Consumers are buying products they see in social media posts, as evidenced by the rise of Instagram’s Shopping feature.

• 52% of consumers are watching movies and videos on their mobile phones.

• Consumers own more devices and bounce between them during their buying journey.

• People prefer personalized experiences from brands.

• Mobile is driving lead generation for local businesses. One in every four people is contacting companies they found using Google search and voice search.

• 70% of consumers will likely recommend a brand with a positive social media experience.

Digital Marketing Trends For 2023

The evolution in 2023 will be around the core aspects of digital marketing, i.e., email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and search engine optimization.

1. Email Marketing Is The King In The North

Shelf all the bad stuff you have heard about email marketing. Most of it is wrong. Email marketing is that kid in school that everyone wants to be, but they cant. So they, instead, start hating.

Privacy, customization and automation have made email marketing a darling trend. Email gives a personalized connection and shows the recipient that you took time and thought about them. This makes the reader gain some glimmer of interest.

2. Omnichannel marketing

Consumers, now more than ever, are fronting comfort over anything. 25% of consumers say that convenience drives their decision-making when scouting for ideas, products, or experiences. They expect to engage with a brand on the device and at the time of their preference.

Consumers, who from above we see have access to more than one device, expect to have similar experiences while browsing through your products on different devices.

3. TikTok

Get with the program. All the cool kids are on TikTok. Your favorite brands, celebrities and accounts are on TikTok dancing and making conversions. It's simple maths. TikTok is the Prince Charming of the internet.

How To Use TikTok To Market Your Business

Below are the statistics that matter (as of Nov 2021)

• TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users.

• 4.8 billion internet users, and 20.83% use Bytedance’s video-sharing service.

• TikTok has been downloaded 3 billion times and was the most downloaded non-game app in the first 6 months of 2021, hitting 383 million installs from January to June 2021 alone.

• TikTok’s had a 1157.76% increase in its global user base between Jan 2018 and July 2020; the U.S. saw a 787.86% user growth rate in the same period. India is the most significant contributor to TikTok installs, with 611 million downloads to date.

• TikTok is the most engaging social media app, with an average session length of 10.85 minutes, double Pinterest at rank #2 with 50.6 minutes. In 2019, the time spent on TikTok was a mammoth 68 billion hours.

• 58% of TikTok users are female.

• 850 minutes per month are spent on TikTok per user.

By extension, video marketing is a darling. The success of video is currently unprecedented. Content marketers are cracking their minds in every boardroom with the best video content for their marketing strategies. If the content is king, then the video is kingmaker. Video is a great sales tool. There is a reason the number of marketers using video content is up to 81% from 63% in just the past year. We saw an increase in the use and popularity of TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels during the pandemic.

4. Social Media Stories

Regardless of culture, everyone loves a good story. Content creators have gotten so convincing and creative with stories, sharing quick solutions to their customers' problems.

Statistically, 500 million people use Instagram Stories every single day. These numbers have pushed content managers and advertisers to develop compelling content to attract, engage, and retain customers. In addition, the use of Instagram stories has led to a decrease in the use of the Instagram main feed. Advertisers are thrilled with such developments.

5. Live Streaming

Alongside social media prominence, live streaming is the other productive vice the world has picked up.

Live streaming has become trendy thanks to companies like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, AppleTV+, Disney+, and Paramount+. These have been supplemented by other brands resorting to using their websites and YouTube Channels to broadcast live.

Video gaming has not been left behind in the live-streaming frenzy. On the contrary, they are right in the middle of it. There is a rise in video game streaming services such as Twitch and YouTube gaming. Twitch has over 15 Million daily viewers on its platform today.