Our Digital Marketing Predictions for 2023 - What Does the Future Hold?

As we hurtle toward 2023, we asked some team members to share their thoughts on what might happen in the digital marketing world in the coming year.

It is interesting that three of the predictions feel the cost of climate change will force the digital industry to examine sustainable improvements and record and document steps to reduce its significant carbon footprint.  

Without further ado, our 2023 predictions are:

• Advertisers prioritising video in their marketing strategies
• 2023 is going to be the year of 'making the most of what we have'.
• The continued evolution of the workplace
• 2023 is a big year for the travel sector
• Economics and environmental issues will force organisations to think ethically
• New tools to reduce the ethical impact of data misuse and its environmental impact
• AI adoption will continue, but at what cost to quality in search results?
• 2023 is the year businesses need to drive toward a sustainable web presence

My prediction for 2023 is that we will see advertisers prioritising video in their marketing strategies. While the growth in video may not be a hot new trend, it's certainly become more accessible to marketers without the need for big teams or even bigger budgets.

With the launch of Google's Pmax campaigns in the last 12 months, Instagram and Facebook algorithms favouring reels over static images and Tik Tok now becoming a big player in the eCommerce space, it's no surprise that video will be in the limelight.

Test, learn and embrace the capabilities video has to engage your audience wherever they are consuming content. Be fluid and agile with your budgets, push your brand to a broader audience, and stay ahead of the game

Fiona Smithson, Head of Paid Media 

The way in which we consume media is constantly changing, with consumers moving between devices and screens more seamlessly than ever before. Different audiences will use a whole host of platforms for their content needs, and the nature of these short 10-60 second clips means that videos need to convey a brand's message or call to action (CTA) almost instantly to gain the most traction. In 2023, marketers should take a more scattered approach when assigning marketing budgets to these platforms. Remember that each platform will still need to be specific in their targeting and the content they display to keep that user engaged regardless of where they are consuming content. The key takeaway is don't shy away from video. Instead, test, learn and embrace the capabilities video has to engage your audience wherever they are consuming content. Be fluid and agile with your budgets, push your brand to a broader audience, and stay ahead of the game.

For my prediction, I'm ignoring any shiny tech or new Web3 concepts and predicting something based on the combined events currently testing marketers. Having spoken to several clients over the past few months when supporting them on their strategic planning, it's become evident that 2023 for many brands and marketing teams, is going to be the year of 'making the most of what we have'.

With a perfect storm of external factors, including the stark reality of the cost of living crisis, marketing leaders will have an increased emphasis on how they spend their budget. This list includes tools, technology, people and data – and will assess how to maximise this better.

Marketing leaders (and, in turn, their teams) will feel the pressure to be careful with their budgets. However, by having a more measured approach and adopting behaviours, including those mentioned above, they can be confident in making a business case for additional budget.

David Somerville, Strategy Director

Here are a few examples of ways marketers might look to do this:

• Have a clear strategy and follow it – this might sound obvious. Still, I often find that marketers are stuck in the detail of tactical activity ("getting stuff done"). They forget (and sometimes neglect) to create a strategy to help guide this, or they forget they have one and don't refer to it. Having a plan that aligns activity will ensure your marketing activity is working towards the key goals and objectives the business wants to achieve.
• Review regularly – take time to assess performance and activity, and implement robust reviews regularly so you can make quick decisions.
• Capture customer feedback – it's even more critical (arguably) to listen to your customers. Acting on feedback could lead to increased revenue or cost-saving if they are flagging pain points. Make sure you've got a research plan in place.
• Reuse and repurpose – look at what you are producing for one thing and see if you can reuse it elsewhere. Typically, this is especially the case with content or related design assets. For example, producing video content for social media might also be able to be used on key website pages. Also, look at what you've previously made. Can this be refreshed and updated rather than created from scratch again?
• Tighten up measurement – to effectively review your performance; you will need to ensure that you are tracking everything you need to measure against and that it's working correctly. Implement regular checks on web analytics and keep a close eye on what's happening, especially following a significant change, such as website migration or campaign launch.
• Join up data and automate reporting – like many organisations, you might find yourself having lots of valuable data, but it's not combined. As a result, you may find it limits what you can report on and do with it but wastes valuable time by manually merging it and pulling reports together. Find ways to combine this data, for example, with Big Query and look for ways to automate your reporting.
• Test, test and test again – having a 'test and learn' culture is not new. In these times of economic frugality, it's even more important to be testing things first before committing to more significant investments of money and even time or resources.
• Assess tool usage – most marketing teams will have amassed an array of tools to help them. However, I often find there is no approach to reviewing and culling the ones that are just not used (or even just not valid anymore). I recommend performing an audit of each tool and sense-check you are getting the best out of them. You might find there are new features you were not aware of or possibly that some people don't know how to use them and can plan training to reduce the skills gap.
• Upskill people and let them learn – your teams must maintain their skills to ensure effectiveness in their roles. You might find that there are people who can be trained in a related discipline and therefore gap-fill the position you are recruiting. Also, you will want to make sure you're letting your teams access training that will keep them engaged and motivated. If they feel like they are not learning or progressing, they may be inclined to look elsewhere for an organisation with a better approach to personal learning and development. There's plenty of good (and sometimes free training out there, so it's not always going to cost you (HINT: have a look at our regular free training events).

Overall, this prediction means that marketing leaders (and, in turn, their teams) will feel the pressure to be careful with their budgets. However, by having a more measured approach and adopting behaviours, including those mentioned above, they can be confident in making a business case for additional budget.

In this post-pandemic hybrid world, we're seeing the divide between work and life as ever more blurred. The working week is now a combination of time at home, in the office, and travelling in between - it's no longer either/or—it's both. And this is set to continue.

During the pandemic, there was a surge in hardware and software to support remote working. And now, in 2022, we're combating hybrid working, where we're navigating between the office and home, switching platforms, searching for information, and spending a lot of time doing repetitive tasks.

How many of you can relate to that awkward face-to-face presentation, for example, a client or pitch to a prospect in a half-empty boardroom? Often, there are missing cables, or the software required to screen your PowerPoint isn't working.

All the advanced prep ahead of time to plan for these eventualities goes out the window. Luckily, you find the IT manager on-site to help connect your computer to the screen. You then find out three people need to join remotely. There you are suddenly trying to connect to a Teams meeting, with no central microphone or speakers, so you end up half facing a room of people and half huddled around a laptop so the remote workers can engage. Eventually, you start your presentation 35 minutes late. I'm not the only one this happened to, right? (Well, I hope not).

Employees report spending only one-third of their day on scheduled work. Workers lose an average of nearly three hours every week in the hybrid world on unnecessary meetings! Every hour, a user's attention fractures between disconnected tools and the need to switch between them constantly. That's not conducive to business.

Libby Toscano, Project Director 

As hybrid working is here to stay, these scenarios will fade away (I hope), and the equipment to support hybrid working will advance further next year. Either that, or we'll keep every IT and facilities department on their toes.

In a hybrid world, those five-minute chats at the desk have now turned into waiting until you're in the office at the same time or setting up a 30-minute Teams call and finding a slot in multiple diaries. While hybrid working has advantages, it's not all a bed of roses.

According to a survey from Asana, we spend 58% of the working week on 'work about work'. Time-sucking activities include communicating about work, searching for information, switching between apps, managing shifting priorities, etc.

Employees report spending only one-third of their day on scheduled work. Workers lose an average of nearly three hours every week in the hybrid world on unnecessary meetings! Every hour, a user's attention fractures between disconnected tools and the need to switch between them constantly. That's not conducive to business.

What should we do as we roll into next year? Streamline the tech and tools we use to do our jobs by leveraging app integrations. I want to see the implementation of structured processes, more efficient communication methods, automate where you can and ensure the company's technological ecosystem works seamlessly. These can help to free up precious time and drive efficiency, which can be huge for the bottom line.

Marketing in travel has been a tough gig, with the sector returning to a form of normality in 2022. 2023 is a big year for the travel sector to get back to pre-pandemic levels - this means opportunities for marketers.

We know that booking a holiday is an emotional purchase with an intangible product. It's laden with hopes and expectations. Since 2020, there's been vast uncertainty about trips going ahead as planned (or if at all). The pandemic saw huge pent-up demand, with people refining their bucket lists in granular detail, ready to hit the book button as soon as the borders opened. But the newly-opened travel space confused travellers and was in flux for many months, with destinations changing their Covid pass entry requirements at zero notice. Let's not forget the wonders of Brexit for the travel industry, including UK passport holders having restrictions entering the EU. The latter resulted in some travellers being refused entry at borders. For marketers in the travel sector, this can be a problem. When customers' travel plans are derailed at the last minute, it's not uncommon for people to turn to the tour or flight operator to unleash their fury. Often, social media and review sites are hotbeds of frustration. Tour operators must have an always-on social media presence.

Another trend I expect to continue to unfold is travel for mental health - the need for digital detox and a clear-cut break from work, which is now a part of our home lives. The 'always on' current way of living and working results in heightened stress levels. Mental health has become a national focus and is no longer taboo. This topic is an excellent opportunity for travel marketers to build content to meet increased user intent.

Melina Collie, Business Director 

There is little that gets in between the Brits and a holiday. Look at our weather for one. It's a big driver for bookings to the sun. With Covid worries finally starting to wane, this next year's core challenge for travel providers will be the cost of living crisis. Customers will be increasingly looking at value, at finding low prices or add-ons, such as free rooms, free nights, transfers and child places etc. Flexible booking conditions will continue to be a key driver in 2023.

Recent international trends have seen people travelling less frequently but staying longer and experiencing the destination in greater detail. The sector became less about flights and more about experience-rich travel.

2020/21 highlighted sector popularity by the sheer absence of tourism during the two years. Now with net zero and climate targets, the appetite for more sustainable travel continues to grow. Travellers recognise the need to positively impact the places they visit and protect the places they love. But, a challenge for tour operators is to ensure travellers don't pay a premium for this and will expect travel providers to have solid CSR credentials.

Another trend I expect to continue to unfold is travel for mental health - the need for digital detox and a clear-cut break from work, which is now a part of our home lives. The 'always on' current way of living and working results in heightened stress levels. Mental health has become a national focus and is no longer taboo. This topic is an excellent opportunity for travel marketers to build content to meet increased user intent.

Travel will continue to provide a much-needed mental wind-down in 2023 (domestic or abroad). Mindfulness has also become part of our everyday vocabulary post-lockdown, which looks set to continue.

Travel connects people and reconnects us with ourselves, and while the cost of living crisis will affect travel plans, don't forget, we Brits love a holiday and make sure your end-to-end user journey is faultless.

What does this mean for travel marketers?

1. Make sure every penny counts; don't drive unnecessary (and expensive) user journeys.
2. Make your offers clear and easy to access.
3. Ensure user journeys are seamless.
4. Look for flash points and ensure customers can easily access customer services support.
5. Create content for digital detox holidays and escapes
6. Ensure your comms team monitors social media channels to promptly handle customer frustrations.

We head into 2023 with the economy and the environment both in crisis. While there’s an obvious relationship between those things (and, indeed, causality), I think one of the trends of the next 12 months will be how they combine to encourage more ethical decision-making in digital.

I think this combination will lead to three main effects:

1. Greater user-centricity in organisations
2. The private sector finally starting to reckon with accessibility and inclusivity
3. Increased focus on the environmental cost of digital

There are billions of websites on the internet, and 91% of them never get found on Google. Marketers bombard people with content, and organisations must work harder to ensure they’re not making it worse.

A user-centred approach shifts cost to earlier in the process, from publication to research and design. Doing so helps you create less, more effectively.

This goes hand-in-hand with organisations’ need to watch their budgets. Under such circumstances, it makes sense not to spend time creating content that people don’t need from you, but that costs money to make and maintain.

There’s also new legislation in the area. The FCA’s new Customer Duty all but compels a user-centred approach.

It’s worth reiterating that being user-centred doesn’t mean that you can’t:

• Do marketing - it just means your marketing will be clearer and better focused
• Use persuasive techniques - it just means you’ll use them more appropriately
• Be creative - it just means that creativity and outcomes need to be more aligned

Doubtless, some organisations will cut budgets and, with them, user-centred workstreams. But most will recognise that focusing on users is a more effective route to success.

In a challenging economic environment, organisations need to be able to reach as many people as possible. Focusing on accessibility and inclusivity is not just an ethical imperative. It’s a business imperative, too.

Callum Grantham, Content Director 

Opening up your organisation is the entire point of marketing. Yet some 97% of the most popular homepages still have accessibility issues.

In a challenging economic environment, organisations need to be able to reach as many people as possible. Focusing on accessibility and inclusivity is not just an ethical imperative. It’s a business imperative, too.

In a more user-centred environment, 2023 should be the year for organisations to change. By doing this, they will reach more people and improve the user experience for everyone.

This is also an area to watch in terms of legislation. Public-sector organisations have been compelled to pay more attention to accessibility for years, and there’s little reason why it should be different for the private sector.

The direction is clear in all respects. Over the next decade, organisations will be pressured to take environmental action across their operations, including digital.

While many organisations pay lip service to the problems through campaigns and carbon capture, there’s still widespread ignorance about the environmental cost of digital technology. It’s there in the throwaway culture around devices and the information that’s shared and stored on them.

Every kilobyte of data that exists took energy to create and needs energy to store, yet 90% of data is never accessed again 90 days after it is first stored.

The cost of living crisis puts some of the environmental issues of digital in sharp relief. Businesses will be more aware of the economic and environmental costs of creating and storing vast amounts of content and data. This, combined with moral and legislative pressure, will make 2023 a landmark year.

To bring things full circle, the environmental cost is another reason for user-centricity. By focusing on what people need, organisations can reduce the amount they create and the amount of damage they do with it.

As time moves on, data is becoming more and more accessible. However, with this comes challenges. For example, should we leverage this data even if it's available, and how do we responsibly work with data from an environmental and ethical standpoint?

Gone are the days of a minimal number of the population being able to program and model data, which has been fundamental in driving data-driven organisations. The access to knowledge coupled with very cheap cloud processing means exciting growth in new talent from diverse and varied backgrounds. Courses on SQL, Python and other tools are highly accessible (and popular). But only some of these courses talk about ethical data analysis and the environmental impact of data.

From an ethical standpoint, we have more data than ever before. There have been cases where models have inadvertently prejudiced against specific groups, down to available variables and their incorrect use of demographic data. The question comes down to just because we can, should we?

Many larger cloud platforms are already supporting ethical analytics and looking at how to embed more robust ethics into data science and analytics. A positive example is how Google supports the SEED fundamentals in AI and baking in functionality in Tensorflow to explain AI outcomes.

Alongside ethical data usage, we have a real elephant in the room with the impact of data on the environment. Did you know that data centres and processing account for almost 2% of the world's carbon emissions?

Lacë Rogers, Head of Analytics and Data 

In the next couple of years, (I believe) this ethical stance will be enshrined in law, with additions to GDPR around data usage. However, my prediction for 2023 is that we will see exponential growth in ethical standards across cloud platforms, coupled with data science and engineering courses focusing more on ethical standards, along with a potential broader focus towards a Chartered Data Scientist and engineer certification.

• https://cloud.google.com/blog/transform/4-tasks-to-ensure-your-companys-ai-is-ethical
• https://cloud.google.com/responsible-ai
• https://rss.org.uk/RSS/media/News-and-publications/Publications/Reports%20and%20guides/A-Guide-for-Ethical-Data-Science-Final-Oct-2019.pdf 

Alongside ethical data usage, we have a real elephant in the room with the impact of data on the environment. Did you know that data centres and processing account for almost 2% of the world's carbon emissions?

Coupled with this, we see sound, light and water impacts driven by the scale of data servers worldwide. Put simply; we must remember that when we store or process data in the cloud, there is an environmental impact. We must ask how we reduce the amount of stored data whilst still benefitting from the power of data.

Year-on-year data stored in the world is exponentially increasing, and in 2022 Google Cloud Platform introduced carbon footprint tracking, along with other tools which support businesses in understanding the impacts of their data storage.

• https://cloud.google.com/sustainability
• https://cloud.google.com/carbon-footprint 

My prediction for 2023 is that we will see growth in these products, but also a growth in the awareness of the environmental impact of data, leading to better warehouse structures and more efficient coding practices. I also predict a greater understanding of the impact of data's carbon footprint within the data community and broader society and more media coverage broadcasting the impacts of data on climate change.

AI and SEO are not unfamiliar bedfellows. In fact, since 2019's Rankbrain update, there have been several mentions at keynotes and most notably the MUM (Multitask Unified Model) update from last year.

Google's AI is a popular topic of conversation. It will significantly impact their bottom line if they can get it right. With more widespread applications outside of search, the more intelligent it gets (hopefully not Skynet levels, though!). Search engines need to be more sophisticated to answer the way experts would. Still, we know semantic search uses natural language processing and machine learning to understand better the context of a user's query rather than simply relying on keywords.

With advances like MUM, Google is getting closer to answering complex user needs, reducing the need for multiple searches to get things done. The power of MUM is to unify things making them more helpful to users.

This advance could impact the number of traditional search results we see in SERPs, moving to a more dynamic and varied landscape (which I am keen to see in action) using even more location, preferences, and past searches to enhance your results.

Overall, the increasing use of AI in search engine results and copywriting presents both opportunities and challenges for SEOs and copywriters. As this technology evolves, it will become even more vital for them to understand how AI works and adapt their strategies accordingly.

Tom Burnett, SEO Manager 

There is potential for those willing to put in the legwork early on, particularly in terms of image/video search and the subsequent correct utilisation of structured data to tie it all together, which is critical to the future of competitive eCommerce.

In recent years, the rapid development of AI has profoundly impacted search engine results and copywriting. As systems become more sophisticated, they are increasingly being used to optimise algorithms and automate tasks like copywriting. However, this trend is also giving rise to a potential crisis in both areas.

The rise of AI has made content duplication an even more significant issue than it already was. AI technology allows for the automated creation of copy that appears to be original but is a duplicate of other content that already exists. This advance means that sites can generate (near) duplicate content more than ever. Subsequently, this may take Google back to the start of the 2010s when it introduced Panda to combat article spinning.

The best way to avoid any adverse effects of content duplication is to create unique content that a human writes. The automated generation of entire pieces of copy is lazy, offers limited value to the users and will lead to poor rankings and reader confusion. AI can help by providing automated suggestions and performing essential functions such as proofreading.

There has been broad discussion on the impact of AI on search engine results and copywriting over the past few years. With the rise of AI-driven algorithms, how search engines rank content is changing and how SEOs approach copywriting.

The advance in technology presents another challenge for SEOs accustomed to optimising content for specific keywords. Rather than relying on keyword stuffing (which is old hat anyway!), they must now focus on creating content that will be interpreted accurately by Google's AI-driven algorithms.

Overall, the increasing use of AI in search engine results and copywriting presents both opportunities and challenges for SEOs and copywriters. As this technology evolves, it will become even more vital for them to understand how AI works and adapt their strategies accordingly.

Having toyed with a couple of AI tools (namely anyword.com or copy.ai), it's clear there are some great options available. But, the technology must strive further to match up with the natural language, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness of a real-life human being typing away with their real-world knowledge. It may also be the start of something bigger for Google to deal with in the future.

With AI seemingly becoming more competent, how long before the difference between the two forms is indeterminable? How much time will Google utilise to keep the (negative) impact to a minimum in the SERPs? Will people start to get penalised further down the line, or will Google have to take a more neutral stance to avoid their systems punishing the wrong people?

AI will play a more significant part in the future than many want (but it is already everywhere). Will its impact be blatant, harsh, or more subtle and natural as it continues to learn? Who knows, maybe I wrote this with AI... would you even be able to tell (I did, but I bet you cannot guess which paragraph!)?

In an age where energy costs are at all-time highs, and the net-zero conversation continues to dominate headlines, 2023 is when businesses need to take advantage of existing technology and drive toward adopting and pursuing a sustainable web presence.

The first thing technical teams can do is utilise the IndexNow protocol. We know in the UK, Google is the predominant search engine, but across the world, Google is not the only search engine in town, with Bing, Seznam and Yandex supporting the initiative.

It is a shame that with all the power it yields, Google is yet to adopt the Index now protocol. Doing so would help drive the agenda and help reduce the endless crawl cycle that consumes significant energy.

We know Google is aware that sustainable crawling will help it with its own net zero targets, as reported by Search Engine Journal in January of this year. The search giant is yet to release a technology fix that embraces sustainable indexation.

Yes, Google Search Console allows users to ping specific pages, but technical teams need the means to control what site areas require crawling. While robots.txt can provide blunt rules and the XML sitemap provides better guidance on page importance and update frequency, there is still much room for improvement. Informing crawlers only when page content changes is a sure way to reduce ongoing crawling and energy consumption.

We know Google is aware that sustainable crawling will help it with its own net zero targets, as reported by Search Engine Journal in January of this year. The search giant is yet to release a technology fix that embraces sustainable indexation.

Lee Colbran, Co-founder 

This year we've been helping our clients create faster web experiences with Gatsby, the React technology. If you are unaware, the Gatsby solution allows developers to build more sustainable web solutions. The recent V5 release offers another layer of sustainability, allowing web developers to deploy sections. Should your roadmap include creating a new navigation structure with Gatsby V5, there is the ability to do just that without the need to deploy the entire site. The innovation enables dev teams to place sustainability at the heart of future web builds.

Gatsby provides faster web experiences, which require less computing power. Statically generated sites do not require constant calls to a database, again saving energy. With proper planning and using pre-existing technology, developers can place themselves at the heart of their organisation's sustainable aspirations.

Start your organisation's sustainable journey in 2023 with the following tips:

• An easy win – make sure your website images are optimal. Doing so will reduce storage capacity.
• Use the IndexNow protocol - Start to manage web crawling in search engines. Google will likely adopt the innovation (or something similar soon).
• Review your sitemap.xml file - ensure you are guiding search engines to review content
• Delete old files - Remove any old images/files from your server; you are wasting space, which uses energy.
• Review content - if there are dead pages with no traffic, no purpose and no reason to repurpose them, then delete them.
• Convert your website to a static version - Consider technology like Gatsby and promote sustainable web development.
• Change search engine - Ditching Google for ecosia.org is a step we can all make. The search engine reports donating roughly 59% of its monthly turnover to planting trees and regenerating biodiverse hotspots.
• Appoint a tzar - if you still need to, make someone responsible for driving a sustainable web presence in your organisation, and set goals and KPIs that you can share within the business and demonstrate to the wider world how you are driving sustainability.
• Remember email - email is incredibly resource-intensive. While not necessarily related to optimising a sustainable web presence, we can all help reduce power consumption by keeping our email to a minimum. If you have never looked at ways to reduce your online carbon footprint, look at this great article on goodplanet.org.

I do not doubt that reducing costs and driving sustainable solutions will become more prevalent concerns for businesses in 2023 (and beyond).