Transformation requires continuous evolution — it’s a cycle that keeps going. When it comes to digital strategy for 2023, stagnation is the death of all innovation. Right now, many companies are struggling with how to evolve away from the status quo, but this time of year is an opportunity to step up and make changes.
Building your 2023 digital strategy requires a broad strategic perspective that accounts for changing market conditions. It’s good to have a plan and also remain agile as new external and internal factors come up.
Here, we’re sharing how to build a digital-first strategy that will carry your business into the future. As you create a digital strategy for 2023, keep in mind these important considerations, trends to anticipate, and technology requirements for digital transformation.
What digital marketing trends are emerging for 2023?
When it comes to 2023 digital trends for B2B and B2C, we’re not looking at the latest app, subscription model, or product configurator. We’re focused on the main pillars of digital strategy: your people, processes, and technology.
One important trend to keep in mind when planning for 2023? Increased turnover in marketplace talent. Your talent is the people who maximize your technology and optimize your processes to better reach your customers. It doesn’t matter if you have all the right technology and processes if you don’t also have the right people within your organization.
Once you have the right people on board, the job doesn’t end there. Your people are an important part of your digital marketing strategy framework. Your people are part of your business’s digital transformation, and it’s essential to bring them into that evolution.
This requires nurturing your talent, offering continuous education and training, and creating a clear career path. Because of the increasing marketplace turnover, be sure you’ve trained not just a single person but a whole team. This type of cross-training expands skill sets and sparks greater collaboration and innovation.
How will digital marketing transform businesses in 2023?
With current trends in mind, companies will have to transform their people, processes, and technology in order to stay relevant. They need to respond to current market conditions and be proactive in future-proofing their business.
Digital marketing both drives the need for transformation and acts as a tool in carrying out that transformation. As your business looks toward 2023 and takes steps in transformation, it’s crucial to use data and tools in a meaningful way.
Today’s digital marketing involves a tremendous amount of data. It begins with understanding your data — including customer data, web analytics data, product data, and more. Your digital experience strategy should look at how you gather, analyze, and use data to improve your customer experience.
Data allows you to keep a pulse on your customer, the channels they engage in, and their changing needs and behaviors. It shows you what’s working and what’s not. By tapping into relevant data, you can make informed decisions and intentional optimizations that truly help your customer and drive your business forward.
- Simplify, while still maintaining transparency
Simple is the name of the game. Your customer needs to be able to find what they need and quickly make the right purchase. That requires a simplified buying experience.
For example, think about how many product attributes a customer has to wade through before selecting their desired product. Do they need to know all of these characteristics before purchasing? How can you make it easier for a customer to find what they need?
The same goes for your internal processes. Rather than fall back on the mindset of “we’ve always done it this way,” ask yourself: Is this the right way to do it? Does this work right now and for the future?
To really dive into these two areas, it can be helpful to enlist a third-party perspective for fresh ideas. Our digital strategy services keep a focus on data-driven decision-making and simplification throughout the digital transformation journey.
Digital transformation doesn’t necessarily involve expensive technology overhauls. It’s possible to make changes in phased stages until you reach digital maturity. All three pillars work together, so smaller changes in your processes or your people can also make a bigger external impact.
How Do You Choose the Right Digital Technology to Meet These Trends?
Globally, spending on digital transformation continues to grow. The global investment in digital transformation technology is expected to grow at an annual compound rate of 17.1 percent, reaching $2.3 trillion, or 53 percent of all information communication technology spending, by 2023.
But we’ll share a caveat: Don’t just throw technology at a problem. You first have to fully understand the problem you’re trying to solve. Consider whether the issue involves people, process, or technology — or all three pillars.
At Avionos, we walk through a technology evaluation with our clients. Just like we talked about in the previous section, your technology systems should help you gather relevant data to make data-driven decisions and streamline processes to improve efficiency and consistency.
We consider key questions like: What are the needs of the customer, and what are the gaps in your organization? Does your technology meet those requirements? While new technology can often provide a solution, it’s also important to maximize and optimize your current technology. How can it be more effective and efficient?
As a part of those decisions, you’ll want to think about how to integrate your technology. When your technology systems work together, it becomes easier to serve what the customer needs, as well as implement higher value elements like personalization.
The gap between marketing and sales becomes much smaller with integrated technologies. What does that look like? When your e-commerce and CRM systems are connected, you’re able to reach out to potential customers with an “abandoned cart” email. Or when a customer shops for a product, integrated technology allows you to send them an email to recommend related products, or promote an upcoming webinar that will share relevant information about the product.
Continuous Evolution in 2023
When you create a digital strategy that encompasses your people, processes, and technology, you’ll be able to guide customers seamlessly through the buying journey. Data-driven decisions, simplification, and integrated technologies help you optimize that customer experience further.
2023 will bring more change. As you set out to plan for next year and beyond, embrace continual evolution across all areas of your digital marketing strategy.
If you’re looking for more guidance as you create your digital strategy, contact an Avionos digital transformation team member or download our “Continuous Evolution: The New Normal” white paper.
