If we can get through the past few years with all its curve balls, we can get through anything.  This industry’s been through economic challenges before – foot and mouth to name one. Now we can also look back and know we can successfully trade through a pandemic.  There are always challenges to navigate but keeping focus and planning has certainly been the secret to Spring’s success.  That’s why we always have one eye on marketing trends, so that we can plan effectively for our clients.  So, what will those trends look like in 2023?  Here’s what we’re predicting for the 2023.

Want to drive sales?  Email beats paid social and display advertising by 108% 

Email is still the preferred channel for consumers who are engaging with offers, incentives, and rewards from brands.  Cheetah Digital says 50% of consumers have made a purchase from an email they received in the last 12 months.  As a business, we experience great open and click-through rates on our newsletters. Our clients are reporting the same. (If your in-house capacity is maxed out we can help pull newsletter copy together from idea generation to copywriting).  We’re great believers in collaboration and when we put Páramo and Elliot Brown together for an email campaign the results for both parties exceeded expectations.  If you’ve yet to create a newsletter of your own, we recommend Do Open: How a Simple Email Newsletter Can Transform Your Business (and it can). This book is both engaging and packed full of helpful advice

Shift to Nano and Micro-Influencers 

We’ve worked with nano and micro-influencers and our clients have been impressed with the results.  With a following of 1K – 100K, these guys have very engaged audiences and significant influencing power.   Tom Sigler, aka @weekend_hiker, has a lively, engaged audience, “My audience trusts me when it comes to talking about kit. They’ve seen my posts on hiking and wild camping, as well as personal gear recommendations. When it comes to sponsored posts, I only accept kit which I believe works well for its intended use. I’m always honest and follow up on queries sent by private message. This helps to foster trust.”  In a recent campaign Tom carried out for us his reel was played 33K times with 200 saves.  It’s not surprising that clients with a B2C channel have come back to us time and again saying they’ve noticed an uplift in engagement when we’ve worked with micro-influencers. 

The dream team – align your marketing and sales teams 

This has been a slow burn but to us, it’s a no-brainer.  In the past, this was a one-off rather than the norm but those brands that joined the two teams together reaped the benefits of a cohesive team pulling in the same direction.  We’re noticing more invites to sales meetings and regular hookups with the sales teams, and we think it’s only going to escalate.  Our most successful collaborations involve both sales and marketing teams working together in harmony.  The Dream Team. “Marketing campaigns run directly with Spring and retailers really show commitment from the brand, and strengthen the supplier-customer relationship.  Our summer 2022 window campaign with Hydro Flask and Outside drove consumers straight to the new seasonal colours in store and created a tangible lift in sales of Hydro Flask product” says Matt Jordan of Wildside Trading, sales agent for Hydro Flask in the UK.

Infographics – to-the-point communication without the fluff 

“Too many words” is a phrase often knocking around the Spring office.  We like to keep it to the point which is why we love the infographic.  We’re not alone, according to Hub Spot 56% of marketers surveyed said they are their most effective content type.  We use them in our communication and our reporting, and they are hugely effective.  All our reports can be summarised with a handy infographic.  It’s simple and to the point.  We use CoverageBook that offers over 50 metrics displayed in an easy-to-understand infographic – although we’ve never used all 50! How did that campaign go?  Boom! 

More companies will prioritise social responsibility 

We work with some great brands that champion social responsibility.  Nikwax has been flying the green flag since the 70s. LifeStraw has provided clean drinking water for over six million schoolchildren in developing countries with its Give Back Programme.  Other campaigns include Darn Tough’s Million Meals feeding the Vermont Foodbank and Polartec’s Outdoors Are For Everyone diversity campaign. Recent events have seen an increase in brands keen to voice their social responsibility commitments and rightly so.  This is not the time to be shy about your brand’s altruistic values.  We expect to see more of this activity as millennials and Gen Z customers dig deeper into brand ethics.  According to Cheetah Digital 57% of consumers are prepared to pay more to purchase from a trusted brand.  Developing brand identity rather than pushing products is going to be the driver going forward.