AS we countdown the days to 2023, there is no better time than now to start strategising on how your marketing teams and activities need to change in 2023. We know that many companies in Jamaica have been dying for things to go back to how they were before COVID but whilst you may be able to go back to old activities, your customers haven’t gone back in time with you.

Your customers have changed! How they shop, their needs, the platforms they use, and how they want to be shown information, is very different from pre-COVID times.

If you are unsure about what types of things you need to be doing as it relates to marketing for 2023, let’s break down a few things your organisation should be doing.

1) Upskilling marketing team – This is the number one thing that every organisation needs to happen in 2023. Most of the organisations that I deal with still think that marketing is limited to road shows, social media and ads. Marketing has evolved more than ever before and has about 12 competencies that make up a new-age marketer. They are digital strategy, content marketing, e-commerce marketing, e-mail marketing, paid traffic, optimization & testing, analytics & data specialist, conversion funnel, SEO specialist, copywriting, community management and social media specialist. Marketers need to know a bit of everything and specialise in three of these areas.

2) Long-form content – Whilst 2022 was the year of short-form content, businesses stopped focusing on substance in their content for trends that don’t help your customers or your bottom line. Your long-form content can come by way of YouTube videos, podcasts, articles, webinars and SlideShare. In the Caribbean, we have a lack of localised content that helps us in almost all industries, this will be a big opportunity in 2023 to position yourselves ahead of competitors and build trust with your audience.

3) Short-form content – Now that you have started to churn out the long-form content, you can begin taking clips or excerpts from the long-form content and repurposing that on social media. The goal is to clip out the best points and drive traffic back to the long-form content. Reels, TikTok, audiograms, carousels and infographics will continue to do well but businesses need to ensure the alignment with their long-form content so your audience can learn and get deeper insights about topics.

4) Community building – Now is the time to start focusing on how to go about building communities in your niche. Discord, Twitch, Facebook and LinkedIn groups have grown in popularity. Groups are a great way to build relationships with your audience and create deeper affinity for your brand. Everyone is looking for their community and if your brand can be the one to provide that, you will see great returns in 2023.

5) Focus on owned channels – Remember, your brand doesn’t own social media and you need to focus on building the channels that you own. Think about your website, e-mail list, SMS lists, WhatsApp Business, push notifications and newsletter. These are channels that you own and have 100 per cent control over. If social media goes down, your account gets suspended/removed or your content gets removed, you should have the channels you own where you can push content out without any worry.

6) Micro-influencers – In 2022, micro-influencers saw a major boost in work because companies began using them more as they are closely connected to their audience. A micro-influencer is defined as someone with 10k – 50k followers. We need to see more companies in the Caribbean find influencers that are aligned with their brand and have specialised in their niche. That way your brand partnership can net better results as the audience has a higher trust in an aligned influencer.

If businesses put into practice the six tips and strategies for their marketing in 2023, they can expect to see some big results. Your audience has changed and as new tools and platforms roll out next year, they are going to change again. Businesses need to stay on top of these trends to meet their clients where they are at.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean entrepreneurs. Learn more at KeronRose.com or listen to the Digipreneur FM Podcast on Apple Podcast/Spotify/Google Podcast.