Influencer marketing has enabled brands to reach more targeted audiences online. Their endorsement and product placement has evolved into an opportunity for brands to tap into new communities. This marketing channel has brought forward a new understanding & expectations for brands.

Let us take a look at how influencer marketing has evolved in 2023: 

Era of influencer subscription

Influencer subscriptions are an additional source of income for creators, offering exclusive content, benefits, and services to subscribers for a monthly fee. For example, creators in the US enjoy the benefit of Instagram subscriptions which allows them to earn recurring monthly income with the help of exclusive content & experiences for their followers. The rise in influencer marketing will lead more influencers to adopt subscription-based services to expand their revenue streams as well as their reach. With creators seeking alternative revenue streams, they have also become less dependent on their deals with brands. As a result, they will be more selective in collaborating with brands, which may lead to higher prices. 

Live shopping to dominate influencer campaigns

In 2021 & 2022, live shopping became extremely popular, and this trend is all set to gain new heights in 2023. Using live video & engaging content, influencers will continue to promote products to their audience. Live shopping statistics show that the majority of consumers prefer live streams over other types of social media purchases. Many consumers now prefer shopping recommendations from live video streaming. The uptake of live shopping witnessed a huge rise during & post-COVID-19. People no longer believed in spending time shopping in-store. Instead, they looked for ways to engage with commerce sitting on their couch. In addition to this, brands like Amazon, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have developed live-stream shopping tools and partnerships.  

Emphasis on diversity & values

With diversity becoming an important factor for consumers, brands should prioritise diversity in their influencer marketing strategy. Consumers nowadays wish to connect with brands that are actively investing in DEI initiatives. As per stats, around 77% of consumers buy more products and services after seeing content posted by creators that resonate with their values. Millennials and Gen Zs are more likely to be willing to pay for products and services that match their values ​​and support companies that prioritise sustainability. Both influencers and consumers analyse brand messages and campaigns to ensure inclusivity, which will lead brands to align their cultures with inclusivity and remove all traces of exclusivity. 

Rise of micro & nano influencers

Gone are the days when brands entirely relied on mega influencers. With the shift in the influencer marketing industry, many brands are now targeting to create partnerships with micro & nano influencers. Stats predict that micro-influencers tend to generate up to 60% more engagement than macro-influencers. This rise in engagement has led brands to hop onto the bandwagon of collaborating with micro & nano influencers. By focusing on nano and micro-influencers, brands can increase influencer marketing budgets while working with influencers who connect deeply with their audiences. Brands associated with nano-influencers are usually considered more authentic as influencers may have real relationships with the majority of their supporters.

Increase in influencer collaboration

Another big trend to be witnessed in 2023 in the influencer marketing industry is the rise of collaboration between influencers. Recently, content houses have been the talk of the town. These spaces for influencers & creators allow them to come together & collaborate. Some examples of creator houses are Sway House, Clout House, FaZe Clan, and more. Brands nowadays are keen on content houses as they gain enthusiastic influencers who work on their content all day long, expanding their brand's reach. Influencer collaboration will bring a win-win situation for everyone – Brands will be able to run better campaigns, influencers will be treated like professionals, & consumers will find their desired product at the best price. 

Conclusion

With these evolutions in the influencer marketing industry, marketers would be witnessing a drastic change. Most of these trends would come out to be extremely useful for both influencers & marketers, opening multiple opportunities for both and resulting in higher sales & revenue.

Customer expectations and needs are rapidly changing, which has put brands on a constant grill to meet their needs. According to reports, brands that address customer needs and build strong customer engagement tend to witness a 9.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue. With this rise, brands have never been more apparent of the importance of digital marketing services and interactive content.

Brands create numerous strategies to create a unique business and acquire potential customers. With the help of digital marketing, brands will be able to attract target customers and grow their business. 

In the last few years, there has been a paradigm shift from traditional to digital marketing. Brands can reach out to customers and viewers with services offered by digital marketing agencies to market their products and services online. Some of the benefits that digital marketing services offer brands are:

1. Higher conversion rate

Businesses that use online as their preferred marketing method can easily measure conversion rates in real-time. That means identifying the percentage of your audience who become prospects, then subscribers, and ultimately purchase your service or product. SEO, social media marketing, and email marketing are high-converting methods because they can generate fast and effective communication channels with consumers. With digital marketing, you can reach only those who need that type of service and improve lead conversions. 

2. Enhance visibility and access 

With the help of the internet, brands can reach a huge audience from local to global scale. The more people that visit your brand, the more awareness your product or service will have. This might have been possible with traditional marketing styles but at a much higher cost & investment. The frequency of impressions made directly by a brand accelerates its visibility. Having a presence on multiple digital platforms helps increase brand awareness. Google records about 4 billion searches per day. Improving your visibility in search engines through relevant keywords increases your brand equity. 

3. Increase brand trust

Having an omnichannel presence allows customers to rate your services based on their level of experience. Positive and favourable reviews left by satisfied customers cause new customers to convert quickly, which in turn builds a strong image of your brand in the minds of new consumers, leading to more conversions. 

4. Good return on investment

Because it's digital, you have access to packages with different costs, so you can choose the one that best fits your budget. With web analytics, a business owner can know if the company's website is providing optimal ROI. You can also track where the response is positive and where you need to focus more. It also shuts down costly and fruitless modes. Digital marketing allows businesses to reach more people at a lower cost, making it easier to get a higher return on investment (ROI).

5. Associating with mobile customers

These days, it is very important that all businesses practice mobile-friendly marketing techniques. Stats predict that mobile apps are expected to generate over $935Bn in revenue in 2023. This is because all customers have access to mobile phones and can search for different products and services on their smartphones. Especially since the first update of Google Mobile, all websites have become mobile responsive designs. Website navigation should be designed to be visible to mobile device users. 

Conclusion

Digital marketing is essential to building a successful business. Whether it's brand growth or increased sales, there are no limits. By understanding what happens in the digital space, you can harness it and future-proof any business. 

As the world is now moving towards the impending death of third-party cookies, the value of first-party data has drastically increased. Consumer data helps brands understand the objectives and preferences of their target audience, helping them identify their customers through personas. As a marketer, it is key to understand your target audience to build relationships, enhance customer experience, and drive sales. 

 According to stats, 92% of marketers believe that using first-party data continuously will help brands build an understanding of what customers think & want to drive growth. For marketers, the quality of the first-party data is what makes it invaluable since it is collected directly from customers. This implies that this data is 100% accurate, as compared to third-party data. With the help of first-party data, businesses can deep-dive into the direct insights of the  users, including demographics, behaviour patterns, interests, purchasing habits, and more. Such granular information can do wonders for brands in terms of creating targeted campaigns & providing personalised user experience. 

Despite the benefits of first-party data, most brands aren’t fully able to make the most out of this powerful tool. From improving marketing performance to providing valuable insights into the full buying journey, there are many ways brands can leverage first-party data to drive sales. We have listed below some of the ways to use first-party data: 

Re-engage customers

Many ecommerce lose as much as $18 billion in sales revenue every year due to cart abandonment. But, with the help of first-party data, ecommerce marketers can bridge this gap and encourage consumers to re-engage with their offerings. First-party data helps marketers to get an in-depth view of consumer behaviour – who is on the fence & who may need a reminder to re-engage. For instance, if a consumer has looked for a product but has not checked out with it, brands can make use of first-party data to retarget them by sending a reminder email to return to their site & complete their purchase. On top of that, they can also offer a discount to attract the same. 

Know the ins & outs of the customer journey

Marketers must be able to outline their customer journey to pull their customers back to the journey of purchase. With the help of first-party data, marketers can easily analyse and integrate data from all their sources to understand consumer behaviour at every step of the journey. This will in turn help out marketers to send out tailored messages at the right time that will encourage them to engage with their brands. Additionally, brands can also leverage first-party data to make changes in the existing customer journey strategy based on how they are engaging. 

Optimise campaign targeting & improve the relevance

It is rightly said that a campaign that speaks to everyone is a campaign that speaks to no one. Brands need to strike a balance between targeting the right campaign to the right audience, without infringing on their privacy. This can be achieved with the help of first-party data. With privacy becoming an increasingly important point of concern, brands must actively focus on harnessing their first-party data to identify real people across devices & marketing channels. Additionally, brands can make use of these insights to personalise their messages to match their customer preferences. As per stats, personalised emails see a 14% greater CTR and personalised web experiences witness a 20% rise in sales, which implies that personalisation is the secret to a brand’s success. 

Increase trust among consumers

Safeguarding consumer privacy is how brands can earn customer trust, attract and retain users. This can be achieved by being transparent and clear about using their information & offering compelling value in return. Marketers can make use of first-party reviews to develop relationships with new customers. Organisations can build trust with consumers by implementing a centralised privacy strategy that is aligned with consumer personalities and journeys through a common accountability framework across the enterprise, based on consumer preferences. increase. This includes a consistent and transparent customer experience that puts privacy first, including an intuitive way to consent to data sharing and enables continuous monitoring of new compliance requirements. 

Conclusion

Overall, first-party data presents a wealth of opportunities for companies looking to better understand their customers. From providing valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences to enabling more targeted campaigns and personalised experiences, first-party data is invaluable to marketers.

Mobile apps are a great way to build audiences and convert users. There are 3.48 million apps on Google Play and about 2.22 million apps on the Apple App Store. With so much competition in the market, you need to make sure your app is fully optimized for success. Mobile app performance is the number one factor in mobile app success. A poorly performing app doesn't engage users and fails quickly. Therefore, monitoring and maintaining mobile app performance is critical to the success of your app and your business. 

Tips to improve and optimize app performance

Below is a list of methods that work universally to improve app performance and improve user experience. 

Optimize your images:

Larger images may look better to users. In practice, it doesn't make sense to use an image that is larger than the screen will display. Optimized images and graphic elements eliminate lag when using apps and improve loading times of on-screen content. Therefore, you should make better use of image resizing and compression. Compression can reduce the weight of an image without reducing its resolution. Resizing, in contrast, means resizing the image so that it fits properly in your app.

Reduce app size & load time:

Smartphones are not yet powerful GPUs. And here are the amazing facts. Moderately configured phones account for most of the Android market share in the world. Some apps don't support 2G/3G, but users generally avoid downloading huge apps, especially if they're in a hurry. Therefore, the less space consumed on the phone, the better for the user.

Cache data effectively:

To speed up your application, you need to define which files and computations can be cached. Storing resources and operations on the device disk ensures immediate access to app data and eliminates performance issues during network disruptions. Define a suitable cache duration. At the same time, it's important to maintain a balance between caching data and loading data so that users don't see stale data. Also, as long as you have limited space to store information, you shouldn't cache everything. 

Optimize screen size:

Screen size presents a big challenge, so it gets a lot of attention from developers. There are a great many Android devices of various shapes and sizes. Your app should support as many screens as possible because the layout's fixed dimensions only work for certain orientations and screen sizes. Make sure your layout accommodates different screens and aspect ratios so that a wider range of users can access your app from different devices. 

Create an offline mode:

Offline mode creates a buffer so your information is safe even if your network connection is unexpectedly lost. If you are suddenly disconnected without using offline mode, all data you were using will be destroyed. Offline mode allows you to save data now and return to it later when the user reconnects. Offline mode means information security, reliability, and ease of use. 

Final thoughts

The most important aspects to consider for mobile apps are reliability, functionality, and consumer usability. Mobile app performance should be fast, comprehensive, and contain only relevant information directly related to the app's functionality. As the mobile app market has grown significantly over the past few years, optimizing your company's mobile apps ultimately translates into huge revenue and user satisfaction.

As the advertising industry evolves, so do consumer habits and preferences. There has been a drastic change in the consumer trends 2022 as compared to current consumer trends. Customer behaviour is the most important factor in creating a successful marketing campaign. But customers are human, and their behaviour can be volatile and unpredictable. So what looks like a great marketing approach in the boardroom may not actually be that effective. 

We recently attended ad:tech New Delhi, a 2-day event which brings together the brightest and most influential brands, agencies, publishers, and technology providers to discover the future of marketing and do business face-to-face. This event gave us valuable insights into the changing consumer trends. 

Let us uncover 5 most valuable consumer behaviour insights that brands can utilise for growth in 2023:

1. Power of storytelling

“Telling your story consistently is extremely important for brands to capture the attention of the audience” - Shantanu Deshpande, Bombay Shaving Co. 

Consistent brand storytelling helps build a personal connection with consumers. It evokes emotions within your audience & establishes a networking relationship. According to The Drum, consumers are exposed to 5,000+ brand messages every day, but they are aware of about 86, with only 12 making a lasting impression. For instance, Amul has presented constant storytelling with the help of its mascot lady, which has allowed them to connect with the audience, leave a lasting impression, and foster a community of engagement. 

2. CTV ads for the win

“CTV has become a very big part of advertising today. Marketers are rethinking their media strategy in this new age of CTV” - Gavin Buxton, Magnite.

Connected TV gives viewers a new way to access all their favourite content across linear TV, OTT, and all connected devices in one place. This new era offers brands an exciting opportunity to reach fragmented audiences. According to Digiday, interactive CTV advertising showed an 85% completion rate, which means users often watch ads on CTV all the way through. Hence, marketers can expect a better engagement rate with CTV ads. For example, Samsung is offering an ads platform to brands to have placements spanning Smart TV, CTV, mobile, and every connected device.

3. Resonate with customer values

“Consumers nowadays are looking for brands that are delivering real values” - Priya Choudhary, Google India.

Defining and demonstrating your brand values encourages like-valued people to reach out & purchase your products and services. Consumers nowadays are much more aware of their values, and they prefer to connect with brands that resonate with those values. 77% of consumers prefer to buy from brands that they share values with. For instance, H&M’s recycling old garments program attracts people who care for sustainability as their initiative resonates with their values. Similarly, if a beauty product is not cruelty-free, it will not attract consumers who love & care about animals. 

4. Personalisation is key

“Personalisation has led to receptiveness for success. The need of the hour is personalised ads” - Shalini Poddar, Disney Plus Hotstar. 

Personalisation has become a key for brands to boost engagement. Consumers have now changed their definitions of advertising. For the majority, personalised advertising means creating unique content, based on their previous purchases. As per stats, around 71% of consumers prefer ads that are tailored to their personalised interests & shopping habits. Since India is a country of multiple languages, consumers also look for personalisation through culture. For instance, Dabur quoted in the event that their regional language ads have a better CTR because consumers like to have personalisation in what the brand is presenting. 

5. Importance of consumer feedback

“Big brands don’t have a feedback loop. This is where new-age brands are flourishing” - Vinay Singh, Fireside Ventures.

Listening to customers & acknowledging their feedback has become the need of the hour today. It not only helps to improve products and services but also helps brands measure customer satisfaction.  According to Forbes, customer-centric brands are 60% more profitable than companies that are not. New-age brands like Noise are creating a differentiator by relying on consumer feedback. They directly connect with their consumers to understand their needs & work with them accordingly. Hence, brands need to create a constant loop between themselves and their customers to increase brand loyalty.

Conclusion

These are some of the consumer trends today that brands must be aware of & consider while developing their marketing strategies. Knowing trends in consumer behaviour before they are visible gives businesses an unprecedented advantage over their competitors. The adage “know your customer” is as true today as it was then, and with rapidly changing consumer behaviour, businesses should stay up to date and understand trends in customer experience and customer expectations.

What is app store optimization and how does it work? 

Strategies to increase app store ranking and visibility

Application title

Application description

Ratings and reviews

Conclusion

5 essential elements of the omnichannel marketing approach

Focus on first-party data

Address customer expectations

Ensure consistency across channels

Use the right MarTech

Personalise your messages

Conclusion

Myth # 1: Metaverse is developed by Meta

Myth # 2: Metaverse is the talk of the future

Myth # 3: Metaverse means gaming

Myth # 4: Metaverse exists only in VR

Myth # 5: Metaverse requires a 3D avatar

Final thought

Redefine Customer Retention

Craft Purpose-Driven Messages

Build Affinity-Focused Customer Profile

Deliver Consistent CX Across all Touchpoints

Maximising AI to Generate Business Value

Way Forward

What is data-driven advertising?

How to use data-driven ads insights to create compelling brand stories?

• Assisting them to build an understanding of the audience, marketplace, and the category rooted in the data.
• Interpreting the data to find the heart and soul of the story a brand wants to tell. 
• Enhancing the content in a personalised way to maximise relevancy. 
• Incorporating images and videos to create emotional connections with the audience. 
• Encouraging the audience to engage with the brand to capture more data and improve stories to be told in the future.

More benefits of data-driven advertising

More efficient media buying strategy