2023 Advertising Trends: 10 Ways to Adjust Your Strategy

When considering resolutions for the new year ahead, brands cannot help but exercise caution. It’s a topsy-turvy, uncertain market, and nobody knows precisely what the future may hold; however, we have a few tips to help guide your brand marketing in 2023 and drive better business outcomes. 

Red-Light: Worrying

The famous saying goes, “The only constant changes,” and that’s true for marketing now more than ever. Change can be scary, but it isn’t bad – it’s just different. Your brand can adapt to these changes, stand out, and make a real difference in your customers’ lives.  

Green-Light: Keep Your Foot on the Gas 

As a brand, how do you go after different? There are more than enough examples of brands that ramped up advertising during times of change, uncertainty, and recession that saw great results, such as significant sales growth. Here are a few articles to check out about brands’ success in challenging times:  

• AdExchanger: When A Recession Hits, Don’t Pull Back Your Advertising 
• Forbes: When Times Are Bad, You Must Advertise 
• LinkedIn: Why Advertising in a Bad Economy Is Good 
  

Red-Light: A One-Platform Marketing Mix

Don’t get us wrong; by no means is broadcast dead. TV is a great way to reach a massive audience, drive awareness and kick off the consumer journey by motivating action and creating a spike in search traffic and phone calls. In 2021, Nielsen estimated 121 million TV households, and Horowitz Research found that approximately 48.4 million households watch content OTA, meaning they use an antenna.  

Green-Light: Start Leveraging Linear + Streaming + Digital  

However, audiences are changing, and extending your reach to other screens and platforms is essential to reach more potential customers. When you add OTT Streaming to your marketing mix, viewers get the same big-screen, lean-in viewing experience as traditional TV. But what sets it apart for advertisers is that streaming allows advertisers to zero in on messaging to a target audience and effectively measure outcomes. Linear TV and streaming don’t work against each other. Instead, they are complementary pieces to the puzzle. 

Red-Light: Third-Party Cookies 

Google has announced it’s getting rid of third-party cookies, which have been critical in digital marketing toolkits for years. But its deprecation is a good thing, as change breeds innovation. We’ve been preparing for this shift at TEGNA so we can best support your marketing efforts.

Green-Light: TEGNA AudienceOne’s First-Party Data  

 TEGNA AudienceOne is among the only first-party audience targeting tools in the local media industry that combine demographic and contextual data to enable our partners to reach target audiences with confidence and scale. Not only will this type of advertising lead to better business outcomes, but it is also future-proofed by design, has multi-platform operability, and even offers fraud protection.   

Red-Light: Using Intangibles to Measure

For years, advertisers have faced an age-old problem posed by John Wannamaker: “I know half my advertising dollars are wasted. I don’t know which half.” Simply put, the technology hasn’t been there to map a consumer’s journey from campaign ad exposure to a store visit.  

Green-Light: TEGNA Attribution 

Before, the only way to measure this was to ask customers, how did you hear about us? That’s where TEGNA Attribution comes in. With TEGNA Attribution, advertisers can now drill down into the data to know if the person in your store or if the person on your website is there as a result of seeing the ad campaign. 

Red-Light: Doom & Gloom

What’s your brand’s purpose? it certainly isn’t trying to scare your customers into using your products or services.

Green-Light: Leading with a Purpose 

A recent study from ZenoGroup found that 94% of global consumers feel it’s essential to engage with brands with a vital purpose – like advocating for social justice, helping at an animal shelter, or donating to food banks. On top of that, 76% of consumers say that when a company leads with a purpose, they are more likely to trust and be loyal to that company. Leveraging messages communicating your brand’s commitment to social causes can create deeper connections with your customers and grow revenue.   

Leading with purpose is also crucial in influencing impulse purchases. Seven in 10 will purchase from a purpose-driven company over another when the cost and quality of two products or services are similar.  

Sound Good?

Let’s get in touch if you’re ready to step on the gas with #TeamTEGNA as we head into the new year.