‘We’re heading into uncertain times,’ seems to be the beginning of every blog post these days. Well, not this one (OK, it was, but you get what we mean). 

Things are changing – there’s no denying it. But if you’re constantly paying attention, you’ll know that in the world of digital marketing, things are always changing. 

However, during such uncertain times, management tends to put marketing budgets on some serious fasting diets, like the ones where you only get to survive on water for weeks. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but you get the picture. 

One thing is for certain in these uncertain times: digital marketing is going to be a focus in many company’s marketing strategies in 2023.

Here’s what to expect, specifically:

• Marketing budgets will shrink, lean and focused strategy will become paramount, and more resources will be diverted to marketing via budget-friendly channels. Thus, impactful social media marketing will become more important than ever.

• Micro-creators slash influencers on social media and streaming channels will start to become the main characters in company’s influencer marketing strategies

• With the death of reliable data coming in via performance marketing, companies in Austria will start to take their influencer marketing seriously

• TikTok marketing will take off (no matter how awkwardly) amongst Austrian brands. There is no doubt that the huge opportunities TikTok marketing presents will become widely known and established in Austria in 2023 and this will lead to many brands embracing the channel. However, we can also expect that a lot of them will start into the channel awkwardly (translation: like your dad using the word ‘goblin mode’)  due to them underestimating what it takes to fly high on TikTok.

• Brands will increase their focus on retaining and strengthening their relationship with existing customers. This could see an increase in content marketing, which is good at achieving this goal, aka email marketing, premium content etc.

• Advertising in the audio content sphere may increase, including with voice search, and in the rapidly-growing podcast world.

• RIP hybrid events. Yep, it’s official – the pandemic is over in people’s minds and so are hybrid events. People are in craving in-person experiences more than ever to counter all the time they’re spending online.

• The NFT and Metaverse marketing hype will lull for now. While these two exciting ways of engaging with an audience are not going anywhere, in 2023 you won’t see many brands investing their scrawny marketing budgets in this space in Austria. Nevertheless, watch this space.

• AI will start to be discussed in marketing offices across Austria, but things will stay human-powered for now. We’re certainly not early adopters in Austria, but there’s no way the role of AI in marketing can be ignored, so expect it to be a topic that is seriously discussed around lunch tables in marketing teams.

A few notes on what should (but probably won’t) be trending in digital marketing in Austria in 2023

• Smart chatbots got smarter in 2022 and any company thinking about future-proofing themselves should be exploring what they can do with them in 2023

• We’re all individuals. We are nuanced, complex individuals that have a diverse array of needs, desires and beliefs – this reality should be evident in modern digital marketing strategies. Marketing pros should be building hyper-personalisation into their strategy, which should be well-equipped to tackle an increasingly fragmented society

• All digital experiences, in which a customer comes into contact with a company online, should ‘WOW!’ and delight them.
  Digital experiences – from websites, to content – should be taken to a new level. This means AR experiences should be thrown around in campaign concept development talks.

• Snack-sized short form video will continue to dominate as the content format that audiences – of all varieties – want to spend their time with

• A company’s purpose and values should be worn on their social media channels, and everywhere they communicate with their audiences. Customers will continue to navigate their lifestyle to only engage and buy from brands that believe in the same things they do. But as we’ve said before, companies should be sure to walk the walk, not just talk the talk when it comes to purpose and value driven marketing.