The top 3 challenges facing digital marketers in 2023
The top three challenges from our 2023 report, and how to overcome them.
Digital marketers have it harder than ever. Over the last few years they’ve tackled everything from drastic shifts in buying patterns to increased corporate pressure to drive revenue through digital channels.
These changes—and the challenges they bring—aren’t slowing down in 2023. Digital marketers have become essential to their company’s bottom line, and must find a way to grow profits and expand market share during an economic downturn.
Thankfully, digital marketers don’t have to overcome these challenges alone.
Our 2023 digital marketing report: Top challenges and opportunities paints a clear picture of the choppy waters that digital marketers now face—and how to navigate them. In this article, we’ll walk you through the three main challenges digital marketers must overcome in 2023.
Challenge 1: Hitting higher targets during a downturn
Despite missing expectations in 2022, companies are demanding more from their digital marketing teams in 2023. While only 28% of digital marketing teams met all of their goals in 2022, 84% are being asked to hit even higher targets in 2023.
Companies are also increasing these targets despite economic turmoil. Fifty-seven percent of digital marketers are worried the economy will bottleneck their company’s success, yet 65% of companies are still aiming for market growth and expansion in the coming year.
The takeaway: Digital marketers must improve their performance in 2023. They need to find a way to drive more business while in the middle of an economic downturn.
Challenge 2: Beating tighter competition with new strategies
Companies are fighting for market share in 2023, and digital marketers are at the forefront of this battle. Fifty-nine percent of all digital marketers say their company is experiencing more competition than in 2022. This sentiment is conditional—69% of digital marketers who are concerned about the economy feel this way.
Companies are laying out bold new strategies to beat this competition. 61% of digital marketers reported their company’s taking new risks to grow, while 48% believe executing on new strategies will be their company’s top challenge in the coming year.
The takeaway: Digital marketers must adapt in 2023. They must up their game against stiffer competition while re-aligning their work with new company strategies.
Challenge 3: Knowing their audience on a deeper level
Companies are struggling with data. Only 34% of digital marketers say their company makes data-driven decisions. Only 29% of B2C digital marketers say they have the data they need to anticipate their audience’s needs, while only 11% B2B say the same.
Digital marketers know this is a problem. Forty-six percent say access to data and insights is important to successfully completing their jobs, but 43% of digital marketers believe they can’t keep up with changing audience needs, and 40% say they receive feedback too slow to really understand their audience.
The takeaway: Digital marketers must collect—and use—more data in 2023. To do so, they need new tools and resources that get them closer to their target audiences.
How to navigate these challenges: ask, listen, act
To overcome 2023’s biggest challenges, digital marketers must adapt to changing conditions, capture more market share, and know their audience at a deeper level. To do all three, they must generate deep, meaningful insights about their target audience and bake those insights into new strategies, plans, and campaigns.
Here’s how.
- Ask: Learn what your ideal audience really responds to. With idea screening, you can leverage our AI-powered platform to validate ideas—from digital ads to new website experiences — early in their development process. Gain instant, accurate data with each test and see which ideas you should green light.
- Listen: Stay ahead of the competition. With competitive intelligence you can see which brands are top-of-mind in your industry, spot new players disrupting your market, and see how you stack up. Gain a global, dynamic, customized view of your vertical and learn exactly how you can rise in the rankings.
- Act: Evolve your strategy with a detailed, real-time view of your market. With market research you can run laser-targeted surveys in just a few hours. Gain a deeper understanding of your target audiences, build consensus around your ideas, and develop data-driven plans based on your findings.
The takeaway: Digital marketers who ask, listen, and act—and use the right tools—can bring rapid insights to their work and overcome 2023’s biggest challenges.
Digital marketers face these challenges in 2023, but they also stand before some big opportunities; 69% believe their company can gain a competitive edge during an economic downturn, and 77% believe they can reach all of their goals in the next six months. In short: With the right approach you can still excel in 2023.
Want to know the whole landscape of challenges and opportunities? Learn 2023’s top challenges, opportunities, and next steps for marketers with detailed data and analysis in our 2023 digital marketing report.
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