How Marketing Agencies are Adapting to the Changing Landscape in 2023

If someone were able to successfully port Don Draper from the realm of fiction to the real world, he'd likely be bewildered about what life was like in 2023. Marketing agencies are moving away from the printed page, though they will still spend some money on that for certain targeted audiences. Instead, they're going digital. According to Milkwhale, 66% of them believe that digital marketing is the way to success. How are they doing this?

The New Landscape

The world is now electronic and online. You can reach people in the palm of their hands -- on their smartphones. Other areas to target are their laptops, desktops, and tablets. While people are still using televisions, many of them are not using cable and have opted for streaming services instead. Many of them watch programs the next day, so you need to recalibrate your ideas about commercials.

Many people don't use the Yellow Pages anymore. While some people do buy newspapers, they tend to be an older generation. The new generation sees them as something that prints news that they found about yesterday. While advertising in them might bring you some older customers, you will miss a lot of opportunities. That's why these marketing agencies are using the following in the shifting landscape.

Social Media

When sites like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Instagram all came out, people scoffed and said that it was just a fad. Then again, many of these people also derided email as being a fad in the mid-90s. Email and social media are still here today, and they aren't going to be going anywhere anytime soon. Savvy marketing agencies will use this to their advantage.

There are many ways that social media can be used. The thing to remember, though, is not to take a one-size-fits-all attitude with it. What works on one social media platform might fail miserably on another. The posts will have to be tailored for each one. Videos will work well on TikTok, because that's what it's there for. Depending on what you're selling, you could have a photo with text on it or a video on Instagram. Text is the best thing for sites like Twitter or Threads.

The thing is, brands and agencies forget about the "social" part of social media. They think it's OK to just keep blasting things at people. No, they need to create a connection with their prospective customers and their current ones, too. That means answering questions that people may have. They may even joke with them. They need to show that there's a human on the other side, not just someone who scheduled a post to go out at a certain time and then ignored all replies to the post, good or bad.

SEO

Draper would likely be confused to even hear the words "Search Engine Optimization" or "SEO." He'd probably want to go back to his TV world once he did. Like it or not, this is a major part of marketing, and people who ignore it do it at their own peril. It can be tedious, and it can be clunky if writers who are not used to it try to do it. But if it's done right, then the results can be fantastic.

There's one thing that he'd agree with, though. When doing SEO, it's important to get into the mind of the person doing the searching. You want to come up with words or phrases that they would type in that describe your company and have that in your copy so Google will recognize it. Marketers will know how to implement this.

It's not that simple though. You need to make Google trust you that what you put out there is really what the person searching is looking for. Google stakes its reputation on sending people to the right websites and they want to keep that going. So, the marketing company will also have to prove that their clients are trustworthy when they are doing SEO. It may be slow going at first, but once Google figures it out, things can improve rapidly.

Content Marketing

It's not just enough to have copy with these words that people are looking for. The people at the marketing agencies will make sure that your site has interesting content that makes people want to come back again and again. It could be a blog that is regularly updated. There could be videos. This is all known as content. People like consuming content, so it's a smart idea to focus on this.

This time, the agency isn't going to have to prove to Google that you're trustworthy. They have to convince the regular visitors of the site that you're both trustworthy and that you're going to update on a schedule. Nothing frustrates people more than reading a great blog and then seeing that there hasn't been a new post for three weeks. A regular update schedule will do just the trick and stick to it barring something like a family emergency.

Email

Yes, the thing that was initially labeled a fad is still alive and kicking and can be used to get business. You can update a lot of people about what's going on with your company, any new events, and sales. It's a great way to get them to keep returning back to your site or buying things. The agency that you hire should make this an opt-in thing, though. The last thing people want is unsolicited emails that they never asked for. They will block your emails with extreme prejudice after that.

Just like social media, you want to prove to the people who get the emails that they are receiving something from a human being, not just a marketing bot. Have the agency make sure that the copy is very down to earth. That will help keep it from being sent to the trash bin or being labeled as spam. By doing that, you will improve your chances of having a good email open rate.

Agencies can do other things in this digital world, including buying ads on Google, which means having your site show up after a search. Facebook ads can still get some particularly good results. Everything has changed and those who roll with it are the successful ones. If you hire one of those agencies, then chances are good that you will find that you made an exceptionally worthwhile investment.

The important thing to do so that you can succeed in this new world of marketing? Accept that things have changed and that there's no reverting back to the "good old days." Phone books aren't making a comeback. Any time that you spend lamenting that and having the agency use those methods is time wasted. It's vital that you realize that and get comfortable with what people are using while also keeping an eye on any new trending technology. That will lead you toward success.

Are you looking for marketing agencies that are working with technology, not against it? We're one of those companies -- we do everything from VR to SEO to content marketing to social media. If you want to embrace the changes that are coming in 2023 and beyond, contact us for a consultation.