.jpg "Outlook The worlds of brand marketing and performance marketing are beginning to merge.")
Adam Furness.
AdNews year-end forecast for 2023 and beyond.
We interact with marketers in Asia Pacific every day and 2023 will be a year of adaptation and innovation, especially from a marketing perspective.
For what? So a few key questions come together to create the perfect marketing storm. First, customer acquisition costs have increased by 200% over the past decade 1 . Additionally, there is a common consumer who is suspicious of the use of data after several high-profile hacks and scandals.
However, the biggest challenge is that the customer journey today is not the same as it was a few years ago. Brands are beginning to realize that they need to stop disrupting and disrupting normal consumer behavior online. This means recognizing that when people go online, it is usually for information, entertainment or communication. It's not about tracking ads, so marketers and publishers are looking for more "organic" ways to attract new customers.
There are several paths, but they all have one thing in common: they all involve brands giving (at least some) control to the consumer. Ease of access to information means people no longer take a brand's word for it, or are unwilling to believe it. Instead, they get ideas, information and inspiration from what people, creators and publishers share. So the challenge is how best to integrate this information into the brand.
And for most brands, that means partnering with content creators and publishers to create a real connection.
From a content marketing perspective, this year's achievements have shown its importance as a source of revenue for publishers. Earlier this year at D_Coded, News Corp announced its Total Commerce Package , introducing "headless commerce" that allows audiences to buy video or text content without ever leaving the platform. Nine subsequently expanded its e-commerce solutions and affiliate marketing capabilities across its editorial portfolio, and in September Are Media announced its transformation into a multi-channel content distribution company. I expect further additions and innovations in the content marketing space in 2024.
Likewise, the creative economy shows no signs of slowing down, with peer recommendations now an important part of the consumer journey, from discovery to purchase. In fact, 64% of consumers worldwide make purchases at least sometimes based on recommendations from influencers. When someone follows an author, they build a relationship with them as they usually share their daily moments throughout the week. They listen to them and trust them, and that's a very strong bond. When we talk about creators, it's important to note that today's content creation tools and the undeniable influence of TikTok mean that "regular" people are creating their own spheres of community and influence. As a result, we're seeing brands build relationships with a wide variety of content creators. In fact, brands often work with micro-influencers to gauge resonance and conversion rates before refining content creation strategies to test and learn in (near) real time.
As 2024 approaches, content creators will undoubtedly become more involved in performance marketing efforts. But the exciting thing is that we will also see their role in the traditional marketing funnel evolve. Content creators traditionally play a leading role; partly due to the complexity of distributing and managing the various reward structures. However, now that the technology is available to do this, we see content creators playing a more important role throughout the marketing funnel, from awareness to purchase.
As content creators begin to fully influence the sales funnel, the worlds of brand marketing and performance marketing will likely begin to merge, or at least work more closely together, in 2024.
Adam Furness is Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Impact.com
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