5 priorities for your 2023 tactical toolkit

In today’s rapidly changing marketing landscape, it’s essential for professionals to have a tactical toolkit that can help them stay ahead of the competition. Whether you’re a marketing manager, a social media specialist, or a content creator, having a set of skills and tools that you can rely on can make all the difference in driving business success.

In this blog, we’ll discuss five tactical priorities in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Pay Per Click, Social Media, Search Engine Optimisation and Video Content.

Pulling and adjusting these levers in your tactical toolkit can help you take your marketing game to the next level.

We’ll explore each of these priorities in detail and provide practical examples on how to integrate them into your marketing.

AI: Artificial Intelligence

AI is incredibly powerful tool that promises to automate some common marketing processes such as data management, behavioural insights analysis, customer service (via chatbots), email marketing campaign management, personalised targeting and messaging and content curation, matching content closely and quickly with target customer preferences.

Its growth in the first quarter of 2023 has been phenomenal, with some tools launched in January already on V2 or even V3 by March.

Other examples include AI writing tools such as Microsoft’s Co-pilot AI, Google’s Bard and ChatGPT (now joined with Microsoft). On the visual creative side, Adobe’s Firefly offers graphics and video generative AI, with Midjourney doing similar.

These AI systems are on the way to being time-saving and problem-solving tools for marketers, but while the creative tools still require considerable human input to deliver workable, on-brand results, the race is on for AI domination.

Watch this space.

PPC: Pay-Per-Click

For marketers with a focus on delivering marketing qualified leads (MQL), PPC on platforms such as Google Ads, Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) and social media channels must be part of the marketing mix.

PPC is highly targeted, and measurable, and when done correctly will yield attributable ROI for your business. With PPC, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, allowing you to measure cost per customer acquisition (CPA), profitability and lifetime value of a customer.

Dynamic ads let you tailor messaging to individual users, while integrating PPC campaigns with your CRM data can help you better understand which ads are driving the most revenue.

For some tips on running paid ads, read our articles on Common PPC Mistakes.

Case study

Dollar Shave Club is a subscription-based service that delivers high-quality razors and grooming products to customers on a monthly basis. To increase their customer base, they launched a PPC campaign targeting men interested in grooming products.

Designed to be fun and humorous, the ads featured Dollar Shave Club’s CEO, explaining the benefits of their service in a quirky, light-hearted way. The ads were placed on search engines and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Within 48 hours of the campaign’s launch, Dollar Shave Club had received over 12,000 new subscribers, and reached over 200,000 subscribers within a year.

What made this PPC campaign so successful?  

• Targeting: The ads targeted men interested in grooming products, ensuring they were shown only to those likely to be interested in Dollar Shave Club’s service.
• Creativity: Their fun and humorous creative made them stand out from other ads targeting the same audience as well as being more memorable.
• Cost-effectiveness: By using the PPC model, Dollar Shave Club only paid for clicks on their ads, keeping costs low while still reaching a large audience.

Social Media

Social media is an essential marketing channel, but with so many platforms it’s important to focus on those that are most relevant to your target audience.

LinkedIn, for example, is great for B2B businesses, while Instagram can be better suited for consumer brands.

A priority for social media marketers is to build a community around your brand using content that engages your audience, fosters conversations and encourages interactions on your posts.

Case study

QuickBooks accounting software is used by many small business owners in the UK. In 2020, the company launched a social media campaign called “Backing You”, aimed at providing support and resources to small businesses affected by COVID-19.

The campaign launched on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn using a combination of paid ads and organic content. It featured a mix of informative posts, inspirational stories and tips for managing finances during the pandemic.

A key element of the campaign was the “Backing You” website which provided small business owners with free resources including webinars, guides and advice. A further feature was a social media competition that encouraged SMEs to share their stories of resilience during the pandemic. Winners received a cash prize and other rewards.

What made this social media campaign a success?

• Timeliness: Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign provided support and resources to small businesses, demonstrating a commitment to customers and helping build stronger relationships with them.
• Relevance: The “Backing You” campaign addressed a key pain point for small business owners: managing finances during a crisis, demonstrating customers that QuickBooks understood their needs.
• Engagement: By encouraging small businesses to share their own stories of resilience and innovation, QuickBooks was able to build a sense of community and inspire others to persevere through the pandemic.
• Multichannel Approach: QuickBooks used a combination of paid ads and organic content across multiple social media platforms to reach its target audience. This increased brand awareness and engagement among SMEs across different channels.

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation

The aim of SEO is to ensure your website appears high in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords. As a tool for attracting inbound MQLs who are actively searching for a product or service like yours, SEO is fundamental. 

SEO is evolving rapidly in 2023, as Google and Bing develop their algorithms more frequently and AI evolves at an exponential rate.

The good news is that SEO is not just about website coding, though this remains important. The core element for ranking in search engines remains top quality, relevant content – and lots of it. SEO in 2023 is about who can create the best and most relevant website content, engaging users and attracting natural quality backlinks.

Case study

Mozello is a website builder platform for small businesses used for creating websites, online stores and blogs, along with various features such as email marketing and SEO tools.

Mozello wanted to drive relevant, organic traffic to its website using SEO, and to attract potential buyers. To achieve this, they embarked on keyword research, on-page optimisation and link building.

Why was this SEO campaign successful?

• Keyword research: Mozello conducted keyword research to identify the most relevant and popular keywords their target buyers would use to search for services like theirs. They could then optimise the website’s on-page content and meta tags.
• High-quality content creation: The firm created informative, valuable content such as blog posts and tutorials for the target audience.
• Strong backlink profile: Mozello built high-quality backlinks to their website by promoting their content through social media and outreach to relevant 3^rd party websites and influencers. This increased their domain authority.
• Consistent effort and monitoring: They consistently implemented and monitored their SEO strategies, making adjustments as necessary, based on performance data and continually improving their search engine rankings.

Video content

Video-based content is integral to many brands’ social media marketing. It is easier to consume than a words- or image-based post, and can hold attention for longer.

Like other content, video can be used in different formats and channels according to the job it is intended to do.

As this chart from HubSpot shows, ‘short-form’ video content was the most popular format in 2022, appealing to social media users who hop from post to post or channel to channel.

Case study

In 2021, Salesforce launched a short-form video campaign called “Dreamforce to You” to promote its annual conference, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The campaign featured a short video series that showcased the key themes of the conference including innovation, resilience and community, as well as the value of Salesforce’s products and services, and featured industry leaders, Salesforce executives and customers.

Why was this short-form video campaign successful?

• Creative use of short-form videos: Salesforce used short-form videos to convey the key conference themes and messages in a concise and engaging way, creating a diverse and compelling narrative that resonated with the audience.
• Multi-channel promotion: Their multi-channel promotion approach leveraged social media, email marketing and digital advertising.
• Strong brand identity: The “Dreamforce to You” campaign capitalised on a strong brand identity to communicate the value of Salesforce’s products and services effectively.
• Timely and relevant messaging: The “Dreamforce to You” campaign launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had forced the cancellation of in-person events. It offered a timely and relevant alternative, allowing Salesforce to maintain its position as a thought leader and engage with its audience in a meaningful way.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AI, PPC, Social Media, SEO and Video are all essential tactical components of any modern marketing toolkit to build brand awareness, develop engagement and generate new MQLs by communicating with target buyers on their level to drive results.

Start building your 2023 communications plan and don’t forget to prioritise reviewing these key tactics! If in doubt you can always contact the experts.

Ready to turn your marketing around?

C4B Media are a team of experienced marketers. Please contact us if you are looking for fresh ideas to help grow your business on 01763 877110 or hello@c4bmedia.com