3 biggest marketing challenges of 2023 and how brands can solve them

By Tim Glomb, VP of content at Marigold

This article references data compiled in Marigold's recently released Consumer Trends Index 2023, featuring the latest global consumer attitudes and trends in personalization, privacy, messaging, advertising, and brand loyalty.

Earlier this month you may have seen the news that our company rebranded under the new name Marigold and with an updated and expanded mission. If any of you have conducted a similar rebranding effort, you know it’s not a small undertaking. So why did we do it?

Relax, this article isn’t about how we decided on our new name, or a step-by-step guide to executing a rebrand. Instead, we’re here to talk about the why. And as marketers, the reasons behind our rebranding effort affect us all.

The fact is, the marketing industry is changing. The rules have changed. Technology has changed. Customer expectations have changed. There’s been more disruption in marketing over the last two years than there has been in the last two decades, and more to come.

The forces behind our rebranding are simply a reflection of these broader changes. So let’s set the stage by detailing the changes at play in the marketplace, put to numbers from the results of our just-released 2023 Consumer Trends Index.

1. Privacy

The consumer privacy trends that broke into the mainstream over the last year are showing no signs of slowing. Consumers are being proactive about protecting their privacy online, with almost half (45%) turning to an ad blocker (a 22% YoY increase), 51% now use privacy mode on a pre-installed browser (a 55% uplift), and 25% use privacy-centric browsers (a 9% increase).

Yet 70% of consumers will share their preferences and behavioral data, like hobbies and interests, with brands in exchange for personalized messages or a delivered value exchange.

The takeaway: Relying on app trackers, cookies, or other forms of consumer monitoring is quickly becoming a less-effective strategy for getting to know customers. Engaging them directly through relationship marketing activities is the way of the future.

2. Loyalty

A strong brand alone is no longer the competitive differentiator it once was. Brand affiliation is no longer a guarantee of loyalty. In the last year, 33% of consumers have switched away from a brand they were previously loyal to, a 6% rise from the year prior. Why? Among the top drivers is a lack of promotions (33%) and a lack of, or poor, execution of a loyalty program (22%).

However, 43% of consumers are more likely to participate in a loyalty program in 2023, an 8% increase over 2022.

The takeaway: If brands want loyal customers, they have to earn it by providing real value, not imagined status through brand affiliation.

3. Value

But different customers have different ideas about what’s valuable to them — 93% think a discount is valuable, 91% think a loyalty program is valuable, 86% say early / exclusive access is valuable, 83% think the chance to win a prize is valuable, 62% find value in unlocking exclusive content, and 58% get value out of joining a community of like-minded consumers.

The takeaway: The more you know about what customers value, the better you are able to offer it to them.

Why full-solution relationship marketing is the key

Privacy, loyalty and value. Taken together, Marigold believes a complete, well-rounded relationship marketing solution holds the key to addressing these challenges. Brands have to listen, understand, and interact with their audience on both a personal level and at scale. This requires an integrated platform of services designed to acquire, engage, and retain customers through the full consumer life cycle in a way that builds trust, develops loyalty, and facilitates personalized communications at every stage.

Integrated is the key word here, and that brings us back to our rebranding effort. The companies we acquired and combined that now form the foundation of Marigold are far more than the sum of their individual parts. They offer the force multiplication of a full-solution, fit-for-purpose portfolio that work together and allow marketing teams of all sizes and sophistication to grow their businesses.

That’s because brands today need it all, not just one or another. And their solutions have to be scalable to grow with them, as well as work together and talk to each other seamlessly, not cobbled together across disparate providers.

As the numbers show, the stakes are just too high to get this wrong.

Download the 2023 Consumer Trends Index for free Here.