From Brand Loyalty to the “Revolution of Speech”: Evernine Group – These are the Top 5 Communication Trends 2023

There’s a lot of buzz in the digital marketing market at the moment, and marketers also have a number of tasks on the table for 2023. The Munich-based communications consultancy Evernine has sorted out the most important topics and presented the five communications trends for 2023 that communications managers will not be able to avoid.

The world is on the move. This also has an impact on marketing, PR, sales and all those responsible for communications in companies. The award-winning innovation and communications consultancy Evernine Group has therefore identified, in line with its full-service portfolio, the five trends for 2023 that communications managers should definitely take into account in order to keep pace with the competition, or even stay one step ahead.

The five trend topics that will be particularly important in 2023:

1.    Brand Loyalty Marketing

A strong brand has been and continues to be more critical than ever for companies to provide customers and partners with the trust, loyalty, and authentic value proposition they need. And in a world that is becoming increasingly complex digitally and politically, strong business relationships are becoming ever more crucial. In 2023, however, new issues are emerging. Customers, partners, and even applicants are demanding answers about CSR (corporate social responsibility), sustainability, and inclusion more vehemently than ever before. Companies, whether in the B2B or B2C environment, are asked to position themselves clearly – and to communicate this just as clearly! No wonder that some marketeers have already started to replace the conventional meaning of B2B or B2C with B2H (business to human). But what is this so-called brand loyalty marketing all about?

“Especially in more complex times, leadership through trusted brands that convey proximity and values is more important than ever. That’s why it will be immensely important in the near future to strengthen communication with creativity and a portion of patience,” says Sven Blaukat, Director Strategy Consulting at Evernine. “Decisions are made more consciously, goal-oriented and sustainable than in the past. This is where strong brands benefit. Where answers – which, by the way, don’t always have to be perfect – are lacking, medium-sized companies in particular will come under competitive pressure.”

2.    Social Independence

There has long been no question that social media is also indispensable in the B2B environment for reaching potential new employees, strengthening business relationships, and placing products and services in a targeted manner. A lot will happen in social media in 2023, that much is certain. Whether it’s a possible complete restructuring of Twitter, whether the Metaverse will turn out to be a bubble, whether channels like Instagram will increasingly offer B2B services, whether completely new channels like Reddit will suddenly appear, or whether the giant Facebook will lose relevance after all, we don’t know for sure. What we do know is that in 2023, it will be urgent to develop a central strategy and then transfer it to the individual channels, where it will be necessary to experiment with what works best for each company.

“Social Independence means identifying four to five core topics for one’s own business, strategically bringing them together centrally and then transferring them to the individual social media channels,” explains Charlotte von Braunbehrens, CHRO at Evernine Group. “Long-term KPI dependency certainly becomes less relevant than short- and medium-term successes that need to be achieved. On the one hand, this contradicts previously defined approaches as far as campaigns are concerned, but on the other hand, it doesn’t change the existing challenge of making all employees fit in the area of social media.”

In order to remain agile and independent in the area of social media, a central content hub, for example, via which the previously defined core topics are played out, offers the optimal content and technical basis for reaching new and existing peer groups with creative offers. If the structure is right, they serve as the basis for unique social media activities with which one can stand out significantly from the competition. The right choice of channel for the previously defined communication strategy is also crucial for this. Is TikTok really the right channel for HR activities, or does a company just want to be there because everyone else is? It is important to define the authentic strategy together with the corporate communications management and to focus on realistic goals. And not according to the waterfall principle, but according to agile tactics.

3.    Digital Me

Of course, companies have long been aware that employees are relevant for corporate communications. But what will be new in 2023 is that measurable and sustainable social media success will increasingly and perhaps even in total be achieved via employees and will thus assume the decisive role in the context of all other social media activities. In order to establish this successfully in the company, it is no longer sufficient to “merely” train employees in the area of social media. Rather, they must be intrinsically picked up and taken along on this path. The Evernine Group agency calls this “Digital Me.

This means linking the personal and career interests for social media development of individual employees with the overarching corporate goals. These can be topics such as sustainability or CSR, for example, to which employees would like to become more involved. Or a more product-oriented approach that allows employees to position themselves as experts or social ambassadors for the company. The orientation of the individual “Digital Mes” is highly individual and must be worked out and sharpened in advance for each individual. Companies should increasingly recognize that the key to successful social media integration lies with the individual employees, who may and even must contribute their own individual goals and wishes in order to maintain authenticity. In 2023, it will no longer be sufficient to demand social media activities for the company per se, regardless of individual personalities.

“For some time now, we have been working with companies to turn their employees into social ambassadors and, through this, to integrate successful social selling and turn business influencers into communicators. Our workshop series have demonstrably led to a change in thinking, and for 2023 the aim is to continue the trend and sustainably integrate it into corporate strategies. This means that if companies and business decision-makers are equipped with the necessary Encouragement, the next level must be: Nurturing.” opines Tobias Massow, CCO & Partner at Evernine. “We have seen that companies have understood that they need to communicate. What’s missing now is the right strategy! The personal interests of the social ambassadors have to be linked to the company interests.”

4.    Revolution of Speech

In 2023, digital marketing is facing a revolution that is certainly not yet on the radar of many people responsible for corporate communications, because the corporate language in marketing & co. is facing a new digital majority: the Millenials. And they have their own expectations, so that they can be activated, whether as consumers or as applicants. It is often overlooked that a new Internet generation, born between 1981 and 1995, is now the loudest on the Web – especially on the professional Web – and is increasingly shaping opinion – whether in social media on the customer side, in applicant forums or on the intranet. Millienials have entirely new expectations of language, content and storytelling. They are expectations that break with old standards.

The current opinion on the web is breaking down old marketing and PR traditions from below. Millenials expect many things, but no more perfection. They expect honest answers to their questions, which arise in connection with the respective topic, product or brand. They have no problem with “Denglish,” shorthand style, or even inconsistency at times. Everything no longer has to fit together, but something should constantly follow. Millenials appreciate moving images, provocation, exaggeration and metaphors. If you want to do justice to this new, majority digital clientele, it’s not enough just to adapt the language a little. Those responsible for communications must rethink in order to find new standards for internal and external communication.

“Often, corporate communications – internally and especially externally – strive for exaggerated perfection,” says Stefanie Langhans, Head of PR & Publishing at Evernine. “But companies need to address the fact that this change, this Revolution of Speech, is real at an early stage and put their own corporate language under close scrutiny – for example in workshops or creative meetings. Otherwise, the relevant peer groups may no longer be reached. This can be the crucial sticking point, especially in the war of talents.”

5.    Target Groups Repositioning

As with the “Digital Me” trend, the aim in 2023 is to continue an existing theme and raise it to a new level so that it can also become a trend. The linking of marketing and sales is crucial to the company’s success, and those responsible are well aware of this. However, in order to do justice to the new buyer groups in the market, the topic has taken on a new urgency. What is meant here by target groups repositioning is that classic funnel marketing is increasingly reaching its limits. The typical interfaces between marketing and sales are no longer sufficient in any way to remain competitive. Both departments are now required to completely reorganize conventional approaches.

One example of this is the processing of prospects acquired through marketing activities. Whereas in the past, telephone calls were made or classic, so-called nurturing processes were set in motion, which usually took place separately from marketing, other procedures are required today. However, suitable tools and, above all, the right strategy are often lacking. This is the challenge for 2023, because while many briefings for sales managers and tele-sales agencies still look like the classic “preconfigured leads” with a fixed approach, it is much more promising to present oneself with one’s own sales story based on data enriched with social monitoring and social listening. Thus, special tools and CRM systems that can provide and record DSGVO-compliant social selling information are already being used in modern agencies for target group repositioning. As a result, target companies are clustered in a meaningful way and individual approaches are optimized with the help of smart services. This is a task in which marketing can provide outstanding support. And it must.

Another area where repositioning is becoming necessary is the frequent lack of agility that is now required in all areas of corporate communications, for example when it comes to topics such as crisis communication or customer loyalty (see 1.). “In order to find new communication interfaces and optimize them across departments, existing silos must be broken down even more, and classic process flows must be rethought. One answer to this lies, for example, in the introduction of agile data systems to make sales, marketing and HR activities measurable and thus evaluable.” Tobias Lilienthal, Head of Sales Excellence at Evernine Group, summarizes. “This analytical and data-based communication strategy not only optimizes budgets and increases efficiency, but also provides a clear competitive edge beyond 2023.”

In 2023, corporate communication will not only become increasingly digital, but also more complex and therefore requires a special mindset in combination with “best of breed” know-how. The Evernine Group stands by companies as a trustworthy partner for corporate communications of the new generation.

Quelle Titelbild: Evernine Group