5 Things I Changed My Mind About in 2023

We’re nearing the end of the year and with that, I always find myself looking back to reflect on what I learned in these (nearly) 12 months.

George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, once said that “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

What’s sticking out to me right now about 2023 is how I changed my mind about some of my long-held marketing principles:

1. LinkedIn

My old take: LinkedIn is the stepchild of social media. It’s a copy/paste platform, not a place where you spend real time.

My new take: With the strange turn of events at Twitter/X, LinkedIn has become the place to be for B2B professionals. Sure, there’s still the hustle culture prevalent on social media, but LinkedIn is nearly devoid of the toxicity that marks other social sites. It’s a great place to grow your personal influence and the reach of your brand with people who care about succeeding in business.

2. Paid advertising

My old take: Paid advertising is useful in some cases, but it’s more relevant for larger brands with a lot of budget.

My new take: Paid ads are just as important for small brands as big brands. In fact, when your organic reach is limited, it’s even more important to increase your reach through paid ads. Small tests to highly specific audiences can work wonders on helping you refine your messaging and get some quick wins.

3. Artificial Intelligence

My old take: AI is interesting, but it’s going to take a bit longer before it radically transforms the creative process for marketing professionals.

My new take: Leveraging AI should be a daily part of every marketer’s process. From creating interesting images with DALL-E to getting past writer’s block with ChatGPT, AI is merely in its infancy. The secret is in learning how to create descriptive and interesting prompts that will provide you with a better starting point. If you learn the right way to write prompts, you increase your productivity and creativity ten-fold.

4. Blogs

My old take: New media like videos and podcasts are replacing the usefulness of blogs as the foundational element of a strong organic marketing strategy.

My new take: Blogs are still the best way to launch a keyword-driven SEO strategy. According to new research from BrightEdge, blogs are still the top results in most searches. Blogs allow you to go deep and provide rich, educational content to your audience. Video and podcasting are still critical strategies, but we’ll continue investing heavily in blogs as core to organic growth for our clients in 2024.

5. Content Distribution

My old take: Great content is enough to capture attention and fuel brand growth.

My new take: Less content, more promotion. It’s obvious that your content has to be interesting and engaging and valuable, but there is so much content being published each day that your distribution strategies have to be better than the competition. Put 80% of your marketing focus on new ways to chop up your existing content to keep it fresh and continually get it in front of the right people, rather than spending 80% of your time creating the content itself.

Those are the 5 most important things I changed my mind about in 2023.

What about you? I’d love to hear what you’re changed and where you’re heading in the new year that’s just around the corner. If you’re ready to build a higher-converting website, create a memorable brand, or turn up the dial on your marketing, click here to book a discovery meeting with me.