Each year brings with it new technologies, new shifts in consumer behavior, and new selling opportunities that get marketers excited. In each regard, 2023 will be no different. 

While the new year can be one of great success and growth for your organization, it might not be the year to go all-in on the latest marketing tools and trends. Against the backdrop of a possible economic recession, 2023 is a good time to recall that patented paternal wisdom about purchasing a car or choosing a college major: play it safe. 

What might that look like? Rather than pursuing new assets, take time to harness the technology and human capital in which you’re already invested. Be responsible. Be level-headed. Stick to the basics and leave the risky purchasing decisions to your competition. The top five trends of 2023 will have a familiar ring to them, and that’s OK — you can thank your dad later.

1. Diving into your existing toolkit

With many economists forecasting a recession of varying degrees in 2023, budget constraints will be a reality for marketing departments everywhere. Instead of fretting, take stock of the last few years. Which tools in your marketing toolkit have worked? Which haven’t? Which might be underutilized?

If you have held off on upgrading your organization’s software or diving into a recent tech trend — AI-assisted search, voice-activated search, virtual reality, etc. — 2023 might not be the right time to act on your impulse. New technologies bring the potential to reach new audiences, but maybe your best audience is the one you already have. In tight-budget situations, it’s OK to focus less on using a new set of tools to bring in a new audience when the results aren’t certain to work.

Yesterday’s trend might be today’s best practice. The hottest new trend isn’t always the best fit, and the pace of change is likely to slow in 2023. Social media’s ad revenue is projected to grow by 5.2 percent in 2023 after seeing 48 percent growth in 2020 and 11 percent in 2021, respectively. The marketers pitching high-risk, bleeding-edge trends against this backdrop will appear tone-deaf while their corporate peers double down on austerity. 

2. Doubling down on talent

The global talent shortage isn’t news. Finding, attracting, and retaining the best employees is proving increasingly difficult across many sectors of the economy. One of the persistent challenges of 2022 presents the need to take action in 2023.

Center your team on its mission. That might sound easy, but any company culture initiative requires an investment of focus — often a more challenging proposition than investing money. Know that, in your employees, you have assets within your own walls, right now, that your organization hasn’t fully leveraged.

Engaging each employee in your corporate culture is the key to employee retention. In turn, retaining employees can affect your bottom line for the better. Customers are more than seven times more likely to buy from you if they’re referred through your employees.

3. Concentrating on current clients 

One old adage holds that five times more money is needed to find a new customer than to win more business with an existing customer. Now might be the time to try to deepen relationships and increase customer lifetime value (or CLV) than to chase down new clients.

In the same spirit, use advanced data to profile your current customers — especially those with whom you work well — to find new ones who offer the same potential returns. Do this to narrow your messaging, which makes your pitch more relevant and attractive to a select pool of the best customers.

4. Buying into responsible consumerism 

Studies are finding that people will buy from brands whose values align closely to their own. It can be a wise investment of time and company energy to give your clients the assurance that it’s good to buy from you. Of course, with that comes the need to “walk the walk.” Your organizational values, public messaging, and private behavior must align.

One increasingly common example: details like where and how a product is made matter more to consumers as awareness of the climate crisis grows. Even Black Friday is taking a hit in the face of what researchers call “conscious consumerism.” 

Define your values internally. Devise initiatives around those values. If it fits into your content experience, make sure you act the right way in regard to your given initiative; then tell people about it. 

5. Quality beats quantity

The tepid economic forecast for 2023 means many organizations are already anticipating fewer dollars in their advertising budgets. Treat each dollar more preciously. It’s time for quality to take precedence over quantity. 

What might that look like? Consider one marketing agency responsible for multiple brands, hammering out the same email campaign for each. If users have given their email to each brand, they’re effectively seeing the same ad over and over. Eventually they’ll catch on, feel hammered, and unsubscribe — a customer lost due to a simple lack of care.

To achieve the most efficiency, your marketing team should be equipped and trained to adjust to how your customers are engaging with your brand. If you’re buying fewer words, make sure those words define you better.           

Jordan Buning is president of ddm marketing + communications, a marketing agency for complex and regulated industries, including health care, financial services, and global manufacturing.

Dear Rusty: I am now 80 and my wife is 76, and we both took early Social Security benefits at age 62. When my wife took her Social Security, it was a lot smaller than mine, so they took a portion of mine and added it to hers. How does that work? Also, when I die, will my wife get all of mine or just a percentage?

Signed: Curious Senior

Dear Curious Senior: Social Security’s standard process is to pay a beneficiary’s personally earned retirement benefit first, and then add an additional amount as necessary to bring the payment up to what they are entitled to as a spouse, or as a surviving spouse. So, in your wife’s case, she is now (while you are both living) receiving her own earned Social Security (SS) benefit plus a “spousal boost” to make her payment equal what she’s due as your spouse. Your wife’s spousal boost was not taken from your benefit payment — you still get your own retirement benefit — but her spousal boost amount was computed by comparing the amount she was entitled to at her full retirement age (FRA) to 50 percent of your FRA benefit amount and then reducing her spousal boost amount because she claimed at age 62. Note: all Social Security benefits, except disability benefits, taken before FRA are reduced.

Regarding your wife’s benefit as your survivor, since her own SS retirement benefit is smaller, if you die first the added “spousal boost” amount your wife now gets will stop and be replaced by a higher supplement, which brings her total payment up to what she is entitled to as your surviving widow.

 As your spouse while you are still living, the most your wife could have received was 50 percent of the benefit amount you were entitled to at your FRA of 66, but she gets less than that because she claimed at age 62. However, if you die, your wife will get a higher total amount consisting of her personally earned age-62 benefit, plus a supplemental amount to make her payment equal to 100 percent of the amount you were receiving when you died. In fact, her benefit amount at your death may even be more than you were getting when you died, because she will get at least 82.5 percent of your “primary insurance amount” (PIA), which is the benefit you were due at age 66 (your FRA). 

Think of it this way — as your surviving spouse your wife’s total-benefit payment amount will be either 100 percent of the benefit you were receiving when you died, or 82.5 percent of the benefit you were entitled to at age 66, whichever amount is higher. And that will replace the smaller amount your wife is now getting as your spouse while you are both living. Of course, your wife will need to notify Social Security of your death and should do so in a timely manner to get the higher benefit she is entitled to as your surviving spouse flowing as soon as possible.      

Russell Gloor is a national Social Security advisor at the AMAC Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). The 2.4-million-member AMAC says it is a senior advocacy organization. Send your questions to: ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org.

Author’s note: This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). The NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity.