Insights from Anna Kirina: Trends, Tips, and Strategies for Marketers in 2023

Welcome to Marketer Interview, where we talk to the most exciting marketers in the industry.

We have Anna Kirina, Global Marketing & Communication Manager at Agro.Club Inc.

Anna is an expert in content, marketing, communication, and social media engagement. She will share her insights on the latest trends, tips, and challenges for 2023.

How did you get into marketing, and what inspired you to pursue it as a career?

Do you remember the proverb “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day”?

I’ve started asking myself what I am passionate about. What business area makes me dive deeper, motivates me to learn more, and never stops developing?

That was the domain of marketing and communications. If I’m passionate about the product, I am anxious to pass on this devotion to the rest of the world.

Can you describe your current role and responsibilities at Agro.Club Inc.?

In a nutshell and straight to the point, I do anything that draws attention to the Agro.Club brand and its digital AgriTech products.

All the activities that make the Global Grain Marketplace attractive and desirable to its target audience.

I act as a “call to action,” encouraging farmers and grain buyers to use that innovative and efficient tool.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing marketers in 2023?

The main challenges of 2023 will be the need to increase marketing budgets, the permanent necessity of creative ideas, and employee education.

Let me explain below:

Regarding marketing budgets:

1. Influencer marketing continues to be an effective marketing method. That means your wallet gets in line for well-known and expensive influencers, or you work into the micro-influencer niche.
2. The same goes for native advertising, paid communication, and targeted campaigns.
3. Many social media platforms are expanding their e-commerce capabilities. But, unfortunately, that goes hand in hand with higher costs for their service and promotion.
4. Many companies have started to use SEO to attract search traffic. And this is a relatively expensive tool that brings profound but slow results.

On the subject of creativity:

1. Video content is getting shorter. Really short. It means you constantly need new and stunning ideas to capture a viewer’s attention in seconds.
2. Marketing campaigns using AR and VR platforms are also worth the money and effort.

Regarding staff:

1. Sales and marketing teams need to be closely aligned. You have to invest time and education in this collaboration.
2. You also have to train the staff to work with the needs and problems of your target audience. So now every employee turns into a seller!

What are the trends in marketing to watch out for in 2023?

Here’s my Top 8 list:

1/ Employee Engagement:

Friendly and snappy service is the key to a positive customer experience. It’s important to remember that employees are the face of your brand, so focusing on the interaction between them and customers should be part of your promotion strategy.

2/ Visual Content:

Today, visuals and design are more important than written content.

3/ Personalization:

Traditional advertising is losing out to personalized marketing messages that create a real connection between the brand and the target audience.

AI, combined with the surge in data collection from social media and loyalty cards, has made it all possible and super easy.

4/ E-commerce on Social Media:

Social media commerce is becoming mainstream for shopping, and brands are becoming more savvy at creating ads that fit seamlessly into social media channels.

5/ Prioritized customer retention and loyalty:

Old customers are more valuable than new ones, which costs much more to attract.

6/ Artificial Intelligence for data processing or content creation:

AI technologies can be used to automate communication, process a large flow of customer data, and create a bunch of content relatively quickly and cheaply.

7/ Omnichannel marketing:

Using a variety of media channels to engage with your target market seamlessly will continue to yield the same high results.

8/ Using the Customer Data Platform (CDP)

CDP is a marketing technology that aggregates customer data from multiple sources and makes it available to other tools and systems used by marketing teams.

Can you share some tips on how marketers can improve their social media engagement in 2023?

Here are my tips:

• Interactive content is an effective tool. It can include contests, surveys, and even games. Give your followers more opportunities to interact with your brand.
• Storytelling, product reviews, and customer feedback. Don’t forget that people buy from people. So bring more “live” to your content.
• Analyze the accounts of your competitors and see what content gets more impressions. Try to do better!
• Visualize everything that can be visualized.
• Use more video content.

How do you come up with creative ideas for content marketing campaigns?

For every campaign, I build a mind map, trying to figure out how to bring my customer from the point of “never heard of your product” to the action of “give me more.”

I think of different content types at different buying stages:

• What content shall I put up upfront to grab his Attention? (educational, research, blog post, analysis, etc.)
• How can I satisfy his Interest in the product? (expert guides, case studies, comparison posts, et cetera)
• What key features of my offer do I need to highlight to create a Desire to try or buy? (reviews, testimonials, demos, etc.)
• And what final Post-Purchase messages will make him satisfied? (services, user guides, customer newsletters, loyalty-rewarding content, et cetera).

What are your favorite marketing tools and software, and how do you use them in your work?

One of my favorite tools is SimilarWeb. It helps to track competitors’ performance and, at times, to get insights for further activities.

I adore Google’s solutions for analytics. In addition, Quora helps me gather topics on social media.

Answerthepublic does an excellent job of content creation. Lumen5 is great for converting pictures into video posts.

How do you measure the success of your marketing campaigns?

From the point of view of brand awareness, we look closely at the number of views, visitors, and overall impressions.

For sales performance, conversion is the key, but you should always monitor a customer’s acquisition cost and purchase amounts.

When analyzing lead generation, we look at the number of downloads, queries, and cost per lead.

Measuring loyalty and retention by the number of customer returns and repeat purchases is also essential.

What advice would you give to someone just starting their career in marketing?

Try to identify your unique selling proposition and inform your target audience with short and clear messages. For example, why would they choose you over your competitors?

And always remember to do better, do more, and do differently! Marketing is always about testing hypotheses.