With the memories of Christmas and New Year celebrations now firmly in the rear-view mirror, and 2023 slowly gaining speed, we thought it would be a good idea to set our sights on the next twelve months and ponder what might be key for business owners and start-ups. Whilst speculation on the overall state of the British economy has not been overwhelming positive, it is more than fair to say that 2023 holds huge potential for those willing to grasp it with both hands. With key themes for this year undoubtedly being similar to those from 2022, there are a few areas in which we believe 2023 holds a unique perspective.
Auto Content:
Our first prediction for 2023 is that the introduction and acceptance of AI Generated Content will dramatically change the way in which companies go about creating content. With the number of AI content generators seemingly growing indefinitely, and with no signs of immediate pay-walling in this area, it seems like an ideal way for business owners to reduce their spend on copywriters, or indeed just reduce time spent generating text-based content. Fear not any budding copywriters as this is a perfect time to focus on and enhance your editing skills, as AI Generated Content is not yet perfect and as it stands now is still in desperate need of editing to ensure clarity.
In 2022 we saw the complete domination of video content with Tik-Tok taking our social stratospheres by storm, and this seemed to take the place of written content. With this we saw key platforms such as Instagram seemingly chose to side with video content, as their own “Reels” feature became the premier way for companies, business & influencers to boost their reach and make the most of the mysterious ever-changing Instagram algorithm. This begs the question, if we see a massive uptake of AI Generated Content for items such as blogs, white papers or longer form written content of any kind, how will social platforms deal with it? If their algorithms are set to focus on short-form video, what do they do with this influx of written content? Regardless of how it will be greeted by consumers or platforms, you can be sure that 2023 will see the rise of AI Generated Content.
The Year Of The Niche:
Whilst the pandemic and lockdowns become a more and more distant memory, the hobbies and interests that we all found during have remained. Many people have since developed these hobbies into secondary revenue streams, and we think that in 2023 these will be given a bigger platform and a larger push. In the wake of ‘The Great Resignation’ of 2021 and 2022, where people left corporate positions to start businesses in their niche area of interest, we would speculate that more often than not these areas were incubated through the lockdowns. As more of these specified areas crop up, the more than awareness of interest grows and diversity of areas increases.
We predict that 2023 will be the year of the niche. You only need to look around the global fascination around trainspotter Francis Bourgeois for an example of how a niche interest can be transformed into a lucrative career path. Whilst it would be naïve to suggest that passion alone can build a business, but having a genuine level of interest in your subject area gives you a big head start.
A Luxury Boom:
If you spent any time on LinkedIn towards the end of 2022, you will have seen the trending articles covering the idea of 2023 being the biggest year EVER for luxury brands. The introduction of buy-now-pay-later schemes has made the concept of luxury purchases seem far more achievable than ever before, meaning that luxury brands such as LVMH have forecast a bumper 2023. What this could mean for wider business owners is more about noticing the approaches taken by the luxury sector, and try to learn from that, see how these mega-brands go about ensuring they hit projections and apply these to your own business where possible.
Following on, the predicted boom for luxury brands could be a sign to business owners to focus less on undercutting their competitors and more on maximising their own appeal, and producing a higher quality product (and charging accordingly). Even with the rough financial times that we are in, positive attitudes towards luxury products have maintained consistent within younger audiences and combined with delayed payment options, it appears that the market is growing. 2023 could be a fantastic time to expand your business, or your product range to coast on the back off of the predicted tidal wave for luxury brands.
Bonus Round:
Not content with leaving this blog at a nice round three, we have a bonus prediction in that strategic partnerships will become a vital part of SME growth. Whilst strategic partnerships are old news in the business world, we predict that they will take on a specific role in 2023, with them being used as a cost-cutting exercise for SMEs, and a way into niche markets for big businesses. The argument for this one is simple enough, and not ground-breaking at all, small companies want opportunities in big markets, big companies want to be able to test out small markets with low risk.
To conclude, our three (and a half) main predictions for 2023 are that; AI Generated Content will become an integral part of social content, niche markets will begin to find new levels of success and the luxury industry will be top dog when all we crunch the numbers this time next year.
On a final note, although there seems to be an overwhelming sense of uncertainty at the moment, there are monumental pockets of opportunity. If you are a student, or recent graduate of University of Lincoln graduate looking to explore the possibility of starting a business, please reach out to us here at studententerprise@lincoln.ac.uk and we will help you make your idea a reality.
It is worth saying, for legal reasons, that this was NOT written by an AI content generator… but we did consider it.