Consider your 2023 small business marketing without relying on the same assumptions and expectations as 2022 or previous years. Doing the same thing may only yield the same results.
1. Reevaluate Your Market and Target Customer
Chances are you're operating on assumptions about your customer persona. You have enough data from 2022 to evaluate those assumptions and determine if you're targeting the right market and customer. How large is your market? What are the demographics of your ideal customer? Has your ideal customer changed this year? What do the opportunities look like in 2023? These are all questions you should ask yourself.
2. Create a Content and SEO Plan
Do you have a blog on your business website? And if you do, are you just writing 'whatever you feel like? You can do better than that in 2023, so now is the time to start thinking about your content marketing and SEO plan.
If you've followed the above step, you've now defined your niche target customer. So, what do they want to read about? What questions do they have about your business or industry? What sort of topics will bring them to your website? As you think about content ideas, conduct SEO research, so you choose keywords that will get your articles found in the right searches. By thinking about this in advance, you can plan your 2023 content calendar, so you know what you'll write about and what keywords you'll target.
3. Optimize Your Social Media Marketing
What's your 2023 small business marketing plan without social media? You need to claim your social media presence regardless of your business or industry. The big question is which platforms?
When trying to figure out where to be, ask yourself—where are my niche target customers? Choose one or two of their favorite platforms, and develop a plan for consistent posting in the new year.
However, remember to be thoughtful with social media and not just add to the noise. Do it to build relationships and grow sales.
4. Improve Your Email Marketing Efforts
Email marketing should be a tool in every small business's toolkit. "But I don't have an email list." Fair enough but you can grow one, starting today. It doesn't take long to create a great lead magnet. All you need to do is figure out what you can offer so valuable that prospects are willing to give up their email address to obtain it.
5. Consider Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is complex. Creating a strategy and setting up an ad can be daunting to a small business owner who is already doing everything else. There is a reason why online ads are still so popular.
Search ads allow your site to be displayed in searches above the organic results. Social media ads enable your business posts to pop up in feeds as prospects are scrolling. With retargeting ads, you can target users who previously checked out your website but didn't convert. All of these are ways paid advertising can generate more leads for your small business in 2023.
6. Explore Influencer Marketing
Micro-influencers are perfect for small businesses and can be a viable part of your 2023 small business marketing strategy.
A micro-influencer is someone with a following of between 1K and 100K people on a social media site. Magic can happen when you connect with an influencer who posts about a subject related to your business and has a connection with your niche target customers.
7. Mobile Marketing Opportunities
Finally, consider boosting the amount of mobile marketing you do. Research has found that 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and 79 percent have made a purchase using their mobile device.
Mobile marketing can take many forms. Perhaps 2023 is the year you come out with your app? Or maybe you will explore text or instant messenger marketing? Or perhaps you'll focus on customizing the mobile experience on your website? The possibilities are endless, so choose a strategy and go after it.
Final Thoughts
Doing the same marketing year to year limits your possibilities for reach, making new relationships, and ultimately hinders sales. By thinking outside of the box, reevaluating your target audience, planning your social media, upping SEO and other web efforts, or even taking on paid ads, influencer marketing, and email marketing - you can better position your small business for success.