As a small business owner, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and be ready for whatever changes come your way.
Am I right?
And no matter what kind of business you run, you always want to do your best to make it stand out from the crowd.
But of course, there are many ways to do that, and you might not know exactly what to do to help make your small business unique.
Should you use a stunning new logo or try to offer new products? We have one recommendation: look at your small business marketing strategy. If you have one…
So, what worked last year may not work this year, and what works today may be completely outdated by 2024.
How can small business owners stay ahead of the curve and make sure their marketing is up to date?
By staying informed and adapting to changes as they happen!
To help you get started, we want to share with you the various business marketing strategies and marketing tips to help you stand out and achieve success in 2023.
1. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)
The simple truth is that people are busy and want to get things done. And in today’s busy world, people are more likely to decide based on experience than what they read. It’s great to have an extensive website with lots of information, but it will be much more effective if you make it easy for clients to contact you.
Key Average Attention Span Statistics for August 29th, 2022 Research has revealed that humans fall behind goldfish when it comes to focusing on tasks. According to recent studies, the average human has an attention span of just 8.25 seconds – 4.25 seconds less than in 2000.
Make sure clients can find what they need quickly and easily. Make everything as simple as possible for everyone.
2. Offer a Guarantee
Your best marketing campaign will always be your product or service. That’s what people come to your company for.
You can offer a guarantee that people will want to use your products or services again. This can be anything from a money-back guarantee to offering a free lifetime service.
You want to make sure people feel confident in your products. This will help you sell more with no added effort.
3. Get Involved
You can’t always sit back and wait for clients to come to you. Instead, you have to get out there and get involved in the community. Make sure you are seen at local events and in the local media.
Get in front of your clients at local events, so they can see you and learn more about your business. This can be an effective way to reach and impress potential clients that you might not find otherwise, especially those on your doorstep.
4. Tell a Story
Regarding marketing, people respond better to stories. Think about how you can tell the story behind your business. This could be by showing the customers you’ve served or those who have worked for you. Maybe you can show how your business has changed and grown. Make sure you show how you can help others reach their goals and solve their problems.
5. Be Creative
Try to be creative in marketing your business. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t be scared to fail. Learn from your mistakes and develop new and more creative ways to reach and impress your clients. We have some great ideas for your business marketing strategies.
6. Put It Online
We live in a digital world, and having a solid online presence is more important than ever. This means having a website that is easy to navigate, and social media pages that are informative, up to date and engaging.
Every second matters; if your site doesn’t load in four seconds or less, 25% of those who navigated to your site will have left.
You don’t have to be an expert, but you want to make sure you can communicate with your clients and keep them updated.
7. Using Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers are likely to continue to gain momentum in 2023. Micro-influencers are social media users with a smaller but highly engaged following. They are often seen as more relatable than traditional celebrities or influencers, and their endorsement can carry much weight with consumers.
82% of consumers are “highly likely” to follow a recommendation made by a micro–influencer.
Because they have a smaller following, micro-influencers are often more affordable to work with than traditional influencers. If you’re thinking about working with micro-influencers to promote your business, do your research and partner with someone who aligns with your brand values.
In 2023, social media will still be a powerful marketing communication tool, but how we use it will continue to evolve. While we’ve seen a shift in recent years from traditional celebrities to so-called “micro-influencers”—people with smaller but more engaged followings—this trend will continue to grow.
In your industry or niche, you should identify micro-influencers to build relationships with. These relationships using influencer marketing tactics can be leveraged to promote your services or products authentically and cost-effectively to their followers.
8. Investigate Augmented Reality
Another trend likely to become more prevalent in 2023 is the use of augmented reality (AR).
AR allows users to superimpose computer-generated images on top of real-world environments. While AR is often associated with gaming applications, it also has huge business potential.
Forecasts indicate that the AR market will reach £168 billion in 2025. The metaverse market is expected to reach nearly £682 billion by 2024.
For example, businesses can use AR to create immersive experiences for customers or give them a sneak preview of products before they purchase them. If you’re considering using AR to market your small business, keep an eye on developments in this area and test out different applications to see what works best for your needs.
9. You can’t ignore the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is no longer just a buzzword. It’s a reality that is changing the landscape of marketing in a big way.
AI serves not only well-established firms, but also small businesses. Small businesses are leveraging AI in many areas, including customer service, logistics, and marketing.#
A survey of 1,467 CEOs of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) found that out of all the current technologies, AI has had the maximum impact on their business
AI can help automate repetitive tasks like email marketing and social media posting. It can also help you target customers more effectively with personalised messages and ads. AI will become even more integral to marketing in the future, so it’s important to start incorporating it into your marketing strategy now.
10. Shift to Visual Marketing
Recently, we’ve seen a shift from text-based to visual content. This trend will continue to grow in the coming years, as people consume more content on their mobile devices. Images and videos are more accessible to consume on a small screen than text, so creating visuals such as social media Reels or TikTok videos that capture your target audience’s attention and convey your message quickly and effectively is important.
11. The importance of local SEO
Local search engine optimisation (SEO) will become even more important in 2023, so you need to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to optimise your business website and content for search engines and local search engine results.
In local SEO, the goal is to generate more traffic from that region by gaining visibility in that area. Your target market will be substantially different from other websites, so you need to approach SEO differently.
Roughly 85% of consumers use the internet to discover and find local businesses.
If you’re not sure where to start, there are plenty of resources available to help you start with local SEO. Speak to us about auditing your Google Business Profile (formally Google My Business) or do it yourself with our free local SEO report.
12. Shift to Mobile Marketing
More and more people use their mobile devices to access the internet and consume content. This trend has major implications for small businesses, which must ensure that their website and content are optimised for mobile devices.
Since most people now browse on mobiles instead of laptops or computers, it is expected that things will soon completely shift to mobile. Mobile-friendly apps and websites will help the business. By 2023, mobile spending is expected to reach 65 billion dollars.
In addition, mobile-centric advertising campaigns are becoming more popular and influential, as consumers increasingly use their smartphones for online purchases.
13. Growing with Chatbots
Chatbots are computer programmes that simulate human conversation using machine learning. They are commonly used in customer service to handle simple queries quickly and efficiently.
In fact, millennials say they have used chatbots 60% of the time. More than 70% of them report positive experiences. (Forbes).
More and more businesses use chatbots to offer personalised support at scale, but also to promote their products and services, generate leads, and increase website engagement.
In the future, chatbots will become more sophisticated and be used for more complex tasks, such as lead generation and appointment scheduling.
- 74 percent of companies say they want to use conversational marketing tools. (Drift)
- Conversational marketing tools are essential to the sales and marketing strategies of 82% of companies that employ them. (Drift)
- One-third of businesses want to use chatbots to generate leads and marketing campaigns. (Tidio)
If you’re not already using chatbots in your business, now is the time to explore this technology. Speak to our chatbot expert!
14. Using Immersive Content Marketing
One method brands have used more and more lately is called “immersive content marketing.” This is when a piece of content is so well done that it transports the reader into the story. It could be a long-form blog post, an interactive quiz, or an augmented reality experience. The possibilities are endless, but the goal is always to make the reader feel like they are part of the action.
This is an effective marketing strategy for small businesses, because it allows you to compete with big budgets by being creative and thinking outside the box. Suppose you can create an immersive experience for your customers. In that case, they will remember your brand fondly and are much more likely to return in the future.
15. Get Personal with Email Marketing
Another great way to market your small business is through email marketing. Email marketing still works great.
This involves sending regular emails to your subscribers with updates about your products, services, or just general information about your company.
The key to email marketing is personalisation and automation. We want to ensure that each email feels like it was written just for the recipient. This means addressing them by name, using their city or location in the subject line, and even segmenting your list so that you can send targeted messages based on interests and previous interactions.
Email marketing is an excellent way to stay top of mind with your customers and keep them updated on what’s going on with your business—plus, it’s a cost-effective marketing method. If you’re not already doing email marketing, now is the time to start!
16. Be on Top of Your Data
Another important change in marketing is the increased focus on data. In the past, marketing was primarily based on gut instinct and guesswork. But these days, thanks to data collection and analysis advances, we know more about customer behaviour than ever before. Therefore, businesses can target their marketing efforts much more effectively.
If your company wants to stay competitive in 2023, you must ensure you’re taking advantage of data-driven marketing techniques.
17. Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly
In this day and age, your website must be mobile-friendly. More and more people use their phones and tablets to browse the internet. If your site isn’t optimised for mobile devices, you’re missing out on much potential traffic—and customers.
68% of companies with a mobile-first website increased their sales.
Making sure your website is mobile-friendly doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, there are many free resources available that can help you get started. But it is necessary to take care of this before moving on to other marketing strategies.
18. Omnichannel Marketing Matters
You might have heard “omnichannel marketing” before, but what does it mean? Omnichannel marketing creates a seamless customer experience regardless of how or where they interact with your brand. That means if someone sees an ad for your business on TV, they should find that same ad on your website or social media channels. Or if they start reading an article on your blog, they should finish it on their smartphone. The goal is to create a cohesive experience that makes it easy for customers to engage with your brand as they want—and that’s something every small business should strive for in 2023.
19. Experiential marketing will be bigger than ever (don’t let it pass you by)
As consumers become increasingly focused on experiences over things, experiential marketing will become increasingly important. In 2023, small businesses should focus on creating memorable experiences for their customers, beyond simply selling a product or service.
Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing, involves interacting with a business in a real-world setting. Business can demonstrate what it stands for and what it offers by using participatory, hands-on, and tangible branding materials.
What can you do to surprise and delight your customers? How can you make them feel like VIPs? By thinking outside the traditional marketing box, you can develop creative experiential marketing ideas to help you stand out from the competition.
20. New Targeting Solutions
Due to rising privacy concerns, Google plans to phase out third-party cookies by the end of next year. A cookie tracks a user’s behaviour across the web so marketers can deliver a customised experience. To continue developing highly personalised content and ads, brands are testing alternative targeting solutions.
Conclusion
These are just a few ideas for how to market your small business in 2023—but don’t feel like you have to implement all of them at once! Pick one or two that resonate with you, and give them a try. You might be surprised at how effective they are—and how much they help your business grow.
To stay ahead of the curve, it’s important to stay current on these trends and integrate them into your marketing strategy accordingly. By doing so, you can stay one step ahead of your competition and better position yourself for success in the ever-changing world of marketing—you never know what might just take your business to the next level!
Marketing is a long and challenging process, but it becomes much easier when you use effective techniques and reach your customers more quickly than ever before. It’s about putting out good quality work and getting in front of the people who will benefit the most.
Dynamics Tech offers various solutions and services to small businesses, such as support, training, and more. If you are looking for a digital marketing agency for small businesses in the UK, work with us today!
