If you’re a small business, looking ahead to 2023, wondering the best way to achieve your goals, here are eight digital marketing trends well-tipped for 2023, specifically for small businesses and keeping a tight budget in mind.
How will your customers hear from you? How will you grow your following, increase reach and, ultimately, sales?
You may not want to commit to marketing spend, but many marketing strategies are highly cost-effective and you could benefit from getting these in your sights.
Google wants people-first content
This year, Google published a ‘helpful content update’. Small businesses would do well to take notice of it, if you haven’t already. The update is about exactly what it says – helpful content.
Content that is intended, and written, for your audience will perform better in search results.
It’s old hat to talk about ‘keyword stuffing’ - this trend should be long gone from any marketing strategy worth its salt. But it’s useful to remember that helpful content is the opposite of keyword-stuffed content. Helpful content is original, written by a human being, to be read and enjoyed, or found useful, by another human being.
Ask yourself, if you came to your website, would you find your content useful? Are you providing the content your audience and customers want?
Influencer marketing
You may think influencer marketing isn’t for small businesses, but it’s being increasingly used to generate following and endorse products and services. Influencer marketing has been around a long time but now with the increasing visibility of social media and the internet, the potential has exploded.
By working with an ‘influencer’ or someone with an already established, large or large-ish following, you get your business in front of a new, or extended, audience.
You’ll always pay to work with an influencer, but the cost is likely to be less if you work with a niche influencer relevant to your market.
Personalise your marketing
We each see between 4,000 and 10,000 ads a day (unbelievable right?).
Personalised marketing is a way to make your ads standout. From using a person’s name in an email, to delivering ads when they’re most likely to be online, or receptive to your message, and tailoring offers based on their recent purchases – personalisation lets the recipient know you’re thinking of them and going the extra mile to make your products relevant.
Are you sharing content on TikTok yet?
Can you afford to avoid TikTok any longer? If you don’t know anything about TikTok, and don’t want to, it might be worth outsourcing to a social media manager. Alternatively, there are lots of articles sharing the ins and outs of TikTok’s algorithm guidelines. Sharing content on TikTok is likely to be fairly new to most small business owners. But in 2023, it’s going to be even more popular.
Remember, it’s just a social media platform like all the rest so always prioritise engagement, encouraging people to follow and comment on your posts; use titles and hashtags, and audio.
Your customers care about sustainability and social responsibility
Consumers are increasingly conscious of the social and environmental impact of what they buy and who they buy it from. If your sustainability credentials are good, shout about them in your marketing.
Think provenance, sustainable and recycled products, locally sourced ingredients/components and a commitment to local community, either through actions or donations.
Be aware of half-measures on this one. Consumers can detect ‘greenwashing’ at a mile, so if you’re not that eco-conscious, don’t profess to be so.
Livestreaming your business
Livestreaming is set to be extremely popular for small businesses reaching out to their audience in 2023. It might seem scary, and you may benefit from social media expertise, but once you have a few basics of equipment the cost is free to livestream through Facebook and YouTube.
Livestreaming enables you to interact directly with your audience and create buzz and excitement about your presence and your business. Livestream shopping is also set to be big in 2023 and worth keeping in mind.
Consumers love User Generated Content (UGC)
Consumers trust other consumers. If considering buying from you, consumers want to know what the experience will be like.
UGC builds trust and takes many forms. Guest appearances and livestreams on social media, blogs, reviews – written and video – and videos or images of customers using and enjoying your products or services, are all examples of UGC that benefit your business.
Vertical video
Forget what you’ve always done when taking a video, it’s time to take your video vertically since these are the videos perfect for sharing on social media platforms. They are cheap and easy to make and can be repurposed across lots of platforms – bringing your brand to life.
This versatile form of content is going nowhere soon. Instagram users who want to be seen are now encouraged to use Reels rather than static images – a big sign that vertical video content is here to stay and likely to be in more demand in 2023.
Need help with your digital marketing in 2023? The Cultrix web team are here for you – just get in touch.
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