Want marketing tips from experts that any small business owner can implement?
This post is for you.
Just like new year's resolutions, marketing plans can sometimes feel overwhelming. There are so many moving parts, and it can be hard for even the best-intentioned business owners to keep up with everything they hope to do once the new year arrives.
To help you focus your energy on simple adjustments to your marketing that can give you significant ROI, I've reached out to some of my favorite experts!
Bookmark this post and return to it when you sit down to work ON your business. It is full of clear, actionable tips that you can use to make the most of your marketing efforts in 2023 in the areas of:
Visual Branding
Brand Photography
Website Design
Search Engine Optimization
Lead Magnets
Video Marketing
Social Media Content
Google and Facebook Ads
Networking
Client Gifting
Keep your graphics on-brand is the advice from Stephanie Audette Design.
“It's not enough to have a logo, colors, and fonts—you need to know how to use them!
Especially when you are using Canva or other DIY design tools, it’s crucial to keep your visual branding in mind. Here are some of my favorite tips to make doing that easier:
If you have a paid Canva subscription (which is worth it if you create a lot of graphics on your own), set up your brand kit. Once you establish your brand kit on the platform, your colors, fonts, and logos will be easy to access when you need to modify templates to fit your brand.
If you have a complete brand identity guide from your designer, keep it handy and review it as you head into the new year.
If you don't have a full guide, create a one-pager with your logo iterations, fonts, and hex codes.
Remember, the key to strong visual brand identity is consistency.”
Level-up your phone photos with these tricks from Lyndsay Hannah Photography.
“Even my commercial clients need to get day-to-day images on their own to supplement their professionally taken photos.
My tip for entrepreneurs and small business owners to up-level their use of photography in 2023 is to take better phone photos so that they complement your pro shots and blend in better with your brand aesthetic.
Here are a few quick tips that will immediately make your photos look better.
When shooting indoors, limit the time to midday (between 10:00 am-2:00 pm, when the light is soft). Take images near a window so the light falls on your subject's face or the front of your product—but make SURE you shut off ALL artificial light sources first!
When shooting outdoors, limit the timing to the hour after sunrise or the hour before sunset, and always have the sun BEHIND your subject. Is it a fully overcast day? Bonus! Shoot anytime you like because the light is soft all day.”
Make your website easier to navigate with wisdom from Greg Mandile of Mandile Web Design.
“One essential element to a successful website is usability. You have less than 15 seconds to capture a user's attention before they leave your website for a competitor's website.
An excellent way to keep users on your website is to make it easy to find what they are looking for with a clearly organized navigation.
Your website navigation should have the following elements:
General topic, top-level navigation points.
Dropdowns under each navigation point that needs to be expanded.
Have a service or product drop-down organized with very focused categories.
Each service or product drop-down should only focus on one service or product.
Remember, when a web visitor comes to your site, they are looking for a solution. When you provide an easy path to that solution, you have a greater chance of capturing that lead. Take some time and review your website navigation to see how easy it is to find the product or services you offer and see if you can accomplish that in less than 15 seconds.”
Optimize your blog post browser titles with Karen Callahan, SEO Strategist and Trainer of Adventures Online.
“Here’s an easy way to add an extra boost to your blog posts—optimize your browser titles. Browser titles are the content that displays in the browser tab of a web page.
Take a look at your ten most recent blog posts. For each post, make sure that the browser title contains words that describe the work you want people to hire you for. Beyond that, make sure that the titles use those words in a way that entices searchers to click.
The reason this is important is that search engines prefer to display the browser title in the search results listing rather than the page and post title!”
Give your lead magnet a twist with Kate Hollis, Conversion Copywriter.
"A lead magnet is a free resource you offer to your audience in exchange for their email address. They can be a great way to build your email list and brand trust all at once!
You'll see the best engagement from a lead magnet that's dynamic or interactive.
Downloadable PDF guides are great—but not as compelling as they once were. Try taking your current lead magnet and giving it a twist! Turn it into a quiz, video, or webinar. Your audience will still get amazing value, but they'll also get a clear sense of your brand, personality, and ability to make your expertise approachable and fun.”
Get more out of your video business card with Jeffrey Gordon of Ideal Video Strategies, LCC.
"A video business card is a wise first investment in video, and we love helping our clients make the most out of them. A video business card (VBC) is a short video designed to make a connection with your potential clients based on what you can provide them, how you operate your business, and how you can help potential clients.
Since a VBC is short by design, we often get a tremendous amount of fantastic interview footage that gets cut from the final product. Those extras amount to social media gold! Be sure to utilize those clips to generate social media interest by providing tips and knowledge that benefit potential clients and drive them back to the video business to learn more.
In a perfect world, talk to your videographer in advance so that you can make a plan to create enough social media content to release throughout the year and make your business "Impossible to Ignore." This approach helps you become a trusted expert in your field, build your following, and generate new leads for your business!”
Take the intimidation factor out of reels with these ideas from Nicole Porter of Monomoy Social Media.
“It's time to start using reels to increase your social media presence, even if it feels scary. There are plenty of ways to showcase what makes your company unique, useful, and interesting without having to be in front of the camera. Here are five ideas for reels that keep you out of frame:
Make a video of your product being made, but show just the hands and the product, no faces. You’ll probably have to speed up the video for the finished Reel, but it can still show a great story.
Add reviews and testimonials from happy customers. Use text over nice images, and add a music background.
Answer frequently asked questions. This one is genius! You can use short videos to SHOW answers to the most common customer questions.
Create a series of “tips and tricks” using a small amount of text on a nice background, with music that’s good for your market. People LOVE learning things that help them save time and money. If they can use it in their business, even better. Remember: your depth of knowledge makes you an expert compared to your customers. Sharing just a little bit of helpful information improves your credibility. And some people won’t want to do it themselves, but they will see that you can do it for them.
Promote an upcoming event or link to a past event. A Reel is a great way to promote an upcoming event or link to a past event. You can include a signup link or a link to catch the next event if it has already passed.
Take any one of these ideas and turn it into a good-looking, engaging video!”
Get clear on your numbers before diving into social ads with Crystal Cherry, Elite Ad Manager and founder of Crystal Cherry Digital.
“If you are looking to start investing in Facebook and Instagram ads, one of the best things you can do is get clear on your numbers. Ask yourself these questions:
How much can I comfortably spend per month? There is not always an immediate return on investment with ads. So you have to go into it with the mindset that it's a long-term strategy and be okay with not getting a return initially.
What is my goal (leads, sales, booked calls, email subscribers, etc.)? And how many do I want to get per month?
What is my cost per acquisition? If you've never run ads before, you probably do not know this. Run ads for a month and determine how much it costs on average to get someone to take the desired action.
For example, if your budget is $500/month and your goal is 1,000 registrants to your webinar, your cost per lead (CPL) would need to be $.50 to hit this goal. If you find that your average CPL is actually $2.50, then you'll need to either decrease your goal to fit your budget or increase your budget to fit your goal.
This is also why testing is important because it allows you to gather the data needed to establish your benchmarks. Those benchmarks will, in turn, help you fine-tune your numbers and improve your results.”
Personalize your client onboarding experience with Anna Ballard of Ballard & Prescott.
“Bringing on a new client is a wonderful moment to send a gift. It enhances the excitement you are both feeling about working together.
When Ballard & Prescott partners with you to create custom Client Onboard Gifts, we discuss what success looks like for your clients. What mood will help them achieve that success? Calm and reflective? Or energized and inspired? Then we think about the tools, textures, and scents to help your clients reach this state, which informs the gift selection. Finally, we pick the perfect wrapping paper to compliment the vibe of the gift and the service. The tone is set the moment the client opens the box, increasing their connection with you and improving their experience.”
Be prepared for networking conversations with this tip from Dani Whitstone, Small Business Coach.
“My number one tip for networking is to invest the time to create and practice a compelling answer to the question, ‘so, what do you do?’
Your answer shouldn't be your elevator pitch or tagline but rather a response that piques people's interest and gives them a reason to want to know more.
If you are going to make the effort to network, you might as well ensure that you don’t waste energy by providing the all too often heard rambling mess of an answer!
My favorite formula comes from Donald Miller at Storybrand, and it is a three-part framework that addresses the problem you solve, how you solve that problem, and the reward the client gets by working with you. It takes someone on a mini journey of your awesomeness and will lead to more business for you!”
Are you inspired and excited to put one, two, or all of these fantastic tips into play in the new year?
I’ll add one more resource to your list—my free 10-Step Web Copy Audit guide. It is a step-by-step guide to auditing your site copy and making little adjustments that will yield big results.