How can you best prepare your business’s marketing for 2022?

Whether you started your own business last year as a result of the Great Resignation or you’ve had your business for years, the start of a new year is a fantastic time to review your branding and marketing.

Here are our seven marketing tips for businesses this year — or any year!

 

Be Prepared With a Clear and Concise Value Prop

Honestly, no matter what your marketing tactics are, they will fail if you can’t express your value proposition. In other words, you must be able to show your potential customers how you help them.  What problem do you solve for them? What pain point do you soothe? If you can’t clearly answer that, there is no reason for a customer to patronize your business.

Of course, it is not enough for you to present your value prop clearly to your customer. You must be able to do so concisely. Statistics vary a bit based on medium and based on the source, but the vast majority of research suggests that you will have your customer’s attention for about 10 to 15 seconds.

Of course, this isn’t all customers; some will stay with you for much longer, and those are the ones more likely to buy your products or use your services. However, the fact remains that you likely have only this limited 10- to 15-second window to grab their attention initially. So, your digital marketing lead generation plan must include a headline or slogan that lays out enough of your business’ value proposition to compel viewers/readers to learn more.

 

Create a Website (or Optimize Your Current One)

This may seem like one of those marketing tips for businesses that is so obvious that it can go without saying. However, as of February 2021, 28% of small businesses did not have a website. Of those that did, many were not optimized to best convey information. Others were slow to load or were not mobile-friendly. All of these are significant concerns, given the following statistics:

And of course, there are many more statistics that show a similar theme: having a high-quality business website is one of the best ways to promote your business. After all, having a valuable website allows you to do many things:

  • Establish your credibility/industry expertise
  • Make announcements directly to your customers
  • Provide customer service/support at all times
  • Bring in organic traffic
  • Communicate your brand
  • Display products in the most ideal light
  • Share customer reviews/testimonials or case studies
  • And more!

As a result, checking in on how well your website is performing should definitely be part of your new year’s marketing plan.

 

Use Social Media

Whether we like it or not, social media has become an integral part of many people’s lives. Therefore, posting content to various social networks means that it is sure to be seen by many of your customers. As a result, social media is an efficient way to help you reach your marketing goals.

And of course, the content you post gives you a chance to really build your brand. You can post calls-to-action. You can show your industry expertise. You can be a thought leader. Or, you can just be witty. No matter what, you get a chance to interact with customers at a more personal level. You also get to direct them to your website and create more traffic there.

Best of all, you get this marketing tool for free!  (Of course, you can pay for ads or other services if you want to, but you don’t need to.)  You can beat the ROI of an effective form of advertising that doesn’t cost you anything. No wonder 95% of B2B marketers use social media as part of their marketing plan!

 

Create a Blog (or Blog More Often)

Blogging is such a valuable strategy that I have a separate post to explain the benefits. The advantages of blogging include having ready-made social media posts, helping you gather an email database, allowing you to interact with customers in a more timely manner, and contributing to your branding.  However, the greatest benefit of blogging for businesses is how it drives traffic to your site:

Certainly, blogs take some time, but still, they remain one of the absolute best ways to promote your business. Due to the “bang for your buck,” so to speak, starting a blog would be one of the primary marketing tips for businesses.

 

Create a Buzz

Yes, I realize that creating a buzz is in the category of “Marketing Tips for Businesses that are Easier Said than Done.” However, there are several ideas that you can try to get your name out there a little bit more:

Have a contest where the winner gets some of your product or receives free services:
The more original the contest, the more likely it is to create a buzz. Bonus points if the contest has something to do with your business. Even more bonus points if you can get some local news stations to cover it. For example, you could run a contest to find the worst landscaping in town. After you pick a “winner,” you could renovate it for free and then use the before and after pictures in your marketing.

Give something away for free:
People love getting something for nothing. If that something is one of your products, and the recipient loves it, they will come back for more and tell their friends. Companies also often give away free downloads, typically whitepapers or e-books. These materials help to establish you as a thought leader in your industry.

Make a creative post in hopes it goes viral:
No one can predict what will make something go viral (although there are some great books on the subject to help you get close). However, posts that are very creative, such as using a parody of a popular song to promote your business, often get reshared. Similarly, posts that feature something amazing (such as an incredible 3D cupcake you made or a behind-the-scenes look at how you make car paint scratches disappear) tend to lead to excitement.

Get a local influencer to promote your business:
Note that “local influencer” doesn’t just have to mean that person who once appeared on a game show and now thinks he’s a celebrity. It’s just anyone who has a decent-sized following on social media within your target demographic. Perhaps a local radio DJ has a few thousand followers on Twitter. You could work out a deal with the DJ to send them  some of your product for free or perform your service for free in exchange for the DJ to tweet about your business.

Suddenly, you’d have powerful, low-cost advertising for your business.

Another variation is to offer to donate your products or your services to a prominent place. If City Hall features a sign that thanks you for re-paving the parking lot for free and saving taxpayers money, this is great branding for your business and allows you to show off your work.

Partner with another local business:
One final way to create good buzz is to find another business with which you can create a synergistic relationship. For example, if you run a business that rents inflatable bounce houses, you can partner with a business that prints custom-made posters and signs. Each business can promote the other as part of a birthday party package.

 

Ask for Reviews and Referrals

One of the most powerful marketing tips for businesses is this: the less you do the marketing, the better. When people see or hear business advertising, they recognize that of course the business says good things about itself. However, hearing positive words about a business from others has a very strong impact. 91% of people read online reviews at least occasionally, 84% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation, and 68% form an opinion after reading 6 or fewer reviews.

The bottom line is that when people hear positive opinions of your business from other people, whether best friends or total strangers, they are heavily influenced. And yet, many businesses fail to ask customers to write a review. You could send a follow-up email to a customer where they simply need to click on a link to leave you a review. Many will do it. Or, you could set up a promotion where former customers receive a $50 gift card if they refer a new customer. Again, many will do it. And the results will be much stronger—and much cheaper—than traditional ads.

 

Be Sure Your Visual Marketing is Strong

The adage goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the case of marketing, a picture (or video) may be worth much more!

We live in a world where consumers are constantly bombarded by messaging. To make yours stand out, strong visual marketing (e.g., using high-quality product photography or other images and videos) is key. Some of the statistics surrounding visual marketing—and how it increases shares, likes, traffic, and conversion—are very telling.

Let’s be honest, though: poorly done visual marketing is almost as bad as no visual marketing at all.  As just one example to show why you need great original images, the Marketing Experiments website tested whether an original photograph or a stock photo would lead to better results. The upshot: 35% more customers clicked the button for a free consultation when an original image was used.

Unfortunately, if you ask most people for their best marketing tips for businesses, visual marketing is often forgotten. However, it is an essential component.

 

Conclusion

Some of you might look at this list of marketing ideas and feel inspired. Perhaps you are immediately thinking of some new ideas and how you can execute them. However, for others, you may be feeling overwhelmed.

If you feel that you don’t have the capacity to implement these marketing tips for businesses well, marketing agencies like May Dream Design serve as flexible one-stop shops, ready to provide the expertise to help with anything you need.

So, if you want to see your business soar in 2022 and don’t feel you can implement these marketing ideas yourself, contact us today!