The New Year is a great time to review your marketing plan template to see what you can be doing differently to boost your bottom line. Here are 9 hot marketing trends for small business in 2023 that can help you maximize your marketing dollar.
- Keep It Simple
- Focus on Visuals
- Email is Back
- Influencer Marketing Rules
- Outsourcing Marketing Gets You Closer to the Target
- Personalized Experiences Matter
- Socially Responsible Businesses Do Better
- Keep Employees in the Loop
- Mobile Marketing is Growing
What Are the 9 Hot Marketing Trends for Small Business in 2023?
1. Keep It Simple
Attention spans are shortening. Marketing and advertising has always been about split-second thinking – but current market trends indicate that split is shorter than ever before. In this article on digital marketing, Forbes says small businesses that distill their messages into sound bites will do better in 2023. It also means that trigger words like “Sale!” and “Free!” will be more important than ever. (However, be careful you don’t fall afoul to any Google Adwords restrictions or spam filters in your digital marketing…)
2. Focus on Visuals
Humans are hardwired to react to visuals, and many of us are visual learners. “A picture speaks a thousand words” is a cliché for a reason. Marketing with graphics and images will do better than text-only messages. Perhaps the largest digital media trend for 2023 is the continual move towards more videos. These don’t need to be feature film productions – a 10-second clip in front of your coffee shop describing today’s specials can be enough. If you have a lot of info to dump, infographics are great tools too.
3. Email is Back
…though there are those who would argue it never left. Every small business should be collecting email addresses where possible. Not only does it give you a direct connection with your customers, it’s an easy and inexpensive marketing tool to reach people who have already shown an interest in your products or services. In fact, email represents one of the best bangs for your marketing buck. One website estimates that your return on investment (ROI) is 42:1. That means you’ll make $42 for every $1 you spend advertising using your current email list. Email marketing trends in 2023 are clearly ones you want to follow!
4. Influencer Marketing Rules
Influencer marketing is certainly one of the hot digital marketing topics for 2023. It’s a marketing approach that is almost synonymous with “Kardashian” or “Jenner” these days. But don’t let that scare you off. There is still plenty of opportunity for small business. Local social media instagrammers in your area can send new business your way for a fraction of Kylie Jenner’s $200,000(ish) price tag. Besides, most small businesses wouldn’t be able to handle an influx of Jenner’s 377 million followers!
On the other hand, Katerina Seigel is a blogger in Philadelphia who features clothes and fashion-related products on her Instagram feed – and her 55,000+ Instagram followers are nothing to sneeze at. Plus, she is actively looking for people to collaborate with. We are not sure how Katerina chooses what to feature on her Instagram feed or blog. We also can’t say for sure that your small business would be a good match for her. But the point is that there are tons of opportunities to approach local influencers in your area who can work with you to boost your business!
5. Outsourcing Marketing Gets You Closer to the Target
One hot marketing trend that’s very interesting is that small businesses are stepping away from trying to do all their marketing themselves. Not only do they realize that they don’t have the skills or knowledge to do it effectively, marketing can be very time consuming. Simply put, there are better places in the business for them to put their time and energy. Plus, with “hybrid” marketing models for small business, you can take on some marketing tasks like updating social media and sending emails while your marketing team can do the heavy lifting of designing a marketing campaign, coming up with branding and messaging, and conducting market research in your area.
Contact Elite Marketing + Promotions to learn more about this hot marketing trend in 2023.
6. Personalized Experiences Matter
More and more people are feeling less and less seen in our digital world. Many so-called service providers don’t even have a contact page anymore. It’s a real opportunity for small business to fill a niche. By providing personalized experiences including addressing people by name, sending curated content, and giving them unique offers, you can give them the level of customer service they crave – and deserve. Hey, a Contact Us page automatically puts you one step ahead in the personalized experiences game!
7. Socially Responsible Businesses Do Better
Social responsibility is a hot marketing trend all unto itself. Consumer brands that demonstrate commitment to sustainability outperform those that don’t. In 2015, 66% of consumers said that they’d pay more to sustainable brands. That’s a pretty cut-and-dry stat – and it’s set to keep rising through 2023.
There are many things you can do to show social responsibility from participating in a fundraiser for a local charity, promoting non-profits in your area such as animal shelters and food drives, incorporating sustainable practices such as cutting electricity bills and using biodegradable bags, promoting equal work opportunities within your business, and more.
8. Keep Employees in the Loop
How many times have you gone into a business and the first they heard of a special deal or promotion is when you told them about it? It’s a great example of why it’s important to keep your employees informed about what you’re sending out on social media or what new marketing campaign you have out there. Don’t assume that they’ll just see it. Besides, marketing campaigns work a whole lot better when your employees are involved and integrated from the beginning.
9. Mobile Marketing is Growing in 2023
Almost everyone has a phone now – and almost everyone uses it to shop online. Whether it is direct purchases or just looking something up during the buying process, you can expect your customers have a phone in their hands. Take advantage of that with personalized apps to enhance their experience in your store, restaurant, or service; make sure you are ranking for the keywords they’re searching for; and keep them up to date with ads and info on social media. The more you can connect with your customers via their phones, the more likely they’ll connect with you to buy.
Learn How to Put the Hot Marketing Trends in 2023 to Work for You
Whether you are an established business launching a new product or simply looking for new customers, or you’re a new business about to launch into the world (how exciting!), Elite Marketing + Promotions’ marketing team will make sure that everybody knows your name.
Call us directly at (215) 491-0400 or email us via our contact page to find out how we can help you put the hot marketing trends in 2023 to good use in your own marketing campaigns.