If you’re a small business owner or manager, you’re always looking for how to bring your company to the next level. Unlike massive corporations with millions of dollars’ worth of profit each year, your success and continued growth is likely the difference between paying the mortgage that month or adding to your kid’s college fund, so the last thing you want to do is let anything languish. So here are just a few tips to help grow your small business in 2023 so you can continue to live the life you want to live:
Prepare for a slower economy in 2023
The world just isn’t getting any easier, is it? After a couple years’ of difficult COVID restrictions and lockdowns, the superheated economy is starting to slow, and many experts predict a recession is likely at some point in 2023. If you’ve been running your business for decades, you’re likely already prepared for how to weather the ups and downs of an ever-changing economy, but if you just opened your business more recently, you may not fully understand how to prepare.
An economic slowdown doesn’t necessarily mean the sky is falling for your small business, and there’s no need to run around like Chicken Little. Instead, approach the new year with the same rationality and entrepreneurial thoughtfulness that helped your business find success in the first place. Monitor your budget closely and cut back on unnecessary expenditures without defaulting to full-blown austerity mode. Make targeted investments in your business that you know will pay off rather than running head-long into risky new ventures. And of course, always be on the lookout for new opportunities and new tools rather than just relying on “what’s always worked.”
Know your audience now more than ever
In 2023, one of the smartest moves you can make for your business is to double-down on identifying and targeting your company’s true audience. Whether it’s due to economic slowdowns or the further splintering of our culture into micro-niches, broad-based, wide-targeting “blanket” marketing efforts are proving less effective than ever before, and for many small business owners, this can mean a change to a more narrow-focused marketing strategy.
Some people may wonder if this is antithetical to business growth, but we say quite the contrary–narrow-targeting doesn’t mean a reduction in marketing efforts. Rather, it gives you an opportunity to focus on bringing past customers back more frequently and–importantly–attracting new customers that look and behave like the customers you can already rely on. Narrow- and micro-targeting specific audiences that are proven to respond to your marketing efforts means each of your marketing dollars goes further and brings a stronger return-on-investment than just blasting a generic ad out to millions.
Perform an SEO audit
Some more old-school small business owners still question the importance of having great search engine optimization (SEO) and a strong web presence. After all, they say, why should I care about my business being searchable across the world when all my customers are in my own backyard? Well, if you haven’t caught up yet, it’s time to focus on the hard facts: Nearly 50% of all Google searches are local searches, meaning people searching for nearby businesses or information, and over 90% of all search users use local searches to find what they need.
That means that even if your target audience lives 2 blocks away, if your business isn’t showing up effectively in Google results, you’re losing potential customers, and that’s no good. One of the easiest ways to start improving your web presence is by bringing in a search engine expert to perform an SEO audit, which combs through your website and finds where it performs well and, most importantly, how it can be updated to improve your search results.
Even if you understand the importance of good SEO, you can benefit from this as well–it may be that you’ve been too busy to stay up-to-date on the latest SEO changes or Google best practices, and having someone who knows exactly what they’re doing come in to give you advice and help you make the updates you need can be a huge benefit to your business in 2023.
Maximize your social media presence
If you haven’t realized it by now, social media isn’t just a passing fad. Instead, these major tech platforms are becoming an ever-more-important area to focus your marketing efforts, especially for small businesses that can showcase true personality and new ideas. However, it’s not always easy for businesses to take advantage of the opportunities social media provides.
Gone are the days when all you needed to do was make a Facebook page and start posting (although if you haven’t done that yet, that’s a great place to start!). From algorithmic changes that suppress organic reach to paid advertising tools that can be awesome profit-drivers or huge money pits depending on your expertise, there’s a reason that the title of “social media manager” has gone from something business owners laughed at the idea of to a real (and really important) career path.
So in 2023, challenge yourself to really make the most of your business’s social media presence, whether that means committing more time to what’s worked in the past, finally hopping on new platforms you’ve been ignoring (hello TikTok), or putting money into hiring an expert to develop your socials into something that’s really working to benefit your business.
Invest in digital marketing
Have you caught the trend in this advice yet? Whether it’s taking your social media to the next level, getting your website onto page 1 of the Google search results, or finding ways to micro-target your audience, the biggest opportunities to grow your small business in 2023 are all about investing in your digital marketing. The internet isn’t just the future anymore–it’s our present reality and that’s not about to change, so it’s where you need to focus your efforts.
But with more ways than ever to spend (and waste) your money pursuing digital marketing perfection, even the smartest business owners can need outside help from the experts, and Skol Marketing’s team is here to help. To get started with an SEO audit, one-on-one digital marketing guidance, or even a complete social media management package, please don’t hesitate to contact the local digital experts at Skol Marketing.
