7 Small Business Marketing Lessons to Take From 2023

This year was the first year after the pandemic when things finally settled into a new normal. 2023 has seen a lot of the uncertainties of previous years clearing up. In addition, businesses are finding their stride in this era with the tools and technology at their disposal. 

Speaking of technology, many new innovations generated excitement in the marketing community. AI, influencer marketing, and other aspects gained more traction. They also became more accessible, especially for small businesses. So, there are a number of things small businesses could take away from the past year. Here are a few of the major lessons all small businesses should learn for the coming year of 2024. 

Social media still rules the roost

Social media, it seems, will always be on top for small business marketing. It offers an unprecedented level of accessibility to a wide audience, with minimal licensing and payment issues. A well-executed social media campaign is still one of the best ways to market your business. 

So, it is a good idea to be on board with trends on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, especially if your business is targeting millennial or Gen Z audiences. Regular posting is part of an effective social media marketing strategy, along with great design and planning. So, be consistent, and you’ll see your follower lists growing. 

Make good content for good results

It’s a simple rule. If you make good content, you’ll pull in the right audience. You can’t just make content for the sake of it. There needs to be a solid concept and plan behind it. It also needs to offer value to your audience.

So, generic and vague content is out of fashion, while targeted and informative content is in. This will get you the best results possible. Bad content might get you some hits, but you won’t get many lead conversions with it. 

SEO is a necessity

Google is getting smarter and smarter every day. So, you need to keep up to date about the latest SEO trends and use them to market your small business. Keyword stuffing is something that fell off the wagon years ago, so you should definitely not still be doing it. 

Now, Google values pages that offer people what they want. So, keywords do play a role, but only if they are part of a valuable piece of content. Therefore, you need to focus on informing your audience and giving them the best answers possible to their wants. 

Influencers are an integral part of the industry

Influencer marketing is not going out of style anytime soon. In fact, it is becoming a more integrated part of overall marketing strategies. Now, you’ll see more social media influencers than TV celebrities in ad campaigns and such.

So, you need to incorporate influencer marketing in your small business as well. The good news is that 2023 saw a rise in the importance of micro-influencers. These help you get in touch with wider audiences in a targeted way. With major influencers, your business may get lost among the crowd of their other promotions, so try to go for multiple micro-influencers instead of one or two big names. 

AI is all set to make marketing easier

The term AI might seem like it was everywhere in 2023. This is because tools like GPT 4 and Google’s Bard really made some progress. They became smarter and more viable for multiple use cases. They can even help you run your marketing campaigns and make the best promotion plans. 

In addition, existing marketing tools like Ahrefs have also included AI integrations. These integrations help make the marketing process smoother and more accessible for small businesses. This trend will really take off in 2024, with more competitors for GPT 4 cropping up all over the internet. 

RCS messaging makes things easier

RCS messaging is all set to become the messaging standard for both Android and iOS phones. It will replace the older SMS and MMS models. This means that small businesses can send out multimedia marketing campaigns to people’s phones.

This will make it easier to access a wide audience, even if they’re not that active on social media or messaging tools like WhatsApp. It is also a safer and more secure platform to share business and commerce links. 

Ad spending doesn’t need to be high

Ad spending used to be a major issue for small businesses. However, now search tools do not really care how much money you are throwing in your social media and other campaigns. They see whether you meet people’s needs. 

So, you can save a lot on ad spend. Use the time and money saved to grow your small business. This levels the field a bit and lets small businesses reach out to their audiences more effectively. 

To sum up, 2023 was a landmark year for small business marketing. 2024 is all set to be even more exciting. We can expect more focus on sustainability, company ethics, and other such concerns in the coming years, along with more AI integration.