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You can start new at any point in time, right? A new year, a new week or a new day – all present an opportunity to start anew.
In your small business, why would you want to start new? As a marketing agency that has been around for over 14 years, we have often heard from our potential clients wanting to launch new things. A new website or a new marketing strategy, especially when they don’t see the results they are receiving from their current marketing. Is this the right approach? To just scratch it all and start new?
Here’s a better way to do marketing in 2023.
What will you keep doing in marketing?
When we onboard a new marketing client, one of the first steps we take is to do a brand and marketing audit. This step usually reveals a lot of low-hanging fruit for the company – missed marketing opportunities. We audit a company’s website, social media and key company messaging – all in relation to their business and marketing goals. During this process, we also find the areas that are working really well already. The goal of the audit is to maximize the existing brand and marketing equity to grow from the company’s strengths, not its weaknesses.
Action point:
Think about what has been working well for you in 2022 and add those items to your “keep doing” list.
What will you stop doing in your marketing in 2023?
The same marketing audit process usually reveals what’s not working. For instance, if you have been investing in SEO for a few years while not attending to other tactics like social media or paid advertising for quick ways of driving traffic to your website, maybe now is the time to switch your gears and stop focusing on SEO alone. Diversifying your marketing is key if you want to increase your brand awareness and reach this year.
Action point:
Make a list of things that you have been doing for a while now but are not happy about the results. Make sure you have a clear picture of the results before cutting out a marketing activity altogether, by the way. Sometimes it’s not about stopping a tactic completely, but maybe reducing your time and budget that is spent on a specific marketing tactic and diverting your marketing resources to a new way of reaching your target audience.
What will you start doing in your marketing?
Keeping marketing fresh for our clients is one of our promises. How do we achieve that? Exactly as I outline in this blog. We review what to keep, stop and start doing for our clients on a weekly basis internally and on a monthly basis with clients as part of our progress review meetings. This allows us to keep the balance of introducing new marketing tactics without the reactive jumping into an overhyped marketing channel “because everyone is doing it.” As marketers, we are part artists, part scientists – we always have to think creatively and fresh, but we also must rely on data to ensure facts, not trends, back up our marketing tactics.
Action point:
Keep your eyes on fresh marketing ideas on a regular basis, and test and try fresh approaches monthly in addition to your existing marketing mix. Don’t do too much too soon, though! It might take up to 3 months to see the results from your fresh ideas, so ease into them carefully and always test them against your existing, proven marketing campaigns.
In conclusion.
So, are you looking to have a fresh, new approach to marketing in 2023? Try the stop, keep, start doing formula to diversify your marketing and always keep your eyes open for new opportunities while maximizing what’s already working well for you in your business.
Did you like this post? Share it with your colleagues on social media. Are you looking for new ways to increase your brand’s reach and visibility? Reach out to our marketing agency in Vancouver; we would love to help you grow your small business through marketing! Stop by our beautiful office (a.k.a. Greenhouse) in Gastown, Vancouver – we always have chocolate!