Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 183 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.
Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!
If you’re enjoying this podcast – I’d love to you take a screenshot and share it on your socials and tag me in it. How cool would that be!
Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/183
Before we get started this week, I wanted to tell you about a fabulous event that I am MC-ing at the end of March.
It’s called SMB Digital, 30-31 March in-person at ICC, Sydney.
- Free to attend
- Two days conference 55+ speakers (including me!)
- An exhibition featuring all the best digital tech solutions for SMBs
If you’re keen to attend, and we can meet in person (how super freaking cool would that be) – then head to: https://www.smb-digital.com.au/welcome and get your free ticket.
I know it’s going to be an amazing event for us small business owners. See you there?
It’s time, now we through most of March 2022, to put my predictions for where we need to be spending time in our marketing in 2022 on the table – or in your ears as it is!
I’ve come up with these 7 predictions by watching trends, doing marketing myself and for my clients and watching what works, what doesn’t and what did and doesn’t anymore or vice versa.
So, let’s get into it.
- Voice Search
Most houses have a “google device” or similar in their house these days – heck we have voice search available now on our phones! Voice search and the necessity for you to be producing content that is compatible is here.
What am I talking about? Voice search devices, Google Home, Amazon Echo with Alexa and the one many of us have in our pockets Siri by Apple!
We have one, every morning my children ask, Hey Google, what’s the weather going to be like today” or “Hey Google, can you set a timer for 5 minutes please”.
We are only going to see the rise and rise of voice search marketing.
What does this mean for small businesses? Well frankly a lot and probably worth a whole podcast in itself.
But voice searches like “Hey Google, what’s the best pizza in town X” are going to become more and more common.
So, and this is going to be harsh, if you don’t have a website already if your website does not have great content on it that is in the language of your customer that solves their problems, then you are behind the eight ball in 2022.
If you don’t already have a website – get one. Building your brand, your business, just on social platforms that you don’t own the real estate of, not a good idea.
All you might need is a fabulous one-page website, with great content on it that is in the language of your customer that solves their problems.
Voice search is not going away and if you’re honest and look at your own or your family’s habits, you’ll see that you or they are even starting to trend that way.
- Human to Human Marketing (H2H)
I have been banging on about this for about 5 years now. So, it’s no surprise that it’s made it into my 2022 predictions.
I will say it again, loud and proud, human to human, H2H, we need to be marketing to our prospects like they are human, we need to be showing up for them as a human too!
Marketing is no longer about telling someone how good you are, how long you’ve been that good for and how they need you.
It’s about having a conversation with them, telling some stories, letting them get to know you – yes YOU! And leading them down a funnel path that results in them not being able to resist you and/or your services because they know you and you alone, can solve their problems or delight them.
If you wouldn’t say it to another human, in those exact words, then don’t write it as a content piece in your marketing.
Get personal too. Do personal marketing. Maybe it’s a piece of direct marketing – direct marketing is where the marketing is 100% personalised to that person. A birthday card, a book sent to them you know they’d like, a personal invitation to attend an event that’s personal, a video sent when they join your world, a DM on Instagram saying, thanks for the follow, have a great day, a direct message on LinkedIn, saying, thanks for connecting or would you like to connect.
Personal marketing.
One of our best pieces of marketing in my retail days was something we sent in a bright pink envelope with a handwritten note. I have no doubt we had a 100% open rate, who gets snail mail or pink snail mail these days, but we also had a 95% take-up rate of the offer because it was SO personal.
The businesses that get this will win more in 2022.
Oh, and, yes, you really do have to keep showing your face and your team’s faces if you have one.
If you’re afraid of the camera, I’ll say one thing, actually two, 1. Filters and 2. It’s not about you, it’s about your customers and how you can serve them.
So, my prediction is basically, those who market conversationally, those who show up for their community, will win more business because humans interact with other humans.
- Video
Sorry not sorry!
Video is king and it has been for many years.
Video intensives your ability to build authority as the go-to person in your industry and it also quickens the “know, like, love, trust” factors that people need to feel before they’ll do business with you or become a loyal customer or client and one of your best piece of marketing – the referrer!
I’ve spoken about video many times on this podcast before. And I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this story, but I’ll do it again.
About 5 years ago, I was at my mastermind complaining to my business bestie that I hate video. I hate myself on video, I hate the way I look, the way I sound, blah blah blah.
His advice, swift and to the point (and a dagger to the heart), Jenn you look and sound the same to me on video as you do standing here complaining right now. It’s only you who thinks you look different or sound different.
#truthbomb – boy did that one hurt. But it’s so so true and one of the best/worst pieces of advice I’ve ever had.
So, if you are interacting with people face to face, whether it be 1 or 200, the way they see you, the way they hear you is the same if you put yourself on a video.
I’ll pause for effect – let that sink in.
I hope that little pep talk will get you doing more video from today onwards – don’t wait for more of 2022 to slip by – just start doing it! Tag me, I’ll cheer you on!
Set yourself a goal – do a video every day from today for 11 days. Post them. If practice makes perfect, then you’ll smash out videos like bunnies soon enough.
- Insights Driven Marketing
Businesses owners who use their analytics and insights to drive their marketing will win bigger and better and quicker in 2022.
If you have google analytics, or you are on a social media platform you have access to insights and data that can really help you uplevel your marketing and build strategies you know will work.
Therefore, making marketing easier, simpler, more strategic and, what we all want, have a better return on investment.
If you look at your insights and see that your audience is more engaged on Friday nights, then heck posts great content on Friday nights.
If you can see from your Google Analytics that you have a big bounce rate on a particular page of your website, invest why that is? Is it load speed, is it not what they are expecting?
If you see from your email marketing analytics that you have a bigger open rate when you use emojis in the subject line or when you send something out on a Sunday, then what are you doing sending an email out on Tuesday?
Use all the tools at your exposure to marketing strategically. Those who do in 2022, those people will be the ones you are admiring their growth in business and wondering how they did it.
- Influencer Marketing
Having someone else tell your audience just how amazing you are, or how amazing your product is, is worth its weight in gold if done right.
Having someone else help build that know, like, (or love) and trust factors is almost priceless.
In 2022, stop thinking about influencer marketing as paying a celeb to show your product, think of it as your customer who tagged you on Instagram when they took a photo of your product, think of it as the amazing staff member you have who always shares your stuff on their socials or to their friends, or that customer who is always referring you new business.
92 percent of people trust other consumer recommendations over business advertising.
Paying for Influencers is a trend that has seen big growth. However, in 2022, we won’t be looking for celebs necessarily, they will be looking for people with a seriously engaged, perhaps smallish, audience. We will be looking inside our community of amazing people and having loads of “micro-influencers”, not just 1 big paid one.
As small business owners, need to look at influencer marketing even more micro and look at who we have in our world doing it already or how we can encourage it – like how can you encourage your customers to tag and share what do you or what you sell more on their social platforms?
Definitely, a strategy to give weight to in 2022.
- Community Building
Stop thinking about “numbers”, as in a number of followers, likers etc., start thinking about building your community or tribe. Those who will know, like (love actually) and trust you and not only be your best raving fan customers, but your best referrers too.
* Remember, communities need leaders! Show up for them!
Building your community, making community building part of your marketing strategy and tactics in 2022, WILL see your business grow. Worrying about followers is so 2019!
- Customer Centric Focus
Whether you are looking at your captions, your website copy, your videos – think Customer Centric! People don’t care about you until they know that you can solve their problems, their challenges or delight them!
Your marketing isn’t about you – it’s about them! I know it’s a concept that seems hard to get your head around – show up as me, do more human to human marketing, but don’t make it about me – make it about them? Jenn, what the actual? That’s confusing!
I get it, but it’s not!
It’s sharing your favourite quote and telling why it’s your favourite and in doing so inspiring your community.
It’s doing a live video about your product and telling your community not only about the features but about the benefits and showing up as YOU, building that relationship so they want to buy from you because you are “their type of people” and not your competition.
Benefits vs features – features, of a candle, are its smell, its burn time, its wick type etc etc, the benefits are that it will bring back memories from your childhood (the smell), it will crackle and remind you to have campfires (the wood wick) and it will make your house smell clean – even if it isn’t – the benefits – the WHY and doing it all in a live video with you and your candle – perfect marketing!
So that’s it – 7 of my predictions for 2022 and what marketing will look like.
Let’s recap
- Voice-activated marketing
- Conversational, human to human marketing
- Video
- Insights driven marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Community Building
- Customer Centric Focus
Got questions, comments, thoughts, ideas – well I’d love to hear them all. Head into the Facebook, Like Minded Business owners and tell or ask away!
I hope these gentle reminders have been useful. Maybe it’s an episode you would like to pass onto another small business owner to ensure they aren’t doing any of these as well. It would mean the world to me if you would share this episode!
Ok, that’s it for another episode of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.
Let’s continue the chat in my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group – you can join on Facebook if you haven’t already.
Oh, and talking about my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group – I have some amazing guests coming in there to do lives with me this year. I am super excited by this. From finance experts to PR and marketing experts (besides me) to Law experts – they are all coming on to give you their time and do some Q&As with the group.
Another amazing reason to come and join that community!
Remember you can find the links in the show notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/183
See you next week on the podcast for episode 184. But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.
But whatever you do,
……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!
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