This blog post is all about my 2022 in review, my predictions for business in 2023

It’s probably an understatement to say that 2022 has been a tough year.

Online retailers had more competition from bricks and mortar.  I think if you started your online e-comm business during the pandemic, you were a little surprised that those huge online sales petered out due to people going back to supporting bricks and mortar.

For the bricks and mortar retailers, personally I found them to be in two camps.  Those who pushed, pivoted, changed, and dug in during the pandemic fared well – the customers they kept happy and attracted during the hard times in the pandemic supported them well and they continued in the positive.

Then there were those who found they needed to completely shut down during the height of the pandemic, and had no online e-comm presence, and they have found 2022 to be a struggle.

Just to clarify some businesses had no choice as to whether they shut down or not, so no judgement, I am just giving observations.

For the tourism based businesses; it’s been a rollercoaster!  2022 has had high highs and low lows.

And for service based businesses; I have to say the I’ve seen great things.  Many of my clients have declared business as usual – although I know that might not be everyone.

MY 2022 IN REVIEW

So, I thought I might share a few things that have worked for me this year, and you might nod along and think, yep, they worked for me. Or these strategies might just get you thinking about what you could do differently in 2023 that might help move the needle.

1. SEO – yep, let’s start with a big one straight out of the gate. In late 2021 and early 2022, I hired the amazing Casey to do some SEO on pages of my website that I really wanted to rank for in 2022 and beyond.  One of them was my Speakers Page.  When people typed in marketing keynote speaker, or marketing guest speaker or social media guest speaker – etc etc – I wanted to be up the top of page 1. Why?  For bookings of course! Did it work?    Around 4 of my speaking gigs this year came directly from google searches – and although 4 is not huge, it was a great 5 figure return on my investment into SEO.  So, if you want to be found for something on google, perhaps SEO is the place to put some energy in 2023?
2. Showing up – now if you’re a long-time reader of my blog (or listener to my podcast) you know I was also going to write this! Video was my word of the year, which I’ll talk about a little later, so showing up, including non-video, was an important marketing strategy for me.  Did it work?  Hell yeah!  People who watched me show up came and worked with me privately, hired me for workshops/speaking gigs, became podcast guests and I was asked to be a podcast guest, and referrals were given – which resulted in more work!  If I haven’t convinced you on the merits of showing up – human to human marketing – then I’ll simply beg now for you to make it a plan for you in 2023 – please, please, please embrace H2H marketing.
3. Networking – for someone (me) who hated networking only a few years ago, gosh it’s a powerful marketing tool! Networking with the right people can bring you leads, referrals, opportunities and probably above all – friendships.  You can network online or offline but make sure you make space in 2023 for networking or more networking.  And I’ll just add, I don’t think I realise right now, just how impactful the networking I did this year, will help my business in 2023.  Opportunities I can’t imagine right now will come in 2023, all from the people I’ve managed to “hang around” this year!

Many, many, many other things worked well for me in 2022, but those were the biggest 3 that I wanted to share.

All in all, my year was a great success.  My profit was great, I built new amazing friendships, I help 100’s of small business owners move the needle in their business and loved all of it!

Could I have done things better – absolutely – nothing is surer!

Here are a few areas I know I can improve going into 2023:

• Podcast Schedule – While I haven’t missed a podcast episode all year, some have definitely been forced and last minute, so I’ll be specifically planning better for my podcast in 2023.
• Social Media Consistency – My socials have been ad hoc, especially in the past few months.  I think I am letting my disillusion with Meta get in the way of my business and haven’t been as consistent as I would like to have been.  I have started to implement some things in place to combat this in 2023.  I am pretty sure this is a topic for another episode!
• Email Marketing Focus – My email marketing has been inconsistent in places and pretty darn good in other places. So, although I’m disappointed in some of things I’ve missed doing, I am equally chuffed with myself that I have managed to do other things!

When I look at my goals for 2022, I have conquered about 40% of them and found as the year has rolled on that about 30% of them I didn’t want to do anymore (so they were removed as goals – this is why it’s important to check in on your goals!). And for the remaining 30%? Well, as it turns out I just didn’t put enough energy into to conquer.  Maybe they will make the goal list again in 2023 or maybe when I do my review, they won’t make it at all!

I have this saying, and it sounds very vain, but it’s not.  It goes like this:

“I always get want I want”

And, it’s true.  I also get what I want because I acknowledge that if I didn’t get it (whatever “it” is) then I must not have really wanted it, because I didn’t put the energy into getting it.  If I really want something, I will work until I get it.  So, it sounds vain, but it’s really just reality!

For instance, I didn’t reach my goal of having 3 x 6 week mastermind programs for 2022.  I did one in February and then that was it.  I never gave promoting, launching and marketing the program the energy it needed this year, so far can I think that I would achieve it!  It was a goal that became a non-goal.

REVIEW YOUR 2022

So, as an end-of-year review prompt for you, jot down your responses to the following questions:

• What goals did you reach?
• Which goals didn’t you achieve?
• Why was that? (Answer for both achieving and not achieving).

As a little side note: Don’t be disappointed in yourself for not reaching goals – instead cast a critical eye over why you didn’t get there. It could be that you simply didn’t put the energy in to achieve them in the first place, OR that it wasn’t a goal you really wanted to pursue in the end.

PREDICTIONS FOR 2023

I am afraid to say that I don’t have a magic wand or crystal ball to make 2023 a brilliant year. I think it will be tough.  Maybe tougher than 2022.

The pandemic is finished – Covid is still around however the pandemic measures have ceased – but the consequences of both are still very much a reality.

Economics was one of my absolute favourite subjects at school and at uni, and although I am not good at it, the micro and macro of economics is still something I look at and make assumptions from.  And frankly you don’t need an economics degree to see what’s happening and what will happen.

Governments simply cannot pay out billions to help us move through a pandemic without economic issues in the future and unfortunately, those economic issues are going to start impacting us in 2023.  High inflation, wars, cost of living, they are all going to further impact us as consumers and as business owners in 2023.

But it’s not dire.  And can I just ask one favour of you?  Remember that media makes money out of bad news.  So, as we head into 2023 and you hear story after story of cost of living woes, inflationary issues and the talk of recession, remember that bad news sells, keep in mind that while the media HAS to talk about this stuff to sell ad space, newspapers, listenership etc – but you don’t have to listen or buy into it.

I am not saying that the economy won’t take a hit, but what I am saying is that you don’t have to get bogged down in the story line and should three thousand percent dig in and watch your own business and watch for patterns in your industry, your town, and with your customers/clients.

The pandemic taught us, if nothing else, that we can survive, we can pivot, shift, change and surprise, delight and solve OUR customers problems.

That is where you REALLY need to concentrate in 2023.

Instead of listening to all the media hype, you should watch for patterns you see, listen to your customers – what are they saying.

My recommendation is to move your business model around according to these two things – patterns and customers.

My prediction for 2023 is that it will be a tough year for any business owner who is set in their ways, doesn’t move with the times, doesn’t listen to their customers and isn’t ready to pivot, and doesn’t show up for their community.

When budgets are tight, who do you spend money with?  The people you know, like and trust – right?  Not some random on the internet – but people you know, like and trust.

Make sure you are building a community, showing up and building trust – these things will serve you well in 2023 and beyond!

What will I be doing differently in 2023?  Well, I guess I have to solve some issues of things that didn’t go so well in 2022 for starters.

So far I have hired a new VA to help me with some aspects of my business I want to do better, such as Pinterest and YouTube.

I will build into my calendar more time to batch podcasts and all the bits that go with an episode, such as emails and social posts and also build into my calendar more time for social media in general – especially video.

I’ll take some time in January to plan out launches and launch them!

And I 100% intend to build in more time out that’s not work related in 2023.  My hope is to take a whole day off each week to enjoy – but as I say this it doesn’t look good for me does it – I have used language like “hope” and “intend” – what I need to start saying is that I am taking Thursdays off in 2023, period!

PLANNING FOR YOUR 2023

So here are some questions you can answer to get your ducks in a row going into 2023:

• What are you going to do differently in 2023?
• What do your ideal clients want from you in 2023?
• What worked and what didn’t work in 2022 in your business?
• What goals did you hit this year, which didn’t you hit and why?
• Are those goals still important and relevant for 2023?

Just like you’ve taken some time to read this blog post, please take some time to go through those questions and make a list, pull together a plan of attack and start the steps to implement.

We learn so much from looking back – so give yourself that space to learn.

I feel I could write for ages about this, but I know what time of the year it is and overwhelming you with new strategies and things to do just isn’t going to help you!

I’d love your feedback and thoughts- head to my Facebook group Like Minded Business Owners or email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au – I’d love to know your thoughts on what are big futurist topics.

As always, if you want to discuss your business goals going into 2023- book a discovery call with me http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn and let’s do that together.

Or, let’s hang out and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fave LinkedIn.

CONTACT JENN:

Don’t forget, you can book a free discovery call with me to talk about how I can help your nail your business strategy, goals, planning and marketing in 2023! Simply click the link and grab a spot!

My Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group is also a great community to join – full of awesome people in small business!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s an expert marketing coach and mentor from rural NSW. She is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  The Founder of Buy From a Bush Business, Co-Founder of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace and host of the very popular podcasts Small Business Made Simple and Stories from the Bush. Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk! Jenn’s online community is over 320,000 with her famous Facebook Group currently at almost 370,000 members and still growing every day.  She’s the mayor of her own little online city!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan