It’s time to make your digital marketing resolutions for 2023. Drafting up a well thought out plan is the first step in making sure next year is your best yet. We’ll help get you started with some easy-to-implement but effective action-items!

1. Get Organized

Is your business’s online information inconsistent from platform to platform? Is your brand’s messaging unclear? Did you start some promising projects last year that remained unfinished? If so, the New Year is a great time to clean up your business’s online presence, follow through on half-finished initiatives and draft up new goals.  

Here’s a checklist to follow:

• Clean up your company’s search engine business profiles by creating complete, accurate citations with the same name, address and phone number on relevant directories and getting rid of duplicate listings.
• Make sure your business’s social media pages display correct information such as hours, services, and pricing.
• Define your brand’s messaging: items such as your business’s logo, slogan, website design, brand voice in written content, and the way your employees communicate with customers are all a great place to start.
• Comb back over last year’s initiatives and determine which ones are worth continuing, finishing up or discarding.
• Clearly define your business’s goals and key performance indicators. Instead of “increase revenue” or “cut overhead,” try “increase product X sales by 3%” or “locate a cheaper office space or experiment with a remote model.” Creating specific and measurable goals for each area you’d like to see improvement in makes it easier to see where you’re winning and what still needs work.

2. Start Video Marketing

Facebook and Instagram continue to give preference to video and live video content. While video might seem challenging, it’s worth the work as it’s one of the most powerful ways to connect with your customers, audience and break into new markets.

To learn more about how to get started with video marketing, check out this blog!

Video marketing needs to be on your 2023 goals list. Video marketing is no longer a rising trend, but an established and effective marketing tool. In order for your business to compete in the digital marketing space, creating video content is a must!

3. Social Media Refresh

Now is the perfect time to take inventory of every social media channel your business is on and determine which ones are working the hardest. Once you identify those, make sure you’re doing the following:

• Start posting consistently on your top social platforms. Drafting up a content creation and posting schedule can ease decision fatigue and help you find time to make compelling content.
• Decide if you’re going to make the content or if you’ll need to hire help. Social media is becoming increasingly more saturated, meaning it takes more to stand out. Outsourcing your business's social media marketing can mean big platform growth and more time on your hands.
• Find new ways to use lower performing channels that are less time and resource consuming. We don’t recommend completely pulling out of a social media channel, but we do recommend discovering how each platform can work for your business!
• Reply to comments and messages promptly to increase engagement.
• Share a variety of posts. Some key pillars to hit are educational, product specific, and entertainment focused.

One of RevLocal’s Social Media Coordinators advises businesses on content; “Tell your story. Instead of focusing on selling, really commit to telling the story of who you are and why you do what you do. And don’t forget to create a cohesive brand image on social media so that your brand is memorable.”

4. Get Proactive with Review Marketing

It’s nothing new that online reviews are extremely important. But does your review marketing strategy treat them as such?

91% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase. In order for reviews to stay relevant and helpful, they shouldn't be more than a few months old. This means your review marketing strategy can’t be passive; it’s time to get creative and find natural but enticing ways to ask customers to leave reviews!

One of our Digital Strategists stressed the importance of reviews saying, “Reviews can make the difference between someone choosing your business or going to your competition. Even when a friend refers someone to your business, they will still search online to see what other people think and say about you before walking in to make a purchase.”

If you’re having trouble getting a steady stream of new reviews, all you have to do is start asking your current customers. RevLocal handles review marketing for small business and multi-location brands. If you need an extra hand, check out what we do!

Here’s how to ask for reviews:

• Collect customers’ email addresses and send them an email directly asking them to review your services and/or products.
• Mention at checkout that you’d appreciate a review on Yelp, Facebook, Google or whichever site is the most important for your industry.
• Post signs inside your business asking customers to review you. Bonus points if you offer a discount or a raffle entry!

5. Optimize for Voice Search

With the prevalence of tools like Alexa, Amazon Echo, Google Home and Siri, voice search is more mainstream than ever. If your business’s information can’t be read by voice search AI, you risk losing business to competitors who have prioritized optimizing voice search.

How do you optimize for voice search?

• Research high volume, long tail keywords to include in headlines, product descriptions and other website copy.
• Consistently post fresh, relevant content to improve your website’s SEO and increase traffic.
• Make data-driven decisions

6. Track Data

2023 is the year to start tracking what’s actually working and find bottlenecks to improve. If you want to be successful in digital marketing, it’s important to know where your money is wasted and where it’s well spent so you can make informed decisions.

Keep track of your business’s marketing analytics and only make marketing decisions based on that data rather than how you’re feeling or what your neighbor down the street recommends.

Here are a few places to look for marketing analytics:

• Track calls in paid ads.
• Dive into the analytics on your website.
• Check out those Facebook insights.
• Ask customers how they found you and decided to purchase.
• Set up an offline tracking system.

RevLocal offers a one-and-done marketing analytics platform that makes it easy to understand your business’s marketing data and make meaningful decisions. Check it out here!

7. Stay Updated on Current and Upcoming Trends

One of our Strategists says to consistently look out for new features and to make sure that your marketing aligns closely with your 2023 business goals. Jumping on worthwhile trends early can make a big difference for your business digital marketing efforts.

Signing up for RevLocal’s blog is an easy way to stay in the know and make informed digital marketing decisions. Sign up here!

Final thoughts…

Fulfilling each of these resolutions will bring you one step closer to hitting your business goals for 2023!

If your business grew in 2022 and it looks like you may need some digital marketing help in 2023, find out why RevLocal could be a great partner! 

Contact us for a free consultation or check out our resources to learn more.