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Show Notes

2023 is just around the corner—can you believe it?! As a business owner, you may be wondering how to efficiently and effectively market yourself to potential clients. After all, managing your brand requires knowing the latest trends in marketing. In this episode I’ll share our top 2023 marketing predictions that will help make your business stand out from the competition! We’ll break down what types of digital strategies you should adopt to amplify your reach and influence. Let’s dive into our 2023 marketing predictions now!

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Are you a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact? Connect with me at YourMarketingMatchmaker.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Jennifer:

Hey there, welcome back to Marketing Matchmaker. So today is the middle of December of 2022, we have reached the almost halfway point of December, which means that we are approaching 2023 rapidly. And with the holidays coming up, I think our December just starts to accelerate faster and faster. And so today, episode is really focused on 2023. Like what’s coming? What are the predictions of marketing and in this realm for 2023, what are the things that you should and must have in your business, so that you can start planning for the upcoming New Year.

It’s no secret that digital marketing is constantly evolving. Every year, there are new trends, emergency new technologies come out, sometimes new social media platforms, and it can sometimes make it difficult for people to keep up right, it can feel overwhelming. So I really wanted to focus on three things that are must haves in your business in this coming new year, and so that you can start making a plan on how to implement them upcoming.

Honestly, none of these things are groundbreaking, revolutionary, there, there’s nothing.

There’s no new technology that you need to implement.

There’s simply reminders of things that if you haven’t done already, they’re becoming more and more vital, every time we step into a new week, a new month, a new year. Realistically, these things are essential, really to effectively marketing your business.

So the first thing that we’re going to start with is data.

I know, I know, I say data, people’s eyes glaze over, I get it, it happens to the best of us numbers are, well, they can be scary and overwhelming for people. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be right, we can look at this as like a fun way of really looking at our business and knowing what’s working and what’s not. Now more than ever data is really essential to looking at your business, especially in your marketing and being able to tell what’s working and what’s not. In generations past, when it came to marketing, we didn’t have the type of information that we do now. That’s the real benefit of digital marketing is that we are able to access real time information about what is working in our business.

So we can look at those ads or that funnel or that social media posts or that blog post or SEO, or Google Analytics or whatever your poison is for fighting data, we get to look at it and analyze it and understand what’s working right now.

You know, 20-30 years ago, that wasn’t possible we they waited months to see if a campaign was actually effective. You don’t have to wait months to realize whether or not your date your marketing campaign is working. It really does happen faster with digital marketing, which is the big benefit of it.

That being said, we also want to understand that marketing does take time. And sometimes, in order for us to get effective data or in order for us to really understand the trends long term. We want to give our marketing enough time to do that. And we can still use that data to effectively look at what it is that’s working. So we can start making small tweaks as we go along to make it more and more effective. 2023 is really not going to change that perspective of data being exceptionally important.

What it has changed in the last couple of years is how we’re accessing that data, what we’re getting from that data and where it’s coming from.

We all I’m sure have heard of iOS 14 and 15 updates. Those kinds of things revolve around privacy and privacy laws. And it’s really become more and more essential for business owners to have what they call zero party data. So zero party data for those of you that don’t know is really information that your audience is giving to you willingly, funnels anybody.

Seriously.

That’s the point of funnels.

It’s getting somebody’s name, address, email and beyond. that it’s also understanding their preferences, their purchase history, their intention, their, their flow through your funnel itself. All of this information is zero party data. This is data that you own, it doesn’t come from Facebook necessarily. It doesn’t come from Google, necessarily. Those are platforms that you can use to access that data. But this is something that your clients are giving to you because they trust you or your potential clients are giving to you because they want to know more about you.

This data can really make it so that you are better able to create more effective marketing, you’re better able to ask better questions. And those questions give you the answers you need in order to really ramp up your marketing and target it more and more effectively. And that’s what I mean by data doesn’t necessarily need to be scary. It’s not even always about numbers.

A lot of times, it’s really about what your audience is doing in your business or with your business so that you are better able to understand how to better serve them. So really being able to recognize what is important when it comes to this information is going to be vital as you continue to grow your business.

In 2023. And beyond, we just get more and more effective at collecting data. And the platform’s, even with the privacy laws get more and more effective at continuing to help you collect the data. Keep in mind that those zero party data, the data that you get from your audience will help you to reach more people like the audience that you’re building.

And as we grow our business, that email list, like that’s really that is data, right? That’s information about your audience. And it becomes more and more vital in your business. I’ve said it before. And I’ll say it again, it is one of the most important assets that your business has.

So second thing that I wanted to talk about today, that’s going to be essential in 2023. That’s currently essential, that’s not going away. And I hate to say this for you. But for those of you that don’t like video, get over it. Video content is nothing new. And in digital marketing, especially in the coming year, it is becoming more and more essential to your business.

As business owners and contractors and content creators, we often find ourselves at this juncture have a question of which is better short form or long form? Which one should we use for our audience? Short Form contact are things like tick tock videos, or Instagram reels, those really short pieces of content that you put out, that gives little bites of who you are. They’re usually really fun and engaging and they can cut through the noise really well.

Long form content is really about building that relationship with your audience and giving you a chance to provide value and shine as the expert. I mean, think about it, if someone is paying attention to your video for 3, 5, 10, 15 minutes, sometimes 30 to an hour, very engaged with who you are. And they’re going to remember who you are and what you do and be a little bit more willing to step into that purchase that we’re all looking for in our business.

So the question really doesn’t come down to which is better long form or short form because quite honestly, you need both. The question meat comes to determining what is right for you in your business in that moment. And there are three things when you’re looking at video content that you want to analyze before you start creating it.

The first is your audience. Honestly, you can read every article under the sun, you can listen to every podcast, you can watch every YouTube video on creating content to try and figure out which one is best for you. And it all boils down to, what does your audience consume? And that my friends is where that data comes right back into play. Because understanding how many how much people are watching your short form versus your long form content will help you to recognize what your audience wants and needs, more. So really understanding who your audience is. And what it is they’re looking for is going to help you determine whether you need to create a lot of short form content or a lot of long form content.

You also, number two, want to focus on what’s the purpose of your video, when it comes to creating videos, your purpose is the key to the length of it. If you are wanting to, to produce really short sound bites to grab people’s attentions at and get them to click on something to move on, they’re obviously short perform content is going to be create very important however, if your purpose is really to warm them up a little bit more to connect with them to give them value, then longer form content is where you want to factor into that equation. So understanding what the purposes of the video itself is going to keep the key.

And I’m also going to say this, when you’re looking at video, you can create long form content and chop it up into short form bites, it is possible to do that. And quite honestly, it’s a great hack to creating a lot of content in a short period of time, you have two options when it comes to that kind of thing. Either spend a day and create a bunch of short form content, you know a bunch of little bite sized videos, or spend a day to create a bunch of long form content and chop it up into pieces either is completely up to you.

It’s all depending on the purpose of the video itself.

I generally suggest with my clients that we chop up their content because they just don’t have the time necessarily to create short form content on a regular basis. Unless you’re really a content creator in that that is your main job is to create fun, interesting, engaging content. You don’t necessarily have time to do that. So the best hack to creating content is really to create long form in an engaging manner that you can cut up into short form content.

The third piece that you want to look at when you’re looking at content is really what marketing channels are you using. Obviously, if you’re using Instagram reels or Tik Tok, you’re really going to want to focus on short term short form content, right? Because Instagram is like 60 seconds long. Tik Tok is I think up to three minutes, they don’t have content longer than that. Now, Instagram does have an IG TV, which is a different aspect of their business. And you can create long form content on IG TV.

But if you’re looking at Reels and stories and Tik Tok videos, those are really going to be in that 60 seconds to two minute mark is what that content is.

That being said, you can also create long form content on LinkedIn up to 10 minutes or on Facebook while unlimited. Honestly, if you’re doing an a video on LinkedIn, YouTube is a fabulous place to create really long form content. All of those places provide you with that ability, you can also create sought short form content and all of those, and you can create long form.

So it’s just a matter of really focusing on how you’re going to release that content to understand which ones are going to be most effective for you. Video is an essential element to every business strategy marketing strategy.

Not only does it draw people in it also creates a presence for you and sets you up as an expert in your business, which then creates trust and it creates that connection in that relationship with your audience. Which by friends is the whole point of marketing in general.

So the third thing we’re gonna talk to you today is funnels in 2023. Yeah, I No big surprise that I’m wrapping all of this up with talking about funnels. I know I might be biased about this topic. However, what I know is that funnels are the best way to create a business that is flexible, agile and capable of scaling. It takes you out of that center of doing all of the things and allowing things like automation to do it for you.

Let’s start with just the basic definition of what a funnel is because I think sometimes people get really confused or anxious or overwhelmed with the idea of a funnel.

A funnel is simply taking someone who doesn’t know who you are, what you do, and who you serve through a series of steps to warm them up, to make to allow them to get to know you to build a relationship with them, so that you can take them into your sales process and convert them to clients. That is legitimately the funnel, that is what we’re doing.

It’s a customer journey from introduction to commitment, really being able to connect with and build a relationship with your audience. So generally speaking, a funnel will involve multiple aspects of the digital marketing realm, things like automation, and email, marketing your content and pay traffic. I mean, let’s be honest, organic traffic is really difficult to get a lot of people into your sphere of influence. paid traffic is going to be a really great way to draw a whole bunch of people into your business, which when you’re trying to scale is the whole point. And it’s also the whole point of funnel.

Because again, with a funnel, it starts a friend of mine called an ice cream cone once right to get that visual, it’s a V, at the top of the funnel are people who are interested in you, at the middle of the funnel, are people who, like you, and at the bottom of the funnel are the people who buy from you. So you’re taking people from that interest through to from that awareness to the interest to conversion to really getting to buy from you.

And that’s the point of a funnel is to get someone to to be ready to purchase your product service or solution.

The biggest benefit of a funnel, and really why you should be using it are things like automation. So here’s the thing, if a process can be automated, it should be, it is going to save you a ton of time, energy and effort by taking you out of the middle of that interaction with your cold audience. People who don’t know who you are, who don’t know who you serve, who may not even know they have a problem.

It takes you out of the middle of explaining what you do and why someone should buy from you. It really allows you to focus on the people who are most aware of what it is you do and the problems that you solve, and that you’re able to be their solution. Funnels also, again, we’re circling back to data, allow you to track a customer’s behavior, you are really able to understand where someone might be falling out of your funnel.

And that really helps you to understand that maybe there’s an email that’s not working, or maybe they’re clicking off of your video at 10 minutes in or maybe they’re not finishing your quiz or your survey, all of those kinds of things allow you to understand your customers behavior so that you’re better able to market to them effectively. And it also allows you to follow up with your potential clients, without having to do it yourself.

Back to that automation thing.

Follow up is so key when it comes to business owners nurturing a list, and nurturing a potential client is really how we turn them into long term committed clients. Those are the kinds of things that will help you to really scale your business rapidly.

So I get a lot, asked a lot, what funnels do I recommend? And the reality is, is that every business owner is going to have a funnel designed specifically for them, or at least they should. Because every business owner’s business is different. Their audience is different, what they’re saying how they’re saying it, and what their audience needs to know before they’re ready to buy is going to be different.

So really understanding that, is key to creating a funnel that really works for you and your business. It’s why I say cookie cutter marketing doesn’t work right, following all the Guru’s that say, just copy my funnel and you’ll make a million dollars too. That doesn’t work because it may or may not connect with your audience. And it may or may not be something you’re comfortable doing.

So really keep in mind that your funnel, your strategy in marketing should be designed specifically for you, your business, and your audience.

Now, there are a couple of funnels that I tend to recommend more often than not depending on the client and what they’re doing things like a training funnel, which include webinars, masterclasses video sales letter, whatever you want to call it, it’s that short training that provides value to your audience and connects you to them in a way that really allows them to understand that you understand and know what their problem is, and you have a solution to fix it.

So a couple of things to keep in mind when it comes to these trainings is that you’re really wanting to provide value, webinars got a really bad name in the past, you know, five years or so because a lot of them ended up just being a selling fest. That’s not the point of this. The point of this is to train and educate your audience in some problem that they’re having right now.

So your funnel, if we’re going to do a 30 minute webinar funnel, keep in mind that about five to 10 minutes should be you talking about who you are, what you do, who you serve, and why they should listen to you, then you want to make sure that you’re spending a good 10 to 15 minutes actually training them on something, give them education, give them information that they didn’t have before.

And the last five to 10 minutes is really about selling your product service or solution because that’s let’s be honest. That’s what the point of this is, yes, you want to provide value to your audience, and you want to move them into your sales cycle. So make sure that you are capable of laying out a webinar in that way.

Another funnel, but I love is the quiz funnels. I mean, I love a good quiz. I’m sure you love a good quiz, who doesn’t love a good quiz? The thing about a quiz funnel is that it really does provide value to both you and your audience. When done right, a quiz will educate your audience on something that they’re struggling with right now and on a possible solution to that problem.

What it also does is give you information about your audience. So you’re able to capture from that quiz. What it is that they’re struggling with? What are their biggest pain points, maybe their demographic or psychographic, like there’s a lot of information you can gather from a quiz. It also allows you to then segment that audience into different categories that then you can market directly to.

So let’s say you’re talking to someone about let’s just say sales, right? And, you know, one of your segments is never sold anything before. Another segment is I’ve sold a little but I’m struggling. And another segment is I rocket sales, right?

So that gives you three different people that you can talk to, and you can talk to them directly about the problem in the situation that they’re in right now so that you can provide them a solution to that problem.

It really does help to be able to speak directly into their map of reality where they are, so you can meet them where they are to help take them where they want to go.

Those are my two favorite funnels, I do believe those are the top two that I recommend a lot.

The third one that I recommend is finding the information that your audience needs and being able to deliver it in a one piece or maybe a small short ebook something that’s easily digestible to your audience.

All three of these types of funnels will really help you to generate an audience and bring them through your funnel, nurture them, warm them up and convert them and sales when they’re done right. funnels are essential for growing and scaling your business. And really keep in mind that every funnel needs a purpose.

You need to understand every stage of that funnel and why you want people to land there. No matter what type of business you have, you need a funnel that attracts and converts your audience. The goal for any funnel is really to move people through the different stages of your sales process and to to create an automated system that takes them from introduction through to commitment, so that amendment so that they are able to buy from you.

So as we wrap this up, just keep in mind that as digital marketing continues its rapid evolution. I mean, every day something new comes up. It’s really important for businesses, big and small to remain aware of the latest trends and the latest things so that they can stay competitive in their marketplace.

By staying ahead of the curve, now, you can set yourself up well for success further down the line. And if you really want to grow your business, increase your revenue, and scale your impact. Step into your marketing for 2023. If you haven’t created a plan yet, let me help you. Go to your marketing matchmaker.com and sign up for our free marketing exploration call. Let’s see how we can help you create the new year that you’ve been dreaming.

OUTRO: Thank you for listening to the marketing matchmaker podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear your feedback. Please head over to Apple iTunes and leave a review so we can hear from you. And if you are a coach, consultant or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income and scale your impact. Connect with me at your marketing matchmaker.com I look forward to hearing from you.