Every year in December (since our founding in 2020), we’ve counted down our most-viewed marketing blogs of the year as a way to see what our site visitors found interesting. It’s always a bit of a surprise to us but perhaps that goes to the core fact that we’re always learning more about our audiences as we go. OK, with that, here are the top blogs for 2023!
No. 10: Why Some Small Businesses Stay Small While Others Grow
If you ask a number of small businesses what their ambitions are, it’s rare to hear any of them suggest they’d like to “stay small.” That’s not to say it doesn’t happen – or there aren’t valid reasons for wanting such a thing – it’s just that most would probably tell you they’d like to grow. And not just by a little bit – most would say they’d want to grow A LOT. But the question is, if that’s the case, why do some businesses still stay small? What’s the secret to growth? Here are a few differentiators that we’ve seen. Read More
No. 9: What Does It Mean to Be Audience-Focused in Marketing?
Being “audience-focused” has become such a cliché that when you hear a marketer utter it for the umpteenth time, your eyes almost begin to roll toward the back of your head. “Yeah, yeah, focus on the audience, I get it,” you say, exasperated. But what does it really mean? Here’s our definition. Read More
No. 8: What Does It Mean to Do ‘Data-Driven’ Marketing?
Contrary to what you might think, there are actually 5 types of important marketing data that are key to both reviewing and acting on within any organization. Let’s cover all of them. Read More
No. 7: Why Marketing Is Like Betting on Horses
Those who know us, know we have long loved horse racing. So, it was probably inevitable that we would write something like this. One reason to talk about this now is that we still run into many businesses that don’t quite understand marketing fully, how it works, what it does, or how to do it to give yourself the best chances of success. And we thought this horse-betting metaphor could help! The 5 reasons marketing is like betting on horses… Read More
No. 6: ‘Why Is My Marketing Not Working?’ It Might Be Your Authority
What does authority have to do with small business marketing? Almost everything. In fact, we’d argue that of all the marketing activities for a small business to spend its time on, building brand authority might be no. 1. Yet, because it’s more amorphous – there’s no one way to do it and it’s a bit hard to know when you have it – we see a lot of companies who don’t really put their energy into it. Read More
No. 5: 6 Things You Can Do Right Now to Boost Your SEO
We often see a lot of small businesses that are intimidated by search engine optimization (SEO). Indeed, with all the information out there about best practices, it can definitely seem daunting as to where to start. But it doesn’t have to be super complicated for you as a business owner. A lot of SEO is really about setting up processes and paying attention to little things that you can do. In this blog post, we’ll discuss six areas that you can focus on right now to boost your SEO and improve your online presence. Read More
No. 4: What Does It Mean to Think About the Big Picture in Marketing
What’s funny about the field of marketing and the expertise that’s out there is that it’s really split between two main camps: 1. Those who spend more time considering a company’s big-picture, strategic approach, and; 2. Those who focus on the more tactical, ongoing operational approach. But in order to do marketing well at any level, as a company, you need both. Read More
No. 3: The 7 Biggest ‘Leaks’ in Your Marketing Funnel
Recently, we’ve been asked by a number of our small business clients to do a funnel analysis on their behalf. Basically, this process involves analyzing the entire customer journey. Oftentimes, we find a number of common “leaks” that occur at various funnel stages — individuals who are dropping out along the way who could make it further to the next stage had the company employed a different tactical approach. Here are the 7 biggest leaks that we see and what businesses can do to address them. Read More
No. 2: The 4 Core Emotions of Marketing
How do great companies influence buyer behavior and precipitate “behavior change”? One method is to use emotion. In particular, creating emotional messaging that resonates with your potential and current customers/clients. To distill this down quickly, marketers will often try to get at 4 core emotional questions about their audiences. Read More
And the number 1 blog of 2023 is…
No. 1: 7 AI Applications for Small Businesses to Use in 2023
There is no doubt in our minds that 2023 is the year of the machine. This isn’t just big business using artificial intelligence and machine learning for deeper data discovery, it’s everyone. With the spread of AI to common applications such as ChatGPT, the technology is now more accessible than ever. What are some applications to take advantage of if you’re a small business? Here are 7 suggestions to start using today. Read More
Well, that’s a wrap on 2023! As always, we want to wish you a happy holiday season and great start to the new year.
