Let’s talk about January. Again! More specifically though, Dry January. It’s that time of year when many people firmly say no and abstain from alcohol to detox and save a few pennies along the way. Sounds beneficial, right? If you’re taking part, then we salute you! Whilst we’re on the subject of the terms ‘dry‘ and ‘January‘, however, seeing as though you’re operating in a proactive frame of mind, it’s also very important to make sure that your company’s sales don’t dry up this January.
We understand that the lull over the Christmas period can leave you feeling rather unmotivated, but now is the time to stop moping around and get back on top of your game with these key steps on how to succeed in the world of business during January.
Plan Your Marketing in Advance
Planning may come as second nature to you, so you may think that our first piece of advice is extremely obvious. The reason why we emphasise planning in advance is because marketing is a broad concept, with a variety of different platforms for you to utilise in order to spread the word about your business.
1. Social Media
It goes without saying that your business should be active on social media, as it is one of the prime ways in which to reach and engage with your target audience. You should have a presence on the channels that you think will accommodate the market in which you operate and subsequently facilitate you as a brand. For example, if you’re an SME in a niche environment looking to sell your products to other businesses, perhaps try LinkedIn as opposed to Snapchat. At the other end of the spectrum, if you’re a business-to-consumer (B2C) retailer looking to promote the products on your ecommerce website, you may find that you have more success with reaching your target audience through the likes of TikTok and Instagram.
According to this article while Instagram is still a firm favourite, TikTok is moving up in the ranks. Plus, considering that short-form video content will become more popular, TikTok is the ideal platform to use in 2022.
Therefore, when you begin planning your social media strategy, consider incorporating TikTok to give you the best possible chance of increasing your network referrals and conversion rates.
2. Exhibitions
Of course it isn’t just social media marketing that results in generating leads. Exhibitions and trade shows prior to the pandemic were another prime way to market your business and product line.
According to one expert “2022 is going to be about taking all of the things we’ve learned during the pandemic, like the acceleration of digital, and bringing it all together for can’t-miss experiences.”
Showcasing your business in an exhibition environment offers that face-to-face interaction with other businesses that social media doesn’t. This perhaps isn’t something that you’re too bothered about, but some prospective clients may wish to meet you in the flesh to thoroughly discuss your product overview before making a purchase decision. Another plus side to networking events is that you may even find organisations that offer solutions for areas of your business that you wish to improve. Win, win!
3. Video Marketing and Direct Mail
Overall, video content still has the centre stage in content marketing and digital marketing strategies. Research has found that about 84% of consumers used to be convinced to purchase after watching a video. According to cisco reports, video content will account for about 82% of overall internet traffic in 2022. With several solutions to choose from it is worth investigating the right solution for your marketing strategies.
Direct Mail may have taken a hit during the pandemic, but it is proven that a tangible marketing communication yields a better result than an email. The last two years has all been about email marketing but according to the DMA, when compared to email response rates, direct mail has a far greater response rate. Prediction for 2022 is that direct mail will be used to combat digital fatigue.
If you do decide that direct mail is the one for you, you might consider utilising a bulk data cleansing solution to ensure data accuracy to help you get maximum Royal Mail discounts, saving you both time and money.
4. Optimise Your Ecommerce Website
The fundamental purpose of ecommerce is simply the ability to buy something from the internet, but what is the next step? Delivery. Albeit there are a number of critical components that contribute to a successful delivery process, delivering your customers’ purchases to the correct address is arguably the most crucial.
So, if you are an online retailer, there is one thing that you can do today that will improve your business tomorrow. It’s quick, simple and cost-effective. The answer is to integrate a simple and accurate address verification system into your ordering process. The good news is this can be done incredibly quickly, very simply and extremely cost-effectively. It can be achieved by adding as little as 3p to the cost of an online sale. Compare that to the real cost of a return or refund.
5. Data Cleansing
Whilst the GDPR and PECR were introduced to give consumers more control over their personal data, as a business you should also see these regulations as an opportunity to clean up your data in order to remain compliant so that you don’t run the risk of incurring large fines for sending marketing to people that you shouldn’t.
If you’re unsure of where to start on the road to becoming compliant an optimum way to begin is through the regular use of an online data cleansing tool, which is both simple and effective as you can upload your spreadsheets and data sets to the safe and secure system and receive instant cleansing of your data. Additionally, the solution will remove any duplicate, deceased, and mover records from your files so that you remain GDPR compliant. Not only that, but it also flags up any of your customers who are registered with the Mailing (MPS), Telephone (TPS), and Corporate Telephone (CTPS) Preference Services, so you’ll know not to send marketing to any of these people, thus making you PECR compliant as well.
Not only do you risk being in breach of data legislation by marketing to those who are either registered with preference services or have died, for example, but you also risk affecting your customers’ experience with your brand. Word of mouth and repeated mistakes will likely harm your reputation further down the line, which could potentially result in your sales drying up. Given that many businesses capture data regularly, using Address Cleanse frequently will help you adhere to data legislation as well as maintaining your customers’ experience.
We hope you have found this blog helpful and that you can now prepare for a successful 2022, knowing that you have put all the correct measures in place to implement a successful marketing strategy, optimise your ecommerce website, and that your business practice falls in line with important data legislation. Make sure you keep up to date with Hopewiser’s guides on how to make improvements to your business via our social media channels and our blog.
, updated 22nd February 2023.
