7 Marketing Strategies To Adopt In 2023 To Improve Your Sales

As a small business owner, you know that marketing is the lifeblood of your business.

Marketing is what draws customers in, solidifies your brand image, and helps build your brand’s reputation.

But marketing isn’t always so straightforward.

Marketing can take you on a wild ride between keeping up with the latest trends and combing through endless sets of user data.

And what’s the last thing every business owner wants to experience on that ride? Losing money and not getting results.

That’s why you must turn to marketing strategies that yield high results and require little to no investment.

So what are these magic marketing strategies every business should adopt?

Let’s take a look.

1. Position Your Brand As  Trusted Expert 

Positioning yourself as a trusted and reliable source of information within your niche is a highly effective marketing strategy.

Being an industry expert not only helps you attract leads who need the information you’re providing, but it also helps you build a strong reputation with Google.

Why?

The more of an expert Google thinks your brand is, the better chance you have of getting your content to rank high on the results pages.

The beauty of using this method is that it compounds on itself over time — pushing your content higher in the ranks.

So, what are some ways you can position yourself as an industry expert? The simplest way is to design a content marketing plan that focuses on sharing thought leadership content and content based on user intent.

When deciding how to go about this, we recommend starting with just two or three tasks to focus on — for tracking purposes. If you have too many balls in the air, accurately measuring results can be a challenge. If you have too many balls in the air, accurately measuring results can be a challenge.

A marketing plan template can be handy for tracking your tasks and planning your strategy.

For instance, your marketing tasks might include:

1. Hosting educational webinars on Tuesdays and Thursdays 
2. Sending a thought leadership email to all email subscribers every Wednesday
3. Posting articles based on user intent on your blog every Monday and Friday

Sleep Advisor — a brand that’s paved the way for mattress and sleep education worldwide — is a great example of what we mean here.

According to Sleep Advisor, its mission is to help people sleep better by providing expert reviews and guides on mattress shopping and healthy sleep habits. The brand also shares 

research-backed information on how to manage sleep disorders.

Over time, Sleep Advisor has become a trusted expert valued by customers and search engines alike. With these strategies in place, we believe your brand can also have the same success. 

2. Create a strategy for all major sales events 

With over $9 billion in online sales on Black Friday in 2020 alone, businesses can’t afford to skip out on major sales events.

It’s paramount to create a strategy for all major sales events well in advance.

Why?

Reaping the benefits that come from massive influxes in consumer shopping can only happen if you’re prepared. You need time to conduct consumer research, read marketing books, watch tutorials, plan your campaigns and funnels, and implement conversion strategies before the day of the event.

In other words, you need to know which major sales events and holidays are coming up and how your marketing team will tackle each of them.

Here’s what we recommend to get started: 

1. Map Out All Major Sales Events For The Year Ahead

Look at the year ahead and make a note of all major sales events.

Be sure to check for:

• Major bank holidays, like Labor Day and Memorial Day
• Religious holidays, like Easter and Christmas
• Start of season sales 
• End of season sales 
• Fun calendar holidays, i.e., National Coffee Day and National Donut Day
• Company anniversaries

2. Brainstorm How Your Brand Can Show Up For Each Sales Event 

Take a look at your list.

Which holidays stand out the most? Which events are a good match for your company? For instance, if you own a national donut chain, then National Donut Day is important.

Which holidays have record-breaking sales? Conduct industry and consumer research to notate the holidays your customers value most.

Then, brainstorm how your brand can show up for each event. You can also leverage many brainstorming tools in your marketing strategy that will help you to get in-depth insights.

For instance: Run a 30-day ad campaign to promote our newest clothing line at the start of the Spring season. Or partner with three influencers to run a Halloween contest on Instagram in October. 

3. Plan Your Offers

What offers will you be showcasing at each upcoming event?

Are you interested in creating new products and services for each event? Would you like to highlight special offers like discounts or freebies?

Take some time to plan one or two offers for each event you’ll be capitalizing on. 

4. Plan Your Ads, Campaigns, Funnels, & Conversion Strategies 

Meet with your marketing team to discuss how you’d like your brand to show up for each sales event.

Be sure to share:

• The types of offers you’re going to market
• Which sales events you’re going to capitalize on
• What campaign ideas you came up with during your brainstorming session

Then, work together to come up with a plan for ads, funnels, campaigns, and conversion strategies for each sales event.

5. Divvy Out Team Assignments & Deadlines 

Once you’re clear on how you’re going to market all sales events, divvy out individual and team assignments with clear deadlines. Be sure to build in plenty of cushion around deadlines in case something unexpected comes up.

3. Rethink Your Packages & Pricing Options 

Treating the buyer’s journey with care is pivotal to producing higher conversion rates.

Think about the last time you decided not to buy something because the price was too high or low.

You likely conducted some research, compared a few brands, then changed your mind once you landed on the pricing page.

Why?

If the pricing options were too low, you probably assumed there wasn’t enough value in it for you. If the pricing options were too high, you likely bowed out due to budget constraints.

This example perfectly illustrates how important it is to be strategic with how you present packages and prices to customers.

To rectify this conundrum, we recommend conducting a pricing page analysis to identify possible customer pain points.

When conducting the analysis, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind.

First, you’ll need to ensure that every package and offer on your pricing page has a clear benefit or value proposition supporting it. Why should your customer buy Package A? How will Package A make their lives better?

Next, you’ll need to make sure you’re not pricing yourself out of the market. Do you have any packages or products that are priced much higher or lower than industry standard rates? If so, adjust them to fit industry standards.

Finally, unless your target market falls into a specific financial category, make sure you’ve included tiered pricing options. For instance, if you sell project management software, you might include a “free forever” option, a midrange priced option, and a high range priced option. 

4. Create An Affiliate Marketing Strategy 

Creating an enticing affiliate program and locking arms with successful affiliate marketers can catapult your sales growth like nothing else.

Affiliate marketers are the best at what they do.

Not only are they pros at cultivating loyal audiences, but they’re also masters at getting the word out about your brand. They can even help you reach new markets, build quality backlinks, and bolster your online reputation.

When creating your affiliate program, consider your goals. If you’re going to pay affiliates to sing your praises, you’ll need to be sure you’re making the most out of their time. If needed, meet with a business consultant to determine the best course of action.

Then, decide which specific offers you’d like affiliates to market and what kinds of techniques you’d like them to use (if any).

For instance, you might want your affiliates to write in-depth review guides, like this Convertbox review written by affiliate marketer Massimo Chieruzzi. Or, you might want your affiliates to focus on visual marketing in the form of reels, live streams, and YouTube videos.

Finally, research standard affiliate marketing rates to ensure affiliate marketing success and offer fair compensation plans to potential affiliates.

5. Partner With Review Sites 

Another marketing strategy to adopt in 2022 is getting reviewed and listed in articles, like this one about the best investing websites.

Partnering with review sites can effectively build backlinks, get more eyes on your offers, and boost website traffic.

To see what kinds of review sites are available, head to Google and type in your industry name plus “review sites.” Then comb through their articles to see which review site might be the best fit for your brand.

Finally, shoot over an email asking the sites if they’re available to include your brand in any upcoming review articles.

6. Capitalize On Webinars 

Mastering the art of lead magnets and lead conversion strategies is paramount to improving sales in 2022.

And what’s one of the best lead magnets on the planet right now? Webinars.

In fact, during a survey carried out among marketers representing over 2,000 businesses worldwide, 99% of respondents said that webinars were a critical element in their marketing plan.

89% also said that webinars outperformed other channels in creating qualified leads, and 78% said webinars helped in lowering their cost per lead.

In other words, webinars have become a critical marketing attribution and lead conversion tool.

Webinars tick all of the boxes because they:

• Offer participants a low-stakes environment to learn about a new topic 
• Introduce participants to new company offers 
• Provide valuable and informative content participants need 
• Are inexpensive marketing tools for attracting new leads

Have we convinced you to start integrating webinars into your marketing plan? Check out this list of the best webinar software options on the market.

7. Adopt An Inbound Marketing Strategy 

Inbound marketing is a marketing methodology that focuses on attracting customers through valuable content and personalized experiences.

It’s effective because it cuts out the customer chase. With an inbound marketing strategy, your brand will have systems in place that can convert leads into customers while you sleep.

When adopting an inbound marketing strategy, focus on the following methods:

• Attraction methods: Methods that help you attract customers to your brand via personalized content. For instance, marketing your latest blog posts in your email newsletter.
• Delighting methods: Methods that help you create seamless customer experiences during the buyer’s journey. For instance, having a fast-loading online store for a seamless shopping experience. 
• Engagement methods: Methods that help you create, nurture, and convert leads. For instance, starting a Facebook group with the focus of building community. 

Wrap Up 

Marketing is the lifeblood of your business. It’s what draws customers in, solidifies your brand image, and helps build your reputation.

But it’s not always straightforward, is it?

Between keeping up with trends and combing through data, marketing can feel overwhelming and terrifying.

That’s why it’s imperative to focus your time on successful marketing strategies that require little to no investment.

We hope the marketing strategies we shared today are just what you need to bolster your sales in 2022.