7 small business marketing trends for 2023

7 Small Business Marketing Trends for 2023

In order to survive in today’s ever changing market, small business marketing must be able to adapt quickly. This can be very stressful, especially if the business does not have the time, budget or resources to implement it. The key is to know the best places to allocate your time, so to get the best return on your investment (time or money).


In this article, I explain where I see the future of these top 7 marketing channels in 2023 and how your small business marketing needs to adapt and incorporate them into your strategy.

  • Social Media
  • Video Marketing
  • Paid Media
  • SEO
  • Email Marketing
  • Blogging
  • Word of mouth or partnerships

Social Media trends for 2023

Social Media Will Continue To Dominate small business marketing as more people will use these platforms to connect with friends, family, and colleagues. This means that marketers need to make sure that they are using the right channels to reach their audiences.

The platforms are investing huge amounts of their money into regularly updating these apps. Remember, their goal is to build their business and get as many users onto  their app per day and for as many hours per day. In doing this, they get adverts in front of more people and keep their paying advertisers happy.

The recent changes to push video and reduce organic reach has caused huge upset with small businesses. If platforms continue their direction towards an entertainment app, I see many businesses re-asses if social media is worth the time and effort, and start moving their marketing to other platforms that have their users at the forefront. 

The short entertainment style videos do not suit all types of industries, therefore every business needs to refer back to their persona analysis and pivot or reasses which social platforms they should be using.

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The future of Video Marketing

You’ve likely already heard that YouTube is the second largest search engine, after Google and in 2023 and beyond this is likely to increase. What does this mean for you? More consumers than ever (including your own customers) search YouTube for product reviews, how-tos and more.

Creating YouTube videos means that you’ll get in front of more customers searching for videos related to your industry and products or services.

Depending on the type of content we are searching for, consumers will choose the platform that will best help them solve their problem. Eg, if you want to know how to fix something on your motorbike, you are more likely to go YouTube before Google.

For small businesses this means if your product or service can communicate the benefits to people via video, then this is a must for your marketing strategy for 2023.

Video is suitable for all stages of the buyers journey, from brand awareness videos, to product demonstrations to testimonials.

The benefits of Paid Ads in 2023

Organic traffic takes a while to build, and your small business marketing may need to invest in short-term plays. Pay-to-play tactics that target buyers with high intent are great for short-term wins to jump-start other objectives.

In 2023 as social media reach is getting harder with every platform update, the key to a solid strategy is to spread your efforts and included reach and paid and to simply adjust the proportions of each as and when it’s needed.

There are many paid channels to choose from, but I see the ones that benefit you the most in 2023 will be Google AdWords, Paid social and YouTube advertising. Choosing the appropriate paid channel will depend on your industry, products, services and your target market.

For example, if you know that your target audience is searching the web for your product or solution, Google ads would be a great solution. If they aren’t, you might consider social media ads instead. Individuals on social media have less buying intent, but with highly targeted ads and enough impressions, you’ll gain the interest of your audience.

How blogging will help you gain prospects

It always has been and will continue into 2023 as one of the best ways to attract prospects for your website giving small businesses one of the best return on investments.

Blogging is a great way to generate organic traffic within your small business marketing, particularly for those prospects who have not reached a purchasing decision yet. In addition, it can establish credibility in your space and position you as a thought leader. Even if you only publish once a week, it will improve your website’s visibility online and help educate your potential customers on why they should trust your company. 

The key to any marketing strategy is to keep prospects moving through the buyer journey, therefore once you start writing, you can add a call-to-action on your posts for visitors to subscribe to your blog and receive emails This is a great way to start collecting leads and offering potential customers a way to get information if they aren’t ready to buy anything from you yet.

Using email marketing to nurture leads

The percentage of time we spend online grows every year and as consumers are living a more digital lifestyle from researching, entertainment to communication. In my opinion we still crave community and a sense of belonging and cannot fully achieve this from a digital only lifestyle. Therefore in 2023 adding a sense of community and individuality will be a winning tactic for any small business.

Email marketing is one of the few channels that has the ability to be customized based on the user and their past actions and engagement with your business. This is extremely useful once you analyze the data available and transform this information into valuable marketing strategies.

This personalized messaging captures the attention of busy consumers far more effectively than a one-size-fits-all blanket social media post for example. As a result, personalized emails increase the likelihood of customer engagement and the ultimate purchase of your company’s goods and services.

Using Word or mouth as a marketing strategy

In the last 5 years consumers have become more and more conscious of how easy it is for social media accounts to post fake and misleading information. Therefore consumers need more genuine ways to gain trust in a business before we decide to transact with them. In 2023 leaning into word of mouth as a promotion channel could benefit your business marketing in all aspects.

Word of mouth and recommendations hold a stronger sense of trust than anything we read online. That’s why delighting customers can have a big impact on your business, primarily in repeat purchases and word of mouth. If you provide a great experience, your customers will be more inclined to leave reviews, give testimonials, and tell their friends about you.

That’s why it’s a good idea to measure customer satisfaction and encourage customers to spread the word.

Tips for SEO in 2023

As businesses are watching their money and especially their marketing budgets through 2023 and beyond, SEO becomes the more economical and sustainable option for many.

SEO can take from 6 to 12 months to see the benefits, which often discourages businesses, but I have personally seen clients gain the benefits 6 to 10 years later.

If your website is optimized and your regular blogs have got the relevant keywords, your content will continue to gain momentum and traffic for years to come.

The initial cost to do a SEO audit, website optimization and blogging systems and processes can be discouraging at first, but when you divide this by the 10 years you will reap the organic traffic and the benefit of not having to work to gain that traffic, it equals a very good return on investment.

To start your small business marketing SEO journey, engage with an SEO consultant. I refer all my clients to Dora Jonsdottir*.

They will audit your website and find any speed or technical errors that are signally Google you have a faulty website. Once your website is in good shape to receive traffic, then you can work on a SEO content strategy.

In conclusion:

2023 will see small business marketing strategies get savvy with their marketing budgets and time.

Gone are the days of spending time on social media and getting leads and DMs from it. As the social media platforms are getting more competitive with the developments of their apps, so does how their apps benefit businesses.

My advice for a solid marketing strategy for 2023 should include a good mixture of the 7 channels mentioned here. The proportions and ratios of each will depend on your industry, resources, budget and services. The key is to track all your marketing and don’t be afraid to pivot if you see after 6 months or more they are not achieving the goals you set out for them.

For more advice and guidance on how to choose these channels – attend one of my channel marketing webinars.