What marketing skills will be key in 2022 for small business owners?
With 2022 on the horizon you might be wondering what marketing skills you’ll need over the coming year to help market your small business. As a marketing consultant and small business owner myself, I’m delighted to be writing again for Emma’s blog and hope that I can provide you with a little insight on this topic within the next few lines.
So, what will be different in 2022 for your business? There are two ways to look at that. The first is that nothing may be different in a huge iceberg approaching kind of way, although who could have predicted the year we’d all have thanks to Covid back in 2020? So never say never, right! If nothing like that happens and you tick along as you have this year, then great.
The second way to look at things is that you’ll be different in 2022. No one stays the same and the fact you are no longer a business rookie, you may be far from that, means everything will be different as you enter the year ahead with confidence and the hard-won experience of 2021 behind you.
With that said, here are 3 key marketing skills that I really think will come to the front in 2022.
1. Knowing what your community needs
Most of us use social media to market our businesses, it is an amazing tool for connection, and yet there is more evidence than ever that these tools we often use for free may not have our best intentions at heart. Big brand, Lush announced in the last week its intention to completely quit Instagram and Facebook. It’s really worth thinking about what your customers need. With more alternative platforms than ever available to foster connections with your community it could be worth looking into these for your customers.
2. Become a trend-spotting ninja
A skill that will always be in demand is knowing your industry and thinking about what your customers really want and need.
I’d highly recommend identifying a few thought leaders within your industry and paying close attention to what they predict for 2022, so your business can be first out of the gate with innovations that your customers will love.
My own trend prediction for 2022 is anything that saves your customers time will continue to be popular so really give it some thought. Tesco now offers a 10-minute delivery service via the Gorillas partnership, perfect for missing dinner ingredients. How can you adapt this trend?
3. Really think about any consumer claims
Customers are smarter than ever. Nobody wants to feel manipulated or lied to by a business. Put time into thinking about your claims around environment, sustainability or supply chain and make sure you can back up everything with facts and figures.
Thanks for reading, and here's to an excellent marketing year for all of us!
