Looking to keep up with the small business marketing trends of 2021 to help grow your business? Here’s what to expect for the new year.

#1: Social Media To Engage And Retain Customers 

The easiest way for any small business to grow its reach online is through social media. Did you know that social media budgets accounted for 24% of total U.S. marketing budgets during Q2 of 2020, up from 13% last winter? Businesses should be prepared to dedicate more resources to social media marketing in 2021as this is one of the small business marketing trends that is expected to continue to grow each year.

As we live in an increasingly virtual world, the amount of time people spend online has dramatically increased. This also means that customers are spending more time researching products and brands before making a purchasing decision. This consumer shift creates an incredible opportunity for businesses to increase their reach with new audiences and re-engage with long-time customers on social media.

Pro tip: Make your call-to-action stand out on social media with our free Call To Action Prompts guide. And if you need more help developing engaging content, scheduling consistent posts, keeping up with social media marketing trends, and driving customer responses, check out our social media services so our team of experts can help take this off your plate. 

WE CREATED THESE WORKSHEETS TO HELP YOU UTILIZE YOUR BLOG AND SOCIAL MEDIA BETTER. DOWNLOAD OUR FREE PRINTABLE SOCIAL MEDIA & BLOGGING WORKSHEETS BELOW: 

#2: Google Listings For The Win

Another one to consider among small business marketing trends is Google local listings. The most important thing when it comes to marketing for a small business is to make sure your local listings are verified and updated on various search platforms. If you want to attract more customers from a local level, Google My Business is your best friend.

The biggest advantage of a Google My Business listing is the effect that it has on local searches. When users search for a specific service or product, they would find all of the relevant businesses labeled within that sector in their search results. Upon searching, users can select a business profile and view relevant information such as location (think: how many times have you searched for a service/product “near me”), hours (update holiday hours and times that you open and close so your customers know), images, and posts along with any reviews that might have been written by customers. The reviews section is extremely important as it helps businesses build credibility.

Pro tip: Always ask your customers to write a review for your Google My Business. Here’s a quick and easy 4-step video tutorial we created to help you find your Google review link so you can get more reviews.

#3: Help Your Customers Find You With Local SEO 

Another one of the small business marketting trends you should expect to see in 2021 is local SEO. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a fancy way of saying, “How my customers find me.” This goes hand in hand with your local listings. Small business SEO allows search engines like Google and Bing to rank you according to great content, page titles, backlinks and some other interesting factors, against your competitors.

Pro tip: In order to be on top of the search results page, you should be optimizing, blogging, and creating great content. There really is no shortcut for this. You get out what you put in.

As we mentioned above, customers are spending more time online than ever, so it’s time you help them get to know your business better through blogging educational and creative content. We know that this can be a lot, especially on top of all the things you have to do to run a business efficiently. That’s why we offer our SEO services and blogging services to help busy business owners like you. But if you’d like to dabble in this yourself, be sure to check out our favorite resources to help with your local SEO.

These are the small business marketing trends we recognize for 2021, but this industry is always changing! Are you ready to keep up with these small business marketing trends to meet or exceed your business goals for the new year? If you need help with your marketing strategy, schedule a free 30-minute chat with us to see how we can help you grow your reach online.