Best Free Marketing Ideas in 2023

The main inspiration for this article is adaptation to an unstable world. Something that is both a concern and an opportunity. It is how we manage this newly found uncertainty that will determine our success. This article will cover topics regarding trust, seo and modern trends that transcend today's issues.

Here are some important questions to ask yourself:

Which format and platform is preferred by your target demographic?

What about how expensive it will be to implement your strategy?

What are the modern trends and why are they so important?

How can a mixed approach benefit us?

This article will attempt to answer these exact questions with a focus on today's best performing marketing methods and the cost efficiency of those methods.

Current Events and the Economy

The global economy is one thing that has affected our forecast and subsequently our strategic approach towards the market. This article seeks to cover today's best digital marketing trends and explain why those trends are so important in 2022.

It’s undeniable that the economic downturn has affected all of us around the world. The question becomes how we manage our business around these new constraints. We’ve noticed a push for more free marketing channels like social media as a replacement for paid advertisements. These trends are influenced by the costs of advertising but also the popularity of new methods like short form videos and live selling.

Social Media as the Most Popular Digital Marketing Trend in 2022

Social Media has become the number one choice for businesses of all kinds in this new uncertain era. The main proponents for social media are more or less the same, but the way we use them and the supporting technology changes over time. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are just as useful as they have always been, but new formats and specialized platforms are quickly accumulating viewers and improving the way we communicate. Social Media in general is growing more attuned to our needs and preferences. This plus the fact that social media is free to use and cumulative, makes its possible to stage a strong brand image using Social Media.

When it comes to the technical factors, major social media platforms are backed by big public capital and often come bearing major value for both consumers and businesses. The ability to turn viewers into shoppers is one that has transformed the entire internet. Lets not forget that everything started with simple social interactions like photos and chatting. There are alot of reasons for why social media is becoming more and more popular amongst businesses, it has mostly to do with the constant improvements and disruptive nature. Our latest disruption has affected one of the most powerful companies in the world; the tug of war between Instagram and TikTok.

New Marketing Trends in 2022

Short videos have gained a lot of traction in small and medium sized businesses because of how engaging they are and how well they describe the product. Expressive videos are unequaled in their ability to communicate quality and to engage the customer. We’ve noticed that smaller businesses benefit from this most of all because even these small traffic sources can be a vital source of quality leads for businesses. When we say quality; we truly mean it. TikTok is one of those platforms that have created a major disruption over their video format and their powerful consumer engagement. So much so that major social media platforms have been forced to adapt their market strategy.

Live selling is another trend inspired by TikTok that has risen to prominence in the Chinese market and spread globally. The ability to easily communicate and interact with your customers and instantly respond to their questions has created a strong understanding of product and concept. Communication has always been a major issue when dealing over the internet and this major trend and the addition of short videos, have created clear and more effective communication.

Top Marketing Platforms in 2022

Over the years new technologies have created disruptions to the industry that has affected modern marketing trends. Today’s digital environment is all about TikTok, Google Ads and LinkedIn. These top companies are starting to gain momentum by focusing on the customers' habits, format and their concept. Although these platforms are rising in popularity, the need for a comprehensive social media presence is still important; with the inclusion of Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest amongst a few. An omni-channel approach is always recommended because each platform has the ability to generate unique organic impressions.

No Code Website Builders

Shopify is a market development that has existed for a while, but is still prominent for its usability and versatility. No code website builders like Shopify offer a means of building your own piece of private real estate on the web with major personalization and limited capital requirement. Shopify in particular is a publicly traded company that has built more than 1.75 million stores and shows signs of staying power. The e-commerce industry had projected a revenue growth of almost +100% to $8 trillion, over the course of 2022-2026. Since then we have seen a small retraction from major market players towards a more lean business model and Shopify is amongst them. The economic downturn has affected many industries but the tech sector is proving its resilience. The merits of platforms like Shopify are still true despite the economic uncertainty.

The Right Customer and Not A Customer

Visitors across your many social media and other platforms is a positive indicator for your business, but how accurate is it in predicting your store's success? Bounce rates are a modern ratio used in digital marketing to understand how engaged your visitors are with your webpage. There are many ways to look at this issue of high bounce rates but what's important to us in digital marketing is the quality of the lead.

What makes digital marketing so special is the targeted nature of the website. When our website is crawled and indexed the page is only fed to interested parties so that only interested parties arrive at your store. This principle of “relevance” is a guiding light for digital marketing and falls under the umbrella of SEO. A rookie mistake that most up starts make is neglecting the way that Search Engines understand the content of your website and other marketing channels. The key concept here is understanding how your website is scored and ranked, but more importantly that you are being technical and engaging the right people.

Creating Organic Traffic and Establishing Authority

Activity and the number of pages on your website are two important factors that play a part in the ranking of your website. When designing your website structure we generally think about the sort of pages that you will need to include. We can exhaust the amount of pages that are “necessary” for your website but we can never exhaust blog activity. "Blogging is a great way of increasing your number of pages, while also demonstrating that there is an expert on the other side of the screen" - says Milosz Krasinski, Managing Director at Chilli Fruit Web Consulting. Every new blog article published is another potential chunk of visitors trying to find an answer to a relevant question to your business. Best of all this traffic is generated through a search function and requires no payment. Yes this is a great way of expanding your number of pages, but more importantly it's a great way of increasing your product exposure. A common reader can be led towards conversion with clever use of CTA’s and other forms of incentive. Adding a blog section to your current website is the best way to drive traffic and platforms like LinkedIn and their free newsletter function are very easy way to start a newsletter. With LinkedIn's blogging function you can recycle your blog articles and send them directly to your customers email address.

Keeping in Touch with Customers and Communicating Offers

When you manage to find a high value visitor that is willing to purchase your product, what logic is there in letting them disappear after their initial purchase? Communication is the first step an ecommerce business can take towards building a relationship. You should always set communication as one of your lead priorities for exactly this reason. There is no fundamental relationship unless you are able to collect the customers' contact details. There are software programs that can both help you collect these details and also automate the communication process. Keeping a database of previous clients is considered a valuable asset, especially if you have a way of actively deriving additional revenue from them. There are free services like Omnisend and Klaviyo that integrate into you store with ease and allows you to send both emails and sms messages to your customers personal devices with speed and effectivity.

Extending the Life Time Value of Customers

Extending the lifetime value of a customer is an important step in the growth process. Marketing efforts take time and whenever you have a willing buyer it's important to create a reconversion strategy. Common methods that follow this strategy include incentive base promotions and loyalty tiers. Services like Growave are a great way of integrating a reward based system to extend the value of each customer beyond the first purchase. Its is possible to find many valuable software services that can bring alot of value.

Winning with Omni-Channel Strategies

In case a mixed approach to marketing your ecommerce business is always recommended. When we employ multiple platforms and methods to driving impressions, we diversify our out reach and capture the the most unique visitors. Omni-channel strategies are the most effective communicating your brand, establishing your market prominence and creating product exposure. A complete marketing presence is about using all the best free marketing platforms and making sure that each platform is optimized for a strong first impression.

Conclusion

The world is changing and we need to keep up with the best marketing methods available to us, sometimes this means that we use our budget wisely. This article discusses some of the best marketing strategies that are both effective and affordable in an uncertain economic environment. Social Media is the basis to a strong strategy and bringing the message directly to the customer is how we create a high performing strategy.