Crafting a Winning Marketing Strategy for 2023: Insights, Tips, and Actionable Advice

As you make your strategic business plans for 2023, don't forget to map out your marketing strategy. 

The online space will continue to grow noisier. What's your plan to be the mint chocolate chip in a sea of vanilla? 

Join me as we explore fundamental questions that will help you develop your 2023 marketing strategy. 

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva.

See you next time!

Are you ready to take massive action in your business and harness the power of data in your decision-making? Let’s chat 👇🏽

Podcast Transcript:

Kiva Slade 0:01

Hello and Welcome to Collab with Kiva. I'm your host Kiva Slade. From the marbled halls of the US Congress to my racing themed office chair. I've learned that there is no perfect path to the life of your dreams. My journey over the past 20 years has included being a Legislative Director for a Member of Congress, Policy Director for a nonprofit, stay- at-home mom, homeschooling mom, jewelry business owner, and now the owner of a service based business. Whether your journey has been a straight line, or full of zigs and zags. Join me and my guest as we share insights, hope and lessons learned from our female entrepreneurship journeys. Made the collaborative sharing of our stories be the tide that lifts your boat, let's dive in.

Kiva Slade 0:55

Hey, and welcome to another episode of Collab with Kiva. I am your host, Kiva Slade, and today we are going to talk about marketing strategies for 2023. So whether it is the big R word that some people are saying some people are not, or just the fact that the online space has become more noisy, it is so imperative that each of us as business owners, factor in marketing into our strategic planning and into what we are looking to do, as we head into 2023. And grant it, for some of us, marketing may not be our forte, it's not our strength, it's not our jam, it's not that thing that lights us up. But we know that it is so necessary for us, for our businesses, and for us to impact others through our businesses. So what does that leave us, it leaves us needing to put together a marketing plan for 2023. And thinking through bits and pieces of that, and what it looks like and what it feels like in order to arrive at what it should be. Now, granted, if we've learned anything over the past few years, we can't set anything in stone, okay, there needs to be a level of flexibility with this plan, there needs to be a willingness to kind of dance with it. And when necessary, maybe we're changing the tempo or changing the music, just a tad bit so that we actually get to where we're trying to go. So I've written out a few things today that I think help when thinking about your marketing plan.

Kiva Slade 2:57

And however you decide to plan and brainstorm and whatever works best for you, Hey, do that. For me, I love the big white sticky notes that you can stick on the wall, you can get them in Amazon from a two pack. And I like to write so for me, there's three sticky notes that you cannot see that are over there about marketing strategy. And a lot of it came out of a coaching call that I had. And I think it's important to talk through those ideas with someone else. Maybe it's in a peer led mastermind, maybe you do have a coach and or inner mastermind. But it's definitely important. So the things I'm going to share, you might already know, but have you actually acted on them? Because it's one thing to know, is a totally different thing to actually act on what you know.

Kiva Slade 3:54

Okay, so first things first, who do you want to serve? I think that in 2022, some of us have realized that maybe we don't want to serve the people that we've been serving. Maybe the people who are attracted to you are not the people who make the most ideal clients for you. Whatever that situation might be, it's important for you to gain some level of clarity on who you want to serve. Again, we're not holding tight to that. We're acknowledging that for right now. This is who I want to serve. I think what's coupled with that is that who you want to serve actually needs what it is that you are trying to serve them with. Okay, so if they don't need it, no matter how much you want to serve them, they are not going to be served by you. Because they don't need what it is that you are offering. So making sure that who you want to serve is aligned with and they need what it is that you are providing goes hand in hand. For example, I have a client who she serves women business owners will just kind of say that. She likes though doing more corporate work, where there's just more kind of strategic planning and things of that sort, not so much daily in the doing. And you have to be able to say, okay, those are two different people you're talking to. Okay, so what they need is going to be different. So you have to make sure that what you're offering actually meets the needs of those that you say you want to work with. So it's really important that you have some level of understanding of who you want to serve, and that you understand them enough to know that they need what it is that you are selling. You know, like the old adage, you don't bring sand to the beach, okay? Like, you do not go to the beach saying, Hey, can I sell you a jar of sand, no one at the beach, surrounded by free sand is wanting to buy sand from you. They don't need it, they don't need it. So being clear on who you want to serve, and making sure that what you're offering actually is something that they need. You need that level of clarity, again, and I will repeat this ad nauseam. Don't hold tight to it. Our economy, our world economy is shifting. Okay, so three months from now, six months from now, you might need to make a slight tweak in that. I want you to give yourself the flexibility and the grace to actually do that, instead of being rigid.

Kiva Slade 6:56

Now, the next one, we're going to get in your business. How much does it cost to run your business? We are approaching the end of the year. For many that means you need to start working on your books, and make sure that you have all of your ducks in a row pennies and all the other things okay. When I was a seller on Etsy, I was a part of a group shout out to Janet, who, every single month at the beginning of the month, you got a email saying like basically do your books, okay. And the reason for that monthly accountability was for the simple fact that if you weighed it to the end of the year, it felt like such a heavy task, especially in a product based business, like something like jewelry, where you started the year with 3422 beads, and you finish the year with 1229 beads. Like yeah, you like you literally in some cases, people who were sewers, people who are knitters like you had granted, there's the level of estimation going on here, but you really actually had to not only do your financial books, in that came actually understanding your inventory books, and how many beads were left, like because all of those numbers factor into enrolled into your next tax year, because they are part of your beginning inventory. And you had to have a number of what your beginning inventory was, as well as your ending inventory for the current year in order to assess what that was going to be going into the next year. And your accountant was going to look for this information, trust me. So Janet would send out as a part of this group, a monthly accountability so that you did your books monthly. So when the end of the year came, you weren't begrudgingly having to tackle doing your books. I share this because you need to know how much it costs to run your business. Whether it's your your own, you know, CEO pay, whether it's overhead, whether it's direct costs, do you have a team? What is it costs in terms of operating your business? What are your subscriptions? Do you utilize Dubsado or HoneyBook?

Kiva Slade 9:25

Um, Adobe is like some sort of E signature thing. Do you utilize QuickBooks? How much are you paying for that? How much is your accountant and or bookkeeper costing you? How much is this gonna cost? How much are your taxes? How much are all of these things that factor into the running of your business? And yes, we are talking about marketing. But even in speaking about marketing, we have to know the financial number because setting a mark recruiting goal to 'I want to have 10 new customers on X offer, by the end of the year'. We'll say that offers $2,000. And we're gonna keep it simple here because you know, this is math on the go. So 10 new customers for this $2,000 offer is $20,000 for the year, and you do your math, and you say, well, it cost me $35,000 to run my business, well Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, red flashing alarms, we have a problem. Your money is not going to meet your needs. Okay? So it's important that you know how much it costs to run your business. And yes, sometimes rolling up your sleeves and getting into those nitty gritty numbers, you realize that, hey, maybe I'm paying for something that I don't need, maybe I am, you know, I've paid for things that I have not utilized. And that will make you want to utilize them. I'm probably preaching to myself with that one. But it's important to know that number.

Kiva Slade 11:09

And tied to that number is how much do you need to bring into your house as your CEO pay? Okay, and that number is going to be different for each and every one of us. Okay, those that are married, maybe your business, your spouse has enough funds coming in, and your business is kind of the extras, your business takes care of piano lessons, your business takes care of a trip to Disney, your business takes care of you getting your nails done, and paying for the housekeeper, like whatever that is, it's your business, and is your number. Okay, for other people, your business actually helps support the bills like you might be head of household. The other night, I was watching the Toni Morrison documentary on Netflix, and she spoke about I want to say it was in the 70s when she was an editor at Random House, and she noticed that all of the white male editors received more money than she did when it came time to the end of the year for the bonus. And she said she was a single mom. And she said to her boss, like, dude, I'm head of household just like you, just like these other men, I deserve that same amount of money. And she wound up getting it. But she had to know like, again, your situation might be different. If you are head of household and you are a single mom, like your business CEO pay number is going to be different than someone else's. But it is important for you to know what that number is. So what is that number that you need to bring home in your business? Because that number ties into the number of how much it costs to run your business. Because while reinvesting in our businesses is great, and there are years that we might need to take more out of our business than others. We're not in this to work for free. So CEO pay is important. And as a result of that, you figuring out what your CEO pay number is. And of course that needs to be added to things like what's your taxes for your business? What's your direct cause? What's your overhead? You know, where's the profit? What profit level do you want to be at in your business? Again, these are not things that are universal for everyone in the sense of, oh, it's gonna be this percentage, this percentage, this percentage, no, those numbers vary for every single one of us.

Kiva Slade 13:39

So getting into the nitty gritty of your numbers is definitely important. Because your numbers, those numbers, we've just been talking about how much it costs to run your business, as well as how much you need to bring home. And CEO pay those help set yourself goals. Remember, we were talking 'Oh, I want 10 people at $2,000 Oh, that wasn't enough money'. I don't want you in this cycle of 'I want 10 people. Oh, I'll make my offer $3,000'. That still doesn't make you have enough. That's already 1000. So getting clarity on your numbers, having confidence in your numbers. Knowing why your pricing is the way that it is based on your numbers is critically important. It's really foundational because it impacts how you show up to sell your offer. Because if you don't believe that the number is the number based on the actual numbers, and you're just like, I woke up this morning and I was thinking you know what? $4,000 That's what my offer is gonna be the first time you go to sell that. You can't sell it because you don't really believe that it's worth $4,000 You don't think that's the investment for you don't think that's the transformation. You're like, I'm not giving these people $4,000 worth of transformation. I cannot sell all this offer. So then what I see happens, fast action bonus, if you sign with me right now I'll take off $1,000. Okay. And if you do this, I'll also add in this, this, this and that. So now you've sold them for $3,000, an actually probably $6,000 offer, because you were going after the cash and had no confidence in the numbers that led to the price. So knowing your numbers, and remember, they're going to be different for every one of us, is critically important as you move forward with trying to set together your sales goals, which leads into your marketing strategy.

Kiva Slade 14:14

So next thing you need to focus on how you're planning to serve these people, we talked earlier about your offer being something that they need, but also how are you going to serve them? What are the bits and pieces of your offer? Again, the online space is noisy right now. Very, very loud and clamorous. It's like an outdoor air market where just everyone is hooking their goods and trying to get someone's attention. And with that being the case, how you're going to serve people is important. What does it look like for you to onboard them? Okay, like, if someone's going to pay you $5,000, for a program or a service, they're going to have a level of expectation of what that looks like. And from the moment that they book a call with you, to having that call with you to actually being onboarded as a client of yours, you need to think that process out. Is it a seamless process? Or is it a herky jerky process? Do things get missed? Do clients not feel tended to? Do they not feel seen? Do they feel that you might have taken their money and they're not 100%? Sure, if they're gonna get what they paid for. You know, the reality is, that's happening in our space. We may not be the ones doing it, but there are people who are doing it. And that makes people a lot more guarded and more skeptical. So how are you going to serve them? Are you going to have like a white glove treatment, and they feel so cared for? So ready to move forward? Do you set out expectations of what it's like to work with you? When should they expect X, Y and Z? If there are XYZ deliverables in the work that you do? What will be the means or mode of communication? How do they reach you? When can they reach you? Is there a time to reach you outside of say, a weekly or bi weekly call? Do they have Voxer access to you? Do they have email access to you? If they have email access to you? How soon can they expect a response? There are things that need to be thought through in order for you to show up in your most excellent self. And also in order for them to show up in their most excellent self. And that's important, because then we're going to have some good success. Okay, and we're both going to feel good about this process. If you've ever worked with someone, and you feel that you've really undercut yourself and your services, you don't go into that feeling good. There's a lot of gritting of your teeth clenching of your job, because you're like, I cannot believe I've given away this for this pittance of you know, whatever it is, and you're just feeling a lot of angst and frustration. And that comes out in the work that you do. It comes out in how you show up for the work that you do.

Kiva Slade 19:23

So thinking through how you're going to serve someone, is super important, testing that that process works. Okay, maybe it's a $37 download, but everybody's not getting the download. You're not like stressed about it. It's $37. They're ticked, like I want it to download. I want to be able to do whatever this thing is. So it's important to think through how you're serving these people. And not just the beginning onboarding part. What does that continued serving look like? But what does it look like to offboard them? Do they feel as cared for at the end of the process, as they did in the beginning when you took their money, because if they feel cared for at the end of the process, when there is no more money to be exchanged, and they leave feeling well taken care of, needs were met, they were served with excellence, you best believe you have a referer for life because of how you serve them. Okay? So that's really important. And if you find something's not working in your process, fix it, tweak it, do what you need to do, to make sure that that process feels good on both sides.

Kiva Slade 20:47

The next thing to think about is, how do you need to speak to these people? You've already determined who you're speaking to? How do you need to speak to them? What is it that you need to say to them? Okay, what is it that you need to say, to grab their attention? So you can call it their pain points. You can do your market research, but you need to know what needs to come from you, that actually is going to strike a chord with them and resonate. So how do you speak to them? And since you've already figured out where they are, okay, it's important, because if you're speaking to them on LinkedIn, you're not going to speak to them on LinkedIn, the same way you speak to them on Tik Tok. And I believe it was two episodes ago, we talked about the kind of Hootsuite report and just digital trends looking forward into 2023. Being strategic about where you are super important in cross posting, that many of us have done for convenience isn't going to continue to work because each platform serves a different purpose in need. Okay, so you're being entertaining. Okay, Tik Tok, and some reels on IG. Okay, edutainment, that's really great and wonderful, okay, but there's some other things that those may not. There's a time and a place, I think they can work on things like LinkedIn, but not like as a continual part of your strategy.

Kiva Slade 22:30

And so it's important to figure out now that you know, where they are, and what you need to say to them, also figuring out how you're saying to them, okay, so I say all of these things, because one of the things that I realized is missing sometimes, not only in my own business, but clients businesses is actual lead generation. Because you have a sales goal now, we've talked about how much money needs to come in. But how do your marketing strategy is part of that, getting to that feeds into that your lead generation, excuse me, feeds into that marketing strategy. Like how are you actually going to get these people that's going to help you get to your goals? Okay? Because if you don't have leads, you're not going to have sales. You know, and a referral is still a lead. Just because Sally tells me to go purchase Jane's item. I love Sally dearly. That does not mean though that I'm automatically gonna go give Jane my money. I gotta get to know Jane do I really like Jane like Sally might like Jane, because Sally liked Anna but I did not like Anna. So it's really important to think through lead generation. Salespeople will tell you that sales is like a numbers game. You know? Companies do advertising on TV because it's a numbers game. Okay, I can guarantee you that if I put an ad in the Superbowl it's going to yield me X number of eyeballs. That's why Superbowl ads are so super expensive. Okay, now that most of us there watch them when they're leaks prior to not always sure the relevance and effectiveness but I'm sure that's still there. Okay, but who doesn't want to watch the Super Bowl even non football players for like, well, I haven't seen them lately, but the like the old Anheuser Busch commercials with the sweet horses and the dogs. Like, I just want to see that. And I'm not going to go by Anheuser Busch, but I know that brand so readily without them showing their words. If you show me a horse and a dog, I'm in there like okay, it's Anheuser Busch. We're going to watch a commercial and it's gonna be sad and cute and all the things. Okay, but I've talked about this before, like you're driving on the highway and the yellow Frito Lay truck comes by. Frito Lay is not wrapping trucks because they have nothing better to do. They are wrapping trucks because as that truck rides down Interstate 9585 17 I mean, well, I think it means you're eight interstates or five, zero or 10, whatever the Interstate is, they're going to pass X number of eyeballs. Okay, so grocery stores, Walmart, the Amazon truck UPS, FedEx. Like, we see them, we know what they are. Brand recognition awareness sets in and we're like, oh, yeah, my goodbye such and such might need to order such and such x, whatever the thing is, that comes up for you. Okay, and your lead. Okay. And it's important for your people, whoever they are, to also have that brand recognition brand awareness of you. Okay, so just because I go to Jane's, I now need to see Jane, I need to see if I see in Jane, what Sally saw in Jane, and that it resonates with me that I want to give Jane my money.

Kiva Slade 26:32

So having a strategy that's 100% based on referrals, there are people who can do it. But for many people, depending on where you are in the trajectory of your business, you're going to need it to be a part of your strategy. But it cannot be your entire strategy. When some of you may want to fight me on that, bring it. Okay. So it needs to be a part of your strategy. Relationship marketing is totally 100%. Like we do buy from people that we know, we buy from people that we like, okay, there's some people that, oh, I don't like her voice, or I don't like this, and I couldn't imagine working with her. And there's other people like, I absolutely love her. And I can't wait when she does a video and such and such and such and such, oh, this is wonderful and great. Whatever it is, it's fine. You're not going to what I've told you all before, you're not tacos, you will not make everybody happy. So with that being the case, though, actually coming to understand and know that you need a lead generation strategy, and it's about numbers. What are you doing to get yourself in front of more eyeballs? That needs to be included in your marketing strategy. It has to be a part of that. Okay, because your pipeline needs to have people in it that are at different stages. You want folks who are in your orbit. Are they seeing you consistently? Like they see a Netflix commercial. Or like they see the Frito Lay truck. Like are they seeing you consistently? Whether that's in social. Do you show up? Do you have an email list? Are you showing up in their inbox consistently? Or do they see you kind of like every now and then you kind of like pop up like whack a mole and you're like, there she is. Oops, there she goes again. Oops, there she is over there. Nope, there she's gone down again. Like whack a mole should not be a part of your marketing strategy. And it's so important, though, that we think through really, what is it that we want to what do we need to talk about going into the new year? How are we going to create that content? And how do all of those pieces work together?

Kiva Slade 29:08

Because it really should be an ecosystem. Your marketing is also connected to your sales, which is also connected to your operations. All of these pieces need to dance together in order for there to be harmony in your business and your bank account. And that doesn't happen just miraculously, you have to plan for these things to happen. And I think one of the things that I've seen happen is people don't realize the cycle due to the recession or economic fears that are taking place. People are taking longer to buy. So maybe something previously people just needed to be in your orbit for about three months. And they were like, take my money. Now they might need to be in your orbit five to six months. So your sales cycle is extended now. But in the midst of that sales cycle, let's see month three, going into four, you think nothing I've been doing is working. And so I need to change and I need to pivot and I'm just going to start talking about something else. Well, the last three months that you've spent talking about apples, now you decide you want to start talking about kumquats. It's like, people were just starting to realize that they wanted an apple. And now they come to you, your website, your social, and they're like, she's no longer selling apples. Now she's selling kumquats, I don't know, if I really want a kumquat. What is a kumquat? Now you're starting out that process of educating them all over again, it's like, now we're starting at the beginning, no one wants to start all over again. Because if you keep doing that, no one knows exactly what it is that you're selling. So you have to realize that the sales cycle is longer. In addition to it being longer, you need to be consistent with your messaging, and not throw in the towel when you think it's not working. And you need to be able to measure what is in what isn't working. So reviewing and getting ready for, so you're reviewing 2022, and what worked, what didn't work, and you're looking ahead to 2023 to figure out what you need to build on, what you might need to scrap, what you actually might need to tweak, so that you have an effective marketing strategy, going into the new year, and you're going to focus on who you want to serve. Okay. And like, you know, what you're offering actually is what they want. Alright, how much it cost to run your business? How much do you need to bring home? See, okay, remember, we're not working for free? How will you serve these people? How do you speak to them? Where do you find them? Okay, and what that looks like for you is not going to be a cut and copy paste version of what it looks like for someone else. So take the time to actually do this for yourself. And, yes, you can take input from others, okay. But really think about what it needs to be for you. Because ultimately, at the end of the day is you. It is you who is going to have to show up. It is you who is going to have to be consistent. It is you who is going to have to deliver the service. It is you who has the first cell service, so and it's you that people are wanting to buy from and interact with. So all the best to you as you make your 2023 marketing strategies, and you are planning out how you are going to kick butt and take names in 2023 and serve people with excellence with whatever it is that you do. So tune in for the next episode. And I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

Kiva Slade 33:29

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Collab with Kiva. Each of us has a different path. And I hope that this episode gave you some takeaway that has left you inspired and motivated to keep pressing forward on your unique path. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And of course, your reviews on Apple are greatly appreciated. You're a small business owner, ready to start making data driven decisions in your business. And you know that without the data, you're really just guessing, make sure to visit my website, the516collaborative.com. And let's schedule a time to talk to make sure that you can harness the power of data in your business. I'll see you next time. Bye

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.