Happy new year! Or, maybe you’re ready for a fresh small business year no matter what today’s date is.

If you’re an entrepreneur like me, running a side hustle or a full-time, money-making machine, the beginning of a new year – or anytime you need a business refresh – is a great time to update a few aspects of your business – not the least of which is your marketing.

If you need a good marketing audit before moving forward with any more content creation or marketing strategies, here are a few easy ways you can improve your marketing and reach bigger, better business goals.

1. Performance review

Before you assume something worked last year, or start piling up marketing ideas you’re not sure will be effective, look at your analytics. If you have a website, social accounts, or an email platform you use regularly for business marketing, there should be a place you can see engagement. Even a basic understanding of what content did well can lead to improved marketing decisions in the new year.

2. Automated email campaign

I know, I know, before you can send emails, you need email addresses. We’ll get to that. BUT once you’ve got a list of email addresses collected, you’ll want to start sending emails ASAP – and building them can take some time. Create 6 emails that are ready to go as part of an automated email campaign before you get bogged down by business demands. When your email list starts to grow, you’ll have those emails ready to send. (If you’re not sure why emails matter so much, comment below and I’ll fill you in 😉

3. Incentivize

Ok, so about collecting those emails. You have to give your audience good reason to give you their email address in the first place, and incentives almost always work well. Create a giveaway or come up with a way to offer free or discounted services for a limited time. An incentive that isn’t asking too much of you, but is valuable to your website visitors or email readers can provide a huge boost to your email list. How to communicate your incentive? I’ll cover that in a minute.

4. Photo update

Old photos on your website or social = neglectful, careless business owner. Fresh photos = responsible, organized, trustworthy business owner. Now, I’ll admit I’m no photographer and rely a lot on stock images – but even those can get old after a while. Spend some time updating your product images, headshots or stock photography and show your new visitors you’re on top of things.

5. Repurpose content

One of my FAVORITE marketing tricks is repurposing content. Rather than always feeling like you have to create something new, go back and grab an email that performed well and turn it into a downloadable PDF to offer visitors on your website. Or, turn a great blog into an email. When you’ve crafted something solid, make the most of it all year long!

6. Lead generation

If you’ve visited my home page, you may have noticed the cute little pop-up. This is called a lead generator. When you’ve created an incentive or a PDF download, you can use a pop-up to ask for email addresses in exchange for the free giveaway or service you’re willing to offer. If you’re not sure how to add a lead generator or pop-up on your site, look for tutorials offered by your site provider or google lead generators to find services that are compatible with your website. It’s really not that difficult!

Going forward, make sure you schedule regular marketing audits. It’s vital to check in with your platforms and see if your strategy is working the way you want it to. If you’re struggling to get all the pieces to line up and translate to business growth, it may be time for a professional marketing plan. A tool that can help you piece everything together – from business goals to ideal audiences to budget to your marketing journey to monthly planning.