February 22 Newsletter

8 Key Marketing Tips for 2022

Marketing today looks vastly different from that of ten years ago. Gone are the days where paid ads, membership of a local networking group and a presence at a local trade show were all you needed to promote your small business. To help you navigate this new age of marketing, we've outlined our top 8 marketing tips to promote your business in 2022. 

1. Focus on your branding

Developing a strong brand is imperative if you want your marketing strategies (and business) to succeed. Your brand is what makes your business unique - it should encapsulate your values and services whilst also being distinctly recognisable. Effective branding should:

• Be visually appealing. 
• Be consistent across all mediums. On and offline, your colour palette, font choices and imagery should all be cohesive. (PS Instagram is no longer just for creative people)
• Convey your services and values through slogans and taglines.
• Attract your target audience. 

2. Refine your web design

Your website is the virtual hub of your business - it is the centre of all your online activity. Therefore, it must represent your business positively and professionally. If your website is unappealing and difficult to navigate, you will struggle to attract new customers and clients. 

To ensure your website reflects the quality of your business, it must be:

• Informative
• Easy to navigate 
• Mobile-friendly 
• Linked to all of your other online platforms

3. Develop your online presence

To attract new clients, you must be active online - this means regularly posting on your website and social media channels. Posting helpful and informative content will allow your clients to engage with your business, whilst SEO strategies will ensure your posts are visible across multiple search engines.

If done consistently, you will successfully drive more traffic to your website. 

A good way to see what social media platforms are useful for your business is look at your Google Analytics. Which of your social channels are bringing in the most traffic and buying customers? These are the social channels to spend most of your time creating and repurposing content for.

4. Harness social media platforms

Social media is a great way to reach new clients. It is also a fantastic way to develop brand loyalty amongst your current clientele. 

Articles, captions and videos all add tremendous value to your social media followers, whilst comment sections, direct messages and re-tweets allow customers to interact directly with your team. 

Social media platforms change all the time. What used to be a great platform for your business to be active on may not be as good. For example, you may find that Instagram is getting more traction and results than Facebook or Twitter now. If you are aiming to get your messages in front of teenagers then Tiktok is the place to be. So pay attention to your marketing analytics to see where you should be putting your marketing efforts.

5. Create original content

Did you know that websites with blogs attract 55% more traffic than those that don't? Having a blog allows you to connect with your audience by sharing your expertise. By posting helpful and relevant content, you're able to answer consumer questions, build trust and draw more people to your website. 

If your business already has a blog, why not take it further and start producing downloadable templates and guides? 

6. Utilise email subscription services

Email subscriptions ensure your customers and clients don't miss out on any news, posts or updates, by delivering weekly/monthly newsletters directly to their mailboxes. Other reasons to invest in email marketing are:

• It's inexpensive
• It has a high ROI
• It draws people back to your website via direct links
• It promotes customer loyalty

7. Encourage customer reviews

Whether you're buying a new toothbrush or switching energy companies, we all like to do our research - and that means checking the reviews. 

Reviews are vitally important to any business as they provide an honest and unfiltered response to your quality of service. So as long as you're providing excellent service, more reviews can only encourage more customers! There are loads of places where your customers and clients can place a review for your business. Always ask them to put a review on Google, and potentially Facebook or any other important recommendation platform for your business such as TripAdvisor for hospitality and leisure businesses.

8.  Sponsor local events 

Not all marketing strategies are online, nor should they be. Sponsoring local events can be hugely beneficial for your business. It provides you with the opportunity to meet new clients, share your company values and, of course, promote your business to the local community.

Similarly, attending local charity events, making donations and partaking in voluntary work will also paint your business in a positive light. 

Marketing done well costs money. However, if you are aiming to maintain or grow your business in 2022, marketing is an activity which needs to constantly happen in your business. If you are unsure of how much of your income you can afford to spend on marketing, get in touch. We can help you see how your numbers stack up and whether you can afford to spend what your marketing suppliers are suggesting you need to spend!

The tax position of small business owners

From April 22 the tax rate on dividends is increasing, what options are there for small business owners who currently pay themselves using a combination of salary and dividends? 

What other options are there?

1. Retaining the money in the company and then eventually taking out the money as a capital gain; and/or
2. Taking the money out on a shared basis (e.g. with a civil partner or a spouse)

What are the advantages of each method?

1. The main advantage of taking the funds out as a capital gain is that the CGT rate on business sales is only 20%.  And could be even less at 10% if the owner qualifies for Business Asset Disposal Relief.  However it is worth considering business owners can afford to keep their money in their business for the long-term, this is probably unrealistic for most owner-managers.  Also, CGT rates could increase in the future.
2. This will utilise any unused tax bands and could boost your family income amount. 

In summary:

A combination of salary and dividends remains the most tax efficient solution, but this is likely to change as corporation tax rates are set to increase from April 2023.

Business owners are facing a period of tax rises over the coming years.  It is quite possible that these tax rises will be combined with increased inflation and interest rates.  It will become increasingly important for business owners to work with their accountants to ensure that they retain as much of their money as possible while also considering maintaining an income for any future borrowing.

Every business and business owner’s position is slightly different so we will work with you to find the best solution for you.  Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your particular situation.

With it's direct integration into Xero, GoCardless is an app that we recommend to all of our clients. It is a direct debit that auto collects on the invoice due date.

What can it do for me?

Protect the relationship with your customer. 

By requesting your customer to sign up to GoCardless you no longer need to chase them for payment and can concentrate on providing a great product/service to your customer.

Gives you back time

GoCardless users typically spend 84% less time chasing unpaid invoices and 76% less time reconciling payments.

Improve your cash flow 

You will have some certainty when your invoices will be paid which helps with your spending decisions.

Contact us if you would like to know how GoCardless could help you.

Team News

It has been a busy start to 2022.  Although we haven’t been in the office for the first 3 weeks of January, we are all back now and enjoying sharing ideas and snacks!  We are delighted that our clients share our optimism for 2022 and can already see good growth in their figures. 

 We are pleased to welcome Brandon to our team.  Brandon is passionate about excellent customer service so we know that he is going to fit in perfectly in the Youtopia family. 

Until next time,

Katherine, David, Ben, Michelle and Brandon