As a business owner, you always want to stand out from the competition. But maybe you’re not sure where to start with all the material you find online.  So we put together 9 easy-to-use small business marketing strategies for 2022.

Table of contents

Digital marketing facts 

Let’s start off with a few digital marketing stats that all business owners should know. 

Here are a couple of things that business owners need to keep in mind headed into 2022. 

Voice search has come a long way in just the span of a few years. More Americans are using devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home than ever. In 2022, more Americans are projected to use voice search more than ever. Gartner projects that ⅓ of all online browsing will be initiated by voice. 

That means that it’s important that you’re optimizing for voice search so that you can be found by Siri and Alexa. We’ll talk about how in a second. But first, let’s discuss another small business trend. 

Online reviews matter more than ever

Just a few years ago, it was easy for anybody to leave a review on a site like Google. Somebody could easily use a fake name and post an opinion on a local business. While it might have been easier to post a review back then, it also meant that there was less customer trust for reviews overall.  

Things have changed. Google and other review sites have taken steps to make sure that customers can trust reviews, banning practices like review gating and anonymous reviews. 

These changes have had a positive impact. Customers trust review sites now more than ever.  That makes it important that your business is putting its forward on sites like Google and Facebook. 

9 Small Business Marketing Strategies for 2022

Not every business can afford to splurge money on lots of paid advertising. So we decided to compile the local business marketing strategies for 2022 that every business can achieve, no matter how much money they have dedicated to their marketing budget. 

1. Fix your listings 

“Near me” searches are growing exponentially year over year on desktop. With the rise of voice search, they’ll be even more important. It’s estimated that 22% of voice searches are location-based. 

If you haven’t done so already, make to claim your Google My Business profile.  This is your most visible listing since it will show up every time someone does a search for your business.

Want to get started fixing your listings? Check out Birdeye’s free listing scan which shows you how accurate your listings currently are on the Internet. 

2. Send review requests 

Customers trust reviews. The more reviews you have, the better. That’s why it’s important to ask your customers to leave reviews. This is the kind of social proof that your customers trust. 

To get the best results, make sure that you’re sending review requests via text and email. This makes the process easy for the customer. They don’t have to spend time looking for your business. All they have to do is click the link and write a review. 

3. Respond to customer reviews

Lots of business owners don’t respond to reviews. That’s a big mistake. A study by Harvard Business School showed that responding to reviews leads to a higher overall star rating. 

But responding to reviews has multiple benefits. First of all, it helps you build loyalty with your customers. A simple “Thanks a ton, we hope we can see you soon!” can help leave a positive impression in the mind of your customers and encourage them to come back for more. 

Plus, responding to reviews can help your business rank higher on search engines. Google has confirmed that responding to reviews helps your SEO. 

4. Implement webchat on your website

Webchat works for businesses. We’ve seen customers like Rick Patterson of Pretty Handy Guys Handyman Services see results within the first month of implementing webchat. 

Webchat works because it’s much more convenient than other communication channels: phone and email. These days, lots of people try to avoid phone calls whenever possible and emails are often ignored. Webchat offers the best of both worlds, convenience for the customer, and a high chance that their question will get a response. 

You might be wondering if it’s realistic for a small business to implement webchat onto its site. Chances are that you don’t have the resources to have a team on standby for customer chats. Luckily, you don’t need a full team.

 A solution like Birdeye can make webchat easy for small businesses.  Your customers will get an automated message when they ask a question through chat. You’ll be able to respond from your smartphone when you have the chance. It’s an easy way to turn more website visitors into customers. 

5. Text your customers

While customers are ignoring promotional material in their inboxes more than ever before, they still love texting. Text messages have an open rate of 98%. 

So whether you want to advertise a sale or send, get a review, or send an appointment reminder, text messaging can help you. Just remember to include a strong CTA in order to motivate the customer to take the desired action (ex: “Leave us a review on Google”). 

6. Stay active on social media

While you probably have a Facebook profile page already, make sure that you’re staying active on social media. These days, customers expect to see businesses active on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. 

Though it’s true that Facebook does have a low reach for organic posts, customers now expect businesses to post regularly on social media. We’ve seen that a low-effort way to reach customers is by sharing positive reviews. After all, nobody can sell your business quite like your customer. 

7. Display reviews on your website

Social media isn’t the only place where you can display your reviews. According to the Spiegel Research Center, displaying reviews can increase conversion by more than 360%. 

Birdeye allows you to display reviews on your website. The Birdeye review feed pulls in reviews from all over the Internet, updating automatically. Your website visitors can immediately see the opinions of your happy customer. 

8. Make your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns more efficient

There’s one more area where social proof can help you: in your paid Google ads. If you’re running these ads already, consider Google seller ratings. These seller ratings allow you to display your overall star rating in your ads. According to Google, adding seller ratings to your ads increases the clickthrough rate by a stunning 17%.

Of course, there are a few requirements that you need to follow in order to run Google Seller Ratings. Here’s what you need: 

  • At least 100 reviews collected in the last 12 months in the country you’re running ads in.
  • At least a 3.5 overall star rating 

9. Improve customer experience

Last but not least, take some steps to improve your customer experience. Remember, a delighted customer is happy to recommend your business to friends and family. The trick to creating more happy customers is by going through customer feedback and finding potential areas for improvement.

An easy way to gauge customer satisfaction is through net promoter score surveys. A net promoter score asks customers how likely they are to recommend a business to family and friends on a scale of 0-10.

You can also find areas of improvement by looking at your competitors’ reviews. Maybe your competitor is providing great customer service, and their customers are mentioning it in reviews. Paying close attention to these reviews helps you understand how you can improve your own business. 

How your business can use automation 

While it is possible to do all of these small business marketing strategies for 2022 manually, it can take time away from other aspects of your business. 

Luckily a system like Birdeye can take care of all these processes automatically. Let’s go over three ways Birdeye can help grow your business. The following CRMs are integrated with Birdeye’s platform so you can take advantage to automate sending review and referral requests, and customer surveys.

Square

Square integration helps in automating review request solicitation and generating new reviews. Square offers a lot of protection such as chargebacks, fraud detection, and even account takeover. With Birdeye’s integration with Square, you can manage all payments in one place with ease. Once your Birdeye account is integrated with Square it’s as easy as 1-2-3, here are the steps.

  1. Birdeye will pull the first name, last name, email address, and phone number of your patients based on certain defined triggers.
  2. After your patient information is pulled into your Birdeye account, review requests will be sent out every day, automatically.
  3. Receive a steady stream of reviews that will help you rank higher on search engines and make your brand visible to prospective patients.

AccuLynx

AccuLynx integration with Birdeye’s platform will provide contractors with cloud-based roofing and contracting management software that will streamline your business. This integration allows an easier way for customer referral marketing. Get new reviews or send requests within one comprehensive dashboard on desktop or via mobile app. Here are just some of the many benefits:

  • Get new reviews on 150+ review sites including Houzz, and Google.
  • Get alerted about each incoming review via email and SMS.
  • Respond to reviews using auto-response templates and rules and manage customer loyalty.

OpenTable

Open Table integration allows restaurants to manage their daily operations more efficiently. It has features like online reservations, restaurant marketing, analytics training, support, and more. Birdeye integrates with OpenTable to help restaurant managers with automating review request solicitation and review generation.OpenTable is available for restaurant managers in two modules – Guest Center and Connect. Similar to the Square integration mentioned above, the same steps apply once your Birdeye account is integrated.

Get authentic reviews

You don’t need to manually send review requests to your customers every day. With Birdeye, you can get new reviews automatically. Birdeye sends your customers review requests through a simple integration with your business system. You’ll be able to collect reviews while doing the hard work of running your business. 

Manage all your listings and reviews

It’s a lot of work to flip between different sites to fix your listings and check your reviews. There are hundreds of review sites on the Internet. With Birdeye, you can fix your listings and monitor your reviews- all in the dashboard. It’s everything you need to take care of your online reputation in one place. 

Get insights on how to improve 

Birdeye makes it easy to get the feedback you need to improve operations. Birdeye allows you to easily create, send, and analyze customer surveys. You’ll be able to see the exact areas you need to focus on to create a strong customer experience.

Be the best business this year and beyond

Don’t let your business fall behind this year. Check out why more than 150,000 businesses use Birdeye to collect reviews, fix listings, improve operations, and grow revenue.