Running a small business and managing the duties that come with it means that for owners, checking in on marketing efforts can sometimes take a backseat. Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia, shares how to get to stay in the driver’s seat.

According to a recent report, marketing is the activity Australian SMBs are most likely to put on the back burner, with 59 per cent always or regularly procrastinating working on their marketing efforts – the highest among all polled regions. It’s no coincidence that nearly 73 per cent of small business owners and operators globally aren’t confident in their marketing strategy.

Conducting an annual audit is the best way to ensure that your marketing efforts are up-to-date and on track for success. The good news is that this doesn’t have to be an onerous task.

Four steps to spring clean your marketing and drive growth

1. Review your data and remove what’s not working

Gather any reports available to you, from your website platform to social media accounts, email automation, advertising platforms (such as Meta Ads or Google Ads) and lead capture tools.

Take a look at the performance data, taking note of any assets that are doing well or underperforming. This will give you a good foundation to decide what to put effort into moving forward, and if something isn’t working and you can’t improve it – remove it.

2. Refresh your content

Updating existing content is one of the most sustainable ways to keep your marketing fresh. This could include going through blogs, online ads, website pages, collateral and graphics – anywhere you have an online presence and ensuring everything is still relevant.

A content refresh is often a quick win, as it doesn’t require creating  new marketing materials from scratch, and can have immediate benefits, such as flagging your content as up-to-date and relevant to search engines and boosting your web traffic.

3. Re-assess your customer journey

How customers interact with your business can change significantly each year, especially if you’ve added a new product or process. For this reason, it’s critical to revisit your customer journey map to check that all touchpoints are still relevant and resonate with your customers.

Consider every step, including how you attract customers to your business, your first interaction with them (online and/or offline) and how you follow up post-purchase. If you notice that your customers are less engaged at any point or there’s an opportunity to connect better, this is the time to adjust accordingly.

4. Lean on automation to set yourself up for 2025

While auditing your marketing efforts, the number one question is, ‘Can this be automated?’. With 75 per cent of companies now using marketing automation, it’s no secret that automation saves small business owners time and effort.

If you’re sending customer emails manually, posting on social media post-by-post, or collecting your customer details by hand – stop immediately and look into simple automation tools that can streamline these are tasks.

Reviewing your marketing efforts regularly ensures your strategy will always support your business’s evolving needs. This allows you to put aside anything that isn’t working and prioritise your best-performing assets, setting up your business to achieve growth in the year ahead.

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