7 Ways to Refresh Your Marketing for the New Year
When was the last time you read through your social media about section? Verified that all the links on your website still work? Checked the greeting message on your voicemail?
It’s easy to “set it and forget it” when it comes to the initial creation of your marketing materials, but that often leads customers to outdated information as well as a dead end if not everything is in working order.
With the New Year, take the opportunity to refresh your marketing in the following ways:
Listen to your voicemail greeting
Though technically not considered marketing, your voicemail greeting is easy to forget to check.
If your voicemail greeting contains incorrect information or doesn’t reflect new changes to your business (i.e. how else to reach you or if your business name changed), be sure to re-record it.
Update the copyright year in the footer of your website
But not to © CURRENT YEAR! Your copyright notice should read as a range with the starting year being the year you started using your specific website design, branding (i.e. logo), copy (text), photos, etc.
Ex. © 2023 - 2025 Miss MegaBug, LLC. Learn more.
Ensure your branding is consistent
Your brand is what differentiates you from other businesses, whether they’re in your industry or not. A brand is made up of the outer personality (your logo, typography, color palette and photography), as well as the inner personality (your brand voice and how it comes through in your website text, social media captions and more).
Make sure the colors, fonts, and brand voice are the same throughout your marketing materials. Look at your website, email newsletters, social media post graphics, business cards, rack cards, event flyers, ads, etc.
Creating consistency builds brand awareness and familiarity with potential customers. Your business will also look snazzy and professional!
Looking for a way to keep your HEX codes and font names in one place? Create a brand guide.
A brand guide is a cheat sheet that contains the HEX codes of your brand color palette as well as font names. This tutorial will show you how to use Canva to create a brand guide.
If you worked with a graphic designer on your branding, they may have already sent you one.
Spruce up your social media about section and branding
There are many layers to the backend of social media profiles and it can be easy to overlook certain sections when you’ve made changes in your business. Check-in on the following:
Contact information
Even if some of your contact information isn’t public, it’s wise to ensure that it’s up to date. You never know when you’ll need to reset a password!
Check the email address associated with your account along with any customer-facing email addresses.
Also look at your phone number, address, and business hours.
Refresh your bio
The bio (or about) section — no matter how short —is the line that converts admirers into customers.
The standard formula is “I help TARGET MARKET with THEIR PROBLEM by YOUR OFFER.”
This is certainly effective, but be sure to add your own flair. Just make your bio is clear. You can also use emojis for emphasis and to make scanning easier.
Use a photo of you or your logo mark as your profile picture
If you’re a solopreneur or the face of your business, I recommend using a professionally shot photo of yourself that reflects your brand colors. Make sure you’re looking right at the camera to build connection with your audience. (Looking away from the camera can make you seem aloof!)
Otherwise, use your logo mark, which is the icon in your logo minus your business name. If you make a product, you can use a product photo for this.
It’s best not to change your profile picture too often as it’s always present next to every single post. Maintaining the same, on brand profile photo is the foundation of building brand awareness online.
If your logo is being awkwardly cropped when you upload it, this tutorial will help.
Optimize your website link
As business owners we’re often promoting multiple offers at a time. And that one “link in bio” isn’t going to cut it. Enter Linktree.
Linktr.ee is a free service that allows you to create a page with numerous buttons. You’ll use your Linktree link (mine’s linktr.ee/missmegabug) in your Instagram bio’s website line and whenever someone clicks on it, they’ll be brought to multiple buttons to click on.
This allows you to link to multiple offers, blog posts and other links.
You can also customize the look of your Linktree (to an extent). There is a paid version, but the free one is totally usable. This tutorial will show you the ins and outs.
If you’re web design savvy, you can add a page of buttons that will allow you more customizations and better branding. Mine is missmegabug.com/links.
Search your website provider (like Squarespace) then “custom Instagram link tree” for a tutorial.
Customize your Instagram Highlights covers
Highlights appear below your link in bio and above your posts. They’re in the shape of a circle and you can click on each one (just like Stories) to see the collection of Stories classified as that Highlight.
You can update the thumbnail photo of your Highlights to be on brand. I recommend designing a custom graphic to maintain the branding of your Instagram account using Canva, a free cloud-based design software.
Head to Canva and create an Instagram Story canvas. On the left sidebar you’ll see Templates. Type in Instagram Story Highlights Covers for a jumpstart.
This tutorial will show you how to design a cover and upload it to Instagram.
Test the links on your website and social media channels
Few things are more frustrating than clicking on a dead link. Not only does it leave potential customers at a dead end, it could also discourage them from wanting to work with you.
Head to www.deadlinkchecker.com to verify that all the links on your website are in working order. It’s free!
Also comb through each section of your social media profile to verify that each link is still active.
Check your Pinterest pins
Are you a pinner? Download the free PinCheck app to verify that the links on your pins are still active.
Customize your 404 page
Create a custom 404 error page so that if someone lands on a broken link on your website, they’re not greeted with a boring string of error text. On a custom 404 page, you can also add popular links to give website visitors somewhere to go. View mine at www.missmegabug.com/404.
If you designed your own website, search “custom 404 page” and your website platform, such as “Squarespace” for a tutorial.
Check in on your SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website appear as close to the top of related search results as possible. It’s super important, but it can also be overwhelming.
If you’ve already set up the SEO on your website, check to make sure that your keywords are still accurate to what you do and that the backend settings on your pages have been filled in.
This post will guide you through what to check and how to implement SEO if you haven’t already.
Ensure that your hours are posted correctly online
I often see a disconnect between a business’ hours on Google, Facebook, and their website. Which makes it difficult to gauge if they’re open, thus creating a potential loss in business.
Comb through your Facebook page, Google Business profile, website and anywhere else your hours are posted multiple times a year to verify that they’re up to date.
Remember to note special hours for holidays, vacations, and last-minute closures. You can add special hours directly on Google. For social media, create a newsfeed or story post. On your website, create a pop-up.
Bonus: Increase word-of-mouth marketing and reviews
Word-of-mouth is the most effective form of marketing. Consider offering a discount or reward for customers when they refer your business to someone who then makes a purchase from you.
To increase your number of online reviews (which you can then use as testimonials on your website), post links to your profile on industry review sites like TripAdvisor, as well as your Google Business and Facebook pages. You can add these links to your website, wrap-up emails to clients, social media and more.
By targeting these seven areas, your marketing will be refreshed and ready for the new year!
P.S. This post is the full version of a post I wrote for HoneyBook. They edited my post to add their own resources, and you can check it out here.
If you enjoyed this post, you can buy me a coffee or connect with me here. Thank you! =)
Hey there! I’m Meg:
LOVER OF CATS, ROLLER SKATING, AND VW BUGS
I also love business and share all kinds of tips and resources to help you grow yours.
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