6 Trends To Watch Out For In 2023
6 Trends To Watch Out For In 2023
In 2023, there are a few things you need to be on the look out for.
This blog describes each of the six (6) biggest trends to pay attention to in the new year and how you can also make it legal!
1. Implementing A Subscription Service
Customers want a more interactive experience and a human touch added to their client journey. A subscription-first business starts with the purpose of servicing customers on an ongoing basis, which aligns the business and customer for the long term instead of speeding through a one-and-done transactional relationship.
However, just because you’ve started with a subscription model doesn’t mean that you can’t integrate transactional commerce too.
How To Prepare:
- Get to know potential clients & purchasing habits. Create your subscription products/service based on your research.
- Research the competition. Pay close attention to how they price similar products/services and how they market/promote their products/services.
- Develop your idea. Focus on thinking about the logistics and operational processes.
- Come up with a pricing strategy. Don’t forget to build in a good profit margin.
- Create a Marketing Plan. How will you market, advertise and promote your subscription product/service?
- Assemble a sample box/test your subscription online. Always be testing. If you are flexible to your audiences needs and desires, you’;l be more successful.
- Post-launch analysis. How did the launch go? Well? Great! Write your whole strategy down so you can repeat it again.
Let’s Make It Legal:
2. E-Commerce Mobile In-App Shops & Free Shipping
Customers have become used to shopping online and getting free shipping, so much so that they are starting to expect it. 28% of Gen Z have purchased a product through an in-app store and 71% say that they discover products on social media most often.
How To Prepare:
- Offer free shipping for your small business in one of these ways:
- Free shipping on orders of a certain amount (great way to incentivize consumers to build their shopping carts);
- Free local shipping;
- Free shipping for subscribing to your email list;
- Free local delivery;
- Free shipping during certain parts of the year;
- Free shipping on returns; or
- Free shipping for watching until the end of a video tutorial or promo.
Let’s Make It Legal:
3. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is still on the rise. You may not be able to get Kim Kardashian to endorse your product or service, but you can get a micro-influencer (someone under 10k followers). Audiences rely on influencers for recommendations, and small business owners need to connect with engaged audiences that want their products or services. A third of Gen Zers have bought an influencer-recommended product and 71% say that they discover products on social media most often.
How To Prepare:
- Don’t waste your product, service or free shipping on someone without vetting them first. When evaluating an influencer for your business, consider their:
- Reach. How many people will they be able to reach with their message?
- Engagement. Do their fans interact with their posts?
- Relevance. Is their audience relevant to your business?
- Authenticity. Is the influencer authentic? What does your product or service mean to them? Are they promoting something similar?
Create a Facebook Group just for your influencers and post updates, codes, promotions, graphics, guidelines and more in one location. No more individual emailing!
Let’s Make It Legal:
4. Challenges With Hiring Talented Employees
Employee retention rates have plummeted over 2021 and the trend is expected to continue into 2023, unfortunately.
How To Prepare:
Interview Smart and make sure you do the following during the hiring process:
Identify the skills and characteristics that make a candidate a good match for your organization and each role, including any criteria that would help you reach a bigger talent pool. For instance, do you need employees on-site during regular business hours, or can you provide a flexible arrangement?
The messaging you share in your job descriptions and on social media about what it means to be an employee at your company. That is part of your value proposition as an employer, which helps candidates determine whether you might be right for them.
Your system for tracking and communicating with hiring managers and candidates during talent acquisition.
The talent sourcing strategies used for finding and attracting applicants (which ideally will include reaching out to former employees).
How you conduct interviews.
Your system for developing offers and navigating negotiations.
Invest in keeping and motivating the employees you have today by thinking through every step in the talent life cycle, including: acquisition, performance management, learning and development, succession planning, leadership development, and rewards and compensation. Identify those areas where you can improve, then prioritize.
Define And Cultivate A Great Work Culture. When I saw Work “culture,” I mean the beliefs, values, and norms considered acceptable at your company and how they influence how you behave with candidates, employees, clients, and partners. Exploring your workplace culture and existing mechanisms helps us understand what it takes to fit into your environment and succeed at your company. It also helps us see the roadblocks and how we can optimize your current workforce while developing a talent pipeline.
Let’s Make It Legal:
5. Personalized, Interactive Customer Service
What people are really craving is empathy and feeling like they’re speaking with a human.
How To Prepare:
Short-Form Videos: Social media accounts such as these are free platforms for you to highlight your business and what it offers. Think about making product tutorials or short videos that answer frequently asked questions. Post these on your social media platforms, but house them on your website. You can build these videos into larger segments, paid tutorials or build a subscription service with a library full of video tutorials!
VIP Days: For the ultimate interactive client experience, host a VIP Day and cater to just one client for the day. Your target audience will be willing to pay for this high ticket offer and you’ll be satisfying their desire for a custom, personalized client experience.
Build A Subscription Service.
Let’s Make It Legal:
- Custom Terms & Conditions + Privacy Policy
- Custom Contract
- Custom Subscription Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers + Privacy Policy
6. Strategic Partnerships
It’s going to be a good idea for you to start networking with non-competing, but related, businesses to help spread the word about each other’s services. You are six degrees from a potential business partner or contact who can change the trajectory of your business. The problem is that you don’t know the other five people between you and them.
How To Prepare:
Do you follow others in your industry on social media that don’t necessarily compete with your business? If not, you should start. For example, I just recorded this video with Pam Holt of The Happy Host Academy, a lawyer turned real estate guru who wanted her audience of all-female airbnb rental businesses (or soon-to-be) to learn about the basics of starting their business: business entity choices, business entity structure, legal pitfalls to avoid as you start out, etc. I was also invited into her paid program for free to connect with her community, answer questions, and hopefully build some leads!
I thought Pam’s cold DM was perfect:
Taylor also has a podcast coming out with Chiron Consulting in early 2023 on the same topic, but we go into more detail. We’ll let you know when it’s ready!
Let’s Make It Legal:
