January Marketing Ideas to Kickstart the New Year

The dawn of a new year is a time to assess the previous year and set goals for the coming one.

For businesses, it is also the perfect time to explore and implement new marketing ideas and strategies.

To be sure you’re kicking the new year off with a bang, here, I cover 20 January marketing ideas that are sure to give your business a head start.

20 January Marketing Ideas

Let’s put those New Year’s resolutions to work.

1. Encourage Feedback From Your Audience

Before you dive headlong into implementing the marketing tactics you’ve got lined up for the new year, why not take a moment to understand what your audience wants and needs from your business?

The best way to achieve this? By encouraging feedback from your customers and followers.

There are many ways you can make this happen:

• Social media posts. From Twitter or LinkedIn polls to Instagram Stories, use your presence on social media to get a feel for what your target audience wants to see from you in the upcoming year.
• Customer feedback surveys. Whether you use a tool like Qualaroo for one-question or SurveyKing for long-form surveys, by asking questions about your audience’s demographics, interests, and buying habits, you can get a better understanding of who your target market is and what kind of messaging they respond best to.
• Email blasts. You can also tap your email subscribers for feedback. To do so, simply send out an email blast that includes a link to a survey landing page or a survey you created using tools like those mentioned above.

Of course, not every one of your customers is willing to sit through a survey for seemingly no reason. To encourage more participants, you could always award your respondents’ efforts with an in-store discount or a chance to win a free product.

2. Explore a New Marketing Channel

One great way to start the New Year is to explore a new marketing channel. This could be something you’ve been wanting to try for a while but never had the time, or it could be something completely new that you think could be a good fit for your business.

Either way, expanding your marketing efforts to new channels is a great way to reach new audiences and grow your business.

There are endless marketing channels to explore, but some popular ones include:

• Social media. Whether it be a twist on an old favorite, like Twitter Spaces, or a brand new platform like TikTok or Supernova, there’s a whole heap of movement in the social media realm that you can use to promote your business.
• SMS marketing. In 2022, 70 percent of consumers have subscribed to SMS marketing, making it a powerful tool to reach your audience.
• Video marketing. 93 percent of marketers claim that posted videos have helped increase brand awareness and a further 83 percent say video marketing has boosted their ROI.
• Influencer marketing. 60 percent of marketers claim influencer-generated posts consistently outperformed branded posts.
• Podcasts. Over 60 percent of the US population listens to podcasts and that number is only trending upward year over year.
• PPC. Google’s PPC ads have a massive 200 percent ROI. What’s more, PPC ads can boost site traffic by up to 300 percent.
• SEO. Thanks largely to search engine optimization (SEO), 53 percent of total website traffic is organic.

3. Launch an Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing achieves an average return on investment (ROI) of $42 for every $1 spent, making this marketing channel one of the most effective and budget-friendly marketing tools available to businesses.

But why is email marketing so successful?

Well, it allows businesses to reach a large audience with minimal effort and cost, and email marketing can be automated to send triggered messages based on customer actions, making it a highly effective tool for customer retention.

To get started with email marketing, all you need is a method to capture prospect emails and an email marketing tool like MailChimp, HubSpot, or Constant Contact.

With these in place, you can start planning and designing your email marketing campaign.

Read more: check out these email marketing ideas

4. Show Your Audience Some Love

January also presents your brand with the perfect opportunity to thank your existing customers, subscribers, and followers for their past patronage and support throughout the last year. Plus, a touch of gratitude can go a long way in building customer loyalty.

What’s the best way to go about this?

A simple heartfelt message via an email blast lets your customers know how much you appreciate their business.

Or you could show your appreciation for your loyal followers by giving them a shout-out on social media.

Or a quick blog post letting your audience know you’re thankful for their support is a great way to start the year off on a positive note.

5. Declutter Your Inventory With Post-Holiday Sales

January is the perfect time to declutter your inventory.

For eCommerce stores, online retailers, and businesses that stock physical products, that could mean discounting products that are simply sitting on the shelves collecting dust.

For the rest of us, the service providers, use January to look over your offerings. Is there any fat you could trim? Are there features of a product or service that simply aren’t selling?

If so, consider cutting them or, using insights you collected from your customer survey, make tweaks to better align the service with your customers’ needs and expectations.

In doing so, you’re ridding your business of deadweight and making room for new products.

6. Capitalize On Upcoming Trends and Opportunities

The new year brings new trends and with it new opportunities that your business can take advantage of.

Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Personalization of marketing material. Consumers are tired of being treated like a faceless entity, and, as a result, are more likely to do business with brands that make them feel like an individual. You can capitalize on this trend by ensuring your marketing campaigns are tailored to your target audience’s specific needs and interests.
• The rise of voice search. With the popularity of smart speakers like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home, more and more people are using voice search to find information online. As a result, businesses should be optimizing their websites for voice search.
• Focus on high-quality content. In a world where we’re bombarded with advertising messages constantly, consumers, particularly younger audiences, are becoming increasingly adept at spotting branded messaging and, consequently, are craving quality content that’s relevant to their lives.

By keeping up with the latest trends, you’ll be able to better position your brand and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.

7. Announce Your Plans for the Upcoming Year

January also presents your business with the perfect opportunity to prep and prime your audience for any exciting developments you are planning for the coming months.

Whether that be rolling out a new product feature, expanding into a new venture, or holding a live event.

So what’s the best way to get the word out?

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. If relevant to your business, develop or update your roadmap and promote what’s coming next. In doing so, you’ll keep your audience in the loop and tick off any promises you made early in the piece.
2. Announce your plans for the year to your customers. This will give them a sense of what to expect from your business in the coming months and help them plan accordingly.
3. Use social media to promote your upcoming events and special offers. By doing so, you’ll reach a wider audience and get people to spread the good word about your business.
4. Create a calendar of events for the year, including any special promotions or sales you’ll be running. This will help customers plan their shopping budget and make sure they don’t miss out on any great deals.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are successful and that your customers are kept in the loop about all of the exciting things happening at your business in the coming year.

8. Create a Content Calendar

January is the perfect time to start fresh and set yourself up for success in the new year. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a content calendar.

A content calendar will allow you and your team to plan and organize your content strategy for the year ahead, while also keeping you on track and helping to measure your results over time.

Creating a content calendar from scratch sounds like a lot of work. Thankfully, there are tools out there that have premade templates for you to use.

My favorite is Notion. Notion’s content calendar template is very easy to use and comes with premade sample data so you can see exactly what the final product will look like.

Another great option is Coschedule, which has many different templates to choose from.

Both Notion and Coschedule have free forever plans, so you can get started right away.

9. Build Relationships Not Followers

It’s common advice these days to build a social media following. But what’s more important is the quality of your relationships with prospective customers, not the quantity of your followers.

A strong relationship will help your brand build customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing, which is much more valuable than a large number of followers who may or may not be interested in your product or service.

Here are a few ideas to help you nurture those relationships in the new year:

• Get personal. Take the time to get to know your prospective customers on a personal level. What are their interests? What motivates them?
• Be responsive. When someone reaches out to you, whether it’s through social media or another channel, respond promptly and courteously.
• Show you care. Go above and beyond for your customers and show them that you truly value their business.

By showing this level of devotion to your audience, you’re sure to win their loyalty and turn them into lifelong fans of your brand.

10. Publish Original Research

If your content marketing strategy feels a little stagnant, consider publishing original research. It’s a great way to add fresh, relevant content to your site while also establishing yourself as an expert in your industry.

So where should you start?

Begin by gathering data from a recent project or clientele. This data can be used to craft a variety of content formats, including case studies and various imagery like infographics. Each format allows you to showcase your expertise in new ways and reach a different audience.

What’s more, by publishing original content, you’ll attract the attention of fellow content creators in your field. Why is this important? When you create high-quality content, others in your industry will use you as a source for their content.

This not only attracts backlinks, bolstering your SEO efforts, but it is also a great way to get your brand in front of a new audience and build relationships with other thought leaders in your industry.

11. Kickstart a Referral or Loyalty Program

The best marketing is word-of-mouth. When a satisfied customer recommends your product or service to a friend, it carries a lot of weight. 92% of consumers say they trust a recommendation from a friend over any other form of advertising.

With that in mind, the new year is the perfect time to start a referral marketing campaign. A referral marketing campaign is a great way to encourage your customers to spread the word about your business to their friends, families, and colleagues.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

• Encourage customers to leave reviews. The more positive reviews you have on your product and services, the more likely you are to attract new customers.
• Give customers a discount, store credit, or a limited-time subscription for referring a friend. These popular forms of referral incentives will encourage customers to promote your business to their networks.
• Make it easy for customers to refer your business. Provide customers with a unique referral link that they send or share with their friends and family through direct messages or on social media platforms.

By following these tips, you can get your referral marketing campaign off the ground and start reaping the rewards in the new year.

12. Leverage January Relevant Hashtags

With all the excitement around resolutions and fresh starts, January is the perfect time to jump on relevant hashtags and get your content in front of a new audience.

And besides, hashtags are a powerful method to increase the reach of your content and connect with new audiences.

For instance, Tweets that contain hashtags receive, on average, twice the amount of engagement that Tweets without hashtags receive. While on Instagram, posts that contain 11 or more hashtags receive just shy of 80 percent more interactions than posts that don’t.

Not sure which hashtags to use? Check out this list of popular January hashtags:

• #NewYearsResolutions
• #FreshStart
• #January
• #GoalSetting
• #NewYearsGoals
• #NewYearsEve

By utilizing these hashtags (or those similar to them), you can connect with individuals who are interested in self-improvement, setting goals, and starting the new year off on the right foot.

13. Celebrate January Holidays

January is full of random and unique national days that you can use to market your business.

For example, did you know that January 22nd-28th is National Clean out Your Inbox Week, the 24th is National Compliment Day, and the 18th is National Gourmet Coffee Day?

While some of these national days may seem trivial, they present a great opportunity for you to get creative and have some fun with your content marketing.

For example, if you own a café or an online store that specializes in selling coffee machines, you can publish a blog post on the history of gourmet coffee and include a few recipes for at-home coffee enthusiasts.

For eCommerce brands, you can use national days to run special promotions and discounts.

Not sure which national days are relevant to your brand? Check out this list of national days in January.

14. Develop Campaign-Specific Landing Pages

If you want to increase your conversion rate, you need to make sure your website is optimized for, well, conversions. And one of the best ways to do that is by developing campaign-specific landing pages.

A landing page is a standalone web page designed to capture a visitor’s attention and persuade them to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

The best landing pages are designed around a single campaign or offer, making the conversion process as straightforward as possible.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re designing a landing page:

• Keep it simple. A landing page should be free of distractions and cluttered content. Focus on a single offer and make it easy for visitors to take action.
• Include a strong call to action. A well-written call to action is essential for a successful landing page. Make sure your CTAs (call-to-actions) are clear, concise, and persuasive.
• Design for mobile. More than half of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, so it’s important to make sure your landing pages are mobile-friendly. This means using a responsive design, keeping your CTA easy to tap, and using large, easy-to-read text.

By following these tips, you can create high-converting landing pages that will help you increase your conversion rate and revenue.

15. Optimize Your Website Design

A well-designed website is very likely to have a significant impact on your business. So important that 42 percent of internet users will leave a website because of “poor functionality”, proving just how essential intuitive website design is to the success of your business.

In other words, a well-designed website can have a major impact on your business. If your website is outdated or unoptimized, you’re doing your brand a serious disservice.

Fortunately, there are a few simple design changes you can make to improve the overall look and feel of your website. Here are a few ideas:

• Choose the right color scheme. With 39 percent of consumers claiming they appreciate the use of color over most other website design elements, you want to bet your color scheme is in line with your brand identity and reflects the tone you want to set with your website.
• Use high-quality images. With a user’s eyes fixated on a site’s main image for an average of 5.94 seconds, the use of high-quality imagery is just as important as text and animations when it comes to capturing the attention of visitors.
• Optimize your CTA buttons. Your CTA buttons are one of the most important elements of your website. CTA buttons have been found to increase click-through rates by up to 127 percent. With this in mind, be sure your CTA buttons are eye-catching, persuasive, and easy to find.

By following these tips, you can improve the overall design of your website and create a more user-friendly experience for your visitors.

16. Reflect on Last Year’s Wins (And Loses)

The start of a new year is the perfect time to reflect on the successes and failures of the previous year and set your sights on what you want to achieve in the upcoming year.

One of the simplest ways to do this is by taking some time to review your analytics data. Look at your website’s traffic, conversions, and social media metrics to get a better understanding of what’s working and what’s not.

Once you’ve reviewed your data, you can start setting some goals for the upcoming year.

Here are a few examples of commonly set goals you can strive for:

• Generate more website traffic.
• Increase your conversion rate.
• Generate more leads.
• Increase your social media engagement.

By setting clear and achievable goals, you can create a game plan for the upcoming year and measure your progress along the way.

17. A/B Test Your New Campaigns

A/B testing is a method used to compare two versions of a web page or campaign to see which one performs better.

For example, if you’re running a social media campaign, you can A/B test two different versions of your ad to see which one generates more clicks. Or if you’re running an email marketing campaign, you can A/B test two different subject lines to see which one has a higher open rate.

A/B testing is a great way to fine-tune your campaigns and ensure that you’re getting the most out of your marketing efforts.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re A/B testing:

• Test one element at a time. When you’re A/B testing, it’s important to only test one element at a time. This could be something like the headline, the call to action, or the product image.
• Make sure your sample size is large enough. For your A/B test to be effective, you need to make sure you have a large enough sample size. This means you need to test your campaigns with a large enough group of people to get accurate results.
• Be patient. A/B testing can take some time, so it’s important to be patient. Depending on the size of your audience, it could take a few days or even a few weeks to get enough data to make a decision.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your A/B tests are effective and that you’re making data-driven decisions about your marketing campaigns.

18. Freshen up Your Google My Business Profile

Google My Business (GMB) is a free platform that allows businesses to manage their online presence on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). For local businesses that focus their online efforts around local SEO, GMB is an essential tool for promoting their business and driving traffic to their website.

If you haven’t claimed or updated your GMB profile recently, January is the perfect time to do so.

Here are a few things you can do to freshen up your GMB profile:

• Add or update your business’ basic information, like the business name.
• Upload new photos of your business.
• Confirm your business’ website URL is correct.
• Update your business hours.
• Add a contact phone number.

By keeping your GMB profile up-to-date, you can ensure that your business is being accurately represented online and that customers can easily find the information they need about your business.

19. Promote New Products or Services Using PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a form of online advertisement which involves advertisers paying a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. With 75 percent of internet users claiming that paid search makes it easier to find the information they are searching for, PPC is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your website and generate leads for your business.

If you have new products or services that you want to promote, PPC is a great way to do so. By running a PPC campaign, you can target a specific audience with your ads and ensure that your message is being seen by people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re running a PPC campaign:

• Choose the right keywords. When you’re deciding which keywords to target, it’s important to choose ones that are relevant to your products or services and that have a high search volume.
• Bid on the right keywords. Once you’ve chosen your keywords, you need to bid on them. When you’re bidding on keywords, it’s important to bid enough to get your ad seen but not so much that you’re overspending.
• Write effective ad copy. Your ad copy is one of the most important elements of your PPC campaign. For your ads to be effective, they need to be clear, concise, and persuasive.

By following these tips, you can create a successful PPC campaign that drives traffic to your website and generates leads for your business.

Read more: check out our PPC services

20. Target New Year Relevant Keywords Early

Relevance is vital to the success of any SEO campaign. Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to deliver the most relevant results to users, so it’s important to make sure that your website and content are optimized for the right keywords.

With this in mind, the start of a new year is a great time to target new keywords that are relevant to your business. For example, if you sell fitness products, you may want to target keywords like “New Year’s workout plan” or “New Year’s diet plan”.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re targeting new keywords:

• Start early. The earlier you start targeting new keywords, the better. This will give you a head start on your competition and ensure that your website is being seen by people who are interested in what you have to offer.
• Choose the right keywords. When you’re choosing new keywords to target, it’s important to choose ones that are relevant to your business and that have a high search volume.
• Optimize your website and content. Once you’ve chosen your keywords, you need to optimize your website and content for them. This means including the keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions, and throughout your website’s content.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your SEO campaign is relevant and that you’re targeting the right keywords.

Read more: check out our keyword research services

Want more monthly marketing ideas?

• January marketing ideas – Start the year strong with these
• February marketing ideas – Boost your brand with creative campaigns
• March marketing ideas – Get your spring campaigns ready
• April marketing ideas – Plan your Easter promotions
• May marketing ideas – Discover engaging ideas for summer success
• June marketing ideas – Supercharge your summer promotions
• July marketing ideas – Explore fun and impactful marketing promotions
• August marketing ideas – Prepare your end-of-summer campaigns
• September marketing ideas – Start fall on the right foot
• October marketing ideas – Get ready for Halloween and fall promotions
• November marketing ideas – Make the most of Black Friday
• December marketing ideas – End the year strong with creative promotion strategies

Summary

Start the next year off with a bang. By taking advantage of these January marketing ideas, you will ensure your campaigns are effective and that you’re taking your business’ success to new heights.

Here at Loganix, we specialize in all things content marketing and are dedicated to helping our clients achieve their marketing goals.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.