It’s that time of year again! Time to sit down and make your resolutions for the new year. Typically people list losing weight, spending more time with friends, reading more books or exercising more as their resolutions, but what about small business owners? Smart business owners create their own list to head into the new year, including an updated marketing plan, perhaps an updated business plan, designs for new products or services, or even opening up a new location. If one of your resolutions is to be a better marketer for your small business, we’ve pulled together a list of the best marketing articles to read from 2018. Work your way through this list, and you’ll walk away with new ideas for how to market your small business, whether you handle your own marketing or work with a small business marketing consultant. Here’s to a new year and new marketing inspiration!

3 Content Marketing Trends That Will Rule 2018

This article appeared in Forbes in April 2018, and was a fantastic read about three hot content marketing trends every marketer should embrace. Here’s a quick list of those three trends; be sure to check out the full article for all the details:

More content than ever is being published

Text-based content is giving way to other types of content

Transparency is key to successful content marketing

Intrigued? You should be! These three trends will continue into the new year so be sure to read up so you’re ahead of the curve.

6 Digital Marketing Trends That Will Explode Your Brand Awareness in 2018

“Brand awareness” continued to be a big buzzword in 2018, and it’s going to continue into the new year as well. This article by Entrepreneur has an enticing title, but it really goes back to reiterating the basics, which can’t be emphasized enough! Here’s the quick rundown:

Relevancy is key to brand awareness

Getting and keeping readers’ attention should be a big focus

Be omnipresent to your intended audience

Make sure you’re on multiple relevant platforms

Provide relevant content to your prospects at the right time in their buying journey

Increased brand awareness IS a return on investment

While measurable marketing remains important, this article’s focus on brand awareness shows how measuring brand awareness can bring big results.

7 Essentials for Any 2018 Digital Marketing Strategy

Without a solid small business marketing strategy, you’re leaving money on the table, simple as that. Unfortunately, most business owners think marketing strategy creation is hard and expensive. Not so! This article spells out 7 essentials for a digital marketing strategy. They are:

Prioritize customer needs

Audit and update your SEO

Use content as a lead generation tool

Host webinars and events

Expand your email marketing

Embrace social media

Make your marketing mobile friendly

It’s a great article and worth the read.

5 Digital Marketing Trends That Will Shape Your 2018

Yes, another “trends” article but unlike the one we mentioned above, which just focusing on brand awareness, this little gem from The Drum talks about various marketing tactics you need to embrace if you haven’t already. Here they are:

Video on demand

Social media influencers

Data collection

Chatboxes

Storytelling

Even embracing one of the items above can really elevate your marketing. Read the article and then reach out to a professional that can help you execute these tactics effectively if you’re unsure how to do it yourself.

10 Most Important PPC Trends You Need to Know in 2019

Whenever Search Engine Journal puts out a new article, we read it. These guys know their stuff and their articles are always written to help marketers become better at what they do. Here’s their 10 PPC trends they recommend you know for 2019:

Know your audience more than your keywords

Leverage automation

Look at advertising alternatives

Account managers new roles in PPC management

Attribution and cross-channel advertising

Ads will remain critical

Embrace video

Try remarketing

Focus on brand building

Look for new ad types, extensions and features

This is a meaty article so expect to take some time reading this one but if you do, you’ll be glad you did!

Many fantastic marketing articles came out in 2018. We chose these few to help get you ready as you go into the new year with your new and improved marketing efforts. We think these are a few of the best marketing articles to read from 2018. Do you have others you’d suggest? Contact us! We’d love to hear from you!