After over 10 years in business, I will be the first small business owner to admit that marketing is the hardest part of what I do. With ever changing algorithms and new ways to put yourself out there, it can feel really overwhelming. For 2025, I'm going to be transforming my approach to our marketing and I wanted to share the changes I'm seeing and what we will be doing differently. In our modern business world, being a content creator is a must. But it doesn't have to be so overwhelming I think. Let's dive in.

Bad habits I've seen lately

The first thing I've been noticing lately is designers talking badly about their clients or other small business owners. There's always been negativity in the online space, but I'm seeing a lot more designers just being super negative about their own clients or business than ever before. We all need to vent sometimes but I think these designers forget that potential clients can see these posts. You're either going to attractive negative people or scare away potential clients, worried they'll be the next you'll speak out about. If your business is surrounded by drama, you'll probably get a lot of empty engagement from other people wanting to be a part of it. But does that turn into earnings? No, it doesn't.

Next, I'm seeing a lot of engagement farming. This is happening mostly on Threads at the moment but it's everywhere. Designers with years into their business asking their audience the most basic questions to just get responses. Or even worse, posting common opinions in the industry as "hot takes" or "unpopular opinions" to stir up anger. Again, this type of marketing will get engagement (until people see right through it and stop engaging) but will it lead to more income and a better brand image? You want to think through what you are posting to make sure it represents your brand and business correctly.

The other habit I'm seeing is over-posting. A lot of newer designers post a lot to get out there and get seen. But, the good news is your audience wants quality over quantity. Posting less but better posts can boost your engagement and this is true for almost all platforms. Some of the most successful designers only post once a week or even once a month on socials. They share a lot of work and business news. That'll be the type of posts that book clients for you. Some examples of posts I see that are classic filler content are:

• welcoming a new month
• color palettes (without some educational content about color theory)
• font pairings

These types of posts are kinda to no one. Think of what your ideal audience would want to see and create high quality content around those ideas. Social proof, past work, and educational posts are going to serve you much better.

Good habits I'm bringing into 2025

Instagram was the most overwhelming platform I'm on. It has served me well over the years and has brought me some of my best ever clients. But things have drastically changed. This year, my posts have gotten minimal engagement and it's felt like a waste of my time to post. So in 2025, and recently, I'm only sharing client work, testimonials, and announcements of blog posts on my Instagram. I want people finding me on Instagram to see I'm actively working with clients, the transformations I've helped them to achieve, and that I'm actively educating my clients and fellow designers. I believe this will establish me as an expert in the industry and help others grow before we even work together. So Instagram is more of a low effort approach this year.

Next year, I'll also be launching my personal brand and website to offer education again in my business! The first way I'm going to share knowledge in an accessible way to newer designers is through Patreon. I've seen more designers making accessible education in the wake of courses and I want to explore that along with potential courses and templates down the road. I'll be sharing video and audio posts along with what could be seen as blog posts and newsletters as well. I think the variety will keep me inspired when sharing what I know with others and encourage me to stay consistent.

Another goal for next year is to be more social on social media. I've been loving Threads for this. Being mostly text only, Threads is much more about conversations. You will occasionally see some of the bad habits I mentioned but there are a lot of great perspectives on there and it enables me to share peaks into my personal life while still offering micro education. I'm loving the balance.

The final thing I'm focusing on most in 2025 is my blog and newsletter. I took a long break from both in the last couple of years and I've been slowly revitalizing them in the last couple of months. My biggest project ever came from a blog post about the systems I use in my business. I want to attract more inquiries from Google so I'm relying less on social media since it changes so rapidly. I also want to nurture my email list because I get a great open and click rate on each email. I feel like I've had these tools for years but never quite utilized them to their fullest potential. But that changes in 2025.

What about you?

Are there any new marketing techniques you're trying out in 2025?