The new year is a period of new beginnings, so we want to help you feel prepared when it comes to your small business communication.
All of us have so many platforms, tools, and accounts for connecting with each other. It’s amazing how closely you can stay in contact with leads and customers — but only if you have the right systems and processes in place.
This article will help you clean up and organize your business communication strategies as we start the new year. (It can help your personal communication as well.) It’s a lot of simple actions that help you avoid getting overwhelmed or burned out.
Audit Your Address Book and Contacts
This applies to your personal phone, CRM, Skipio account, email service… wherever you currently store contact information. Archives exist for a reason!
That person who never “opted out” of receiving texts or emails but who also wasn’t a great fit and never bought and who you haven’t talked to in a year? Their information doesn’t need to be taking up active space in your contact list.
Even if you already keep your address book up-to-date (kudos if you do), this is your opportunity to create or better utilize segments and groups. That way you’re prepared to contact specific people without having to manually search for them in the future.
We’ve seen our clients have great success when creating groups based on:
- purchasing habits
- product/service preferences
- goal setting
- plan/subscription type
- schedules
Segments help your business send targeted, personalized texts and emails whenever needed. Those businesses then receive more responses and engage in more conversations. And that results in success however they define it:
- boosted sales
- higher attendance
- fewer no-shows
- positive reviews
The list goes on.
Audit Your Social Media Accounts
You know those sayings that encourage you to surround yourself with good people? That 100% applies to your business and personal social media accounts.
Those tools and platforms are what keep us connected, whether that’s to friends and family or team members and customers.
But now is the perfect time to unfollow some accounts and maybe even find others that help you stay in a better head space. Like all those brands you followed when you entered that contest on Instagram? You can probably drop a few of those.
And why would you want to spend time looking at posts that just make you feel bad? This doesn’t mean unfollow all the people you disagree with or unfollow all the news sites, but it does mean taking a close look at the pages and people who aren’t doing your mental health any favors.
Surround yourself on social media with posts that…
- connect you with customers
- inspire and motivate you
- keep you informed and teach you
- help you smile and laugh
- give you a new perspective
Unsubscribe and Clear Out Email Inboxes
Many business owners download how-to guides, templates, and e-books. These can be great resources, but you usually end up on a marketing or sales email/text list. The number of lists you’re on can add up quick, so take a few minutes to unsubscribe or text “stop” to the businesses you’re not getting relevant, useful content from.
If you decide you want more info from a business in the future, it doesn’t take much to get in contact again. You’ll know where to find them.
You probably receive even more ecommerce marketing emails to your personal email. Liberate yourself from those lists!
As you go through unsubscribing, delete and archive other messages as well. Whether or not you read any of the messages before getting rid of them is between you and your inboxes.
After all, if someone REALLY needed to get in contact, they probably would have figured out a way to do it by now. Might as well bulk archive or delete those messages.
Review Business Communication Hours
Here at Skipio we love healthy communication boundaries, especially when it comes to small business communication. We see first-hand how many small business owners are working practically 24/7.
It’s so easy for work life to bleed over into everything else you do at home. And when you want your business to succeed, it’s even easier to let things slide. But that puts you on a direct path to burning out.
Set specific hours of availability for…
- checking your personal work email and texts
- reading and responding to customer support inquiries
- answering sales questions
- posting on social media and interacting with posts
- engaging with prospective customers
This is why Skipio includes features like webchat, auto-reply, and campaign delivery hours. These were built specifically to help small businesses stay available without having to be on the clock 24/7.
Make sure the relevant times of availability are communicated to your team members, employees, customers, etc. Telling your family or friends about your business-specific communication boundaries may also be valuable. Then they can keep you accountable and ensure you honor your off hours.
Create a Digital Business Card
When it comes to small business communication options, a physical business card might be expected, but let’s be honest. Most get thrown away. A digital business card can be saved and accessed for much longer.
Think about how convenient it is to deliver all your contact info to someone’s phone. For Skipio customer we recommend setting up a keyword campaign within their accounts that contains all the contact info a lead or customer needs. People text the keyword to the number, and they immediately get a text with the “business card.”
This text can include:
- a photo of you
- your business email address
- your social media handles
- a link to your website
And of course this digital business card means the connection has their Skipio phone number to call or text.
Evaluate Your Marketing and Sales Strategies for Personalization
In 2025, personalization isn’t going away. If your marketing and sales strategies don’t focus on creating 1-to-1 connections, you’re missing out on opportunities.
We really encourage you to focus on the human elements of any marketing and sales outreach that you do. Think about how to show customers appreciation and help reassure them that you have their back. Giving people whatever peace of mind you can will go a long way in helping make their lives easier.
If you offer great solutions that will really help individuals, you can combine automation and personalization to get leads to become customers.
Be Patient With Yourself
Most industries are full of fierce competition, and change doesn’t happen over night. Focus on making small changes in these areas of your small business communication and you should see big growth throughout the year.
This post was originally published April 7, 2020 and was most recently updated for November 2024. The focus was changed from “spring cleaning” to prepping small business communication for 2025.