There are so many opportunities for small businesses to promote their products or services. Frankly too many! Too many because, as I speak and talk with small business owners, they often share they get that ‘deer in the headlights’ moment when they freeze and don’t know where to begin. Unfortunately, that paralysis means delay in starting anything and weeks or months will go by without any marketing for the business.
The opposite is the small business owner that believes they need to jump on every trend, every ‘hack,’ every ‘well-that-worked-for-Jackie-in-Anywheresville.’ Then she’s spread too thin and there’s so much focus on attempts to get the TikTok to go viral, attention to the business suffers.
If we were to stop and breathe. Heck, let’s just do that first! Inhale. Exhale.
Great! Now, if we were to do one thing tomorrow to improve the marketing, what would that be?
Brianne Fleming asked that on Twitter:
The answers were refreshing, insightful, and helpful. So much so, we thought we’d share!
Here’s our favorites:
Customer Service – may I be so bold as to say offer EXCEPTIONAL customer service from start to finish. Customers seek you out to solve problems. Solve. the. problem. without. argument. and. SAY THANK YOU.
— Beth! (@Adventure1Photo) October 12, 2022
How to offer exceptional customer service? Here’s a few ideas.
Great customer service to produce happy customers who do the marketing for you.
— Christian K (@FCKlas) October 12, 2022
Again, customer service! Here’s the essentials.
Super basic (and free) but many don’t do it: Claim and update their Google Business listing.
— Mark Gorman (@Mark_Gorman) October 11, 2022
Have you claimed your Google My Business profile?
I would say to just monitor social media accounts and like/reply to positive comments more
People like to be seen and heard and the engagement will help to build a stronger relationship with their audience
— Benjamin Katz (@BKatz301) October 11, 2022
Yes! You can’t ‘post and ghost.’
Talk to 5 customers
— Ali Schwanke (@alischwanke) October 11, 2022
And listen. You’ll learn a lot!
Encourage people to become regulars! Find ways to engage customers’ interests (Small giveaways, personalized voice/tone when speaking to them 1-1) , help them see that you care as a small business about them and make them feel special 😊
— Swati (@swatato) October 11, 2022
Regulars are easier to attract than new customers.
Reach out to all their past customers. Thank them for their trust and either ask them to do business again, ask for a referral or both.
— Valerie Schultz (@Val_Schultz) October 12, 2022
Can you incentivize the referral?
Like many of the recs on the thread…. Idea: Send a handwritten thank you note to clients/customers, or pick up the phone and call just to say thank you. May take a few hours but the personal connection matters for SMBs and is memorable and simple to execute.
— Stephanie Riel aka RielDeal® (@RielDeal) October 13, 2022
True: Stephen nearly cried when someone sent him a handwritten thank you card.
Ask someone to look at the front page of their website for 5 seconds. If that person can’t then describe what they do and how to do business with them, simplify that site!
— LibraryMarketingBookClub (@librarymarketi2) October 11, 2022
“Best friend, be honest we me!”
Pick a manageable approach and stick with it. Too many “big” ideas with poor execution. Even worse: dormant social media. So many pages not updated, hours that are no longer accurate, and at best, filled with content that isn’t meaningful to share.
— Michael Hilliard (@PMHilliard) October 12, 2022
Agreed! And Stephen’s suggestion echoes updating dormant social media and adds updating the website and starting email campaigns
You mean besides DO marketing? So many don’t even do anything!
1. Update their website (or get a website)
2. Start email campaigns
3. Post on social consistently— Stephen Koranda (@stephenpkoranda) October 12, 2022
Probably the simplest:
Don’t wait till tomorrow. Start today.
— Crackerjack Mktg (@crackerjackmktg) October 12, 2022
Walt Disney said “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Let’s paraphrase that and say ‘quit reading and begin doing.’ Which one are you going to tackle first? Email us and let us know.