Tag Archives: marketing strategy for small businesses

Is your business suffering from the summer slump?

Collage of a young person in various poses showing frustration and contemplation with sketches, coffee cups, and polaroid photos reflecting a creative and emotional summer.

Summer is a season many of us look forward to – longer days, holidays, BBQs and, hopefully, plenty of sunshine. But while it’s great for relaxing, it can be a challenging time for many small businesses.

If you’ve noticed enquiries slowing down, engagement on social media dipping, or sales becoming quieter than usual, you’re certainly not alone. For many businesses, the “summer slump” is a familiar seasonal pattern.

During the summer months, people’s priorities naturally shift. Families are juggling school holidays, many people are travelling, spending more time outdoors, or simply taking a break from their usual routines. That often means they’re spending less time scrolling social media, checking emails, or making non-essential purchases.

Rather than seeing this quieter period as a setback, try to view it as an opportunity. While business may slow temporarily, there are plenty of productive ways to prepare for a stronger second half of the year.

Stay Visible

It can be tempting to stop posting on social media when engagement drops, but consistency is still important. Keep showing up for your audience, even if your numbers aren’t quite where you’d like them to be.

You don’t have to create brand-new content every day either. Refresh and repurpose older posts, update popular blogs, turn articles into short videos or carousels, or revisit topics that performed well previously.

The same applies to email marketing. Even during the summer, people continue to check their inboxes, often more consistently than social media. A helpful newsletter can keep you and your business on their radar until they’re ready to buy.

Refresh Your Marketing

Use quieter weeks to tackle those jobs you’ve been putting off.

You could:

  • Update your website.
  • Refresh your branding or social media graphics.
  • Review your pricing and service pages.
  • Update case studies and testimonials.
  • Improve your welcome emails or customer journey.
  • Organise your content calendar for autumn and Christmas.
  • Review your SEO and make sure your website is easy to find on Google.

These tasks often get pushed aside during busy periods, so now is the perfect opportunity to get ahead.

Review Your Content Strategy

Social media changes constantly, so it’s worth reviewing what’s working rather than posting out of habit.

Think about creating content that:

  • answers your customers’ most common questions
  • demonstrates your expertise
  • shares behind-the-scenes moments
  • showcases customer success stories
  • offers practical tips and advice

Short-form video continues to perform well, but don’t feel you have to dance on camera! Simple, authentic videos explaining your products or services are often far more effective.

If you use AI tools to help with content creation, remember to add your own voice and personality. Your audience wants to hear from you, not just read generic marketing copy.

Host a Live Session

Going live on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn can be a great way to reconnect with your audience.

You could:

  • answer frequently asked questions
  • demonstrate a product
  • share customer success stories
  • introduce a new service
  • give a behind-the-scenes tour of your business

People enjoy interacting in real time, and live content helps build trust.

Focus on Existing Customers

Sometimes the easiest sale is to someone who already knows and trusts you.

Reach out to existing customers and ask:

  • How are they getting on?
  • Are they making the most of your product or service?
  • Is there anything else they need?
  • Is there something you could improve?

Their feedback is incredibly valuable and may even inspire your next product or service.

Ask for Reviews and Referrals

Happy customers are usually willing to recommend you—they just need reminding.

Now is a great time to ask for:

  • Google reviews
  • Facebook recommendations
  • LinkedIn recommendations
  • Testimonials for your website
  • Referrals to friends or colleagues

You could even reward referrals with a small thank-you gift or discount where appropriate.

Build New Connections

Networking remains one of the best ways to grow a small business.

Join conversations in relevant online communities, comment thoughtfully on other businesses’ content, and support businesses you genuinely admire.

If there are local networking events during the summer, take advantage of the quieter season to attend. Face-to-face conversations often lead to opportunities that social media simply can’t replicate.

Let Customers Know Your Availability

If you’re taking time off over the summer, tell your customers well in advance.

Share your holiday dates across your website, email, and social media, and encourage customers to book early if they need your products or services before you go.

Equally, if you know you’ll be launching autumn or Christmas products, start creating interest now. Early planning helps your customers—and helps spread your workload too.

Invest in Yourself

A quieter diary gives you the chance to work on your business, not just in it.

Consider:

  • attending webinars
  • taking an online course
  • Learning a new marketing skill
  • improving your photography or video content
  • exploring AI tools that can save you time.
  • working with a coach or mentor

Even a few hours invested now can make a noticeable difference later in the year.

There are plenty of affordable online learning platforms available, including Udemy, LinkedIn Learning and Coursera…and of course, you could always look at the handbooks specifically aimed at creative businesses that I’ve produced recently – contact me to find out more!

Don’t Panic

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that a seasonal slowdown doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong with your business.

Many businesses experience quieter periods during the summer, and activity often picks up again as September arrives. People return from holidays, children go back to school, routines resume, and businesses begin planning for autumn, Black Friday and Christmas.

Instead of worrying about what isn’t happening today, use this time to strengthen your marketing, improve your systems, and prepare for what’s next.

Conclusion

The summer slump can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be wasted time. By staying visible, improving your marketing, nurturing customer relationships, and investing in your business, you’ll be in a much stronger position when things become busier again.

Enjoy the summer, take a well-earned break if you can, and remember that every season in business has its purpose. Use this one wisely, and your future self will thank you.

If you have any questions, or would like to speak to me about any of the coaching, courses or handbooks I offer, you can contact me using the contact form or email me direct at cindymobey@outlook.com

Marketing your business with little to no budget

When you run your own small business, there is often little money left for a marketing budget, which can make marketing a bit of a challenge. But there are many ways that you can market your business to your target market without spending any money.

Having read a lot recently on social media about small businesses really feeling the pinch at the moment, I thought I’d have a look around to see what free marketing ideas there are out there.

I hope that these help you…

  • Create a free Google Business Profile. This is free to set up and you can add photos and updates with links to your blog posts or social media pages. It’s more of a local tool, so helps your business get found locally pinpointing you on Google Maps, as well as allowing a link to your website.  Your customers can also add reviews to your Google Business Profile.
  • Social media – Most of us have business accounts on Facebook and Instagram, and some of your will also have TikTok accounts, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X or one of the many other sites. Facebook still seems to be the most popular go-to place for people to search businesses. This is a great way to showcase your products and services, engage with your target market and find new communities to join and network with.
    Post regularly and consistently (it doesn’t have to be every day, so long as you are consistent). Share your human side, articles of interest, inspirational quotes, hobbies etc and as always my advice is the 80/20 rule. Share 80% entertaining, engaging, educational or inspirational posts and 20% selling.
  • Use hashtags – yes, these still work, so long as you don’t overdo it. The recommended number of hashtags used to be 30 per post, but these days it is advised to use around five. Use your own personal hashtag is you have one (or set one up) and use a variety of local and more general hashtags. Don’t go for hashtags that have millions of followers, or you won’t be seen – choose a variety between low and high figures. I personally wouldn’t recommend using those with over a million followers.
  • LinkedIn – this is one we often overlook and I’m just as guilty as the next person, but something I am going to try and do more of for the rest of this year. LinkedIn is a huge social media site – most use it to just add network connections, but you can share your blog posts and offers, talk about your business, have a conversation with the connections you make and join relevant forums and contribute to them – and you can share other businesses’ content.
  • Email marketing – this is a great way to get customers and potential customers engaged with your business. It’s a great place to build and maintain relationships. It’s not a new thing, but it is still one of THE MOST reliable ways to achieve new customers and maintain existing ones.
    There are free plans out there on hosting sites, but most want a small monthly subscription, but it is worth it if you use it correctly. When someone signs up to your email, give them an incentive, such as a money off voucher or a free checklist, e-Book etc. It’s a good idea to ensure that your email has an offer that encourages your readers to take the next step – that might be with a special offer you are running, a new product or service you’re promoting or perhaps a webinar or podcast you’re hosting. Your email is your direct link to your customers and potential customers, so ensure that the content is worth reading and that you show them the real value of your business and that you care about them. 
  • Ask your existing customers to refer you to their friends and family – you could also offer an incentive, such as ‘for every three customers that they refer who buy something from you, they will receive a 10% discount off their next order’.
  • Survey your customers – this is a great way to find out more about how your customers feel about the products or services they have bought from you. Ask them what they like best, what they like least etc. This gains you valuable information for future products or services. You can also ask for permission to publish their comments on your website or social media. 
  • Case studies – Use a real example of a problem you’ve solved for a customer, with a quote from them about how wonderful you and your service are. Turn this into a blog post, add it to your email marketing or post about it on your social media pages.
  • Have a website – this is a great place for you to give more details about you and your business. You can add an online shop, a blog, and a sign-up opt-in to your newsletter. Ensure your website is clear and easy to navigate, loads quickly (so keep image sizes small) and that it is engaging and gives plenty of useful information. Ensure that each page has a link to another page on your website to encourage visitors to stay a bit longer – this helps your ranking figures.
  • Write a blog – If you have a website, it’s a no brainer to have a blog. The reason? When you publish your latest blog post on social media, you point people to your blog post (and therefore your website0 where they may be tempted to have a browse. As with any other piece of content, a blog needs to be relevant to your audience and engaging. The good thing about a blog is that you can also repurpose the content to make other pieces of content for social media, email, podcast, webinar, YouTube video – the possibilities are endless!  
  • Free directories – as well as directories that you pay for, there are loads of free directories out there. Search for ones in your local area – this helps you get found more easily.
  • Attend networking events – if there is a regular networking event near you, they are well worth paying the small fee to join. You’ll meet other like-minded businesses and often pick up customers from those businesses over time once they get to know you. You can also join online networking events, which mostly don’t cost anything. If there isn’t a physical local networking event, why not think about starting one at a local café – coffee and networking always goes down well!  
  • Enter a business award competition – there’s nothing better than being able to say that you’ve won an award or a competition. Even if you don’t win but are shortlisted it’s still something to shout about. And either way, you can shout about it on your social media, website, in your newsletter etc.

I hope that this article has given you ideas on how you can promote your small business with little to no money. If you have any other ideas, put them in the comments – I’d love to hear from you!

If you need any help with any of the ideas above, you can always contact me for free 30-minute call.

Take your marketing from mediocre to marvellous

The one thing that most small business owners have in common is the dream about what their business has the potential to grow into. They want it to be a success and know they can do it if they work hard.

However, sometimes it’s hard to focus on what is important and you sometimes lose the focus on the future and how to keep moving forward. How many times do you find yourself wondering if it’s all worthwhile? How often do you feel like just jacking it all in and doing something else?

You know that in this digital age, especially since Covid raised its ugly head and everyone had to find more innovative ways to reach their customers, that having quality content online that engages your audience is crucial. But that really is only half the picture. You also need to ensure your audience is exposed to this content, and that means building a successful content strategy beyond social media posts.

This week’s blog looks at how you can work ON your business, NOT IN your business, and take it from mediocre to marvellous.

Resolve your mediocre marketing

Mediocre is quite a depressing place to be in marketing. Lots of businesses pay more attention to how they look than what they’re saying, or how they’re saying it. I’m not saying everyone does this, of course, but instead of focusing on what makes us unique, we are all guilty at some time or other of saying what people expect us to say or do.

So, what can you do to resolve your mediocre marketing?

All small businesses have lots of balls in the air. Not only do lots of you have a family to look after, but you also have everyday things to keep on top of too. Some of you are running your small business as a side hustle, as well as holding down a full-time job, and you can find yourself being pulled in all directions. This can lead to a mindset of ‘hoping for the best,’ which in turn can lead to you being unproductive – and it’s exhausting!

One of the answers is to work smarter instead of harder. Here are some things to think about:

Have a plan

If you read my blog regularly, you will know what I’m going to say; you need a marketing plan.

At this point, you might just switch off. Is it because you find the thought of having to plan a bit overwhelming? It’s probably the last thing you want to hear…again!

But not having a marketing plan makes your job harder and juggling all the harder to handle.

If you have a marketing plan, you can focus on the things that are necessary. In ‘The Trend Report: Marketing Strategy 2022, reported by CoSchedule, it was found that people who have a plan to market their business are 313% more likely to report success than those who don’t.

And, although it may seem very overwhelming, it really isn’t.

What should a marketing plan contain?

For starters, it doesn’t have to be 100 pages long – that won’t help you at all. It needs to be clear and short, realistic, and repeatable, as well as easy to understand so you can tweak it as you see fit in future months.

It needs to show:

  • Your Vision/Mission statement
  • The four Ps – products, pricing, place (where you’re going to sell what you do), and promotion (how you’re going to sell your products or services).
  • Market analysis – look at your competitors
  • Target market – who you are aiming your products/services at
  • Your goals or objectives
  • Your promotion strategies
  • What budget you have if any
  • How you’re going to measure the success of your plan

If you would like a simple to follow marketing plan, sign up to my email and receive your free ‘Marketing your small business workbook.’ This will help you get on the right track.

Don’t try to do too much

Trying to do too much can also cause you to do less. For example, I know businesses that are on five or six social media channels. It’s good if you have the time to manage them all, but my experience is that you’re likely to lose your motivation and abandon them one by one.

Trying to be seen everywhere is not easy to maintain long term, especially if your business is just you. So, I would always advise to focus on just a couple of social media, or online channels and do them well.

Be consistent, add plenty of value to your customers and have a goal – what you expect to achieve from your social media activity.

One of those online channels doesn’t have to be social media – it could be email marketing. To build a lucrative email list, it’s advised to have a lead magnet that entices people into subscribing to your email. I realise that email isn’t for everyone, but if your business is steadily growing, you engage with your audience regularly online, (and may be finding this is taking up too much of your time), the next option is to create an email subscription, where you can talk directly to your customers every week or month.  

  

Not everyone is your audience

I know I’ve posted about this recently on my social media pages, but one mistake that lots of small businesses make is to try to sell to everyone. Not everyone is your target audience, and by trying to target everyone, you risk selling to no one.

You need to know your audience, build a couple of buyer personas and tailor everything to them.

Don’t spend too much money

The word ‘budget’ is something guaranteed to send fear into most small businesses hearts. It’s not one of our favourite words, but it is important. Having a budget, no matter how small, can help your business.

There are so many digital marketing apps it is all too easy to keep subscribing to new apps. But while they might be individually cheap, they add up.

Look very carefully at what you spend your money on. Do you spend a lot on app or analytics tools? I do subscribe to Canva, and it’s worth every penny as I use it every day, but I have recently stopped subscribing to a few, as they were just a waste of money.

It is worth spending money on things you will use and will help you make your business more successful.

Here are a few ideas on what you can spend your marketing budget on:

  • A website (some people prefer to spend on things like Etsy or Shopify rather than a website as lots of the marketing can be done for you, but I feel it’s better to have your own website with built-in e-commerce, as you own it yourself
  • A registered domain
  • Training – so you learn more about things associated with your business
  • Paid ads – this needs very careful consideration to get the right kind of ad
  • If you are service based, you might want to invest in scheduling and measurement tools
  • Hire some professional help, such as a marketing coach, someone to help you with your business/marketing/social media strategy, or someone who can build your website, write blog posts, or set up your email marketing.

Don’t forget about your existing customers

Did you know that your existing customers are your biggest sales opportunity? Happy customers are loyal customers and are five times more likely to buy from again, and four times more likely to act as referrals.

Looking after your existing customers is worth the effort as losing customers who are no longer engaged or hear from you, are more costly. It’s harder to find new customers than it is to keep existing ones.

Keep your customers engaged with your business by offering them gifts, or discounts, listen to their feedback and act on it, or maybe think about creating some sort of loyalty programme.

Stay up to date with technology

This is a hard one, but most of what you do as a small business will be routine. There will be some daily tasks that need to be done to keep your business running smoothly. The more effective you become in completing these tasks, the more time you must work more on your business. For example, instead of physically posting on social media every day, batch make your content for the week and schedule it. You then only have to do this once a week.

Keeping up with the latest tools you can use to help you can ultimately save you time and money.

Mix up your marketing activity

Check out your insights on social media to find out what kind of posts work best for you and what doesn’t. Change the type of posts you do, try, and include things like reels and video, as well as short and long posts. Post your blog articles, and remember to use posts that entertain, educate, engage, and inspire your target audience, as well as selling posts.

Take a step back

In this article, I’m not telling you what to do, but what I am trying to encourage is to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. It gives you time to assess what works and what doesn’t work for you.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of doing the same things, just because that’s the way you’ve always done it, or because that’s what everyone else does. But in business, time is precious and it’s good to remember to:

  • Create a clear marketing plan so you can focus on essential activities
  • Only concentrate on the social media platform that you love and that you enjoy
  • Sell to a targeted audience rather than trying to sell to everyone
  • Make your budget work for you in the most efficient way
  • Make your existing customers your priority. They will be the ones to buy more, give reviews, and are more likely to refer you to their friends and family

This is basically what a marketing strategy is all about and will help your business go from mediocre to marvellous! If you need help in pulling together your strategy, please feel free to take advantage of my free 30-minute discovery call, where I can give you some tips to help your business

The Art of Persuasion

What is the art of persuasion? It is the ability to get others to see things as you see them, and it’s a key need for businesses of any size. From encouraging your customers to buy your products or services, to showing how your products or services are NEEDED by your target audience, the power of persuasion is key. And this is where marketing your business comes in.

I’ve recently read an article about Dr. Robert B. Cialdini, who wrote a book called ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’ in 1984. This feels like a long time ago now, but the ideas and principles he talks about in his book are even more relevant today, from a business perspective, than they were back then. In fact, the book and its principles has been hailed as crucial to marketing, especially around the area of converting people to customers. So, I thought I’d investigate this further, as I’d never heard of him.

Cialdini’s ‘6 principles of influence’ are:

  • Reciprocity
  • Commitment/consistency
  • Social proof
  • Authority
  • Liking
  • Scarcity

Do some of these sound familiar? Social media wasn’t a ‘thing’ back then, but we all know the term ‘social proof’ these days from our dealings with social media.

More than 30 years after publication, these six principles have been adapted to Internet Marketing, specifically around conversion rates. So, let’s dive in!

Reciprocity

This is about giving something to get a little something in return. According to Cialdini, this first principle of persuasion states that human beings are wired to return favours and pay back debts – to treat others as they’ve treated us. For example, if someone sends us a Christmas or Birthday card, we feel that we have to reciprocate – it’s almost a sense of social obligation.

But it is possible to use the desire to reciprocate to influence the behaviour of others. To do this, you need to give someone an unexpected gift – the value of the gift is unimportant, it’s about the act of giving. So, how does this work in business?

I’m not suggesting that you give all your customers a gift and expect something in return, it’s about the principle. For example, you have an email that you want people to sign up to – if you offer an incentive, some sort of gift or freebie, this will encourage them to sign up. If you write a regular blog and give really valuable information to your audience, when you put a call to action at the end asking them to sign up to your email, they are more likely to do so as they enjoy your blog and would like to hear from your more regularly.

Similarly, if you share consistent, regular, useful content, then when you launch a specific course, publish a book, or talk about your coaching, people are more likely to sign up.

Commitment

This is around people wanting their beliefs to be consistent with their values. For example, if someone thinks of themselves as a healthy, fit person, they are more likely to eat and do things that would be deemed as healthy.

So, from a business point of view, if you can convince potential customers to act a certain way, or think a certain way, they’ll be more likely to do that again in the future. For example, if you take cake into work for your co-workers and get a huge, positive response telling you how delicious it is, you’re likely to do that again – and eventually become known as the ‘cake baker.’

You can do this with business. I’ll use the email example again. If someone signs up to your email newsletter to get the freebie that you are offering, they will receive your weekly or monthly emails. Once they have signed up, they’ll likely start seeing themselves as customers and will eventually convert to a customer. All I would say about this is that it’s very important you don’t take advantage of them and manipulate the situation.

Consensus – Social Proof

This is evident on social media. It’s about feeling validated based on what other people are doing. We are all basically unsure of ourselves and identify with the people around us. If you work in an office and your co-workers offer to stay late to help with something urgent, it’s very likely that you’ll do the same.

If you see a restaurant advertised by a photo of their food photographed by one of your friends, with a caption saying how lovely it was – it’s extremely likely that you’ll want to try it too.

We humans are social by nature and generally feel the need to conform to the groups we belong to. This can also be used in business.

Here’s a great example. Hotel guests have the right to clean towels every day, but the cost of laundering is huge, so hotel owners would prefer it if their guests reused their towels. It has been found that a simple sign that says, ‘8 out of 10 hotel guests choose to reuse their towels’ is more effective and persuasive than a sign that says, ‘Reusing your towels helps the environment.’.

Authority

Generally speaking, it’s the tendency of humans to obey figures of authority – even if they’re not right. If someone wears a uniform, it’s even more likely we’ll accept what that person says – for example, police officer, Dr, nurse.

That’s why a lot of big brands bring in celebrities to advertise their products or services. Celebrities are influencers – they have an influence on the fans that follow them. And you’ll see toothpaste advertised by someone in a white coat pretending to be a dentist – but we don’t challenge that, we just accept it.

People who are authoritative, credible, and knowledgeable experts in their particular field are more influential and persuasive than those who are not. Cialdini recognised that the reason for this is that authority and credibility are some of the core building blocks of trust, so when we trust people we are more likely to follow them.

From a business perspective, building trust and credibility with your customers is crucial, but it’s also possible to build some of that authority and credibility through the recommendations of your satisfied customers. So, always a good idea to ask for a recommendation or review. And if you give them a recommendation, it’s very likely they’ll reciprocate and recommend you!

Do you see how that works?!

Liking

Does it really matter if you like someone or not? According to Cialdini, it affects the chances of you being influenced by that individual. It’s human nature that we’ll be much more likely to like people who pay us compliments, or like those who have similar interests to us.

This is something that marketing campaigns definitely take advantage of. The people they use in their ads are specifically chosen to appeal to their target market. The more the potential customer identifies with and likes the person, the more likely they are to be influenced by them.

To make this work in business, you simply need to be liked by those around you…networking helps with this, and we do it without even thinking about it. We see small businesses that we like and automatically pay compliments and start building relationships. But this does take time, you need to nurture and build those relationships before you can try to influence anyone.

I think out of all six powers of persuasion, this was the one that, once analysed, I was most surprised by! This is something most of us do in normal everyday lives.

Scarcity

Scarcity is about believing something is in short supply…so you want it more.

We’ve probably all been taken in by this one at some time or other. It’s that FOMO thing (fear of missing out). We’re more likely to buy something if we’re told it’s the ‘last one available’ or if a special deal is about to end soon.

Companies use this all the time. I’ve seen it most recently on a popular airline site. I was persuaded to buy my seat now, as the prices are likely to go up later – a kind of ‘lock into this price now’! It’s a great marketing ploy!

However, I would avoid doing this if it’s fake. Customers will see through you if you’re offering limited supplies or expiring discounts if you do this often.

Conclusion

These six principles that illustrate the art of persuasion can help us with small, practical, and even cost-free changes that can lead to big differences in our ability to influence and persuade others in an ethical way – so long as they are not abused!

Coronavirus Covid 19 and your small business

No matter where you are in the world, if you run your own small business, be it from home or from small premises, like me you’ll be wondering how you are going to cope if or when you have to close or scale down your business due to the coronavirus pandemic, Covid 19. This is a worldwide crisis like nothing else we’ve ever encountered before, so no wonder everyone is a bit bewildered. 

  • Will I go out of business for good?
  • What if my customers don’t want to come back when it’s all over?
  • How can I keep my business in the spotlight if I want my business to carry on being a success after all this?

The answers all boil down to what you can do right now…NOT what will happen afterwards and that’s what a lot of small businesses are focusing on. However, there are things you can do with your marketing to keep your business in the hearts and minds of your current and prospective future customers. I think that a lot of us have been told that our businesses are ‘non-essential’, but this doesn’t mean not important, just not essential to the running of the country! Of course your business is essential to you, to your family and friends, your customers and your purse! It’s not going to be ‘business as usual’, even if you normally work from home, but now is not the time to be pushing ahead in an aggressive way. You need to be highly sensitive to your customers and the situation that they’re in too. 

How does the Coronavirus affect your customers?  

Obviously how the virus affects your customers and in turn, how that affects you will depend on what you do for a living. If you’re in the beauty industry, (therapist, masseuse, hairdresser etc.), then your business will have to close, as what you do means you can’t possibly remain 2 metres away from your clients. If you sell a product or service, there may be things you’ll need to change – you can no longer do this face to face, so it’s time to get a bit more creative. But before you do, have a think – get out that pen and paper and think about how the virus is affecting your customers. What is keeping them awake at night? How can you help? They may have a specific challenge or worry that you can solve that has nothing to do with the virus.

You may be able to position your business, products or services to be helpful and maybe address some of the problems your customers are facing right now.

So, get out that pen and paper right now (!) and take 15 minutes to think about your customers. Try and answer these three questions…

  1. How can you provide value to your customers – real value to help them and to build up trust between you?
  2. What can you offer your customers right now that they need? Try and be creative here…maybe even a little ‘off the wall’.
  3. How can technology help you to still offer your products and services in a way that you didn’t before?

I definitely don’t in any way mean for you to exploit your customers – definitely not! Remember, people (including us) are all a little bit scared at the moment; we’re all out of our comfort zone and over the coming weeks, maybe longer, we are going to have to adapt to our new ‘normal’.

People who are in business themselves, small businesses as well as bigger corporations, will be spending a lot of time looking for answers to their problems. This could be in the form of solid help, albeit virtual, for their business, advice to help them move their business forward despite the virus. But not only that, there will be hundreds or thousands of people out there looking for products that can be delivered to their homes; if they are ‘locked-in’ without being able to go out for longer than an hour a day, they will be looking for entertainment, things to do, looking for things to read…and yes, turning almost certainly more and more to the internet for inspiration.    

Embrace the change

Time to get out that pen and paper again, can you answer these questions about your business?

  1. People still need and want to buy things. Can you create a space online where people can look at and buy your products or services? If you already have that place online, look at advertising it or, if online on social media, post about your products – without the hard sell or you will get loads of negative comments!
  2. If you run a restaurant or café, can you do takeaway meals or meals that can be delivered?
  3. How can you up your game with your online marketing? As well as just advertising you products on social media, start conversations about your products – ask for opinions and post a photo of the item you’re talking about.
  4. Think about starting up a new social media channel – are you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest? If not, now is the perfect time to learn how to use these channels. There are lots of free resources online and lots of FB groups where you might be able to get an expert to speak to you one to one.
  5. If you normally have meetings with clients face to face, can you use  Facetime, Skype or Messenger Video?
  6. If you’re in a profession, such as the beauty business where you can’t physically work, can you give people hints and tips on social media about their hair or beauty regimes? Take this time to set yourself up as an expert…it might bring you new customers when you can get back to business. And it keeps your business out there and not forgotten. Focus on your visibility.
  7. Do you have a website? If you do, now is the time to update it; change wording, add new products/services, look at your SEO (search engine keywords and phrases)…in fact, why not go the whole hog and give it a new look and freshen up your brand? Hell, yeah!
  8. You don’t have a website? Well, now you have the time to sit down and think about planning one for when you can afford it. Look at other websites who do the same as you and make a plan as to what you want yours to look like. Think about your brand, how you speak to your customers – what do you want them to come away with after visiting your website? What would a website do for your business?  
  9. Can you pull together some online resources for your customers that you give for free? You can do this no matter what you do for a living. Information sheets in pdf format – ‘how to’ information, ‘what to do if…’ information – the list is endless. If you have an email list, ask people for their email address in exchange for your information sheets, and ask them to confirm that they’d be happy for you to send them a regular email giving details of your products and services.
  10. Start a monthly newsletter with the email addresses you collect. Mail Chimp is a good place to set this up and it’s free until you hit around 2000 subscribers.

Be accessible  

Focus on your accessibility – are you easy to contact? If you are online on social media, or have a website, is your contact details immediately visible? If you email your customers, make sure you give contact details…an email address or telephone number where they can contact you.    

And finally…

Enjoy working on new things – make this time away from the stresses of work, a time that you sit back and take a long, hard look at your business. When you’re back up and running, can you change anything to make it better, more efficient? You have time now to research new products. You have time to learn new things, so you can offer a new service.

If you work from home, clean your desk, clear away the clutter.

If you do decide to put some new practices in place now, make sure you have a measurement in place, so you know if it’s working or not. This saves you wasting your time if it’s not working and then you can look at other ideas. On the other hand, it gives you a boost and the impetus to do more if it is working. 

Above all, during this dreadful virus and the fall-out afterwards, we are all in this together. My message to all the small businesses out there, keep strong, keep safe and keep thinking of new ways to do business.

As a small business myself, I would just love to hear from other small businesses out there – no matter where you are in the world. How are you coping with the virus and the impact on your business? What are you putting in place to help you through the crisis? Do you have any other ideas that people might be able to implement? Feel free to leave a comment here or pop over to email and send me a message cindymobey@outlook.com    

Pulling together your marketing strategy for 2019

2018 is fast coming to a close…can you believe it? If you haven’t already started to think about it, now is the time to be planning what you’re going to do with your business next year. It’s also a time to look back on what has happened this year – what worked well, what didn’t. So, before Christmas is here, it’s time to take stock, get your thinking cap on and decide what you want your business to achieve next year.

OK, what’s first?

The Seven Ps

If you haven’t already got a mission or vision statement, now is the time to write one. A mission/vision statement is just a couple of sentences stating what your business is, who you’re selling to (your target market), what you’re selling and what makes you stand out from the crowd. Once you have this, you can start working on how to market your business…to help me focus on every aspect of my business, I use the seven Ps…

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  1. Product(s) – what is it about your product that makes your customers want to buy it? Do you need to change your products in any way to meet your customers’ needs?
  2. Pricing – how do you aim to compete with your competitor’s pricing? Do you want to match it… undercut them… or do you want to charge more for a more quality product and service?
  3. Place– where and how are you going to sell your products? Do you sell them yourself or outsource them to retail outlets?
  4. Promotion– how are you going to let your existing and potential customers know about your products? This includes thinking about advertising, PR, direct mail and personal selling.
  5. People – this refers to who works for your business, including yourself! Do you create the right impression and provide excellent customer service, so your customers have a good customer experience? I’m sure you do, but never forget to keep learning, training yourself and any employees to develop relevant skills to deliver your brand and excellent customer service.
  6. Process – this includes the processes involved in delivering your products to your customers. Are you easy to do business with? Is it easy for customers to find your products? If you have a website, is it easy to navigate? Are your contact details prominent, so you are easy to contact?
  7. present-2891870_640Physical – everything your customers see and feel when interacting with your business. This can be from the physical environment of your shops, office or wherever you provide and showcase your products or services, to meeting you face to face and how you come across to them, how you act and relate to your customers. It also includes your packaging and your branding.

Set your objectives

Now you can plan the future of your business. What objectives do you want to achieve? Get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and sit down with your laptop, tablet or good old pen and paper, so you can write each one down.

Each objective should include a description of what you intend to achieve, a goal if you like, and should include numbers to aim for. For example you might want to sell more of February-Stok-Photoa particular product, but just saying you want to sell more isn’t enough – you need to be specific, so you have something concrete to aim for. For example, say you have a crafting business and you make rag dolls. An objective might be to sell 40% more rag dolls in 2019, than you did in 2018. This gives you a solid and specific objective.

Don’t be tempted to write a long, long list of goals or objectives – aim for a maximum of five to six or you will find it all overwhelming and you won’t achieve any of them. As you achieve each objective throughout the year, you can add more then.

beard-2286440_640Once you have your list of objectives, put them into a timeline – what you want to achieve and by when. This makes it much easier for you to review at a later date. I usually put a date in my diary at the beginning of the year to review my business objectives every three months…of course, I’m not always brilliant at keeping to that date, but by having it in my diary, at least it’s a reminder and I do review things…even if it’s a couple of weeks after the date I originally set!

How will you achieve your objectives?

Now, go through each objective in turn – you already know what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it by. Next on the list is how you are going to achieve each of those objectives. Let’s go back to that earlier example – you want to sell 40% more rag doll-1043499_640dolls over the next 12 months. You know what you want to do – you know when you want that result. How are you going to sell that extra 40%? These could be some of your options…

  • Get your rag dolls into a retail outlet, café or craft shop
  • Start selling your dolls at a local craft market or at craft fayres
  • Start an online shop on Etsy or Ebay
  • Sell the dolls using party plan – people have an evening at their own home and invite their friends. You show the dolls and potential customers get to see them, touch them and hopefully put in an order

Put all your objectives, what you want to achieve, your timescale and how you’re going to do it into your timeline. This makes it easier for you to see at a glance what your business and marketing plan is for next year for each of your objectives. It also makes it easier for you to review at a later date.

Measure your success

tape-measure-1186496_640The last thing on your list is how will you measure the success of each of your objectives? Sticking with the rag doll example, this is an easy one – each quarter, measure how many more dolls you have sold compared to the same time last year. To achieve your 40% increase over the course of the year, you need to see a steady increase in sales from the new selling strategies you’ve put in place.

I hope this has helped you to start planning your business and marketing strategy for 2019.

If you would like to receive a free Goal Setting Timeline template, please fill in your name and email below and I’ll be happy to send it to you…Happy Planning!

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