Stuck pouring money into traditional advertising channels only to get zero leads? We get it. We love figuring out creative strategies for our clients, because no two businesses are alike. So why advertise them all the same way? And especially for small business owners who don’t have big ad budgets, every single dollar matters.

So we’ve put together a list of a few “outside of the box” and more budget-friendly advertising ideas that usually have a pretty good ROI, if done the right way. Shall we?

Micro-Influencers

If you’re aiming at acquiring and retaining new, local customers, the most effective form of marketing is hands down word-of-mouth. Influencer marketing is essentially word-of-mouth online, albeit a bit less organic.

Simply put, an influencer is someone who either gets paid to promote a product or service on their own social media channels, or someone who trades free goods/services for the same promotion. A micro-influencer is a niche influencer with fewer than 100,000 followers and usually a large local following. And for a small business owner, that’s really what you want! Choosing a reliable and professional micro-influencer is so important, and in fact, we wrote a whole blog on micro-influencers last year if you want to go check it out!

If you don’t want to read a whole blog, here are the cliffs notes:

1. Make Sure They’re Legit— Do the influencer’s followers seem legit? Are they local? Real people? Are they regularly engaged on their posts? It’s a good idea to make sure their following is genuine and actually engages with their content, that way you know they’ll see it and be interested when that person posts about you!
2. Set Clear Expectations— Have an agreement ahead of time for how often you want the micro-influencer to post about your brand on social media, what platforms the posts should be on, and what they should include.
3. Use a Contract— Have them agree to the partnership – this can be done with a verbal agreement, software forms and tracking, or a formal contract committing them to meet the established expectations.

Brand Ambassador Programs

Brand ambassadors are pretty similar to micro-influencers, but there are a few key differences. While an influencer will only work with a brand initially through a formal relationship, brand ambassadors are often people who already engage with your brand naturally… they’re your biggest online or word-of-mouth advocates. What sets them apart is they love having genuine one-on-one conversations with people who are interested in your brand and products, rather than sticking to a script, like some influencers. Brand ambassadors are people who love your brand, who want to see your brand succeed, and who actively use your products in real life.

A brand ambassador program simply makes your relationship with those people who already love your brand official, and brings them on board with promotions. You can even incentivize them with discounts or points towards products/services for everyone who uses their referral or even a code to shop.

Podcast Ads

Podcasts are increasingly becoming a more and more popular media, because of their on-demand and accessible nature. Listeners can fine tune their interests (there’s a podcast for everything) and they can listen whenever it’s convenient…whether it’s on a morning commute, a mid-day walk, or an evening jog. All these combined have turned into 73 million American podcast listeners, and according to recent data, that audience is projected to grow 81% by 2022.

Needless to say, podcast ads are a multi-million dollar industry at this point… but do podcast sponsorships deliver a solid return on investment? The answer is definitely yes, if done right. So why do they offer so much potential?

According to a recent report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 67% of listeners could recall products and brands featured in ads. Even better, 61% actually paid for a product or service they learned about on podcasts.

It’s important to note if your target audience is listening to podcasts. If they are, you may want to seriously consider this form of advertising, instead of continuing to dump dollars where there is no name recognition or conversion whatsoever!

Blip (Billboard Ads)

Blip billboards are no minimum contract digital billboards that allow small and medium-sized businesses to advertise at their budget level. The good thing about Blip billboard ads is, you can get started on any budget. They’re very similar to social media ad campaigns in that you can choose what level of visibility you want based on what you want to pay, and they’re capped when you hit your budget limit.

A blip is anywhere from 7.5 to 10 seconds on a rotating billboard. The cost depends on the location(s) and time(s) you choose.

Conclusion

When you’re a small business with a small budget, it’s so important to get the best ROI for your advertising dollars. You don’t just have to keep dumping money into Google Adwords or other marketing strategies that aren’t getting you conversions.

Maybe it’s time to get creative and look outside the traditional advertising box to reach new audiences…

As always, if you want help with strategy or even execution, we’re here to help.

Podcasting has been around since 2004 but has recently gained a lot more popularity, and with good reason. Podcasting is the new talk radio. It’s where many people go for news, entertainment, and education on a long drive, a slow morning, or even a walk.

For a while, making podcasts seemed to be reserved for the few and famous voices in certain fields, but over the last year or so we’ve seen a rise in local, micro-podcasters. (Is that a term? If not, we’re inventing it.) Think of it in a similar way to how famous influencers opened the door for local, micro-influencers working with brands.

All that said, have you thought about starting a podcast as an off-shoot of your business? Not only is it a good tool to increase your following & therefore your customer base, but it’s also a way to supplement your income.

Why You Should Podcast

For both small and large businesses, podcasts can be a great opportunity to tap into an untapped market and reach an even larger audience, one that seems to be constantly ready for fresh content.

So, why should you start a podcast?

1. It’s Another Way to Reach your Target Audience – If you have educational or even entertaining content related to your field of business that would be useful to people, podcasts are a good way to deliver that content. If you want to reach more of your target audience in addition to social media or on your own blog, tapping into the podcast market is a great way to do that.

2. It’s Cost Effective – There is of course the initial cost of some audio equipment and software, but after that, podcasts are pretty inexpensive to produce. The biggest factor is usually time. So, if you have the margin to add podcasting to your monthly or weekly to-do list, the low cost associated with recording them means they could definitely have a good return on investment.

3. It Increases Your Name Recognition – We tell our clients all the time, the more you can get your company’s name out into the community, the better. Name recognition is a great way to grow your business organically. The more of a following your podcast gains, the more people will know about you and your business. Even if people don’t listen to your podcast, maybe they’ll have heard about it and think of you if there comes a time they need someone in your industry.

4. It Can Increase Your Income – Your podcast most likely won’t make tons of money right away, so make sure at first you think of it as an investment or passion project. However, if you’re patient, you can eventually earn a side income from your podcast through avenues like Patreon or even sponsored ads during your episodes once you have a solid base of listeners.

Why You Shouldn’t Podcast

1. It Would Stress You Out – It’s no secret that business owners are busy. So, if you’re already working 60 hours a week and adding another thing to your plate would stress you out, it’s not worth it!

2. You Are Too Shy – Podcasting won’t be for everyone. It takes a certain personality and skill to deliver content verbally in an engaging way. Some business owners won’t feel comfortable making the switch, and that is completely okay!

Conclusion

If you feel comfortable with your blog as a means to educate and connect with your audience, by all means, keep that up!

However, if you have the margin and personality to take your business to the next level through podcasting, we think it could be a great avenue to grow your name recognition and ultimately your income.

The COVID-19 virus is something that clearly can not be ignored. As our small business clients have asked us how they should handle this situation, our team delved into research to come up with some time-proven strategies for how businesses can best weather an international health crisis. The result of our labor is the following plan.

1. Create An INTERNAL Plan

Whether you have one employee or one hundred, you know that the success of your business depends on your team! So start by simply talking with them. Ask about their needs and concerns; then figure out how you can address those challenges. For example, you may need to adjust schedules for those who have children, as schools are unexpectedly closed. Maybe your staff just needs encouragement during this worrisome time.

Also, no matter how stringent your cleaning standards normally are, your team should adopt additional measures to ensure your business remains sanitized and safe. This can include more frequent hand washing policies and wiping surfaces with bleach more often than health code would ever require. By addressing your employees’ needs and setting expectations, they will be better equipped to continue serving your customers during this pandemic.

2. Share Your Plan EXTERNALLY

By now, your inbox has likely been flooded with emails from every corporation you have ever visited. While you may have disregarded some of them, these emails do help customers feel more confident in continuing to shop at these businesses. As a small business, you should also communicate with your customers so they know what to expect from your business during this time. Are you changing your hours or closing additional days? If not, make sure customers know you will still be there to serve them!

Also, share the updated hygiene and cleaning standards that you and your staff decided upon. People want to support small businesses, so you need to let them know how. If people can’t continue to visit your business because of COVID-19, then consider offering another option; perhaps customers could buy $50 gift cards for only $40.

Finally, consider how your business can demonstrate its commitment to the community as a whole during this time. I have seen many restaurants, such as Tropical Grille and Biscuit Head, offering free meals for children, who typically have lunch provided at school. On the other hand, a wedding dress boutique, The Poinsett Bride, committed to donate $50 to local food banks for every wedding dress they sell over the next two weeks, as many people are expecting food shortages. What can your business do to show love for the community?

3. Stay Calm

Many small business owners are afraid right now. That is to be expected. Sales are down as people stay home more, and the stock market doesn’t seem to know which way is up or down. However, things will calm back down. As business owners, we need to keep a steady hand and a positive outlook on what is to come.

If you have ever studied economics, you know that the stock market is largely dependent on emotions, often called “consumer confidence.” On a micro level, small businesses can help balance the local economy by simply offering positivity to their customers and employees. In order to show that you have confidence in your small business and the others in our community, simply continue to share on social media and serve your clients the best you can.

Once this chaos settles, you will be glad that your processes are still in place and your business can jump back in to growing and serving!

As a brand operating in 2020, it can be really easy to get caught up in your social media follower count, but we’d like to propose that even more so than followers, engagement should be your main focus. Having a ton of followers on social media is meaningless if none of them are engaging with you, telling people about you, or buying from you.

Engagement is important because it indicates whether what you’re posting is of value to your audience. And it can even affect your ability to grow your audience. Let’s dive into it…

Why Is Engagement Important?

1. The Infamous Algorithms – Facebook and Instagram both use algorithms to determine what content to show users based on a range of factors, and the most significant one is engagement. If your followers aren’t engaging with your posts, this essentially tells the algorithm that your content doesn’t resonate with your audience. And vice versa. If you get a lot of engagement, the algorithm will reward you with even more reach.

When that happens, the algorithm may end up determining that your posts are not relevant and therefore reduce your reach, meaning it will actually hide your posts from your followers. And alas, this just perpetuates the cycle of low engagement. If people aren’t seeing your posts, how can they engage with them? (How do you get out of the cycle? We’ll get there…)

2. Engagement Builds Content Builds Sales – Engagement is important because it ultimately helps build relationships that are sustainable. And building sustainable relationships with your customers is critical to the success of your sales funnel.

If your audience is engaged, it means they like you! Congrats. And a lot of times when you have an engaged audience, a really, really cool thing starts to happen— they start creating user generated content. This is the dream, y’all! When users create content about your brand of their own volition, for free, and post it to their page…. it promotes your brand to their extended network. It’s essentially free word-of-mouth advertising.

So How Can You Boost Your Engagement?

1. Interactive Stories – Give your followers a reason to engage. Stories are a super easy way to do this. Create a poll. Open up a question box. Let them in on your processes. Ask them their opinion! People want to feel a part of something, especially brands they love.

2. Calls to Action – Give your followers a reason to engage in your captions. Give them a reason to comment. Ask a question. Ask them their favorite emoji, their favorite memory of your brand, or their favorite product! Ask what they want to see more of on your page.

3. Giveaways – This one is a great way to grow your following and your engagement at the same time. Plus your followers get free stuff. In the business we call that a win-win-win. (Get it? Someone will win…the giveaway…that’s the third win. ???? We’ll see ourselves out.) Pro tip: make it easy and fun. The more steps needed, the less likely your audience will join in.

Conclusion

If you have low engagement now, you really don’t need more followers, you need more engaged followers. Building engagement takes time, so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away. Get to it. Stick with it. And have fun! Social media is a lot better when it’s fun.

The very first thing we do with our clients is always to figure out their target demographic, AKA their ideal customer (which we talked about in this marketing blog, if you want a refresher). This is such an important step because, depending on who you want to reach, the way you go about it will be completely different. If 75% of your clients are Baby Boomers… odds are, SnapChat is a waste of time, but ads on search engines and targeted email campaigns are a great place to focus your marketing efforts. If your target audience is Millennials or Gen Z, you virtually HAVE to be on Instagram. But we’ll get to more of that later… Basically, before you do anything else, you need to figure out who you are currently selling to and also who you want to reach, then determine where those people are buying products or booking services: digitally or in-store? And if digitally, what platforms are they using?

Where Is Your Target Customer?

One thing is true across every generation—consumers are buying online. According to a recent study, 2/3 of Millennials prefer buying online vs. in-store. While Gen X is about 50/50, and Baby Boomers are 60/40 in favor of buying in-store over online.

So everyone is online, but where exactly are they? The term “online” is too vague for today’s world. Where are they buying? Social media? Amazon? Google? Email?

Social Media use is declining across the board with Millennials and Gen Z except on one platform: Instagram. Gen Z is also continually present on SnapChat. However, Gen X is the most active on Facebook, while Boomers are also active on Facebook but make many of their purchasing decisions from emails or results on search engines.

While numbers may be down, Millennials and Gen Z are still absolutely using social media, mainly Instagram, to purchase products. And Gen X and Baby Boomers are also on social media, but they’re less likely to use it as a tool for shopping decisions. So where are the older generations purchasing online?

Here’s a closer look at different statistics and strategies by generation:

Baby Boomers

Many people assume Baby Boomers don’t buy online, which couldn’t be further from the truth. They absolutely do. In fact, the top 3 ways to reach them are television, search engines, and email marketing. Baby Boomers are actually way more likely to purchase from search results on Google or Bing than from social media.

While print-based direct marketing is often used to target Baby Boomers, recent studies show that they aren’t engaging with direct mail and brochures/catalogs like they used to. Print materials and radio are no longer likely to get Baby Boomers to move online to learn more. However, television has still been found more effective in getting Baby Boomers to find out more information about what they saw, and then purchase online.

So, if your target audience is between the ages of 55 and 75, you should absolutely be upping your SEO and email marketing strategies and using your marketing budget there rather than on print collateral or social media ads.

Gen X

Generation X is a fancy name for people born between 1965 & 1980. This generation has way fewer people than Millennials or Baby Boomers… but don’t count them out. Even though they’re a smaller generation, they have huge purchasing power. On average, their income is higher than the national average as well as the averages of all the other generations.

Gen X-ers still have a fondness of traditional TV and newspapers, but they also research online. So, if you’re running TV commercials or even newspaper ads, you’ll still want to make sure your online presence is strong. If your online presence is weak, Gen X won’t buy.

Here are some recent Gen X statistics:

Since such a high percentage of Generation X-ers use Facebook, this is the social media platform to use to market to them.

One great thing about Gen X-ers is that they are extremely brand loyal. So, if you can get them in the door and give them a good experience, they will stay.

Here’s a tip—make sure to reward loyalty in some way, whether it’s a discount or fee item after a certain amount of purchases, or just with a nice thank you email. This will go a long way with Gen X.

Millennials

So, how do you get and keep the ever elusive Millennials?

Well, we can tell you for sure that sales isn’t it. Millennials are a tough crowd to please, and if you push too hard for a sale, they’re bound to pull away, because most Millennials are turned off by traditional sales and ads.

Millennials are definitely not going to be “sold to” easily. They need to believe in something to purchase it. And Millennials, more than any other generation, use multiple sources of information to form their opinions. For example, they’ll look to reviews, comments, friends’ opinions, and more to decide what products they can trust.

Millennials love to be involved and feel a part of a community with a brand. They often want to feel they are a part of co-creating something useful or relevant.

So find ways to include them…. Ask their advice via Instagram comments, engage in polls in your Instagram Stories. Maybe do a giveaway or contest for the best idea. Millennials will give you GREAT ideas, and they’ll also feel a part of a community. That’s a huge win for both of you.

So, whether you grab their attention via Instagram, Facebook, or email marketing, Millennials want to know your “why.” They want to hear your story because that’s largely what draws them in. Once you’ve drawn them in, they’ll stay if you continue to offer them great customer service and a great product.

Influencer Marketing is a great way to catch them because the influencer is often sharing your story with them as well as a personal note about why they love the product or service. Here’s a recent article on Influencer Marketing if you want to learn more about that. Influencer marketing is a new word of mouth tactic that has worked very well with Millennials and Gen Z. Additionally, brand ambassador programs are hugely effective if positioned correctly.

Gen Z

Speaking of Gen Z, AKA anyone born between 1996 and 2010, it is a BIG generation, outnumbering Millennials by about a million. Gen Z is also the first truly digital generation from birth. Gen Z-ers spend almost 75% of their leisure time online. Let. That. Sink. In. That’s a lot of time! They’re constantly bombarded by content and advertising and have been their whole lives, so a lot of it can easily become white noise.

Gen Z, more than any other generation, sees technology as a tool for social change. Unlike Millennials who have historically complained online, Gen Z makes moves.

Gen Z wants to change the world, and brands will need to take note. Social and environmental causes have been a big deal for Millennials, but they are almost necessary for Gen Z. Think sea turtles and plastic straws. Gen Z has made HUGE moves in changing brands, and we aren’t talking small companies. We’re talking Starbucks, American Airlines, and United to name a few.

All this to say, marketers must think about social causes when engaging with Gen Z-ers. They want to know you care about waste, fair wages, sustainability, and other causes. So show them that you do.

They’re not reading the paper or watching cable… but you can grab them on SnapChat, Tik Tok, and Instagram. And get some influencers on board with your team.

Conclusion

So again, where are your people? Go there. What works for one age can make another one run, so learn about them and meet them where they’re at. Here’s a recent article that highlights the amount of time each generation is spending on different platforms.

And as always, if you need help, you know where to find us. ????

Anyone ever made a cold call? ✋ Probably all of us. Anyone enjoy them? Probably a very small minority of people… extreme extroverts only. ???? So, that begs the question: if we all hate cold calls, then why are we doing them?

Put it this way— if you’re starving and someone offers you a fishing pole or a pack of seeds, which would you take? The fishing pole, of course. Cold calls are like fishing. They’re useful when you need a client now, and we get it. Cold calls let you survive another day, like fishing for dinner. That’s also the biggest issue with cold calls: If that’s your only real way to gain clients, the cycle will never end. You’ll be making sales calls FOREVER. But we’ve been there— survivor sales. Also known as a traditional Outbound Sales Funnel (AKA, fishing). At the end of 1,000 cold calls, you have 10 clients, a headache, and an emotional breakdown. Then you get to start over again.

Here’s a little quip from one of our owners Joanna about her time in that cycle:

“When we relocated from NC to Greenville, SC, I knew that I would need to do the hard work to find clients. Along with attending dozens of networking events, I spent hours upon hours making cold calls or sending cold emails. And I hated it. But I have three kids who eat a lot, so I had no option. But I refused to accept the fate of cold calling every day forever. So I made a choice. I would keep on ‘fishing’ but I would ALSO plant some seeds. I began putting a long-term plan in place that is paying off now. At this point, I literally can’t remember my last cold call but the clients keep flowing in.”

SO, what can you do to get out of the survivor sales cycle? Our suggestion is: DO BOTH! Keep fishing if you need to now, because you gotta eat. But also plant some seeds to invest in long-term growth. And you can do that through creating what’s known as an Inbound Funnel.

Goal of an inbound funnel is to, instead of going after clients, simply take steps. You plant seeds to attract clients, then you water them so they come to you, then you get to harvest the crops. (Can you tell we love a good plant metaphor? ????)

At surface level, the funnels can seem similar, but when you break them down, you’ll see the clear differences. Plus, perhaps the biggest difference comes in step 4. Stay tuned. ????

1. Create Awareness

Potential clients won’t come to you unless they know you exist. Crazy, right? So the best way to get your name out there is to use a variety of methods. The more methods you use, the broader your funnel will be. In the farming metaphor, think of planting a variety of crops. Ideas for exposure? Most exposure methods are free/cheap but you can amp up your funnel by paying. Check out our handy dandy graphic for ideas for free vs. paid exposure.

2. Build Value & Trust

After exposure is executed, potential customers may visit your website, visit your store, or follow you on social media. Caution: Do not try to switch back to fishing and scare them away. Step 2 in a sustainable inbound funnel takes time. Many people fear losing the customer’s attention so they jump to sales again. Yes, short attention spans are real and they may lose focus, so using forms to gather contact info is okay, but don’t start a hard sell just yet. The natural progression is awareness, discovery, interest. The jump from discovery to interest is difficult because no one wants to be “sold,” so the marketing/sales tactics need to be balanced with building trust/goodwill.

So how do you do that?

  1. Offer Valuable Free Resources
  2. Testimonials & Customer Reviews
    • Ask your customers/clients to write you a positive review online. In fact, we wrote a whole blog about how to do this well and why they’re beneficial. Check it out here.
  3. Insider Info
    • Meet-the-team posts add a personal story and help viewers get to know you in a low-pressure setting.
    • Sharing industry secrets by blog or social media can be a huge advantage for you over your more tight-lipped competitors.
  4. Features v. Benefits
    • Keep touching on the benefits of your business or product rather than just the features. People make purchasing decisions based on benefits, not features.
  5. Nurture Interest
    • Whether through email, social media, blogs, etc., make sure your customers see a product that meets their need(s) several times.

3. Close the Sale

You are still not a salesman here. We repeat. Not a salesman. ???? This isn’t time to “reel them in;” it’s time to reap the harvest. BUT When the customer shows true consideration (fills out a form, adds item to cart, asks for price quote), you need processes in place to help convert them. Some things to consider here:

  1. Ease of purchase: Can they do so without having to call? Is it intuitive? Do you accept various payment methods?
  2. Incentivize purchase: This may include increased direct marketing (call or email), coupon codes, limited-time introductory offers (positioned as only ONE TIME).

4. Create a Sustainable Funnel

The initial sale conversion isn’t the end. It is simply the beginning of the customer relationship journey and start of constantly refilling your funnel. If your whole funnel ends after a single purchase, your funnel isn’t sustainable. Here are a few great ways to create a sustainable funnel through customer relationship and retention

  1. Multiple Purchases: Could customers buy more than one of your products? How about a subscription model? How about a discount on second purchases in the same month? A loyalty program.
  2. Replacement Purchases: If customers won’t need multiple products, how long until they need a replacement? Do you have a long-term marketing plan in place that keeps the customer in contact until that time? Should you offer loyalty incentives? Email marketing and social media work great in this long-term plan.
  3. Complementary Products: What complements your product? If you know they will need another product in conjunction with yours, selling that complementary product not only gives you another sales channel, but also it’s good customer service. People like convenience.
  4. Customer Service: Go above and beyond expectations. Create a culture so your employees know to do the same. Great customer service creates a sales force of brand advocates, because content customers just come back. Surprised customers tell others!

Conclusion

Speaking of telling others, word of mouth is the best way to get you inbound leads, and by the way, it has the absolute best ROI you can ever get. So, ask customers to leave you reviews. Ask them to share with a friend for them both to get an incentive. “Ask and you shall receive…” That’s a popular saying for a reason!

And if you go above and beyond to thank customers who advocate for you by sending a hand-written thank you note, sending a gift card, or mentioning them on social media, they will feel validated as an important part of your company story, which they are! And then they’ll be more likely to continue to advocate for you. Advocates help fill your funnel with potential customers that are not only aware, but already have trust and are ready to convert. This cycle will grow, and soon you will be done with sales. Woohoo! We’re so excited about the potential of that, we’re leaving you with another awesome graphic.

If you’re a small business owner, we can pretty much guess that you wear (at least) 9,000 hats every day. Maybe it’s because you feel that you don’t have the budget to hire anyone to take some things off your plate, or maybe you’re one of those business owners who can’t let anything go because there’s no way anyone else will ever care about it as much as you do. Others think they can probably just do the work, and even if it’s not perfect, it can’t be that hard. Sound familiar?

Well, research from the American Psychological Association shows that when you multitask, or manage multiple projects at once, you can experience a 40 percent drop in productivity. Your projects take longer to complete, and you increase your overall stress levels.

Also, most small businesses usually start out with little or no overhead. But let’s be real, expenses build up a lot faster than revenue in the beginning. We’re not saying you should increase expenses unnecessarily by outsourcing tasks you’re capable of accomplishing, but the fact is, some areas require more expertise than you probably have.

(Brief pause for the nobody-can-do-it-better-than-me guy to have a good silent scream.)

As a small business owner, you can find good help by turning to freelancers or small firms as a less expensive source of assistance, and their expertise can help you realize that maybe you’re spending money in the wrong areas, or the amount of time it takes you (or an inexperienced employee) to do something is costing you way more in the long run. Before you hire one or more full-time employees to take over specialized tasks, consider outsourcing as a more cost effective alternative.

You don’t need to outsource everything, especially if you really are trained in a specific area, but we’ve put together a list of 5 areas we think would serve the average business owner well to outsource.

1. Accounting & Bookkeeping

This is a big one. If we had to choose one thing to tell you to outsource, this would probably be it. It’s really important to leave accounting to a professional. Having an administrative assistant or someone else handle accounting who isn’t well versed or trained in software or basic accounting rules is like playing roulette with your finances. When handling the finances for your business, you really can’t afford to make mistakes, and outsourcing is a great way to prevent that.

An experienced freelancer or accounting firm can save you a lot of money in the long run because they know what pitfalls to avoid and what tactics can be beneficial. If you’re a business owner trying to manage your own payroll, for example, and you’re not familiar with tax regulations and requirements, you could have a lot of issues or fines down the line with the IRS which can be more costly than simply hiring a professional.

2. Market Research & Branding

Market research is extremely important to the growth of any company. In-depth research on your industry or target audience can provide your business with important information for current and future strategies. Outsourcing this to an experienced individual or firm and having them build a set of customer profiles can help you make more informed decisions about your branding and marketing.

It’s almost impossible for business owners to view their business from an outside perspective, and so often they make branding decisions based on personal preferences and not market research. Basically, as a business owner, you’re too close to your business to see it the way others do. When you live in your business every single day and know the ins and outs of your industry and, it’s hard for you to know what an audience who has no previous knowledge about your business wants or needs to hear. So, enter the professionals!

3. Social Media Marketing

In 2018 there are so many different social platforms to choose from and each of them requires a lot of attention, so outsourcing social media can be invaluable to business owners. Professionals can develop a strategy, write strong content, and building up your following. Social media experts can give you a huge bang for your buck, helping you skip the expense of hiring someone full-time or taking other employees away from their job to do something they’re not really good at. (If we see one more cat meme from Karen in accounting….)

4. IT

Let’s just say you have a tech-savvy employee who you think can handle any IT issues that come up. That’s awesome, and not necessarily worst case scenario, but it’s definitely not best. If you outsource IT, technicians can fix issues faster and therefore save you money. But that’s not where the real savings are. A good IT company will help you put better systems in place to cut down on the number of issues you have in the first place, so your employees can get more done, without wasting company time waiting on the internet to work or an old computer to boot up. Also, IT companies can help you improve your data security, which minimizes your chances of experiencing a costly data breach. (You can read our blog to learn all about what a data breach can do to hurt a company’s reputation and, therefore, sales.)

5. HR / Staffing

Ooh, This is a good one. Everyone wants good employees, but how do you know who will be good and who is just really good at BS-ing their way through an interview? Not every business owner is experienced in hiring, so outsourcing HR to a professional can help your business attract great talent, weed through applicants to help you find the best fit, and also help you retain the good employees you already have.

Some mistakes in HR, made by someone who isn’t really trained in the field, can hurt employee retention and lead to costly fines. Leaving HR responsibilities in the hands of an employee who switches back and forth to HR on an as-needed or part-time basis, or who isn’t sufficiently trained in HR matters, can cost you dearly. Firms that specialize in compliance to HR regulations can be a huge asset to you to protect you from lawsuits or other unneeded expenses.

It may feel like HR isn’t an option for you as a small or medium-sized business owner. But even if you don’t have the budget to support a trained, full-time HR team, outsourcing tasks to an HR firm is a great idea that ultimately saves you money.

Conclusion

One misconception about handing off tasks to people is that it’s expensive and out of reach for small businesses. But, you don’t have to hire 6 new full-time employees to get these important tasks done the right way. You can outsource for a fraction of that cost. While there will be some cost associated with it, it won’t necessarily break the bank, and will often save you money in the long run.

There are a lot of areas you can outsource, but only you know which areas you need help with. Look at your finances, your team, your processes, and the work you are juggling yourself on a regular basis. And then really consider outsourcing the areas where you or your team struggle.

Simply said, outsource your weaknesses, so you can have the time to hone in on your strengths and kick booty at those.

In last month’s blog we spent a lot of time telling you how to talk about something besides yourself and your product on social media, but this month we’re going to pull a fast one on you and focus on how to do just the opposite. At the right moments anyways. We’re not changing our position here—we still think you shouldn’t constantly be shining the spotlight on yourself—but we are saying that when you do, you need to make it count, especially in the age of #communityovercompetition.

What is Community Over Competition?

The idea of community over competition has gained a lot of traction over the last few years among creatives and other professionals, with good reason. It’s an extremely positive movement. When owning a small business, especially as a creative, it can be very difficult to not keep tabs on competition. After all, competitive research is taught in business school. But competitive research is one thing… then there’s continual competitive “research” (aka: stalking), when you look at others as “competitors” all the time and have a high likelihood of becoming jealous, territorial, and negative. And that’s not good for anyone, especially your customers.

The other problem with competitive research is that none of your competitors are doing exactly what you’re doing the way you do it, so they’re not technically your direct competition anyway. (More on that later.)

So here we are, acknowledging just how positive this movement is, but we need to also acknowledge this elephant in the room. While collaboration is a beautiful thing, your livelihood still depends on successfully promoting your business, a business that you really believe in. But we get it. It can sometimes get tricky to know exactly how to support others in your industry, but still self-promote without getting competitive or seeming too pushy.

Here are a few ideas to get you started…

Defining Your Brand Story

“Storytelling” has become such a buzzword in recent years that a lot of business owners have started to ignore the idea, but the story of your business is maybe the only truly unique aspect you have to share. People love and crave genuine connections, and sharing your story is a great way to let people know about you, your day-to-day, the behind the scenes of your business, and ultimately build your brand.

Be Competitive With Your Brand Positioning

This is where things get tricky. “Community over competition” doesn’t mean you can never present yourself in a strategic way. You don’t have to be overly confident or put others down to get ahead, but you do have permission to own the things you truly are great at. The fact is, you have a unique selling proposition. No one is just like you. And just like others excel beyond you in certain areas (and you should encourage them in that), you’re better at some things than others are– so why not promote that? But remember, there’s a way to elevate your strengths without knocking the way others are doing things.

Determine How Your Add Value To Your Industry

Your customers are paying the most attention to your services or products, but that doesn’t mean they’re unaware of how you interact with other businesses in your industry. If you’re using passive—albeit extremely witty—captions to shade others in your lane, it puts a bad taste in people’s mouths. Instead, figure out how you add value to your industry (and by default, your customers too) and focus on expanding that. For example, maybe host a networking event, a lunch and learn, or an instructional seminar for others in your industry. Your peers will thank you and your customers will think you’re awesome, mostly because you are.

Conclusion

The bottom line here is, even if you’re all about celebrating the ???? out of others, you can still be proud of your work and believe in your business enough to promote it. There’s room at the table for everyone, especially you!

We all do it. The mindless scrolling through our social feeds. Everyone and their mother is online, so getting your posts to stand out in the feed and stop the scroll is becoming more difficult, but it doesn’t have to be intimidating. You just have to get intentional, and we’re here to help.

Maybe you don’t know what else to post, so you just post about your products or services. Maybe you don’t even give a second thought to your posts, but just usually post spur-of-the-moment when you have time to think or you when realize you haven’t posted in a few days. I think we can all agree that this isn’t an ideal scenario. So, if you’re in a rut, you’ve come to the right place.

The problem with posting the same thing all the time is, well, it eventually becomes very easy to tune out. Your feed can easily become white noise, an easy “scroll past” account and then before you know it, you’ve got your followers rethinking the follow. (Or using that ever elusive Mute button. Didn’t know about the mute button? You’ll thank me later.)

Why Diversify?

This one may hurt a bit, so brace yourself. Ready? Okay… let’s do this. Only about 20% of your stream should be about your products or a service promotion. Only 20%. That means for the other 80% of posts, instead of talking, posting, reposting, and posting again about how awesome your product or service is, you should be engaging in conversation and sharing other types of content and information with your audience. It’s so important to bring the personal along with the professional. Your followers don’t want to be sold to 24/7. Share your story. Hey, you could even have a little fun! The only thing you need to remember is to keep all of your posts in line with your brand message.

Diversifying the content that you post will really help to stand out, engage your current followers, and hopefully bring in new ones.

But how do you diversify?

Content Pillars

Content pillars are a great way to organize your content strategy on social media. A content pillar is a key theme that categorizes the type of posts you will share on your social media. Just like the name suggests, your pillars are a foundation for building your content.

Content pillars shouldn’t be too specific. They should be wide, like the trunk of a tree, with the ability to create different branches and limbs within each pillar. It’s up to you how many content pillars you choose.

Not sure how to determine what your content pillars should be? It’s important that all of your pillars are in line with your brand message, and they should also address the needs and values of your target consumer.

But First… Who, What, and Where?

Speaking of your target customer, before we jump into the different types of content you can utilize, there are some important questions you need to ask first that will determine exactly what kind of content you should post. A really good rule of thumb is, before you speak, you should know who you’re speaking to. You wouldn’t speak the same way to a CEO that you do your bestie. You’d say things to your kids that you wouldn’t say to your work colleagues. What are the demographics and behaviors of your target audience? Second, you need to find their outlets. Meet your audience where they are. Don’t spend all your time on Instagram if your target consumer is really on Facebook. And lastly, determine your message. What does your audience need to know about your brand?

1. Who’s your audience? How old is your target customer? How old is your social media audience? What does your customer like? What else are they doing and buying?

2. What platforms do you need to be on based on your audience? If you’re demo is 18-24, Facebook is out and Instagram is in. And vice versa, the 55 and older crowd isn’t really on Instagram, so if that’s your audience, you’ll want to utilize Facebook.

3. What message do you want to communicate through your social media? Some good examples of messages you want to include are ideas like services, about your team, your process, what sets you apart from your competition.

What are Your Content Pillars?

Now that you’ve determined your audience, let’s get started on different types of content pillars.

Products & Services – As I mentioned earlier, promotions should only account for a small percentage of your feed, but they should definitely be there. But because they’ll be so few and far between, make them count! Include an offer that will stop people while scrolling and get them to click.

Educational – These are posts like tips, how-tos, blogs, interviews, and more can add value to your followers, and they’ll usually be really appreciative of your time and expertise. This is something followers stay for. And maybe once they trust your expertise, they’ll become loyal to what you’re offering them!

Humanizing – This includes posts like Behind the Scenes, Team Activities, Emotional Stories, Meet the Team, and more. This should most likely be the bread and butter of your content. Your followers want to know you. And as much as you hate getting your picture taken (we all do!), ya gotta give the people what they want… and in this case, that’s your beautiful face.

Shout Outs – This type of post is a great way to engage with your following. The only thing people want to see more than your pretty face is, well, theirs! Things like Follower of the Week, Partner Spotlights, Follower Submissions, Follower Reposts, Giveaways, and more will make your followers feel appreciated and seen. And they’ll love you for it!

Once you’ve decided on a brand message and figured out which content pillars and platforms are best for your business, it’s time to cultivate the perfect post.

Elements of the Perfect Post

Videos, pictures, clever captions, oh my! Every platform will have its own perks and its own hurdles. But we believe in you! Here are two great tips to stand out in your followers’ feed. Be highly visual. And be very interactive.

Photography should be personal to you, and very eye catching. You have seconds to capture someone’s attention as they scroll through their timeline. You can write the most clever caption there ever was, but if you don’t stop your users’ scroll with a great visual, they’ll never stop and see what you have to share. It’s okay if you don’t have a fancy camera. There are plenty of tutorials online for how to get the most out of that high-tech phone camera! Portrait mode, anyone? We love it. It’s a #godsend.

Videos have been an ever-increasingly huge part of social media in 2018. And the good news is you can utilize videos on every social media platform. Some great ways to interact with your audience on Instagram are via Instagram Stories. These are way more lighthearted and personal than a post. You can also do fun things via stories like ask your followers specific questions (hello, free case study!), and polls are a great way to gauge the temperature of what your followers are thinking.

Captions are intimidating. But they don’t have to be! Just be you. Sitting down and actually taking time to be intentional about your captions instead of writing something on a whim will automatically make them exponentially better.

A Plan is Key

Now that you know your who, what, and where and have some strong content pillars to build your social media content, I’d like to briefly touch on mapping and planning. Mapping with a content calendar helps you to be intentional about which pillars you’re sharing throughout each month, that way you don’t have three posts of the topic in a row. A schedule helps make sure you’re giving even representation to all of your pillars. An ideal month would have a few posts from each pillar, evenly spread out throughout the month.

If you want a more in depth look at how to create and manage a content calendar, here’s a great article!

Conclusion

Alright, so, the good news and the bad news is that online, it’s not all about you. The social media world is all about your followers, so find a way to revolve your world around them. That’s right. For some of us that’s a huge weight off of our selfie-hating shoulders. But for some, it may mean you need to carve out more time to be intentional about what content you’re posting.

You don’t have to start as an expert. Just start somewhere! Ask yourself, what are 3 pillars my business needs (as a bare minimum)? And go from there.

For example, if you’re a retail shop selling handbags, an important pillar might be Follower Reposts. You want your followers to see real fashionable women carrying your bag, so they’ll want to carry your bag as well! But for a handbag company, Behind the Scenes of your process is a pillar that might not make sense for you, because you most likely don’t make your product by hand. Now, for a clay potter or hand-made jewelry maker, that’s a different story. People would probably love to see your process.

So get to work! What makes you you? And what pillars make sense for your business?

A blog about budgets? Really, Tangible Strategies? REALLY?

Alright, alright. It’s not the most fun blog topic we’ve ever tackled, per se, but budget doesn’t have to be a four letter word. If marketing budgets lead to more prospects (spoiler alert: they do), and more prospects lead to more revenue, and… do you see where we’re going with this? Increased revenue is pretty great. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want in on that. So let’s do this…

We talk about how hard it is to run a small business all the time… because it’s true. But it’s not all hard. It’s also so rewarding to offer a product or service you believe in, and to be your own boss! The problem is that just because you’re an expert in your specific field, you’re not necessarily an expert in accounting or marketing, and well, those are kind of necessary to growing a successful business! One big mistake many small business owners make is engaging in reactive marketing instead of proactive marketing. An example of reactive marketing is taking out a Facebook ad because your sales are low one month. Proactive marketing means making your efforts a line item in the budget rather than something you think about when your sales aren’t where you want them to be. To ensure more consistent sales and growth, it takes consistent planning. [Insert cheesy inspirational quote here.]

A good way to make sure that your money is being well spent is to develop a solid marketing plan before you set your marketing budget. Following a plan will help ensure you’re focussing your efforts in the best way possible. We wrote a blog recently on creating a comprehensive marketing plan, so you’ll definitely want to read that if you haven’t already!

If you don’t have time to read that and want a 3000ft view, the basis of your marketing plan should include an understanding of your target market and your competition, how you’ll reach your market, as well as how you’ll set yourself apart from your competition to make sales.

One of the most important facets of your small business marketing plan is—you guessed it—the budget. Your marketing budget is the cost of how you’re going to achieve your marketing goals within a certain timeframe (usually a year).

Many small business owners and managers aren’t sure how much to spend or if the money they do spend will even be worth the investment.

Let’s breakdown the process of how to create a small business marketing budget, so it doesn’t seem as cumbersome or mysterious, and so you can feel confident that your marketing budget will propel you towards your business goals.

1. Start With A Goal

In order to have a great plan or a great budget, you need to know what you’re working towards. So, what do you want? To increase your revenue by 10%? Establish 3 new accounts per month?

Once you have a goal, the next step is to calculate how much money you may need to spend on marketing each month to reach the goal. Whatever it is, it’s going to give you clear direction when deciding on a marketing budget, as well as the KPIs needed to measure your efforts, things like how many customers you’ll need to acquire to hit that goal, or how many leads typically turn into prospects and then customers. (KPIs? It’s all laid out in our Key Performance Indicators Blog.)

2. Figure Out How Clients Find You

One of the best ways to gather user data is through analytics. Most web hosting platforms will provide you with complimentary data, like how many monthly unique views your site gets or which search terms are leading the most traffic to your site. So check with your developer or hosting site to see if you have access to analytics. Online advertising will also provide you with insight into how people are connecting with your ads. Or you could also go straight to the horse’s mouth, aka – just ask your customers!

Include a question like, “How’d you hear about us?” on an interest form for prospective clients, or have your team ask those who call in, or even add a pop-up to your website. Wherever people keep telling you they saw you, focus more money there in the future.

3. Consider Your Revenue

Once you’ve created your fiscal plan, it’s time to determine the size of your marketing budget and allocate your funds. A common practice is allocating a specific percentage of your gross revenue to your marketing costs, but there are also a few other factors to consider when setting your budget (like your growth stage).

As a part of your overall small business strategy, you should always create projections for your yearly sales. These projections will help you decide on a marketing budget that feels doable. According to a recent industry survey, most small businesses spend around 10% of their annual revenue on marketing. However, if you have a new business, you’ll likely need to spend more than a company that’s already established. A bigger budget in the beginning helps build brand awareness and get your name out there!

4. Pick Your Platform(s)

If you’re a business owner, you know you’ve got to have an online marketing presence, but the options can seem endless… between Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media (a number of platforms), AdWords, and more, the marketing dollars can add up really quickly.

It’s unrealistic for a small business with limited budget to compete in every area, so you’ve got to figure out which one works best for you. It’s so much better to focus your efforts and resources heavily in one or two areas, rather than trying to do it, which most often results in minimal results or success.

So, where do you fit in online? Good question. Well, if you’re a restaurant, you need to be on Yelp, but a Snapchat account isn’t so necessary. Who are your customers? If the majority is older than 40, we’d go with Facebook. If under 35, Instagram is where your customers are most likely to be!

Conclusion

We hope this made you feel LESS overwhelmed and not moreso. ????

Putting together a marketing budget will help you in the long run to stay on track with spending. It will also help you see which efforts have a better ROI, so you can adjust accordingly as your audience changes or grows.

Regardless of where you spend your marketing dollars the main takeaway is to plan for your marketing in advance instead of treating it as a last minute thought.

If this all still seems overwhelming, there are some great online resources that can help to point you in the right direction, like free online marketing budget templates. We’d also love to help answer any questions you have, or help you map out your KPIs and budget for marketing, if you don’t feel like you have the capacity for that!

But the end of the day, you need to know that Ryan Gosling thinks you have what it takes. And we do too.