I've worked with start-ups, local non-profits, a national juice brand, agencies, and Fortune 1000 companies. I love to help companies scale, find wins & build a marketing strategy that helps them transform into the next version of themselves. Today we're going to focus on small business.
I love helping companies grow, whether they're small or big. Over the last 15 years I've found these four common small business problems.
Blind Marketing - This typically looks like: "I don't know where to start, so I'm going to try a bunch of things & hope something works". This could be networking events, social posts, paid ads, website pages, etc.
Customer Management - Lack of customer management typically results in low customer retention. The business has to keep investing lots of money to attract new customers.
Financials - I'll hear, "I don't have a 1yr or 3yr plan for my revenue growth, I'll get what I get." Only to see that sales stay pretty flat - until a competitor moves in and things start to fall.
"I track everything manually" - This includes appointments (the old appointment book!), sales data and customer relationships among other data.
So, why does this matter? Let me try to convince you.
Blind Marketing efforts can easily cost your business 3-5x as much v. a planned strategy. Even if you're not paying for advertising your time is valuable & is costing your business something. I'd also put "blind websites" - sites that weren't built strategically in this category as well. More than 80% of shoppers are doing research online before they visit or call you, and when they do visit your site, you have 3 seconds to grab their attention.
Customer Management is worth the time. Did you know national trends are showing a 5% increase in your customer retention can increase your revenue by at least 25% in one year?
Financials - Two of the top reasons small businesses fail is lack of revenue growth and unsuccessful marketing. Develop a plan for your revenue, it'll pay itself off.
"I track everything manually" - I know the way we originally did things might be comfortable, but did you know you can save yourself hours of time - and help yourself get more leads if you implement some simple apps? A website with a CRM can save you many hours of time each week and help you grow your retention. Automating your scheduling & booking of appointments can help you increase your sales opportunities by 40%. There's lots of opportunity here, to focus on what you do best- and let technology do what it does best - save you time.
So where do you even start? I'm consulting with some small businesses in the Appleton, Little Chute, WI area- and here's what I told them:
Write out your goals (what revenue growth do you want or hope for).
Identify your strengths & gaps.
Pick one thing that you want to improve. Look for low hanging fruit.
Looking for help? I can help small businesses take advantage of the same practices large businesses use, but in an affordable way for their business size.
If you like the brainstorming session, I'll shoot you a quote & deliver a marketing plan customized to your business.