Business Articles

 While the MetLife and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index reached its highest level of confidence since COVID in Q3 of 2023, there are still many businesses that are battling rising costs and trying to make every dollar count. According to the report, 33% of small businesses are saying the U.S. economy is in good health (up 9% points from Q2). The report read, “Small businesses also feel better about their own business health and cash flow: Two in three (66%) report that their business is in good health and roughly seven in ten (72%) say they are comfortable with their cash flow.”

But “comfortable with cash flow” doesn’t mean you can’t use some business savings tips.

10 Ways to Save Money in Your Business

1. Negotiate with your suppliers. Don’t be afraid to negotiate with your suppliers for better prices. Many suppliers are willing to negotiate, especially if you agree to order in bulk or commit to a long-term contract. Perhaps you can qualify for a discount by consolidating vendors and using the same one for multiple needs.
2. Shop around for insurance. Compare insurance rates from different companies before you renew your policy. You can save a significant amount of money by switching insurers.
3. Take advantage of tax breaks. There are tax breaks available to small businesses. Be sure to consult with a tax advisor to learn about the tax breaks you may be eligible for including green incentives.
4. Outsource tasks that don’t require your level of expertise. This may seem like an oxymoron that you should spend money to save money but let’s explore it. If you’re spending too much time on tasks that you don’t require your level of expertise, you should outsource them to a freelancer or virtual assistant. This frees up your time to focus on more important revenue-generating tasks. By spending a small amount of money, you can make a much larger sum.
5. Automate tasks whenever possible. There are many software tools that can help you automate tasks like accounting, marketing, and customer service. Automating tasks can save you a significant amount of time and money. Using AI to generate administrative correspondence and communications can also save you time that you could be using in revenue-generating pursuits.
6. Use free and open-source software. Examine your current subscriptions and fees. Are they all necessary? Can they be replaced by free and open-source software programs? If you’re not sure search online for free competitors of ___. You can find free versions of everything from operating systems to productivity software.
7. Barter with other businesses. Bartering is a great way to get the goods and services you need without spending any money. For example, you could barter with a local printer to get free printing services in exchange for promoting their business on your website.
8. Learn about member discounts for chamber members. If you’re a member of a local chamber of commerce, be sure to ask about their member-to-member discounts. Many businesses offer discounts to chamber members on everything from office supplies to marketing services.
9. Get creative with your marketing. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on marketing to be successful. There are many low-cost and free marketing strategies that you can use, such as social media marketing, content marketing, referral marketing and email marketing. Plus, you can learn how to use these through free videos on YouTube, e-book downloads, and possibly even a chamber lunch and learn program. (The chamber likely has some of the best, and most affordable, learning opportunities in your community.)
10. Offer referral bonuses to your customers. Referral programs are a great way to generate new leads and sales without spending any money on advertising. Offer your customers a bonus for referring new customers to your business. Even if you provide them with a gift certificate, chances are your referral bonus will not only make them more loyal (and may get some free social media marketing out of it when they post about it) but there’s a very good likelihood that they will buy more than the discount or gift card is for.

Bonus tip for saving money (everyone could use a bonus these days, right?):

Track your expenses. One of the best ways to save money on your business expenses is to track them. This will help you to identify areas where you can cut back. There are several software tools that you can use to track your expenses. Some of the most popular include: QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, Zoho Expense, Expensify, and Concur Expense.

By following these tips, you can save money on your business expenses and boost your profits. Isn’t it time you boosted your consumer confidence?

Have you ever attended a chamber event? If you’re not a member, you’re missing out. Before you think you don’t have the time to attend events, it’s important you know chamber life is not just mixers and ribbon cuttings. Chamber membership is one of the best-kept secrets for free or nearly free business resources like webinars, lunch & learns, and written collateral. Plus, a whole lot more. Chamber membership is one of the best business investments you can make for the money and return.

Is Chamber Membership Worth It?

Not if you don’t know why you’re joining. In this article, you’ll learn all the benefits chamber membership can give you professionally and how it is a worthwhile investment in your business. But before you sign up, for maximum benefit, you should be very clear about what you want out of membership. Why?

Because you want to communicate that to the chamber staff when joining. When they know what you want, they can help get you on the right track. The chamber offers many benefits, and to get what you’re looking for, you need to ensure the chamber knows what that is.

Perhaps you’re not clear what you want out of chamber membership. That’s okay because after reading this list of why membership is a great investment you should have a better understanding of what’s important to you.

What Will I Get with Chamber Membership?

It’s always best to begin at the beginning. If you’re not sure what you need from the chamber, look at a list of member benefits and make a mental note of which of these things are the most important to you/your business:

1. Networking Opportunities: Let’s start with the obvious. Chambers offer various networking events, such as mixers, business expos, speed networking, and industry-focused lunches, where businesspeople can connect with other professionals, potential clients, partners, and mentors. Building relationships is one of the best ways to help your business grow.
2. Visibility and Exposure: Membership often comes with a listing in the chamber’s directory, both online and in print. This can increase your business’s visibility and credibility in the local community. Your chamber may have additional opportunities for your business like being listed on a business map, featured in their visitor’s magazine, or being invited to participate in a Wine Walk or other member-exclusive exposure opportunity.
3. Credibility and Trust: Being a chamber member can enhance your business’s reputation as the chamber is generally seen as a credible organization that supports businesses. Membership shows your community you care about the area and have made an investment in it. Becoming a chamber member can also help people get to know your business (and show you’re connected) if you’re new in town.
4. Advocacy and Representation: Chambers represent the interests of local businesses to government bodies and policymakers, giving you a voice in local economic and regulatory matters. Being a member makes you part of something larger and thus amplifies your voice and business needs.
5. Business Education: Chambers organize seminars, workshops, and training sessions to help members stay updated on industry trends, business strategies, and best practices. Members and guests can learn from top-notch thought leaders for just the cost of membership or a token expense to cover the meal. It’s one of the most affordable (and best-kept secrets) in business education.
6. Marketing Opportunities: Chambers offer an array of advertising and sponsorship opportunities, allowing businesses to market themselves to the wider community. They often have large audiences/good traffic, name recognition, and a strong reputation—all helpful when looking where to spend your marketing budget.
7. Access to Resources: Members can access resources such as business development guides, market research, and economic data to help them make informed decisions. (Chambers also give away a lot of free information to the community including blog posts, newsletters, articles, etc.) Some chambers also offer extensive leadership programs for interested members to help them achieve their leadership goals. Our local program is called Leadership Webster.
8. Discounts and Exclusive Offers: Many chambers negotiate discounts on products and services for their members, ranging from insurance and office supplies to software and event tickets. Some offer exclusive member-to-member discounts as well.
9. Community Involvement: Being part of a chamber provides you with business-directed volunteer opportunities to contribute to community development and philanthropic activities, which can foster a positive public image for your business.
10. Referral Network: Chambers often refer their members to others who are looking for specific products or services, increasing your business’s chances of gaining new clients. Check with your chamber as they also might offer referral groups that can be free with membership or a fraction of the cost of a BNI group.
11. Partnerships and Collaborations: Connecting with other businesses through the chamber can lead to partnership opportunities, joint ventures, and collaborations on projects.
12. Business Support: Chambers can provide advice and assistance to businesses, especially startups and small enterprises, on various aspects such as funding, legal matters, and growth strategies. Some offer business incubators, pitch contests, and other opportunities to launch and grow.
13. Government Relations: Chambers can help businesses navigate government regulations, procedures, and other challenges, as well as provide insights into legislative changes that might affect your operations or the business climate, in general.
14. Access to Influential Contacts: Chambers attract a diverse group of professionals, including local leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs, which can open doors to valuable contacts.
15. Brand Building: Active involvement in chamber events and initiatives can help build your brand within the local business community.
16. Market Insights: Chambers have access to economic and demographic data that can help businesses make informed decisions about their target markets.
17. Professional Development: Chambers may host training sessions, workshops, and leadership development offerings to enhance your professional skills. Your chamber may also have opportunities to help you step into a new skill or business. For instance, if you wanted to add the title of professional speaker to your resume and launch a speaking business, you may be able to start with the chamber. By speaking in front of members at a special event, you could build clientele and experience.
18. Local Support Network: Joining a chamber can provide emotional support, because you’re part of a community of business owners who face similar challenges. As well-meaning as friends and family are, if they’re not involved in business or your industry, they may not understand your challenges and triumphs the way your fellow chamber members will.
19. Access to Business Services: Some chambers offer their members business services such as mentorship, business incubation, space rentals, marketing, and consulting.
20. Membership Perks: While the chamber helps all businesses in the community, many chambers provide special perks to members like access to exclusive events, VIP receptions, ribbon cuttings/celebrations, and members-only resources.

Ultimately, the decision to join a chamber of commerce depends on your business’s specific needs, goals, and offerings of the local chamber. Knowing what your biggest challenge is in business can help you see just how impactful a chamber membership investment can be to your business.

 If you’re on Instagram, the answer is probably. And it’s easy to do.

Facebook err…Meta does it again. We have yet another social media platform to consider. Usually when businesses are deciding should they participate on a social media platform, they identify their ideal client then go by demographics. If your ideal customer is on the platform, go for it. If not, skip it—unless you just really enjoy being overextended in your posts and social media attention. But threads isn’t exactly a new platform. Well, it is technically. But if you have Instagram, it feels more like an extension.

Note: at the time of this writing, members of the EU cannot join because it is blocked currently owing to privacy questions.

What Is Threads?

Threads is the newest baby of the Meta world, and it’s taking aim at Twitter. Threads allows you to log in with your Instagram username. You have the option of importing from Instagram or creating a new bio from scratch. Just like Instagram, you can make your profile public or private. (For business, private isn’t going to do you much good unless you operate a Speak Easy or something where membership has its privileges.)

When you join, you’ll be asked if you want to follow the same accounts you follow on Instagram (even if these people haven’t signed up yet).

The app is powered by Instagram, and it uses your Instagram information to personalize ads and other experiences across the two platforms. According to the intro, Meta has plans to create a “fediverse” where people will be able to interact with one another across platforms. (Perhaps that means it will allow the young people on Insta to see what their oldie relatives are doing on Facebook and vice versa.)

As you would expect, you must agree to the terms and privacy policy on your data/data sharing, etc. Etc. One important thing to note in the Supplemental Privacy Policy, “You may deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account.”

The User Stats

At most recent counts, Instagram boasts 2 billion users while Twitter has only 250 million. If only a fraction of Instagram users sign up, Threads will quickly outpace Twitter. But it remains to be seen if the same communities on Twitter will switch to Threads. Twitter is big in the sports recruiting arena as well as the publishing pitch world. Will they make the switch?

What’s New with Threads?

Like most new platforms, it looks vaguely familiar but with slightly different functionality. After all, people don’t usually love big, sweeping changes. Threads adheres to this through a format that looks a lot like Twitter, but it allows for longer posts. Most Twitter users have a 280-character limit (remember the early days of 140 characters?), while Thread users can enjoy 500 characters (what will you do with all of them?) and the ability to upload a five-minute video.

Since Threads resembles Twitter more closely than Insta, it’s overcome one of my biggest pet peeves with the photo sharing platform. On Threads you can easily share links. Yippy!

To encourage the migration, Threads prompts people to follow the same individuals they do on Insta and then automatically sends a follow request. According to early reports, Threads garnered 10 million users on one day and are now up to 30 million.

It looks like most are viewing it as an extension, not necessarily a new platform. And that’s understandable. Users in Threads can also easily switch to their Instagram profile with a click of the icon.

According to Meta, Threads was developed with features that “promote positive and productive discussions.” Users can manage who can mention or reply to them on the platform. Like Instagram, Thread users can utilize hidden word filters to exclude replies containing specific words from their threads. Managing profiles on Threads uses familiar activities such as unfollowing, blocking, restricting, or reporting through the three-dot menu. Additionally, any accounts blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on Threads as well.

In addition to these features, Meta has announced its plans to enhance Threads by making it compatible with the ActivityPub protocol. They also aim to introduce improved recommendations in feeds, real-time trend tracking, and enhanced search functionality.

Currently, Threads is accessible on both iOS and Android devices, and users can download the app from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Will you explore Threads for your business?

 It’s that time of year again and many of us are preparing for a seasonal increase of tourism. Even with high transportation costs people are traveling and still—hopefully—buying. If you’d like to attract more tourists to your place of business, here’s how you can prepare.

How to Appeal to Tourists

Many tourists are looking for something unique in a business, something they don’t have in their hometowns. Here are a few ideas to make a big impact on them whether you are in retail, the restaurant and bar industry, attractions, or services.

Create an Experience

Again, tourists are looking for something different. If you want them to visit you need to offer them an experience. This could be a class, special tasting, photo op, or any other “special” time.

Whatever you decide on it needs to be marketed in a variety of outlets. Don’t forget your local chamber/visitors bureau. You might be surprised how many people stop in when they’re looking for recommendations. We are welcoming tourists almost daily!

Offer a Special

Create a deal or special with a short window of opportunity. Buy one, get one offers are a good idea or a free item/service with purchase. Your free service could even be a sampling of a much longer service to entice a future purchase. For instance, a mini head massage with every facial. You can even give them the ability to extend the service for additional money. Who can say no to a longer massage when they are already feeling the benefit?

Host Contests

Run fun contests just for travelers like a prize at the end of the day for people who have traveled the farthest or a small, free item for anyone who is visiting from over 1,500 miles away. (This is also a great way to build a mailing list if you ask them to give their address to be eligible. Just make sure you give them an opt-out option and be transparent that you are adding them.)

Be Travel-friendly

We all know the limitations of plane travel when it comes to carry-on liquids and such. And with the rates that airlines charge for checked bags, many people are hesitant to do that. If you want more tourists to buy from you, you should consider offering ways to get your goods home to them. Offering shipping options is also great for those who decide to send something to loved ones.

Speaking of…

Some tourists may love your business, but they simply aren’t ready to buy. Or they may love your business so much that they want to continue a relationship with you after they return home. Perhaps they’re even thinking about doing some holiday shopping with you but aren’t quite ready to do it on that visit. If you don’t offer a website or mailing list, you’re missing out.

If you want to draw more tourists in this summer, follow these tips. Just remember that the relationship doesn’t have to end when their trip does. If you’re smart about your offerings and have a mailing list, social media, and/or website to keep in touch, you can continue sales (and the relationship) well into the future. 

Mother’s Day is an ideal way to honor the women in your life who have helped you become the person you are today. In recent years, it has surpassed the celebration of one’s own mother and encompassed grandmothers, women we think of as second mothers, mother-in-laws, fur moms, best friends, and even female mentors. Mother’s Day is also a great way to honor women in our world who have made a difference.

Broadening the definition of mother also allows for a more inclusive celebration on a day that can, for some, be a sad occasion. While everyone may not have a mother living or a good relationship with one who is, everyone has a special woman in their lives who they can celebrate.

Mother’s Day can now be transformed into a time to honor those women who have nurtured us and helped us grow, whether they gave birth to us or not. Keep that in mind in your marketing.

27 Ideas to Celebrate Mother’s Day at Your Business

Here are some engaging marketing ideas to celebrate this heart-warming holiday:

1. Host a contest by inviting people on your social media page to share stories about the special women in their lives. Allow people to vote on the best and award prizes.
2. Offer a Mother’s Day discount. Offer a discount to your audience and invite them to share with their favorite moms out there.
3. Give away a Mother’s Day flower (or other free item). Provide a flower to every woman who walks into your store (or buys something from you) and wish them a Happy Mother’s Day.
4. Record a video of your staff telling stories about women who influenced them.
5. Share your mother’s best recipe.
6. Create a gift guide. Work with other businesses to list their items and services as well.
7. Offer last-minute, e-delivery of gift cards.
8. Send reminder emails counting down the days until Mother’s Day with gift suggestions or ways to honor their mom.
9. Create a video of a DIY project for mom.
10. Host a special event moms would enjoy.
11. Create kits of things moms can do with their kids.
12. Create a taster or tester bag, free with purchase to all ladies in your store.
13. Offer a free consultation or roll out a new service for busy moms.
14. Create a page (or landing page) dedicated to Mother’s Day shopping.
15. Create a themed board on Pinterest of gift ideas, places to take your mom, or activities to do together.
16. Offer a “Tell your story” session or memoir writing for moms class.
17. Create a special wine-pairing or tasting event in honor of moms.
18. Host a tea at your business. Encourage people to dress up. Offer prizes for best hat or outfit.
19. Post mother-related quotes on social media in the week leading up to the big day.
20. Hold a Mother’s Day selfie or funniest video contest.
21. Host a photo contest of moms with your product.
22. Offer chair massages for moms while people browse or wait for food.
23. Run a “Caption this” picture contest with an endearing picture of motherhood.
24. Invite people to share pictures they think epitomize motherhood.
25. Encourage people to share generational pics of mom, grandmoms, great grandmoms, etc., or post about how much you miss your mom if she has passed on. You might be surprised how many people identify with this sentiment on Mother’s Day.
26. Host a “Tag your mom (or a special woman)” for a chance to win contest.
27. Post funny questions on social media. Categories could include “hardest working mom in the animal kingdom,” “Who has it harder—boy moms, girl moms, both?”, “Sign you’re a mom”, or “This or that” questions “like which would your mom like more as a gift—chocolates or jewelry?”.

This year, have some fun with Mother’s Day and use it to get more engagement with your audience while also bring smiles to many faces.

 Traditionally, a chamber of commerce was a membership organization that supports the interests of its business members. It is not affiliated with the government, nor is it a charity. The chamber is separate from the Better Business Bureau. Now that we’ve explained the traditional notion of chamber membership, let’s dive into what it means to be a member of a chamber of commerce today. If you think chambers are outdated, it’s time you take another look.

As a chamber member, you are represented by a powerful organization. Because they are not government-affiliated, chambers weather the political storms, cannot get voted out of office, and always represent the business community. And since healthy communities are good places to work with strong employment opportunities, a chamber helps all members of a community.

Chamber members are a critical part of the following work in your community.

What Does it Mean to be a Chamber Member?

There is a long list of benefits to chamber membership. But those benefits are only the surface of what you and your employees receive from joining. If you want to be part of something larger than yourself and your business, striving to improve opportunities in your community, chamber membership is an ideal way to do that.

Volunteerism and Cause-based Marketing

There are many ways to volunteer in the chamber. From assisting with events to running educational webinars, serving on the board to working with the scholarship program or chamber’s foundation. Your skills or sponsorships will be leveraged in a way that helps you increase your network, your knowledge, and your business exposure.

When you volunteer—and the chamber shares that information with others—your business is aligned with the cause in the eyes of community members. Chambers embrace many causes to improve the quality of life for the communities they serve. Check with your chamber to find out what its goals are or view its strategic plan. You may be surprised by what community efforts it’s championing.

Many people who question membership have a narrow-minded view of the chamber as a “business only” entity without realizing that every issue in the community affects business. If the community is not seen as a prosperous one, people won’t want to live, work, or open a business there. Being pro-community is pro-business.

You can likely help with the causes that are important to you through chamber work, while also strengthening your business and growing your network with cause-based marketing.

Community Leadership and Responsibility

Chamber members are viewed as reputable and dedicated to creating (or continuing) a flourishing community. When you become a chamber member, you are announcing to the community that your business is here to stay and you’re investing in the success of the area. Through membership, you are choosing to be part of an organization that has championed the cause of business for many years.

Pro-Diversity

At first glance, you may assume the chamber is comprised of a very homogenous mix of business owners. That is no longer the case. In many communities, the chamber is leading diversity initiatives. Chambers understand the importance of representing every aspect of business and ensuring each voice is heard. Representing minority- and women-owned businesses is a responsibility that chambers take seriously because a chamber can affect change. By amplifying the business owners’ voices and convening community leaders, business owners, and employees, chambers are leading diversity initiatives across the country. They’re advocating for legislation, hosting town halls, and providing educational DEI programs.

Chambers often recognize what the business community needs before individual businesses can address it themselves. As a member of the chamber, you are part of helping traditionally underserved populations discover the joy, opportunity, and challenges of business ownership.

Being a chamber member in the 21^st century goes beyond the list of benefits you’ll see in the membership brochure. Sure, those items are good investments for your business, and they can save you money and help you grow but the chamber offers much more than that. The chamber is leading the efforts to make your community a better place to live, work, and play for everyone.  And membership offers you a highly visible opportunity to be part of that excitement.

Small business owners usually have more on their to-do lists than there is time in the day. If becoming more productive is one of your New Year’s resolutions, we have a suggestion for you that could be a game changer.

One of the biggest productivity challenges is interruptions. But as a small business owner they’re practically in your job description! You never know when someone will walk in or call. And while you want potential customers to do this in abundance, interruptions impact what you accomplish during the day.

One of the best ways to remain productive through interruptions is by planning. While you can’t plan interruptions, you can create a list of things you need to do sorted by the amount of time it takes to do them. Whether you realize it or not, your day is filled with small pockets of time. Even when you feel at your busiest, you likely have a handful of minutes that you aren’t maximizing currently. Creating this list will help you use every minute of your workday in the most efficient way.

Most to-do lists are organized around large demanding activities—the things with a noticeable deadline. Those kinds of to-do lists are still very valuable, but the “Mystery Minutes” To-do List will help you with all the time in between your large to-dos.

How Does a “Mystery Minutes” To-do List Work?

First, make a list the things you must do for your business that don’t have pressing deadlines or have deadlines months away that you need to work on bit by bit.

Next, organize it by the amount of time each item takes. For instance, if your to-do List contains “clean out the back storage room” the time assigned to that task might be something huge like two days (depending on the size of the area). If you’re like most small business owners, you don’t have two days to work on organizing your storage closet. You either need to hire or assign someone to do that or you must do it when you’re off/closed.

However, if you break the task down into manageable smaller jobs, you can assign each a shorter timeframe. For instance, imagine you have three boxes on the floor in your storage room that you need to unpack and organize. If you write that as a standalone task, instead of lumping it in with the entire room organization project, that job can be completed in a few minutes.

If you have large tasks break them up into smaller components. List each component on your to-do list. While this will make your to-do List longer, it will also make it more “do-able.” Plus, this to-do list isn’t something you’re going to finish today or even later this week. A Mystery Minutes To-do List is one that uses downtime effectively whenever you have it to ensure projects get completed a little bit at a time.

Next, organize the list by shortest activity to longest based on time increments. Your list may have several 5-minute activities, 10-minute activities, 15-minute activities, and so forth.

Then take each task within the category and sort it by importance or upcoming completion date. For instance, if you have three 5-minute jobs with one of them coming due next month (and the rest of them not being deadline specific), place the task due next month at the top of your 5-minute category.

Throughout the day you’ll have time to work on your prioritized to-do list. You may not always realize whether you’re going to have five or ten minutes at your disposal. So, for those times when you’re not sure how much time you have, you can either choose the shortest activity on the list or you can select a longer activity knowing you will need to break it into multiple sessions. There are some occasions where you will know that you have ten minutes such as before a meeting, phone call, or event. Make the most of that time.

It’s easy to allow ourselves to get bogged down in business. When business is nonstop and we have a few moments, we tend to use that time to catch our breath and don’t use it efficiently. However, if you have a list of quick wins that you can conquer in a matter of minutes you not only will get more done, but you’ll also feel better about your day and what you’ve accomplished.

Times of economic uncertainty don’t cause anyone to look for new ways to spend money. But there are some investments in your business that even when you’re worried about cash flow, are worth the return. Without those necessities—be they software or services—you couldn’t operate. Chamber membership is one of those necessary business investments and here’s why:

Uncertain Times Mean Unprecedented Business Challenges

According to a survey released in early January by the National Association for Business Economics, more than half of respondents believe the U.S. is headed toward a recession in the next 12 months. An additional 11% of those polled think the economy is already in a recession. (A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinking growth). However, the severity and depth of the possible recession are matters of debate among most economists and market experts.

Whether we face a recession or not, growth is slow. Costs are up. Shelves are not as full as they once were. Some industries are already claiming a recession has hit them.

In times of economic uncertainty, businesses have greater needs than usual. It helps to have a partner looking out for your best interests. The chamber is in a unique position to provide that assistance for a minimal investment.

The Hidden Job Market

One of the reasons economists are slow to call what we’re in currently “a recession” is because the job market on average remains strong. Employers are hiring. Sometimes their hiring needs are even outpacing available, skilled candidates.

Through chamber membership, you receive two types of job assistance—help in finding positions and candidates. If you’re looking for a job, you can network and locate available opportunities in the hidden job market (before they come available). Membership helps you get to know hiring managers and business owners, making a job search much easier and improving your chances of finding your dream job

On the other hand, as a hiring entity, you will be in a solid position to get to know potential job candidates who aren’t actively looking for work. This is often one of the easiest ways to find top performers. Plus, connecting with possible job candidates on a professional level outside of the office can assist you in getting to know them better than you would through a 30-minute interview. This helps to ensure a stronger hire and better fit for your organization.

Public Sector Assistance & Advocacy

Whether you have your eye on pro-business legislation or are worried about a zoning issue, like anything else, business often goes your way based on who you know. As a chamber member, your concern over business—your own or the entire business community—is amplified. When the chamber speaks to city, state, or federal leaders, they are speaking on behalf of all businesses. This gives your concerns more power among elected leaders.

The chamber may also be able to help by placing your request in context in the larger picture. The zoning problem you’re having isn’t just about your business property but all properties moving forward. The chamber is well-suited to propose “if, then” scenarios that can help you get the assistance you need quickly.

Economic Development

While economic development of the area may not seem like a pressing issue in your mind right now, it helps keep you in business, regardless of your industry. A strong local economy can help maintain prosperity even when the national economy is struggling like the minority-business owners did along Auburn Avenue in Atlanta in the 1930s. While the rest of the country was experiencing the dark crash of ’29 and subsequent depression, Auburn Avenue thrived because its interests were protected.

The chamber is dedicated to building community and ushering in smart economic growth so everyone can thrive. Chamber membership not only safeguards your business interests and helps you achieve your own goals but improves the business community, and thus the community, for all.

Whether you sell food, things, or services, we’ve brought together a round-up of trends that you can incorporate into your business in 2023 for increased revenue and better market traction.

How do you like to work? Are you a speed or precision person? Do you like many small projects or one big, long one that you can dig into?

No, you’re not in the middle of a recruitment fair. These are simply questions that most self-aware professionals should know about themselves and about their teams.

My go-to answer used to be, “I can do either.” But that’s not really an answer, is it? What’s my preference? What do I excel in? After years of running my own business, I’ve come to realize that I like most of my days filled with many smaller projects, with a large one in the background that I can explore about once a week.

Because I like to go fast. What about you and your business?

An Ode to Speed

I am always looking for more efficient ways to do things. Maybe you are too. There are tons of productivity tools, suggestions on how to streamline operations, and the like. If you love efficiency, you are probably a mass consumer of this type of content. You likely fill your time in the car with podcasts and maximize learning or working opportunities whenever possible. You also either fall asleep the minute you turn off the light or you’re up for hours considering new ideas and solutions.

If you work for someone else, they likely pass you the ball often because they know you’ll get it done on time but…

There’s something speed demons often sacrifice and that’s effectiveness. That’s not to say they aren’t effective at their jobs. But as they develop a reputation for getting things done, those around them pile on more. After all, it’s fun to watch kind of like those strongest man contests where they sport truck tires around their arm as if they were bangle bracelets.

Get It Done

Speed allows for singular focus. Efficient people know what tasks can be performed when. If they have a few minutes in their schedule, they know how to use them. Effective people, on the other hand, allow themselves to take a step back. To make decisions about what tasks will advance their ultimate goals and what will detract from them. They weigh everything against what they want to accomplish, and they say “no” often. They would rather have a moment doing nothing than cramming it full of busy work.

Effective people are not the most efficient. They are not the people you hand something to when it needs to be completed ASAP. They probably wouldn’t put up with you dumping things on them anyway. They make deliberate decisions.

Choose Your Way

As a business owner or employee, there are times to concentrate on efficiency and there are times to gear your operation to effectiveness. If you are one or the other all the time, you will find yourself struggling either with burn out or missed deadlines.

Ask yourself if this week you moved the marker toward your goals be being deliberate in what you were trying to accomplish, or did you break the speed barrier and astound audiences everywhere?

Only you know which of these is the most important for your business this week, this month, this year. But you must recognize the differences between the two to realize what you need when in order to succeed.

The holiday shopping season is in full tilt right now and while you’re busy analyzing your Black Friday and Cyber Monday revenue, there are a few things you want to do to capture those December holiday dollars.

Refresh Your Website

If you still have Black Friday info up there, it’s time to strip it down and focus on last-minute shoppers. You want to ensure everyone knows the last days to order from you to meet shipping deadlines as well as what your availability is for pick-up or services. If you have hard-to-find items available, let people know. If you have space left for reservations, offer that on your front page. Websites are designed to feature the most up-to-date info so make sure you are using that space to drive the most sales.

Make an Offer

December has a way of getting away from people. We enter the month thinking we have an entire month to shop and before we know it, we’re missing ordering deadlines and holiday shopping at a 24-hour grocery store as we head to a friend’s house. That’s why December is the perfect time to roll out a special deal. It doesn’t have to be a loss leader. People are already in a need-to-buy situation. It’s just a little something extra to make them feel the value behind what they’re getting. That could be a coupon for a free dessert with every $100 gift card or special tote bags for purchases. Use a bonus offer with purchase to drive more sales.

Launch a Social Media Giveaway

A quick way to build your following (and your email list) is by launching a social media giveaway. Post on social media and encourage people to sign up for your newsletter/discount list. Then pull a name from that list and provide them with a gift card for your business.

Why not just limit the contest to social media posts and shares? Why require them to sign up for your mailing list? Because you don’t own the information on social media. You need a way to contact your fans outside of social sites.

Highlight Past Purchases or Services

A confused mind doesn’t act. You want to be clear about what you offer and what your customers receive. December is a great time to showcase what others have purchased or the services you have rendered. Spotlight clients. Show gift baskets or things you designed for them. When people see options, it’s easier for them to make decisions. Difficulty kills more sales than cost.

December is the most frantic part of Small Business Season. But it’s also an excellent time to help people when they need it most. You can make a big impression on customers when they’re feeling stressed and frantic. Do what you can to make holiday shopping easier on them and you’ll end up with fantastic end-of-year revenue.

Online shopping is so convenient. Just open a browser and click a couple of times and your holiday gifts could be on their way. But this holiday season we’re asking you to rethink the click and support local small business. It’s good for you and good for them. Here’s why:

Rethink the Click: Shop Small this Holiday

While you can still shop online from local businesses, there are a lot of benefits to rethinking the click and making holiday shopping personal again. When you shop in-person you get the following benefits:

• Seeing happy faces. For some areas it’s been a while. It’s therapeutic to see smiles again or just mouths in general. When you shop in person you can interact with people. Social interaction is good for brain health and promotes a sense of safety and belonging.
• Getting your steps in. While it’s no marathon, getting out there and visiting local businesses is more active than sitting on the couch clicking.
• Spending less. Have you ever ordered so many things online that when you get a notification that a package is coming, you’re unsure of which one that could be? While people generally spend less in single shopping sessions online than they do in person (the cart total helps with that), collectively over the season, you could spend more because items will arrive at different times. Out of site truly can be out of mind when ordering if you’re not careful.
• Feeling serendipitous. When you shop in person, there’s always a chance of those unexpected finds that you stumble over. Online you’re at the mercy of the search engine.
• Making memories. In-person shopping can be an event. It’s social. People gather to shop and explore the sights and sounds of the season. Playing Christmas music while shopping on your phone isn’t nearly as fun as enjoying a hot chocolaty beverage near the town ice rink.
• Experiencing bonus. Many small businesses are offering more than just products and services this season. Some have DIY classes, makers groups, tastings, and holiday instruction parties. Shopping in person is an experience.
• Avoiding eye strain, neck pain, and shoulder stiffness. Spending too much time online can lead to eye strain, neck pain, shoulder stiffness and other aches. Instead, put your phone down and get out there.
• Teaching the next generation that there’s life outside of the internet. If you are the type of parent who believes in limiting screen time, then in-person holiday shopping is a terrific lesson to pass on. According to a 2022 Junior Achievement Survey, 60% of teens want to start their own business. Shopping in person for the holidays will help them have a greater appreciation for being a small business owner.

This holiday season, shop small and rediscover the joy of in-person shopping. Sure, there are some inconveniences but there are also a lot of rewards. Enjoy them all.

The holidays are right around the corner and that can be a big spend time whether you’re in retail, hospitality, or services. It can also be a lucrative time for your employees as many people generously tip at the end of the year. But good tippers want a great experience and if your business isn’t ready for the holidays, it won’t just hurt your revenue. It could affect your employees’ earning potential as well.

Here are a few suggestions to help your business get ready and have the best holiday season yet.

Start Marketing Holiday Specials NOW

Even if you’re in a business that’s not typically associated with holiday spend, tie your business in. For instance, if you change oil in vehicles, talk about service specials to get cars in shape for holiday travel. Insert yourself into buyers’ holiday-readiness checklist. The holidays are about a lot more than just purchasing gifts. There’s a lot of prep work to be done that can carry over into décor, furnishings, beauty industries and more.

Which brings us to…

Master the Offer

What will you offer to bring people in the door (or encourage them to buy from you)? Will you discount a popular product or service, host a free how-to clinic, run a webinar with a special discount at the end, offer a BOGO deal, provide a buy now/save later opportunity, offer a gift with purchase or bonus gift card, organize a contest or passport program with other businesses? There are so many ideas to excite potential customers. Choose one and start marketing it ahead of time.

Create a Spotlight

People have a lot on their minds these days. Holidays are particularly stressful. Anything you can do to make buying from you easier will stand out. Ideas like a gift-giving guide, a holiday services menu, or a buy online and pickup in the parking lot can all be great ideas to drive business. Decide what you can do to make your customers’ lives easier and market that.

Increase Your Marketing

Whether you’re paying for ads and marketing opportunities or going the free route, people are overwhelmed right now. The ability to bring in holiday customers with marketing can come down to the timing of your message, reaching them right when they’re deciding. So, you need to be everywhere. Increase your social media posting. Double down on your emails. Increase your content. But as you’re doing this, focus on what your customers need and it’s not more noise. They need you to help them in a very directed manner. Provide them with valuable information and easy access to your products or services.

Establish Vacation Policies

If you don’t already have an established policy, get one. Do you award vacation based on seniority or first-come, first-served? To avoid upsetting your employees, make sure everyone knows how you decide time off during the holidays.

Once you have a policy, be proactive and ask who needs what time. You may consider offering an incentive to work the times that are less popular like Christmas Eve.

Hire and Train Seasonal Employees

It’s nearly impossible to offer exceptional customer service and an unforgettable experience with burned out and overworked employees so you want to ensure you’re adequately covered for the holidays.

Consider your coverage needs. Do you have enough employees? If so, when advertising your open positions, make sure you focus on what’s in it for them (besides a paycheck). Is it a nice work environment (why?)? Do you offer a discount (how much)? Are there additional perks to employment? If you offer an employee discount, explain what they could save on Christmas gifts. Talk all this up in your advertising/job posting and your business will stand out. Be as descriptive as possible.

Give Employees Something to Get Excited About

Years ago, the company Christmas party was talked about and planned for throughout the year. But these days it’s become another obligation in a very busy time of year. Consider what your employees want most. Do they enjoy that fancy dinner and the open bar? Would they enjoy it more after the rush of the holiday season? Would they rather have a cash bonus or a gift?

Maybe your employees are more altruistic. Would they enjoy sharing their blessings by working on a company project and helping a charity? Maybe even one you could pull in customer support for. You don’t have to host a holiday party. Tailor your year-end celebration to what your people will get the most excited about.

This week MasterCard announced its prediction that holiday spending by customers would increase by 7.1% over last year. This is good news for businesses that were thinking inflation may quell holiday spending. But how did they decide on this and what does your business need to know to make the most from holiday shoppers?

Increased Spending Trend

Spending this summer increased by 11.7% year over year in August, which is an increase of 20.4% over 2019. Pretty impressive numbers considering the high cost of everything. But why the predictions for increased spending? One reason is that the unemployment rate is going down (currently 3.7%, down from a high in April of 2020 of 14.7%). There’s also been an increase in new jobs (nonfarm payrolls rose by 315,000 in August) in the US. Salaries are also starting to adjust for inflation.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® released the following statement nearly a month ago, “Purchasing intentions increased after a July pullback, and vacation intentions reached an 8-month high. Looking ahead, August’s improvement in confidence may help support spending, but inflation and additional rate hikes still pose risks to economic growth in the short term.”

So, it sounds like cautious optimism for holiday spending. Assuming customers are out there, here are a few ways you can capture their dollars this season.

Online Is Key

MasterCard revealed that online sales in August grew by 8.9% year on year, which is a 100.2% growth since 2019. If you don’t have an online presence, you need to be working toward one. If you have one already, ensure that it is user friendly and provides opportunities for upsells. Take some time to associate “also boughts” and buying suggestions to maximize upsells.

Experiences

Customers want to buy and enjoy doing it. That’s why many savvy merchants and organizations are offering special events. A wine bar or restaurant may offer an exclusive wine tasting or special farm-to-table tasting event. Look for ways you can offer your customers a larger experience than simply a purchase. Doing so helps them know, like, and trust you. Plus, it keeps you top of mind because you’re now more than just a business that sells them something. You are a part of their entertainment or a resource for learning (or experiencing) something new.

Inflation Is Still a Barrier to Buying

Despite political talk from both sides on the economy, and improved spending and consumer confidence, inflation, rising costs, and increased transportation costs are still a concern for most people. That’s why merchants and businesses that can offer the best value are most likely to capture the holiday dollar.

What can you do to make your customers feel like they are getting the most from their dollar? This is not an invitation to lower prices to bring more people in. That becomes a slippery slope of who can offer the cheapest item and that doesn’t benefit anyone. Instead, aim to offer more for your customers’ money. You can charge a premium if they feel like they are receiving excellent value or even prestige.

Hide the Cost

A lot of businesses have started charging a cash price and a (higher) credit card price to cover the increasing credit card or processing fees. While that’s a good way to look out for your operating costs, because of the negative way people perceive this “sharing of the costs” you may be better off by simply rolling those costs into your price. When someone sees an additional charge for the convenience of paying by card, they often feel put out. However, adding a few dollars to the price, if you’re providing good value elsewhere, may remove the friction from the sale.

The holidays will soon arrive and hopefully consumer spending will meet (or exceed) MasterCard’s predictions. If you want to be part of that increased spend, follow these four suggestions.

Do you need more attention? Do you feel like your business isn’t top of mind in your community? People won’t buy from you if they don’t think of you. While the easiest way to increase sales is to upsell existing/current customers, the second-best way is increased exposure. These days—to stand out—you need to get creative. Here are a few ideas to help get your business the attention it deserves without breaking your budget.

1. Host a contest on social media.
2. Sponsor a chamber event or provide a donation in exchange for recognition.
3. Sponsor a youth sports team.
4. Start a Facebook group in an area that interests your ideal target market. Real estate agents, for instance, might start a group based on community happenings.
5. Write an eBook showcasing your talents, special knowledge, or expertise. Give it away.
6. Host a class at your local library.
7. Host a drop in Q&A in a public spot in your town.
8. Celebrate a national day with a giveaway (like a free drink with every slice of pizza on National Pizza Day).
9. Advertise at your local movie theatre.
10. Be a guest on a podcast.
11. Write a guest blog for a site that is popular with your target market.
12. Set up your Google My Business page.
13. If you are a service provider, look for ways to attach your company name to your work. For instance, a painter may ask the homeowner if they may place a sign in their yard while the work is completed. Some companies offer discounts for that.
14. Place an advertising wrap or window cling on your car.
15. Advertise in a program for a large graduation or popular community event.
16. Apply or be nominated for a “Best Of” contest. They may be hosted by your city, chamber, or a local group.
17. Speak at an event and ask if you’re able to provide brochures or ask for sign-ups for your list at the end.
18. Email past customers and those who have shown interest in you. Send them deals.
19. Create a VIP group that receives special benefits for a minimal investment (like free shipping).
20. Become part of a monthly subscription box.
21. Pay for search results.
22. Use targeting on social media ads.
23. Host a party or open house at your place of business. Offer door prizes, swag, and/or free food.
24. Use retargeted ads.
25. Purchase a chamber banner ad, website ad, or directory placement.
26. Advertise with your local CVB or get your business added to the local tourist map.
27. Look for online directories in your niche and add your business information to them.
28. Ask for referrals. Answer reviews on review sites.
29. Create cool swag and give it away to employees, partners, and vendors—walking billboards.
30. Post to local Facebook groups. Be solutions oriented.
31. Tie what you do into current concerns. For instance, if you work in cyber security, now is a good time to talk about the current concerns. Educate your audience through the production of free resources aka content marketing.
32. Get into video. Bonus points if you can entertain your audience, not just provide good information.
33. Trade website space with other businesses.
34. Advertise on a restaurant menu.
35. Use Messenger ads.
36. Create a text offers list (with your customer’s permission, of course) and text out flash deals.

Marketing needn’t be expensive. If it provides good return on investment by bringing in more money than it costs, it’s invaluable. With these ideas you can play around with the right mix to find what works for you and provides good return and conversions.

There was a time when the biggest concern a business had was bringing in customers. These days, we know you’re worrying about a lot more. You’re wondering where you will find qualified employees. When you do find them on paper or through an application, you keep your fingers crossed that they will show up for their first day of work, or better yet, the interview. Once you hire them, you hope they’ll come back the next day and the next.

You worry about how you will sell items if you can’t get anything on the shelf. And you’re so very tired of hearing your suppliers talk about the supply chain. Two years ago, you didn’t even think about a supply chain in reference to anything more than toilet paper.

You worry about baby formula or people getting sick, your loved ones, your friends, your employees. You wonder if you should ask the person who’s been coughing the entire time they’ve been in your business to leave. Will they be offended or angry?

You worry that if you raise prices to try to make the smallest of profits to help pay for your gas to get to work or the groceries that keep getting more expensive while the quantities shrink that people will stop buying from you. Lag times and scheduling keep you up at night.

Or you’re challenged with too much need of your product or service and an inability to deliver. You hope that when you tell people it will be two to three weeks before you can meet their needs that your competitors are in the same boat.

You want to learn more, do more, and help more but your profits are dwindling almost as quickly as your “rainy day” money and investments are. Rents are going up and you worry your business’ lease will increase above what you can afford or you worry your landlord will sell your building. Home prices are going up but if you sell now, you won’t be able to find an affordable place to live.

It’s summer and you want to take vacation but there’s no one to run your business and even if there was, plane tickets and gas prices look more like car payments these days.

And you worry about safety.

No, this is not an easy time. But we see you small business owner. We are working to connect need with solutions. We’re talking to municipal, county, state, and federal leaders and voicing what you need most. We are brainstorming solutions for these unprecedented times.

We know you’re stressed and anxious, but we are here for you. Small businesses like yours are the backbone of our community and our country. You are not in this alone even though it can feel that way as a business owner.

While it’s important to have a support system, many small business owners struggle when they turn to friends and family for advice. Unless your family and friends are/were business owners themselves, they likely do not fully understand what you are facing.

At the chamber, we do.

While these are unprecedented times, we are working with all our resources to find solutions. We have experience in business and are bringing business owners together.

We can’t make your anxiety go away, or fix the supply chain over night, but we’re working on viable solutions and growth for all.

If you’ve recently received some bad reviews or customer service complaints, here’s how you can learn from them.

1. Listen and respond. Most people will give a business another chance if they feel heard and if something was done to remedy the situation. The remedy may be offering a free service, discount, coupon, or other incentive to try your business again. A florist that missed a delivery deadline for a special occasion and failed to communicate the error, credited the customer 125% of the order and guess what that customer did? They gave the florist a second chance. This time their delivery and product were flawless. Mistakes happen. Most people understand that.
2. Under promise and over deliver. It’s always good practice to build in a buffer of time (or cost) on a project or delivery. The customer will be pleasantly surprised when it takes less time (or money) than expected. A doctor’s office admin shared that they tell everyone a specific series of testing will take three hours, but it usually only takes two and a half, although it can take three. She said that way everyone is pleasantly surprised and not upset. When they used to tell patients two and a half hours, any minute over that meant angry patients yelling at their staff. Now everyone is prepared and expects three so if it takes less than that, they’re thrilled.
3. Turn a complaint or bad experience into an FAQ on your website. FAQs are a great way to help people get the info they are most curious about, not to mention bring some good SEO your way with a page that ranks highly in important keywords. When you have a misunderstanding with a customer on a process, procedure, sale, or return, ask yourself if other customers could benefit from that understanding. If so, add an FAQ about it.
4. Set a tickler and make a new friend/loyal customer. If you have an incident of lackluster customer service, follow up with them before it is resolved, once it is resolved, and a few days or weeks after it’s resolved. This kind of attention will make your customer feel like you care. It may also be a good reminder to order/buy from you again. Some businesses create a special email campaign to earn trust back again. In the email campaign, they look to reengage the customer. A handwritten note checking in can also be very effective.
5. Be preemptive. Reaching out after someone uses your services can be an effective way to make an impression. A pet border sends an email to every pet who stays with them thanking them for vacationing there and reminding the pet parent to let them know if they have any questions or concerns. It’s a nice touch and makes pet parents feel like the business cares. This can quell any concerns they may have over the stay and places a friendly face on the service.

Disappointing experiences don’t have to be the end of the customer relationship. There are many ways to salvage the relationship and help reestablish trust.

How do you like to work? Are you a speed or precision person? Do you like many small projects or one large project that you can dig into?

No, you’re not in the middle of a recruitment fair. These are simply questions that most self-aware professionals should know about themselves and about their teams.

My go-to answer used to be, “I can do either.” But that’s not really an answer, is it? What’s my preference? What do I excel in? After years of running my own business, I’ve come to realize that I like most of my days filled with many smaller projects, with a large one in the background that I can explore about once a week.

Because I like to go fast. What about you and your business?

An Ode to Speed

I am always looking for more efficient ways to do things. Maybe you are too. There are tons of productivity tools, suggestions on how to streamline operations, and the like. If you love efficiency, you are probably a mass consumer of this type of content. You likely fill your time in the car with podcasts and maximize learning or working opportunities whenever possible. You also either fall asleep the minute you turn off the light or you’re up for hours considering new ideas and solutions.

If you work for someone else, they likely pass you the ball often because they know you’ll get it done on time but…

There’s something speed demons often sacrifice and that’s effectiveness. That’s not to say they aren’t effective at their jobs. But as they develop a reputation for getting things done, those around them pile on more. After all, it’s fun to watch kind of like those strongest man contests where they sport truck tires around their arm as if they were bangle bracelets.

Get It Done

Speed allows for singular focus. Efficient people know what tasks can be performed when. If they have a few minutes in their schedule, they know how to use them. Effective people, on the other hand, allow themselves to take a step back. To make decisions about what tasks will advance their ultimate goals and what will detract from them. They weigh everything against what they want to accomplish, and they say “no” often. They would rather have a moment doing nothing than cramming it full of busy work.

Effective people are not the most efficient. They are not the people you hand something to when it needs to be completed ASAP. They probably wouldn’t put up with you dumping things on them anyway. They make deliberate decisions.

Choose Your Way

As a business owner or employee, there are times to concentrate on efficiency and there are times to gear your operation to effectiveness. If you are one or the other all the time, you will find yourself struggling either with burn out or missed deadlines.

Ask yourself if this week you moved the marker toward your goals be being deliberate in what you were trying to accomplish, or did you break the speed barrier and astound audiences everywhere?

Only you know which of these is the most important for your business this week, this month, this year. But you must recognize the differences between the two to realize what you need when in order to succeed.

Whether you make a resolution, goal or try something for 30 days in the new year, choose one that supports local!

Eat Healthier

If big diet changes are too drastic for you, try making just little changes when you go out to eat. Getting steamed vegetables instead of fries, asking for your meat to be grilled instead of fried, eating less condiments or sauces, and drinking water instead of (or in-between) sodas are all easier steps to stick with. Geaux Fresh even offers low calorie menu items.

Exercise / Get in Shape

While there’s a lot of exercises you can do at home (like just taking a walk around your neighborhood), but having a layer of accountability can help you actually follow through and work out more often. Try taking a group fitness class, join a gym with a friend & go together, or hire a coach that will want to know your progress regularly.

Learn how to defend yourself

Hey, we didn’t pick it – you did. If a concealed carry class peaks your interest, give Nine and Once Tactical a call. Their class give real-life tips that will make you feel more confident & prepared for whatever comes your way.

Reduce Debt / Save Money

Most financial advice includes: paying more than the minimum payment, focusing the bulk of your effort towards one bill at a time, picking up a side hustle, creating (and sticking to) a budget, negotiating your bills, and consolidating like debts. (Source: every financial blog ever)

If you’re looking for more personalized advice or want to start planning your retirement, you should meet with a financial advisor. If you’re looking for new ways to save money, check out these deals, or ask a local bank about interest rates in their savings accounts or money markets.

Change Careers

Maybe it’s time for a change in 2022 or your business is ready to grow and hire on additional staff this year. Either way, our employment service members can help. Be sure to let us know of any job openings you have throughout the year and we will include in our weekly eNewsletter.

Learn a New Skill

Whether you are a high school student or a recent graduate, a returning student or a degree holder seeking new skills or training, Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College can provide you an opportunity to achieve your goals.

Meet New People

Obviously, the Greater Minden Chamber is great place for networking opportunities. We provide monthly events where everyone is there for the same reason – to meet new people or strengthen relationships.

Go to your doctor regularly

We all know we should have regular checkups, but often put off doctor & dentist visits because we feel fine. But that’s actually counter-intuitive. Taking care of your health proactively can actually reduce the number of ‘oh-no’ visits you have to schedule in the long run.

Volunteer

Our community is blessed with many caring nonprofits and civic organizations. Whether you’re looking for consistent volunteer work, want to offer a specific service, or just help occasionally, there are tons of opportunities to give back.

What is one benefit your brick-and-mortar business has over online sellers?

This is an important question to ask to get more people to shop small or shop local this holiday season. When someone can grab their phone and purchase a gift quicker than it takes to find a parking space, why should they buy in person?

One thing you can provide that they’ll never get online is a magical shopping experience. And since we’ve all heard how important experiences are these days, it’s time you start thinking about the experience you are (or could be) providing.

Creating a Memorable Buying Experience This Holiday Season

According to American Express, 86% of customers polled admitted they would be willing to pay more for a better customer experience. So, in addition to raking in those shop small customers, you could be justifying a price increase as well.

How do you get started providing a memorable experience? At the beginning, of course.

A Functioning Website

This may seem counter intuitive but part of providing an excellent customer experience (even for in-person shopping/buying) is by creating a functional, well-updated website. Some people will still use search to find you, figure out if you’re open, what you sell, and whether they can get what they want from your business by visiting your website before they plan an in-person visit.

If your website is confusing, outdated, or doesn’t host important information critical to answering their buying question, they may skip an in-person visit.

A Welcoming Business Storefront

The holiday season is the perfect time to shine. Decorate whatever portions of your business’ exterior and road-visible interior you can (keeping municipal rules in mind, of course) to attract customers.

Just as working on curb appeal can make your home more interesting to a potential buyer, creating a welcoming storefront can bring customers in.

Delightful Smells or a Reason to Linger

You want to move people past the first few feet of your business and into the interior. After all, they’re likely not going to pull out their wallet on your doorstep. When setting up your display, or thinking about your traffic flow, give them a reason to move deeper inside. You can use delightful holiday smells (liked freshly baked cookies) or entrancing holiday lights toward the back of your business.

A Friendly Greeting and a Presumptive Close

Greet every potential customer with a smile and a welcome. Tell them what your specials are or ask them a specific question like “Do you like sugar cookies?” followed by a presumptive close such as, “We just pulled a tray out of the oven. How many should I bring you?” The presumptive close is always a good way to get engagement. Even if they ultimately turn you down, you get them talking. If you simply say, “let me know if I can help you find something,” you’re not inviting anything more than an “okay” or nod.

Something Extra

Ever notice how an unexpected nicety impacts your whole day? Even something small like a smile from a stranger can bolster your mood.

The same is true when shopping small. Do something more for your customers. Place their item in a colorful gift bag, package an extra special morsel of goodness with their leftovers. Look for small ways to make an impression on them.

A Big Helper

Creating an amazing experience will increase customer loyalty and customer reviews. It may even cause customers to buy/spend more. But your efforts will be more widely noticed if you partner with a larger organization to help you get the word out. Your local chamber of commerce, visitor’s bureau, or city may have a Small Business Season campaign that can make your holiday season (and marketing efforts) even more magical while also benefitting your customers.

These organizations likely have their own Small Business Season customer experience such as a passport challenge for prizes or a Shop Local bingo card. Becoming a part of their program adds to the fun experience you are creating on your own.

Don’t settle for a single “Shop Small” day. Look for ways to improve the buying experience for potential customers throughout the entire holiday season. After all, when online retailers refer to customer experience, they’re talking about ease of navigation and clicks. When brick-and-mortar businesses talk customer experience, they’re referring to making memories and creating special times for their customers.

In-person always has the potential for more fun than something that relies on an internet connection. Capitalize on that this holiday season.

When my friend’s thirteen-year-old daughter was approached by a major brand to be an influencer for them, I knew things were changing. Cynically, I wondered what did a thirteen-year-old or any kid have that a brand wanted? The obvious answer is a young following that can easily be led to make purchases. But just what are these influencers doing to build their audiences and how can we get a little of that for our own businesses without directly hiring them?

5.5 Epic Lessons from Influencers

No, they’re not really epic but that is your first half lesson from influencers—everything is amazing, epic, awesome, fantabulous, extreme, thick, or whatever other word describes something in a totally over the top way. Our English teachers used to call it hyperbole and influencers use it A LOT!!!!! (Along with an extraordinary amount of exclamation points. You can take or leave that lesson, but it definitely gets people excited about what you’re excited about.)

Be Yourself

Be yourself, whoever that is. If you are the forgetful mom, let it show on camera. If you love to tell cheesy jokes, tell away. Let people into your life. Share things with them. Show your personality. Help them get to know, like, and trust you. Soon they will start caring about you and asking about more than your product or service. One of our local weathermen shares his “addiction” to a certain soda and he gets both applause (from those who agree) and comments (from those who think it’s terrible for his health). Either way, he receives a ton of engagement every time he takes a picture of his drink and shares it with his audience.

That’s when you know your brand is part of their life.

Don’t Overproduce

Influencers use their phones for videos, and they do quick takes, using maybe only a filter or two and a couple of quick edits. What they create is not overly produced in a studio. (But you do want good lighting and sound quality.)

Part of the fun in these videos is feeling like you’ve been invited behind the scenes and into their office or home. Don’t stress with hours of editing. Go live and embrace the experience. So what if your kid or your dog wanders into the shot. Those types of “mistakes” are endearing to most audiences.

Imitate

I hate to say it, but in today’s world, copying really is the highest form of flattery. Now, that does not mean plagiarizing. That’s still a no-no. But it’s okay to copy an idea. For instance, if you see someone do a cute video with a Halloween theme and you want to do the same for your business, go ahead. (Just use your own script). Take a look at TikTok. That whole site is predicated on copying other people’s ideas. In fact, a recent Applebee’s commercial used a TikTok format, although I’m sure Applebee’s was forced to clear the rights to use the song, unlike the TikTokers. Speaking of…

One word of caution: keep in mind things like song lyrics and book passages are subject to copyright laws. While the teenager down the street might be able to get away with a moving rendition of “Let It Go” on TikTok, know that Disney won’t be as understanding when you use it as a jingle for your dry cleaning company.

Make the Ask

Every YouTuber, Instagrammer, and other video producer does one thing on EVERY video (besides saying “Hey guys” as part of their intro). They ask you to subscribe and like their videos. They are unabashedly determined to get that and will offer to do a crazy stunt when they get to a certain number of likes. Sometimes they give something away.

They ask for the like even when the videos are so bad, I wouldn’t ask my own mother for it. These influencers understand the power of the audience and most people are conditioned to do what’s asked of them, especially when it’s as easy as clicking.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags help people find you, but they can also serve as a form of entertainment and snarky comments. Use them for both. And don’t forget the theme hashtags like #TBT, which stands for Throwback Thursday. This ingenious hashtag can be used to share a funny glimpse into what you (or your business) used to be. It can be a great way to get some laughs and to educate your audience on how things have changed.

Businesses can learn a lot from influencers. While you may not be able to hire influencers yourself (it’s not always in the budget), you can use how they operate and amass large followings to make stronger connections with your audience.

If you joined the chamber to meet new people, grow your network, and get more customers, you’re on the right track. But do you have a plan to make the most of your time investment? If not, you need one.

What Am I Doing Here? Map Out an Effective Networking Plan

There may be many reasons you’re interested in that networking event. First, ask yourself who it is you want to meet. Are you there for:

• People in your target market
• Vendors that provide services and items you need for business
• Partners or complementary service providers (partnering with the healthy juice bar when you’re a gym, can be mutually beneficial)
• Industry peers for a best practice exchange or referrals

Beth Bridges, the Networking Motivator acclaimed speaker and author of several books on networking, says “A smart networker never goes to a networking event ‘hoping’ to find a prospect. Instead, they will be ready to act on one of several very specific plans that they will have set in advance—or are ready to pivot to—if the event turns out to be something different than they anticipated.”

Here are two potential plans she suggests:

Networking Plan 1: Meet “The one.”  If you know who is attending in advance, research and choose one or two people you must absolutely meet. When you walk in the door, tell the host “I am here to meet Pat Vang. Are they here yet?”

Networking Plan 2: Build social capital. Walk into the event with something to offer. An event invite (a private mastermind? an online speed networking event?), a line on a new business opening, or a great webinar (not necessarily yours!). Anything that gives value to other people so that you can build up your social capital with them for future use.

Which brings us to Beth’s third suggestion on how to make the most of your networking time. She advises:

Networking Plan 3: Get a referral or resource. If you don’t have a guest list for the event but know the audience type (i.e. CEOs, accountants, solopreneurs), hone in on a problem that type of person could solve for you with a referral or resource. When meeting someone, your intro remarks end with “I’m here to find someone who knows a good bookkeeper / copywriter / etc.”

But there might be something else you can take away from networking. How about a fourth plan of action?

There’s a group of people you might not be thinking about when it comes to networking. And yet, they may be able to shape your company culture and help you grow much faster than you would’ve expected.

The Fourth Person You’ll Want to Meet

Who are they?

Well, it’s different for everyone.

Networking Plan 4: Find a Solution. Think about the proverbial, “what keeps you up at night?” question. There’s a problem you’re likely struggling with. There’s also a professional, company, or industry out there that has solved your problem. Let’s look at an example from Henry Ford. He wanted to make cars more efficiently, so he instructed his employees to place the car parts in a line on the floor making them easy to access. While that reduced some of the time required, shaving a few hours off the original 12 it took to build a car, there were still hiccups. He thought there had to be a quicker way.

So, he studied flour mills, breweries, and meat packing plants (or maybe he went to a chamber networking mixer and talked to professionals from those industries; who’s to say?). By studying how they mechanized their systems, he used pieces/ideas from each and created the first moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire automobile. He reduced the time it took to manufacture from over 12 hours to one hour and 33 minutes!

With that change he could afford to produce cars for less, making them available to a greater number of people. This revolutionized not only his business but car production in general. All because he spent some time thinking about other businesses and their mechanization practices!

I recently talked to a rocket scientist (yes, really) who pulled methodologies from tech companies to learn quickly and fail often. He looked outside of his company to find a way to make his business goals attainable.

At your next networking event, know that there’s someone who has already solved the problem you’re facing. They may not be in the same business or industry but the lessons they learned are likely still applicable.

So, when you’re making a list of networking interests, think about the problems you face and strike up a conversation asking other attendees if they’ve faced the same. You may be pleasantly surprised by the insights and advice they can give you. Plus, that type of in-depth beginning conversation and sharing can lead to much deeper relationships down the line.

At some point COVID will be relegated to the same level of concern the flu gets every year. It won’t shutter businesses, alter family celebrations, and be the fuel behind contentious court cases.

Someday.

Let’s pretend we’re there now.

There are certain conveniences (and necessities) that businesses adapted during COVID that customers have become accustomed to. So, if you’re making plans for a “return to normal” you may just want to reevaluate what that looks like based on your customers’ newly developed expectations.

1. Delivery and Curbside Pick-up

Whether you serve food or sell non-edible items, people have become accustomed to sitting in their cars (or at home) and receiving their goods. Customers love the convenience, the fact that they can come as they are and not worry about what they look like, and can run errands more efficiently.

Delivery and curbside pick-up also save money (even with delivery fees and tips) when it comes to ordering items like groceries because it cuts down on impulse buys. To ensure they spend more, you’ll want to use an ordering system (or person answering the phone, if you take orders that way), that makes suggestions that they may also enjoy. Don’t miss the opportunity for upsells.

2. Working from Home

Many businesses that initially allowed working from home are calling people back in at the time of this writing. But in a highly competitive employment market, where there are more openings than interested applicants, you may want to think twice about requiring full-time in-office only work.

There are many cost savings in allowing employees to work from home. You may even be able to downsize your office space. And there may still be those people who want in-person work arrangements but not everyone will.

Don’t feel like you must decide between home or office. The best answer for your business may be a hybrid result.

3. Online Options

If you weren’t selling online before you probably are now. But even service providers who may have found it difficult to sell online upped their video, podcast, and content marketing strategies for greater online success.

If you embraced more digital marketing activities, keep it up. If you still haven’t, it’s (past) time. People want to interact with you at their convenience—and sometimes that’s after you’ve gone home for the day. Keep your business open (to them) with more online channels.

4. Giving People Options

We’re still working through this business lesson, but one thing that keeps surfacing throughout COVID is the idea that opinions should be respected and options should be given. No one appreciates being given orders, whether they are for their own good or not. Innovative businesses need to find ways to connect with customers on their terms. This is not a mask or no mask/vaccine or no vaccine debate. Those are details. This is about larger employment or customer rights.

Arguments over freedoms versus safety have brought up a lot of interesting discussions. Businesses should expect that while the details may change, the larger question about decisions and rights will echo well into the future. College courses will someday be taught on the subject. Innovative business owners may want to consider how these types of conversations will shape their organizations in the future from who they hire to what they request of them, from who they target from a marketing perspective to how they reach them.

COVID changed what we valued and took for granted. It has also altered business in many ways. Some ways are obvious, while others will become conversations that will continue far into the future.

What will you continue when COVID is but a memory?

The past eighteen months have certainly not been something they taught us in business school. It started with a global pandemic and mandatory lockdowns of non-essential businesses, then erupted in costs of goods and services skyrocketing, only to complete this craziness with an employee shortage, and rent and real estate costs going through the roof for most areas of the country.

Whew!

If you’re like most businesses, you’re probably looking for ways to increase your revenue. Here are some things you can do right now as well as a few other ideas you can start implementing for long-term increases.

15 Ways to Make More Money at Your Business

1. Raise your prices. Businesses of all types are being forced to do this because their costs are increasing. Most people, while they dislike it, realizing it’s necessary.
2. Train your employees on upsells. It’s easier to sell to someone who’s already buying than to create a convert of someone who knows little about you.
3. Keep track of what each customer buys. Use data on customer purchases to reach out to them with applicable discounts, sales, new products, or services they would probably like based on past purchases.
4. Add a service to your goods or goods to your services. If you sell furniture paint, offer a paint service. If you paint furniture, sell a line of paint for DIYers or those who can’t afford your service.
5. Host a class. If it’s specific and helpful enough you can charge for it.
6. Become an affiliate for another business. If there’s something you buy often or a business you refer people to, ask the business if they have an affiliate program.
7. Start a side hustle. There are a lot of things you can do to bring in additional revenue that have no start-up costs and can bring in more money. You can start a personal side hustle or try incorporating one into your existing business.
8. Consult or coach. Tell people how to do what you do and charge them for it.
9. Start a Kickstarter campaign. Okay, so this isn’t a solid stream of revenue, but it can help you create one by producing something you’ve always wanted to produce but haven’t had the time or capital to do it.
10. Start a membership program. Charge people for access to you or priority service from your business or any other type of membership.
11. Create a subscription or sample box. You can do this on your own or with other businesses in your area.
12. Host a contest with an entry fee. Yes, you’ll need to line up a prize for winners, but if it’s a broad reaching contest, you could make money with an entry fee.
13. Host a camp or overnight. Depending on your business, you may be able to turn your business into a camp over holidays or the summer or even host a special overnight. Meet with an insurance professional to understand the liability involved. You can also offer classes to homeschool students. Remember camps don’t have to be for kids.
14. Create a challenge. You may be able to create a directed challenge and charge a fee for several weeks of training or services.
15. Sell more items online. Or start selling online if you haven’t already.

Most of these ideas can help you bring in money right away. Another way to do that—although it doesn’t increase your revenue per se—is to change your billing structure if you’re a service provider. You can collect more upfront and less upon the completion of services. Plus, now is the perfect time to roll out these ideas as people understand the struggles businesses have these days.

Fall is a favorite among many people. The temps are enjoyable, weather is crisp and clear, and the smell of leaves can be intoxicating. That’s what makes this season such a hit with marketers. Here are a few fall themes you can incorporate into your business for more engagement with your target audience.

Fun Fall Marketing Themes

Use these themes to inspire your newsletter, blog posts, contests, social media posts, business interior, offerings, and more.

Pumpkin Everything

It seems like every year it starts earlier and earlier, but people really clamor over pumpkin. From coffee creamer to cake, people can’t get enough of this colorful gourd.

Incorporate pumpkin flavoring, host a pumpkin design contest, or even make fun of the fact that you’re offering a pumpkin option (like pumpkin rinse for clogged pipes, if you’re a plumber).

Hate pumpkin? That’s okay too. Share that with your audience and invite them to ring in. You may be surprised on the level of engagement you receive.

Back to School

There’s more to back-to-school then just the first day. As students get settled in at all levels, it’s a good way to connect with students or their adult guardians.

Play up why your business is a favorite among students or their parents. Host a back-to-school bash, sale, or image contest or join in during homecoming festivities.

Harvest Time and Gratefulness

Whether you’re celebrating good harvests of local food, the hard work of the agriculture industry, or how important it is to feel grateful, there are many ways to use this theme to get your audience’s attention.

Share what you are grateful for. Ask questions about favorite foods. Tell the story of where your food comes from (if that’s what you sell). Highlight the farm-to-table story.

Football

From tailgating to homecoming, there are many ways to celebrate this sport and the excitement that goes along with it.

Spotlight local players, ask people who they think will win, rename some of your offerings (temporarily) based on team names, be a sponsor of a local team. Run specials and discounts based on game points or wins. Give your audience something (else) to cheer about.

The Colors

Fall colors are amazing. There are vacationers who plan trips around those magnificent oranges, reds, and yellows. Plus, there’s the inviting glow of the hearth. Fall makes for great decoration ideas for your business as it’s a very cozy time. Fall is an invitation to come in and you can use the same in your marketing.

Share recipes, favorite scents, favorite books, and color updates of the leaves in your area (if applicable).

Fall is a beloved season, and you can use it to get closer with people in your ideal market. There are many options under each of these themes. Brainstorm some creative uses and you’ll make a big impression on your customers and future customers.

Our metal has certainly been tested this year. Many are fatigued and stressed juggling responsibilities, worries, and fear like they were part of the job description.

But this is not sustainable.

You may feel crushed by the weight of the world right now. Maybe your friends and family don’t quite understand what you’re going through because they aren’t a business owner. Perhaps you’ve created the perfect life on social media, and no one knows the struggles that make up your day and eat away at your confidence and security.

But your chamber of commerce does. They’ve been there. They are business owners/business professionals, and they know what you’re going through. Most people think about the business resources and networking they provide but forget that they are always looking out for businesses and the struggles of businesspeople. Being the voice of business also means understanding the internal hardships of business owners. The chamber’s vast business experience may help you feel more part of a tribe.

The chamber is also here to remind you that as a business owner, your skills, drive, and knowledge are critical to your business but so is your health and wellness.

13 Things Every Business Owner Needs to Hear

All business owners need to hear these things, especially now:

1. It is okay to put yourself in time out. Use this time to recharge or think about the direction of your business. You can’t do either of these things under pressure. You are not a diamond. Schedule time away, off the grid, even if only for an hour. Focus on one area that’s not working and how you might improve things. Then create an action plan and schedule your tactics that will get you to your goal. Or better yet, take that time and decompress by doing absolutely nothing.
2. Trust your intuition but weigh all sides. Discuss it with people who have experience in the area or the things you are considering. That generally means not your spouse, nor your friends.
3. Take the calculated risks. No risk, no growth.
4. You can make a living doing anything if you take the right approach and the timing is right. Choose what you love, and you will have a more fulfilling career. Never choose safety as a career path because sometimes the safe path isn’t safe. And if that’s the only reason you chose it, you’re left with nothing.
5. If you need help, ask. But you’ll be more successful if you ask the people who are able to help.
6. “No” is an acceptable answer. No excuse (or reason) required.
7. Timing is important but persistence usually pays off. Hang in there.
8. You set your priorities. If you feel out of control, and someone else dictates everything for you, you have given them that power (that includes your kids and pets).
9. Schedule time for “oxygen” moments that provide the breath that fuels the fire in your soul. Recharge with the care that you give your cell phone.
10. Everyone is on their own path. If you don’t declare them as a dependent on your taxes or you can’t be held accountable for their actions in a court of law, respect their process and respect yours also.
11. You can’t make everyone happy, but you can exhaust yourself trying. Pick what you’re good at, who it serves well, and do that. Don’t be a salad at McDonalds.
12. You are always in control of how you respond to a situation even if you can’t control anything else.
13. If it’s important to you, find a way. If it’s not, be honest about that with others and with yourself. Admit that it’s not on your life’s “strategic plan” and move on.

Remember, mental health and wellness are not luxuries. You deserve them. Just as you take care of the tools you need to conduct business, you need to take care of yourself.

Keep this list and refer to it. There’s nothing on here that isn’t common sense but sometimes you just need to hear it from someone else.

Do you want to wow your existing customers? Are you ready to take your “relationship” with them to the next level? Then it may be time to grab your data and do some personalized marketing.

What You Need

To get your customers’ attention, you need to have tools in place to measure things like buying frequency and purchase history. You’ll also want your customers’ email addresses.

If you don’t have that, start collecting it. If you do, let’s talk about how you can use it to drive additional sales.

Selling to existing, repeat customers is one of the easiest ways to increase sales. They already love you. But even people who love you and your products/services can forget to buy from you, especially if you sell a product or service that is want based, not need based, like a restaurant.

You will find it necessary at some point to remind your customers of their love for you. A personalized email is ideal for this.

Components of a Standout Personalized Reminder Email

When some business owners think about “personalized” emails, they think of form fields that insert names.

But we’re moving beyond that.

This type of reminder email speaks to your personalized relationship with your customer, making it a whole lot more effective in driving sales than simply referring to someone’s name. In addition to using their name, you want to include:

Purchase History

Don’t include everything they’ve ever bought. That may be overwhelming, and they may decide they’ve spent too much money with you. Instead, highlight what they bought most often.

“You sure do like our decadent chocolate shake, maybe almost as much as we like having you as a customer. Wouldn’t today be the perfect day to order one? Mmmmm. Chocolate.”

Drive those impulse buys.

Upsell Opportunities

Suggest other things they may love next time they’re buying from you. Point out how convenient, popular, or valuable your other offerings are.

“You know what one of our most popular services is? Eyebrow waxing. We tame most of the brows in town and that service is the perfect complement to the highlights you already love. In fact, the waxing can be done while your color cures. That way you leave with gorgeous hair and a refined look with no additional time out of your day. Just what you need, right?”

More Ways to Love You

In the email, suggest more ways to love your services or products. End the email with a call to action. This could be an invitation to stop in, coupon for their next visit, an invitation to try a new location, sharing ways to connect on social, or a picture of their favorite item or service and a “we miss you” invitation. This message will get them thinking about you again and drive more sales. Remember to use evocative imagery in your close so that they can’t help but come see you soon.

Remaining top of mind is critical to getting more sales from loyal customers. Giving them a little “friendly reminder” email is free and will help you stay connected.

These days a lot of people are considering business ownership. Whether you buy into a franchise, lease some space and start your own thing, or log onto the internet and begin building an ecommerce website, doing it on your own has never been more alluring. But just because you have an incredible skill or access to cheap goods does not mean you’re ready to open the doors to your own business.

Starting a business without a strong foundation can hinder your sales. If you open your doors prematurely, you risk making a bad first impression or targeting the wrong audience. That can be hard to recover from. Before you hang that open sign and put out your welcome mat, ensure you know the answers to the following questions.

What Makes You/Your Business Unique?

Unless you hold the patent to a never-before-seen product, it’s likely you’re opening a business that already exists. This is not an affront to your abilities or genius. You are probably doing something that is already offered somewhere. If you’re fortunate, it doesn’t exist in your town or area. But you likely have some sort of competition for what you’re offering to do or sell.

So how do you entice customers to come to your business instead of that of your competitors?

You need to identify and communicate what makes you different. Many people claim their customer service sets them apart. Spend some time watching ads or reading them in your stream on social media. You’ll realize that service is not a unique selling point. Everyone thinks they offer it.

Your unique selling point could be your sales environment, a guaranty, a pricing offer (although that’s a slippery slope to underbidding), something about how you perform your service, or what’s included with the purchase.

Once you know what makes you unique, you want to create a plan to communicate that to your ideal audience.

Speaking of…

Who Are You Selling To?

If you just answered everyone, you’re wasting your time and money. There’s at least one group of people—hopefully several—who understand, need, and want what you’re selling. Marketing to the rest of the world is a waste of resources. For instance, if you own a yarn store and you market specifically to people who love fabric arts and knitting, you will most likely bring in new customers. However, marketing to those who prefer active, physical hobbies may only get you a handful of clicks on your ads. Those clicks likely will not convert to sales. Focus on those you know you’ll have success with (your target market) before you consider converting others.

What Problems Are You Solving and Are They Worth It?

Most marketing gurus will tell you that you need to focus on a problem and present your business as the solution.

But that advice is only the beginning.

It’s expensive to offer the solution to a problem that most people don’t realize they have or the problem doesn’t bother them enough to seek a solution for it.

Some entrepreneurs will argue that if you call attention to a problem someone didn’t realize they had (and you fix it) they will become loyal customers. But this is a magical equation.

There still must be a need that they feel bothered enough (once they know about it) to seek action on it.

I’m reminded of an episode of Shark Tank where a married couple lamented the problem of strands of her hair sticking to the shower walls (and eventually washing down the drain). To remedy this, they created a shower brush. They used it to brush the hair off the shower walls. The hair then became trapped in the brush’s bristles, and it could be disposed of easily after the shower without clogging the drain.

None of the Sharks invested. Why? The product solved a problem. Sadly, it was a problem no one was inconvenienced enough by to be spurred into action.

Who Is Supporting You?

It’s important to answer this question from a financial perspective, but it’s more important to think about this from a mental health and business resources perspective. You will be more successful in business if you have support of friends or family or someone within the community who can mentor you and help you with resources. When Jeff Bezos wanted to build a larger bed, his mother didn’t stop him. In fact, she took him to the hardware store and helped him get the pieces he needed to create the sleeping area he had dreamed of. She supported his vision when she could have just gone out and bought him a new bed. You need someone like that in your corner when you decide to become a business owner.

In addition to someone who will support your vision, you need someone to help connect you with resources and introduce you to people who can make a difference in your business. Your chamber of commerce is the perfect solution. The chamber offers learning opportunities, networking events, and advocacy for businesses. In your quest to find support, it should be one of your first stops.

If you’re looking to start your own business, answer these questions first. If you’re someone who’s already started a business, what questions do you wish you had asked before opening?

Do you want more customers? Then you need to remove the friction behind doing business with you. Even if you have great customer service, support, and sales, you may have unknown friction that exists before you see the face of your customer. Luckily, you can smooth that out with content. Here are two problems you need to solve to take the guesswork out of doing business with you.

Problem 1: You Don’t Know They’re Interested

There are several studies out there that will tell you anywhere from 40-76% of a buying decision is made before a potential customer visits your business in person. The average person performs virtual research on your website, review sites, social media, and a host of other places before they even consider doing business with you. They’re performing this same due diligence with your competition.

Content Solution: You want to identify the potential customer as soon as possible so you can start interacting with them. The easiest way to do this is through a downloadable lead generator. The lead generator must be something they need/want because they will be providing their email to receive it and will have to agree to receiving marketing messaging from you.

If you can nurture them (with additional valuable content) and help them get to know your business, you’re more likely to entice them into wanting to buy from you.

Problem 2: The Unknown

It’s likely you have potential customers out there who may be interested in your offerings but there’s some hesitation. There’s something they’re worried about. Most people aren’t adventurous when it comes to spending money. But this hesitation can easily be smoothed over with some content.

Content Solution:

• Be honest about who your business serves. This is not a call to appeal to everyone. For instance, I don’t want to go to an aerial yoga studio that caters to 18-year-old Olympians. None of us will enjoy ourselves. You don’t want to give the impression your business or service is perfect for everyone, and everyone is welcome. While everyone may be welcome in a legal sense, there are some types of people who will love your business and others that won’t be a good fit. Don’t feel the need to cater to this latter group because if you do–and they don’t enjoy themselves—they may give your business a bad review. If your gym caters to ninja warriors, don’t market to couch potatoes.
• Offer testers, trials, and other ways to try you out. Sometimes people need a freebie or deeply discounted opportunity to try out your offerings before they can commit to writing a check or handing over their money. Make sure that your trial or sample comes along with next steps and sets expectations for them if they choose to be a customer/client.
• Go for feeling. It’s not (just) about what you’re selling. It’s about how people feel when buying from you. The experience is as important as the good or service. It’s also (often) the differentiator or unique selling proposition. For instance, many people felt good about buying from TOMs shoes because they donated a pair of shoes to a person in need for every pair sold. (It looks like these days they give 1/3 of proceeds to “grassroots good.”). People didn’t buy them because they were the most beautiful shoes, nor the cheapest. They made the purchase because it made them feel like they were doing something for someone else. But you don’t have to be super altruistic to encourage people to buy from you. However, you should provide them with some emotion or experience. “Squad shopping,” for instance, became popular during COVID. Many online merchants encouraged people to shop with their friends online giving them the experience of going to the mall together. This not only makes people feel good about your business but encourages more sales (hurray peer pressure!).

If you want to increase your sales, you need to remove the friction behind doing business with you. Thankfully, it’s easier than you think when you create content around addressing major concerns.

Have you ever watched a Superbowl commercial and thought, “If I had a budget as big as that company I could make the best commercial.”? It’s easy to assume a large budget means a lot more possibilities and I won’t argue that.

Big brands can afford to hire the best and the brightest marketers out there. And that’s why you can learn a lot from them. But what they do isn’t always out of reach. In fact, there are many ways to copy what they do for very little (if any) money.

Email marketing, for instance, is a level playing field these days. It takes very little money to build an email list and begin nurturing customers and potential customers.

Here are a few ideas stolen from big brands that you can easily adopt in your business for stronger conversions.

Summary Emails

If you have an online community, blog, or other place where exciting things are occurring around your brand, you don’t want anyone to miss the action. But none of us are online all the time. Even those of us who spend a lot of time online may miss something due to busy days or algorithms that aren’t quite in tune with what we deem important.

That’s why sending a periodic summary email of top discussions, important Q&As, or hot happenings can go a long way in engaging your audience. Keep the emails brief with headlines, 1–2-line teasers, and links back to the action.

Use your marketing software to keep track of what links are clicked and what information is important to whom. It can help you better customize future emails and create more content that your audience is interested in.

Customize Your Message

If you send emails to a lot of people, don’t send the same one to everyone unless everyone on your list is interested in the same thing. Look at your data and customize a message for targeted groups within your larger group. This type of targeting makes people feel like you know exactly what they need, and they will be more prone to act on your suggestions in the future. For instance, I live in Florida, and I recently received a weekly flyer email from Walgreens. Because I live in one of the COVID hotspots right now, Walgreens placed a red banner at the top of my sales flyer email reminding me that my area is experiencing “high COVID 19 rates” and it invited me to schedule a COVID test today.

Use More Effective Buttons

If you use buttons in your email, give some thought to the language you use on them. What is it you want the button clicker to do? What will motivate them to action?

“Learn more” is probably one of the most common phrases used, and because of this, it is no longer as effective at driving action. If you have someone who’s dying to know more, they will click the button. But if you have someone who’s not quite curious yet “learn more” isn’t going to persuade them to do anything.

A recent email I received from Mindvalley used the button “I want better health habits.” This is effective for several reasons. It focuses on my needs and desires. And it flips a switch in my mind that I am already on a path to my end goal. It causes my brain to think “Mindvalley helped me” before I even clicked on the button to learn more about their resources.

Get Into Your Customer’s Mind

Thinking about what your customers are doing in their lives and wrapping your marketing message around that can be an incredible way to increase conversions and sales.

For example, what do people often do in the summer? They go on vacation. How do they get there? Many people drive. Summer is synonymous with road trips.

Chick-fil-a used this idea in a recent email I received from them. The email reminded me that their nuggets are the perfect addition to my summer road trip and the email invited me to find a nearby location to place my order. The button directed me right to their app so I could find a restaurant and place my order.

Chick-fil-a also sends me emails right before lunch (and at the time most people are on their way home from work) reminding me how good their chicken would be for my next meal. Anticipating my needs catapults them to (my) top of mind, making me more likely to buy.

You don’t need a large budget to succeed in email marketing, but you can learn a lot from those who do.

written by:

Christina R. Metcalf (formerly Green) is a marketer who enjoys using the power of story and refuses to believe meaningful copy can be written by bots. She helps chamber and small business professionals find the right words when they don’t have the time or interest to do so. 

Christina hates exclamation points and loves road trips. Say hi on Twitter or reach out on Facebook.

Do you watch America’s Got Talent? Or how about American Idol? The Olympics? The MLB All-star Game?

These competitions all have something in common.

They tell stories. If you watch them, none of them are solid, hours upon hours of broadcasted competition. Mixed in with commercials and the performances, the producers choose to interlace storytelling because it’s relatable. It draws people in. Storytelling can take a good performance and turn it into something we think about for the rest of the day.

You can do this for your business too. You can turn an average experience into something amazing when your audience knows where you are coming from with storytelling.

Telling your business story is not (just) about how you started and where you came from, nor should it always be about how awesome you are (highlight how you help people and how awesome they are. Check out “>Modelo beer commercials for a good example of this.).

Effective business storytelling keeps telling stories throughout your content, so you’ll need more than one story to keep people interested.

Here are a few ideas to add to your content. Keep in mind business storytelling should never be fiction. If you haven’t experienced the type of stories listed below, skip over them. You don’t want to tell your audience something that isn’t true for the sake of crafting a moving story.

5 Types of Effective Storytelling for Your Business

The Underdog

Americans love an underdog, a come from behind triumph. Whether it’s David and Goliath or the story of the tortoise and the hare, we want to believe that with hard work and dedication you can beat the odds. Share how you have overcome a huge hurtle to be the success you are now.

The Heartbreak

We all face heartbreak. Sometimes it’s in the form of a lost love or the death of someone close. How did that heartbreak motivate you in your business? Maybe your grandparent passed away and left you money to start a business because they believed in you. Or maybe you realized your gift after the death of a loved one forced you in that direction to support your family like writer Mary Higgins Clark did.

Whatever your heartbreak was that motivated you, people identify with heartbreak and are inspired by picking up after it and rebuilding a life. You never know who needs to hear that message.

The Setback

What setback have you undergone in business? Did you have to close during the pandemic? Did you sell something like your home to open a second location? What gamble did you take in business that paid off? Or what gamble did you take that didn’t pay off, but you learned from it?

People love to know that success is not a linear path. To hear of the ups and downs is encouraging and inspirational. It helps people identify with you. Everyone assumes an overnight success but it’s nice to know when it isn’t.

The Magic Lucky Break

What happened in your life to give you the big break? Maybe you got to where you were because you hung in there but maybe there was also some magical luck that propelled you to success.

Maybe you were behind everyone else only to become top of the world later on? Even Tom Brady only got a chance to start in high school because his team’s #1 quarterback decided he no longer loved the game moving Tom up a spot. Imagine if that had never happened.

There’s no shame in admitting you got lucky because you were there. After all, you had to hang in there first before the luck could find you. That can be very inspiring for those still waiting for their break.

The Unexpected Path

There are certain paths that are accepted as the norm. For instance, a Joint Chief of Staff attending and graduating with high honors from West Point or someone attending Julliard and becoming a famous actor on Broadway.

What is not expected is a single mom living in a car writing a book that gets rejected from 12 different publishers before getting published, and going on to become the second-highest paid author and one of the wealthiest self-made women in the world.

What path to your life was unexpected? What did you do against the grain? Were you like All-star baseball player Cedric Mullins who sat on a bench most of high school and didn’t start until his senior year?

The interest is in the details. Tell your audience how you got there. Share the frustrations and the heartbreak. Try to give them the inspiration the world so needs right now.

Your story isn’t over. Keep telling it and your audience will listen.

For a while, marketers have been telling people how to build relationships with potential customers on social media. They’ve shown them how to nurture a potential customer through the sales cycle to make a buying decision.

And that’s what businesses have been focused on.

But your social networks need to be doing double duty now.

Yes, attracting new customers is important but there’s another great need right now—employees. You need to attract people to work with you and retain those you currently have.

Social media is an incredibly strong way to do this.

Consider the following types of posts to help you be seen as an employer of choice.

Social Media for Hiring and Retention

When it comes to writing posts to get people to work with you, you want to construct a story around what it’s like to work at your business. Keep in mind that every post should inspire, educate, or entertain while sharing interesting parts of your story.

1. A day in the life. Take a fun photo and tell a story about what you’re doing. If you can show how you are helping someone else live their best life, even better. That sort of post is contagious.
2. Showcase what your business does. That doesn’t mean that you post “we sell widgets.” Talk about how what you do helps others do something even more amazing. For instance, if you sell natural soaps talk about how you help people discover their beauty without all the harsh chemicals. That way they can feel as good about your products as they do about their exercise routines.
3. Compliment others. No one said your posts had to be about you. Sometimes telling others how amazing you think another business or person is can go a long way to making people feel good about your business.
4. Showcase your employees and why you are lucky to have them. Not only do people enjoy getting to know who you have working for you, this type of “bragging” about your awesome employees shows you are a good person to work for.
5. Slide in some perks. If you have cool perks at your job, find a way to post about them. Show your snack cart. Create a TikTok around a parody involving your business day. Use some creativity to showcase why someone would want to work for you.
6. Use hashtags. Use hashtags for areas and the types of jobs you’re hiring for.
7. Illustrate your unique culture. Take pictures and post about your unique culture. People will want to be a part of it.
8. Participate in conversation on places that matter. There are tons of Facebook groups and other places where people are talking on social media. Join in on the conversations and help people. Some will check out where you’re from and they’ll see your company. A community groups is also a good place to post that you’re hiring. But you’ll be more successful attracting a crowd if they already know you when you post.
9. Invite employees to post about you too. Give them the parameters of what you want them to address and the hashtags you want them to use. Then encourage them to spread your message.
10. Retweet or reshare what others are saying about you. Make image quotes out of reviews. Reply to people who talk about you. Others will see you’re involved in social media and responding. Check out GlassDoor and see what employees have said. Share that, if appropriate.

Social media is a wonderful way to get attention from a recruiting perspective. It helps you stand out and entices people to want to work for you. Remember these days retention and recruiting on social media are just as important as bringing in new customers.

Even with all the changes in technology, the increase in the popularity of videos and podcasts, and the growing disinterest in reading (for some), blogs still have a place in business.

Your business blog should be one of your hardest working marketing tools. Let’s talk about why:

SEO

No matter how many tags you place on your video, or your image, or your podcast, search engines still love words. Your blog is the perfect way to ensure the proper keywords people would use to find your business are incorporated on your website. Using these keywords in important places on your blog like headers and titles as well as peppered in through the content and image tags can help you organically place for the words that are important to you.

A New Side of You

Your business likely has a tone for its marketing copy. Your blog is a place where you can stretch that tone a little bit and help people get to know you and your employees better. People do business with those they know, like, and trust. Blogs are an excellent method to help people feel all those things for your business.

Your blog can also show a side of your business that others (outside of employees) don’t normally see. This is the type of thing that people like to buy into. Customers want to support companies they believe in, and your blog is a great way to tell your story and convey other information that is not all business.

New Content

Websites can be updated instantaneously with ever-evolving content. But while you may not change out your content on your home page every day, you can add new content to your blog. That way people who visit your website are seeing something new on a regular basis.

This also shows that there’s someone behind the website. Have you ever gone to a website, saw some outdated content, and wondered if the business was still in business? If you have an active blog, people won’t wonder that about you. They will see that you are posting actively and engaging with your audience.

Lead Generation and Nurturing

If you are the kind of business that has a lengthy sales process, one where people do not make an instantaneous purchasing decision, your blog can be an excellent source of content while you nurture your future customer into making a buying decision.

You can also use your blog to introduce a lead magnet. This lead magnet can be used to create a subscriber list for lead generation and more nurturing. Lead magnets and blog interest can provide excellent insights into what your audience finds valuable.

Monetization

As you build your audience, you can use your blog as another source of revenue. You can charge businesses with complementary services to be listed on your blog as advertisers or you can use affiliate links when you’re referring your blog readers to other products and services. Some bloggers make a lot of money doing these things.

Authority and Shaping the Conversation

A blog is the perfect stage to convince someone that you are an authority in your industry or area of expertise. You can use this platform to educate and inspire.

It can also be a very effective tool to shape the conversation and carve out important points of the sales process. For instance, you can write blog posts on important questions to ask during the sales process or important things to look for as they shop for what you sell. Since you are creating the blog post you can shape the most important points to your advantage. You simply must be able to point out why your product or service is superior based on the qualifications you’re suggesting they pay attention to. A carpet cleaner for example may suggest their dry process of cleaning is better than a steam clean/wet solution. The carpet cleaning company could devote an entire blog post to why dry beats wet. If someone searches the question, “which is best dry or wet carpet cleaning?,” the blog post should come up and their expertise would be made available to this person.

Blogs aren’t dead. While there are tons of media options available to you, none of them have replaced the blog yet. Some people have started blogging on social media but the problem with this is that you don’t own the property. If Facebook labels you an anarchist or your page is flagged for any other reason, you could lose all your content. Your business blog on your website, on the other hand, will continue to bring you customers if you build its content with your customers and their needs in mind.

Brownie Wise (the saleswoman behind the success of Tupperware) said, “If you want to build a business, build the people.” This is incredibly important but now more than ever. With the hiring shortage going on, you must do something to make your business stand out and helping potential employees understand they can have a career with you (or at least feel valued while they are there) can be the difference between going with you or deciding to work elsewhere.

But how do you “build the people”? Training can be costly and who has the time or money for that? Believe it or not, there are a lot of free resources out there. Here are just a few:

7 Avenues for Free (or almost free) Training for Employees

To the best of our knowledge, each of these options is free. However, there may be a minimal cost with some specialized trainings.

If you want to check out a subscription course offering, there’s LinkedIn Learning. After your free month trial, there’s a $19.95 per month fee for unlimited access to their courses. Courses include advanced work on popular software like Office and Google as well as technical things like learning coding languages such as Python.

Assuming you want free (or nearly so), here’s a great list of options:

The Chamber of Commerce

If you belong to the chamber of commerce in your area, those benefits extend to your employees. If the chamber offers webinars, meet and greets, or lunch and learns, you can (and should) encourage your employees to attend these free (or heavily discounted) ways to learn and get to know others in the community.

SBA and other Business Groups

The Small Business Association and other local business groups offer free training periodically. Sign up for their newsletters or check out their website to see what webinars are available. SBA also has free business counseling for you if you’re a small business owner.

YouTube

You may assume that the courses on YouTube would be conducted by fame-seeking teenagers but that’s simply not the case. There are a lot of good resources available on this channel. You could create a playlist of videos and share it with your marketing team/person, for instance.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

You probably knew by now that MIT offers free online classes but what you may not have realized is that it’s not all science related. They have plenty of business courses too. Check out the ones on entrepreneurship.

University of California has some solid offerings as well. Also, check out Open University for even more.

TedTalks

You might be surprised the kind of things you can learn in a TedTalk. While they may not teach direct skills, they teach ways to think and reframe problems that can be advantageous in a lot of roles. Your employees may also learn stronger empathy through watching a few of these.

Niche Sources

Make a list of what you’d like your employees to learn and then set them free to find no-cost instruction. For instance, there’s a course on supply chain management, corporate finance, and digital marketing. Some even come with certifications.

Ahrefs Academy

Lots of great courses here including SEO for Beginners (who couldn’t use that?) and several marketing courses. Good information that every business can use.

There are plenty of free training options out there for your staff. The difficulty is in giving them the time for professional development. Offering the courses won’t do you any good if they don’t take them, so make sure you communicate that this is an important part of your business. Your best employees will appreciate the challenge and the additional training. And best of all, it won’t cost you a thing!

Starting a new business can be challenging, but it can be even more difficult if you are new to the community. In some areas being the “new business (or business owner) on the block” is a designation that doesn’t last long (in large cities with transient populations, for instance), the smaller, tighter-knit communities can feel like it takes forever to become part of the “in-crowd.”

As we reopen after COVID, many people are reevaluating where they live. Communities that didn’t have the jobs to support newcomers en masse are now seeing an influx of people who want to live where they vacation, or they want to get away from it all. Because of this, fitting in might start getting a whole lot easier.

But until it does, here are a few tips that can make you successful in your new community quickly.

How to Ensure You and Your Business Fit In

These days there’s a lot of talk about accepting everyone for who they are. But when most of the people in your new area have spent their lives together, starting a new business in these places can feel like you’re the new kid at the lunch table in middle school. It’s not that they aren’t welcoming and friendly, they just don’t know you like they know everyone else. It takes time. And no one has time for that. Here are a few tips to help you speed up the process.

Host an Event

People are interested in getting out these days. Host an open house or a class. Demonstrate your products or services. Invite people to attend for free to get to know you. If your business is virtual, find somewhere you can host in person. You want people to get to know you and that’s much easier when no one has to worry about buffering.

In the future, there may be a revenue stream for classes or other events for your business. Start building your email list with this event.

Check Out the Farmer’s Market

If your business is a good fit for a farmer’s market, craft bazaar, or artisan fair, ask around to find out if that exists in your community. If not, you might be able to work with an organization with a large parking lot to help bring one to your community.

These types of events bring browsers out. You may or may not make large sales but what you will have the opportunity to do is make conversation with attendees. Come out from behind your booth. Give away samples. Talk to everyone and give something away so they have your contact information in the future.

Join your Facebook Group

Do a quick search in Facebook. Find out if your area has a Facebook group. Many have multiple ones. Get to know the administrators of the group and ask when (or if) businesses are allowed to post.

Post when you are allowed to but make sure you also take the time to “share the sunshine.” Answer questions people are asking. Provide reviews of businesses you’ve patronized and loved. Become part of the community. The more people see you, the more often they will think about you.

Sponsor Something

Even if you are in a tiny town, there are sponsorship opportunities for you. From Little League to the PTA, band boosters to pet rehoming events, get out there and support the community. People notice. Stay in front of them. Be visible. Give back.

If you don’t have the funds to sponsor right now, volunteer some of your time and wear a branded t-shirt for your business.

Join the Chamber

Joining the chamber is always a solid move because unlike other membership organizations, the chamber is business focused. Members will naturally take an interest in the new business in town.

Even if you’re virtual, chambers can help introduce you to your neighbors, community leaders, and a network of people you might not meet as quickly from behind your computer screen.

If you’re new to town, it’s only a matter of time before people realize how wonderful you and your business are. However, most of us don’t have time to spend waiting on people to realize these things. You need the revenue now so get out there. Introduce yourself and give back to your new hometown. People will take notice and they’ll be happy to have you.

Do you have dreams about owning your own business or becoming part of the gig economy? Making your own hours? Working from wherever you want?

Then you’re not alone.

There are an estimated 582 million entrepreneurs (about 775,000 of them in the US) already working for themselves. And that number is growing. According to Guidant Financial, 27% of people polled in 2020 wanted to start their own entrepreneurial enterprises because they were disenchanted/dissatisfied with corporate America. And a lot of people are rethinking their current jobs because of COVID.

Whatever your reasoning, you may be hesitating because going out on your own means leaving your comfort zone and the things you’ve become accustomed to. If you’re looking to become your own boss, here are some things you need to know.

Are You Ready to Become Part of the Gig Economy?

There are many ways to go out on your own/start your own business. This article will not give you the steps necessary to make your business operation legal in your area. We’re here purely to point out the reality of working for yourself. It’s not easy, but highly rewarding.

You Need to Want This Life

Business ownership or going out on your own means you are in command (at least initially) of everything. You will have to motivate yourself to do sales, marketing, tech, and every other aspect of your business until you can bring others on. There’s no one to check in with (other than possibly investors) and no one who will tell you next steps or give you assignments. You are in command, so you better be sure you want to be in the driver’s seat. That type of leadership is not for everyone.

You Will Question Your Motivation

To do your own thing, you need to be self-motivated but even the most self-motivated person will occasionally wonder if that’s enough. Just as a world-class athlete pushes through the pain in training, you will need to push through the self-doubt that will creep up. And it will.

Unless You Have Entrepreneur Friends, Your Friends Won’t Understand

Starting your own business is a 24/7 job, at least in the beginning. Most of your friends and family won’t understand unless they are entrepreneurs or independents themselves. They may make jokes about you being unemployed or having time to go to the pool in the middle of the day. Your friends and family may ask you to run their errands or have lunch. It’s likely they won’t see your efforts as the hard work that it is. They may even send you job listings so you can return to working for someone else. You will be tempted to give in because these are the people closest to you. Keep going.

Conquer the Excuses

Why haven’t you gone out on your own yet? What are your excuses? You don’t have time to dedicate to starting your own venture? You need the steady money from your employer? Whatever your excuse, you must want an entrepreneurial life more than you allow your excuse to rule you. We all have the same 24 hours a day. That is not an excuse. The internet is full of motivational stories about waking up at 5 so the entrepreneur could work before the family woke up. As the saying goes, “If you want it, you’ll find a way. Otherwise, you’ll find an excuse.”

Seek Like-minded People

As mentioned, it’s likely your friends and family won’t understand. You need a supportive group that understands the pressures of business ownership and the demands involved with just starting out. Joining the chamber is a great way to get the support you need to be successful. They may also have educational opportunities that are free to members. Ask your chamber about entrepreneur or single employer memberships. They may have a discounted rate.

You will want to give up, possibly several times a day. But you will never find a more rewarding experience than working for yourself…if you can overcome your own hesitancies.

The scene is a common one these days. Lines of people waiting to pay in a restaurant, retail establishment, or grocery store. Tempers flare. Customers yell at staff and wonder why there’s only one person checking people out. Your staff thinks, “Who needs this?” and they’re not wrong. They feel overworked and underappreciated. Customers are demanding and loud. Customers vow not to return. It makes for a bad situation for everyone.

So what can you do to ensure it doesn’t happen in your business?

Dealing with angry people during a staffing shortage is not easy, especially since one problem creates the other. People are angry because they have to wait. People have to wait because you are short staffed. No one wants to work in an environment filled with angry people.

Here are some things you can do to diffuse the situation.

Put People Where They’re Needed

As a manager or owner, when you are short-staffed you will always be assessing what needs to be done and who is around to do it. Make sure you have people in the most critical customer-facing spots and pull them from other areas as needed, even if only for a few minutes.

Ensure your employees feel empowered to help one another with overflow. If they are on rack duty, for instance, in your retail establishment make sure they know you appreciate them helping out at the cash register when a line forms. This means you will need to take the time to cross-train everyone and make sure they are comfortable working in all areas of the store/business where appropriate.

Stress That Everyone’s a Manager

Often when people are disgruntled, they will demand to see a manager. While there are some decisions that only a manager can make, help your employees feel confident enough to take the reins in these situations and insist that they are decision makers. They can reiterate that the manager issued the protocols they are following.

When they call you every time a manager is needed, the customer quickly learns the person they are dealing with is a low person on the staff chart and no longer feels the need to listen to them. You are also rewarding bad behavior done against your staff.

Achieving this level of confidence in your employees means you have trained them to make decisions and they know what freedoms they have to assist your customers. Help them understand what rules may be broken or stretched and which ones are absolutes.

Explain the Situation

While you never want to apologize for something that hasn’t happened yet, it is a good idea to remind everyone that you are doing your best. In fact, you may even want to add a “be kind message” to your help wanted posters. Explain that if they want things to be processed quicker, you would love additional help. Using a little humor can go a long way to diffuse difficult situations.

Play Good Music

If you have the right staff and it fits your business, try playing some good tunes; the type of music that gets people moving. Encourage your staff to sing or invite others to burst out into song or dance. This may sound goofy but it’s hard to be in a bad mood when the song “Walking on Sunshine” comes on the radio.

Speaking of sounds…

Soothe Them with Voice

The human voice can affect mood. A whiny voice can put customers on edge while a loud voice can make them feel more combative. With a confident, soothing voice you can make people feel understood and less prone to anger.

This hiring crisis is a challenging time for managers, staff, and owners. Just when everyone wants to get out and enjoy life again, their favorite businesses are struggling to hire. Some have had to shut down because they don’t have enough employees to operate. These tips will help you calm tempers until things can return to normal employment.

While we are quickly heading toward the heat of summer, there’s still time to do some spring cleaning with your data. A nice clean email list can help you make the most of your ecommerce and increase summer sales.

Let’s get started.

Ways to Spruce Up Your Digital Marketing for Increased Sales

Customer data is great but only if you know what to do with it. Many businesses moved to online sales with COVID and, in turn, received a lot of good data from customers. But it’s time to get in there, do some spring cleaning of your database, and a few other things to position you for a hot summer sales season.

Segment

Did you get every name on your list the same way? Or did they get added through a variety of sources including ads, referrals, point of sale signups, and other ways? Likely, it’s the latter.

If you acquired your list members in various ways, take a moment to look into what each way tells you about them. Did they come to you after an e-commerce transaction or sign-up as part of a contest? How you got them is as important as how they continue to interact with you.

Look for ways to give them more of what they want in a personalized way by understanding what brought them to you in the first place.

Remove Non-Deliverables

You know the bounce backs you get every time you send? Look at the list and check for any obvious problems. Sometimes people hit the wrong key and you end up with .cmo instead of .com. Many bounce backs are due to key errors and are easy to recognize. Fix them. If it’s not obvious why they aren’t going through, get rid of them. You don’t want to pay for contacts that aren’t valid.

Get Rid of Dupes

Sometimes people get on lists from multiple ways, or they use different email addresses without realizing it. Take a quick scan for duplicate names. Do they share any of the same info? Could they be the same person? If so, do them a favor and merge the contacts. No one enjoys receiving two emails from you on each send, no matter how riveting the emails are.

Add Some Summer Spice

Depending on your business, you may see more visitors in the summer than during other parts of the year, on e-commerce or in-person. Since we’re talking about digital marketing here, look for ways you can add some summer spice to your website content, your newsletter, your landing page, and your email messaging. People are ready for fun times. They want school to be over and—unlike last summer—be able to do something. Play to that interest when creating or tweaking your content.

There’s an excitement in the air that has not been there for a while. Use this renewed energy to take a second look at your digital marketing. Make some quick tweaks and get ready for summer and increased sales.

Writing is difficult for a lot of people. You may worry about your mastery of grammar or vocabulary. Maybe you just don’t think you have anything interesting to say. But if you have something to sell, you need to learn the basics of good copy, at least until you can pay someone to do it for you.

These basic tips can (and should) be used when writing your web copy, social media posts, newsletter, emails, or anything you’re using words to grab attention. Keep in mind that whatever you are writing you should always aim to be at least one of the following:

• Interesting
• Entertaining
• Educational/informative

Copywriting Tips for Beginners

1.     Get Human: share what’s going on in your life

You are interesting and someone out there can identify with you and what you’re doing. Even if it’s just that you burned toast this morning, there’s someone who is nodding their head as they read your post. These types of human connections make people want to read more and get to know you which leads to potential sales.

2.     Tie Your Product/service into Your Narrative

As you are “getting human” and sharing your stories, think about what types of skills or qualities go into making a good <insert your type of business here>. For instance, I follow a writer on social media. I didn’t follow her because I read her books and loved them. I followed her because her daily life stories are so funny and mirror mine that I wanted them to show up in my stream. She never even mentions her books. But because she entertains me, I am going to buy her books because I can tell from her posts that she’s very skilled at what she does.

Look for ways you can exhibit the skills people would associate with the type of business you’re in and tell stories around those things. Don’t tell people you are those things. Show people you are.

3.     Ask Questions

The easiest thing you can do to get people talking is to ask them about their own experiences. It makes them feel valued and it may help connect your audience to one another as well as to you.

Use Assumptive Agreements and “Are You with Me’s”

I know, right?

This is an example of a popular assumptive agreement. So is “Nobody wants that, right?” It invites people to agree with you and leaves little room to do otherwise. These types of phrases are also good ways to break up paragraphs, create white space to make pages scannable, and keep your reader with you.

4.     Good Visuals

Good visuals aren’t words, but they draw people to read your words. In those cases, pretty pictures are nice but interesting is better. An interesting image forces people to read the text around it because they are trying to figure it out. A pretty image can stand alone; no further explanation is needed.

5.     Notice What You Like Online

If you are in your own target demographic, pay attention to all the “junk” marketing you get and all the social media business posts you see. What do you like and what doesn’t work? Make a note of these things and use them to shape your own posts. The other day, just before lunch Chick-fil-a sent me a notification asking me if I wanted some of their golden nuggets. I thought about it for several hours. Guess where my kids ate last night?

6.     Spend Time on the Headings and Titles

These lines are valuable. Titles will convince people to read. Headings break up text and are excellent places for keywords. Creating these is not a timed race. Since there are very few characters (you want to keep them short and punchy, for the most part), you want every word to serve a purpose. Headings and titles should:

• Tell the reader what the writing is about
• Use powerful words that are in keeping with your business’ personality (don’t use “awesome” if you’re a conservative investment firm, for instance)
• Use keywords
• Spur interest

Write your title. Then ask yourself, “so what?” or “and.” Revise to add the “so what” and ask it again. Eventually, there will be nothing left to ask. At that point cut any extra words, switch out boring words or add some exciting ones, and you have your title.

For example:

5 ways to make people like you

-So what/when?

5 ways to make people like you during the hiring process

-So what/why should the reader care?

5 ways to make people like you so you get the job

-And?

5 ways to “win the work” at your next job interview

Writing does take time but if you think about your audience, their needs, struggles, and interests and how your own might mirror those, you will always have content topics and intriguing angles.

Your email content can be the best ever but if people don’t open your emails, the emails might as well be blank.

Two things make recipients click: who it’s from and how appealing the subject line is. In that order. That’s one reason it is advised that businesses send their emails from a person (or at least an email that resembles one), not “no-reply@biz.

But how do you make your subject lines more irresistible? How do you inspire clicks and drive them to open your emails? Try these types of emails.

Think of your own inbox and how many emails you receive during the day. Most of us are on fast delete or swipe when we’re clearing out emails. You need to grab the recipient’s attention quickly. Here’s how:

Solve a Problem

What does your product or service help people do? Or what is this email designed to do for them? What value do they get from opening and reading it? Be specific and brief.

Example: Get more sleep with Comfy Blanket or

Say good-bye to restless nights with this easy solution

Or solve a problem they haven’t considered yet.

Example: Get mom’s gift yet? Mother’s Day is next Sunday.

Add the Color

While simple vocabulary is important in a subject line, that doesn’t mean you give up painting a tantalizing picture. Use imagery and appeal to their senses. Don’t hesitate throwing in an emoji or two (unless your subject or business is incredibly serious).

Example: Warm cinnamon apple pie is calling 🥧

Invite Curiosity

We’re naturally curious and when you factor in the FOMO (fear of missing out), it can be a powerful motivator of clicks. If you’ve had a recent event or launch, you can use that to your advantage.

Example: Be the first to see our new spring line

See what our opening day participants did

Explain the Send

If your audience is similar to most people, they often sign up for things and forget them. In their defense, a lot of businesses sell contact info and then the new businesses claim you signed up for the list. While that may be true, the list you signed up for initially was not their list.

To differentiate yourself from these businesses, be specific when the information was (actually) requested by the recipient.

Example: Your requested newsletter from <business> or

The <download> you requested from <business>

Detail Benefits

People want to know why they should click. Tell them. If there’s a deadline, communicate that too.

Example: Today’s top deals under $100 or

Unlock access to free delivery or

How to get a FREE <product or service>

Give Them Something They Dream About

Everyone wants something but they may not feel like they can or should. They may view your product or service as a splurge or something they need to put off. Give them a reason to feel otherwise.

Example: Treat yourself to a luscious cake or

Reward your hard work with a new look

Cover the COVID grays with our newest treatment

Finally, keep subject lines under 41 characters (not words) as often as possible and consider how they will look on a phone. Figure out what words will be cut off. Sometimes the cut can make your message more evocative and interesting. Other times, it can look sordid or mean something you didn’t intend. Keep the message short and get right to the benefit. After all, that’s what people are most interested in.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, engagement is critical to your business. Now more than ever. It’s so important that I wish I could create a new name for it so people would pay more attention. Being told you need to engage your audience is not new, but the pandemic has created a bunch of new reasons why it’s incredibly important, especially with employees. If you don’t have the time, you need to make it or hire someone who does.

Engagement Is Important Because…

Your Employees Are Hanging on by a Thread

A few things are going on in the employment sector these days. In most areas, there are more open positions than people looking. That means successful employers of choice are paying solid wages and not making their employees feel like a number.

You might be surprised that many employees working remotely (68%) are admitting they are interested in freelance work on the side. This can be a gateway to them starting their own business or going out on their own in some capacity. Unless they are completely enamored by your company (engagement can accomplish this), it’s only a matter of time before they build up savings, clientele, or secure healthcare to take the leap.

For employees who are not remote, the number of available jobs in most industries could be causing disengaged employees to consider other options. A certain amount of attrition is not always a bad thing but when it starts affecting your top performers, your business will feel it.

If you engage them now and help them feel like they are bringing something meaningful to your business, they will be less likely to leave. And…

They’ll Talk About You

Whether it’s your employees or your customers, you want them to talk about you (in a good way) and refer others to you. Engaged groups do that. People who see you as simply meeting their expectations (or writing a check to them every two weeks) won’t.

They Could Become Your Next Competitor

Another thing COVID did was invite people to reevaluate their jobs and lifestyles. This has caused some to think about starting their own business. In fact, 63% of employees think they could quit and start their own. So, it could be only a matter of time before the proper alignment of the stars occurs and they become your newest competition.

Take Action Today

It doesn’t do you any good to hear how important engagement is without getting some tips on how you can start engaging. Ideally, you will commit to employee engagement at your business and doing so will affect every decision made. However, there’s no time like the present. While you’re working on the larger commitment to employee engagement, here are a few easy ways to start engaging them immediately:

• Ask your employees’ opinions or views on things concerning your business. Getting feedback from them can be invaluable.
• Give constructive criticism on the job they are doing. Don’t wait for an annual review.
• Review salaries to ensure they are keeping up with the recent rise in cost of living. A surprise increase can make people feel really good and valued.
• Tell them you value them for their specific achievements. Giving details on what they do well will drive them to do more of it.
• Compliment them in front of others. Correct them alone/individually.
• Find out where they want to be in the future and help them chart a path for that.
• Encourage growth and learning. Reward them for pursuing those things.
• Encourage sharing ideas for innovation, market expansion, and cost-savings. Reward employees for the ideas that you use.
• Look for ways to surprise and delight them just like you would your customers.
• Find out what work obstacles they face and remove them.
• Encourage employees to share stories and comment on social media.
• Help them understand your mission and why your company does what it does. Why is the mission important and what does it mean to people who do business with you?
• Ask your customer-facing employees to share stories of success with the rest of the business.

Employee engagement is about helping employees feel they are a valued part of something larger, seeing themselves aligned with your operation, and feeling like they contribute to the success or failure of a project or the company as a whole. You want to cultivate a culture of caring, one in that employees care about customer outcomes and they feel like you care about them.

Some businesses are saying we are in the midst of a secondary pandemic. But it’s not the kind that requires masks and handwashing. No, this one is harder to control.

There is a shortage of people willing (or able) to work for a multitude of reasons. Employers across the country are posting signs asking for patience with their existing employees because the business is understaffed. In fact, there are hiring managers who are scheduling interviews only to have no one show up! You can’t hire people who don’t even come to an interview.

So what’s a business to do?

Some people blame the business. They believe that the average person wants to work but can’t afford to because of minimal wages and expensive childcare. But the numbers don’t entirely speak to that. 30% of US households are “married without children” in 2020. Single-person households are 23% of the population. So for over half, children aren’t a concern.

So, what can you do to combat the 3 common hiring problems these days? Here are some ideas.

Employment Hiring Challenges Post-COVID

If you brush wages aside as the main reason people don’t show up for interviews or first days for that matter, what are you left with?

Working from Home

It’s the elephant in the room. Why would a worker want to work behind a counter when they can sit at home and work (or sit by the pool or in a coffee shop, etc.). An unparalleled number of businesses created work from home scenarios, and many will stick to those protocols long after COVID. Work at home is no longer a perk. It’s an expectation and it’s hard to compete with that.

Solution: If your business is entirely in-person, it’s not like you’ll never be able to hire again. But it may take some creativity to appeal to workers. Things you might be able to do include flexible shifts (such as working around a child’s schedule) or floating start times within a window of time. The clue here is to get creative with the allowances you can make.

Ghosting Is the Norm

Ghosting has become the norm in relationships. Don’t want to deal with a difficult situation, ignore it and disappear. We’re starting to see this trickle down into our workforce. It’s acceptable to just not show for an interview, first day, drug screen, etc.

Solution: This is difficult to do when you’ve only had minutes of interaction with a candidate. However, people are more likely to ghost when they don’t feel a connection or don’t think of the employer as a person but rather a large corporate structure as in the “they won’t even notice I’m not there” scenario.

In order to avoid being ghosted, you have to do your best to connect with them in the short time you have. Share details about your life. Maybe you’re interviewing them on a special day and “fitting” them in or “clearing” your schedule. Do it respectfully and don’t force the guilt but try and make an impression. You may still get ghosted, but it will be less likely if they see you as a person with needs and feelings.

Reevaluating the Same Old, Same Old

With our forced downtime this past year, we were exposed to a LOT of marketing messaging and frankly many people are just burned out. They may find it hard to believe the claims of some companies.

Another thing people may have done is reevaluating things in their lives that just aren’t working. Some people may have decided that life is too short to work at an unfulfilling job. Others may have seen this pandemic as a kick in the pants from the universe to start their own job. Maybe they saw how being a loyal employee can still result in a lay-off or furlough. Whatever the cause of their employment ennui, people have changed, and you’ll need to too.

Solution: find out what your existing employees want by conducting an employee satisfaction survey (and what makes them stay with you). Use that in your recruitment efforts. Ask employees for referrals and reward with bonuses. Reward them for their loyalty and they’ll talk about how great you are to their friends.

Employers are facing an unparalleled time right now, finding it very difficult to recruit good people. For many businesses, it’s difficult to get interest let alone keep someone after their first day. In order to be competitive in the job market, you need to stand out. These tips should help you do that. But you’ll need to go beyond them to think of some creative experiences for new employees. While you’re at it throw a few in for your customers. You never know. A loyal customer may just want to become part of your team.

Are you ready to return to normal yet?

If “normal” means life without COVID, we’re not that far away from herd immunity. But if your definition of normal is getting back to how things used to be before the pandemic, I’m afraid that likely isn’t happening. The state of work has changed. Here’s what you need to know to prepare for life on the other side of the pandemic.

Things Have Changed. Your Business Will Need to Adapt.

If you’ve ever raised a child or owned a pet, you understand that it is very hard to allow for an exception to a rule. Try telling your dog, for instance, that they can only sit on your furniture at night. Or tell a child under 5 they can skip a nap only on vacation. Rule and exceptions to the rules are difficult to enforce when they apply sometimes.

The same will be true of the changes we’ve made to the workforce. Prior to COVID, many businesses didn’t want to allow employees to work from home. When the pandemic hit our doorsteps, employers were forced to reevaluate that policy. They had to make it work. All of their reasons why it would not work were tossed in order to keep the proverbial doors open.

Post pandemic, it will be difficult to return to things the way they were. It will be the same level of difficulty one might experience trying to shove all the vacation clothes back into a suitcase at the end of vacation. Things never quite fit back in the way they did when you got there.

So how will things change and what should we prepare for?

4 Ways the State of Work Has Changed

The following things have changed, and it is likely they will impact work going forward.

1. Work at home worked. People found a way to work from home amid the many distractions. They did what had to be done even when it was difficult. Employers found ways to measure productivity and hopefully dealt with situations that weren’t working.
2. Productivity measures changed. Prior to the pandemic, there were many businesses that still held onto the “butts in seats” notion of productivity. People were doing their jobs as long as they were sitting in the office, even if that meant killing an extraordinary amount of time cyber shopping and surfing the internet. With COVID, employers had to look at “real” productivity. Was the job getting done? The hours mattered less because we were all juggling distractions and responsibilities from illness to childcare to home schooling. Employers were now looking at “were the business needs getting met” as an indicator of the job being performed.
3. Have office will travel. Prior to COVID, the business world embraced open-office culture. Some businesses even removed desk assignments from the equation and allowed employees to work anywhere (in the office) that they felt their creative best. With the pandemic, employers are having to face that people can work anywhere and have enjoyed carving out their own creative space in their homes or in the places they’ve been allowed to frequent. Twitter and Hitachi have already announced that they will commit to more flexible working arrangements indefinitely.
4. Real estate is overrated. With employees working from a non-corporate location, many employers have come to question if they need a brick-and-mortar business or if they need one big enough to house every employee. They are starting to question whether smaller buildings (or none at all) can be more cost effective. At one time, a large show of opulent office space was an indicator of success. With COVID and its effects on impressions, this is no longer the case, particularly if most of the building is empty.

We may soon hit herd immunity. And with that, there will likely be more allowances. However, the changes businesses have made during the pandemic will have ripple effects on the state of work far into the future. And just like that toddler skipping naps “only on vacation” it’s likely we will never return to how things once were.

Hope seems to be a big word these days. It’s taken the place of pivot. People are hopeful about recovery. People are hopeful about things returning to normal in the foreseeable future. And people are hopeful they can soon travel and visit loved ones they haven’t seen for a while.

If recovery is right around the corner, now is the ideal time to revisit your marketing strategy and plan. Making critical changes now can bring you into alignment to make the most of recovery. Plus, it’s possible the needs and desires of your target audience have changed.

Asking yourself the following questions about your business and marketing can help ensure that you have the data and information you need to make the most of the looming recovery.

1. Who is your ideal customer? Has it changed with COVID?
2. What is your marketing goal in 2021? What are your objectives/tactics for getting there? How will you measure success or how will you know when you’ve reached that goal?
3. What is your brand tone? Try this exercise: “We are ____ but not ____.” For example, we are informative but not boring.
4. What is your reputation in your industry and your community? What do people think of when they think of your brand/product/service?
5. Where is your target audience on social media (Facebook, Insta, etc.)? Are they still easily reached where you thought they were?
6. Are people still reading your blog?
7. What customer problem do you solve?
8. Do you sell through fear, inspiration, or solving a problem? Does that course of action still work for you?
9. What is the open rate on your newsletter? Has that changed with the pandemic?
10. Are you using a tracker that shows you where people are clicking on your website and/or newsletter? If yes, where are they clicking and where aren’t they clicking? What does that tell you about their needs?
11. Do you have an email list?
12. What data are you currently tracking and what are you doing with it?
13. What kind of content do your customers like best/have the most interaction with?
14. How many active followers do you have on each social media platform you participate on? How has that changed with COVID?
15. Do your customers enjoy a type of content you are not providing such as podcasts or videos?
16. What story are you telling?
17. How much does your average customer cost?
18. What are your customer retention strategies and how are you implementing them?
19. How has your product or service evolved over the past year? How has your marketing message changed? Does it need to?
20. What’s your call to action and does it fit where it is used? For instance, you don’t invite someone to buy when they’re just getting to know you on the About Us page of your website. Speaking of…
21. What are you doing to help people get to know, like, and trust you?
22. What part of your business is off-putting or scary for first-time buyers? What can you do to make it less so? For instance, gyms may be intimidating for the out-of-shape first timers. How can you reach them and be more inviting? A get-fit challenge is a solution to that because participants would know they’d be with other newbies.
23. Do you have a defined success metric for every campaign you implement?
24. In what area(s) is your competition falling short? In what areas are they strongest? How do you compare?
25. How many referrals (and/or reviews) are you getting? What vehicle/strategy are you using to get more?

These questions are easily answered but implementing the answers/solutions takes more planning. It’s a lot of work now but once you put it in, you’ll be glad you did.

Businesses join the chamber of commerce for several reasons. Years ago, it may have been expected; just something you did when you opened a business and wanted to be in good standing in the community.

But today it’s more likely a business joins because there is a direct advantage to them personally. Maybe they wanted a ribbon cutting or need the advocacy or wanted a marketing opportunity that membership allowed them.

Yes, there are many reasons to join the chamber and tons of benefits your business can receive from membership. But aside from simply writing a check and receiving a set of benefits, there are reasons why you should become personally involved with the local chamber of commerce.

Plus, the chamber extends its benefits to all of your employees so you can use chamber membership benefits as employee benefits. Share this with them as well.

Let’s place the advocacy, marketing, advertising, and public relations benefits of chamber membership on the back burner. This article is about what the chamber can do for you and your employees specifically, not the business. Yes, the chamber can bring more attention to your business, which can create more sales opportunities, but these benefits and this personal involvement are things that can help you outside of the business.

Education Opportunities

The chamber has a number of education opportunities where you and your employees can learn about important matters for free (or at a very low cost). Chamber webinar topics may include things like diversity, how to excel in social media, and economic interests in your area. They can help you become a more well-rounded professional, change careers, or get up-to-date on important topics in the community.

Leadership Experience

The chamber offers a lot of opportunities to volunteer for different committees or events. You may find a volunteer position in a subject that interests you like women leaders, diversity, workforce development, or marketing. Not only can these volunteer positions be added to your resume, but volunteering could also help you meet people with similar interests and help you grow your professional network. Speaking of…

Networking

Getting involved with the chamber can help you meet more people and grow your professional network and make friendships. Even in communities where social gatherings are still mostly virtual, chambers have networking sessions to help you stay connected.

Business Expansion and Hidden Opportunities

As you grow your network, you may learn of additional business possibilities that you could add to your business or you could use to launch a new one. You may learn of seed money, grants, SBA funding, or private opportunities.

Often business deals get made before anything is formally published or requested. Being personally involved in the chamber may help you be a part of those types of discussions and make you aware of opportunities before they become public.

The same may be true of the hidden job market. A contact may tell you they’re looking for someone before posting it on a job site, giving you the advantage.

Chamber benefits for your business are amazing. They can really help you increase your number of customers and get your name out there. But those aren’t the only benefits. If you get involved individually, there are many benefits to your professional growth and career. Plus, those benefits can be given to all of your employees too. That can be a real selling point for someone looking for a great company culture.

We only have so many hours in the day so the last thing you want to do is spend time doing things that aren’t worth the time. Being labeled as “not worth the time” doesn’t mean they are annoying to do. In fact, some of the things you’re doing in your business may be very enjoyable but aren’t worth the effort in that you don’t get the return out of the time you’re investing.

Every hour of your business day is valuable.

You want what you do to move you closer to your goals. But some things we do in the name of our business don’t have the same benefits of other things we could be doing with our time. As a businessperson you should always be performing a cost/benefit analysis.

The things in this list are items that are generally not worth your time, but you’ll need to do the analysis yourself before deciding whether you will continue to do these activities as part of your workday or sunset them for a more productive use of your time.

Spending Copious Amounts of Time on the Coolest “New” Social Media

Whether a social media site is worth spending time and interacting on depends largely on your audience. If your ideal customer is there and you can engage them, it’s worth it. If they’re not, it’s not.

There’s no reason to get on a social network so you can be an early adopter and wait for your ideal customer to get on the site. The only way this makes sense is when your audience looks to you to tell them what the next “cool” or techy thing is.

Spending Money on Free Things

Thanks to our giveaway economy, there are a lot of free options out there for things you use in your business every day. If you’re just starting out, there are items you absolutely should pay for. And then there are items (especially software) where a freemium item could work for you…at least until your needs grow. Using Google docs instead of Word is an example. This may seem like a small expense but every dollar you save on something you can get for free can go toward the items where your monetary investment is very important.

Staying up Late

Have you ever stayed up hours past your bedtime to finish a project? Sometimes it’s just what you have to do. However, sleep deprivation comes with a high price. You’ll likely sacrifice tomorrow’s productivity to meet your deadline today. It’s much better to chip away at the project bit by bit than it is to put it off until right before it is due and then work most of the night on it.

True, most adults don’t plan on this type of course of action. And it might feel like you have no choice but to do it at the last minute. However, unless this project was completely unexpected, each time you agree to do one thing over the other, you’re making a choice based on importance to you.

If you analyze both requirements on your time and you make a decision that one is more important than the other, and then defer the project until it becomes an urgent need, and a sleepless night, so be it. But don’t let someone else dictate that for you.

Set clear expectations. A customer who wants a timely answer doesn’t know what else you’re working on. Do your best to balance their needs and the needs of your business by letting them know when you will have an update for them. Then check back in even if you don’t have a resolution.

If you have a boss, or are otherwise not in charge of scheduling your own workload, and they give you an ASAP project clarify that it bumps everything else. Be clear about what projects are in jeopardy by doing that.

Being upfront about the demands on your time will help set expectations and minimize sleepless nights. If you fail to do this, you will be exhausted and turning in subpar work. No one wants to sacrifice sleep to make a deadline, only to turn something in that will need to be redone later. This doesn’t benefit anyone.

When it comes to your business, you need to make the most of your day. Avoiding these activities—and others that don’t provide good return on your time investment—is a solid business approach. Look for things that impact your productivity and weed them out of your schedule. 

 Many of us have spent this year concerned over the health of our businesses or those in the community. Ultimately, a healthy business has a good balance sheet. It has more coming in than it does going out. But that is not the only indicator of business health.

In today’s world, where a quick decision from a politician can radically affect your business overnight, it’s important to know the early indicators of business peril. This of these things as your business’ “canary in the coal mine.”

Signs Your Business Is Healthy (before you see it on the books)

Before you see any issues in the balance sheet, you can spot a healthy business in these areas:

1. Referrals. While it’s never easy to get people to refer you even when they love you, a healthy business harnesses the power of the referral and makes it easy for happy customers to bring in more happy customers.
2. Reviews. Just like referrals, reviews are the signature of a healthy, well-loved business. But they don’t happen automatically. A healthy business asks for them, makes it easy to give them, and repurposes them in their marketing collateral.
3. Promotes from within and trains accordingly. A healthy business promotes from within with clear pathways to additional challenges even when the business is small enough not to have additional levels to climb. It recognizes employees who are committed to the business, doing a great job, and those that require additional challenges or training.
4. Looks for needs. If your business moves in another direction, opens a new market, or branches out, you may not be able to promote from within. A healthy business is clear about what each employee’s strengths are and what they may need to obtain from outside whether that be from an additional hire, vendor, or partner.
5. Builds loyalty outside of sales. Loyalty is not owned by the sales department. Loyalty is built by customer service and marketing. A healthy company looks for ways to keep customers engaged and feeling like they are part of the brand. It creates enjoyable experiences for customers at each touchpoint whether they are calling to complain, buy, or simply spend time on social media.
6. Remains agile. This one is certainly a lesson learned in 2020. A healthy business must be ready to align its offerings and services with those of their loyal customers and the larger market. Small businesses may not have had a lot of operating capital when the pandemic hit but they did retain the ability to move quickly and that helped a lot of them stay in the black.

Is your business healthy outside of the balance sheet? Go through this list and ask yourself how many of these qualities your business meets. If you’re missing a few, you may want to see how quickly you can add them. After all, they are a good indicator of business health long before you begin to see signs of trouble in the balance sheets or books. 

Do you want to appeal to a younger demographic? Want to get people talking about you? Maybe you want to attract an ultra-cool influencer or celebrity customer? If you do, rebranding and becoming a “fun” company may be just the way to get more attention.

Why are we suggesting “fun”? With Gen Y being the largest generation in the U.S. in 2019, with an estimated population of 72.1 million, they have strong purchasing power. They also enjoy experiences and tend to tell others about products and businesses they like.

If you want more customers, becoming a “fun” business with an identifiable tone and brand, can help you build a loyal audience that enjoys talking about you.

How to Become More “Fun” in Your Business

1. Clearly communicate business goals and desired content tone to your employees. Then give them a little leeway to post, share, like, and comment on social media. Point out examples of posts and comments you love so they know what voice you want for your business.
2. Host contests on social media.
3. Share posts and images that aren’t all business. In fact, your goal should be getting to know your audience not bragging about yourself.
4. Rewrite your web copy in your new company voice.
5. Invite people to post on your page.
6. Create a Facebook group around your product or service. Make it a fun escape not a group to brag about yourself.
7. Do more video. Help customers get to know people at your business.
8. Showcase fun things about your most loyal customers.
9. Encourage people to share creative uses for your product.
10. Host a challenge or other form of experiential marketing.
11. Create spotlights of your employees featuring “fun” facts very few people know about them.
12. Invite people to decorate their desks in a manner that reflects their personalities or (while we’re all at home) ask your employees to record a quick video walkthrough of their at-home workspace.
13. Start a club at work for people who like the same hobby or form of exercise.
14. Record some of your online staff meeting, like the beginning icebreaker and add the video to your website.
15. Share your favorite things on social media or on a blog post; create fun posts like “10 Things I Can’t Live Without.”
16. Record a song parody that fits your job or industry.
17. Make a JibJab video and share it in your company newsletter.
18. Create a bloopers reel of flubs on video.
19. Create a video about funny things that only people in your industry or state could understand.
20. Ask employees to record a video of a little known/weird skill they have. Show them doing it.
21. Celebrate all those zany “National” holidays like “Talk Like a Pirate” Day. Make videos of how your company is celebrating.
22. Bring a really old item into your business and record your employees guessing what it is.
23. Allow employees to bring their pets to work.
24. Celebrate small wins and big wins. Post your video celebrations so others can partake in your joy.
25. Rename your job titles to speak to the end goals like “engagement officer” for your social media person.

Culture can make a big difference in getting referrals, more engagement, new hires, more customers, and creating a loyal employee base. Some of these ideas may seem a little too much for your business. But know that whatever you decide is right for your business and industry, the point behind this exercise is to let your customers and potential customers get to know you better. After all, customers buy from those they know, like, and trust.

Your current clients/customers are likely an untapped resource of additional revenue. After all, it is much easier to sell to someone who already likes you than it is to win over a new person. But there’s a lot of competition out there. There’s a saying in the restaurant industry that a diner who described their meal as “satisfactory” will never be back again. In order to get return customers, upsells, and referrals you must do better than just meeting expectations. You must exceed them. Thankfully, as they say, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little extra. In this article, we’ll give you seven quick ideas on how to create those extra opportunities that will translate into greater upsell and referral opportunities. When someone is “wowed”they will buy more and talk about you (exactly what you need for referrals).

How to Go from Ordinary to Extraordinary for More Upsells and Referrals

1. Offer samples without people requesting them. When someone is looking at something in your business, offer them samples. Don’t even ask. One restaurant brings individual samples of gelato to the table at the end of the meal. Even if the diners don’t buy any, they leave with a (literal) pleasant taste in their mouth which could yield a return visit or referrals.

2. Send/give swag. If you mail your products or bag them, consider adding something unexpected in the package. Pure Vida sends branded stickers. Some companies stick in a postcard. The surprise needn’t be expensive. The point is it’s unexpected and that is delightful.

3. Invite engagement. Make sure every purchase is accompanied with a request to engage on social media but don’t make it about you. Most people are excited when they make a purchase, and they want to show it off. Invite them to share a picture of themselves using the product or service. Give them a hashtag and perhaps some incentive to share such as a contest entry or a future discount. If you have a well-known brand sometimes simply retweeting them and being on your radar is enough.

4. Send “just because” discounts. Some companies send birthday offers but not everyone feels comfortable giving you their birthdate these days. Instead, send “just because specials” periodically and thank them for being a fantastic customer. If they haven’t purchased recently, tell them you miss them and give them reason to return.

5. Drop expiration dates. If you use coupons, don’t turn someone away because their coupon is past the expiration date. Make it well known that you will accept coupons whenever the customer is ready to use them.

6. Put everyone to work. It may not scale to have your CEO or owner answer customer support questions all day. However, giving leadership the opportunity to field the occasional question or post a response on social media or to a review can make someone’s day and get them talking about you. The customer will be in shock that leadership responded. And it will make them (and everyone who reads the interaction) think that leadership is reading every review or comment.

7. Follow and respond on social media. Don’t simply post what’s going on in your world. Learn what’s going on in your customer’s as well. Set Google alerts for mentions of your business, what you sell, and your area. Listen to conversations going on around you and join them when it makes sense and when you can add value. Also, don’t hide behind the brand. When you are posting, use your name even if you’re responding from your brand’s account. People are more likely to interact with a person than a company name.

If you want to cut through the noise and get more upsells and referrals, you want to make people feel special and valued. Think about experiences you’ve had as a customer. How can you replicate those in your business?

When I was in marketing for a tech company in the beginning days of content marketing, links were gold. Every time someone linked to our content my boss got excited. While I loved the free publicity and SEO awesomeness we acquired from links, I hated the act of actively pursuing them. It felt like we were begging people to like us and—let’s face it—we were.

But while a lot of things have changed since that time, the importance of links is still relevant. Search engines use links from other sources to your website as an indicator of quality content. While it’s not the only indicator, it is an important one.

Your business website needs links to show the search engines you’re loved by others. But not all links are of the same worth. Here’s how you can get some great links for very little effort.

Some Links Are Better Than Others

First, let’s talk about how things used to be done and what you can no longer get away with. Back in the early days of link building, there were link farms and sites that offered to link to your content for money. It was lucrative for everyone involved but that practice has ended. Google grew wise to it.

Now it ranks links by the credibility of the website. A site like CNN that linked to your website would bolster the importance of your content in the “minds” of the search engine. However, you don’t need a site like that to get good vibes from the search engines. There are a lot of easier options out there such as the following:

Good Ways to Get Great Links

If you want good quality links back to your content, try these easy solutions.

1. Chamber of Commerce. Your local chamber of commerce probably has excellent credibility from a search engine prospective thus making it the perfect place to get links from. Whether it’s a listing in their directory, a mention on their website, a link to your business as a sponsor, or a guest blog post with attribution, as long as it’s not a “no-follow” link it will help you improve your credibility to Google. Ask your chamber about link options. You might be surprised by the variety of ways they can help.
2. Referable Content. Very few people will link to your content if it stinks. You want to create content that people will find value in. Consider producing a reference guide that people could use when shopping for your product/service or a checklist or calculator that people would want to come back to. If you create something like this, writers creating articles on your topic may refer others to the tool you’ve created or the advice you’ve given. In fact, long form content receives 77% more links than short articles. A couple of good, well-researched long form pieces can be all you need to garner good links. If someone asks you if they can use your content or a quote from it, always ask for an attribution with a link back to it. Also, if you have a keyword alert for your business (and you should have those set up), or you come across someone using your work, ask that they give attribution with a link. Most people will accommodate you. If you read an online article that you believe could benefit from your expertise or a link to your article or resource, don’t hesitate to reach out to the author. But be specific about what your piece could add to theirs.
3. Business Associations. Business associations or industry magazines are always looking for content. If you’ve created something you are proud of, pitch it to your industry magazine. Ask for the link.
4. The City. During COVID, a lot of cities have created business pages to help visitors know what’s open and what’s not. Ask to be included and ask for a link. Make sure it’s not a no-follow link.

These are all easy ways to get credible links. If you want to know more about how Google and other search engines weigh links, click here.

Written by: Christina R. Metcalf 

A few years ago, a trend hit—customizing your offerings to what your customers wanted. It involved surveying every part of their experience and shaping your business based on results. Customer-designed offerings kept a lot of businesses alive during COVID. The idea is a great one, give them what they want, make them feel important, and they’ll return.

This premise was so widely adopted that we all became professional survey takers. Now every moment you spend with a business (online or in-person) is followed by a survey on your experience. From airlines to doctors, they’re all doing it. These requests are exhausting and make people regret giving out their emails.

But it’s important to ensure your business offerings are in-line with what your customers want, right? So how do you ensure this without giving them survey fatigue? Here are a few ideas that will help you get the information you need without annoying them.

Skip the Survey: Learn What Your Customers Want in More Meaningful Ways

1. Exit Drop Box. If you have an in-person business, at the end of the transaction give people red and green poker chips (they can be made out of cardboard) and ask them to drop the color that best fits their experience today in the box by the door. The other one can go in the recycling box. This gives you a quick idea of whether your customer experience for a given day is as good as it should be.
2. Website Pop-up. At the end of an online transaction, give your customer a single question based on something you want to know. Make it a radial button answer for a quick response. Don’t ask a generic question like “did you enjoy the experience?”. Make it something more revealing like “did you find our website easy to navigate?”. Ask different questions each week but stick with one at a time. Add a meaningful thank you message after they answer.
3. Social Media. Post a customer experience or product/service question to social media but invite people to answer in a fun way by using emoticons, for instance to signify their most recent experience doing business with you. Or ask them to use a gif to describe it. It’s not exact science but it can be fun.
4. Interactive menus. Thanks to COVID, a lot of businesses like restaurants aren’t using paper menus. They’re using QR codes to access online menus. If you’re using online menus in your business, make them interactive. Allow people to hover over and see pics of the items and add comments or use emoticons. These “comments” then serve as social proof for future customers.
5. Remember passing notes in middle school asking someone if they liked someone else? You can do the same funny type of question using SMS. Make it creative and fun and people are likely to respond to it. You can use that same middle-school format leveraging you against your competition in an “us or them” rivalry. You may not always get the answer you want but it can be fun for you and your customers.
6. Forget polls and surveys. Those things are just for your own info and other than giving you an idea to change your business for the better, they don’t really do anything for you. Reviews, on the other hand, do. So, the next time you want to put a survey in front of your customers, consider asking them to review you instead.

Surveys are great tools for learning more about customer experience but these days they’re too overdone. No one has time for them and they’re mildly annoying when they clutter up the email inbox. That doesn’t mean you should forgo asking your customers’ opinions. You just need to do that in a fun, less intrusive way