by Amy | Sep 8, 2022 | brand strategy, vocal brand
There are a lot of small businesses out there. In fact, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses make up 99.7% of all businesses in the United States! So how do you make sure that your small business stands out from the rest? By implementing some simple branding tips that most small businesses don’t do but should!
In this blog post, we will discuss 10 Things Most Small Businesses Don’t Do, But Should — both online and offline:
- 360 Degree Virtual Tours Inside of Your Business. This may seem like a strange place to start, but when you put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer, you realize that they may want to see what your place looks like inside — especially if they’ll be spending more than a few minutes inside your business for say, getting their hair done or working out. Doing a virtual tour can help them see what your business looks like and save them and you time before they come in and do business with you. While Google did, at one time, have a feature you could use to provide such a tour on your business listing, this is no longer provided. But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t create your own and host it on your site!
- Selfie Wall. Everyone is out there doing selfies, right? Why not capitalize on the selfie craze and create a selfie wall for your customers to take photos when they come and go from your business location? But don’t stop there!
- Actively Ask for and Reward Reviews. And if you’re smart, combine the review ask with the selfie wall and create an incentive for them to do it often when they do business with you. Have some kind of board up near your selfie wall giving them step by step instructions. 1. Take a selfie, 2. Post it and tag our business on Instagram and 3. Share a review of your experience on Google/Yelp/Facebook Page and get entered for a chance to win a free or discounted product or service! The caveat here is don’t wait for them to remember to do it. Ask them to do it and make it part of their experience with you!
- Host Community Events. This one may need some brainstorming, but it’s really an age-old concept that the pros have used for generations. Plan an event, invite people to the event, provide food and/or beverages and use that time to help your customers 1. get to know you, 2. talk about pain points people are facing 3. offer your solutions to those pain points and 4. have fun!
- Do Instagram & Facebook Stories & Lives. The #1 area most small businesses and big brick and mortar businesses actively avoid — especially if they are a traditional business — is having an active social media presence. But, and I say this ever-so-gently, welcome to 2022 where most of the world is spending hours upon hours of their day on social media platforms! You have to go where your customers ARE, and that is online. Those who shy away from this assignment will not might get left in the dust.
- Educate via a Blog or Vlog While Using Affiliate Links. Again…I know this is asking a lot of you, but if you aren’t blogging about how your business can serve your ideal client and educating them, how do you think they are going to build rapport with you and trust your expertise? And every industry can do this! If you’re a hair stylist, write a short blog post or film a short vlog about some area of styling your hair or the latest trend. If you are a realtor, write a short blog post educating your potential client about new trends in kitchens or mortgage rates. If you are a mechanic, write a short blog post about the top areas you need to have tuned up before winter on your car. And do it WEEKLY! Maybe you say, “But I can’t come up with that much content!” I call B.S. You talk about it. You do it daily in your work. Just tell the general public about it and build rapport. Yes, it takes work. Yes it takes effort. Yes it takes getting home from a long day and doing something other than zoning out with a cold beer in front of Netflix. But is it worth it? Absolutely!
- Use a QR Code. Boy, didn’t QR codes have a come back over the past 2 years? But it also showed us how they can be used effectively and how our businesses need to pivot and utilize them more often! If you are slow to catch the wave of the QR code and how it can benefit your business, let me break it down. Think of the QR code as a special code that leads your customer directly to your subscribe form, your listing, your booking calendar, your product page, your Facebook or Instagram page, where they can leave a review or wherever you want to take them. If you showcase this on your business card, your store front, your packets and anyplace where you want them to take action. This will give them direction and help them not have to work too hard to do business with you — which will, in turn, help them spend more money with you!
- Regular and Meaningful Posting. This is an area where I see people struggle so much, but it’s such an easy problem to remedy. Simply create a content calendar based on your business’s events, upcoming sales, promotions, products, services and take a few hours at the end of every month to create the content for the following month. You can easily schedule engaging posts that will trigger your audience to click the likes, follow you and comment on what you post rather than simply ignoring it because it means nothing to them. Nothing makes me more frustrated than seeing posts from businesses like, “Happy Fall!” or a cat meme. Stay with who you are (your brand voice) and what you know. We want specific content that is aligned with your niche — not the breakfast you had with your wife at a restaurant on Sunday. If you do want to post that kind of content, do it on your personal Facebook profile — not on Instagram or your business page. Pretty please! (trying to be nice…but firm here.)
- Community Engagement. One of the best things you can do for your business is give your customers or potential customers a place to interact with each other while working toward the same goal. In my humble opinion, every business needs an online or offline community where your people can gather together and you can be their guide. This can be a Facebook group, a Mighty Network Community, a forum on your website or a monthly or quarterly in-person event, but it does need to happen to create camaraderie. It places you in a position of expert and allows you to bring all your people together in one place. Example: Professional Photographer hosts a Facebook group where she goes live weekly and talks about the benefits of having your baby photos professionally done. This may also be where she showcases her latest work, provides affiliate links for baby gear sales, baby clothing shops and diaper companies. Do you see where I’m going with this?! Options are ENDLESS!!
- Email and Text Campaigns. One cannot emphasize this enough, but if you haven’t already done so, BUILD. YOUR. LIST. Don’t wait for Facebook to shut down and lose all your contacts. Don’t wait for Instagram to stop showing your posts to your followers. Build your list now and actively communicate with your list on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Talk to them about a new improvement coming up, something you learned this week, a recipe you just wanted to share, a tip you know they need to hear, a sale you’re promoting, a special session you’re about to open up…you get the gist. But do anything but stay silent. Keep them in the loop, let them know you care and they will reward you with coming back again and again.
These are all great tips, but if you really want your small business to stand out, you need to go above and beyond with your branding efforts.
Does all this take work?
You bet it does.
It’s going to require you to rethink and rework your business hours for sure.
But, I believe, like anything good, the hard work will pay off!
If you are struggling to get people in the door, this will bring you more leads.
If you are struggling to keep people coming back, this will create loyal fans.
If you are struggling to know what your ideal customer wants, this will help you find out and give it to them.
One of the benefits about doing this kind of leg work is, you will learn so much that you will want to share your secrets with other businesses who are limping along.
But the best part of it is, it will help you create a strong brand voice for your small business that will stand out amongst your competitors — especially, if you stick to these principles:
– Be authentic: Don’t try to be something that you’re not. Be genuine and honest in your communications with potential customers.
– Be clear: Make sure that your messaging is clear and concise. Avoid using industry jargon or “fluff” words that don’t add anything of value.
– Be consistent: Consistency is key when it comes to branding. Find your voice, your colors, your fonts and overall design of your brand and then use it in all of your marketing materials — both online and offline.
– Be different: Find a way to stand out from your competition. What makes you unique? Why should potential customers do business with you instead of someone else?
By following these tips, you can start to create a strong brand voice for your small business that will help you stand out from the rest!
What other tips do you have for small businesses when it comes to branding?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
by Amy | Aug 31, 2022 | brand strategy, Speaking, vocal brand
Just a little over two years ago, I began working with an incredible coach, Danelle Delgado, who said the words, “Be anything but silent.” over and over again throughout her group coaching. Even though I had run my own voice studio, been a businessperson for a number of years and studied marketing for breakfast, those four words hit me like a ton of bricks when she would say them. Even though I knew what I had to offer, and I was accustomed to creating beautiful graphics and posts and even occasionally, although inconsistently, going live, I realized in that moment that I was prone to being silent about my business and what I truly had to offer the people who needed me.
Over the course of my entire life from as far back as I can remember there has been this very strange dichotomy between being overtly bold and vivacious and shrinking back, withdrawing and being silent. I partially attribute this quirkiness to my late Grandma Madelyne who could equally embody being the life of the party telling jokes and laughing loudly or the biggest curmudgeonly, hermit you’ve ever want to meet — depending on the day or sometimes even the time of day. I also partially blame the fact that I went to a very strict private school that didn’t allow us to talk EVER, was made fun of for being fat by the skinniest stick of a girl in class, lost my sweet Aunt Georga to cancer and developed a condition where I pulled my eyelashes out as a stress response, all within a short timespan of a few months during 4th grade. I’ve since blocked out much of this memory, but what I do remember is that I went from being a normal, sweet, often chatty and extremely confident little girl without any fear to a very sheepish, embarrassed and moody little mess all within just a few short months, and it was very difficult to come out of that and feel brave enough to be who I was before that time for quite some time thereafter — or, if ever.
Regardless of my story, we all have reasons why we have been programmed to pull back and be silent. Perhaps your liveliness was not celebrated or tolerated, but instead, you were always told to be quiet, be less or that you were just too much. Maybe you were always shy as a kid, and breaking out of your natural, reserved state is a challenge for you. Or maybe, you have gone through some kind of trauma that took its toll on you and caused you to question your voice and wonder if what you have to say is really worth hearing, so it’s easier for you to just not say anything at all and hope that you will still be successful without having to talk or share your personality with the world.
Whatever the case may be, I want to remind you of a few key points that have helped me come out of my shell:
- You do have a voice — both figuratively as well as physically — and using it often is THE VERY BEST KNOWN CURE for the silence you’ve subjected your self to.
- If you have a brand/business, the world needs to hear about what you offer from you on a consistent basis.
- Using your voice and discovering your vocal identity go hand in hand.
- You aren’t the only one who has the issue of not feeling confident speaking, but you must heal and overcome it.
So, let’s start with the first key point:
1.You do have a voice and using it often is the best known cure for being silent.
Your voice is literally who you are. The fact that you have been silenced, regardless of how, is sad, but there’s no better time than now to start dipping your toe in the water and breaking your silence by just starting imperfectly and using your voice to talk about what you know, what you’re excited about, what struggles you’ve overcome and how you can help the people who are listening.
It’s true, and I’m here to tell you if I, a sheepish, hermit who struggles with speaking confidently and feeling like I have anything to contribute can get over my lack of confidence and be in front of a camera, on stage or speak on a podcast, you can too. It just takes the willingness to learn how to do it well and the courage to start messy.
2. If you have a brand/business, the world needs to hear about what you offer from you on a consistent basis.
This one may seem obvious to some, but it’s tough isn’t it? Maybe some days you’re totally feeling the boldness to go live or record and post that reel, but on other days, an effort like this may feel more intimidating, scary or like the effort isn’t paying off. I honestly see this issue often with entrepreneurs. On one hand, they really want to come out of their shell and be more vocal and visible, but on the other, they tend to want to retreat and let a few days pass before they get the urge to do it again.
I want to speak very strongly and firmly with you on this one, Friend. You have to be consistent. Period. No matter what. Your would-be customers/clients don’t really care that you just didn’t have it in you today. What they want to see and feel is not only value and predictability, but they want to be able to trust that you do what you say you’re going to do — that you are your word.
Over the course of the last couple of years, this message has really been driven home for me and taken seriously. Even though I have a longggg way to go in terms of consistency and really producing the caliber of content I would ideally love to be producing daily or weekly, I made a commitment in 2020 that there would not be a day that goes by where I wasn’t present in some way, shape or form on the internet. Sometimes, I get comments from people like, “Wow, you’re so consistent with your posting.” And my response is always the same, “I have to be. This is my job.”
Friend, it’s no different for you. If you are in sales, you have a business, you run a studio or you own a brand, then you have to be consistent (and clear about what you’re selling) because it’s your job!
3. Using your voice and discovering your vocal identity (your vocal brand) go hand in hand.
This is my favorite key point to discuss, but it held me back for so many years. How do you discover your vocal identity and find your brand? Do you do it by brainstorming who you are and what you want to be known for? No. Do you discover it by creating graphics with fun fonts? No. Do you discover it by meeting with a brand specialist who can help you pull it all together? Nope, again. You discover your vocal identity by using your voice. That’s right. The motion must be set. The structure must be in place. The action has to happen before the clarity comes. It sounds so counterintuitive, doesn’t it? But it’s true. We don’t set things into motion by thinking about them. I didn’t get my master’s degree in vocal performance by researching degrees. That was just a small step. The bigger, more significant steps were actually applying for the school, doing the audition, meeting with an advisor to determine my schedule, working my normal life around the class schedule, practice time, homework time, attending the classes and passing the tests. In other words, once I put one step into motion, the other steps became clear. And 5+ semesters, a lot of hard work and a few gray hairs later — Voila! I had a master’s degree!
This is the same for you. You may not know your true voice just yet. You may just be starting to put yourself out there and really speaking about what it is you know and how you can help people. But the more you do it, pretty or not, you are widdling down to the core of what you are about and what you want to be known for. But the action has to precede the clarity on how it’s all going to come together. It just doesn’t work any other way.
4. You aren’t the only one who has the issue of not feeling confident speaking, but you must heal and overcome it.
Sometimes, I think we subconsciously believe that our disposition is somehow different than the next person’s, and our situation is special and unique. Sure, you’re special! But you’re special in a good way, because your voice is yours and only yours. No one can duplicate it. No one is exactly like you! But let me reassure you about something and let the cat out of the bag in case you are confused or wondering: Nobody feels completely at ease with who they are, how they speak and what they offer. Nobody. Yes, some people might be more polished at speaking and hide their insecurities better, but I can assure you that no one is exempt from the insecurities you are facing when it comes to your voice and what you have to offer anyone who might hear you speak. We all, including myself, have a great deal of healing and we all, including myself, suffer from anxiety when it comes to going live, speaking and being more visible. Why is that the case? Because it’s our human nature to want to be liked, to want to be approved of and not feel discomfort. It’s our human nature to not want to be judged or in the spotlight and vulnerable. Most of us want to be hidden and safe — away from harsh judgment and naysayers who might pick us apart and criticize who we are and what we are doing. There are very few people in this world who straight up don’t care what others think, and those that are out there probably aren’t running their own business or speaking to people for a living.
But, here’s the deal: you have it in your heart to help people and you can’t be silent and help those who need you. You just can’t. Another quote from my coach is, “Who loses if you don’t win?” And I want to ask you that right now: Who loses if you don’t win? Who loses if you decide to stay silent? Who loses if you are too embarrassed to go live today and talk about what you offer? Who loses if they don’t hear from you, but they hear from someone else who’s just a little louder and get screwed over?
I’m here to say that a LOT of people lose if you don’t get brave and start the journey of discovering your vocal identity right now. And there’s no better place to be than right here with me, Friend. Whether you are a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 and have never put yourself out there, but you know you have something to say and need to or you are a 9 and you have spoken quite a bit but just don’t like the way you sound and feel like something is missing or keeping you from connecting to your audience, The Vocalpreneur can help you!
This September, in just a couple of short weeks, we’ll be releasing our monthly membership community where you can learn and grow with likeminded Vocalpreneurs who recognize their need for showing up consistently and using their voices to offer value to their clients and generate neverending leads to their business! Will you be joining us? Let me know in the comments and I’ll get you some information!
Remember the phrase, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil?” Well, I’m here to tell you that the louder business owner gets the customer.
Decide. Commit. Take action. The rest will come once you do those three things in order.
by Amy | Aug 25, 2022 | brand strategy, vocal brand
It’s like clockwork. Every time I walk into a small business or do business with someone, I instinctively anticipate what separates this business/this person from another one down the street. I may not actively and consciously think about it, but my mind immediately goes to the same questions: What exactly do they offer? How do they stand out in the community as the “go-to” place that people rave about? What is their “wow factor” and what’s going to make me tell my friends and neighbors about them? If I can’t find the answers to those questions pretty quickly, or I can’t quite wrap my head around the point of their business and why I should choose them over their competitors, I quickly lose interest and either forget about them or actively move on. There are few exceptions to how this plays out in my mind. And while I can’t speak for most consumers and their thought-process, I would estimate that, whether they are consciously thinking about it or not, they are processing the businesses they patronize in the same way.
These questions we ask ourselves when we step into a brick and mortar or go online to buy or set up an appointment influence our buying behavior. Will we gladly trust this person…this business and give our hard-earned money to them? Or will we shy away and hesitate before we open up our wallets?
Unfortunately, and more often than not, I am completely underwhelmed as a consumer by part or all of my experience when I walk into a business for the first time. Perhaps, this comes from living all over the world and experiencing the very best, cohesive brands that make me want to come back again and again (typically in large, thriving cities where there’s more competition as well as up and coming consumers who dictate behavior), and many times, the very worst unbranded businesses (in smaller, less robust communities) that make you wonder how they are still even open. Usually, however, the differences I experience are fairly minimal from one brand to the next, and the necessary improvements that would help a business stand out and thrive are straightforward, simple ones that can be learned and implemented rather easily.
So, what are the wow factors every single business (from big to small, from sole proprietors to LLCs and corporations) should be implementing to help them stand out from the rest? While those may vary slightly from one type of business to another depending on the needs of the consumer, and there are many facets of business to consider, I want to address the marketing side of things since it’s my favorite part — and in my humble opinion, just as every movement from the stage before you sing is part of the performance — EVERYTHING customer facing IS marketing!! That said, I have found some common threads that make really successful businesses outperform their competitors by a long shot, and I’d love to share them with you here. You may agree or disagree, and that’s OK, but this is my opinion as a small business brand strategist and educator.
So, let’s get this list underway, shall we?
- EDUCATION. This is a big one. The businesses that are way ahead of the game in terms of what to offer and how to set up shop can no longer rely on success of their predecessors or base their SOP (standard operating procedure) on what others in their industry are doing. While this may be true for how to make pasta or pastries like my grandmother used to do back in Italy, this is no longer the case for how you operate your business and market it to the world if you truly want to do more than just survive. As we know, things are constantly changing, and the way you present your business, gain visibility, acquire and retain customers should be changing as well. If you’re not educating yourself and your staff about the changes needed to uplevel your business, you may maintain status for a while, but you will eventually fall behind and become obsolete and archaic.
- CLARITY. What do you offer? Who is your ideal customer? Where does your ideal customer currently go for the same service you offer? How can you serve them better than your competitor? All of these factors are crucial as you brainstorm your brand strategy and clarify your brand voice. Some old school folks might think a lot of this is mumbo jumbo or even redundant when it comes to their business and won’t take the time to do it. “Well, it’s clear what I do — I cut hair…I sell insurance…I’m a realtor…why do I need to think about all this?” But in this day and age, people need to distinguish your business from the rest and the clearer you can get about who you serve and how you serve them, the better. Think of it as a light in the fog. You are pulling back the curtains to your business and unveiling it like Apple unveils it’s new and improved iPhone every few months. Your ultimate goal is that you want them to see all your benefits and have complete assurance that your business is THE ONE they will come to. It’s that simple.
- SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY. You may love it or hate it, but the brands that are currently thriving in communities all over the world are doing so with a clear social media strategy to attract more clients and guide them to their business over others in their community. Instead of resisting this change to the climate of advertising and marketing with print ads, business cards, mailers, flyers and brochures that were and are costly for the business and unwanted clutter for the consumer, they are embracing their free visibility and brand identity on social media as a positive, inexpensive way to communicate their business and understand their customer needs and profiles in a more intimate, insightful way. Do you think understanding this gives them a leg up? I sure do!
- INTIMACY. Speaking of which, the next and final way I see high producing brands and businesses stand out from their competitors is by taking the time to get to know their potential clients/customers and understand what they are needing. Now, before you get the wrong idea about what I’m saying, let me clarify: the word intimacy simply means “close familiarity or friendship; closeness.” And through the channels of social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, NextDoor, etc…) as well as email and text, we can accomplish that closeness by forming bonds with our potential clients in a way that traditional advertising and promoting our corporate labels all over the place can’t do. We can take surveys, do polls, ask questions, give answers, provide insight, take requests, say thank you, provide valuable, informative content and help our clients in a way that no other form of marketing has ever been able to do before — and we can do it en masse and reach thousands of would-be customers in one click of a button!
If you are reading this and thinking, “Oh, I love all this and need it, but I’m so far IN my business that I just don’t have time to implement any of it!” I want you to take a step back and breathe. By no means, am I suggesting you have to do all this immediately…or on your own! But I do want you to take it seriously and understand how your brand voice needs to stand out and be set apart from your competitors in order for you to 1. have a FULL client roster and neverending leads, 2. scale your business beyond your wildest imagination and 3. (optional, but highly suggested) teach others in your field how to do the same!
Wouldn’t it be great if your marketing SOP was just as set in stone and solid as your daily, monthly, quarterly operating procedure for your actual business is? Do you see even a glimpse of how this could help you long term?
If so (and I hope so!), I want to invite you to come along with me and learn how to develop your brand strategy that can quite literally SET YOU APART from the rest. My goal for you is neverending leads that not only continually do business with you again and again, but they are raving fans who tell the world (or at least your local community) about how great you are! Wouldn’t that be something? It’s possible. And it’s possible for you THIS YEAR in 2022!
If this post provided you value or if you have any questions about how you can work with me, I’d love to hear from you in the comments as well as have you share this content out with those in your industry who may need this as well.
Remember: the more you PROVIDE value, the more you BECOME invaluable to those who do business with you!
xo,
Amy
