One of the hardest things business owners have to do is keep their emotions out of their decision making process. Very seldom are emotional decisions in the best interest of your business. We all get worked up from time to time when something happens we don't like or when someone says something we don't agree with.... especially during the middle of a pandemic, race-related protests, and a nasty election. When that happens, the easiest thing to do is to pop on social media and tell the world how we feel. Unfortunately, social media has created an atmosphere where we can (and do) says things that we would never say to a potential customer. News flash!!! Not only do potential customers sometimes read those, they will often make emotional decisions of their own not to use your business as a result. In this edition of Small Business in Small Minds, we explore the simple logic behind the many of us were taught when we were kids: simply avoid talking about religion and politics whenever possible.

Small Business in Small Bites

Politics and Religion can kill your business

The newness of the COVID-19 situation has now passed. The business owners that are planning to be around when this is over are =really starting to think about what the future looks like for them. In every crisis in world history, market shares are redistributed in nearly every industry. You can either find yourself higher up the food chain, lower, or not part of that food chain at all. The decisions you make right now will shape your business post-COVID19. Here are some things you can be doing from your home that will insure you are ready to rock and roll when the country restarts itself.

Top 6 ways to insure your business thrives post-COVID19

Great leaders can't lead unless there is an opportunity to lead. During crisis such as that surrounding the coronavirus, anxiety is high and panic often lies just below the surface in the minds of many people. Such situations give business owners the chance to really separate themselves from others. Calm is contagious. If you remain calm and kind with your venders, your customers, and your employees, they'll remember that. When the smoke clears and normalcy returns, your business will benefit.

Special: COVID-19 and your business. Be Calm!!!

With all the uncertainty surrounding our their surrounding COVID-19, a lot of business owners are wondering what's going to happen next. Many are questioning if this is going to kick-start a recession. Fear abounds! When people are afraid they often make decisions that will have lasting unintended consequences. One common reaction is to cut back on marketing. Dozens of studies over the last hundred years have indicated that this could be the worst thing you can do and can easily lead to much worse cuts down the road. In this episode, we explore the reasons why marketing yourself properly during rough times can help guarantee your survival and significantly increase your market share when the economy comes back (and it always does).

What should I do if the economy falters?

When people hear your business' name in the community, what is their first thought? Is it positive or negative? Oftentimes, our brand isn't what we think it is (or want it to be). The brand of your business determines its success in so many ways. If the actual brand and our desired brand don't match, you cold be heading your business down a very dark path.

Is your brand what you think it is?

There are many ways to get a customer to choose your business, but perhaps the simplest is to just have your message in front of them at the exact moment they are thinking about your industry and their needs. In this edition of Small Business in Small Minds, I take a look at how important it is that you consider where your ad is being seen and what the likelihood is that your potential is customer is thinking about your business when they see your ad.

Where are you being seen?

Running a small business is much harder than most people realize. When the decisions you make decide the success or failure of your business and affect the lives of your family and your employees in extreme ways, the pressure can be overwhelming. Those decisions are manageable when it involves your core business. In that particular field, you have enough expertise to feel reasonably confident in your ability to make the right choice. What about the parts of your business you don't understand. That's when it gets hard. Most business owners know very little about marketing. As a result, they have a hard time making decisions. They know they need to advertise, but there are so many choices. Fear of making the wrong choice often paralyzes them. They simply avoid making any decisions. When it comes to spreading the word about your business, no decision is a decision... one that can stymie the growth of your business or even its ability to survive.

Make a decision

For many business owners, the thought of selling your business is quite daunting. Most have no idea just how much their company is worth and what they should ask for it. In the latest episode of Small Business in Small Bites, we take a close look at how just much advertising influences the asking price of your company. Advertising to build your brand truly is an investment... not just in getting customers but in your company's value itself.

Advertising increases the value of your company

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that advertising is all about getting new customers. That's certainly one reason to advertise. An equally important aspect, however, is the roll it play in helping you retain your current customers. We all are very insecure about the decisions we make throughout our lives; we internally question those decisions almost constantly. When we see an ad for a company we use, it validates our decision to chose that company. On the other hand, if we don't our memories can get very fuzzy.

Advertising helps you keep your current customers.

One thing I hear probably more often than anything from small business owners (especially service businesses) is that they have all the work they can possible handle. However, when asked about their profits they all admit that those aren't as high as they would like. That's why before you make any decisions on how to spend your advertising dollar you should take a moment and figure out where your profit is coming from. not all customers are created equal.

Busy doesn't mean profitable

In today's world, many small business owners are so overwhelmed by all of the marketing choices available to them that they simply choose to do nothing. They will then wear that decision as a badge of honor and boast that they don't have to advertise. They claim they "get all their business by word of mouth". You will find some businesses that survive that way, but for most survival is all it is. In any community... if you ask residents to rank the 10 most successful businesses in town, there will never be a business named who didn't/doesn't advertise. According to the National Associate of Small Businesses, 20 percent of small businesses in the US fail. The vast majority of those that fail rely far too heavily on word of mouth. By simply adding a branding campaign to your strategy, you can kick your word of mouth results into overdrive.

Word of mouth without branding is not enough

Each year, dozens of companies spend millions of dollars advertising in the Super Bowl. It's the one time of year when the ads get as much attention as the game. Why are they worth so much, though. Why would anyone spend a million dollars for 30 seconds. there are some very good reasons... and some very good lessons to be learned by small business owners.

What small business owners can learn from Super Bowl advertising

A lot of business owners believe Facebook is the Holy Grail of Advertising... it's free and can reach customers. What they often forget (or choose to ignore) is that it's not really free if you want it to work. In business, time is money and It takes a lot of time to use social media effectively. The businesses that are actually growing using social media spend at least several hours a days interacting socially with potential customers. You can't just have a page and call it "doing Facebook".

The right and wrong way to "Do Facebook"

Many small business owners view having a website and a Facebook page as being part of their marketing strategy. Truth is... society have evolved far past that. They are now a mandatory part of having a business. In the 1890's phones were considered a marketing tool... now you can't imagine a business surviving without one. That applies to websites and Facebook pages in today's world.

A Facebook page and a website are no longer optional for a business

Business owners are constantly trying to evaluate the effectiveness of an advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, they often look in the wrong direction. If you owned a small retail store, it would seem silly to give the front door of your business credit for attracting all your customers. Sure, a few may have seen something in the window that caught their attention. But most were drawn by some other forces (usually advertising of some sort). For some reason, people believe the digital world works differently. But it doesn't.

Google, Facebook, and your website are often just the doorway to your business

This podcast is designed to help small businesses learn more about how to effectively reach their customers. Often small business owners lack an understanding of marketing and are often overwhelmed when presented with all the choices. This podcast will provide short concise lessons on how to determine what type of advertising is right for your business. There will also be tips for how to determine what you want your brand to be and the best way to build that brand in your community. Small Business in Small Bites tries to give entrepreneurs the tools to thrive in a world often dominated by large corporations.

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Small Business in Small Bites

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