How to keep your business doors open while your competitors are closing down

Today marks the beginning of our new “Small Business Marketing Monday” segment where Online Business Marketing Expert & #1 Best-Selling Author on Marketing & Mindset, “Kate” Redwine, MPA. BBA., will be sharing social media marketing and internet marketing information to help small business owners get more customers, make more money and build their online presence while making a difference.

Have you ever wondered why some great businesses open their doors and then four months to two years later, they’ve closed? Is it the economy, location, or could it be their marketing strategy?

While I was visiting the post office on Palmdale Boulevard, I took a quick look at an empty shop within a small shopping center. The shop actually had a “For Lease” sign in the window.

At first I thought I was seeing things because about a week prior to this, the business was open. It actually was a small restaurant with some delicious food (yes, I’ve been there). It’s sad to say but since I’ve been living here in the Antelope Valley for two years, I’ve seen this happen too often. A business with a great product or service opens the doors with a big grand opening which includes (sometimes) a ribbon cutting ceremony and then a few months later…they’re closing doors.

Statistics show that eight out of 10 new businesses (i.e. 80 percent) fail within the first three to five years. Now, obviously, there could be several factors for business failure which include:

1. Poor management
2. Lack of planning
3. Little or no marketing strategy
4. No market research
5. Insufficient capital
6. Bad location
7. No clear business plan
8. Little or no internet presence

While all of these can definitely contribute to small business failure, let me bring your attention to Numbers 3 (no marketing strategy) and 8 (no internet presence).

The days are long gone where you can place a yellow pages ad, have someone twirl a sign, rely on referrals only, or slap a “SALE” sign in the window and expect a flood of customers. What about the other days when you’re not having a sale? What about getting customers on a consistent basis?

Think you can get sales even on a slow day? I know you can and I’m going to share with you how to do it.

Surprisingly, statistics have shown that only 60% of small businesses are using social media. In fact, the Austin Business Journal reported that the New Jersey-based SMB DigitalScape market research firm shared some interesting statistics (Read the story here):

• Only 19.5 percent of small business websites have a link to a facebook page
• Six out of 10 small business websites in the U.S. are missing either a local or toll-free telephone number on the home page to contact the business.
• Nearly 3/4 of the websites lacked an email link on their home page for the consumer to contact the business.
• More than 90 percent of the websites are not mobile compatible and will not render successfully on mobile devices or smartphones.

*On a side note, a lot of small business websites are lacking an email opt-in form from an email management system like MailChimp or AWeber which prevents them from effective lead capture.

For those who think social media networks like Facebook (over 1.06 billion monthly active users) and Twitter (over 200 million active users) are just a fad? You are sadly mistaken and you’re missing out greatly on attracting your ideal customers who are looking for your products and services online.

I took the liberty of randomly researching some local small businesses listed in the business directory on the Antelope Valley Chamber of Commerce’s website. My objectives were pretty clear. I wanted to find out the company’s website rankings with Alexa.com, which tells me how much website traffic is coming through etc…and find out about their social media presence and engagement rates online.

The majority of small business websites were old and outdated. Many were not user friendly or mobile friendly and had no lead capture system. Another thing that I noticed is that very few were on social networks like Facebook, and those that were had a small following with very low engagement rates.

Honestly speaking, it’s really not about how many followers you have. It’s about the engagement rates. Are people liking, sharing, and commenting on your posts?

If you’re a small business owner, it’s not your fault and you’re definitely not alone. Sometimes it can be so overwhelming with all of the technological aspects of social media.

But don’t give up just yet! There’s hope!

I’m going to share with you a few golden nuggets that you can use right now to build your local online presence and get more customers in the door. I have a lot of secrets to share but today I’d like to focus on effective facebook advertising.

In order to help your potential customers find you, you need to create a facebook business page after you’ve created a facebook account. You can do that here. Be sure to fill out all of your business information and upload an eye-catching facebook timeline cover banner. You can get that free here.

Don’t worry about not having any facebook fans just yet. That’s okay. We all have to start somewhere. One of the fastest ways to get more facebook fans is through facebook advertising. You can watch a free one-hour Facebook marketing video here where I share more information about facebook advertising, offers and promoted posts.

The objective of your facebook advertising efforts is to build a community of customers who actually want to hear from you and would like to know about your business, products and services. Of course, you don’t want to be silly and start spamming people because that’s a big No-No. You want to build a relationship with them and let them know you appreciate them being a part of your online community.

I would suggest sticking with the 80/20 rule where 80% of your time will be spent on social engagement, quotes, positive messages, or intriguing photos and 20% will be sharing your promotions, sales, discounts etc…

Your facebook marketing campaign is very straightforward. Yes, you have to spend money on facebook advertising but your ROI (return on investment) is great if you create a clear marketing strategy. Sometimes facebook will have free $25 or $50 advertising coupons if you’re a new Facebook user. Just Google “free facebook advertising coupon codes for 2013” and you should be able to find several.

Be sure to do your research to make sure you don’t waste your advertising dollars. Be clear on your target market and what you are trying to accomplish. You can learn more about Facebook advertising here.

Here are a few things that you can choose for your campaign.

• Country/City/State
• Age
• Gender
• Relationship status
• Likes/Interests
• CPC ( Cost per click)
• CPM (Cost per impression)

Be sure to upload a compelling picture that stands out. Here are a few tips that work like a charm every time. Grab a picture of someone fitting your ideal client’s description. A person with a fresh face, engaging look, and a happy smile always works. You can go to BigStock photos and buy photos if you don’t have any.

Next, make sure you come up with a clear and compelling headline. If your headline is not magnetic, your ad won’t get clicked on and your efforts will fail. You can learn more about copywriting and headlines here. You only have limited space for the ad itself so make it good. Ask yourself, “What is my message?” Keep it short and sweet.

Start your campaign with just $25 and stick with the low end of the CPC (cost per click) campaign budget suggestion. After your campaign is approved, then tweak it to $5 per day or whatever seems feasible to you.

Here’s an example to help you get started:

When I was building an online community for women losing weight with green coffee beans; I built a facebook page. I immediately started doing facebook advertising for my target market and within a few days, I had over 200 facebook fans.

Here’s an outline of my ad:

Headline: Green Coffee Beans Extract

Body of Ad: Mom loses 30lbs in 30 days. Shares recipes and free tips daily. Free videos.

The best part about the ad is that I was telling the truth. I had lost 30 pounds in 30 days with green smoothies and I was taking green coffee beans as a dietary supplement.

It worked like a charm and so many women were glad that they found a community of like-minded people as a weight loss support system.

So on a final note, go out there and build your online presence. Your ideal customers are just waiting to connect with you. You can do it!

*Disclaimer: Legal Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to accurately represent facebook advertising and it’s potential. Any claims made of actual earnings or examples of actual results can be verified upon request. The testimonials and examples used are exceptional results, don’t apply to the average attendee/purchaser and are not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results. Each individual’s success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire, and motivation. As with any business endeavor, there is an inherent risk of loss of capital and there is no guarantee that you will earn any money.

About the Author

Palmdale resident Kate Redwine, MPA. BBA. is a Client Attraction coach that teaches small business owners how to get more customers and make more money while making a difference. Kate is a #1 best-selling author of Law of Attraction Marketing: How to Attract All the Clients You Want. Kate was recently dubbed, “One of the Top 100 Mompreneur Bloggers to follow in 2013 by award winning author Matthew Toren of Blogtrepreneur.com. To hear Kate’s FREE 30 minute client attraction MP3, go to www.tinyurl.com/AVSmallBusiness or call our FREE 24 hour recorded message line at (661) 724-6480. For more marketing tips, you can visit Kate at www.positivething.net.

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