Are you one of the growing number of female small business owners?🤩
If so, do you fall among the 59% of women that own a brick-and-mortar small business?
Dealing with 2020 and beyond, you’ve faced greater business marketing challenges than other small business owners solely marketing in the online space. Sadly, we’ve all noted small brick-and-mortar businesses closing in our communities. The fallout from Covid lock-downs for our brick-and-mortar small business owners has yet to be fully measured.
There’s hope, though! This April 2021 Nasdaq.com report notes great news for small business owners in general,
“In its Economic Average Report, released on Apr 21 by Yelp, nearly 146,486 new small businesses opened in the first-quarter 2021, the highest in a year. Moreover, more than 50,000 small businesses reopened last quarter, the highest since last summer.”
We know THIS from talking to you. Many of you have made it through the worst of the storm. A huge “high-paw” from HelloWoofy.com for fighting through the #Covid pandemic small business downturn!
Online marketing is how MOST of you have survived this storm! Massive pivots. Your growing online social media strategy plus lots of extra elbow grease have carried you through.You talk to your customers. You show up where they’re at.
Maybe YOU are one of the almost 150k NEW small business owners of 2021! 🙌
Perhaps you’re looking for ways to grow your brick and mortar business through an online marketing strategy? What’s the secret sauce to survival?
Creating visibility and connections through growing your social media strategy is our number one #marketingstrategy tip.
Female small business owners, you’re SO good at connecting in person.
Just take those skills to your social media communities for more organic marketing. If customers visit your business, they are also talking about you on social media. Boost the buzz, #underdog!
Top Dog Social Media agency owner and expert Melanie Dodoro states in her social media marketing guide for brick-and mortar businesses,
“Chances are very good that your customers are chatting about, writing reviews or taking pictures or videos of your location and products and then sharing them on their social networks.”
At HelloWoofy.com, we’re all about helping with social media marketing for small business owners. We know social media spreads the word in your small business marketing strategy. You’ll acquire leads and customers almost “automagically” when you automate your social content on our AI-driven platform.
In other words, your customers are your best source of free word-of-mouth social media advertisement. So, hey! What are you waiting for? Let’s get your online neighbors (aka FREE marketers) talking — in the best ways possible!
Three tips to encourage fun {possibly furry} social media buzz for your business.
#1. Add a dash of humor, helpfulness, and hope to your social media marketing. #smilemore🤩
You might not have the marketing budget for the infamous Harmon Brothers, but every bit of good humor helps. Not to distract you! After you read our helpful tips, go check out their latest ad for an online car warranty product. Cheesy? Yes! Memorable and fun? Also YES!
The key takeaway is this. Lighten up — even if it’s a bit cheesy! (Hmm, your doggo friend smells cheese a mile away and comes running, right?)
We’re breaking free of Covid. The world’s been a dark and challenging place. Spark smiles! We’ll bet a smile will help with selling your actual products.
Here’s a bit of science behind this claim. When we do things that make us happy, we get a bit of a dopamine rush. We all buy with our emotional pocketbook. Happy clients equals more sales.
(Let’s circle back to this tip in just a bit. #humorinmarketing)
For fun and education, also go listen LATER (Like — please keep reading for more valuable tips) to the famous Harmon Brothers CEO Benton Crane interviewing Molly Mahoney on his “Poop to Gold” podcast, Season Two.
Molly has a successful business teaching business owners how to show up and connect with their customers using video.
Don’t let our next tip scare you. It’s easier than you think. Just use your phone.
#2 Use LIVE and recorded videos on social media.
Here are a FEW tips from Molly on connecting with your audience.
Her unique twist? “Work with the Humanithm, not the Algorithm.”
- Speak to one person.
- Put together a weekly show.
- Repurpose. Slice it up, and use the best bits on all your social media platforms.
- Automate across all your social media channels.
BE “The Quesadilla of Awesome,” says Molly.
These are her quick tips on HOW TO put together your own weekly show whether it’s a Facebook Live or a podcast:
- Don’t be someone you’re not.
- Don’t just copy someone you admire.
- Elevate and optimize who YOU are.
- Not about creating a BIG fancy script.
- Show up and share your value and your knowledge.
#3 Include your fur babies in your social media marketing strategy.
Here’s HelloWoofy.com’s shameless plug for including your furry friends in your online marketing.
Even non-fur lovers might just cave to the proven emotional appeal of your fur babies.
Digital Media Solutions, another expert agency helping small business marketers says, “…betting on Americans’ love for animals, and especially dogs, is rarely a losing gamble. Marketers and advertising gurus know this well. Dogs of all kinds have been used in commercials and messaging since Nipper sold the gramophone in 1900.”
Where’s our tie-in from our number one tip on humor in marketing? Easy-peasey. Try these humorous social media postings:
- Have your pet POSE with or model your product.
- Post weekly or more frequent pet sightings in your brick-and-mortar business.
- Make funny pet memes and share your pets’ opinions about your competitors. Think Chick-fil-A! They constantly razz burger joints.
True story: We heard of one family — former cat-haters — that adopted not one, but three cats during Covid lockdown. Now the Chief Cat Hater sleeps with his chosen feline cuddled next to him on the bed. Pets just have a way of weaseling themselves into hearts.
If you’re a smart, savvy 50-something woman-preneur, tap into the “Younger Gen Z” social media marketing creativity.
Ask your younger Gen Z or millennial employees what THEY would love to see on your social media pages.
Better yet, let them take over and run your social media pages. Just give clear guidelines.
Here are a few proven social media strategic moves:
- Polls: Hey, be SOCIAL! People looove to share their opinions on SOCIAL media.
- Here are a few social poll tips to get your creative juices flowing.
- Do a comparison post: do you like product A or B better.
- What services do you think we should offer next? A and B, A and C, B and C
- What is the most important solution we provide for you? A/B/C
- Here are a few social poll tips to get your creative juices flowing.
- Social Media Challenges with prizes.
- Start small with a 3 Day Challenge (especially on Instagram) with clear action steps such as;
- Use our branded hashtag, share, and tag a friend.
- Take a selfie with our product and post.
- Complete ALL 3 days of our Challenge to be entered into a drawing for a small prize.
- Start small with a 3 Day Challenge (especially on Instagram) with clear action steps such as;
At HelloWoofy.com, we’re ALL about helping with social media marketing for small business owners. We know social media spreads the word in your small business marketing strategy. You’ll acquire leads and customers almost “automagically” when you automate your social content on our AI-driven platform.
We’re HUGE supporters of both our male and female small business owners around the world. Our goal? Helping all #underdog small business owners compete with much larger companies through smart social media marketing.
For more value, connect with our Content Master’s Facebook group online for more tips and community. Let us know how we can help, because even if we’re out walking our furry friends, we’re always listening to YOU.
Best,
Arjun Rai,
Founder and CEO