Use AAA for Help
If your small business starts to drift off the road of success this year, remember to use AAA. Marketing in 2021 can be a daunting challenge, don’t over complicate it. Use the AAA formula to increase sales and retain loyal customers.
Attention
Effective marketing that produces great ROI is based in constantly utilizing underpriced attention. We all need attention to create awareness and understanding about our products and services. However, the digital landscape is changing all the time, and so is the most efficient places to put your marketing dollars and time. Chances are what worked for you in the past will not work in the future.
For example, Facebook ads have grown increasingly more expensive lately. While Youtube ads have become less competitive price wise and are producing high levels of conversion rates. Instagram posts have dropped considerably in terms of organic reach, but Instagram reels can exponentially increase your organic reach. Platforms like TickTok and LinkedIn now possess the highest rate of organic reach. New apps like the audio only sensation Clubhouse also continue to innovate this evolving digital landscape. Test what works for you and gauge results.
Any marketing will “work” if done with proper messaging. I can stand on 6th street at rush hour with a cardboard sign and get results. However, it’s not the highest and best use of my time or dollars. The question every small business owner should be asking and continually testing is, where can I get the most underpriced attention that will also generate the most results.
Automation
Don’t make your customers jump through hoops to give you money. Sounds simple enough right? However, this is a huge mistake that I see small businesses make every single day. Why have companies like Amazon amassed such massive market share? They eliminate all the hoops for customers to jump through to spend money. People hate being sold to, but they LOVE to buy stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of small businesses spend most of their time selling to customers, and not enough time figuring out ways to allow them to simply buy stuff easier. Fortunately, however, automation has now allowed small businesses to evolve their relationship with customers like never before, we can now serve our customers better by eliminating hoops. Automation tools such as Chatbots, Mobile Apps, Ecommerce integrated with our website, Texting platforms, CRMs, etc, have never been less expensive or easier to integrate into your small business. If you find your sales are struggling and losing customers, ask yourself, how can I make it easier for people to give me money.
Authenticity
Go deep, not wide. Give value, not cliches. Get real, not fake it to you make it. Ever get tired of seeing the same all old, canned, recycled, marketing claims from companies declaring they are “the best”, “the home team”, “family owned”, “got your back”, “#1 trusted”, etc, etc, etc? I know I sure do. It’s not 1961 anymore. Marketing isn’t a top-down conversation solely from the company to their audience, the internet has changed all that. People now know when you are BSing them, so stop it. Be authentic, even when it means you must admit you were wrong. Share your struggles and show your journey. Find your competitive advantage in the marketplace and show that truth and share that story with your audience.
For example, I’ll tell you right now that Wildman Web Solutions is not “the best” advertising agency. There are many agencies that are bigger, badder and better than us, from New York to Chicago to Kansas City to even one here in Lawrence, you will find a “better” agency. But that is irrelevant because 99% of our prospective clientele cannot afford those other agencies. Therefore, our competitive advantage lies in the value we bring for small businesses. They get more for less, our clients aren’t paying for fancy offices, Italian suits, and expense accounts like those at “the best” agencies. So, we focus our marketing efforts on showing our audience through authenticity how we can help grow their business. Every Weds at 11am we take an hour and go live on Facebook and YouTube to answer small business owners’ questions and show them how to grow their business free of charge. When everyone else is telling their audience that their “the best” amongst the crowd of competitors, show your audience how you can do the best for them individually. Because of course, telling isn’t selling.
Reality television has come to dominant the entertainment landscape over the last 20 years for two main reasons. The audiences craves authenticity. The networks discovered that it’s easier and more cost efficient to document rather than create. The same is true for your small business. So instead of just telling the audience you are “family owned”, show the audience authentically what it means to be family owned, and above all else, what’s in it for them.
Attention, Automation, and Authenticity will get your small business on the road to a highly successful 2021.
