Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 151 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.  It’s a little pinch-me moment – 150 episodes!

Honestly in January 2019 when I started this podcast, I thought I would run out of content at about episode 20 plus throw in a couple of interviews, I’d have this wrapped up in about 30 episodes.  But alas not!

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re enjoying this podcast – I’d love to you take a screenshot and share it on your socials and tag me in it.  How cool would that be!

Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/151

I recently did a webinar on How to Grow your Business using marketing and one part of the webinar really resonated with my audience – Marketing in a Pandemic – what that looks like, how to do it and what tools are needed.

If you’re still marketing like you did 12-18 months ago – you need to step outside that comfort zone and push yourself to market differently.

So, being the repurpose queen – I thought I’d go through all 12 points here.

So, let’s get to it!

1. Show up! More than ever people want to connect with people – so are you showing up? Does your audience know who you are or just what you sell?  Do they know your brand values?  Your values?  Or just your logo and products/services.

Human to human marketing was important prior to 2020, but now, it’s not only important but powerful.

How are you showing up for your audience consistently?

2. Storytelling – let people into your world. Let people get to know you, trust you, like you. Share your stories – maybe stories about how you got to where you are now – the good, the bad, the darn right ugly, maybe it’s stories about how you are doing your very best every day, but you’re still human and sometimes life is crap or maybe you share 3 things your audience doesn’t know about you – just tell stories.  People won’t remember the product but they will remember the story.
3. Have a reach-out strategy – are you spending time on social media being social? Not just spending time on your own socials? Do you comment, like, share, tag on other people’s socials, in groups, sharing your love and giving value?  This is a non-negotiable these days.  A MUST do.
4. Give your audience/customers/clients reassure you are still here and still here for them. Many of your clients/customers are feeling very vulnerable, unsure, and other similar emotions, know you, the person they love and trust, is still there for them, when they are ready to buy or can buy (in some businesses circumstances) is important – actually, it has enormous power. Yes you might be feeling like you can’t show up, but showing up, in difficult times, will build rapport and trust, that won’t be quickly forgotten.  I guess, refer to point 1 above – show up!
5. Get creative – think outside the box with your marketing. Stop relying on what you’ve always done to get a better result.  Perhaps it’s time to think about marketing strategies that can help reach new people in new ways – such as being a podcast guest, start a podcast, do some marketing – as in paid marketing – maybe some PR – write some blogs and attempt to get them published or build that email list and go deep into email marketing.

PS – if you’re interested in PR as a strategy – go back and listen to episodes 14 and 70 of this podcast to learn more from the PR queen Jules Brooke. Her Handle Your Own PR platform is amazing.

You can listen to them in your fav podcast or go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/14 or www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/70

6. Ask questions – ask your audience some questions. What are they struggling with? How can you help them?  What do they need or what do they want?  Remember to listen to the answers!

Ask questions through your Instagram stories using the stickers or via polls on Facebook or LinkedIn.  You might be surprised at the answers your audience has for you that can help you strategically in your business.

Not to mention it’s great for engagement!

7. Up your socials anti! More people are on social media than ever before – so how are you getting in front of them, how are you engaging with them?  Do you need to look into different platforms where your audience is now hanging out?  Or just be more consistent?
8. Network – even outside your industry and outside your comfort zone. Instead of network with your own kind, network where your ideal customers are hanging out. Network online or offline – wherever you can.  Since the pandemic, I have joined several memberships to help grow my network.  Every Friday I meet with an amazing group of ladies for a virtual lunch – She’s the Boss is the membership – they are doing big/huge things, just listening to them makes me want to stretch my thinking and myself, I have also joined One Roof – those ladies are the pivot queens, love what they are doing and being involved in their community and I also joined Big Rural Ideas – to hang out with other rural ladies smashing their goals and building empires in the bush.

All these connections help me grow – both in business and in myself.

What have you done?

9. Improve your online presence – take a look at your Google My Business account you possibly haven’t touched in ages, re-draft your bio in Instagram or your story/about you part of Facebook, update your profile pics, cover photos, audit the #’s that you’ve been using for months (are they even working?) or perhaps do some SEO research to help your website improve it’s ranking for keywords.

Spend some time doing the things that never quite reach the top of the list.  Changing something by 1% might fill your funnel or help your lead generation more than 20 other things on your “to-do” list.

10. Deliver an amazing customer experience – surprise and delight your customers. You don’t know the power of surprise and delight until you’ve tried it. From attracting someone into your world to having them become a buyer of all things you do, what’s their experience like – where can you make improvements?

If you under promise and over deliver – you will build trust with your audience which will result in more profit.

11. Improve your strategy around gathering and using testimonials and reviews in your marketing. In fact do you have a strategy for them? If not, this is the most important thing you’ve heard today – get to it!
12. Re-examine your ideal customer, your offerings and your pricing strategy. The world we live in today is different – I don’t need to tell you that. So what do clients/customers need from you that’s different?  Who is your ideal client/customer?  Is it the person it was 18  months ago or have their needs/wants/roadblocks/problems changed?

Know who you are marketing to is fundamental to getting good results in your business – so just make sure you are marketing to someone who’s no longer interested in what you sell or perhaps no longer resonating with the language you are using to try and get their attention.

Lots of things to think about hey?

I hope this has got you thinking about what marketing in a pandemic looks like and how you are embracing it all.

What’s the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Is this you?  Are you doing this without even realising it?

Are you listening, like REALLY listening to your clients/customers needs, wants, problems?

Let me know in my Like Minded Business Owners group which one of the 12 above has stuck in your mind the most – or the one you need to take action on the most.  I’d love to hear more.

Or if you want to book a discovery call where we can see how I can help you further – do that!  Go to: http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn

But that’s it for ep 151. 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who’s doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content.

Massive love coming your way if you do!

See you next week on the podcast for episode 152.  But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!