I have a plea for you and to all small business owners.  My plea is both out of love and, if I’m honest, a little frustration, but mostly love because I know we can all do better.

But first, some background as to why I am a tad frustrated.

I write a lot of blogs and social media posts for small businesses.  It’s not something I necessarily offer as part of my service, but it is something I find myself doing a lot of lately as part of being a member of the local business chamber committee. And I cannot tell you how many times I am attempting to write a blog or a social media post to promote a small business on my platform or from my town and I cannot, simply cannot, get enough information from the internet to do so.  There’s not enough information on their website (if they have one that is!), nor is there is enough information on their social media sites, such as Facebook or Instagram.

I can’t find basic information like, who the business owner is, when the business started, where the business is located and do not even get me started when trying to find a photo of the actual business owner or their team – that is almost impossible.

I really, really hope with hand on heart, that I am not talking to you.  I hope that if I needed to write a blog or social media post about your business that I could find the basic information and find a lovely high res photo of you and/or your team to complete the exercise.

But if you are now quietly thinking “hmmm, I think I need to double-check what info is out there!”, then I am 100% talking to you!

Human to human marketing is something I talk about A LOT in my life as a marketer.

Human to human marketing is so vitally important to your business because to get customers who keep coming back time and time again and customers who refer business to you, they have to be able to get know, like (Love) and trust you.

And they one thousand percent cannot do that, if you are never showing up online for them.

Not sharing stories with them, not letting them into the world of you and your business.

I guess one “argument” to this is that perhaps you’re just a small business who operates in your town and you don’t see the need to have an online presence because you are perhaps busy enough or think your customers or clients aren’t on social media or the internet (uummm, do you really know someone who’s not on the internet?).

You don’t really think that – I know you no one reading my blogs, or listening to my podcast really thinks that.

If you have a small business owner who is serious enough about business to listen to a business podcast to learn more, to get better at what you do, then that argument would not fly with you! You know you need to have an online presence and a social media presence.

And while we might not like it, we know we need to!

So, with that argument squashed, how can you up the ante on your online presence? Get more and be more human online?  Great question – so glad you asked or so glad I asked for you!

Here’s just 3 simple tasks for you to do.

1. IMAGE NAMING – Make sure your photos of you are attributed to you online. How? By making sure any photos you upload online are named you. Seems so simple doesn’t it but if you are uploading photos that are saved as, for example, image 974720 – and not Jenn Donovan sitting on a fence surrounded by her chickens, then google doesn’t know who’s in the photo. So whether you are uploading photos to your website, someone else’s website, your socials, your google account, wherever, include your name in the file.  Give some googlish love to yourself!
2. GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE – Talking about google, regardless of whether or not you have a website, have a google Business Profile Manager (previously called Google My Business). The name may have changed and a few features, but if you don’t have a google business profile, then head back to my podcast episode 85 – socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/85 and listen to that episode.  No matter the size of your business, this is super important.
3. SHOW UP – Have a photo shoot, take some photos yourself, do some video – short, long, big, small – voice over a post or two, contact your local newspaper or radio station and get them to do a feature of you, change your bio on social media, make the About section of your website actually about you and your business and tell us stuff about both! I cannot stress this enough – show up.  Slowly but surely embrace showing up.

How I have a challenge to you:

Google yourself!

Go to google and type in your name, see the results and then type in your business name and see the results.  Click images in google and see what images are attributed to you and to your business name – what did you find? Loads? Nothing? Bearly anything? Regardless of the result of these searches, I want you to embrace showing up.

I want anyone who is looking for the face of your business to be able find you easily.

I want anyone who wants to write a blog, article or even Facebook post to promote your business to be able to find our things like, who you are, how long you’ve been in business, what you sell, what you are passionate about, what you stand for and of course, how to buy from you.

And I want them to find this information quickly and simply.

Perhaps in one or two clicks.  If they can’t then, as a marketing business strategist, I have to say that you aren’t doing your job well enough as the business owner!

Saying you are too busy to market your business, too busy working in the business to work on the business, just can’t keep flying these days in the digital world we need to inhabit… we are beyond that.  Your community is beyond that. You are beyond that.

So, as this blog is titled, this is my plea for you.

Please make getting to know, like and trust you a simple.

Please make buying from you simple.

Please make knowing who you are, what you stand for, and what things we have in common with you, simple and easy to find!

Deal? Fab-u-lous!

Got questions or thoughts?  Get in touch or head to the Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners and share with everyone over there. Or if you want to chat, get in touch.  Email me jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn – I would love to hear from you.

If you know you need clarity and help to build your marketing strategy, head to https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery to book a call with me, and we can have a chat!

CONTACT JENN:

I would love for you to book a free discovery call with me to talk about how I can help your nail your business goals, planning, strategy and marketing! Simply click the link and grab a spot!

My Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group is also a great community to join – full of awesome people in small business!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn, or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s an expert marketing coach and mentor from rural NSW. She is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  Not only is she a sought after expert on all things marketing for Small Business, she is a keynote speaker, author, was the Founder of Buy From a Bush Business and a Co-Founder of Spend With Us e-commerce marketplace, and is the host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple and Stories from the Bush. Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan