Whether you want to believe it or not, businesses are dying everyday in the world. Saying “It is not my portion” is not the antidote. Running it with knowledge and putting in the proper work will greatly increase your chances of longevity and profitability.
From my 17 years experience, I can assure you that the worst thing that can happen to a business is “silence”. Once people are not talking about you, sh*t is about to go down!
Ok! Let’s go into the details.
The main purpose of marketing, for example, is to stimulate curiosity and interest from conversations about the business. It’s those conversations that lead to conversion.
There are 4 different conversations your business should be stimulating regularly:
1. “What are these guys really up to again?” This is usually the result of your innovative campaigns. You achieve this when you drive these conversations by “how” you promote using the available media at your disposal.
Businesses have existed and thrived for millenia before social media was born but this is the age of social media, therefore you must optimize it.
However, the principles behind all forms of media remain very similar – getting the eyeballs (or ear drums) and stimulating the conversations.
Innovative Videos, live conversations, regular blog posts, TV and radio appearances, podcasts and more.
2. The second type of conversations that must happen for your business is referrals and mentions. These are essential conversations that, even without the first one I mentioned above, can keep your business alive. It may not get you millions of eyeballs like when you promote but it can get you enough traction to pay your bills.
How do you create this?
You get mentions and referrals by:
a. Fulfilling your brand promise (those who attended my last webinar will remember this). Do all you can to give your first and every client the best experience. Make sure you restitute when you fail but let the general conversations around you be positive. People will talk about you when they are happy with you.
b. Create a community around your business: People are happy to also talk about you if they feel like a part of what you’re doing. This has worked for Print Doctor Africa since 2019. Many of our clients have become like family. Although we don’t flaunt this in the open, some of my finest encouragement has come from conversations from these people who have become family members. During COVID-19 lock down, we had Zoom sessions to encourage one another and also to prepare one another for post lockdown life.
3. Feedback: The third and equally important conversation around your business is feedback. As a business owner, don’t leave this to chance. Don’t wait till people feel like talking to you before you get feedback from them. There must be a system for documented feedback at every time. Some of these include:
a. Reviews: Use videos for individual reviews that you would use for promotion. Specialised review platforms help you with data and ratings and I prefer these because they are scientific and can help you in the long run. Google does a great job),
b. Surveys: If you have a loyal community, surveys can help you see the truth about how you are really doing. Never get to the point that you believe you’re doing well because you think so. Take the initiative to hear from your clients with a structured, measurable documented system.
4. The other method is CONTROVERSY. Controversy brings eyeballs like you can’t predict.
I’ve never tried this because it is out of character for me but I can tell you that it works. Maybe I would try it one day but I’m not recommending it if you can’t stand the heat from social media. The humans of social media will come hard for you but the author of the controversial write-up is usually the winner in the end.
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Tell me in the comments section what you will do differently today to stimulate conversations about your business.
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