20 Ways to Celebrate Women’s History Month

March is Womenโ€™s History Month when the world celebrates the many contributions of women everywhere. If youโ€™re not sure how to celebrate, we have some ideas for you and your business. 

For the ideas in this article, think across multiple mediums to add content on your blog, in videos, reels, podcast episode, audio quotes, social media posts, etc. The same content can be repurposed in different formats to ensure everyone can find their favorite way to enjoy it.

20 Ways to Celebrate

Here are a few ways you can show your support for women:

  1. If youโ€™re a woman-owned business, tell your story and the challenges you overcame to open your doors. 
  2. Share a story about a woman who inspires/inspired you.
  3. Tag women who inspire you in pictures on social media (but make sure you know them personally).
Read the rest

Engagement = Content: Good for You and Your Audience

Whether you are a business or a nonprofit, operating in the public sector or the private one, serving businesses and organizations or serving individuals, established in your sector or just starting out, running an empire or โ€œlone wolfingโ€ it, your audience wants to get to know you better.

In fact, they expect it.

So, what does that look like and how does that benefit you?

It depends on your ideal demographic, but most of the things weโ€™ll cover in this article, will work for everyone. Good content creates loyal, engaged followers. In turn, a loyal audience (eventually) will create content for you. Best of all, that type of content, known as referral marketing or word of mouth marketing, is not only one of the strongest in converting new followers and creating an army of people willing to give you money, it is also free, minus the time it takes to nurture that type of follower.… Read the rest

6 Ways to Promote Value in Your Products & Services

This morning, the headline inflation is at a 40-year high hit me before my coffee did. If youโ€™re like me, and millions of other businesses, youโ€™re probably caught between the idea of raising your prices to cover the increase in your own costs and providing your loyal customers with good value. 

Itโ€™s difficult these days. I see many business owners apologizing for raising prices, but it canโ€™t be helped. You need to make a profit to remain in business, yet your customers are likely struggling too. Thatโ€™s why now, more than ever, you need to communicate the value behind your products and services. 

Hereโ€™s how:

Communicating Value to Your Customers: 6 Solid Ways

Talk About What Theyโ€™re Getting

When Little Caesars Pizzaยฎ recently raised their prices, they didnโ€™t focus on the 11% price increase, nor did they justify the increase by marketing the message of how many years their price had remained the same (since they began in 1997).… Read the rest

4 Ways to Attack (and Attain) Your Business Goals

When you run your own business, youโ€™re the person deciding on the direction. Youโ€™re in control of start dates and marketing promos. Youโ€™re the one who must hold yourself back from the shiny object syndrome. 

And yet, so many of us fail on that last one and itโ€™s easy to understand why.

Open your social media feeds or search on the internet for business advice and youโ€™ll find dozens of articles that tell you what you need to be doing for your business this yearโ€”things you need to implement, apps you need to download, widgets needed on your website, and a host of other projects you would be remiss not to implement immediately.

And they all sound so wonderful. Things your audience will love, will drive more sales, help you become better known. … Read the rest

What Customers Want Post-Pandemic

The results of a recent survey commissioned by GoDaddy and conducted by OnePoll of 2,000 Americans and what they want from small business going forward, shouldnโ€™t surprise business owners. But if youโ€™ve been thinking that some of the things you did for safety purposes can be phased out once we start beating the numbers on this virus, you may be in for a rude awakening.

Just like our kids on summer vacation, our customers have gotten used to a certain way of life and they expect businesses to help them maintain it. 

What Customers Want

First, customers appreciated how most small businesses changed their offerings and ways of doing business with the pandemic. 

Here are the eight things that are most important to buyers:

  1. Contactless payment options
  2. Curbside pickup
  3. Online stores
  4. Self-checkout
  5. Virtual/digital loyalty cards 
  6. Mobile apps
  7. Ordering ahead online
  8. QR code menus

Not surprisingly, 68% of respondents said they would shop from small local stores more often if they could purchase items online.… Read the rest