Trusting Your Marketing In Unforeseeable Times

Each week I chat with my accounts representative at Google about the ads accounts I manage.  For the past two months we have never seen search data as it has been registering.  The peaks and valleys in the search term charts have been pretty unbelievable.  It’s been so unpredictable that even my Google rep also isn’t sure how to comprehend it and scrambling to help.  People will be searching for things in mass one day and then the next day not searching at all.

When 2020 began I was prepared for sharing content for helping you market your business during the chaos that comes with digitally marketing in an election year. The chaos that is social media, not Google searching.  

If you have been noticing that your marketing has not been converting or a significant dip in website traffic, your business is not the only one.  It can be frustrating when your marketing is not converting but this does not mean you should stop all of your marketing efforts.

Marketing your business is a marathon that is based on know, like, and trust.  The way to ensure that you are helping potential clients or customers know, like, and trust you is to keep consistently posting to both social media channels and the blog on your website. 

Each day is unpredictable but remaining consistent in your marketing shows that your business is serious and in this for the long haul. We are going to be in this situation for the foreseeable future, it is time to brainstorm and modify how we do business.

Even Google is having to modify and figure out how to accompany the new patterns of our internet searching. 

Why You Want To Focus Your Marketing On Where The People Are

Imagine Ariel from the Little Mermaid Singing, “I want to be where the people are…”  That song right now has so much context as we are sheltering in our homes.  

As humans, in general, we are programmed to be around people not isolated in our homes, and as business owners, most of us earn our living through in-person human interactions. 

In the last few weeks, we have been asked to shelter in place, practice social distancing, and modify our business to survive in a digital, little or zero actual human contact world.  I can see companies working hard to adapt to the future of a digital world. However, it can be frustrating when you work so hard on crafting the perfect social media posts, complete with a scroll stopping photo, and the catchy caption only to look at your analytics and see that it hasn’t reached anyone. Let alone the intended party of whom you posted to get in front of.

You are not alone in this. In the last few weeks, social media engagement for most industries on Facebook and Instagram has been down. When I first began to notice the dip, I deep dove into client analytics to see where if any traffic was coming from. The first steady stream of conversion was from their Pinterest accounts.

If your business hasn’t leveraged Pinterest yet or even has a presence, you are missing out on crucial conversion right now.  The migration of time spent off of Facebook has been happening for a few years now, but people are also spending less time on Instagram these days. There are a plethora of psychological hypotheses on this one, which is a topic for another time.

The other digital migration that has happened is people have been downloading the Tik Tok app like crazy.  Tik Tok is a great way to escape and watch short, somewhat mindless entertainment. If your business can maintain it entertainingly’s brand on Tik Tok, this is absolutely the time to download the app, create some content, and, if it’s well-received, begin to build a presence there. 

The point of all of this is to keep an eye on your website back end analytics because that golden nugget of data will tell you where exactly your people are.  And where your people are showing up is also where your business needs to be continuously digitally showing up. 

Recession Means Getting Back To Business Basics

Our current COVID-19 world is not business as usual. Many of our local businesses are closed or running on a limited or new business model; the word recession has come across our radar. If you were paying attention to the economy in late 2019, you also heard the word recession being thrown around as an omen for mid to late 2020. I asked Courtney of Homeroom, a Financial Strategist for Businesses, what are some things we can do now to prepare our businesses for a Recession. The following is contributed by her.

Jade asked me last fall (in 2019) to write a post about the general strategy for businesses during a recession. When I originally wrote this post, I obviously had no idea that we would be in the middle of a pandemic when the post was scheduled to be published. Given that we’re currently in the thick of it all -- and many business owners are wading through some real uncertainty (at best), it feels like perfect timing for this post, but also there is a caveat that needs to be given.

This is not like any other time we have EVER experienced. Yes, we’ve seen recessions before, and yes, we’ve had a worldwide pandemic before (~100 years ago), but we have never had either while we also have so much accessibility (for most businesses/people) to technology. These are quite literally unprecedented times! So while the bulk of the post that I wrote back in November is still relevant, it needs to be said that NOBODY knows what is going to happen in the coming weeks/months/years. It’s just as possible that our economy will bounce back as quickly as it halted, as it is possible that we will enter another worldwide depression. Obviously, the more likely reality is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

The point being is that there is no one cure for businesses. If anyone tells you they know what will happen next week or next month, and they have your business solution, be like Usain Bolt and RUN, far and fast. News changes not just by the day, but by the hour. As things develop, all of our businesses will be impacted, and nobody knows for certain the ripple effects (either good or bad) that will emerge in future months, years, or decades. Most importantly, there needs to be flexibility. We’ve seen things change at a moment’s notice, and those that are the most flexible and nimble will always find a way to float to the top.

What I had hoped to convey in my original writing (below), and what is still relevant today, are some tips that will be useful in any dramatic change to the economy.

Recession! It’s a scary word! And for good reason. 

I graduated from college in 2008. Many of my classmates couldn’t find a job, and some of their parents lost their jobs. Businesses were forced to cut expenses and downsize in order to survive -- and even worse, many small businesses didn’t survive. It took years for our economy to recover and for small businesses to finally bounce back to pre-recession numbers.

And now you’re thinking “Jade brought this clown into her blog, and she saw fit to scare me with nightmares of business’ past?! What gives?” And yes, it’s a grim picture, but fret not. I’m not here to fill you with fear. I’m here to give you hope.

Yes, of course when times are tough, it’s important to hit the books and re-strategize from a financial perspective -- but that’s likely to only get you so far. How do you stay sustainable? How do you keep the door revolving? Hint - it’s about really diving deep knowing the customers that are unique to your business (your target market).

The most pivotal element in creating a great business strategy is understanding the value of what you have to offer AND how it’s perceived/valued/used by your target market. In a recession, the latter is likely to change. Which means something in your business needs to change as well. And there are a few ways to start thinking about how your business will need to pivot.

1. Understand how your target market has changed (or is likely to change if your working on potential future scenarios)You’ll need to alter your marketing strategy to meet your target market in their current situation. In a recession, most consumer groups will tighten their belt. They are less likely to spend frivolously and even in large corporate situations, budgets will be scrutinized. You need to understand how tighter financial constraints are going to change the buying habits of your particular target market. Maybe it means simply altering your pitch -- you’ll speak about your value in different terms, or maybe it means altering what you offer -- perhaps bundling/packaging.
   

2. Change your target market and start to understand the new mindsetIf your pre-recession target market is no longer able to afford your services, you can’t keep begging them to come back. You’ll need to change who you’re talking to. Who is likely to value what you offer in a recession? How are they different? Does your marketing need to be altered to appeal to a new group?

As always, gaining a DEEP understanding of your target market is essential. People evolve. Customers evolve. Consumer behavior evolves. A recession is a jolt in buying habits. Instead of taking years to evolve, your current customers are likely to alter how they spend money in a matter of months. We’ll all keep our fingers crossed that the economy keeps steadily growing, but it’s always a good idea to hone your inner boy scout, and “be prepared”.

While all of this was a hypothetical scenario last fall, it’s real and relevant today. A few industries are thriving, but most businesses are reeling. It’s okay to take a moment and take stock.

It’s important to keep perspective, to know that things will continue to change.  Stay flexible, and keep your ear to the ground. Listen to your target market and respond authentically. If you have value to offer during these months, it’s okay to keep offering it. Be mindful of how your message is conveyed, but it’s important as a business to keep moving. Stagnation will likely result in a larger gap once the economy is moving all together again. If nothing else, it’s a great time to organize and create systems that you’ve never had time for in the past.

Also, know that we’re all in this together. Take care of yourself and your friends. Reach out to others to offer a (virtual) hand, and ask for help as you need it. Be safe, stay home (if you can), and keep moving. :)

Social Distancing & Your Business

After 9/11, I felt called to help my country. The next summer, I went to New York and worked at a foundation that helped kids who lost someone in the attacks. While this is not the same, I feel a similar calling to help my fellow business owners.

These current unfortunate circumstances have me feeling hopeful because while I have been saying it for years, there is no better time than the present to get to work on the virtual end of your business. We are entrepreneurs, adapting is one of our most powerful personal tools. We looked fear in the eye and started our business; this social distancing thing is yet another obstacle for use to pivot through.

It makes my heart so happy that so many businesses, while closed to the public and limiting their staff, have used their adaptive, creative entrepreneur mentality and started offering local 5-mile delivery or curbside online order pickup. As a personal example, I ordered potting soil from my local ACE Hardware online. I called the store to schedule a delivery because, on their social media, they had marketed that they will deliver your order to a specified mile radius.

Fortunately or unfortunately, my opinion on all of this is it will be the new way that small businesses will have to adapt to survive after we've flattened the curve and can go about our lives a little more freely. If anything is this just going to make that giant same-day delivery service located in Seattle more substantial. Your business will need to adapt now to flourish in the future.

Since I trust my gut on almost every decision that I make, I have decided to offer a few of my services at a significant discount. I've decided to provide this ensures more independent businesses come through on the other side and have a foundation started for what is to come.

Website SEO

Blog posts and back end enrich able SEO could help your business get seen right now. I am offering discounted rates on both of these services for businesses impacted by social distancing.  

Setting up a Virtual Store

I have been shouting from the rooftops for years to move parts of your business online. If you chose not to listen to that message and instead waited for a sign, this is your sign. Your product-based service can not survive today or in the future without having some products available for purchase online.

I am offering a discounted rate on loading an online store onto your Squarespace website or getting gift cards loaded on there for purchase. I also have experience setting up a Shopify store. 

Product Content Shoot

I get it you're not sure how to style your photos for an online store or social media. If your products can ship in a Flat Rate print postage from a home box, I will style and photograph them for you to use in your online store as well as in your social posts.  

I am offering 50% off of any of these packages until April 30th. For more information or to receive a quote, please contact me HERE.  

Maven and Muse Media is here to support you with whatever your digital needs are. We are going to get through this together. 

The Psychology of Social Media: A Personal Story

I fell into the social media comparison trap, me the professional woman who runs multiple businesses social media channels. Me, the woman who knows what happens behind the scenes of that ideally put together photo. Me, the woman who goes through multiple images to choose the perfect one to convey the message that needs to be told.

Over the holidays, the comparison took hold of my professional brain and swallowed me up. I’ve been trying my best to dig myself out of it. I meditated and saged, I drank all the water, and finally, I went to acupuncture to get my energy re-aligned.

Meanwhile, amid my social media mind fuck somewhere in Los Angeles, watching influencers in their wild habitat, I realized something that deep down I already knew. Successful digital marketing on social media comes down to selling one of two things, a lifestyle or a feeling. And reader, these two things are not the same. Assuming these two things are part of the formula on how successful marketing is achieved.

Social media can be an emotionally manipulative son of a bitch. I learned this early on, and I’ll admit that more often then not, I tend to use it to my advantage. Please hear me out, I don’t use these powers for evil or anything, but I do understand how the brain, photos, and words work.

As a business, you are not just selling a product; you are selling either a lifestyle or a feeling. Yes, you can sell both a lifestyle and a feeling, but psychologically you are not selling both to the same person in one post.

As an example, let’s use a candle manufacturer. You might think by trolling the 1000’s of candle manufacturers on social media that they are selling a lifestyle. Based on the initial views of their photos, it would appear that they are indeed selling a lifestyle. A lifestyle that includes a well lit, immaculately clean yet cozy, well-behaved children’s and hairless pet’s home.

The photo has caught your attention, and you want to feel like your home has it all together. You want to feel when you light this candle, your children will magically out of nowhere, put their toys away without you asking them. You want to feel when you light this candle like you are not vacuuming enough dog hair off of that chair by the window to create another dog, the hair is just magically going not to be there. You want to feel that your home is bright, sterilely clean, yet cozy and overall has it’s shit together. The only obstacle in the way of this fantasy home happening for you is you need to purchase this magical candle.

The magic candle is a similar trap that I found myself in. However, I feel deep into all those smiling families around the dinner table and captions talking about how amazingly close and perfect their family is. When in actuality, the chances that perfect family photo I couldn’t stop looking at, came right before or after some family dispute. Someone is most likely annoyed, and there’s probably a broken wine glass on the other side of the camera.

We have all inadvertently learned to be very good at posting the incredible and perfect to us photos and things happening in our lives, but what I want to see as a consumer and challenge my clients is a brand that posts their product in real life, not perfect social media approved scenarios once in a while. Our individual psychology needs that.

How Digital Marketing Changes In An Election Year

2020 is quickly approaching, and we are all most likely up to our knees for business planning for next year. One unique thing about next year is that it is also an election year, and election years can throw a wrench is business digital marketing campaigns. 

2020 will be my third election cycle as a digital marketing professional, and up until 2016, everything went pretty much as predicted. Candidates bash each other, supporters of said candidates share opinion pieces about the rival, yadda yadda. However, shortly after the New Hampshire primary in March of 2016, I watched the client’s customer bases leave Facebook with the droves leaving the night and day following when we learned who the nominees were. These people also did not log on or interact again on Facebook until well into 2017. 

At that point in 2016, it was just Facebook where the political advertising warfare was raging among the masses. Instagram was pretty much unaffected by the political advertising machine. Instagram, we were still seeing plenty of dog and latte posts with somewhat positive captions that the masses were even interacting with and again somewhat purchasing from businesses.  

The sales trend for purchasing non-essential products and booking services stayed statistically low, as is predicted during an election year. During election years, statistics show that consumers are more conscious of how they spend their money and are more apt to think twice before purchasing because the outlook financially for the next four years is uncertain.  

However, once Facebook jumping began, marketing plans were altered, and email marketing, SEO, and Pinterest became the focus. Which with these changes, businesses’ monthly marketing statistics stayed consistent as non-election years. People are not going to leave the internet because we live here now. People are, however, going to avoid places on the internet that suck for them. 

If Facebook and Instagram are the only marketing platforms that your business is focusing on, I’m sorry to tell you, but in 2020 they could let you down hard. Facebook has already said that they will not filter and will allow all kinds of political ads to be run. Since late September, I have already seen a dozen or more political all sorts of ads popping up on Instagram. This makes me believe that once the Iowa caucuses happen, Instagram will also become penetrated with ads, influencers, and those dogs and lattes photos we all love will be captioned with political comments. At which point, the cycle of leaving and logging off of social media until November 2020 will begin. 

With all that said, the key to running a successful digital marketing campaign during an election year is to be prepared for anything and focus on areas of directly connecting with customers via their inbox and their searches. What worked well for one month could very well not work the next month or as soon as the news cycle is updated. If this election is anything like 2016, we are all going to be opening up our apps to the wild world wide web together. 

Without The Likes, How Will I Know How My Social Media Post Is Performing?

The news of Instagram removing likes is mainly old news now. When the news first broke that the likes were going away, I surveyed my stories asking how people felt about it. Were business owners ecstatic that the like factor was going away, or were they upset that the likes would no longer be visible? To my surprise, it was a 50/50 split on how they were feeling.

The buzz around the likes was happening as I was sitting down with clients to discuss 2020 digital goals, and I kept getting asked the same two questions in different ways. Since you might have versions of the same issues, let’s discuss them now. 

“Without the likes, how will I know how my competition is doing?”

This is a loaded question because the likes on a social media post are not a direct correlation to how your competition is performing financially. I’ve said it before, and I will keep saying it, popular does not always pay the bills. I have known businesses whose accounts do not have the coveted 10k + following and are killing it in their bank accounts. And I also know businesses accounts with thousands of followers who are struggling to make ends meet. Tracking how your competition is doing based on the follower counts or likes on their social posts is irrelevant. You can never honestly know how your competition is doing or if they are financially your competition without seeing their profit and loss statements. From a marketing standpoint, stick to analyzing how your content is doing. Track your analytics and mindfully share more of the content your audience is telling you that they want from you. Your only actual competition should be striving to be better financially than where your business was last year at this time. 

“Without the likes, how will I know how my post is performing?”

The public might not be able to see your like count, but as the account owner, you still can while likes are one of the last things that should concern your marketing efforts I completely understand why they are essential to you. It feels good to know that people took the time to double tap on your post; however, to track if your marketing efforts are truly effective, you need to focus on conversion. The important statistics to you should be the conversions from social media to your website, sharing your post on their feed, or the conversion of someone reading and commenting or sending you either an email or direct message. Consider this, when you are out networking or selling your product in person, you are primarily marketing yourself. At these events, you can hand out all the business cards that you own, but the only way to be sure that someone ever really “sees” or “hears” you is if they convert that information and reach out to you on the contact information on your business card. 

Fighting an algorithm day in and day out is frustrating and exhausting. I completely understand that, however, the removal of post likes is not the end of the world. Likes have never paid your bills. Sure, clients/customers have liked your posts, but what made them a client/customer was clicking on your website to purchase a product or sending you a message to book your services. Look back at which post-converted them to click and be in direct contact with you, and keep doing more of that.  

Continue putting your best stuff out there, and remember that these are FREE platforms to use. We could all still be in a time where to be known or seen we would have to pay for an advertisement in a magazine. However, that’s a topic for another time.  

Why Customer Service Is The Best Business Strategy You Could Ever Have

There is a Maya Angelou quote that says, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

Customer Service is at the heart of any business, be it a product or a service provider your customer service needs to be on point because if it is you will be rewarded a hundred times over with new customers and continue to retain current customers.

I recently had one of the most incredible customer service experiences that I’ve had in a while, and it involved a record store and the holy grail for my vinyl collection.

If you follow along with me on social media that I am a huge Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks fan, you might also know that I am building out a 70’s rock vinyl collection and refurbishing a 70’s system to listen to said vinyl. A record that has been on my list for years and one that will finish out my Fleetwood Mac collection is a copy of “Buckingham Nicks,” the only album released by Stevie and Lindsay which helped Mick Fleetwood find them when he was looking for a replacement when Bob Welch left the band.  

I have searched every flea market, garage sale, estate sale, and record store to find this elusive personal holy grail of music. Still, every record store, estate sale, or flea market that I went into, I would look and every time come up short until I walked into a record store in Victoria BC.

Turntable Records is in the tourist hub known as Fan Tan Alley; I had zero expectations for this place. I figured that I would walk in dig a little bit and then walk out, my experience with record stores in tourist parts of cities is not all that great. I walked straight to the Fleetwood Mac section and started digging; there was a lot, so much early stuff that I thought well maybe. A gentleman with a sizeable dark mustache came over to me and said, “Rumours is way in the back.” I said, “Thanks, but I already have that. I’m looking for something else.” The next record that I flipped was the cover of “Buckingham/Nicks,” I held it up and said, “This is what I’m looking for.” His entire demeanor toward me changed, in his body language, I went from some American Fleetwood Mac fangirl that only knows Rumours to a woman who is invested in all the music and history of this band. The next thing he said .”You know that those are getting incredibly difficult to come across.” He opened it up and said, “let’s take a listen.”

It was amazing. I had never heard any of these songs before that moment because it is not something that you listen to on Spotify when Stevie’s voice started singing my eyes filled with tears because I had found it, in fantastic condition. This man was teaching me more about this record that I didn’t even know.  

Gary is the owner and the gentleman that was along with me for my Buckingham/Nicks journey. While he held the door open for me to walk out, I felt as if we should hug or something because we had just shared that experience.  

The Turntable offers plenty of excellent condition vinyl products, their tiny shop in Fan Tan Alley is stocked to the brim with it. The customer service that Turntable sells is the experience. Selling the type of experience they do replaces any marketing budget; a satisfied customer is the best business strategy you could ever have because they will forever tell people about you. 

The Struggle To Write A Social Media Caption

Every time I meet one-on-one with a business owner, a consistent struggle comes up one way or another, the effort to write a caption for social media.  

Many times I have heard, "I write something I hate it, I delete it, I write again and delete it. Get frustrated and don't post at all." OR "I'm afraid that whatever I post is going to screw everything up."

I get it; I'm right there with you, and I want you to realize that you are not alone in this. Somedays I also struggle with what to write on my social media because I'm so inundated in the updates on social media that somedays it is the last thing that I want to talk about. I realize that you are all here for those tidbits that you otherwise don't know and how to make those platforms work for you and not against you. Just like your clientele does not know everything about your industry or your product, they are looking to you to educate them on what you have to offer. 

You aren't going to screw everything up unless you write something hurtful to another person that gets shared and goes viral. Does anyone remember the tweet that blew up Justine Sacco's life? Writing things like that is what is going to screw everything up for you. 

Here are a few tips to help you through the captioning anxiety:

1. Remember that people read your captions in their tone, not yours. The tone confusion can happen if you are not posting a video, or they have never interacted with you in person to get a grasp on how you communicate IRL.

2. Learn how your target market communicates both on and offline and work on ways to communicate with them that way.

3. Findings have found that our attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish. Get to the point quickly or risk getting scrolled past. Write what you want then go back to edit to make sure you've gotten to the point.

4. Tweet how you want to be tweeted at or about. Every post you put up and comment response is a reflection of you and your business's customer service culture.

5. Be yourself. Write in a way to the person that if you meet a follower or customer IRL, they feel like they already know you once you begin talking.

Finding your business's voice takes some time, effort, trial and error, but I am confident that you can do it. 

Why Keeping Your Social Media And Digital Marketing Up To Date Is Important For Your Business Health

One of the accounts I work with is a user-generated content account where I repost content from paying community members, as an additional way to market for them. Right now, these accounts are smack dab in the middle of their busy season. They aren’t keeping their channels updated because they are so busy running their business. Not updating is entirely understandable. You, as a business owner can not wear all the hats, run the business, write content, and post the content all while taking care of themselves, their families, and their other personal commitments. Something has to give, and most of the time, I have noticed that it’s their digital marketing that gets put on the backburner.

While this is an understandable situation, I am here to advise against this happening too often to you. There are inexpensive and even free resources to keep your accounts up to date; it just needs some planning in advance and setting aside a few hours during the week to update the scheduling applications.

In this day in age, we all as customers have become accustomed to interacting and engaging with a brand on we feel like we know them in real-life level. We think of brands as a part of us and the smaller ones we might even feel a personal connection with the owner.

The flip side to this is that it could be attracting other new people to your feeds via locations, hashtags, and search terms. If these new people visit your feed, see that you have not posted in months or longer, they may scroll right past you and choose to do business with someone who is keeping their feeds up to date and current.

Both of these situations are not ideal for your business because, in a world where our attention span is about three seconds, a society we are continually fed content from every direction existing and customers could forget that you even exist if you are not staying at their top of mind.

A few suggestions to avoid this situation from continuing to happen to you, invest in either a free or a paid social media scheduling platform, schedule time on your calendar to write and schedule your posts. Or hire out the workload to a social media manager.

Every single business has a busy season. The trick to keeping existing customers as well as enticing new customers to conduct business with you is to maintain your social media presence.