Small Biz Success Tips – Since 2012

Tag: small business consultant

Get Inspired by this Brilliant Product Idea from Bauble Bar

I love creative product ideas, and this Pixar Toy Story Mr Potato Head stacking ring from Bauble Bar is brilliant. It lends to the nature of the Mr. Potato Head product, merged with a stacking ring, which have been so trendy the last few years. Plus, it makes a perfect gift for the Toy Story fan.

 

© 2022 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.

How to Do a Monthly Marketing Audit

Are you planning, auditing and reviewing your marketing efforts each month?

My top-selling Marketing Planner offers a more comprehensive plan, audit and review, but I thought I would offer a condensed one for those who feel overwhelmed by marketing. So let’s keep it simple.

Step 1 : Set Your Marketing Goals for the Month

Your marketing goals and objectives need to be specific and measurable, such as:

  • Increase Instagram followers by 1,000.
  • Create a new ad campaign for Facebook to drive traffic to my website.
  • Grow email list by 500.
  • Increase overall site traffic this month by 30%.
  • Create a promotion for Valentine’s Day.
  • Launch a new product via email and social media.
  • Increase overall sales this month by 20%.
Step 2: Create a Tactical Plan

Goal: Increase Instagram followers by 1,000.

Tactical Plan: 1. Run a giveaway every Friday asking people to like and share the post and tag three people in the comments; 2. Boost one of my  Instagram posts that had a high engagement to my target market; 3. Post a fun reel showing how to use my product as reels have twice the engagement.

Step 3: Results of Goals & Plan

Goal: Increase Instagram followers by 1,000.

Result: 460 new followers.

What Worked: The giveaway brought the majority of the new followers.

What Didn’t Work: The reel brought engagement but not new followers.

What To Do Differently Next Month: Make the giveaway post a reel, and that is also the post to boost.

Step 4: Overall Marketing Review

This is where you chart your monthly results, so you can compare to last month and to next month. This should include:monthly marketing audit

  • Sales
  • Expenses
  • Profit
  • New Customers
  • Traffic
  • Email Subscribers
  • Social Media Follwers
  • Ad Spending
  • Ad Results

My 5-page Monthly Marketing Audit makes it easy to plan, review and evaluate your marketing each month. Again, you do not need this if you already have my Marketing Planner.

⭐ I need products to feature (for free) on OnlineShopLove.com so please email me a product link to attentiongetting{at}gmail.com. Photos must be high quality to be considered. Thanks!

 

 

 

© 2021 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Monthly Marketing Audit.

Low Sales? This Might Be Why

I consult for hundreds of small business and e-commerce clients each year. I had an Etsy client a while back, who was so focused on Etsy SEO and felt it was the only key to their success on the platform. They were wrong.

I did some SEO work for them, and did manage to get their listings on the first page of search results. However, their traffic and sales did not increase. As a consultant, I tried to explain to them why, but sadly they just didn’t want to listen.

Here were the REAL reasons for their low sales:

  1. They were selling a product that was in a dying market. Looking at Google Trends, I showed them that searches for the product had steadily decreased over the last five years, with demand now one-fifth of what it was 5 years ago.
  2. They were in a saturated market with not only many competitors, but also many people offering their product for free (it was a digital product). Low product demand combined with a lot of competitors is never a good mix.
  3. Even though I managed to get their listings on the first page of results, they did not see an increase in traffic because they were not getting click-through. They were not getting click-through because their product photos looked exactly like their competitors. They were not doing anything different in terms of the product offering, so they did not stand out.

 

The moral of the story. Sometimes, the problem is simply what you are selling. Not your SEO, not your marketing, but the product itself. If you don’t accept this, you will continue to have low sales.

I will give you another example. I have a client that sells scented candles. At the time, they were a new shop and things were taking time to get going. In doing my research for them, I saw a breakout Google search for a particular scent. They didn’t have this scent in their shop, so I recommended they add one in, especially since there were only 200 listings for this type of scented candle on Etsy at the time. They took the advice, we optimized the listing for SEO and the candle quickly became a best seller for them.

The demand was high and the competition was low. That combined with good SEO does mean success!

Sometimes the solution to your business problems can be quite simple. If you wish to discuss any issues your business is having, please set up a phone consultation with me.

 

 

 

© 2021 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Low Sales? This Might Be Why.

8 Keys to a Successful Business

Here are my 8 keys to a successful business as well as the hard facts. THERE IS NO MAGIC SECRET. Anyone who tells you there is, is lying. If you expect success to come quickly and easily, you might as well stop now (but don’t).

Key to a Successful Business #1: Believing It Will Be Successful

It doesn’t matter if anyone else does, it only matters that you do. Negativity and doubt breed negative results.

Key to a Successful Business #2: Work Hard

I don’t know anyone who is successful and didn’t have a long, hard road getting there. Expect to invest endless hours in your business, especially in the beginning. But once you have a steady customer base and a good reputation, things will come easier.Keys to a Successful Business

Key to a Successful Business #3: Be Patient

Nothing happens overnight, and you really don’t want too much success too quickly if you are not prepared to handle it. That can hurt your business. So set goals you wish to achieve daily, monthly and yearly and see those as a measure of success to stay motivated.

Key to a Successful Business #4: Be Willing to Change

I am constantly reminded of the famous quote, “Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results“. If your current marketing efforts are not working, why keep doing them, try something else.

Keys to a Successful Business

This art print is from LuciusArt on Etsy

Key to a Successful Business #5: Stop Compaing

I get this a lot. Why is this company that does the same thing I do, so much more successful? It could be a variety of reasons. First to market always helps. Maybe they have a large friends and family referral business. Maybe they had a personal contact at a major publication that brought substantial publicity. Maybe it’s just pure luck. Who knows for sure. Forget about them and focus on you. I have competitors, we all have competitors, but it is a large marketplace and you can carve out your own niche.

Key to a Successful Business #6: Take Advice

I have a lot of clients who come back to me asking why they are not getting results, only to find out they did not implement all the tactics I suggested, probably because they are hesitant to change (read #4 again). The truth is, you are not objective about your own business as you are just too close to it. So if you pay for professional advice trust what they are saying to do and do it.

Keys to a Successful Business

Key to a Successful Business #7: Invest in Your Business

Whether it is consulting services, advertising, graphic design, SEO, and so forth, you have to spend money to make money. If you are not willing to invest in your business, you are not serious about it.

Key to a Successful Business #8: Don’t Give Up

Failure is part of being successful. Everyone fails, the difference is successful people keep trying, they don’t give up.

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© 2012-2015 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Keys to a Successful Business