3 Steps That Will Grow Your Small Business
You are living in an attention recession.
I, personally, have found myself often sifting through Facebook with no goal. I’m not looking for anything. I didn’t pick my phone out of my pocket for any real reason other than to pass the time.
Out of nowhere, Facebook comes in and steals my attention. 2 hours later, I’ve sunk into the couch, eyes glazed, brain fuzzy and I’m late for cooking dinner.
Who benefits from this?
Besides the obvious being the social media company, it’s the businesses that are hiding behind your screen. I can guarantee that they have an arsenal of content that has been designed specifically for you.
The difference between getting sucked in or not is based on how good the business’ marketing team is.
A common misconception that businesses have is that all they need to do is push out information. If that doesn’t seem successful enough then they will put a freebie and a dog on the front cover and think that that is what it takes to attract their customer.
Yes, that will work once because a lot of people like dogs, but then when you are past the charm of the dog and that unnecessary freebie, those potential customers will become uninterested in your business. That tiny interaction amongst the wealth of other interactions they will have in that 2-hour timeframe is nothing in comparison.
Customers won’t have a pull to you. They have no desire to become a supporter of your business. Yes cute but no, not effective.
Instead, successful marketers are learning that they are driving, or creating (as Seth Godin puts it), tribes. We are connecting a group of people with an idea that they like. Let’s take Zappos for example. Why is Zappos so effective? There are so many other shoe companies around the world, why is this one the one that stands out. It’s because they created a space for like-minded people to come together and discuss the thing they all have in common - the love for shoes. Therefore that audience becomes reliant on Zappos for this space and in turn becomes a dedicated following.
What those businesses are doing is that they are:
Creating a need
Meeting that need with a healthy degree of reliance
Guiding and leading
So where do we go from here? How can you apply this to your business?
Step one: Understand why people need your product or service
To answer this question, you might also need to workshop and lay out everything it is that you are doing within your business and understand why it is important. What would happen if someone didn’t have your service? Why is that an issue? These are all questions that, if you can answer well, will form the foundation of your marketing and sales activities. It’s how people will realise that they need your business and become invested in keeping you (your business) alive for their benefit.
Step Two: Create a place where your target audience can communicate and gather
If these people want to talk to you for information or support, where do they go? Where can they meet like-minded people? It’s up to you to provide this support system so that the reliance on your business is increased. It’s also just a genuinely great way to create a community in such a disconnected society. This might look like a Facebook discussion group or a group that meets up every month. Building relationships with your customers is never a bad way to go about business.
Step Three: Lead People
If any leadership conference has taught me anything, it’s that creating confidence in the people you are leading is one of the most important attributes. Inspire innovation, create and pursue great things, but always put your customers first because, without them, you won’t have a business. If a Facebook discussion group is what it will take to connect your customers and you have the capacity to lead them by giving them regular updates, interesting content and direct access to your support, there is absolutely no reason this is not a good idea.
Think about who it is that you engage with and think about why you do that. If you want your business to be successful, simple Facebook posts are not the way anymore.
I assure you that if your competitors know what it takes to embrace their customers and build lifetime value customers, your business will suffer.
