While during the current pandemic, everybody is very aware of their surroundings. And if you are operating a small business during these times of stay home orders, state lock downs and business closures, you know these are very challenging times to say the least.
  Now there are several ways you can make sure your business survives the pandemic. All business should take action now to create lasting, positive effects once a sense of "Normalcy" resumes.
    Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all other social media channels to let the world know, that you are open for business. Offer discounts to incentivize people to buy now. A lot of people are hurting financially, and would definitely appreciate an affordable discount on goods and services. If you do not sell online, you should still promote offers online. Use creative design messaging to look like coupons or vouchers. You also want to implement location hashtags, before you upload designs to social media.
     Take this time to also update your business profile, and your header images. Make sure you post daily, so you can stay TOP-of -Mind in awareness to your customers. Consider a cadence of posting which entertains, and educates your target reader. Americans are on mobile devices more than ever now, take advantage of that captive audience.
    One last thing I would like to add, Now is the perfect time to establish your own You Tube channel. Practice doing short videos in front of your computer, then teach yourself how to edit the videos. Youtube would be a great way for you to establish yourself, as an expert in your field. 
  That's all for now, stay say safe from this Covid-19 virus, WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS!!

  Of course you already know, Facebook has well over a billion monthly active users. It is the largest and most powerful social media platform in the world. Now taking advantage of this, can be a difficult challenge. For 2020, It is very important to take advantage of this platform, it is the best investment for building your brand, and bringing more customers to your business. 
   There are a lot of ways to target your ads on Facebook. As an initial strategy, targeting audiences using categories like age, gender or interests can yield great results. To get the most out of your campaigns, it is best to build custom audiences based on which types of users produce the most profit for your company. To speed up the custom audience targeting, you can upload a list of your leads or customer email addresses. Now there are several advantages to this sort of database marketing. You can effectively use the database to turn facebook into a retargeting platform. This is a smart way to reinforce your overall marketing strategy.
  You can also create a "lookalike" audience that targets users with similar profile characteristics to the ones in your database. When you create "lookalike" audience, you choose a source audience( which is a custom audience created with information pulled from your web pixel, fans of your page, or even an app). Then the ad is delivered to an audience of people who are similar to them.
   Now "Video Ads" are another strategy, and these can run in News feeds and Stories, and can also appear as in-stream ads in longer FB videos. Video ads show your product or service in action, and allows you to make more of an emotional connection with people you are targeting. 
   Lastly, I want to tell you about "Dynamic Ads", these ads allow you to promote targeted services or products. These ads will be relevant to the audience most likely interested in them. For example, if someone has visited a product page, or placed a product in their their shopping cart on their website, but then abandoned the purchase, "Dynamic Ads"  will place that exact product in their News Feed. This reminds customer to complete purchase, and can be a very effective Facebook strategy. There is a lot of Facebook content online, during these tough times it would be good to study the Facebook Advertising platform, and see how you can use it as a competitive advantage for your business. CHEERS!!!!!!

   So, how many people really paid attention to accounting in college. What do you do? When you are a small business, and can't afford an accountant. There are several iterations of accounting software out there. However, it is a good idea to find software, that serves more than one purpose. It can be difficult to know where to start, figuring out which solutions offer the features you need. You also have to decide whether the software is geared toward startups, or better for an enterprise solution.
   How do you identify which solution is best for your business. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Identify your needs
2. Be honest about your budget.
3. Research for features that meet your needs.
4. Pick a solution that will help scale your company.
 
   Be realistic about the solution that's best for your business. Cause you definitely don't want to have to switch software in 6 months, so it is very important to find which accounting software is best for your business. And one thing to remember, is if you are running a subscription based business model, make sure you find a software solution that can send out recurring invoices.

   You know you need to focus on bagging the right customers for your business, you just are not quite sure if you are doing it right. You probably do not even know if the current marketing you are doing is helping your business at all. Here are some of the current things you should be focusing on.

1. Reach a targeted audience with solid messaging.
2. Set yourself apart from your competitors.
3. Set and maintain a marketing budget.
4. Develop a cohesive Marketing Strategy  model.
5. Track your performance and ROI.

As a small business owner, you must be able to reach potential customers that are in proximity to your location. A lot of businesses are trying to be like Fortune 500  companies, when they need to just focus on a Hyper-local level in their neighborhood.  Customers today want the same things customers wanted a generation ago. They are looking for products and services to solve their problems and personalized service. These are the things small businesses excel at and that set them apart from bigger competitors. 
   If you are a small business owner, ask around your community if you can leave marketing collateral with your branding on it. Offer to do the same for them in return. I personally am always looking at local community message boards, and rack cards, with with branding from local businesses in the area. 

    Customer testimonials are very important in establishing trust, and integrity for your business. It adds content to your site, and helps your business look more valuable to potential customers. Testimonials not only help you market your services, they're an opportunity to connect with your audience on an emotional level. There are neurological studies which all confirm that people rely on emotions-not logic- to make decisions.
  At the heart of your testimonials are stories, characters who had a problem or unfulfilled desire, and and found the solution in your business. Stories are scientifically proven to tap into our brains in a unique way.
   Customer testimonials are an essential part of building your online business. They help greatly with the conversion rate of visitors to your business website. A lot people don't realize how hard it can be to persuade someone to open their wallet, testimonials are the most important thing that helps potential customers mitigate as much risk as possible. They make people feel more comfortable making a purchase if they know people have made the same purchase for similar reasons.
    One good way to get those testimonials and positive reviews started, is to offer customers, and potential buyers a discount to write something about their buying experience with your business. It can be tempting to have people write fake reviews about your business, however most times this will backfire.  Shoppers are getting better and better at discerning businesses with fake reviews, so please do not go down that road. Good luck with that Holiday traffic this year. Make sure to keep your business Top-of -Mind in your customers heads.

    LinkedIn has to be the best platform for establishing a B2B client base. This platform is a great way to target your ideal customer. I normally focus my efforts on Facebook and Instagram, now that I am becoming more familiar with the B2B marketing landscape, I have found that LinkedIn is a better way to go. Even the Freemium version is great, because you can attract followers and build brand awareness by posting content on your free profile.
   Success for any business really depends on their customer base, and potential supplier base. LinkedIn offers connection to both. Any business can raise and develop its brand awareness, while also taking advantage of advanced search. Also, very professional talent throughout the world uses LinkedIn, and the platform makes it incredibly simple to connect with potential employers.
    As with any social media network, it can be used to deliver traffic to your website and any landing pages you have created. A professional LinkedIn company page is an outlet that can help engage shareable content that your audience finds relevant and beneficial. It is superb at educating potential clients and building a repository of businesses to keep a dialogue with. 
   After the first of year, I will be upgrading to their premium service. It is a must because cold calling potential clients is getting harder and harder every year. It is not that I am giving up calling people over the phone, however it is important to always look for other ways to find potential clients.
    
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   It is well known in the merchant services industry, that there has been numerous problems with businesses being able to trust there merchant service provider. Due to companies like Amazon encroaching on small business market share everyday, it is important that brick and mortar storefronts maximize revenue per square footage. Usurious merchant service fees can eat into those profits really quickly. 
   The vetting process for the right merchant service company can be very daunting. It is important that the company you work with understands your business type. And also is in alignment with the same the same core values, and business goals as your business. The merchant service companies that are providing the most value, are constantly trying to be creative in making sure their customers are taken care of. Due to more federal regulation, merchant service providers can't be disingenuous about what they are providing customers. 
    When choosing your next provider, make sure you check out their social media presence using SWING BLADE, and also be diligent in reading reviews about their experiences with past customers. Ask for references from current businesses they are working with. I felt that this would be a good subject to talk about, cause at the end of the day, money saved on merchant fees can be deployed elsewhere to help the business.

   In today's hostile competitive retail environment, it is important to win the loyalty of your customers, so they can be associated with your brand for a longer period of time. You have to find ways to better serve your customers, a couple of the ways is to give customers the ability to go from chat to your support inbox when they have a question. Then provide them with documented best practices to make the most of their experience with your product or service.
   It is important to retain customers, because customer churn is truly disappointing to witness. It sucks when you spend a lot of time, and tracking on a single customer to get them to the purchase stage, only to lose them to a bad experience with your product of service. If you keep track of your cost of acquisition, this can be particularly painful. No business wants to spend more money acquiring a customer than they will pay over their lifetime as customer.
When customers churn, you also lose the opportunity to learn and glean insights into what might have made your service or product better.
   A good customer retention strategy bridges the gap, and makes communication easier between the business and the customer. 

  It is very important at some point, to do a short informative video for your business or Brand. Videos are a great way to build content, and market a consistent message for your company. It took us many, many years to finally do a video for our biz1 Media. And although it is a short 16 seconds, it gets our companies point across, and also offers a call to action to potential clients.
  You want to define your video strategy in 3 simple steps. First, in order to create the most effective content, you need to think about the basics. From your goals to your distribution plan. The first question you ask yourself.
Should you produce video in house or outsource?
Also think about writing a powerful and engaging script for your video. This will make all the difference in ensuring your video meets its goals and guidelines.
  Once you get the basics down, always research new video formats and technology, this will allow you to take your video to the next level. Consider how you can expand your horizons, by incorporating advanced functionality and adding new platforms in the mix. 
    Most important of all, video content helps with the overall Seo value of your website. Googles algorithm loves video, and we do not see that changing any time soon. So get with your people and formulate a plan to do a video for your business. This will also help with building a creative process that promotes a more creative culture.

  I just want to start out by saying that it costs a business 5-25X more to acquire a new customer, than it does to sell to an existing one. Existing customers spend 67% more than new customers. In the long run customer loyalty programs end up paying for themselves.
  It is very important as a small business owner, you really need to have a strategy in place to keep customers returning to your business. 82% of adults say they are loyal to brands that they like. I personally use my Panera Bread (TM) loyalty program the most, because I love their pastries. I definitely end up spending more money with the company.
  Customer loyalty is a customers willingness to buy from, or work with, a brand again and again. Its the result of a positive customer experience, customer satisfaction, and the value of the products or services the customer gets from the transaction.