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3C Digital

Digital Marketing for Small Business

Community Management

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3 Ways to start building your community

Ways to start building your community

  1. Know your people
  2. Focus on your audience
  3. Be a good source of info
  4. Respond to their inquiries online
  5. Participate in your local community

Building a community around your small business will not only attract new customers but also encourage long-time followers to your brand. There is something to be said about wanting a community, especially when the biggest of brands are doing it too.

The hard part, however, is starting. Here are three ways to help you start building your community today.

Know your people

No one else knows your business and what you can provide more than you. Have a think about what you stand for, what your business stands for and what kind of people you want to attract. Having a specific focus of audience will help you reach them more, instead of trying to reach too wide and ending up with the wrong type of followers. It is worth having a sit down with someone you can bounce ideas with to narrow down that target audience.

building your communityMake it worth their while

You are an expert in your small business, and because of this you are a great source of information for your area of expertise. Share this knowledge with your community via your blog and social media sites. Engage with your customers online or offline and make sure you respond to their queries in a reasonable timeframe. Reward your followers by giving them up-to-date information on your latest events, giveaways and promos. This will encourage them to share with their friends and invite more people into your brand.

Participate in your local community

Your small business belongs in a community so it’s good to be visible when it matters. Sponsor a sports team in your area, or maybe your local school fete. Have a booth when there’s an event, or reach out to your local council to see if you can be a resource speaker about a topic that would help other people. Investing in some community goodwill is always good. Your brand will be associated with the spirit of community, which will encourage long-term supporters of your business.

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3 Things you can do for your small business in the New Year

3 Things you can do for your small business in the New Year

It’s the new year soon so naturally resolutions come to mind. This is the right time for you to do the same for your business. Here are three things you can do for your small business in the New Year.

No matter how small, these things can make a huge difference in the long run. So give them a try. You can measure the difference they make each quarter.

Be more social

Have you been putting off doing your social media calendar and strategy? This is the best time to start fresh. Social media isn’t going anywhere. Like we said in our post, you need to be on Facebook. And you can’t be just on it once a month. You need a regular social media presence. But to do this, you need to have a plan. Start planning now. You need to be more engaged with your customers.

Work with your accountant

Accountants are not just for end of financial year tax requirements anymore. You want better cash flow and less headache during tax season? A strategy for the future of your business or a plan for when you retire? Find an accountant who can do these things for you. It is best to plan ahead instead of just putting out the fire when it comes. Better to be prepared.

Reassess your methods

Go through the results of your strategies the year before. Figure out which promos worked and which ones didn’t. Find out what was your most popular social media post and keep doing it. Go through the ‘suggestion box’ and see what you can do better. Businesses that keep changing with the times have more chances of surviving the future, and surviving well.

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3 Things you can do for your small business this Christmas

3 Things you can do for your small business this Christmas

Christmas is here whether we like it or not. As a small business owner there are many things you need to think of for your business this year. Here are three things you can do for your small business this Christmas.

You need to keep in mind that you will have to be doing this every year. So it is best to have a plan ahead of time so it is easier to implement it each Christmas.

For your customers

This is the time to encourage new customers and reward the ones loyal to you. By now you would have accumulated a database of loyal customers. Reward them by giving a good discount or bundle for them as a thank you for being supportive. To attract new customers you can give them a special promo for being a first time customer. Make it accessible by using social media and/or an e-newsletter to spread the word. You can also give out discounts for referrals made by your customers.

small business christmasFor your staff

Thank your staff by celebrating with them during the holiday season. Organise a Christmas lunch or dinner. Let your hair down with your staff and enjoy the moment. Make sure you share this on your social media page too. It will give your business a human side. Some businesses give bonuses to their employees. That is totally up to you. The bonus can be in the form of gifts or vouchers. Something small can make your staff feel valued.

For yourself

Give yourself a break. The holiday season can be crazy. Between running your business and doing everything else behind the scenes, you can get really stressed. Think of yourself too. Make sure you delegate or organise schedules so you can have a week, if not a day or two, to rest. Avoid burning out so you can be prepared for the new year ahead.

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How to deal with bad reviews online

Do you want to know how to deal with bad reviews online? We all do because, well, we all get bad reviews. Small business owners, however, take it more seriously than the big dogs. And it’s totally understandable too because your small business is your baby. You want people to like your baby, right? But the reality is that small businesses will eventually get a bad review. Nowadays, however, reviews are quick and easy to make — and has several avenues, too. Bad reviews are also harsher as people tend to feel braver behind the keyword. So how do you deal with it? In this post, we tell you the top three ways to deal with bad reviews.

Accept and learn

Don’t take it personally. There are varying reasons why you were given a bad review. The reality is that you can’t please everyone. Look at the bad review that was given and think of the different ways you could have ensured it didn’t happen. Was it a late shipping? Damaged product? Services that weren’t delivered up to scratch? Should you have given a refund? Turn the bad review into a teachable moment for yourself and your staff. Find ways to improve your small business instead of sulking and dwelling on the bad review.

Engage the right way

You might be tempted to rant and rave — or swear, even. But it’ll only make things worse. If your first reaction is anger, walk away from the computer and cool off. Gather your thoughts before replying to the bad review. Should you do it publicly or privately? It depends. If it’s a thread on Facebook, then answer through the thread. If it’s something more pressing or complicated, maybe it’s best to take it on private mode. Send them a message or an email to discuss how you can help them. Don’t start a fight online. That’s never a good look.

Bury it with good reviews

For every bad review you get, you also get heaps of good reviews. Encourage your customers to leave you a good review online, either on Facebook or Google. Send them a courtesy email/SMS after they buy your products/services and don’t be afraid to ask. If you don’t ask, you won’t get the review. Sometimes people are just busy and they forget. It’s worth doing a follow up a couple of days later. If you want a longer form of review, it’s worth writing the review yourself and asking your client to approve it. That way it saves them having to sit down and write it themselves.

Wanna learn more about how to deal with small business digital marketing? Join our Small Business Digital Marketing Portal now! It’s cheaper than your daily coffee and you get lots of free stuff!

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3C Digital Team: This is how we do it

We’re going to do something different today for you guys. We talk a lot about what we do and post things that we know will help all small businesses out there. But today, we are going to talk about what our workplace is like and how we are as a team. Hopefully, this will give you a glimpse of our “company culture” and why we work so well.

We are WAHMs

And pretty damn proud of it! We started in the Aussie ‘mummy blogging’ space before the media came up with the ‘mummy blogger’ moniker. It’s the same story as most mums out there. We used to work, had kids, couldn’t go back to full time work and needed something to challenge our minds. After the blogging landscape changed, we decided to change our business model and focus on small businesses that need our help most. Being a WAHM means we juggle family life and work, and we are really good at it, too. It’s not always easy but it’s manageable.

We are doers

Although we do have moments of contemplation, we are definitely doers. Not sure if it comes with being mothers but it’s just how it has always been for us. If we have a plan, we put it into action. Meetings don’t last for hours. We sit down, do our research and then, as Nike said, just do it. No matter where we are — waiting for fencing lessons to finish, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or doing school pick ups — we keep each other updated about what we can and can’t do that day so we can help each other out. Having nine kids between us means our lives are super busy, in and out of the ‘office’.

We are a cheery bunch

We laugh a lot. We eat a lot. Even while we’re working. We hate office politics so we make sure we make things clear so there’s none of that around. Even the hard stuff are discussed with a level head. When we disagree on things (because let’s face it, this isn’t lala land), we make sure the pros and cons of each argument are clear so we can make informed decisions. And you know what? When one of us effs up, we own up to it. Why? Because we’re trying to be good examples to our kids. Sure, there are moments when dark clouds come pouring, but when that happens, we cope and we try to cheer each other up. Running a small business is already challenging, you don’t want to add a doom and gloom atmosphere to your office.

Wanna have a chat about our services? Give us a call for a FREE 30-minute strategy call!

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3 Tips on how to juggle work-life balance

We are veering away from social media and digital marketing today and focusing more on the super popular topic of work-life balance. With nine kids between us, it’s a thing we get asked a lot. Like a lot. Because aside from our work to-do list, there are also the kids’, and if we’re being really honest, our husbands’ every now and then. So in this post, we are sharing the top three ways we get things done and the tools we use to do them. We’ve used this for a while now and it’s been working well.

We Asana it

If you don’t know what Asana is, then we highly suggest you download the app on your phone. Asana is a productivity app that allows you and the members of your team to assign each other tasks. You can also access it on your desktop. You can create projects, categorise To Do lists and add due dates for each task. There’s also a tab for conversations and comments, as well as a more extensive description of that task. The feeling of ticking the task that’s been done is awesome. It also allows us to focus on our own task without having to micromanage each other — which is the best way to go, anyway.

We trust each other

Let’s face it. We’re not kids anymore so we need to take responsibility for our own work. We’ve been lucky to find workmates that we can trust. We delegate the tasks accordingly, based on our strengths. And did we mention we have nine kids between us? There are lessons and play dates and lessons and school activities and doctor’s appointments. The usual 9-5 obviously doesn’t work for us. We work around our kids but when we do, we tell each other about it so that if there is something pressing, the others can pick up the slack. Scheduling and communication are super important to us. And also, we can admit when we need help.

We arm ourselves with experts

We don’t know everything (shock of the century!). We constantly educate ourselves about new things because it’s necessary especially if you’re in the digital marketing space. But when it comes to stuff like financial forecasting, value gap analysis and exit strategies, we need help. So we get help. We have our accountant on speed dial. We meet with our business advisors regularly.  We brainstorm with our senior strategist. We check with our lawyer. We basically make sure we cover our behinds on things we don’t understand. Because you know what? The law isn’t going to care whether or not you got distracted because your third child pushed a pea up her nose. The government expects you to follow the rules so you need to know them.

Wanna delegate your social media management and digital marketing? Download our FREE ebook on using Facebook for your small business or book a FREE 30-minute strategy call.