Ch. 12 of the Comprehensive Checklist for Growing Your Business: Creating the Sizzle

Creating content for your business’ social media channels is a fun way to get creative while engaging your customers. My colleagues: content is all around us. It is everything you do for your business. Every conversation you have with your clients, every email sent, in every customer complaint we take -  there’s a story and a lesson to be learned within all of those small details we tend to overlook.

There are a few key pointers to touch base on while we’re sourcing content.

Offer a variety of rich content for your audience.

• Rich content is really the focus here. We want the information we share with others to be saturated with unique things that they may not have known before. Offering a variety of information, whether it’s a compilation of quotes, infographics, surveys or interviews, makes it a pot of gold for your customers to hit that, “share” button.

Make it look professional.

• It’s pretty awkward visiting a business’ page only to find dark, grainy photos with harsh filters. Photography isn’t everyone’s forte and that’s quite okay. Just keep in mind to consider the composition, clarity, and color of the image. If those words already have you spinning, consider using an app to enhance your photos! Some of our favorite photo editing apps that make it easy to create beautiful images are VSCO, Photo Editor by Aviary, and the good old photo editing options on your iPhone.

• If you’re looking for something more involved like making a video for your business, hiring a local videographer might just be the solution. A videographer can help wonders in terms of figuring out frames, angles, and a smooth storyboard to better tell your story.

• Check out some of Handlr’s videos from our YouTube Channel:

Ballin’ on a Budget?

• Get creative with your iPhone and capture moments yourself! If you need inspiration, see some of the greatest photography shot with the iPhone that Apple compiled here.

Be persistent!

It's easy to throw in the towel when your content isn't picking up traction - but that's expected. Marketing Ninja, Mike Linville of BlackDogMarketing assures us that it takes about 12-18 months before the traffic begins to pick up. He suggests a couple things to help speed up the process:

• Strategize on how to share your content. (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Stumbleupon)
• The 5 Day Strategy - promoting your content for 5 days for maximum exposure on different channels.
• Sell the sizzle, then the steak. Give your customers what they want, then reel in the traffic with the information they need.

Just remember to inform and/or inspire your audience and make it relevant to your them.  After all, if you’re spending all this time creating posts and writing articles that no one pays attention to, it’s absolutely a waste of time. Be genuine, and try not to overthink about the process. Social media is creative, fun and a great growing process for your business. Ready, Set, Create!

7 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your CRM Software

““Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.””

— Steve Jobs

The late Steve Jobs said it best, knowing your customer better than your competitors is the only way to succeed. Knowing how to actually do that is where it gets tricky. A solid Customer Relation Management system is the first step in that process, so we’ve compiled some solid tips to ensure that you use your CRM to its full potential.

1. Choose a platform you can stick with.

Talk to a few business owners and you’ll undoubtedly hear some horror stories about switching CRM’s. Choosing the wrong form of Customer Management can set you back big time down the line. It’s important to choose a simple, easy-to-use software with enough features to work now, and down the line. This doesn’t mean you need to pay thousands of dollars for SalesForce to manage your ten customers and 2 employees, but don’t just take the easy route and start a messy, half-assed Excel Spreadsheet either. One of the worst experiences in business is realizing 2 years-in that you need to go back and redo all the work you’ve put into your CRM now that business is starting to pick up. We recommend checking out ActiveCampaign or Nimble.

2. Consider CRM training a crucial point in your small business growth.

Take the time to learn every corner & every inch of your new CRM, and make sure your employees do too. Employees often treat training programs as waste of time or a chance to relax. Don’t allow this to happen in your office. You’ve made a considerable investment in your CRM and you should insist that everyone takes the training process seriously.

3. Use it to track sales and new leads.

Your CRM has one main purpose, to keep track of your customers; so use it! Insist that your sales team processes any and all new leads through the new system. It will make keeping track of these potential customers so much easier as they move through the process of cultivation.

4. Use all the features of the system instead of resorting to other ones.

Even the most simple CRM systems out there come packed with features. Explore these early on and try to use them as much as possible. Does your CRM have a group huddle or chat feature to keep everyone on the same page? What about a document manager? Use them instead of an outside program for a better flow of your daily operations.

5. Use in-house feedback as much as customer feedback.

Introduce your new CRM and it’s very likely that a few employees will adapt to it rather quickly. Focus on the feedback they provide about why they like it, what features they use most and where it can improve. Customers are an equal source if this type of information. Send out a quick survey or interview your more trusted customers about their experiences with the new way your business operates.

6. Don’t forget the least active users.

If you have a few employees neglecting your new investment, don’t just slap them on the wrist and push them to use it more. Try to understand what is holding them back and why they don’t like the new system. You’ll find that some simply don’t understand it and need more training, while others have specific gripes that can be fixed with simple solutions. Don’t be afraid to contact your CRM company directly with these complaints as they will often have a work-around or trick to fix the situation.

7. Try a system that engages the customer directly.

You’re CRM is all about the client, so try using one that has tools to get you in touch with them directly. ActiveCampaign for instance, works as both a CRM and email system, so you can track your customers and message them directly from the same software. This ensures that customer management, feedback and things like open-rates and stats are tracked in the same place.

Investing in a CRM is a big step in a small business. Learning to use it properly and introducing it to your staff can be a big commitment. These CRM best practices can help you ensure your effort is rewarded.

5 Platforms to Increase Efficiency for Your Small Business

We get it, entrepreneurs! Time is like gold to you. It’s hard to manage it efficiently when there’s a constant flow of incoming emails, phone dings, and alert beepings, on top of just having to simply work. It’s also hard to let loose the reigns of your business and trust a platform that will better your productivity, instead of sucking away the little time you already have. We’ve compiled a short and sweet list of platforms that we can first-hand say, is f@#$ing awesome. Here we go:

Start with the core of the business. You and your team members need to know what to do. Here’s two of our favorite task management tools.

Trello

We like Trello because it’s a visually-focused way of organizing a project. You can assign different boards for different topics and build a list of things that need to be done within that topic. Trello allows you to assign responsibilities and set deadlines for when they need to be completed by. The interface also allows users to click and drag boards in different orders to prioritize.

Asana

Asana’s approach to task management is a user-friendly list view of projects and tasks. Create tasks, assign them to one or more people, and set a deadline for the job. You can leave notes on each job, attach files and start a discussion. The fun thing about Asana is that it triggers this endorphin kick to get things checked off your list - when things are checked off, you might just see a flying rainbow unicorn - really. Lastly, they are on top of sending you reminders via email so you don’t forget.

Keeping an open line of communication between members of your business makes for a more streamlined, efficient team. One word, Slack.

Slack

We are in love with Slack. It’s a versatile team communication platform that allows you to do more than just that. Create different topics of discussion, (called channels) and invite people to join it. Slack supports a long list of different file types that you can send and allows users to privately message other teammates. Integrate other apps into Slack such as Twitter and Lyft even, and send a tweet or order a ride via commands.

Here are two of our top email management tools to help stay in touch with your leads and existing customers.

MailChimp

MailChimp simply said, is a great email management platform that allows you to easily design engagement templates, and is versatile for all business types, small or big. You can run reports and see how successful your emails are. MailChimp lets you send better emails to the right people by filtering through different targeting options.

Active Campaign

It’s a great tool for creating different email templates. Do you find yourself sending out the same email and drafting it a million times already? Create a beautiful template as you need it, save it, and send it out when you need it. Staying in contact with your leads is the lifeline of your business and Active Campaign makes it simple.

Social media management is often overlooked to maintain when there's more pressing matters to tend to - especially when there's so many avenues to maintain and track. Here's two platforms that make it simple.

Hootsuite and Spredfast

Both of these platforms lets you schedule social media posts so that you don’t waste your time having to log in and post across all your different channels. Hootsuite allows you to use their service for free with up to three different platforms before you need to upgrade. These both work in similar fashion as you can see analytics and insights of your posts so you can better communicate with your audience.

How much time are you wasting creating schedules, collecting payment, and marketing your business? Our all-in-one business management platform saves countless hours in your work week.

Handlr

How nice would it be to wake up, sit back, and see your business run on its own? Handlr lets you do just that. Handlr is a mobile business management software specifically designed for small businesses to become bigger businesses. Upload your list of services, create open availability, and watch customers schedule themselves with you. Handlr lets business owners and their team members chat directly and share photos with customers. Team Members can check-in to services and you get paid instantly upon check out. That’s just the tip of the iceberg!