Jeweller - October 2023

BUSINESS
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Promotional mistakes your business should avoid
Placing your business in a position to succeed online can be a headache.
BRIDGET BROWN reveals the digital marketing pitfalls small businesses should avoid.
“A small business is not a ‘little’ big
business.”
This adage comes from executive leadership
coach John Welsh, and I couldn’t agree
more. Every small business owner knows on
some level that ‘small business’ marketing
is different from ‘big business’ marketing;
however, it can be challenging to define
precisely why.
This is partly because most marketing advice
implies we should mirror what the most
successful big businesses are doing.
For example, the best practices for building
a website, running a promotion, and using
social media are all based on the model that
works for the ‘most successful’ businesses.
This is something to remember if you’re a
small business owner wondering whether
you should jump on the latest marketing
bandwagon. Marketers don’t tell you, or
perhaps don’t realise themselves, that
‘success’ does not mean immediate massive
sales increases.
First, many small businesses have struggled
when increases happened faster than they
could handle. Only some small stores want to
become Amazon! Even if that is your dream,
you must be aware of three small business
marketing mistakes that could get in your
way.
What got you here won’t get you there
It’s not a good plan to use Apple’s
best practices for marketing your
small business.
That’s because you need to succeed at
being a small business first. It’s like that
old expression, “what got you here won’t
get you there.”
I had a brief experience at a large marketing
agency when I first left television. I was
working with a customer with a new product
set to appear at an LA gifting suite at an
upcoming event.
She wanted press releases sent to Vogue,
Refinery29, and even Paris Hilton. Not
Hilton’s company, mind you – she wanted it to
be sent to Paris personally!
I suggested holding off on the LA press
push until she had sales. I believed her time
and money would be better spent by getting
credible media attention in her city, before
trying to out-compete every Hollywood
starlet with a beauty line.
I had no doubt she could be very successful,
but I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t
get a single media appearance from her
press release. She hadn’t done the hard
work of building a fan base before trying to
embrace the most competitive attention.
Blindly following trends
Many people need help trying to gain
traction on platforms like YouTube, TikTok
or Instagram for small business marketing.
Do you ever ask yourself why you’re trying
so hard to beat the algorithms?
While focusing on the sheer volume of
enquiries can work for small business
marketing, it is optional for small
business marketing and can be a
significant waste of time.
Fast expansion is almost always terrible
for small businesses. Let’s be honest: if
everyone who went to Tiffany & Co. today
called your business, it would be impossible
for you to handle the sudden traffic, and
you’d likely end up angering your existing
customers.
Focusing on the ‘trying to beat the
algorithm’ point, in small business
marketing, you have a choice whether you
chase social media success.
That’s because no matter what you do, you
Many people
struggle to
gain traction
on platforms
like YouTube,
TikTok or
Instagram for
small business
marketing. Do
you ever ask
yourself why
you’re trying so
hard to beat the
algorithms?
won’t beat the Tiffany & Co. of your industry.
At least, not yet.
You could view that as a negative, but you
could also see it as a relief. Often, we focus
so hard on using a particular trendy tactic
that we don’t stop to consider if there is an
easier and more effective way that suits
small business marketing.
The Amazon Prime Day fallacy
Attempting to replicate the Amazing Prime
Day strategy will do more harm than good to
your business.
The first year Amazon offered Prime Day,
I didn’t find a single thing that was excellent
value. It seemed like a plot to drive traffic. My
trust level for Amazon was lower than ever.
We know that in the grand scheme of things,
Amazon loses very little by losing my trust.
However, as small business owners, we both
need our audience to stick around. Chances
are you need a much higher percentage of
your leads to convert to sales than Amazon
does.
If one potential customer in your target
audience is bothered by a marketing tactic
you choose, that is a more significant
problem for your business than it would
be to Amazon.
Instead of offering your jewellery at a shady
‘discount’ price, it makes more sense to
put the effort and expense into your search
engine results performance and your mobile
web speed.
If your website is sluggish, you might lose
the opportunity to connect with one specific
customer who could really make a difference
for your business.
Each individual visitor is important, yet many
small businesses don’t make that their
priority.
BRIDGET BROWN is founder of Create
That Copy & Marketing, a Canadian
marketing firm focused on generating
leads and increasing sales and
revenue for small businesses.
Learn more: createthatcopy.com
October 2023 | 77