One of the most common mistakes made when first starting marketing is focusing solely on a single advertisement in front of you, without looking at the entire flow from the moment a customer discovers your brand until they make a repurchase. This flow is called the "Customer Journey," and if small business owners understand just these four stages, it becomes much clearer what they are currently lacking. Stage 1: Awareness. This is the moment a customer first becomes aware of your brand's existence. Social media, search,…

A salon director I met a few days ago shared this: “When you spend the whole day just answering the phone, you find yourself exhausted when you actually get to the customers.” From booking calls and change requests to checking for no-shows—the smaller the shop, the more endless the tasks the owner must handle alone seem. The first thing Mrs. Lauren tackled with this director was not a grandiose marketing strategy, but a simple reservation system. Two months after establishing the system,…

Many CEOs consider the moment they sign the contract to be the 'completion' of marketing. Once the website launches, the online store is set up, and the reservation system starts running, they feel like they have done everything they needed to do. However, for Mrs. Lauren, that moment is not the end, but the real beginning. Through numerous consultations, we have learned that for those who find marketing difficult or unfamiliar, the time spent after we have completed the setup is even more critical. Mrs. Lauren's Three Promises: First, training continues...

Have you ever started marketing but couldn't quite get a sense of whether it's working? You may post on social media every day and run ads, but it's bound to feel daunting without a standard to judge whether they are effective. Today, to help small business owners verify their marketing with numbers rather than intuition, we have summarized four key metrics you absolutely must check. The first of the four key metrics for small business owners: Reach…