Today's wired world has made it easier in some ways for small businesses to reach out to customers.
But for some small business owners, it may be difficult to know how best to incorporate new online tools, such as social media.
"For many small businesses that cater to consumers, the promise of the holiday season brings the anticipation of increased sales, but how best to ensure success in our increasingly connected and wired world?" asks Mary Charleson, of Charleson Communications, a North Vancouver marketing consulting company. Leveraging the social side of holiday shopping could be one answer, says Charleson.
"It depends on your target market and their use of social media," she notes, "but for highly wired consumers, there is no denying the powerful influence of connections on social media."
Charleson points to a recent Crowdtap survey that reported 39 per cent of consumers surveyed said Facebook has influenced them to buy a gift, 64 per cent use social media to find the perfect gift and 44 per cent discover gift ideas through peer recommendations.
"Using Facebook or Twitter to share, and Instagram, Pinterest or YouTube for highly visual material could work well. The key is to understand who is on each platform, and the unique attributes of it as a delivery channel," says Charleson.
Of course nothing beats being personable, she adds. "We buy from people we like, not faceless storefronts."
Online, personalized emails to your best customers with a family and friends offer, or having different employees write posts on your Facebook page and allowing them to share fun photos at work shows a personal side to your business, she explains.
"Or perhaps it's time to cut through the electronic clutter and send an old-fashioned hand-written card and personal note. In a world of burgeoning email in-boxes and social media overload, a hand-written card could cut through the clutter."
When it comes to marketing for small businesses, Charleson says a real shift took place in 2007 when the iPhone was launched.
"Really where the quantum leap has been made and where it will continue to really make a difference, especially to small business, is with the uptake of personal devices, so smartphones and tablets."
Prior to that there really wasn't on-the-go web browsing, she explains. The uptake in personal device use really happened around 2010. Until then, if customers were going to web browse they did it at home or on their laptop. There was a defined time that people did their web browsing, but once the iPhone and tablets were launched people could web browse, shop, search, learn about products, and be informed in the time and place that makes it relevant to them, explains Charleson.
"All of a sudden that makes real-time marketing and communication relevant to the consumer because it's happening at the time and place when they choose it."
Then came apps, and they made tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube easier to view on mobile devices, she notes.
Joining the mobile movement is a key tool for small businesses.
"The big question I would ask right now: is your website mobile friendly? If it's not, fix it." Since so many websites are mobile
friendly now, users get used to that and when they hit one that's not they don't bother with it, notes Charleson. "But it's all relevant to your target market," she says. Certain demographics may not be using smart phones as much as others; certainly the 18-35 age group as well as business consumers may be more mobile friendly.
Social media helps promote word of mouth, and Charleson says word of mouth is valuable for two reasons: targeting and trust.
The information is targeted because it's likely only shared with people who are interested in it, and it's trustworthy because "if friends are talking about it, it must be worthy of our time because we trust our friends," explains Charleson.
