Spring Clean Your Business

 

 

The moment the sun breaks through after a long hard winter and, in this case, after a long hard year all of us turn our minds to springtime, spring cleaning and the opportunity to start afresh. 

 

However, what about the feeling we get a few weeks later when we realise that we didn’t stick to any of our new year resolutions? 

When it comes to looking after a business it can often feel the same. All those good intentions during that first week in January can soon get lost in the everyday rush to meet the various demands of your business, never mind the legal requirement to make sure you get your tax return in by the 31st. 

 

We do understand how it happens all too easily and yes, we’ll share this with you from our corporate days - it happens to even the biggest and the best of companies. All organisations are run by human beings after all. 

What we’ve found so far in 2021 is that many of you want this year to be different after the wake-up call that is the pandemic. It has been a struggle for some organisations who are just surviving, as they hold their nerve until business life regains some semblance of normal function. For other businesses it has provided opportunity and also the impetus to innovate. 

Whichever it is, there are risks, challenges and opportunities to be thought through and acted on. 

 

One of the central issues is communication and how you maintain an appropriate dialogue with your customers as the parameters constantly shift and as your ability to deliver your goods or services changes to meet the regulations and guidelines. 

We’re talking about your marketing and communications here. If you’ve got lingering issues in your set-up that were already causing bumps in normal times, then now they will make themselves really felt, just when you need to be fast and efficient and sure of what you’re doing. This is not the time to be flummoxed by LinkedIn or Facebook or any of those other critical marketing tools for your business. 

 

Well, some of our clients already know about our exceptionally effective and free health checks, which will review and quantify a particular area of your business operation. 

 

Many have already been in touch, asking us to health check their communications and provide recommendations. The outsider’s viewpoint can be incredibly helpful in a situation like this, shining a light on problems that can sometimes be fixed rapidly through training or tidying-up processes and this makes the world of difference. 

These health checks are proving the most popular as our lovely clients navigate the roadmap back to normal operation. 

 

Our Pink Spaghetti Virtual Assistants identify what is working well and what business owners could do to enhance each area selected for a health check, leading to a report with specific recommendations which is free of charge. 

 

Facebook is a place where you can converse with your customers and where, depending on what your business offers them, they will discuss your products and services. There is an art to doing this well especially when everyone is in a time of flux. You need to be a combination of human and professional so that your customers know you are real and dependable, and willing to listen to them. There are many ways to optimise your Facebook Page and make it work for your small business. Profile pictures and header images need to be high quality and branded. The same quality rules apply for content which needs to be consistent and engaging. We will guide you on a range of settings and suggest improvements. 

 

A steady flow of interaction on LinkedIn tells your community that you are active, engaged and steering your way steadfastly through tricky times. Even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes, it’s good to be part of a business community where you can learn from others. Essentially you are your business and LinkedIn is where you present your professional profile, through your education, experience and achievements. We make sure it is professionally set up for you to build a meaningful network of contacts and guide you on how to offer ongoing value to your professional community and peers through creating relevant articles and posts. 

 

When things are changing in unpredictable ways for you and your customers now is the time to know yourself better than ever. If your customers know what you stand for, then it is much easier to communicate with your customers in an authentic voice every single time. Have you got a quality brand that is brought to life consistently through all your communications? Does everything look and sound like it comes from the same company with one voice and one look – across websites, invoices, ads, emails etc? If yes, great; if not, we’ll show you how to fix it and we can suggest templates to make ongoing consistent branding for your business easy to achieve. 

 

Your email list is such an incredibly valuable asset. You should nurture it, polish it and check it on a regular basis. Remember how annoying it is to get something that is badly spelt or gets your name wrong or worse, an email when you’ve unsubscribed? On this last point you may be breaking the law so it’s not just about niceties of grammar. Email should help rather than hinder a small business owner. Our health check will identify ways to clear up, file and automate many areas of emails; and then look at the frequency and content for the next few months. 

 

The outcomes of these health checks can often be as simple as training to show you quick and easy ways to plan your communications or assistance with sorting out the relevant processes and content for your customers. 

 

If you’d like a communications health check to make sure your marketing is ready for the next few months give us a call. It’s free and we promise it will make a positive difference to you and your business.