So far in our Vision 2020 series we have explored looking after your health at work, helped ourselves get some exercise and explored some of the beautiful locations on our doorstep.
Now it’s time to look at your business.
With a renewed vision for 2020 many will want to make an impact, possibly attracting new customers, promoting a new service they offer, learning a new skill or implementing a new channel of communication with your customers.
Whatever the vision for your business in 2020, you will no doubt encounter social media at some stage, and let’s face it, it changes so quickly, we always need to brush up on our knowledge in what has become a key part of communicating with our customers.
International competitive groomer and chairman of the British Dog Groomers Association Matthew Spry will be holding a Business and Marketing seminar this May, during which he will explain how groomers can get the most out of their business using social media and other online tools.
If you aren't sure why social media is so important and how it can help your business, read on to find out more.
- Increased Brand Awareness
Do you want more people to find out about your business? Do you want them to know what sets you apart from other groomers? Do you want potential customers to recognise your business and associate it with positivity?
Then you need to increase your brand awareness, and social media will enable you to do this. Encouraging staff, suppliers, partners and sponsors to like or share your content (posts) will allow the post (and your brand) to be seen by a wider audience.
- More Inbound Traffic
Again, if you are hoping to attract new customers outside of your current regulars, you will want your business to be seen by as many people in as many locations, and across as many platforms as manageable, with key messages that encourage them to get in touch.
Every social media profile you add to your marketing mix is a path to your website, and every piece of content you post is another opportunity to acquire a new customer and showcase your skills.
- Improved Search Engine Rankings
Everyone wants to be top of the Google rankings, or at least on the first page of results for your keywords. But this won’t happen without some effort.
While social media isn’t a direct link to Google rankings, you can give yourself the best chance of ranking better by creating quality content that contains your relevant keywords, blogs, case studies, business info, staff info/photos which will make your profiles credible and interesting for your followers. It will also help build a community of followers, current customers, who will ‘like and share’ your content.
- Better Customer Satisfaction
Using social media to communicate with your customers will help you to give your business a personal/human voice. It will enable you to acknowledge each comment from a customer, good or bad, rectifying any issues and build a reputation for efficient and effective customer service.
When it comes to bad comments or reviews, don’t shy away from them or become argumentative. A negative comment gives you the chance to rectify the situation, create a solution and improve your image.
- Cost-Effective
Most elements of a marketing strategy take a hefty budget. Social media can, but doesn’t necessarily need to. Signing up and creating your profiles is free. It may take some of your time to think about the content you want to put out there, and if you wish to create some video content it can be costly, but the camera on your phone is a great starting tool!
You may also wish to use some paid advertising on your social media channels, but again this doesn’t need to use a large budget. Start small and build it up.
Paid advertising, for example, sponsoring your posts, will allow you to target specific sections of your market more effectively, meaning they will see your posts, increasing engagement and potentially bringing you new customers.
Want to find out more? If you think this session might be relevant and help you with your #2020vision you can sign up here!
Once you implement your #2020Vision, whether that’s using social media or another new business idea this new year, and it brings you an influx of new customers you might just need a way of organising them all and keeping on track with your appointments.
What could be better than the brand new Groom Professional 2020 Appointment Planner - it includes a blade chart, details on both dryer and scissor maintenance essentials and the Groom Professional Shampoo table - perfect for a busy grooming salon!
