Successful businesses take time to build, but with the right tools in place, that time can be immensely shortened. As a matter of fact, if these key tools are not put in place, a business may not see success at all. And these vital tools are technology related – digital technology. Gone are the days when you could go about business as usual without keeping abreast of what’s going on in your industry, and still have a flourishing business. Technology has changed the way we do business, and the way people do business with us. There is a new way to be noticed and your business can suffer hugely if it is not on board. I know, as women entrepreneurs, we often buy into the idea that technology is a “man’s world”. But man’s world or not, technology is something that we will need to embrace if we are going to experience growth and prosperity in our business. So, why is your business not successful? Here are five (5) missing links to your business success.
1. Sales Funnel
A Sales Funnel is the blueprint for your customer’s journey from being a curious spectator to a paid customer, and subsequently transitioning to a raving fan and possibly your brand ambassador. You see just because you helped them with a particular goods or service does not mean that you will always be ahead of them or have a bigger network. I have helped many women who had no community but had the potential to command a huge community, go from zero people in their community to thousands in their community, by helping them become visible in this digital age so prospects – their ideal customers, can find them. And, I can assure you, if you give them what you promised in their first interaction with you, you can expect them to: a) do business with you again and again, b) talk about your goods and services with their family and friends, and c) share stories and @mention you to their audiences on their social media platforms. So the Sales Funnel is the first of five missing links that you must implement in your business in order to succeed in this digital age. Learn more about Sales Funnels and what Beyoncé was able to do with her Formation Sequel.
2. Social Media and Community Building
Building a tribe – a selective, relevant group of people who are interested in what you do, as well as social influencers in similar areas of expertise, is a crucial component for your business success. And thanks to our technological advancement – social media is here to help us concoct this very essential task – seamlessly. How do you get social media to work for you? By setting up separate pages and groups for your business, fashioning your public persona across the social media sphere to tie in to your business model, using your business pages as well as your personal pages as your lead magnet source and tripwire, and channeling them all to your business website’s relevant pages known as your landing pages. Here is my WERK Your Money Making Genie landing page which is a great example of a landing page. Using the Social Success Cycle – a term I was introduced to by Ryan Diess and Russ Henneberry from Digital Marketer in their Social and Community Manager certification program, you are able to maximize your social media efforts, and also get maximum results from minimum time. It includes:
1. Social Listening – what is your target audience talking about? What is their biggest concerns?
2. Social Influencing – Are you sharing content that answers their concerns?
3. Social Networking – Are you connecting with influencers on social media?
4. Social Selling – Are you sharing and making your offers on social media?
So, social listening is first, and social selling is last in the Social Success Cycle. Don’t mess up on this! A lot of people do! You cannot start out trying to sell without listening, influencing or networking and expect to accomplish your sales goal. Like you would in a romantic relationship, date your audience first, then you can ask them to enter into a financial relationship with you. So, this is the second of five missing links that you must implement in your business in order to succeed in this digital age.
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing is not dead! It is very much alive. Having followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope is wonderful but you must get those people on your list. Why? Because a) you get to nail down who those people are that you are resonating with, b) you get to send them direct messages and see how they relate and interact with it, c) you get to fashion your offers to cater to their needs and d) if those third-party platforms close your accounts, you would lose all your followers which means zero contact with them. I know it is highly unlikely to have all your social media accounts close out all at once but many of your contacts are not all the same on all platforms, and again the benefits of having an email list, trumps the time and effort it will take to build that list. This is the third of five missing links that you must implement in your business in order for your business to succeed and thrive in this digital age.
4. Content
We are living in an information age, and although it can be overwhelming and is for many people, you need to get in on the fun if your business is going to be found and noticed. What you have to share is important and can change people’s lives, right? You wouldn’t be doing this business if you didn’t believe in it and thought it could help others. So you will fashion your content to showcase yourself and your business, how you as a brand will help make their lives better, and position your content so they can access them – effortlessly. Stephen Curry, my fave basketball player who is the point guard on my fave team – the Golden State Warriors, did a piece about the noise – in salute of veterans and those whose voices are not being heard – called “The Noise”. And it’s his version of what’s going on in this information age and how you can make your noise (which is substantive and needs to be heard) louder than the “common ineffective noise” (which is just “empty” noise). So, how do you separate yourself from the noise in this noisy information age? Getting your content out there is the only way for your ideal tribe – the people who resonates with you to access what you are about and get on board in whatever ways they need. But it has to be developed and targeted to your ideal customer. You cannot, will not, and should not aim to write for everyone. Instead you will write specifically for your unique ideal customer and thus be more effective in reaching them and having a bigger possibility of converting them from fans to paying customers. So this is the fourth of the five missing links that you must implement as part of your sales strategy in order to succeed in this digital age.
5. Paid Traffic
Regardless of how optimized your website is, it is going to be extremely difficult to get organic traffic to your website, and you need traffic in order to sustain your business. So, if you are just starting out in the social media sphere and you do not yet have a following, you will need to invest in paid advertising to kickstart those traffic rolling in. The good news is that all the popular social media platforms offer the opportunity to advertise on their platform at minimal cost. This is amazing news! Especially since they allow you to set your advertising cost and target specific demographics. So, figure out where your audience hangs out and start advertising there. You can start with a small budget and work your way up, as you sell more products and services. This is your fifth of the five missing links that you must utilize in your business in order for your business to succeed and thrive in this digital age.
So there you have it! Five Missing Links To Your Business Success In This Digital Age
Regardless of the type of business you run, if you are not already an established BIG name business such as Apple, Toyota, Virgin, or Tesla, you need to implement these five (5) missing components in order to be successful.
What other tools are you using in your business that are helping to make it a success? Do tell!
Xo,
