Marketing & Branding For Small Business Growth: Differentiation Strategies | Emma Shermer Tamir

What if understanding your business identity could lead to unlocking sustainable growth? Join me as I sit down with Emma Shermer-Tamir, the inspiring CEO and co-founder of Marketing by Emma, who shares her transformative journey from a shy youngster to a leading figure in e-commerce marketing. Emma opens up about her battles with confidence and how those experiences fueled her entrepreneurial spirit. Her personal anecdotes reveal the power of mindset in overcoming challenges and the decisive moment when she was inspired by her husband to create Marketing by Emma, a thriving business dedicated to helping others succeed online.

As we navigate the complex landscape of digital marketing, especially post-COVID, Emma provides invaluable insights for small business owners ready to step outside their comfort zones. She reassures us that early missteps are part of the learning curve and can humanize a brand. Our engaging discussion covers marketing fundamentals, emphasizing the importance of content marketing in building trust and authority. With practical tips and a dose of encouragement, we aim to equip small business owners with effective strategies to connect with their audience authentically.

Branding is much more than logos and color schemes—it’s about creating a lasting impression in the minds of customers. Emma and I explore the art of differentiation in a saturated market, introducing the "four Cs" strategy: contrast, customer, company identity, and connection. We delve into how businesses can stand out by offering unique value and building meaningful relationships. This episode is brimming with actionable insights from Emma, aimed at helping you craft a brand that resonates deeply with your customers and drives sustainable growth.

Emma Schermer Tamir: CEO / Marketing By Emma

Website(s): https://marketingbyemma.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-schermer-tamir/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarketingbyEmma


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#BrandStrategy #BusinessBranding #BrandingTips #SmallBusinessTips #SmallBusinessOwners #MarketingTips #BusinessSuccess #BusinessCoaching #BusinessPodcast #SmallBusinessPivots #Success #Podcast #SmallBusiness #BOSS #MichaelDMorrison #OklahomaCity

Chapters

• 0:00 Unlocking Sustainable Growth Through Systems
• 17:33 Starting Small Business Marketing Basics
• 21:54 Creating Effective Branding and Differentiation
• 30:08 Building Brand Connection and Clarity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

All right, welcome to another Small Business, Pivots. Today we have a very special guest from around the world, and I know that no one can introduce their business or themselves like the business owner. So tell us about yourself, your company, where you're from, and then we'll get going.

Speaker 2: 0:15

Thank you so much for having me. My name is Emma Shermer-Tamir. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Marketing by Emma, which I co -founded with my husband, Ares, in 2016. And we have specialized in helping e-commerce businesses find success online by getting very clear about who they are, who their customers are and how they can communicate that in a way that's going to stand out and convert those eager customers. I also am a speaker, I'm writing a book and I have a YouTube channel.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Is there anything you don't do? No, I'm just kidding, yeah plenty. Well, you know when you don't have children.

Speaker 2: 0:57

You have time to do that, okay.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Okay, I'm coming from that, I do have two boys. So before you business owners leave, that's in a service-based business, don't? I know you probably heard e-commerce, but I promise this will be beneficial to you. So, emma, how do you think we're going to help people the most? Before we introduce the show Absolutely so.

Speaker 2: 1:17

We were talking just before we started recording and you were mentioning how a lot of your community is businesses who are in that place of really wanting to take things to the next level and unlock that growth that they're seeing other businesses achieving, and they're feeling frustrated and stuck, and so we're going to be talking today about one of the things that is really essential to whatever tactics or other strategies that you're going to add on top of it.

Speaker 2: 1:50

So we're talking about something foundational that is not only going to be that step in unlocking that growth, but it's going to unlock sustainable growth, because it you know, you could pay a lot of money for ads and generate business, but if that's the only way that you're able to continue to generate that business, then it's going to be difficult to maintain that level of profitability. So my goal is that not only are you going to be able to generate more customers, but that you're going to be able to generate customers that are going to stick around for the long term and that are also going to love what you're doing so much that they want to tell other people about how great you are.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Fantastic. Well, I can't wait. So let's introduce the show and we'll come right back. Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast designed for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, a small business coach and founder of BOSS, where we make business ownership simplified for success, so that you can own a business that runs without you. To learn more, go to businessownershipsimplifiedcom. All right, welcome back to Small Business Pivots, emma. We have a lot to talk about, because marketing is a big thing for most business owners, especially those small business owners that's trying to do it themselves, because they don't quite have the resources yet or don't quite understand who and what their business does. But first I want to talk about mindset, because I know a lot of small business owners. They have this blockage in their head and a lot of times it's from something they grew up with. It could have been a trial or tribulation, a divorced parent or whatever it was, death in the family. Did you have anything like that? So we can kind of get to know you a little bit.

Speaker 2: 3:33

You know, I certainly struggled with a variety of different things in adolescence. I wouldn't necessarily say I was bullied, but I say that, say I say that and then I reflect on it and I would. I guess most people would consider it bully. So I did deal with some bullying and some mean girl kind of situations and adolescence and I think that really impacted my confidence immensely.

Speaker 2: 4:03

As a young girl I was very full of life.

Speaker 2: 4:09

I was always making my family sit down so I could put on these elaborate productions of me dancing and singing and I feel like when I got into middle school and high school, just being around peers that were judgmental and mean, that light started to dim quite a bit and I would say that that continued on into my early mid-20s until I actually met my now husband and also business partner, and he was really not to say that people didn't recognize different skills or talents that I had, but he didn't just believe in me.

Speaker 2: 4:56

He wanted to help nudge me forward and I think it's so important, especially when we're struggling with self-belief, to surround ourselves with people that are not just going to give you nice words going, but I see how miserable you are at your job. At the time I was doing marketing for an online software company and he said I can see that you're miserable. I have a very large network. I would love to send your resume to some people and maybe I can help you build up your own freelance business. And my response was that's so embarrassing Absolutely not.

Speaker 1: 5:50

So asking for help was a no-no.

Speaker 2: 5:53

No, yeah, asking for help is absolutely something that I'm still working on, even fast forward almost 10 years. Eventually, he actually got tired of asking, and by this point we were married and I was doing sales and marketing for a health and wellness company and I was away on a sales trip. I learned a very valuable lesson when I came home, which is do not leave my husband for five days by himself without anything to do, because he might start a business, and that was the birth of marketing by Emma. At the time, we thought that it would be something very small, something to do on the side, and really, just a few short months into it, we were being flooded with work opportunities, and so we had a decision to make of do we keep this as something small, where I'm just the sole writer and the operator and I just have a freelance business, or do I want to grow a team, figure out systems and really build this into something bigger? And I chose the second option to grow it into a larger business.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Well, I appreciate you sharing because I know self-worth is a big thing for a lot of business owners. In fact, many business owners or potential business owners are still sitting on the sidelines going I don't know if I'm worthy of being a business owner because of stories like yours. I think a lot of us have gone through that, so I appreciate you sharing. Once you came home to owning a business, what were kind of the first things you did that you wish you wouldn't have? So people can learn from those.

Speaker 2: 7:36

Oh God, so many things. Not investing in systems soon enough was, I think, one of the biggest mistakes that I made, because it was only when I was so busy and realized, oh, I just have emails where I've committed to delivery dates and I don't even have those written down in a consolidated place, because at first it was just like, okay, one project at a time, but then it's like, oh no, I have an ongoing thing and and reputation was so important to me that fortunately, I managed to avoid any major incidents. But it created a massive amount of stress and I think that it ultimately slowed our growth because it required us having to take a step back, document things, figure out how to run everything before we could start growing again.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Listeners, you heard it again, because on almost every show, one of our business owners says systems, systems, systems. And I know for most small business owners, that is the one thing they're lacking. In fact, some of them, that's the only thing they need to really get to that next level. So how did you figure out, as you said, a freelancer, so how did you figure out which systems to start with? Because you're wearing a lot of hats as a freelancer.

Speaker 2: 9:00

Yeah, I think I just started out with something really basic, which was using QuickBooks online, because that's what my accountant wanted us to use for bookkeeping and spreadsheets and email and and fold, you know, elaborate folder systems for project organization, and so we actually used that for quite a while.

Speaker 2: 9:26

But then as we started to bring on more team members, it sort of became this beast that was highly complex and very fragile and nobody else should have been touching besides me, because it was so easy for one tiny error to just create a cascade of effects, and so that system was very short-lived and I recognized that we needed more of like a project management type of tool to be able to add into this system to help to streamline everything, to help to streamline everything.

Speaker 2: 10:03

And at that stage I started researching every single tool, getting totally overwhelmed because, okay, asana is great for some things, trello is great for other things, and nothing really seemed perfect. And I recognized that, okay, I could spend the next year evaluating all of these tools and only feeling increasingly more confused. So I actually ended up hiring somebody to help us create some of these automations and systems, both because they had the experience to be able to look at everything and understand what tools were going to be the best fit for us, but also just understanding some of the different types of things that you can automate. That we, or I rather, wouldn't have even considered.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Well, you're just hitting all the bullet points today and you may not know this, but if, for our listeners any of them that have listened to any episodes before I mention this all the time If this is something that you're not experienced in, hire somebody, It'll go faster. You know, because myself I'm guilty. Long, long time ago I was like I'm going to find a system and I'm going to learn it inside and out. Well, the problem I had was I didn't even really know what I needed the system for, so I was really learning something that I wasn't going to use and so, kind of like what you said, figure out what you need it for and then go find somebody that can do it, and it's going to save you a lot of time. Is that a fair statement?

Speaker 2: 11:35

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 11:35

And the other element of that is I feel like, over and over again in business, I'm confronted with the fact that I have blind spots, just by nature of not having ever had to deal with or figure out something before.

Speaker 2: 11:52

So whenever you're doing something new, you create a certain set of assumptions of okay, well, these are, I think, the things that I need to figure out. But time and time again, I learn unfortunately sometimes only in retrospect oh, I also needed to be considering all of these other factors, and had I sought help or guidance, I wouldn't have neglected those pieces, and not only would it have been solved faster, but it would have been solved better and less painfully. And sometimes that's a difficult decision to make. When you're looking at the price tag of bringing somebody on and you look up wow, this is not an inexpensive decision to be making. And when you're used to doing everything in your own business, we don't really value our time when we're thinking about it. So we look at it as zero dollars versus whatever the price offer is, which is not a fair or accurate assessment of things, and so I'd like to say that I'm over that, but it's still something that I find myself studying You're being a responsible business owner.

Speaker 1: 13:12

The show is Small Business Pivots. Were there any significant pivots you learned along the way as you were navigating through, trying to figure out what our business is going to be like in the future.

Speaker 2: 13:22

I think one of the biggest pivots was when COVID lockdowns came, which might not seem immediately obvious, since we have an online business serving online businesses. However, the primary way that we were marketing ourselves, developing partners, connecting with new leads was through attending live events. So I was speaking at events and we were going to a lot of them was approaching. I was supposed to be going on a speaking tour to Germany and Prague and Las Vegas. I didn't live here yet.

Speaker 2: 14:14

I just watched one event after the next get canceled and not ending up going to any of them any of them and so I needed to figure out okay, well, if I am not able to be in person meeting people, what am I going to do to get in front of people online and cultivate those relationships online? And so it took some time and effort, but I started to do virtual events and webinars and speaking on podcasts and still, unfortunately, really kept pushing off, starting my own platform and YouTube channel, and only recently did that. But I guess that that's an evolution of all of this work, but I would say that it just made a very strong shift in how we thought about every facet of our business and how we hired people and we had an in-person team and then we haven't had an office or been in person since lockdown and and so it just led to a lot of changes and where we hire people and how we run the company and and it really just kind of rebuilt everything.

Speaker 1: 15:41

I think a lot of businesses will be stronger because of COVID, even though it was a horrific event. But a lot of us learned hey, we have to be more adaptable, evolve instead of just being stuck in our ways. And so that's a perfect story, because I know a lot of business owners never got online. They attended online events, but they never made their presence online, and so now they're really kind of behind the eight ball, cause you?

Speaker 2: 16:07

mentioned feeling behind like, oh, I haven't done it yet. And that was a storyline that I used with myself for why I shouldn't start my YouTube channel and why I ended up pushing it down the road. And pushing it down the road and I mean, funny enough, if I would have done it the first time that I said that to myself, I would have. I would be so grateful now, like my my current self would be grateful to my past self for having done that, because, in the scheme of things, I was still so much further ahead than everybody. So if you're feeling compelled to do something, even if it's conflicting with this other part that feels uncomfortable, then that feeling is, like unlikely to go away, and so it's worth digging into a little bit to explore whether that's just a story that you're telling yourself or whether it's actually, um and and, if so, if it's actually something to be just ripping the bandaid and doing.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Absolutely. I always say discomfort means we're growing. So if you're feeling uncomfortable about that, I will, and I'll ask you this after I say this. I know that there's just something about this little camera pointing at me, and me only, and I might say something stupid or whatever. But I had stage fright or camera fright, if you will. I can speak in front of a lot of people. I was similar to you where our clients came from me speaking to groups. Once COVID shut that down, there goes all of our prospects. I was even a little hesitant and timid to get behind this camera thing and record hearing my own voice, things like that. But I encourage other small business owners just do it Like you just have to do it, and then after the first time, second time and then it just becomes natural. Any advice you can give to those that aren't quite ready to do or don't feel comfortable yet.

Speaker 2: 18:08

The only way that you feel comfortable is by doing it, and you're going to have things that you look back on in a few years and say that I can do a lot better now. But everybody starts somewhere and you're unlikely to be great at first, and the good thing is is that not that many people will be watching at first. So you have your time to cut your teeth and and improve, and then, as you improve, you'll probably gain more eyeballs and also people like being able to connect with other people, and so perfection isn't necessarily what any of us are drawn to. If you stumble over your words or you mess up a story that you're telling, it doesn't mean that suddenly now nobody's going to want to do business with you. It just shows that you're a human and that you're approachable and that actually, in fact, you might be a really great partner for whatever it is that a client or a customer is looking for.

Speaker 1: 19:12

Well said, well said. You're listening to Small Business Pivots. This episode is proudly brought to you by BOSS, where business ownership is simplified for success. At BOSS, we help business owners create their businesses to run smoothly without them being there 24-7. Our seasoned business coaches who have walked the path themselves, provide invaluable guidance and support and with additional services like fast business loans, some approved within 24 to 48 hours, comprehensive online courses, detailed workbooks and engaging classes, boss offers a wealth of resources to help you succeed. Discover how small business success begins with Boss at businessownershipsimplifiedcom.

Speaker 1: 19:58

If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure to stay connected by hitting that subscribe button, giving us a thumbs up or leaving a positive review. Your support keeps us going. Now let's get back to our incredible guest. By hitting that subscribe button, giving us a thumbs up or leaving a positive review, your support keeps us going. Now let's get back to our incredible guest. Well, let's talk about branding and marketing, because that's where you shine in. What are some first steps that you'd like to share before we get into the nuts and bolts of marketing? But maybe some. What marketing is, what it's not for small business owners, because a lot of them are trying to do it themselves and having a hard time figuring out.

Speaker 2: 20:31

We hear so many terms and they can mean so many different things and sometimes also they blend in together. So marketing, from my perspective, is anything that you're doing in an attempt to be seen by a potential customer or partner. So your marketing could be a mailer, your marketing could be a blog post, it could be in-person marketing by going to a local event or a national event, so it can be lots of different things, but it's really in an attempt to be seen as far as what kind of interaction that you're hoping to generate. Then we start to get into the different types of marketing. So some types of marketing are really focused primarily on educating, for example. So that's what we would call content marketing, where you're not making any kind of direct sales push. It's really just about I'm going to provide you value and through doing that I'm going to build trust with you and I'm also going to establish myself as an expert and authority in your eyes as part of developing out that relationship. So marketing is also a way of being able to build upon that relationship prior to, but also after a sale. Marketing doesn't only happen before somebody buys Marketing. Well, good marketing should be continuing to happen and build on that relationship.

Speaker 2: 22:04

Also, after somebody has made a purchase, branding is something that a lot of people get wrong. Most people think about branding and they think, okay, that is our logo, that is our colors, that's our brand name and, yes, branding is all of those things. But that's like saying a person is just the clothing that they wear and their personal style. Branding is really how your business exists in the world, so it's the perceptions that people have about your business, the way that your business makes somebody feel the kinds of values that your business stands for. And if you're really effective at branding, then what you can also achieve is when somebody thinks about something that you want to be related to, then they think about you also. Let me give an example. Do you think of a particular company when you think of a robot vacuum?

Speaker 1: 23:12

Yeah, now I can't think of the name of it. They must have horrible branding. They could use you for some branding.

Speaker 2: 23:19

A lot of people would say Roomba, that's the most common robot vacuum, but there are many companies that make robot vacuums. It's just that when you think of robot vacuum, even if I don't tell you any other details, you're going to automatically assume that I'm talking about a Roomba. So it doesn't always have to be a type of product. It can also be an idea or a feeling. But you're wanting to create opportunities for customers to be thinking about you, even in situations where they're not immediately interacting with your company. We might be getting a little bit too philosophical with all of this.

Speaker 2: 24:06

So, to rein it back, at the end of the day, branding is really about who you are as a company and how people perceive that, both your customers, even people within your organization, how they think about your company partners so anybody that is interacting with your business. What do they think about your company partners? So anybody that is interacting with your business, what do they think about your business and how does your business make them feel? And the thing is is that branding is happening, whether we're intentional about it or not? If you're not intentional about it, then it just ends up being a combination of a bunch of random decisions that may or may not be aligned around the set of values that you want to uphold, whereas if you're really thoughtful and intentional about it, then you're able to craft something that is impactful and that's going to resonate with the people that you're really, truly wanting to speak to.

Speaker 1: 25:02

You mentioned a couple of key words that I heard, and that is how people perceive you and your business, so can you explain the difference about being different? So you're not thinking like, for instance, the vacuum, so you don't have a lot of vacuum manufacturers, vendors, in your head. It's like, how do they think about you, though? Can you explain how that works?

Speaker 2: 25:30

So are you asking about how do you begin to differentiate yourself out?

Speaker 1: 25:35

Yeah, correct.

Speaker 2: 25:37

Yes. So this is so important and if we flash back to the beginning of the conversation, I was mentioning how we see those businesses that are successful, and I think our automatic impulse is to say, if they're being successful at doing that, then I just need to do that also. But what happens when you are, let's say, that there's a company and they're really successful at something, and you're come and already a lot of people know them and love them, and you're coming in and you're saying my strategy is just going to be doing exactly what they're doing, except nobody knows who I am and nobody loves me. What reason are you giving people to choose you instead of that other option? So if you're wanting to compete against someone or a company that is more known, that's more popular, that's more visible, that's just been there longer, then you actually need to give customers a reason for why they need an alternative instead. So what makes you different or better or more uniquely qualified to be able to serve a group of customers than this other alternative that's there?

Speaker 2: 27:04

And so, in order to do that, you need to do what I call the four C's, and so the first C is you need to understand your competitive environment. So, in order to be able to figure out how to set yourself apart and differentiate yourself, you need to understand who you're differentiating yourself against. So you need to look at who your direct and maybe indirect competitors are, but through the lens of seeing where are they successful and where are they maybe also not as successful. Are there certain groups of people that they're neglecting or certain types of solutions that they're not providing? So looking for those gaps, because those gaps, even if they do them, if those are not really a key part of how they are presenting themselves, those become your opportunities to be able to create a contrast and a point of difference. So that's the first C is surveying the competition. The second C is you need to figure out who your ideal customer is, or your customer avatar. Customer avatar is a term that's used in marketing to describe a profile of who your ideal customer is.

Speaker 2: 28:34

And one of the most common mistakes that I see businesses make in this step is an unwillingness and a fear of getting specific, because they have this perception that if you narrow it down, then you're going to be cutting off your opportunity at being able to grow your business, when in fact really the opposite happens, because it's through that specificity that you're actually able to talk to an individual customer and really make them feel seen and understood and eager to want to work with you. Otherwise, if you're just talking to anybody between the ages of 18 and 100, I mean, how are you, what are you going to say? That's going to have an impact, because the 18-year-old is going to have a totally different vocabulary and set of cultural references than the 100-year-old and so it's going to be virtually impossible to be able to have a conversation and a targeted positioning that's going to speak equally to both of them. And this isn't just about age. But age can be one thing. But I really want you to build out a full profile so that when I read that profile I am able to picture a very specific person. And that's powerful, not just for your marketing, but that's also very helpful for everybody else that you might be working with, so that they understand who they're talking to and how to really communicate in a way that's going to resonate with that person.

Speaker 2: 30:08

So that's the second C is your customer. The third C is your company identity. So that same profile that you made for your ideal customer I want you to now create for your own business. So I want you to personify your business and think about if my brand were a human. Who would they be? What kind of interests would they have? What television shows would they watch? What influencers would they follow? Do they have children? Do they attend any kind of religious institution? All of those details that you've figured out for your customer now you figure out for your brand, and by doing that, you're also gaining an extra degree of clarity and understanding.

Speaker 2: 31:01

Okay, this is how my brand might respond to a current event that's happening in the world. Based on this, or this is how. These are the kinds of jokes that we're going to make, because this is embodying who we are as a company, and so often, when we're describing our businesses, we might say things like we're kind, we're approachable, and those are good and valuable, but they don't give us the depth necessary to be able to really think strategically and specifically in order to communicate in a way. That's going to drive that connection, which connection is the fourth C, and that's pulling all of these other three Cs together. So understanding how you fit into the competitive landscape, that contrast, what makes you different and unique, understanding who the customer is and understanding who the company is, and then creating a connection between all of those things so that you are driving and building a real relationship.

Speaker 2: 32:13

Because one of the things that's really hard when we put our business hats on is that it somehow separates us from a lot of our innate skills that we have as humans.

Speaker 2: 32:25

So if we are walking into a room and needing to strike up a conversation with somebody, we're naturally going to be able to figure out how to relate to that person and adapt to using jokes that we think they will find funny, and adjusting the kinds of vocabulary that we use to be appropriate to what it seems like would be a good fit for them. Even our body language is something that we will just naturally begin to mimic them as we spend more time with them. But when we are now needing to put our business hats on, we create a little bit of that separation, and so it becomes difficult to tap into that, and so by bringing in this human element of clarity about who your customers are and who you are as a business, then we can get much closer to those innate skills that we just have as humans, and at the end of the day, people want to buy from people that they like.

Speaker 1: 33:24

Today I just thought of, I saw a truck and we have an NBA team where I'm at in Oklahoma. It's called the Oklahoma City Thunder. I couldn't tell you what they did because it was Thunder something. So it was handwritten T-H-U-N-D but they were using the exact orange and blues and I was like this this is exactly what you're talking about. Like, be different, be yourself, cause if you try to mimic someone else, they've already got that brand. Because all I kept thinking about was the NBA team. Right, because they're trying to use someone else's authority, I guess you could say, to kind of push them to the top, when actually it's doing the complete opposite of what they probably were hoping for.

Speaker 2: 34:08

Exactly, especially if there's no natural relationship there.

Speaker 1: 34:12

Yeah, it wasn't with the team.

Speaker 2: 34:14

Right.

Speaker 2: 34:15

So sometimes you can borrow authority, like that's why influencer marketing can be so powerful or spokespeople, but what you notice is that sometimes those kinds of partnerships totally flop, and most of the time when they flop it's because it makes no sense, has no relationship at all to this category that this business is trying to borrow their authority in.

Speaker 2: 34:52

And so that actually goes back to when you have the clarity of who you are as a business and who your customers are, making all of those decisions becomes much clearer. Because you would need to ask yourself two questions Is this somebody that my audience, my customers, would relate to, would be excited to see, would see as a person that's trustworthy, that their opinion would really matter to them, it's trustworthy, that their opinion would really matter to them? And two, does this person align with my business and uphold the values that we hold and the way that we want to appear in the world? And if it's just a matter of getting some attention, sure, there's the expression of all press is good press, but when we're small businesses and time is such a scarcity and sometimes also money is in short supply, we need to be far more selective and critical about each one of those decisions, then obviously a multinational company with a massive budget has a little bit more wiggle room with some of those mistakes or can leverage that press, even if it's not good press.

Speaker 1: 36:18

You'd mentioned something earlier about e-commerce versus service businesses. Because e-commerce I always think. If I'm buying something online, I need a quick decision. Right? If I'm looking for a landscaper or a pool installer, I'm probably going to take a little more time, but what you're sharing can conquer the speediness of a consumer making a decision because they're more clear. Is that right? Can you address that a little bit?

Speaker 2: 36:45

Yes. So what I've learned in working with e-commerce businesses for the last eight years is you have to do all of these things that I just talked about in a very concise, efficient and clear way, because people have endless options way, because people have endless options. So if you're not on top of communicating why your solution is the best possible option for the customer, then you're going to lose them to your competitor in the matter of seconds or, honestly, less than that, and so it becomes a really great training ground for figuring out how to do all of these things, and so I actually think that it can be a great exercise to even think about your business as if it were an e-commerce business, and we've actually we've done that with ourselves in our own business. So, even though we work with e-commerce businesses, we're a service-based business, but we productized our main service offerings, meaning that when you come to us and you want a product page for Amazon, you can go buy a product page for Amazon, just like you would go buy a new coaster or thermos or microphone on Amazon, and so it says exactly what you're going to get and you buy it, you get an email with the next steps and it's all just as if you were buying a physical product, and what can be really helpful about doing that is that you need to be able to communicate what somebody's getting.

Speaker 2: 38:28

You need to communicate why your offer is such a great offer for them, perhaps better or superior than the other options that are out there. You need to communicate trust. Why should people feel confident giving you their money and knowing that they're going to get some? First of all, get anything, but then get something that is of the quality that they are hoping and expecting. You need to consider all of the potential questions or concerns that somebody would have and provide them all of that information. We also want to make it very easy to be able to get in touch with somebody so that, if they have questions, they're not waiting three days for an email. One of the most significant things that you can do to increase your conversion rate is to increase the speed at which you follow up with a customer. The faster that you are able to respond, the higher the likelihood that you're going to win them compared to your competitors.

Speaker 1: 39:34

I assure you that our listeners know I can trust you now. So how can they get ahold of you if they wanna work with you?

Speaker 2: 39:40

Our website, marketingbyemmacom, has all of our details on there. If you also liked this information and want to dive deeper into any of this, you can go to my channel on YouTube, which is just at Marketing by Emma, and I go into more depth about how to actually go about creating a customer avatar, how to use AI to speed up the process of creating a customer avatar, how to build out that brand identity and a variety of other topics as well speed up the process of creating a customer avatar, how to build out that brand identity and a variety of other topics as well and I'm always happy to answer questions and help in any way that we can.

Speaker 1: 40:16

Are you active on one of the platforms social media?

Speaker 2: 40:20

I'm active on LinkedIn and YouTube. Those are my two. I mean I'm on Instagram and Facebook, but mostly just to promote my YouTube.

Speaker 1: 40:34

No, I understand you have a meaning behind it. So well, if you were in a room of small business owners, what is one impactful thing that would be applicable to all of them, no matter what kind of business they have?

Speaker 2: 40:46

Most of the time, you know what you need to do and you're busying yourself with getting distracted by thinking that you actually need to do this other thing. But if you were to really sit down and be honest, you would know what that next most important step is, and there's a good chance that you're avoiding it, and so figuring out why you're avoiding it and how to persevere and push through is most likely where the biggest growth opportunity lives.

Speaker 1: 41:20

Fantastic. Well, you've been a blessing to many today and I appreciate you sharing with our audience.

Speaker 2: 41:25

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 41:27

My pleasure. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. Please don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast. If your business is stuck, you need help creating a business that can run without you, or you need a fast business loan or line of credit, go to our website businessownershipsimplifiedcom and schedule a free consultation to learn why small business success starts with boss. If you want to talk anything small business related, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.