Isn’t it funny that no matter how many years have passed we still think of the year in terms of a school year? As my kiddos get settled in at school, I find myself taking inventory of my business and how things are going.
There are so many things to celebrate… we are continuing to work with San Diego FC! We have added the Taste of the College Area to our list of upcoming events after wrapping up another successful Taste of East Village. The Lemon Festival in Downtown Chula Vista was a smashing success, and there is so much more to celebrate. Yet, there are still a lot of ways we can improve, so I started to dive into what we need to do and what we should be talking about with our clients.
I came across an old video I created during the pandemic about what we all should be thinking about as we navigate uncertain times. While the pandemic is long behind us, I think the points I initially made still hold true and I thought I’d share them, since my self-criticism prevented me from wanting to share the video back then.
- Just because someone else is struggling doesn’t mean you should be struggling. There are always going to be thrivers. Be the thriver. As humans, we have a tendency to be empathetic that can sometimes bleed into business. We start to hear that people are not doing well and all of a sudden, we find ourselves in a similar situation. There is always a lottery winner or someone who, despite the odds, took the world by storm. Be that person.
- When things feel messy, go back to the basics and do a general audit. Sometimes months fly by before we realize there is a broken plugin on our website. To maintain our impeccability, we really need to make our rounds and not get too comfortable with assuming everything is fine if you haven’t heard about it. This is easier said than done when you are operating a business, and when you add in your personal life responsibilities, this can get difficult. I like to keep a checklist of things I need to do once a month to keep things running smoothly.
- Are you truly living your values through your work? When you review your best practices, check that they are in alignment with your core values. It’s okay if your values shift, but make sure they have shifted to a place you are proud of. Identifying your values as an organization is critical to ensuring your time is aligned with your priorities.
- Is your messaging current? Make sure you look through your website and marketing materials to make sure they are up to date with the current state of things. For example, as a public relations agency, our strategies have drastically changed. We would be missing a lot of opportunities if we were still using the same language we used before the pandemic. Things have changed, and our content must reflect those changes.
- What are you doing to maintain strong relationships with your existing and potential clients and customers? Have you checked in to see how you might be able to ensure they feel special?
- Social media changes all the time. Right now, we are seeing unfortunate algorithms that reflect a very low percentage of your audience seeing your content. Many reports show that only approximately 2-10% of your audience sees your organic posts. During the pandemic, many people shifted their strategy all to social media, but that is no longer an effective tool alone. Advertising can help, but it gets expensive these days. Ask yourself these questions: Who are you trying to reach? Where do they get information? If your answer is social media, then you may need to consider increasing your investment or shifting content strategies.
- Given all the shifts in technology in the past year, are you taking the most efficient route? There are amazing tools available to us through AI. You could download an app like Perplexity and literally search for ways to market your business. This fascinating AI tool will give you recommendations on how to execute effective programs or campaigns.
- There is a lot of talk about the value of SEO in today’s landscape. It can be challenging for brick and mortar businesses because of geotagging, but as a service-based business, we highly recommend the SEO investment. Just be sure you are asking the right questions.
- Is your PR team utilizing your SEO search terms in their strategy? People engage with media differently now. There is less loyalty and more general diving, so people aren’t looking specifically to see what one publication is talking about but rather searching on specific topics. Make sure that you are easily found by the people you want finding you.
- Is your email marketing campaign reaching the right audience?
- Is there anyone in your network or outside of your network who shares a similar audience that could benefit from partnering with you?
- Are you doing things the hard way? Could you cut some corners by finding the right partner? If you haven’t asked yourself who you know that might have some great connections or ideas, now’s a great time to do that.
In general, life will always be full. We have to create checks and balances to ensure we are always bringing our most powerful foot forward. Ironically, it’s often when we are thriving that some of our best practices slip a little because we are so focused on the excitement and momentum. We would love to connect with you to help you and your organization do an audit of how you can improve your strategy going forward.