How Do You Measure Success on Valentine's Day?

Whenever you talk about success, people want to know your ‘secret.’ It’s a fair question because they probably see you succeeding in areas where they struggle, but it isn’t the question they should be asking.

The truth is, there is no ‘secret’ path to success. The only way to get there is through hard work, smart decisions, and sometimes, a little luck. So, instead of asking about your secret, what they should be asking is what formula you use to as a foundation for your business. Mine is simple, and certainly not a secret:

Passion + Perseverance + Quality…and SURVEYS!

It sounds so simple – and it is simple when you see it spelled out. The not-so-simple part, the thing that every business owner should strive for, is perfecting all four of those aspects. You can certainly achieve some level of success without all four, but your business will never truly run like a ‘well-oiled machine’ if you are deficient in any one of those areas.

Passion is easy, you either have it or you don’t. The more passionate you are about what you do, the more likely you are to persevere. Quality is something that everyone should want to be associated with and it includes every aspect of your business from the products you offer to the people you hire and the way you treat customers.

The final element to my formula is my favorite – surveys! Why do I love them so much? Because hearing the voice of my customer was one of the greatest tools I ever had. No matter how well I performed in the other three areas, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t what the customers wanted.

Valentine's Day is a holiday built on expectations, but how do we know what our customers expect from us unless we ask them? Wouldn’t it be incredible to be able to sit down and visit with each and every customer face-to-face to discuss their thoughts, feelings, and concerns about their shopping experience as well as their overall impression of our business?

Of course, that isn’t possible so in many circumstances our only real feedback comes from one of two places – upset customers who are extremely dissatisfied, or the opposite end of the spectrum where longtime loyal customers think we can do no wrong.

Both groups provide valuable input and deserve our attention. However, if we only listen to the fringe we’re missing out on a vast majority of our customers. It’s easy to sit back and think we have all our bases covered by making our most vocal customers happy, but our perception isn’t always as accurate as we imagine.

Now is the perfect time to start utilizing surveys

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner and Mother’s Day on the horizon, now is the perfect time to reach out to your customers in order to gain valuable feedback about the experience they had with your shop. The information you gain will not only help you make improvements for the next big holiday but will also help shape the future of your business.

Business owners should not only value customer feedback but depend on it as an essential part of their day-to-day operations. However, trends change fast, and today’s hot seller may be an outdated fad in a month or two. Your impeccable sense of style and design doesn’t help your business if customers don’t share your vision.

The only way to get the most accurate pulse of your business is by listening to your customers and the more of them you listen to, the more knowledge you’ll gain. Surveys are a perfect way to find out how they’re feeling and an outstanding way to identify areas for improvement. Many people won’t offer feedback unless you ask, and those are often the customers with the most beneficial feedback.

As I said earlier, there are no secrets to guarantee success. But there was one simple thing that I did that set me apart from almost everyone else – that was surveying my customers. I can’t believe that so many businesses neglect to do this, even with all the resources available to help them. It truly is one of the best things you can do to improve your business and I’m here to help, every step of the way.

Call me anytime at (941) 806-1911 or leave us a note below for more information on our survey management program from Bloomerang Solutions and leave the guesswork out of your business strategy.

Turning Valentine's Day Customers into Year-Round Customers

As florists, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the best time of year. Sales are strong, orders are up and the energy is high. It would be great to keep that pace consistent throughout the entire year, but many customers treat flower shops the same way they treat going to church - maybe once or twice a year, and only on holidays.

Some may think it's a lost cause to try to keep those customers coming back the rest of the year, but I see tremendous opportunity to convert them into regular customers! But how do you do that? The secret is customer engagement. In fact, I truly believe that the difference between a good retailer and a great retailer is the effort they put into engaging their customers because that's how you grow your business.

It does take some work, though, because shopping habits have changed and brand loyalty is harder to earn. Long gone are the days when a simple “thank you” and a coupon for the next order would guarantee a return. Now if you want to see repeat business, you really have to work for it.

With the average American exposed to around 3,000 advertisements a day, standing apart from the crowd isn’t easy, but we have found that these simple tools not only keep customers engaged, but will also lead to increase sales:

Social Media: The average American spends approximately two hours of each day on social media sites, with 51 of those minutes on Facebook alone. If your shop is not present where your customer spends their time, how do you expect them to find you let alone know who you are?

Remarketing: Like online billboards for your business, these customized banners follow your customer all over the web for 30-60 days and keep your shop’s message in the front of their mind.

Reminder cards: From holidays like Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to birthdays and anniversaries, sending friendly reminders is a valuable relationship building tool. These cards remind customers not only of the specific event, but also let them know which product they ordered last year as well.

Feedback Forms/Surveys: Customers usually don’t provide much feedback unless they’re really happy, or really upset. In many cases, they’ll just shop elsewhere next time and you’ll never know why they left. Feedback forms and surveys let you know exactly what they think of your shop and provide you with valuable information to help you better run your business.

Engagement isn't always easy, but the effort it takes is well worth it in the long run. If you’re unsure where to start, or would like to enhance your customers’ shopping experience, give your Bloomerang Solutions team a call at (941) 806-1911 or email us here. We’re here to help you customize a marketing plan and figure out what will work for your customers.

Happy Holidays from Bloomerang Solutions

Yelp! Are Your Customers Being Hijacked?

Does your business have a Yelp listing? Chances are it probably does whether you realize it or not. And, if you’re not a paying customer, your business’s listing is probably filled with ads for your competitors. Go ahead and check it out by going to Yelp and typing in the name of your business. I bet you’ll be alarmed at what you see.

Yelp certainly has a robust following and is still one of the most popular platforms for consumer ratings so it is hard to ignore, but controversy continues to tarnish the local listing giant as lawsuits pile up accusing the corporation of shady business practices such as extortion and manipulated reviews.

If you don’t pay for your own Yelp ads, your competitors can have their ads appear on your Yelp listing and you won’t be able to remove them unless you pay up. There have also been allegations of Yelp removing positive reviews after a business owner refused to pay for an ad.

Since 2008, the Federal Trade Commission has received over 2000 complaints from small business owners over Yelp’s advertising practices and in 2014 one of the lawsuits against Yelp went as far as the Virginia Supreme Court after the company refused to take down or identify anonymous reviews that were accused of being fraudulent.

The stories go on and on, but the fact that Yelp hasn’t exactly been virtuous doesn’t mean you should ignore the platform altogether. Despite all of the negative publicity and the pile of lawsuits, Yelp is still an extremely effective way to market your business, but it is something you’re going to have to stay on top of and pay very close attention to.

The first thing you should do is claim and optimize your listing and then work on acquiring new reviews. It is also very important to respond to any negative reviews you get. At that point, it is up to you to decide if you want to pay or not. Before you make that decision, please give us a call and we can discuss some different options that you can pursue.

-Art

Google Ads Have Changed the Way We All Market

Just a few years ago, aggressive marketers would convert just .001% on blanket marketing using inserts in the local newspapers. It was branding and you were able to get a few orders. Today, hardly anyone is advertising that way anymore and those who are secure the volume. We need to local shops to understand how this works or hire an agency to handle it for you.

Google makes it very simple to advertise with them, but there are some pitfalls that you need to be aware of if you decide to do it yourself. For example, if you pay $300 a month to Google you most likely have a “Google Smart Ads” account. This type of account is very basic, it gets you listed and that's it. There is hardly any tracking or details available for your campaign. It is entry-level work that features no re-targeting, no snippets or no use of extensions. Agencies charge $100 a month and you pay Google $300 and all you get are a few orders.

GOOGLE Ads (aka Pay-Per-Click), on the other hand, allow you to develop strategies, track every click, and use conversion codes to see where the traffic is coming from as well as how they found you.

Take a look at this statistic from Wordstream and it will tell you everything you need to know about the effectiveness of advertising with Google. For every dollar spent on Google, two dollars are converted into a completion! Yes, that is $2.00 in REVENUE for every dollar spent, and it isn’t uncommon to see 4 or even 5 to 1. With numbers like that, you may ask yourself, "why isn't every florist hiring and agency to secure orders for themselves?"

I do too!

I once read a bend in the road isn't the end of the road, unless you fail to make the turn! I took that advice to heart and remember it every day when I’m faced with challenging situations. Owning your own business requires navigating lots of bending roads and other hazards that could easily end your journey if you’re not careful. At Bloomerang Solutions, our job is to help you navigate the bends in the road so you can focus on running your business. Give us a call today at (941) 806-1911 or drop us a line below and we can get your Google Ads account up and running today – don’t miss that turn!

Art