August 5, 2024 • 30 mins
Building a brand doesn't require a hefty budget! Today, I share how I started my business from the ground up with minimal marketing dollars. From harnessing the power of online reviews on Yelp and Google to staying ahead of market trends, you'll discover how prioritizing customer feedback can cultivate a positive reputation and set you on a path to significant growth. Tune in for practical advice on leveraging digital tools and encouraging customer engagement to make your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Authenticity and vulnerability are key when networking within local groups, and I'll explain how setting realistic expectations and over-delivering can help build trust. Learn the value of participating in town halls and local expos to provide free, valuable information, establishing your brand presence without breaking the bank. We'll also explore the power of educational content and small promotional items in brand-building and the importance of patience and consistency as you cautiously invest in advertising to maximize your impact.
Avoid costly mistakes in website development and SEO with lessons from my personal journey. Discover how vehicle wraps can boost visibility and how low-cost social media ads with precise targeting can enhance your business presence. I'll share practical tips on local sponsorships and long-term, cost-effective strategies that ensure your brand is easily found when potential customers need your services. Join us for an episode packed with actionable advice to help you build your brand on a budget!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everyone, it's Jonathan Wagner and I want to
welcome you back to anotherepisode on our podcast, the
Business Guide.
Thank you for joining us today.
Today's episode is building abrand on a budget and the
low-cost branding strategies.
Now, this is something thatspeaks to me.
When I was first in business, Idid everything I could and I
(00:27):
completely understand.
When you're in business, ourmarketing dollars are very
sparse.
We've got so many expensesbetween employees and our
overhead of maybe our shop orour vehicles, whatever it is,
and I know that our marketingbudget can vary, but it is so
important and so detrimental toyour business that you need to
(00:49):
make sure you are always on topof it.
But how do you build it if youdon't have any money or you have
very little money?
I'm going to go over everythingtoday on what I did, some
experiences there and I hopethat it helps you in your
business.
Some experiences there and Ihope that it helps you in your
business.
So, starting out, obviouslyspent a ton of money on getting
(01:12):
my vehicle dialed in so I couldessentially I had to put a
carpet cleaning machine in it.
That was very expensive, loadedup with chemicals, really spent
all of my money and left veryfew marketing dollars available
to myself.
So getting going in businessI've talked about this before on
(01:32):
a couple of the other episodesI had a very positive experience
starting.
Lots of friends and familydefinitely used me from the
start, but after a month or twogoes by, when you really start
needing those real clients tostart coming in and you need
those clients finding you youreally have to get creative.
So one thing that I did is Ireached out to my former boss.
(01:56):
He was a small business ownerin the field that I had chosen
and I talked to him about acouple things.
I talked to him about hismarketing strategies.
Of course, any competitor isnot going to give you every
single thing that they're doing.
But you know, he told mesomething very I want to say
very important, because itdefinitely benefited me and the
(02:19):
community later, and I'll gointo that.
So one thing that he mentionedwas at the time, you know,
online reviews were starting tokind of come up right.
People were not really adaptingwith them.
They weren't really embracingthem.
How are you going to make moneyoff of online reviews?
And this particular gentlemandidn't have so much of a web
(02:39):
presence.
He was an old school kind ofyellow page advertising kind of
guy and that was dying out andhis sales were seeing that and
he was not adapting to themarket.
But he said something thatreally stood out to me.
He said you know, there is asite called Yelp.
It is where people go on andreview your business and I have
(03:01):
nothing but bad reviews on thereand it has really harmed my
business and harmed my sales.
Now, years later, talking tohim, it wasn't actually the
negative Yelp reviews that hehad gotten that had harmed his
business.
It was the lack of him adaptingto new changes in the market
and it going more digital andhim not embracing that.
(03:22):
In my situation that night orexcuse me, let me rewind he said
if I were you I would doeverything in my power to make
sure that your business nevershows up on Yelp.
That night it was the firstthing that I did.
I said gosh, if other businessowners are scared of this Yelp
or negative reviews, I wannagive such a positive experience
(03:45):
that my business would reallystand out and I could use that
as marketing.
Now, little did I know.
Once I was on Yelp and startedgetting reviews, I quickly
became the highest rated carpetcleaner in my county very
quickly and I only did that atthe time with 12 reviews,
(04:05):
because nobody was.
You know, everybody had two orthree reviews and they were
negative.
I really pushed everybody goingon Yelp and saying, hey, could
you leave me a review?
Therefore, once I started tobuild that traction, I was
always light years ahead of mycompetition and even speaking to
my competition later that, somepeople that actually trailed
(04:30):
behind me as I had 50 or 60reviews, I would start meeting
some of my competitors that wereat 10 or 20 or 25, 30.
And they would say, look, Ican't keep up with you.
You have so many good reviewsthat every time I get some
you're always ahead of me.
So I was ahead of the curve onthe reviews at the time.
That really made my businessstand out.
And when my business stood out,little did I know that people
(04:50):
were actually now searching Yelpfor my service and I was
showing up and that was turninginto dollars.
So for a solid two or threeyears I was making a ton of
money off of just having a goodreputation.
I wasn't spending any money, itdidn't cost me anything.
So if you are new in businessand you are starting out.
You absolutely need a reviewlisting.
(05:15):
You need to do that on Yelp.
You need to do it on Google,depending on different platforms
.
You know if you're a restaurantor you're a you know home
service business.
There are a couple otheravenues that you can go down
research best review platforms,but Google and Yelp are top.
What I have seen with Yelppeople have.
(05:36):
You definitely have people thatstill use Yelp, but Google is
such a huge platform.
A lot of those reviews peoplereally digest.
So you definitely want to be onboth of those platforms and it
does work.
Now don't be discouraged thatmaybe your competitors have more
reviews than you, becausesometimes people will choose the
(05:58):
newer business or whatever itis.
So offer incentives to call you.
Give a discount, not forleaving a review that violates
most policies of either Googleor Yelp or most platforms.
Don't leave a you know $50 offfor this review.
That is a big no-no.
Absolutely don't do that.
But if you have a section whereyou can offer on Yelp, there's
(06:20):
a section that you can put youknow $50 off your first service.
So you're encouraging thoseparticular people to call
service.
So you're encouraging thoseparticular people to call you.
So, while your competitors mayhave more reviews, maybe you
have a better deal and nowyou're interacting with that
platform's reviewers.
So that helped my business outtremendously in the first couple
of years was reviews.
(06:40):
Now, I have said in previousepisodes, there was something
else that helped my business andit was print media.
It was newspaper.
That was a free article.
That was done at the time,didn't cost me anything and
brought me in quite a bit ofbusiness.
But I was able to adapt.
I knew that print wasn't goingto work because once I started
(07:01):
getting some business, Iinvested a couple marketing
marketing dollars in print andthat didn't really work for me.
People were receptive of thisfree article and what it
represented For me.
It was who's new in business.
So moving on from there andbeing able to advertise in print
, it didn't work for my business.
May work for yours, didn't workfor mine and I moved on very
quickly.
So I then embraced the onlineplatform.
(07:25):
So, as a small business owner,you need to get creative, you
need to be crafty.
You don't need to spend a lotof money.
Google and Yelp they're free.
They do have different paidthings that you can do on it
Google ads you can do.
Google ads On Yelp.
You can do ads, you can pay fordifferent verified licenses,
things like that, but you coulddefinitely start very low budget
(07:46):
if not free.
Moving on guys.
Actually, before I move on, Iwant to say something about
Google.
Google is so powerful I think.
The Google search engine, Ithink, takes up like 80% of the
market.
Use that to your advantage.
When you have these Googlereviews that says, you know best
(08:09):
carpet cleaner, google is gonnatake those and merge those
later with your website and yourpresence and they're gonna make
you come up better organicallyfor best carpet cleaner.
So it is important as you getthose reviews, it is actually
helping out SEO content later,and I will talk about SEO later
in this episode.
(08:29):
So I need you to know thatthese reviews are starting the
foundation for your business,and if you're a business that
unfortunately has a ton ofnegative reviews, or you plan on
getting negative reviews, thenthis isn't going to work for you
, okay.
So another thing that workedpretty well for me when I was
new in reviews then this isn'tgoing to work for you, okay.
So another thing that workedpretty well for me when I was
new in business, and this is soprimitive, but so many people
(08:52):
still do this was door hangers.
I think at the time I got maybeyou know 1,000 or 2,000 of them
for 100 bucks, 200 bucks, and Iknow if you go online you can
probably design them up and getthem even cheaper.
Now the door hangers thatworked for me that were pretty
successful and again this isadapting to everybody's business
here.
The door hangers that workedfor me were educational door
(09:15):
hangers.
Now again, remember when Istarted business and I've spoken
about this in the past Istarted as a carpet cleaner.
That was a service that I knewpeople needed.
In the past I started as acarpet cleaner.
That was a service that I knewpeople needed.
So when I was putting out doorhangers, I was reflecting a
discount on that service and anexpiration date.
Another service that I hadoffered was dryer vent cleaning.
(09:37):
Now, for whatever reason,people did not care about a
discount and I couldn't reallygive a super deep discount on
dryer vent cleaning because Ialready had it set at a low
price.
So what I did is I put outeducational content.
I put out how many homes havefire damage because of dryer
vent fires.
I put out educational contentfor these people old school on
(10:01):
these door hangers.
Now what I found was in oldercommunities it didn't matter.
I put out educational contentfor these people old school it
worked tremendously.
But in communities that werebusy, maybe regular 30s like
(10:29):
myself that have to go to workhave to get the kids a little
bit, if you would whereas theeducational content worked for
the people that could sit downand read it and take a moment to
digest everything.
So you have to get creative whenyou're building your strategy
and you have to know that you'renot going to just do it and
(10:52):
it's going to work.
You need to have a plan of ifthis doesn't work, what am I
going to do?
Those door hangers worked verywell when I was new in business
and now, in the business modelthat I have, which is a
restoration company, doorhangers just don't work.
So you have to customize it offof what works best for you and
your business.
Now, another free thing and I'vespoken about this in the past
(11:15):
is networking your network ofthe circle that you belong in
and the groups that you belongin are so crucial.
But it can be low cost, it canbe free and it is more of a
long-term approach.
But those people that you meet.
If you genuinely build realrelationships with them, they
(11:36):
will use you from years to come.
Now I've been in business alittle over 12 years and some of
those people that I have metfrom day one in business still
use me and I use them to thisdate because we built an actual
friendship.
So networking groups are agreat resource for you when
you're new in business.
If you happen to have anin-demand service, they may work
(12:00):
a little better for you rightoff the bat because you know,
like in carpet cleaning, ifsomebody had dirty carpets they
could call me versus restoration.
They don't know when they'regoing to have a water or fire
damage if they will ever havethat.
But building a relationshipwith them throughout the years
maybe now their friends andfamily have had it or they've
(12:20):
had it they have reached out.
Versus when I was first inbusiness and that carpet
cleaning was a very in-demandservice, they were able to use
me right away.
I could give a coupon.
Guys, don't be shy either whenyou're new in business.
If you're in a networking group, stand up and say I am new in
business and I don't know whatI'm doing, but I know that I
have a product and I know that Ihave the best product or want
(12:43):
to be better, and I need yoursupport.
How can I get that?
You'd be surprised at how manypeople will actually step up and
help a fellow entrepreneur outto support the art of being a
business owner.
Don't be shy about that.
And remember deliver whatyou're going to sell.
(13:06):
So many times throughoutbusiness, I've heard people
promise the world but they don'tdeliver.
I like to set expectations lowand over.
Deliver.
You should do the same.
Moving on Now, in my situation,I'm going to tell you that this
is something that is a freething to do.
(13:30):
In my situation, where I use it.
It doesn't always, it doesn'thappen regularly, but this is
where you, as a business owner,need to be creative.
So I'm going to use this.
I'm going to dub it as thepower of town halls.
Now, town halls could beobviously a town hall if
something happened and yourbusiness could be there to
(13:52):
support uh fellow and neighbors.
Or it could be as simple as aclub or a group in a certain
area, and I will elaborate onthat like a senior citizen
community.
So me being in the emergencyservice business, we
unfortunately have catastrophicevents, catastrophic event being
(14:13):
maybe a downfall, a raindownfall or a catastrophic fire.
Like I've said, I'm inCalifornia.
We get wildfires so quickly.
There are normally town hallsthat are put together that give
information to homeowners and wehave positioned ourselves to
move very quickly on that, wherewe give out free information
(14:37):
very quickly to homeowners thatneed it.
Now do I see a return inbusiness on that?
Absolutely.
What am I providing my time?
I go up and talk.
I have some documents that havemaybe been printed out.
Now, through the years, we haveput together actual marketing
material that looks good, butessentially it's free material.
(15:00):
You would be surprised at howmany people say, wow, this
person came out, they gave freeinformation that I was able to
digest and use and now, inreturn, I need their service.
I'm going to call them.
It works very well.
Another thing that we'll go toare and like I mentioned, what
(15:21):
do I call them?
More like expos.
So they're not so much townhalls but they're expos, and
this is actually going to gointo my next section, which
would be local events.
But these are events that get agroup together, clubs or, you
know, expos, where differentbusinesses will come into those.
You may have to pay for Some ofthe ones we do are free and you
(15:43):
go out and you can provideeducational content.
Now remember, we're not justimmediately thinking our phones
are going to ring.
We are also trying to build abrand while we're doing this.
So the Google reviews, the Yelpreviews, that is slowly
building a brand of who yourbusiness is.
It's not going to turn intophone calls overnight.
(16:06):
Now, the door hangers, thosemight turn into some phone calls
, but you're not so muchbuilding the brand.
People are going to see yourname.
But how many times I've rolledup to my house and there's a
couple business cards on myfront door from somebody just
walking by?
They've put time and effortinto it and they just threw a
business card on my car or on mydoor that normally goes in the
(16:27):
trash.
So if you're going to investtime and the resources to doing
this, you need to do it right.
You need to get creative.
So again, networking groupbuilding a brand.
You are slowly building a brandwithout spending the money.
Everything that I've offeredright now can be done free or
(16:47):
very, very low cost.
Some of these networking groupsmight have a $5, $20 buy-in.
At each meeting you go to Townhalls, you might have to put out
some marketing material.
The reviews are free.
Door hangers are going to costyou, but this is slowly building
a brand.
So what I like to do at theselocal events and again, these
(17:09):
town halls are very similar is Iwill provide educational
content and, depending on if Ihave some little free chachis
lying around or I've orderedsome chachis for that event,
I'll pass those out.
I am slowly building a brand.
I do not expect my phone to ringovernight.
That is something that you needto recognize as you go out into
the community and you startbuilding your brand.
(17:29):
Your phone is not going to ringthat night.
Now there have been times wherea couple days later, I actually
get a phone call because it'slike, hey, I saw you at this
event and, ironically, Iexperienced this.
Now, remember, my business andmy business model is something
that somebody may not ever need.
Maybe their friends andfamilies might need it, but they
(17:51):
may never need it.
So I'm consistently building abrand that I am there when you
need me.
These local events, things likethat, may work better for you.
Let's say, you have a cookiebaking business.
You might be able to go tothese events at a relatively low
cost and sell your and youwould immediately make money.
(18:14):
So I know that there is a localcookie company that goes to
these events and they're atevery single one of them and
they're at more events than I am.
They are one building a brand.
Obviously they want to sellcookies, so they're making,
they're recouping some of theirmoney there, but they're
building the brand for when youneed corporate event cookies or
(18:36):
cupcakes for your wedding orcakes for your wedding, and that
is where they're not onlymaking money but they're
building the brand.
Now, moving on, when youactually start generating a
little money, it is time tospend a little money without
breaking the bank.
Now, remember, advertising goesinto so many different areas
(18:59):
and, as small business owners,we don't have millions of
dollars to spend like these bigcompanies, so every dollar
matters.
Be very careful as you tiptoeinto these different ventures.
Number one you need to invest ina website presence.
Everybody needs a website.
(19:19):
You don't know how manybusinesses that I've talked to
in this day that we're in andthey don't have a website or a
performing website.
They can't track any maybe ofthe customers that are calling
or interacting with their site.
They can't see the pages thatthey're interacting with or
engaging with.
It is very important to put anice website.
(19:40):
Now, for a service-basedbusiness, where we go to the
client, it is very importantthat our website acts as our
showroom.
Think about opening up a tilestore.
You would invest a ton of moneyinto maybe different tiled
products and inventory and youwould build out a showroom that
(20:05):
reflects the beautiful tile thatyou are going to sell.
You've spent a lot of moneydoing that.
In the service-based business,we don't have that, but we need
a great showroom for our clientsto find us.
So you need to invest in a goodwebsite.
It's not something that youjust throw together.
Once you've invested in a goodwebsite, it's time to start
(20:25):
investing in SEO.
If you don't know what SEOstands for, it is search engine
optimization.
So in my situation when I was acarpet cleaner, I needed to
show up on Google for carpetcleaning in the city that I was
located in.
That is what SEO, or searchengine optimization, ultimately
(20:45):
does is.
It takes your web page, yourstorefront, and it puts it on
Google, and sometimes you showup on the third page or the
second page and your ultimategoal is to get on the first page
and sometimes, and hopefullythe first position of Google,
(21:06):
because we also live in an agewhere people aren't clicking.
When was the last time you wentto the fourth page of Google to
find something you normallydon't?
So you really need to be onthat first page.
Unfortunately and I have been inthis situation where I have
(21:27):
spent thousands and thousandsand thousands of dollars I have
had so many people over promiseand not deliver on my websites
and my SEO, so you can reallylose a lot of money.
Every dollar counts in a smallbusiness, so that is one mistake
that I made was I did notproperly vet the people that
(21:48):
were doing my work.
Now, years later, in a businessventure that I have gone into
is I have actually excelled ateverything online webpages, seo,
ads so I am really good atdoing that.
You never know where yourstrong point's going to be, so
(22:09):
if you find yourself tinkeringaround on your website and it
works, that's great, but youneed to do your research.
If you don't know how to dothese things, you need to do
your research because we have alow budget where every dollar
matters and SEO takes time.
(22:31):
You're looking at maybe sixmonths, so do you want to get to
that six-month mark whereyou've spent all of that money
to then realize it doesn't work.
Do your homework.
Do your homework on the peoplethat you hire.
Look at their case studies,look at the results, look at
their track record.
These are important becausethis is a long-term approach.
Now, for me in my business now,when I throw an ad out, it is
(22:57):
very expensive for somebody toclick that ad.
For SEO, which I've builtthroughout the years, it is
essentially free.
I look at that as free.
When we combine the two and Iget an online lead now my cost
per lead is much cheaper.
So this is an approach and it'sa long-term approach and also
(23:20):
helps build your brand.
Something else that is very easy, especially if you're a
service-based business.
We should not have thisargument, but I almost think
that every single businessshould have this Wrap a vehicle.
If you are driving for yourbusiness, wrap that vehicle.
(23:41):
That is building a brand andgets people to see your name
over and over again.
Now, when I first started mybusiness, I did something unique
on my van and it really popped.
I only had one van now at thetime and as I started growing
(24:02):
and clients were using me,they'd say, oh, I see your vans
all the time, how big is yourfleet?
And it was just because I had avan that stood out, didn't have
a lot of noise and it caughttheir attention and they just
happen to see it all the time.
So you can build your brandrelatively low cost and vehicle
(24:23):
wraps are not expensive.
Now they do cost money, butonce it's on, it's on.
I remember one year I decidedbecause you know, also driving
your work vehicle, I have avehicle that is issued to me.
Sometimes you get tired of itbecause you've always got your
name on your business.
Well, I had bought a truck andI said this truck for this year,
(24:47):
this first year, I'm just goingto drive it around with no wrap
.
It was the first time I haddone it in business.
I drove 20,000 miles that yearand at the end of the year I was
really kicking myself in thebutt.
That was 20,000 miles, thatnobody saw my business's name.
(25:08):
So I immediately got it wrappedand for the most part, if I can
, my employees have take-homecars.
It's a strategy.
Not only does it help them outto maybe where they're not
spending gas or whatever it is,but it also gets me into
different neighborhoods and getsme into the same routes where
people are seeing my brand.
So vehicle wraps are veryinexpensive on helping you build
(25:32):
your brand.
Now moving on, something to playwith social media ads.
So everybody has seen a socialmedia ad Facebook, instagram,
youtube, nextdoor, you name it.
Every single person has seen asocial media ad.
Those are relatively low cost,especially if you do them
(25:55):
yourself.
Now, you have to know whatyou're doing.
So if you don't find somebody,but for the most part, they're
very low cost, especially if youdo them yourself.
Now you have to know whatyou're doing.
So if you don't find somebody,but for the most part, they're
very low cost and you can reallydial in your target audience.
A billboard on the side of afreeway could be anywhere from
$2,000 to $4,000.
May work well for your business.
Works horribly for my business.
Business.
(26:20):
Works horribly for my business.
Now, as cars are passing thatbillboard, kids are seeing it.
Different types of people areseeing this billboard, not your
target audience.
With Facebook, instagram andall these social media, you can
dial in exactly who you need tosee your ad and you can do it at
a fraction of the cost.
Just make sure you have a nicecall to action.
(26:40):
That's my little tip there.
With that being said, I want youto go in and explore a budget
that you can put together, onceyou've got some stuff dialed in,
to pilot some social mediastuff, and it could be as quick.
As you know, if you sell thecookies, take a nice picture of
(27:01):
the cookies and say, hey, we'vegot cookies for sale.
Put an ad out there it doesn'tneed to be anything fancy and
later you can hire somebody todo a video.
Video is very popular right now, but you can put together a
quick, short video and promotethat.
Keep it local to your area andit would be very inexpensive.
Another thing that I would sayis low cost.
(27:24):
To help build a brand doesn'timmediately bring in business
Depends.
It varies business to business,but would be sponsor a sports
team, so right, kind of like theeducational content that you
put out there for your businessor consumers to consume.
Ultimately, you would like themto call you.
The same goes for anything youever sponsor.
(27:46):
When you start opening up yourphones for people to call you,
everybody under the sun is goingto call you to sponsor
something what makes sense foryour business.
Now, while as business owners,we do it for the good of the
community.
We also want our phone to ring,and one thing that I happen to
(28:09):
like and works for me is Isponsor a sports team.
I get a banner.
It's relatively low cost.
Maybe I sponsor the uniformsand now my company name is
plastered on uniforms and abanner.
It's relatively low cost.
Maybe I sponsor the uniformsand now my company name is
plastered on uniforms and abanner.
What I've noticed is I do it toteams that are serious about
the sport because those parentsand those families are committed
(28:32):
and they continuously are inthe same sport and throughout
the years of me doing it, I nowhave these people that recognize
me as a legitimate businessthat has given to their team and
in return they will call me orhave called me or refer me to
(28:52):
their friends and family.
So you really have to see whatworks best for your business.
But that is another low-coststrategy to build a brand.
Now remember, today's episodeis all about building a brand on
a low cost, in a low-cost way.
This is not a one-size-fits-allon how to ramp up your business
(29:14):
immediately.
This is all the long approach.
There's nothing reallyshort-term about anything here,
other than maybe door hangers.
But if you're serious aboutyour business and serious about
being in business, you need tostart implementing the
foundation of how you startbuilding your brand.
Remember, we're not Coca-Cola,we're not Walgreens, we're not
(29:35):
these big corporations that havemillions of dollars in our
advertising budget, but we needpeople to be able to find us
when they need our service.
Guys, I really hope this episodehelped you.
If you have any questions,please leave me a comment.
Please send me a text messageon the.
You can see a little send inthe text message.
(29:57):
I would love to get yourfeedback on this show and future
shows.
Moving forward, I'd like tohelp shape this podcast for what
you need.
I hope you found everythinghelpful.
Today, again, it's JonathanWagner and this is another
episode of the business guide.
Thank you,
Hey everyone, it's Jonathan Wagner and I want to
welcome you back to anotherepisode on our podcast, the
Business Guide.
Thank you for joining us today.
Today's episode is building abrand on a budget and the
low-cost branding strategies.
Now, this is something thatspeaks to me.
When I was first in business, Idid everything I could and I
(00:27):
completely understand.
When you're in business, ourmarketing dollars are very
sparse.
We've got so many expensesbetween employees and our
overhead of maybe our shop orour vehicles, whatever it is,
and I know that our marketingbudget can vary, but it is so
important and so detrimental toyour business that you need to
(00:49):
make sure you are always on topof it.
But how do you build it if youdon't have any money or you have
very little money?
I'm going to go over everythingtoday on what I did, some
experiences there and I hopethat it helps you in your
business.
Some experiences there and Ihope that it helps you in your
business.
So, starting out, obviouslyspent a ton of money on getting
(01:12):
my vehicle dialed in so I couldessentially I had to put a
carpet cleaning machine in it.
That was very expensive, loadedup with chemicals, really spent
all of my money and left veryfew marketing dollars available
to myself.
So getting going in businessI've talked about this before on
(01:32):
a couple of the other episodesI had a very positive experience
starting.
Lots of friends and familydefinitely used me from the
start, but after a month or twogoes by, when you really start
needing those real clients tostart coming in and you need
those clients finding you youreally have to get creative.
So one thing that I did is Ireached out to my former boss.
(01:56):
He was a small business ownerin the field that I had chosen
and I talked to him about acouple things.
I talked to him about hismarketing strategies.
Of course, any competitor isnot going to give you every
single thing that they're doing.
But you know, he told mesomething very I want to say
very important, because itdefinitely benefited me and the
(02:19):
community later, and I'll gointo that.
So one thing that he mentionedwas at the time, you know,
online reviews were starting tokind of come up right.
People were not really adaptingwith them.
They weren't really embracingthem.
How are you going to make moneyoff of online reviews?
And this particular gentlemandidn't have so much of a web
(02:39):
presence.
He was an old school kind ofyellow page advertising kind of
guy and that was dying out andhis sales were seeing that and
he was not adapting to themarket.
But he said something thatreally stood out to me.
He said you know, there is asite called Yelp.
It is where people go on andreview your business and I have
(03:01):
nothing but bad reviews on thereand it has really harmed my
business and harmed my sales.
Now, years later, talking tohim, it wasn't actually the
negative Yelp reviews that hehad gotten that had harmed his
business.
It was the lack of him adaptingto new changes in the market
and it going more digital andhim not embracing that.
(03:22):
In my situation that night orexcuse me, let me rewind he said
if I were you I would doeverything in my power to make
sure that your business nevershows up on Yelp.
That night it was the firstthing that I did.
I said gosh, if other businessowners are scared of this Yelp
or negative reviews, I wannagive such a positive experience
(03:45):
that my business would reallystand out and I could use that
as marketing.
Now, little did I know.
Once I was on Yelp and startedgetting reviews, I quickly
became the highest rated carpetcleaner in my county very
quickly and I only did that atthe time with 12 reviews,
(04:05):
because nobody was.
You know, everybody had two orthree reviews and they were
negative.
I really pushed everybody goingon Yelp and saying, hey, could
you leave me a review?
Therefore, once I started tobuild that traction, I was
always light years ahead of mycompetition and even speaking to
my competition later that, somepeople that actually trailed
(04:30):
behind me as I had 50 or 60reviews, I would start meeting
some of my competitors that wereat 10 or 20 or 25, 30.
And they would say, look, Ican't keep up with you.
You have so many good reviewsthat every time I get some
you're always ahead of me.
So I was ahead of the curve onthe reviews at the time.
That really made my businessstand out.
And when my business stood out,little did I know that people
(04:50):
were actually now searching Yelpfor my service and I was
showing up and that was turninginto dollars.
So for a solid two or threeyears I was making a ton of
money off of just having a goodreputation.
I wasn't spending any money, itdidn't cost me anything.
So if you are new in businessand you are starting out.
You absolutely need a reviewlisting.
(05:15):
You need to do that on Yelp.
You need to do it on Google,depending on different platforms
.
You know if you're a restaurantor you're a you know home
service business.
There are a couple otheravenues that you can go down
research best review platforms,but Google and Yelp are top.
What I have seen with Yelppeople have.
(05:36):
You definitely have people thatstill use Yelp, but Google is
such a huge platform.
A lot of those reviews peoplereally digest.
So you definitely want to be onboth of those platforms and it
does work.
Now don't be discouraged thatmaybe your competitors have more
reviews than you, becausesometimes people will choose the
(05:58):
newer business or whatever itis.
So offer incentives to call you.
Give a discount, not forleaving a review that violates
most policies of either Googleor Yelp or most platforms.
Don't leave a you know $50 offfor this review.
That is a big no-no.
Absolutely don't do that.
But if you have a section whereyou can offer on Yelp, there's
(06:20):
a section that you can put youknow $50 off your first service.
So you're encouraging thoseparticular people to call
service.
So you're encouraging thoseparticular people to call you.
So, while your competitors mayhave more reviews, maybe you
have a better deal and nowyou're interacting with that
platform's reviewers.
So that helped my business outtremendously in the first couple
of years was reviews.
(06:40):
Now, I have said in previousepisodes, there was something
else that helped my business andit was print media.
It was newspaper.
That was a free article.
That was done at the time,didn't cost me anything and
brought me in quite a bit ofbusiness.
But I was able to adapt.
I knew that print wasn't goingto work because once I started
(07:01):
getting some business, Iinvested a couple marketing
marketing dollars in print andthat didn't really work for me.
People were receptive of thisfree article and what it
represented For me.
It was who's new in business.
So moving on from there andbeing able to advertise in print
, it didn't work for my business.
May work for yours, didn't workfor mine and I moved on very
quickly.
So I then embraced the onlineplatform.
(07:25):
So, as a small business owner,you need to get creative, you
need to be crafty.
You don't need to spend a lotof money.
Google and Yelp they're free.
They do have different paidthings that you can do on it
Google ads you can do.
Google ads On Yelp.
You can do ads, you can pay fordifferent verified licenses,
things like that, but you coulddefinitely start very low budget
(07:46):
if not free.
Moving on guys.
Actually, before I move on, Iwant to say something about
Google.
Google is so powerful I think.
The Google search engine, Ithink, takes up like 80% of the
market.
Use that to your advantage.
When you have these Googlereviews that says, you know best
(08:09):
carpet cleaner, google is gonnatake those and merge those
later with your website and yourpresence and they're gonna make
you come up better organicallyfor best carpet cleaner.
So it is important as you getthose reviews, it is actually
helping out SEO content later,and I will talk about SEO later
in this episode.
(08:29):
So I need you to know thatthese reviews are starting the
foundation for your business,and if you're a business that
unfortunately has a ton ofnegative reviews, or you plan on
getting negative reviews, thenthis isn't going to work for you
, okay.
So another thing that workedpretty well for me when I was
new in reviews then this isn'tgoing to work for you, okay.
So another thing that workedpretty well for me when I was
new in business, and this is soprimitive, but so many people
(08:52):
still do this was door hangers.
I think at the time I got maybeyou know 1,000 or 2,000 of them
for 100 bucks, 200 bucks, and Iknow if you go online you can
probably design them up and getthem even cheaper.
Now the door hangers thatworked for me that were pretty
successful and again this isadapting to everybody's business
here.
The door hangers that workedfor me were educational door
(09:15):
hangers.
Now again, remember when Istarted business and I've spoken
about this in the past Istarted as a carpet cleaner.
That was a service that I knewpeople needed.
In the past I started as acarpet cleaner.
That was a service that I knewpeople needed.
So when I was putting out doorhangers, I was reflecting a
discount on that service and anexpiration date.
Another service that I hadoffered was dryer vent cleaning.
(09:37):
Now, for whatever reason,people did not care about a
discount and I couldn't reallygive a super deep discount on
dryer vent cleaning because Ialready had it set at a low
price.
So what I did is I put outeducational content.
I put out how many homes havefire damage because of dryer
vent fires.
I put out educational contentfor these people old school on
(10:01):
these door hangers.
Now what I found was in oldercommunities it didn't matter.
I put out educational contentfor these people old school it
worked tremendously.
But in communities that werebusy, maybe regular 30s like
(10:29):
myself that have to go to workhave to get the kids a little
bit, if you would whereas theeducational content worked for
the people that could sit downand read it and take a moment to
digest everything.
So you have to get creative whenyou're building your strategy
and you have to know that you'renot going to just do it and
(10:52):
it's going to work.
You need to have a plan of ifthis doesn't work, what am I
going to do?
Those door hangers worked verywell when I was new in business
and now, in the business modelthat I have, which is a
restoration company, doorhangers just don't work.
So you have to customize it offof what works best for you and
your business.
Now, another free thing and I'vespoken about this in the past
(11:15):
is networking your network ofthe circle that you belong in
and the groups that you belongin are so crucial.
But it can be low cost, it canbe free and it is more of a
long-term approach.
But those people that you meet.
If you genuinely build realrelationships with them, they
(11:36):
will use you from years to come.
Now I've been in business alittle over 12 years and some of
those people that I have metfrom day one in business still
use me and I use them to thisdate because we built an actual
friendship.
So networking groups are agreat resource for you when
you're new in business.
If you happen to have anin-demand service, they may work
(12:00):
a little better for you rightoff the bat because you know,
like in carpet cleaning, ifsomebody had dirty carpets they
could call me versus restoration.
They don't know when they'regoing to have a water or fire
damage if they will ever havethat.
But building a relationshipwith them throughout the years
maybe now their friends andfamily have had it or they've
(12:20):
had it they have reached out.
Versus when I was first inbusiness and that carpet
cleaning was a very in-demandservice, they were able to use
me right away.
I could give a coupon.
Guys, don't be shy either whenyou're new in business.
If you're in a networking group, stand up and say I am new in
business and I don't know whatI'm doing, but I know that I
have a product and I know that Ihave the best product or want
(12:43):
to be better, and I need yoursupport.
How can I get that?
You'd be surprised at how manypeople will actually step up and
help a fellow entrepreneur outto support the art of being a
business owner.
Don't be shy about that.
And remember deliver whatyou're going to sell.
(13:06):
So many times throughoutbusiness, I've heard people
promise the world but they don'tdeliver.
I like to set expectations lowand over.
Deliver.
You should do the same.
Moving on Now, in my situation,I'm going to tell you that this
is something that is a freething to do.
(13:30):
In my situation, where I use it.
It doesn't always, it doesn'thappen regularly, but this is
where you, as a business owner,need to be creative.
So I'm going to use this.
I'm going to dub it as thepower of town halls.
Now, town halls could beobviously a town hall if
something happened and yourbusiness could be there to
(13:52):
support uh fellow and neighbors.
Or it could be as simple as aclub or a group in a certain
area, and I will elaborate onthat like a senior citizen
community.
So me being in the emergencyservice business, we
unfortunately have catastrophicevents, catastrophic event being
(14:13):
maybe a downfall, a raindownfall or a catastrophic fire.
Like I've said, I'm inCalifornia.
We get wildfires so quickly.
There are normally town hallsthat are put together that give
information to homeowners and wehave positioned ourselves to
move very quickly on that, wherewe give out free information
(14:37):
very quickly to homeowners thatneed it.
Now do I see a return inbusiness on that?
Absolutely.
What am I providing my time?
I go up and talk.
I have some documents that havemaybe been printed out.
Now, through the years, we haveput together actual marketing
material that looks good, butessentially it's free material.
(15:00):
You would be surprised at howmany people say, wow, this
person came out, they gave freeinformation that I was able to
digest and use and now, inreturn, I need their service.
I'm going to call them.
It works very well.
Another thing that we'll go toare and like I mentioned, what
(15:21):
do I call them?
More like expos.
So they're not so much townhalls but they're expos, and
this is actually going to gointo my next section, which
would be local events.
But these are events that get agroup together, clubs or, you
know, expos, where differentbusinesses will come into those.
You may have to pay for Some ofthe ones we do are free and you
(15:43):
go out and you can provideeducational content.
Now remember, we're not justimmediately thinking our phones
are going to ring.
We are also trying to build abrand while we're doing this.
So the Google reviews, the Yelpreviews, that is slowly
building a brand of who yourbusiness is.
It's not going to turn intophone calls overnight.
(16:06):
Now, the door hangers, thosemight turn into some phone calls
, but you're not so muchbuilding the brand.
People are going to see yourname.
But how many times I've rolledup to my house and there's a
couple business cards on myfront door from somebody just
walking by?
They've put time and effortinto it and they just threw a
business card on my car or on mydoor that normally goes in the
(16:27):
trash.
So if you're going to investtime and the resources to doing
this, you need to do it right.
You need to get creative.
So again, networking groupbuilding a brand.
You are slowly building a brandwithout spending the money.
Everything that I've offeredright now can be done free or
(16:47):
very, very low cost.
Some of these networking groupsmight have a $5, $20 buy-in.
At each meeting you go to Townhalls, you might have to put out
some marketing material.
The reviews are free.
Door hangers are going to costyou, but this is slowly building
a brand.
So what I like to do at theselocal events and again, these
(17:09):
town halls are very similar is Iwill provide educational
content and, depending on if Ihave some little free chachis
lying around or I've orderedsome chachis for that event,
I'll pass those out.
I am slowly building a brand.
I do not expect my phone to ringovernight.
That is something that you needto recognize as you go out into
the community and you startbuilding your brand.
(17:29):
Your phone is not going to ringthat night.
Now there have been times wherea couple days later, I actually
get a phone call because it'slike, hey, I saw you at this
event and, ironically, Iexperienced this.
Now, remember, my business andmy business model is something
that somebody may not ever need.
Maybe their friends andfamilies might need it, but they
(17:51):
may never need it.
So I'm consistently building abrand that I am there when you
need me.
These local events, things likethat, may work better for you.
Let's say, you have a cookiebaking business.
You might be able to go tothese events at a relatively low
cost and sell your and youwould immediately make money.
(18:14):
So I know that there is a localcookie company that goes to
these events and they're atevery single one of them and
they're at more events than I am.
They are one building a brand.
Obviously they want to sellcookies, so they're making,
they're recouping some of theirmoney there, but they're
building the brand for when youneed corporate event cookies or
(18:36):
cupcakes for your wedding orcakes for your wedding, and that
is where they're not onlymaking money but they're
building the brand.
Now, moving on, when youactually start generating a
little money, it is time tospend a little money without
breaking the bank.
Now, remember, advertising goesinto so many different areas
(18:59):
and, as small business owners,we don't have millions of
dollars to spend like these bigcompanies, so every dollar
matters.
Be very careful as you tiptoeinto these different ventures.
Number one you need to invest ina website presence.
Everybody needs a website.
(19:19):
You don't know how manybusinesses that I've talked to
in this day that we're in andthey don't have a website or a
performing website.
They can't track any maybe ofthe customers that are calling
or interacting with their site.
They can't see the pages thatthey're interacting with or
engaging with.
It is very important to put anice website.
(19:40):
Now, for a service-basedbusiness, where we go to the
client, it is very importantthat our website acts as our
showroom.
Think about opening up a tilestore.
You would invest a ton of moneyinto maybe different tiled
products and inventory and youwould build out a showroom that
(20:05):
reflects the beautiful tile thatyou are going to sell.
You've spent a lot of moneydoing that.
In the service-based business,we don't have that, but we need
a great showroom for our clientsto find us.
So you need to invest in a goodwebsite.
It's not something that youjust throw together.
Once you've invested in a goodwebsite, it's time to start
(20:25):
investing in SEO.
If you don't know what SEOstands for, it is search engine
optimization.
So in my situation when I was acarpet cleaner, I needed to
show up on Google for carpetcleaning in the city that I was
located in.
That is what SEO, or searchengine optimization, ultimately
(20:45):
does is.
It takes your web page, yourstorefront, and it puts it on
Google, and sometimes you showup on the third page or the
second page and your ultimategoal is to get on the first page
and sometimes, and hopefullythe first position of Google,
(21:06):
because we also live in an agewhere people aren't clicking.
When was the last time you wentto the fourth page of Google to
find something you normallydon't?
So you really need to be onthat first page.
Unfortunately and I have been inthis situation where I have
(21:27):
spent thousands and thousandsand thousands of dollars I have
had so many people over promiseand not deliver on my websites
and my SEO, so you can reallylose a lot of money.
Every dollar counts in a smallbusiness, so that is one mistake
that I made was I did notproperly vet the people that
(21:48):
were doing my work.
Now, years later, in a businessventure that I have gone into
is I have actually excelled ateverything online webpages, seo,
ads so I am really good atdoing that.
You never know where yourstrong point's going to be, so
(22:09):
if you find yourself tinkeringaround on your website and it
works, that's great, but youneed to do your research.
If you don't know how to dothese things, you need to do
your research because we have alow budget where every dollar
matters and SEO takes time.
(22:31):
You're looking at maybe sixmonths, so do you want to get to
that six-month mark whereyou've spent all of that money
to then realize it doesn't work.
Do your homework.
Do your homework on the peoplethat you hire.
Look at their case studies,look at the results, look at
their track record.
These are important becausethis is a long-term approach.
Now, for me in my business now,when I throw an ad out, it is
(22:57):
very expensive for somebody toclick that ad.
For SEO, which I've builtthroughout the years, it is
essentially free.
I look at that as free.
When we combine the two and Iget an online lead now my cost
per lead is much cheaper.
So this is an approach and it'sa long-term approach and also
(23:20):
helps build your brand.
Something else that is very easy, especially if you're a
service-based business.
We should not have thisargument, but I almost think
that every single businessshould have this Wrap a vehicle.
If you are driving for yourbusiness, wrap that vehicle.
(23:41):
That is building a brand andgets people to see your name
over and over again.
Now, when I first started mybusiness, I did something unique
on my van and it really popped.
I only had one van now at thetime and as I started growing
(24:02):
and clients were using me,they'd say, oh, I see your vans
all the time, how big is yourfleet?
And it was just because I had avan that stood out, didn't have
a lot of noise and it caughttheir attention and they just
happen to see it all the time.
So you can build your brandrelatively low cost and vehicle
(24:23):
wraps are not expensive.
Now they do cost money, butonce it's on, it's on.
I remember one year I decidedbecause you know, also driving
your work vehicle, I have avehicle that is issued to me.
Sometimes you get tired of itbecause you've always got your
name on your business.
Well, I had bought a truck andI said this truck for this year,
(24:47):
this first year, I'm just goingto drive it around with no wrap
.
It was the first time I haddone it in business.
I drove 20,000 miles that yearand at the end of the year I was
really kicking myself in thebutt.
That was 20,000 miles, thatnobody saw my business's name.
(25:08):
So I immediately got it wrappedand for the most part, if I can
, my employees have take-homecars.
It's a strategy.
Not only does it help them outto maybe where they're not
spending gas or whatever it is,but it also gets me into
different neighborhoods and getsme into the same routes where
people are seeing my brand.
So vehicle wraps are veryinexpensive on helping you build
(25:32):
your brand.
Now moving on, something to playwith social media ads.
So everybody has seen a socialmedia ad Facebook, instagram,
youtube, nextdoor, you name it.
Every single person has seen asocial media ad.
Those are relatively low cost,especially if you do them
(25:55):
yourself.
Now, you have to know whatyou're doing.
So if you don't find somebody,but for the most part, they're
very low cost, especially if youdo them yourself.
Now you have to know whatyou're doing.
So if you don't find somebody,but for the most part, they're
very low cost and you can reallydial in your target audience.
A billboard on the side of afreeway could be anywhere from
$2,000 to $4,000.
May work well for your business.
Works horribly for my business.
Business.
(26:20):
Works horribly for my business.
Now, as cars are passing thatbillboard, kids are seeing it.
Different types of people areseeing this billboard, not your
target audience.
With Facebook, instagram andall these social media, you can
dial in exactly who you need tosee your ad and you can do it at
a fraction of the cost.
Just make sure you have a nicecall to action.
(26:40):
That's my little tip there.
With that being said, I want youto go in and explore a budget
that you can put together, onceyou've got some stuff dialed in,
to pilot some social mediastuff, and it could be as quick.
As you know, if you sell thecookies, take a nice picture of
(27:01):
the cookies and say, hey, we'vegot cookies for sale.
Put an ad out there it doesn'tneed to be anything fancy and
later you can hire somebody todo a video.
Video is very popular right now, but you can put together a
quick, short video and promotethat.
Keep it local to your area andit would be very inexpensive.
Another thing that I would sayis low cost.
(27:24):
To help build a brand doesn'timmediately bring in business
Depends.
It varies business to business,but would be sponsor a sports
team, so right, kind of like theeducational content that you
put out there for your businessor consumers to consume.
Ultimately, you would like themto call you.
The same goes for anything youever sponsor.
(27:46):
When you start opening up yourphones for people to call you,
everybody under the sun is goingto call you to sponsor
something what makes sense foryour business.
Now, while as business owners,we do it for the good of the
community.
We also want our phone to ring,and one thing that I happen to
(28:09):
like and works for me is Isponsor a sports team.
I get a banner.
It's relatively low cost.
Maybe I sponsor the uniformsand now my company name is
plastered on uniforms and abanner.
It's relatively low cost.
Maybe I sponsor the uniformsand now my company name is
plastered on uniforms and abanner.
What I've noticed is I do it toteams that are serious about
the sport because those parentsand those families are committed
(28:32):
and they continuously are inthe same sport and throughout
the years of me doing it, I nowhave these people that recognize
me as a legitimate businessthat has given to their team and
in return they will call me orhave called me or refer me to
(28:52):
their friends and family.
So you really have to see whatworks best for your business.
But that is another low-coststrategy to build a brand.
Now remember, today's episodeis all about building a brand on
a low cost, in a low-cost way.
This is not a one-size-fits-allon how to ramp up your business
(29:14):
immediately.
This is all the long approach.
There's nothing reallyshort-term about anything here,
other than maybe door hangers.
But if you're serious aboutyour business and serious about
being in business, you need tostart implementing the
foundation of how you startbuilding your brand.
Remember, we're not Coca-Cola,we're not Walgreens, we're not
(29:35):
these big corporations that havemillions of dollars in our
advertising budget, but we needpeople to be able to find us
when they need our service.
Guys, I really hope this episodehelped you.
If you have any questions,please leave me a comment.
Please send me a text messageon the.
You can see a little send inthe text message.
(29:57):
I would love to get yourfeedback on this show and future
shows.
Moving forward, I'd like tohelp shape this podcast for what
you need.
I hope you found everythinghelpful.
Today, again, it's JonathanWagner and this is another
episode of the business guide.
Thank you,
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Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Betrayal: Season 4
Karoline Borega married a man of honor – a respected Colorado Springs Police officer. She knew there would be sacrifices to accommodate her husband’s career. But she had no idea that he was using his badge to fool everyone. This season, we expose a man who swore two sacred oaths—one to his badge, one to his bride—and broke them both. We follow Karoline as she questions everything she thought she knew about her partner of over 20 years. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-3 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.