Mediaboss Marketing

As part of its resources for small business owners struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, The DEC Network hosts Fridays Are for Founders, a weekly virtual forum that provides practical answers to real-time questions from D-FW business leaders about surviving and thriving during unprecedented times. In this video, The DECs Trey Bowles and Delanie Majors talk to Marty Martinez, founder of Dallas-based digital marketing agency Social Revolt, who shares key ideas around best practices for small business looking to leverage social media and more to grow.

Martinez says he first started to feel the rumblings of what would become the coronavirus pandemic in December, but the seriousness of the matter hit him right along with the rest of us.

I had this spidey sense you know, at the back of my neck I had a feeling that I was going to need to mitigate the fallout from either lost clients or people sort of backing out or businesses asking to put pause on contracts and things like that, he says.

First, Martinez personally reached out to each one of Social Revolts clients to let them know he was committed to helping them ride out the coming storm. Then he looked at the companys financials and made tough decisions for the greater good. It was at that point that he put together a 30-60-90 plan.

As Social Revolt moves past the 60-day mark and into phase three of that plan, Martinez says the company has been able to achieve great results for its clients who are also trying to respond to their customers. Here are his top four tips when youre looking to reach yours:

1. Learn your customers pain points and then figure out how you can address those concerns and create peace of mind for them. Its really just asking yourself how have your customers changed as a result of [COVID-19] and how can you then use everything you have and the products and services you provide in a more efficient and effective way, Martinez says.

2. Use data to decide what to do next. We can guess and estimate all we want what is in the mind of our customer, but theres no better resource than from the customer or previous customer directly, Martinez says. An easy way to do this, he says, is to use Survey Monkey to email customers and ask very intentional questions. Use the answers to refine your services and messaging.

3. Reach customers where they are. Understanding customer segments is of the utmost importance, Martinez says. Create target personas and understand what social media they use. Let those personas determine the platforms for and the frequency of your marketing messages.

4. Embrace pay-to-play. You simply cannot rely on social medias organic reach, Martinez says. To be effective, even the best strategy and most creative content requires an engagement strategy centered around paid advertising. Martinez emphasizes that when done properly a small investment can yield big results.

Originally posted here:
How to make the most of your small business' social media marketing plan - The Dallas Morning News