Recently I was delighted to be asked to appear as a guest on THE BUFFALO SESSIONS podcast hosted by Jamie Stewart from Circle Networks. It was an even greater honour to be sat alongside social media expert Rik Courtney from Just Ask Rik, whose social media advice I hold in extremely high regard.

On the show, Rik, Jamie and I each shared our three top tips to help small business owners build their brands and grow their businesses.

WHAT WERE YOUR TOP THREE TIPS, AILSA?

It won’t be a surprise to you, my regular blog readers that my top three tips revolved around: STRATEGY, IMAGE & EXPERIENCE!

However, diving a bit deeper I shared three tips under each heading

STRATEGY

  • Know your GOALS. Plan for 30 years and 3-5 years (you need both).
  • USE your brand strategy – don’t put it in the drawer!
  • SHARE your strategy – don’t try to do it all on your own – create an army of brand ambassadors to help you spread the word. Write it down, so that you can easily and consistently do this.

IMAGE

  • ‘Curate’ your image. It’s a never ending process of reviewing, tweaking and refining
  • Get professional help! Think like a big brand even when you’re small
  • Write it down! A good robust set of brand guidelines are absolutely key to achieving consistency and in the longer term, written guidelines not only keep you and everyone else on track but they are also an important asset that adds value to your business when you come to sell.

EXPERIENCE

  • Your experience has two audiences – your staff and your customers. Start with your staff. Get them on board with the experience by bringing it to life for them, creating brand ambassadors of them (this reduces your marketing costs).
  • Treat everyone you meet or interact with as a potential brand ambassador and don’t forget about your past or ‘no longer’ customers.
  • Write down your brand experience as you develop it, so that others can help you bring it to life and then together, you can stay consistent on delivery and on message.

To hear Rik’s top tips on building a strong social media presence and Jamie’s top tips on maximising your networking activity – why not head to the podcast?

THE POWER OF THREE