Small business have enough to worry about and a good and responsive website should not be one of them. Today, having an interactive and digital presence is imperative to compete and that means having a modern, secure website. Below are 5 tips for your small business website.

Top 5 Tips

1. Easy Navigation - Make sure your website is easy to navigate- having a well-structured, user-friendly website is essential for success.
2. Updated Content - Keep your content fresh and up-to-date- ensure that your website is regularly updated with fresh and relevant content to keep visitors engaged.
3. Quality Visuals - Use high-quality images- using good quality visuals can make all the difference in terms of the look and feel of your website.
4. Optimized Keywords - Optimize for search engine optimization- having a website that is optimized for search engines will help you increase visibility and gain more traffic.
5. Mobile Responsive - Ensure your website is mobile-friendly- most consumers are now accessing websites on their smartphones and tablets, so make sure your website is mobile-friendly.

Learn more about our website services at vMarque.

We create, design, and craft for our customers SO why not open our own Etsy Shop to sell our lifestyle and statement pieces for you. We are excited to announce the opening of our new Etsy shop called vMarque Provisions. The shop will carry statement and graphic tees, hoodies, sweatshirts, candles, paper products, and other items for the home. We hope you check it out and explore what all we have to offer.

Today's small and mid-sized businesses are technically sophisticated and often times do their homework before making important decisions for their business. Yes, many small businesses have a smaller amount of decision-makers and often the business owner, President, or CEO makes the decisions but they will also seek out advice from their technology partners, by doing research online, and by gathering feedback from colleagues, staff, and trusted friends and family.

What does this all mean to you as a business serving end-customers and consumers, or even businesses (B2B, B2C)? This means we in the industry must treat these vital decision-makers as valuable members of the supply chain. As we think through our own sales and marketing processes, we must not treat these business buyers as consumers or just assume they purchase as a traditional consumer does. They are extremely valuable and many of them will come to the table or call you with already have performing a great amount of homework on you, your services/products/solutions, and may need you to clarify a few things or answer a handful of final questions before they make a final decision. 

Technology is a vital tool for small businesses, but buyers do not want you to treat them as a consumer. They will also place their value on you as a business on the way you go the extra mile to better understand their business, their industry, their market challenges, etc. This means it is important for you to set up your marketing campaigns, your website experience, and your marketing outreach (social, digital, and print) in a manner that speaks their language, supports their business challenges, and helps them solve problems and improve their outcomes. We have to continue to keep learning from our customers to improve our messaging and communications to them. The value of small businesses (from home-based businesses to those with 100+ employees) will be realized when we as an industry begin treating them like businesses, help them grow and flourish, and enable their businesses to operate in a digital-virtual-mobile global market.

Here we are small businesses! Some of us have closed doors unfortunately, and many of us have reinvented our operations, the way we sell, the channels that we sell through, and have shifted or adapted to the current business climate. In my honest opinion, we will NEVER go back to the way we were operating pre-COVID. That being said, we as small businesses must continue to leverage tools, platforms, and new applications to boost our performance, communications, and better meet customer demands and experiences.

There is no "NEW NORMAL," there is only the way we are doing business now. Congratulations if you have hung in there and are finding ways to survive. We recently completed some deep SMB research and have uncovered a number of ways businesses are surviving, here are just 5 that might be helpful for you as you cling on to ways to sustain and keep your doors open.

1. Take advantage of PPP, SBA super low interest loans, and Small Business Administration resources
2. Refresh, Update, and Transform your Web & Marketing Tools to be more Interactive and Customer-centered
3. Adopt virtual and digital tools to automate your small business processes and operations
4. Cost Containment and Expense Management, Hire a great Book Keeper who is CPA certified or consult with your Accounting Firm
5. Leverage state and local small business resources. AND move fast
   

Take advantage of PPP, SBA super low interest loans, and Small Business Administration resources - I say this with caution, as you have to read the small print and put accounting and bookkeeping protocols in place...especially if you want PPP forgiveness. What is the difference between PPP and EIDL? PPP is the payroll protection program and is specifically geared towards paying contractors and payroll, including yourself if you are a sole proprietor or an independent contractor or a one-man/woman shop. When the first round of PPP loans came out, they did not include the Gig Workers and independent contractors and there were holes all in the specifics but the SBA worked hard to rectify this, simplify the process for SOHO or ICs, and include many of the small businesses that were previously excluded. On the SBA Small Business Loans EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loans), the interest is 3.75% and is geared towards small businesses that experienced a significant drop in revenue from 2019 to 2020. There are calculators and resources everywhere, and if you want to learn from other small businesses who have taken the advances, monies, loans, then be sure to search FaceBook (here is one I am on) and join one of the private groups as that is where I learn a ton about the best resources and a ton of questions coming in from other small businesses. 

Refresh, Update, and Transform your Web & Marketing Tools to be more Interactive and Customer-centered - Your social media, website, newsletters, google pages, and other landing sites are the source your customers are using to order/transact, buy, learn, research, and communicate with you as they lean towards virtual relationships and decrease their visits to your offices, stores, headquarters, etc. Be sure to invest in those resources that are now the priority manner in which they do business with you. If you need support in a refresh or need to set up your social media sites, and even your Google Company pages, be sure to contact vMarque or fill out an inquiry form. Your website may have went from a static information site 18 months ago, to now being an interactive lead generation platform for buying, selling, collaboration and much more. Be sure to explore our small business packages to see how we can support your modernization to meet today's changing business world.


Adopt virtual and digital tools to automate your small business processes and operations - the lists are long but we are beginning to put some pieces together for you to search small business tools to support your virtual and mobile operations. Be sure to do your homework, research the options, and select the best option that fits your budget and business. Prioritize your needs first, and then take it one step at a time. You may start out adopting 2 to 3 mobile applications or signing up for a small number of subscriptions to add automation to your website...just keep in mind that it might be overwhelming so if you become a customer of vMarque, we provide recommendations for your business as you work with us on your marketing, branding, and web updates. Explore the list we are preparing to help you decide...

Cost Containment and Expense Management, Hire a great Book Keeper who is CPA certified or consult with your Accounting Firm - Most small businesses have seen a 50% or more drop in annual revenues from 2019 to 2020. This is creating a number of challenges for small business owners as they are in the one hand having to layoff but on the other hand are doing their best to meet PPP requirements to keep employees employed. This is driving small business owners and managers to reflect on their overall expenses and costs. We are all having to make major sacrifices as we prioritize what costs to cut, what services to live without and what expenses need to be better managed. This is always a good practice but now we are being forced to closely monitor our accounts payable more than ever. Work closely with your book keeper, CPA, accounting firm if you can and if you do not have one you are working with, you may want to consider this as you work on staying open and sustaining your small business. I recently hired a book keeper on UpWork, a virtual contractor hiring and matching site that I have used in my business for more than a decade. On a side note: you will need a good book keeper to help you with tracking your PPP and EIDL expenses to support with the forgiveness paperwork for the PPP loan and to meet compliance requirements for the EIDL loan.

Leverage state and local small business resources. AND move fast - do not forget about your local SBA offices and state/city resources that might be available for your industry, your small business. Each industry will have a number of FREE resources, advisory, services, and tools from your state and local small business offices. Some might be specific to black owned businesses, woman owned businesses, and other affiliations. Explore resources in local organizations and non-profits as well. You might find some very surprising resources you never knew existed.

What comes after a recession or even disruptive pandemic is people thinking clearly and rationally about their future and what they want in life. This Covid-19 pandemic is no different. We have had so much time with our closest family members, have worked from home and homeschooled, and many of us have lost jobs or income or our small businesses had to close the doors. This time to think gives rise to new ideas, innovation, creativity, charity, and entrepreneurialism.

That being said, some good things do come from global pandemics....and that is we will see a host of BRAND NEW businesses and people venturing out to start their own small business or side business. As part of that, let's talk about the importance of your brand, as we share a few tips, ideas, and thought leadership about brand strategy.

Seven ReMARQUEable Brand Thoughts:

1. Your brand tells your customers who you are and why you are unique
2. A brand is NOT a logo, your brand carries out your messaging and platform for your products and services across your marketing channels.
3. Your brand represents your entire team from the owner to the admin to the customer service, be sure to promote across your people.
4. A bad experience can tarnish a brand, be consistent and use your brand for marketing, messaging, sales, promotion, events, social, and more.
5. A brand strategy includes your entire identity, imaging, creative processes, messaging, communications, and all of the back office and front office (post-sale) experiences.
6. A good brand has engaging and interactive customer and digital experiences.
7. Your brand tells the world you are open for business in this digital world!

Number 4 is an important one, as there will always be a dissatisfied customer or client or patient. Following up, making things right, having clear remediation or service techniques is also part of your brand strategy. A person with a bad experience will tell upwards of 10 people, but will a person with a satisfactory experience tell 10 people....NO. There are ways to mitigate, correct, and adapt. From a branding strategy perspective, it is important to find ways to share those good customer experiences with the larger audience. Some things may include:

• Testimonials
• Use Cases
• Customer Interviews
• Better Business Bureau Coordination
• Ratings and Feedback Forms (web and social)
• Review and ongoing Adjustments to Issues, Troubleshooting, Customer Service
• Provide channels through your web and social for feedback and be timely with response (Forms, Messaging)
• Share the Good News from Customers, Partners, Awards, Recognitions, Achievements, etc.

Is business a bit slow? Are you feeling a bit stagnant due to the economy and changing business environment? Maybe it is time to consider kicking your business into high gear through improved marketing, a brand refresh, and an updated or modern logo/graphics and marketing portfolio. Every 2 to 4 years you should consider adjusting or refreshing your branding, logo, website layout, and other marketing channels. Every week, twice a month, or monthly you should be making changes to your website, adding blogs/press information, sharing new projects and client wins, and championing your small business.

Today's business is virtual, mobile, and digital. Whether we were excited about this or not, it is now the accepted model as we venture into working from home and mitigating risk to being inside environments where we have to touch anything. We want to be contactless and touchless for safety reasons, but we also need to find ways to make our business lives easier. In comes digital tools and mobile apps. 

Digital tools are devices and software to help us improve our services, operations, and client interactions. Mobile tools or apps allow businesses to offer services, transactions, shopping, and client interactions through the use of simple mobile apps that can be integrated into small business websites or downloaded for free for clients to do business with you. Retailers and Fast Food retailers and food providers have embraced this, but other industries such as healthcare, professional services, and business service companies have been less inclined to adopt for whatever reasons.

Below are some of the tools you might consider for your business:

• Appointment and Scheduling (apps and website tools)
• Patient Admitting and Discharging 
• SMS or Text Reminders, Coupons, Discounts, or Inventive/Offers
• Online or Mobile Chat (Use of Chatbots)
• Customer Meeting Scheduling
• Reservations
• Email and Texting of Customer Receipts
• Mobile Point of Sale (POS)
• Touchless and Contactless Information Sharing

As we look for ways to continue doing business, we are also exploring ways to improve basic manual processes. Many digital tools, software, and mobile apps can be integrated or added to your website and linked back to your company email and other back-office systems like sales, finance, accounting, and marketing. If you are exploring tools for your business to operate in a virtual environment, contact us today and we can support you in onboarding, set up and integration across your small business.

Over the weekend we kicked it into high gear to support a good friend and fellow woman small business entrepreneur who is launching a new retail boutique based in Canton, TX.

Our Steps (sometimes we move in warp speed)

1. Gather Company Name Ideas
2. Gather Design Ideas, Color Preferences, Theme, Business Purpose
3. Prepare a Vision Board and Design Elements
4. Finalize Logo Design (variations) & Other web/social Graphics
5. Purchase or Get access to Domain for Website Development
6. Set up Web and Email Hosting If Needed
7. Set up Website and eCommerce Site, Payment Processors
8. Upload Products and Inventory for Shopping
9. Launch Website and Announce Open for Business
10. Press Release and Social Media & Ads, If Needed
11. Ongoing - SEO, Google Coordination, Google Analytics, and more

We are excited to continue to support Brandi Weaver and her many businesses, including her gym, her cleaning business, and now her new and budding retail boutique. Stay tuned for more details!