Small business needs to change the way they do business. And it doesn’t have to be a big change. Being willing to open up your mind beyond “the way we’ve always done things” could be all it takes for a new idea to occur that could seriously grow your business.
Take, for example, this article I found on Twitter. Most people think that to start a restaurant, you have to have a full-out, brick-and-mortar building, but as this article states; with a little creative thinking, these people are opting for a truck instead of a building. The part that resonated with me was, “Take the restaurant TO the people.”
It made me think about one of my clients, Samurai Sam’s (@CinciSams) because that’s exactly what he does. Now there’s still a brick-and-mortar restaurant (in Blue Ash), but in the course of our work with him, he wanted us to highlight one of his regular services: the mobile lunch. Similar to catering, Samurai Sam’s goes to an area business complex and sets up his catering trays in the lobby. For $5, anyone in the building or outside the building, can some over and get lunch, not just the “customer” company. He’s taking his business TO his customers.
To this point, the only people who would know he’s there would be people in that building and maybe people they told. We’re now using social networking techniques, such as Facebook and Twitter, to increase awareness which will, in turn, increase his business. And by offering to do this all over the city, he has essentially opened up satellite restaurants all over town without having to invest in other storefronts at enormous expense.
See: a little creativity, a new twist on “the way we’ve always done catering”, and Samurai Sam’s has not only expanded their market like not otherwise possible, but is still taking it to the people.
Call to Action: So what is something you wish you could do differently? Is there something in your business that could use a fresh outlook? Have you already made some transformations in your business? I’d love to hear about them. Leave a comment below and tell me about it.
It's a Catch-22. You need more business, so you want to market through social media, but doing it yourself will take a lot of time to learn; and then you'll have to manage your online profiles. Yet taking the time to learn social media marketing takes you away from your business, which you can't afford to do.
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