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How to Get Your Clients to Trust You and Why You Should

10/1/2024

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how to build trust and loyalty for your small business
American small business owners, I have great news! According to a new Gallup poll, small business is the institution with the highest confidence rating, 68%, in the United States. There is a perception that because your business is small, the interactions will be more personal, more of a first-degree connection, and that they know who their dollars are benefiting. So, how can you capitalize on this?

Establishing trust between your business and the consumer is an essential business function. These days, brand loyalty relies on trust. You need the proper marketing, business practices, and strategy.

What Do Consumers Value In a Business?
Let's view statistics about how trust affects a company's success:

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Can You Trust AI With Your Marketing?

7/31/2024

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Has AI proven to be a worthwhile marketing investment for small business?
Small business owners, don't waste your time on AI-generated marketing! So far, this new technology comes with many issues. Instead, turn to a marketing agency with real people who produce original content.

Significant Investments and Larger Disappointments

According to Goldman Sachs’ report “Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?” tech giants, utilities, and other companies will invest an estimated one trillion dollars throughout the next few years on AI infrastructure in various sectors. Unfortunately, at this point, there is little to show for it.

Furthermore, Jim Cavello doesn't believe that AI is designed to solve the complex issues that investors are counting on. In all areas of the business world, tasks require mental work AND real-world interaction. AI is unable to improve the latter anytime soon materially.

Sachs’ report states, “The human brain is 10,000 times more effective per unit of power in performing cognitive tasks vs. generative AI.” Writer Alex Roddie believes that if we exclusively depend on AI, content will become rigid without creativity or originality. Acemoglu senses that AI won't be able to translate open-ended tasks with more than one correct answer.

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I have to pay what!? - The First Years of Self-Employed Taxes

4/15/2024

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mindset around self-employed taxes
This was the year!
You took the bold step of making your side hustle your day job.
You had a decent year; you may not want to live on the income you made for very long, but you made it. Pat yourself on the back, raise a glass—you are a bonafide entrepreneur. Welcome to the club!

That was yesterday; then you filed your taxes.
I remember this day well... "I have to pay what!?"
If you have been an employee all your life, you likely have grown to expect a tax return, not to have to return your hard-earned money to the government. You may have even expected to pay a certain sum—after all, everyone has to pay taxes—but hoped that your other deductions would offset enough that it wouldn't hurt too much. We can't help it; not everything in our minds makes the switch from employee to business owner in one, or even a few years.

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Has Your Google Business Website Expired?

3/22/2024

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where did my Google Business Website go?
Attention small business owners: Your Google Business Profile websites sunsetted on March 5th, 2024. The websites will redirect to Google Business Profiles until June 10, 2024. So, you have until then to link to a new website, or your viewers will be sent to a 404 error page!

It's time to reap the benefits of a new, professional, and effective business website.

Visibility Is Essential!
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You may already know that over 90% of the U.S. population is online, and as years go by, the benefits of having a website increase in value. Let's face it: your competitors probably have a website, so if you aren't online, they will interact with consumers first.

While it's essential to have a business website, you should consider the professionalism of your options. For example, Google Business Profile sites were basic and generated by information on your Google Business Profile. Furthermore, Google Sites’ new AI model, Genie, may not have mastered SEO effectiveness yet. (This is just one of many examples of tech companies throwing out the baby with the bath water when it comes to fully embracing AI.) DIY platforms like Wix are wrought with internal coding issues that don’t perform well on search engines and render unreliable formatting.

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"Under the Table" Is Not a Business Model

10/31/2023

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As a serial entrepreneur and startup consultant to many successful businesses, I have observed cautionary business tales starting with "under the table." I'm here to tell you that even if money gets tight, you don't want to cut yourself off at the knees like them. What you need is a strategy that accommodates the big picture.

Why You Don't Want to Start and Run Your Business Under the Table

The IRS states that if you make $400 or more from a side hustle, you must file a tax return. If your hustle is meant to be profitable, it isn't considered a hobby to the government, and if you have aspirations, I’m sure it’s not a hobby to you, either. Before we discuss the rewarding benefits of picking the legitimate path, let's take a look at why illegally running a business is a short-sighted approach with negative consequences:

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Are You a Prisoner of Social Media?

9/26/2023

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Are you a prisoner of social media?
I have to admit I have days where I feel imprisoned by social media. I have days where I am uninspired about my own brand, and I just draw a blank as to what I should post on my business social media pages... and I'm a social media marketer! I can only imagine how you must feel. If you are attacking your social media marketing with a day-to-day method, then it is easy to fall into this trap. We all get tired, burnt out, and just don't have the creative energy that each day may require to put your message out there.

So what do we do about that?

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Will AI Marketing Work For Your Small Business?

3/29/2023

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people marketing vs artificial intelligence marketing
As a small business owner, you probably encounter plenty of ads about the complexity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) marketing. They claim to do hours of work in seconds and create more relevant content, but let's look deeper.

Does AI have the same capabilities as personal marketing agencies? Walk away being able to make an informed decision about who should handle your marketing. Consider how personal marketing agencies contrast to those of AI.

AI Certainly Has Limitations.
Beware: AI has and will make SERIOUS mistakes. Even artificial intelligence requires learning, so when entrepreneurs entrust it, they need to be careful in the beginning. In fact, this month, Elon Musk and other tech leaders have asked for a 6-month global moratorium on further development because of the unknowns of what it is capable of and concerns over its harm. Here are some examples of past failures:
  • Within the first 24 hours of launching Twitter's chatbot, Tay, it made racist and sexist comments.
  • Amazon's AI resume filter only recommended male candidates.
  • Autonomous driving accidents
  • IBM Watson, an "Oncology Expert Advisor" in Texas, made dangerous recommendations to medical staff.
  • A facial recognition system in China identified a woman as a jaywalker while she was riding the bus.
  • Amazon's facial recognition system matched 28 Congresspeople with criminal mugshots; 40% were people of color.
  • Snapchat's AI bot gave sexual advice to journalist Geoffrey Fowler, posing as a thirteen-year-old, and advice on how to snag alcohol. So, any minor can consult with the bot inappropriately.

AI Lacks Emotional Intelligence, But WE Don't!
Here are ways that AI marketing differs from personal agencies like us:
  • AI copy sounds robotic — because it is. As a business owner, you probably already know how important a brand voice is. Robots don't sound like YOU.
  • When AI formulates emails and SMS messages, they often appear as spam. It doesn't have the empathy to speak in your desired brand voice.
  • Unfortunately, AI doesn't care whether or not your business succeeds. Here at STS, we do, and we work seven days a week toward your success.
  • While we have the creativity to make your content original, using AI puts your content at risk of blending in with other ads. Brainstorming and strategizing are essential in marketing, and only humans can do that.
  • AI tends to create pesky pop-up ads that freeze your screen for 30 seconds. The idea is to force you to look at the ad, but usually, people think their screens are broken and get frustrated.
  • Even if the spelling and grammar are perfect, AI tends to leave out essential details in copy.
  • AI can't pull from personal or emotional experiences. 
  • When a customer complains, a good response is not one-size-fits-all. Only a heart-to-heart conversation can help you determine a warranted response. What appeased one individual may not appease another. AI doesn't have the emotional intelligence to respond appropriately to body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and most importantly, intuition.

At STS, we strategize to direct action from the readers based on your goal(s). We consider what motivates the PEOPLE in your target audience. So, we focus on their needs and the emotions surrounding them. 

How do we do that?
We mentally relive our own LIFE experiences and how we emotionally process them.

Decide for yourself which marketing approach sounds more practical. No matter where you are, we can get your business results with the strategy, skill, and empathy that AI lacks. Contact STS for marketing consulting, content creation, social media marketing, strategic website design and any other services that your business needs to reach PEOPLE.
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Why Competition is Good for Business

7/28/2022

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​Does wondering about your competition keep you up at night?
Competition is not always a bad thing; in fact, it can be good for business!

Not only does it motivate you to strive for excellence to stand out from the crowd, but a little investigation may reveal some opportunities like:
  • Research how your services are different from others and capitalize on that by marketing the things that only you offer.
  • Find out if there is someone who does a part of your service that doesn't bring you enough ROI or that you don't do, and visa versa, and develop a paying referral partnership.
  • Network with services that are busier than you are and see if you can help pick up the slack when they are too busy.

Embracing competition requires you to go out of your comfort zone and develop friendships instead of rivals. Finally, remember, there are many kinds of fish in the sea. Even if you offer exactly the same services as another company, you have different personalities and methods, which will resonate with contradistinct customers. Nobody is you!
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5 Reasons a New Service Business Should Have a Website

7/26/2022

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5 reasons a new local business needs a website
What do you think? Does a new local service business need a website to get customers? Or can they rely only on social media for marketing? In our never-ending quest to bring small businesses real results as quickly as possible, we pull from our recent case studies to answer this question with five reasons you absolutely should build a website for your new local business.
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SEO Location Tip #2

7/15/2022

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location tip for SEO on Google Business Listing
SEO is first driven by location, so it cannot be more important to be thorough about it when creating business listings on search engines. DO NOT FORGET to enter in ALL your service cities on your Google Business listing, not just the town your physical location is in. And if you have a website, make sure they are all indicated in your content there as well!

SCHEDULE A FREE SEO CONSULTATION

In case you missed it, See Location Tip #1.
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  • Services
    • Testimonials
    • Consulting >
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    • Strategic Website Design
    • Print Marketing Design
    • Professional Photography
    • Video Production
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