Boosting the engagement for a local small business
I wanted to help a local small business with their reach and engagement. I chose Charity HVAC for a few reasons. First, the owner is a family friend of ours and I was familiar with their business. Second, small businesses like this one often don’t have the resources to focus on their online presence and I wanted to help there. Finally, I wanted to choose a business that I was pitching for without any calls for return on my investment. Sometimes the experience is valuable enough, as in this case.
So once I thought of this company, I quickly decided this was the direction I wanted to go. I started by going to their website and Facebook page. The website was very simple and neat and had a lot of useful information. However, I noticed that their testimonial page was very bare. The Facebook page had basic information, but their last post had been before Thanksgiving of 2019. So I came up with a couple quick ways I could create value for the company.
- I created a survey with MailChimp where customer feedback could be gathered.
The survey uses simple multiple-choice and rating options for a few simple questions. You can reply to a question like “How would you describe the service you recieved?” with four answers, ranging from “Poor” to “Great”. The question “How would you rate Charity’s installation expertise?” is followed by a line to rate on a scale from 1–10.
At the bottom of the survey, I placed a simple box where a testimonial could be left with the name and location.
Through the MailChimp dashboard, this information can be retrieved and testimonials can then be transferred to the website page. Click here for a video walkthrough of the survey.
2. I set up a Facebook ad scheduling service for their posts.
Posting regularly on a Facebook page is good for visibility, so I wanted to set Charity HVAC up for success with that in mind. I made an account on Loomly and, with some graphics I harvested from the internet, set up a handful of posts the company could get started with. Loomly had a clever feature where, based on the date, it would recommend a popular hashtag for that particular day. For example, if I wanted to post on Friday, Loomly recommended the hashtag “#FlashbackFriday”. This helped get the wheels turning for content ideas on that particular day. Click here for a video walkthrough of what I created with Loomly.
3. I created a pitch email for the owner.
I may have created some high-quality content, but it’s not very useful to the business owner if they do not know about it. So I wrote an overview of the work I did. I included why it would be valuable, backing my statements up with some facts and studies. I made sure to include video walkthroughs of my creations, as it can help people understand better when they can actually see what is in question. I made sure to focus on how well the company was already doing, and simply that I wanted to help them build on that. It’s important to make the business owner feel that you're there to help, not to just rip on their current setup. I made sure I framed the work I did as ready to go. Those at Charity HVAC already have a lot on their plate, dealing with the work they do. I don’t want to pile more on, in the midst of trying to help. See the email I created here.
Don’t shy away from presenting value to someone when you see an opportunity. If it is useful and presented with a respectful and helpful voice, a lot of business owners would be thrilled to implement ideas from an outside source. I try to keep an open mind for ideas and changes that can make me a better person. Most business owners want the same for their business. You might have just what they need. This was a valuable exercise for me because I learned that an idea, with a little work and proper presentation, can open a lot of doors.
