My story started with a question.
“I keep hearing I need to be on Facebook and Instagram but isn’t that for teenagers?”
This one question was from a long time customer, set my life in a completely new direction.
He was the owner of a local construction company. We had worked together. He was never afraid to try something new, but he didn’t feel comfortable throwing a tonne of money into something that he didn’t know would pay off.
At the time his industry didn’t traditionally need to market. He had built the business on referrals and people he knew in the industry. That was until he had started to see a decline in the bottom line, while smaller, new and upcoming businesses were taking a bigger and bigger market share.
How did they move past the company that was around for so long?By simply By just getting in front of their customers on their free time through social media. Their online marketing was allowing them to connect with their customers in a way he had never seen before.
He wanted to be where the competition was but didn’t want to be responsible for the day to day work involved in building and executing a great online marketing plan.
At the time I was a Project Manager for a local web design agency, and while I enjoyed my job, I felt the spark.
There are many business owners just like him in Edmonton. They need to market their business, but they either don’t know whom to turn to, or they don’t know whom to trust.
The top three reasons most businesses don’t start posting on social media:
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They don’t know what to post.
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They don’t know how what to say.
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They don’t have the time.
I knew I could connect the dots for them, I could be the person that advocates for them.
That was over three years ago when Instagram was starting to take off. There was so much to learn about online marketing, but with my prior work experience, I felt I had the knowledge, experience and know-how to help.
After investing in myself through educating and training, I was able to learn the nuances of online marketing. By bringing my pre-social media skills and post social media skills together I have been able to bridge the gap.
Online marketing is a puzzle, it takes time, and it needs the right pieces to come together.
That was a vital lesson as I continued crafting and testing our online marketing strategies.
It wasn’t easy, but I was fortunate to have the support from my past clients. They allowed me to help them kick off their online marketing journey. I am so thankful to my clients that have continued to work with me since day one.
