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February 29th Newsletter
BA Jenkins
February 29, 2024
Table of Contents
BIG MICRO OBSESSION GOALS & INITIATIVE
Membership launch
Starting tomorrow March 1st, the membership will be live starting at 10 pm EST. The initial launch will give you fillable documents for your brand strategy. After much consideration, the documents will be available as a standard PDF. Additional formats will be available later in the year.
Upcoming meeting with Elle Magazine
On April 19th I will be meeting with Elle Magazine team to discuss Summer holiday campaigns for micro businesses. This will highlight those using the Etsy platform exclusively. All members part of the initiative will be considered for inclusion.
The Conversation
You can not convert from “0”
Some will say yes right now. Some will ignore you. The majority will come back because they are in the position to do so at that point in time. Positioning is everything for all parties involved in a sale.
When I was selling life insurance, my manager wanted me to hard sell to an older woman. The first selling point was to get in the door with an appointment. During my manager’s awkward phone call to the woman, I saw where he was doing the process wrong. It was not just the tone of desperation that I wanted to fix, but also his attitude of hard selling to anyone with a pulse—mostly out of desperation due to lack of leads (people to sit in front of).
A few days later, I called the woman back to apologize and put my strategy into action. My goal was not to sit with her to sell her anything. Instead, I wanted to review her policy to ensure everything looked good at no additional cost. All she would have to do is refer me to five people who would like the same service done.
This loss leader of service helped me earn great money, but it took me from eight prospects to a full notebook of names and numbers waiting for me to contact them.
I am not saying you have to create a loss leader or freebie to start building an audience that wants to hear from you. I am saying that you do have to put yourself in the right position to make sales.
Why traffic isn’t happening
Witnessing others on social media making the process work for them can be both encouraging and discouraging. I felt the same when I saw other agents booking appointments with ease and having enough leads to call. It is important to know that their process is not your process.
Marketing is not a straight line. You may use many tactics to achieve the traffic you need. The point is that you get traffic.
As you may or may not know, I champion starting your business using an e-commerce platform with a marketplace. While social media can get you followers and views by the thousands, many people are there for entertainment purposes.
They are not what marketing experts would call a “warm lead”. This is where e-commerce marketplaces are excellent for smaller businesses. Thousands of people with interest can be exposed to your products without having to try hard every single day.
A Street vs. Main Street
Just for a moment, imagine your store on a physical street. You spent thousands to get a physical location only to discover that less than 100 people per day walk by the store. You also notice that the few that do come in are only there to use your bathroom without making a purchase. So you decide to move.
You move your store to a main street. Immediately you notice that even on a slow day, 500 people are walking the street ready to shop. About 100 people come in to explore your store. Out of those 100 people, 20 decide to buy something today, and 40 ask if you can save their purchase for later or inquire about returning.
Being on a busy street with people mentally ready to shop is necessary. While social media had its place for pop-up small businesses in the 2010s, it is no longer a place to get sales from strangers. Mostly due to being sold to at every corner of social media.
I am not saying to close your social accounts; they do serve a purpose in the long game of your business. At this point in time, focus on positioning yourself in marketplaces to guarantee sales.
Curate your Feed
Here are the videos I am loving for the week that can help you get in the zone and clean up your social media feed.
Why every business should have an initiative
When Starbucks, Wendy’s, or Walmart align their dollars with a certain cause, how does it make you feel? Would you stop shopping or make them one of the primary places to patronize?
If you took your time and thought about how these few corporate-owned brands made you feel when aligning with a certain effort, then you realize the impact of initiatives. How you make a person feel will have lasting effects, even past the product. As businesses, we are responsible for building socio-economic systems (neighborhoods/ communities).
It’s a recession
As wrong as this may be to say, I am going to shoot straight with it. This economic crisis is the best time to build this portion of your business. People need help with staying afloat, and there are many causes within that one issue alone. However, it does not have to be about people. Depending on who you serve, this can extend to animals, the environment, social justice causes, etc.
Creating an initiative will look different for all businesses. I will get into that later, but you have to believe in the weight you own as a business, new or established.
Many entrepreneurs who are building online have become isolated islands. Even if they get people on the island, business owners keep them there for their own use.
Are initiatives charity work?
For the most part, initiatives are not charity work. In the same part, it is. Initiatives can be an extension of your business—the “do good” side of business. You can take a very active role in your initiatives. By setting up the scope of role your business will play, you can determine if you will volunteer, be a board member, or donate percentages.
You do not have to think hard about this or set up a not-for-profit structure for your business. This is not the purpose of setting any of this up. Start looking at grassroots charities that provide the service you want your business to align with. They are doing the work, why not fund them and make them your charity of choice when people buy from you?
To be honest, initiatives are great to secure your reputation with new and old customers. It also makes an excellent marketing tool. Following through on initiatives gives you a reason to email or message your customers again and again without promoting. In my opinion, it is easier than creating freebies that your customers do not even want.
The way I recommend setting up an initiative is by defining your scope of role, choosing a charity of choice, and following through on your role. Keep it simple. You have a business to run, but you do want to make time to do good for your community and your customers.
BIG MICRO OBSESSION GOALS & INITIATIVE
Representation for Micro Business Owners
Over the next 10 months, one of the primary focuses for TBMOi is representation in the media. I will be introducing micro-business-friendly campaigns to major media outlets for the holidays. The initiative aims to reduce the cost of basic memberships to ensure representation for a minimum of 1,000 micro-businesses exclusively. Basic members will receive all materials to start working on their marketing by March 1st.
Retail & E-commerce Partnerships Pending
In a last-minute addition to what the initiative offers, I am currently building relationships with Etsy, Walmart, Target, Fiverr, Mercari, and Meta for Business. These partnerships offer multiple benefits:
Strengthen media campaigns and extend credibility to micro-businesses attached.
Provide inside information on how their platforms work for your success.
Create higher chances to be discovered on these platforms.
Free resources for you
 | Download the ‘Brand Product Discovery’ worksheet |
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