LionShark Digital Marketing Blog

The Dangers of Being an Entrepreneur During a Pandemic

5/18/2020

The dangers of being an entrepreneur

When COVID-19 made its way stateside and life as we knew it started to shut down, I never imagined we would be where we are today. I didn’t expect a total pause of normalcy and I had no idea it would last so long. Even now that we are more than two months in, there’s no end in sight and analysts are predicting that we may never return to some of the same activities that we enjoyed before. Speculation is running rampant about how things both big and small will change – everything from urban planning and airport security to theme parks and gyms could see their operations permanently altered. Schools are trying to decide what their plans will be in the fall when students are supposed to return. Even things like whether we will let kids blow out candles on cakes at birthday parties in the future has come into question. The world around us is changing – changing rapidly. And in the middle of it all, we’re just trying to adapt.

My personal life has been dramatically affected, but professionally it’s been business as usual for me. I’m already self-employed and as a work-from-home mom (WFHM), so while others have hit huge bumps trying to transition to the remote work routine, I’m already used to it. After getting over the initial shock, fear, anger, and confusion of being told I had to stay home, I settled in nicely. Or so I thought.

I threw myself into my work and just pushed harder to take everything I was doing to new heights. Whether it was running the business or parenting or fitness – I threw myself in head-first and didn’t look back. Of course I did, because I’m an entrepreneur.

Working Smarter to Survive COVID-19 with Kids

3/26/2020

Regular readers know I usually write about content strategy, digital marketing, branding, and other topics for business owners. But today I come to you with a new topic – parenting during a shelter in place order.

While the concept of teaching and entertaining your kids at home is usually reserved for homeschool platforms and craft blogs, parents across the nation have become teachers and entertainers overnight. The sudden shift in our roles has been met with a collective sigh of frustration and dread. Parents, who already feel burnt out from having to get their kids to and from every activity under the sun, are now overwhelmed by the idea of having to be everything for their children every moment of every day. Or we were overwhelmed, initially.

In our house, I went through all the stages – disbelief, anger, resistance, sadness. Like some sort of progression through the stages of grief over the last 12 days, I ultimately landed at acceptance. I settled in. We settled in. We’re now a household with two parents working from home (one feverishly doing his part to support a global supply chain, and the other self-employed and creating content for businesses that need to reassure their customers) and two littles (one of which will celebrate her second birthday during this time at home).

I still get a little choked up when I think about the things we’ve missed and will be missing in the coming weeks. We had tickets to local happenings, trips planned, annual events on the calendar, celebrating Easter at church, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to look forward to. But those have been replaced with crafts, playing in the yard, and trying to get work done with little people around that are constantly asking for attention. But most of all I’m thankful. I’m thankful to have the kind of jobs that are still needed and can be done remotely where our risk of exposure is much lower.

So, if you’re fortunate enough to be in the same position because you haven’t been laid off or furloughed, here are some tips to help you balance it all:

When Your Competitors Aren’t Really Your Competitors

10/10/2017

Who are your competitors?

Chances are, you probably have a list of other companies that have similar offerings and operate in the same geographical space as your business. If you hired a digital marketing agency and they asked for your biggest competitors, you’d rattle off a few names from the top of your list and ask for help outdoing them online.

However, when it comes to paid search advertising (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO), your usual competitors aren’t your only competitors. And in some cases, they aren’t even your biggest competitors!

While consumers determine who your direct competitors are by comparing products and services across similar companies, search engines determine who your competitors are organically by comparing content across pages. As a result, your online competition can vary widely based on your industry.

These are the top competitors you should be aware of, as well as tips for outranking them online:

5 Ways to Spy on the Competition

9/7/2017

What if you could find out where your competitors’ products are appearing, how they’re marketing them, and what they’re doing to set themselves apart? This probably sounds too good to be true! However, if you know where to look, this information is readily available.

You don’t have to feel creepy about doing this research either because none of the places you’ll be looking are off limits. (In other words, you won’t be doing something illegal or unethical like breaking into a competitor’s office or website.) Rest assured, everywhere you’ll be poking around is publicly accessible to shoppers and customers.

Ready to get started?

Developing a Social Media Policy for Employees

6/29/2017

Most big companies have social media policies laid out for their employees, but businesses of any size can benefit from having structured programs to guide employees’ social media usage. In fact, it might be even more important for small businesses to have these sorts of policies in place to protect themselves. Telling employees what you do and don’t want them posting ahead of time helps to avoid social media disasters down the road. And, despite what you may think, most employees are happy to have some boundaries in place upfront so that they don’t have to worry that what they’re posting or doing online is acceptable to their employers.

A thorough social media policy for employees needs these four components to succeed:

PPC Tips for Local Service Providers

6/8/2017

Whether you’re in the business of carpet cleaning or personal training or landscaping, PPC is for you. Simply put, all service providers can benefit from doing PPC advertising in their local markets! But if you’re new to PPC, or if you’ve run ads unprofitably in the past, advertising online can seem daunting. Before you fret, take a look at our top-performing PPC tips for local service providers:

5 Lessons Local Retail Stores Can Learn from Truck Stops

6/6/2017

When we go on road trips as a family we plan our stops in advance to take the guesswork out of where we’ll get gas, use the restroom on the drive. We always try to incorporate as many truck stops as possible along the way, and it dawned on me on our last road trip that local retailers can actually learn a lot from these big buys. Before you call me crazy, read these top lessons that local retail businesses can take away from the success of some of the nation’s largest truck stop brands:

5 Things Every Estimate Needs (with a Bonus Section)

5/18/2017

Service providers are no strangers to providing estimates/quotes, but not all of them do so effectively. I’ve gotten some pretty crummy looking quotes from businesses in the past for local services – everything from handwritten nightmares to poorly constructed word doc templates (and don’t even get me started about these guys). So, if you want to stand out from the crowd, these are the five things that every great quote has in common:

How Will Your Small Business Stand Out?

5/4/2017

Small business owners tend to get scared when “the big guys” move in. They assume that big national retailers and service providers will be able to offer lower prices and more selection, and they get worried about what that will mean for their livelihoods. And while this apprehension may be warranted in some cases, there’s always opportunities for small businesses to stand out among their competitors of all sizes. Here are four great ways to stand out from the crowd:

A Lesson for Local Service Providers: Don’t Make These Mistakes

4/4/2017

My husband and I recently had a terrible experience with a local business, which caused frustration on our end and lost revenue on theirs. At literally every customer touchpoint they failed in a big way! But instead of just running away screaming and forgetting about the whole thing, I want to highlight this story so that other local businesses can learn from their mistakes. (The names have been changed and the industry/product details have been left intentionally vague to avoid singling this business out.)

Join me as I recount our short-lived customer journey with ABC Company, and explain how you can avoid the same pitfalls…

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