By Business Type
Marketing for contractors and home service businesses
Your best marketing is the job you just finished. How to turn each one into photos, a review and the next phone call.
· 2 min read
Marketing tips
Everything here is free. Short reads, plain English, and something to do at the end of each one.
20 tips
By Business Type
Restaurant marketing you can do between lunch and dinner
Hungry people decide fast. Four free habits that put your restaurant in front of them at the moment they are choosing where to eat.
· 2 min read
By Business Type
Marketing for independent shops and boutiques
You cannot outspend the big stores, and you do not need to. How a local shop wins on what it has that they do not: you, and what just came in.
· 2 min read
By Business Type
Marketing for salons, barbershops and spas
A full book comes from clients who rebook and bring a friend. Five simple habits that fill your chair without discounting your work.
· 2 min read
Getting Started
The 30-minute monthly marketing checklist
Marketing falls apart when it depends on remembering. Run this short checklist on the first of every month.
· 2 min read
Website & Content
What to put on your home page (and what to leave off)
Visitors decide in seconds whether they are in the right place. Five things your home page must answer right away.
· 2 min read
Ads on a Budget
The $5-a-day ad test: try paid ads without wasting money
A one-week, $35 experiment on Facebook that tells you whether paid ads are worth more of your budget.
· 2 min read
Start an email list this week, even if you have zero subscribers
Social platforms can change the rules overnight. An email list is the one audience you own. Here is the simplest way to begin.
· 2 min read
Social Media
How to write Facebook posts that actually get seen
Small changes to the first line, the photo and the ending that help more people see and respond to your posts.
· 2 min read
Social Media
A social media plan that takes one hour a week
You do not need to post every day. Batch three posts in one sitting and spend ten minutes a day replying.
· 2 min read
Reviews & Reputation
How to get more Google reviews without being awkward
Most happy customers will leave a review if you ask at the right moment and make it easy. A simple system you can start today.
· 2 min read
Local SEO & Google
Set up your Google Business Profile in one sitting
The free listing that puts you on Google Maps and in local search. Here is exactly what to fill in, in order.
· 2 min read
Reviews & Reputation
How to respond to a bad review without making it worse
A calm, four-part reply you can adapt for almost any negative review, and the mistakes that turn one unhappy customer into a public argument.
· 2 min read
What to send your email list: 8 ideas for when you're stuck
You started a list and now you don't know what to say. Eight easy emails any small business can write in twenty minutes.
· 2 min read
Local SEO & Google
Make your business details match everywhere online
Different hours on Google, an old phone number on Facebook, a past address on Yelp. Mismatched listings cost you customers. Here is how to clean them up.
· 2 min read
Ads on a Budget
Five things to fix before you spend a dollar on ads
Ads send people somewhere. If that somewhere is broken, you are paying to show strangers your weak spots. A pre-flight check.
· 2 min read
Getting Started
If you can only do three marketing things, do these
No time, no budget, no idea where to begin? These three free basics do more for a local business than everything else combined.
· 2 min read
Social Media
15 things to post when you have nothing to post
A swipe file of post ideas that work for almost any local business. Pick three a week and you are done.
· 2 min read
Website & Content
Take better photos of your business with just your phone
You don't need a photographer or a fancy camera. Six habits that make phone photos look good enough for your website, Google and social media.
· 2 min read
Getting Started
Turn happy customers into referrals
Word of mouth is still the best marketing a small business has. Here is how to get more of it on purpose instead of by luck.
· 2 min read
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