​Fly fishing is fascinating to watch. It involves a series of movements that lure a fish into biting. It’s more about the rhythm than the bait. “Landing” a loyal customer is much the same.
 
You can easily get someone to buy from you with a discounted price or crazy offer. But that’s not sustainable. In the long run, you want that customer to keep returning to buy from you, or at the very least, refer you to others.
 
That takes a certain finesse.
 
And like fly fishing, it requires an ability to put it all together in a fluid motion. While looking for customers on Instagram is just one component of a marketing strategy, it can be an important one if you’re trying to increase visibility.

​There's been a lot of information about the need to pivot during COVID-19. Many businesses have switched what they produced or altered their services to fit the new demands of their audience. But sometimes it's not your business that needs to pivot. it might be something you've been thinking about doing professionally.
 
If you want to switch industries and you have little to no experience, here are some tips that can help you pivot professionally.

​If you're on social media for business, you’re one of many voices. It’s hard to stand out and cultivate an audience of people who want to hear from you…let alone look eagerly for your content.
 
Wouldn’t that be great?
 
That type of interest is essential if you're hoping to get a return on the investment of your time. Yet this is one of the hardest things businesspeople face on social media. Many businesses feel like they’re posting into the wind with no response.
 
Nobody has time for that and so they stop doing it. Then they’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy, “social media doesn’t work for my business.”
 
If you’re in this position, it’s understandable that you’d feel that way. You need your time to count and you need engagement to show for it. Here are a few proven techniques you can use to get more engagement with your Facebook posts.

​Do you have a business newsletter? If you don't, what's holding you back? Is content the issue? Are you just not sure what you're going to tell your customers in every newsletter?
 
Newsletters are a great way to stay connected with your audience, especially if you have a long buying process or you run a business that thrives on repeat business. If either of those things is true, sending out a newsletter can keep you top of mind even when your customers aren’t quite ready to buy what you sell. Newsletters are a good nurturing and connection tool when you offer your audience something they want.
 
This comes down to content.
 
You want to make sure that you offer your audience something of value. To help with that, we've detailed a few things that you should put in a newsletter to get more opens.

​If you’re a chamber member, you may not give a lot of thought as to what that means for your employees but there are a lot of benefits for them as well.

​Our lives and our businesses have changed a lot during the time of COVID. We have changed how we reach customers and likely how they buy from us. Some of us have had to shut down.
 
During this time, your website should be one of your strongest sales tools. Just as your business has changed, your content should have evolved as well. 

​Are you tired of the words “new normal” yet? 
 
If you're like most business owners, you probably are. But whether we recognize it as a new shift in how we do business or a temporary tack we take to survive the current economic storm, the point is how you do business has to change if you want to continue to connect to your audience.

​Six months into the COVID and we’re all still trying to figure out what’s going on. Should masks be required? Will kids be going back to school? Do we need goggles?
 
But what we do know is that a lot of customers are still concerned about their health and the health of those around them. Because of that, there are several things you should be doing (and marketing) in your business.

​When business owners complain that their social media efforts aren't paying off and they just aren't seeing a return in their investment of time, it’s usually because they’re using the Jackson Pollack approach to social. They’re simply “flinging” paint on a canvas. There’s no goal behind what they’re doing. It’s random. That approach may create beautiful art, but it rarely works for business.