social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

B2R: Future of Marketing for Small Businesses

AI for Small Business: What It Does Well, Where It Falls Short

By Joe Paradiso | Back To Reality

Let me start out with a full disclosure, my largest client is an AI company, I work with AI every day and yes I use AI as a marketing tool.   I say this because I see a lot of value in what AI provides from a marketing perspective, I also see where it falls severely short. 

Every day I check my LinkedIn feed and there’s multiple ads for new AI marketing tools / agents that will handle all your marketing needs surrounded by numerous posts about how AI is eliminating marketing jobs.   Which is supported by the appearance that every marketing tool you pay for now comes with AI built in. Your email platform writes subject lines. Your social scheduler writes captions. Your website builder offers to write the whole site. And someone in your inbox is promising AI will fill your pipeline while you sleep.

It won’t. But it isn’t useless either. Here’s where AI helps a small business market itself, where it hurts, and how to tell which is which.

Where AI helps your marketing

Getting past the blank page. Blog outlines, email drafts, service page structure, ad headline options. AI gets you to a rough draft fast. What makes it good is what you add: your examples, your opinions, your customers.

Producing more versions. Ten subject lines to test instead of two. Five ad variations instead of one. One blog post turned into an email, three social posts and a short video script. Testing used to take a budget most small businesses didn’t have. Now it mostly takes time.

Answering leads after hours. A chat agent on your site that answers basic questions and books appointments at 10 p.m. catches people who would otherwise call the next company on the list. It only works if it’s loaded with your real hours, prices, service area and policies, and hands off to a person when the question gets specific.

Making sense of feedback. Paste in 200 Google reviews and ask what customers praise and what they complain about. You’ll have the themes in minutes. Those themes are the raw material for better ads and better pages, in your customers’ own words.

Reading your reports. Most owners don’t have time to dig through Google Analytics or an ad dashboard. AI can summarize what changed this month and point to what’s worth a closer look. You still have to check it, but it gets you to the right questions faster.

Where it hurts your marketing

It all sounds the same. Your customers have read thousands of AI-written posts, and they recognize them: the same openers, the same structure, the same upbeat tone. If your website and social feed read like a template, you’ve given up the one edge a local business has over a national chain. People buy from people who sound like they know their trade.

It makes things up. AI will invent a statistic, a quote, a product feature or a customer result and state it like fact. Put that in an ad or on your website and it’s your credibility on the line, and possibly a compliance problem. Everything that goes out needs a person who knows the business to read it first.

Volume doesn’t win search anymore. Publishing dozens of thin AI blog posts to climb Google doesn’t work the way people hope. Google, and the AI assistants that now answer a lot of local questions, look for content that shows real experience and answers the question better than anyone else. Ten useful pages beat a hundred generic ones.

It doesn’t know your customers. AI can write a marketing plan in a minute. It can’t tell you that most of your best customers come from referrals, or that one service brings in half your profit. A plan built without that is a generic plan.

The tools stack up. A writing tool, an image generator, a chatbot, AI add-ons to the software you already pay for. Each one looks cheap on its own. Add them up and ask what each one actually brought in.  Remember, tools need to be used and generate tangible results or they provide no value.

Your customer data goes somewhere. Before you paste a customer list or email database into a free AI tool, read what it does with that data. Some tools use what you type to train their models. If you’re handling customer information, use business versions with clear privacy terms.

How to use it without getting burned

Start with one job. Pick the marketing task that takes the most time for the least return, like writing social posts or answering the same five questions by email, and try AI there first. Give it 30 days and see whether you got time back or results improved.

Give it your real material. Your prices, your service area, your reviews, your past emails, the way you actually talk to customers. Generic input gets generic output.

Keep a person on everything the public sees. AI drafts. You decide what goes out.

Edit for voice, not just accuracy. Read it out loud. If it doesn’t sound like you or your team, rewrite it until it does.

Measure what matters. More posts isn’t the goal. More calls, booked jobs and sales are. If an AI tool isn’t moving one of those, cancel it.

The bottom line

AI is a useful marketing tool for small businesses. It’s good at drafts, variations, summaries and the routine questions customers ask. It doesn’t build trust, know your customers or decide what your business stands for, and anyone who says it does is selling something.

Use it to save time on the busy work, and keep a person on anything that carries your name.

If you want a second opinion on where AI fits in your marketing and where it doesn’t, call SMB Marketing at (561) 203-9041. We’ll give it to you straight.

Branding, Creative, Marketing
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Google Business Profile Checklist for Small Businesses

The short answer: a complete, accurate Google Business Profile is one of the most effective free things a local business can do. It decides whether you show up in the map pack, and AI tools often use it to confirm your hours, location and services. Use this checklist to make sure nothing is missing.

Claim and verify

  • Search for your business on Google Maps and claim the profile, or create one if none exists.
  • Complete verification so you control the listing.
  • Remove or merge any duplicate listings for the same business.

Get the basics exactly right

  • Business name exactly as it appears on your signage and website, with no extra keywords.
  • One phone number, the same one used on your website and directories.
  • Your address, or your service area if you go to customers.
  • Regular hours plus holiday hours.
  • Your website link, pointing to the most relevant page.

Choose the right categories

  • Pick the most specific primary category that describes your main service.
  • Add secondary categories only for services you really offer.

Fill in services and description

  • List each service separately, with a short plain-language description.
  • Write a business description that says what you do, who you serve and where.
  • Add products or menu items if they apply to your business.

Add real photos

  • Your logo and a cover photo.
  • Photos of your work, your team and your location.
  • New photos every month or two so the profile looks active.

Build reviews steadily

  • Ask every happy customer, with a direct review link.
  • Reply to every review, good and bad, within a few days.
  • Never buy reviews or offer rewards for them. It breaks Google’s rules and can get the profile suspended.

Keep it active

  • Post updates, offers or recent projects regularly.
  • Update hours and services whenever they change.
  • Check the profile monthly for suggested edits from the public.

Make it match everything else

Your profile should match your website and every directory listing word for word. Conflicting details are one of the most common reasons local businesses rank lower than they should, and they confuse AI tools that check several sources before answering.

Google Business Profile setup is part of our SEO, AEO and GEO services. If your profile is set up but calls still aren’t coming in, the common reasons sites don’t show up on Google are a good next read.

Want us to check your site?

We’ll show you how Google and AI tools see your business today and the fixes that matter most. Request a free search audit or call (561) 203-9041. You’ll talk with founder Joe Paradiso, not a sales script.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Google Business Profile free?

Yes. Creating and managing a Google Business Profile is free. You need a Google account and a way to verify that you run the business.

Can a service-area business hide its address?

Yes. If you serve customers at their location and don’t have a storefront, you can hide your address and list the areas you serve instead.

How often should I post on my Google Business Profile?

Weekly or every other week is a good rhythm for most small businesses. Share offers, recent jobs, events or answers to common questions.

How do I get more Google reviews?

Ask every happy customer, right after the job, with a direct link to your review form. Make it easy and ask consistently rather than in bursts.

Marketing
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Why Is My Website Not Showing Up on Google? 8 Common Causes

The short answer: when a small business website doesn’t show up on Google, it is usually one of a handful of problems: Google can’t crawl the site, the pages aren’t indexed, the business details conflict, or the pages don’t match what customers search for. Most of them can be checked in an afternoon.

1. Google is blocked from crawling the site

A leftover “discourage search engines” setting from when the site was built, a disallow rule in robots.txt or a security plugin can keep Google out entirely. In WordPress, check Settings, then Reading, and make sure search engine visibility isn’t turned off.

2. Pages are set to noindex

A noindex tag tells Google not to list a page. It is useful for thank-you pages and admin screens, but sometimes it ends up on service pages by mistake. Check your SEO plugin settings page by page.

3. There is no sitemap, or it is out of date

A sitemap lists the pages you want Google to find. If yours is missing, lists pages that no longer exist or leaves out new ones, Google may miss your best pages. Submit a current sitemap in Google Search Console.

4. Your business details don’t match

Different phone numbers, addresses or business names across your website, Google Business Profile and directories make Google less confident about who you are. This hurts local rankings in particular.

5. Your Google Business Profile is incomplete

For local searches, the map pack often matters more than the regular results. An unclaimed or half-finished profile with the wrong categories, missing hours or no recent reviews rarely shows up there.

6. The pages don’t match what customers search for

If your homepage says “solutions for your success” and customers search for “AC repair in Stuart,” Google has nothing to match. Each service you offer, and each area you serve, needs its own page that says so plainly.

7. The site is slow or broken on phones

Most local searches happen on a phone. Pages that take a long time to load or are hard to use on a small screen lose visitors and rankings.

8. The competition is simply stronger

Sometimes nothing is broken. Competitors have more reviews, more useful pages and more sites linking to them. The fix is steady work: better content, more reviews and listings in the directories your customers use.

Where to start

Open Google Search Console and check the Page Indexing report first. It tells you which pages Google has found and why others were left out. Then work down this list in order. The first few items are usually quick fixes.

If you’d rather have someone else look, our SEO, AEO and GEO services start with exactly this kind of audit, and we also cover how AI tools like ChatGPT see your business.

Want us to check your site?

We’ll show you how Google and AI tools see your business today and the fixes that matter most. Request a free search audit or call (561) 203-9041. You’ll talk with founder Joe Paradiso, not a sales script.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take for a new website to show up on Google?

Google can find a new site within days if it has a sitemap submitted in Search Console, but ranking for competitive searches usually takes months of consistent work.

How do I check if Google has indexed my website?

Search Google for site:yourdomain.com. If few or no pages appear, use the Page Indexing report in Google Search Console to see what is excluded and why.

Does my Google Business Profile affect my website ranking?

It affects whether you show up in the map pack for local searches, which is often where small businesses get the most calls. It works alongside your website, not instead of it.

Should I pay for Google Ads while SEO builds?

Ads can bring in leads right away while SEO builds over time. Many small businesses run both and shift budget as organic rankings improve.

Marketing
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

How Do I Get My Business to Show Up in ChatGPT and AI Search?

The short answer: AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews mention businesses they can find, read and trust. If their crawlers can reach your site, your business details match everywhere, and your pages answer the questions customers ask, you have a real chance of being included. If any of those are missing, they will name a competitor instead.

Nobody can force an AI tool to recommend a business, and anyone selling that is guessing. But most small business websites are missing the basics these tools need. Here is what to check, in order.

1. Make sure AI crawlers can reach your site

AI tools use crawlers, just like Google does. Some websites block them by accident through a security plugin, a firewall setting or a line in the robots.txt file. Check that your robots.txt file doesn’t disallow crawlers such as GPTBot (ChatGPT), ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended unless you mean to.

2. Make your pages readable without JavaScript

Many crawlers read the raw HTML of a page and don’t run JavaScript. If your services, hours or prices only appear after a script loads, a crawler may see an empty page. Your main content should be in the page itself.

3. Use the same business details everywhere

AI tools cross-check facts. If your website lists one phone number, your Google Business Profile another and a directory a third, the tool doesn’t know which to trust. Pick one business name, one phone number and one address format, and use them on your site, your Google profile and every directory listing.

4. Answer real questions, plainly

AI answers are built from pages that answer a specific question in a sentence or two. Write pages and FAQs around what customers actually ask: what you do, where you work, what it costs, how long it takes. Put the answer first, then the detail.

5. Add structured data

Schema markup tells machines exactly who you are, what services you offer, your hours and your service area. LocalBusiness, Service and FAQ schema are the ones that matter most for a small business.

6. Publish an llms.txt file

An llms.txt file is a short, plain-language summary of your business placed at the root of your website. It gives AI tools a clean description of what you do, where you operate and how to reach you.

7. Show up where AI tools look

AI tools lean heavily on trusted third-party sources: Google Business Profile, review sites, industry directories and your local chamber of commerce. A business that is missing from those places is hard to cite, no matter how good its website is.

How to check where you stand

Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google the questions your customers would ask, such as “who does web design in Stuart, FL?” Note who shows up and which sources are cited. Results change from day to day, so check monthly and look at the trend, not a single answer.

We cover all of this as part of our SEO, AEO and GEO services. If some of the terms above are new, our marketing glossary explains them in plain English.

Want us to check your site?

We’ll show you how Google and AI tools see your business today and the fixes that matter most. Request a free search audit or call (561) 203-9041. You’ll talk with founder Joe Paradiso, not a sales script.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay to get my business recommended by ChatGPT?

You can’t buy your way into the answer itself. What shapes the answer is what AI tools can find and verify about you, so the work is making your website and listings easy to read and consistent everywhere.

How long does it take to show up in AI answers?

Fixes like unblocking crawlers and correcting business details can be picked up within weeks. Being cited regularly usually takes a few months of consistent, answer-first content and listings.

Do I need an llms.txt file?

It is not required, but it is a quick win. An llms.txt file is a plain-language summary of your business at your site root that AI tools can read without wading through page code.

Is AI search replacing Google?

Not for most local businesses yet. Google still sends most search traffic. The good news is that the same foundation helps you in both.

Marketing
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

The Most Popular Marketing Tool Isn’t Always the Right One

Disclosure: SMB Marketing works with the teams behind Adaptix.ai, Optix.ai and Amped.ai. Our recommendations are based on our own use of these products.

Most small businesses choose marketing software the same way. A friend recommends it, everyone in the industry seems to use it, and it’s the first name that comes up in search. Then it sticks. Years later the team is still working around its gaps because switching feels like more trouble than the problem itself.

We’ve been there. Over the past few years at SMB Marketing, we tested the biggest names in email, analytics and CRM. In all three cases, the tool that fit our business best was one most people haven’t heard of.

Popular and right are two different things

A big user base tells you two things: the product works well enough for a lot of people, and the company behind it is good at marketing. It doesn’t tell you whether the product fits the way your business runs.

The largest platforms are built for the widest possible audience. That usually means you pay for features you’ll never touch and still end up missing the one you need every day. Your team fills the gap with spreadsheets, manual exports and a second or third tool bolted onto the side.

Here’s what that looked like for us.

Email and automation: Mailchimp vs. Adaptix.ai

Mailchimp is the default email platform for a lot of small businesses, and we started there too. For a simple monthly newsletter, it does the job.

Our needs went further. We wanted automation that followed a lead from the first touch all the way through to a sale, plus list building and campaign management that worked together instead of in separate corners. With Mailchimp, we kept hitting limits, building workarounds and looking at add-on costs to get there.

Adaptix.ai, a platform far fewer people know about, covered all of it. Email campaigns, automation workflows, lead generation and list management live in one place, and we stopped stitching tools together to run a single campaign.

Analytics and reporting: Google Analytics vs. Optix.ai

Google Analytics is a great tool, and it isn’t going anywhere. The problem was how we needed to use it. When we sit down with a client, we want the full picture of their marketing on one screen: traffic, campaigns and results, without clicking through a dozen reports or rebuilding a dashboard every month.

Optix.ai gave us exactly that. It brings each client’s reporting into a single view, so our team spends less time assembling numbers and more time explaining what they mean and what to do next. Our clients get a clear answer to the question they actually care about: is the marketing working?

CRM: Salesforce vs. Amped.ai

When we needed a CRM to manage our leads and sales, Salesforce was the obvious name. It’s powerful, but it’s built for large sales organizations. For a team our size, both the price and the feature set were far more than we needed.

Amped.ai was the right fit. It handles lead tracking and our sales pipeline without the complexity or the enterprise price tag. We got what we needed at a cost that didn’t break the bank.

What we switched, at a glance

Need What we tried What fit
Email and automation Mailchimp Adaptix.ai
Client reporting Google Analytics Optix.ai
CRM Salesforce Amped.ai

Signs your current tool isn’t the right fit

Most businesses don’t notice a poor fit right away. It shows up slowly, in small habits your team picks up to get the job done. If any of these sound familiar, it’s worth taking a second look:

  • Someone on your team exports data to a spreadsheet every week just to see what’s going on.
  • You pay for two or three tools to handle one process, like capturing a lead and following up with it.
  • Your monthly bill keeps climbing, but you use the same handful of features you did a year ago.
  • New hires need weeks of training before they can use the system on their own.
  • When someone asks a simple question, like how many leads came in last month, it takes an afternoon to answer.

None of these on their own means you picked the wrong product. Taken together, they usually mean the tool was built for someone else’s business, and your team is paying the difference in time.

The real cost of sticking with what you know

The most common reason businesses stay with a tool that doesn’t fit is simple. They already use it, and nobody wants to learn something new.

That’s understandable, but look at the math. The cost of switching is paid once: a few weeks of setup and a learning curve. The cost of a poor fit is paid every month, in hours lost to workarounds, follow-ups that slip through the cracks, reports built by hand and seats you pay for but don’t need. Over a year or two, staying put almost always costs more.

How to test tools without losing your week

You don’t need to trial every product on the market. A little structure goes a long way.

  1. Write down what you need before you shop. List the five or six tasks the tool has to handle every week. Judge every option against that list, not against a feature chart.
  2. Shortlist three, and include one you’ve never heard of. Smaller companies often build for businesses your size and tend to listen when you ask for something.
  3. Use the free trial on real work. Send a real campaign, pull a real report, load real leads. Demo data always looks good.
  4. Time your everyday tasks. If one tool saves your team two hours a week, that matters more than any single feature.
  5. Price it at the size you plan to be. Check what the bill looks like with twice the contacts or users, not just today’s numbers.
  6. Make sure you can leave. Confirm you can export your contacts, history and reports cleanly before you commit.

The point isn’t which tools we picked

We use and recommend Adaptix.ai, Optix.ai and Amped.ai because they fit how we work and how we serve our clients. They may or may not be the right answer for you.

What we’d push back on is staying with a product that doesn’t meet your needs just because it’s familiar. Your tools should fit your business, not the other way around. Test them, compare them on real work and pick the one that earns its place.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my marketing tools are the right fit for my business?

Look at how your team actually uses them. If people export data to spreadsheets every week, pay for extra tools to fill gaps or need an afternoon to answer simple questions about leads and results, the tool probably wasn’t built for a business like yours.

Is it worth switching marketing software if my team already knows the current one?

Often, yes. Switching takes a few weeks of setup and learning, and you pay that cost once. A tool that doesn’t fit costs you every month in lost hours, missed follow-ups and features you pay for but never use.

How should a small business test marketing tools before committing?

List the tasks the tool has to handle every week, then shortlist three options, including one you’ve never heard of. Use each free trial on real campaigns, reports and leads, time your everyday tasks, check pricing at the size you plan to grow to and confirm you can export your data if you leave.

Are lesser-known marketing platforms a risky choice?

Not if you check the basics. Ask about data security and compliance, test their support during the trial and make sure you can export your contacts and history. Smaller companies often build specifically for small businesses and respond faster when you need something.

What marketing tools does SMB Marketing use?

We use Adaptix.ai for email and marketing automation, Optix.ai for client reporting and Amped.ai as our CRM. We still use Google Analytics alongside Optix.ai. We chose each one after testing it against better-known options on our own work.

Can SMB Marketing help me choose or set up marketing tools?

Yes. We review what you’re using today, show you where it’s falling short and help you find and set up tools that fit, including email automation, CRM and analytics. Call us at (561) 203-9041 to talk it through.

Do I need a long-term contract to work with SMB Marketing?

No. We work month to month, with no bloated retainers. You stay because the work is paying off, not because a contract says you have to.

Not sure your marketing stack is pulling its weight?

Talk to us about your stack. We’ll look at what you’re using, where it’s falling short and whether there’s a better fit for your business. No pressure and no long-term contracts.

Start a conversationCall (561) 203-9041

Disclosure: SMB Marketing works with the teams behind Adaptix.ai, Optix.ai and Amped.ai. Our recommendations are based on our own use of these products.

See our small business marketing services, or request a free marketing audit.

Branding, Creative, Direct Response Marketing, Email marketing, Marketing
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Your Emails Aren’t Landing in Spam Because of Poor Content it’s Mailchimps Deliverability Limits

If you’ve ever noticed your Mailchimp open rates quietly declining — or gotten a report from a subscriber that your emails are landing in their spam folder — you’ve hit one of the most frustrating walls in email marketing: a deliverability problem you can’t diagnose with the tools Mailchimp gives you.
Read More
Branding, Direct Response Marketing, Email marketing, Marketing
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Marketing Automation Product Comparison

Why Adaptix Stands Out in Marketing Automation Over Mailchimp and Hubspot

In today’s crowded marketing automation landscape, businesses need solutions that are powerful yet simple to use. Adaptix delivers exactly that—a deliverability-first, autonomous marketing workspace that combines email marketing, automation flows, landing pages, SMS messaging, and analytics into one streamlined platform.

Read More
Branding, Direct Response Marketing, Email marketing, Marketing
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

List Health & Renewal Automation: Re-Engaging Dormant Subscribers for SMBs

In the fast-paced world of small and mid-sized business marketing, building an email list often feels like an achievement in itself. But over time, even the best-built lists lose energy. Subscribers stop opening. Engagement drops. And what was once a thriving audience slowly turns into a silent one.

Read More
Branding, Direct Response Marketing, Email marketing, Marketing
, , , , , , ,
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Validate Before You Automate | Email Validation Tools for SMB Marketing Success

Email automation has evolved from simple ‘set-and-send’ sequences into sophisticated, behavior-based campaigns that power real business growth. But as automation becomes more advanced, so do the risks. Poorly timed messages, untested offers, and misaligned audience targeting can turn even the smartest automation strategy into an underperforming pipeline. That’s why validation tools—like Validify.ai—are emerging as essential partners for email marketers who want to combine automation with intelligence.
Read More
Direct Response Marketing, Email marketing, Marketing
, , , , , , , ,
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

SMB Marketing – An Origin Story

Many people, especially those that knew me early in my career, ask how I ended up starting a marketing agency.  I realized that it was a reasonable question and hope the answer sheds some light on who I am, my experiences and how SMB Marketing can assist small businesses in growing to their full potential. 

Read More
Branding, Creative, Marketing
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Navigating The Rough Facebook Ads Seas

Facebook is one of the oldest and best suited social media platforms for the majority of businesses that wish to communicate with existing customers and attain new prospects.  Creating content is fairly easy on Facebook but gaining followers, likes and shares can be challenging, especially if you don’t start out with a large network of family and friends from your personal page.

Read More
Uncategorized
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

How to Create a Business Growth Plan for the Year Ahead

The start of a new year typically brings hope and promise as people make resolutions to be healthier, better people, etc. but what resolutions are you making for your business? The start of a new year is also a great time to evaluate the state of your business so you can grow it even larger. Some businesses hire consultants like our company to help them figure this out but if with the right tools and a bit of honesty, you can do most of the work yourself.

January 2nd (or earlier) is a great day to focus on your business plan for the upcoming year. We all want to grow our business but in order to do that effectively, we need a good snapshot of where our business is currently. A tool that we use here and have used in past businesses is a SWOT analysis. For those not familiar, SWOT stands for “Strengths”, “Weaknesses”, “Opportunities” and “Threats”. It’s typically set up in a grid like the illustrations below so you can see all the categories at one time.

SWOT analysis chart showing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Each box describes the criteria for what should be filled into the box. The key to the SWOT analysis is you, and your management staff have to be brutally honest when completing it. This is a tool for your eyes only, there’s no need here embellish strengths or ignore real problems with the business.

Most small businesses are very compentent at doing what their core business is so that is usually a strength, thus they are typically good at identifying their strengths. Let’s take for example a Bagel Store that’s been around for a few years. The owners likely make great bagels, have an established, reliable staff, decent sales and are making a profit, all strengths.

Where we see small businesses struggle is the other three boxes because they are so embedded in their day to day business they often don’t step back and take a real objective view from above. So what weaknesses might the Bagel Store owner have? They might not know the exact cost of their ingredients which might impact their actual profit margins. They might not do much marketing or engage the community as well as they could. Their store might not be as clean or welcoming as it could be or the variety of bagels and coffee they offer is too limited.

The Weaknesses box usually helps drive what gets filled into the remaining two boxes, especially Opportunities. In our bagel stores scenario, some potential Opportunities could be, better cost management, add a new fad bagel, offer gourmet coffees, increase the marketing budget and support more community events. In most cases a businesses weaknesses can easily be converted into an opportunity once you recognize the weaknesses.

The reason why most businesses fail is because they failed to recognize the threats / weaknesses and/or take appropriate action before they became a major problem. So what Threats does our Bagel store face? It could be a new competitor that has a bigger, nicer store with a larger variety of choices. It could be the store space they rent is getting sold and the new owner doesn’t want to renew their lease. Maybe a key supplier for the bagel store is in financial trouble and won’t be able to provide ingredients needed to make bagels or an expensive key piece of equipment could be old and fail, causing unexpected costs and loss of business. The business could lose a key employee that isn’t easily replaced. Threats can come from anywhere, internal and external, being aware of them helps you to be better prepared should they occur and strengthens your business.

SWOT analysis grid for small business planning

Once you have the all the boxes filled out, let the list sit for a day or two, then review it. Verify you didn’t leave anything out and begin to rank the individual lists from 1-n with 1 being the greatest strength, weakness, opportunity and threat and progressing from there. The ranking is nearly as important as the list itself because this will be the outline for your 1 year, and 5 year business plans which will focus on your strengths, address your weaknesses, identify ways to benefit from your opportunities and secure your business from the threats.

A SWOT analysis isn’t a silver bullet, but if done properly you will have a better sense of where your business is from a non-financial perspective and allow you to plan for growth while ensuring you aren’t blindsided by unforeseen problems. If you would like more information on how a SWOT Analysis can help your business please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

This post was first written at the start of 2020. The planning steps still work any year.

Frequently asked questions

When should a small business review its marketing plan?

At least once a year, and any time results change sharply. A quick quarterly check on leads, costs and sales keeps the plan honest.

What should a small business growth plan include?

Where your customers come from today, what each channel costs, one or two goals for the year, and how you will measure them each month.

Want help with this? Request a free marketing audit or call (561) 203-9041. See our SEO, AEO and GEO services and all small business marketing services.

Branding, Marketing
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

Hey Alexa, bring me some new customers

We are living in an exciting time. We have: watches we make phone calls on just like Dick Tracy used, smartphones that provide us with access to tons of useful and useless information, cars that can drive themselves (well almost), and web appliances with voice assistants that answer our questions and handle various mundane tasks on our behalf.

Read More
Branding, Design
0
social media, marketing
Regular Post
Written by Joe Paradiso

“Think not what your customers can do for you…

but what you can do for your customers.”  A twist on the famous words spoken by JFK during his inauguration speech but very applicable when it comes to brick and mortar businesses today.  2018 was not kind to brick and mortar and 2019 is not projected to be any kinder.  Let’s face it, online businesses have made it very easy and convenient to shop online.  The best ones offer free next day or 2 day shipping, usually a discounted price, no checkout lines or traffic to deal with, that’s a lot to overcome. 

So how does a small business retail store owner compete with the online giants?  They need to focus on the customer experience so that the customer wants to come back and support their store.  Easier said than done you say, but it really isn’t, not if you do some homework and actually interact with your customers.  Here are some of the things consumers are looking for from their in store experience;

1.  Consumers want a memorable experience.  Your business space should be bright, uncluttered, provide easy access to products with a pleasant scent throughout the space.  Shelves and aisles should be well maintained and stocked and your staff should be friendly and informed on the products you sell.  I personally hate going into Home Depot, the store is dark, the shelves are usually messy, there’s never anyone around to assist you and if you do happen to find someone that works there, they don’t work in the department you need assistance in.  Conversely, the Apple Store is bright and open.  Their staff is friendly, typically greeting people as they enter, well trained and can not only assist you with selecting your product but paying for it as well. 

2.  Consumers prefer to touch and try products, many also want the instant gratification of owning a product once they decide to buy it so inventory and accessibility is critical to having customers return to your business.  Utilizing your store space efficiently by placing your best selling products up front ensures customers can likely find what they are looking for.  Prime shelf space should be reserved for the best-selling products, and poor moving products should be discounted and sold off to free up valuable shelf space and cash flow.

3.  Brand authenticity.  Most small businesses have an online presence, whether it be a website, social media page or both.  Your store brand, business practices and in store experience should match your online presence.  There’s nothing more disappointing than visiting a retail store that fails to live up to the expectations they establish with their online presence.  Avoid using stock photos, making false claims about your business online or using gimmicks to attract foot traffic to your store.  Your website or social media page should be a true reflection of your store, using stock photos or questionable methods to get people to visit your store is your first indication you have a problem in your store that needs to be addressed.

4.  Reward loyalty, we’re not just talking about discounts or free stuff which is nice but we’re talking about tailoring the experience of your loyal customers.  Get to know your best customers, their name, kids names, their buying habits and make them feel appreciated and important.  As you get to know your customers, you’ll get a sense for what they like.  Imagine their reaction when you put aside a great selling new product that you believe they’d want to buy.  Even if they choose not to buy it, the fact you thought enough about them to do that will earn you a customer for life. 

5.  This next one is a bit controversial, charitable donations and tip jars.  Many consumers I interact with don’t wish to be nickel and dime’d during checkout.  Charities are great but asking your customers to donate to your selected charity or contribute to a tip jar on your counter at the end of their shopping experience is  awkward and uncomfortable.  This form of retail panhandling depends on peer pressure to get your customers to contribute to a charity or tip jar that they otherwise would not and often can sour an otherwise positive experience.  Unless you’re a restaurant, pay your staff a fair wage and stop expecting your customers to supplement their income with tips.  Sorry, but placing bagels in a bag, making a sandwich or scooping some ice cream into a cup isn’t tip worthy.  The $20 in tips they may get isn’t worth the impact on the consumer experience as they exit your store and could result in them not returning.

We all shop online and we know the reasons why.  Your job as a brick and mortar business owner is to address those reasons.   Look at your business objectively as a customer and consumer and determine if you’d leave the comforts of your home to shop in it.  Ask your loyal customers what they like best and what they’d like to see you change.  We business owners don’t have all the answers but we can get most of them from talking to our customers, so that’s where you should start. 

Updated November 2026. This was written in 2019, but the advice for brick and mortar businesses still holds: give customers a reason to visit that a website can’t.

Frequently asked questions

How can a local store compete with online retailers?

Offer what online stores can’t: expert advice, a hands-on experience, same-day service and a relationship. Then make sure people searching nearby can find you.

What marketing works best for brick and mortar businesses?

A complete Google Business Profile, a fast website with clear hours and directions, steady reviews, and email to bring past customers back.

Want help with this? Request a free marketing audit or call (561) 203-9041. See our SEO, AEO and GEO services and all small business marketing services.

Branding, Social Media
0
1 2
Verified by MonsterInsights