How My Story Can Help Your Small Business Find Customers And Increase Sales With Paid Digital Ads
Most marketing strategies you get come from people who have never started a small business from scratch... who never struggled to find their first customer... who never sold a product or service that they built themselves.
And this is why my first business failed. It failed because the advice I was getting might have worked for big companies who already had customers and a big brand name... but not for a small business like me.
So let me tell you my story of failure and then my breakthrough... and how my story can help your own small business grow...
At First I Failed For Years...
From 2002 to 2005, I pursued many business ideas... mostly in graphic design and web development. And even though my ideas were good, I just couldn't find customers. And that's because I had no idea how to use marketing to get attention.
But in 2005, I discovered a niche: my idea was to scan old photos, slides, and negatives into digital images (ScanCanada.ca). Then I'd fix those digital images in Photoshop because the final scans were often terrible (dust, scratches, and colours were off). Also, I developed a web portal where people could share their scans privately with friends and family (remember, back in 2005 there was no DropBox).
But even though my idea was innovative and new, it didn't mean people started lining up and throwing money at me.
So I had to learn how to take my weird, niche idea... find the right target... find the right message... and find the right platform to market my message to attract customers.
But again, I failed... but this time not too badly.
And I failed because my marketing was very basic. And I made ads that basically sounded like this:
"Scan your photos into high quality digital images, at an affordable price".
Ads like that did land me a few customers. But the problem was, I wasn't the only one offering scanning services at "high-qualty and low price". People who were smarter and had more money than me started their own scanning businesses, too.
And once competition started popping up, I was afraid this idea would also fail because I didn't have the resources to outcompete.
But then...
My Breakthrough
When you talk to customers, they will tell you what they want and need. And after talking to many customers, you start noticing a pattern... you'll notice a pattern of the same wants and needs, over and over again.
What I mean is, I thought people wanted:
- High quality
- Affordable price
- Fast service
And I thought branding, connection, and awareness was important too. I thought being entertaining was how you got attention.
Yes, these are important. But when you're a small business, I learned that getting attention isn't about branding or being entertaining. That type of marketing works if you already have thousands of customers and millions to spend on marketing.
And it's not about talking about "high quality, affordable price, fast service". It doesn't grab attention because EVERY business says that... and every customer expects that.
So after talking to my customers, and asking them why they decided to use my services, I started hearing the same patterns over and over again.
And that was my big breakthrough...
After talking to customers, I took those patterns I kept hearing over and over again, and I put those wants and needs in an ad. Here's the headline I used...
"Scan your dad's box of old slides you have hiding in your garage so you can share the digital images easily with your kids and family".
And BOOM...
This ad was my turning point. This is the ad that landed me my first big customers where I was able to quit my day job and work on my business full time.
And the funny thing was: my price and quality all stayed the same. The only difference was my marketing message. HOW I described my services was more attention-getting than just talking about quality or price.
I learned that if you think like a customer, then your ad will cut through all the noise and get attention. And that's because people are self interested. They only care about "what's in it for me".
And when my potential customers see an ad say...
"High quality"... "low price"... "Fast service"...
...they don't care.
And if you only talk about yourself, they don't care.
Again, if you're a big business, then yes, branding, putting the spotlight on you and your stuff is important.
But when you're a small or medium sized business that doesn't have a lot of traction, then it's more about putting all the attention on the customer because customers love it when you pay attention to them.
12+ Years Of Success
Because I started to think like a customer, I created ads and marketing that helped me sustain my business for 12 years. I opened 3 locations. And my ads and marketing helped land thousands of customers.
And my marketing attracted some of the biggest brands and organizations in Canada (Much Music, CFL, Penguin Random House Canada, ATCO, BHP Billiton, Government of Canada, Associated Press, and others).
Also, by talking to customers, I came up with another profitable business idea. It was a website where I helped people scan their own images (HowToScan.ca).
But... every business has a life-cycle. Eventually people stopped needing scanning services. So in 2017, I moved on.
However, I used the same fundamental marketing lessons I learned to build two other startups:
- 2D/3D Art Studio for Indie Games
- Content Marketing Services for Indie Game Studios
And now I'm pivoting to only focus on Digital Ads Services for Small Business.
So How Does My Story Help You Find New Customers And Increase Sales?
I'm not a marketer. I didn't go to school for marketing or advertising. I accidentally got into marketing and digital ads because if I wanted my small business to pay my bills, I had to learn how to attract customers.
And to attract customers when I wasn't a big brand or had millions to spend on marketing, I figured out a different strategy.
First, I'll research your potential customers to understand their wants and needs. My goal is to think like a customer.
Then I'll make the connection between your product/service and how it can fulfill those wants and needs.
And then I'll create display (image) ads or search (text) ads. And I'll manage those ads on the Google Ads platform (or Facebook, Reddit, etc.).
I'll collect data that will help me figure out which ad gets the best ROI. My goal is to optimize your ads so that you're paying the least amount of money to acquire a new customer.
And while I solve the problem of finding you new customers, you can focus on what you do best: run your business.
So again, here's what I can help you with:
- Help you find new customers and increase sales this month
- Optimize your ads so you pay the lowest cost possible to acquire a new customer
- Give you more free time to run your business while I worry about the marketing
And to learn more about what else you get and how much, please check out: Convert New Customers Campaign
Thanks for reading. I appreciate your time, and look forward to learning more about you and your business.
Later,
Dariusz Michniewicz
Digital Ads Specialist
St. Thomas, ON
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