​Unless you are extremely fortunate, there’s a lot of competition out there. Your product or service must compete against a host of other businesses not just in your town but, potentially, across the globe. You’re also in competition with inaction or doing nothing at all.
 
If you haven’t analyzed the competition lately, you may be surprised by the competitive landscape. This morning, I discovered the design software Canva has launched an auto-writing feature so now I (along with thousands of marketing writers) are now in competition with AI, of all things. And while I can spend hours writing about how AI-generated content will never be able to trump the acerbic wit of my fellow humans, the truth is that some people will choose to go with the machine rather than hiring it out. The same may be true for your business.
 
So, what can you do?
 
You must find a way to become indispensable. Here’s how:

We’re not here to call your baby ugly. But let’s face it, if you’re reading this article, you must think your product or service isn’t the sexiest, easiest to market. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t good potential. Storytelling can help enliven even the most common products. Through these marketing suggestions you can finish the holiday season strong and carry that momentum through next year.
 
Storytelling Tips for Marketing Boring Products and Services 

Find the Hero
Your product or service—no matter how (traditionally) uninspiring—helps someone. Just figure out who and how. For instance, if you own a 5-minute oil change business, it may not be the sort of thing people get excited about, but you offer a very convenient service.
 
Who do you help get back on the road quickly? Is it the busy mom running carpool or the executive salesperson between appointments? You are helping someone get back to what they’re meant to do safely and quickly. While they may roll their eyes at the need for getting their oil changed and put it off for several miles, your quick service makes a big difference in their day. Because of you, they can do something amazing. Tell their story.
 
Focus on What Your Hero Wants
Continuing with the value of story, think about what your hero/customer wants to do more than anything else. How do you assist with that? This goes beyond helping them with something they must do and revolves around what they want to do. That’s the stuff dreams are made of. For instance, your quick oil change means the busy mom is on time to pick up the kids, which is important on its own. But what she really wants is a few minutes before that to read a couple of pages of her favorite book. Your quick—in car—oil change gives her that coveted alone time providing a respite she secretly wishes could last a little longer.
 
You could have some fun with a holiday marketing campaign around that (escape from in-laws/family/out-of-town guests for five minutes, escape from responsibilities, etc). And it’s something a lot of people can identify with.
 
Sculpt Testimonials Around Your Stories
Once you have your hero’s story drafted, think about how you might use that to solicit testimonials. If you send out a customer survey, for instance, don’t ask the generic “how was your service.” Instead, ask “what did we help you escape from today?” or “how will you use the extra five minutes of your day?” These questions are unique enough to evoke a response. You likely will get some great stories for your testimonials.
 
The power of story makes anything more interesting. Look at what Tolkien did with a lost ring or Rowling did with school. It’s time you embrace the power of story outside of your “About Us” page.
 
 
 
Christina Metcalf is a writer/ghostwriter who believes in the power of story. She works with small businesses, chambers of commerce, and business professionals who want to make an impression and grow a loyal customer/member base. She loves road trips, hates exclamation points, and believes the world would be a better place if we all had our own theme song that played when we entered the room. What would yours be?
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Small business owners usually have more on their to-do lists than there is time in the day. If becoming more productive is one of your New Year's resolutions, we have a suggestion for you that could be a game changer.
 
One of the biggest productivity challenges is interruptions. But as a small business owner they’re practically in your job description! You never know when someone will walk in or call. And while you want potential customers to do this in abundance, interruptions impact what you accomplish during the day.
 
One of the best ways to remain productive through interruptions is by planning. While you can't plan interruptions, you can create a list of things you need to do sorted by the amount of time it takes to do them. Whether you realize it or not, your day is filled with small pockets of time. Even when you feel at your busiest, you likely have a handful of minutes that you aren't maximizing currently. Creating this list will help you use every minute of your workday in the most efficient way.
 
Most to-do lists are organized around large demanding activities—the things with a noticeable deadline. Those kinds of to-do lists are still very valuable, but the “Mystery Minutes” To-do List will help you with all the time in between your large to-dos.
 
How Does a “Mystery Minutes” To-do List Work?First, make a list the things you must do for your business that don't have pressing deadlines or have deadlines months away that you need to work on bit by bit.
 
Next, organize it by the amount of time each item takes. For instance, if your to-do List contains “clean out the back storage room” the time assigned to that task might be something huge like two days (depending on the size of the area). If you’re like most small business owners, you don’t have two days to work on organizing your storage closet. You either need to hire or assign someone to do that or you must do it when you’re off/closed.
 
However, if you break the task down into manageable smaller jobs, you can assign each a shorter timeframe. For instance, imagine you have three boxes on the floor in your storage room that you need to unpack and organize. If you write that as a standalone task, instead of lumping it in with the entire room organization project, that job can be completed in a few minutes.
 
If you have large tasks break them up into smaller components. List each component on your to-do list. While this will make your to-do List longer, it will also make it more “do-able.” Plus, this to-do list isn't something you're going to finish today or even later this week. A Mystery Minutes To-do List is one that uses downtime effectively whenever you have it to ensure projects get completed a little bit at a time.
 
Next, organize the list by shortest activity to longest based on time increments. Your list may have several 5-minute activities, 10-minute activities, 15-minute activities, and so forth.
 
Then take each task within the category and sort it by importance or upcoming completion date. For instance, if you have three 5-minute jobs with one of them coming due next month (and the rest of them not being deadline specific), place the task due next month at the top of your 5-minute category.
 
Throughout the day you'll have time to work on your prioritized to-do list. You may not always realize whether you're going to have five or ten minutes at your disposal. So, for those times when you're not sure how much time you have, you can either choose the shortest activity on the list or you can select a longer activity knowing you will need to break it into multiple sessions. There are some occasions where you will know that you have ten minutes such as before a meeting, phone call, or event. Make the most of that time.
 
It's easy to allow ourselves to get bogged down in business. When business is nonstop and we have a few moments, we tend to use that time to catch our breath and don't use it efficiently. However, if you have a list of quick wins that you can conquer in a matter of minutes you not only will get more done, but you’ll also feel better about your day and what you've accomplished.
 
 
 
 
Christina Metcalf is a writer/ghostwriter who believes in the power of story. She works with small businesses, chambers of commerce, and business professionals who want to make an impression and grow a loyal customer/member base. She loves road trips, hates exclamation points, and believes the world would be a better place if we all had our own theme song that played when we entered the room. What would yours be?
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​As I'm writing this, we're closing in on two weeks until Christmas. That means businesses with e-commerce options are quickly counting down deadlines for Christmas deliveries. This is the perfect time for local small business to shine because you can promise customers holiday smiles quicker than they can be delivered in online purchases. However, there may still be things holding the average customer back. Questions lead to inaction. To overcome some of these misconceptions about shopping with you, you'll want to tackle them head-on. Here are some of the most common concerns that are likely holding your customers back and how you can address them.

​It's easy to get swept up in the stress of managing a small business during the holidays. But if you sell gift cards or are a participating business in a gift card program, there's one thing you want to make sure you don't miss. 

​It's a noisy world out there and there's lots of competition. If you want to stand out, you must provide excellent value and persuasive copy. Without these two things the holiday season will not be the boon you are hoping for. Luckily, creating copy that drives your audience to action is very easy during the holiday season. While many people have a strict budget this year, they want to provide a nice holiday for their friends and family. That means they are looking to buy. Here's how you can help them decide to buy from you. 

​Let's face it. Some people are finished with their holiday shopping. But for those of us who are left, we are starting to get a little nervous. We think about the people on our list and all the work that is left to be done before the big day, and most of us feel overwhelmed. This is an excellent time to provide the kind of helpful guidance that will create an army of loyal customers for you. It just takes a little marketing finesse.
 
So how do you get loyal customers in the last few weeks of the holiday season? You give them what they need in a way that is accessible to them and easy to understand. Now let's unpack that.