Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make (Part One of Two)

If there is anyone who now appreciates and admires the sacrifice and strength it takes to start your own business, it is me who dragged my feet for more than a year and only recently fully committed to the plunge. To me, small business owners are bold, ambitious and a huge part of what truly makes America great. For these reasons, I’ve committed my work to helping these trailblazers achieve their dreams in the most spectacular way possible.

Therefore, this list is not to chastise anyone for making these mistakes. They are, by definition, common and easy to make. My hope is that this list will reach someone who may be an offender of something on this list and who can receive this message as a guide. Use this list to look critically at your business. Are there areas of improvement that can be made that may set you a cut above the competition?

No Domain Email Address

This is probably the most common mistake I see when connecting and networking with small businesses. Your email address is one of the first touch-points a customer or potential partner has with your brand. Many business owners however, still have an @gmail, @aol or @comcast email address!

All of the top web hosting packages come with at least one (usually several) email addresses included in the package. Therefore, any business with a website, should also have an email address for professional communication ending in @yourdomainhere.com. Advanced personal email services such as Gmail allow users to forward business email addresses into organized folders via their inbox so users never have to give up a provider they like. Domain emails are easy to set up and anything else simply looks amateur.

Not Claiming Your Company on Google Places

I am lazy. People in general are lazy; technology has afforded us this luxury. So now when we search for a place to eat, live, play, or tour, it is rare we move past the first page on Google. Therefore, if you own a business and have not claimed it on Google My Business (and then others like Bing Places for Business), you are cutting yourself off from a whole world of local and online customers. I talk more about claiming your business on Google in my post, Online Marketing for Restaurants to Grow Customer Engagement. Not just for restaurants, keeping your business information accurate on Google is critical to maximizing sales.

Abstaining From Social Platforms

This is the business equivalent of the ostrich hiding its head in the sand. Here is the harsh reality: people are talking about you. Whether you showed up to the party or not, social media has provided everyone with the ability to dissect your business and showcase their opinions to others, sometimes inciting the angry mob. As a modern business owner you need to show up.

But I can’t be everywhere at once I hear you saying. Fair. If you are a small business owner, chances are you don’t have an entire department you can task with monitoring every social platform. My advice? On platforms on which you don’t plan to have a presence, set up a shell profile that directs customers and critics where to find you. Make it very clear that you don’t utilize that space and link out to a profile or username on a platform you are able to be very responsive on. However, this does not preclude you from monitoring that space. Set up notifications with services like Google Alerts or Mention.com to be directly notified when someone has mentioned your business or product name online.

Not Separating Business From Personal

This is the reason customers and fans of a brand will reach out to me and ask me to help their favorite companies. This is the pinnacle of unprofessionalism and I understand exactly why it happens. Often, starting off in business, our initial customers are our friends and family. They are liking and sharing our content and maybe even buying our products. So it is easy to get confused that friends, family and brand fans are all the same group of people. They are not. While adding personality to your content is something that I would recommend, depending on your brand mission and message, a photo of your daughter’s goal at the soccer game isn’t necessarily something your followers wish to see. Create separate business accounts for your brand and respect the privacy of your personal relationships and your fans’ time. Only cross the two when it fits your brand message to do so. See my video How to Set Up a Facebook Business Page for more information.

Want more? Check out part two as I conclude this list with the final 4 most common mistakes made by small business owners.

Know someone who could benefit from the advice in this list? Don’t be stingy, hook ’em up! Use the share buttons below to send this post to a friend. Your support is SO appreciated. Stay smart!