5 Simple Mindsets Every Wellness & Lifestyle SMB Owner Needs To Implement In Their Marketing Strategy Toward 2021

Forget using sexy women for advertising - traditional consumerism is finally dead. 2020 has shown, once and for all, that as a business owner you need to approach your clients, existing or potential, totally differently. Even once the Coronavirus will be long gone, the effects of it on your customer base are here to stay - and there’s no better time to adapt to it than now. 

What can you do as a business owner to grow your business in 2021? Here are five simple changes in your mindset that you should implement in your marketing strategy to begin with.

1. Keeping it Simple

In our ever-changing reality, your customers feel powerless and confused. Wherever your consumers are, it’s likely that they’re unhappy with the frequent new regulations imposed on their lives and their irreversible effects. You want to give your customers the feeling that they still have the power to make decisions - even if it’s as tiny as choosing to eat your healthy snack. 

The Covid-19 situation introduced “working from home” and eradicated almost any free-time activities. Your customers have tons of free time on their hands - and have to make even more decisions to fill it up. They may have more hours of sleep every night, but your customers are more tired than ever.

The average person makes roughly 35,000 conscious decisions every single day. Some extremely successful people know it and how dangerous it can be. That's why Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, to name a few, have stuck to a look which they are known for. Even deciding what to wear every single day can take a toll on your already exhausted brain. 

Make it simple for your customers. There’s a reason why companies who offer ready-made packages, or subscription boxes, have seen outstanding growth of more than 22% in sales in 2020. Your customers want to make their own decisions and feel like they’re still impactful - so celebrate their choices, help them regain their power. Offer them a simple way to do so, and eliminate the decision fatigue in the process.

2. Kindness is the New Sexy

Whether you’re a dating app or a pet supplies company, people are sick and tired of being frightened. The world out there is strange and scary enough. If positivity was already on your ticket, it’s even more important nowadays to use it to your advantage. 

The only ads that stuck to my memory this year were the ones that made me smile. Whether they had a witty copy or confidence to laugh at their own brand’s expense - they made sure to use humor to stand out in the sea of marketing efforts all around us. 

• An ad I saw recently in the Berlin underground that made me smile.

Be kind to your customers. They want to be understood, and you have every right to use that. It doesn’t have to be as cynical as that may sound - cater to your customers the empathy they so desperately yearn for. You probably know better and have invested hours, months, or years in developing the perfect solution for them - but your business will cease to exist without customers. 

Besides empathy and kindness, market with compassion. It’s not necessarily what you say but how you say it. Philosopher Emile-Auguste Chartier found a simple way to calm himself down in stressful situations: Instead of getting angry - look for the pin. In other words, find your customers’ pressing issues- and then treat those with the same compassion you offer to children. Your customers are intelligent and well-educated, no doubt, but you’d be amazed how far you can get by spoon-feeding them with your ideas. Take your customers by the hand, even if they should’ve already possessed the information you’re giving them. Condescending won’t give you much - but compassion goes a long way. 

3. Sharing is Caring

The global pandemic has changed the way we, as consumers, correspond with and think of our community. Local businesses are surely struggling, but the ones that were smart enough to shift their focus to online shopping have witnessed a 76% increase in their sales. Businesses that kept communicating with their loyal customer base openly, usually through organic social media posts, managed to keep their business afloat - and even grow their business beyond expectations.

Just like in dating - some brands will gain their customers’ respect and trust by exposing the flaws and sharing fears - your business is run by people for people. Appearing strong and optimistic is essential, but it’s still “attractive” to be human. There’s great strength in being vulnerable - you just have to figure out the best way for your brand to do so. 

Your customers want to help their community just as much as they want to be included in one. Keep your customers in the loop, let them know of important milestones - even if they are somewhat devastating. For example, in Berlin, Germany, as of November 2nd and for the next four weeks, restaurants and cafes can only offer takeaways. In my area, the local businesses shared on social media how sad they are for this understandable decision, alongside expressing genuine hope to see their customers grabbing their goods to go. This authentic attempt to reach the community for help will make me and many others visit those places as much as time and money allow.

• My local cafes in Berlin nailing it on social media (The one on the right says: “Dear guests, despite the new restrictions, we’d like to continue making you happy and satisfied. Therefore, there will be takeaway sales throughout November. Opening hours will remain the same as before— lunch, coffee, cakes: everything to go. Stay healthy, your Honiggelb team”).

4. Listen and Be Flexible

A few days ago, I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a story of a UK artist that I follow. He shared that he just got off the phone with his management team, and they were thinking of ways to make some lemonade out of this sour situation together. And then he just asked his followers: “what would you like to see from me?”. This direct question is maybe one of the greatest things anyone with a business could do - just listen. Your customers may be generally confused, but they still know what they want from you - or don’t want from you. Ask them. Listen. Analyze. 

There are so many analyzing tools to understand the behavior of our customers. These weird times we live in are a goldmine for creatives. Sure, the situation is grim and uncertain, but your creative teams should see this as an opportunity to give your customers what they want and invent new ways for the customers to get it.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to get results. You know your business the best, but it’s crucial to be flexible in 2021. That doesn’t mean you should change your marketing plans every other day - be open to admitting that something isn’t working, and adapt accordingly. Listen to your clients - they’re intelligent and well-educated. Their feedback and your reaction to it will determine the future of your company.

5. Make it Personal

A great user experience was never more important - Google will be releasing their algorithm update in 2021 that’s going to rank your website pages also according to their bounce rate, not only SEO-wise.

As far as your customers are concerned, your business was created to answer their specific needs or problems. You have great AI and automation tools out there to make sure you personalize your offers and interactions with your customer base. Whether it’s through customer service solutions or interactive video marketing - the latter is the rising star for the years to come.

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Find multiple ways to please them. I find nothing more irritable than companies’ chat-bots that can’t give me a concrete answer. Those companies lose me right there as a customer. Your customers already bought your product - the last thing they want to do is spending their precious time waiting for someone to help them with it.

Furthermore, people connect with people, not brands. Whether you like it or not - influencer marketing is here to stay. In fact, an influencer sharing a brand’s message will get 561% more engagement than when the brand itself shares it on their social media accounts. Need another example? Elon Musk has nearly 40 million followers on Twitter. SpaceX has 13 Million; Tesla has 6.5 million. It’s time you get real and make it personal.

To Conclude

Thinking of your consumer in a more humane way can and should be your winning ticket in 2021. Your customers will thank you, and the profits will show the same trends. It’s time to take another look at your marketing strategy for 2021 and ask yourself - are you ready to reach new highs?