Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary’s Smart Tips For Small Businesses

I recently attended a webinar hosted by Constant Contact that featured an interview with Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank who candidly provided his advice on what today’s small business owners should prioritize. Here is the first of two parts with advice I gleaned from the interview.  Notice that the first one is something I have driven home in all my webinars: whenever possible collect contact email and other contact information from every customer and potential customer. This puts you in charge so you can reach out directly to your past customers and leads to propel your business forward no matter what. It also gives you valuable information about your target market.  Enjoy these first 12 tips I got from watching the interview:

1. If he could change anything about the way he marketed his businesses, he would have collected email addresses and all contact information from clients all along, “By not having that direct contact information from our past customers (who bought from QVC or others), we missed a lot of business opportunities. It is critical today that business owners get that information and control their own customer contacts by collecting that data any way they can and then establish a real connection with those customers.”
2. Storytelling is key to helping your brand stand out. In Social Media, a good story will translate into dollars spent with your company so make sure you are making the most out of your social media platforms and posts. Write your story and continue adding to it so that your customers know your business personally and know that it can be trusted.
3. Transparency is the most important factor in businesses that succeed today. Being direct and honest with consumers puts your company at the top with today’s consumers. They do not need you to be perfect, they need you to be honest and let them know what your product does well and where it falls short. That honesty will buy you loyalty.
4. 100 million Americans have no savings and that is frightening.  Look at your own solvency and shore it up because there will be good times and bad times and you need a safety net. Also recognize that your customers need one too. So think from their viewpoint when pricing and offering value bundles.
5. Upgrade the images of your products or services. Today’s consumer is extremely savvy and they need to see professionalism. A good digital camera will pay you back in dividends. Your product needs to look sharp and more valuable than the asking price. The same goes for your website.
6. Produce 29 and 59 second videos and test them out in your market using video postings and paid digital ads through Google, Facebook and other platforms depending on your target market.
7. Create live events for social media success. It can create excitement and integrate your product and website with the needs of your consumers.  For example, QVC has 6.2 million viewers and more people are watching TV today because they are staying home. They are also buying more from home. O’Leary helped launch a pizza oven product with a live demonstration at his home with him cooking the pizza using the oven.  They sold over 1000 ovens in 7 minutes. Customers saw the product demonstrated by a real person in real time giving them a real experience they could trust. QVC drove the offer in tandem. This is media mixing by using live and taped video programming plus social media and websites with QVC direct sales interaction.
8. Get your payroll in order. Your employees are your business and you need to know your overhead.  From the stimulus financing to the juggling of local governments and banks, you can operate a company best if you have the overhead handy and the paperwork to know and manage your payroll costs.
9. The next generation of innovators are starting up right now, born out of necessity. They will succeed as they launch a product that is in demand today. Many companies that thrive today were started during a downturn.
10. Making a digital pivot is mandatory if you want to achieve the sales you dream about. Digital is accountable because it is so measurable. And today you can reach into a consumer’s home using targeted digital media and the right creative content and promotional offers.
11. America 2.0 will be a different America than the one ww all lived in before Covid. America 2.0 has more people working at home and more people shopping online. Retail stores were already looking at reduced customer traffic as well as malls and other traditional venues.  Now online options have increased due to local stores that were forced to allow for shopping online. Behaviors will change and business owners need to feel the pulse of it.
12. Break through the noise by starting your campaigns regionally and then moving them out to areas around your primary business so you can create that same success in a wider net. Test it in a small region and then, once you figure out what works, expand your outreach along with your budget.

Join my next webinar to learn more about marketing your business in America 2.0.   If you need help creating a better marketing plan, contact us or call Tailor-Made Advertising at 310-791-6300.

Liz Harsch is the owner of Tailor-Made Advertising in Torrance, CA. Her firm provides marketing, training and consulting to identify marketing and media alternatives for business owners. As an experienced Marketing Director, Media Planner and Trainer, Liz has counseled and trained small business owners for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, SBA, Cities and MWD and County outreach partners, APICS plus many Chambers of Commerce for over 10 years. She can be reached at her Torrance, CA office at 310-791-6300 or by email at liz@adteamla.com. You can also see her upcoming training workshops calendar at http://bit.ly/workshopscal .