Building a small business takes skill, teamwork, and lots of networking; Kristen Wilson would know!
About Kristen Wilson
Kristen Wilson is a marketing consultant for small businesses with a focus on their online presence using social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising on Google (PPC), blogging, website readability, and development, email marketing as well as training small businesses in same. Kristen understands what is needed and what it takes to run a small business and happy to share that knowledge with others, who are willing and able to take that step to outsource or learn what it takes to get it done.
What three things do you think all business owners should be doing?
· “Well, that’s pretty easy, the three things they need is a website as a digital business card, social media to engage with your audience, and an email list to keep yourself on top of the minds of your target audience.”
What would be one thing you wish you would’ve started sooner with your business?
· “That would be email marketing, it’s not something that you build overnight, it takes time and it doesn’t always happen right off the bat!”
What would you recommend for people to grow their email list?
· “First of all, start it! Start building your relationships with any number of followers you have and then work through social media to allow people to opt in.”
What is the most misunderstood item in digital marketing?
· “Search engine optimization which is optimizing your website to make more search friendly for the consumer is definitely one. People always think they don’t know how to do it but there are some really simple tools you can use to optimize it!”
Share with us one of your best networking stories
· “As a digital marketer, I’m constantly in networking meetings trying to build relationships. For me, one of the best things is when you’re referred to someone say, five lines down and the outcome is that they’re now a customer of mine!”
How do you stay in front of your network or community?
· “One of the three things all business owners need to be doing is social media and I put myself on the platforms that work best for me and then I constantly go to networking meetings and build relationships!”
What advice do you have for business professionals looking to grow their networks?
· “Along the same lines, go out on the pavement and meet people individually and use your social networks to tie into different groups.”
Digital networking or traditional networking?
· “I actually have to complement both, sometimes building those relationships in person can happen much faster! At the same time, social media can help over a longer period of time.”
If you could go back 20 years, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of regarding your career?
· “There are a lot of things that come to mind about changing but a lot of them would stop me from being what I’ve become today. If I could’ve gone back five years maybe but I think what happens as we age and mature is we learn a lot about a lot of different things.”
Any final words of advice for our listeners??
· “I think as small business owners, a lot of us are doing this on our own and it gets frustrating but there’s tons of us out there that can help out.”
You can get in contact with Kristen at:
Find her on social media at either facebook.com/avisualbusiness
OR
@K10Wilson on Twitter
Otherwise, just send her an email at kristen@avisualbusiness.com
OR
On her website at http://www.avisualbusiness.com/