Mediaboss Marketing

Marc L. Goldberg| Columnist

Customers come and go to small businesses for a variety of reasons.In order for them to reach out to you for a solution, they have to be aware of you. For them to stay with you, despite the competition,you should never take them for granted.

Customers will leave you because the competition offered a product or service with better benefits or they changed locations or simply stopped needingyour product or service.You can even bet your best customers at some point will leave you.

Steve Strauss advises:You can find new customers by featuring the ones you have now on your website, social media and newsletter. And reward your existing customers when they refer new ones.

Although word of mouth (WOM) is a powerful marketing tool, most small business owners dont have a specific strategy to encourage WOM. Word of mouth marketingis an effective and inexpensive way to promote, attract and win over customers. When others talk positively about your business, it builds name recognition and trust that lead to sales.

Your best sales people are delighted customers. Getting them to offer a testimonial, which is an independent assessment of your solution, impresses even the most skeptical of new buyers.But, this doesnt happen without asking for a testimonial or referral.

When you display letters of recommendation for others to see, they take note, realizing they are not alone in reaching out to you.Google My Business is one of the best places, aside from your website, to post recommendations.

More SCORE tips: BMC is a great organizational tool for start-ups, existing businesses

To keep the referrals and recommendations coming, create a referral system to incentivize customers to promote your brand.Whenever posting to social media, encourage followers to refer you or recommend your offerings.

Customers feel taken for granted when you only connect with them when you want their business.When you communicate with them regularly, you become a knowledge leader and stay top of mind so when they have a need, they come to you.

Connecting is easy create a monthly newsletter, blog page on your website or create an email campaign. By communicating regularly with your customers, you give them a reason to talk about you.

Escape the Cape: Try our four little cities tour

Alisa Meredith advises that no one will talk about you if your products and services are just OK.

Your offerings need to exceed their expectations in order for them to refer or recommend you.But this is just the first step.

You need to encourage and amplify what your clients are saying about you.This occurs when they take your call-to-action to share their recommendations and refer you to others.And you can spread the word by posting them in newsletters, social media posts and on your website.

Go where your customers or potential customers are, whether it be online or offline.Networking is all about creating communities where you can share information and direct one another to new resources and learn.

More: One year later, Michael Packard recalls escape from whale

One way to increase your positioning in the mind of buyers is to share your knowledge so others will share it to their network.Lifelong learning is a value that enhances not only your brand, but those with whom you are connected.

Janet Attard, ZenBusiness, offers these simple ideas to increase WOM communications about you and your business:

Contributed by Marc L. Goldberg, Certified Mentor. SCORE Cape Cod & the Islands.www.capecod.score.org,capecodscore@verizon.netor 508-740-4820.

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Business Tips from SCORE: Word of mouth marketing is key to business growth - Cape Cod Times

Google has expanded its All In marketing toolkit to include more insights on accessible marketing, in order to help ensure that advertisers consider accessibility within their outreach initiatives.

As explained by Google:

People are exposed to around two million ads per year, but many saythey dont see themselves or their community accurately represented in them. Everybody deserves to feel a sense of belonging. As marketers, its our job to make sure the stories we tell are fully inclusive. This also means making our marketing accessible so that all disabled people, 15% of the global population, can fully access and engage with our content, products and experiences.

Googles All In mini-site includes a range of helpful tips and notes on how to maximize inclusion in your marketing approach, across various categories.

Each segment provides an overview of the key accessibility considerations for that audience, which have been developed in partnership with disability inclusion experts and influential industry organizations.

Google has now also partnered with more organizations and groups to include even more perspectives and insights, and help ensure that marketers are across the key considerations.

Its a good resource, with a range of valuable, practical tips to help improve accessibility in your campaigns, which could play a key role in maximizing reach and community.

Worth considering within your strategic planning you can check out Googles All In mini-site here.

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Google Adds More Insights to its 'All In' Marketing Accessibility Resource - Social Media Today

According to TikTok, the hottest style right now is coastal grandma, inspired by relaxed, oceanside minimalism and lots of linen. Before that, it was indie sleaze a hipster look of plaid shirts, beanies and leggings under dresses. And before that, it was twee, a retro-feminine style heavy on Peter Pan collar shirts and colourful tights. Tomorrow, it might be royalcore, night luxe or Miley Stewart summer.

Keeping up with TikTok fashion can feel impossible. Trends move at lightning speed, and while some terminology becomes a permanent fixture in fashions evolving lexicon, others disappear with a swipe.

But with a user base of nearly 1.8 billion, designers and merchandisers at all sorts of brands feel compelled to pay attention to whats trending on the platform. J.Crew, for instance, promoted its linens using the coastal grandma Instagram hashtag in May; the post saw some of the highest engagement that month, said chief marketing officer Derek Yarbrough. Aropostale and River Island have used the term cottagecore a countryside-inspired aesthetic featuring floral, ruffled-covered garments in their email blasts, while Asos and The Iconic have name-checked indie sleaze on their websites. Aerie even has its own coastal grandma edit page on its website, which includes linen cover-ups and straw hats.

TikTok trends and their associated sales bump, however, can be fleeting. Crochet products, huge on the platform this past spring, experienced a 23 percent decline in sell-outs at the end of April compared to last year, according to Edited. By the end of the season, many were heavily discounted.

To effectively capitalise on TikTok trends, brands should identify which quirky aesthetic speaks to their DNA and would work in their marketing materials and which they should sit out.

There are so many trends happening at the same time so you need to understand how your brand fits, said TikTok trend forecaster Agus Panzoni. Theres a real danger in over-investing in something that will not sell for you.

TikTok trend aesthetics are something of an evolution from people looking to magazines for style inspiration only TikTok users can participate in their creation rather than consuming fully formed looks chosen by an editor.

TikTok is tribe mentality and when youre attached to a [subsculture] thats niche, it has massive consumer power, said Benji Park, a TikTok forecaster and brand consultant.

Experts are quick to note that most TikTok trends arent new. Eileen Fisher, for example, has sold coastal grandma-esque breezy linen and beachy wide-legged pants for decades. The coconut girl aesthetic, inspired by surf and island themes, was on shelves at Delias and other tween stores in the mid-aughts. TikTok has inspired some more-adventurous trends too: searches for pleather bodysuits spiked 83 percent on Google during late March, just as videos featuring fetishcore, or dominatrix-inspired apparel, were flooding the social platform.

Gen-Z is embracing these styles on TikTok because they are packaged with whimsical names and sociological explanations, said Panzoni. On Poshmark, searches for linen pants increased 66 percent in May, thanks to coastal grandma, said Chloe Baffert, Poshmarks senior manager of merchandising and curation. Requests to Stitch Fix stylists for white linen staples were also up 15 percent since last year, while surf and island-inspired requests jumped 26 percent as the coconut girl wave crested.

Its a great way to attract the Gen-Z customer because they are the ones fuelling the trends, and they [appreciate] the humour and style shifts, said Kayla Marci, a market analyst with Edited.

Many digital-first brands have built their entire business model on churning out TikTok-inspired styles. Legacy labels, however, are still figuring out their own ways to incorporate TikTok aesthetics into their merchandising and marketing.

Earlier this summer, Forever 21 launched a rebrand and brought TikTok influencers like China McClain, Griffin Johnson and Olivia Holt into its design and trend forecasting process, said CMO Jacob Hawkins.

When you used to go into [Forever 21] stores, it would just be an ocean of assortment, but its much more curated now, said Hawkins, who added that the companys social, marketing, and design teams all work together now. Theres more of a conversation with influencers happening there than ever before, and all that feedback is plugged into what were designing and buying.

Brands like Revolve and J.Crew, on the other hand, are evaluating how to highlight existing merchandise that works with a TikTok trend. Revolve plans to use the corporate cutie aesthetic, which promotes workwear attire, as more professionals head back to the office, said Raissa Gerona, Revolves chief brand officer.

Its a dangerous game to play, to chase something, because everything moves so quickly, said Gerona. So instead of chasing a trend on TikTok with a buy, its more, what do we already have on the website that can accommodate this.

Park said its better for brands to use TikTok subcultures in faster-paced social media marketing, rather than banking entire wholesale orders or advertising campaigns on a trending look.

Balletcore is really big now, so shoot a gorgeous video in pointe shoes, or if its cabincore, take us to the mountains, said Park. But theres no use in selling your soul to the devil for a million knitwear jumpers that you think are going to break off because theyre crocheted with nipples.

Park said most TikTok trends run in 90-day cycles, with a life span of six months at most. Crucial to keeping up with trending TikTok aesthetics is understanding their nuances and why shoppers are flocking to the look.

Its always good to understand the mentality of who is driving this trend, said Panzoni. Whats the emotion that comes behind it? What are the societal shifts that have taken us here? If you understand the narrative, then you can understand how to market a trend and also decide if its right for you.

For brands that might not feel comfortable aligning with trendy aesthetics, there are still other ways to activate on TikTok. Gerona said Revolve has found success promoting products on TikTok with the Get Ready With Me (#GRWM) format, where influencers and celebrities are using makeup and outfits to get ready while talking about a particular topic. Telsha Anderson-Boone, owner of luxury New York boutique T.A., said she avoids TikTok aesthetics and instead uses viral TikTok sounds to promote her store.

I think the biggest thing is just remaining consistent, said Anderson-Boone. When you focus on a niche, its hard to shift when something else comes along, but if you are true to your branding within these platforms, youre able to live anywhere.

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How to Keep Up With TikToks Lightning-Fast Trend Cycle - The Business of Fashion

When Lisa suspected she was pregnant, she did what other teenagers might: She Googled her options to terminate. One of the first links that popped up in the search engine was a clinic in Volusia, Florida, where the 19-year-old lived. The offer of a free pregnancy test tempted Lisa into booking an appointment and she drove there with her boyfriend, parking across the street. It was a small town, and she did not want to be recognized.

The consultation room was filled with posters depicting fetuses with speech bubbles, as if they were asking to be born. Lisa sobbed as one of the women running the clinic confirmed she was pregnant; they had refused to let her take a test home. Lisa needed to return for an ultrasound in four weeks to be certain, and then they could discuss options. But until then, they told her, she absolutely should not go to an abortion clinic. Maybe youll miscarry and then you wont have any problems, the woman suggested.

More:
Anti-Abortion Centers Find Pregnant Teens Online, Then Save Their Data - Bloomberg

By Lucy Tomeka

Reproductive health is a wide topic that is usually met with a lot of taboo topics and awkward silences in many of our communities.

Proactive action in this regard is also very low, mostly out of misconstrued notions of stigma and very poor understanding.

This, paired with our socio-cultural norms, religious practices and poor exposure to options, leaves many in a bind when faced with infections like STIs and HIV/AIDS or unplanned pregnancies.

Many companies come and go with ideas on how to tackle reproductive and sexual health and unfortunate as it is, this burden is not just restricted to Tanzania as many other societies still struggle to beat the awkwardness that comes with these seemingly uncomfortable conversations.

In Tanzania, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has earmarked reproductive and child health as an important focal point and created programs that address various issues along these lines. Some of these programs include Family Planning, Safe Motherhood Initiative and Adolescent Reproductive Health.

According to the MoH website, family planning is a major component of reproductive and child health services. The goal of the Family Planning Program is contribute to improved sexual and reproductive health, social and economic wellbeing of women, men, adolescents and children including new-borns, through provision of quality family planning services, it states.

Objectives of the program are:

To ensure availability of adequate contraceptive commodities and functioning logistics systems;

To ensure that service providers in the health sector have the necessary family planning (FP) clinical skills for effective delivery of integrated family planning services;

To increase the visibility and support for FP among government leaders and development partners, program managers, service providers, and raise community awareness;

To increase access and utilization of quality, affordable and sustainable family planning services;

To strengthen family planning management systems and monitoring and evaluation, to ensure effective program implementation.

To better understand the understanding of availability of choices availed to our communities, Your Health had an exclusive conversation with the DKT International Global Chief Operating Officer, Daniel Marun and Country Director, Kevin Hudson.

DKT International is a non-profit organization that was co-founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and Tim Black to focus the power of social marketing in some of the largest countries with the greatest needs for family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention and safe abortion.

According to Daniel, In the early 80s, Phil founded Population Services International which then turned into DKT International and since then, we have been operating in countries with a large population as well as middle to lower income.

We are all across the world; Asia, Africa, South America and our main goal is to empower couples on their reproductive health and build a world where couples have a say in how many children to have and one where every child is wanted, he adds.

Question: Why did you choose Tanzania as one of the countries to have our presence in?

Daniel: Tanzania is a big and important country and one we believed we could make a difference in, in terms of the health impact. We measure our success by how many people and how many couples we impact every year.

Kevin: DKTs aim to focus on countries with high populations as well as middle to lower income populations to benefit those most in need has led to the emphasis being on emerging markets. In terms of our unique skill set then, Tanzania presented an opportunity for us to widen our ability to improve more lives, give people choice and helping every child feel wanted. We then registered and set up in 2015.

Q: What have been the wins thus far?

K: Our goal is social impact. In 2021, we impacted 54 million peoples lives across the globe by providing them with quality products so they can make a conscious choice on how they want to conduct their activities. So that measurement of social impact is what we are trying to achieve and expand.

Q: What are the kinds of products and services available?

K: Condoms, emergency contraceptive pills, IUD devices, implants, safe early termination pills that are administered by trained medical professionals; which also help prevent a lot of maternal deaths especially in incidents where a woman finds herself opting for a clandestine abortion and risking her life.

We are also involved in counselling women in terms of what their options are as well as on their choices. All DKT products are sanctioned by the Ministry of Health and the Tanzania Medicines & Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) and are sold in Tanzania.

According to a report titled Costs of Post abortion Care in the United Republic of Tanzania by the Guttmacher Institute in partnership with the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) that was published in September, 2021; In 2018, an estimated 77,800 Tanzanian women received post abortion care, and public facilities provided 64 percent of this care.

The total national cost associated with post abortion care in 2018 was estimated to be 10.4 billion Tanzanian shillings with the majority of the total costs nationally incurred at midlevel facilities.

In hindsight, these numbers would be a lot better had the understanding of reproductive health been less of a taboo and the option to freely choose family planning methods been better communicated.

Q: Considering the stigma and societal prejudice towards sexual conversations, self-care and proactive choices and even awareness; what is the state of reproductive health in Tanzania amongst the youth?

K: The youth are a focus for DKT because they are the early adopters. Part of that process is in educating and we do so within the regulatory environment. There is a lot of stigma and myth about what certain reproductive health products can do so we look at being factually accurate in terms of what options are available to people and to provide choices for people.

The youth as early adopters are going to be able to provide opportunities for their children and in doing so, we provide them with choice and giving them the option to participate in their reproductive health.

Unburdening the contraception burden placed sorely on women

Family planning methods are still treated as hush-hush, regardless of whether they are legal or not. This fact goes on to speak to the nature of openness and understanding of family planning methods as well as the options availed to consumers.

Q: How does DKT International tackle the issue of the contraception burden placed majorly on women?

K: Unfortunately, this is not a Tanzanian problem alone, it is global. Men expect women to sort the contraception issue. Prior to bringing Kiss to the market, the majority were very masculine; Bull or Dume. We brought Kiss out to try and combat the stigma that when a woman has a condom in her bag, shes regarded as loose; a fact that is not necessarily the case in other parts of the world.

Part of this process in bringing these products to the market is to try and ensure that women have an equal say in terms of their reproductive health, rather than men assuming that women are just going to take care of things.

D: However, prevention of pregnancy is not the only goal. The biggest difference between now and the early 2000s is that HIV is not seen as terminal anymore and it is common to find young people who after the second or so date, easily and completely abandon their protection which is very unsafe.

According to data shared by MoH, Tanzanias progress towards 95-95-95 currently stands at 88 percent being aware of their status, 98 percent on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 96 percent virally supressed.

The 95-95-95 strategy is a tracking strategy that aims to see 95 percent of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status; 95 percent of people who know their status and are on treatment; and 95 percent of people on treatment with suppressed viral loads by the year 2030.

DKT International has a variety of condoms, tested and approved that cater to a variety of tastes and preferences. It is no secret that as it stands, the barrier methods, i.e condoms, are the only types of protection that are successful in keeping HIV/AIDS infections at bay.

Future goals in Tanzania

DKT International aims to keep working to ensure people are aware of their options, understand them through education and counselling as well as be able to make informed choices that best suit their individual needs.

A change in how sexual and reproductive health issues are approached in our various communities remains a conversation and a work in progress. A lot of unconditioning, un-learning and re-learning needs to be done for us to reach a stage where men and women can take charge of their sexual health without feeling the sting of stigma.

There is also a need to sensitize both genders to understand the equal role and responsibilities they each bear in ensuring unplanned pregnancies, needles sexually transmitted infections and clandestine abortions are a thing of the past.

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A conversation on sexual and reproductive health - The Citizen