If your business is flood-affected

Has your business been flood-affected?

Ours has and it sux balls. We are lucky to be high and dry. We are unlucky with the power and internet for almost a week. It's back on now! Yey! Life is stressful enough without mother nature kicking our arse. No doubt you will be time poor like us. We spend most of our day tending to the needs of our minions, cleaning the old fashioned way, trips to the laundromat and cooking on the BBQ and camp stove. This all takes so much time.

Still, if you run your own business, the show must go on. We work on or in our business when we can. That can sometimes look like a trip to the local Maccas. At least they have power and Wifi. We have put together a list of ways you can communicate to your clients what's going down with your business when you will be back online. We are here to help.

Call them

A good old fashioned phone call. Not to every client, just the ones that will be most impacted. It's the quickest form of communication that allows you to connect directly with your clients. It may seem really freaking obvious but I can see all the introverts wigging out. If you don like to make calls or you have set your business up to not make them, then send a text. We have a few clients that are impossible to get on the phone but will always respond to text. Honestly whatever works between you and your clients.

Social media

If you have Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, TikTok or any other social platform, post there first. It's quick and easy. You don't need to overthink it. Just cold hard facts are fine. Keep updating. Clients and fans generally want to know how you are going. Add pictures of your current flood situation, clean up, teamwork any human interest stories are great for engagement on your page. Add to your Facebook or Instagram stories, these can be more light-hearted and fun. Now we all know how often people post in times of crisis and your post may get missed. Or your clients might not have social media. Or know you're on there too. That's ok we have a few more tricks up our sleeve.

Email campaigns

When was the last time you sent out an email campaign? Well, dust off that laptop it's time. An email campaign is a great way to slide right into your client's inbox. Keep them informed on what's happening with your business. While you're there, ask them to follow your social media for real-time updates. You could add to your following on Facey! Here are a few things you can do:

Draft an email in whatever you use (MS office, gmail etc) In To: add your email address, in BCC: add the email address of the clients you wnat to notify. This will send out to all those contacts in one go.
Sign up to Mailchimp or get us to do it for you send out your campaign from there, make sure they are clients you currently email. Don't spam everyone thats ever emailed you.

Email signature

If you are super, super time poor or just CBF creating social media posts and sending out email campaigns, then this is for you! Add a line of text in your email signature. Make it stand out by using a bold font or bright colour. That way every time you send an email or reply to one, there is a note there explaining your limited hours or delays in work.

Website

A banner on your website or e-commerce store is a great way to let your clients know there are disruptions to your services. You can take it further by:

Writing a blog about it! We are! You're reading it right now.
Add a web tile and text on your front page
Add the banner at the footer or on a service page

How to let your clients know your business is flood-affected

Update your Google Business Page

This is one of the best and we recommend you all do it. Head to your Google My Business page and update any hours. Write an update to let anyone who finds you via Google maps that your services are limited. It's easy to do. Head to your Google My Business profile and edit your deets there.

Let us help you grow

We hope this has helped you come up with some ideas on how to get your message out there. They may all seem pretty freaking obvious but there are a few little tricks in there to help your business grow in a shitty time. If you are on socials and you are posting updates make sure you tag us we are @misfitbranding across all social media. We will share your post on our stories and hopefully gain you some more followers.

Get a professional email address

It drives me insane to see a nicely designed website or signage and it all looks professional until you get to the email address… You’re either nodding or going WTF? My email address is fine and I don’t have to pay a cent! goatfucker200@hotmail.com has served me well. I did just make that email address up but you get the picture. An unprofessional email address that you think was funny, cute or sassy could be losing you business BIG TIME!

Is your business legit or dodgy AF

I know its not just me that thinks twice before emailing a dodgy-looking email address. When I look online for say a business, lets say a company that make a film of your pet dog. I find one. They have a nice website but their email address is dogfilm69@hotmail.com I am going to think twice. Am I emailing the actual business or is it some weird sex thing? Or are you going to spam the shit outta my email address if I email you? I might be a little paranoid but that happens when your job involves working in web design on the daily.

The other thing that frustrates me is you have a website. Let’s say its www.dogsonfilm.com.au You already own the domain name! Why not turn that into a professional email address??? Its so freaking easy!

SEO! You have to be in it to win it!

Imagine how much business you would lose if someone with a similar business name had a professional email address and a registered domain name similar to yours? So what if dogfilm69@hotmail.com is your email and only point of contact other than a Facebook or Instagram account. What if another business starts called Dog on fil Brisbane. Then they register the domain name dogsonfilm.com.au and set up the email: book@dogsonfilm.com.au They are going to rank higher than you on the Google search for one. They also have created ownership of that name. Sure you could have been in business longer, but unless you have some kind of digital footprint, you will fall behind. Yep there could also be trademark issues as well from either end but that’s a whole new story.

So if it’s purely for the sake of being found online or even existing online. Buy your domain name now!

Branding

Strengthen your brand with your professional email. The email address bark@dogsonfilm.com.au incorporates the business name. As soon as you see that email address you know what their website is because you have their domain name. If you’re really into digitally stalking a business, you can probably guess what their social media pages would be called as well. So simple!

Junk mail

How many of the emails you send from your free email address are going directly to junk mail? Why? Because your clients or suppliers email providers are putting your cheap ass into the junk folder. You will be forever written off as spam until the receiver sees your email and tags it not spam. But it is a process to do that. How often do you check your junk folder? I can tell you I do once a month if that. Unless a client insists they sent an email and it’s not in my inbox, I will check junk.

Setting up a shiny new email address

If you have a web designer/developer or IT person that has all your domain name details, they can help set up your email address. If you have all your domain name details you can most probably go it yourself. Just follow the prompts from your domain name provider and your email provider.

If you don’t have a domain name yet, what are you waiting for?! They start from around $15 per year. I highly recommend Ventriap They are an Australian based company and their support is amazing! I do have an affiliate with them, pop in my email address at the end of your purchase if you want to help a sista out 🙂

I use Google Workspace for my email. I like it because it's easy to use, affordable and you can access it anywhere. From your phone, tablet or computer. I also like that it comes with online storage and office programs like Sheets (equivalent to MS excel), Docs (equivalent to MS word), calendar and more. Prices start from $9.40 AUD per month.

My email advice:

Keep it simple, short and easy to understand
Choose a domain name that is your business name. If it’s taken, get creative. So if dogsonfilm.com.au is taken, you can shorten your name or change the extension (.com, .brisbane, .au, the list goes on)
Personalise it. If I made an email address for my fake business Dogs on film, I’d use tracey@dogsonfilm.com.au
Avoid generic names like admin@ or sales@ They have been done to death and can also go to junk folders because they are so boring and generic. Well not the boring part, I made that up. Pick something unique to your business. For example bark@dogsonfilm.com.au or bark@dogsonfilm.com.au
Watch those abbreviations! Sunita Lutz (Irvine Valley College) – slutz@ivc.edu Damn girl! That ain’t right! Make sure if you abbreviate for an email address you check that shit first! To check out some more abbreviated funny email fuckups, go here.