Does your business need a front person?

The news cycle may be churning, but the impact of Hurricane Ian continues to unfold in devastating ways. If you and your business would like to reach out and help, here’s a list of organizations and resources on the ground supporting victims.

Hot off the SMB press this week:

• How your SMB can help support mental wellbeing at work.
• Why Facebook ads may not be delivering the results you’d hoped for.
• And, does every business need a front person? 

But first, here are some headlines that caught our attention this week.

TL;DR

This week's highlight reel

• Zero interest loan alert: Coralus, a platform helping to fund businesses run by women and non-binary individuals, is offering no-interest, five-year loans to women-run social ventures. Entrepreneurs need to fill out a 10-question application before being selected by Coralus members for the loan. Businesses in the U.S., Canada, and the UK have until October 16 to apply for the next cohort.
• Allow me to re-introduce myself. Looks like the FDA has given the term “healthy” a bit of a glow-up. The agency has proposed new criteria for companies looking to use the word on their packaging. “Healthy” is a regulated claim that currently 5% of foods are using as a label, not including the bag of Doritos Cool Ranch you swear by for “fiber.”
• Look who’s rolling back prices. Oh, hi. It’s Nike. After dealing with limited supply in 2021, the brand is now carrying far too much product. Which means discounted Air Max’s for your mom, dad, nephew, grandma Phyllis, and… the partridge in a pear tree.

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE

Supporting your team’s mental wellbeing (without breaking the bank)

Fact: 87% of employees think more action from their employer would help their mental health. We don’t know about you, but that’s a head-turning stat. And seeing as how next week marks World Mental Health Day, it’s a crucial time for business leaders to address it.

I’d love to help my team, but I’m already overwhelmed.
We totally get that. Running a business is its own stress-inducing gauntlet. But tackling mental wellbeing at your company can’t wait, and there are stats to prove it:

• Mental health is impacting performance. 77% of respondents indicated that their productivity was negatively impacted by their mental health.
• It’s hurting retention. 50% of respondents left previous jobs due at least in part to mental health reasons.

I wish I had the budget for this.
Good news: You can start supporting your employees’ mental wellbeing without tapping out that Amex. The secret: culture — and using the ask, model, support method.

• Ask: Don’t assume you know how your employees feel or whether they feel supported. A brief, anonymous survey (like, Google Forms) could be one approach to getting input while protecting privacy.
• Model: You can start modeling a better approach by using mental health days, scheduling emails to send only during work hours, and sharing resources for self-care.
• Support: Focus on crafting clear policies. That way, team members know exactly what to expect before, during, and after they need assistance.

👉 More tips on supporting your team’s mental health.

SHAMELESS PLUG

Why small businesses are using Trainual Tags™ to connect digital training to physical spaces

Picture this: Your new hire is about to use your nifty (but complicated) equipment for the first time. They excitedly pull it out and… oof. They have no clue where to start. Panic ensues and they sheepishly walk over to your office or call you up to ask for instructions — the ones they just learned a few days ago. Sound familiar?

Trainual Tags are adhesive devices equipped with cutting-edge near-field communication (NFC) technology that brings training to the physical spaces you work in. Stick a tag anywhere and pair it with an online how-to or policy in minutes. Then, any team member can simply tap their phone to the tag to pull up the exact information they need in a split second. And continue working without missing a beat. (If that’s not magic, we don’t know what is.)

👉 Get 10 tags for $25.

DELIVERY STATUS: DELAYED

Why your Facebook ads aren’t delivering and how to fix it

Facebook ads are an SMB’s best friend — when they produce real results and get your target customer base to your products or services. But when you see that “Facebook ads not delivering” notification, they just become the next entry on your s*** list.

What does “not delivering” even mean?
Basically, your active ads aren’t getting in front of your target audience — which means you aren’t getting any impressions out of them. Here are a few of the most common reasons your Facebook ads aren’t delivering (with an easy how-to fix):

1. The post associated with your ad is unavailable.
Let’s say you have an ad that uses a post that was either recently removed or contains an expired offer. There could be other reasons why the post is no longer available, but the fix is pretty simple regardless: Choose a different post, set your ad back to active, and bam! You’re back in the game.

2. Your ad was rejected.
Facebook reviews every ad before it goes live to ensure compliance with their policies and terms of service. Rejections are actually fairly common, with reasons ranging from grammar and punctuation errors to profanity and adult content.

No one likes being rejected, but your solution here is to either make changes to your ad targetting the problems listed in your rejection or submit an appeal.

👉 Eight other reasons your FB ads aren’t delivering.

IT'S PERSONAL

Does your SMB need a front person to succeed?

You mean, like being the face of the company?
Exactly — we’re talking about the owners and executives who have maintained a personal brand to help the development and success of their business. On the global stage, you’ve got heavy hitters like Elon Musk and Daymond John — but personal branding can also work on a small business scale (just ask our own Chris Ronzio).

So I can just start posting on LinkedIn and get customers, right?
Not so fast. You’re not just posting your daily routine or trying to go viral with unique content. The value of what you post should be the same as the value of your business — solving a problem that your followers are dealing with.

Plus, you don’t need to become your SMB’s public face to find success. There are plenty of executives from highly influential companies that aren’t on social media. (Pop quiz: Can you name the CEO of NVIDIA?)

I think I can contribute good value — where do I start?
If you’re committed to the idea of using your personal brand to help your business, keep these tips in mind:

• Your true personal brand should represent who you are online and offline.
• Bring on a support team who understands how to build a personal brand that will make sales, not just collect followers.

👉 Find more tips.

WE HAVE A PODCAST

What you might’ve missed on Organize Chaos

Every weekday, founder and CEO of Trainual, Chris Ronzio, hosts the Organize Chaos podcast, offering up entrepreneurial and small business leadership advice that covers everything from people to processes to productivity — and how to organize your life around it all.

It’s officially spooky season (especially for American Airlines). So we thought it was fitting to bring up this scary stat: Companies who financially invest in customer relationship management (CRM) software fail to successfully implement it nearly three-quarters of the time. Join Chris and guest speaker Erin Mathie, founder of Business Made Simple consultancy, as they discuss proactive approaches to leveraging training and successfully rolling out new software to your team.

Only have 10 minutes to spare? Check out these mini pods:

• External hire versus internal promotion: What’s the right move?‍
• Cash flow hacks for your business.