SuperBike Magazine June 2020

15
Michnus Olivier together with his
wife Elsebie are regular contributors
to our magazine and now
he shares some of his insights
to the world we live in currently and how
to approach it. He has a very pragmatic
approach and what’s nice is, they are 100%
independents and they they say it just the
way it is, these are his thoughts on our current
situation and how he is finding various
people and businesses reacting to it.
For my friends with businesses and as
their own brands:
As businesses slowly re-open, they have
made it through most probably the hardest
toughest traumatic experience in their
professional and personal careers.
And it is still not over yet, there are still
very stressful times ahead and some will
not survive the fall out of this disaster.
For what it is worth and in the hope it
might help some through this time here’s
some tips I can offer. This is a long post,
stay with me ;)
Let me start with this. In the last 12
weeks sitting in lockdown in Bolivia, I have
written and updated articles for advrider.
com.
https://advrider.com/?s=michnus
But even before that, I have emailed and
contacted many brands and people for
information on articles I wrote. An enormous
amount, and especially the bigger
companies do not have adequate qualified
communication people and channels to
communicate with customers. Many do
not even reply , whether on social media
or directly on their site or email. How they
stay in business is beyond belief.
Communication with your customers is
THE most important part of your business.
There is a reason why your customers
want to talk to you. If you do not have the
channels available they will eventually
just go buy from your competition. There
are so many of the bigger businesses that
have virtually no means for contacting
them. This small business can use to their
benefit. Customers do not want to be just
another number, they are the reason you
exist.
On social media, and it is called social
media for a reason, many of the bigger
brands do not interact with their customers.
This only makes customers feel like a
cash-cow. If you are shy and do not want
to connect with your customers on social
media then rather do not have social media
accounts. Again this is where smaller
brands can be effective and take business
from big operators.
Social media is free and allows smaller
operators to compete with the big guns
on equal terms. But use it mindfully and
actively.
Having a website that your mom made
that looks like it came from the age of
dial-up won’t help either. Letting your
primary school kid run your social media
accounts because they know stuff will end
in tears.
Appointing the secretary to run social
media just as a side thing will only make
customers angry when they ask for info
and she is not able to communicate it
properly and her phone is being occupied
by the toddler. Marketing is a combined
project, not a by-the-way exercise.
Throughout this lockdown, I saw so
many small businesses add zero content
to their sites or social media. No, posting a
special offer product is not communicating
with your audience. Content and customer
interaction is key!
Create blog entries, make video clips of
your product, reviews, tell people what is
happening in your business. Use your email
list to keep customers updated on news.
There are so many things to use and it does
not take much money or time.
Joe Fleming aka Bonafide Moto Co
has done around 22 live talks with people
during this time on Instagram. This worked
well for their small brand.
As another example, on this page I
contacted well know Advriders-Overlanders,
many of them act as their own
brands and as tour guides for big companies.
Many have never bothered to reply.
https://www.pikipikioverland.com/travel-quotes-from-motorcycle-overlanders/
Needless to say, I prefer to refer the ones
that did bother to reply.
Your business is nothing without customers,
make sure they know you are still
here. Make sure they hear from you often
and share with them valuable content and
communications.
There are loads more tips but this is already
a long post..
If you want to shoot me a message I am
happy to offer whatever I can help with.