I was recently talking to a friend and she told me about a terrible experience she had at a restaurant that recently went viral, and I thought I would talk about why as a small business, going viral is not only a bad strategy, but should be avoided at all costs.
Now, we all want our small businesses to flourish (and make a good profit) for years to come, but unless you have the infrastructure to handle a HUGE influx of business, you’re going to end up shutting your doors early. Let me break it down:
So not only is going viral like hitting the lottery, making a viral video costs money, time, and effort. And even then, you could spend all this to have it flop and be right back where you started.
Now, say you did go viral - congrats! Is your small business set up to handle that? Think of it like a sink - you’re able to handle a steady flow of water, and the pipes are able to drain it efficiently. Now, turn up the flow and you’re thankful that you have a small sink and some leeway - it’s still able to flow out, but it takes more time. Taking it back to the restaurant, this means longer wait times and food coming out poorly sometimes - nothing some good customer service and drink discounts can’t resolve. However, going viral is like the flow being turned up to 110% or higher - your sink can’t handle it, the bathroom floods, and now you’re looking at property damage, mold, the works. This equates to bad reviews, management being unable to stick to the old processes you have in place, unhappy customers, and now a huge blight on your business. Any new customers you’ve gotten have now been tainted, and are never going back to your restaurant, and the loyal customers you did have are upset that they aren’t getting what they’ve come to expect. It’s enough to sink any new or even long-standing business.
And for those who say “I have an online business” - you’d be looking at website crashes and delays in orders, but a lot of the same.
Clients coming in faster does not mean better business, unless you’re the unicorn company that has the ability to scale your processes and operations, which a lot of businesses don’t have. Whether you know the exact number or not, there’s a limit to how many customers you can serve while also keeping a high standard of the business/product that they’ve come to expect.
Instead, we suggest a more methodical approach - “sink” your money into a site and marketing that can handle the ebb and flow of steady business. We’ll help you get the foundations and processes down, then help you turn up the volume as needed at a pace that grows your business slowly so that you can adjust and keep consistency. You don’t need to go viral to make it - you need to build a relationship with your customers that can expect a great product/service every time. Trust us - it’s worth its weight in gold.
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Honestly Great Marketing: This month's HGM goes to Duolingo, who "killed off" their mascot in a masterful post that drove home their brand and humor in the best way. Bravo Duolingo!
Honestly Bad Marketing: This month's HBM goes to Starbucks, who not only union bust and are generally gross, but have also implemented a new rule where people need to buy something if they're going to "loiter" in their shops. I'm not surprised that this article dropped a few days ago stating not only that they're losing profit, but also their image has tanked. Keep up the pressure and support your local small biz coffee shops, people!
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