Operating a small business often means trying new things out, learning as you go, and making cuts and pivots as necessary when new information comes your way. But business operations don’t always follow a linear path, leading some owners to make cuts or additions that end up hurting their bottom line. Plus, business owners are often so entangled in their work that they might struggle to objectively assess their progress and next steps, further hindering their growth potential. 

That’s where outside help, like that of a business growth strategist, can make all the difference. Bringing in the insights of an unbiased third party who wants to see your business succeed can help you hone in on what works and leave behind wasted time and random trial-and-error tactics. 

As I’ve been running Seattle Small Businesses, I’ve heard several business owners explain that they don’t really have a specific marketing strategy in place or that they’re just taking their business day by day. While there’s nothing wrong with operating a business that way, the ones who want to scale up or drive more sales and numbers may want to consider assessing their operations and looking for ways to hone in on what works and cut out what doesn’t. 

To help other small businesses in Seattle take charge over their business and prepare for future growth, I spoke with Catryce Sutson, a business growth strategist and owner of Hold My Mimosa. After growing an influencer career during the early days of the pandemic, Sutson began helping others with social media growth, pivoting away from brand partnerships and focusing on the backend of small businesses. She’s worked as an Instagram manager, system build, virtual assistant, graphic designer, and more. Now, small businesses bring her on for done-for-you services and consulting.

As any small business owner will attest, time is money. And wasting time is money lost. 

Sutson says one of the biggest places small businesses spend too much time is on visual branding. “Yes, it is important to have a logo, brand colors, a font pairing, and even photos,” she explains. “But ultimately, if your positioning and messaging are off, it doesn’t matter how aesthetic your brand looks, people will struggle to see the value in what you’re offering.”

She also sees content creation as a major source of lost time. Of course, posting content on Instagram and other social media platforms is necessary for many small businesses. But a focus on perfection over consistency can quickly turn into unnecessarily wasted time with little return. 

“Perfection is another form of procrastination and too many founders are holding themselves back from connecting with their next client because they want the post to be absolutely, undeniably scroll stopping and aesthetic,” Sutson explains. “Repetition is key when it comes to marketing, so just get the post out there, gather data from it, and then make tweaks and post it again. Your next client doesn’t care what emojis you decided to include in that caption or that you used your brand font instead of an Instagram font on your Reel. They probably don’t even know you exist because there are 7-10 business days in between each of your posts.”

Sure, your posts should look good. They shouldn’t contain spelling errors or look like they were created on Microsoft Paint. But communicating your value on a regular basis is far more important than an aesthetically pleasing post that communicates nothing. 

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Sutson emphasizes the importance of strategic social media marketing. And no good strategy is complete without systems in place to support different outcomes. Here are the top mistakes she sees small businesses make:

“It’s really easy to focus on showing up on socials, but if you got a shoutout from one of your fave celebs and they told everyone to go support you, do you have systems in place to support the crazy insane increase in visibility? Systems help create capacity in your business and also can help not be so glued to your laptop and phone.”

“You probably don’t need a rebrand. Instead, you probably need to simplify how you talk about what you do and/or what you sell. Visuals can draw people in, but your messaging is going to help people know if you are the person to help them achieve whatever goal they are going after.

“This goes for just hopping on trends because they’re trends. Not all visibility is good visibility. And you want to be intentional about going through analytics, seeing what’s landed and what didn’t, making tweaks as needed, and also being repetitive. All too often I see founders showing up on social media, posting every day, and every post is talking to a different ideal client or directing to a different offer.”

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Sutson doesn’t believe in overcomplicating things. She has a simple process for driving growth without fuzzying value propositions or confusing your audience: Talk about your offer on Instagram stories. Then drop the link for your audience to inquire, apply, or buy. That’s it. 

“Selling on stories doesn’t have to be a whole thing. I recommend a 3-slide sequence:

Sutson’s plan is simple and practical, allowing you to highlight real-world problems that can be solved by your business offerings. It’s a simple way to showcase your services and communicate your value without unnecessary fluff.

Tapping into your roster of previous clients and customers from the last few months is another way to drive growth, according to Sutson. She recommends reaching out to previous clients from the last 90 days and asking for referrals. 

“Your past clients are the best people to speak to why people should buy from you, so encourage them to. A big thing to do is be specific with your ask. Give them an offer to direct people to and make sure that the text, email, or DM also nurtures the relationship,” Sutson explains, adding that you can ask how they are or check in on something you knew they were working on or looking forward to. 

Finally, Sutson says to take a day off. “Stepping away from your business is productive for a number of reasons with the top one being that you need to care for yourself and not just constantly pour into your business. Taking a day off isn’t just good when it comes to rest and self-care though, it can also be helpful for identifying gaps where the business struggles to run without you.”

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