How to Deal with Low Sales & Low Engagement

I’m feeling down the other day. Not physically sick and it’s not that time of the month either but I’m feeling sad. I’m trying to figure out what is the reason because, you know, you can’t just feel sad all of a sudden without any trigger. And I think I know the culprit.

The other day in between writing posts and Facebook-ing I decided to check my metrics. I went to Google Analytics for The Wealthy Pinay to see how many readers checked out my website. I’m expecting some kind of growth (well, actually I’m expecting BIG growth) because I’m so disciplined lately on posting 1 article per week and 1 video on Facebook and I’m expecting rewards for being consistent.

But it didn’t happen.

Even my Facebook engagement is not growing as per my expectation. And for someone who is impatient, this is disheartening. As an entrepreneur, of course the goal is to have more sales. Although I’m not selling anything at the moment, I still want to grow my followers to have more reach. And if no one knows me then how can I make an impact? My mission is to encourage all Pinays to live the life they imagined for themselves and frankly, I want TWP to be a household name.

But how can it happen if no one notices?

 

This is TWP metrics from December 1, 2017 until May 26, 2018. There is 176 users and there is 469 pageviews.

 

And below is Filipina Expat’s metrics on same time period. Can you imagine the big difference considering that I rarely blog on this site. Can you see where my frustration is coming from? 😔 

 

I’m being very honest here because you might also be experiencing the same. No one is buying, no one is interested, no one listens, no one cares on what you’re sharing. We’re putting so much energy and time on our business yet no one seems to care. Aaahhhhh! I want to share my frustration to let you know that no one escapes this feeling. Even me who is self-proclaimed Ms. Positivity still gets inflicted with self-doubt. This is real life!

So what should we do?

As I said, it’s normal to feel depressed from time to time. Showing vulnerability doesn’t mean we’re weak. I think it’s better to recognize these negative emotions and work on it than suppress until we explode (baka maging Sisa tayo. Afraid!). I know myself too well and I know that writing what I feel makes me feel more objective. And that’s the reason why I’m writing this post. For whatever reason, jotting down my thoughts make me think of a solution rather than sulk in my sadness.

And you might have heard that success is only 20% skill. The 80% of it all boils down to MINDSET. Interesting isn’t it?

Let me share with you the things I practice when I feel that I have no audience listening.

Is there really no audience/sales?

Ok, so I’m ranting that no one reads nor engages with my posts. But if I’m really objective, is that true? Well, not really. I have a number of readers who give my posts like and sometimes do comment as well. I’m just comparing it with Filipina Expat which in retrospect is unfair because that blog has been online for almost 3 years and TWP which is only around for 5 month. I guess I’m not comparing an apple to apple I guess.

This is when I will encourage you (and myself) to see the glass half full rather than half empty. I know for a fact that focusing on 1 sale is way better than focusing on having 0 sale. The positive vibration we generate while feeling the joy of having that sale will attract more positive energy. And these positive energy will just continue attracting more of its kind. How exciting isn’t it?

The same way that focusing on zero sales, even though our intention is to grow our business, will just attract negative energy. We can focus on the abundance or the scarcity, our choice!

Try different marketing tools and techniques

I don’t want to jump from one marketing technique to another if I haven’t used the first technique long enough to determine if it’s really not working or not.

Is Facebook good for my business? Until I tried everything and exhausted all the techniques available for Facebook, I don’t like to throw in the towel and just give up Facebook as a marketing tool. I’d like to give myself a good six months or so before trying another marketing tool or technique.

Should we try Instagram? How about Pinterest, LinkedIn or Snap Chat? Should we post advertisement on newspaper or hire a celebrity? Should we post every hour, every day, once a week, once a month? Should we change our tone and make it more serious or funnier?

And the end of the day, all your marketing efforts will boil down to few important things:

  1. Can you afford it?
    When I started SLIAN NAILS, I wanted to tap some celebrities to promote my business. Obviously, it’s just a dream because I can’t afford to hire one. For The Wealthy Pinay, I thought of hiring the best website designers to do my site. I’m willing to pay thousands if required to make my website looks polished and professional then I realized that content is more important than how my website looks.
  2. Does it fit your values?
    I hate dodgy marketing. Those advertisements that promise you an X but customers ended up getting a Y. And I know I can’t be the pushy, misleading, hardcore seller. It’s just against what I believe in.
  3. Does it target your ideal clients?
    It’s useless to use Snap Chat if your target audience is above 50 years old. And if you are selling puppies then it’s futile to join a vegetarian club. ‘Nuff said.
  4. Are you seeing improvements?
    As I said, I will give any technique or tool a good 6 months before deciding if its worth to continue using the same marketing platform or not. Sometimes, once we exhaust all possibilities and yet we don’t see the improvement we want, then it’s better to let it go than hold into it. #hugot

Have courage

When we do our marketing, we choose what is easy and convenient for us, obviously. Since we are doing all the work (for now, unless we hire a marketing professional), we focus on things that won’t take much effort. Posting on Facebook is easy (or any kind of marketing on social media). It’s also easy to print tarpaulins and flyers and give them away.

What’s not easy is to personally speak to customer to ask for feedback. It’s not easy to ask a mentor for her honest opinion on your strategy. It’s not easy to face the camera and be interviewed on national television. For an introvert, drawing attention to ourselves is not easy (even if we know it brings value to our business).

For TWP, I know what I needed to do. It ain’t easy for sure but my gut instinct is telling me I have to do these:

  • Write a book about business and money mindset
  • Interview fellow Filipinas on our TWP community and share their business success stories
  • Be interviewed by Bo Sanchez and Karen Davila

These are just some of my marketing strategy for The Wealthy Pinay. Might be easy for some or you might think it’s like shooting the stars. For me, the fact that I can think it means I can do it and achieve it.

Enjoy the process

Remember my blog post talking about being successful or being satisfied? Our life is a journey and not a sprint. I always try to remember that most of the things I’m enjoying today are just dreams a few years ago. The same way that few years from now, I’ll be reaping the rewards of my efforts today. Who knows what will happen in 3 years? Let’s focus on our why, continue to make an impact and enjoy our life journey.

******

Lastly, if you want to have engagement and sales with your audience then start by supporting fellow online entrepreneurs on their business ventures. Like and share their posts. Comment and engage if you need to. For someone like me who have a love-hate relationship with social media and rarely post myself, I’m guilty of not interacting as much as I should to fellow entrepreneurs’ businesses. That’s why I’m more open to give my praise and reviews to others nowadays. I like and follow their pages for support.

Note that I am still choosing which accounts to follow and recommend because at the end of the day, it all boils down to my values (I won’t support business that is in conflict with what I believe in). 

 

Ahhh… it’s nice to share this information with you. Sometimes, a part of me says that I’m oversharing. But I know I need to do this. I’m just starting my business journey and later on I might forget these struggles I’m encountering. Maybe 5 years from now, my issues are way more complex and bigger than this. New readers of TWP community might not be able to relate to these ‘bigger issues’ because they are just starting out. And this is the reason why I’m documenting all my emotions (happy or sad) because I know all entrepreneurs go through these and I want them to know that it’s normal.

 

Love you guys and I wish you all the best in your business ventures! Remember: Live the Life You Have Imagined for Yourself. You Deserve It!

 

Live The Life and Business You Have Imagined!

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