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Good Marketing Strategies For A Small Business

marketing strategies

Andia Xouris, Owner of Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream, sat down with us to share her entrepreneurial experiences and tips on marketing strategies for a small business!

I Love Ice Cream

If I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner I totally would. Recently, I’ve heard a lot about this little local ice cream shop that only sells their own homemade small batch ice cream. Curious about how they have been able to acquire this fan following I wanted to get some insight. Being the ice cream connoisseur I am, I took it upon myself to reach out to the owner. I don’t know about you, but I’ll never turn down the chance to hang out at an ice cream shop.

Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream is located in Cary, North Carolina. It is run by a family for families. Their menu showcases flavors that are sure to keep everyone happy with vegan, sorbet and other nationally awarded options. Andia sits down to talk with us about things that she does that make her local business stand out and run smoothly.

I talked to Andia about advice she has for other business owners, delegation and key lessons learned on her journey.

What’s one key piece of business advice you have for other small business owners?

Make sure that you are marketing your business and your product to its full potential. I think marketing is incredibly important. You can’t have a successful business if people don’t know about it. There is nothing wrong with finding somebody to help you do your marketing. As a business owner, it’s very hard to do everything yourself when you’re running around in a hundred directions. So get out there and get marketing!

Like I mentioned, I’m kind of into ice cream. And like most people who are into ice cream, I’ve had a lot of it. That being said, Andia’s was some of the best I have EVER had. This leads me to her next bit of advice.

Can you share another tip for our readers interested in small business ownership?

Tip number two is make the best product that you could possibly make. If you’re going to be in business, do something that’s worth getting out there. Your success depends on excellent customer service. You, and all your staff should be friendly, kind and helpful. People really appreciate that.

As an aspiring entrepreneur myself, I like to try to get advice from people who have done what I hope to eventually. Asking questions like these can only help you learn and hopefully avoid the mistakes that others have already made.

What’s your biggest piece of advice for small business owners you can share and how did you make it this far?

You may be an entrepreneur, but do not feel like you should take everything on yourself. I think it’s important to have family involvement like I’m lucky enough to have or a team. Or if you’re working individually try to find a board of advisors who can help you. You might be amazing at creating your product, but you’re not great at finances or you’re not great at marketing.

I have a PR person who’s amazing. She’s done great things for me that I certainly couldn’t do myself. Look for a marketing company or branding company or a bookkeeper if those particular things aren’t your strong suit. I think that’s the most important thing is to surround yourself with other people who have different skills that you don’t have and not feel like you have to take it all on yourself.

Finally, Andia gives us me “scoop” on the biggest lesson she has learned as a business owner.

Please share the absolute biggest small business lesson you’ve learned?

Honestly, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is about budgeting properly in order to make a fair profit. I had to learn how to buy wisely from my suppliers without compromising my premium ingredients. I had to learn that even the smallest change in price can truly affect your bottom line. Learning how to purchase what you need at the best prices has been a huge thing for me as a business owner.

My husband is wonderful at this and I have been blessed to have him as my partner to learn from.

I hope to have my own business one day, so these tips really resonate with me. They really are simple, but they are incredibly important to the success of your business. Success isn’t easy, but learning from people like this makes it easy to skip by mistakes that so many seem to make. Please take some time to support local businesses in your area, you never know what you might learn!

Thanks, Andia and family for your kindness and wisdom. You can find Andia’s Homemade Ice Cream in Cary, North Carolina,  or online at www.andiasicecream.com.

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