Social Media: The Ultimate Tool for Local Businesses

For local Lennox businesses, social media is your ultimate wingman, to help you showcase and share your products and services with the local community. With social media, you can create a buzz, have a giggle with your customers, and build a loyal following that will stick with you through the good times and the bad times (but we don’t want anymore of those).

Build a string brand on Social Media

Unleash your business's full potential and give your profiles a makeover that will make even the Kardashians jealous. Think about your brand personality and your brand colours and create scroll-stopping images and graphics. Is your bio up to date? Make it informative and engaging that your followers feel like they're chatting with their new bestie. Don't forget to include a link to your website or online store so they can easily find their way to your amazing products and services. With a strong brand presence on social media, your local business will shine brighter than the Norfolk Pine at Christmas!

Engage with your followers

The true magic of social media lies in the power of connection. Connect with your followers and make them feel like part of your business family. Respond to comments, ask questions, and create polls. Don't be afraid to show your followers what goes on behind the scenes of your business - think of it like a VIP backstage pass to your company's awesomeness! Last but not least, make sure to big up your team and show off their amazing achievements. The more you engage with your followers, the more they'll feel like they're part of the inner circle - and that's some serious social media magic.

Run Social Media Contests

Who doesn't love a good contest? Social media contests are a great way to generate buzz, increase engagement, and reward your loyal followers. You could offer a free product or service to the winner, or a discount code for their next purchase. Make sure to promote the contest across all your social media channels and encourage followers to share it with their friends.

Partner with local influences

Another way to elevate your local business is to partner with local influencers. We’re talking about the local legend that everyone knows and loves (they don’t need a massive following). These are people who can help promote your brand to their audience. Reach out to people that align with your brand values and see if they're interested in collaborating. You could offer them a free product or service in exchange for a social media shoutout or review.

We’ve said this before, but if your business isn’t already on social media, what ya doin – jump on in! Social is a powerful tool for local businesses to connect with their community, build a strong brand presence, and lift their marketing game. By following these tips and tricks, you'll be well on your way to social media stardom. So, go forth and conquer!

 

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Community-based Marketing

Community

Community-based Marketing

What is Community-based Marketing?

Community-based marketing is a people-first approach to marketing. It’s all about

bringing like-minded people together who have a common goal, need or interest. In everyday life people thrive in communities, and this is starting to become more obvious in the consumerism world. When people feel part of a brand community, it creates more awareness and trust of the business, eventually resulting in more sales and better customer retention. Not to mention, the cost of marketing to a new audience is six to seven times more expensive than marketing to your current customer-base…The value speaks for itself.

 

Prioritise meaningful relationships

The key to successful community-based marketing is prioritising meaningful relationships with your customers and business partners over transactional ones. By focusing on building relationships, not only do you save marketing dollars, but you also show your community that you stand for more than just profits; that a relationship with your brand is a valuable experience worthy of investment (in terms of both time and money).

It’s important to note that community-based marketing can’t be achieved overnight. It’s a long-term strategy that reaps long-term rewards – and loyal customers.

 

Integrate community-based marketing

If you haven’t already, consider integrating community-based marketing into your marketing activities. Getting started on social media is simple. Reply to comments, share user-generated content and thank customers for leaving reviews. Email marketing can be harnessed to nurture brand communities too. You could create a sense of FOMO by sharing exclusive information or behind-the-scenes content. Perhaps you could offer your database exclusive special deals and discounts, pre-sale opportunities and event invitations to increase their sense of belonging to your brand community. Ultimately, by actively acknowledging, interacting, and respecting your customers, you’ll gain their loyalty.

Community-based marketing is not only alive online. There is space for this strategy in the real world too.  It is very important for your community to see you supporting their interests in some way. This can be achieved through brand events, collaboration, sponsorship and general support of your community. For small businesses in the Northern Rivers, supporting your local community, especially in times of need, is extremely important for successful community-based marketing.

What you put in, is what you get out of it when it comes to community-based marketing. The more you empower your customers, the more they will feel a valued part of your community, and the more loyal they will become to you and your brand.

 

As always, stay fruity,

Barefruit.

Related tag: email marketing gold coast

Lennox Centenary

Lennox Head 100 Years - Event Marketing

 

Lennox Head Centenary logo
Lennox Head Coasters
Rugby Palooza website
Rugby Palooza website
Rugby Palooza website

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Hey Team Fruity!

    I'm , I'd like you to help my business 'barefruit'.

    I am interested in

    You can call me on and email me at

    We'd love to know how you heard about us?

    Barefruit Marketing Win Employer of Choice!

    Barefruit Marketing win Employer of Choice

    We are so excited to share that Barefruit Marketing won Employer of Choice at the 2022 Northern Rivers Regional Business Awards on Saturday, October 22nd. This is a recognition and reflection of the wonderful culture we have at Barefruit.

    We were nominated in five different categories for the night:

    • Outstanding Employee: Ashleigh Cameron
    • Outstanding Leader: Claire Harding
    • Excellence in Sustainability
    • Employer of Choice
    • Excellence in Small Business.

    Over 10 years ago, Claire and Evan Harding – marketing professionals with over 40 years’ of combined experience - moved from London to the Northern Rivers. It was here, in Lennox, that the Harding family set up their home-based business, Barefruit Marketing. A boutique agency focused on inspirational, creative marketing that would really work, and in essence, help businesses ‘bear fruit’. Fast-forward to 2022, Barefruit Marketing has expanded to a full-service agency with a diverse team of ten, fostering an amazing culture that they have all worked so hard to create.

    Part of our team got all dressed up and attended the ‘2022 Northern Rivers Regional Business Awards’ at Southern Cross University in Lismore. The past couple of years have been extremely challenging for small businesses in the Northern Rivers with lockdowns, floods and other obstacles to overcome. The event celebrated business in the Northern Rivers and recognised the resilience and hard work that goes on behind the scenes within our community.

    There were many well-known local businesses nominated for these awards. Thrilled and emotional, we were awarded ‘2022 Employer of Choice’. We were also ecstatic for our client Early Up Property Solutions who won ‘Excellence in Small Business’, an amazing achievement. Employer of Choice is a great reflection of Barefruit as a workplace as we pride ourselves in creating a fun, creative, open, and supportive workplace for our team.

    Claire and Evan with award

    Our Co-founder and Director Claire comments, “Winning Employer of Choice makes me really proud. We are very passionate about the values we all hold both personally and at work – that is what makes our agency tick.”

    Claire continues; “Leading Barefruit is FUN! We, and our clients, are lucky to have such amazing talent at the agency. We spend more time with our workmates than our own families so having a good culture and an open and honest environment is so important. The team genuinely care about each other and support each other professionally and personally.

    We’re fun to work with, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we take the work we do for our clients very seriously.”

    She concludes; “A good culture attracts the right talent and the right clients and I believe we currently have that spot on.”

    Jane Laverty, the Regional Director for Business NSW said, “A huge congratulations to Barefruit Marketing, they are so well deserving of being recognised as finalists in the Northern Rivers Regional Business Awards program – across 5 categories no less.

    Their work with business and industry and in the community is so highly regarded because of their creative solutions - and also their passionate staff culture. It’s a milestone year for the team having just turned 10 and this is significant when operating from a regional area and further proof of their excellence… I wish the Barefruit team every success.”

    Related tag: marketing gold coast

    Northern Rivers Business Awards

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    How to Develop a Creative Strategy

    Having a solid creative strategy for your campaigns can set you apart from your competitors. Your creative strategy is all about defining what your advertising goals are, and planning on how you are going to achieve them through innovative advertising and marketing approaches that will appeal to your audience. For example, using humour to appeal to your audience or showcase everyday use of your product through a series of social videos.

    For business owners, we know this can sound overwhelming. However, spending time planning a strategy ensures your campaign has purpose, direction and goals to achieve. It makes the rest of the work involved in building a campaign much easier too. Let us break it down for you.

    Define your goals

    What do you want your advertising to achieve? Every campaign has different goals, whether that is to grow your audience, generate more leads, make more sales or  something else. It’s important to set both short term and long term goals that are financial and non-financial (it isn’t always about the moolah). Our top tip is to use the SMART model when writing goals for your campaign…and keep the number of goals for a campaign to one or two, maximum.

    creative strategy development
    Write a creative strategy statement

    Now use your goals to develop a creative strategy statement. This statement is like a mission statement that outlines how you aim to achieve these goals. It should focus on the reason for the creative strategy, who you are aiming to appeal to and through what creative approach.

    Choose your KPIs

    Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your campaign and check whether you’re on the way to achieving your goal or not. KIPs are dependent on what your goals are. For example, if your goal is to grow your audience, then your KPIs might be increase of social media following and increase of website and/ or foot traffic. If your ad is running on Facebook and Instagram, you will be able to access real-time data about its performance in Ads Manager.

    strategy brand
    Determine your target audience and message

    Defining your audience is arguably the most important aspect of your strategy because it determines how you will craft your message. The length, tone and delivery of your message will depend on your target audience and their values. Other things to consider is what the content will look like, and where it will appear.

    Set your dates

    The last step of your creative strategy is to develop a timeline for your campaign. This is usually split into the time spent creating and implementing the strategy, when and how long the campaign will run for, and dates to see results. Timelines helps with the allocation of resources and keeps everyone involved in the project accountable.

     

    With these steps, your will set your business up for a successful campaign that has purpose and will (hopefully) result in the achievement of your goal.

    Related tag: advertising gold coast

     

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    A Guide to Email Marketing

    Email Marketing 101

    We know things are crazy at the moment for our local businesses. It’s a big juggle managing staff shortages, implications to supply chains and the ever-changing regulations, but there is one thing you can do to help your business maintain sales in this time, and that’s Email Marketing.

    Email Marketing is your best friend. It’s one of the most effective ways to engage and build relationships with your customers, subscribers and leads. Why? Because you’re communicating with people who have already shown interest and see value in your business offering, and because of this they are much easier to nurture and convert into customers (and sales). Email Marketing on the Gold Coast can provide that extra push to move these people from the start to the end of the consumer journey.

    The Golden Rule

    Email Marketing is not about you or your brand, it’s about your audience. You need to really get in the mind of your target audience and create content you know they will value and engage with. Keep things simple to begin with and segment your contact list into customers and leads.

    With your leads, your communication should give them the information and tools (in a non-salesy way) to make a purchase decision. Maybe that looks like behind the scenes content, product features and/or exclusive discounts. When it comes to your customers, Email Marketing is all about nurturing the relationship and doing what you can to get the most out of their appreciation for your brand, for example, tips on how to care for their purchase, how to use it in unconventional ways, loyalty and referral programs and asking them to leave a review. Top tip: offer something of value to your readers in exchange for an action, for example leaving a review, because if there is something in it for you, there has to be something in it for them.

    Email Marketing

    Automation

    If you have a little time up your sleeve (perhaps when you’re isolating at home ?), setting up and automating a series of emails is the best thing you can do. Create a flow that a takes a newsletter subscriber or new customer on a journey to learn more about who you are and the products or services they are specifically interested in. The automated flow means all your new customers and subscribers are regularly reminded about your brand automatically. Remember, the content in these emails must be targeted to the reader (customers and leads need different information). Mailchimp is the place to get started and there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to help when you get stuck.

    Reach your readers in their inbox at the right time, with relevant and personalised content in a consistent manner and it’s more likely you’ll make more sales. Remember, there is a fine balance when it comes to how often you should reach customers on email. Don’t be a spammer – touching base with your valuable contact list every week or two is more than enough.

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    North Coast No Space for Weeds

    North Coast No Space for Weeds

    Print Collateral

    North Coast No Space for Weeds

    Background

    No Space For Weeeeeds is part of the North Coast Local Land Services, they aim to increase awareness of weeds within the community, encourage people to understand weeds and know how to report and control them correctly.

    The work

    North Coast No Space for Weeds (part of North Coast Local Land Services) approached us to design some print collateral to run alongside their "No Space For Weeeeeds campaign. The aim was to help promote awareness of weed identification and prevention in the local community. They were attending the annual PRIMEX event (Australia’s sustainable farm and primary industries exhibition) and was in need of a six-page A5 fact sheet flyer to hand out to event attendees with information on how to prevent spreading weeds from one location to another.

    As part of their weeds awareness campaign, they requested our graphic design services to revamp their existing annual weed awareness calendar to not only reflect their branding but to also have a clean, modern look and feel. This calendar was to be distributed to local farmers within the North Coast to help with the identification process of a particular weed and provide solutions on how to treat and prevent the weed from spreading.

    No Space for Weeds Calendar
    No Space for Weeds Flyer
    No Space for Weeds Flyer
    No Space for Weeds Flyer

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    Hey Team Fruity!

      I'm , I'd like you to help my business 'barefruit'.

      I am interested in

      You can call me on and email me at

      We'd love to know how you heard about us?

      Barefoot Marketing? No, we’re BareFRUIT Marketing

      Barefruit or Barefoot

      Thanks to the Barefoot Investor, we can’t tell you how often people call us Barefoot Marketing. The time has come to settle it once and for all. We are called Barefruit Marketing. That’s Bare, like naked and Fruit like, apples and oranges.

      What’s in a name

      Talking about names, now is a great opportunity to give you a little insight into to how and why we landed with the name Barefruit Marketing. The agency, founded by Claire from her loungeroom, was established to help local businesses grow and flourish. Business owners in the Northern Rivers (and anywhere for that matter) are so good at what they do, but often, they don’t have the time and energy to spend marketing their business. We all know that marketing is key to the success of any business, big or small. And so, the agency was born.

      How it came together

      When working with businesses who don’t have the time and energy to think about marketing, we discovered we needed to be completely transparent; we tell it how it is, no jargon, no waffle and no round-about explanations. From this, came the ‘Bare’ part of the Barefruit name. Being real with our clients, suppliers and team is one of our values. What you see is what you get, so ‘Bare’ which means ‘having no cover up’ fits the agency’s mission perfectly.

      As marketers, our ultimate goal is to grow business for our clients. We work hard to see them increase sales and be successful and self-sufficient. As such, we are helping businesses bear the fruits of success and this is how the word ‘fruit’ came into the mix. With that, Claire and Evan named the agency Barefruit Marketing. What’s more, the word play in ‘helping businesses to bare fruit’ was too perfect to ignore.

      Helping Businesses Bare Fruit
      The Barefruit brand values

      It’s really important that a business name reflects its output, as well as what that business stands for. Our brand values determine who we are and guide the way in which we work as employees and operate as a business. At Barefruit, we’re Curious, Real, Brave and Fun.

       

      Curious

      We are naturally curious. We allow ourselves to explore the less obvious, ask lots of questions and invite debate. We encourage a working environment that stimulates ideas, smart thinking and meaningful personal growth.

       

      Real

      We are honest and transparent. What you see is what you get. We are down to earth. No jargon. Plain speaking. We are realistic, we won’t over promise.

       

      Brave

      We strive to create an environment that supports instinctive and insightful thought – whether it supports or challenges the status quo. We are passionate and well-tuned, unafraid to push boundaries and have the confidence to trust our gut and pursue our beliefs.

       

      Fun

      We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We like to have a laugh at work and with our clients. Coming to work is fun.

      Our services
      What we do at Barefruit Marketing

      We are a full service, creative agency which means we have the resources to implement any idea (as long as it not too far-fetched). From digital campaigns, websites, TV commercials and PR to events, flyers, SEO and logo refreshes, we pride ourselves on our ability to develop and implement the best solutions for our clients. Our services include (but aren’t limited to):

      The Barefruit team is made up of a diverse group of marketing specialists with international talent. We've worked on the big clients in the big cities, and want to offer that same service to businesses in our community. Of course, we also have clients interstate and even across the globe.

       

      Our team

      If you’re going to take anything away from this, we are Barefruit Marketing, not Barefoot Marketing. Should you ever need help with marketing your business, or know of a friend who might, remember Barefruit Marketing. And even if you don’t, we’ve made sure our website will come up in our search results even if you remember us a Barefoot Marketing.

      See our work...

      What clients are saying

      It was great working with Jennica and Claire from Barefruit Marketing. They really took time to understand my project and delivered amazing ‘pitch’ / media release to appeal to journalists and media corporations. I felt comfortable sharing my ideas, and they were able to capture my vision and marry it to their expertise. Would highly recommend.

      Alex Bosin

      EV Classic

      I'd like to say a huge thank you to Claire and Charlotte from Barefruit Marketing who have helped me in the last couple of months to pull this amazing media event together. The agency has offered their services on a pro bono basis, I am so grateful for the work they have done. Claire and Charlotte have been my unconditional support crew to lean on for advice and ideas, and I am excited about how our relationship will move forward in the next few months.

      Kate Kempshall

      North Coast Community College

      I have been using Barefruit for my SEO and website development for Behind the Barrel. The best part about Barefruit is your're not just getting the attention of one of their staff members. The whole team works together to help bring the best possible outcome for your business marketing. I highly recommend Evan and his team if you want to take your business marketing to the next level.

      Jarryd

      Behind the Barrel

      The Barefruit team is always friendly, helpful and very professional. They have taken the time to understand our business needs and develop a effective strategy to grow our brand.

      Andrew Illingworth

      Tweed Coast Holiday Parks

      Just want to say a HUGE thank you to each and every one of the team for the website. You all went over and above and most certainly went above my expectations. I'm extremely happy with it (been bragging a bit about it just quietly) and couldn't have done it without you all. Thank you for bringing this to life.

      Trent Chapman

      Prevent Consultants

      Marketing, even when you’re crazy busy

      Juggling Marketing When You're Busy

      Our region has been so fortunate to have had so much business recently. We’ve heard that many local businesses have been overwhelmed with demand. Considering how difficult 2020 was, this is an amazing place to be so soon after. Whether you’re crazy busy with high demand, expanding your business or working towards getting back to pre-COVID times, marketing is always important.

      Marketing does help drive sales, and so much more than that. So even if you think you’re busy now, you’d be taking a big gamble to let it slide from your business strategy. The Northern Rivers has been flooded with visitors, and your marketing tells these people why they should consider you. Without these messages, your competitors will be thanking you.

      In It to Win It

      If you’re not in the game, you can’t win. Good marketing makes consumers think of you first when they need the product or service you offer. The brand awareness, interest and desire for your brand will impact your sales positively, no doubt. Keeping up with social media, traditional advertising, emails, digital marketing, SEO (whatever forms your strategy) keeps your brand in the forefront of consumer’s minds. If you drop your marketing efforts, even from just one channel, your competitors will already be ahead of you. Vying for consumer’s attention is a competitive game, so you must always play if you’re serious about growing your business.

      Slow and Steady

      It’s hard to keep up with marketing when you’re busy but you can’t let it take a back, or even a side seat. Consistency always wins. Right now is a great opportunity to put long-term marketing strategies in place to drive awareness and sales for the future. With a surge in domestic travel and people moving to the area, you can expect to see business steady all year round and your marketing efforts need to reflect this. You’ll need to continuously communicate with visitors, the locals and the new people arriving in our area. Businesses that never stop marketing experience a forward-momentum situation, like a train getting faster and faster along the tracks. Don’t slam the brakes on your marketing when you’re busy - doing so could slow down your sales in the future. To maintain sales (and to grow them!), be consistent.

      Always Communicate

      Tactics such as social media marketing, email marketing, print, TV advertising and PR help you tell your brand story. The more you communicate value to consumers, the more they consider you a voice of authority in the industry, especially if you’ve got something interesting, valuable or different to say. In 2021, brand activism is extremely important to influence purchase decision-making, so tell your story and communicate your brand’s personality to consumers.

      Having a long-term strategy and consistency in your marketing activities helps you compete against your competitors, maintain and drive sales in the future and grow your business. To keep moving forward, don’t stop what you’re doing.

      Related Tag: Marketing Gold Coast

      How to write a Press Release

      We’ve all been waiting for it, and finally 2021 is here. Over the holidays Lennox has been buzzing with visitors. It’s been fantastic to see local businesses being supported after such a trying year.

      Success stories are popping up all over the place and if that’s you, it should be part of your marketing strategy to tell people about it. Social media is great at spreading awareness, but a story in the media, whether in a newspaper, magazine or on the TV or radio is unparalleled. Getting your story ‘published’ is the best form of word-of-mouth marketing you can get. We refer to this as ‘earned media’ and it is more trusted and credible to the viewer than ‘paid (owned) media’ as it is seen as unbiased. Naturally, people get talking and before you know it, you will hopefully see an impact on your business in terms of customers and sales.

      When something newsworthy happens, let the media know about it by sending them a press release. Journalists are busy bees, so when writing a press release, there is a bit of a recipe to follow to make their life easier.

      1. A Strong and Informative Title

      The title is the first thing the journalist will read, so it must clearly describe your story, grab attention and not be too long. This will become your email subject when you send press release out to publications. If it’s boring, the email won’t be opened.

       

      1. Your Subheading is Everything

      Journalists receive hundreds of press releases, so don’t have time to read them all. Write a sentence or two that sums up your story and this will become your subheading. Make sure you answer all the Who, Where, When, What, How and Why questions.

       

      1. Talk about the Important Things First

      Your press release is not an essay. Like a news article, you need to include the most important and relevant information towards the beginning. When you’ve done this, you can go into more detail, adding quotes and interesting facts about your story.

       

      1. Include Photos with People in Them

      Send photos (with people in them) along with your press release. Photos make things more engaging for readers and helps them relate to your story. By including a variety of photos that are captioned, you’ll give your story a better chance of being published.

       

      1. Quotes are important 

      Boost the credibility of your story with quotes from the business owners, customers, members of the community…whoever is relevant.

       

      1. Your contact details

      Often, journalists will want to get in touch to organise interviews, take photos or learn more. Include your contact details, so they can get in touch.

       

      1. Boilerplate

      Appearing at the bottom of every press release, is an outline of your company, products, services, awards and website and social links.

       

      And with that fine-tuned recipe, you’ll have a press release ready to send to publications. Happy writing !

      Related tag: Digital Marketing Byron Bay