Spice offers tips for success in business

Serial entrepreneur Spice is urging small business owners to embrace the power of digital technologies, particularly social media, as a means to expand and thrive in their ventures.

The dancehall artiste, whose given name is Grace Hamilton, said businesses should utilise digital marketing strategies to teach potential customers about their brand and products.

"The first rule of marketing is to focus on your audience. Knowing your target audience will help to identify what social media platform is best to to promote your goods/services," said Spice, who in addition to being a leading dancehall entertainer is the owner of several businesses.

Her portfolio includes her 'Hot 'n' Spicy Restaurant, Sensational Salon, Spicy Couture and Graci Noir.

"You can have the most aesthetically appealing online store with easy navigation, the highest quality products, backed by top-notch customer service, but none of this matters if you aren't engaging with the right audience for your brand," the entertainer sad.

Spice was speaking last week at a Flow Business Inknowvation conference. She revealed that as a small business owner, she no longer has to hire 20 person to successfully operate her businesses, because she can rely on apps like Canva, Hootsuite and Planoly can get many jobs done.

"With all these apps to help your business, it is evident that social media is a powerful tool, and it can be used to help your small business reach a broader audience and achieve all your business goals," the entrepreneur said.

She said too that it is important for business owners to pay keen attention to the data that is generated as a result of customer engagement. These analytics, she noted, show the general location, gender and age range of persons consuming the content.

In addition, Spice said that the hiring of influencers can have both positive and negative impacts on the business.

"Using influencer marketing can get your product in front of a huge number of potential customers, thus increasing your brand awareness. The trick to hiring influencers is to provide them with specific codes for customers to use, so their ROI (return on investments) can be tracked. This permits you to see how many people use those specific codes to support your business, because not all influencers have the ability to pull people to ur business," she said.