Marketing Minority-Owned Businesses (with Sweet Rose Waxing Co.)
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there are no rules. You can do whatever you want with your small business. I do think it is great for you to use all of the selling points you have and

Hey everyone, welcome to the SOB Marketing Podcast where we celebrate the SOB that you are and if you haven't figured it out yet we mean small owned business we don't mean SOB. Listen we know that as a small business owner you are working hard on the daily to keep your business fully operational while trying to promote it and while some days it may feel like the business is owning you

If we're being honest with each other, I bet you would admit that you wouldn't give up the insanity for anything. Our commitment here at the SOB Marketing Podcast is to give you the real talk, what works when it comes to advertising, marketing, promoting your business, and then what doesn't really work. And Chelsea and I promise to always keep the conversation real. Hey everybody and welcome back to the SOB Marketing Podcast, SOB as in small owned business. I promise we are not calling you guys names.

Before we get started today, just a little bit of housekeeping. Thank you so much for listening. We would really appreciate it if you left us a review wherever you're listening. It helps us get in front of other small business owners so we can help them feel comfortable and confident when it comes to doing their own marketing. Vivian, what are we talking about today?

All right, so today, back by popular demand, we have Bray from Sweet Rose Waxing Company. If you guys remember the last time we had her on our podcast, we were actually talking about rebranding. So she has a spa here locally in Somerville, South Carolina, and she was going through the transition of rebranding her business. But instead today, we've invited her back on to talk about rebranding

marketing and promoting your business as a minority owned business. Because I think this is probably one of those things where perhaps you have a small business that can be promoted in this way, and maybe you're just not doing it. And hint, ladies,

if you are a female-owned business, you are in that minority-owned small business. And so we don't want you to miss out on resources that you potentially have available to you just because you're not thinking of yourself in this particular category. So hey, Bray, hey.

Hey, thanks for having me again. We are so excited to have you back on. As most people know, you and I are great friends, so it's always good to have a good friendly conversation on here. Before we get started, or actually, I guess, let's open this conversation by saying thank

Question for you, Bray. As a woman of color who owns a small business, how do you feel it has impacted the way you promote yourself? How would you say it's changed the way that you go about marketing your business? Or has it at all? That's good. Yeah, good point.

Honestly, it hasn't really impacted so much. I do get a lot of people asking, is this a small-owned business? Is this a minority-owned business? Who owns this business? And I take it from there. And however it comes to me is how I market myself, how I network myself, my business, and

And that's pretty much it. I just base it off how it comes to me and not so much of pushing out. Yeah, so if people are like asking, hey, is this a Black-owned business? Hey, is this a woman-owned business? Then you're like, yes, of course. But you're not going to start that conversation with that information. Right, no, I typically don't. Not because I'm ashamed or anything. It's because everyone has...

certain things that they're looking for and I'm willing to give them what they're looking for from me exactly like if I can give you that information I will give you that information but mainly it's whoever comes to me about whatever whatever they're looking for in that moment that's that's the information I'll give I do love that there's a

Kind of like a give and take to this, right? So it's not like you said, it's not like you have a canned verbiage that you approach somebody new with it to say like, Hey, by the way, let me throw all this stuff out there. And then, um, hopefully you'll, you'll say, Oh yeah, I want to support that type of business. Instead, it's almost like you let their questions dictate where you start that conversation. And then you lean into that. And I do think that's where as small business owners, um,

maybe you feel the pull to lead with, I mean, minority-owned business. For those of you that are listening that don't know, Chelsea and I are actually Hispanic. And so that's the one thing I know is shocking because I'm so like pale, but we do come in this shade. The one thing that's interesting is we don't really go out there and put on our website like, hey, we're minority-owned. Now, I will say after...

doing some of the research for this episode, I was on some of these small business administration websites. And there are a lot of resources out there. And I am rethinking. I do think that we're going to get certified and then be able to put that on the website and just kind of let people know like, hey, we do fall into this category. But I'm

on top of you guys just being able to promote yourself as a business, they do have quote unquote like, um,

you know, special loans they say that you could get, or also if you have certification, I know that, um, the government is required to do a percentage of their, what do you call it? Contracts with small, um, or minority owned businesses. And so there is other, there are other advantages to that. Absolutely. And Vivian, I feel like you're skipping ahead. Oh, I'm sorry for this conversation. Um,

Because we actually are going to go through a list of resources for you guys as minority-owned businesses. But I was asking Bray some questions. Please, go ahead. I don't mean to skip ahead. Well, my next question, though, Bray, you already answered because I was going to ask

if you've seen customers come in to Sweet Rose specifically looking to support minority-owned businesses? And you said yes. Is that a common occurrence? Yeah, absolutely. It happens every day. I do have it on my Google account that I am a Black-owned business, a woman-owned business.

So whenever they come in, they'll be like, oh, I see that this is a Black-owned. Yes, ma'am, it is. I'm the owner. And the conversation goes from there. For instance, today, I went to go get some coffee. And one of the girls that I see almost every day, she goes, oh, I didn't know that you owned the business. I'm like, yeah, yeah.

I don't say it often enough, but I do own the business. That's why I work so much. Yeah.

So I know personally, I don't go out and say, hey, I own a business. But my face is out there. I talk about it all the time. But I don't, you know, if they come to me and ask me about it, I'll tell them. Braise, like, do you really think that I'd be working this hard if I didn't own your business? I'd be working this hard for somebody else. Yeah. Which I've done it. I've done it. But not no more. I'm done. It's all me. Yeah.

I love that. Can I, I have multiple, multiple things to say. If you haven't watched the episode where we talk about rebranding with Bray, go watch that episode. I'm going to mention it because in that conversation, we talked about Bray's new branding and how her focus for Sweet Rose is personalization and giving her customers what they want. I think what you said earlier, when you said rebranding,

I will give them what they want from me. That is a great example of your branding being such a core part of your business. It's not about, oh, hey, I'm a minority-owned business, which there's nothing wrong with doing that. Again, if that's what you want your unique selling point to be, great. That's great for you. But as a brand, Sweet Rose is about giving people

giving her customers what they want. So you're here to say, oh, you're looking for a minority owned, you're looking for a black owned business, you're looking for a woman owned business. That's who I am.

after you've stated that that's what you're looking for. So that's a great example of branding being on point. I also love that she mentioned to the Google business profile and being able to update that. So if you guys have not recently gone in there and looked at what your options are to update your profile, please do so because I think they've added quite a few categories. I believe veteran owned is one of them, Chelsea. I'm

minority-owned. I think there may even be one for LGBTQ+. When we were discussing this conversation about we're going to do this topic, Vivian had said, but what about veteran-owned? And I'm like, what are you talking about? And she's like, well, you're saying minority, but veterans aren't minorities. I'm like,

Y'all, you're thinking too much about this. So a minority when it comes to minority owned businesses is going to be a business owned by a group of people or a person from a group that is represented less than 51% of the time.

So like 49% of the time. So in this scenario, a veteran is a minority-owned business. Veteran is considered a minority, just like people of color, minority. Women-owned, minority. LGBTQ+, that's going to be considered a minority. I feel like you're getting a little spicy towards me. I'm not getting... I don't mean to be getting spicy. I'm just saying...

And you're like, yeah. Well, and I'm glad that you brought that up in that it's based. I am glad that you brought up the what they base their stipulations on, because I do think that it's a common misconception for some like an old old lady like me. OK, in her 40s, we I do think minority owned. I often think Hispanic owned.

Black women owned or something like that. I very rarely think like veteran owned, right? Like I think that's just like a category that they have, but I'm glad that you clarified and you're informing all of us, you know, non-influenced people. I want to make sure small business owners, if you think you're not a minority because

because you're not a person of color, but you are like a veteran, you are considered minority. So you can get these resources. You can label yourself as a minority owned business. Like I don't want you guys missing out on ways to differentiate yourselves as business owners.

And take full advantage of those. I mean, if they have it on Google Business Profile where you can tag yourself, if that's something you think is important to do, then definitely, you know, we encourage everybody to go in there every, you probably want to go in there every six months just to be sure because Google does go in and update stuff quite a bit. So Bray, you made...

You updated your Google profile so that it says you're a minority-owned business. But I also want to mention, at Sweet Rose, all of your employees are people of color as well. Obviously, I don't think you did that on purpose. I love the people that I have working for me. I've had an assortment of people, different ethnicities.

working for me. It's just this group of girls have been with me now for a year, two years. I am actually looking to hire or to train more people, anybody. But this is the group that I have. They're great. Everyone loves them. They're very, how can I say? They're very open. They love

and talk to anybody. Which I think is super important for, you know, like a esthetician. And we're well-versed with everyone. Yeah. I do think I, um, I love where we're at now in small businesses where diversity is very, like it's very important to everybody, right? That everyone, um, kind of has equal opportunity to run businesses and to manage and do all that. Cause I, I will say coming from a corporate background, um,

like I said, I've been doing that for a long time and it still isn't as prevalent in the corporate world. And I think that's what draws me into the small business side of things where I'm just like, there are people out there that are doing just like some kick ass stuff because like they don't have to fit in boxes. Like you can just,

You know, you have a business idea, you open it, you can hire people that are the best qualified for what they're doing. And I think that's the part of it where I love seeing that side of it as opposed to the other side, which I think takes a little longer to catch up sometimes the corporate side of it. Are you a small business owner feeling overwhelmed by marketing? We understand. That's why we created the SOB community just for you.

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You may be feeling a little iffy about waving your flag out there and saying, I'm a minority-owned business. Again, like we're talking about right now, Bray only brings that up when people are looking for that information. You can do it like that. You can be very vocal and very open about who you are as well. I think it's important to...

Consider that there are more opportunities to create and build a community and build a connection with audience members when you do focus on those minority groups just because, you know, you guys are experiencing things in the same way.

I'm not saying everyone's experience is the same, but I'm saying you guys have something that connects you in a way that they're more willing to be open to you and willing to take that chance with you as a small business.

Yeah, I do think also, Chelsea, one of my favorite things, just as an example of that, is when Chelsea sends me these like reels on Instagram where it's like a Hispanic guy that's like explaining, you know, things all Hispanic people understand from their childhood. Right. And then he rattles off like just cultural things that people like, you know, would do growing up. It does. There is something that it's it's familiar. Right.

And I think that's where, like you're saying, Chelsea, whether that be that you're obviously the one that kind of sticks out to me is if you're a veteran owned business, obviously

obviously that's a very different experience, right? Having served in the armed forces in some type of way, it's a very different experience than like living that civilian lifestyle. And so you already have that connection where someone feels like if you're deemed a veteran-owned business, they happen to be a veteran too. They feel like, oh, we have a similar background or experience and therefore maybe they understand my needs a little better.

I agree to what you said, Vivian. Having that background and connecting with a lot of people, with my clients, I have a lot of business owners. And we connect in a lot of different ways, not just being a minority, in different ways. And we just...

Talk about what as a business owner that we go through on a daily basis. It could be anything finance. It could be clientele and it just really be anything and how things work in the business world. So I agree to that. I'm having my clients know that I'm the business owner and business.

them being business owners as well. We connect that way. We talk about it all the time. It's something that's one of our key points. Like whenever they come in, how's business? Great. What happened this month? This was what's going on. I'm like, oh, same thing. You know, connection in that way and networking, the best networking as well. Quick.

But great. Y'all, again, if you're not crazy about networking, I get it. But guess what? That's the easiest way to get your name out there.

And I'm just going to plug as a reminder, y'all, we do have our SOB, small business community. If you are looking like Bray said, you know, it helps to be able to talk about that stuff with other people that are going through it because they understand, you know, all of the important things that come with these decisions. And I feel like the conversation is probably way more in depth because you feel like, hey, when I tell this person that like, you know,

it's a pain to, I'm struggling to hire people because the market, the pool is just like, you know, dwindling or I feel like people aren't as qualified or whatever it is. I do know those connections are,

It's nice when you have someone on the other end that says like, hey, me too. Like I hear you, right? So we do have our SOB community if you're looking for a group of other small owned businesses to talk to about this kind of stuff. We have, you know, mostly marketing conversation center around that, but you can make some great connections there. So just a friendly reminder.

You can create a community for minorities without excluding people, okay, without excluding others. That's a very – I want to make that very clear. So in case you're thinking, oh, my God, I don't want to say I'm a woman-owned business because I don't want men to not come to my business. That's not going to happen.

Okay, maybe it would happen a little bit, but do you really want... Let me not even go there. I'm sorry. My point is you can create a community without excluding others. It does not have to be like an exclusive club. Now, I'm glad you did bring that up because I do think that is where some people, it's a very...

I think it could be a very touchy subject just because like you said, they want to be sure that there's diversity on all ends and that they're not excluding people. But there is a way I will say this. I think they're just like we always talk about niching down, right? So like you can be broad in your business or you can niche down and say, this is the type of person that I want to serve in the same way you can do that with, you

is approaching this minority-owned type of label to it. And what I mean is, for example, I know there are Facebook groups for people that want to support, whether that be LGBTQ+, or whether that be Hispanic-owned, or on the other end, like, hey, if you're Hispanic and you own a small business and you're a woman, then why

you know, there are Facebook groups that are tailored to that as well. So I think it's not so much, it's like what Bray said, it's not so much that you're leading with it, but if it's something that somebody wants to say, I have a budget and I would prefer to spend my dollars with a small business owner that aligns with what I'm looking for, then whether that be veteran owned or whatever it is, then, you know, if that's you, then you want your name to be in the hat for that.

So I do think that it's, like you said, it's not like you're saying, hey, I can't service everybody and I'll turn people down. But you're just saying like, hey, if you happen to be looking to support a small business owner that's also a minority-owned business, then I kind of fit that category too. Before we go into resources, I just really quick want to say, if you're a minority-owned business, there are three ways you can take your marketing.

You could say my brand is for and about my community. So I'm all about LGBTQ plus. I'm all about people of color. You could go that way. You could do what Bray is doing and say, you know, my brand isn't focused on my minority community, but I do include that information. I do bring it up with the community if they're looking for that information. Or you could say, I'm not bringing up the fact that my brand is minority owned at all.

No one needs to know. You could do that. That is an option. There are no rules. You can do whatever you want with your small business. I do think it is great for you to use all of the selling points you have. So I would shy away from not having that information available at all.

Just because, again, that is a unique selling point. So let's talk about resources for small business owners that are minority-owned. Bray, do you have any resources that you have found for minority-owned businesses that you want to share? Or just really any resources at all that you use? I've just been doing a lot of networking, going to small businesses around Somerville, talking to them and...

I'm just shopping with small businesses and just exchanging services and stuff like that. Do you utilize Facebook groups to, you utilize Facebook groups to kind of like get your name out there, don't you? Or any of them specific to minority owned? No, not right now. I haven't.

gone in a deep dive into the Facebook groups yet, but I should. That's a good point. I should do that. I'll look for some. I think we should also remember that Bray, again, just went through a big rebrand. She went from being a franchise owner to being her 100% owned small business. So she's starting from scratch. She is starting over. Yeah.

Sorry, I'm level one. Yeah. I was like, can you please give me time? Let me get through. Which honestly, I love. I love that honesty because, you know, Vivian and I are on here every week and we're telling you guys things that you can do to oomph up your marketing.

And you're probably sitting here like, oh, my God, Vivian, Chelsea, like, I don't have time to do this. We understand. Prioritize. We just want to help you guys. So whenever you are ready, you can sit down and say, Vivian and Chelsea said I should try this. So let me try that. So resources for small business owners for minorities. Vivian, do you have any you want to share?

start this conversation off with? Yeah. Remember you said I mentioned them at the beginning of this episode. You said I jumped ahead. Yeah. So the Small Business Administration, the SBA.gov is a really big one, y'all. I think that's where, that's the first place I would go to if I were thinking about whether you're looking to certify or you're just looking to see if it's worth your time to certify. My understanding, so when I looked, because like I said,

I do think that we're going to go ahead and get certified as a minority-owned business. And there is an application and all of that. There are two routes for you to go about doing that. So I do think there is a time allocation that you need to know about up front. And then also there is a small fee to it. But

Once you kind of look to see if the resources, if it benefits you, I think then you're able to make that judgment if it's worth your time to go through all of that. For us, things that I liked and I noticed was if you're a woman minority owned business, there are like there's a women small business.

small business or a women business chamber. I think that's really great. You can join that annually. And it helps to just stay up to date with things that are going on in, you know, women owned businesses and stuff. And then you do get like a discount off of that membership or off of your certification if you join that first. But there are lots of resources out there. And then on top of it, I think, yeah,

being able to look at grants. Grants are a big thing and all of that. Yeah, some examples of grants would be the Minority Development Business Agency. They have grants out there. AT&T has a supplier diversity program. There are a lot of also big brands that are looking to help small business owners and have grants available. The information that I found said there were three ways to get a certification grant.

You could go to the National Minority Supplier Development Council and get a certificate there. You can get federal certificates.

You could get a certificate from your federal government or state and local government. Just so you know, there are three ways to do that. Most Chamber of Commerce websites have that listed. So you can find that information. And Bray already brought it up in this episode. A lot of social media platforms. I don't know if you consider Google Business Page a social media platform, but I mean, it kind of is.

A lot of these social media platforms have the capabilities and have special labels. So you can label your business as part of a specific group. A great example for us would be on YouTube. We are labeled as minority creators. I didn't even know that was a thing on YouTube. Well, it's a good thing. I'm the one who set up our channel.

For the podcast, yeah. For the podcast, yes. Yes, we are labeled as a minority creator on YouTube for the podcast. Interesting. I love that. You know, it makes me think too that if these platforms like YouTube and also like Google Business Profile are allowing you to categorize your business as one of these, then obviously

obviously on the back end, they're having to think about rolling out something like a resource attached to it. So that's a great insight and I think just kind of a future indicator of what we may see down the road from YouTube. Yeah. Because that's a fairly new one for me. You know what? Because you did create the YouTube channel, what, seven years ago, it does make sense. I'm sure that was not a thing seven years ago. Yeah. Yeah.

So those are some resources. Guys, if you have other resources that we didn't list, go ahead and leave them in comment section, send us a DM, all that stuff. Let's share that information so we can help other minority owned businesses get out there. But I do want to say before we start wrapping it up, it is so important as a small business to stand out.

So any edge that you can find that's going to help you get in front of your target audience, go for it. It's just really important to remember who your target audience is. Those are the people you want to talk to. And again, great example, Bray, she knows one, her branding means that she cares about personalization. And two, she knows her target audience and knows when to say, oh yeah, I am a black owned business. Oh yeah, I am a woman owned business.

but it's not something that she always needs to bring up. Great example of using your differentiation, your unique selling point, using that edge to go the extra mile when it comes to your customers and your target audience.

Yeah.

minority owned business certification, I would put that on ads. I would put that on, you know, because you've already gone through it to be deemed as an organization that fits their criteria. So don't like Chelsea said, it's up to you guys whenever you're using this, but I would definitely lean in if you've taken the time to,

to go through that process to utilize it to your advantage on, you know, whether that be print ads or billboards or anything like that. Same thing with veteran owned. Bray, I want to ask you kind of like a closing question to wrap up this conversation. For minority owned businesses navigating their marketing, what's going to be your number one tip? I know that's a loaded question. I'm sorry.

For navigating marketing for minority-owned businesses, I would just say, that's a good question. Yeah. I have a tendency to, whenever we're interviewing guests on here, I always give them the most loaded question at the very end. I'm like, now I'm going to get you. You thought you were leaving here unscathed. Yeah. Just be open about anything.

any type of marketing, be out there. Kudos to you because when we first started marketing together and stuff like that, you were really hesitant about being the face of a business. And now you are...

I know you're not telling everyone. You said you're not telling everyone, but you make it very clear who owns Sweet Rose Wax Co. You are not hiding behind the shadows. You show up on social media. You're doing the videos. Like you said, when people come in and they, because you still actually do all of your services, when people come in and they're with you, you're open about, hey, I am the owner. You're being very transparent. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, I want to be out there. I want people to see my face. I want people to know it's me and that I am the owner. And that's the best way that I, I think is with marketing is just be out there, be open, let them know. Um, not saying just jump in their face, like, Hey, I'm the owner of this company. But if they ask, yes, I am the owner. Um,

That's why you see me bouncing here, there, there, there, there, there. And I'm helping with everything. I'm on top of everything. And that's the best way I think to do it is just being there and showing up. I think that helps too that you're approachable to people. So that way if they do, it gives an opportunity for open communication. If let's say there was like a little mishap or something in communication, but then they feel comfortable

instead of writing a review about her, instead of going somewhere else and telling someone they have direct access to you to say like, Hey, by the way, you know, uh, during check-in this happened or whatever. And, um,

I think that's where as small business owners, sometimes we miss the mark where it's like if we separate ourselves too much from it, then you don't have a good handle on like that open communication line and just saying like, no, bring me the great feedback. Also bring me anything that wasn't so great so that I can fix it immediately. Right.

Right. And that's a big thing. I let all my clients know I can't fix what I don't know. So if you come to me and talk to me about it, I'll be able to fix it. I can help you with it. But if I don't know, then I can't fix it.

With clients checking out, I'm always at the desk. How was your service? And that's the first question I ask after each service. How was your service? Not just me, but my girls as well. How was your service? Even if we were the one that just whacks you, I'm going to ask you anyway. And I really would appreciate an honest answer.

Have you ever had someone be like, oh, not so good? Like when you've danced out and like, don't do that. Honestly, they have. Like Chelsea, they'll tell you. It hurts so bad. She was the worst, but I'm coming back next month. But I have that. Like some clients, they'll tell me, yeah, it hurt, but you did great. You talked me through it.

Same thing with my girls. It hurt. It's not going to be a comfortable feeling, but it was worth it. I'm coming back. I love you guys. Things like that. I love the positive feedback, but I also love...

of the bad, you know, the bad too. Like I want to fix it. What can I fix? And I even ask my employees the same thing. What can we fix? What can I do different? What do you think about this? I keep an open communication with not just the employees, but the clients as well.

Constructive feedback is always very important. I feel like, you know, and it's funny because I always feel like the businesses that could use the constructive feedback or the businesses that are like, no, we're doing everything perfect. It's like, guarantee you, you're not. Always room for improvement. Well, I think, I think that was our conversation today. Thank you, Bray, so much for coming on here again. And, you know,

giving us your time. I know you're busy with the spa. So y'all, Bray is the owner of Sweet Rose Waxing Company in downtown Somerville. Bray, is there anything you want to shout out? Thank you ladies again for having me. I really appreciate y'all. Again, if you want me on again, just ask me and I'll be here. My business is Sweet Rose Waxing Company at 437 North Main Street. It's

Stop in, give me a call, 843-285-5981. Or look us up, Sweet Rose Wax Co. on all platforms. Well, thank you so much, Bray. It was a great conversation. And y'all, if you're a minority-owned business, just consider...

you know, shouting that out and saying, hey, you know, just so you know, just so you know, Vivian and I are Hispanic. In case you didn't know, they do come in that color. We come in all shades. If you have time, Pretty Pretty Please, leave us a review and go be the best SOB you can be.