Spice graces Flow’s Inknowvation stage again

Last Friday, entrepreneur and entertainer Grace ‘Spice’ Hamilton returned by popular demand to the Flow Business Inknowvation stage, to share gems that small business owners can utilise to grow their business.

Hamilton, who has been in business since she was 16 years old, has operated her own Hot ‘n’ Spicy Restaurant, Sensational Salon, Spicy Couture and her most recent venture, Graci Noir. Through the pandemic, she realised the success that social media created for many online stores, and took advantage of her platforms to create an additional source of income and to build traffic to her website.

Viewers tuned in to the virtual Inknowvation Conference from various Caribbean countries to learn how to create big impacts with their small businesses.

“Businesses must utilise digital marketing strategies to teach potential customers about your brand and what it has to offer. Engage bloggers, podcaster and influencers to help increase your brand’s presence,” Hamilton said.

She pointed to the importance of knowing your target audience because this allows for greater awareness on how to effectively gain sales through social media “but none of this matters if you are not engaging with the right audience for your brand”.

Touching on the various applications that are in the digital space, the small business owner revealed that she no longer has to hire 20 persons to operate successfully, because with the touch of a button, apps like Canva, Hootsuite and Planoly can get the job done in minutes.

Hamilton noted that the hiring of influencers can have positive and negative impacts on the business, and shared that “the trick to hiring influencers is to provide them with specific codes for customers to use, so their ROI (return on investment) 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 your business,” she expounded.

Hamilton encouraged small business owners to partner with other brands in an effort to cross promote their products and prompted them to believe in their business, and to use social media to leverage their entities.