Friday, December 4, 2009
4 Common Venture Capital Myths
Monday, November 30, 2009
Embrace Life Time Value
Monday, November 23, 2009
How I ... Ditched My Beat-Up Buick
What: Bomgar Corp., a software company that specializes in remote IT support software
Where: Ridgeland, Miss. Web site: www.bomgar.com
Year founded: 2003
Number of employees: 125
Annual revenue: $19.5 million in 2008
This is a great story about a regular guy who made it big as an entrepreneur.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Storytelling Tips from Salesforce's Marc Benioff
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
50 All-Time Great Retail Subject Lines
Here at VerticalResponse we're always being asked things like, "What is the best day to send email?", "What are the real email marketing secrets?" and "What are great subject lines?". I decided to focus this post on that last one, and offer some really great and proven-to-work subject lines that you can test out for your email marketing campaigns.
First of all, I'm assuming at this point that your recipients will recognize you from your "From Label". If they are familiar with who the email is coming from, you'll have better luck getting your email opened with a catchy subject line.
As a retailer your email marketing campaigns are probably all about selling. If you sell your own products or products from other manufacturers, you'll be trying to announce new products, new seasons or discounts and sales. You'll want your recipients to act fast, so you may want to try expiration dates in your subject line. We even see businesses using hours in the day in their expiration time periods.
You'll see that some of these subject lines are a bit vague like "An Exclusive Offer for You", however sometimes that might get more opens than if you talk about a specific product. That's something that you need to test for yourself in your own campaigns.
Offer, Offer, Offer
Enjoy this Special Offer at Our New Location
25-40% off - Email-Only Offer – Today Only
Invitation-Only 2 Hour Event Starts 11:30 AM CT
Ends Today! 20% Off Friends & Family
Top 10 under $10
Free shipping - offer ends in 3 days
Free product with purchase of [product name]
[New Product] has arrived. Order now before we run out.
Earn double points for [insert product or action].
Last Chance: Get up to $25 now
Save 10% on your next order
Enjoy [season] with rates from $65
Service Notice: Exciting new changes at [your company]
An Exclusive Offer for You
[Your company] October Specials
Last minute deals, special offers, and new [product name]
Act Now to renew your [subscription name]
Online only: 25% off friends and family
Introducing our latest…[product/feature here]
[Product name] Promotion week. Save 25%
Extended for a day! Get Free shipping through Friday
Stock up and save 15%
Limited Supply: Limit 2 [product name] per customer
Ho-ho-ho: The [your company] holiday catalog is here!
Email subscriber exclusive: [Product name] sale is here
Ends Today: Take 20% off your entire order
Private Sale Ends Today
Your choice of amazing items $50 + under
Great gifts for [Dad, Mom, etc]
Best Sellers every [girl, boy, man, woman, dog, etc.]
Everything you need when the temperatures [rise, fall]
Free Shipping--Limited Time Offer
Catchy & Creative
Sometimes all you need is a little vase lift (retailer selling vase's)
We've got you covered from head to toe (retailer selling hats, shirts, pants and boots)
How La Perla got its name (retailer selling lingerie, telling a story inside the email)
Temperatures Fall, Style Rises (retailer selling coats)
Celebrity Favorites (selling accessories that Hollywood is wearing)
Did you remember to get a gift? It's ok, we did. (retailer wanting to get people to register for gift reminders)
10 Gift Ideas for your little ones (retailer listing top 10 suggestions for kids)
Manhattan View for a Song in the Shower (retailer selling shower curtain with Manhattan skyline on it)
Take your pick: Our 9 Favorite Dresses (retailer suggesting by popularity)
Coolest modern desk on the job...for $149 (retailer including price in the subject line)
Score Great Savings on Game-Time Gear: HDTVs, Furniture & More (retailer selling TV's with a sports slant)
Party Like it's 1999 Aged Cabernet Special (wine retailer)
In our store: Last minute Mother's Day combo ready to go (retailer getting the last minute shoppers with a catch "combo to go".)
Adorn Your Home Now & Through the Holidays (Home decor retailer)
Mind-Blowing Grenache (wine retailer)
Bring this email to a Gap store and win! (retailer trying to get store traffic)
I hope this gets your creative juices flowing.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Goal without a plan is just a Wish...
Stop wishing your business was better …
Register for ActionCoach GrowthCLUB , a 90-Day Planning Workshop
Friday November 13, 2009
Create a 90 Day Action Plan.One day every three months – your chance to step out of the business and get focused. We’ll work with you to map out a winning game plan for the next 90 days. Plus with practical workshops and expert training, you and your team will get back to your business with clear direction and new tools to achieve your goals faster.
Create Momentum
By the end of this high energy day, you will have a clear picture of where your business will be in 90 days time, and a step by step 90-Day Action Plan to get you there. Using this roadmap, you and your coach will take your business from where you are to where you want to be.
You’ll hear it straight from the trenches – real business owners sharing their top money making tactics from the last 90 days. Listen hard. Take notes. Then adopt & adapt to get them working for you.
You’ll learn how the world’s most successful businesses plan their on-going success – and then you will build these same principles into your own business (regardless of size) to create your own personalized 90-Day Action Plan step-by-step. Then, crucially, you will learn how to implement your new skills and systems on a daily basis to achieve real results.
If you are serious about fulfilling your business potential this is a MUST ATTEND EVENT!
Massive Action Means Massive Results ...
You’ll walk away with …
Energy, vision and focus for the next 90 days in your business.
Take home strategies to build your profits right away.
A ready-to-implement, real time 90 day plan.
A network of business contacts to work with.
The skills and the tools to get more done in less time.
A clear understanding of what has worked in your business and what hasn’t….and WHY
Register Now
$199 for the first person – additional team members are $129
Register now by Faxing the registration form to
770-591-8649
IRON-CLAD, 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
If you give your 100% participation and if you still don’t feel you got enough value from the 90-Day Plan Workshop, we’ll refund your money in full and you can KEEP the materials.
The Mansour Center
995 Roswell St
Marietta, GA
Complete this form and fax it back to TODAY at
(770) 591-8649)
YES, please reserve ______ places for GrowthCLUB, a 90-Day Planning Workshop
Friday, November 13, 2009 8:00am – 5pm
YourName: ____________________________________________
Company:______________________________________________
Physical Address:_________________________________________
Phone Work_____________________ Home_________________________
Mobile_________________________ Fax___________________________
Email__________________________
Who should attend?
You
Your team
Business Owner friends
Names:1____________________________________________________________
Names:2____________________________________________________________
Name:3_____________________________________________________________
$199 for the first person – additional team members are $129
Please charge my credit card $ __________ _ Visa _ MasterCard _ American Express
Card number: ________________________________ CVS: _______
Name on Card: ___________________________________________
Expires: ____________
Signature _______________________________________________
Please make checks payable to: The Mills Group – must be received by 10/10/09
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Entrepreneurial Agility
Monday, October 5, 2009
Three Best Ways to Improve Your Online Reputation
Thursday, September 17, 2009
10 Common Mistakes That Startup and Small Companies Make
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Do You Know Your Value Proposition
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
How Leaders Make Big Issues Personal (and Possible)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Can this Women Beat Crocs?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Plan for a Strong Finish to 2009
Get A Life: Change is Inevitable - Growth is Optional by Gavin Whiting
This Article was written back in 2004 but is even more relevant now. Enjoy
I continue to be amazed by the attitudes of some business owners who accept that they have no control over their destiny or environment, that they have done it “this way for 25 years” and therefore it must be right, or that they are simply content to scrape by. Why?
Some of this attitude is born from holding self-limiting beliefs. It is amazing where these self-limiting beliefs come from too! Ever heard a parent talk about their child in a limiting way, out loud in front of the child, to another parent? “Johnny is just like his father – couldn’t organize his way out of a paper bag.”
And what about those who give us advice about business? Advice from people who have never owned their own business, or have been unsuccessful in business, prejudices passed down from generations that simply no longer are applicable. I am helping a business owner who was told by his accountant not to expand because then he would have to take on staff – “staffs are trouble and there is so much extra administration required!” Unbelievable. Is it any wonder we are limited by the opinions of others?
Life Success author John Kanary says, “Thousands of people are leading dull and shallow lives because they are prisoners to their self-imposed limitations. These people lead narrow, superficial, monotonous and uninteresting lives. They live with shallow and boring ideas about life and their place in it. Why do these people want to be this way? If they knew how, would they change and live more exciting and productive lives?”
In my experience, a few people want to change for the better, but most are happy in their rut. Brad Sugars tells us, “the definition of a rut is a grave with the ends kicked out of it.”
It’s all about comfort really. Most limiting beliefs remain with us because we give up what we want most in life for something we want in the moment. Change is inevitable – growth is optional.
The purpose of life is to live. Are you in control or is time in control? If you want a life then start by doing two things:
1. Figure out what you want to achieve – call these goals, dreams, vision – visualize them and understand why they are important to you. Do not share this with anyone who is likely to tell you why you can’t have your dream.
2. Make a plan. Organize yourself, decide what knowledge you need to gain, and find someone who can hold you accountable. Plan the action, then action the plan.
Go well….Monday, August 10, 2009
People Plus Systems Equals Great Sales …
Sales scripts not only increase the sales of top performers but also produce amazing results for the entire team. One rule of thumb, which can be used in selling and in life, is that what you can measure you can manage and grow! The ultimate test of a superior salesperson is how consistent their results are and how consistent the results are for the entire team. Using a sales script achieves this consistency and makes the training of new team members simple and effective.
By introducing a sales system like a script, you can then measure conversion on a daily basis and your sales will automatically increase – guaranteed. So, exactly what does a sales script look like, how do you write one and how is it used? Let’s look at this now.
A sales script is a documented, methodical, learnable, effective system of selling your goods and services. It is a written process on paper designed to give the salesperson control of the call (while the customer ‘feels’ in control) and create a desired result – the sale! It is written by your number one salesperson, in answer to the question – Exactly what do you say to a prospect to get them to buy your product? You may even choose to reward your top salesperson for doing this by offering them a great incentive such as a percentage of extra sales.
Let us briefly outline key parts of the Action sales script. Obviously, there are differences between sales scripts used on incoming and outgoing calls; however, I will just detail some of the universally used key Action selling lines taken directly from our sales scripts!
The opening: “Could I just outline the reason for my call?”
Permission: “Would if be okay if we go through the call that way?”
Rapport Building: “What’s your biggest challenge right now in that area?”
Below Waterline: “What's most important to you in…”
Paraphrase: “Based on what you just told me, it sounds like…”
Temperature Check: “How does that fit with what you had in mind?”
Secure the Sale: “Would it be okay if I give you the steps in getting that process under way?”
Conclude the Encounter: “Congratulations and bye for now.”
A script can be read, learned and must be practiced, used, measured and improved (if needed) to increase conversion rate of prospects to customers of all the team. Imagine taking the guess-work out of selling once and for all by using a system which makes your sales results less people dependant and more system dependant!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
32 Ways to get links to your Website
But first here are two basic rules.
Rule 1: Create lots of relevant (and often fresh content) on your web page which has a high saturation of key words that the user or surfer “googles”. If you want to be found under “Business coach
Also is “Business coach
Rule 2: Build high quality and relative links to your site. The more sites with similar content that link to a page – the more votes it gets and therefore over time the higher it climbs. Link building is the most difficult part of SEO. It requires patience. Sometimes you will not see a result for a phrase you are optimizing on for 6 months.
However here is a list of ways that you can build links.
1. Build a "101 list". These get linked to all the time, and often become "authority documents". People can't resist linking to these.
2. Create 10 easy tips to help you [insert topic here] articles. Again, these are exceptionally easy to link to.
3. Create extensive resource lists for a specific topic. When I say resource list … things like the 10 best books on Advertising etc.
4. Create a list of the top 10 myths for a specific category.
5. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign. Relevant traffic will get your site more visitors and brand exposure. When people come to your site, regardless of the channel in which they found it, there is a possibility that they will link to you.
6. Syndicate an article at EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare, etc. The great thing about good article sites is that their article pages actually rank highly and send highly qualified traffic.
7. Submit an article to industry news site.
8. Syndicate a press release. Take the time to make it newsworthy and compelling. Email it to journalists and bloggers. For good measure submit it to news wires like:
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.prleap.com
http://i-newswire.com
http://www.webwire.com
http://www.pressbox.co.uk
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
http://www.clickpress.com
http://www.przoom.com
http://www.pr.com
http://www.marketwire.com
http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.businesswire.com
9. Email a few friends when you have important relevant news asking them for their feedback and/or if they would mind referencing it if they find your information useful.
10. Perform surveys and studies that make people feel important. If you can make other people feel important they will help do your marketing for you for free.
11. This tip is an oldie but goodie: submit your site to DMOZ and other directories that allow free submissions.
12. Submit your site to paid directories. Another oldie. Just remember that quality matters.
13. Join the Better Business Bureau.
14. Put a Google Map up which links to your site.
15. Get a link from your local chamber of commerce.
16. Submit your link to relevant city and state governmental resources.
17. List your site at the local library's Web site.
18. See if your clients or other business partners might be willing to link to your site.
19. Develop business relationships with non-competing businesses in the same field. Leverage these relationships online and off, by recommending each other via links and distributing each other\'s business cards. Have strategic alliance partners … put a link on their site.
20. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Yahoo! Answers and provide links to relevant resources.
21. It takes about 15 minutes to set up a topical Squidoo page, which you can use to look like an industry expert. Link to expert documents and popular useful tools in your fields, and also create a link back to your site.
22. Submit a story to Digg that links to an article on your site. You can also submit other content and have some of its link authority flow back to your page.
23. Most forums allow members to leave signature links or personal profile links. If you make quality contributions some people will follow these links and potentially read your site, link at your site, and/or buy your products.
24. Review relevant products on Amazon.com. We have seen this draw in direct customer enquiries and secondary links.
25. Create product lists on Amazon.com that review top products and also mention your background (
26. Review related sites on Alexa to draw in related traffic streams.
27. Review products and services on shopping search engines like ePinions to help build your authority.
28. If you buy a product or service you really like and are good at leaving testimonials, many of those turn into links. Two testimonial writing tips — make them believable, and be specific where possible.
29. Start a blog. Not just for the sake of having one. Post regularly and post great content. Good execution is what gets the links.
30. Link to other blogs from your blog. Outbound links are one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. Many bloggers also track who is linking to them or where their traffic comes from, so linking to them is an easy way to get noticed by some of them.
31. Comment on other blogs. Most of these comments will not provide much direct search engine value, but if your comments are useful, insightful, and relevant they can drive direct traffic. They also help make the other bloggers become aware of you, and they may start reading your blog and/or linking to it.
32. If you create a blog make sure you list it in a few of the best blog directories.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Why You Need to Fail Peter Bregman
"Peter, I'd like you to stay for a minute after class." Calvin teaches my favorite body conditioning class at the gym.
"What'd I do?" I asked him.
"It's what you didn't do."
"What didn't I do?"
"Fail."
"You kept me after class for not failing?"
"This," he began to mimic my casual weight lifting style, using weights that were obviously too light, "is not going to get you anywhere. A muscle only grows if you work it till it fails. You need to use more challenging weights. You need to fail."
Calvin's onto something.
Every time I ask a room of executives to list the top five moments their career took a leap forward — not just a step, but a leap — failure is always on the list. For some it was the loss of a job. For others it was a project gone bad. And for others still it was the failure of a larger system, like an economic downturn, that required them to step up.
Yet most of us spend a tremendous effort trying to avoid even the possibility of failure.
According to Dr. Carol Dweck, professor at
It turns out the answer is deceptively simple. It's all in your head.
If you believe that your talents are inborn or fixed, then you will try to avoid failure at all costs because failure is proof of your limitation. People with a fixed mindset like to solve the same problems over and over again. It reinforces their sense of competence.
Children with fixed mindsets would rather redo an easy jigsaw puzzle than try a harder one. Students with fixed mindsets would rather not learn new languages. CEOs with fixed mindsets will surround themselves with people who agree with them. They feel smart when they get it right.
But if you believe your talent grows with persistence and effort, then you seek failure as an opportunity to improve. People with a growth mindset feel smart when they're learning, not when they're flawless.
Michael Jordan, arguably the world's best basketball player, has a growth mindset. Most successful people do. In high school he was cut from the basketball team but that obviously didn't discourage him: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game wining shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
If you have a growth mindset, then you use your failures to improve. If you have a fixed mindset, you may never fail, but neither do you learn or grow.
In business, we have to be discriminating about when we choose to challenge ourselves. In high risk, high leverage situations, it's better to stay within your current capability. In lower risk situations, where the consequences of failure are less, better to push the envelope. The important point is to know that pushing the envelope, that failing, is how you learn and grow and succeed. It's your opportunity.
Here's the good news: you can change your success by changing your mindset. When Dweck trained children to view themselves as capable of growing their intelligence, they worked harder, more persistently, and with greater success on math problems they had previously abandoned as unsolvable.
A growth mindset is the secret to maximizing potential. Want to grow your staff? Give them tasks above their ability. They don't think they could do it? Tell them you expect them to work at it for a while, struggle with it. That it will take more time than the tasks they're used to doing. That you expect they'll make some mistakes along the way. But you know they could do it.
Want to increase your own performance? Set high goals where you have a 50-70% chance of success. According to Psychologist and Harvard researcher the late David McClelland, that's the sweet spot for high achievers. Then, when you fail half the time, figure out what you should do differently and try again. That's practice. And according to recent studies, 10,000 hours of that kind of practice will make you an expert in anything. No matter where you start.
The next class I did with Calvin, I doubled the weight I was using. Yeah, that's right. Unfortunately, that gave me tendonitis in my elbow, which I'm nursing with rest and ice. Sometimes you can even fail when you're trying to fail.
Hey, I'm learning.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Great Post from Seth Godin"s Blog
Taking the leap
The best businesses and the best projects are a quantum leap above the competition. This gulf represents competitive insulation, because others can't figure out how to get up there with you.
Amazon, for example, has a leap between it and other online retailers. Sure, you might be able to mimic part of what they've got, but the gulf is so huge, it's hard to imagine displacing them any time soon.
Nike has spent billions on advertising, sponsorship, manufacturing, technology and distribution. It's a quantum leap between them and some start-up that wants to compete.
I think going for the leap is essential for creating a business for the ages, and I want to speculate that there are three ways to make it:
- BUY IT--you can raise a lot of money or spend a lot of the company's R&D or marketing money and just buy yourself a huge head start and this provides insulation. (This is my least favorite, because spending like a drunken sailor often leads to other drunken behaviors, including remorse the next day).
- SNEAK UP THE CURVE--you can quietly develop your business fairly cheaply and then, by the time the competition notices you, it's too late. Build a Bear Workshop is a great example of this. One store at a time they built a brand, a cash flow and a nationwide footprint that makes it awfully difficult for others to compete. McDonald's did the same thing.
- THE NETWORK EFFECT--some markets are ready for one (and usually only one) intermediary to show up and be the default winner. Twitter and Comdex and Alexander Graham Bell are great examples of this.
There are probably some others (like make a genius innovation in your basement and then patent it) but these three are good ones to start with.
Monday, July 6, 2009
When do you Make the Cold Call
Thursday, June 25, 2009
How are You Weathering the Storm?
Things are happening fast in the business world. Credit card limits and lines of credit are being cut so a close examination of your projected cash flow for the next 6 to 12 months is essential. If the projection doesn't give you the outcome you need then it is time to look at taking additional steps.
If your business is an inventory business you need to closely monitor your product margin. Negotiate with your suppliers for lower pricing and/or better terms. Remember "cash is king". If you have inventory that isn't moving see if you can return it. Even if there is a restocking fee it is better to have the cash available rather than sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
Another use for that dusty inventory might be to use in a promotion. Marketing dollars are tight so use the dollars you have already spent to continue your marketing efforts. Create your promotion and offer it to your email database of current, past and prospective customers.
Examine all your expenses to make sure you aren't spending dollars needlessly. Having said that be ever mindful of the customer experience. Now is the time to nurture your current customer base. Don't cut in areas that erode ease of buying.
Hang in there and stay focused. We are seeing positive signs of improvement. Great success is ahead.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Most Small Businesses expect to grow in'09
Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact said "The results of the survey reveal the optimism and perseverance that so often marks this spirited group of business owners, as well as their adaptability to meet current economic conditions".
I am seeing growth among my own clients '08 to '09. So let's get rid of the glass half empty and go with the glass half full.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Save Our Pets Foodbank
The Save Our Pets Foodbank was started in 2008 and the organization has given away more than 30,000 lbs of pet food. SOPFB provides pet food to individuals who temporarily are facing financial challenges due to job loss or illness and can't afford to feed their pet. With more than 13 million jobs lost in the United States over the past year, budgets are tighter than ever. The cost to feed a pet creates a crisis during a financially difficult time and families may be forced into a decision to give up their beloved pet. Adding your Dad or a friend to the Good Dad Honor Roll helps keep a pet with its owner.
While Save Our Pets Foodbank is located in Atlanta, the organization has compiled a national list of food assistance programs and provides tips on starting a pet food bank. Find out more at www.saveourpetsfoodbank.org
Thursday, May 28, 2009
5 Things You Need to Know before you Start a Business
In working with clients that have plateaued and want to achieve significant growth, I find that most of the time we have to move backward to put structure in place that will allow them to move forward. Wouldn't it be much easier to know what you want to build at the beginning and put the right structure and processes in place?
There are so many questions to be answered.
1. What will the business look like when it's perfect. What net profit will the company need to produce to achieve your end goal?
2. What's the exit strategy for the business?
3. Will there be partners or other equity holders?
4. What legal entity is the right one for you considering all factors?
5. How much capital will you need and where will it come from?
And there are many more questions to be answered. Kathy and I have been talking to many individuals on these matters and have decided to offer some workshops covering what you need to know to get started. So if you have an interest in this information send me your email address at info@growthmindset.com with Start up in the subject line. We will put you on the distribution list for information. We plan to offer live workshops as well as some webinars for people out of the Atlanta area.
So all you budding entrepreneurs let us hear from you.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Learned about a Great New Tool from my Friend Miles Austin
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Twittering for Business, Increase Your Popularity and Profitability
Does your business use Twitter yet? Or any social media site for that matter? If not, you are potentially missing out on future clients, future sales and most importantly increased profitability. Remember when Myspace, was “the next big thing”? Well that is sort of where twitter is at right now. Over the past year, it has gained an increaed following, not only of individuals, but potential customers of yours.
Twitter is relatively a new social networking service that has really changed the meaning of communication. Well, not only in personal communication but also in business communication, Twitter has managed to gain a massive following of users. With this increase of popularity, it only makes sense that Twitter is a great way to promote your business needs.
Twitter is a social networking service that gets the message to your customers or clients at lightning speed, which makes your business promotion in a great way. This is the perfect micro-blogging service that helps in communicating to the world about your business advancements, products and services without any investment. With limited words (only messages with 140 characters can be written twitter), you can communicate in real terms with all your followers.
With the increased popularity of twitter, most of the well established companies the world over now have twitter accounts. Has your company established itself on Twitter yet? Companies already utilizing the site find Twitter a great place to promote their business. Twitter, the micro-blogging service, is the best way to reach out to the employees, customers and partners.
This social networking service is also a great place where one can come up with business announcements like the launch of a new product and other special business proposals. You can post these announcements in twitter on a regular basis, which gets you the best exposure to your followers. For example if you are an e-commerce website, then twitter helps in promoting the new products, sales, and other special offers in which you may have. You can also include reviews from the customers in your Twitter account that gives more credibility to your business.
While promoting business through Twitter, it should be noted that you have to give your followers valuable information on your products and services. The more information is added in twitter, the more you get to promote your business through twitter. One way to offer more value to your followers is to offer some sort of sale or special discounts for twitter followers only. This means that this discount will only be available for followers of your account. These followers will feel appreciated and more than likely take advantage of the deal you present them.
Twitter is also a great way to monitor your customer feedback. For example, you can see what others have to say about your company, products and services, which only helps in promoting your business. Listen to what others say in twitter helps in building good relationship and in improving your business. If a problem should arise with your business, you have the opportunity to effectively solve the dilemma at hand. Others will take note of your proactive solution and see the value you place in customer satisfaction. However, if you blow off people with problems, chances are it could be detrimental to your business since bad customer service news will spread fast.
Last but not the least; maintain professionalism in the small messages, called tweets, which you sent. Always remember that people like to follow only the professional way. Do not post up topics irrelevant to your business or products….Chances are that people are following you in order to gain insight on your business and not what you are having for lunch.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Why Should I Create a Business Blog???
There are a number of internet service providers that offer blog applications that can be linked to your web site. www.Blogger.com and www.WordPress.com are two that offer free blog applications. Start your blog by educating visitors on what your business offers and linking to those products where customers can purchase them. Links are an important component in search engine optimization. Include them where they make sense.
Start dialogs on topics that matter to your target market and be sure to keep up. Don’t ignore your readers.
One of the key factors to remember is that the content on your blog should be such that anyone could read it and not be shocked or offended. The internet is vast and links can be established showing your content on countless other web sites. With that note of caution spend some time thinking about your content and no silly pictures or comments that might be misinterpreted.
Monday, March 16, 2009
How to Market while Pinching Pennies
Instead of cutting think about how you are spending those marketing dollars. So here are a few things you need to be doing in 2009 to not only keep your business afloat, but keep it growing.
1. Social Media
Facebook & Twitter are an easy and free use of social media. Set up a personal Facebook page and then link it to your business page. Post to "what are you doing now" as well as your "share a link" section.
While you're at it, join some groups on Facebook that might lend themselves to your content. If the group allows for anyone to post, then post your link there as well. You can create ads that link to your business web site or your Facebook business page.
On Twitter, just "tweet" that you finished your email marketing campaign. Include the subject line and the link where it's hosted on a web page. Remember you only have 140 characters on Twitter so keep it as short as possible.
Linked In and Plaxo are also good B2B sites that are only to promote business.
2. Research the customer
You need to know more than ever how consumers are redefining value and responding to the recession. Consumers take more time searching for durable goods and negotiate harder at the point of sale. They are more willing to postpone purchases, trade down, or buy less. Must-have features of yesterday are today’s can-live-withouts. Trusted brands are especially valued and they can still launch new products successfully but interest in new brands and new categories fades. Survey Your Customers. By using surveys you can find out instantly what you're customers think about your business. It's a good idea to keep in touch with your customers to make sure you're delivering the best products or services you possibly can. There are several on line survey tools that are free or if you don't have email addresses then you will need to do either a short survey at point of sale or send a paper survey to your customers.
3. If your target is the consumer market focus on family values
When economic hard times loom, we tend to retreat to our village. Look for cozy hearth-and-home family scenes in advertising to replace images of extreme sports, adventure and rugged individualism. Zany humor and appeals on the basis of fear are out. Greeting card sales, telephone use and discretionary spending on home furnishings and home entertainment will hold up well, as uncertainty prompts us to stay at home but also stay connected with family and friends.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Do You Consider "PLAN" a Four Letter Word?
So why do we need a strategic plan - to out think and outlast the competition.
The first step in the process has to be Vision.
Vision without action is a daydream, but action without vision is a nightmare.
In order to plan effectively you have to know where you're going. I believe that a five to ten year vision is necessary to plan effectively for the current year. What does the business look like in ten years? What revenue and profit will the company achieve? How many employees will you have? What role will your company play in your community and what will your day to day activities look like?
That doesn’t mean you need detailed plans for the next ten years. It means you have ten year goals and a very detailed plan for the next 12 months taking you closer to those ten year goals.
TAKE ACTION to think about your vision and your strategic plan to achieve that vision. If you have a written plan and it is gathering dust in the desk drawer or on the shelf, dust it off and revise it. Remember a strategy does not work when it is not executed.
You can start this process by taking a FREE Business Health Check online by clicking here Business Health Check.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Let's Start a Dialog
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Now is the time to work on your Unique Selling Proposition!
So is it really as important as they say?
In a word – YES!!!
Nothing can emphasize enough how important it is to be different. Especially in this economy you need to understand that people have to decide between you and your competition. They have to discern the differences between you and other suppliers, before they can choose who to buy from. If you don’t have a point of difference, there’s no reason for anyone to buy from you, unless you discount. You end up in a price war, with nothing to fall back on. It sounds like a recipe for going broke.
So what does a purple cow have to do with all of this? If you are riding down a country road with cow pastures all around, what do you see? Herds of cows. Brown cows, black cows, white cows and any number of mixtures of those colors. Do you ever look at an individual cow? But then standing in the field your eye captures a purple cow and you not only look, you might stop to look some more because it is "remarkable".
In Seth Godin's book “Purple Cow, Transform your business by being Remarkable”, he highlights the challenges today’s marketers face in getting the attention of the buyer. The old strategy of massive advertising just doesn't work the way it has in the past. There is too much noise out there. So how do you reach the buyer, you have to be remarkable, the purple cow. Find out what your target market wants. What will improve the buying experience for them? Position your product or service to meet that need and viola; you have a powerful unique selling proposition.
Push your USP now so that when your target market is ready to buy, your business is the first place they come to buy.
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