Archive for July, 2009

The GrowSmartBiz Conference needs your help! Do you have ideas or topics such as green business or how to secure government contracts that you’d like to discuss with other small business owners? Now’s your chance! We’re leaving one panel discussion at September 29’s conference up to you. The topic winner will be announced on August 10, so make your suggestion/cast your vote today!

The selected panel suggestion will be accompanied by the following planned topics:

• Driving Small Business Performance with Marketing & Innovation
• Raising Capital with Effective Finance Strategies
• Getting Ahead in the Current Economy
• Integrating Traditional Marketing with Social Media

For more information, or to add your topic suggestion or vote, visit: http://growsmartbiz.ideascale.com/.

Read more about the GrowSmartBiz Conference here and register by August 7 to receive $100 off registration. See you there!

I will fully admit. I am a late adopter on most social media tools.

Before you call foul, let me explain. It’s not that I am a Doubting Thomas, but my perspective is that I fully want to understand something before I try it out OR advise any client or friend to take that leap.
 
I have seem a client, jump head first into putting their business on MySpace before realizing that it wasn’t the best avenue to promote or market their business. I watched as the client became more confused and more frustrated why his roofing business wasn’t a massive hit just like the bars, nightclubs, bands, and promoters he’s seen have their friends list grow by leaps and bounds.

He felt dejected at the amount of time he felt he wasted. He felt like the contacts he made weren’t worth the effort to continue on this avenue of promotion. He was even more frustrated that I didn’t advise him sooner that this would happen. Keep in mind, he never asked my advice before diving in.

All the cool kids do it….
It’s easy to hear the hype about Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media tools (that’s what they are…not the silver bullet to success) and get lured in.  By now, you are hearing all about the great successes that people like Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, and others are having using these tools, and though it seems like an overnight success, in reality…there was some serious time and effort to become a social media “overnight success”.

If you are looking for a quick fix, I’m sorry to tell you…these aren’t it.

Why do you want to join the cool kids?
You need to really review if these tools are good for you and your business. Before you do that, you need to determine what your reason for using these online tools and keep in mind that these are tools. While they cost you absolutely nothing out of your pocket, they do take time to use, work with, and grow.

Here are some questions, before you create that all too shiny new account, that I want you to keep in mind:

• What are you looking to get out of this tool?
• How much time are you willing to dedicate to using these tools?
• Are you using it to promote yourself or your business?

What you should look to get out of using these tools is making new connections and increase your brands awareness.

How much time you dedicate to these tools is entire up to you, but you get out of them what you put into them. Just simply creating an account isn’t enough. You have to get in there, get your hands dirty, and interact with people.

My best advice is to use these tools to promote yourself first and your business second.  Remember, these tools are used by human beings and they hope, I dare say expect, to interact with a human being. Not yet another wall between the customer and the business owner.

Are the cool kids really that cool?
In my opinion, the ones who maximize their personal and business brand online using these tools are really…that cool. They are keeping their finger on the digital pulse of their customers and supporters all the while allowing new prospects into the conversation.

Please keep in mind that is what these tools are used for, extending the conversation as they get more comfortable with you and your brand. This takes a lot of effort, this takes some time, some dedication, and a focus not on how many followers you have, but the content you are pumping out through these tools.

But is it really for you?
Ultimately, that answer is really up to you.

I am not trying to blow you off with that answer, but without fully knowing you, your business, or your company’s personality…I don’t feel confident asking you to take a leap on a tool that might night fit for you.

I suggest you take some time and do your homework about these tools. Ask the people you know who use them frequently to explain them to you and how they get the most out of them. Ask the people in your industry if they are using these tools. If they aren’t…look at if you feel it is worth it to you and if it is get in there first and, as Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Crush it!” Get in there and start putting your business, and yourself, in front of as many people as you can.

Here is a final question for you, have you ever used a social media tool and given up BEFORE you gave it the full time and understanding you could have?

If you’ve read this far…thank you.  And as all ways, stay wicked.

In my last post here on GrowSmartBusiness, “It’s called a SCOPE of work, you CREEP”, I was a little hot under the collar about projects getting pushed well beyond their initial scope. What I failed to mention, in that post, is before you even get to the point where an agreement is written you need to decided what marketing items/tools are truly best for your business.

I’ve talked with a number of small business owners and even large business owners and I am surprised to learn that effectively branding their business was not a large priority to them. They have felt that focusing on the things that will attract awareness when they aren’t present is…well…a waste of money.

Now please understand, dear reader, that I am not advocating you go out and exhaust your finances on a large flashy new marketing package, actually in my post on Solutions of Power “Marketing Your Business On A Shoestring Budget…” I dared you to do the opposite.

At the end of that post I advised you to do the following:

“This is a temporary fix. I strongly suggest once you start saving for marketing pieces to be designed by an experienced designer or design company.”

What I am asking of you now is to take the next step. You’ve been in business for while, you are slowly outgrowing your simple font and template website, and prospects are asking you for a little more information. Now it’s time for you to take your business to the next level.

At this point you should be extremely excited about your business and getting it in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Also at the end of “Marketing Your Business On A Shoestring Budget…” I also stated;

“Be a fan of your own marketing materials. If you take the time and care about the end result…it will show and yield results.”

It’s time for you to get excited. Here are the things you should think of as you get started.

Your Logo
This is the piece that will dictate the color, style, and attitude that will permeate throughout your marketing pieces and what your customers will remember, beyond your excellent customer/work service.

In reality, this should be the very FIRST thing you should work on. Working with a designer, come up with a logo that at a glance will tell your customers all about your company.
 
Your Business Cards
This is what you will leave with the people at networking events, with your proposals, and what people will hold on to when they are ready to call. Steve Fisher, on the Solutions of Power blog, did a great post on this called “Rules for Entrepreneurs #1: Make Sure Your Business Card Doesn’t Get Thrown Out”. Without reiterating those items take a moment to read it and come back.

Your Website
This is more than just an online brochure. This is what will be a source of your services, your personality, directions, mission statement, and a world of things that your potential customers will need to know just enough about you to pick up the phone and call.

Consistency In Your Designs
This, my friends, is the most important thing of all. You want your marketing pieces, and even the ones that expand beyond the three above, to be able to tell the same visual story about your company whether they are side by side complementing each other or separate from each other.

Inconsistency in your color choices, style, font choices, and etc. is a very easy way to distract or confuse your potential customers from understanding what you or your company is about. The last thing you want to do is give any reason for your prospects to dismiss you.

Before you begin the design process, remember you aren’t creating these marketing pieces for you to show yourself how cool you are. This isn’t about you, but your company. This is about the image you’ll be asking your future employees and contractors to present. Sometimes, you shouldn’t all ways get what you want, but you should get what you need to put your companies’ best foot forward on this next step.

The question for you is, do you want the best image to be presented or one that will only truly be appreciated…by the person who paid for it?

If you’ve read this far…thank you. And as all ways…stay wicked.