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Posts Tagged ‘sales’

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4 Strategic Ways to Improve Your Blog – and Sell It

February 7th, 2012 ::

Selling a blog

Blogs are big business these days, as the Huffington Post proved when it was acquired by AOL for $315 million.

But, your blog is not HuffPo, you say?  There’s still potential for plenty of blogs to attract corporate buyers.  Want to see how yours stacks up?  Here are four tips on how to improve your blog for a potential sale.

1.  Refine your blog strategy

When companies buy blogs, they aren’t being lazy or suffering from a lack of know-how.  They’re making an investment in their business by acquiring content that has proven to be valuable to readers.  What companies might be interested in your content?  Think about how you can improve your articles by focusing on niche topics, and tighten your writing up to reflect this strategy.

If your blog has the right audience and a winning distribution model, it becomes even more attractive to buyers.  These assets take time to build, and companies are looking for blogs that have already achieved the results they want.  Remember that both factors (audience and distribution model) are part of your blog’s value, so take the time to nurture them by expanding the reach of your content and growing your email list.

2.  Start building trust

Let me preface this tip by stating that building trust with your readers is imperative, regardless of whether you ever plan to sell.  Trust is something that should be built with a desire to connect with your readers and to offer them the very best content you can.

That said, trust also plays a role in the acquisition process.  If your blog is ever purchased, the level of trust you’ve established can dictate how large of a role you’ll play after the acquisition.

Bloggers build trust and keep audiences coming back for more by developing a unique and authentic voice.  If your blog is purchased by a company, it will be much more valuable to them if it can retain your voice.  What this means for you is that you could continue to get an ongoing salary, beyond the initial purchase price of your blog, if you remain actively engaged.  That’s good for your readers and good for you, too!

Be sure to focus on building a trusting relationship with your readers as your blog grows, and protect your readers when and if a company purchases your blog.

3.  Position your blog

Before deciding whether or not to purchase your blog, companies will compare it to competitors.  It’s a good idea to survey the competitive landscape yourself, long before a potential acquisition.

First, compare your blog to others like it, and determine what your competitors are doing really well.  Next, think about what you do well, or what you could do well.  What is your competitive advantage?  You will need to determine a way to differentiate your blog from all the others competing in your industry.  This differentiator will help you stand out so companies can clearly see how your content will reach their audience.

To sell your blog, it will need to fulfill not only the needs of your readers, but also the needs of a buyer.  What makes your blog unique, and how can you position it to be attractive to corporate buyers?

4.  Prepare to monetize

When it comes to monetizing blogs, basically there are two ways to do it.  One way is to sell advertising space, and the other is to advertise the potential buyer’s products or services on your blog.  Either way, being able to show a consistent advertising revenue stream will help convince buyers that your blog is worth the money.

Test different forms of advertising to find out what works best for your blog.  The goal is to convert readers into buyers, so you’ll want to be sure any product or service ads will actually appeal to your readers.  To transition to third-party advertisers, you may want to develop an information product to sell on your site, such as an e-book or webinar, to lay the foundation for future advertising sales.

If you’re thinking about selling your blog, give these tips a try.  Even if your blog doesn’t get acquired, focusing on these tips will help take it to the next level.

Image courtesy of creative design agency Arrae

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Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

6 Cool Startups That Can Help Your Small Business Grow

October 13th, 2011 ::

TreeAs editor at Tech Cocktail, I get to learn about a lot of really interesting startups, so I thought I’d share six companies that we’ve recently covered that can help your small business grow.

1. Qidiq: For Surveys

If you want to survey your customers, prospective customers, vendors and/or employees, try out Qidiq.  Their platform lets you survey people via email and see the results nearly instantly.

Simply put together your list of questions and send them off via email or text. Your questions can be answered yes/no, with a 5-star rating, or as multiple choice.  No matter which method you use, your respondents can answer with one click and add a comment.  Unlike standard surveys, the question is right in the email.

The best part? You can space out your questions over several days so you are not overwhelming the people on your list.

2. Yesware: For Sales

Want to close more business?  Silly question – of course you do! Yesware is an email productivity service that integrates into Gmail and your mobile phone and provides email analytics, customizable templates and more to help salespeople respond to customers more effectively.

Want to save time?  Yesware also helps reduce data entry into CRMs like SalesForce, Sugar, Zoho, Basecamp, Landslide and others.

3. Ohours: For Office Hours

The founder of Tech Cocktail just tried this out in New York City at the Ace Hotel Lobby Bar, and I actually got to see it in action when I stopped by to say hi.  He loved it so much that I’m going to try it when I am in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco this fall.

Ohours makes scheduling office hours super easy.  Sign up via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and schedule blocks of time that you can tweet or share.  Anyone can sign up to meet with you.

4. OneSky: For Translation

If you want to go global, check out OneSky, which helps streamline the translation of websites and apps by connecting you to translation agencies.  They also have a really cool crowdsourcing option.  You can ask for smoother, more seamless translations, which then get voted on.  If you’d like, you can then use the new text that wins the most votes.

5. Profitably: For Business Planning

If you want to succeed, you need to have a plan, but putting one together, well, it usually takes a backseat to other stuff – like doing what you actually do.  Profitably is a Web-based platform that can help you plan for the future.  You can try out its revenue forecasting and planning features for free, but if you want to really go beyond the basics and include measurement and tracking features, you can sign up for a plan for as low as $33.33 a month.  Not much of an investment for doing something that can ultimately pay huge dividends.

6. Onepager: For Setting Up a Website Fast

If time and budget constraints have stopped you from putting together a website, why not put together a simple landing page?  Onepager is a very easy and simple way to create and maintain a visually appealing website.  Just enter your company name, logo, tagline, content about who you are and what you do, and you’re good to go.  You can customize the page a bit with themes, style and layout options, and also add photos, a newsletter sign up, hours, contact info and social media buttons. I tried it out, and it took me all of 10 minutes.

Onepager is really inexpensive, too: only $10/month for a month-to-month subscription or $8/month if you sign up for a whole year. That price includes hosting and unlimited bandwidth, which is a great deal.

Image by Flickr user joiseyshowaa (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Small Business, Technology | 3 Comments »

Bringing Customer Service Into Sales

June 22nd, 2011 ::

If you have ever owned a car, it is pretty much guaranteed that you have at least one car-buying horror story.  A couple of weeks ago, I came across this post by Peter Shankman in which he took down Infiniti of Manhattan.  Read the blog post, which is hilarious and shocking at the same time, and you’ll see how richly they deserved a public dressing-down.

(What’s funny is that poor customer service seems to be a plague among luxury car dealers, at least on the East Coast.   My most recent horror story is courtesy of Audi of Tysons Corner.)

Which brings me to the point of this post: Salespeople need to be trained in customer service.  I think too many people in sales are so hellbent on closing a sale no matter what that they forget they are dealing with a person.  It doesn’t take much to shift the focus from sales to service.  Here’s how to do it:

Personalize messages

If you learn nothing else from Peter’s blog post, this is it:  Whenever you email or snail mail a customer or potential customer, don’t be lazy and use a generic message.  Add their name, obviously, but don’t stop there.  Your CRM and customer files should be full of information about them.  Use it!  You’ll be able to acknowledge where they are in the buying cycle, what products or services they’re using, what else they were interested in, etc.   No one wants to be treated like a number; this helps ensure they don’t feel like one.

I write about a lot of startups at Tech Cocktail, and as editor, I get a lot of pitches and press releases from companies and PR people.  Most of them also add a personal message that shows they’ve done their homework.  They know what I tend to write about, how I angle my stories, and my style.  And these emails read like they were written by a person with a personality.  That’s really cool, and it makes a big difference in how quickly I jump on the story.

Don’t underestimate the power of a thank you

In sales, the focus is so much on getting, giving sometimes gets thrown by the wayside.  A simple thank you is great, but don’t stop there.  An enthusiastic thank you that is full of appreciation is better.

When I publish a post that was pitched to me, I often receive a thank you.  For some companies, it’s only the first or third time they’re getting press, so it’s a pretty big deal for them.  When the thank you comes from a PR person, I will be more likely to make room in my editorial calendar for their clients.

Follow up and keep in touch

Once you close the sale, improve your chances of keeping them as a customer for life by following up with a call or email to see how things are going.  It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, but it’s worth it, as it is far easier to keep the customers you already have than to find new ones.  Plus, you never know how many referrals you might get.

Image by Flickr user woodleywonderworks (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Customer Service, Sales Process | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Ariba Discovery

June 21st, 2011 ::

Ariba Discovery

Multinational corporations procure an estimated $1.52 trillion in goods and services from U.S. small businesses every year. But how can you find out and bid for these opportunities? Ariba Discovery is a business matching service designed to help buyers and sellers connect more easily. Register your business as a seller and prepare to get leads. Corporations enter in their needs and their location, and Ariba matches sellers who fit the criteria. If you want a basic company profile, your listing is free. For a more advanced profile, you’ll pay $399 per year. Buyers are asked to review sellers who provide services.

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Posted in Business Development, Resources, Sales Process, sales process, small business | 1 Comment »

5 Really Easy Ways to Increase Sales with Social Media

April 18th, 2011 ::

Pile of moneyUsing social media to engage with potential and current customers is all you hear about anymore.  Doing it properly is not that hard—really!  Just follow these five common-sense guidelines, and you can turn your social media networks into sales channels.

1. Treat everyone like an individual

Not everyone who follows you on Twitter or likes your page on Facebook is a guaranteed potential customer. Some of them might be ready to buy now, some might just be looking, some might admire your brand but can’t afford you, some might just view you as a source of industry information and want to “keep in touch” via social media.

If you end up treating everyone the same on social media, you are missing out on valuable branding, marketing, and sales opportunities.  Respond to each new follower as you would a person you just met at a party—with an open mind, ready to chat and see where the conversation goes.

2. Send personal messages

I hate getting automated tweets from the people who I just followed on Twitter.  I’m seeing less and less of this, but people are still doing it, which amazes me.  You don’t need to respond to every new follower!  If you do, make it personal.  Yes, this means you need to do it manually, but the social interaction is what social media was built around.

3. Engage instead of broadcast

When I get an alert that someone is following me on Twitter, I always check out their stream first to see if they are engaging with their followers. I look for retweets, mentions of other users, replies to other users, etc.  If a person or company is just using Twitter as a broadcasting tool—especially to promote themselves, their product or their service—then forget it.  I don’t follow them back!  If I wanted to have commercials forced on me, I would watch live television.

4. Nurture, don’t push, the sale

Back in my hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York, there was a fabulous, locally owned clothing boutique that was super popular when I was growing up.   My mom avoided it like the plague because the saleswomen would descend on you like vultures as soon as you walked in the door.  Even if you said you were just browsing, they would proceed to follow you around the store.  It was awful.

Don’t do the same thing to your social media followers.  Ask them what you can help them with, if you can answer any questions, if they found what they are looking for, and so on.  You don’t want to end up like the above-mentioned store: closed for business.

5. Give customers a reason to say “yes”

Obviously, you want to close the sale with potential customers, but you don’t want to be rude or pushy.  So, in addition to chatting with your followers, you should also give them lots and lots of reasons to buy from you.

The best way to do this is to provide your followers with educational content that clearly demonstrates the benefits of working with you.  Use social media to offer ebooks, white papers, case studies, testimonials, blog posts, articles and anything else that demonstrates how your superior product or service alleviates your customers’ pain points and delivers fabulous results.

Image Courtesy Flickr user epSos. de (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business, Social Media | 3 Comments »

Industry Watch: Is Gardening Hot…or Not?

April 8th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Spring has sprung in many places in the country, and that means businesses related to gardening are gearing up for their busy season. Marketing Daily reports that Home Depot is planning a massive sales campaign this spring, similar to how retailers approach the Christmas holiday season. After all, “Spring is our Christmas,” Home Depot EVP/merchandising Craig Menear said in announcing the campaign.

But will gardening businesses be seeing much green this year? According to the latest National Gardening Association survey, there’s good news and bad news about the industry’s prospects.

First, the bad news. Spending on do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities declined 18 percent, to $363 per household. What’s more, total retail lawn and garden sales dropped 16 percent last year—at $30.12 billion overall, sales were the lowest they’ve been in the last decade.

Now, the good news. While spending was down, interest was up. Overall participation in lawn and garden activities increased by 2 percent last year, reaching 83 million households. A particular bright spot was food gardening, which gained for the second year in a row, growing by 21 percent. The survey also reports that although spending declined, it declined less steeply than spending in other discretionary categories. And the majority of people surveyed report they plan to spend at least as much on their yard this year as last year in most categories (the exception was lawn and landscape services).

So while gardeners are spending less on their hobby, they’re spending more time doing it. What can your business do to grab some of those lawn and garden dollars? There’s renewed interest in growing plants from seeds to save money, so consider adding seeds to your mix. More gardeners are also interested in watering less, so drought-resistant plants or desert dwellers can be good additions to your offerings.

One area of the industry that hasn’t bounced back yet is residential lawn and landscape services. The amount consumers spent to hire lawn/ landscape maintenance, landscape installation/construction, landscape design, and tree care services declined by 44 percent from $44.7 billion in 2006 to $24.9 billion in 2009, according to the survey. It remains to be seen if this is a long-term trend, or if consumers will renew spending on these areas when they have more discretionary income.

Image Courtesy: Karen Axelton

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business | 1 Comment »

Is Your Business Ready to Play the Game?

April 4th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

The latest trend in marketing isn’t just fun and games—although that’s a big part of it. “Gamification,” or the use of games to get consumers to spend more time with your products or on your website, is becoming a popular way to attract and keep customers, The Los Angeles Times reports.

If you’ve ever “checked in” to a location using Foursquare, you know what I’m talking about. Companies are using tactics from video games, such as giving users prizes, points or virtual “badges,” to entice them to spend more time on the company’s website or otherwise interact with the company for a longer period.

Using games to motivate customers has a long history in business, with green stamps, VIP clubs and rewards programs being just a few examples. But now gamification is moving into the virtual world.

How are companies using gamification? Among the examples cited by The Times:

  • SAP Labs, a business software maker, uses games to reward users who contribute to its SAP Community Networks forum. Developers who answer questions or post articles to the forum are rated by other community users based on how useful their articles or information was. If they get good ratings, they receive points.
  • San Francisco online clothing retailer ModCloth uses a game called Be the Buyer to engage customers. Users can look at sample garments and vote on whether the item should be sold on the site or not. Items that get enough votes get manufactured; those that don’t are not.

What does it take to make gamification work? There needs to be some reward attached to the game, and it needs to be one that users care about. In the examples above, SAP contributors often promote their points scores to highlight their tech expertise, with some even including them on their resumes. At ModCloth, the company says products voted into being by consumers typically sell out, so the product is its own reward for users.

What are some common gamification mistakes companies make? First, it’s possible to make gaming too obvious. If users feel like they’re being manipulated or jumping through hoops, they’re likely to become resentful and stop playing. Second, the game needs to have a meaningful reward. For instance, in Foursquare users don’t just get virtual badges—there is typically also a real-world reward, like discounts or free items. Third, the tasks users must perform to get the reward need to be enjoyable in themselves. Game experts say there’s a name for repetitive, boring tasks in games: “the grind.”

If you can conquer all three of these factors and create a game that’s meaningful, fun and motivates users to do what you want them to do without being obvious about it, you just might win the real prize: more customers and more sales.

Image Courtesy Flickr User Sam Howzit (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Marketing, sales process, Small Business, Social Media, Technology | 2 Comments »

Closing a Sale: Get What You Want in 7 Minutes

April 1st, 2011 ::

ClockBecause I am a marketing writer, a lot of prospective clients are somewhat skeptical that they need me.  Oh, I can write a white paper myself.  I am not paying someone to blog for my company.  I can write my own website content just fine, thankyouverymuch. The problem, though, is that most people can’t write, either because they are literally god-awful writers, or they lack time, or they lack the expertise to do it properly.  But because they are convinced they don’t need me, I often face a rather uphill battle to close a sale.

Though I rarely give sales presentations, when I stumbled upon this blog post that appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum blog, I saved it.  In the blog post, marketing strategist Ivana Taylor provides a simple formula that can help you close a sale in 7 minutes or less.

Minute One

Open your presentation by laying out the problem: Sales are falling, marketing programs aren’t working, customers aren’t spending as much, the rising price of oil is affecting our margins, etc.  This serves to get everyone on the same page; it should be no more than two or three sentences.

Minutes One – Three

Back up your opening statements with straightforward data, charts and graphs that the audience doesn’t have to analyze. For instance, title each graph with the information you want your audience to be left with: “20% Drop in Sales During Q1” instead of “Sales During Q1.” Obviously, you want to keep it brief.

Minutes Three – Five

After hearing all the bad news, your audience needs solutions.  They will, therefore, be eager to hear your ideas.  Present them in a tangible, visible way with props or demonstrations to engage and get buy-in.

Minute Five – Six

At this point, your audience will want to know what’s in it for them.  Clearly describe the benefits of your solution, and use lots of adjectives to illustrate how great the solution is.

Minute Six – Seven

Now that your audience is excited about your solution, explain what the next steps are.  Assign people tasks, present them with a timeline, and if there are forms to be signed, get signatures before everyone scurries off to their next meeting.

Image by Flickr user Earls37a (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Sales Process | No Comments »

Start a Networking Event—Especially if You Hate Networking

March 9th, 2011 ::

wine glasses Though this advice may seem counter-intuitive, if you hate networking events, start one.

Starting your own event will greatly expand your marketing reach, especially as word-of-mouth spreads and past attendees bring new ones.   In time, you should be able to cut down on the number of events you attend—maybe all the way down to zero.

While it is preferable to start an event with someone else to leverage both of your contact lists (and to have someone help shoulder the burden), it is not necessary.

There are many factors to consider when starting an event.  Here’s a basic list to get you going:

1. Timing

Monthly or quarterly. If you hold your event less than quarterly, no one will take it seriously.

Day or evening. You can have a breakfast, lunch or happy hour event, though of the many people I know, they prefer either breakfast or after work/happy hour.  Mid-day events just break up the work day too much.

Day of the week. Monday and Friday events are rare, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Because so few events are held those days, you are more likely to get people’s attention.  However, because of long weekends—either due to holidays or vacation—people might not be around.

2. Cost

Free. My favorite event is free, and it draws a fun, high-quality crowd.

Cover. Even if you are not serving a meal, you can still charge just to attend.  Many Chambers of Commerce do this, though they serve free wine and appetizers donated by a member company.

Meal. If your event will include a meal, it’s OK to mark it up to earn a little cashola.

3. Location

Hotel.  From the Ritz-Carlton to a Hyatt to a B&B, I’ve been to, or know of, events held at a full range of accommodations.  I would just avoid the budget hotels.

Restaurant.  Restaurants usually will offer drink specials, free appetizers and/or a raffle prize.

Bar. Hold your event at a bar, and you will attract a really fun crowd.  Is it any wonder my favorite events are held in the bars of restaurants?

Country club. Sounds tony, doesn’t have to be.

4. Invite List

Exclusivity. Will your invitation be open to everyone, or will it be by invitation only?

Industries. You can invite people from all industries, or stick to a specific one, like marketing/PR/advertising, technology startups, IT, government contractors, nonprofits, etc.

Job level/position. I know of some events that are for C-level or women-owned businesses only.

5. Marketing

E-newsletter.  Send out an e-newsletter two or three weeks before the event to remind people why they should come, what they can expect, where it’s held, what time it begins, and how much it costs or if they need to register.  If you feature a speaker, are expecting a special guest or will hold a raffle, mention that as well.  Send out reminders one week and one day before the event.

Social media. You can also push out information and reminders on Facebook and Twitter.

Registration.  If you are charging for the event, you will need to offer a way to pay.  All of the event organizers I know use EventBrite.

6. Event Organization

There are so many things you can include or exclude from your event.  Here’s a partial list:

  • Check-in
  • Name tags
  • Prizes
  • Speakers
  • Fundraising for a local charity

Image by Flickr user Quinn Dombrowski (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Branding, Business Development, Marketing, Small Business | 1 Comment »

Want to Increase Sales? Give Lead Scoring a Try

March 7th, 2011 ::

Baseball scoreboardIf you’re spending a lot of time nurturing potential customers whether or not they are ready to buy, ranking leads could help you determine who is ready to buy, who is still in the decision-making process, and who is just looking around out of curiosity.

Ranking leads is officially called lead scoring, and though it’s a sales and marketing methodology that is commonly used by large companies to determine the sales-readiness of leads, the basics of lead scoring are applicable to small companies, too.  Lead scoring will help you learn how interested someone is in your business, if they fall within your target market, and what content they need in order to make the decision to become a customer. In other words, it will make your lead nurturing process more organized and targeted so you can spend more time on leads that matter.

Marketo published an excellent and really useful eBook on lead scoring that contains best practices and lots of worksheets to get you started.  Here are the basics, which I adjusted for small businesses that do not have a large sales team:

1. Gather information

Look through your list of potential customers (which should be in a customer relationship management, or CRM, program, and not on a spreadsheet, piece of paper, or, worse, in your head).  Look at:

  • Past deals and current opportunities
  • Online activity log: What pages did prospects visit, and where did they come from (search engines, other websites, etc.)?
  • Previous contact: Have you spoken or emailed in the past?  Did a past marketing or promotional campaign catch their attention?

2. Determine your ideal target

Now you’ll score leads based on the information they share with you and their online behavior.

Explicit scoring is based on the information shared by the potential client, usually in a form they fill out.  It includes demographic and firmographic information like job title, industry, company size, and annual revenue.

Implicit scoring consists of tracking their online behavior, such as downloading white papers or eBooks, subscribing to your blog, filling out a form, etc, to measure their level of interest in your products or solutions.

3. Establish a lead methodology

Assign points to each piece of information and behavior.  You can also just use letter grades or the terms “hot,” “warm,” and “cold”—whatever works best for you.  Then determine the score that will indicate a “sales-ready” lead.

Image by Flickr user BOLTandK2 (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Sales Process | No Comments »

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