Successful Blog

Stop trying to be like everyone else – grow your business faster

by

By Brian Morris

A few years ago, two friends started a small business in my hometown. Like so many local entrepreneurs that came before and after, they failed. Within a year of opening their doors, their business was dead. They listened to business advice from the wrong people, people whose own businesses were struggling, people who kept telling them to be patient, and they were forced to shut their doors.

If you’ve ever researched starting your own business, you know that one of the most discouraging bits of information consistently recycled by small business gurus is that it will take two to three years for your business to be profitable. That’s a kick in the teeth to otherwise-motivated entrepreneurs who don’t have three years of income built up – or, most of the living universe.

And it’s hogwash. Look, this is the digital age. You can turn a profit today.

Now, I don’t want to oversimplify the process of building a profitable business, and I’m well aware that start-up costs and overhead for, say, a refrigerated trucking company are vast in comparison to, say, a graphic design firm. But the reason I think it takes so many entrepreneurs so long to turn a profit is that they’re trying to be like everyone else.

It all comes down to marketing. You see what the successful businesses are doing, and you try to do it, too. There are three ways people market in my hometown, which boasts a population of around 8,000 people: television, radio and newspaper.

To that I say: expensive, ineffective and wasted effort, respectively. It’s literally been years since I’ve received a direct-mail postcard from a local company, despite the fact that I get postcards every day from national brands. And door hangers? Please…

No one hosts publicity stunts. No one markets effectively on the web. No one posts massive vinyl banners at the busiest intersections, which witness traffic figures easily 10 times the population every single day.

And guess what? Most of our start-ups fail. They blame their failure on so many things: the economy, lack of support for local businesses, the “death” of our downtown, Amazon.com. Few ever blame the real culprits: themselves.

Instead of marketing where everyone else does, try something new. Distribute door hangers door-to-door. Print vinyl banners and place them in high-traffic areas. Brainstorm a fun and engaging publicity stunt, and get awesome PR for it. These are all cheap. These are all highly effective.

What happened to my two friends? Well, one decided to start another business. He opened an office and began to toil, plying his service using the same failed strategies. His mindset, I think, was that the business wasn’t profitable because two people were one too many to get by on their profits.

The other likewise started another business, but adopted a different, more bold marketing strategy. He walked the city with door hangers, began submitting press releases to the local paper, joined networking groups, volunteered in the community, and always has a nice big banner prominently displayed.

Five years later, the friend who opted to keep going down the path of slow and steady lives in an apartment on the wrong side of town. He works out of his rental unit, the downtown studio long gone. The other has bought a new home in a good neighborhood (and I think he’s got at least $30,000 wrapped up in a new addition) and is well-known, respected, and liked throughout the community. His business, it seems, is thriving.

To the best of my knowledge, both of my friends are capable of producing high-quality work, but only one is willing to do what his competitors will not. You hear NFL players talk about playing with a sense of urgency. My friend worked with a sense of urgency – a do-or-die, now-or-never approach – and grew his business rapidly.

Go guerrilla. Market aggressively and on the cheap. Be a grassroots business. Push for business growth without wasteful marketing efforts.

Be bold, and do what your competitors will not do. Don’t do what failed businesses have tried.

Stop trying to be like everyone else. Don’t fail by taking the well-worn path. Be new, different, better. Grow your business faster.

Author’s Bio: Author’s Bio: Brian Morris writes for the PsPrint Design & Printing Blog. PsPrint is an online commercial printing company. Follow PsPrint on Twitter @PsPrint.

Give your site a pulse with live chat help

by

“A shopkeeper should always have a ready smile”

One of the most impactful changes my company has made in the last couple of years is our addition of live help on the website. It has made a big difference in sales, and I’m convinced that it’s our version of the “ready smile” mentioned in the Chinese proverb.

The cheery greeting “bonjour!” rang out every single time I entered a shop on our trip to France years ago. It didn’t matter if the shopkeeper was in the back, sweeping out front, or behind the counter. It made us feel welcome–and more likely to linger and strike up a conversation.

live chat is a smiling shopkeeper

To power our “ready smile,” we’re using a service called SnapEngage, but there are a lot of other options out there, including LiveEngage, Moxie’s Chat Spaces, and Velaro.

According to a Velaro white paper, “although statistics show that over 66% of all ecommerce shopping carts are abandoned, online customer service (live chat) improves the chance of a purchase by 40%-60%.”

But it’s not really about the technology. It’s about having a person with a ready smile on the other end of the chat. We often get people question the popup box, “are you a robot? or are you a real person?” Our staff is likely to reply with a friendly joke. What better way to make a connection with a visitor than making them smile?

Here’s how to maximize the benefits of live chat on your website:

  • Be selective about where you use the proactive popup. Consider disabling it on pages that show video, or other media that might be interrupted by the popup.
  • Wait a few seconds before it pops up. Let the visitor come all the way in and take a peek before you prompt the chat window.
  • Make sure someone is staffing it. It does take a commitment to staff the live chat; make sure you have internal staff ready to respond if you have the chat window enabled.
  • Train employees to react appropriately to different questions. Incoming questions from visitors can be unpredictable…it can be sales oriented, a customer question, a technical question, or something completely off the wall. Be sure your chat staff is prepared. Does the sales team want an email address collected from prospects? Ensure that message is communicated to those staffing the live chat.
  • Analyze the data (what types of questions, where are they coming from, what browsers are they using, what pages are they lingering on). You’ve got a treasure trove now. Use it to inform your content strategy, your marketing materials, your sales messaging, and perhaps even your product documentation.
  • Define the purpose of the popup (is it customer support, or sales, or both?). Make sure it’s clear to your visitors, and your chat staff is informed.
  • What’s your business personality? Share with your chat staff the tone you want to communicate. Are they free to use smilies? Can they make jokes? We go for a tone of friendly professionalism; often it’s a good idea to follow the lead of the visitor.

A live chat service on your website can be a direct conduit to your visitors’ thoughts.

But perhaps more importantly, it’s a technological version of your “ready smile.”

How do you greet your website visitors?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Why Do Your Meetings Go Nowhere?

by

Surprisingly, office meetings are always long. You hardly ever hear of anyone complaining that the meetings were too short.

Every company has its own culture when it comes to meetings and how they are conducted. The general sentiments surrounding office meetings however make them appear boring and ineffective.

But why should it be this way? Is there an alternative to making meetings productive?

The fact remains that every meeting usually has an agenda that is communicated either before or during the meeting.

What makes meetings seem like they are ‘going nowhere’ has to do with the set up and the premise for which these meetings are held and how the content is passed on.

Below are some reasons behind the failure of company meetings.

Objectives Aren’t Clear

Every meeting started must have clear objectives.

Lack of tangible and well-structured objectives not only wastes time but also confuse the attendees who may be left to guess what the meeting is all about. Be sure of what you are trying to achieve by holding the meeting and bring that objective out clearly.

To help you on this, a pre-meeting review and rehearsal would be appropriate just to ensure that the agenda is in order and the points are well arranged, this enhances and streamlines the objectives of the meetings. Unless you convince yourself, you may not be able to convince the rest of the attendees.

Unregulated Number of Attendees

Before holding any meeting, the number of people to attend these meetings needs to be checked and ascertained.

Not everyone should attend the office meetings. In fact that is one of the reasons that make these meetings fail in making an impact. The more the people attending the meeting, the higher the likelihood that such a meeting will consume so much time compared to the set time limits.

Instead of each person attending the meeting, only a few should be picked and the rest served with a brief summary of the discussions later on.

Time Blown

A meeting is ‘elastic’ in nature; it tends to stretch out to fill whatever time it has been allocated.

Meetings which take longer than necessary tend to eat into the company’s time and still end up being counterproductive. Part of the time allocated will normally be used for conversations that are not even company related or if they are then not on the agenda.

To make such meetings successful, you can reduce the time so that only the relevant things get time to be discussed.

The ‘Latecomer’ Factor

Meetings tend to spend too much time on arrivals. Late arrivals in particular can waste time for the entire group.

The solution to this is to start the meeting on time so that latecomers will find ways to catch up on their own. People will soon shape up and arrive in time because latecomers are embarrassed walking in when others are embroiled in deep discussions. This will save time for the whole group and the meeting will achieve its purpose.

Conducting Sitting Instead Of Stand-Up Meetings

Research shows that stand-up meetings take lesser time that those where people are seated.

This is because stand-up meetings tend to make people less comfortable, meaning decisions are arrived faster, deliberations made in record times and only pertinent issues get airtime. So far these meetings have been ranked among those that are productive and efficient.

Remember time saved in the course of a meeting is always equated to productive time given back to the company.

Discuss more with less time; you will find meetings meaningful and effective.

Photo credit: imlworldwide.com

About the Author: Tina Samuels writes on how to be first on Google, social media, marketing, and other business topics.

Why Facebook Contests Really Do Work!

by

By John Boudreau

Everyone likes to win prizes and contests, especially through social media. These days, you are most likely communicating with your customer online more than you do in person. Has your business taken advantage of this? Not only are contests a great way to community build, but they also help your business show it cares about your audience. According to industry statistics, over 1 billion people are on Facebook. Knowing this, now more than ever is the time to get on board with Facebook contests. However, understanding what it takes to grow your fan base from zero to 700 takes time and patience, as well as a great marketing strategy.

Proven Results

We have seen contests gain traction on Facebook through creative, innovative ideas, which also involve different partnerships. For proven results, here are some examples you can use for inspiration:

Partee Insurance

This California insurance agency runs a game of Hangman every Wednesday from their Facebook page. How do they do this? Throughout the entire day, the staff promotes the contest, and at the end, the winner receives a stuffed cow named Cee Cee the Cow, who is the mascot of Partee Insurance! By conducting this type of contest, the agency has increased their following to well above 800 likes. However, this didn’t happen overnight or from luck. The team works hard to engage their customers on a weekly basis as well as remain creative with the words they select for the game. The consistency of this contest contributed to its success, in addition to the prize being a brand related item, which helped to further promote awareness throughout the community.

Weimer Group

The Weimer Group created strong local partnerships and incorporated those relationships into a contest. During the holiday season, the team set up a 12-week, 12-gift giveaway program, all involving local prizes. In order to run the contest, the agents used an easy promotion application. The first partner promoted was free and then the rest were $15 per promo. In the first week of the campaign, the Group was able to help one partner gain 70 “likes” in only a few days!

Fans had to enter their name, email, and “like” the page of the “partner of the week” in order to win a prize through a raffle drawing. What took the contest to the next level was how the winner was announced. The Weimer Group made personal videos for each winner, explaining exactly what the prize entailed. The dedication and appreciation the agency shows to their local partners and clients reveals how important consistency, promotion, and engagement are to a quality contest.

Rules and Regulations to Follow

So how did these agencies turn ideas into reality? They first had to follow rules and regulations established by Facebook. Failure to abide by these rules when running a contest could cause it to end before it even begins. Some of the terms and conditions are listed below:

  • If you use Facebook to administer a promotion, you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion.
  • If you are not sure if your promotion complies with the laws, seek out help from a professional.
  • Contests must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App.
  • Promotions must include an acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored by or associated with Facebook and disclosure that the participant is providing information to you and not to Facebook.
  • You must not condition entry upon the user liking a Wall post, commenting, or uploading a photo on a Wall. In addition, do not use the Like button as a voting mechanism.

Helpful Apps to Invest In

With so many rules to follow and not a lot of experience, the stress of organizing an event could be heightened. However, to help you remain calm, you can use approved applications. The following includes apps which vary in price and functionality, but all of them make it easier to run a contest and obey the rules:

  • Easypromos (Free)
  • Wildfire (ranges from $25-$250 and $3-$5 per day)
  • Offerpop (cost of this app goes by the number of fans your page has; less than 100 fans, it is free to use)
  • Static HTML (Free)

Put Yourself Out There

With an understanding of the steps to take to run a viable Facebook contest, now you can work on engagement. Your goal should be to get your audience excited and interested in your contest, as well as your business in the process. Here are some tips to help you promote and execute your contest:

  • Offer a unique, enticing prize.
  • Social media is interactive, so your contest must be fun and entertaining. No one wants to participate in a boring game. Some good ideas to start with are photo or video contests.
  • When it comes to creating the rules, make sure they are clear, concise, and simple to follow.
  • Before, during, and after your contest, always promote it. Use all the resources you have at your disposal, including other social media outlets, your website, and blogs. You can also have your employees and partners spread the word.

Setting specific goals for your contest can help you remain true to your mission and business’ values. No matter what kind of prize you offer your customers, the fact that you were able to keep them engaged and energized is the biggest prize of all! Most importantly, have fun with the whole process, because no idea is too out of the box. Your audience will appreciate your efforts to reach out and understand their needs!

Author’s Bio: John Boudreau, COO and Co-Founder of Astonish, has been in the insurance marketing and technology business for nearly 10 years. He works closely with local insurance agencies across the country to understand what works and what doesn’t in an attempt to increase their share of the digital landscape through online marketing tactics and a robust customer relationship marketing tool. For more information on client results, visit Astonish’s list of business profile reviews. Before Astonish, Boudreau honed his problem-solving abilities while working as an environmental analytical chemist. He also founded Ion Marketing Group, a digital marketing company focused on the real estate industry. An avid musician, John plays the drums, the bass and the guitar.

The Twists and Turns on the Road to Publishing

by

By Tiffany Matthews

The road to publishing is never easy. Although the road to becoming a published author has become shorter, writers sometimes have some some issues–including internal ones–that they need to overcome first. You don’t become an author overnight, but if you take action, you can narrow the distance between you and your publishing dream.

Overcoming the Self

Many a writer has felt this lack of confidence or a fear of showing their work to other people. They sometimes feel that their works are too intimate, a too raw reflection of themselves that they are not prepared to expose to the world. This could also be an “ego” thing, with the writer thinking his work is a masterpiece, and so he is unwilling to know the perspectives of other people. This type of closed-mindedness won’t help you grow as a writer. You have to learn how to step out of your comfort zone and learn to listen to insights from trusted fellow writers. If you do want to publish your work and become an author, you have to overcome this internal hurdle and be ready to bare yourself to criticism. It’s true that as wordsmith you may have your own style of writing, but you must also be aware that there is always room for improvement; therefore, you must always strive to continue honing your skills.

Exploring Independent Self-Publishing

The internal hurdles should always be the first ones that writers should overcome. After that, it all gets a little bit easier. When I said that the path to publishing has become shorter, I wasn’t kidding. Traditional publishing is not the only medium for you to become an author. There are many self-publishing companies that can help you accomplish your dream. The simplest and cheapest publishing package would probably provide you with some basic marketing. However, when it comes to specialized marketing like participation in book fairs, it might cost you more. There are ways where you can market your book without having to cost you an arm and leg. But it’s going to take hard work and perseverance.

If you don’t have the capital to invest in self-publishing companies, you can still publish your work at no cost through CreateSpace, a self-publishing service by Amazon. This service allows any writer of all genres from anywhere around the world, regardless of experience, to publish their work for free. It’s fairly easy to get started as long as you follow the steps. You’ll also need 3 things to get started: your manuscript in DOC file; a book cover image which should be in JPG, and a vision of how you want your book to look (this includes the format and the color of the pages). If you don’t have an image for the book cover, you can opt for one of the ready-made templates available. Choose the guided setup in the control panel when setting up your book project so that you can breeze through the process.

An Indie Stepping Stone

Independent publishing is a great way for authors to start out especially when they don’t want to waste time waiting on literary agents or publishers to give the go signal. In fact, many self-published authors’ success have put them in a better position to negotiate traditional publishing deals. But before that stepping stone can materialize, you have to do a lot of heavy lifting first. Not only do you have to take care of editing, you also have to do the brunt of your own marketing. This, however, means that you are in control and you get to call the shots.

When your hard work pays off in sales and a traditional publishing house comes knocking, you now have the ability to negotiate better terms including a bigger chunk of the profits and retaining certain rights to your books, like the ebook version. Before you sign any contract, however, you should read it thoroughly. A lawyer can help you spot loopholes and certain clauses that might not be in your best interest. If you are worried about expensive hourly fees, there are legal services providers like Legal Shield that offer monthly subscriptions at an affordable rate. Never sign anything without consulting legal help so that you can have protection.

Destination: Published Author

There are many routes you can take to become a published author. It doesn’t matter which you choose as long as you keep moving and doing something to accomplish your publishing goals. Waiting won’t get you anywhere. But taking action will take you one step closer to achieving your dream of becoming an author.

Author’s Bio: Based in San Diego California, Tiffany Matthews is a professional writer with over 5 years of writing experience. She also blogs about travel, fashion, and anything under the sun at wordbaristas.com, a group blog that she shares with her good friends. In her free time, she likes to travel, read books, and watch movies. You can find her on Twitter as @TiffyCat87.