Successful Blog

Revenue is the Small Business Livesaver

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By Elaine Love

The facts are set in concrete; at this point it is wet concrete or perhaps quicksand because it can change. As it stands now income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes and employee health care benefit expenses are all increasing. With these indisputable facts in mind, what is the small business owner to do?

If you are like me, you concentrate on increasing your market share and your sales volume within your current market share.

Analysis, not Paralysis Wins

Think like your customer. If you were in your customer’s business, what would you like to have? Ask yourself honestly if you are delivering that ideal product or service. If the answer is regretfully ‘no,’ then what do you need to change to make it a ‘yes?’

GM suffered a devastating bankruptcy in 2009. Just two years later, they reported a record profit. With the announcement recently of a totally redesigned and improved Corvette, they are demonstrating their commitment to improved quality going forward. Even though the Corvette represents a miniscule portion of GM sales in comparison to its truck line, it demonstrates the resurgence of quality. The Corvette is the first vehicle to be launched since the bankruptcy. The customer demanded better quality and GM is responding.

What does your customer want? What are you delivering? If there is one place to cut corners, it has been proven throughout history that it is NOT in product quality, customer service or effective marketing.

Market Growth Sectors

When you started your business, you researched what was currently available in the marketplace, what you could improve on the existing offerings and what unfilled niche remained. Go back to basics and do exactly the same research all over again.

Market research studies, interviews of your customers and intelligent observations pinpoint areas in which you can improve your current product or service and add additional products or services to fill niches. Sometimes you need to create the niche by informing them of a benefit they had not fully realized they needed.

Remember Apple’s introduction of the first iPhone? Steve Jobs presented the advantages of the iPhone before the marketplace even knew they needed those features combined.

Sales Revenue

Once the areas to improve and expand are identified, take action. Make the improvements and launch to fill the niche. Keeping capital liquid allows small business owners the ability to capitalize on marketing opportunities.

Small businesses can react very quickly to sales opportunities. An unexpected but delightful powder dump (several inches of light fluffy snowfall for the non-ski informed) is an excellent opportunity to push the word out to get to Steamboat Ski Resort quickly. Take advantage of a last second deal with the airlines to offer an incredibly low rate for Valentines, ‘take your sweetheart for a spring ski trip’ deal on airfare and lodging. Search for new marketing opportunities and capitalize immediately.

Don’™t Get Ready –“ Stay Ready

If you have your postcard campaign ready to launch, call your printer and issue instructions to print and mail the campaign. Blast the offer out to the social media network; ‘the postcard is coming. Present the postcard for an extra deep discount or special bonus.’

Create a new brochure for the newly discovered market niche using brochure design templates. Create a sales campaign to highlight the benefit your product or service offers to fill the market niche, why you are the best one to offer that benefit and a compelling reason to contact you immediately for more information. When you create an impressive marketing piece and produce it through the services of a top quality printing company (for example, check out PrintPlace.com), you are proud to present your marketing materials to your sales force and the marketplace.

Consistent Brand Recognition

Expand upon the highlights of your new brochure and create booklets as additional distribution pieces. Duplicate the elements of your brochure and booklet into your website. Providing a consistent high quality image creates brand recognition. Customers need to see a consistent company image multiple times. They see your company online, see you in social media and hold your brochure in their hand; this repeated consistent image solidifies your brand in their mind and paves the way for a buying decision.

Combining high quality printed marketing materials with your online presence captures the marketplace.

Action Steps

Keep your money liquid and be ready to pounce on marketing opportunities. The best way to mitigate increased expenses is to increase revenue. Increase revenue through delivering superior products and services which fill market niches and high quality marketing to distribute your message to the marketplace. Increasing revenue is the small business owner’s lifesaver.

What is your strategy for growing revenue this year?

Author’s Bio: At home in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Elaine Love writes about small business and the mindset for success so essential for an entrepreneur. She is the author of Emotional Ice Water. Find her on Twitter @elainelove44 or Elaine4Success.com

Are Business Cards a Necessity in Today’s Business World?

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By Deb Bixler

Do we still need to have printed business cards in the digital age?

It is a question worth answering as business cards cost money. With work at home business consultants tightening their financial belts, is the cost of printing business cards still a legitimate and necessary expense for a direct sales business?

The answer to this question is an emphatic “Yes!”

Why Business Cards Are Still A Necessity

Most everyone owns a smartphone and many people have simple apps that allow for the easy storage of contact information. However, not everyone has a smartphone and many people do not know how to correctly use their phones to store and retrieve information beyond a phone number. Business cards often contain different pieces of information. Phone numbers, a fax number, a business description, an email address, a physical address and other pertinent pieces of information are often printed on business cards.

Entering all this information into a smartphone takes more time than most people are willing to invest when they meet a new business contact. Handing a business card to someone is fast and painless.

Though we are gradually becoming a paperless society, people still want to hold on to our paper-oriented world. Until a completely digital generation has replaced the old school paper addicts, business cards will remain an important part of networking and business meetings. If someone asks for a business card, you do not want to be the one person to reply, “I don’t have one.” Not having a business card lessens your credibility and reduces the chance that you will make a rewarding business contact.

People still look through their snail mail and they still notice business cards sitting on their desks or tucked into their wallets. This is not likely to change for at least a generation. Without a business card, you will be the one left behind when trying to promote your business or service.

How to Make Your Business Card Stand Out From the Crowd

business cardThere is no denying that business cards kill trees and it is important to make sure that forests are not destroyed in vain.

Make your business card stand out from the crowd and serve as a dynamic and beneficial marketing tool.

Business cards should be printed on paper that has a nice feel and look.

The paper should be a bit thicker than normal with some texture.

The color should stand out and be pleasing to the eye. Both sides of the card should be used, though the majority of information should be on the front side.

Since cards no longer have to fit into a Rolodex, experimenting with different sizes and shapes can be a great way to stand out from the crowd.

The direct sales business is highly competitive and business owners need to use every tool available to attract and keep more clients.

Though business cards may someday become a thing of the past, they are still a relevant and beneficial tool for business owners. Until our society is completely paperless, business cards are a necessity in the business world.

Author’s Bio:
Deb Bixler retired from the corporate world using the proven business systems that made her a success working for others by incorporating them into her home business. In only 9 months Deb replaced her full time income with the sales and commissions from her home party plan business. Find her on Twitter at: http://www.Twitter.com/debbixler

Time for a Tune-Up: 8 Simple Updates to do Today

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by Rosemary O’Neill

Social profiles have gotten a lot of tweaking in the past year.  Have you kept up with all of the updates?

Today’s the day to roll up your sleeves and get it done.

Here’s a handy cheat sheet:

1. Twitter header

A few months ago, Twitter started including a photo header at the top of your profile.  It should be a graphic 1252 pixels wide by 626 pixels tall, maximum size of 5MB.  You can easily change it by going to your Twitter profile settings page.  Here are the details straight from Twitter: https://support.twitter.com/articles/127871.

2. LinkedIn company page header

Not to be outdone, LinkedIn now allows you to have a profile header for your company page.  The graphic should be a .png, .jpg, or .gif no more than 2MB.  Size recommended is 646 pixels wide by 220 pixels tall or larger (you can crop on the page). Here’s a handy video on setting up a company page: http://youtu.be/WiTQL_M_fv0.

3. Facebook cover photo

You should already have this one nailed, but just in case…your Facebook cover photo should ideally be 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall, and under 100KB (for fastest load time).  Here are Facebook’s recommendations: http://www.facebook.com/help/125379114252045/.  Remember that Facebook frowns on calls to action or overtly promotional content within the cover image.  It’s intended to be a compelling photo or graphic, not a banner ad.

4. Pinterest business pages

Your favorite slack-time hangout just put on a business suit. If your business is suited to graphic imagery, or you want to flex your creative juices, you might want to create a business account (or convert your existing personal account, if you’ve been using it to support your business). Learn all of the details from the Pinterest announcement: http://blog.pinterest.com/post/35710687813/new-tools-for-businesses-in-the-pinterest-community.

5. Your own site needs some tweaks

When is the last time you spiffed up your own blog or home page? Do you have a widget on there from last year’s conference? Take 10 minutes and look at your own site with a newcomer’s eye, or have a friend look — a refresh might end the year on a high note.

6. Update your avatar

I’ll step forward and say “guilty” on this one.  My avatar is from a favorite photo that was taken 7 years ago.  Ouch.  It’s time to cowboy up and get a new picture taken.  How old is your avatar?

7. Forum signatures

If you participate in online communities around the web, you probably have customized forum signatures in some of them. Usually these are appended to the end of your posts, and include a favorite motto, sometimes a link to your site, or your bio information. These can get totally forgotten in the day to day hustle. Take a moment today and fix the broken links, update your job title, or breathe some new life into your forum signatures.

8. Stop procrastinating on Google+

I know, it involves “code” and it seems really tricky (it sortof is).  Many posts have been written about how to implement the author tag for Google+, but the best one I found (and the one that actually worked for me) was this step-by-step from Social Media Examiner: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-author-tags/.  Do this one today.

If you systematically go through and complete these 8 minor tasks, you’ll get a bounce into the new year with a fresh face to the world.

A 5 Point Plan to Differentiate Your New Business

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Jacob E. Dawson

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Building a new business is challenging, frustrating, exhilarating and rewarding. If you’re embarking on the journey of entrepreneurship, it will be the hardest yet most satisfying adventure you can imagine. You will have a million things to take care of on a daily basis, and a seemingly endless check-list of tasks you need to undertake in order to reach the success you’re striving for. In addition to discovering your customer’s pain-points and creating a great product to satisfy their needs, you’ll also need to take care of the books, understand the legal requirements and make sure you can keep your head above water as you approach profitability.

A 5 Point Plan to Differentiate Your New Business

If that seems overwhelming, you can take a deep breath and relax. There are plenty of valuable guides for new business owners. in order to give you a helping hand, which is why we’ve put together a 5-point plan to help you differentiate yourself from competitors once you’ve entered the market with a new product.

  1. Embrace Your SmallnessEveryone has dreams of building a giant business that experiences hockey-stick growth and explodes onto the market. That’s fine, but one of the best ways to turn a weakness into a strength is to embrace it. Acknowledge the small size of your business in the early days and use it to your advantage. People love to root for the underdog, and will often support you and your business more eagerly than they would a larger, more established company.
  2. Pour Your Personality into the BrandIn addition to embracing your small size, you can also help to build a strong customer relationship by pouring a lot of your own personality into the business. Large corporations are renowned for feeling faceless in their customer communications, and this is a huge point of differentiation that you can use to your advantage. You can cleverly insert quirks and idiosyncrasies into your brand character, helping your business to feel unique, friendly and approachable.
  3. Encourage One-On-One ConversationsWhen you are establishing your new business in the marketplace, marketing and promotion are some of the most difficult parts to get right, especially when you have a very limited budget to work with. There are, however, a few ways to maximise what you have by utilizing the power of word-of-mouth, by finding your most passionate customers and lavishing them with attention. When you invite them into your world, share your business’s journey and give them access to unique insights & offers, you can turn a customer into an evangelist – someone who will passionately share your business with the world – maximizing your valuable marketing dollars in the process.
  4. Show Yourself as a ‘Hands-On’ ExpertIf you can’t compete with larger businesses pound-for-pound, you have to find other ways to outdo them. One of the best ways to do this is to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Write informative blog posts and ‘how-tos’, start finding forums and seminars that you can speak at, seek out public-relations opportunities where you can show your expertise through the media. Before long your customers will see you as an expert in your field, strengthening your business reputation, and enabling you to compete with larger, less hands-on competitors.
  5. Tell Your Personal StoryYou know that starting a business is one of the hardest journey’s that you can embark on, so why don’t you share the challenges you encounter with your customers? When they know much effort you put into offering them the best products and services possible they will become more attached to your brand and feel much more invested in your future success. Let them see the ups-and-downs and your willingness to share will be repaid with stronger customer relationships and, eventually, a successful business.

I hope that this 5 Point Plan to Differentiate Your Business has given you some ideas and inspiration to help you to sharpen your new business and begin your journey towards success! What are your thoughts about these techniques, and which ones do you think that I’ve missed? Do you have any personal experience that you can share with us? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Author’s Bio:
Jacob E. Dawson writes for Delivery Hero, the best way to find local home delivery . Jacob E. Dawson is an entrepreneur, marketing and SEO / SEM expert with a passion for making the most of every day! You can follow him on Twitter as @jacobeddawson

 

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

Blog Branding versus Blog Marketing

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Blogging is all about being personal.

It may sound too simple that anyone will understand it not more than a personal online diary. Hence, let me just explain a little bit for you to understand from another perspective.

I may not be the expert to give you an educational answer about branding and marketing. But in my opinion, if anyone can understand the difference between branding and marketing, that person will definitely understand the true meaning of being personal.

Both marketing and branding have different goals. Let me just explain to you in my own understanding after working for a while in the society.

What is blog marketing?

Marketing aims to effect an eventual sales transaction. Hence, it gives the person an instant gratification as he/she tries to tell the world who he or she is. It is very similar to a person who is devoting himself/herself to be extremely sales-driven. He or she will go out there to tell the world through Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, LinkedIn or any other social media that he/she can reach.

What is blog branding?

Branding aims to communicate by means of “impressing” what this blogger stands for. It is not so much about looking out for maximum exposure. But rather, it leaves an impression to anyone who notices him/her.

This blogger will usually focus a lot on building quality contents, beautifying his or her blog design, and making sure that everybody perceives him/her as who he or she really “is.” Isn’t blog branding about “being personal”?

Marketing versus branding

Some experts believe that perception is everything. Branding — which shapes perception — leads everything!

Some believe that marketing is the key to business viability, especially when it involves product development, market development, channel development, sales force management, etc. Thus, it is more directly impacting revenue.

Both marketing and branding aim to affect higher profitability. In general, marketing has a wider effect but lesser depth (volume, sales, etc). Branding on the other hand usually tries to enable clients to pay a “premium.”

Mix and match your marketing and branding

Both are really important in its own way. While marketing is pretty straight-forward and is more like a how-to strategy, I wish to emphasize on this phrase “blogging is all about being personal.”

Author’s Bio: This post was written by Charles. He has been an Internet reviewer since June 2007. He pours his passion for Internet marketing and Internet branding into his Twitter account actively at @charleslau.

Make It Happen

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Susan Bulkeley Butler

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CEO of Me, Inc.

Early in my career at Accenture, I didn’t get promoted when I thought I should have. I didn’t have the necessary skills to perform as a consulting manager. This prompted me — with the help of my mentor — to realize the following: I needed to undertake the responsibilities of the position I wanted before I could be promoted to it. I had to take responsibility for myself … I needed to figure out who I wanted to be and how to make it happen. Ultimately, I became the CEO of Me, Inc. This professional epiphany opened the door to a promotion as Senior Executive, the Office Managing Partner of Accenture’s Philadelphia office and the Managing Partner of the Office of the CEO at Accenture.

Changing roles in the workplace isn’t always easy, but I facilitated my new roles through my Make-it-Happen (MIH) Model, which consists of four easy-to-follow steps:

1. Set a clear vision

Just like the CEO of a corporation has a vision for their company, you need to have a vision for your company (You, Inc.). Take a moment to think about your future. What are you doing in five years? For example: “I am a partner at Accenture, in the Government Services practice, and my team just won a contract with the Department of Defense to implement a new human resources system.” Send an e-mail to someone, describing what you wish to be doing, and date it five years from today. By doing this, you’re talking with others about your aspirations and you’re committing to make it happen.

2. Build a team that supports you

You know what they say: two heads are better than one. Your team will serve as the Board of Directors of You, Inc. They will help you gather the necessary resources for you to achieve your vision. Your team should include people who: you admire, will open doors for you, and will recommend you for the opportunities you need to gain valuable experience. These people can be experts, mentors, advocates, executive coaches, stakeholders, etc. When I was at Accenture, my team included my peers, my clients, people I admired, and people who were in positions that I aspired to have (in addition to others in senior positions).

3. Develop a detailed plan

What do you need to do to obtain the promotion you want and how will you do it? What kinds of skills, experience, and knowledge are required to achieve your vision? Think of your plan as a roadmap or a GPS. You’d never leave for a long road trip without one of these, right? Developing a detailed plan will get you from where you are to where you want to be. Be clear, be concise, and set goals with dates. This way, you’ll always know where you are and what you need to do next.

4. Navigate the journey

Once you have your vision, your team, and your plan set in place, it’s time to put You, Inc. into motion. Be aware of your product and its packaging. You should also be aware of how you’re presenting and marketing You, Inc. As you navigate through your journey, monitor what’s going on around you. Which parts of your plan are successful? How about the parts that didn’t work out quite as you planned? Learn from any possible mistakes and move on. Look back at your original plan and make adjustments as needed. I proactively change my plan every 3-5 years. My end goal is to make myself indispensable. As the strategy of your organization changes, you need to change to be indispensable.

Ultimately, to make change happen, you must embrace these four steps and proactively seek opportunities for yourself. As I always say: make things happen for you, don’t just let them happen to you. Take responsibility for yourself. If you do this, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals and becoming the CEO of You, Inc.

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Author’s Bio: Susan Bulkeley Butler is the founder and CEO of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women Leaders. Susan is also author of “Become the CEO of You, Inc.: A Pioneering Executive Shares Her Secrets for Career Success” (the Revised and Expanded Second Edition was published in May 2012) and “Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World” (). You can find her on Twitter at @SusanBButler.

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!