Three Big Barriers To Small Business Marketing Success
June 22, 2007
When you feel like you’re always busy working on your business, but not getting where you want to go, it can be frustrating trying to figure out how to get your marketing on track. It can easily become a "not seeing the forest for the trees" feeling.
Here are three big barriers I regularly come across with business owners and how you can avoid them.
1. No Clear Definition Of SuccessFor some, the word Success brings thoughts of fame and fortune to mind. But for small businesses, I’d caution against this definition being your guiding light. When clarifying your own definition of success, I suggest starting with success from your client’s point of view.
What is it that you are trying to do for your clients? What is it that they’ll have or be able to do as a result of buying your service from you? Match this up with what you are passionate about. What is it that you love doing for your clients? I’ll know I’m successful when my clients no longer have to struggle with how to consistently attract more business.
Heres A Robust, Turnkey, Interactive. Best of Breed, Mission-Critical Solution to Kill Buzzwords
June 21, 2007
Fellow Publicity Insiders, what does this phrase mean?
“We envision a center of excellence where our accelerated changeagents can maximize their core competencies.”
Huh? - or - “The company is a global leader in pressure-sensitivetechnology and innovative self-adhesive solutions for consumerproducts and label materials.”
Clue: they make stickers.
Pity the poor reporters who have to dig through this pile ofdrivel to find a news story. Free help is here. Bullfighter, anaptly-named software program from Deloitte Consulting, works likea spelling checker program to spot questionable words and phrasesin Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents. Bullfighter can bedownloaded at:
http://www.dc.com/insights/bullfighter/
For a humorous & irreverent look at buzzword bashing thatincludes real-life, buzz-laden press releases and pitch letters,go to:
http://www.buzzkiller.net/default.htm
Have a seamless, win-win day!
Bill Stoller, the “Publicity Insider”, has spent two decades asone of America’s top publicists. Now, through his website, eZineand subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter forPR-Hungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp he’s sharing — for the very first time — his secrets of scoringbig publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips andmuch, much more, visit Bill’s exclusive new site:http://www.PublicityInsider.com
7 AAA Ways To Succeed!
June 20, 2007
[Abounding Abundant Ample Ways To Boost Your Growth!]
This may come as a surprise but there are reliable,effective and powerful ways to improve your ability to learnnew things.
If you will allow me to use leadership skills training asour example, you will see how poor learning forces us tosuffer through any one or more of the following problems:
- leadership training programs usually cost serious money -in fact, some programs are outrageously expensive
- leadership training programs last for a very short time -quite a few of them run for only one or two days
- many leadership training programs fail to give studentsways to confidently resolve problem situations or meet andovercome their daily challenges
- less than 1% of all leadership training programs combinecoaching and mentoring follow-ups with classroom lessons
- most leadership training programs like to do ‘raw datadumps’- the vast majority of them do NOT give you chances to’blend’ your learning experiences with supervised support orpractical feedback
In this article you will discover how to find, use and takeadvantage of every kind of performance improvement learningopportunity you encounter.
You will be able to employ your new knowledge, skills andcompetences in highly flexible, more creative and valuableways.
How to Survive and Thrive Your Business Online
June 19, 2007
How to Survive and Thrive Your Business Online
by: Wendy Suto
Success in a company is not about having the best technology or being the smartest or even about having the best customer service (although none of these could hurt). More than ever, success is now measured in speed. Today it is about thriving in an ever-evolving world where everything changes so rapidly - and that applies to any business. Today is a world surrounded by buyers who want it now, want perfection and impeccable service.
In order to succeed online, your business needs to be organized and able to handle the increased business your web site is going to generate. Here are some guidelines for running a business of speed and complete service.
1. Run your business of speed.
It’s a new phenomenon called Internet time; it’s a 24/7 kind of world today. This means if you’re business is not moving ahead 24 hours a day 7 days a week, your business is falling deeply behind. Internet time means not only doing business quickly but doing it anytime the customer wants and for as long as the customer wants it done. This I what the customers demand, and what every company doing business online needs to offer. The end result is a business that is always working, always aware of potential business, one that is always one call, email or fax away from their clients.
Selling Abilities - Part 1
June 19, 2007
Selling "-abilities": Reliability
(Part 1 of 4)
Most salespeople love to talk about their "-abilities": Reliability, Upgradeability, Compatibility and Expandability. Salespeople feel stronger and more confident when they can use their ‘abilities’ to convince the customer to make a buying decision. But what happens when the customer still doesn’t buy? What happens when you keep repeating your abilities but get no response or pulse from the customer? Many salespeople overuse their company’s abilities. Repetition or sounding like everyone else has the affect of dulling a customer’s buying senses. So, how do you sell ‘abilities’ effectively? Lets start with reliability in this first of four articles.
Selling ReliabilityIn any selling situation whether product or service, mostly the former, the term reliability is bound to be raised as a point of contention or objection. Twenty years ago reliability was much more of an issue then it is today when it came to hardware sales. Today, with the improvement of semiconductor electronics, the consolidation of component on chips or boards and the reduced dependence on moveable parts (e.g., mechanical v. electronics), reliability is less of an issue when it comes to hardware. Reliability as it applies to selling software on the other hand is another animal altogether. As programs have gotten more robust, requiring millions of lines of codes, they’ve become more susceptible to ‘bugs’ and operating system errors.
Is Your Company in Need of Family Therapy?
June 18, 2007
How Companies Are Like Families
Like a family, a company is a group of people who have an ongoing relationship with one another. Companies have several things in common with families:
1. Families have distinct ways of communicating and degrees of togetherness. For example:
? Communication may be overt or covert.
? Relationships tend to be enmeshed (too close; overly involved) or disengaged (not at all close; uninvolved).
? Boundaries may be described as diffuse (extreme togetherness), rigid (extreme separateness), or clear (ideal and appropriate).
2. There are unwritten rules which family members or employees must follow in order to survive and thrive in the system. For example, in an organization, the rules might be:
? Never call the boss by her first name.
? Always be at your desk by 8:00 A.M.
? Never eat lunch with a person of lower status.
? Don’t place any personal items on your desk or credenza.
3. Unresolved issues from the past have an effect on current functioning and communication patterns.
For example: After an emotional event such as a major strike, employees need time to process their feelings. Family therapy following a disruptive event like this would heal such wounds much more quickly.
Postcards: Awareness Tool or Selling Tool?
June 17, 2007
Are postcards better for building awareness or for selling?In my opinion, the answer to the above question is, “They can do both jobs. It depends on what type of business you’re in.”My own perspective is that of the Web and graphic designer who must distinguish herself from the hordes of other designers out there. I do this by keeping my name in front of my clients and prospects with postcards. Over the years, this approach has brought me quite a bit of repeat business from my longtime clientele, and new business from the prospects on my list.Since many businesses do nothing to stay in touch with their market, and spend their precious time and resources chasing after new customers, I think that the awareness approach has merit. After all, it costs six times less to sell to an existing customer than it does to sell to a new customer. This has been proven through numerous studies.Now, let’s move on to the selling approach. Let’s say you’re new in town, and, by golly, you need some clients pronto-pronto. Which means that you’re not going to send out postcards to build awareness. Rather, you’re going to send something that gets new clients ringing your phone and setting up appointments where you sell your design services.In short, different strokes for different folks. And postcards are versatile enough to serve ‘em all.
Martha Retallick, “The Passionate Postcarder,” hails from Tucson, Arizona, USA. She is the author of Postcard Marketing Secrets, a downloadable PDF manual that will show you how to put postcards to work for your business?profitably. Learn more about it at:http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com
What Turns Potential Employers ON; What Turns Them OFF?
June 16, 2007
According to an annual survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, these are the most important qualities that employers are looking for in a job candidate, in priority order:
(1) Communication skills;
(2) Honesty/integrity;
(3) Teamwork skills;
(4) Interpersonal skills;
(5) A strong work ethic.
Be sure to highlight those skills in your resume, during your interview, and in your thank-you letter.
That same survey discovered the number-one thing that can turn potential employers off — a job candidate’s appearance! Specifically, they cited unusual hair color or style, body piercings, tattoos, and unusual clothing as things that most often gave a bad first impression.
What you think is “cool” may be the “hot” ticket to the reject list! So keep your need to express yourself under wraps during the interview, and you’ll have a better shot at getting the job.
Bonnie Lowe is author of the popular Job Interview Success System and free information-packed ezine, “Career-Life Times.” Find those and other powerful career-building resources and tips at her website: http://www.best-interview-strategies.com.
Guide On How To Start Work From Home Business
June 15, 2007
Guide On How To Start Work From Home Business
by: Chintan Soni
In all the professions I had before, I started working from home; I was not contributing in any huge, or lasting, mode to the globe. I was basically doing my work, carrying out tasks, in an attempt to make somebody else extra money. Since I was not in a sales situation, my earnings did not change according to how much money I made (or set aside) for the business. It didn’t trouble me to a large extent that my job was making my company rich - what worried me the most was that I was not contributing much to my society or assisting any person in any means. What if, I thought, what I did for a livelihood could straightforwardly have an effect on somebody’s existence for the better?
This was my state of mind when I made a decision to begin a home based business.
Measuring the Return on Your Direct Mail Investment
June 14, 2007
In direct mail lore, there’s a rule stating that you can measure the success of your efforts by a minimum response rate of 1-2%. In other words, if you send out 10,000 pieces, you’ll have a successful mailing if at least 100 recipients respond to your offer. (One percent of 10,000 is 100.)That’s one view of direct mailing success. Permit me to offer a different perspective: one from the small business world. Specifically, I’m referring to those small business people who work by and for themselves. Call them “One-Man Bands,” “Working Soloists,” “Free Agents,” or whatever you’d like.To help you remember these two perspectives, let’s give them a couple of catchy names:1. The “Playing the Percentages” Perspective. This is the “industry standard 1-2% response rate on your mailings” perspective you’ve heard so much about. This is the yardstick favored by businesses that are sending large quantities of direct mail to sell mass market products.For example, if I own a pizza parlor, and I’m doing a “use this card for 10% off on your next order” mailing to all residences within a three-mile radius of my business, I might have a mailing list of 10,000 names. You’d better believe that I’m going to watch the overall response rate like a hawk, and I’m going to be looking at precisely where those hungry customers are coming from. If most of them are coming from a handful of apartment complexes next to a college campus, I’ll know to send my future mailings to those complexes. 2. The “You Only Need A Few” Perspective. This is the one for those One-Man (or One-Woman) Bands who are selling services that take a fair amount of time to provide. Like marketing consulting, public relations services, graphic design, or customized computer software applications. For these folks, a handful of new or repeat clients from a promotional mailing is quite enough. After all, as the owner of a one-woman graphic design studio told me once, “I don’t want to be a victim of my own [direct mail] success.”
