Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

Small Business Simplicity: Your New Year’s Challenge

30
Dec
2011

The year is drawing to a close and there is no shortage of great advice floating about the Interwebs or newstands on how to be your very best in the New Year. Personally, it’s easy to get crushed under the overwhelm of all the things we *should* be doing. Sure, we nod in agreement and make vows (silently, outloud and even in writing) that we’ll do better this next year. We’re super-humans, right? Quite the contrary: we can only do so much and what’s more, we can only do so much *really well*, especially when we’re charged with numerous commitments, demands and expectations. In our “gotta be the best” society, is it any wonder the best of intentions are left to ferment sometime around the end of January?

So here’s what I’m proposing for your small business: take it easy and bite off what you can chew fully and nothing more, at least until you’re ready. Be simple in taking on your challenges in the New Year and choose those things that you feel adamant about, those things that will be impact decisions in your business. Have you postponed getting an accountant, thinking you have a handle on your books? Maybe this year is the time to turn your numbers over to people trained and dedicated to handling accounting. Is this the year you finally formalize your brand? Sit down and go over the aspects of this and put a plan to have it done and rolled out by a certain date. Or maybe this is the year you finally embark on the social media journey. Look thoughtfully at what that will take, as well as how you can commit to this kind of marketing for the whole year.

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Small Business Saturday: Tools for Every Day Use

22
Nov
2011

Big props go out to an unlikely source: the Big Fellas at American Express. While we look at them as a deep-pocketed corporation, we prefer to give credit where credit is due: their push for Small Business Saturday is pretty cool and extremely well-organized and thought out. This year, it seems better than ever; take for example the Small Business Saturday Checklist. Don’t you think this thing can be used for marketing efforts all year long? We sure do.

Visit their dedicated website and Facebook Fan Page. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the tips and ideas they’ve assembled for small business owners. Oh and make sure to “Like” the idea by pledging to shop locally.

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Why Auto Follow Apps Suck (Really Though)

29
Sep
2011

RU4 Real Recently we talked about why you should rethink automating your content on your Facebook fan page; the main reason being because it dramatically lowers fan engagement. Now we’re here to tell you about another icky trend we have noticed that hurts more than it helps: automated following. Auto follow apps have become increasingly popular on Twitter. For those of you who are lucky enough to never have run into this, here’s the break down: Auto follow apps are applications that follow every user on a specified list automatically, the users follow you back automatically, and viola! You have thousands of followers to call your own.

So what’s so bad about that? Everybody wants to have a large amount of followers, right? After all, isn’t that often times the first thing you look at when visiting new a Twitter page? It can be very discouraging when you’re working hard to tweet lots of great content and feel like no one is out there to read it. You might even feel embarrassed that your numbers aren’t quite what you were hoping for. We’re here to tell you that despite what you may have heard, automated apps like these are not the solution. Here are 4 reasons that auto follow apps suck (yes, we said it… they SUCK!):

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Say No to Mr. Roboto: Why You Should Rethink Automated Social Media Posts

20
Sep
2011

put your bot in timeoutWe know all too well that small business owners usually have a million things on their plate. You’re likely playing the role of manager, accountant, customer service rep, among other things– and now to top it off you have to add social media to that list. Depending on your company and what social platforms you’re using, you may or may not have quite a bit of content to generate and post everyday. Guess what? There is an easier way to do it that will save you a lot of time in your daily routine. What is the miraculous thing? Automation. But like with anything else, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

There are two types of automated content that we generally see being posted on Facebook. Both can save you time, but both can also work against it when it comes to building a community around your brand.

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3 Dangerous Trends That Can Destroy You and Your Small Business

12
Sep
2011

Does your business own you or is it the other way around? Some business owners we know are working harder than ever, logging more hours, but seemingly never catching up. Others are trying hard to control their businesses, but instead are being controlled by it. Still others seem scattered, frantically running from fire to fire. What’s the problem? Business ownership should be fun and it should be profitable. We see some dangerous trends with businesses and while many will point to the economic climate or other issues, the truth is, this hasn’t just cropped up. It’s time to stop and make a couple adjustments to some deadly business trends.

  • Trend One: Running on Empty. “Getting up and working earlier all the time means I’ll get all my work done and I’ll get all caught up.” This is pure folly. Our bodies and brains need rest and need to have time away from work, so constantly starting at the crack of dawn and working past dusk does not cut it. Statistically, people will perform poorest when they don’t get adequate rest, plus solutions for nagging problems can’t surface if the brain is exhausted. It’s hard to be on your game when you’re sleep-deprived and stressed to the gills.  Here is a great article on ways to help your brain. Bottomline: Get away and get some sleep! Make a commitment to keep yourself refreshed so you bring your very best to your business.
  • Trend Two: Fear of Delegation. If you are a “gotta do it myself all the time” kind of person, take a step back and be honest with yourself: Are there some minor admin chores of your day eroding billable time that you could be devoting to bringing in business? An easy way to move past this roadblock: delegate small tasks and be very clear on the expectations you have. If you’re a small shop, hire someone for only a few hours at a time and let them prove themselves. Over time, their worth will be shown by allowing you to work more efficiently, making your hire an asset, rather than a liability. Rule of thumb: get rid of whatever you can do, but really shouldn’t be wasting your time on.
  • Trend Three: No Plan for Marketing. When’s the best time to be marketing? All the time. When a business is busy and flush with customers, it’s easy to think things are okay. This short-sighted comfort can kill your business. Why? Because you need to keep the pipeline filled at all times, let the business begins to dry up. Customers can come and go, so if you’re marketing consistently, you won’t really experience the downturn some businesses face when there their marketing goes flat. A solution: make a concerted, written-down plan for marketing for just the next quarter. Commit to it and let nothing stand in the way of doing it. By taking it in quarterly chunks, you can make adjustments when some marketing isn’t getting the results you need.
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Thinking Social Media? It’s Okay to Be Super Choosy

17
Aug
2011

As a small business owner, the question you should be asking yourself isn’t if you should be using social media, but rather how you should be using social media. Admittedly, if you’re trying to keep a handle on things, it’s better to set up what you can logistically maintain. There are a lot of options out there– Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more. Each channel has its own unique advantages and disadvantages as well as devoted audiences that use them. When we first take a look at our client’s channels, one of two things appear: Either a company is completely under utilizing channels or over-advertising and missing out on valuable connections with customers, OR in a good-hearted attempt to use social media have decided that any and all channels will work — and they don’t maintain any of them properly, if at all. Below we will differentiate between five of the most popular social platforms to help you decide which channels are right for your company.

FB Logo

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Blogging: To Get the Most, Self-Host

09
Feb
2011

BloggingWith so many well-designed free and easy blog hosting services out there (Blogger (BlogSpot), TypePad, etc.), it can be easy to be lured into using a network-hosted site instead of self-hosting your own. But, especially if you are promoting your business, the benefits of a self-hosted blog are numerous and important.

Using a self-hosted blog versus one that is network-hosted is roughly analogous to owning versus renting a house. When everything is going smoothly it doesn’t much matter if you rent or own, but if something goes wrong or you want to make a change, being a homeowner allows you much greater flexibility and security. Specific to blogs, a network host has the ability to censor your content and may shut down your site and delete its contents without warning if they see fit. More likely, if a network host experiences technical problems or terminates their service, your content may be lost and unable to be restored. You are also always at the mercy of your network’s policies and terms of conditions. Even if you find them agreeable now, they may change in the future and content you stored on their site may be very difficult or impossible to retrieve and move elsewhere. A self-hosted blog allows you to moderate your own content indefinitely and back-up your entries much more reliably.

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