Building Your Brand with Social Media

Gunelius, Susan,Entrepreneur.com “Building Your Brand with Social Media” http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217815 posted January 5, 2011. 04 February 2011 .

Five steps to establishing a credible online presence for your small business.

Susan Gunelius | January 5, 2011
URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217815

Tapping the vast audience of the social Web is a low-cost way to catapult a small-business brand onto the global arena. Building your brand using social media allows you to develop new (and strengthen existing) relationships, which often leads to everything from brand awareness, loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.

While perhaps initially daunting, the trick is to break the process into manageable pieces. From creating your online destinations to connecting with influencers, following these five steps will get you on your way to building your brand and boosting your business.

1. Create branded online destinations.

This is the first step to raising brand awareness and loyalty. Companies with the most successful social media branding surround consumers with online experiences that allow them to select how they interact with the brand.

Consider using popular, free options like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and so on. Of course, for small-business owners without the manpower to effectively manage too many destinations, you should consider testing each of these to determine which social media service you’re most likely to stick with over the long haul. This will become your core destination. All your other online destinations should link back to the core.

2. Establish entry points.

One of the most important aspects to accomplishing this with your branded online destinations is to continually publish meaningful content that adds value to the reader’s experience. The goal is to publish useful information that people will want to talk about — and then share with their own audiences. This creates additional ways for people to find your branded destinations and it can lead to higher rankings from search engines like Google.

Here’s one way to think about it: If you have a website with 10 pages of content, there are 10 ways for search engines to find your site. If you attach a blog to that website and write a new post every day for a year, you will have 365 more ways for Google to find your site, and your brand.

I call this the compounding effect of blogging. You cannot buy that kind of access to a global audience.

3. Locate your target audience and bring them back with you.

Where does your target audience already spend time? You need to spend time in those places, too, and engage in the conversations happening there. Get started by conducting a Google search for keywords that consumers would be likely to use when searching for a business or products like yours. Follow the paths that those consumers would follow and you’re likely to find them.

Join relevant online forums and/or blogs, and write posts, publish comments and answer questions. Once that audience understands that you’re there to genuinely offer useful information and not to self-promote, you can start leading them to your own branded destinations — particularly your core branded online destination.

4. Connect with influencers.

As you search for your target audience, you should identify online influencers in those communities and get on their respective radars. To do so, leave comments on their blogs, follow them on Twitter and retweet their content. You can even email them to introduce yourself.

The key is to make sure they know your name and understand that you add value to the online conversation. This also exposes you to their audiences.

5. Give more than you receive.

Success in social media marketing depends on being useful and developing relationships. If you spend all of your time promoting then no one will want to listen to you. It’s not a short-term tactic, rather a long-term strategy that can deliver sustainable, organic growth through ongoing, consistent participation.

A good rule of thumb is to apply the 80-20 rule to your social media marketing efforts. Spend no more than 20 percent of your time in self-promotional activities and conversations, and at least 80 percent on non-self-promotional activities. In time, you’ll see your business grow from your efforts. And it starts with leveraging these fundamentals.

Decorating Office Space for Well-Being and Productivity Posted: 10 Jan 2011 06:38 AM PST We recently looked at points to check to ensure you have a healthy office space. But there are more ways to ensure you and your colleagues are healthy and have a sense of well-being as well as increased productivity in your work areas. After all, who can possibly be their most productive in a drab, boring space? What is in your office environment on a daily basis has a big impact on your energy level, motivation and success. It is a little known fact that work space design is among the top three factors in ensuring employee job satisfaction. Documented studies have shown that an increase in productivity of 20% or more is not uncommon when changing from a boring office space to one that provides the vibrancy and energy needed to help people produce. Many of the below suggestions can make your office space more attractive — not only to you and your staff but to clients as well. Many are also very inexpensive to implement. A few may require a little investment, but the rise in your bottom line and employee satisfacton will make it well worth your time and money. Use of Color: Many office spaces are made up of mobile partitions in some drab color such as gray or drab blue. Grey metal file cabinets may be much of the furnishings besides desks and chairs. The overall look can be quite institutional; that’s the last thing you want in your office environment. Of course, you could have your walls repainted or buy new partitions, but amazing changes can be made with the addition of bright splashes of energizing colors. Bright colors such as red, orange, yellow, bright blues and greens in the form of paintings, posters, and incidental furnishings can be added for very little money and yet improve the space greatly. However, avoid making the workspace so full of color that it becomes “nervous”. Add highlights of super-bright color in some spaces while leaving some areas of the office in calm, cool colors for a sense of peacefulness. For example, a break room or coffee area should be decorated with relaxing colors to maximize the effectiveness of a work break. Add Green Potted Plants: Not only will the addition of living greenery in the office space add vibrancy, but it also cleans the air. If you and your co-workers have no green thumbs, you can enlist a plant service to care for your plants or even to provide the plants and change them out on a regular basis. But if you have minimal time and ability to care for plants, you can avoid this expense. It is quite likely that one of your colleagues has a passion for plants if you don’t, so enlist their help. Brightly colored planters can add the splashes of color you seek while the green plant will add a touch of the outdoors. If your office space has few or no windows, this is a critical improvement for helping productivity and increasing that important sense of well-being. Personal Items: Allow people who work in the office space to include their personal items in their workspace so that they feel at home. A “bragging wall” of family photos, awards, pictures of pets, colorful calendars, or whatever appeals to the person should be permitted as long as it is attractive and in good taste. Some people like to have a small water fountain on their bookshelf or some other personal items which make them feel their best. More on Office Space Design

Great Home Office Layouts

Nayab, N, BrightHub.com “Great Home Office Layouts” http://www.brighthub.com/office/home/articles/100039.aspx#ixzz1ACRwixsD posted December 20, 2010. 04 February 2011 .

Article by  N Nayab (40,992 pts )
Edited & published by Jean Scheid (100,842 pts ) on Dec 20, 2010

The productivity of the home worker and the efficiency of the home office depend on home office layouts. Major considerations of home office layouts are ergonomics, aesthetics, space, and cost considerations. Read on for a review of some of widely used layouts and what makes them popular.

Strip Layout

The strip layout is the basic and most common of all home office layouts, and entails arranging all home office furniture in a single line. An extended strip or double strip, arranging furniture on two parallel walls works best when the home office sits in a long corridor or a room with plenty of length but little width.

The strip design owes its popularity to the fact that it consumes the least amount of space and is usually less expensive. Another big advantage of the strip layout is that it is easy to build on this layout and convert to any other design later. Most home offices, therefore, incorporate this basic design at the start and upgrade to a more sophisticated design later depending on the success and requirements.

The strip layout works fine for small home offices where the major work is on the computer. In comparatively larger offices with much equipment, accessing files or equipment placed far away in the strip can drag efficiency down.

Image Credit: flickr.com/Ali West

Corner and “L” Shape Layout

Corner layout or “L” shaped home office layout entails positioning the workstation and storage spaces in the corner of a room, usually using two adjacent and perpendicular walls. Adding a bookshelf or filing cabinets parallel to such furniture creates an L-shaped corridor that serves as a barrier to the workstation and the rest of the room. Another option is an inverted “L” with one arm of the workstation projecting out into the room while the other arm skirts one wall.

Corner and “L” shaped designs give a neat and tidy look especially in square rooms, and makes best use of available space. Such designs generally provide a large workspace suitable for more than one person to work, and allows for placing all equipment and storage within easy reach, usually at arms length from the workstation.

The “U” Design

The “U” shaped layout is another common layout and entails positioning a desk and placing two other desks as islands on both sides of the first desk.

This design ranks among the best, for:

• Providing ample workspace;
• The design suits most rooms irrespective of the size, and works best to seclude the home office when the room is shared;
• It allows two people to share the workspace without intruding into each other’s space;
• It allows for all equipment within arms reach of the worker; and,
• The outer corners allow for good storage space.

“T” Shape

The “T” shape design works best when two or more people share the workstation. The “T” intrudes and splits the workstation into two, providing privacy to individual workstations while allowing common facilities such as printer and fax in the middle for easy access by all.

Deciding Factors

The layout of the home office ultimately depends on the shape of the room, the positioning of the window and power plugs. The best home office design is one that adapts and suits the room. Generally, it is important to place the workstation away from windows to prevent glare and outside disturbances, and near the power plugs to minimize the use of extension cords and to plug in surge protectors directly.

One good option for home office layout ideas and home office furniture layout placement tips is downloading the IKEA Office Planning Tool. This planning tool allows dragging and dropping furniture pieces into a layout, viewing them in 3-D, trying different color combinations, and viewing the total cost for each combination, all without moving away from the chair.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/office/home/articles/100039.aspx#ixzz1ACRwixsD

How a Paperless Office System Works

Gina66, BrightHub.com “How a Paperless Office System Works.” http://www.brighthub.com/office/home/articles/101617.aspx#ixzz1ACRGfqQ5 posted January 2, 2011. 04 February 2011 .

Article by  Gina66 (16,190 pts )
Edited & published by Linda Richter (25,788 pts ) on Jan 2, 2011

Paperless offices are starting to become the rage, but what are they? Why are they important to have? How do they work? Here, learn how a paperless office system works and why having one may work for you.

Technology Has Landed

When computers and technology began to invade society, life changed, mostly for the better. The Internet made it so that people could talk and see loved ones in other cities, other states, and even other countries; made it so workers who couldn’t make it to the office could still do work from home; and turned medical possibilities into realities.

With the advances of technology, the aspect of having paperless offices–that is, offices that have electronic documentation–started to be a viable option for many businesses, both corporate and home based. But what is a paperless office? Why would it be a good decision to convert? In this article, learn how a paperless office system works, how it keeps information from being lost, and how you can keep that information secure.

How a Paperless Office System Works

So how does a paperless office system work? A paperless office works just like a typical, traditional office–only documents, files, and folders are kept on a computer or online through online storage or on/off site servers.

With a paperless office system, the files in a traditional filing cabinet are placed on a computer system–for example, an office server or an online storage facility (known as cloud computing). With the files online, there is no issue of losing documents or the inability to find a file. If a business uses an online database, the manager can enter in the names of the clients and then assign their paperwork to individual people. An employee can enter a particular client name or project listing into the database and then come up with all the paperwork that is tied to that name.

There is also the benefit of being able to send out files to multiple people or to send multiple files to one person. One way to achieve this is through PDF documents. PDF stands for portable document format and that is exactly what it is–a portable document that you can send to anyone as long as they have a PDF reader, such as Adobe Reader. PDFs make it easy to send a file to someone who may not be using the same office software (such as using the new Microsoft Office 2010 vs the 2003 version) or even someone using a different operating system (Windows vs Linux).

Another benefit for a paperless office system is that of the remote worker. Many employees these days use remote software to log in to the respective computers in order to work. Having a paperless office allows them to work on their files from home or anywhere in the world. For example, a member of the management team goes on a business trip, but will need to work on certain files while he is gone. A traditional office would probably see the manager take a load of files and folders along for the trip, which carries the risk that they could be lost along the way. Or perhaps an employee gets into an accident, but is unable to work for several weeks or even months.

With a paperless office, the management team member could log in to his desktop remotely to work on the files or log in to the remote access area, while the injured employee would be able to work from home by remoting into the company’s online document storage system.

Should You Go Paperless?

There are many advantages and disavantages of having a paperless office. One advantage is that businesses can more efficiently communicate and share documents or files with each other through email or online storage access; a disadvantage is that a paperless office can also be subjected to online threats as well as real-world threats, such as hacking and viruses.

Deciding to go toward a more paperless office is of course largely determined by the type of work that a business does. Would going paperless help or hinder your current atmosphere? If employees are constantly complaining about the inability to find important documents or they are spending more time looking for those documents, perhaps a paperless office would be more efficient for your business.

By going paperless, it is very important that network and computer security is maintained on a regular basis to prevent private information and data from falling into the wrong hands.

Image content @ Adobe.com

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/office/home/articles/101617.aspx#ixzz1ACRGfqQ5

Alternative Office Space for Small Business

Officefinder.com “Alternative Office Space for Small Business.”  http://www.officefinder.com/blog/  Posted: 29 Nov 2010 08:11 AM PST. 03 December 2010.

Operating a small business can be both exciting and lucrative. More and more people are leaving the traditional workplace to open their own ventures and becoming quite successful. Many startups begin with only the owner working in the business which makes leasing or renting office space the largest overhead expense. There are practical ways to cut this big overhead item by thinking creatively. There’s no reason that every business needs a walk-up storefront in order to succeed.

Share an Office:  If you have friends or colleagues who are also starting businesses that don’t require storefronts, consider leasing a spacious one or two room office and split the expenses equally.  This reduces the costs for electricity, internet, janitorial, and other equipment leases. Instead of each office partner procuring a copier, fax, and other equipment that both parties use, only one item is needed, significantly cutting the cost. Compatible services work well in shared office spaces. One example that has proven to work great in shared spaces might be a software development company and a computer technology company.  There are many other compatible combinations; just be sure there won’t be a conflict of interest or direct competition. Instead, seek an office mate that will be synergistic to your business so you can help each other grow and thrive.

Executive Suite: These are shared office with services run by a management company.  They provide not only office space but furniture, phones, Internet, office equipment and administrative service. They are typiclaly a full floor of a prestigious office building and you will have lots of other small businesses around for networking.

Co-Working:  Much like office sharing, co-working is a concept originated in 1999 where entrepreneurs and small business owners who share the same values ban together to form a community of business people. Co-working usually begins when networking partners find they enjoy the social aspects of working in the same space and may often help either other’s business in various ways. The partners then lease an office space, sharing all expenses. Each of the co-working partners conducts their own business in their own workspace in the shared office and the co-workers may share support staff such as receptionists or clerical staff in order to keep overhead costs low while providing everyone effective support for their small businesses. This concept is growing into a great solution for hundreds of like-minded small business owners.

Virtual Office: Today, you really don’t need a specific location for an office with walls. With mobile wireless internet services, hot spots available in most metro locations and even urban areas, multiple personal data devices, and smart phones that do almost everything a computer does, it is possible to work anywhere at anytime. You can operate your business from your living room sofa, poolside, in your vehicle (please stop your vehicle in a safe location before texting or computing for safety), in a coffee shop, at McDonald’s, and right at your client’s desk. By using online services such as GoogleDocs, your information can be safely stored online for presenting to your client easily. With outsourcing of many tasks, you can take your laptop and smart phone and conduct business in any location you desire. If you do have a need for an office, Executive Suites also offer a virtual office service that allows you to use an office or conference room on an as needed basis.

Lease a Desk in a Business that Buys Your Services: Often, a small business begins because on business requires the services that will be offered. For example, an insurance company may regularly require the services of a licenses investigator. If your small business is complimentary to a local business, check into leasing a desk in an unused area of the office.  In tough economic times, many offices are willing to lease a desk space to a small business that is not in conflict with their own business.

Home Office: The vast majority of small business startups begin in a home office. This allows the entrepreneur to begin conducting business without making a huge commitment to overhead expenses. Also, many owners of small startups begin their venture while working a traditional career, making certain their business will succeed before giving up the regular paycheck.  Some of these small businesses never move out of the home office, even after hiring an employee or two.  Of course, if the operation grows large enough or requires a great deal of inventory, the time will come to move from the home, but many virtual service businesses never leave the home office. Home Office Blog Posts

Warehouse Rental:  Storage warehouses of various sizes are zoned commercial and in most areas can be used as a business location. These warehouse locations are great for the small startup business that manufactures a product, purchases and adds quality to an existing product before sale, and service companies that provide auto repair, computer repair, and similar services. If your business is the type that does not really benefit from a “flashy” storefront, this can be a great solution for keeping your startup costs very low. Traditionally, people seeking auto repair, auto body work, auto paint, motorcycle accessories or repairs, and similar services tend to believe that if the storefront is too fancy, they will be overcharged. These types of business can actually benefit from the casual office space offered by leasing a storage warehouse. Just make sure the type of business you are starting meets the zoning regulations and the landlord’s lease restrictions.

What You Need to Know About Executive Suites

Landers, Jeff (2010 July 1)  Inc.  Magizeene: How to Diversify Your Customer Base                                     Retrieved July 24,2010, from Inc. Magizeene website: http://www.inc.com/resources/solo/articles/20060701/landers.html

Column by Jeff Landers

Getting out of the house was the first step. Now, where will you go? Learn more about executive suites.

When you’re on your own, working from home may seem appealing, but you may also find yourself quickly distracted by non-business tasks. That’s when you’re probably thinking about moving your office out of your home.

When I speak to entrepreneurs about this issue, I often find myself extolling the benefits of executive suites because they make great transitional office spaces for start-ups. They get your business out of the house without tying you down to long-term lease commitments and large up-front capital investments. They are a wonderful “starter” office for a fledgling business. They make your business “real” without all the hassles and financial headaches.

Executive suites give you three big things: more control over your cash flow; lots of flexibility for your growing business; and the opportunity to create a polished, professional appearance. If it’s time to get out of your home office, executive suites might be a great option for the next stage of your business.

Make No Capital Investments

There are no up-front construction or renovation costs. There is no need to buy office equipment or furniture. You do not have to run to Staples and load up on office swivel chairs and laser printers. And you do not need to worry about the financial strain such costs would put on your start-up.

Manage Your Cash Flow Easily

Executive suites offer an all-inclusive monthly bill. This makes your bookkeeping easier. You will get a single invoice every month. It usually includes everything: heating, air-conditioning, electrical, cleaning, telephone, Internet, furniture. This simplifies your renting experience and helps you manage your cash flow over the long term.

Get Just the Amount of Space You Need

An Executive suite company typically rents an entire floor or two, in a well-located office building. They subdivide the space into a large number of offices for rent to individual businesses like yours. These individual offices range in size from about 100 square feet — good for one person — to several hundred square feet — good for up to five people or more.

Flexible, Short-Term Lease

For start-ups that are growing fast, executive suites are often a useful option because these suites offer flexibility in the length of your lease term. This means you get to make arrangements based on your business and cash flow needs. You can rent these offices for six to twelve months at a time, which is the usual rental agreement. Or you can even go shorter term. Many executive suites will rent for a lease term as short as three months or even on a month-to- month basis. This feature is especially attractive to entrepreneurs who are just getting their businesses up and running and don’t want to strap their business with a huge overhead at the onset.

Use Their Amenities Instead of Buying Your Own

Because these suites come with all the amenities, you will get top-of-the-line office equipment, telephone and voicemail, videoconferencing and high-speed Internet access. Executive suites typically offer the very best and latest in technology. The suites are also very well dressed, complete with carpet and furniture, from the chairs in the waiting room to the stacks of copy paper in the supply closet. If you have clients meeting in your space, think of the impact of a waiting receptionist and other secretarial services (usually available on an as-needed basis), or being able to videoconference during a meeting. Your start-up will look organized, well managed and on the cutting edge. Much better than presenting next to wet socks hanging off the TV set, right?

However…

Executive suites are a great alternative to the home office. Still, there are two major issues that you should consider before making the leap. The first is that executive suites are almost always located in first-class office buildings. That means they are Class A, more expensive and in main business districts.

That may work beautifully for your business, if you are an accountant or an attorney, but maybe not so much if you are a video game designer. Most of these suites tend to be very mainstream, corporate and traditional. If you are of the more funky variety, then an executive suite may not represent you or your business well. To appeal to the non-corporate set, some executive suite owners are beginning to open offices that are both funky in design and location.

The second consideration is that if you need space for more than ten people, an Executive Suite can start getting expensive. If you are bursting at the seams with ten or more employees, then this is probably not the solution for you.

Create A Clear Line of Division Between Work and Home

One of the big benefits of getting into an executive suite is that you will have clearer boundaries in your life. More organization. Less chaos. When you are at your office, you will be focused on work and the day’s tasks. When you are home, you can focus your attention on family and your household. The line of division is clear for everyone, most especially you.

Virtual Offices Reduce Carbon Emissions by 94%

“Officing Today Staff: Virtual Offices Reduces Carbon Emissions by 94%.

http://www.officingtoday.com/index.php?news=447&print

07 June, 2010 10:12:00 Officing Today Staff

“Carbon emissions from commuting can also be greatly reduced as employees end up driving to the office only when the need to – not every day.”

In a recent press release from The McLeland Group, it was revealed that a virtual office can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 94% compared to traditional office locations of similar employee size. Nathan Jansch, Owner of Denver-based office business center The Boardroom Executive Suites, shared that he calculated those savings at carbonfund.org where he compared the carbon emissions of his Cherry Creek location, which serves 100 client companies, to 100 independently operated offices with 1-5 employees each.

“In a shared office space, it’s based on economies of scale. You not only require less square feet because you’re sharing common areas and amenities, you are using fewer resources such as energy and water,” Jansch said. “Carbon emissions from commuting can also be greatly reduced as employees end up driving to the office only when the need to – not every day.”

“Business centers or virtual offices are a low density office although they service a large customer base states,” ALLIANCE Business Centers NETWORK Chairman Frank Cottle stated in the press release.

While the OBC industry has typically supported entrepreneurs and small businesses that have out-grown their home offices, recent years have seen a substantial jump in the number of larger companies who are also realizing the benefits of a virtual workforce model. Office space rents are frequently the second largest item on a company’s P&L, so it is wise for businesses to seek cost reductions by looking at alternate officing solutions.

Martin Senn of Davinci Virtual said, “These days you can find a large company like Accenture without a corporate headquarters. It makes a statement to the rest of corporate America that it’s okay to work virtually.”

How to Diversify Your Customer Base

Inc.  Magizeene: How to Diversify Your Customer Base

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/diversify-your-customer-base.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inc%2Fheadlines+%28Inc.com+Headlines%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Every business wants to reach a broader audience. Here are five free strategies to diversify your audience and to expand your reach.

By Tara Miller |  Jun 22, 2010

With the recession appearing to recede, many companies are looking to expand their roster of paying customers, reaching in to new segments, covering a larger geographic footprint, and going after business that only a few months ago seemed all but unattainable.  If you have a plan of attack using proven strategies, growth and expansion for your business are within reach.

“Show me a company with more than 10 percent of its business with one customer or more than half of its business in one industry and I’ll show you a company at risk of being impacted by one company or one industry,” says Paul Weber, CEO of Entrepreneur Advertising Group in Kansas City, Missouri.  “Show me a company a comprehensive social media campaign but ignores other media and I’ll show you a company missing part of their audience. Show me a company only devoted to networking and I’ll show you a company that will soon find their time availability slipping away.”  Weber’s point is that frequency and diversity are essential in keeping any company viable and relevant with customers and potential customers.

These are common problems for small businesses, but they are easily addressed. Here are five strategies to help you bring expand your audience and drive transactions with new customers.

Diversifying Your Customer Base:  Try Cold Calling

“When I’ve tapped out social networking, non-client referral sources, client referrals, sponsored or hosted events, webinars, article placements and blogs, I’ll make cold calls,” says John Thomas, a former director of business development in Dallas. “Sometimes they are to prospects and sometimes to potential referral sources. I’ve won a lot of business through a cold call.”  

Martha Retallick, a website developer and photographer for Western Sky Communications in Tucson, Arizona agrees, “I do most of my business prospecting via the phone. There’s a lot of rejection out there. But you know what? Getting past the fear of rejection was surprisingly easy.” The best way to get over your fear of cold calling is to practice.  Look through your address book and start with clients you haven’t done business with in awhile and expand to people beyond your immediate network.

Dig Deeper: How to Improve Your Cold-Calling Skills

 Diversifying Your Customer Base:  Ramp Up Your PR

“Getting attention from the media is like getting free advertising on TV, in the newspaper, or via social media channels, allowing you to reach not only your current audience, but also people who may have never heard of you or your product,” says Wendy Duval, public relations and communications manager for The Vermont Teddy Bear Company. “Much of the attention we’ve gotten from the media has been the result of releasing relevant products when the time was right. For example, designing Star Trek Bears around the time of the new movie’s release or designing bears to represent all of the candidates during the 2008 presidential election.” By making products relevant to current news topics, Vermont Teddy Bear was able to target their media outreach accordingly, which in turn resulted in increased visibility to a larger network of consumers.  

Dig Deeper: How to Manage Your Own PR

Diversifying Your Customer Base:  Turn Your Virtual Audience into a Real Audience

So, everyone is talking about social media. Why? Because it works. Social media is a cost-effective way to build up a new virtual audience. But your new audience doesn’t have to stay virtual. Ted’s Butcherblock, a full-service butcher shop in Charleston, South Carolina, knows a thing or two about turning social media followers into real customers. “We love to make fun offers with social media,” says Ted Dombrowski, owner or Ted’s Butcherblock. “We did one offer through Twitter that said, ‘Be the first to come in and say ‘I love bacon!’ and you will win free tickets to our special bacon dinner.’ I was shocked to see how many people came in the shop shouting ‘I love bacon!'” For Dombrowski, social media was a great way to pull in a different demographic. “Social media was a way for us to reach out to a younger audience. We could use social media to make our shop accessible to a completely new type of customer.”

Dig Deeper: 30 Tips for Using Social Media in Your Business

Diversifying Your Customer Base:  Focus on Networking

According to Caroline Nuttall, publisher of CHARLIE Magazine, “In a time when social media is king, real life, face-to-face networking goes a long way.” Personal connections are a great way to increase your audience. It is easy for someone to forget an email, but it is much harder for someone to forget you, especially if you make an impression. “Speaking engagements are a great way to network, which allows you more of a mass appeal,” says Nuttall.   She recently spoke at a cultural event and said it was “a powerful speaking opportunity in front of a big crowd, the exact right audience for you, in a unique and memorable format.”
 
Sharon Kraun, former sustainability practice leader at Cohn, Overstreet & Parish Integrated Marketing in Atlanta has had to rely on the good old-fashioned way of person-to-person networking particularly for her start-up Marketing Matters.  “Most of my business comes through referrals. Each successful client is a link to another potentially successful client,” says Kraun.  “While social media does enable you to reach more people in a shorter span of time, the one-on-one, in person communication still provides a stronger connection.”  Take every opportunity you have to talk about your business. People can’t support what they don’t know about.

Dig Deeper: Digital Networking vs. Traditional Networking

Diversifying Your Customer Base: Embrace Your Competition

You don’t have to fight your competitors for their audience; working together can often be much more efficient. The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., uses this philosophy to broaden its reach both locally and nationally. “Through partnerships with like-minded organizations such as The American Institute of Architects and sponsors such as The Home Depot Foundation, the museum has increased national recognition of the organization by opening access to our partners network of supporters and members,” says Johanna Weber, the museum’s marketing and communications manager. “This in turn has resulted in increased web traffic, attendance at museum programs and exhibitions, and new fundraising opportunities for the museum.”  Partnerships go both ways, so if you are willing to help out your neighbor, you have to opportunity to gain the support of a much larger network.

Dig Deeper: Crate and Barrel and the Art of Coopetition
Diversifying Your Customer Base:  Additional Resources

Whether you enjoy socializing, writing, helping your community, or helping your neighbor, there is a strategy for building your audience that can fit both your personality and your business, without costing an arm and a leg. If you want to learn more about the strategies discussed here, these books are great resources for additional information.

• The Collaboration Challenge: How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed Through Strategic Alliances by James E. Austin
• Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business  by Larry Weber

Endess Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts in to Sales by Bob Burg

Entrepreneur: Is it Time to Upgrade to a Database?

Entrepreneur: Is it Time to Upgrade to a Database?

http://www.entrepreneur.com/technology/managingtechnology/article207034.html

Is it Time to Upgrade to a Database?

5 clues that you’ve outgrown Excel

From Business on Main   |   June 16, 2010

I’ll never forget the first time I watched a true power user work the tables and formulas of an Excel spreadsheet. I sat in awe of the complex calculations, the production of charts and graphs, and the speed and ease with which he manipulated the tools. I had no idea Excel could do all those things.

I also had no idea how to do any of them. And neither do many small-business owners. For many businesses, Excel has served as a sturdy, capable keeper of data–a giant calculator, basically. Most of the functionality of the tool goes unused.

Still, these businesses often outgrow Excel, even before they exploit all of its potential. That’s because Excel is a spreadsheet. It’s designed to simulate a paper worksheet, execute formulas, and store numerical information. But many businesses, at some point or another, need something more than a spreadsheet. They need a database.

The differences between a spreadsheet and a database are subtle, but important. A database stores far more than numbers. It can hold text, codes, even images. And a database follows certain logical patterns in organizing that information. It has rules. And because of these rules, it’s able to find relationships between data, update information automatically across multiple departments, and allow queries to be made against that data. And, quite often, a database is able to do all of this in real time.

In short, it’s a more sophisticated tool for a more sophisticated business. But it’s often difficult for businesses to know when it’s time to upgrade from spreadsheets to databases. Here are the five ways you know for sure that your business is ready to invest in a database system:

1. Unmanageable spreadsheets. If tracking down a simple figure from your business requires scrolling across hundreds of columns of a spreadsheet, you’re probably ready to move to a database. Though they can handle reams of data, spreadsheets quickly become unwieldy when they store too much information. Databases can find buried information more quickly and elegantly.
2. Version-control issues. Passing around spreadsheets to five different employees is one sure way to introduce confusion and inaccuracy. One of the key advantages of databases over spreadsheets is that they can be shared by thousands of users over a single network. This allows data to be updated and available throughout a company instantaneously. This creates a so-called “single version of the truth.”
3. Dirty data. Because spreadsheets allow you to type whatever you like into any cell, the data can become inaccurate and, therefore, useless, leaving you with “dirty” results. As the saying goes: Garbage in, garbage out. The rules of databases restrict the type of data that can be entered into any given field (e.g., U.S. currency, acceptable activity codes, or valid e-mail addresses), resulting in cleaner, more reliable outputs.
4. Data redundancy. If you find that your business spends a significant amount of time entering the same data into multiple spreadsheets, you’re ready for a database. Merging spreadsheets is no way to manage consistent data.
5. Customer contact. One of the most useful aspects of databases is their ability to capture information directly from customers, whether that’s through a website or a custom software application. You would never ask customers to fill in the cells of a spreadsheet, but you would ask them to enter their information into an online form. That requires a database.

If you’re worried about saying goodbye to your trusted spreadsheet, don’t be. Most databases allow for data to be easily imported and exported between spreadsheets. So if you’re comfortable working in the spreadsheet format, you won’t have to abandon it. But if you’re running into any of the five tell-tale signs above, it’s time to consider making the move.

Meet–or Exceed–Your Customers’ Expectations

 

 

 

 

Entrepreneur: Meet–or Exceed–Your Customers’ Expectations

http://www.entrepreneur.com/sales/customerservicecolumnistsydneybarrows/article207182.html

Reap the rewards of customer loyalty by proving you’re reliable and dependable.

By Sydney Barrows   |   June 21, 2010
Every day, hundreds of thousands of people choose to do business with a particular person or business because there’s an assurance they’ll get what they expect, when they expect it, the way they expect it.

And yet thousands of businesses lose at least one customer every day because they did not live up to the reasonable expectations of their clientele in terms of reliability, responsibility or dependability.

The sad truth is, many businesses (and people) have made a habit of being:

Careless
Maybe they forgot, maybe they get a better offer or opportunity, maybe they just can’t get their act together–the bottom line is, whatever you wanted didn’t get done.

Spineless
People will tell you they’ll have something completed by a certain time or date even though they know they know they can’t deliver. That’s because they believe (often with good reason) that you’ll take your business elsewhere if they tell you the truth. Somehow telling you “yes” now and facing the music later feels more comfortable.

Fearful
Often, people are embarrassed to admit they don’t understand what you want because they’re afraid they’ll look stupid. They are uncomfortable calling back when they realize they forgot to call earlier because they’re afraid they’ll look like they weren’t paying sufficient attention to the account or aren’t on the ball.

Dishonest
Many businesses lowball a price in order to appear competitive, and then make up for it with hidden charges. Or they provide an inferior product or service and declare you’ll have to pay more if you want what you thought you were getting in the first place. And then there are those who refuse to complete the service or hand over the product until you pay more than originally agreed on.

Where does that leave the customer? In dire straits. It’s bad enough if the customer is purchasing the product or service for himself. But if it’s a component of a product or service for that customer’s client, it could easily cost the customer that client, other monetary damages and the company’s reputation.

Reliability in Action
When someone needs something done by a set date, or a service performed in a specific manner, he’s seeking someone who can provide that service with certainty. Many companies have built their reputation by providing that certainty for customers.

Reliability: FedEx realized it could corner the market by promising to get your letter to its destination overnight, without fail. The company created an entire niche that never existed before.

Dependability: A major attraction of all fast-food chains, aside from fast service, is that you can depend on the food tasting the same, no matter where in the country you happen to be.

Responsibility: A big selling point for many pest control businesses is that if you see another bug within a designated period of time, they’ll come back and take care of it for free; in other words, they take responsibility for the quality of their work.

What about your business? It’s easy to pay lip service to good customer service, but you need to back it up with action. Have your customer service department keep record of customer complaints. You should know how many orders have shipped incorrectly in the last 90 days, or how many times a product has been returned. Armed with this information, you can take measures to correct the problem and prevent it from happening again.

A high level of reliability, responsibility and dependability are lacking in our society today. The wise entrepreneur can build a profitable and steady business if she becomes known for having these traits.

Let Your Story be Told… by You.

Here’s what I feel my keyboard looks like when I don’t write anything more than the countless daily monotonous emails. I want to share ideas. I want to blog. I want to write about ideas worth sharing. But, I have to take the time to do it, if I believe it really matters.

Leadership truly begins not by seeing but by being. Daydreaming is an important early step in living out your lifework. (See Ben Franklin, Einstein or any other great achiever’s life.) Show me someone who has no dreams and I’ll show you someone with little likelihood to change, grow or become their best.

Daydreaming in order to prepare to do your best is good, but daydreaming instead of doing your best is not. If you have an idea burning inside of you don’t just dream about it. Write about it. Post it on a blog. Who cares what others think about it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to sound like Seth Godin. Just do it.

Lean into life and lead! In every area of your life, take the initiative. Don’t passively watch the world around you in discontent. Do something. Share those good ideas. Inspire someone. Be bold. Let your story be told… by You.

To learn more abou how to grow your business by leveraging the power of story check out the previous post about a recent article I wrote for First Monday magazine titled “The Art of Storytelling in Modern Marketing”. Or, visit  http://powerofstory.eventbrite.com/ to register for an upcoming seminar where we will be sharing how to discover, capture and share your story.