Marketing

This past Monday was the New York Times Small Business Summit. American Express OPEN was the founding sponsor, and they invited me to participate in something called the OPEN Advice Cafe.

The OPEN Advice Cafe consisted of an area in a meeting room where business owners could come in throughout the day and grab a cup of coffee, check their email at public terminals, have their story filmed for the OPEN Forum, and also meet with me for advice.

I talked with numerous business owners one-on-one, and also hosted 3 round-table discussions (one of them is pictured). I thought you might be interested in what was top of mind for other business owners, based on the topics we discussed in the round-table discussions (I am sharing only public discussion topics, not anything conveyed confidentially):

Online Marketing, Partnering and Hiring Among the Key Issues

Partnering – Interest in partnering with other businesses to share leads and referrals was big. Typically it is a good option for consumer-based services such a home remodeling, interior design, electrical, landscaping — as well as for some professional services, such as business plan consultants teaming up with CPAs and attorneys. An IT consultant who services Mac products pointed out that he got business from being listed in Apple’s website for Mac certified consultants, and by getting referrals from the local Apple store. read more

You probably already know who your best source of more business, more leads, more referrals and more growth is, right? Yes, it’s your current customers.

If you’ve grown complacent with your current customers, often a symptom of an up market, now is the time to go back to this precious resource and beg forgiveness. Or, at least, set up some processes to capture their hearts and minds before they drift away.

Find out what they think

The Best Research You Can Do - The next time a customer refers someone to you run to the phone and ask them why. Ask them what it is that you do that made them think you worthy of such an honor. Ask them the exact words they used when then told the referral prospect about you.

It’s my belief that most small businesses don’t fully understand what makes them special or unique, but their ideal customers do. read more

On November 13th, 10:00 am Pacific, O’Reilly is conducting a free teleseminar called “Twitter for Business.” I’ve read the report that the teleseminar is based on, and it’s quite good so I encourage you to listen by clicking here. The teleseminar will explain how businesses can use Twitter. The presenter is:

Sarah Milstein, a consultant on Web 2.0 and editorial strategies, and an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at UCBerkeley, was previously the Chief Publishing Evangelist for O’Reilly Media. Prior to that, Sarah was O’Reilly’s Managing Editor, Senior Editor, and Editor, leading the development of the Missing Manuals, a best-selling series of computer books for non-geeks.

If you’re thinking of using Twitter for your small business, you should definitely listen in. read more

Just a quick note to say that I’ll be at the upcoming New York Times Small Business Summit on November 17, 2008 .

The agenda looks great. The day features two keynotes: Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stoneyfield Farm, and Liz Lange, Founder of Liz Lange Maternity. Then there are breakout sessions covering: strategies for growth in a tough economy, empowering your team, and the new marketing landscape. You can wander through the vendor fair and check out offerings to help you run your business. There will be speed networking, too, which is always fun and worthwhile. And a cocktail reception for more relaxed networking caps the day.

I hope you will stop in and say “hi” — I’ll be in the American Express OPEN Advice Center. I’ll be there to answer your questions. Anything you want to know about, anything you think I might be able to help with, I will be happy to try to assist you.

I understand they are setting me up with a plasma screen hooked to my laptop, so that we can talk about social media sites, for instance. Be happy to show you some of the neat little tricks I’ve learned about how to use social media sites for low-cost marketing without having social media take over your life.

When: November 17, 2008 from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM

Where: Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, 811 7th Avenue (at the corner of 53rd Street), New York, NY 10019

Find out more: Visit the New York Times Small Business Summit website.

Hope to see you there!

Avoid trying to time the market(ing). Buy low, sell high. Ever hear that advice before?  We all would like to be able to do it, but we know that it’s not possible to do. Even the seasoned investor is unable to do this. We know one of the best strategies is dollar cost averaging, though few of us do it.

Good marketing advice would be to avoid trying to time the market. Many people and organizations market around events, product launches, seasons, and many other  single occurrences.  But my advice to you is to do a little marketing each day. And if you do that, your single events and your marketing will be a much greater success.

Marketing needs to emphasize client relationships based on trust and knowledge.  This approach is not necessarily unique, but it’s never been more vital than today.  So here’s a few simple steps that I would advise you to try: read more

It’s November and, whether you realize it or not, the 2008 holiday shopping season is already upon us. And in light of the never-ending, dismal economic headlines entertaining us lately, it’s more important than ever for small business retailers to plan for a tight spending season.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts a 2.2% increase in sales this year. This, they are quick to point out, is about half the average holiday sales growth over the last ten years but, what they don’t point out is that it is not much less than the 2.4% growth in sales during the 2007 holiday shopping season.

Consumers anticipate spending about $830, on average, this holiday season. That figure represents a 10% decrease from last year’s average holiday spending, and includes gifts for family, friends and colleagues, decorations, flowers, candy and food, cards and postage. It also includes an expected average of $120 each on non-gift purchases made for themselves or their households by sharp-eyed consumers on the lookout for holiday sale prices.

So, what can the small business retailer do to maximize the season for their bottom line in an economic climate like this, when they really can’t compete on price? read more

Rap Reiplinger, a famous comedian from Hawaii, created a popular radio sketch involving a room service attendant who repeatedly confirms a hotel guest’s dinner order: “You sure? Positive? You sure you sure?” It turns out, we’re not sure we’re sure according to the classic 1973 study by Goethals and Reckman.In the study, researchers invited high schoolers to discuss their opinions on an issue—in this case, school segregation and whether bussing would help racial integration. Some time later, study participants returned for another discussion. This time, however, they were divided into pro and con groups. Inside each separated groups, Goethals and Reckman placed a “confederate,” a person armed with arguments for the opposing viewpoint. The goal was to reverse the groups’ outlook.In the end, both confederates successfully reversed the groups’ opinions. What’s more, the people in the groups couldn’t accurately recall their original position. Many claimed their previous beliefs were less definite than researchers originally observed. Bussing supporters even thought they were against the issue from the beginning—this was not true at all.An article called “Our Secret Attitude Changes” provides several explanations if this phenomenon.

 
1. Participants didn’t anticipate being persuaded, thus they weren’t aware that they were changing their own positions. When asked about their old beliefs, they simply thought of their current ones.

  

2. In order to ease the conflict between their old and new perspectives, study subjects unconsciously integrated the two, so that it made sense.

  

3. The high school participants may not have been emotionally invested in the bussing issue.
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If you’ve cracked a newspaper or turned on the news lately, it’s all doom and gloom about the economy, market volatility and outlooks on business.  The continuing financial crisis has left business owners on edge, causing many to do just the opposite of what they should be doing.  Hopefully, you are not one of those frightened ones … making emotional versus rational, practical decisions to propel your business forward in any economy.

Looming financial questions have negatively impacted economies around the world.  No country or region has been completely isolated from the financial storm.  Here at home, companies large and small are scrapping plans to introduce new products.  Cutbacks on marketing are some of the first considered.  This is exactly the wrong thing to do. Now is the time to be bold and take action to grow your business — especially small businesses.  This economy demands that you become known, liked and trusted enough for people to buy from you.  Trusted enough for them to allow you to become their solution.

Now is the time, more than ever, to have an actual marketing plan to ensure this is the case.  And then work the daylights out of that plan.  Think about it.  When are your prospects more likely to see and respond to your marketing?  In boom times, when they’re being bombarded with advertising and promotions from all of your competitors … or, in lean times when your competitors stop contacting them? Now is the best time to grow your business. read more