Posted by Stephanie Valentine on Sep 17, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
I love reading Chris Brogan’s stuff. Here’s this social media guru who is humble, funny, and really knows his stuff … and even though I know he is brilliant he frequently manages to catch me by surprise with a post from out of left field. I read this “Rules of the Pool” post recently and I was blown away.
Read Chris’ post here.
I have always felt that the people who call themselves “experts” in online marketing are the ones I should stay far, far away from. I’ve never felt that their advice was right for small business. For big business with a big budget? Probably. But for us little guys swimming around in the big scary online pond, a lot of their advice is good but totally out of reach. Asking a small business to do online marketing at the rate the experts advise is, frankly, impossible, both in terms of time and money.
In fact, for a long time now I’ve felt that figuring out online marketing and social media for small business is kind of like a blind date: there are a lot of tentative steps, some experimental groping, and some startling surprises. OK, actually, it’s all a big grope-fest. There are some people who do it well (like John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing) and some people who don’t do it so well (who will remain unnamed).
Then there are the name-callers who tell us that we can’t be “authentic” if we use automated software to follow people who follow us on Twitter. My thought on this? People who have enough time to manually pick through and follow people on Twitter are NOT running a real small business. They’re just … well, I don’t know what they’re doing but it’s not running a full time small business.
So back to Chris’ post. His post basically says that the experts on online marketing can’t agree on the “rules.” In other words, there’s a lot of debate out there about the right way to do things, how to do things, what to do, what is professional and what’s not. No one agrees. As a result, Chris points out that there should be no name-calling at all … if the experts can’t even establish a baseline for what constitutes “good” and “bad” online marketing, then calling some marketing “bad” might very well be the pot calling the kettle black.
I love Chris’ work for its authenticity, its boldness, and its personalization. If you write him, chances are that he’ll write you back. He even tells you how best to communicate with him. Having said all of those kudos, I long ago realized I am no Chris Brogan. I have neither the time nor the talent to be the social marketing whiz that he is.
Reading his post on “Rules of the Pool” allowed me to heave a huge sigh of relief that I don’t have to be just like him to succeed. I can find my own way to promote my small business online. And since there are no rules to this pool, a little groping, experimenting, and falling down are just fine by me.
What about you?
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Photo credit: FreePhotosBank
Tags: Chris Brogan, online marketing expert, social media
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on Jun 12, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Young folks are energetic, enthusiastic, and have energy to spare, right? Just look at any five-year-old and you see what I mean. They expend more energy in one hour than I might spend all day.
It turns out that the same principle of Youth = More Energy applies to small business and social media. According to email and direct mail marketing provider Vertical Response, startup companies (or younger small businesses) tend to be more energetic and enthusiastic than more established small businesses.
No big surprise there, but the statistics make for an interesting read. Plus, if you are the owner of a more mature small business, this might motivate you to get involved in social media, even if you join with caution. Read the article on the Small Business Search Marketing website:
Small Business and Social Media: Experience vs. Enthusiasm
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Photo credit: SF critical ass
Tags: small business, social media, startup
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on Jun 11, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Social media is still in the early adoption phase where small business is concerned. Yes, a lot of small business owners are getting involved in social media. No, widespread adoption isn’t happening … yet. Without the mega-bucks marketing budget that large businesses have, small business owners are taking their time getting acquainted with social media. Social media takes a lot of one resource that most small business owners lack: time.
But, as always, there are bleeding edge early adopters out there, testing the waters, occasionally getting eaten by sharks (sad, but true), and pioneering the way for the rest of the masses. What are these folks doing?
According to a study by Sage Software and AMI-Partners, at least 260,000 small businesses in the U.S. and Canada are using social media as a marketing channel. Find out how these early adopters are using social media, and then see if you might want to start getting your small business involved.
Social Media and Small Business Getting Acquainted Slowly
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Photo credit: strawberrysoup
Tags: early adoption, small business, social media
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on Jun 10, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Hmmm … good question. Maybe, maybe not. Most experts would agree that small businesses marketing directly to consumers can definitely benefit from participating in some form of social media. But what about small businesses that market directly to other businesses? Should they take part in social media?
Jean Van Rensselar of Smart PR Communications argues not. She says it’s a waste of time. In a controversial article, Jean proposes that a B2B prospect is far different than a B2C prospect (i.e., an individual consumer). She lists 7 ways in which B2B prospects are different, and why this market segment needs to be marketed to with far more care and concern. She also defines why social media is quite inappropriate for this market segment.
Her article has generated a raging storm of comments, some of which strongly disagree with her point of view, others of which totally agree. The bottom line is that if your business markets primarily to other businesses, Jean’s article is worth a read. The comments are worth reading, too. They are, if anything, just as valuable as the article itself. Get the B2B social media scoop here:
B2B - Skip the Social Media Marketing
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Tags: b2b, b2c, Jean Van Rensselar, social media
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on Jun 5, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Why Social Media Manager Isn’t a Real Job
I was relieved to read a recent blog post from Chris Brogan, Mr. Social Media himself and one of my heroes. In his post, Getting Back to Your Desk, Chris talks about how social media is starting to move away from the “gee whiz” factor and starting become a more stable part of the marketing channel. In other words, it’s just another channel through which businesses can reach out to their people, like direct mail and email.
One salient point Chris makes is that social media is a tool, like your fax or email. He says being a social media manager is like being the email manager or fax manager - you are naming yourself after a tool. Who wants to be just a tool?
It’s a great rant, worth reading, and probably a relief to all those small business owners running around thinking, “Gosh, I really need to get on social media, but I don’t have time. Oh well, I’ll get to it next week!”
Read Chris’ post here.
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Photo credit: Financial Aid Podcast
Tags: Chris Brogan, social media
Posted by Stephanie on Apr 13, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Guest post by Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia
Social networking is springing up like weeds on the web. LinkedIn. FastPitch. Twitter. YouTube. Facebook. Biznik. Plaxo. Ping. Schmoozii …
The prospect of reaching the world with your message is intoxicating. Equally, the amount of time spent forging through the plethora of websites with their unique designs and features can overwhelm the most organized individual.
Make Your Time Count
As simple as it may sound, the first step in establishing an effective social networking plan is to set a clear intention for your approach.
For those who are shoppers, spending time at www.linkedin.com, without a clear objective is much like shopping without any idea of what you need. You wander from store-to- store, aisle -to- aisle, wasting hour upon hour only to leave the premises unfilled and disappointed. (Gosh, that does sound like the LinkedIn experience, doesn’t it!?)
However, armed with a clear picture of your desires, you zoom directly to the aisle that contains what you need. Although the shiny objects at the ends of the aisles may still catch your fancy, your time is wisely invested.
Set Your Objective
What is your objective for the time invested on LinkedIn? Do you want to position yourself as an expert? Build partnerships and share clients? Find a new career? Connect with a company that up-to-this-point appears to be clandestine? Whatever the reason for your social networking activity, you want it to contribute to your over-arching professional objective.
Time used on www.linkedin.com cannot be recaptured or resold. Whatever you desire, a reason that is clear and succinct ensures the productive use of your time.
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Jackie Nagel, Founder of Synnovatia™, energizes entrepreneurs that are stuck, stalled, starting up, or stretching with a pioneering coaching approach that drives profits, productivity, and performance.
Tags: jackie nagel, linkedin, social media
Posted by Stephanie on Mar 13, 2009 in
Small Business Management 
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth but I was born with a laptop on my lap. I come from a computer science family and worked in three software development companies before I got out of the rat race. I know a thing or two about computers and the internet.
Having said that, I still have a MILLION questions that I am dying to have answered about online marketing, social media, offline marketing, online forums, and how to stay on top of it all. I recently read a post on the Indie Business Blog that pointed out that time was the new overhead. Forget wages, insurance, rent, and utilities. The new thing that eats up all our resources in small business is time.
Time as the New Overhead
We need time to keep up with all our friends and contacts on Twitter, Facebook, Ryze, and our blogs, not to mention answering emails, writing super-excellent blog posts, and submitting top-quality articles to article directories. And guess what? If you really want to dominate your niche you need to do all of this 5 or 7 days a week! Aack! Can you say overwhelm?
Many small business owners who are just getting their toes wet in online marketing and social media are in total overwhelm. The sheer volume of the information stream out there is incredible. Not only do we need to read it all, we need to respond to it, answer important questions that people are asking, and reach out to people we want to be our customers.
Dealing with Overwhelm — The List
So how can we deal with this overwhelm? One technique that works really well for me is to make the list of a million questions. About 15 times a day questions that I need answered pop up in my head. Needless to say, I don’t have the time right then and there to go find the answer. Most of these questions need to be researched by searching Google, poring through the feeds on my feed aggregator, posting a question to a forum, or asking for help on Twitter. Well, that’s not going to happen when I’m in the middle of my conference call with clients who are paying my mortgage!
So I jot down my questions on my list of million questions. The list resides in a 10 cent spiral notebook I bought at Walmart during the last “back to school” special. Really fancy, right? So far the list hasn’t reached a million questions, but does take up about 34 pages.
So how does this list help me? Here are 7 ways it helps:
- By writing my questions down they don’t hang around in my head, nagging me.
- I don’t have to write the questions on my hand (it gets crowded and ballpoint pens don’t work so great on skin).
- It reminds me of the directions I want to pursue in my small business marketing when I get confused (which happens a lot).
- I can show it to my hubby as proof of my voluminous productive work when he accuses me of spending all my time surfing the web for horse tack or, heaven forbid, horses for sale!
- When I have a spare moment and feel tempted to get tweet about non-business items, I turn to my list instead and post 2 or 3 questions to online forums and check on answers to past questions.
- When I feel like I’m not making any progress in my marketing education, I flip through the list and look at all the early questions that I have gotten answered. Then I literally pull my arm out of its socket congratulating myself for having come so far!
- I often post the questions on my blog or in a forum to generate conversation and learn something. A well-phrased question of importance posted to the right location can generate a lot of learning and traffic. Plus, you’ll be surprised at how many other people have the same questions as you - they are just too chicken to ask.
The list of a million questions is a totally simple, almost childish device, but I always think about it like this: “It’s cheaper than therapy!” In today’s business climateI really believe it’s possible for small business owners to suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome just from handling the day-to-day operations. It is overwhelming.
But just think about this: a 10 cent notebook from your local discount retailer can save you years of therapy if you just take the time to jot down all your insane questions. Get them out of your brain and onto paper, where they can’t drive you crazy. Then, in your saner moments, get them answered. Voila! You’re one step further in your marketing progress than you were before, possibly without adding any more gray hairs!
What works for you in dealing with overwhelm?
Photo Credit: Question!
Tags: list of a million questions, new overhead, overwhelm, small business owners, social media
Posted by Stephanie on Mar 12, 2009 in
Employment and Jobs 
What To Do If You Get Axed
Pink slips are becoming an epidemic and a lot of people are feeling quite depressed about it. Surprisingly, though, a high percentage of people are feeling quite freed by the sensation of not having to get up early in the morning. Some are wondering what to do with their slack time until a new opportunity opens up. And all kinds of creative options are popping up. If you’ve been laid off, here are some things you can think about doing in your slack time.
1. Be Like the CSS Guy
The Wall Street Journal just published an article about Justin Rockwell, a web developer who got laid off last fall. He didn’t know what to do with himself or necessarily how to get a job, but he did find himself spending a lot of time on Twitter. He decided to put his skills and his Twitter network to work for him. He began searching tweets for people posting about problems with cascading style sheets (css), an aspect of web development, and offering his services to those people. He offered several payment options, ranging from $35 (which gets your problem fixed within 3 days) to $135 (which gets you two hours of his time). He’s not making a full-time living on Twitter yet but he is catching the attention of quite a few people. And, he earned $1400 in February from Twitter referrals.
Does that spark any creative ideas of how you can leverage your skills on Twitter?
2. Turn Your Online Presence Into You Online Resume and Job Application
So maybe your blog and Facebook account have thus far been a mish-mash of business tips, personal details, pictures of your cat, and any other random thoughts that come to mind. Well, it’s time to shape up and start cleaning house. According to well-known blogger Robert Scoble, if you want to attract a new job you need to focus all of your online resources in the same direction. His advice? If you want to drive a cab then start posting pictures of cabs, offering tips for cab drivers, and following current cabbies in social networking sites. He has a lot more details, too. Check ‘em out here.
What kind of job do you want next and what can you do to focus your online presence toward that aim?
3. Seth Says, “Become an Expert and Get a Following”
We all do what Seth Godin says, right? Well, maybe not everything but the guy does have quite a lot going on in that shiny head of his so he’s worth listening to. His advice for the recently pink-slipped? Make use of your slack time. You’ve got the time so use it wisely. Learn something you’ve always wanted to learn, like a foreign language or how to program your own webpage. On the practical side, he suggests, among other things, building a tribe of followers for your favorite non-profit organization and turning your experience into a case study for your industry or niche. Sounds like a pretty good marketing tool to help you get your next job. Oh, and while you’re at it, get a following and build an online reputation. He suggests doing random acts of kindness, like hooking up people who need each other for no personal gain or giving away information really need. Very much along the lines of “give to get,” which actually works. Read more about what Seth says …
What are you going to do with your slack time?
Photo Credit: Used to kill
Tags: blog, online presence, seth godin, social media, the css guy
Posted by Stephanie on Mar 10, 2009 in
Small Business Technology 
With small businesses already struggling to stay afloat in the recession economy, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of the trends that will boost your business (lest you sink!). Small Business Trends has put out a great list of 10 technology trends for 2009 that is worth reading.
As a small business owner you obviously have a lot to juggle and technology isn’t your only focus. However, this list of technology trends has tips that even the least techno-savvy business owner will want to know about. For instance, this list highlights the importance of social media for small business, especially those that want to network not just with their own customers but also with people who are not yet customers.
This list also highlights another important trend: the widening gap between small businesses that have an online presence and small businesses that don’t. The bottom line is that you MUST have an online presence … but how will you do it? Is a website enough or do you also need a blog and a forum?
This list doesn’t answer all of these questions but it does highlight the questions you should be asking about your small business’ state of preparedness in terms of technology trends. Other trends include netbook adoption, broadband usage, cell phone software, video-conferencing and more.
Check out these techie trends here.
Photo credit: Computer Technology Fortune
Tags: online presence, small business technology trends, social media
