Goal Setting is Step One for Any Business - from Startup to Selling Out

 

 Carefully Considered and Written Goals May Dramatically Increase Your Overall Success

My mom used to say: “You’re going off half-cocked.” Most of the small businesses that I have worked with could use the same challenge. Any well-run effort should have a plan, and every serious plan starts with the goals. The goals answer the questions:

• Why am I doing this?
• What are the ultimate success metrics?
• Why would consumers or businesses buy from me?
• Am I passionate enough to do what needs to be done?

There may be a few more questions for that list, but those would be a great place to start. There is an almost unlimited list of ways to make a living or a fortune. Evaluating your specific idea by asking these four questions can help you to make choices between options, and get serious with yourself about diving in.

You are about to risk substantial time, money, energy, and emotion. Setting very specific goals before you start that effort is A. Sensible, and will B. Actually contributes to your success.

You may want to start with your personal life goals. Have you thought them through? Have you written them down? Recent research has shown that those who write down their goals achieve success at a much higher level than those who have not. I believe this advantage derives from the kind of thought that goes into the writing process. You might have some general goals in your mind about what you want in the future, but writing them down will bring clarity, and cement them in your mind and heart.

Whether we are talking about personal goals like family size, where to live, lifestyle choices, and charitable efforts, or business goals like total sales, profits, or type of enterprise, clear goals will provide direction regarding strategies and tactics.

The headline promised that this article was not just for start-ups, and it isn’t. You can and should stop yearly at least to contemplate any changes in goals, and to review your progress towards achieving the goals you’ve been working on.

Another time to think through your goals is when there is a major transition such as a major new product line, an acquisition, a buyout offer, or retirement. Entrepreneurs are commonly distracted from their primary focus by some new, bright shiny object. Even a new line of business for the company may look great in concept, but not really be lined up with the goals you’ve set. Of course, you can change your goals any time, but it is better if that decision is considered in the light of “changing goals,” rather “it seems like a good idea.”

There are many excellent books on goal setting. The first few chapters of my book, “Running a 21^st Century Small Business,” take a deep dive into setting life goals.

New Crowdfunding Methods to Raise Cash for Both Startups and Mature Businesses

Kickstarter, StartEngine, GoFundMe, and Others Can Help Your Business Raise Needed Money

Do you have an idea that you believe could sell millions of units, but you just lack the money to bring it to market? I have been faced with that dilemma multiple times in my life. The resources generally available until just this decade are listed below and I have done all of them, some of them multiple times or continuously:

• Credit Cards
• Friends and family equity or loans
• Borrowing against personal assets like your home    
• Bank borrowing using personal guarantee, personal or business assets 
• Small Business Administration Loan 
• Selling stock to qualified investors with SEC filing 
• Asset lending on accounts receivable, inventory, or purchase orders 
• Customer advanced payments

All of these are still valid methods and commonly used, but there are limits and companies are commonly not able to use these approaches for all the opportunities or crises they encounter.

Now there are two more methods that are creating massive funding for companies, products, and services that don’t require any assets or much cash. Both involve crowdfunding online. One method uses “rewards” that are paid for in advance based on a HOPE that the company will actually deliver the rewards as promised, someday. Almost generically known as Kickstarter, the most common reward is a new product that the funding is designed to help the entrepreneur bring to market.

The other is raising equity or loans from qualified and non-qualified investors in amounts as little as $100 at a time. The investors are found online as part of a crowd of folks that like to take these kinds of risks.

Let’s take a look at these one at a time

Over the course of the last 40+ years I have brought multiplied hundreds of products to market and either owned or worked with 180 companies that offered products are services. In the course of these years they new company or new product process worked something like this:

• Idea
• Business plan for development
• Cash requirements analysis
• Personnel and facilities requirement to launch
• Source of cash analysis
• Timeline
• Raise cash, execute on personnel and facilities
• Spend money on design, tools, packaging, inventory
• Take idea to buyers and attempt to create pre-orders based on brochures or prototypes
• Make initial buy of inventory with no idea how fast product will move through distribution and off the shelves.
• Ship and wait for results – manage results to best extent possible
• Evaluate and shift as necessary regarding product, packaging, POP displays, distribution channel marketing, price, competitive shifts, etc.
• Evaluate movement and begin to plan inventory rotation based on sales

Kickstarter and other websites like this are now firmly established with outstanding records for raising amounts as small as a few thousand dollars to multiple millions. The advantages for any company launching a new product using Kickstarter are huge:

• Almost all of the risk is shifted to those seeking the reward (product.) With other methods the entire risk generally falls on the company and/or owner.
• You can test market the product prior to spending more than a few dollars on copy, artwork, videos, etc., about the proposed product
• The product gets displayed on a website where thousands of potential consumers can see your concept and potentially take a risk by placing an order for the “reward.”
• The marketing content that you create for a successful Kickstarter campaign is now tested and ready to be used to sell in the future in traditional “stores.”

What does it take to create a successful Kickstarter type campaign?

• A solid and serious new product or service idea that has an element of inspiration around it. There needs to be something seriously new and innovative.
• Your own large following on social media, preferably including a big email list of folks who would be interested in the product or at least with helping you out.
• A well thought out and creative pitch that can be translated into Great Copy, videos, spec sheets, etc
• Rewards – This would include variations of your product, but might also include T shirts, thank you letters, etc.
• A serious fund raising goal
• Evidence of trustworthiness

What if there is no “amazing” new product, but you have a great company idea, or an existing company with a track record. If you would like to issue stock, you can go traditional routes similar to what John just outlined with friends, family, associates, venture capitalists, etc. But congress passed a bill which provides a new route.

You can now use online resources, including social media, to “advertise” your stock offering to both qualified and non-qualified investors. The stock can be preferred or common, voting or non-voting, it can even be bundled so that you are only dealing with one entity instead of thousands of individual share holders.

Under these new rules, these stock offerings do not have any of the onerous SEC requirements that earlier offerings require. Sadly, you are limited to only raising $2m per year. LOL

How does this process work?  What do you need to be successful?

While there are those who only try to raise a few thousand dollars using this approach, I would recommend sticking to credit cards and Mom if that’s all you need. Personally, I would suggest a minimum raise of $25,000 or even $50,000 for this type of stock offering.

You will want professional help. Start Engine Is one of the largest, but there are many. Each has their own niche, so it is hard for me to say which would be better for you. The reasons you need help:

• Unless you think your friends and fans will fork over all you need, these online companies are followed by investors looking for these types of opportunities.
• They will help you with the legal filings and what you need on your listing
• For a fee, some will help you with the marketing (Start Engine $4000)
• There are also issues of timing, how much to ask for, how to value your company preoffering and what that will look like post offering.
• The actual type of stock, limitations, etc., are other legal issues you may get help with.

To be successful, you either need a killer idea, a great company story, an amazing leadership team or all of the above. Then you need to tell your story within the bounds of legal and ethical constraints. In other words, you are not allowed to puff your deal.

Consider this scenario, which is exactly what I’m doing with a current client. 

• You have a new product or service idea
• You have $10,000 available from friends, family, credit cards, cash flow
• You raise $50,000 through a stock offering (cost $7000)  Net $43,000
• You put the new product concept up on Kickstarter – cost $5000
• You raise $100,000 (cost of goods $50,000) net $45,000
• You now have $98,000 in working capital ($88,000 if you repay the $10,000)
• You finish the research, make the tooling, buy the goods and ship the orders.
• You may have spent some of the $98,000 on the make ready and overhead.  Let’s say you have $50,000 left. You can now use the $50,000 to buy inventory, set up the product on Amazon and eBay, and start selling.

If you would like to discuss more about the details of these methods of starting or financing your small business, please call Randy Kirk at 310-910-1848. The first 45 minutes of consult is without charge or obligation. 

No Matter What Your Business, Your Business Is About People

Time to be real. Business owners are not always very good with people. The very fact that someone chooses to run their own show generally points to the fact that they don’t want to work for or be managed by people. Entrepreneurs are almost by definition rule breakers who play to the beat of a very different drum.

To be sure, some owners are great at issues dealing with people, such as hiring, firing, motivation, and sales. Many restaurant owners love to chat up their patrons. And we’ve all seen the owners whose employees stay for decades, because they love the boss.

Whether or not you are “good” with people, a huge percent of the major issues you will deal with each day have to do with customers, suppliers, and staff…people. And there is always room for improvement in knowing how to manage all these unique and interesting folks.

So back to being real. Rate yourself from 1-10 with 10 being best on the following:

•         Hiring great personnel
•         Managing my staff
•         Managing my employees who also happen to be my childrent
•         Managing sales staff
•         Managing managers
•         Working with suppliers
•         Customer relations
•         Personal sales skills
•         Planning for business transitions
•         Planning an exit strategy
•         Setting goals
•         Helping others set goals
•         Holding others accountable
•         Training
•         Delegating tasks
•         Delegating responsibility
•         Delegating authority

How did you do? This is the short list, and not exhaustive my any means. Think about other issues like working with bankers, investors, and so much more.

Everybody has strengths and weakness. A great CEO recognizes clearly where he/she has deficiencies and works to fill those places with outstanding associates, either on the payroll or as outsourced service providers and consultants.

As a consultant, I commonly see huge gaps in the people skills of the owners I work with. Sometimes these are very damaging to the prospects of the company. For instance, imagine the impact of poor customer service today, when every mistake is blown up on Yelp. Or think about the legal consequences of inappropriate behavior among the top management. I have personally witnessed the destructive potential of an employee who is a negative Nellie or who undermines the owner. And the damage that can be done by poorly managed sales people is no secret.

If you feel like the time has come to deal with some of your personal shortfalls in the people skills area, or if you have employees that need such help, please check out our MasterMind groups as a way to get great peer-to-peer help in managing your people. 

Understanding Your Financial Statements Is Critical to Great Marketing!!!

You can't manage what you can't count

One of my clients owns a botique bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll processing business in Los Angeles. She is very successful, but needed help with her online effort. As part of that effort I authored a series of blog posts relating to the importance of using income statements (aka, profit and loss) and balance sheets to increase profits in any small business. Here are the headlines. Click through to read the details.

Increase Your Profits Tip #1 - Margins Matter

Increase Your Profits Tip 2 – Margin Analysis – Case Study

Increase Your Profits Tip 3 – Financial Reports Reveal Luxuries

Increase Your Profits Tip 4 – Financial Reports Reveal Fantasy Thinking

Increase Your Profits Tip 5 - Six Numbers You Need to Run Any Business from Maui

Increase Your Profits Tip 6 - "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing." Warren Buffet

Increase Your Profits Tip 7 – Count This and That and Even This 

Increase Your Profits Tip 8 – “That Was Really Dumb” App

Increase Your Profits Tip 9 - What Were Your Sales Last Year Same Month? The Year Before?

Increase Your Profits Tip 10 - Where Did All My Cash Go?

No matter what kind of company you have or where you are in the US, you may want to give ATPP a call to discuss whether they would be a good fit to do your payroll processing, bookkeeping, and are accounting for you. You can reach them at

ATPP Accounting Tax Payroll Partners 
20058 Ventura Blvd #118
Woodland Hills CA 91364
phone: 818-436-2775

Twitter for Small Business - What You May Not Know Could Help You

Your Tweets get found on Twitter by keywords - but not on Google

I do a lot of blogging for my clients. These blogs generally get over 10,000 page views per month. Most of those page views do NOT come from Google. They come from Twitter.

You see Google search (Bing, Yahoo, etc.) is totally clogged. The amount of content on the internet is doubling every year, and there is no end in sight. But the amount of content that can be consumed by the folks is not increasing at the same rate. This is making the competition for those eyeballs more and more expensive to acquire. Where I may have posted on a blog five years ago and seen that post on page one under some keywords I cared about. Not so today. Not without a lot of extra work or much more careful selection of the keywords. Even when successful, the readership will be less.

How do we business owners get better at reaching our clients online with that content. We need to find out how they are searching. And the search engines of the future may be more tied to social media than to the wide open spaces like Google.

Twitter's search engine only searches Tweets. If you search by a person or keyword or hashtag, it isn't going to give you results for YouTube or a website or a blog. Because not very many folks are paying attention yet, it is still possible to dominate Twitter search with a few good Tweets per day. These tweets can be linked to your blog, website, video, etc., and can contain a phone number or other ways to directly reach you.

In addition, many Twitter users have set up key word alerts that are always searching for certain words they care about. Commonly this would be their favorite sports team, their college, or their home town. If someone Tweets that there is a great party going on in Columbus Ohio, and you are alerted for Columbus, you'll find out about the party. Google has an alert system like this, but it is not nearly so popular as Twitters, because Twitters content is social and immediate.

Small business owners will find that in today's internet scramble to find new customers, the time and energy will be better spent on YouTube, blogging, Twitter, and Linkedin. If you'd like to be a part of that future, give me a call at 310-910-1848.

Video Marketing Rocks! 90% of Consumers Use Video in Research

 

ROI on video is off the charts for most small local business owners

According to Media Post Publications:

Consumers Who Watch Product Videos Spend More on the Product

by Daisy Whitney

Tags

online video, video

If a brand isn’t offering product videos on its website, it’s missing a potential marketing and engagement opportunity. 

About 90% of consumers watch online videos, and online shoppers are nearly twice as likely to make a purchase than consumers who do not view video, according to new research from video marketing firm Invodo.

Video is also a key opportunity because of its engagement rate. About 65% of video viewers watch videos through to 80% completion. Most videos end on a product tag or logo, so not watching the final seconds isn’t a huge loss. Consumers are responding well to videos on ecommerce sites, where most videos overall generate a 4.3 rating on a 5-star scale, a promising figure that suggests consumers do value the content in them. On average 12% of visitors to an ecommerce web page view a video when one is available. Many of those visitors often spend more money.

As an example, L’Oreal’s Kerastase hair care line runs videos about the products and then links from the videos to a shopping page. The average value of an order for consumers who viewed the hair care videos was 18% higher than for those who did not, Invodo found.

Invodo recommends integrating videos widely across a brand’s site from search results, to category pages, to landing pages, so that the video can meet the consumers wherever they are. Video can also be syndicated to partner sites, mobile apps, in stores, on reseller sites and in email.

Emails with the word  “video” in the  subject line generate 18.5% higher open rates, Invodo adds.

 My clients have the same experience.  Whether a mortgage broker, a tax resolution company, a bike shop or a personal trainer, videos make the phone ring and the door swing. 

9 Ways to Improve Your Luck in Small Business

Lucky Rabbit - Has all 4 feet

How Big A Factor Is Luck in Business Success? 

Never underestimate what the grand kids are picking up in a room full of adults.  I can distinctly remember bridge nights at my Grandparent's house.  At some point in the evening, someone would invariable comment on my Poppy's "luck."  And while I'm not sure whether his reply was forthcoming at that very moment or not, I did know his philosophy.  You make your own luck.

You see, he was lucky at bridge and poker because he counted cards and studied the game.  He was a national doubles champion in bowling because he was "lucky" enough to practice and learn to depend on his muscle memory.  He was lucky in love, parenting, and business.

This in no way should suggest that we are not all subject to the vagaries of chance.  Lightening struck my factory.  You don't have to tell me.

On the other hand, we who are in pursuit of success in any field might be too quick to check our pocket for the rabbit's foot, point to our competitor's luck, or grouse over our bad luck in the market (I own Apple at $550, and the only reason it is $400 right now is because I own it). 

How can we make our own luck.  Here are 9 ways to "almost" guarantee a luckier future:

1. Hard work.  Poppy is speaking to us all through the grave.  Part two of his philosophy:  The harder I work the luckier I get.  He would undoubtedly have agreed that he had some advantages in life.  He was reasonably athletic, reasonably attractive, reasonably charming, and reasonably smart.  Getting lucky in the gene pool is helpful, no doubt.  But don't you know folks who are really athletic, really attractive, really charming, and really smart who are barely making it through life or worse.  Business success require extremely hard work and long hours.  More than anything, that might change your luck
2. Do the hard things.  This is different than working hard.  I can certainly tell you of 14 hour days in my business life when all I did was stuff I liked doing.  I don't like making cold calls.  I don't like confrontation (with employees, suppliers, partners, investors).  I don't like doing long projects with a lot of detail.  There's a really long list of things I don't like to do that need doing.  Doing those things more would have made me luckier in business.  
3. Do things really well.  My Poppy once bowled 19 strikes in a row.  You don't do that because you got up on the right side of the bed.  There is an entire industry built around the idea that you need to do something 10,000 times to become an expert.  Preparation, practice, concentration during execution will all improve luck.
4.  Stick your neck out.  I believe that the meek will inherit the earth.  But that Biblical wisdom is often misinterpreted.  There was nothing timid about Jesus, Peter, Paul, or any of those who led the early church.  You can't sell anything that you don't offer to a potential buyer.  And you are unlikely to get lucky sitting around waiting for the phone to ring after putting your name on Craig's List.  Be bold.  Be different.  Be visible.  You luck will change.
5. Don't be stupid.  I'm hoping that my Grand kids will remember me for this mantra.  It comes from a series I call Randy's Math Rules.  If the answer makes no sense, rethink or rework.  It is a really great way to check your math answers.  This applies to so much of life, including our business life.  Did you just come up with a solution to a problem that makes no sense?  Rethink and rework.  Are you chasing an idea or trying to sell a product or service that doesn't add up.  Rethink and rework.  Do you have partners, associates, suppliers, or employees that are subtracting from your luck.  Subtract them.  
6. Make things happen.  You are the only person who can determine your destiny.  Take responsibility and get into proactive mode.  Is business slow?  Don't blame Obama.  And don't blame Bush either.  Don't blame anybody.  Change something, add something, subtract something, raise a price, lower a price, hit the road, do a crazy stunt, start calling people.
7. Help others to succeed.  Your luck will definitely improve if you have helped other people to improve their lives.  Be a mentor, encourager, guide, door opener, motivator, and champion of your spouse, kids, employees, friends, associates, suppliers, and customers.  It isn't necessarily about the Karma.  It is a part of the natural order of things.
8. Give back.  You contributions of time, talent, and treasure to your neighborhood, community, industry, church, or association will change your luck in many ways.  It will build your skill sets, your network, your confidence, and a vault full of appreciation that may be very helpful when you have an unlucky streak.
9. Live with Integrity.  One more from my Poppy.  He literally wrote the book on bidding practices for the Mason Contractors Assoc.  Your reputation of honesty in business is a critical component of your luck. 

  BONUS - One way to change your luck is to utilize great outside resources to help with areas that you can't do yourself due to lack of time or talent.  We offer comprehensive marketing consultation for small businesses that can't afford a marketing manager or department.  And we do so at a cost that is affordable for the bakery, the solo lawyer, or the bike shop.  Call me.  We only work with 20 businesses at any one time.  As of this writing, we have 19.

Do Something Outrageous to Draw Attention to Your Business

Big, Big Balloons, Banners, Sign Spinners, Celebrity Visits, Block Parties, Tent Sales

Sorry, this post will not apply easily to those who have an office on the third floor in an office building, or those who work out of their home.  But if that's you, you might just have to be a bit more creative.

I have a car dealership near my home that takes up an entire corner on a very busy intersection.  Once a year, they have a tent sale across the street in the parking lot of a regional mall.  This tent sale is directly across the street.  What could they be thinking.  The tents and balloons and activity on the other side of the street creates a new and different draw.  No matter how big or impressive your business, eventually your facility fades into the background and might as well be invisible.

Another car dealer nearby was on a not so busy street, but the building was visible from the 405 freeway in Los Angeles.  You may know that this is one of the busiest freeways in the country.  No one passing buy would have paid any attention to his dealership had he not put giant gorilla balloons on the top of the building.

Over tax day this past April, you had no choice but to learn that there was a new tax preparer in Los Angeles, competing with H&R Block.  Weirdly costumed characters were found all over the city, and you had no choice but to look.

Many of my clients call and ask if they should spend $1000 on this print adv or $600 a month for some internet opportunity.  I have no doubt in my mind that these Liberty characters cost less than $1000 per location and were worth every penny.

So, you are in that office on the 2nd Floor.  You dental business needs a boost.  If you can't get the landlord to let you put a balloon on the roof, can you put a banner out the on the side of the building.  If that's out, too, how about checking with businesses right around you.  Can you put a sign on their roof.  They'll get some bang from the looks their way.

Or how about a truck wrap.  Most truck wraps or signs end up on vehicles that have some kind of utility other than as a sign:  Construction, home services, and delivery trucks. Why only them?  Why can't you have a moving billboard or even more than one.  Park them around on different streets at different times.  Drive them during rush hour up and down your street. 

Most wraps are around $1700. Then you have the cost of the vehicle.  Buy something cheap, but clean. 

So, I turn it over to your brainstorming department.  How can you get a huge bunch of eyeballs pointed at your building, sign, truck, or tent? 

Do Something Wild and Crazy - Price - Giveaway - Hours - Delivery

Shake up the Market - Buy Right and Sell at A Crazy Price

Sometimes You Just Have to Shake Up the Market to Boost Up You Sales

A barber was having a hard time paying the rent.  His normal hours started at 10:00.  I suggested that working men can't come in between 10:00 and 5:00.  Why not open at 7:00 and see what happens.  He did and the results were instantaneous.

A bike shop was in a very competitive neighborhood, and he was tired of trying to compete on price.  He decided to try staying open until midnight.  He gathered a crowd that became very loyal.

A restaurant opened their doors and was underwhelmed with the response.  So they blanketed the neighborhood with a flier that offered a free meal to anyone from Friday at 5:00 pm until Sunday at 7:00 pm.  There was a line around the block practically the entire weekend.  According to the owners, they never had to advertise again.

Another restaurant story.  One of the most successful restaurants/diner in Los Angeles has a weekend once each year where they roll back prices to their opening week in the '50.  It is a huge draw.

It is a marketing legend.  We all took the taste test in the mall.  Who would turn down free cookies.  Mrs. Fields is still going strong decades later based on offering a small sample free.

Then there's the story of Two Buck Chuck.  The Trader Joe's chain of local grocery stores did what they had done hundreds of times before.  They carefully researched a single product, found one that was of excellent quality, but much lower than expected cost, and bought a bunch of it.  The product became legendary.

What could you do that would be wild and crazy?  Could you take a commodity product and offer it as a loss leader even for a day?  Could you offer special hours to gain fans who otherwise find it hard to do business with you? 

Remember Thrifty Drug Stores.  An ice cream cone used to be 5¢.  When?  1950?  No, at least into the '70s.  Later it went to 10¢.  Kind of hard to not go in on a hot day and get that nickle cone.

What about service.  Here was an inexpensive service touch that changed an industry.  Who would have ever thought that urban housewives would be buying bulk pet food and kitty litter.  They key to getting mom to stop buying 5 pounds of kitty litter or 3 cans of dog food at the grocery store?  Have the staff at the pet shop carry the 25 pound bags and cases of food out to the car.

A Few Rules About Doing Something Wild and Crazy

The restaurant who had the free weekend.  It had to be great food.  $2 Chuck had to be good enough wine for the uppity West Los Angeles clients that formed the base of the Trader Joe empire.  Staying open late or opening early.  You will need a massive sign and other publicity.  Call the paper.

And if your crazy price isn't crazy enough, the opportunity is lost.  50% off isn't going to get it unless it is 50% off the lowest price of a regularly discounted product.  I can remember buying a years supply of Pepsi when it went on sale for 16¢ a can.   Normally at that time it was around 35¢.

Let's walk through that one for a minute.  Let's say that you can buy Pepsi wholesale for 20¢, and that normal retail is 30¢.  You offer it for 15¢ in order to cause a stir and get traffic in the store.  You sell 5000 cans and lose 5¢ on each can for a $250 total loss.  Or maybe you sell 50,000 cans for a $2500 loss.  How many folks will be walking through your store to get to those cans in order to move 50,000 cans.  And yes, please make sure those cans or at the back of the store.

Keep in mind - Wild and Crazy.  Your competitors have to say:  "What?  Is he crazy?  

My Biggest Social Media Marketing GOOF! How You Can Learn From It.

 

200% Increase in Page Views Since I Changed One Part of My Social Media Strategy

Nobody ever said that marketing was a science, and certainly this is true of Internet Marketing.  Even if it was a science, the various spheres of influence change so quickly that any hypothesis, theory, or law that is proven this week will be all changed by next week.

Thus it can be said with certainty that all who claim any type of guru status when it comes to social media marketing, probably one of the least susceptible to rules, will completely blow it at some point.  I want to now introduce you to the biggest blunder of my local social marketing career.

I failed to see Twitter as a broadcast media capable of driving significant traffic to a business blog or other media even when they had no Twitter followers and no intention of engagement!

There.  I've said it.  I feel sooo much better now.  

We are now using Hootsuite to broadcast 10 tweets per day directed at long form content on each business blog.  The day we begin the new tweet plan, the numbers go up.  Then they start to ratchet.  There are minor differences based on the type of business and the quality of our initial Tweet posts, but on average we are up over 100% on page views.  Some clients have even seen an increase of 200%. 

So how does Tweeting help when there are no followers?  Simple.  Those who have their HootSuite or other Twitter search devise hooked up are on the hunt for specific keywords in their interest area.  Most have their antennae up for Kim Kardashian or IRS scandal.   But there are those who are looking for information on criminal defense lawyer or wedding photography.  And when you have millions looking at billions of keywords, you will likely even get some activity for underwater basket weaving.

I never know if my clients read my blogs.  But hopefully they won't read this.  A representative sample of my clients would have lost out on 2000 page views per month due to my error.  To make matters worse, the type of visitor we are getting from this effort is far more relevant than other methods.  They only click in if the 140 character tweet is in their wheelhouse, such as New Trek 2014 Fuel Ex 29er now in stock at Indianapolis bike shop, T3Multisport.  Keywords galore, but very specific.

I turn the discussion over to you.  Did you already know this?  Why didn't you tell me?  If you didn't know it, and you try it now, let me know your results.  Am I missing any other free or cheap ways to drive relevant traffic to my blogs. 

We are using Google+ (some success), Linkedin (good), the primary website (very good), other blogs (so-so), videos (sometimes very good), Facebook (eh), and email blasts (can be very good).

Classic Marketing Book Review - 1001 Ways to Reward Employees

Cover of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees

Motivating Employees Is About Way More than How Much You Pay Them

One of my favorite parts of business is building up employees.  I love the challenge of finding a "young" gem who is willing to learn and develop, then helping them to become all that they can be.  In my lifetime I have had the privilege, and it is truly that, of being that mentor hundreds of times. 

I learned early on that money can motivate, but that most folks are working for a bunch of reasons that have little to do with whether they are getting $20 or $22 an hour.  Some are working for money.  No doubt.  Some for benefits.  But most are working to feel a sense of accomplishment, belonging, respect, trust, progress. 

One way that employees can feel really fantastic about themselves is through rewards, praise, and public recognition.  "1001 Ways to Reward Employees" by Bob Nelson, is a great reference book to help you consider low cost or free ways to build your people up.  You can spend 20 or 30 minutes just skipping around through the text and you'll be stimulated to come up with your own variations.  It is like brainstorming, but with a book instead of a room full of people.  

The ideas have been gleaned from 100's of interviews conducted with owners and managers of businesses, large and small.  Many won't apply to your situation at all.  Others will have you slapping your forehead wondering why you didn't already think of that. 

Years ago, I implemented an Employee of the Month program with a traveling trophy.  The employees voted, and the winner had a name plaque added to the trophy stand.  The winner also got to take the trophy home and keep it for the month, showing it off to his family and friends.  The result was stunning.  There was energy in the air for many months. 

Like anything else, that idea petered out.  We then gave managers company bucks.  They were able to dispense $5, $10, $20 to employees that they saw doing a great job, over and above, being a servant, or exhibiting initiative.  These company bucks could be exchanged for real items in a catalog we received for an advertising specialty company. 

Those were just two of dozens of methods we used over the years with line and staff.  Of course, sales people are another breed altogether when it comes to promotions, but I've covered that elsewhere. 

This book has been in print for 20 years, which might mean it is a hit.  Buy one for your desk.  Then use it often. 

Bike Shop and Triathlon Retailer Combo Creates Branding Conundrum

In a Keyword Driven Era, How Do You Brand a Business Serving Two Different Audiences?

T3 Multisport in Indianapolis came to me a few months ago with a real dilemma.  His primary client base is triathletes.  He carries products and provides services designed to help triathletes excel in cycling, running, and swimming.  He has established himself with that crowd and the shop does well for being relatively new. 

Owner Vern LaMere isn't satisfied with being limited to triathletes:  "We know the triathletes in our area, our staff is bent that way, but we also want the road bike crowd.  To a great extent, these two groups are oil and water.  They don't necessarily buy the same brands, and they are a bit jealous of their distinctiveness."

The name and the website are totally missing the keywords needed to rank on Google search or Google Places (aka Google Maps and Google+ Local).  For that they need bike shop Indianapolis and bicycle Indianapolis.  They need it in the title tag, description, in the body copy of the home page, and best would be in the name.

Unfortunately, if T3 bumps up the status of bike shop, it might hurt the triathlon business.  In other words, if the name were T3 Bike Shop and Triathlon Center, it might send the wrong signal.  Even the use of bike shop seems a bit two pedestrian for a high end cycling center.  Unfortunately the public doesn't Google Cycling shop or Cycle or Cycling anything.   Google also doesn't seem to see Cycle as being a good synonym for bike or bicycle.  

LaMere is reluctant to give up the T3 brand, so he understands that the brand already screams Triathlete.  The issue is how to get the road bike crowd to feel that it is their store, too. 

We turn the question over to our faithful readers.  What would you do and why?

Here is the shop info if you'd like to visit their website or blog to help with the question. 

Bike Shop in Indianapolis IN
Triathlon Shop in Indianapolis IN
Bicycle Fittings;  triathlon training
Blog: Bicycle and triathlon gear reviews and training concepts
Linkedin:  Meet the owner, Vern LaMere M.S.
T3 Multisport
1343 W 8th Street
Indianapolis, IN  46260
phone:  (317) 257-1117

10 Most Ridiculous Marketing Ideas Ever

10 Perfect Ways to Destroy an otherwise Potentially Good Business

I'm no Letterman, and the following are not intentionally humorous.  I could give you a list of 100, but here are my top 10.

10.  Believing that it is easier to make money with Multi-Level Marketing than other small business options.  Multi-level, whether it is an establish brand like Amway, or a brand new offering like Scentsy, requires tons of work to turn them into businesses.  Finding, motivating, and managing part-time workers is like herding cats.

9.  Believing you will get rich easy with any scheme, but especially affiliate marketing.  If anyone says they want to sell you the secret to a get rich scheme, ask them why they aren't so rich that they could care less about selling it to others.  Most of the online efforts to help you become a great affiliate marketing are just making their income selling you the method.

8.  Starting or buying a business that you know nothing about.  Many, many people buy or start businesses that they have no education, experience, or even passion about.  Odds of success are pitiful.

7.  Thinking your product or service is so great or in demand that you don't need to market or sell.  If you have Gold at $10 an ounce, you still have to put up a sign. 

6.  Having one customer represent more than 20% of your revenue or profits.  When you allow a client to dominate (think especially WalMart, Target, CVS), they own you.  This is also true for the $1,000,000 wholesaler or manufacturer selling to a major account.  If they switch horses or go out of business, you are toast.  If they stay with you, they dictate the terms.

5.  Believing that you can undercut your competitors who are gouging consumers.  Many enter business because they are on a mission to help consumers whom they believe are being ripped off by the rapacious businesses they will compete with.  Margins are what they are for a reason.  The market is very good at driving overprices to reasonable pricing and underpricers out of business.

4.  Failing to stay on top of trends in your industry.  Famous statement - There is only a small difference between a goods business and a museum.  Book retailing was a great business not so long ago.  Not to mention newspapers, magazines, cameras, GPS devices, ad infinitum. 

3.  Offering open credit terms without adequate research and a great collection plan or without adequate cash flow to finance the accounts receivable.  So many cases where otherwise great businesses give easy credit and end up broke.

2.  No business plan. Maybe one person in a hundred is able to run a business from the seat of their pants.  Why take the chance.  Spend 48 hours of your life writing up a plan.   That time could be the difference in success and failure.  Don't have 48 hours.  Pay someone $3000 to do it for you. 

1.  Clearly the biggest one.  Entering business without full support of spouse, or with inadequate understanding by spouse of sacrifices that may have to be made in time, energy, stress, and money. 
Your business and your marriage will suffer, and the suffering of each will impact the other.

Tutorial - How to Put On a Big Event and Become More Visible

Chapter 41/101 - Marketing Is Largely About Visibility - Events Are a Great Way to Become Visible

If this is your first time here, I want to thank you for stopping by and let you know that this is chapter 41 out of an eventual 101 Marketing Secrets that I am compiling on this blog, and that I will eventually release as a book.  You can get chapter titles and links to the other 40 chapters here.

In this next section we are going to look at various ways small businesses can reach out to the larger community around their business and get VISIBLE.  It is easy to get super lazy and sit behind the desk or the counter waiting for the phone to ring or the door to swing.  But it rarely works out well if that method is followed for very long.

Add the concept of VISIBILITY to your list of important things to think about.  Much of marketing is about visibility, but many who do marketing for all or part of their living, sometimes fail to think of the marketing in those terms.  The next 10 chapters will discuss 10 great ways to become visible.

Major Events Can Create More Visibility in One Weekend Than You Would Normally Get in Three Years

Location is still a very big deal for any retailer.  But no matter whether you have only been in your location for six months or are an absolute fixture in the neighborhood, a huge percentage of your potential clients don't even know you are there.  Want proof?  How many times a week do you hear, "I drive by here all the time, and i didn't even know you were here."  And those comments come from those who "drive by here all the time."  The ones who never drive anywhere near you are even less aware of your presence.

If you are in an office complex or work from home, getting visibility is even tougher.  You have no street visibility at all, which is generally the number two source of new traffic for those who do have a "main street" location.

Major event managers will tell you that a single event can generate up to three years worth of neighborhood visibility.  In other words, in a three year period, X number of potential customers will become aware of you through various methods.  A well run event will get you that same number of awareness results in a single day or weekend.

Assuming that such results would be an exciting proposition for you, the next question might be:  How much time and sweat is it going to cost me to get that result?  I did a recent event for a client that cost just about $5000 out of pocket and probably about 30 hours of his time, which resulted in 700 people showing up for his anniversary party. 

$5000 is probably the minimum you can spend and expect great results.  You could also spend $50,000 and 150 hours of your time and not equal those results due to inadequate planning.  Here is the outline for a plan that will work every time.  Don't leave anything out.

A.  90 day advance planning minimum.  120 days is better.
B.  Assemble a team of at least 4 people who will brainstorm and handle tasks
C.  Plan a first meeting for the team
D.  Set the date, the theme, the details of the activities for the event, and the budget. 
E.  Find a large local non profit, service club, or charity to share the work and help get participation.

In my experience this last part is as important as anything else you will do.  Your event will become a fund raiser for them, and done correctly might raise $5000, $10,000 or even a lot more.  In return you get a huge list of benefits, not the least of which is that the charitable organization will want your event to succeed. 

Within their organization will generally be local folks who are well connected.  They may be able to help with publicity, star power for the day of the event, attendees for the event, and even members who will help with some of the work. 

The fund raising will generally be some kind of raffle.  You can turn to your suppliers for many of the items to be raffled, and you may want to donate a some high end products also.  In some cases, members of the non profit will buy items from you to add to the list of prizes.  If you are in a service business, you can work with retailers and restaurants in the area to assemble a great prize list.

Print up 10,000 raffle tickets with both your company name and the non profits name.  List at least a few of the top prizes, the date and details of the event, and any rules.  Maybe you want the person entering to have to be present to win.  The sales force for the raffle will be the members of the group you partnered with.  Sure, you'll sell tickets at your business, and you and they will sell a lot the day of the raffle.  You and the partner organization can also sell them online if one of you has an online store. 

Please note that various states have rules for raffles.  Check online to see what rules you may need to follow.

The Bigger and Better the Prize List, the Better All Results of the Event Will Be

Whoever on your staff works the most closely with suppliers should start dialing for prizes and swag.  Distributors and manufacturers will gladly help you with T-shirts, hats, and all kinds of other items that can be given away.  But you may need to exert a bit of pressure to get items worth over $100 that will make the best items for the raffle.  If you have room and believe it will make the event more interesting, suppliers may also send reps with pop-ups, demonstration booths, and/or contract athletes, entertainers, or speakers to add star power.

Hopefully someone on your staff, a member of the non profit, or a local PR person can help spread the word with online PR, print, radio, and TV.  Even in a major market you should be able to get top newspaper and TV people to show up for your event.  Pre-event publicity in these types of media are critical to success. 

You may want to advertise in some of the places where PR is going to matter.  And you may be able to advertise in some media that will be useful to increase interest.  However, don't use this event to experiment with advertising.  You should only use those media and approaches that have worked for you in the past.

Weekly Planning Meetings Are A Must to Keep Everything on Track

Hold weekly meetings with the top players.  Set tasks each week that can be completed by the next week and that will culminate in reaching all necessary goals in a timely way.  If a team member is consistently late on tasks, replace them early.  

Social media is huge to spread the word.  You will clearly want to get the event on your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and YouTube Channel.  In addition, send emails every other week until the last 30 days, and then weekly, to your entire list.  If the partner organization has a list, they should also send out information to their list.  During the last week, send out emails every day.

A new way to spread the word that may be the most effective and efficient yet is Google+ Events.  You can learn all about this by going to http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/events/  You can also use the event system in Constant Contact.  This is especially useful if you already have a large email following. 

And while on the subject of emails, your most likely participant in the event will be your most recent visitors to the store.  Hopefully you and your staff have been compiling a huge list of emails from those who have made any kind of purchase.  You might also be generating emails from your website email capture forms or on Facebook.  In any case, you will want to email something about your even at least twice per month up until a few weeks before the event, and then even more frequently. 

One of the major benefits of the event is the accumulation of even more emails that you can use to reach customers through regular mailings in the future.  Make sure the raffle ticket asks for an email, and have prizes or other incentives at the event to gather emails from those in attendance.

A big draw for events in most cities today are the food trucks.  You will need to call these folks month in advance as they are very much in demand.  Each one will have certain policies and requirements, and some may even require a minimum gross for the time they are at your shop.

An Event Should Be Exciting and Fun - A Boring Event Is A Huge Waste of Time and Treasure

On the days of the event you will want to keep the party going.  There is nothing worse than big lulls and lags between the festivities.  One way to help is to have a local music combo come and play.  This might be a group from the local high school, and their personal popularity will bring more youth to the party.  You can commonly get such a group for free.  Be certain to get a preview of their style and ability before bringing them to your event.  And make it clear what kind of music you are hoping to have them play.

You will need an MC for the raffle and give away portion of the day.  Make sure that the MC has a personality that can keep the crowd engaged.  You will want to thank any company that has given the various prizes and other items that are given away.  Tossing items to the crowd has become a standard approach for generating a fun atmosphere. 

Make sure you have a clear schedule of events.  This might include clinics, demos, sign ups for clubs, charity sign ups, carnival booths (dunk tanks and similar), product demonstrations, samples, super interesting seminars by local or national speakers.  Have your team brainstorm on what will please your crowd enough to stay all day, or even come back the next day.

To have a sale or not to have a sale.  Sometimes the event will be all about selling things.  Sometimes you will be more interested in creating visibility and good will.  Other times you may want to do both.  Only you and your staff can determine what the day will be designed to accomplish in your overall marketing strategy.   If you are going to have a big sale, try to concentrate the time of that sale into one or two windows to create a "frenzy."  If the sale goes on all day or over several days you won't get that kind of atmosphere. 

To draw that neighborhood crowd, consider search lights the night before any day of the event.  You might also want to rent a huge rooftop balloon for the week leading up to your big day.  Banners are great.  If you are partnering with a local service club, school, or other group, you may even get the city to allow banners on the major street in the area.

Invite local dignitaries such as the mayor, president of the chamber, and others to come.  This will help your post event PR. 

Be sure to take lots of pictures.  You may even want to hire an event photographer or videographer.  These pictures and videos can then be used for emails, youtube videos, blog posts, content on Facebook, etc.

Holding an after event party is commonly a great idea.  Invite all staff, their dates or spouses, volunteers who helped, the leadership of the partnering non-profit, press, and local dignitaries.  This dinner might cost you a pretty penny, but it will be worth it to create good will with everyone concerned. 


What other things have you done to insure the success of an event.  Add your thoughts in the comments below.