March 6th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, Plaxo, the list goes on and on. Chances are, if you are over the age of 25, you think these social networking sites are places young people go to get a date and post pictures of their most recent party. Well they are, however, they’re also the hottest business building opportunity to come along; especially for a small business.
As a matter of fact, according to almost every expert source, if you are ignoring these platforms, you are setting yourself up to experience real pain in the future. The reason for this is really quite simple, your customers are already there, and chances are, they are already talking about your business, your industry, and your competitors. You just don’t know it.
It’s no coincidence that Hewlett-Packard has fifty of its executive’s blogging. Smart companies, of every size, are using these new technologies to promote their brand, solidify their relationship with their customers, test market new products, solicit ideas, and gain valuable customer feedback. Small businesses are gaining a competitive advantage by taking their message, for virtually no cost, directly to their customer on these sites as well as on video sharing sites like Youtube.com and Ecorptv.com.
Their “Tweeting” away on Twitter to keep a buzz going, while developing loyal new followers and fans on places like Facebook and MySpace. Sites like Linkedin are enabling savvy sales and marketing people to use their networks to connect with prospective customers and penetrate new markets.
What was once six degrees of separation is now more like three.
The question is, where do you start?
Step one, get a blog- If you don’t already have a blog, set one up. You can do this quickly and easily at blogger.com (owned by Goggle) or use the Wordpress platform. I prefer Wordpress for several reasons. For starters, it’s hosted on your own server so your blog address is something like http://www.jimdonovan.com/blog. It also presents a more professional image. For links to a no cost Wordpress system, complete with all the necessary plugins, visit http://www.jimdonovan.com/resources.html
Next, create a personal profile or page on Facebook- If you are an individual, like an author, speaker, coach, or consultant, a personal Facebook profile will suffice. If you are a traditional business you can use the Facebook “Page” feature to accomplish the same thing.
Once you are set-up on Facebook, you can join groups that relate to your industry or your interest. You can upload photos, videos, audios, post notes and so on and begin inviting friends to “connect with you.”
Start by connecting with people you know or people who belong to the groups you’ve joined. Make a habit of posting items of interest and make every effort to be helpful.
Do not start promoting or hyping your products and services- This is a death rattle in social media. It’s called “social media” for a reason. Network and get to know people and let them get to know you. Be real and be helpful. Make friends. Share ideas and get involved in the conversation. The business side of things will take care of itself. Remember the old adage, “Givers get.”
Depending on your customer demographic, you may want to have a presence on MySpace. The community there tends to be younger so if your targeting a young audience it’s an important place to be.
Twitter is next- It’s been said that it’s almost impossible for someone over the age of 25 to explain Twitter. It’s essentially a “micro-blogging” platform that asks, “What are you doing?”
To get started, sign up for a Twitter account and start following people. They can be people you know or admire, people who are well known in your industry and/or your friends.
What makes Twitter so popular is that “tweets” (Twitter posts) are limited to 140 characters so it forces people to be concise. Like Facebook and MySpace, you can share ideas, tips, links to interesting sites and more. There are several books and ebooks that will help you learn more about Twitter and other social media sites. And, of course, there are consultants to guide you service businesses who will handle all the details for you.
What’s important is that you do not let this opportunity pass you by. Start using these Web 2.0 tools to grow your business and enjoy the process.
Jim’s newest business, River Run Consulting, is an ecommerce company that helps small businesses in Bucks County and Montgomery County, PA and Hunterdon County, NJ, tap into the power of Web 2.0 technology to produce measurable results.
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February 20th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
That’s right, these three amazing women, Carrie Wilkerson, Kathleen Gage and Mari Smith are just three of the women that make up the “Dynamic Divas series.
A while back, I wanted to do something really “out of the box.”
While lots of people have produced information series with groups of experts, this is the first program to tap into the expertise and knowledge available from an amazing group of women.
There’s way too much to explain here, so I’m asking you to take a look at the site and see this awesome group for yourself.
PS. If you hurry, you can still take advantage of the introductory offer.
PPS. For you guys reading this, it’s not just for women.
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December 4th, 2008 by Jim Donovan
Leveraging your relationships
You can grow your business by leverage your relationships with colleagues, suppliers, distributors and yes, even your competitors.
Several years ago I attended a demonstration at a local copier supplier. It was a huge success as a herd of people roamed throughout the building seeing live demos of the latest in office copiers.
While the local business hosted the event, their supplier provided the factory trained experts on hand to answer people’s questions.
Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Saks have regular “trunk shows” and make-up events to attract customers, again with the expertise provided by the manufacturers.
Faith Popcorn pointed out in her landmark book The Popcorn Report published in 198?, people like entertainment while they shop.
Could your supplier help you create an event and fill your business with customers?
By the way, if you want to learn more about a huge untapped market, namely women, read Popcorn’s latest book Eveolution.
What about your colleagues? Could a carpet or home cleaning company team up with a caterer and offer a holiday special?
Might a lawyer, accountant and banker put together a free event for their business customers? What could you do to leverage your business?
Do you have underused equipment sitting around? Many local newspapers whose presses are only used for a few hours a day, will take on outside printing jobs. Your typical weekly paper is most likely being printed on a daily newspaper’s presses.
One smart auto repairperson I knew would rent out his extra repair bay to hobbyists who wanted to do their own work. Do you have additional capacity from your equipment that would be of interest to someone else?
Opportunities on the internet
I’ve saved the best for last. If there is one area that is underutilized by small businesses, it’s your website. Ninety percent or more of local business websites that I’ve visited are nothing more than online brochures. I call them Tombstones in Cyberspace.
Contrast this against the sites used by internet marketers. Internet marketers, people whose business profits entirely or in part online, engage the customer with an array of techniques designed to keep them coming back, refer them to friends and leave them wanting more.
The typical offline business gets little if any internet traffic, mainly because their sites have not been setup properly or not even optimized for search engines.
What is even sadder is that if someone does manage to stubble upon their site, they have no way to connect with the visitor and develop an ongoing relationship.
Other than SEO, the easiest thing that you can do is set up some sort of “capture mechanism.” A simple subscription box connected to an auto responder will enable you to begin building a database of your customers and potential customers.
As my friend Vic Johnson, a highly successful internet marketer of personal development information said, “He who has the biggest list, wins! Or, as every online marketer knows, the money is in the list.
Once you’ve started building your online database, you have the ability to contact your customers whenever you want and at virtually no cost.
If you can’t go into your business tomorrow morning at 7:30, create a special offer to jump start sales, and have it out to a list of several hundred or thousand customers by 9:00, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Go here if you want to learn how you can grow your offline business with online strategies.
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July 31st, 2008 by Jim Donovan
A prime retail location recently became available on Main Street in the heart of downtown Doylestown, Pennsylvania. An upscale, charming community, with a good amount of local and tourist activity.
Nestled amongst upscale restaurants, unique shops, local bookstore and trendy national brands like Chico’s, The Gap and Starbucks, one could only wonder what would fill this newly vacated space.
What opened there, probably the last type of store anyone would have guessed and certainly one which a business school professor would have vetoed, was a competing brand of coffee.
At first glance you might question the sanity of the decision to open a coffee shop two doors down from a Starbucks, however, upon closer examination it becomes apparent that not only will the newly opened location survive, but more likely will thrive.
You see the new business, The Bucks County Coffee Company, has the business savvy to differentiate themselves from the national brand.
In all fairness to The Bucks County Coffee Company, they do have a high profile since Doylestown is the county seat of Bucks County, PA and the company has been known throughout the area for years.
The real significance however, is that they are clearly not attempting to go “head-to-head” with the Starbucks giant, but rather to play on their uniqueness and emphasize their differences.
This is the lesson for all small businesses, especially those who are faced with a national brand, or a big box store coming to town.
The way to succeed in a competitive environment is to look for ways that you can emphasize your strengths without taking away from the other business.
In the abundant universe we live in, there is always plenty to go around, providing you stay focused on what is working and avoid, at all costs, getting into a state of feeling lack or thinking “life is a dog eat dog” proposition.
Doing the latter will only attract more of the same and you will soon see your business failing.
You might even visit the larger competitor, introduce yourself and ask how you might work together for everyone’s benefit. The answers you receive may well surprise you.
It today’s business environment, one that is clearly different than days gone by, even companies who compete in one area will often form joint ventures for other parts of the business.
What are two things that differentiate your business from your competitor?
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