Small Business Blog

Natalie Sisson, Suitcase Entrepreneur Interview: How to Get Free Media & PR for Your Business

James Cooper — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:07:00 GMT

Natalie Sisson is the founder of The Suitcase Entrepreneur. Natalie is a fellow New Zealander and helps business people with online marketing. She has achieved excellent press and media coverage to help grow her business. I interviewed Natalie in late July when I was in New York and she was in Los Angeles. In this interview I ask how she achieved such great converage, and what small business owners can do to get media coverage to help grow their business.

Natalie Sisson, Suitcase Entrepreneur Video Interview:

Click here to listen to the Audio of the interview only

Connect Online

Natalie Sission
Website - http://suitcaseentrepreneur.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/nataliesisson
LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliesisson

James Murray Cooper
Website - www.mimosaplanet.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/jamesmcooper
LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescooper

Blogging Frequency Test 2: What Happens If You Stop Posting for 4 Weeks?

James Cooper — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:07:00 GMT

Ok, if you’re a regular reader you might have noticed I stopped posting articles on the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog over the last 4 weeks. Why? Well, I wanted more data for my own selfish reasons to do with time effectiveness of business/marketing strategies. Plus I also wanted to share with you the results of a second blogging frequency test. I mean, if you do a little digging you will find plenty of people that tell you 'the more you blog the more traffic you get'. You will also find plenty of advice stating that 'stopping is bad, because you break with consistency and reliability, thus lose trust. I 99% agree, but I also want to know - what are the real and measurable impacts on traffic and leads generated? Don’t you want to know more about time invested vs reward in regard to blogging for small business?

Blog Frequency – Pre Test Posting:

Basically I was working on approx. 3 posts a week, about 12 a month. See the below chart for full post frequency stats. Also note the first test we did from late Dec 2010 to late Mar 2011 – 90 days of complete non-activity for any online/inbound marketing.

Blog Frequency Test Details:

In a far from precise and highly non-scientific way these are the details;

Starting Blog Posting Frequency: Approx. posting frequency of 3 per week (12.25 per mth average over the 4 month period Apr-11 to Jul-11).
Starting Social Media Engagement Frequency: Varies month to month (see the social media specific graph below with widely different traffic which I can vouch is a direct correlation for engagement time in the trenches). For the immediately preceding month before the test (July 2011) activity was not much more than sharing of own blog posts on facebook, twitter & linkedin.
Test Period Length: 4 weeks
Test Period Blog Posting Frequency: Zero
Social Media Activity: Zero
Weekly Email Newsletter: Sent weekly on Thursday - unchanged/remains (so unlike the 90 complete non activity test previously performed, this time we retained the weekly Business Insight Briefing Newsletter)
Lead Nurturing Campaigns: Automatic email Lead Nurturing Campaigns that begin after someone becomes a Lead by completing one of our Free Lead Generation Offers – unchanged/remains.
Post Test Blog Post Frequency: Back to 3 per week, beginning Fri Sep 2, 2011

The Basic Website/Blog Analytics

Graph 1 – Website Visits by Month – All Sources

Graph 2 – Website Visits by Month – Organic Search Only

Graph 3 – Website Visits by Month – Referrals Only

Graph 4 – Website Visits by Month – Email Marketing Only

Graph 5 – Website Visits by Month – Social Media Only

Some Selected Results

10.5% decrease in Visits July 2011 vs Aug 2011
12.5% decrease in Leads July 2011 vs Aug 2011
0.3% increase in Visits from Organic Search July 2011 vs Aug 2011
21.2% decrease in Leads from Organic Search July 2011 vs Aug 2011
20.8% increase in Visits from Referrals July 2011 vs Aug 2011
57.1% decrease in Leads from Referrals July 2011 vs Aug 2011
29.6% decrease in Visits from Email Marketing July 2011 vs Aug 2011
50% increase in Leads from Email Marketing July 2011 vs Aug 2011
53.3% decrease in Visits from Social Media July 2011 vs Aug 2011
No change in Leads from Social Media July 2011 vs Aug 2011

What Does This Data Mean?

Well, this is way too unscientific to draw any absolute conclusions – remember these bullet point results are just one set of selected data (July vs Aug). Summer holidays in the US, UK & Europe alone could account for many of these results. What is important is what I would call momentum. i.e with xyz activity each and every month do we have momentum and are we compounding results – e.g. are we always increasing Visits and Leads month after month.

So, with 10% and 12% down for Visits and Leads the momentum is the wrong way. I’d have to say that with resumed activity in Sep, Oct, and Nov I would expect the momentum to shift to a positive direction and my feeling is that the next 3 months will show us month after month increases in both Visits and Leads.

In conclusion, it clearly looks like when you stop posting blog articles for 4 weeks it has a clear negative effect on both Visits and therefore Leads. One very interesting point to note is that once again we have a significant jump in Referral Traffic from other sites. This happened (coincidently?) within days of starting our first inbound marketing non-activity period, which I believe gave us, not only more traffic from referrals, but an instant increase in organic search. So, perhaps we shall see a nice little jump in traffic in Sep.

The thing is, I would be inclined to conclude it is the compounding of the work and activity done before a test starts that yields any new links from other sites, (new links give us an increase in direct referrals and increases our organic search). I guess the biggest question is – what have we potentially missed out on by NOT being consistent with our blogging and social media activity in the last 18 months?(PS – Don’t tell me, I might flip out!)

Follow Up - Blog Frequency Test 3?

One way to have a more complete understanding of impacts is to have the key factors of the next test set now. The next test should set activity for the next 3 or 6 mths, and ask what changes in Visits & Leads? Eg – in the most simple form – 3 mths of posting 3 times a week, review on the 1^st of Dec 2011.

Action Points

The compound effect of doing the right stuff, to a massive level of activity, for a sustained period will yield results – this statement would be hard to refute for any business building strategy.
Ask yourself: “what is my Massive Activity business building strategy?” (PS it doesn't have to be blogging or any form of inbound marketing either)

Business Magazines: List of the World’s Top Business Magazines

James Cooper — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:07:00 GMT

We all need a number of sources of business advice, information, insights, news and inspiration – why not subscribe to one or two business magazines? Sure, we certainly live in a world in which anyone can fall victim to information overload. But if you can filter your information intake to content that helps bring you closer towards your goals, then that’s got to be good, right? The following is a list of the top business magazines you should consider.

[Today’s Image: Mimosa Street, London, UK – Aug 2011] - Learn more about James's Travels & Where he is Currently?

List of Business Magazines by Country

In no specific order, but with a small business bias;

US Business Magazines

Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/
Fortune – http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/
The Economist – http://www.economist.com/
Bloomberg Businessweek - http://www.businessweek.com/
Inc – http://www.inc.com/
Entrepreneur - http://www.entrepreneur.com/
FastCompany – http://www.fastcompany.com/
Harvard Business Review - http://hbr.org/
My Business Magazine - http://www.nfib.com/mybusiness-magazine
Home Business Magazine - http://www.homebusinessmag.com/
Advertising Age (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://adage.com/
Ad Week (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://www.adweek.com/

We have left out the many State or City specific Business Magazines and Journals from this list. Many of these publications likely deserve inclusion however, we have purposefully omitted to avoid a completely overwhelming list.

UK Business Magazines

The Economist – http://www.economist.com/
New business Magazine - http://www.newbusiness.co.uk/
Startups - http://www.startups.co.uk/
First Voice - http://www.firstvoice.co.uk/SubscribeFirstVoice
Real Business - http://realbusiness.co.uk/
Growing Business - http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk/
Start Your Business - http://www.startyourbusinessmag.com/
Director - http://www.director.co.uk/
Business Insider - http://www.business7.co.uk/insider-magazine/
Management Today - http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/
Business First - http://www.businessfirstmagazine.co.uk/
Raw Business - http://www.rawbusiness.com/
The Business Magazine - http://www.businessmag.co.uk/
Marketing Magazine (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/

Canadian Business Magazines

Profit - http://www.profitguide.com
Canadian Business - http://www.canadianbusiness.com/
Unlimited - http://www.unlimitedmagazine.com/
Atlantic Business Magazine - http://www.atlanticbusinessmagazine.ca/info/magazines/atlantic-business-magazine/
Canada One - http://www.canadaone.com/
Make it Business - http://www.makeitbusiness.com/
Strategy - http://strategyonline.ca/
Franchise Canada - http://www.cfa.ca/Publications_Research/FranchiseCanada/subscribe.aspx
Marketing Magazine (Industry & Trade Magazine)- http://www.marketingmag.ca/
Entreprendre (French Only) - http://www.entreprendre.ca/

Australian Business Magazines

BRW - http://www.brw.com.au/
My Business - http://www.mybusiness.com.au/
Australian Business Solutions - http://www.absmagazine.com.au/
Anthill - http://anthillonline.com/
Dynamic Business - http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/
Fast Thinking - http://fastthinking.com.au/
Franchising - http://www.franchise.net.au/
B&T (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://www.bandt.com.au/
Ad News (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://www.adnews.com.au/
Marketing Mag (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://www.marketingmag.com.au/

New Zealand Business Magazines

Unlimited - http://unlimited.co.nz/
Idealog - http://idealog.co.nz/
NZ Business - http://www.nzbusiness.co.nz/
NZ Management - http://www.management.co.nz/
Franchise NZ - http://www.franchise.co.nz/
NZ Marketing Magazine (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://marketingmag.co.nz/
Ad Media Magazine (Industry & Trade Magazine) - http://www.admedia.co.nz/

Question:

Do you have a favorite business magazine? What is it? Why is that?

Where’s the Money? 3 Keys to Finding Money for Your Small Business

James Cooper — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:57:00 GMT

At the 2011 Small Business Summit in New York City, I attended a break out session called – Where’s the Money? The discussion explored funding & investment questions; finding the money and how to effectively pitch for it. This is typically a topic I have not written about. Firstly, I’m not an expert in this area, but mainly because the vast majority of existing small business owners in the world are not actively looking to get $500,000 in angel investment, followed shortly by a further $20 million in venture capital to become the next facebook or whatever. Most people in small business want to simply achieve their vision of a better business, and business lifestyle for their family. Nevertheless, the lessons I took away from this short but excellent panel discussion can be applied to every small business owner regardless of their desire for funding, or the ultimate size of there vision.

[Today’s Image: San Francisco City & Bay as seen from Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA – Feb 2011] - Learn more about James's Travels & Where he is Currently?

3 Keys to Finding Money for Your Small Business

The panel included Brian Halligan, CEO and co-Founder of HubSpot. Brian knows a thing or two about the funding world. Before co-founding HubSpot he was involved in a venture capital firm. As CEO of HubSpot he has helped secure over $65million in venture capital from some very big names. mimosaPLANET is a HubSpot customer, plus I’m a fan of HubSpot's approach and message, so I was interested in what Brian had to say.

Part of the discussion was dedicated to members of the audience giving a 60 second elevator pitch to the 3 panellists about their business & the opportunity to invest in it. I was impressed with the 3 simple factors that Brian used to grade each pitch; Passion, Traction & Money. Any small business owner with ambition to grow their business would do well to consider these 3 keys. Not only are they vital to finding investment funds, but I suggest they are equally vital keys to gernal business growth.

If you are specifically looking to find investment money for your business then the following 3 keys will work well as a self-assessment tool. However, if you have no desire to raise funds and bring in outside investors, but you wish to grow your business… well, I believe these keys have just as much relevance for you.

I suggest that these same 3 factors will help you convince customers to buy from you, strategic partners to partner with you, suppliers to get behind you, staff to be inspired to serve customers like never before, and give you personally greater purpose and drive. All of which lead to ‘finding money’ ultimately from money that manifests from growing a successful profitable business.

1. Passion

There was only time for a few pitches, but it was very easy to identify those with passion for their business. 10 out of 10 stood out clearly against 7 out of 10. Think about it; potential investors, customers, prospects, leads, your team, networking partners, the press, the bank, everyone is affected by YOUR passion for your business…. or your apathy for it. Do you exude passion, enthusiasm and belief in your business, your products, your services, your customers, your solution to the problem (or need) in the marketplace, and your vision?

2. Traction

Can you show progress? Not just on one metric, but any and all metrics that are important. "6 months ago we were 'here' on metric 7, now we are here+". Communication of traction and progress to everyone is good news worth sharing. These could be marketing metrics like website number of visitors or facebook fans or enquiries generated.

Metrics could be sales related; number of new customers, repeat customers, total customers, total revenue, or revenue per customer. They could be milestones achieved in product or service development. It’s not just a potential investor that can get excited by your traction and progress, all stakeholders can.

3. Money

What’s your business model currently? What is your vision for it? How much money do you need to get you there? How much do you need now? What will you spend it on? These are all great questions any small business owner should be regularly challenging themselves with.

Consider the following thought process: "if my business currently has revenue of $1 million per year, with a $100,000 profit, and my vision is to take the business to a $10 million turnover, with $2 million in profit, over the next 4 years. And to achieve this I need to initially invest an extra $250,000 over the next 12 months. Then what are my options? I could a) bring on an outside investor or investors, b) get a bank loan, c) fund through organic growth, d) drop my personal salary to keep the money in the business for expansion, or e) some combination of two or more of these??? If I do bring on an investor, what is the return they will get? Will this be attractive to them? Does this fit with the potential investors objectives? Does this fit with my long term objectives? etc... "

Regardless of what your numbers are in your business, you should have answers to questions like these, or at least be asking them of yourself. A potential investor will be impressed with your considered thought in this area. If you have no desire to bring on an investor, then unless you desire for your business to die, you should also be asking questions and seeking answers around money and growth.

Action Points

Rate yourself in each of the 3 areas (passion, traction & money)
Where do you rate?
Adjust your Focus, Knowledge & Bahavior as needed to drive progress, change and success

3 Quick Marketing Strategies for Your Small Business

James Cooper — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:49:00 GMT

There really are only 3 quick marketing strategies for your small business. I mean the overall strategic approach to marketing your business. Sure there are hundreds of individual marketing tactics. But, if I was to sit down with you and discuss how we could quickly increase the number of inquiries you get and your sales revenue (assuming you already had a great profit margin and awesome sales conversion), I would likely run your business through the following options.

[Today’s Image: Santa Monica Beach, Los Angeles, CA – Feb 2011] - Learn more about James's Travels & Where he is Currently?

1: Permission Marketing

Do you have a database of past customers and leads? Even if that “database” is just names and contact information on paper invoices filed away for the last 3 years. Permission marketing is all about communicating with past and existing customers & leads. Makes sense, right? Total no brainer in fact. You’ve already done the hard (and expensive work) of getting someone to either buy from you in the past or at least show interest in you). However, in my experience this is perhaps one of the most underutilized areas in typical small businesses. Communicate with your contacts! Give them more value – help them - so next time they are really to purchase, they buy from you.

What to Communicate:

Value Offers
Sales Offers

How to Communicate:

eMail
Mail
Phone

2: Outbound Marketing

For new businesses, or those without a significant existing database, you have really got to be proactive. Massively proactive! Outbound Marketing is all about interrupting people to get noticed. The two basic methods are; a) communicating directly to a list of people in your ideal target market profile, or b) mass advertising in traditional media like newspapers, magazines, radio, tv, etc. All methods can be expense for small businesses however, direct communication - while you, and people in general don’t really like it, plus it’s likely not as effective as it once was – it can still be one of the fastest ways a small business can get some quick wins on the board. If your list is highly targeted and your message is spot on – you should be able to generate leads easily enough.

What to Communicate:

Lead Generation Offers
Sales Offers

How to Communicate:

Directly to a highly targeted suspect list
- eMail
- Mail
- Phone
Mass Advertising
- Print (Newspapers, Magazines, etc)
- Broadcast (Radio, TV, etc)

3: Inbound Marketing

Ultimately Inbound Marketing can be cheaper than other more traditional marketing methods and very effective. But the many small businesses lack the resources (or commitment) to really make this strategic approach work. To be effective with inbound marketing you must be persistent over a sustained lengthy period of time.

The Inbound approach is; be relevant and valuable to people who are actively searching and interacting online for information about your area of expertise. Eg you write a blog article about your area of knowledge; someone finds it by searching in Google or was referred by their friend on Facebook who ‘liked’ the article. Now, if that person finds the article helpful, great. You should also provide them with the opportunity to get a No Risk High Value Offer (eg a free eBook), a percentage of people will fill out an online form so they can download the eBook which is valuable to them.

You now have a Lead with which to begin either your sales process or your permission marketing campaigns. Simple concept, but few small businesses are doing this well beyond technology companies and a few marketing or consulting service firms. What if you were the expert in your niche doing this?

What to Communicate:

Lead Generation Offers

How to Communicate:

Search
Blogging
Social Media

Action Points

Identify which of the 3 marketing strategies (and communication methods) will yield you the quick win that will enable returned profit. - (In small business you need these quick wins. They give you the ability to continue investing in marketing. No win, no money, no marketing. Nasty circle!!!)
Start with that one first.

Business Tips on Location, Episode 2 - Negotiating With Business Partners

James Cooper — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:33:00 GMT

Negotiating with Business Partners: Know your BATNA! Within the last month I’ve had 4 separate people talk to me about the challenges in their business which all related to their business partners. More specifically I concluded they were really challenges about negotiating with business partners. This included people right from the initial conception of a business idea, through the initial startup phase, plus more mature businesses where a partner was thinking of the future and potentially exiting that relationship. They all had something common...

All of the challenges and frustrations each of these people were feeling in their particular situation can be improved when you think about solving the frustration or challenge as a negotiation. In negotiation theory there are a number of factors involved in successfully negotiating with people. One of those negotiating elements is to know your BATNA…

Today's Episode of 'Business Tips on Location' was shot in downtown Manhattan, NYC. - Learn more about James's Travels & Where he is Currently?

BATNA | Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement

While BATNA is not the be all and end all of amazing negotiation, knowing your best alternative to a negotiated agreement gives you a clear picture of what your best option is if you cannot solve the frustration and work out a new deal with your business partner.

The advantage to knowing your best alternative option before you start talking with your business partner about your issue is certainty and clarity. It gives you level headedness and strength to try and solve the challenge and frustration you have with the relationship, or situation, relating to you and your business partner. This is a much better position to start from than one where you only have your raw emotions to vent and try to get your point across.

Having a BATNA is not your sole aim. You should always focus more time on trying to find the win win solution your frustrations. However, having a BATNA can give you a feeling of confidence that you know your options. Knowing your options normally leads to finding the best solution.

Action Points

Identity the core elements of your frustration.
Determine what you BATNA is.
What is the solution you want?
What is the other person’s perspective, why don’t they see the issue, what are their objectives?
What is the win-win solution meeting both their objectives and yours?

Design in Small Business: A Smart Strategic Approach

James Cooper — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:23:00 GMT

Design Rules! It’s time to pimp your small business through the smart strategic approach of: Design! First you will need to acknowledge that design is everywhere and it affects everything. I’m not talking about logo’s and pretty ad campaigns by graphic designers (although these are included in what I’m talking about). I’m stressing that; the design of your products and services matters, the design of the total customer experience matters, everything matters. Your small business should be “designed” to be remarkable, and truly amazing.

Amazing gets talked about, amazing gets “liked” and “shared”, and amazing is just the right fuel you need on the word of mouth fire. Word of mouth leads to increased sales and business growth. A design obsession for everything in your business is a smart strategic move.

[Today’s Image: Coney Island, New York City, NY – July 2011] – The boardwalk total ‘customer’ experience is, well… crap. This setting could be something amazing, where are the vibrant cool restaurants, cafés and bars lining the boardwalk? Boy does this place need a total Design overhaul.

Design in Business Mantra

“I hereby unleash everything we do from now on is not about just getting it done and out there, it’s about making it Freakin Amazing, otherwise it’s just noise like everyone else!”

Design in Business Dimensions

So, here are a few design dimensions for grading everything in your small business. From the way you handle customer phone calls, through to delivering your service/product, and sending the invoice. Everything needs a Design Obsessed approach for constant refinement;

Usability; clear, simple and user-friendly – never confusing, never frustrating, never suckful
Functionality; does what it says on the box, plus some ‘new’ function that NO ONE has ever seen, heard of or even considered before
Coolness; people are proud to be a customer, it’s a badge of honor, it’s a status simple, it looks cool, acts cool, feels cool, there for it is cool. Cool has a premium price, always!
Likability; engaging, people like it, people really really like spending time with it, it makes people feel great, it’s additive to use and experience
Innovation; at the leading edge, we make our own crazy ideas happen, we’re future thinkers, we’re technology innovation nuts, we’re education innovation nuts, we’re implementation innovation nuts, we’re early and fast adopters, other firms want to copy us, other firms want to follow us
Radically Exhilarating; we’re freakin customer news worthy – meaning people talk about it/us, that’s how amazing it/us is

Executing a Design Obsessed Strategic Approach in Your Small Business

As with so much in business, it can be easy to say (or rant on about what things ‘should’ be like), but that doesn’t mean it is easy to execute in your small business. Personally I have a mountain of wish-list design items for our new members only premium content website, and I’d love for us to be there already. But you sometimes have to walk before you can run.

The trick to turning wish-list items into reality; start with a wish-list. The trick to living up to the above grading standards of design dimensions for small business; simply pursuing them is the key. If you can’t get excited about improving the heck out of your total customer experience, then maybe you should stop doing what you do? 8 hours a day, 5 days a week doing something you are content to be ‘ok’ at sounds pretty lame, don’t you think?

Action Points

Start by listing all the things you think suck about your business (from the total customer experience perspective)
Ask your team to do the same exercise
Ask your customers for their top 3 frustrations
Act on your now large list

Business Tips on Location, Episode 1 - Blaming Others Sucks, Check Your Attitude

James Cooper — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:26:00 GMT

Blaming people, events, organisations and other things just sucks. It won't get you the improved business results you are looking for. Proactive small business owners rule. Check Your Attitude!

Blaming bankers, the economy, the prime minister, the president, the recession, the GFC, the regulators, the industry, the market, the team, the competition, the internet, or anything else is worthless for small business owners. I'm not saying that any of those things don't have an impact on the environment in which you do business, because they do. But primarily your business results are your responsibility.

Laying blame on others may be easy to do, but it's not the path to yielding better business results. It takes a much stronger character to point the finger at yourself first and to seek better outcomes based on your efforts in EVERY situation you face.

Today's Episode of 'Business Tips on Location' was shot in 103 Degree F (39 Deg C) heat from Wall St, New York City, NY. - Learn more about James's Travels & Where he is Currently?

Action Points

Check Your Attitude
Check Your Team's Attitude (if you feel an adjustment needs to be made, focus on changing your attitude and behavior first - become a great leader that enrols and inspires

3 Steps to Growing Your Small Business: Back to Basics

James Cooper — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:28:00 GMT

We all want higher sales numbers in business, don’t we? What determines the most effective steps to growing your small business? There is just so much advice, information and insights available in the world. I mean, information like; ‘101 strategies for marketing your business’ or ’50 business growth ideas your small business can use today’… the list of information is endless. I’m not knocking information or content titles like this; in fact I have a number of them myself. But, just sometimes we need to get back to basics – what is business growth really about…

[Today’s Image: Las Vegas, NV – Feb 2011]

1. Get a Customer

It may sound obvious but you need to get a customer. Yes, no kidding James, but how? – One of the simplest ways to get more customers is to change your focus. Answer this question; want percentage of your total working week is spent on Sales. You know, being the ‘Sales Person & Sales Manager’ in your business? Not marketing, or networking, or relationship building, or doing all the normal operational activities of doing the “work” that your business does. I’m talking about real sales meetings, opportunities and encounters.

These could be on the phone or face to face meetings or in store walk-in's. You need to Hustle, Hustle then Hustle some more!!!! By 'Hustle' I mean work, not be a rip off. You don’t have to be a slimy pushy sales person – a great sales person can uncover someone’s challenges, wants and dreams through being a professional listener and solution provider. Ask great questions, shut up and listen (really listen), and be the solution provider! But the point I’m making here - if you FOCUSED more of your time each week on Selling and Sales Improvement, what do you think the outcome would be???!!!

2. Make Customers Happy so They Become Repeat Customers

Once you have a customer, great businesses not only focus on sales to continually get new customers, but they also do whatever they can to keep their customers. Repeat business is the best business, and people only repeat purchase when they are happy. Make your customers happy!

3. Wow the Heck Out of Them so They Become Raving Fans

Going beyond customer satisfaction is the world of WOW! Enchanting your customers as (Guy Kawasaki would say) is where the monster growth occurs. Today small businesses have unmatched opportunity to benefit from “wowed” customers (who don’t just tell their 3 friends over coffee or dinner about the wonderful customer experience they had from Acme Inc). Wowed customers can do so much for your business today.

WOWED customers;

Write Online 5 Star Reviews: about you that the whole world can see (and more importantly the kind of people that are likely to be reading online reviews are the very very best prospects they are actively looking to select a provider in a particular product, service, industry or profession)!
Share the experience: with a much wider circle of friends and contacts their enthusiasm for you and your company by one or more of the following methods:
- “Like” your business, product, service, content on Facebook where their 150 friends can see it
- “+1” your business, product, service, content on Google+ where their 150 friends can see it, and there 20 closest buddies pay more attention to it, and the world sees it
- “Tweet” your business, product, service, content on Twitter where the world sees it
- “Share” your business, product, service, content on LinkedIn where there 150 business contacts can see it
Do Marketing for You: now anyone with a laptop and an internet connection can produce content and get it out there. They create blog articles and videos, creating buzz for you.

People will only do this if you WOW them.

Action Points

Re allocate more time to Sales – become a better sales person (solution provider – not order taker)
Stress the importance of wowing customers with your team and lead by example

Innovation Extremism: Overcoming Resistance to BIG Change

James Cooper — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:03:00 GMT

In the past I have tended to not write a great deal about innovation. It has certainly not been a conscious avoidance strategy on my part. I just haven't continually promoted innovation as a topic with gusto. Why? Well, I think it is largely due to the content focus of the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog. A focus of help with implementing strategies and tactics for improved business results (more help for the average small business owner than advice for the 1 in 100,000,000 entrepreneur who will change the world). But, innovation and change are important and today I want to talk about making innovative ideas and vision come to life. I want to talk about making BIG CHANGE happen in your small business and specifically how to overcome those resisting change. Because with BIG change you can yield BIG increases in customer satisfaction and with it, BIG improvements in your results.

[Today’s Image: The Museum of Sex, New York City, NY – May 2011] - "When the Museum of Sex first emerged on New York City’s Fifth Avenue on October 5, 2002, it was without precedent in the museum world." - museumofsex.com

The Resistance to Change

With BIG change often comes BIG resistance. You know what I mean, right? Perhaps you have a small team of five, ten or fifteen people. Now, naturally as a business owner and entrepreneur you have dreams and vision. But all it takes is one person in the team (just one, but if you have more than one that sucks even more!) to derail your efforts. One person with 'resistance to change' as their default mindset, and therefore outward behaviour, will make it a hard hard grid to innovating and breaking the current mold in your business.

So, we need to overcome the behaviour of these peeps! It’s not that these people are “bad” people, it’s just that their standard personality type is that of a “Stable” person that is likely to be risk adverse and just really not into change. They like the routine. Now, ‘stable’ people can be a great asset to the business, but just sometimes they can drive you insane! So, what can be done…

The Concept of Extremes

I have two innovators and business people I admire to thank for this solution to the resistance movement in your business. Maybe it works for you and maybe it doesn’t, but I think it’s an approach that just plain old makes sense to me! I think it is far better than a small business owner dwelling in self-pity and blame about the situation and 'the damn resistor' making their life a pain in the butt! Get over it, and change your approach to change their approach! That's all you can do, if they don't change then they'll get so uncomfortable in the environment you create they'll feel like the rotten apple and move on.

Absolutes

Gary Vaynerchuk has an approach to getting his message across (see his books Crush It and The Thank You Economy) he openly admits to dealing in extremes and absolutes to hammer the point home. Why? “If I give you an inch…” that kind of sums it up nicely for me.

A gentle discussion about the pros and cons of trying to do things in this new way, or about why the BIG change is needed, can be ineffective. They are all givens anyway, these conversions just happen (with and without you)…. But it is YOU, the Leader, it’s your ability (or not) to enroll and inspire the team behind your absolute believe and unwavering conviction behind the idea of big change and innovation in your business to drive your business to be the best [insert whatever you do] in [insert your target area/niche].

Parallel Universe

Tom Peters raises the idea of the “Parallel Universe” in his notes on Innovation in his book The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. He basically states that if you what to cause change and innovation you have to give up a normal approach and create a ‘new-world’ with new people and a new attitude, etc…. basically a parallel universe! This is Cool!

This point is so in line with some part of my brain when I came up with the name of mimosaPLANET years ago. My thought pattern was; the company needed something to represent change and adaptability and that is where I came across the Mimosa tree which is highly adaptable to the environment. Touch it, or give it a slap, and it will change within seconds the shape of the leaves, it adapts to the conditions and environment instantly. That’s pretty cool, and a great representation of what small business owners that want to not only survive but thrive must do in today’s world. Be adaptable and willing to change or go out of business and die is what I thought!

I also added the world ‘planet’ to represent both; i) the size and scale of my vision (I don’t want to just convince 3 or 4 people that being adaptable and willing to change quickly is a smart business decision, I want all small business owners to subscribe to it), and ii) the oddity, weirdness and separation of what we will be building with people. We’re building a group of business people with a separate thought process, a damn separate planet of business owners that ‘get it’…. The more the merrier, population of “mimosaPLANET” day one…. Me! Population 2020…. well, who knows where we are going with the recent introduction of mimosaPLANET membership?

Are you in need of some Innovation Extremism?

Action Points

BE relentless in your pursuit of your beliefs and vision
CREATE a parallel universe
BE an Extremist

Premium Membership Special Offer for Readers

James Cooper — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:55:00 GMT

We’ve put together a special offer for our readers (that’s YOU) and subscribers to try our new Premium Membership Website. If you want to grow your small business and make more money, or you help other small business owners as a business coach/consultant/adviser grow their business and you want to grow your own successful practice, then this special offer is for you! The deal – get membership for the first month for only US$3.95.

Normally we sell premium membership for US$49 per month, so this is a great deal! The special offer does have a time limit – so check it out now.

Review What’s on Offer & Sign Up Now by Clicking Here

We are only just beginning and already we have a heap of premium content available to members. Each week Craig Langdon (mimosaPLANET Members Community Manager & Small Business Development Specialist) and I are putting a heap of work into this and we are obsessed with helping small business owners, coaches & consultants get better business results. We want to help you increase your profit, grow your business to help the economy, and have more flexible time with your family, friends, travel or leisure activities.

I promise you we have a tonne of information and small business advice, and we love to hear your specific questions so we can give you actionable and practical steps for you to get better business results – for $3.95 it’s actually a crazy price, you’ll be stoked!!!

Check out the details and sign up for the deal today!

How to Market Your Business on a Budget

James Cooper — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:22:00 GMT

If you’re like many small business owners, you’ll want to know how to market your business on a budget. I’m going to take the word ‘budget’ to mean; very small and very limited… I don’t think people mean; “how do I best allocate my carefully planned marketing budget of $500,000 for the year?” For the most part, I think you are most likely to mean; “how the heck do I market my business in a way that will... get me the highest number of sales and revenue, from the small amount of money I have to spend on marketing?” If you find yourself agreeing more with the later statement, let’s explore some of your best options…

[Today’s Image: Miami Beach, FL – July 2011]

Every situation is slightly different however, the following is a list of low or no cost strategies and tactics that you could use to market your business on a limited budget. The words ‘low or no cost’ can be a little misleading. These strategies differ in cost to traditional hard costs of advertising (think radio, newspaper, magazine). But what is the time cost for you and your team to execute these strategies? That's different for everyone. You could be an a bit of technical wiz and easily learn a few new skills to execute a particular strategy…. Or some of these strategies you may believe you will never know what the heck to do, thus to get it implemented you would actually have to pay someone a service fee to do it. If that fee is large, then well…. It no longer becomes low or no cost does it?

Marketing Your Business on a Budget: List of Goals, Strategies & Tactics

Before you Spend Time & Money on Marketing

Decrease Expenses
Increase Gross Margin

Increase Average Price of Items Sold
Increase Prices by 5%, or 10%, or 20% or 100%, or whatever
Increase Volume of Items Sold that have higher GPM% s Items with Lower GPM%
Decrease Average Cost of Items Sold

Increase Average Sale Price
Increase Conversion Rate/s

Increase Repeat Business

Permission Marketing

eMail Newsletter to Your Database (Leads & Customers)
eMail Value Offer Campaign to Your Database (Leads & Customers)

Free eBook/Report that is of value to your database

eMail Sales Offer Campaign to Your Database (Leads & Customers)
Inhouse Tele-Prospecting with Value Offer to Your Database (Leads & Customers)

Increase New Leads & Inquiries

Inbound Marketing

Get Found Online:

Website Re-Development

If you have one

Check that YOU can access the CMS

If you don’t have one (or older than 4 yrs without an update)

Setup new WordPress or Drupal hosted website

On-Page
Off-Page

Claim & Update your Google Maps / Business Listing

Blogging

Setup a blog and write a regular article that is of value to your target market
Guest blogging: write an article for another person’s/company’s blog

Social Media Engagement

Setup a complete profile & search for comments in your industry / subject matter expertise and starting chatting in a non-spammy way

LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Google+

Convert Visits to Leads:

Lead Generation Offers
Conversion Pathway & Goals
Conversion Pages
Call to Action Buttons

Outbound Marketing

Direct Marketing

Inhouse Tele-Prospecting with Value Offer to Your Target Market

Mass Advertising

Public Relations
Targeted Press Releases

Where to Start?

This is a hard question to answer in a generic one size fits all way. Start with what you have knowledge in first. We provide more custom answers to these type of questions in our Premium Membership Website.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
In Short

Marketing your business on a small and limited budget means you must be very smart about where you INVEST your time and money. There are plenty of methods which can be called no or low cost, but you need to select 1 - 10 that you can implement.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Action Points

Print this page
Highlight what you believe you can execute or most likely execute in-house
Select & get cracking

4 Ways to Increase Sales Conversion

James Cooper — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:47:00 GMT

How to Convert More Sales Conversations into Paying Customers: Increasing sales conversion in your small business is one of the fastest and lowest cost ways you can boost your business profits. Think about it; we are talking about taking the inquiries and leads you already get, and just improving your ability to convert to customers. How many sales conversations are you (and your staff) having every month? What percentage of those conversations become paying customers? For a start, it all depends where you take this measurement from – initial phone call or website inquiry or only sit down sales meetings? They are likely vastly different numbers. Either way, you want to increase your sales conversion rate, right? Here are 4 ways in which you can do just that…

[Today's Image Location: The Shard in Construction, London, UK - March 2011]

4 Ways to Increase Sales Conversion

Install a Recording & Reporting System: It’s vital to have some way you can accurately record all inquiries and leads, and all genuine opportunities to do business, and of course the number of new paying customers. The second half of the system is regularly reporting on the recorded information; daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. Just the very act of regularly looking at the numbers increases your rate.
Document & Refine the Sales Process: Start by flow-charting your current steps from initial inquiry through to sale. Now, in most cases I’d recommend adding more steps. Most small businesses in the service sector have a sales process not too dissimilar to this; initial phone inquiry, sit down meeting, email quote, and follow up phone call.

This leads to a common challenge for small businesses “I’ve got plenty of inquiries, leads and meetings but they just don’t turn into business. In fact I waste a heap of time with meetings and preparing quotes or proposals that never pay me anything!” Stop sitting down with unqualified people! Use the phone, take 30 minutes on the phone before any time consuming face to face meeting to ask a heap of questions. Develop a multi-step sales process that helps to build trust and rapport, plus avoid last minute objections and disappointment.
Sales Training: Sales is not about tricking someone into buying your product or service. It’s all about helping someone get what they want. Great sales people are facilitators and master problem solvers. They provide solutions, the only way to do this is to ask questions, lots of questions, and listen to people. You should know more about their particular situation now - and you can link your solution to solving their challenges or meeting their needs.

Sales training is not about learning sneaky sales tricks, it’s about changing your psychology about what it means to be a great sales person. Get some sales training!
Develop a clear USP: Today, the idea of a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) may have lost it’s ‘coolness’ through repeated mentioning by coaches, consultants and advisers for years. In fact, it’s a term I haven’t seen much of in marketing circle’s for years. But hey, USP is just as relevant today as when the dinosaurs first coined the term. To be able to clearly point out your uniqueness to your target market is priceless!

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In Short

Increasing your Sales Conversion is one of the fastest and lowest cost ways to increase small business profits. 4 methods to do this include; setup a recording & reporting system, document & refine your sales process, get sales training, and develop a clear USP.
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Action Points

Pick 1 of the above methods and get implementing today!
Don’t know enough to implement yet? Well, time to build your knowledge further; read a book, attend a webinar – get the information!

The Little BIG Things – Book Review

James Cooper — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Current Location: Miami, FL

The Little BIG Things – 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence, by Tom Peters. The mimosaPLANET Business Book Review for small business owners and entrepreneurs. The question I always ask of any business book I read, but especially one written by a well know management guru, is: how does this book relate to small business owners? How can a SMB owner get value from this book? Well, in the case of The Little BIG Things by Tom Peters, I’ve found some answers for you…

Now, I’m not going to pretend that this was a straight cover to cover read for me in a matter of days. In fact, it took me a few months to complete this book, consuming it in fits and starts. It’s not that the book lacks useful, valuable, and inspirational content, because it has plenty of that. It took so long because it’s not really a “story” as such. It wasn’t written with the intent to persuade a new particular point of view on an audience like many business books. It’s exactly what Tom states it is; a collection of 163 ways to pursue excellence that started life as individual blog posts. Those “ways” are well organized and grouped, which makes it easy to read a section and stop. It just doesn’t have the flow that some books do, the flow that grips you to continue reading until done. Putting that aside, I still highly recommend it.

[Today's Video Location: Miami, FL]

What is it all about?

Basically, it’s a well ordered collection of thoughts, and sometimes even rants, on topics, directives and insights that business leaders and aspiring business leaders would do well to listen to. One of my favourite takeaways from the book is to; Strive for Excellence! And that Excellence is a way of life, a way of being. Not a state to be achieved. A quote that I’ve nailed to my desktop (my laptops desktop using a virtual post-it note) is:

EXCELLENCE. Always.
If Not Excellence, What?
If Not Excellence Now, When?

I love that little mantra.

What is the value for small business owners?

Above all else, the value for small business owners is Inspiration. Sure, you get plenty of tips (163 actually). If you just run with one idea and get benefits, then great… well worth the read! But the collective inspiration which spurs the reader (you) to act is the real value. If this book had another theme other than Excellence, then I’d say it was a focus on Execution. And this is why Tom’s work is valuable to small business owners, his constant reminders that Execution, Implementation, and Taking Action matter! This is very much in-line with what I believe and a major element to what we do with our premium members website.

Personally I love his book Re-Imagine (in hard back full color version, I give it 5 stars, it’s awesome!!!). The Little BIG Things doesn’t get the same rating, but it does give small business owners value, and I highly recommend it for those that want to do better!

Conclusion & Action Points

4 Stars
Buy it

Supermarket Shopping Cart Fail: What Your Business Can Learn

James Cooper — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:15:00 GMT

What Your Business Can Learn From Supermarket Shopping Carts. Supermarket shopping carts (or shopping trolleys for some peeps) that have all 4 wheels fitted with rotating casters suck! Craig Langdon, mimosaPLANET Business Development Specialist and Community Manager of our premium members only website, recently vented his frustration in a discussion with me about the misery of using shopping carts with all four wheels rotating. “It just shows me they don’t give a crap about me!” were his words, and I’d have to agree. The business lesson here has got to be; you must examine the total customer experience, not just the quality and experience of the obvious product or service.

[Today’s Image: Limes from Random Supermarket, Miami Beach, FL – June 2011] - I like Limes, Limes are useful

Now, I’m no expert on shopping cart design. I don’t know why some carts have the front wheels only rotating, others the back only, and some all four. What I do know is that over the years I’ve used all three of these basic designs, and the one I found most user friendly was the back 2 wheels fixed, with the front 2 rotating…. Mmmmm is there something else that many people use that follows a familiar pattern… like THE CAR!!!

You know what, I don’t care what the original logic was to move to 4 wheel rotating carts. I don’t care if it’s a price thing or theatrically better manoeuvrability thing, as an experience… for me, 4 wheel rotating carts just suck! So, the question is how did they end up in many supermarkets in the first place? Actually, that’s not the main point or question, a better question is; why are they still there?

I can understand a company trying something out. I’m sure there is a tonne of reasons, proof, and research why 4 wheel rotating shopping carts are better than 2 wheels. But, the real question is once they are in use do people prefer the new cart design or the old cart design? Which one feels best? Which one gives the best total customer experience? Trying new things is a must in business. Some new things are cool, others not so much and you are better to go back a step or try yet another option. So, have they asked customers a year or two down the road about the experience of using 4 wheel rotating carts?

I don’t want to sound like I’m up on my high horse about this and totally perfect. I’m very aware that I and mimosaPLANET can always do more and improve both the total customer experience and the general experience of anyone that comes into contact with the mimosaPLANET brand in anyway. But we ‘get it’ and we put focus on it. We may be a small company but we’d like to punch well above our weight. What the heck is giant supermarket chain xyz’s excuse? It can’t be lack of resources, so as a consumer/person I think they just don’t care, and well... I’ll be more inclined to try someone else, to see if they do care. I'll try someone else to see if the total experience is better.

Total Customer Experience

Here’s an oversimplification of what is going on. Giant supermarket chain “A” focuses on its positioning as the cheapest in the marketplace, it is likely to focus on driving down supplier costs “let’s get the lettuce for $0.90 so we can sell it for $1.20 making us cheaper than giant supermarket chain “B” who buys for $0.95 and sells for $1.25, the customer will love that!”

While, giant supermarket chain “C” positions itself as the freshest and highest quality produce, the premium provider - “let’s only buy the lettuce from approved high quality supplier x and let’s sell it for $1.50 with all the flash marketing and good in-store lighting and displays, the customer will enjoy this more”.

If anyone out of the two ‘get it’ more, it’s chain “C”. They understand it’s more about the total experience. Chain "A" focuses on the products they sell and the price point they can deliver them at. The lesson for small business owners is; it’s not just the product or service you provide, it’s everything. EVERYTHING you do matters to the customer, EVERY interaction, and EVERY EXPERIENCE!!!

One simple question to ask: what frustrates you about doing business with us?

Just use slightly different versions for different people, see action points below.

The Benefits of Giving a Crap

Customer Retention & Loyalty = Increased Lifetime Value
Customers as Raving Fans = Increased New Customers through Word of Mouth

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In Short

Any small business owner that wants to do REALLY well should fully embrace an obsession with 'Total Customer Experience'.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Action Points

Ask yourself – what frustrates me during my normal day to day life when dealing with other companies? What is the equivalent situation for my business?
Ask your team - what frustrates you about working at this company?
Ask your strategic, referral & networking partners - what frustrates you about the_____________ industry?
Ask your suspects (people in your target market that don’t know you) - what frustrates you about the_____________ industry?
Ask your leads - what frustrates you about these kind of products/services/companies in this space?
Ask your customers - what frustrates you about doing business with us?

Best Small Business Blog: The Best Blog for Small Business

James Cooper — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:06:00 GMT

Taking inspiration from Jack Welch (former CEO of GE), we want the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog to be the BEST Small Business Blog around. Jack famously stated that GE (a giant conglomerate) would be number one or number two in each business, industry, or product category they were in. If they were not #1 or #2, then they would either fix or sell that particular business. So, at mimosaPLANET we aspire to build 'the best' small business blog. I think we’ve made a good start, but what else do we offer people in order to be able to claim the title “best blog for small business?” What makes up a valuable small business blog?

[Today’s Image: London Eye, London, UK – March 2011] - World's tallest Ferris Wheel 2000-2006

First of all, I’d love your comments, feedback, ideas and suggestions - What makes a small business blog valuable and useful for you? I’ve put together a few thoughts on the topic below…

Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment, talks about how you can use technology to provide value to people. Guy states you can do this by providing value in one of 3 ways:

Information – (e.g. “Amazon has just released a cool new feature ABC”)
Insights – (e.g. “What this new feature means to the world, the industry, and you…”)
Assistance – (e.g. “This is how to get this new feature. And how to use this feature to its full potential…”)

So, on each of these 3 points let’s see what the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog is doing, and find some potential for improvements.

Information

Blogs provide information. But the real question we asked ourselves was; what information is useful to most small business owners? I believe the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog is very different to most of the current high traffic “small business blogs” available. Most of the high traffic blogs classified as 'small business blogs', often seem to be more like news sites. They are more like media sites in a blog format. Some create content, some aggregate a whole heap of content. They all have a tonne of information!!! Now, they have their place for sure, but information cannot be the only goal…

Is this mass information useful to REAL small business owners? Do most small business owners get value from knowing that abc tech startup company has raised 20 million dollars? I don’t think most small business owners want to be the next CEO of a $50 billion company they started & slaved away to build. So, on our blog we’ve focused on providing valuable information that is in-line with what most small business owners want:

Insights

I find this an interesting point for a blog. Does one provide information, insights, assistance, or some sort of combination of all three? Do you have a set formulaic way each and every article is put together; part 1, part 2, part 3. Or do different articles get different combinations of content?

Insights go to a deeper level than just the facts. Some blog articles should be information only, others information and insights. So, additional to the article itself we also like to provide extra value with access to free small business resources; eBooks, Reports, Webinars, Success Kits, etc. We think they help take things to a deeper level.

Assistance

This is the area in which I feel most strongly about. I think assistance is all about going beyond the information, or insight, to a place where you actually help people get benefits. This has always been the focus of the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog. We use Action Points after every article for the simple purpose of helping readers go beyond a new piece of information or insight. Beyond knowledge is implementation and execution… taking action is the only real way to benefit. Less talk, more DO!!!

After working with small business owners one on one for a number of years now, I realize execution (taking action) is often the most difficult thing to do. Execution is a big part of the customer experience we are building for premium members of mimosaPLANET. For our blog to be the best in the world for small business owners, we need to have this same attitude – we want to help you EXECUTE!

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In Short

Claiming the title of The Best Blog for Small Business is a stated goal for the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog. While ‘best’ is always subjective we feel we can strive for this goal through one simple philosophy. The mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog will help people to; find focus, build knowledge and take effective action!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Action Points

Subscribe for FREE – With our FREE Subscription you receive first access to our latest and best research, articles, eBooks, live webinars, reports, videos & success kits (templates & tools to help implementation).

FREE Subscription: Join thousands of other small business owners

We are committed to helping you get better business results. To help you, we touch on a range of areas, we call them the 7 segments; Personal Effectiveness, Strategic Approach, Financial & Money Matters, Sales Conversion, Marketing, Systemization, and Team.

Subscribe for FREE

Specialization vs Broad Appeal: To Specialize Your Business or Not?

James Cooper — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:45:00 GMT

Hi everyone, today I want to start a regular feature here at the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog – Business Tips on Location. Basically, small business insights from around the world, lessons from the road if you like. I've done a number of Video Business Tips on Location before, but we'll look to do them more regularly - every second Friday. Today I’m in Miami Beach, Florida. And today’s topic: Specialization vs Broad Appeal.

Specialization vs Broad Appeal is really a debate you could be having at a high strategic level in your business every once in a while. At its core is the question; should we be specialized in one particular sector/market with one main offering, or should we have broad appeal across multiple sectors/marketplaces? Tight Focus vs Diversification.

Now, I know what you’re thinking; what has this got to do with Miami, what can Miami teach us about specialization vs broad appeal. Well, as it turns out, I think quite a bit. Let me explain.

[Today’s Image: Miami Beach, FL – June 2011]

The Back Story

Miami went through a big property boom, and then of course the big property crash. Well, you might say so what, so did most of America and the rest of the world for that matter (in varying degrees). Ok, your right… but Florida was particularly hit hard, with lots of development and speculation, which ended up with a heap of supply and weak demand and massive 50% crashes in prices. The global financial crisis and the worldwide recession which ensued also hit tourism hard. People spent less on vacations/holidays. Two major industries to Miami and Florida got a clobbering.

At this stage the Property market has not rebounded however, tourism is making a fight of it. Now, I don’t have any statistics to give you, but storys I've read indicate part of the growing success of Miami’s Tourism rebound is, in part, because they have done a better job than other tourism locations in appealing to a wider marketplace. They don’t just get visitors from the US consumer, but strong numbers also come from Europe and Latin America. From walking the streets I can certainly empathize with that suggestion – I don’t understand a word anyone is saying!

The Lesson

Now, if we think about Miami’s Economy as a Business, and as the Property & Tourism industries as product lines that you offer in a Business. Well then it could be said that Miami has returned to its core industry – Tourism to focus and solidify its position once again. It could also be argued that the Tourism industry itself has not put all its eggs in one basket and diversified it’s offering to multiple marketplaces (Europe, Latin America & US) not keeping a narrow focus.

So, where’s the debate at in your business? Are you offering multiple product lines or service sectors (like Property & Tourism), or do you specialize on one (e.g. you just do Tourism)?

Then within anyone particular product line or service sector; do you offer that product line to one particular group of people (one marketplace, like the US customer only) or do your offer your product to a wide range looking to have broad appeal and demand for your product line (European, US, Latin America)?

The Recommendation

This is a classic battle between focus and diversification. I personally believe for most small businesses starting with nailing a smaller and tighter more focused product offering and marketplace is the best strategic approach to have initially. When you dominate one tight area you will likely have more resources to broaden and diversify. See, what is the major reason behind diversification in investing terms? - To lower risk… but in small business if you haven’t yet built a $50million business well, diversification is stupid because you have nothing to risk!

Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors of all time, is only diversified because of the amount of time he has been investing and because of the size, scale and focus of his investments in one particular business at a time. His focused investments yield profits, which he can build up and focus on another big investment. He doesn’t do diversification to reduce risk – he researches the crap out of a company then backs it with massive investment – he doesn’t spread his money around the whole marketplace, he does his research then focuses his resources on one business.

So, for small business.... specialization first until you have it nailed! Then you’ll have the resources to specialize in another field/market, becoming broader and more diversified.

MQY - My Question to You?

Q: What is more important to your business right now; Specialization or Broad Appeal?

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In Short

Specialization vs Broad Appeal in small business can be a very interesting debate. But at the core of most successful small businesses is a specialization, a narrow focus which will in time fuel the business’s ability to perform in other sectors/markets successfully.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Action Points

Brainstorm: Ask yourself and your team, are we aiming too narrow or too wide?

Finding Focus: Finding Your Focus for Business Growth

James Cooper — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:00:00 GMT

Finding focus can seem like a vague topic with lofty goals. But finding your focus for business growth is perhaps one of the single most important things any small business owner can do. If you want to aggressively grow your business, then your focus is the foundation on which you should build that growth. If you are unclear of your direction and approach, then indecision, delay and inactivity will often follow. If you don’t execute, you don’t grow. Simple. So, finding focus, or just an ounce of extra clarity of focus, can yield enormous benefits to your business’s growth.

[Today’s Image: Downtown, Miami, FL – June 2011]

Finding Your Business Focus

Normally when people talk about 'focus' and 'business growth' together, they refer to the common challenge of many entrepreneurial people..... they always fall in love with the next new and exciting idea before they implement the last perfectly good idea. Thus, no idea, project, strategic approach or business grows to the size it could or should. Try implementing 10 businesses at once, you'll never do as well as implementing just one! So, the argument goes; focus on one idea, concept, project, business, venture, strategic approach, market segment, etc… at any one time.

I can’t argue with that logic. The cumulative effect of hundreds or thousands of hours of work and refinement in a tighter focus area over many years will normally way exceed the cumulative results from multiple endeavors. I've learnt this the hard way myself. So...

How do you choose between completing ideas in your mind?
I like the mind map approach. Get them (your competing ideas) all out of your brain, and get them on paper. Better yet, download onto a white board (then you won’t get lost in the finer details that a pen and paper (or spreadsheet) allow). The bigger the pen, the simpler your thoughts will be communicated visually. Once you've done this, you'll be blown away at how much clarity can turn up through a simple process of VISUAL elimination. Elimination of the weaker ideas.

But there is another area of focus we should really be addressing first. It’s not often talked about in business terms, but it really affects everything you do. Your 'Personal Focus'!

Finding Your Personal Focus

I've talked about personal focus in relation to business before. It's about finding out 'What' you want out of life, and 'Why' you want that. How could this possibly matter to business growth you might be thinking? Well, News Flash: your business isn't an island unaffected by its most important part - people. People includes you. If you truly have massive personal clarity on what you want out of life and why you want that.... then you get a much much stronger purpose behind WHY you want or NEED to grow your business. This will drive you like never before.

Go way beyond simple goals like, "I want my business to make me ten millions dollars". Ask yourself; what if money and time were no object... what would I do with my life? Why would that be important to me? What is the significance in that?

Finding focus and personal clarity is massively overlooked in the vast majority of business development or improvement resources. Why is that? Well, maybe it's just easier to put attention on the hottest new social media platform or mobile app, and believe that this new 'thing' is the 'missing magic secret' to achieving business growth goals. Perhaps, an hour or two invested in the bigger picture of Personal & Business Focus (rather than how can I tweet my way to business growth), would be more valuable? I often think so.

MQY - My Question to You?

Q: Do you think Focus (or lack of it) impacts small business results?

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In Short

Small business owners and entrepreneurs often under estimate the value of finding clarity of focus. Finding your focus to help grow your business takes the form of two areas; personal focus and business focus.
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Action Points

Mind Map your thoughts on a white board
Narrow your focus through a process of elimination to the strongest idea
Ask yourself personal thoughtful questions

3 Quick Tips to Grow Your Small Business

James Cooper — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:03:00 GMT

If you’re looking to grow your small business any tips and minor distinctions you get, can go a long way if you embrace the incremental natural of the business improvement process. Of course, the key is to turn ‘tips’ and information into actionable tasks. Execution is everything. So, with execution front of mind I offer 3 quick tips to grow your small business.

[Today’s Image: Miami Beach, Miami, FL – June 2011]

1: DON’T GROW IT

What the…? No, I’m not completely insane. This tip is here to just raise the question; do you want growth for growth sake, or will growth truly achieve your desired outcome? You see, if you have a $1m business, and you are pursuing growth… great. But stop for a second, perhaps your goal is to hit $2m in sales, if so, why? Now, it might be simply to increase the net profit of the business from its current $0 pa figure (at $1m it pays you a salary for working in it, say $100,000pa, but as a business it doesn’t return a profit over and above that owner operator salary). Perhaps your goal is to hit $100,000 in net profit on top of your $100k salary. And by your calculation, growing to $2m will achieve this.

Before pursuing revenue growth, I would first challenge your business’s profit model. Could you double your take home pay, as you desire, another way? So, other than doubling the size and scale of your business, and with it your commitments and liabilities, would it be possible to achieve an extra $100k in take home income by another method?

Action Task: Run your numbers through a simple profit model calculator. How else could you achieve the increase in profit? As a simple example; if you increased your prices by 10% and lost no customers, you would achieve the extra $100k without any extra work. If that scares the pants of you, ask why? What is stopping you doing that? How come some charge that amount and we can’t? Who do we need to become to be premium? And what do we need to do immediately to become that business? It could be that a 5% increase in price, a new supplier agreement saving you 1% on COGS, and only 5% increase in sales achieves your goal. Run the numbers again.

2: CONVERSION

Improve every single conversion rate in your business. Don’t be an idiot and focus your resources on increasing the ‘headline’ act numbers in the first instance. They are expensive and time consuming. Great wins can come from improving your conversion ratios. Which ones? Website Visits to Leads %, Leads to Opportunities %, Opportunities to Customers %, and more…

All else being equal, if you turn a 3% conversion rate to a 6% conversion rate you double your business. Think about it!!!!

Action Task: Gather all your conversion rates in marketing and sales. Look at the data of your current position. Now schedule a weekly review with your entire team on conversion rates. Simply focusing on it each and every week will start to improve it, let alone using conversion rate strategies and tactics.

3: CUSTOMER WOW FACTOR

The idea of wowing your customers is certainly not a revolutionary one. But sooo much effort, energy, focus and hype surrounds marketing and lead generation for new customers. First, stop the plug in the bottom of the bath tub. Make sure your customers stay customers. Customer retention is gold. But if you figure out how to go beyond just retaining customers and get to a place where they rave about you with online reviews (in both online directories and social media) then the top of your marketing and lead generation funnel will fill anyway with much much higher quality leads and enquiries!

Action Task: Be the leader and lead by example showing that the customers experience in all aspects of your business matters most. Run company culture workshops with all of your team, get everyone on board with your customer-centric business.

MQY - My Question to You?

Q: Which of the 3 tips do you think is the best place to start?

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In Short

To grow your small business 3 quick tips include; running a profit model review, increasing conversion rates, & focusing on the customer experience.

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Action Points

Implement each of the 3 action points above.

DO IT!

Top 3 Wants for Small Business: What Small Business Owners Want

James Cooper — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:00:00 GMT

On Monday June 13^th I attended the New York Times Small Business Summit. I was immediately pleased the NY Times President & the Associate Editor, both shared with us what attendees told them they wanted to get from the Summit. It’s great to get the current pulse of such a group of people. While your specific situation and goals are always unique, there are always similarities to what you and other small business owners are looking for. Perhaps these 3 areas are on your mind too? So, here are the current top 3 wants for small business: what small business owners want…

[Today’s Image: New York Public Library, NYC – May 2011]

What Small Business Owners Want

Specific Business Improvement Information
Inspiration
Greater Understanding of How to Utilize Technology

1. Information

Ok, so “information” is way way to general to be of specific use. Years ago, I organized our small business improvement information at mimosaPLANET into broad and specific segments. At the highest level we have 7 segments…

You – Personal Effectiveness
Strategy – Strategic Direction, Approach & Leadership
Money – Profitability, Cash-flow, Financing
Sales – Converting Leads & Enquiries
Marketing – Generating Leads & Enquiries, & Repeat Business
Systems – Operational Effectiveness, Business Processes, & Automation
Team – Team Development & Human Resources

Within each segment we can drill down to greater detail, e.g. Inbound Marketing, Permission Marketing, Outbound Marketing. We can also go beyond overall strategy in these sub-segments to specific tactics and step by step ‘How To’ processes. Then the resources, templates & tools to get stuff executed.

My recommendation is to start by rating each of the 7 segments out of 10 for you and your business. Are you an 8 in Marketing (because you make the phone ring with lots of enquiries), but you’re a 3 at Sales (because all these enquiries are just a waste of time, lots of meetings, lots of quotes, too few sales)?

Now, once you’ve done this quick and simple rating process, you can focus in like a laser on knowledge building in 1 or 2 poor performing areas first. You don’t want ‘information’, you want answers to specific questions/challenges and specific Action Points to execute, within your most challenging segment or two.

Where to Get Business Improvement Information?

A - Search google by subject area e.g. “small business marketing” then, at the specific website or blog you arrive at, search using a specific question (how to find more customers) or tighter subject area (social media marketing).

B – Go straight to a list of specialist industry experts and find the information you are looking for on their blog or in their book or in their training course… whatever they provide for free or paid.

Heck... I've written a heap of articles on a wide range of topics. Have a look at the catergory tags on the right hand side bar of this blog, you'll likely find what you're looking for. If not, and it's small business related, leave a comment asking your specific question below.

2. Inspiration

People thrive when inspired. This is why the services of business coaches and peak performance coaches have grown so much in the last 15 years or so. I have stated before that if you want great employees you must be a great leader. A great leader inspires and enrols the team. People don’t want to work for dull uninspiring and unfulfilling companies or boss’s! Period. So… if this is human nature - to want to be inspired - it should be no surprise that small business owners also want to be inspired.

Where are you currently getting your inspiration? Is it enough? Is it helping to fulfil your desire to be inspired? Or do you need to turn up the volume and intensity?

Here are some options; from free and lightweight, all the way to intense. Just dial it up a notch or two:

Find a Business Mentor (someone who i,s or has been, successful in business you can chat with. Success rubs off.)
Read Blog Posts/Articles
Read Business Books
Membership to Online Business Forum
Membership to Online Business Coaching Program
Attend In Person Business Events: Conferences / Expos / Summits
Attend In Person Business Training: Seminars / Workshops / Bootcamps
Membership to In Person Business Networking Group
Membership to In Person Business Mastermind Group
Have your own Peak Performance Coach
Have your own Business Coach

What we are doing with Premium mimosaPLANET Membership is fostering an environment that helps people; find focus, build knowledge and take action! Inspiration matters!

3. Understanding How to Utilize Technology

Don’t try to “Keep Up”. That is my recommendation here. Instead leap out in front or forget it. You see, if you are always trying to keep up with technology and developments you’ll be ‘in the pack’. If you’re in the pack…. It will suck, it will be hard, it will be competitive, it will be expensive (in the long run). Life rewards winners and first place getters far far more than second, third or four hundredth. To effectively utilize technology you really have to be ahead of the pack. To be ahead you must get interested and get a little obsessed with technology.

Technology is your friend. Don’t complain about change or reminisce about the good old days… the world doesn’t care. Embrace it. “How do I use or utilize technology (or social media, mobile devices)?", this is a question that needs to be rephrased. Try seeing the big picture first, it’s not just technology… it’s people’s behavior you are looking at. Look at the behavior change first. Then dig into the capabilities of each technology. If you do it this way around, you’ll be able to link your own “how to” together.

To understand the big picture look at reading great books like The Thank You Economy.
Regularly read techcrunch's blog and you'll be infront of the pack.

MQY - My Question to You?

Q: What is the one thing you are looking for? The one thing above all else that would help you?

A: Write your answer in the comments section below or @ message me on Twitter - @jamesMcooper or send me a message on LinkedIn - James Cooper

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In Short

Small Business Owners are currently commonly seeking; Business Improvement Information, Inspiration, & a Greater Understanding of Technology. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone with these feelings/thoughts and solutions can be found when you get a little more specific.

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Action Points

Rate you and your business in each of the 7 segments.
Write down what specifically are you looking for?
Get involved, answer today’s question – I might be able to point you directly to a helpful resource, or if I don’t have somewhere I can send you immediately to help you out, I’ll create something specific to what you have stated.
Rate your current level of inspiration? Take it to the next level by adding another option from the list.
Become technology obsessed by reading technology content but more importantly find the big picture ‘context’ in relation to human behavior.

5 Rules for Blogging: How to Increase Blog Readership

James Cooper — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:56:00 GMT

5 Rules for Blogging: How to Increase Blog Readership. Following on from last week’s article - Why more people aren’t reading your blog – today’s article looks at each of the 5 rules which help to get people more involved with your blog. Basically, we just need to think about human behavior for a minute. It is human behavior to be involved with something we enjoy. Your approach to blogging will determine if you build a relationship with your reader. Relationship = Readership.

[Today’s Image: Downtown, Boston, MA – May 2011]

Big props to Amy Porterfield and her presentation in NYC last month – which is the basis for this content. Now, of course, ‘rules’ is perhaps an overused word in business, and of course there are no rules – we’re all just experimenting with this new online world. What works today could be out tomorrow. Amy also called them “elements” instead of rules, which is likely a better title. But, today I’ve called them rules, whatever…

RULE 1: RAPPORT

Must be instant.
People make snap decisions.
Each post is like a first impression.
Get them thinking about themselves.
Use the word “YOU”.
Become a storyteller
Let people connect with themselves through your stories!!!! They can relate.
Very open example - whitehottruth.com
You can’t be everything to everybody. Speak to your audience.

Case Study: blog.vistage.com (not ok to state the obvious; give them the how to, the action list)

RULE 2: RELEVANCE

Give your blog post (story) some meat:

Use stats
Provide research results
Interview experts

Get inspired to write your blog posts:

Step outside niche to become more creative - learn from other industries, and forms of media/content/experiences, don’t just follow or interact with people in your industry.
Relate real world outcomes to… your lesson / message of a post. People love examples.

eCube each blog post:

Entertain - the story
Educate – the meat
Empower – the lesson

Case Study: Citrix’s workingshifting.com - Focusing on a specific marketing persona (people that work in coffee shops, hotels, home, airports… as much as the office), hence of very high relevance to audience.

RULE 3: INSTANT GRATIFICATION

People like content that is easy to consume - give them that.
Stick to one topic – a single train of thought.
Use Sub-Headings - breaks up the story & makes it easy to scan with the eye to see what is coming.
Headlines & sub-headlines matter - make it easy for people to read.

Tony Robins Style:

Use the capture and chunking method (that Amy learnt while working for Tony Robbins) to help create your blog posts.

capture stage – downloading (talk in to Dictaphone (most smart phones have a recording notes function) – then use a transcription service (just google it – it is very low cost). It is EASY to turn paragraphs of information into blog posts)

chunking stage – grouping of the information, before redistribution as multiple posts or a sections in a single post.

Case Study: Seth Godin – sethgodin.typepad.com - Typically very short blog posts make content quick and easy to consume for the reader.

Case Study: Chris Brogan – chrisbrogan.com - Most blog posts have sub headings which makes it easy for the reader to consume the content in sections.

RULE 4: SHARE-ABILITY

It is human behaviour to want to share experiences and information that we find interesting. You simple need to help facilitate this by providing sharing options.

Case Study: the rise to the top – therisetothetop.com - multiple sharing options

Case Study: techcrunch - techcrunh.com - uses facebook (fb) ‘like’ AND fb ‘send’ buttons, & has combined fb 'like' & fb 'send' numbers.

There are things more interesting than your niche… people share interesting content… so ask the following questions;

What does my core audience want?
What do they need?
Is my content enticing?
Am I creating content sharing opportunities on my blog?

RULE 5: PROMISE MORE

Tease the reader - This article was promised last week, it’s part 2, so for someone reading part 1 they must return for the other half!
Ask Questions - don’t ask people what their ‘thoughts are’ to get comments – ask a specific question!!!

No-fail Social Media questions:

Make it fun
Let them promote themselves: do you have a faceboook fan? Etc
Get their advice: your tips for…?

Case Study: hubspot – blog.hubspot.com - has done a great job at this for years

MQY - My Question to You?

Q: How many hours per week do you spend on marketing and promoting your business?

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In Short

Increasing blog readership works by facilitating regular human social behavior. Thus; build rapport, be relevant, provide gratification, make it shareable, and promise more.

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Action Points

Do one tweak a week to your blog (blogging strategy / blogging approach) forever. Improvement never stops. Start with rule 1 above.
Continue to read more about business blogging.

DO IT!

Business Blogging: Why More People Aren’t Reading Your Blog

James Cooper — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:54:00 GMT

Why more people aren’t reading your blog! This was the title of a presentation by Amy Porterfield in NYC the other day. Amy speaks, trains and consults on social media, she managers socialmediaexaminer.com’s facebook community, and is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. The title of Amy’s presentation got my attention, so I attended with interest. My small business owner bias was firmly in place, I focused on finding a simple point or two I could share with you. I walked away with 5 simple Rules...

[Today’s Image: Central Park, NYC – May 2011]

If you’re a regular blogger, and keep up with the latest online development, it’s not likely you’ll learn anything revolutionary here. But all you need sometimes is a small reminder and tweak to drive a massive change in business blogging results. So... keep your mind open - not closed - when evaluating the points below and in the detailed posts to come.

If you’re new to business blogging (or thinking of starting), these 5 rules can help you head in the right direction. In addition to the 5 simple rules, there are some other observations which help frame the rules. These observations are:

People become Social Media Obsessed – give them something to obsess about
People like Bite-Sized Pieces of Information – make content easy to consume
Even if you feel that your ‘subject matter’ has all been said before, it hasn’t been said by YOU in YOUR WAY, to YOUR AUDIENCE/NICHE – find your unique voice
Get people addicted to you, your content, your company, and your interaction with them
Outstanding content is clearly the way to increase readership

5 Elements That Make Social Media Addictive:

Instant Rapport
Relevance
Instant Gratification (social media gives it)
Share-ability
The Promise of More

I’ll expand on each of these 5 “Elements / Rules” in greater detail in upcoming posts (check back in a few days for links).

One clear factor to conclude is that blogging and social media are not independent, they are interdependent in today’s world. The blog is social. At mimosaPLANET, sometimes we get zero comments, sometimes we get half a dozen. One major point I've personally taken away; think more about the social aspect of business blogging - get readers/people involved.

MQY - My Question to You?

Q: Do you blog regularly, rarely or never?

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In Short

Gaining blog readership can be difficult however, by following ‘the 5 rules to make social media additive’ small business owners can gain readership. Use practices which put you, and your blog, in alignment with peoples current online social behavior.

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Action Points

Without knowing the detail of each of the 5 elements, immediately identify which is your weakest.
Start tweaking your weakest element today.

DO IT!

The Thank You Economy - Book Review

James Cooper — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:46:00 GMT

Current Location: New York City, NY

The Thank You Economy, by Gary Vaynerchuk, The mimosaPLANET Business Book Review for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Video Blog Post

Ok, so first of all... I thought 'I got it'. You know, I thought I understood what this world of business and marketing is all about. And more importantly how to help small business owners transform (or just improve, it's up to you how high you jump) their business. But wholly smoke, The Thank You Economy has actually given me the big picture in a new dimension of clarity! I now have much greater 'context'.

Context has way way way more legs than content. Content is great, for sure, but understanding context is amazing.

My big MOC (moment of clarity): it's about caring like heck about your customers and their experience with you and your company. Now, this may seem nothing new and just good old fashioned business sense. It sure is. But how many businesses execute like this with an understanding of the impact this can have in a new media world? Very few currently.

What if your competition down the road read this book and 'got it'. Maybe they end up with a 1 or 2 year head start in online community management? In 5 or 10 years... you will scream, "I'm getting killed by bob down the road & why didn't I jump in and pursure this earlier"! Don't wait folks the time is now.

[Today's Video Location: Regus Office Downtown Manhattan, New York City]

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In Short

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk is hands down a book every small business owner and entrepreneur needs to read. The sooner the better.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion & Action Points

5 Stars. Buy it. Read it.

Questions

What is your favourite business book & why?

Maybe you can recommend a book that will turn me into the hotel industry... the need to invent 6 & then 7 stars!

Location: London, United Kingdom.

Dominate Your Niche with Your Blog

James Cooper — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:53:00 GMT

How to Dominate Your Niche with Your Blog! In today’s post I’ll share some insights I gained from a recent presentation I attended in NYC by Rich Brooks. Rich’s Portland based company, flyte, does web design and internet marketing, he also writes for the business magazine Fast Company. I’ve written about business blogging a few times before and keyword analysis for internet marketing, and the following points are a good addition to those resources. Whether you are a complete novice, or a pro in need of a timely reminder, here are some highlights for small businesses that want to dominate their niche! (Today’s image: mimosaPLANET.com Monthly Visits from Organic Search)

How you can Dominate your Niche with Blogging?

Dominate, such a strong word. If it’s too dramatic for you, fine… replace with “do better”. You can see from the graph above at mimosaPLANET.com we have been able to dramatically increase traffic to the site from people searching in google, largely because of our blogging efforts. The point is; marketing has always been about communication and if your company is not present where people are, then you don’t exist.

People may be spending more and more time on social networks but as of today people still use google to search for ‘stuff’... a whole heap. You need to be on the first page of google search results for as many relevant search phrases as possible to be found online. Simple!

Business Blogging: Top Insights for Domination in Your Niche

Ok, so the below list started life as my short notes taken live in the presentatiom. Some I have expanded and explained, for others… they remain short. So, if you’re not sure of any terms or the deeper meaning behind any point then please just ask and I’d be happy to clarify. Questions: If you have any questions? From simple to complex… please ask away in the comments or contact us. Were happy to do what we can to help. Right, let’s do this…

Keyword Analysis:

First step, do a keyword analysis. What can you research? People search in different ways, so come up with a list of different phrases under each of the following …

Products & Services
Problems & Solutions
Real or Perceived Benefits
Features
Competition (other solution options)

Keyword Analysis & SEO Tools:

Tools can help you do quick research and tracking of your results. You need

Some more options…

http://www.seomoz.org/

http://www.hubspot.com (we use hubspot at mimosaPLANET.com)

Google Keyword Tool Hint:

Type in multiple phrases (3-10) before searching
Also use Google Insights – to find emerging terms!!! Get in early, it will help!

On-Page Optimization:

Do the standard on page optimization steps
Have a related blog posts plug in.

Better Blog Titles:

Lead with your best keywords (after the first 3 weeks relevance goes way down)
Use the colon! “Chopstick instructions: how to use chopsticks”
Must read well too, must also be persuasive

Better blog Content Tips:

First sentence for keywords
Bold and italic your keywords
Link appropriately (keywords)
Keyword questions: use tools and platforms to find what to write about by discovering what people are asking “questions” about?
- Search with a narrow phrase (one word)

Plug In’s for WordPress:

“All in One SEO Plugin”
“Scribe SEO” plugin (good for newbees)

Links:

Consider less links on a page equals more value/juice

Create ‘Link Bait’:

Basically this means make the article attractive for people to link to by…

Numbered lists
How-to articles
Embedded videos (how-to videos… either get transcribed or write text to complement the video)
Best industry blogs award. Other awards. (write to bloggers and tell them of the award “you made the top 25 list”)

Comment Links:

These are No follow (they don’t count to help improve your or another person’s page in the ranking for search results).
But – they do help build Relationships between you and other people if you are commenting on other peoples blogs, and other people may click through to your site if your comment is good…. Which is more traffic to your site)

Guest Blogging:

Guest blogging is still a great way for a person to get noticed online
Try Myblogguest.com to find where you can become a guest blogger

Social Media:

No follow (but they (google) are paying attention)….
Who knows what this means for search results today but… I suspect a page that has 500 facebook likes and 1000 retweets must already have greater relevance (and thus be higher in search results) than the same content without any community vote of confidence

Shareable:

Use Facebook “like”,
Also - ReTweet button, LinkedIn plus more…

Article Wheels & Similar:

Hubpages, squido – quality way down, focus more on guest blogging than trying to ‘game the system’.
Google has an army of uber smart people… help them, don’t try to bet them, ultimately... you’ll lose!

Fresh content vs used content:

When people guest blog, its ok for them to repost on their blog after 2 weeks!

My Question to YOU?

For the novice: What has stopped you becoming a regular blogger to date?
For the more experienced blogger: What is your Top Tip for the novice blogger?

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In Short

Today, even with social media storming ahead changing peoples behaviour, blogging is a very effective way for small businesses to build dominance in their niche. Get found online using your blog. But be prepared to continually adjust tactics, what was true one day might change the next.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Action Points

If you are already blogging: make any little (or major) tweaks as necessary to improve.
If you are not yet blogging: start. Either setup one yourself using WordPress & a Hosting Company (it’s way easier than you might think) or contact your existing website provider to redesign/add a blogging component to your site.

NOTE: If you get a less than knowledgeable and enthusiastic response from your existing provider, vote with your mouse and find another provider who will give you the service you deserve!

New Media Marketing for Small Business: June 2011 Update

James Cooper — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:35:00 GMT

What should New Media Marketing for Small Business Look Like today? After attending the BlogWorld Expo & New Media Summit in New York City 2011 the other week I came away from the conference with plenty of ideas. [NOTE: the image below is Times Square, NYC - May 2011]. I also had some confirmation and strengthening of existing beliefs around marketing in today’s world. And of course there was a good dose of ‘slap in the face’ moments that challenged the heck out of what I thought is possible or what direction we are heading. But, after some reflection I come back to one simple point…

What the heck should the average small business owner be doing in new media marketing?

You might be thinking: is it ‘New Media’ now… I thought it was called ‘Social Media’? Then again you could be already a star in marketing your business through new media, social media, blogs and the internet and just looking to stay at the forefront. Or, if you’re a real dinosaur, you might be still on the ‘this internet is for crazy kids, back in my day…’ wagon. Whatever your personal situation, YOU CAN NOT IGNORE what is happening in the world, if you don’t consciously keep learning and adapting your business, you’ll become extinct! I don’t care what your industry is; you ARE affected to some degree. Take notice!

My Top 6 New Media Marketing Tips for Small Business

It’s not about the platform: today its blogs, youtube, facebook, twitter, linkedin, and mobile apps. Tomorrow who the heck knows? What they all have in common is a profound difference from the one way marketing communication that has dominated the last 100 years or so. You can’t view twitter or linkedin solely as an advertising or marketing strategy or tactic like an ad in the local newspaper or magazine. It’s more than that. It’s a CHANGE in people’s behaviour.

New Media is closer to a telephone than a newspaper. People now ‘hang out’ and communicate differently. 2 way communication is the key difference. People have opinions, feelings, ideas, pet hates & loves, and now they have new communication tools to share them.

This spells MASSIVE OPPORTUNITY for the small business owner. Find your niche and start communicating within new media. Build relationships with customers, influencers, prospects, and industry experts.
Invest in Relationship Building: Communicating vs Selling: If you want to buy an advert that say “I’m cool, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, it’s so great, buy my stuff” fine, there are persuasive ways to do this and it has its place. But DO NOT do this in the new media environment, in particular on social media sites. It’s not like direct mail, you’re not looking to collect 100,000 fans on facebook and send them daily messages asking them to buy your stuff. Twitter is not about tweeting 100 messages a day about your amazing products or services. NO ONE CARES!

For small business it’s about being genuine, friendly, helpful and caring about people weather they buy from you or not. It’s the return of the local family run small business with old style values. Think the business owner that knows everyone in the community and has a relationship with them (on some level).

New media gives small business owners the opportunity to compete with bigger businesses once again. Can you afford in your small business to out advertise the big guys? Unlikely. New media is not a new area to do the same one way pushing selling approach to communication as newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV. It’s about caring about your customers and people, it’s about building relationships.
Relationships take time to build: The thing about quality relationships, they take time and effort. Think of your best friend or partner. You both know each other very well, you both trust each other, you take notice of what they say, you value their opinion, right? Did this happen overnight? No. What about your best customers; how is your relationship with them? Great, I hope. Did that happen overnight? Likely not (the quality of your relationship today is what I’m talking about). So, don’t expect a flood of new orders and customers from a months’ worth of tweeting!!!
Content, Content, Content: What are your customers and potential customers problems? How about producing some content (blog article, how to guide, short video) that helps your customers solve that issue. Now, you have something to give to people. Now you have something to talk about with your potential customers.

Just like you can use google to search for answers, you can use search to find out who is asking questions online. The kind of questions your prospects and customers currently ask you and your team over the phone, on email and in person. Each platform (twitter, linkedin, facebook, etc) has a search function. Type in your companies frequently asked questions and topics, see what comes up. And start talking to those people talking about issues you are an expert in. DO NOT, ask them to buy your stuff, just help them!
Schedule the Time: If you don’t schedule the time to communicate and build relationships with people online, it won’t happen. You are busy, I get that! But if you subscribe the notion that you need to get on the new media bus, then lock in 20mins a day, 60 mins a day, whatever… just put it in the diary.
Return on Investment for New Media (The ROI Question!): Now, I’m the first person to admit an obsession with Return on Investment. Heck, I’ve screamed from the roof top my mantra of “eliminate, automate and delegate”. I’ve also said “if it doesn’t work, don’t do it”, and the business coach/consultant/advisers favorite cliché “if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it”. So, I’ve had the following three concepts doing battle in my mind:
- New Media is the future of business communication. Do it, but it does take time and effort on a daily basis to do, and it takes a long time to build QUALITY relationships which ultimately leads to business results (a growing, healthy and profitable business).So, you must invest time and effort over a sustained period (forever!)
- ROI is everything. If you implement a marketing strategy and it doesn’t work for direct results you are wasting your time and money. Small businesses need immediate marketing results. Show me the profit and ROI!
- 80/20 Rule & Parkinson’s Law on time management. Most of what people do during the day does help them achieve or increase profit, so why do it. Stop working 60 hours per week, start working 20 hours and get the same results. Or work 40 per week doing more of the stuff that does work to drive growth. Don’t be “the busy fool”!

Now, until very recently I was conflicted to make the three concepts fit together: But not anymore, my thought process on joining the three concepts….

New media IS the ever changing present and future of communication. Long term business success depends on how successfully you ‘get’ this and embrace it. This is investing on a long term horizon, with the real possibility of short term gains if fully embraced. Ultimately, small business owners can leverage their time through team by building a team of people obsessed about delivering an amazing customer experience to each and every person that comes in contact with your company. But in the short term it’s a dedication to investing in work, over and above the norm once the time management efficiencies have been implemented for all other aspects.

Conclusion:

Now, I don’t profess to have all the answers and I have long way to go with my own New Media programs. But I do blog regularly, I personally (and mimosaPLANET) have a number of social media accounts; linkedin, facebook, twitter. Are each of these accounts currently used to their fullest potential? Heck, no. Are we under resourced to be everything I wish we were on each platform? Yep. Am I glad that I, and mimosaPLANET, are on the bus getting use to the new business environment? You bet.

If you wait until everyone is using social media in a business sense as much as people use the phone and email today, then you will be way way behind. Your business could be challenged to even survive without a change in thinking and behaviour today!

So, coming back to the original question: What the heck should the average small business owner be doing in new media marketing? – The answer; Get immersed! Set up accounts, start following your industry influencers/experts, see who’s doing it right and what they are doing, keep learning, and focus your efforts on relationship building and helping people out!

The earlier you embrace this, the easy it will be for you to be monstrously successful. If only 100 people in your niche are currently willing to do whatever it takes to makes this successful today, but in 3 years 100,000 people in your niche start attempted to stand out….. you tell me which situation has better odds of success assuming the same effort put in.

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In Short

New Media Marketing (Social Media & the Internet Marketing activities) for small business is not really a marketing strategy or tactic that you either choose to do or not. It’s more like a cultural shift in human behaviour that is only going to get stronger. To be effective you need to first adjust the way you view new media.

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Action Points

Set up blog, twitter, facebook and linkedin accounts
Use each platforms search function to find industry experts and influencers follow them. Observe what they do for a little while.
Start participating in the conversions and start building relationships. Imagine you are meeting them face to face at a networking event or at a friend’s bbq. You’re not going to try and ram your product down their throat are you? You are going to be nice and interested in who they are and what they have to say. You might even start to build a relationship.

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