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Is Your Business Card Underperforming?

February 29, 2008 Leave a Comment

Your business card is a reflection of you and probably the most common marketing “piece” you’ll distribute–so why do so many business owners treat their cards as an afterthought? Here are the top 6 business card mistakes I see:

1. Leaving the back of the card blank. Here’s the perfect opportunity to expand a little on what you can do for the reader. Take advantage of it! Use a tagline or bullet pointed examples of what you do–better yet have a call to action here. My next iteration will have a sentence or two telling people to go to my web site for my new free report (right now it’s a tagline).

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Sustainabili-tea

February 28, 2008 Leave a Comment

I’m a huge fan of social ventures–companies out to make a profit and make the world a better place. One of my favorites is Honest Tea. It’s a great product–organic tea made from real leaves with no or very little sugar. And it’s a great company–dedicated to integrity and sustainability, in the broader sense of the word. (Sustainability is not just about the environment anymore).

But lately the Honest Tea founders have been lambasted by some in the sustainability arena for a decision to sell a 40% stake in their company to Coca-Cola and it’s really ticking me off.

Yes, Coca Cola has a lot of issues they need to address. But taking a purist viewpoint here means overlooking the fact that the relative profits Coca-Cola will get from Honest Tea are probably far less than the positive benefits of giving the product a strong national distribution platform. It means Honest Tea will be buying more ingredients from more organic farmers, contributing more money to the social causes the products support, providing a great-tasting, healthy low- or no-calorie beverage choice to vastly more people, and expanding opportunities to work for an employee-friendly company.

Running a beverage company is a challenging endeavor. Production, financing, food safety regulations–but most of all getting on the shelves in an industry dominated by two global powerhouses. The more time you end up bogged down in these issues, the less time you have to focus on the reasons you started the company.

As for the deal itself, the founders did not just take the money and run. They negotiated a riskier deal that allows them to maintain management of the company. And if there’s one thing Coca-Cola understands , it is branding (aside from the New Coke debacle). They would be complete idiots to invest this money and then force any changes that would hurt the Honest Tea brand. If they do, then I’ll reconsider my support. But until then, I’m looking forward to cheering on the small, social company making it to the big leagues–and being able to get my Peach Oo-la-long and Assam Black Honest Teas wherever I go.

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Say Thank You, Creatively

February 26, 2008 Leave a Comment

I just received the door prize I’m donating for my NAWBO meeting tomorrow. I’m excited about the topic Sustainability Matters (for small businesses) and just couldn’t resist donating something from my favorite business gift company–Dancing Deer Bakery, which delivers delicious all-natural cookies, brownies and cakes in artful packages. The Molasses Clove Cookies are to die for, but they have innovative combinations such as Chocolate Tangerine and Cherry Almond Ginger as well. And, of course, they are a sustainable company themselves with an eye on being environmentally and employee-friendly and a dedication to philanthropy.

Really, if you’re still giving Harry and David as business gifts, you need to get a little more creative. There’s certainly nothing wrong with their items, but it just says “I can’t think of anything else to give.”

Another company I’ve used for business gifts recently was Artisan Confections which sells all-natural, handcrafted chocolates–each one a work of beautiful work of art. Because I also like supporting small businesses with a passion for quality and a flair for creativity. (Artisan Confection is also located in my previous hometown of Arlington, VA).

I also urge you to consider breaking away from the pack by adopting another holiday for annual business gifts. Not only will the recipients be more likely to remember your gesture and enjoy your gift, logistically it’s easier given travel schedules and winter storms. Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Take Your Pet to Work Day, your company’s anniversary–whatever appeals to you will certainly be a pleasant surprise for your clients.

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Interactive Trends cont’d

February 25, 2008 Leave a Comment

Here are the remaining trends I found relevant to small businesses from the Triangle Interactive Marketing Association the other day…

  1. Online video really is here to stay. It’s also developed its own business model for advertising. 141 million Americans watched 10 billion online videos in December 2007. The average viewer watched more than 3 hours of online videos that month–up 34% since the beginning of the year. And previous research shows that we’re not just talking teenagers here. So even if you don’t do your own video, it may pay to see what’s going on in your industry over at YouTube.
  2. 2008 will be the year of Google backlash. A new search war is brewing–Microsoft isn’t the only big player looking at buying Yahoo. So if you’re only doing Google AdWords, it may be time to look into Yahoo click advertising so you can benefit from any spikes in Yahoo traffic as this war plays out.
  3. Companies are disaggregating their marketing expenses. For those of us in the marketing arena, speaker Howard Greenstein predicts that companies will expect one-stop-marketing shops to hire niche sub-contractors or will start spreading their marketing dollars among smaller, specialty firms in the year ahead.

After the presentation, I asked the speaker Howard Greenstein what he thought would be the best interactive tactic for very small businesses and he said blogging. And I agree, done correctly, it can very be effective in promoting the business. And with the advent of audio and video blogs, it’s even easier for all the non-writers. But when it comes down to it, the most effective tactic for you will be whatever you will enjoy most–because then you’ll do it regularly.

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Interactive Marketing Trends for 2008

February 25, 2008 2 Comments

You could spend a lot of time and money running round to networking events for business owners. I’ve seen people do this and then collapse in exhaustion after a couple months complaining that networking just doesn’t work.  That’s why I advocate strategic networking.  Studies show it often takes 7-8 contacts with someone before they consider doing business with you.  So its better to pick a couple  groups full of your ideal clients or key referral sources and getting really involved. This works for online networks/forums/communities too.  But you don’t want to become too insulated, so it’s also important to broaden your horizons by attending an outside event once a month or so.  To get a different perspective, new information, etc.

So I ventured out to the Triangle Interactive Marketing Association’s meeting this week on the top trends for 2008.  Here are the trends I found notable for small businesses:

  1. Conversational marketing (blogging, user forums, podcasts, feedback options, social networks) takes off as a practice now that mega brands like GM are on board.  For small businesses that are trying to look big, it’s time to find something that works for you in this arena.

As for the power of this new media, it was interesting to hear that the Dell Hell  debacle (essentially a guy who started quite a media phenomenon when he bought a new Dell and in-home service contract in July 2005–the computer was a lemon and in-home service wasn’t possible. He started blogging about it and became a lightning rod for a whole lot of unhappy Dell customers.) has materially affected Dell’s stock price and continues to despite progress even the Dell Hell guy is impressed by.

Stay tuned for the other three trends I found relevant to small businesses.

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A Sticky Marketing Move

February 19, 2008 Leave a Comment

The WSJ ran an article last week about a brillant move by Random House to sell chapters of the bestseller Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip & Dan Heath.  Each of the 6 chapters and the tip-filled epilogue are $2.99 each–the intro and index are free with each purchase.

1. The move put the book back into the headlines, didn’t it? If the WSJ is talking about it, others are certain too as well. For a book that’s been out for more than a year, that’s a great thing.

2. The money RH makes is essentially pure profit because there are virtually no costs in creating the chapter pdfs–and no money to be paid to the retailer. (I hope the authors were savvy enough to include electronic royalties in their deal.) 

3. People who are tired of buying disappointing books are happy they can sample it first. And if they end up buying each chapter individually, RH is getting $20.93 for the book versus the $16.47 Amazon is charging.

4. Everyone that buys an individual chapter goes onto RH’s email mailing list (unless you opt out). And being able to market similar titles directly to the reader is a huge advantage for the publisher, even if the reader ends up buying the title through Amazon or another outlet.  

Overall, Random House will probably see increased sales of the book, and highly profitable sales from people who go the individual chapter route, plus enhance it’s ability to market directly to readers they know are interested in these topics. Finally, given that the book publishing industry is not one that’s usually known for innovation, its a move worthy of some serious buzz–and stickiness.

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Upcoming Marketing & Mindset Workshop

February 19, 2008 Leave a Comment

I just learned that Fabienne, who’s holding the Client Attraction Marketing & Mindset Workshop that I’m attending in May, is doing a series of free preview calls for the event. The first one is TODAY, but there will be more to come. If you’re interested, register for the calls here.

Believe me, I wouldn’t spend the money to go if I wasn’t sure it would be worth it. The marketing part is the Client Attraction System she created. The mindset is the critical part everyone else forgets–how to identify and eliminate the fears, self-sabotaging behaviors. and limited thinking that are often holding us back. Anyway, it’s free to sign up for the calls and see what she’s all about.

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Smart Travel

February 16, 2008 Leave a Comment

It really is time to think about booking my travel to some upcoming events. In early March, I meeting with 6 other fabulous women I met at Ali Brown’s Online Success Blueprint Workshop back in November. Marketing is an ever-changing business and I finally realized last year that I need to invest in seeing what others are doing. It was a fabulous event and I’ll probably talk more about it once the details for this year’s workshop are announced.

Part of what makes the event such a terrific one are the people who attend–almost all solopreneurs, all thinking big about the future of their business. At the end a few of us pledged to create a mastermind (Think and Grow Rich and had been prerequisite reading for the workshop) to continue building on what we learned. We have a once monthly meeting by phone, an online forum of our own for in-between questions and brainstorming, and will be meeting in-person for the first time in March at one of the members’ homes in Florida.

And in April I’m going to another workshop help by Fabienne Fredricksen in Connecticut. Fabienne already had a successful business coaching practice of her own but it really took off after becoming one of Ali’s proteges. Her workshop combines online & offline marketing for solopreneurs with work on creating the right mindset as well.

Anyway. I thought I’d share two resources that have been invaluable to me in booking flights in the past year. Farecast is where you go before you book your flights. It’s a little bit like Travelocity’s fare alert–in that you can set up an alert to tell you what’s happening with flights on the days you want. But it goes a step further to tell you whether you should buy today or wait–based on whether it expects today’s fare price to go up or down over the next seven days based on a ton of data it has compiled. It does something similar for hotels too.

After you buy, go to Yapta and enter in your flight info. This site will track prices for your exact flights and email you if they drop. If it does, Yapta will also tell you how to contact the airline for a refund or voucher for the difference! I haven’t had that happen yet, but it certainly can’t hurt to try.

And then email each of your confirmation receipts to plans@tripit.com. Trip It! is a free tool that takes all those emails, reads and consolidates them into one schedule, available online. You don’t even have to register first, once you send an email to the address above it will send you back a link to your schedule and new account. You can “clip” web pages to add to your trip (such as restaurant reviews), and you can get your trip information on your mobile phone by simply emailing a command to the site. And you can invite connections, which makes it easy to share your itinerary with others. Finally, you can sync it with your desktop calendar program. I’m trying it out now, and so far two of the three emails were automatically set up in the calendar. One, from a small hotel chain, was added an a note to my plan (I can manually enter it as well).

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Bunnies in the Office

February 15, 2008 Leave a Comment

I guess we’re starting an animal theme here, but I had to share this great example of viral marketing.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to YouTube. Nothing against the site, I just never seem to get there. Partly because my local phone provider (AT&T/BellSouth)–who is forever sending me notices to upgrade to highspeed DSL–says they don’t have any open ports that would allow me to actually do this in my practically downtown Raleigh neighborhood. So for the time being I’m stuck with DSL that optimistically connects at 1.5 Mpbs, which usually doesn’t seem to be enough to load regular pages in a timely fashion. But I digress.

Today, I just happen to open an email from a retail site with a link to a video on YouTube that promises to mix Amy Sedaris, bunnies and Microsoft.

And it’s quite funny. Apparently, Microsoft is doing a series of short films to hype its new Office product. How and why Amy Sedaris came to be chosen I haven’t been able to dig up yet, but apparently she does have a cupcake business, owns a rabbit named Dusty (the one eating the sprinkles in the film), and does alot for the House Rabbit Society.

My question is — while the viral aspect of it is certainly working, is it really helping Microsoft sell more Office?

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