The Olympia area SBDC has a Twitter account. Access Celia Nightingale and Cynthia Castanares – @OlympiaSBDC.
Olympia SBDC has a Twitter Account
991 days ago
Comment [3]
Why Social Media is More Like Customer Service than Marketing
1004 days ago
The Goal of Social Media is to Increase Sales. Really?
Social media provides the tools that enable us to have online conversations. I know, the big advice out there today about social media is don’t try to sell anything to anyone. The idea of social media is to be part of the conversation to build relationships over time. Of course, our goal in business is to sell more stuff to more people. The new revolution in business is social media marketing. If done right, it can be your key to radically improving sales. The question is how do you increase sales by using social media? What should your strategy be? Sun Tzu in the Art of War explains that strategy is determined by the terrain. Here is an overview of the social media terrain.
Your Word-of-Mouth Marketing Just Got a Megaphone
There are three ways your customers will eventually find you online:
1) Search engines
2) Browsing
3) Recommendations
Susan Boyle, chances are you have heard of her, the Britain’s Got Talent superstar already has over 40,000,000 views on one YouTube video in less than two weeks. She is listed on the second page of most viewed videos of all time for YouTube. Most of us heard about Susan because her performance was recommended. The idea is you want your business, your products, and your services to be recommended as well. Recommendation is the shortest distance between you and getting new customers.
Social media gives your word-of-mouth marketing a megaphone. You have a good business, your customers are raving about you, and the customers you want are looking for you. So why is it taking so long for people to find you? Here is an important rule of social media marketing . . .
You Must Be Present to Win
Out of sight is out of mind. There is a saying in business, “You must win mind share before you can win market share.” Social media is where conversations and recommendations are happening. By joining the conversation you become visible and you are in a position to win mind share.
Here are some ways to be present to win:
1) Listening to conversations in your field of interest
2) Participating in those conversations
3) Publishing information
4) Facilitating conversations
Listening
Ask your customers which social media they use. Biznik, Twitter, Facebook, forums, YouTube, others? You can also search topics that relate to your business to find where relevant conversations are occurring online. You can use www.google.com/alerts and www.search.twitter.com to find the most current articles, blogs, newsletters, and other published content. It will help you gain insights into your customers, your industry, and discover a whole new world of ideas. You will be at the leading edge of the conversation.
Participating
By participating on social media websites like www.biznik.com, www.twitter.com, and hundreds more, you can create a profile that will help you show up on the front page of search engines. (I was surprised today to find I was on the front page of Google when I searched my name.) Participating in social media increases the likelihood that you will show up on the front page of search engines when customers are looking for you.
Here are some interesting ways to participate. You can start a blog. Comment on other people’s blogs. Comment on relevant news articles. Comment on published online articles and forums. You can also attract attention by linking to interesting information on your website and other published materials and send it out through Twitter.
Publishing
You can publish (for free) pictures, videos, articles and announcements. Your new customers will find your published materials and those materials will link back to your website. There are hundreds of places to publish your information.
Facilitating
Social media websites like Biznik, Facebook, Ning, and others allow you to create social networking groups for free. You can facilitate your own conversations that will meet the specific needs of your existing and new customers while keeping you top of mind.
Social Media is More like Customer Service than Marketing
There is a buying process customers go through when they are deciding to do business with you:
1) Awareness – In this stage you come to their attention.
2) Consideration – In this stage they can see your participation online and it builds trust.
3) Purchase – In this stage they have decided buy.
4) Loyalty – In this stage they are your raving fan and want to stay engaged and connected.
Social media helps with the awareness, consideration, and loyalty aspects of the buying process. Think of social media marketing as your customer service outreach. You provide customer service because you authentically care about your customers. It is the same with social media.
If you have a choice between spending time making sales or doing customer service, your number one priority is making sales. Just behind that priority and equally important is providing excellent customer service. Chances are, you are already good at customer service and social media gives you amazing exposure to new people very quickly.
“Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About”
You know what I mean. You really have to give them something to talk about or point them to something worth talking about. Believe me, we are all learning how to use social media to gain new customers. I’ve talked to several social media experts and they admit they are stilling learning and discovering. No one has all of the answers. So don’t feel bad as you muddle through this new terrain.
The best advice I have heard about social media marketing is to spend no more than one hour per day working on it. You are already busy enough. What you put online stays online and works for you 24/7. So giving it an hour a day allows you to build slowly and get better as you go. I also recommend keeping a social media notebook to keep track of the tools, websites, gurus, and ideas for improving your social marketing efforts. There is no way to keep all that information in your head.
Marketing efforts will pay off faster than customer service efforts. You may not get results over night; however momentum will build over time as you give your audience something to talk about. Don’t give up too soon. Just tweek your approach, your message, and your delivery until you get the results you want.
Radical Self-Promotion – Crawl, Walk, Run
People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Social media can really get you out there. You are the face of your company. As you participate and publish you build credibility and trust. That’s why we call it “radical self-promotion.” We want to get know you. Start small. Crawl, then walk, and then run. Learn one social networking site at time and then add more as you go.
The good news is, through social media you become visible, your SEO improves, you encourage raving fans, you get recommendations, you get to know your customers better, you get to meet new people, and yes social media will result in more sales. I highly recommend it.
Your Social Media Marketing Plan:
1) Search online for social media information about your industry, market, and line of business.
2) Identify, and if helpful, join social media websites, online communities, blogs, and forums that are relevant to your customers
3) Pick one social media website that is most relevant to your customers and be present to win.
4) Spend one hour a day listening, participating, publishing, and/or facilitating. Keep a social media notebook to track websites and lessons learned.
5) Track your website traffic, your search engine placement, and the source of new sales to measure your effectiveness and continue to get better as you go.
Kirk Davis
Certified Business Advisor
Washington Small Business Development Center
Green River Community College
Small Business Assistance Center
253.856.9595 ext 5041
Email – kdavis@greenriver.edu
Website – www.greenriver.edu/businesscenter
Twitter – http://twitter.com/kirkjdavis
Blog – http://grccnxlevel.blogspot.com/
Biznik- http://biznik.com/members/kirk-davis
Insight * Solutions * Success
Comment [8]
Freelance Professionals
1017 days ago
Just sharing this resource that a couple of my clients use and highly recommend it: http://www.elance.com
Elance is the leading site for online work where businesses connect with independent professionals to get work done.
On Elance, businesses find the experts they need plus the tools to manage online work from hiring to collaboration to making payment.
Who Uses Elance
Elance offers businesses flexibility, cost effectiveness and instant access to a vast pool of skilled and tested talent.
Entrepreneurs
Companies
Marketing Firms & Creative Agencies
IT Consultants & Developers
Non-Profits & Other Organizations
Web Development Firms
Professional Services Firms
Independent professionals use Elance to find work, meet clients and get paid for what they do best. For example…
Web programming teams of talented coders with expertise across multiple programming languages
Freelance copywriters who specialize in marketing, sales and technical writing
Language experts who can translate a 500 word white-paper from English into Mandarin overnight
Illustrators, graphic designers, video producers and Flash animators with cutting-edge skills and tools
How Does Elance Make Money?
Elance makes money when the work is delivered and payments are made through Elance. When clients (employers) make a payment to their service providers, Elance deducts between 6.75% and 8.75% from the payment to cover its Service Fee and Payment Processing costs, and transfers the remaining amount directly to the service provider.
Additionally, Elance service providers choose between free and paid monthly membership plans based on their level of activity. People who hire elancers pay no fees beyond the money that is paid to the provider for the work that is done.
Comment [1]
8 Ways to Increase Your Cash Flow in a Cash-Crunched Economy
1143 days ago
Cash is king for a reason. The question is, how do you get more cash, improve your odds for surviving this economic downturn, and improve the value of your business without getting a loan or investors?
Every day I hear about cash flow problems from business owners. In this economy, most of us are having cash flow concerns. If you don’t understand the different ways to increase your cash flow you may be like the typical business owner that thinks, “I just need to sell more.” If you sell more you might be making the problem worse. Most bankruptcies and business failures tend to occur when business sales are at their highest level. Increasing sales can help if you have good profitability and a positive cash flow. If you are having cash flow concerns, chances are you can’t get a loan from the bank. My clients continue to come up with inventive ways solve their cash flow concerns. Here are some stories of how some of my clients have improved their cash flow that demonstrates 8 opportunities you have to increase your cash flow:
1. Create a positive cash flow cycle.
The cash flow cycle refers to the difference in timing between when you pay for products or payroll and when you get paid by your clients. A negative cash flow cycle means you pay out before you get paid. A positive cash flow cycle means you get paid before you have to pay out. One client recently asked her vendors for 30 day terms and got it. It put her into a positive cash flow immediately. Other clients have started asking for ½ down before they start the job and some clients offer small incentives for paying A/R accounts early.
2. Increase your average sale.
If you can get your customers to buy more of your stuff, for more money, and more often you will increase your average sale. When your average sale goes up more dollars go into your bank account. I have one retail client that started carrying more upscale products, increased her prices on some items, and bundled or packaged some products together. She saw an immediate improvement in her cash flow.
3. Increase your sales and marketing efforts.
This is a hard time for building supply companies. One client opened a building supply company just before the real estate market slow down. Oops! So, he took a gamble and advertised on T.V. It was hard to spend the money, but the results are that he has been increasing sales every month since he opened. Another client doubled her sales force and has increased sales every month of the downturn. There really is a lot of opportunity out there.
4. Cut your costs.
This one seems like a no brainer, however, many of my clients have been slow to do the difficult cost cutting that is required to stay profitable. One of my clients was very slow to cut costs. We worked together and talked about each expense and explored other ways to get what she needed without spending so much. We found several creative ways to cut costs without hurting productivity or customer service.
5. Reduce or restructure debt payments.
The payments you make on business debts are an important area that affects your cash flow. One client talked to their banker, but the banker was reluctant to refinance or restructure the debt. I told this client that the secret was to talk to a bank different from his own. Banks other than yours view gaining your deposit and loans accounts as a big win. Your current bank doesn’t always appreciate your accounts until they are about to lose them. Needless to say, this client did well in lowering their debt payments and received some other nice perks as well.
6. Reduce or eliminate capital expenditures.
One business I worked with had a very tight cash flow because she is growing. Growth always creates a drain on cash. She needed equipment and trucks to get the next step. Buying new stuff was out of the question. She started asking people she knew for what she wanted and got the equipment and trucks for almost nothing.
7. Increase the productivity of your staff.
I worked with a small business with a tight cash flow that was doing about $800,000 in annual sales but there was very little profit, they were just breaking even. We determined through a break even analysis that if we increased sales to $1,000,000 they should add about $100,000 to the bottom line. When they came back the next year they had actually increased their sales to $1,400,000, but there was still no profit. Based on the numbers, our analysis of the situation was that they hadn’t increased the productivity of their staff. When they added new business, their staff costs expanded with their sales. The idea is to find ways for your staff to get more done with less time, energy, effort, or cost.
8. Increase your prices.
Increasing price is one of the hardest things for business owners to do. I worked with one owner to research the prices of her competitors. We found that her prices were at least 25% below what her competitors were charging for the same type of products. We experimented with pricing and found that some items actually sold faster when they were priced higher. One business owner increased his prices by just $1. It added an extra $3,000 a month or $36,000 annually to the cash flow.
You know that “cash is king.” It is the key to surviving the down times. By working smarter as well has harder you will improve your chances of survival and increase the value of your business. Think of it this way; by improving your cash flow now in this economy, when it bounces back (and it will), you will profit from improved profitability, productivity, and a positive cash flow.
Simple Tricks
1150 days ago
I just stumbled upon a little application that’s already making my life easier, my texts more readable and my errors less frequent. It’s called Texter, and it’s a simple, easy to use application that looks for shortcuts in your typing and can look for misspellings as well and then automatically corrects them for you, without interference. I was intrigued by the videos I saw of it at work and so downloaded and installed it. You can find in on the Texter Site.