The Knight, The Wrench, and The Visionary

The following is based on a true story…

Once upon a time there was a thriving, growing, family run kingdom that had seen almost four decades of steady growth.

This kingdom was located in an eastern land with its castle a huge structure that housed hundreds of serfs, maids, pawns and servants but very few knights and soldiers.

The King of this enterprise was ‘The Visionary’, who had a vision and with this vision he carried forth with his Queen to fulfill his dreams.

Together they grew, expanded and enjoyed what most kingdoms never experience…

 A unique Brand Loyalty like none other of its time.

At the peak of this growth, ‘The Knight’ was brought in to tend to a far away western land where the pastures and forests were green and the merchants were primed to grow and expand. His land was vast, covering thousands of square miles, taking days and days to travel end to end.

For the most part he was left alone and rarely visited by the ‘Old Guard’ from the castle.

The Visionary Passes

Then one day ‘The Visionary’ passed on and was no longer around to fulfill his role as the leader. It truly was a sad, sad day as many of the loyal people respected and loved The Visionary.  He had a gentle spirit with the ability to capture the hearts and minds of his subjects.

So the reins were passed on to the Queen and Prince and at first it seemed as though all was well. The Knight was hopeful that all would stay as it was. After all, the area he oversaw was far from the castle and world of mini-fiefdoms. So he enjoyed a freedom that most never experienced.  

He even met with one of the other Knights and they both agreed that the peace and prosperity would most likely last another five seasons.

Even though he was starting to get restless, he went about his business tending to the merchants and making sure the castle received it’s due.

Then one day the faces started changing at the castle as one by one the ‘Old Guard’ left for greener pastures and lands more abundant. And greener pastures and lands they each did find. 

Many of the seasoned veterans departed only to leave huge gaps and holes on the chess board at the castle.

The Wrench Arrives

And soon thereafter the departure of these few, ‘The Wrench’ arrived at the castle only to bring with him uncertainty and many questions.

His was a history of battles won and battles lost. A history some would not want to repeat.

His real strategy was hidden from view and his tactics were sly and close quartered.

A temper he had, that was experienced by most, as his outbursts laid out those in his path.

Upon meeting ‘The Wrench’ for the first time, The Knight realized that his days were numbered. He was assuredly going to have to make changes if he was to survive. So changes he started to make and none too soon.

And then the day came upon the kingdom at its remote outpost. Knights, Maidens and Merchants from near and far gathered for the semi-annual festival where The Queen, The Prince, and The Wrench held court.

The Wrench started to show his true colors as part of his plan was revealed to all the Knights and Maidens. Unrest and tension grew as each met with The Wrench and realized what was happening.

The Knight had seen this day coming many seasons ago and he had prepared for this day; a day that many had not been prepared for.

To be continued…

Publisher’s note: This post, The Knight, The Wrench, and The Visionary, is based on true story and is copyrighted by the publisher, Dave Krygier and ClickandMortarblog.com. Any unauthorized duplication, replication, in part or its entirety will not be tolerated and the publisher will pursue legal action.

 

Playing for Keeps with B The GoalKeeper

Soccer or Football(if you live anywhere outside of the US and Canada) still remains the most popular sport in the world and the goalkeeper position continues to gain popularity.

Goalkeeping in the world of youth soccer is quite interesting especially when you look at the girls side of the net.  It makes for interesting conversation when you are engaged with other parents, friends, family and business acquaintances.

Why? Because not many girls have a passion for diving on the hard ground, beating up their bodies, going through the specialty training and taking the hits to save a goal.

It’s funny when I look back at the last six years and how much our family has invested in both time and money in the sport of youth soccer. Recently, our family made a 14 hour trip to a goalkeeper clinic and it was a great experience for our keeper as she got to train with one of the best women’s goalkeepers in the world.

Last month a new niche soccer goalkeeper site opened its doors for those keepers looking for than just general information pertaining to the sport of soccer.

Enter B The Keeper

The new site, B The Keeper, is a niche website focused on the subject and topics related to soccer goalkeeping. You’ll find worldwide soccer news, featured articles on goalkeepers from around the globe, along with interviews, equipment reviews and general information related to the goalkeeper.

So if you are a shot stopper, are related to one, know one or want to be one… Send ‘em on over to bthekeeper.com.

 

 

 

 

 

The Land of Email Marketing Strategies & Tactics

When it comes to email marketing strategies and tactics for small business, maybe it’s time we shed some light on the subject for those of you who are in the land of small business.

Ever seen an email message that landed in your inbox and you just knew it was going to be another advertisement with Sale! Sale! Sale! written all over it?

We all have and that’s why today’s topic is kicking off a series about email marketing and its direct correlation to direct response marketing. Now there’s more than enough articles and info products out there on the web about these two subjects, and even I have plenty of meat and potatoes right here at clickandmortarblog.com should you need some.

My point is this…

If you, the small business owner or manager is going to utilize email marketing in your business to build your customer base, then why don’t you test, use best practices and work towards connecting with your subscribers?

I know this takes time, effort, and planning and good copywriting. Yes – good copywriting is part of the equation when it comes to developing emails that get opened, read and clicked. Decent copywriting and creative can be the difference of an unopened email and one that gets thoroughly read and clicked.

More and more I see small business owners using email to ‘blast’ the people who have signed up or not signed up to their list. And the blasts they send are sale focused, not connection focused. 

This is not engaging, does not build credibility and is frankly very annoying.

The last thing a consumer or businessperson wants is another advertisement landing in his or her email inbox that screams sale! They already receive enough of these as it is and your pitch and shove doesn’t make them any happier or more eager to buy.

Soooo…. 

You, my small business friend, must look at the emails you create and send as more than just a digital version of a newspaper or magazine ad. These messages that are sent through cyberspace to the people whom have entrusted you with their email, are more than just advertisements.

These messages are relationship and bridge builders or at least the majority of them should be. Yes, you read that correctly. The majority of your email messages should be bridge builders and setups for a demolition crew!

The vast majority of the messages you send to your subscriber lists should be to build relationships, bridges, connections and if done properly – sales and long-term streams of revenue.

And with time-tested proven direct response tactics & strategies, you can make this happen in your email campaigns and even in your offline marketing. It makes no difference what business you are in; you can save yourself a lot of headaches and lost revenue by embracing direct response email marketing strategies and tactics that will work over the long haul.

So rest assured my small business friend, you too could attract, capture, connect and convert without screaming sale in every single email.

Look for more about how you can do this, right here at Clickandmortarblog.com (series to be continued) and through our friends at Smallbiz Mechanix.

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

How to Market a Restaurant that Could… Not!

It’s a really bad day when I hear about another small business that is going to close down and shut its doors to never open again; especially when it’s a fairly new restaurant in my own neck of the woods. The sad thing is that this restaurant I am referring to was one we were looking to work with, but the owner refused to get together with us to help him drive traffic and new business.

Over the past 6 to 9 months I’ve been watching the show Restaurant Impossible on the Food Network along with a few other shows with similar formats. What drew me to this show is the simple fact that these small businesses seem to be so close to going under, and then Chef Robert Irvine comes in in just a few days to save the establishment.

What’s been so intriguing about the RI show and the others that are similar to it is the simple fact that there are so many restaurants failing throughout the USA. It really blew my mind when I saw that there were four shows having to do with restaurants in trouble and then a local restaurant by our home went under along with a few others.

Should we have done something different in the ways of prospecting? Maybe so, but at this stage of the game, getting to a restaurant owner who thinks he has it all figured out is like attempting to break up pavement with a hammer.

Here are few steps you can take so you Know How to Market a Restaurant, Increase Sales and Avoid Losing Customers:

  1. Track your food costs.
  2. Create and Implement a Staff Manual. 
  3. Survey your Customers. It’s cheap and will open your eyes.
  4. Setup & Optimize Listings on Urban Spoon, Trip Advisor, Google and Yahoo. This is the short list.
  5. Market your Restaurant via Mobile. This means phones and tablets, so you’ll need an optimized site that is easily viewable and clickable.

Now even with these tips and suggestions we share with you here at Click and Mortar Blog and at Small Biz Mechanix, you still might get stuck or even very frustrated.

I mean even the Restaurant Impossible crew could come in and fix your place of food and beverage, and you still might fail or have continued trouble, if you don’t change your mindset, staff, food or marketing.

That’s right…

You, the owner or manager, need to start with your way of thinking and this takes work and time.

In one case, RI did their thing and supposedly fixed the ailing, failing restaurant but some thing didn’t gel or setup correctly and this establishment ended up with some bad reviews after the fact. This is really sad considering that the owner had a fresh start and lots of momentum created by a crew that knows how to set things straight.

So, I would recommend that you, Mr./Mrs./Miss Owner or Manager, review the tips above, look in the mirror and then get busy!

To your restaurant’s success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

PS:  BTW – if you really want to know how to market a restaurant and increase sales, connect with The Small Biz Mechanics and they’ll set you up. :-)

Turn Up the Radio & Go Mobile

Back in 1987 I entered the world of radio as a young buck with zero broadcast experience. But I was able to go mobile with my EF Johnson car phone.  It was a whirlwind adventure as I learned about the broadcast medium that would be a part of my life until late 2004.

From promotions to commercials to jingles to business…I sure had a good time during those years. And I never worked as an employee for one station. I was always on the agency and client side of the equation.

Today radio is morphing into an online medium that is really proving itself in certain markets.

When you consider that listeners can download a mobile app and stay connected to any number of stations 24/7, it’s a wonderful way to attract and connect for a small business or organization. I mean, it’s become trackable due to the web and now you can measure, test and really see what works. So why not go mobile with your marketing by attracting and connecting with digital radio.

Before the mobile technology, we had to use phone numbers, tracking URL’s, online registration forms or actual physical paper to really get a good idea if a campaign was working. It was just so difficult to measure, even using these methods.

Now you can reach your audience 7 days a week, and if you really understand and implement direct response marketing you can see and track the results very fast. Plus you can even split test.

Now maybe I’m a little slow to the party and that’s probably the case but know that I really believe you as a business owner could possibly be attracting new customers, clients, patients or subscribers, sooner than later by utilizing online radio via mobile.

The radio of old is still a viable format for reaching certain audiences, but know that by combining the old with the new, you can target, reach and attract people to your offer like never before. It’s a growing online segment that is worth serious investigation and mark my words as the world of mobile continues to grow by leaps and bounds you will see the radio apps appearing on more and more mobile phones, pads and tablets.

Radio might still be an old medium to many traditionalists, but to this writer the future looks very bright as the digital age brings about the changes.

Yes, my loyal reader, the digital age is bringing about a change that you can either embrace or ignore. It’s that simple. You can be apart of this massive shift and attract new customers or sit on the sidelines and watch your competitors clean your clock.

So now is the time to go mobile and utilize digital radio. Turn it on, turn it up and you could see new business coming your way in a jiffy.

To your mobile marketing success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – The Small Biz Mechanics have been busier than ever working on the latest mobile marketing solutions, plus they’ve been tuning up a few old fixer uppers. If your old clunker marketing needs an overhaul, they might be able to look under the hood and tweak a few things.

 

Mobile Marketing Update

As the mobile marketing wave continues to grow, it seems like more and more small businesses are finally beginning to see the picture and jump on the bandwagon. And this is a bandwagon that you do not want to get left off of.

The world of mobile is much more than just your iphone, Android phone or Blackberry. It’s a world full of phone enabled devices along with tablets and mini-tablets that searchers keep with them from dawn until after dark.

No longer is the mobile phone the device of preference. It seems that the land of tablets is taking over and slowly but surely making it’s way into each and every business and household.

      It’s an ever growing list of both devices and marketing that seems to have no end in site.

Here’s the overview list if you haven’t been keeping up.

Mobile Websites are the first step for most small businesses. This simple step can mean the difference of being seen and clickable versus being somewhat seen and kind of clickable. Having a mobile site for most small businesses will make the difference in visibility.

Mobile Responsive Sites can make all the difference in the world for a business or organization that needs to be seen in the world of mobile. These sites respond and resize for the device that calls them. It’s a great way to be seen and not have to maintain multiple sites to get the job done.

SMS Texting has grown ever so popular with restaurants, doctors, dentists, sports organizations and service businesses that book appointments in advance. This mobile marketing tool may or may not be for your small business, but be on the look out for how you can text your way to increasing sales.

Mobile Apps are fantastic for the business or organization that has a repeat clientele or needs to have constant contact with its prospects and existing customers.

Mobile Advertising is one area that we’ll be seeing more and more of. It’s growing leaps and bounds while newspaper sales continue to plummet and lose ground. Capture your searcher while he or she is in the market and you might find your newest customer arriving at the front door tapping on his or her tablet.

Now you could be far along in this mobile game and have your act together with a mobile site or even a mobile app and maybe you even have tested some mobile ads on different search engines or networks and seen results.

No matter, even if you are just getting your feet wet with mobile, take it one day at a time and just be glad you got started.

To your mobile marketing success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

For more on mobile marketing and to see if you website is mobile compatible, the Small Biz Mechanic is offering mobile check ups. You can get yours by going here.

 

 

The Client Stories

This multi-part series is kicking off what I refer to as ‘The Client Stories’ and I know many of you will enjoy the little glimpses into the world of coaching and consulting.

The one thing that I have found over the years being involved in small business is that some business owners get it and some just don’t. Some want to get to get it and will work it while others just don’t want to figure things out, let alone allow you to help them.

Look – small business owners are generally independent. If you are one and happen to be reading this, then you know who you are.

For the most part they(you) have a free spirit that says, “I like to do things my way and it’s my business so…..” 

And this “so” leads me to the guts of this post.

If thou are in small business and are venturing out on the web by thy lonesome, then thou deserves what thou receives.

Maybe you have it all figured out and the web is producing leads and sales like a slot machine paying out dollar coins? Maybe you’re struggling because you’ve always had the golden touch and this time the touch has been on vacation? 

Maybe it’s time you asked for help and stop being so stuck on ‘knowing it all’ and that you’ve become your own worst enemy?

Yes, my fellow business owner, your future online may depend on relinquishing some of the duties, tasks and even strategic planning to those that can help you succeed.

Now for a good majority of small business owners this is out of the question. Absolutely not!! They would rather suffer than let someone else guide and direct them through the stormy seas.

And this leads me to the Client Stories (names, places, dates – all confidential – so don’t worry).

Client A asks me a simple question, “How do I increase sales, Dave?”

My response, “ Stop playing around and decide to attract, connect, and convert prospects into buyers instead of throwing your name out there like a piece of bait… I mean are you in business or is this a hobby?” 

       Sometimes it takes this kind of talk to get the small business owner to take action.

“Of course we are in business and want to make it work!”

Now this business owner was ready to take the next step and stop playing around. This is not always the case.

Other times I’ve seen where it takes serious pain and suffering, like profits and money going down the drain or a competitor eating his or her lunch. But either way you can see that it usually takes a wake up call of some sort to get Mr. or Mrs. Business Owner to take decisive action.

 My suggestion to you…

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE!

Find people who can help you get to where you want to go if you cannot seem to find the way. You’ll get there faster and will keep more money in your checkbook.

After all, you are in business, not a hobby, right?

To your small business success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – There’s much more to come in this ‘Client Stories’ series, so stay tuned and look for part II in the very near future. 

How to Market Your Restaurant Online – 5 Tips You can Use Today

When it comes to restaurant marketing it surprises me how many establishments just don’t seem to understand the power of online reviews and what their customers are saying about them.

This past fall I found myself meeting with a local restaurant owner that had some serious issues with the bad reviews that one of his many restaurants was experiencing.

In this particular case the restaurant we met at was one that I had frequented since it first opened, and overall the food was pretty good. Certain items on the menu had become favorites and pricing was pretty reasonable. But when it came to service, this is where I felt the ball was being dropped. Sometimes the service was pretty decent and other times it just seemed mediocre.

The one big thing that stuck out in my mind was that I didn’t know who the manager was? In all of my visits to this restaurant I had never been able to pinpoint or determine who was actually overseeing the restaurant?

So I decided to contact the owner to see if he was interested in meeting to discuss my findings and he agreed to get together. Now this took a few times and ultimately a combination of a phone call & text message got the owner to sit down one Saturday afternoon.

It was a pretty short meeting and as we were wrapping up he said something to the affect of, “Usually when I get done with a marketing meeting I’m not excited, but this time I am really excited.”

The ‘exciting part’ was that this owner now understood that he had a problem and it could be fixed. The question remained as to whether he would take action in-house or hire us to do the clean up? More on this in a future article.

So let’s get back to How to Market your Restaurant Online.

I mean how does one go about promoting online and getting the word out about the great food, service and whatever else it is you bring to the table?

Here are my Five Tips you can put into use today:

1. Create and Setup Profiles on the top citation sites, search engines and social media outlets. Once the profile is created, make sure to continually optimize it so reviewers are kept up to speed about your establishment.

2. Monitor each and every one of these Citation Websites, search engines and social media outlets for reviews about your restaurant.

3. Promote Citation Sites that have credibility and your customers are posting to about your business. In other words, if your customers are mostly using Urbanspoon or Tripadvisor, make sure your profile is optimized(with video and pictures – where permitted), you are responding to reviews, and consider testing some advertising on mobile devices.

4. Utilize Social Media outlets to attract, create buzz, and connect with both prospects and existing customers. This is more than the occasional post or tweet. It takes daily effort, so consider having a few different people work on this. Plus you can 

5. Get a Mobile App for your restaurant and promote it to your customers both on and offline. This will pay dividends if your app is developed correctly and you use the promotional features.

In closing, how do you market your restaurant online and really make it work?

Use the five suggestions above and then tap into as many online sources as you can afford to invest your time and money into. This way you can test each source and find out which ones drive the most traffic and bring the right kind of prospects to your table.

Until next time,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – Should you get stuck or need a little help with marketing your restaurant online, The Small Biz Mechanic has the latest recipes to help you get there.

Small Business Success Stories – Secrets of the Tiny Store – Part I

Is your business becoming extinct and you don’t even realize it? Or is all your hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and money about to go up in smoke or down the drain and you feel helpless to do anything about it?

Let me share a short story about a small family business that struggled, fell, tripped and succeeded….

 9.11.2001 6am

It was on this day that I was supposed to fly to Wisconsin to meet with our biggest vendor, hoping they would approve of the new buyer who was soon to purchase our small family business.

The call came from my sister-in-law around 6am Pacific Time. It came as quite a shock so my wife and I quickly dressed and drove to my Mother’s home to view the unfolding tragedy in New York, the place of my birth and early years.

We quickly realized that I would not be flying that day and that our business sale may be put on the back burner. But we continued to watch and then waited to see if more disaster was to come.

In the weeks after Nine Eleven, we worked to salvage the sale and the buyer did purchase our company, although without the #1 vendor on board.

This vendor, who we had promoted and marketed for 12 years, was at that time the biggest in the industry. We had aligned ourselves with them so we could grow our small enterprise and this decision turned out to be one that we would not regret. Although it did cause some serious aggravation with our buyer.

Ultimately the executives at our #1 vendor held our fate in their hands and decided that the buyer of our business would not be permitted to sell and promote their products.

How ironic it was that we as small business people had to get their blessing and the people approving this deal were not even involved in a small business. They were corporate folk, doing their jobs, looking for increased sales and covering their bottom line.

To my knowledge, not one of the original executives are still working for this vendor and the business we sold….

Well, that’s another story that I will continue with in Part II. So stay tuned, avoid online extinction today and look for my next article where I’ll share what happened after the sale…

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – Want to learn more about the Tiny Store and how this small family business dominated niches? Get the inside scoop and check out Secrets of the Tiny Store and you’ll find out.

Mobile Marketing – Are You Ancient History?

Is your business Mobilized yet or are you still fiddling around, being indecisive and holding onto old, outdated marketing? Well, I will tell you that now is not the time to be putting off these important decisions about mobile, because mobile marketing is on a role and there are billions of humans helping that roll pick up steam.

Mark my words that this mobile revolution and evolution will catch up with you sooner or later, whether you like it or not. I mean 77% of the world population has a mobile device and according to recent research, it’s expected that over 1 Billion people will have Smart phones by 2016!

Not to date myself but I’ve been around since the
beginning of the mobile rise in the 1980′s. Yep, yours truly had the grand pappy of cell phones, an original brick phone, circa 1988.

Ancient Mobile Marketing Device

Ancient Mobile Marketing Device

Now it goes back a year before this when I had my first EF Johnson ‘car phone’ and boy was it a robust setup!

The picture to the right is of a Motorola 8900 Ultra Classic II that I used for several years in the 1990′s and believe it or not I went back to this after having a Microtac flip phone.

Boy those were the days and technology was changing at a fast pace but not as fast as today. But this is where it all started for the land of mobile.

And you could even say it started with pagers and yes I had a few of those, even one that  allowed anyone to leave me recorded message that played back over a little speaker on the pager. Hi-tech, eh? Well, it was for 1987 and we used this technology until the mid 1990′s.

So all this ancient tech history leads me to today and where we are currently at with mobile and your business. Yes, your business and mobile marketing.

In my article about mobile marketing on November 15th I mentioned that mobile traffic had surpassed the 10% mark and with billions and billions of people already mobilized, this should tell you something.

Now whether you arrived at this article though our mobile site, a tablet or desktop, it makes no difference, but know this my loyal reader…

If you are still lugging around old technology(and marketing baggage) like the Motorola bricks(they might only work in a very, very remote area) , you best take a hard look at the world of mobile and engaging your target audience. Because mobile is here to stay. It’s growing by leaps and bounds and it’s over taking the desk top world very fast.

From mobile & responsive websites, to mobile apps, SMS texting, QR codes, Games and the marketing that drives it all so your mobile experience is as good or better than the desktop.

So stay tuned here at Click and Mortar Blog because we’ll be keeping tabs on the world of mobile and maybe we’ll even bring back some more history about the ancients.

Get mobilized!

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – Have you seen this mobile marketing solutions video from our friends over at Small Biz Mechanix.