Social Media Madness

Today is one of those days where I’m going to step out of the norm and touch on the subject of social media and specifically social media madness. 

Let me first say this – I’m no social media ‘expert’, yet… But I have studied, tested some, used different channels and followed a few of the top marketers on the web who specialize in social media.

So I continue to learn, test and be open minded to all things social and since I’m not your typical type that loves socializing, this topic is one that takes more work than others.

This leads me to the guts of my post today…

Social media has a strong foothold on the web today. There’s no arguing this fact. 
What has yet to be seen is monetizing social media and that’s where the madness comes into play. Because more and more businesses are spending time and money on social media, yet do they have a real plan or understand how to monetize their efforts?

This is where testing comes in and in my opinion not enough small businesses test or survey enough when it comes to online and offline marketing.

Test, Test, Test…

My first social media test proved that the book marking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, along with help from Twitter, will work if you create the right content and know how to post it.

Since I’m a firm believer that one should work in his or her strength areas and leave the rest to others, I actually hired a ‘social media specialist’ who was really a Facebook specialist at the time and pretty good at it.

This person was good at connecting and we learned together about the other social media outlets while I footed the bill.

This was an expensive test for me but turned out to be well worth it, because it taught me the value in the other social media sites outside of FB and TW. Plus it showed me the power of using FB for tele-seminars and future webinars.

As a small business person you always need to be looking at ways to increase sales while retaining customers and clients. Social media can work for you especially if you understand how each of these outlets work.

They are all unique and different so you have to understand how they function and best suite your needs.

After all, you are in business to make a profit and the last thing you want to do is waste precious time posting, tweeting, re-tweeting, posting some more, only to find yourself in a spiraling cycle.

You can post on as many walls as you want, tweet till the cow’s come home, and post article after article. But in the end ( or whatever time frame you determine), if you ain’t makin’ any money and new clients or customers are not coming your way, then you are simply wasting your time. 

Conclusion –

1. Have a plan for your social media endeavors. This means you’ll need to determine how each outlet is going to work for your business. DO NOT WING IT!

2. If you choose to hire a social media expert, make sure he or she knows how to each and every social media channel and have proven results with existing or past clients. 

3. Study the best of the best and learn from their mistakes. 

4. Test, Test, Test and continue to test and survey your prospects and clients.

5. Track your results and adjust your plan accordingly.

Ok – off my soap box.

Tomorrow we’ll return with our regularly scheduled program of posts having to do with small business marketing, sales and client retention.

Until then,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – If your small business is struggling to increase sales and revenues, contact The SmallBiz Mechanic. 

 

 

 

Youth Soccer Coaching – Lessons Learned

Today’s youth sports marketplace is flooded with all kinds of opportunities and in most cases if your kids want to play competitive sports – it’s gonna cost ya. At least that’s been our experience in the last five years.

In our case we’ve expended thousands and thousands of dollars to have our children play youth sports and have had mixed experiences with both club and youth sports organizations.

In our most recent series of episodes (that almost read like a tv soap opera), the spring season has wound down and the SS Minnow (the other club) has been beached and is awaiting for Gilligan and the Skipper (our club) to save the day.

Now I know this reference to the old TV sitcom may or may not make sense, but basically the Minnow has been run up on the beach of a deserted island and the people on the island need to figure out how to save themselves.

So the final season has wound down and our daughter has been picked up by another youth soccer club. This came after much discussion, debate as we made the move, went with our gut and fortunately it turned out to be the right decision.

The funny thing was that after we had made the decision we finally heard from our daughter’s coach. This call came as quite the surprise since we had never spoken with him on the phone and he chose not to interact much with us parents during the entire time that he coached our kids. He had been interacting with our daughter for 10 months but had never personally contacted or connected with us once. The problem was that his decision to connect with us came after the door was closed and locked.

The club director did realize there was an issue and even brought it to our attention, but he never addressed it by communicating or holding a parent meeting. He just didn’t understand the key to building bridges and I believe this eventually hurt the club since they decided to merge with a competing organization.

Our experience has been with youth soccer coaching is that the club soccer coaches who coach the ‘b teams’ are just not as committed, because the majority of the kids just aren’t that serious. This has been the case with five different coaches so I’m not giving a one-sided view. We tested four organizations over a three year period and the results were always the same.

My point here is that if the coach had more interaction with the parents, even an occasional hello, it would have made a difference. Instead he chose to call after the door was closed and locked. He never connected.

The director, associate director and club trainer were fantastic and that’s what kept us around. These three individuals connected with us thus making the overall experience a good one, even though the coach was in the background.

The coach can be a promoter and help move the club forward or be an introvert that collects a check. The coach can be a communicator who builds bridges with players and parents or simply chooses to stand alone not allowing anyone in his or her space.

It has been our experience that parents like communication and don’t like to be left out of the loop or on the side of the road.

What does all this youth sports and soccer talk have to do with your small business?

Here it is:

If you are going to retain customers then you best have a program or process in place that  gets the job done. Otherwise you might find a revolving door with customers(or players) coming and going on a continual basis.

This means that you need to cultivate, connect and continue to communicate with your customers(players) and subscribers (if you are marketing via email or direct mail) before, during and after each and every transaction.

Build bridges, make connections and constantly communicate with each and every customer (player and parent). It’s easier than you think and simple to manage, especially if you use an email auto responder and social media to do the heavy lifting.

So if you find your business needs a little help to better communicate, connect and develop long term relationships with clients, customers and subscribers – get in touch with the SmallBiz Mechanic. He May be able to help you build bridges and better connections.

Dave Krygier
Publisher

How to Increase Sales in a Small Business

Ever seen the business that is complaining about lack of traffic, lack of sales and how the economy is hurting business? How to increase sales in a small business is simple. There are two ways to accomplish this: One is through your existing customers and the other way is through new leads and fresh prospects.

Today I’ll cover the existing customer side of the equation.

Here’s a story to kick things off:

I was on the telephone(yes, ye ole telee) with a business acquaintance from the past and this person mentioned how a particular store he was dealing with had fantastic sales numbers. His company, we’ll refer to it as #1, had been trying to figure out how to bring in more sales yet he couldn’t quite figure out how to duplicate his customer’s success.

As I asked more questions it became apparent that the people in that particular store were the key, if he was going to increase his sales in other stores.

Yes, the people were the key that could unlock the door to additional sales. Because the sales staff at this particular store have been ecstatic about his product. They love it.  Why?

Because the product speaks quality, the marketing materials support this quality and they deliver on time. Now these are the two major factors as to why this manufacturer is still in business after more than 50 years.

On the other hand you have this business’ competitor, company #2, who hasn’t updated their marketing materials or catalog in years and the owner is turning over his company to a family member and people who may not have the best intentions.

Company #2 is struggling and it looks like a long up hill battle unless they can change their plan and give it an overhaul.

Now let’s get back to company #1. What could they do to increase sales?

Simple…Use Social Proof and obtain Testimonials from the store owner and staff about his product. Then take these testimonials in written form, audio and video and use them in all of his marketing and sales efforts to obtain new business.

Because there’s nothing better than a satisfied customer singing your praises to help bring new prospects to the party.

Like I said in the beginning of the post, how to increase sales in a small business is simple; look at your existing customers and dig deep to see how you can bring them back into the fold. This should create repeat and referral revenue and once you do that you can begin to  cultivate and build on the relationships you have started. 

Want to know how we generated 20 to 25% repeat and referral revenue? Check out Secrets of The TIny Store and learn how to increase sales in your small business or touch bases with the Small Biz Mechanic and maybe he can help you tune up your sales engine.

Dave Krygier
Publisher

Local Internet Marketing & List Building

I’ll never forget the day when a colleague mentioned to me that Google was going local. I had been struggling for more than five years to geo target in our region but continued to get people from Australia, The Netherlands, California and even Antarctica coming our way.

Our presence on the search engines at the time was rock solid but boy to get more local exposure was like pulling teeth without a dentist.

I mean The Tiny Store had Microsoftees, Boeingites and the local teckie crowd crossing our doorstep and this continued to grow, but I still continued to search for ways to bring more local searchers our direction.

We did just about everything you could think of offline and online to attract new business, and this was why we were so successful during that time of economic ups and downs.

We stayed consistent. We experimented. We succeeded and we failed. But in the long run, it all worked out and our list of clients grew year after year.

This leads me to you and your business – local Internet marketing and your list.

You as a local merchant or service provider can maximize your ROI by focusing on developing and cultivating your own list of subscribers and clients.

Local Internet Marketing can bring exposure and make you visible to more people in your region versus those that are in areas you don’t service or care to sell to. So all that energy and time that you put into local Internet marketing can bring a solid return, if you develop a list of subscribers and clients.

List building is where the ROI is. Your list doesn’t have to be huge in order to see ROI. It could be relatively small but your conversion could be really high depending on how you position your offers. The great thing about building a list of local subscribers and clients is that you can utilize both email and direct mail to better connect, grow and test your way to success.

So all that money you put into local internet marketing through pay per click, directories, search engine optimization and Google + Local will pay off if you capture new leads and bring them into your world.

How do you do this?

Simple – place a lead capture(opt in) form on each and every page of your web site and use an email auto responder to do the heavy lifting.

Next – setup a separate URL and use this for tracking any leads developed through direct response marketing.

Lastly – develop a simple email campaign with a mix of messages that deliver great content   along with the occasional sales letter, page or video.

Remember – keep it simple. Stay within your budget and always test, test, test.

To your local marketing success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

 

 

 

List Building – The Sales Monster Returns

Ok, so if you missed part one(List Building and The Sales Monster) you probably want to check it out first so this post makes more sense. The jist of where I’m going with part two about List Building and The Sales Monster is connecting with your subscribers without losing them along the way.

Because if you are going to build a list of subscribers(online or offline), at some point you’ll need to convert them into customers. And by doing so the conversion plus ROI should equal one happy business owner.

You see just building a list by itself is not going to make you any money. I know, I’m beating a dead horse here but a long list of peeps with no conversion is not gonna help your small business.

So we have to sell and offer our subscribers and clients(if you have any) at intervals and these intervals will depend on your type of business and how many products and services you have to sell.

Maybe the interval is once a week or maybe it’s two times per month?

Maybe you have so many products to offer that it’s twice a week or more?

No matter – just work to achieve a balance between selling and great content.

Because if you don’t, the sales monster might rear his ugly head when you let him loose on your subscribers and clients without properly understanding how to create and manage a sales funnel.

In other words – you throw too many offers on the table all at once or every day and your list gets burned out like water thrown on a fire pit.

Now let’s take a turn and talk briefly about the triggers…

If you want to really connect with ‘the people’ on your list and desire to have them purchase whatever it is you have to offer them…

Then consider implementing the Seven Triggers.

Author Russell Granger refers to Seven Triggers in his book on influencing people’s decisions. These triggers can surely make a difference for you in your business if you study and implement them correctly.

Let’s say you test just one of the triggers in your marketing and it happens to be the Authority Trigger. This trigger is one where you are the expert or maybe someone you work with is the expert and you build on credibility.

This credibility will open up doors to opportunities that otherwise would not be available to you and might increase sales if used legitimately. Of all the triggers this is one that you as a professional or seasoned business owner can use to develop, grow new business and conquer the sales monster.

Remember – if you really connect with subscribers, then they are more likely to purchase and become clients (or customers if you prefer) and clients are more likely to continue working with you over the long-haul.

Repeat Sales = Happy Business Owner = No More Sales Monster

If you want more information about list building tactics and strategies, check out this article about List Building & The Relationship and consider subscribing to the List Building Guide if you want more in depth information on the topic.

Dave Krygier
Publisher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Not to Lose an Organization

It’s such a shame to see people build organizations, only to lose a vast majority of the people. I’ve seen this occur several times during my small business career. The first time I saw this happen it involved thousands of small business owners. The leadership of the departing organization wanted more control and more money and they achieved this but the fracture their move created never healed.

The second time I encountered an organizational fracture was during a recent merge of two local youth sports organizations. This most recent event had a direct impact on our family, especially our children, as these two local competing clubs decided to merge and combine forces to supposedly achieve a more cohesive and better environment for the children.

I feel the two directors jumped the gun, sent a mixed message and didn’t communicate properly. They both seemed to feel that dropping a big turd on everyone would be the best way to go and then leave people in the dark until they could work out the details.

Now I will say that one of the organizations was pretty good at communicating, but only after the public announcement of the proposed merger.

After all, the intent to merge and actually completing the merge are two separate topics.

Before you ever make a major change like a merge, especially when it involves families, money and children, it’s best to communicate first instead of later on down the line.

In our case – the families have been one of the main financial sources for the two organizations. So the salaries, overhead and expenses of these two operations are paid by the parents along with sponsors.

We happened to have experience with both organizations, so our perspective was different than the families on either side of the fence.

The one thing that struck me the most was the speed at which the two competing directors  put the deal together. This and the simple fact that they are fierce competitors and have never worked together. Now I could keep going on and on but hopefully you get the idea.

It would be like two CEO’s or if you like, owners of small businesses merging to help foster a better community for their employees and their families.

Hmmmmmmm……let’s take a peak behind the scenes in the boardrooms and follow the money, eh?

With all that said…

Before you jump ship and split up an organization or merge two competing organizations, make sure that your ego and pride are in check. Do everything you can to work it out and consider the families that your split or merge will affect.

Lastly, communicate with the organization(s) before you make it public. For great communication can make the difference of a successful merger or one that fails and falls by the roadside.

Stay Tuned,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

SmallBiz Mechanix 

 

To Start a Business – The Home Based Model

Ever since my first business dealings selling flowers in front of the candy store in New York I’ve always been intrigued with small business. From flowers to pottery to newspapers to yard work to music to game rooms to advertising to rentals to advertising again… And then add in 10 years of sales and consulting to the mix.

Oh and by the way – the sales part started at about 9 years of age and has continued for over 35 years.

As of this writing I say 25 plus years but in reality it goes back 10 or more years to child- hood. You see my Dad always wanted his own business and from the time I can remember  he had something going on the side. He was either underfunded or didn’t have the right product or timing. The only venture that took off was the one he and my Mom started but then they divorced and she kept the business.

Boy have I had one heck of a journey in small business and since 1985 I’ve operated home based businesses side by side with off-site offices, warehouses and store front operations.

This leads to the questions about starting your home based business…

The questions arise – to start a business or not start a business and should you get started out of your home or setup an office or off-site facility somewhere else?

These are questions you really need to ask yourself and any partners who will be involved with you in your new enterprise.

Starting up a new business can be very exciting, emotional and some what of a roller coaster so be prepared, because if you are going to start a business and it’s You Inc, then consider starting it out of your home. This way you will keep your overhead low and be able ramp up without being tied into an office or building lease and all the additional expenses.

To start a business out of your home is much easier than the overhead headache of starting out with an office where you have to rent or lease. You can realize your dream, run your own show and live in the land of the self employed while allowing for flexibility of coming and going without limitations.

The bottom line is that you want to start with low overhead, minimize your expenses and maximum your ROI (return on investment). One of the best ways to do this is through a virtual office and virtual phone number.

In addition make sure that your legal house is in order, finances are in place and your business blueprint is completed before you open the doors. More importantly make sure that you are committed for the long-haul and are willing to do what it takes to get your business off the ground and up and running.

Operating your own business out of the home can make for a great life but you should have rules and guidelines for your home based business. And these rules should allow for flexibility but also maximize your time and productivity.

So now it’s time to get to work on your small business blueprint and remodel that ole bedroom into your world headquarters.

To your small business success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

SmallBiz Mechanix 

 

Simple Survey Solutions

When it comes to surveys I’m all about keeping it simple. I’ve done it the hard way and simple seems to work better for me. That’s why when I talk about simple survey solutions for small business owners I almost always go with the email route.

Look – if you are just getting started online or offline, keep it simple. For that matter – if you are more advanced and have lots of experience, keep it simple.

How to survey customers and prospects is so much easier today than ever before but I want you to understand that you can overdo a survey and this just happened to me.

In a recent email the publisher of our regional business journal sent us a generic survey that was so broad it seemed liked they were fishing for information and it just kept going on and on and on. Overall this survey looked like it was generated by the advertising department to see which areas we subscribers were interested in. Not only was the survey generic and long but it didn’t show any personalization or have any followup built in.

Surveys are great for data mining and better connecting with your subscribers and clients but each survey should be finely tuned, short, concise and to the point. That way you can achieve higher responses, better connectivity and ultimately more sales.

Remember you are always looking to connect with your subscribers and surveys can work for or against you. So be mindful of this as you develop your surveys and implement them in your small business.

Ask pertinent and relevant questions that your subscribers and customers will be open to respond to. This way you’ll have more than enough responses to the survey which should help you accomplish whatever it is you set out to do.

Now before I go any further I’m going to bring it up again and reiterate that a sale is a fragile thing and can break at any time. So you as a business owner, who is building a list of subscribers and customers, needs to keep this in mind every step of the way. Because the last thing you need is an ugly or long winded survey to come in and destroy all your hard work and cause a sale to be lost or delayed.

So here are Four Survey Options you might want to consider:

1. Email Survey are the best because you can use your email auto responder to do the heavy lifting and all you need to do is write a really simple message to your subscribers and clients. This message could be as simple as asking your subscriber for help and then listing a few questions.

2. Physical surveys work well if you happen to be a merchant, service provider or business with physical offices or location that has foot traffic on a continual basis.  Physical surveys can be implemented through hand outs, mail, in person on a tablet, and even the good ole’ fax(I know it’s really old school but some businesses still use it).

3. Phone Surveys are a great way to connect especially when you’re speaking to and    have the person live. There’s nothing like having a live human being on the other end of the phone so why not ask a few questions and find out what your prospects and customers like, dislike and throw out a few marketing questions if time permits.

4. Online Software is the last on my list because it’s the most complicated to implement and response rates might not be what you expect. This is not to say that online survey software isn’t good. Many companies use online software and must have good to great results. So if you as a business owner should decide to use online survey software – just make sure to shop around and do some testing before you dive in.

Happy Surveying…

Dave Krygier
Publisher

Secrets of The Tiny Store 

 

Youth Sports Marketing – Capture a Captive Audience

Youth Sports Marketing and Your Small Business

Soccer has been to our family like so many youth sports have been to other families throughout the world.

My wife and I have had hours and hours of discussions about the sport that has dominated our household for over three years. Sometimes I feel like a sports agent having to work the phones and be out at the games, except with youth sports like soccer we parents(or financiers) have to pay to play. Fortunately for me, years ago I co-owned a management company that specialized in musicians and bands. Yeh, I know, call me a little off kilter, but having worked in that industry and been a musician myself, it made for a small business venture or so it seemed at that time.

And with the amount of time and money that we’ve invested in the sport of ‘futbol’ the last five years has accumulated into the thousands of dollars, and it looks like there’s no end in sight. But the overall experience has been great for the kids as we progress with them in the land of soccer.

If we compare our experience to that of my friend there’s a bit of a contrast…

On the one foot (no pun intended), you have my friend who played little league years ago and his Dad owned a furniture business in the town they lived in. When approached to sponsor his baseball team, his Dad refused and thought it would be a conflict of interest.

Personally, I think this was short sighted on his part and showed a lack of understanding and support for the boys.

On the other foot, you have our present day condition where club soccer and the associated travel have increased to the point where it’s not uncommon to pay over $300 a month in gas, club fees, tournaments, coaching fees and related travel expenses.

Now there is a way that you can possibly recoup some of your outgo – especially if you are a small business owner and have an interest in youth sports marketing.

As a small business owner who is looking to increase sales and revenue, youth sports might be the answer you are looking for. After all, you have a captive audience that you can continually put your name and message in front of. From logos on physical merchandise like uniforms and bags to signage, brochures, websites and emails.

When you are looking at marketing to the youth sports niche, here are a few tips:

1. Get to know and network with all the people that have to do with the sport your kids are playing. This includes the Owners, Directors, Managers, and Coaches of the local organization or club.

2. Offer to help at games, tournaments, and special events. This promotes good will and shows that you are looking to be involved.

3. Advertise your business and make sure to put testing mechanisms in place. This means tracking with URL’s, emails, phone numbers and separate landing pages.

4. Sponsor players, a team or teams or special event and make sure to get as much exposure as possible.

To reach this target niche audience and possibly recoup some of the expenses, I believe it’s important to think outside the box and really look at all the angles. So get your biz dev cap on, your rump-a-roney in gear and look for opportunities that you can take advantage of and expand your horizons in this ever popular and growing niche.

Need a little push or possibly a tip or two in addition to the ones above? Check out Small Biz Mechanix and get yourself moving in the right direction.

Dave Krygier
Publisher

Secrets of The Tiny Store

 

 

How to do Local Search Marketing

                       Local Search Marketing for Small Business      

As of this writing, ‘how to do local search marketing’ is a pretty hot topic for small business owners who rely on local economies to fuel their enterprises. When it comes to the question ‘how to get listed in local search’, one needs to really peel back the layers and look at all the current options available.

Basically it’s a simple concept. Get your small business as visible as possible in the search engines and directories, so the when the searcher comes looking, you pop up and say we are here, we are here!

Years ago – during what I call the early Internet age(kind of like the 1960’s), we only had organic search and a few directories. It was the wild west Internet but not as fast paced as today. For the first 4 years we were on dial up even though much faster lines were available for commercial use. The slow connections prohibited video and audio was just getting it’s start.

Today you have to be tuned in to local search marketing if your small business relies on the local method of generating new prospects and being visible to existing customers.

So let’s look at the basic overview:

You list your business in the directories just like the ole’ physical yellow and white pages books, and then make yourself really visible to the searcher in the search engines.

1. Search Engines – first you have organic and then you have paid. Do it in this order and with paid search, always test first before building out a campaign.

2. Directories provide aggregate information about businesses. You need to be listed on as many as possible. In some cases the directories might rank really high and give you extra search juice. Go to UBL.org and check out their packages. It’s well worth the money.

3. Google Places (formerly Google Maps) is what we use to find locations and destinations. Google + Local is the most current version and Yahoo! also has their version, so make sure you optimize and that your small business is listed and that you’ve utilized all the tools currently available to you.

4. Videos can be a big benefit for testimonials, demonstrations, promotions and more, so be sure to sprinkle a video here and there to help your rankings. It’s also a good idea to use sites like Vimeo and Viddler along with You Tube.

Top it all off with adding Social Media sites, add a little bit of PPC and you have a recipe for local search marketing success.

In addition to the traffic that the search engines, directories, and social media sites can bring your business, you have what I call target market vehicles, plus mobile websites to make search much easier for the mobile surfer.

What it comes down to is making it easy for the searcher to find you. Which means that you should seriously consider a mobile website, since more and more people are using their mobile devices for searches. And they especially use them when looking for a destination or are in need of contact information.

We’ll dig more into this topic in a future post. In the mean time if your small business is stuck in the local search marketing mud – check in with the SmallBiz Mechanic and see if he can help you out.

Stay tuned…

Dave Krygier
Publisher

Secrets of The Tiny Store