About Melinda Emerson

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.
Author Archive | Melinda Emerson

Developing a Mobile Marketing Strategy with Kent Lewis

By on April 12, 2012 in Branding & Marketing, Q & A Interviews, SmallBizChat

Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Kent Lewis @KentLewis is President and Founder of Anvil Media and Formic Media, sister search engine and social media marketing agencies based in Portland, Ore. For more information visit www.anvilmediainc.com.

SmallBizLady: What exactly does the term “mobile marketing” mean?

Kent Lewis: Mobile marketing technically refers to any form of messaging or advertising targeted at portable devices, which typically means cell phones, but may also include iPads and tablet-style devices. For our clients, we typically focus on developing strategic plans around mobile-friendly websites, local SEO, mobile advertising, QR codes, location-based services, email & SMS messaging and mobile applications or “apps.”

 SmallBizLady: What does a small business owner need to know about the mobile web?

Kent Lewis: Small businesses have a few options when it comes to “mobilizing” a website. The easiest and most cost-effective approach is to develop a mobile-friendly website, designed in CSS, with small screens as a consideration factor. The site renders nearly as well on a phone screen as a monitor, if designed correctly. The drawback is that mobile browsers are not as robust and does not typically support Flash or Javascript elements, but HTML 5 provides a viable alternative for interactivity. The alternative approach would be to build your corporate website on a mobile-friendly CMS platform – one that automatically generates a mobile version of your website. The benefit of this approach is that you don’t have to design the website specifically for mobile, as that will be handled by the CMS platform. The downside is that there are compromises and limitations of such platforms. If mobile is a core strategy for 2011, the ideal approach is to create a dedicated mobile website (m.companyname.com) with unique content and features your mobile audience will need or appreciate (i.e. contact information, driving directions for starters).

SmallBizLady: How does local search engine optimization play into mobile marketing strategies for small business?

Kent Lewis: While your website should do the heavy lifting in terms of providing a resource for mobile-enabled audiences, there are third party local directories that are playing a larger role in mobile search, particularly for small businesses. The content typically seen on a computer screen in local search results is going to power mobile search and other mobile applications in the future.  For starters, be sure to claim & optimize local listings on Google Places/Maps, Bing & Yahoo! Local and related local directories. Specifically, Google Places pages now offer click-to-call capability, which will be appealing to mobile users who are more likely to convert.

 SmallBizLady: Can you explain the various mobile advertising opportunities available to small businesses?

Kent Lewis: While mobile advertising is in its infancy as an industry, it is growing quickly. The good news is that you can get started relatively quickly and easily with mobile advertising campaigns. For those of you with existing Google AdWords accounts, adding mobile is as easy as clicking a button. Beyond expanding your text and display ads to mobile searches, you can incorporate mobile-friendly capabilities like click-to-call and call tracking (via Google Voice) to measure effectiveness of mobile marketing efforts, without the need for third party technology.  If you’re looking for additional mobile advertising opportunities, consider testing mobile ad platforms like AdMob and mobile social advertising like 140 Proof for Twitter mobile applications. With a bit more time and resources, you can explore sponsorship opportunities within existing SMS, MMS and mobile apps. Last but not least, don’t forget to incorporate QR codes (customizable bar codes that embed a URL) into your print, and other display, advertising.

SmallBizLady: What are QR codes and how can a small business use them?

Kent Lewis: Quick Response or “QR” codes are essentially customizable bar codes that are read by mobile phones through the camera and an application. Most frequently, QR codes include an embedded URL, which offers small businesses an opportunity to incorporate a unique, trackable web page into offline/print marketing materials like business cards, newsletters, print, broadcast and outdoor advertising. Free QR code generators are available online and are easy to use, after which you can simply paste the new square code into your marketing materials and wait for the phone or inbox to light up!

SmallBizLady: What are Location-based Services and why should we care?

Kent Lewis: Location-based services (LBS) are generating buzz and ridiculous valuations, but can also be powerful tools for engendering loyalty from your customers. Getting started is relatively simple: create and optimize business profiles on Foursquare, GoWalla, Yelp Mobile, Google and Facebook Places. Don’t forget that these platforms are essentially virtual loyalty programs, which means they require a dedicated effort to maximize your marketing opportunities.

SmallBizLady: What do we need to know about email and SMS text messaging?

Kent Lewis: SMS messaging is going to be the “new email” – in that your focus will be to collect phone numbers instead of (or in addition to) email addresses. As such, make sure your email platform is mobile-friendly. Confirm your outbound emails render well in mobile browsers and that you are collecting opt-in SMS information and developing an outbound marketing strategy specifically for text messaging. To take full advantage of SMS, consider investing in your own dedicated mobile platform.  Leverage existing mobile texting platforms (like MooText or MobileStorm) to create, manage and track mobile marketing campaigns. These platforms typically incorporate a mobile CRM (MCRM) to expand your customer insights and data into the mobile realm.

SmallBizLady: When should small businesses consider developing an application?

Kent Lewis: While mobile applications or “apps” are all the rage thanks to big consumer brands, Google and Apple, they may not be a good fit for small business. Before investing in development or licensing of an app, conduct thorough research into your target audiences’ usage of mobile. If you have critical mass, then ask pointed questions of your target audience about their needs and wants in regards to a mobile app. From there, you can get a bid against your specification from qualified vendors. Incidentally, research indicates mobile users prefer games, music and access to social networks as core elements of mobile apps.

SmallBizLady: Any parting thoughts about mobile marketing for business owners to consider?

Kent Lewis: Regardless of your marketing objectives, target audiences, budgets and available resources, there are at least seven core strategies to consider when developing a mobile marketing strategy for small business. Conduct the necessary research up front to minimize your investment and maximize your ROI. Don’t forget to develop measurable goals, embed necessary analytics and start small with limited testing before committing significant resources. Like any marketing program, mobile requires a dedicated effort to be effective over the long haul.

 

If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9pm ET follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/S797e

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

 

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Budgeting Tips for Small Business Owners

By on April 10, 2012 in Branding & Marketing, Cash Flow & Finance, Guest Articles

Photo credit: BUSINESS OBJECTS © Anatoliy Babiychuk

If your fiscal year parallels your wall calendar, then you made it through Q-1 or as you may formally call it, the first quarter. Perhaps you’re feeling optimistic about the goals you’ll accomplish this year, or are concerned about your revenue goals for the second quarter. It’s best to look at where you’ve been to figure out a great strategy for where you are going next. Here are four things you can immediately do to make the most of the remaining three quarters of this year in your small business.

1. Stick to your budget:

Not only do you need to stick to your budget, but you need to track your budget against what you actually spend each quarter. It is so important to prevent cost overruns before they occur. In fact, you should ask yourself Why three times, before making a purchase that is not in your budget. Keeping the numbers in your head is easy when you have one project, but not when you have many. Invoicing and accounts payable can easily become overwhelming. If you’re seeing success then add a stretch goal to your budget. A good stretch goal to consider is five percent of your figures.

2. Track Your Business Development Time

If you’re like most movers and shakers in small business, then you’ve spent a great deal of time this fiscal year building relationships, following up on leads, and hopefully closing contracts and sales. Remember to add up the time you’re spending on business development and use that number as a projection in your budget. Keep a daily timesheet to help you record how you’re spending your time on this critical marketing activity. Over the next three quarters, think about how much work you can actually complete in addition to your business development activities.

3. Track in Black, Red…. And Gray

Not only must you review your budget for revenue and expenses, but also, you must track the actual numbers.  If you’re using a basic spreadsheet, include an actuals column next to your budget column so that you can record what you’re really spending versus what you budgeted as the year progresses. Be sure not to overlook the obvious growing pains associated with any business such as rework, rush fees from your vendors, process hiccups, emergency breakdowns of equipment, etc. In the area of marketing, remember that you have to spend to create opportunities to sell.  This means that there should be monthly spending activity for marketing.

Your labor will often be a direct cost expense. Track your expenses closely and to think about what it takes to create and deliver specific products and services to your clients. You will also need to track your indirect costs, which support the entire business as a whole including admin, marketing and your professional services like accounting and legal support.  Likewise, be sure you understand the difference between fixed and variable costs so that as you grow, you know how to budget expenses that will increase and decrease with scale.

3. Do Your Homework

If you’re new to budgeting, or are jumping back into business, the first place to start is within your own network.  Begin creating trusting relationships with other professionals in your industry.  This will allow you to talk with them about how they budget without revealing what you might consider trade secrets. You need the right answers, and ones that are based on data to manage your business.  You need to know the following:

  • How much your products or services cost in the competitive marketplace?
  • How much companies like yours pay in expenses on average to operate weekly, monthly and annually?
  • What is the standard timeline for delivering similar products and services?
  • How much each supply chain component costs in similar companies in time and money?
  • What is the standard profit margin?

4. Unless You’re A Magician, Leave the Rabbit Tricks Alone

Moving into the second quarter of your fiscal year can be a bit scary if you didn’t start off with a budget. The opportunity is now for getting your arms around your company’s financial performance. You’ll need to plan for revenues and expenses to better understand what opportunities to pursue this year. You’ll want to know how to price them, and most importantly you’ll get clear about how many opportunities you must win to turn a profit.  When setting objectives, there is no magic wand to earn greater profits. Through consistent efforts you’ll do three things; increase revenue, fulfill your company’s mission and  move closer to turning a profit.

Do you have any tips for establishing a budget once the business year has started? Please share you thoughts.

About the author:

Akia T. Garnett, MBA is a speaker, columnist for Minority Business Entrepreneur Magazine and CEO of Brandbuilder. She is an adjunct professor of business, marketing and consumer behavior at Trinity University of Washington, DC, and Co-Author of Seen and Sustained: Best Practices in Communication that Increase the Visibility of Small and Diverse Businesses. Akia helps small business owners create, cast and complete vision and mission mapping exercises for their professional and personal brands.  Learn more at http://www.BestPracticesforSmallBusinesses.com

 

 

 

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12 Bible Verses Every Small Business Owner Needs For 2012

By on April 9, 2012 in Business Inspiration, Grow Your Business, My Recommendations, Women in Business

I normally do this post at the top of the year, but I was inspired to wait until now.  With Easter upon us, I though this post would be particularly meaningful at this time of year.   My religious theme for 2012 is, “Either I win or I learn, but with God’s help I never lose.”

I pray that you are inspired by God’s word.  Your faith in yourself and your business are key to your long-term success. Starting a small business is a spiritual journey. You should pick a verse that will inspire you. I thought it would be helpful to share some of my favorites. Use these bible verses in the good and tough times in your small business.

  1. Deuteronomy 8:18 NIV But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.  All of our skills and special talents that we use in our businesses are all given to us by God.  He gives us the ability to make money and cut deals.  He did it for our parents and mentors and he does it for us too.
  2. Romans 12:2 NIV Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  The bible commands us to be innovative in our businesses. We should not ever try to be like anyone else. The world is still waiting on a better mousetrap, and we should never rest on our successes. We must renew ourselves by being lifelong learners and reading constantly.
  3. I Thessalonians 5:16-19 NIV Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances; this is the will of God for your life.  It is important to have a prayerful life as an entrepreneur; it will help you on those days when things do not go your way.  You need to have the strength to thank God, even when you do not win that big contract. God protects us when we do not get opportunities that we think we can’t survive without. Always be grateful.
  4. Proverbs 16:18 NIV Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.  Many entrepreneurs struggle with pride. Do not be afraid to tell clients or employees that you do not know the answer. Try to diffuse any issues with truth and by taking full responsibility for fixing the problem.  Never let your ego get in the way of doing what’s in the best interest of your business.
  5. II Corinthians 9:8 NIV And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. God always delivers to us what we need in order to do our best work.  Sometimes he sends a check we need just in time, and other times he sends us creativity to find the best solution to our challenges. Trust in the Lord at all times.
  6. II Timothy 1:7 NIV For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. Fear is the enemy of entrepreneurship. God wants us to go out with the power he gives us to pursue our ideas in business.
  7. Hebrews 12:11 NIV No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. You must be fiscally disciplined in business. You cannot put all your hard work at risk by not being focused on your big picture goals and your monthly sales goals. It is painful at times, but it will produce quite a harvest.
  8. I Corinthians 9:24 NIV Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Running a business is hard. It’s a marathon not a sprint. There will be plenty of stumbling blocks in your way. Everyone trips and falls while running this race, but winners get up faster than everyone else. You must do what you need to do to win your race.
  9. Mark 5:36 NIV Overhearing what they said, Jesus told them, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” There will be times when you are the only person who believes in your business dream. Don’t be afraid. Believe in yourself and your business idea.
  10. Ecclesiastes 11:4 AMP He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. You must be willing to make decisions in your small business. No one is going to come along and do it for you.  Make hard decisions quickly, so you can move on to doing the work needed to help your customers.
  11. Proverbs 11:14 NIRV Without the guidance of good leaders a nation falls. But many good advisers can save it. It is critical to have a kitchen cabinet of advisors for your small business. Your business will not survive on your experience alone. Pull together four to five people who are invested in your success. The group should include an existing entrepreneur, a customer, a mentor, a lawyer and a accountant. Seek out a mastermind group or peer to peer mentoring program to help as well.
  12. Philippians 4:13 NKJV I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Whenever you struggle with your self-confidence read this bible verse to yourself.  There will be times in your business when you need to force yourself to stretch beyond what you think is possible. You can do it. I believe in you.

Do you have any other bible verses that inspire you? Please share.

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, Melinda Emerson "SmallBizLady"professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

 

 

 

 

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How to Get New Customers Part II

By on April 3, 2012 in Branding & Marketing, Grow Your Business, Melinda Emerson @SmallBizLady, Starting A Small Business

There are numerous ways of getting new customers but not all methods are applicable to all businesses. I also need to remind you that getting repeat business from your existing customers is far easier than attracting new customers, but it is important to have a strategy for getting new customers in the door. In Part 1 of this series, I provided a philosophy and an approach for obtaining more business. Choosing your best customer acquisition strategy will be driven by why your customer is buying, their purchase frequency, and how they collect purchase information. In Part 2, the focus is on specific strategies and tactics to create a stampede in your small business.

Here are 7 strategies for getting new customers:

  • Start advertising: You want customers to know you exist – If you have a storefront business that depends on local customers. Consider investing in local online advertising, direct mail, flyers, or local penny-saver ads. You can also do pay per click ads online too. Use calls to action in each advertising initiative to get prospects to contact you. Do not start any advertising program that you can’t maintain for at least six months.
  • Start building a prospect list. One of the key ingredients in a business is having an active prospect list.  One of the best ways to build your list is through your website.  You should have 3-5 ways to engage web visitors to get them to give you their contact information. Create a coupon or giveaway from your website. It could be a special report, free chapter of a book, or audio interview, a 10% off coupon, a free estimate or a giveaway for the first X number of new customers who download the giveaway.
  • Launch a public relations campaign: Your PR campaign should have a story behind it.  The fact that you open your doors is not compelling enough.  Consider having a PR tie-in a local charity, cause or group. For example, my neighbor got a front-page story in our local community paper as a donor of care packages in support of our troops. The article also highlighted her business and her contact information. You can always donate a portion of net proceeds to charity and get a tax write-off too.
  • Use incentives: Give your current customers referral incentives – everybody likes a deal. If an existing customer gets a special discount, cash, or free stuff for recommending a new customer to your business, it creates a winning situation for everyone. Interestingly enough, when you give a surprise benefit to an existing client, like a free pizza after so many purchased or a “no charge” for a regular dry cleaning customer, or free shipping and a discount on future business, customers tell others about these unexpected bonuses.
  • Develop a social marketing strategy: – Like it or not, we are in a digital age and ignoring free marketing tools, such as social networking sites is just plain foolish. You must be googleable! It used to be that all you had to do was build a website, now you need a blog and to have a social media footprint to go with it. No one uses the yellow pages any more. It is pretty common that if we want to know anything about anything we go to the internet. If your business is not there, it can really impact your visibility. Read, read, read and seek out a professional to get you started with social media marketing. Check out my book “Become Your Own Boss In 12 Months” to get more insights on building an online brand.
  • Use Success By Association – Become a part of your industry trade organization, local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, community service organizations, and other groups both local and national. My active membership in the National Speakers Association led to some outstanding business contacts for me. It is very satisfying to learn from peers and fellow business owners.
  • Create recognizable value – If you are in a business where you can provide informational value through articles or newsletters that provide tangible customer benefit, it can lead to getting a new customer and development of a “following”.  Media is always looking for content to sustain itself and to grow. If you have a message of interest, write an article for your local media outlet, notify your local TV or radio station about your unique business and the benefit it brings. Don’t keep your  better mousetrap a secret.

Getting the word out about you and your business will take planning and hardwork and you will sell your faith in your enterprise. It is not always easy to do, but persistence will get you to success.

Do you have any other tactics to share on getting new customers?

Enter the #SMBSolidInk Twitter Sweepstakes! Your Chance to Win a New ColorQube 8700 for Your Small Business! Follow @Xeroxoffice for details http://bit.ly/HsA9Xt

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and smallMelinda Emerson "SmallBizLady" business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

 

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Who’s on #SmallBizChat this Month – April 2012

By on April 3, 2012 in SmallBizChat

Each week as Smallbizlady, I conduct interviews with small business experts on my weekly Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat.

Here are the upcoming guests for April 2012…

  • 4/4 Andrew Davis @CPC_Andrew Director of Marketing of CPC Strategy teaches How to Grow an Online Business
  • 4/11 Kent Lewis @kentlewis Founder, Anvil Media Inc. teaches How to Use Mobile Web Advertising for a Small Businesses
  • 4/18 AK Stout @akstout18 on How to Build a Facebook Strategy for Your Small Business
  • 4/25 Alexis Maybank @giltfounder  Co-Founder of the www.Gilt.com and author of By Invitation Only:  teaches How to create a mega membership website online

Join me live every Wednesday, 8PM EST on Twitter – here’s how: follow @smallbizchat on Twitter and click here for instructions bit.ly/S797e

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How Do I Get New Customers Part 1

By on April 2, 2012 in Branding & Marketing, Grow Your Business, Melinda Emerson @SmallBizLady, Starting A Small Business

So often I am asked about how to get new customers that I decided to develop a two part series on the topic.  

No customers, no business. A simple and obvious fact, which leads new business owners to ask the question “How do I get customers to see and buy from my business?” The first question to ask yourself is:  Who are your customers and how do they like to buy the kind of products you’re selling? You want to be able to see the “face” of your primary customer. Is it a child, teenager, senior citizen, a techie, “do-it-yourself” person, a woman, a man, or some other demographic? If your target customer is Hispanic, it would not make much sense to advertise your product in an Irish magazine or Jewish website. Knowing your target customer lets you tailor your message to who’s buying.

Is your business a “brick and mortar” storefront? Online? Industry specific? Are you selling pizza, hats or doing software consulting? Your approach to creating “buzz” for your enterprise will vary in each case. If I am selling pizzas, I’ll advertise locally via the web and direct mail to announce specials, offer coupons, and give great friendly service. This business is built on the perception of competitive value-pricing, tasty meals, and ease of ordering on-line or by phone. Your likely customer will be within a few miles of your store and wants quick pick-up or available local delivery. Specials will get new customers in the door, but quality, value and taste will bring them back and get them to tell their friends. Having an online presence is important because it makes it easier for customers to order and to see all of your menu items.

If you are selling hats, you have several marketing options. You can offer hats online showing a variety of styles, perhaps with a buy-one get-one 50% off and free shipping. Consider partnering with local women’s organizations on fashion show fundraisers where you offer a discount on the hats shown. Or you can partner with a local boutique to help them accessorize their outfits — with special prices on your hats.

If you are developing a software consulting business you must position your business carefully. How unique are your programming skills? How much demand is there for what you know? Is a business built on reputation, contacts, networking or SEO? You must have a very targeted audience. You might start by creating a website and brochure outlining your skills and experience and distribute it to your network of contacts online and offline. Look through Information Technology magazine want ads to look for good matches to your qualifications. Sometimes a company looking for an employee might be willing to outsource the services to a company instead.

The underlying philosophy in getting new customers is trying to get them to buy when they have a need or are “in market.” We are “in market” for groceries when we run out of food, or for a new washing machine when the old one finally breaks down, or for another car when the cost to fix our current car is just not worth it anymore. The key is the right offer at the right time to increase the chances that customers will call or come in ready to make a purchase. Some offers must have a seasonal flavor, you don’t sell snow shovels in July, some are timed to days of the week – 30% off on Tuesday or after 3pm, restaurant deals for slow mid-week periods geared to seniors for example. It is also true that sometimes a customer being “in market “ is dependent on future plans for example a home renovation, creating a web site, deciding to plant a garden, to join a gym, or take a vacation. All of these activities typically mean that money is going to be spent and not surprisingly, cost-conscious customers still want that great deal. Now that we have covered the framework for getting new customers, Part 2 of this series will get into specifics of attracting new customers. Remember, choosing your best customer acquisition strategy will be driven by why your customer is buying, their purchase frequency, and how they get their purchase information.

Do you have any ideas to share about how to get new customers?

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog.

Melinda F. Emerson, known as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

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How to be a Finance Rock Star in Your Business with Nicole A. Fende

By on March 29, 2012 in Cash Flow & Finance, Q & A Interviews, SmallBizChat

Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with @NicoleAFende. Nicole is The Numbers Whisperer™ and President of Small Business Finance Forum.  As a credentialed actuary with experience as a Chief Financial Officer, Investment Banker, and successful entrepreneur, Fende helps her clients reach their profit goals and learn how to effectively run the financial side of their business. In her book, How to be a Finance Rock Star: The Small Business Owner’s Ticket to Multi-Platinum Profits, Nicole shares how to reach multi-platinum profits.  For more info: http://financerockstar.com/

SmallBizLady: Why did you think is the biggest financial challenge holding back small business owners?

Nicole A.Fende: Not understanding the drivers behind profit.  You can sell a lot, but if your product or service is not priced correctly you may lose a lot of money rather than make a lot of money. 

A close second is thinking the numbers can come later.  That’s like saying I’ll worry about where to build my house after it’s built.  If you build on sand the house won’t last.  If your business is built on poor financial planning it is unlikely to last.

SmallBizLady: What does it mean to be a Finance Rock Star?

Nicole A.Fende A Finance Rock Star understands the basics of running a profitable business. They don’t need or want to know every last detail, but they do have a firm grasp on the fundamentals. Then they apply those fundamentals consistently in their business.  When appropriate they bring in an expert to handle the nitty gritty. 

Otherwise it’s like expecting a vocalist who can’t sing to be successful.

SmallBizLady: Why do so many business owners avoid numbers?

Nicole A.Fende: Fear.  For some it’s the fear of math.  The fear of not understanding how to analyze their business is common, so they just shove it away. However I also have clients who excelled at math in school.  For them it’s the fear of what the numbers will say about their business.  They’re afraid that the numbers will say their business can’t succeed. 

SmallBizLady: How can small business owners overcome their fear of finance?

Nicole A.Fende Would you drive down the autobahn in a sports car doing 80 MPH with your eyes are closed?  If you do that for more than few minutes you will end up crashing, maybe dying.  Running your business without understanding the numbers is no different.  You can’t see where you’re going, and sooner or later you will crash.

Face your fears.  If it’s the actual math that scares you get help from a coach, accountant or bookkeeper.  Think of it as Drivers Ed.

If it’s the fear of the answer, consider this.  Would you rather find out you’re heading over a cliff after you’re airborne or before?  If you know before you can change course and have a good chance of avoiding the crash.  You can’t avoid a problem you can’t see.

SmallBizLady: Financing a start-up is hard, especially if your credit is less than stellar.  What are some non-traditional ways entrepreneurs can get capital?

Nicole A.Fende: Crowd Funding has become quite popular online.  I call it the busking of Web 2.0.  You post a specific project or need online and then raise money for it.  Friends, colleagues, even strangers can support your initiative.  It is not a loan, nor is it charity.  The person or business raising money offers some type of incentive or experience to those who pledge money.

Another option, often overlooked, is eBay.  You can sell off any number of collectibles and dust collectors on eBay.  I’ve discovered the saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” is absolutely true.

Some other options I cover in my book include; Sponsorships, Customer Funding, Peer to Peer Loans, and Joint Ventures.

SmallBizLady: Why is expense tracking so important?  Do I really need to keep track of every $5 expense?

Nicole A.Fende: Every dollar of expense you don’t track is costing you $1.35!

So if you ignore a $5 expense it’s costing you $6.75 (5 * 1.35).  If you ignore $5 expense every week of the year it will cost you $351 (52 weeks * $6.75).   Would you throw away a check for $351 if I handed it to you right now?

Everyone hates tracking expenses (I do too!).  My personal favorite is Shoeboxed.com to automate that task.  Others include Keebo.com and Expensify.com.  You might consider hiring a bookkeeper if the online solutions are not a fit.  They are a cost conscious alternative to CPA’s.

SmallBizLady: One of your key mantras is “Time is money”.  What do you mean by that?

Nicole A.Fende: Time is your most precious, irreplaceable asset.  You can’t save time.  You can’t buy more of it.  When it’s gone it’s gone. 

Let’s say you work a 40 hour week.  Imagine that goes onto your financial statements just like your revenue.  How are you spending it?  Would you be embarrassed if you had to determine the return you are getting on your time?

If an hour of your time is worth $100, and you spend 2 hours a month on the free version of a service that costs $20 a month, are you spending your time wisely?  Treat your time like a bank account that gets filled up each week.  Spend it as carefully as you spend the cash your clients pay you.

SmallBizLady: What are some common pricing mistakes people make?

Nicole A.Fende:

  • Accounting for inflation.  Whether your business is a service business or produces an actual product you have expenses.  Those expenses will go up by at least the rate of inflation each year.  If you don’t include that in your price you will earn less next year than you did this year.
  • Assuming that if you sell enough you will make a profit.   This is false.  In fact the more you sell of an underpriced product or service, the more money you will lose!
  • Simply setting their price by looking at what their competitors charge.  First, do you even know if they make a profit?  Second, do you know what their expenses are?  Finally, would you let your competitor run your business?  Then why are they setting your price?

SmallBizLady: You’ve said that offering promotions is like giving customers money from your personal bank account.  Why?

Nicole A.Fende: When you set your price you assume a certain level of profit.  Let’s say it’s $100,000 a year.  You decide to run a sale.  It’s a big success, however the revenues you received were $10,000 less than at your regular price.  In other words, your business brought in $10,000 less in total money, but your expenses stayed the same.  That means your profit, the amount you can pay yourself, is only $90,000 this year.

SmallBizLady: So how can you offer a promotion and keep your profits?

Nicole A.Fende: The easiest way is to bump up all your prices to give a cushion for discounts and sales.  Another option is treat the revenue lost due to a promotion as a marketing expense.  The key is accounting for it somewhere.  If you don’t the only place left to get the money is from your pocket.

SmallBizLady: What are Key Metrics?

Nicole A.Fende: When musicians get on stage they don’t worry about every little detail.  If someone misses a chord, or steps in the wrong spot once, it’s no big deal.  The audience probably won’t even know and certainly will not remember.

However there are some problems which will kill a show.  All the stage lights go out.  The speaker system dies or gets stuck in one of those head exploding feedback loops. You may not be able to prevent a problem, but like the best live rock bands, you must be ready to fix it.

Key Metrics are the show stoppers for your business.  This should not be a long list, simple and short is your goal.  Examples include revenue, expenses, clients gained and clients lost.

SmallBizLady: Once I have my Key Metrics, what do I do with them?

Nicole A.Fende: Compare your key metrics to your experience at the end of every month.  This will tell you very quickly if you are on track or need to make a course correction.  Going back to our original example of the speeding sports car, Key Metrics let you know to keep going straight or if you need to turn to avoid going off a cliff.
If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9pm ET follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter.  Here’s how to participate in #Smallbizchat http://bit.ly/S797e 

 

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

 

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5 Tips to Help Your Website to Load Faster

By on March 27, 2012 in Melinda Emerson @SmallBizLady

In building our website, oftentimes, we’d like to put as much content in it to make it informative. It is for promotion. It’s also to get people engaged in what your business is all about. The more detailed the better. One striking factor of a good website is having a good design together with a user-friendly interface.

Website load speed

As part of increasing the rank and improving the visibility of a website, webmasters do SEO (search engine optimization) to bypass unnecessary codes as this would help improve the website’s performance. However, one of the mistakes not often observed by webmasters is that there are still times that websites aren’t fully optimized in terms of how it loads a page and that is why, as a result, the pages tend to load very slow.

Here in this article, you’ll learn about tips on how to make your website load faster and smoother.

5 Tips to Help your website load Faster

  • Optimize the graphics

Graphics are one of the main factors that make a website attractive. True enough. Though it will be quite a challenge to webmasters on how they would be able to display high resolution images yet still make the website load fairly fast. Size matters as they say, and this is why the manner of displaying graphics in websites should always be taken into consideration.

A key to effectively manage your web graphics is to set default height and width attributes so that they will be of a uniform size.

  • Cache out

Every time you load a web page, your web browser temporarily stores its information to a place called cache. The cache will be helpful in making web pages load faster in the future. One way to utilize the cache is to design your web page in such a way that the logo or any common information that you’d want to be displayed is always visible. Create an external script that will be called by different web pages in your website. Doing this, the next time that you would load another page of the same website, it won’t take that long anymore as it will use the existing information of that web page in the cache and just proceed on loading the other information of that web page.

  • Omit pop-up pages

Web pages with pop-ups tend to make the entire website load slow. Some users find it annoying when suddenly new window opens especially when it is an ad. There are some websites that will bombard you with so many pop-up windows which you don’t really need to view. You’ll just end up closing them one by one. Good thing there are pop-up blockers in most web browsers and you can just unblock those pop-up windows that need to be opened, an example is a login page.

Most users or viewers would prefer the links they click to open in a new tab (since most of the web browsers of present already have a multitasking feature that enables users to open multiple tabs and load them simultaneously.Worst is when the pop-up window links you to a web page with malicious content and even your files get harmed. It’s going to be very hassle and so it is not recommended to use pop-ups because it also causes

  • Tweak the code

Slow Service Set a standard way of coding. It’s like helping web pages to understand one another through a common language thus this will definitely result to a faster loading web page. It’s best to build a good coding foundation for your website so it won’t be hard to track its different functionality of the need for change/update arises.

If in case you’re maintaining a website that you didn’t built nor weren’t even involved during its planning stage and then you start noticing that it’s starting to get annoying because of the way it loads, you may consider checking on the source codes and do some performance tuning then just expect the improvement afterwards. It is important to know that codes can be compressed in such a way it is optimized for web browsers to interpret them for us humans. Some codes that can be compressed are PHP, CSS and JavaScript.

  • Eliminate blank spaces

It really gets boring to view a website with only little information. To get rid of boredom while viewing, simply don’t leave web pages with large amount of blank spaces as having such contributes to a slower loading web page. Compress contents in a web page if needed so you do not need to come up with a new one but make sure you don’t overload information in it. Doing such will remove some extra bytes the browser need to interpret and load. Remember, the lesser the bytes, the faster it will take for the web page to load.

The performance of your website mostly relies on the way it’s being coded. The site map should remain organized, following the detailed structure of the website. Maintain your website with proper SEO then you’re good to go. You’ll always most likely to make it right along the way if you’ve started something correctly.

About the Author

Jessica Francisco is a cheerful 25-year-old with an odd sense of fun. The least of her broad range of hobbies include swimming, hiking and listening to the music of Michael Jackson. Jessica is also one of the editors of Luke Roxas a renowned Business Tycoon from the Philippines. He is on Google +.

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How to Grow Your Small Business

By on March 26, 2012 in Melinda Emerson @SmallBizLady

Grow Your BusinessFor those small business owners who survived the startup phase and are now ready to grow your business, there are numerous possibilities. Keep in mind, growing your business will depend on what business you are in and how much money, time and sweat equity you’re willing to invest all over again. Here are four ways to kick start growth in your small business.

When thinking about how to grow your business first, consider opening a new location, franchising your business, look for markets overseas by expand globally, and make sure you are taking part the biggest market in the world by expanding on the internet.

Open another location. Your first option for growth is to open an additional location. Now, this can be really tricky. You need to look at the economic environment and trends for indications that theirs is enough business to support an additional location. Make sure your operations, banking an processes are all in order. It will be important to have a strong management team to send into the new location. One of the biggest decisions you’ll need to make is determining how you will finance your expansion.  Choose your new location carefully. Don’t let you wallet drive your decision making or you could end up in the poor house.

Turn your business into a franchise. I recently interviewed Dina Dywer Owens, Former Chair of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and she suggests anyone interested in turning their business into a franchise, check out the free resources at the IFA’s website www.franchise.org.  and hire a professional franchise consultant to help. Now if you are really interested in this growth strategy, you must streamline all your internal systems and marketing processes first. Then, start networking within the franchise community, become a member of the IFA and find a good franchise attorney as well as a mentor who’s been through the franchise process. Here’s more information about how to be successful in a franchise business.

Expand globally. If you are an internet business, you may already have clientele from across the world, but there are many programs and services that will help sell products overseas markets including China, India, South America and across Europe specifically. Check out my recent interview with former under secretary of international trade Frank Lavin on How to Export to China. In most cases to export outside of the US, you’ll need a foreign distributor who’ll carry an inventory of your product and resell it in their domestic markets. Trade groups and foreign chambers of commerce in the U.S., are good places to find distributors. Also check out the government’s website businessusa.gov which is a great resource for small businesses looking to export outside the US.

Expand on the Internet. Are You Googleable? In many business circles, if you can’t be found on the internet you do not exist.  Make sure that you have a useful website that tells people how to hire you within 3 seconds of arrival onto your home page.  Think of your website as the front door to your business. Be sure that you use an e-commerce solution such as shopify.com or bigcommerce.com that also has the ability to mirror your online store on your facebook fan page. An online store will bring you customers that your brick and mortar business could never reach.

Do you want more great ideas for business growth? Sign up for my Free Webinar March 29th 1-2pm ET on How to Better Communicate With Your Target Customers http://bit.ly/wPX0SV

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com. 

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, sheMelinda Emerson "SmallBizLady"
develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure.  As CEO of MFE Consulting LLC, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine recently named her one of the Top 20 women for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also the author of the national bestseller Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. (Adams Media 2010)


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How to do Facebook Ads for Business

By on March 20, 2012 in Branding & Marketing, Grow Your Business, Social Media

 

On Facebook, 850 million people spend more than 350 minutes a month hanging out online. To some, it may be how they keep in touch with college friends, the way new moms share photos with family, or where sports fans go to cheer on their team and connect with other fans around the world. To businesses, it’s more than just a communication tool–it’s a goldmine. Businesses have the opportunity to create a Facebook Page where they can interact with their customers, provide product information, offer promotions, and gain valuable customer feedback. Facebook ads are becoming a major marketing channel for small businesses.

The user information that Facebook provides is data that businesses and marketers have dreamt about for decades. All of the information that determines a business’s demographic is being handed out on a silver platter when a Facebook account is created. Name, age, gender, geographic location, birth date, political opinion, religious view, marital status, place of work, college, college major, high school, friends, likes and interests are the advertising treasures that make the Facebook Ad’s platform unique. As business owners we are able to target campaigns to any and all of the profile characteristics that pertain to our specific target customer. This allows for more quality leads.

Facebook Ads operate using the cost per click (CPC) model, similar to Google AdWords. When running ads in Facebook you have the option to direct people to a business brand page within Facebook, or to an external website. When using ads within Facebook, you have custom opportunities that you can only take advantage of within Facebook. Opportunities include running a sponsored story, an ad for a Facebook Event, a specific post, application, contest, or video. This allows for marketing creativity and the use of an ad to coincide with a current social promotion.

There is also a major value here that a search engine can’t provide- the social reach. This is a feature that associates ads that run with users that have interacted with that brand or business on Facebook. The social reach brings us to the value of a friend’s opinion and word of mouth recommendations in 2012 purchasing. Those features are the clear picture of two marketing mediums working together for a better user experience.

Paid Ads + Social Intelligence = Smarter CPC

 

The above images display the social feature that Facebook incorporates into their ads and the role that a friend referral for a business plays in Facebook marketing

5 Areas to Focus on When Setting Up Facebook Ads

  • User Destination: Figure out where you want to send the users that click on your ad. There is a strong benefit to sending people to a Facebook Business Page, as well as sending them to a company website. It all depends on the marketing goal you are hoping to achieve. Costs per click will also vary based on where you direct people to go. A CPC landing page can make or break an ad campaign, but the landing page doesn’t necessarily need to be offsite. Facebook Business Pages allow for creative opportunities for landing pages including a contact form or a Facebook store among other options.
  • Ad Type: Determining which ad type to choose can directly impact the success of a campaign. Facebook Ads are a common ad type that is structured most similarly to traditional CPC ads. Sponsored stories, event, post, and application ads can also be successful for brands but focus on more specific content. There is a strong social advantage for running ads that highlight a brand’s status update or event because they show “likes” and shares associated with that post. These ad types often see increased click through rates because of the social association.
  • Targeting: You not only have the opportunity to target your current demographic, but can also connect with an audience that you would like to target as customers. Facebook allows you to target users based on every profile feature that they enter. Likes and interests are a feature that businesses need to take advantage of. If a business sells fitness products they have the opportunity to show their ads to anyone that “likes” fitness, health, working out, yoga, etc. The specific targeting allows for leads from a very qualified user group, which makes the Facebook Ad conversion rates much higher than traditional CPC campaigns.
  • Reporting: In addition to the basic reporting that Facebook offers, there are other ways to track your user’s activity after they click on your ad. You can setup goals and conversion tracking in Google Analytics that can assist in determining the success of the ad campaign.
  • Optimization: Continuously managing your ad campaign is vital to its success but knowing how to optimize it is what can really drive results. Knowing which ads are performing and why is what you’ll need to know to carry that success to the other ad campaigns.

As a marketer, Facebook Ads have been a revolutionary tool for driving success for clients. The dream-like targeting capabilities set Facebook apart from all other ad platforms and deliver quality results. Unfortunately, at the current time Facebook reporting doesn’t compare to the capabilities and functions of Google AdWords. Facebook offers basic features of budgeting, bidding, and reporting with a major opportunity for improvement as ads continue to grow and be a major financial driver for Facebook in 2012.

Do you want more tips for how to use social media to grow your small business? Register today for  Melinda Emerson’s webinar teaching social media, direct mail and email communications techniques March 29th 1-2pm ET http://www2.pbsmartessentials.com/how-to-better-communicate-with-your-customers

About the author:

Lindsay DeFeo is the Director of Social Marketing at Teknicks, a well known Social Media Agency in New Jersey. Lindsay utilizes her education and experience in both marketing and design to provide valued services to Teknicks’ clients. After working across several interactive enhancement marketing channels, Lindsay quickly saw the value for businesses in social and has built the Teknicks Social Marketing department from the ground up. She now manages a hard working and innovative team, working with many of Teknicks clients to improve their social presence online. Connect with her on Twitter at @Teknicks.

 

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How to Communicate Your Business Vision

By on March 19, 2012 in Branding & Marketing, Business Inspiration, How to Start

As a business leader, it’s your job to craft a vision for your business. Once you know what that is, you need to be able to communicate it to a wide audience including your customers and your employees. Even the interns need to know. Why? Because your need to share a vision that everyone understands, can relate to — and ultimately believe in. Here are five ways to communicate your business vision.

Share Your Vision With Everyone. To be effective, you’ll need to rally people around your vision.   You will need to keep saying it to remind your team of your message to reinforce what you are trying to achieve.  You’ll need to do this constantly to keep everyone focused. Don’t worry about sounding like a broken record, after all it is your business.

Use Storytelling: When you tell a story, you give life to your vision. The telling of stories creates trust, touches people’s hearts and minds, and serves as a reminder of the vision. It is also a great way to make your vision relatable to anyone. Your team will find it a lot easier to repeat a story than a vision statement.

Don’t be Afraid to Share: Sometimes we, as entrepreneurs come up with ideas that may seem far-fetched to others.  Do not let that stop you from telling people your vision.  When you speak it out loud, you speak it into existence.  I remember back in 2007, when I told people I was going to be “America’s #1 Small Business Expert,” at the time I am sure some of them may have thought, can she really do that? or they may have thought I was crazy. We’ll who looks crazy now? You must be willing to share ideas people have never heard of.

Be Brief: Learn to share your vision like it is an elevator pitch. Every business leader needs to be able to communicate the vision in a clear, brief way. Can you describe your compelling vision in the amount of time you have during a typical elevator ride? Your pitch should highlight your solution, your target audience and your niche focus. Try to keep it to two minutes of less.

Be Flexible: Don’t feel like you have to have all the answers. As an entrepreneur one of the most important things that you must do is evolve. Be sure to create dialogue around your message so that people feel comfortable to share suggestions and help you take your vision to the next level.

Put out calls to action. Don’t just tell people what you imagine for the future, ask for their help in making it a reality, and be specific about what you want people to do and why.

When you are think about how to communicate your vision first, create a strong vision and communicate it to everyone. Use storytelling to help people visualize your vision. Have the courage to share your vision. Be brief, and willing to take suggestions that could take your vision to the next level. When you put out calls to action, and assign specific roles you want your team to play in your success.

Are you looking for ways to better communicate with your target customers? Don’t miss my FREE webinar sponsored by Pitney Bowes March 29th 1-2pm ET Register today http://www2.pbsmartessentials.com/how-to-better-communicate-with-your-customers

Melinda Emerson "SmallBizLady"

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestseller author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. 

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Five Reasons Your Company Should Have a Platform

By on March 13, 2012 in Guest Articles, Social Media, Starting A Small Business

These days, you can’t go five minutes without hearing someone talk about platforms. The term is almost a buzzword. As I explain in  The Age of the Platform, a platform is merely a structure made up of “planks,” or integrated features. For instance, Google in 1998 wasn’t a platform; it was a really neat search engine. By adding planks such as Gmail, Maps, Docs, Voice, YouTube, and countless others, it became a true platform.

By comparison, a traditional business based on a 20th-century model produces one or more closely related products or services, then uses marketing to try to attract customers. This business model can no longer compete with 21st-century, platform-based companies that have learned how to integrate an ever-widening universe of consumers and partners into their ecosystems. Consumers are driving today’s economy—not enterprises. Consumer-driven platforms matter more than ever.

Wondering whether to investigate — and invest in — the platform as your company’s business model? Here are five benefits that may motivate you:

Increased Innovation

All companies face limits; not even Google has infinite resources. But you can dramatically expand those limits. Building a powerful platform lets you cultivate an ecosystem of developers, partners, users, and other collaborators who contribute to — and may drive — innovation at your company.

Think of Apple’s app tsunami. By inviting thousands of users to develop apps for its iPhone and iPad, the company generated billions in new revenue. It has tapped into an endless stream of inventors and innovation.

Tip: Offering tools such as application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) only gets you halfway there. You have to create incentives for prospective partners to extend your platform and build different planks for your mutual benefit.

Quicker Response Times

Platform companies move faster than their traditional counterparts. When your core products and services frequently change, it forces your employees and your organization to embrace change quickly. Bad habits are less likely to get ossified.

Think of Amazon. First it sold only books. Soon it started selling virtually everything. In 2007 the company launched the Kindle. In 2010 it started publishing books to read on the Kindle. In 2011 it introduced the Fire, to compete with the iPad. The Fire brings everything together — shopping, reading, and consuming media — and introduces more e-commerce and social networking opportunities. Can the company handle all this change? No problem!

Tip: Find employees who are comfortable with change. To build a platform, you can’t rely on people who consistently resist new ways of doing things.

Reduced Risk

What if your company only does one thing, as mine did in 2008? What if the market for that thing suddenly dries up? Platforms encourage diversification and thus reduce risk.

Imagine if Apple had remained only a maker of stylish but expensive computers? Chances are it would be struggling for its very existence right now. But with its multi-pronged platform extending into music, telecommunications, media, commerce, entertainment, and education, Apple is beautifully positioned to withstand any surprises the market sends its way.

Tip: Try to find potential partners with complementary interests—and don’t be greedy. Grow the pie together.

Greater Brand Awareness

Platforms and ecosystems mean that customers are out there extending your brand in innovative ways.

Facebook is a beautiful example. Although it began as a social networking site for college kids, Facebook, through continual growth and invention, has expanded its offerings to include business and marketing sites, community gaming sites, email, instant messaging, groups, blogs, advertising, consumer data mining, and much more. More than 50 million Facebook “likes” are clicked daily, and by some estimates one out of every eight people on the planet will be a Facebook user soon.

Tip: Think about innovative ways to extend your brand. Survey trusted customers and clients to find out what services or products they wish you offered.

A Bigger Customer Base

This one is simple. More products and services mean more customers.

Tip: No, a local butcher can’t also offer ballet dances. But what if he creates an app? What if he blogs about recipes and cooking tips? What if he cultivates a tribe?

About the Author

Phil Simon is the author of four management books. His fourth, The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business, is his most ambitious yet. A recognized technology expert, he advises companies on how to optimize their use of technology.

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When You’ve Done All You Can, Get Up!

By on March 12, 2012 in Business Inspiration, Grow Your Business

There comes a time in every entrepreneur’s life when you just catch a bad break.  You work really hard on a deal. You thought it was yours. Then at the last minute, after nearly a year-long sales process, you loose the contract. This especially stings when you’ve spent hours studying the customer and cultivating an internal advocate over lunches and dinners. You tracked the incumbent vendor and shaved you margin as much as you could to get the business. It feels like a kick in the gut when it slips right through your fingers.

After you get over the initial shock, this becomes one of those days that makes you wonder why you are even in business. You probably feel like nobody loves you and no one seems to care.  When it happens the first time, you might not be sure how to handle this, particularly if you are one of those small business owners who takes things personally. Your business is your baby after all, who can blame you, Right! Not really. The sooner you learn not to take these things personally, the better you will handle it when things don’t go as planned.

I know this pain.  During the early years of running my first company Quintessence Multimedia it happened several times, and it hurts—a lot.  I remember one time in particular, there was an advertising agency we had been chasing nearly a year. Once day we got a call and that they wanted us to fly down to Austin, TX to discuss a specific project.  At the time, things were tight financially and we really needed this opportunity.  When we got there, the client invited us to dinner and then stuck us with the check.  Then the next day, as we were presenting our capabilities, I knew five minutes into the meeting that these people had no intention of doing business with us. They had wasted our time and our money, and I was furious. I actually lost it that day on our host after the meeting. I later found out that one of our corporate advocates had asked their agency to meet with us, but a real business opportunity was not promised.  I learned a lesson that day about how to qualify customers, and that people have no problem wasting your time.

After it happened, I reached out to a mentor to complain, and she told me something that has always stayed with me. She said, ”When things don’t happen that is God’s way of protecting you from something or someone.” I took what she said to heart, but then I felt so defeated every time we got the rug pulled out from under us.   I know that many of you have felt the same way, maybe even recently.

This past week, I heard Olympic ski medalist, amputee, and author Bonnie St. John speak at a women’s history month event.  Now, Ms. St. John is a one-legged Olympic skier, and she talked about how she won her first medals.  She said in downhill skiing you needed to compete in two races to win a medal.  After the first race in 1984 Paraolympics, she was in first place in gold medal position, but the second race was on a different course. Word from the field was that there was an icy spot on the course, and some people had wiped out, and one woman had been taken to the hospital. Bonnie said as she started her second race, she was doing well hitting her stride, and all of a sudden she hit the ice. She fell, and said she felt like crawling off the track. But something in her said get up.  She got up and finished the race and earned a Bronze medal. She’s said, ”Everybody falls, but winners get up.”  She later said the woman who won the gold medal had fallen too, but she got up faster.

In our businesses, there will be many times when we get knocked down, but successful entrepreneurs get up faster than the competition.

Do you have a suggestion for how to handle major disappointment in a business?

For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.

Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, sheMelinda Emerson "SmallBizLady" develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource bloghttp://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also the bestselling author ofBecome Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.

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