This Week in Small Business: CTAs, APRs, and much more
Improve your calls to action, make debt work for you, and plot out your startup strategy step-by-step. These are just a few of the very practical tips you’ll find among this week’s top curated content from around the Internet. Leadership, management and productivity Unlike personal debt, Kevin O’Leary believes that small business debt can be a very good thing, if properly used to advantage. Sometimes you come to a fork in the road and you have to decide which direction your business should take. Here’s the story of one small business wrestling with that question. Do you really know and understand what the actual APR is for any loans you have in your business? That question inspired a new product for one lender. Colin Shaw offers ideas on how to win your customers’ trust without spending a dime. Telecommuting and virtual teams are big and if you aren’t on board yet, you need to look over these 20 reasons you should let your employees work from home. Ellen Miller tells the story of what a burrito taught her about customer service via social media. Marketing and sales Don’t let writing a call to action scare you ever again. Julie Neidlinger gives us a template and six examples to follow. Could it be that everything we believe about marketing is wrong? Samuel Scott thinks so. Fine tune your social media marketing with this infographic that updates the demographics of all the major social networks. Got 10 minutes to spare? If so, you’ll be able to test some of these growth hacking tactics. Neil Patel relates eight things required to master content marketing. Here are the five marketing moves Toby Nwazor learned that made him a successful entrepreneur. Gotta love checklists and this is one that will keep you writing great blog posts. Do you use landing pages on your small business website? You should and this article will explain all the critical elements to you. Entrepreneurship, startups and innovation No matter what your background is, you’ll find some good stuff in this online startup guide. Politics, government and the economy Health insurance costs are on everyone’s mind, and in Colorado, many small business owners are lining up against the state’s proposed...
read moreOnly You Will Write the History Of Your Small Business
“There is properly no history; only biography.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. March is Women’s History Month and that might seen like an odd quote to toss out as we begin to honor the roles women have played throughout history. However, I think it’s critical that we grasp the truth that is at the heart of what Emerson was saying. What we call history is really the collective actions of what we all do as individuals. The building blocks of history are our biographies. This is critical to understand because once you do, you realize that you can change history. And while I don’t know who among us will move history in ways that end up being recorded in the text books of future generations, I know that we are all writing the our own personal histories through our biographies. Further, if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that entrepreneurism and small business projects play an important role in your unfolding history – or at least they are a large part of the heartfelt desires you have for your life. I believe that it can be inspirational to think of all the hard work you put into establishing your small business, not as any kind of “day-to-day grind,” but as writing history that chronicles your life and the life of your loved ones. This may be easier to see in hindsight, but if you’ve been around for a few years, you may know some families who owned and operated a business together. If you spend time with these kinds of people, you’ll realize how much of the history of their families mirrors the history of their business venture. It can become the rallying point, the unifying cause that holds a family together and draws them closer to one another. A business plan, then, is really a roadmap that provides the outline for a major chapter in your life. Don’t see it as some sterile document, but as a tool that, when developed and implemented with care and wisdom, can make your “history” one of challenging goals, rewarding work and ultimately, prosperity. It’s interesting that many small business owners devote their lives to building their companies so they can have a legacy to hand down to their children, because what is a “legacy” if not a history? So women (and men this really applies to you as well), go further and deeper into women’s history this March. Get serious about writing your own history. Think about the chapters in that book, and be sure at least one of them is entitled, “How I Worked Hard to Achieve Success in My Small Business.” • • • Also, in honor of Women’s History Month, I’ve offering a free ebook, “The Biz Diva Handbook: Words of Wisdom for Women in Business.” I think you’ll enjoy it, along with my weekly...
read moreCreative Video Marketing and Beyond for the Small Business
Small business owners who are really focused on emerging as leaders are leveraging video content as much as possible. And although the topic is covered all the time in spaces like this, there are a few video marketing strategies that only the most knowledgeable consider. Those are the video marketing strategies I want to introduce you to here. And, to be honest, some of these are marketing strategies in the sense that they will help you build your brand and gain a market edge on your competitors; they aren’t all directly related to grabbing new prospects. Let’s dive in: Added value. All the basic video marketing tutorials will tell you to offer “how-to” or “troubleshooting” videos. It’s a great idea to post these on YouTube as well as your website to get added search engine optimization from them. However, consider adding these kinds of videos as part of your actual product or service. If you sell a physical product, include a DVD of video tutorials. If you’re in a crowded marketplace, this can set you apart from your competitors – “Includes free DVD instructional video!” You can also create “private” YouTube videos and promote access to that “exclusive” content as part of your offering. Leverage social media influencers. Interview someone who is notable in your field and has a large following in the social media. When you post videos that feature these “stars” you’ll also get the benefit of being seen by their large followings. Make yourself a featured speaker. In many ways, you are your small business brand. This is obvious in small local businesses and it not only impacts sales, it also has a huge influence on how you grow and how well you’re able to hire. The more you do to establish your authority, the better positioned you are for success. Knowing this, there is great value in being able to be a featured speaker at a notable event. The key is to start small and work your way up. Get yourself on the calendar to speak at a local event, perhaps for a college class (“Featured speaker at the University of Elm Hill”) or civic group. Do a good job making a video recording of the event – don’t cut corners – then take your finished video and use it to promote yourself to larger events. Be sure to video the larger events as well. Always be improving on your demo tape. Use animation. Small animations can do a lot to make your website stickier. People will hang out longer and that gives you a greater opportunity to build your relationship. If you take a quick tour of Fiverr.com, you’ll find many animators offering short videos for just five bucks. You can also use these kinds of videos to creatively tell a story, and in those cases they can be very powerful video marketing tools. (For more marketing videos small businesses can create, check out this two-part series written by Michael Litt, CEO and co-founder of Vidyard.)...
read moreGreat Company Culture Essential to Success
The Internet has had two very interesting, and important, impacts on small businesses. First, it has lowered the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs and second it has raised the bar for customer service. If you aren’t among the businesses offering the top customer experience today, your bottom line suffers and your long-term viability is doubtful. And while this may seem counterintuitive at first, the single greatest strategy for creating happy customers is to create happy employees – and that starts with the culture you create in your small business. In a moment, I’m going to pull a snippet from a white paper MetLife has written on this topic and when I originally read through the white paper, one example they use jumped out at me, and I think it illustrates this point very well. The MetLife folks “name names” and one of the companies they mention is Southwest Airlines; it’s well known as one of the top places to work. But this great work environment didn’t happen by accident at Southwest. Its employee-centered culture stretches back to company founder Herb Kellcher. Here’s how Kellcher explained it in an article he wrote back in 1998 for the Journal of Leadership Studies: “Years ago, business gurus used to apply the business school conundrum to me: ‘Who comes first? Your shareholders, your employees, or your customers?’ I said, ‘Well, that’s easy,’ but my response was heresy at that time. I said employees come first and if employees are treated right, they treat the outside world right, the outside world uses the company’s product again, and that makes the shareholders happy. That really is the way that it works, and it’s not a conundrum at all.” So then the question becomes, how do you “treat employees right”? There are a number of dimensions to be considered when answering this question, all of which deserve a lot of space. However, for now let’s touch on some general principles. Hire right. Honestly, not every individual is suited to work in every position in every business. Recruiting the right people for your team is the critical first step. If they don’t align to your mission and management style, making them happy will be a supremely difficult hurdle to overcome. You need to look beyond the resume and discover the environments in which prospective employees are happiest and most productive. If your style is to give employees a lot of freedom, don’t bring someone on board who needs more structure to flourish. Take responsibility. Your small business culture starts at the top. For better or worse, your organization will reflect your approach to business and your personality. The only way to avoid this is to be a “hands-off” absentee owner and if you do that, you’re gambling with your company culture and its future. This means you have to be conscious of how you treat people and the approach you take to projects and problem solving. They say that “more is caught than taught.” You can’t tell people to be kind and courteous and expect them to fall in line if you aren’t modeling those qualities yourself. Communication. The need to be heard and understood is in our DNA. It’s a need your employees have and it’s a need your customers have. Further, when people are listening...
read moreReady or not: You’re running a media company!
I was in Nashville last year talking to some of the great folks who own and operate Denny’s franchises. As I did a little research on the local food scene, I discovered that – as with just about any city – there’s a healthy debate going on over who serves the best hamburger in Nashville. A couple classic burger joints are always in the running: Rotier’s and Gabby’s. (Rising country star Brett Eldredge weighed in on Gabby’s side.) But it’s not the merits of their burgers that I want to discuss here. I want to point out the fact that both of these fine burger institutions have recognized a fact of business life today: Every business is a media business. Owners of any local burger joints who think they can be successful by merely having the formula for a great burger, are very mistaken. Knowing how to publish media is just as important. (In this arena, I would probably say that Gabby’s enjoys a slight lead over Rotier’s. Check out the screen shots.) Not only does Gabby’s have a strong presence on FaceBook and Twitter, it has its own TV channel courtesy of YouTube! By the way, Gabby’s not only has a Facebook wall, it has a wall in its restaurant where customer photos are posted. They use their Gabby TV video to encourage people to send in photos and say what they would like to see posted on Gabby’s homepage. You see, even if you’re a hole-in-the-wall burger place that’s only open for lunch, you can still reach and engage your customers via the social media. Having an active social media publishing program keeps your business top of mind. Let’s say that this level of engagement might result in one or two additional visits per year. That kind of extra business adds up…and it may take a little business away from a feisty competitor…like Rotier’s. Just sayin‘. The important idea that I want to leave you with is that you absolutely must embrace your business as part chosen-industry and part media company. Your challenge, then, is to embrace and leverage the social media that will work best for your target market. Again, I think we can take a lesson from both Rotier’s and Gabby’s. They have established a presence on a variety of social media platforms, although if you dig a little more deeply, you’ll discover which they favor with the most posting activity. You’ll find some good guidance with regards to demographics in this article, but you’ll want to keep track of how well your selected social media platforms work for you. Use the analytics provided by each platform to see how you’re doing. You can also find which types of posts get the most engagement. You may discover that a certain platform isn’t worth your time and that will give you a little more time to post to and improve your targeting with the social media platforms that do a better job engaging your audience....
read moreEmployee Automobile Cell Phone Use: The Dangers and Your Liability
April is distracted driving awareness month and while you, as a small business owner, might think that all you need to do is give a little pep talk to your crew about the dangers of mobile device usage while driving, the situation is actually much more serious than that. There are many situations where you could be held liable for damages that result from an accident where an employee of yours is behind the wheel. Court rulings have made it clear that when an employee is acting “within the scope of employment,” the employer can be held liable. By the way, this doesn’t have to be within your standard nine-to-five workday. (We all know that today, when we keep our cell phones on the nightstand, the business day can be 24 hours long.) Further, it doesn’t matter if your employee is on his or her own device (rather than a company phone or tablet) when the crash happens; if the employee is acting within the scope of employment, you’re still on the hook. Financial and physical dangers The problem isn’t a small one, nor is your financial liability the only danger: Automobile crashes are the number one cause of workplace deaths. Even if you somehow manage to escape financial liability in the case of an accident, you may very well lose a valued and loved member of your small business team. Reporting the statistics on crashes related to mobile device usage is unreliable due to inconsistencies in how the data are gathered…or not gathered at all. But the accidents where mobile devices play a role certainly number in the hundreds of thousands. A 2014 estimate from the National Safety Council (NCS) put the number at nearly 250,000, and that was even before the year had ended. Small business cell phone policy It’s clear that small business owners need to take action to guard themselves financially and protect the safety of their employees. To get you started, the NCS offers a free cell phone policy kit and also has a series of 12 short videos that answer questions about cell phone use and driving. You need to make it clear to everyone on your team that you have a zero-tolerance policy regarding mobile device use while driving – and this includes texting, talking or even “hands-free” use. Unfortunately, studies are proving that moving to a hands-free system does little to nothing to improve the driver’s cognitive ability. Finally, don’t merely mention this topic once in a meeting and then drop the subject. You need to consistently reinforce your policy and its importance. Sadly, virtually everyone agrees on the dangers of cell phone use while driving, but at the same time nearly half admit to texting while driving. Leadership required This means that for many of us it’s not a case of ignorance, it’s a case of having the willpower and discipline to do what we know is right. This is where your leadership can play an important role by consistently and repeatedly stressing how critical it is to never talk and drive or text and drive. Let your team know that you expect them to safely pull off the road whenever they feel they must communicate via a mobile device. Safety first – in all things. PS – One...
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