Use Password Day to renew your online security
Happy Password Day! Or, at least I hope it’s a happy one for you. I know that for many denizens of the online world, today won’t be so happy, and it seems that almost every day there’s a story making headlines that reminds us of this point. One of the latest big Internet security (or lack of security) stories lately has been the theft of Netflix’s new season of “Orange is the New Black.” But just because we only hear about it when major organizations get hacked, don’t think that the bad guys are going to give your somewhat smaller company a pass – because they won’t. Further, it might not be Russian hackers that get you, it could be an angry ex-employee, ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, ex-spouse, or just some middle-school digital savant out to prove a point. In many of these cases, the first, and most important line of defense, is establishing good password habits. I want to take the occasion of Password Day to share a couple of important articles that have previously appeared on these pages and then direct you to a list of good password managers so that when this day comes around again next year, you will be employing the highest levels of password security. Healthy password habits While I strongly recommend using a password manager, I know that some of you are going to resist the idea…even though there are freemiums on the market that would do the trick for many users. If you absolutely, positively, refuse to take the time to compare the various password managers available to you, please review the important password habits and strategies I outline in this article. Also, at the end of the article I provide a link to a webpage where you can check the strength of any password. A plug for password managers We have been very fortunate over the last few years to have Internet security expert Robert Siciliano write guest articles for us and he has tackled the topic of password managers on a couple of occasions: Password Managers First Step in Online Security How Password Managers Make Your Accounts Secure Robert does an excellent job making the case for using a password manager, but he goes beyond that and gives you the information you need to understand how they work, why a third-party app is superior to your browser-based system, how they make life easier, and a lot more details that will help overcome your reluctance to take the password manager plunge. Comparing the password managers There are several excellent password managers on the market and almost all of them have plans that cover levels from the single user to families to businesses. Further, the basic plans are often free. Spend some time comparing features before you make your choice, because once you settle on a provider, you want to be able to stick with it for the long term. Below is a chart with the most widely used password managers. The ratings are from GetApp and you can head over there if you want to read some user reviews. A link to each app website is provided in the chart. App Reviews Rating Cost Personal Business LastPass 86 4.8 $0-$4 monthly X X 1Password 34 4.4 $3-$5 monthly X X Zoho Valut 2...
read moreThe Essentials: Mastering brand advertising vs direct response advertising
One of the most important concepts to understand when promoting your business is the natural tensions between brand advertising (branding) and direct response advertising. When you receive a mailer telling you that your local Ford dealer is having a year-end clearance sale, that is direct response advertising. After the sale is over, the dealer can review receipts and quantify consumer “response” to the advertisement. When you’re watching a Sunday afternoon football game and Ford runs a commercial showing its trucks slashing through mud puddles and ends with the announcer solemnly intoning, “Built Ford Tough,” that’s brand advertising. Over the long term, Ford management can look at truck sales and see if their brand strategy is working, but truck sales won’t spike after the commercials that run during Sunday NFL games. Here’s a comparison of some of the purposes and features of brand advertising and direct response advertising: The important point to understand is that direct response advertising won’t work unless it is preceded by brand advertising, and this principle becomes increasingly important as the value of the product or service increases. Many consumers may be willing to take a chance on an “off-brand” box of pencils that are on sale, but few will make major purchases without first having some confidence and understanding of the brand. Branding – or “marketing” – is a continual process. You must always be making your brand increasingly familiar to your market as well as teaching your prospects the important differences between you and your competitors. Sales and the promotion of a specific product or service come and go. In fact, a time-limiting attribute in advertising is your best friend: Hurry, sale ends Friday! For the first 100 shoppers… New clients get 10 percent off their first visit all month These kinds of “hooks” are never part of branding. One of the biggest mistakes small business owners can make is to think that by blasting a group of prospects with an ad that touts a low price, they can make sales. Unless the prospects have been convinced of the general goodness of the product or service before receiving the low-price offer, the advertisement will fall on deaf ears. And here’s the tragedy in this scenario: The business owner may conclude that the offer was bad when in fact, the problem was that they hadn’t done enough good brand advertising to prepare the way for the special offer. Take a moment to review the chart above and consider the differences between brand advertising and direct response advertising. Then consider how you can use both of these promotional strategies together to grow your business....
read moreEmail marketing secrets: Use your RSS feed for instant content
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get content into your email newsletter without lifting a finger? Wouldn’t it be even better if you could automatically create and send newsletters with fresh content without having to put the newsletter together yourself every time? If you have a website and publish blog content on a regular, basis you can easily accomplish these “automations.” The key is knowing how to take advantage of your RSS feed. What is RSS? RSS stands for “rich site summary” or “really simple syndication” and it’s a way for people or other websites can receive new content from you automatically. Frankly, I don’t think RSS feeds are as popular with users as they were a few years ago, but they’re still around. Your browser may have an RSS “reader” built into it. Some people use third-party RSS readers. These allow you to “subscribe” to the blogs you’re really interested in and then receive a “digest” version of recent articles with links to the full articles. With my little primer on RSS feeds out of the way, let’s look at how they can be leveraged in your email marketing campaigns. RSS feed-driven emails To put it simply, many email marketing services – such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, and others – have built-in ways to grab content from your RSS feed and automatically put it into emails. MailChimp and Zoho give you the ability to automatically create and send emails when you publish new content via your RSS feed. The screen shots below show you the main screens for setting this up in MailChimp. When you navigate in MailChimp to the “create campaign” screen, you are presented with a drop-down menu that allows you to set the type of campaign you wish to create. You’ll find RSS at the bottom of the menu. Next, you need to input the URL of your RSS feed and select the days you want the email to be distributed. It will only create a new email when it finds new content on your RSS feed, so if you check the boxes for every day of the week but don’t create new content every day, it won’t send emails with old content out to your email list. You’ll go through various setup steps such as defining your subject line and then be taken to the overall design of the email. The block containing the code for pulling in your RSS feed will be preloaded, but you can add other elements, perhaps your mission statement or other content that you don’t need to change very often. Be sure you test your email before allowing it to go live/ Adding RSS content to your emails Constant Contact doesn’t offer full campaigns based solely on RSS feeds, but it does have a feature that allows you to pull in content from your RSS feed. This can save you the hassle of cutting and pasting content and creating links from blogs. You simply add a content block to your email, open it for editing and then – from the “Insert” options on the left – select “Blog Content.” Next, you enter the URL of your RSS feed. When that is done, Constant Contact gives you a list of recently published blogs; select the ones you want to...
read moreHow to diversify employee benefits for ongoing success
In today’s diverse marketplace, successful small business owners offer products and services that appeal to a wide range of people. You probably know that. But success also requires attracting and retaining loyal employees. Small business owners who offer flexible benefit programs will have a competitive edge in recruiting the strongest candidates for any job. But what does a flexible benefits program look like? First and foremost, it reflects the factors that define today’s diverse workforce, like generation, work style and family life. Generational diversity Right now, four generations (at least) of workers are on the payroll at many small businesses. A smart leader can greatly benefit from a multi-generational workforce. Older employees bring practical experience and stability to the table while younger workers bring a fresh look and a great feel for how today’s technology can be leveraged for greater success. Much has been written about the challenge of marketing to the different generations of consumers. Reaching Millennials, Gen-Xers, and Baby Boomers requires a wide array of advertising and marketing strategies. But less has been said about the need to craft your small business benefits package to fit the needs of these different groups. We know that a “one size fits all” approach to benefits has never been ideal, but frankly, a decade or so ago, it came darn close! Today, however, small business owners trying to skate by with a rigidly designed package of employee benefits are kidding themselves. Let me pull out some examples that highlight this generational diversity. Consider these situations: The health insurance requirements of 20-somethings landing their first entry-level position versus the needs of a Baby-boomer for whom retirement is within sight. The dental insurance requirements for moms and dads with young children versus those of families whose children are in their college years or beyond. The retirement plan options desired by young investors versus those of employees who are in their later years of employment. Customization fits the modern workforce The diversity among the team empowering your business today highlights the importance of being able to custom tailor your benefits package to your employees. Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers are well established in the workforce and to recruit the most experienced and talented in these groups, your benefits need to be competitive. I think every small business owner understands that. With that said, I want to put a little extra focus on Millennials. The popular media has painted a picture of Millennials that I believe is far too stereotypical. The diversity within the group we have labeled Millennials is beginning to emerge and be understood. If you follow real estate news you will have recently noticed that Millennials are starting to drive the housing market, yet we’ve been led to believe that they’re all living in their parents’ basements. And as they buy homes, start families, and plan for their future, being able to customize your benefits package will prove beneficial. It will serve as a foundation upon which you can build a strong team and long-term loyalty. MetLife’s 15th Annual Employee Benefit Trends Study drilled down deeply enough to unearth the differences among Millennials. The study often divides Millennials into two subgroups: younger and older Millennials. Metlife found, for example, that 61 percent of younger Millennials (ages 21-24) were concerned about their...
read moreThis week in small business: All your basic assumptions challenged!
There may be more variety in our curated content this week than ever before. We go around the world to see what women are doing in Liberia and Saudi Arabia and we feature several articles that will challenge your preconceived notions. Hang on to your hat! Leadership, management, and productivity While there are certainly many benefits, Nick Clements details five risks of using a small business credit card. Need to get up to speed on SBA loan basics? This article from Independent Bank will do it. There’s no substitute for good training, so Wakas Javed’s article on how to train for top productivity is recommended reading. Exactly what should you say to your employees and when? It’s time to master workplace feedback. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of wisdom in Harvey Schachter’s point that laziness is the secret to productivity. Think social media is killing your workplace productivity? Jo Disney makes a good case for the opposite. In this installment of Laura Emily Dunn’s Women in Business Q&A, she interviews Ammara Yaqub, who has been a major player in the fashion industry for many years. Have a great business that you want to take to the next level? Check out “4 Tips for Creating a Strong Franchise Infrastructure,” by Rick Grossmann. Marketing and sales Are you taking advantage of the three 2017 marketing trends Marie Flounoy covers in her interview with Kim Brown, founder of Centrally Human, LLC? Brian Sutter takes an unusual look at small business marketing in his Business.com article, “3 Big Ideas for Small Business Marketing.” Writing for Buffer, Ash Read shares seven secrets of successful video marketing. (I guess they aren’t secrets any longer…) Clip this infographic and stick it on your lunch room refrigerator: The Anatomy of an Optimal Marketing Email, by Sean Work. Lin Grosman gives practical advice in her Forbes article, “Six Ways To Improve E-Commerce Conversions.” If you’re ready to see things from differing perspectives, check out Andrew Stephen’s, “Challenge The False Dichotomies Of Marketing.” Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation After civil war and Ebola devastated the Liberian economy, new businesses – powered by young women self-starters – are finally on the rise, says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon in Fast Company. Let’s continue our world tour. Ellen R. Wald relates why business will determine the future for women in Saudi Arabia. Maybe you’ll need a pair of those new Apple wireless earbuds because Rahul Dubey says music can make you a more creative entrepreneur. Neil Napier relays the biggest business mistakes made by 14 entrepreneurs. Writing for Entrepreneur India, Aashika Jain explains how one Internet businessman believes that the next four to five years will be the best time to be an entrepreneur. “Forget seizing the moment. Seize the opportunity.” – Tim...
read more4 little-known strategies for creating powerful marketing blog topics
Coming up with marketing blog topics – ideas for your blog to market your business – week in and week out is difficult, to say the least. Quick tip: Have Evernote or a similar app always nearby so when that killer blog topic idea strikes you from out of the blue, you can immediately capture it. Remember the old Chinese proverb: The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory. (In our digital age, I think apps like Evernote are included as “ink” in that wisdom!) Unfortunately, for most of us, those random, great ideas don’t strike all that often, so we need systems and strategies to for creating marketing blog topics, and that’s what I’m going to share here. The accordion strategy When you have a good topic at hand, think about the subsections that will be included in the content. Usually, these will be subheads. Once you know the subheads, give them additional thought with the goal of making the strongest ones stand-alone blogs, or parts of a series. This expands your material like an accordion…but unlike most, it will be an “accordion” that’s music to your ears. Expand on the work of others A variation on the point above is to expand on content that others have created. An easy way to do this is to find the most popular blog topics in your subject area, scan them, put all the subheads in a spreadsheet, and choose the best subhead topics for stand-alone blogs. There’s a good free tool on the Internet that you can use for this strategy: Ruzzit. When you go to the Ruzzit website: Set categories to “all,” Set content type to “articles,” Set social network to the ones you feel are most appropriate, and Set time to a period that works for you. (The first time you do this, you might set it to “All Time.”) This Ruzzit search will return the most viral content. At that point, it’s your job to find the articles that best suit your niche, review them, and capture the subheads. These subheads can often become blog topics on their own, or they may inspire related topics to write on. Explore Amazon questions If you sell or manufacture products, or provide a service that’s related to a product, find the bestselling products in this niche on Amazon and scan the questions buyers have asked. I was just looking at one of those water filters that attach to your tap and found these questions: When using unfiltered water setting (Brita basic on tap filter), the water is white in color – as if there’s calcium. Has anyone else noticed this? A store selling these could address this concern as well as anyone who owns a plumbing business. How do you get a stuck filter out of the cone? This could lead to an article that specifically answers that question, but a better idea might be to do a longer article or series on troubleshooting these kinds of filters. I live in a modern house in Shanghai. Do you think it could be attached to a non-American faucet there? Addressing this question could lead to an interesting discussion of water and plumbing around the world. Review reviews Reviews of products on Amazon and other e-commerce sites as well as reviews of...
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