Your small business YouTube strategy: 8 videos you should be using
Sometimes the world of online video can seem like it’s in an incredible a state of turmoil. Right now Twitter is either shutting down or selling Vine. Blab is being repurposed (maybe). Yet for your small business, YouTube is like the video Rock of Gibraltar. It was there yesterday, it will be there tomorrow, and it stands firm against all the currents that cause other video providers to spin out of control. This gives you the confidence to know that any content you create will perform for you day in and day out for as long as you want to keep it posted. And, while videos destined for being viewed by your customers are still a mainstay, they don’t completely define small business YouTube usefulness. Let’s outline some ways you can make better use of YouTube specifically and video in general. In-house employee videos. Create a private YouTube channel for your team. Use it to post training videos and important company meetings. If your employees have to perform tasks at computers, one of the best ways to train them is through screen-capture videos, which are easy to make and virtually free. PowerPoint and other slide presentations. Any presentation that uses PowerPoint (or can be exported to PowerPoint) can be saved in a video format. Useful videos for both your customers and your employees can be created this way. I know a teacher who relies on PowerPoint for classroom presentations. He records his audio while going through his PowerPoint slides and then posts them as video on a website for his students. When students miss class, they can easily catch up. Marketing. Almost any video you make will have some potential to boost your marketing, but also consider producing professional videos that would serve as ads. You may not be able to afford a 30-second spot on a local TV station, but you probably can produce a slick ad that you can put on YouTube and your website. Branding. You’ve seen the video white board animations where someone draws an illustration or the company logo. You can get this kind of video produced very inexpensively, sometimes for as little as $5 on Fiverr. They can be very effective on the homepage of your small business website. Customer service. A high percentage of small business YouTube videos fall into this category. You can show your customers how to do things with your products and demonstrate new products or services. You can answer questions. They often serve the dual purpose of customer service and marketing. They also help establish your authority in your niche. Vlog. A video blog (vlog) can serve a wide range of purposes and can be approached from many different angles. For example, it could just be you talking. It could be you and one other person discussing something. You could interview someone. You could take people on a tour of your business. You could translate a written blog into a vlog. You can do all of these things at different times. Need a little technical advice to get started vlogging? Check out this article by Susan Gunelius on how to create a Vlog in 10 easy steps. Testimonials. Social proof is one of the most powerful sales tools you have. Frankly, when I see a text quote on...
read moreHow to recruit and retain great employees with your benefits package
Tech companies like Google and others have increased their focus on employee benefits and perks to a whole new level of intensity. And, this heightened awareness has made benefits and perks more important than ever before. A new report from MetLife, “Beyond Medical: Why Small Business Owners Offer Added Benefits – and How They Do It” cites an important finding from a CareerBuilder survey: 55 percent of employees now consider affordable benefits more important than salary while job hunting. At first this seems surprising, but let me tell you why you shouldn’t be all that surprised: Salaries for professionals fall within certain ranges and those are well known. Generally speaking, when talented professionals start shopping around for a new job, they know what salary they can expect to land. What often makes the difference to job seekers – and this is where small business owners can leverage great influence – are benefits, perks, and company culture. Further, because Millennials have been raised in a world where Google-like benefits and perks have been the source of much publicity, I suspect they are even more influenced by benefits and perks. If you object to me holding out Google as an example because you think your small business differs greatly from the tech giant, I want to make some quick points. First, Google (and other tech companies) don’t offer these great benefits packages just out of the goodness of their hearts. They realized early on that they needed the best talent to become industry leaders and that kind of talent is scarce. Therefore, they started to use benefits and perks as a way to differentiate themselves in the job market. As a small business owner this is important to understand because these moves by big businesses raise the bar for everyone! For the last few years, one of the primary challenges holding back small business growth has been a lack of talent for job openings. This is reflected in surveys and in my contact with small business owners across the country. If you want to achieve the success you dream of, you need the best and brightest on your team and to do that you need to proactively differentiate yourself in the “help wanted” employment listings. Competing with bigger firms In fact, the MetLife report cites small business owner Bill Carr, the CEO of Jacksonville, Florida’s Retirement Strategies, Inc., on this point. Carr says that although his firm has long offered medical and disability, he found that he needed “a benefits package that looked more like what you find at bigger firms.” If you comb through comments employees at firms like Google make describing what they like about their benefits, you’ll see that many mention the great gourmet food, haircuts and company culture, but there’s another more important common thread you need to pick up on: They feel that the company cares about their families. Benefits that improve family life and help assure the security of the family are extremely important to employees and job seekers today. Honestly, family security has always been what “employment” is all about. In more simple times, that meant a decent salary and maybe health insurance. However, today with life expectancies much longer and job pressures much higher due to the online-email world that never shuts down,...
read moreSmall business management: When is it time to move on, dig in?
Persistence. We all admire it and without a doubt, it is one of the biggest attributes a small business owner needs to achieve success. However, sticking with a failed strategy too long can cause your entire venture to fail. So the question small business owners are always asking themselves is this: Should I give up on this or does it need more time? It’s not ab easy question, but there are a few ways to answer it or perhaps it would be better to say that there are a few different approaches you can take when you’re wrestling with this question. Know what takes time There are some aspects of building a business that clearly take time and you need to understand what they are in your industry or in your community. If you have experience, these areas are probably well known to you. But many new small business owners are venturing into personally uncharted territory. In this case, there is no substitute for working with an experienced mentor. Having an experienced and successful business leader in your corner can help you sort out the aspects of your operation that will take time and those that should be abandoned quickly. If you can get free advice from a SCORE mentor, that’s fantastic. If you can’t find a good fit via that route, consider hiring a coach. You must see this expense as an investment in your future and a way to prevent you from making costly mistakes. If a good coach can help you safely navigate around some money holes, it will be money well spent. Also, I assume that you’re reading articles and blogs, and finding advice or ideas in those places. If you encounter some impressive success stories where everything fell into place quickly for the owner, be skeptical. Those are often untrue or fail to include many important details. Long-term, industry-leading success comes from a long string of good decisions where the business owner is repeatedly making incremental 1-percent improvements. Overnight success is virtually always preceded by months and years of hard work. Throw the spaghetti against the wall When you have the opportunity to try a variety of strategies to improve your operation or solve a problem, give them all a chance via a short and inexpensive trial run. Then analyze your results and decide how to proceed. Understand that the “losers” aren’t necessarily bad. When you do comparisons like this, it should result in prioritization more than elimination. Invest in your most promising strategy or procedure first and once you have a good idea of its full potential, then give your second-place finisher a bigger trial run. The beauty of these kinds of comparison tests is that they teach you a lot. You’ll learn some unexpected lessons that you’ll ultimately be able to apply elsewhere in your business. Online marketing warning I wanted to take just a moment to give you a special warning about “all things digital.” If there’s one truth about the Internet that I think we could all agree on it’s that things get “over hyped” in a nanosecond. Further, the power and the reach of the Internet naturally create expectations that are too big and prove to be unreasonable. We read blogs about how a person starts selling via an...
read moreThis week in small business: Win-win with women!
Women in Business month is behind us now, but articles featuring successful women and their role in boosting our economy are still proving to be popular. We have three of them this week, along with other inspiration and practical advice for the entrepreneur and small business owner. Leadership, management, and productivity A. Scott Anderson, CEO and president of Zions Bank, says that empowering women employees is a win-win for businesses. That same basic idea from another perspective looks at women stepping forward in agriculture. And, here’s one more article highlighting women in business: The story of Carissa Clark, CEO of SheroBox. Don’t become a cautionary tale yourself. Learn from others: 9 Ways Ecommerce Merchants Fail In The First Year. One of the most important things you can do is equip your business with the right technology. This piece by Sarah Landrum will help you choose wisely. Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur reportedly making $135,000 a month. In this article he shares two productivity hacks that help balance a side hustle with family life. Marketing and sales Is traditional marketing dead? This Forbes article full of Instagram success stories makes us think that could be the case. In this article I wrote for AT&T, I give you three social media tips that will help keep your customers smiling. Mapping your Excel spreadsheet transforms your location-based sales data into live, interactive maps that you can share with your team. Here’s how to do it. Sameer Patel discusses the six things he’s learned about marketing automation during his first 60 days working at Kahuna. Do they make a patch to cure you of the 10 old habits that ruin sales and customer service? In any case, reading this article is step number one. Tips for coming up with social media content ideas is always appreciated. Here are eight to help you out. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation You can learn a lot from unusual sources, like this one-legged Mumbai entrepreneur. Take a moment and be inspired. Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Check yourself against these five key characteristics. Let the 2017 articles begin! 5 Marketing Trends Startups Need To Be Ready For In 2017, by AJ Agrawal. This is good news: Meggen Taylor believes that traveling more can help you hone the skills you need to be a successful entrepreneur. Start packing! Politics, government, and the economy Isobel Finkel makes the case that the economy is so normal that it’s abnormal! The hand-wringing narrative doesn’t match reality, Finkel...
read moreThis week in small business: Win-win with women!
Women in Business month is behind us now, but articles featuring successful women and their role in boosting our economy are still proving to be popular. We have three of them this week, along with other inspiration and practical advice for the entrepreneur and small business owner. Leadership, management, and productivity A. Scott Anderson, CEO and president of Zions Bank, says that empowering women employees is a win-win for businesses. That same basic idea from another perspective looks at women stepping forward in agriculture. And, here’s one more article highlighting women in business: The story of Carissa Clark, CEO of SheroBox. Don’t become a cautionary tale yourself. Learn from others: 9 Ways Ecommerce Merchants Fail In The First Year. One of the most important things you can do is equip your business with the right technology. This piece by Sarah Landrum will help you choose wisely. Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur reportedly making $135,000 a month. In this article he shares two productivity hacks that help balance a side hustle with family life. Marketing and sales Is traditional marketing dead? This Forbes article full of Instagram success stories makes us think that could be the case. In this article I wrote for AT&T, I give you three social media tips that will help keep your customers smiling. Mapping your Excel spreadsheet transforms your location-based sales data into live, interactive maps that you can share with your team. Here’s how to do it. Sameer Patel discusses the six things he’s learned about marketing automation during his first 60 days working at Kahuna. Do they make a patch to cure you of the 10 old habits that ruin sales and customer service? In any case, reading this article is step number one. Tips for coming up with social media content ideas is always appreciated. Here are eight to help you out. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation You can learn a lot from unusual sources, like this one-legged Mumbai entrepreneur. Take a moment and be inspired. Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Check yourself against these five key characteristics. Let the 2017 articles begin! 5 Marketing Trends Startups Need To Be Ready For In 2017, by AJ Agrawal. This is good news: Meggen Taylor believes that traveling more can help you hone the skills you need to be a successful entrepreneur. Start packing! Politics, government, and the economy Isobel Finkel makes the case that the economy is so normal that it’s abnormal! The hand-wringing narrative doesn’t match reality, Finkel...
read moreGoing Global Offers Growth Opportunity for Small Businesses
41190798 – global business people commuter walking success growth concept Looking for ways to increase your business growth? You may want to look outside the United States. Ninety-five percent of the world’s purchasing power lies outside U.S. borders, yet according to the Small Business Administration, less than one percent of America’s nearly 30 million small businesses are involved in exporting. According to a study by the Institute for International Economics, U.S. companies that export not only grow faster, but are nearly 8.5 percent less likely to go out of business than non-exporting companies. As I travel across the country speaking to small and mid-sized businesses about growth opportunities, I frequently hear a reluctance to do business internationally because of the complexities involved with international trade. I can certainly understand those concerns if the nature of the small business requires a physical presence or personnel in a foreign country. However today, many small businesses are conducting their businesses online which means the minute you’re “open for business” you have the ability to reach consumers around the globe. The founders of Dream Beard, Ryan and Brittany Lane, started their business on Birttany’s father’s dinning room table. The company which provides products for men’s facial hair is one of the first of its kind and it grew very quickly. Four months after they started they had sold products in over 35 countries. “If you are in e-commerce, I would ask ‘Why not?’ Why not case your net into bigger waters?”, says Ryan Lane. To be successful in the global market, here are five tips to keep in mind. Be prepared to fulfill shipments quickly. Demand from customers, whether domestic or international, is exciting, but if you can’t get your product to them in a timely and cost effective manner, you run the risk of losing business and damaging your brand. There are myriad resources on the Internet that provide logistical support. Shop around to see which one best fits your business needs. The Ryan’s, who say they had no clue what they were doing in the business, turned to Federal Express. “When we went into the international market, we knew we wanted something reliable and fast. We didn’t have any experience, but we knew they had all the experience in the world, and we could tap into that. We see ourselves as a premium brand, and we wanted to partner with a premium brand.” Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Often times eager small business owners jump at every opportunity which results in poor performance. Begin your global growth by focusing on one country for starters to ensure your domestic business is kept in order. Additionally, do your research to make sure your product fits with the country’s culture. I remember when my friend, Margaret McEntire, started franchising her business, Candy Bouquet, in the Middle East, she learned not all her products would fly. A shipment of cupid ornaments to her franchisees was held-up and eventually destroyed because cupid is no acceptable in that culture. Even your website colors can be interpreted differently so choose wisely. Learn the market and adapt to its customs and regulations. You need to be somewhat knowledgeable about how customers is handled in the countries you’re doing business with. If you find yourself overwhelmed by the...
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