Category Archives: Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs: Top 5 Sites to Market Yourself

Posted on by
10

With marketing having fundamentally changed over the past several years, it is becoming increasingly important to have an online presence. And this is a great thing for those of us who aspire to operate as solo entrepreneurs or very small companies. Now, your voice can be heard loudly and clearly by more people than ever before. It has become so much easier and cheaper to get in front of new customers and prospects that a physical store is now an option, rather than a must.

As a result, if you are not taking part in the following communities, it’s officially time to start thinking about it. Your upside depends on it.

NOTE: to get a better view of  the below screenshots, you can click them to see a full-screen version of each image.

Twitter

Twitter

1. Twitter - I must admit it; I’ve become a verified Twitter addict (as if you couldn’t tell by my weekly Twitter digest on here). After having been part of various social media services over the past 10+ years, I really didn’t get the power of Twitter on first glance. But boy do I now. If you can’t afford or won’t pay for PR, then you absolutely need to get on Twitter and start engaging with folks. All it takes is your time and effort.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

2. LinkedIn – This is the premier business-to-business networking site, and it’s not just an online resume like some have accused it of being. Don’t just set up a profile on there and forget it. Connect with other professionals in your field and your locale. Join some groups and contribute to the overall discussion of the groups. [This is also a great place to promote your own blog or news.] Spend a little time answering questions when you can. You can even connect your LinkedIn account to several applications and social media sites/profiles now.  I have personally made important business and personal contacts on LinkedIn, so consider me a believer in their model.

Yelp

Yelp

3. Yelp – Holding true to the idea of word-of-mouth, this site lists local businesses and allows patrons to submit ratings and reviews of the businesses. This is particularly useful for retail, restaurant, or other similar standalone operations. Yelp is a great way to reach tourists who are visiting your city, but just be sure you are good enough to garner positive ratings on the site. The risk is that poor ratings are available to everyone as well. Go test it out as a user first to see how your competitors show up [ and to see if you've made it in there in spite of yourself]. Look for your favorite restaurant as another example. If you see it will offer value for what you do, get on it stat.

PitchEngine

PitchEngine

4. PitchEngine – A trusted colleague of mine turned me on to PitchEngine over a year ago, and I’m a bonafide fan of their model. The offer a “social media press release” service for free, which is syndicated to Google via an RSS feed after the releases go live. You can also embed images and multimedia files in the releases. I’ve used the service multiple times for various employers and clients, and have gotten better coverage than with paid releases!! But of course there is one catch: PitchEngine will only archive releases for 30 days on the free plan. You can pay a monthly fee to have them store indefinitely. Just do what you can afford and what is right for your business, and you can save hundreds of dollars vs. using a PR service. [Update as of December 2011 - Pitchengine has removed the expiration on free releases per their founder, Jason Kintzlervia Twitter: "Was just sharing your post that included PitchEngine (from January) Wanted to let you know, we've updated and pitches no longer expire! ;) "]

YouTube

YouTube

5. YouTube – Video isn’t just for media and television companies any more; everyone is doing it now. There are so many benefits to using multimedia like video to market yourself, from SEO to backlinks from YouTube to engaging a more visually-cognitive audience. Be sure you tag all videos with keywords you want to rank high in when posting to YouTube. I also recommend you post another copy of the same video on your web server, embedded into the home page or another location on your website. That way, you get the SEO benefit from backlinking from YouTube and you also get a shot at ranking highly on your own right. Video is most certainly on my to-do list for new features to add on Return On Now, and it really should be for your business as well.

What other social media services do you see as must-haves for small businesses and entrepreneurs? Catch me up on any great ones that I’m missing here!

 

Top 5 Resolutions to Kick Off the New Year

Posted on by
Reply

Hello and Happy New Year! At risk of joining a cliche fest, let’s take a moment to consider my top five recommendations for things you should address first heading into 2010. I’ll work to keep this short and sweet so we can move on with our New Year holiday festivities.

  1. Revisit your elevator pitch. What exactly does this mean? Spend a few moments reflecting on where your business is, where it has been, and what the most important benefit you offer is. Many times while networking, you have no more than 30 seconds to explain why folks should care about what you do. Literally, can you get a value proposition clearly articulated in the span of a short elevator ride? If you cannot, stop reading this post and get it figured out. You can come back and read the next few resolutions after you spend a few minutes honing your pitch.
  2. Begin with the end in mind: Where do you want to be in a year? Sure, look back at 2009 for things you can learn from or improve upon, but put it where it belongs quickly…in the past. Then turn your attention to how you will leverage those experiences to improve your business and success rate over the next 12 months. Set specific goals that you can measure and use to benchmark your progress. Most importantly of all, don’t procrastinate. Before you know it, you’ll look at the calendar and realize it’s already August. How much targeted progress will you have made toward your vision when that happens?
  3. Evaluate your expenses and time wasters, and cut the fat. The smaller your business is (running solo perhaps?), the more important this becomes. Evaluate all expenses for value provided. Look at where you spend your time, prioritize which are the most important, and determine which you absolutely must do yourself. Then, build an action plan for eliminating or outsourcing those activities which take time but do not have to be done by you personally. If you haven’t read The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, take the time to review the first half of the book. It will be time well spent.
  4. Take a moment to ensure your networking priorities are in order. Let’s face it, business is all about people. Too many folks spend their whole career focused solely on “productivity” while ignoring the part of the equation that can make or break their ability to succeed in the end…other people. I had to learn this lesson the hard way a few years ago, and it changed my philosophy on life and business forever. Replace some of those time wasters from #3 with productive networking. Set a goal for yourself…perhaps to make a new useful business or personal contact (some argue that you can’t separate the two, and I can’t say I disagree) at least every other week; even better if you can do it on a weekly basis. And stick with it. Good networking doesn’t evolve overnight, rather, it takes weeks, months, even years to really take off.
  5. No matter how good or bad you thought 2009 was, reset your attitude to positive for 2010. What kind of knocks did you take last year? Did you get laid off? Lose some customers? Say goodbye to a close relative who is no longer with us? Not to be blunt, but dwelling on it and feeling sorry for yourself will do nothing to help you have a better year in 2010.  I’ve been through all of these at various points in the past three years. They are painful. They can be scary and disheartening. But all situations are temporary, as are all pains. Things happen, and only we control how we react to them. In the end, the only person who can keep you positive and optimistic is you. So promise yourself that you’ll make this year a good one, then go make it happen!

Actually, after scribing the above resolutions, I need to take my own advice to heart. I think I’ll spend some time this weekend on these very issues. Hopefully the perspective helps, and I wish you all the best fortune for this exciting new year.

Before I close, I’d like to extend my thanks to my colleague Janet Fouts for including me in her blog post: 10 of my favorite social media mentors. I always try hard to pass along useful and enjoyable content, and this meant more to me than I can say.  Thank you and Happy New Year, Janet!

As always, thank you for your gracious time and attention. Please share any thoughts or feedback in the comments below.

The 10 Commandments of B2B Social Media

Posted on by
1

Good morning, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays. As I sit here awake early with  my baby awaiting everyone else (who, by the way, are still sleeping), I decided to share a little holiday cheer by way of my 10 commandments of B2B Social Media.

B2C and P2P are the easiest forms of using social media for most, and we have plenty of materials available in the blogosphere about how to attack those areas. But what I see lacking is a breadth of content about B2B.

So let’s start simple…10 important tips for how to use social media  correctly in B2B.

  1. Respect those who have chosen to befriend you, lest they move on. Yes, the various social media are great tools for reaching more eyeballs than ever before, especially if you are a cash-strapped small business. But you can never take it for granted. Social media got “opt in” right where email did not, and “opt out” is quicker and easier than ever before. Don’t forget it.
  2. If thine must pitch your product or service, back off the hard sell. If you want to play in the social media circles, there’s nothing worse than shoving your sales pitch down the throats of those who give you a couple of seconds of their time. Of course you can talk about your product, technology, reviews, case studies, etc.; just drop the used car salesman act or you’ll find yourself posting tweets and updates to no one.
  3. Buy me a drink before you ask me back to your apartment. Okay, the biblical verbiage got tired quickly, so onto other metaphors. Never forget that, regardless of communications medium chose, you are still dealing with real people. Engage. Show interest. Identify a need…first! Keep in mind you still need to use general rules of diplomacy and courtesy, whether face-to-face, on a conference call, or exchanging ideas on Twitter or LinkedIn.
  4. What I need is a chisel, or maybe a shovel, or wait, was it a pickaxe? Don’t get enamored with the tools. How many sites and systems have we seen for “getting 100′s of followers a day”, measuring Twinfluence (whatever the heck that is), and calculating the time of day tweeps tweet? Yes, use the tools right, but I long for the day when the conversation is more about what we are accomplishing via social means rather than where we are taking part in the conversation.
  5. Go to the land of your people, and you shall be rewarded. Remember the classic rules off marketing, even if they no longer all apply. Experienced marketing professionals have already figured out how to target the right audience. If you are playing around on a new social media site, make sure you can find them or you’ll just waste valuable time and effort on the wrong prospects.
  6. Be sure you have a way to lead your sheep to water, or you will be the one with thirst. Sorry about the “sheep” metaphor, but the point is pretty clear. Just talking to someone via social media doesn’t pay the bills. How are you going to drive them to your website? How will you get people into your sales funnel? How will you prove that this is where the lead originated? How will you measure it all? Sure, you can just look for some quick exposure, but at the end of the day, you have to figure out how to turn it into revenue.
  7. Watch what you say, because your potential and current customers are listening. That’s right, even if they’re not participating and seem like they aren’t paying attention, they are. Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t stand in front of a reporter and share. Because saying it on a social media property is just as likely to make its way to the press as it is your mom or brother-in-law.
  8. Pay it forward and it will come back two fold. This is a simple rule of networking that sometimes gets completely forgotten. If you want your network to bring you value, you must first offer value to them. Think about the Emotional Bank Account idea from Stephen Covey for example.  Believe in Karma or not, business is about people first, because they buy, spend money, share good experiences with friends, and ultimately, they make or break you.
  9. When in doubt, shut up! Quite simply, if your options are to say something dumb, offensive, or otherwise highly controversial, you are safer just to abstain from commenting. Unless you buy into the belief that “no PR is bad PR” and like to take enormous risks. In the vast majority of cases, discretion is more important.
  10. Keep it real, and keep it fun. While it’s crucial to take 1-9 into account, people want to engage with a real person with whom they can relate. Be conversational. Ask questions. Even crack lighthearted jokes. You want to build a relationship, just make sure it’s a potentially productive one.

On that note, I’ll get back to my holiday and leave you to yours. I hope the holidays are all that you hoped for them to be.


Balance: The Key to a Successful Entrepreneur

Posted on by
4

Before I dive into more meaty topics, I want to take a quick second to talk about balance and perspective. No matter what your chosen business niche, business model, or revenue approach, the context under which you operate must always remain consistent and balanced. What do I mean by that comment?

This is best illustrated with a story. On Saturday night, as a diehard New Orleans Saints fan, I had cooked up a big pot of spicy shrimp etouffee in celebration of the team’s pursuit of a [hopeful] 14th straight win over the Dallas Cowboys. My kids were running / crawling around having a good time as I sat down with a cold Guiness to watch the first half. If you saw the game, you know they didn’t do very well in the first half, and I was a bit frustrated.

As the second quarter passed the halfway point, my wife came down the stairs with my two-and-a-half-year-old. Apparently he was feeling a little warm, so she wanted to check his temperature. We all know that small children seem to get sick frequently, particularly when they’re around other kids a lot. Well, a minute later all I heard was “Oh my goodness, 105.2.”

Snap. My focus on the game immediately vanished, and nothing mattered except running to help her. You see, he had been coughing a little and had been sick to the stomach earlier in the day, but he was acting energetic and normal. But this sudden and immediate inflation of temperature was, to say the least, concerning.

After trying everything we could think of to bring down the temperature, to no avail, we called the doctor. She quickly evaluated the situation and recommended we take him to the emergency room. So off we went…

On the drive there, my stomach was in my throat. You see, he had H1N1 a couple of months earlier, and the stories of kids passing away from secondary pneumonia after catching swine flu started bouncing around in my head. What if this turns into something severe? I quickly began to regret everything I did all day that did not include spending time with him. Maybe I over-reacted, but when it comes to your own kid, you can’t make mistakes with their health. And you most certainly cannot take it for granted that you can get around to being with them “later when I’m less busy”.

Today he is much better, and it turns out this was a false alarm. But the message came through loud and clear.

Work Life Balance: Make it a Priority

Work Life Balance: Make it a Priority

Aspiration is great, but never neglect those who are closest to you. Balance work and family fairly whenever possible. Businesses and ideas come aplenty if you’re a real entrepreneur, but you only get one shot at getting it right with each kid, each member of your family.

Too often we hear of older entrepreneurs who look back on their life and regret that they saw their children grow up in photographs. They regret not being at more events and special ceremonies. They feel a need to “make up for lost time” with the very people with whom you should never let the time slip away.

So go out there and prosper, but by all means, cherish those closest to you and share your time, attention, and success. It will mean more in the end than even the fullest of bank accounts. Take a moment today to think about something fun you can do together. And most of all, never behave in a way you’ll one day regret.

As always, thank you for your gracious time and attention.

Social Business: What is it?

Posted on by
1

Welcome to the inaugural post on Return On Now. I’ll start out by focusing on high-level vision commentary for now, but you’ll see me delve much deeper into a wide range of topics in the coming weeks and months. But first, what exactly is this blog all about? I’m glad you asked…

We’ve all heard the abundant hype about social media and how 2010 is when it will truly reach critical mass. One thing is clear…it provides a platform where your voice can not only be heard, but amplified and passed along. While this is a huge benefit of using social networking sites, it also provides quite a challenge in attempting to measure the impact of conversations to which you are not privy.

So you measure the impact, not just the interactions.

Keep in mind that sites like Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook, foursquare/gowalla, and LinkedIn are all just tools that can be employed for purely social means, and most of them can be used to make business connections. The savvy business owner understands that this is just another communications channel, albeit one that is evolving before our very eyes. They also realize that the game is changing with respect to traditional media, and the world won’t be looking back.

Social Business is what we must all be moving toward as we plan for the future. It is about integrating all channels of communication from mass to social media in ways that make sense, and in a mix that is optimized to the business itself, its customers, and the budget available. It includes making support resources conveniently available through some social means. Open conversations can serve a massively beneficial purpose for businesses who choose to engage with customers directly on what to offer in their products.  And online promotions via social networking sites have already proven to be effective in many instances.

This is an exciting time, and I’m here to make sense of it. Come along with me for the ride…