A Simple Three Step Method to Dominate Online
I’m happy to have David Gurevich back with another guest post today. David wrote the wildly popular article 9 Powerful SEO Tips for your Small Business Website, for us a couple months ago, and today is back to thoroughly expand on his thoughts regarding SEO and what it takes to dominate online.
Be sure to check out David’s free 44 page special report detailing his core rules for business, available for download at the end of this article. Enjoy!
The Gurevich MCA Model
MCA is a simple, three step method to come up with products and content that will help you dominate online. It is the most basic concept of business distilled into three words, so it doesn’t necessarily seem useful – until you try applying it.
It’s based on competencies. The theory of competencies is basically that firms and people aren’t competitive because of what they produce. Rather it’s their unique combination of skills, knowledge and capability that lead to outperforming the competition. Ask yourself, what are my competencies? Taking the time to answer that question will help you think on a strategic level, not a tactical one.
Instead of thinking, how can I make my widget cost less, you’ll start to think, am I using my skills to compete in the right arena?
The MCA approach encourages you to take a step back, see what the market already wants, then use your competencies to respond appropriately. It’s proactive. When you come up with an idea, you have to find a market for it, which is a pain. When, instead, you listen first to the market then create your idea, success is that much easier.
MCA: Market, Content, Advertising
Market: Before there can be any product, there needs to be a need.
What do people want?
For most of history, figuring out what people wanted was extremely hard and one of the biggest limitations to starting a business. Most small business owners had to rely either on their gut instinct, limited market research, or what info they could get from larger sources, like magazines.
The internet, however, makes figuring out potential markets so easy. Here’s how.
Imagine that your small business is dedicated to providing dog toys. You know how to get high quality dog toys, but you’re having real trouble figuring out what lines would be profitable, and how to develop an appropriate portfolio.
Head over to the Google keyword tool, and plug in “dog toys.” And voila, you discover an amazing variety of market opportunities: Christmas dog toys, indestructible dog toys, latex dog toys, and more.
With increased sophistication and research, you can soon develop a list of product ideas that there is an existing need for. When you pay for the most detailed keyword data, and it’s not that expensive, it’s almost like getting a report detailing exactly how many people are interested in just what. Market research becomes super easy.
Keyword tools also work for creating great content pages. They fundamentally tell you what people want, which is always useful.
Content: Talk to me about what I’m interested in – I’ll listen.
People want “indestructible dog toys.” Now you create content centered around that idea and phrase. Content doesn’t just mean a page dedicated to selling indestructible dog toys, however. It also means developing useful resources and material for readers. You’ve targeted a niche, now you want to dominate it by being the best there is on the web in that area.
If that sounds hard, well, yes, it isn’t easy. But you’ll find that niches are specific and small enough that being one of the best in that area is not particularly hard either.
The search engine optimization section of the free guide discusses more about this and why it’s so important, but building great content does three extremely important things.
First, it helps your reader learn more about the subject, about who you are, and what you think. This builds trust, a connection, and makes you stand out. Second, it builds presence in search engine results. This means more traffic, more customers, more money. And third, it is the only way to generate links to your website, which are essential for the long term health and growth of your site.
Advertising: How come I’ve never heard of you before?
You’ve successfully found out what people want, indestructible dog toys, and have created a product that meets their need. Not only that, you also wrote/obtained some great articles about what makes a dog toy safe and why it’s important to have indestructible dog toys. Success is imminent.
You open a deluxe bank account to hold all the moola you’re going to be getting.
Then you realize that no one cares. You’ve done everything you’re supposed to, but no one is coming to your website! And without appropriate advertising no one will.
Advertising your content means getting it to the people who care about it. Once you do that, and if the content is as high quality as it should be, you’ll generate links and traffic. The traffic will stop when you stop paying to get the word out, but the links stay. And that’s a huge win.
The fundamental goal of advertising online is to get people to link to your site. The links do not go away and will generate good search engine results, meaning free traffic.
Why the Internet Means Almost Infinite Markets
“The firm is constrained by the size of the market,” – Adam Smith
The great economist Adam Smith wrote this hundreds of years ago, and it’s still true today.
Look at small cities. In them, you tend to get fairly boring and basic products and services. But in larger cities, like New York, some pretty cool stuff happens. You can, for instance, find a store dedicated to ceramic dolls made in the Ukraine next to a Macy’s. What makes things so different?
It’s All About the Size of the Market
Let’s say 1 out of 1,000 people are interested in ceramic dolls, a number which I’m making up, and which I hope doesn’t offend any readers. With that rate of interest, in a city of 100,000 people you have about 100 ceramic fans. But in New York City with its 8,000,000+ people, you have 8,000 ceramic fans.
The more people there are, the cooler and more precise products can be. That is one of the main reasons people flock to big cities, despite high rent and congestion.
What would you get in a city that is more than a hundred times bigger than New York?
Pretty much anything. Take a product so bizarre that only 10,000 people a month in the entire world search for it online monthly. If you target it properly, it’s not too hard to dominate that market, and if you, say, just get 10% of that market, you have 1,000 new customers. (This type of analysis, despite its allure is highly flawed, but the general idea is true).
No matter what it is that you care about, no matter how strange your combination of skills and interests is, there’s a market for it. If that doesn’t inspire you, then it’s hard to imagine what will.
Get David’s Free Report Now: The King’s Rose: How to Compete Online & Win (.pdf – 44 pages – instant download)
About:
David Gurevich has gotten on the first page of Google for multiple brand name drugs. It’s easy if you follow the core rules of business online, which you can read for free in The King’s Rose: How to Compete Online & Win.
David also blogs at Health and Life, a Medical Blog. If you have any questions, he’d be glad to help – if he can – and you can email him here.
Photo Credit: visualpanic
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10 Things Mom Never Told You About Social Media for Business
During your formative years you no doubt had important talks with your mother, where she instilled in you the values you carry with you today.
You know, important stuff like the birds and the bees, and how to use social media for your business.
Well she was probably right on when it comes to the birds and the bees, but she left a few things out when she went over social media with you.
Let’s clear that up.
10 Things Mom Never Told You About Social Media for Business.
Don’t Be Upset
There you have it. Unfortunately mom held back some info – but don’t be upset with her, I’m sure she wanted to tell you but just couldn’t find the right words, or felt awkward about the conversation. Maybe she didn’t think you were ready for it, and was just trying to protect “her baby”. Try to understand.
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Using Email Effectively to Grow Your Small Business
Welcome to day two of Email Marketing Summer School, where the goal of our class is to have you using email effectively to market and promote your business.
We’ve already covered why many email marketers are not effective, and given you the Top 10 Benefits of using email as part of your marketing campaign.
Today You’ll Learn
Today we’ll look at some of the numbers behind email marketing that validate it as a powerhouse in the world of marketing.
We’ll look at the factors that make email marketing so effective. And lastly go over a couple tips you can start using in your emails today to make them resonate with your list.
It Works!
Email marketing has the potential to convert readers into customers as well as any other form of marketing. The main benefits come from the ability to reach a much larger audience (who have asked you to send them information), in less time, for less money, and have instant feedback on the results. Pretty sweet huh?
I think there is a misconception that email marketing isn’t very effective because of all the spam email we receive. We think that spam = email marketing. It’s not, it’s spam, and you won’t be doing it.
When done correctly, with a proper plan and intentions email really does work, consider this:
A Look at the Numbers
- According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generated an ROI of $48.34 for every dollar spent on it in 2007. The expected figure for 2008 is $45.06, and the prediction for 2009 is $43.52. As such, it outperforms all the other direct marketing channels examined, such as print catalogs.
- The Ad Effectiveness Survey commissioned by Forbes Media in Feb/March 2009 revealed that email and e-newsletter marketing are considered the second-most effective tool for generating conversions, just behind SEO
- Shop.org’s State of Retailing Online 2009 survey of retailers found that "E-mail is the most mentioned successful tactic overall".
- In Datran Media’s 2009 Annual Marketing & Media Survey, 80.4% of industry executives said the email channel performed strongly for their company. This was the top result.
- A February/March 2008 retailer survey by shop.org revealed that email marketing has the second lowest cost per order (CPO) of any online marketing tactic. The CPO of $6.85 compares favorably with, for example, paid search’s CPO of $19.33.
To me those numbers seem pretty impressive.
Why Is Email So Effective?
By nature we are social creatures. Just look at the explosion of social networking sites over the past couple years. However, one of the most social things we still do on the internet is email.
We love getting and sending email to friends and family. Sharing information, forwarding jokes, and checking in with people we care about. We look forward to emails from people we know, we like the connection.
If done right, your email marketing will be one of the emails people on your list look forward too.
As far to the other end of the spectrum you can get from spam is where you’ll be operating. You’ll be making your email personal, and compelling. Informational, and looked forward too.
You’ll be building a relationship with those on your list, and that is the essence of why email marketing is so effective. As we discussed in the last class, you’ll be gaining their trust, building authority, and become a part of their inner circle.
Tips to Build the Relationship Through Email
When you email your customers and potential customers, those people who have signed up for your list to get more information from you, keep these tips in mind to build the relationship from day one:
You Don’t Sell – The Relationship Sells
Don’t treat your email list like a cash cow out there to do nothing but buy from you. Sure you can send a "BUY MY STUFF" email to 10,000 people and if 1% buy you just made 100 sales. But wouldn’t you rather build a relationship with your audience such that your list of 500 people buy from you every time?
80/20 Information to Selling
80% of your emails to your list should be informational, helpful, or authority building. The other 20% you can directly sell. Remember point number 1, you’re building trust and relationships…if every email is a sales pitch, that doesn’t seem very friendly!
Make Your Emails Personal
Write for an audience of one. Keep your emails sounding informal, and personal, much like you’d write to a friend. Everything should be spelled correctly, and keep in mind you are representing your business, but you don’t need to use the queens English.
Which sounds better?
You could do this:
"Matthew-
If I could have a moment of your time I think I’ve found a widget that will revolutionize the widget as we know it. I feel this widget will provide you with immense value, and suggest you consider purchasing this widget immediately as part of our special offer. Act fast, this offer will not last long, and you don’t want to miss this opportunity. Please come by our store for an instant 20% off!
Sincerely,
Widget GuyYour Widget Specialist for Life"
Or you could try:
"Hey Matt
Thought I’d pass this along since I know it’s something you’re interested in. I just found a pretty cool widget – does all the stuff those other widgets do, but a whole bunch more too.
Anyway, if you get a chance stop by the store and check it out, I’ll be around to answer any questions. If you decide you can’t live without it I’ll throw in 20% off so your wife doesn’t kill you for buying another one of these things!
See you soon."
See the difference? One is "selling you", the other is "helping you" by passing along some cool information. Keep it personal, you’ll be way ahead of the game.
Email Marketing is Not Drive-By Selling
This isn’t a quick hit kind of proposition. You’re emails are not intended to produce one major rush of sales.
To fully leverage email, you should be building something over time with your list.
You should get more “in house” traffic to your physical locations, some sales via the emails themselves, referrals, and much repeat business if you are approaching this from the right perspective – long term outlook.
In Summary
If you’re still with us I think you’re convinced that there may be something to this email marketing thing, and that it bears no resemblance to spam. The numbers are there to make it worth your while to explore as a marketing option, and if you keep our four tips in mind when you are sending out your emails – you’ll be building the foundation to an email marketing campaign that pays big dividends.
Homework
Brainstorm 10 topics you could email to your list that would be:
- Informational
- Helpful
- Trust building
- Authority building
No selling, no exceptions.
If you don’t have a list yet to email, don’t worry – you will by the time this course is over.
In Upcoming Sessions
In upcoming classes we’ll discuss how you can get your email campaign set up, get to building your email list, and then put it all together in a way that you can get out there and start using email to grow your business.
I know it sounds like a lot, but don’t worry – it’s summer school – and we’ll be going through all this at a nice leisurely pace.
Class dismissed…
Photo Credit: Mzelle Biscotte
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Five Reasons Small Businesses Should Make the Switch to VoIP
I don’t know about you, but I’m not real savvy when it comes to VoIP. Luckily for me (and anyone else confused by VoIP) Brent Thomson, CEO of Jive Communications, offered to write a guest post for us explaining the top 5 reasons businesses should consider VoIP.
Let’s see what we can learn…
What is VoIP Anyway?
Voice over Internet Protocol, more commonly known as VoIP, might seem revolutionary, but it’s really just the natural evolution of communication. Most businesses can already support VoIP thanks to their high-quality and robust broadband Internet connection. These connections are typically capable of transmitting more data than the users really need—much the same way that most personal computers are far more powerful than most users really require.
The bandwidth that has become available in the last few years has enabled small businesses to ditch the traditional telephone provider in favor of one that transmits their voice communication over their existing network infrastructure instead of over a separate set of dedicated telephone wires.
Get More for Less With VoIP
But why make the switch if you’re already getting the services you need? The answer is simple: Get more, for less. Since you’re already paying for the high-speed Internet connection, making the switch to VoIP has never been easier, or been more cost-effective.
Surprisingly for me, selecting VoIP as my first company’s telephone service did not come so easy. In 2005, at my first startup, our 16 employees survived on just two lines connected to a couple of cordless phones. As you can imagine, we got a lot of complaints from our customers that they couldn’t get through to us on the phone since the line was always busy. We realized we needed a real phone system that would give us voicemail, call waiting, transferring between extensions, etc.
Five Reasons You Should Switch
However, to get a system with the number of handsets we needed and the features we wanted was going to carry a one-time cost around $30,000, with ongoing fees added in as well. The solution we found was much different then we imagined: We built our own VoIP system, and included all the features we needed. Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about VoIP that I’d like to share with you now as the top five reasons you should make the switch:
1. SCALABILITY
Adding new lines to your VoIP phone system is as easy as buying a new telephone and telling your provider you have it. Depending on your carrier, there may not even be any additional hardware or “connection” charges. This way, you pay only for capacity you need.
2. FUNCTIONALITY
Many small business VoIP systems are based on software, rather than physical telephony equipment. The advantage of being software-based is that the provider can extend the capabilities of their system without purchasing new hardware. Their reduced cost per feature carries through to the end user and gives the customer some pretty high-end functionality at a fraction of what it used to cost. Some of these features include call queues, conference calling, transfers and forwarding, ring groups, etc.
3. PROFESSIONALISM
When a customer calls your office, you can’t afford to look unprofessional. The right system will help you portray to your clients the professional image you deserve. Using an auto-attendant feature can give callers options (like pressing 1 for sales or two for support) and route calls directly where they need to go. Two people working out of their garage can offer the same level of professionalism and sophistication as a large company with several departments.
4. PORTABILITY
What makes VoIP portable is that your phones will behave identically whether it’s in your office, home, or at a hotel in Tokyo—anywhere you have a high-speed Internet connection. With traditional phone service, your number is tied to a single physical location and moving to another city or state means it’s time to get a new number. However, with VoIP it’s as easy as plugging in your phone wherever you are and the same number will still reach you.
5. PRICE
There are two reasons VoIP is cheaper: First, there’s a healthy level of competition among VoIP carriers. There are no natural monopolies like there are with traditional telephone service. Second, VoIP utilizes your existing Internet connection, which means you no longer pay for access and usage fees on two separate sets of wires.
Once you make the switch and see all of the options available to you with VoIP, rest assured that you would be glad you did it.
ABOUT BRENT THOMSON
Brent Thomson is the CEO of Jive Communications, an enterprise-quality VoIP company that specializes in serving small businesses. Thomson helped develop Jive’s VoIP platform to offer a wide range of features including music on hold, extension dialing, unified messaging and online account management to its customers throughout the United States.
As the chief engineer, he created Jive’s purpose-engineered communications platform from the ground up to be fault-tolerant and extremely scalable without the enormous cost of other telephone switching platforms.
Photo Credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
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Technology, New Media, and Your Business
I’m happy to have Robert Tuchman, author of Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur’s Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own
The 1990s are over. No longer do we exchange 800 numbers—now, only URLs. URLs are the 800 numbers of the 1900s. You have got to work through the Internet—there is no way to step on it or go around it.
You Need a Web Presence
The first step is to build a website for your company. Your website must display the concept of who you are to the external world—and it has to compel them to come inside.
When building a website, take advantage of those looking for jobs in our poor economy: hire a young, driven web designer who is looking for a shot at success. All you need is a clear sense of the image and feel you want your site to convey to said designer. Once the site is established, keep it updated and always look to improve it.
A well done website can make your five-cent lemonade stand look like Country Time. Emphasize the fact that you can offer better services than some of your competitors (who are probably extremely large, impersonal corporations).
Web Communication Strategy
Building a website is an absolute must—as you cannot be taken seriously without it—but it should not suck up all the energy and resources that you have. Today’s amazing capacity for communication makes extraordinary new things possible for you and your business.
If you concept is solid, your timing is right, and your commitment to your core idea is unshakeable, you can make big things happen with your website, and make them happen quickly. But as with any other communications medium available to your business—free or paid—the message has to be crafted carefully, the resources invested wisely, and the potential and actual payoff evaluated closely.
Focused Communication with Customers
Your customers are, right now, communicating and connecting in ways that you could not possibly have imagined a few years ago. If you want to sell to them, find out what they are doing.
Make connections with your prospects and customers, both in person and online! Find out what they are doing in the virtual world—tap into their world of Blackberries, iPods, and any other realms that seem appropriate. Listen and learn all that you can about what is going on. By doing this you can identify powerful new ways to launch and promote your business and to target its message.
Don’t Forget Social Media
Check out Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linked In and other virtual networking sites. Make a profile!
Be conscientious with the information you display and the person you portray. Making an appealing profile on a popular a site as Facebook and Twitter can facilitate thousands of connections, and thus potential business opportunities.
Do this after your company website is complete (–now you can set up a system of link-backs!).
The Power of SEO
Once your website is established, and the concept solidified, you must make sure that your site is ranked at the top of the search engines of Google and Yahoo.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not an exact science—but there are already thousands of companies that are willing to bring you to the top of Google and Yahoo.
Make sure your website contains SEO-friendly text and link it with buying strategies that will help your site’s ranking.
Leveraging New Media
New ideas you come up with involving new media may not require much capital. For example, writing a weekly article for an e-newsletter costs nothing—and is extraordinarily beneficial when distributed to those in your potential customer base.
In addition to working up the appeal of your own corporation, you can also gain inside information on your competitors with the Internet—start with your competitors’ own websites.
Then, check out their Facebook and Twitter pages—see what they are offering to their potential clients. This will give you an upper hand when negotiating with someone choosing between your corporation and another.
Understand Generational Differences
Finally, know that your future customer base will include a younger generation who finds it in their second nature to use the Internet and e-mail.
It is essential that you understand that their first instinct is to email, rather than meet in person or talk on the phone. Make an effort to reach them via the medium they are most comfortable with—as they are, in fact, your future customers.
In Closing
The Internet is so sufficiently advanced that it seems to be nearly indistinguishable from magic. But do not be weary. The transport of word, of mail, of human voice, and of shining image—in this century, as in last, our greatest accomplishments still have the sole aim of bringing people together in community. The Internet is the means to bring people, communities, and corporations together now.
Robert Tuchman is the founder and president of Manhattan-based TSE Sports & Entertainment . He has been quoted as a leading authority in sports business by publications including USA Today, The New York Times and BusinessWeek.
Robert also is the author of Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur’s Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own
Want to be our next guest author? Find out how
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A Chance to Win $20,000 for your Business
Beginning Monday, June 22nd, small business owners will have one week to submit a question to Small Business Yahoo! Answers Pro, Kevin Salwen, former National Small Business Editor for the Wall Street Journal online at http://smallbusinessanswers.yahoo.com/.
If Kevin chooses to answer your question, you will have the chance to win the $20,000 prize. The winner will also have the chance to participate in a one-on-one interview with a lead Yahoo! Small Business Expert and have their business featured on the Yahoo! Answers Center.
Additionally, small business owners have access to resources from Yahoo’s Small Business Answer sites and Bank of America’s Small Business Online Community. For more information, see below.
- Yahoo’s Small Business Answers center is a great resource for small business owners, as they can visit the site to learn about a variety of topics through expert articles and previously posted Q&As.
- Bank of America’s Small Business Online Community is a free and open forum available to all small business owners where users can network, share, learn and exchange business ideas in real time.
Running a small business is hard. This contest is easy. You get a chance to win $20k, a great answer to your question, and some free PR, all for a couple minutes of your time.
Let’s get a Small Biz Bee reader to win this thing – Good Luck.
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Making $2,000,000 on Twitter Look Easy
Still think Twitter can’t be used effectively for your business? Think again.
@DellOutlet has certainly figured out a way to turn 140 characters into real money, to the tune of $2,000,000 in sales so far.
Dell posted on their blog yesterday:
We’ve surpassed $2 million in revenue in terms of Dell Outlet sales, but we’re also seeing that it’s driving interest in new product as well. We’re seeing people come from @DellOutlet on Twitter into the Dell.com/outlet site, and then ultimately decide to purchase a new system from elsewhere on Dell.com. If we factor those new system purchases that come from @DellOutlet, we’re actually eclipsed $3 million in overall sales.
That’s $3,000,000 dollars by leveraging social media, and Twitter, to work as part of their business model.
@DellOutlet has around 600,000 followers, and Tweets out deals to these folks on a regular basis. But a recent look at their Twitter stream shows, promotion is not all they’re about.
Dell is using Twitter as a way to interact with their customers, provide service, value, and build community. Heck, they even take part in #FollowFriday, where Twitter users suggest other’s that are worth following. Taking the spotlight off of Dell, and putting it back on their community has been a lucrative proposition.
If all they were doing is selling, I’m not sure they would have seen these kinds of numbers, in regards to sales, so quickly. They’ve gone to $2,000,000 million in Twitter sales in 1/3 of the time it took them to get to $1,000,000
They are using the medium as a way to connect with their consumer, not by building a sales funnel, but by building a following.
If you are looking to use Twitter for your business, or still aren’t sold on the ability of Twitter to produce real income for your business, use @DellOutlet as a case study of what is possible.
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Series Recap: Small Business Questions Answered
We’ve covered a road this week in answering Josef’s original question about starting your own business.
In a nutshell Josef wanted to know:
- How to decide it’s worth quitting a safe, well paid day job?
- Should the idea be revolutionary? Or at least novel? Or it may be rather ordinary, just betting on good execution?
- Should I start only once I have a detailed business plan with detailed market research, or is that just a perfection paralysis and I should rely more on gut feelings?
- What are the signs it could go well or all wrong?
Starting a new business can be exciting, nerve racking, stressful, and overwhelming all at the same time. It’s no wonder the idea of starting your own business is met with endless questions, second guessing, and some uncertainty about your ability to be successful.
Hopefully we’ve shown you over the past couple of days that there is a process to work through when considering going out on your own. But, it doesn’t need to be as overwhelming or complicated as it may seem.
In Case You Missed It
Just in case you missed anything along the way, here’s a quick recap of what we covered:
How to Decide to Quit the Day Job to Start a Business
The decision to quit your day job and start a business goes a lot deeper than just having a good business idea. In this post we answered two very important questions about starting your own business.
- Do you really want to quit your job?
- Is business ownership right for you?
We also talked about some strategies you can use to hedge your bets before you walk away from the steady 9-5
Is My Idea Good Enough to Start a Business From?
Lots of good stuff in this one.
You can spend a lot of time second guessing your business ideas, but what it really comes down to is “will your business idea make you an adequate return given the risk you’re taking?”.
We answer that in this post, talk about some business myths, and go over the most important aspect to consider when you are trying to decide if your business idea has merit.
Perfection Paralysis in the Business Planning Stage
Failure to plan is planning to fail, but here we talk about when you take the planning to the extreme and never actually do anything! We call it proactive procrastination.
Here we talked about the four main areas we see perfection paralysis creep in, and what you need to know to combat each and keep moving along.
10 Early Signs Your Business is Heading for Danger, and How to Avoid It
Essentially a list of mistakes I’ve made over the years, and a fix for each. If you can see your business heading for danger, recognize the warning signs, you have a chance to change course and save your business.
In Summary
With the articles above you have the information you’ll need to make an informed decision about starting a business. I think you’ll find that it doesn’t need to be as overwhelming, stressful, or scary as it may seem to you right now. It does take planning – but once you get comfortable you’ll soon find that is the fun part!
To Josef, I hope we’ve done justice to your question, thank you for providing such a great content ideas we all can learn from.
Want Your Question Answered?
Do you have a business question you’d like answered “on air” here at Small Biz Bee? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you.
Photo Credit: Viernest’s photostream
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10 Early Signs Your Business is Heading for Danger, and How to Avoid It
Today is the fourth part of our four part series in response to a reader’s question. If you missed part 1, 2, or 3, you can catch up here, here, and here.
We’ve talked a lot this week about taking that first step and starting your own business, and some things you can do as you prepare to launch your new business venture.
Part of the question that sparked this series was “Are there early warning signs that things could go wrong”. Here are ten that I can speak to from first hand experience, you probably have others – drop’em in the comments section so we can all learn something.
10 Early Signs Your Business Venture is Heading for Danger
Sign #1 You don’t know you unique selling proposition (USP)
If you’re starting up, or have already opened your doors for business, and you still don’t know what your USP is you’re in trouble. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know what makes you different, and why people should buy from you instead of a competitor, going into the venture.
Fix:
Spend time up front addressing what your USP is, before you launch. Analyze your market, analyze your competitors, and figure out where you can fill holes or gaps in what they do.
Don’t open your doors for business until you can tell me in a sentence why I should buy from you and not your competitor. Your USP can change over time, but those changes should be strengthening it, not defining it.
Sign #2 You have to play with the #’s to "make it work"
Having to play around with your financial projections too much in order to “make it work” is a clear sign of danger.
Fix:
Remember that you are creating the most conservative projections you can. If the numbers are a close call on a conservative basis, it may be time to pass on the idea.
Sign #3 You haven’t made short and long term goals for the business
It’s not good enough to open for business and hope for the best. If you don’t have some short term goals to keep you moving forward, and some long term goals by which to steer the ship, you’re sunk.
Fix:
This doesn’t have to be a long drawn out process, but short and long term goals absolutely have to be defined going in. Think about what your perfect business looks like in 5 years, then work backwards to today setting goals to get you there. Use the SMART goal process if you need a starting point to goal setting.
Don’t worry about being to exact, or shooting too low – remember Costco’s business plan set a goal to expand to 10 stores one day. Had they not set that goal, they wouldn’t have become the 500 plus store chain they are today.
Sign #4 You lack support
If you look around and you have no support structure from a business perspective, you’re in danger. If you have no support structure from a personal perspective, you’ve got big trouble.
Fix:
Having the proper support from both a business side and personal side is an extremely important factor for success. Look for role models or mentors to help you navigate the business aspects, and be sure to talk up front with your family and friends to rally their support before you get too far into the planning stage.
If you have a significant other, it is critical they are on board to some degree with what you are doing. It will affect their life as much as yours, you’ll want and need them on your side.
Sign #5 You’re having partner problems early on
If you and your business partner can’t decide who gets to sit next to the window without a debate or a near argument, you’re in for it in the long term.
Fix:
Before going into any partnership be sure to read 7 Steps to Effective Partnerships. And take the advice to heart, believe me I’ve lived it enough to know what works.
Sign #6 Don’t know your competitors, market, or target customer
If you can’t name your top five competitors, what your market is defined as, or what your target customer looks like, you’re driving blind.
Fix:
Due diligence early on is the only fix here. Use what we talked about yesterday to analyze your competitors. Research your target market. And write down what your perfect customer looks like, down to what they have for breakfast. You can’t know too much here, but be sure not to use this research as “proactive procrastination”. Once you have a clear picture, and are comfortable with it, you can move on – But don’t launch without it!
Sign #7 You’re not adequately capitalized, both personally or professionally
If your personal financial house is not in order, you business financial house may never be.
Fix:
Be sure you have some reserves personally so you aren’t stressed when the money doesn’t roll in from the business day one. And yes, it is going to take some money to start up, so seek out the lowest rates and best terms you can for the money you need. Don’t over borrow. If anything under borrow and bootstrap.
Sign #8 You’re expecting too much too soon
If you expect, or worse need, the business to be showering you with cash from the second you open the door – you’ve got danger on your hands!
Fix:
Understand it will take time for your business to consistently provide you with an adequate return. Expecting, or needing, too much too soon will cause you to push and make poor decisions. If you’ve done your plan and projections as I’ve suggested you know conservatively going in how long it’s going to take to get the cash you want.
Also, have your personal finances in order so that you aren’t depending on the business for too much too soon – now that’s a recipe for disaster.
Sign #9 Your marketing plan lacks a plan
Have you caught yourself saying “I’ve got $5000 for marketing, let’s just get some ads out there”? Well, there’s a big problem with that! Not having a marketing plan is wasting your advertising money plane and simple.
Fix:
You’ll need to develop your marketing plan early on. It’s vital that your customer acquisition strategy is defined early on, and carried out through your marketing efforts. Here’s some help developing your marketing plan. And some more on what your marketing plan should entail.
Sign #10 Excess creeping in
All right, everything is a business write off – time to get some $5000 office chairs!
Fix:
True you’re going to have business writeoff’s, but if you find excessiveness creeping in early on, you need to reign it in. Just because your business is paying for it doesn’t mean you’re not. Keeping expenses under control early is vital to success, if you wouldn’t buy a $5000 office chair at home, don’t buy one for your business either.
Coming Up
To finish out this series we’ll go over a quick summary of all we’ve learned about starting your own business.
Stay tuned…
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Is My Idea Good Enough to Start a Business From?
Today is the second part of our four part series in response to a reader’s question. If you missed part 1, you can catch up here.
The question at hand today is “Is your business idea good enough”? As we all know, “good enough” is relative, but I will provide some ideas for you to think through in answering that question for yourself.
Ask the Question Another Way
I hear this a lot, “do you think my idea is good enough to start a business?”…and normally what people mean is “do you think I’ll make money doing this?”.
The short answer is- most ideas you can think of are good enough to start a business around – in short you can probably make some money doing almost anything.
The real question is whether or not your business idea is worth the risk, and will provide adequate reward if it works out. For sake of argument let’s say adequate return is enough money for you to live on, at least replacing your current income.
So now the question changes once again, this time to “given my idea, what is the potential?” We’ll talk about potential in a minute, but first let’s dispel some myths about what your business idea should be.
Business Idea Myths
To make an adequate return, your business idea doesn’t need to be:
- Revolutionary
- Totally unique
- Game changing
- Competition free
Now, you’ll make a heck of a lot more money if your idea happens to be one of the above – but the honest truth is very few of us will invent the new wheel, or be so unique we become our own category.
You can make your adequate return, and then some, if within your business idea you can see your unique selling proposition.
Unique Selling Proposition
Simply put your unique selling proposition (USP) is the reason I’d buy from you and not a competitor. What makes you special, why do you deserve a share of the market?
For example let’s say you want to start a lawn care business. You know lawns, your tomato plants are huge, and the azalea’s in your yard are the envy of the neighborhood.
Great – you’d probably make a very good lawn care person, and make money doing it. But, will you make an adequate return?
Probably not if just doing lawn care is eh extent of your idea.
Take for example: Where I live there are literally 1000’s of lawn care people. Why am I buying from you, what’s your USP?
Your potential USP’s may be:
- Creativity
- Service
- Convenience
- Price
HINT – Best not build your USP around price. It’s a very hard way to compete, and only a matter of time before somebody bigger and more efficient comes in a does it cheaper than you. Don’t believe me? Try selling toilet paper cheaper than Costco.
Okay, so you tell me “Matt, my Lawn Care business will focus on organic lawn care that is pesticide free. I offer free same day quotes for service, and tailor my schedule around the homeowners.”
Hey, now we’re on to something. You’ve taken your idea which 1000’s of people do and turned it into a special offering. If I’m into pesticide free gardening, I’m using you and not your competition who killed my cat with chemicals last spring.
The Market Potential
Once you have your business idea, and understand what your USP is, the last piece of the puzzle in deciding whether your idea is good enough is to look at the market potential and assess if it will provide your adequate return.
Three questions to ask when assessing market potential.
1) How big is the market?
2) What share can I get?
3) Is that enough?
Back to your lawn care business.
You know your area has 10,000 homeowners. There are only 2 people in your area providing organic lawn care, and you’ve heard they aren’t very shall we say “customer orientated” – given that you think you can get between 2-5% of the lawn contracts in your neighborhood (a small amount, but you are offering a very specialized service).
That means you can get around 300 contracts from your market. You also know that each lawn is worth about $200/month in profit, which works out to a profit of $60,000/month or $720,000/ year. Is that enough? Is your business idea “good enough”? That’s for you to decide when you run the numbers yourself.
I know, I know, you couldn’t do 300 lawns a month yourself so you’d have to hire people which would cut your profit, but that’s a blog post for another day.
To Summarize
You can see that deciding whether an idea is good enough to start a business around is a relative question. The good news is most ideas have the potential to make some money, they don’t need to be revolutionary, and quite often you won’t be the “game changer”. If you know your USP, and your market well enough I’m sure you can see how an “ordinary” idea could turn into extra-ordinary profits.
Your job is:
- To decide how much you need for an adequate return,
- Do you have a USP, and
- Do the market dynamics offer enough potential to pursue it?
Coming Up
Coming up next in this series we’ll look at:
Stay tuned…
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Small Business Questions from a Reader
A reader of Small Biz Bee, Josef, recently asked me a very good question.
“I think a pretty interesting topic with rather limited coverage is how to decide whether an idea is worth starting a business. How to decide it’s worth quitting a safe, well paid day job? Should the idea be revolutionary? Or at least novel? Or it may be rather ordinary, just betting on good execution? Should I start only once I have a detailed business plan with detailed market research, or is that just a perfection paralysis and I should rely more on gut feelings? What are the signs it could go well or all wrong? Starting a new business may well be the most important decision in people’s life so no wonder it’s surrounded by endless questions and any guidance is highly appreciated.”
No doubt Josef is dealing with the myriad of questions that anyone thinking of starting a business goes through. And I agree, there is limited “real world” advice on the subject.
So, instead of answering all of Josef’s questions via email I’m going to answer them all right here in a four part series beginning tomorrow.
What We’ll Cover
- How to decide it’s worth quitting the safe, well paid day job to start a business
- Is your business idea “good enough”?
- Overcoming perfection paralysis
- Following the signs – early signs that your venture could go well, or all wrong.
Stay Tuned
That’s what we have on the docket in the next few days. I invite all of you to stop back by and check out the articles, and please lend your own expertise and opions to the subject in the comments of each.
Want Your Question Answered?
Do you have a business question you’d like answered “on air” here at Small Biz Bee? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you.
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Small Business Marketing – Easy as 1-2-3
Possibly the question I am most often asked goes something like this “What should I do to market my product?”, or “How should I advertise my service?’.
I then ask probing follow up questions, and that’s where it tends to break down. In the euphoria to get the word out, we can easily forget the process and method to the marketing madness.
Make it Easy as 1-2-3
You can make your next campaign as easy as 1-2-3 by working through the following – in order! Please continue to email me for thoughts and ideas about your marketing, but be prepared for me to ask you about the following:
#1 Purpose
What is the purpose of your marketing? On the surface that may seem like an easy question, but not all marketing purposes are created equal – that is not all are designed to immediately sell more product.
The purpose of your marketing can be:
- informational focused
- a teaser to intrigue
- a sales generator
- a lead generator (not the same as a sales generator)
- Word of mouth “bait”
- A call to action
- Brand reinforcement
You need to know first and foremost what the purpose of your marketing campaign is. You can have multiple campaigns with different purposes, but you can’t have different purposes for one campaign.
#2 Message
Once you know why you are marketing. You can begin to craft the message.
Ask yourself “what am I trying to say to my customers?” Your key, or central message to the customer needs to be clear, concise, and laser focused. You’re not trying to tell me what War and Peace was about, you’re giving me the first sentence and letting me decide how I want to proceed. You can have multiple campaigns with different key messages, but you cannot have multiple key messages in a single campaign.
#3 Medium
Only after you know your purpose, and your key message, can you decide on the proper medium.
This is where I see people go wrong most often. They start with an idea they want to use Youtube to promote their service, and then work backwards to the purpose and message. Only after you know #1 and #2 can you decide on what the best medium is to reach your customers with your message.
Think about your current marketing…did you work through the steps? If not, would your marketing efforts been more successful had you of?
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Don’t Get Caught in the Recession Trap
Headlines are proclaiming the recession and credit crisis is only getting worse, and as business owners it can seem like we are up against insurmountable odds in keeping our businesses afloat. In this guest post Zach Heller takes a look at some realistic steps small businesses can take to keep your business growing while others are sinking.
“Oh no, we’re in a recession,” you think to yourself, “How is my small business ever going to survive?”
“We’ll have to lay off the entire staff. We’ll have to cut our marketing budget. We can’t buy any new supplies. Time to buckle down and wait for them to tell me when it’s over.”
It’s time to take a good long look at the reality of your business. The recession is real, and it may be impacting us for quite some time, but it will not touch everyone. Everywhere you look there are businesses that are managing to move along quite well. And if you own or operate a small business, don’t get sucked into thinking that you have to be stingy right now. That could be the mistake that costs you your success.
The National Small Business Administration has eased lending to small businesses nationwide. That means that the tightening credit market may not affect you as much as the big corporations. And for many small businesses, the amount of credit needed is not significant enough to cause any real trouble.
Small businesses are nimble. You can come up with new and innovative ways to do business early and often. This leaves the door open to meet new customer needs, market aggressively without spending a lot of money, and offer a little compassion to your bigger clients who may be feeling the recession more than you are.
It’s true, some small businesses are definitely going to be affected. But many are not. Many have the opportunity to thrive and grow during this time. I am currently working with two small businesses that have seen increased growth in the past few months, and there are no signs of slowing. Here are a few strategies that your small business could use to grow while everyone around you sinks:
1. Increase your online marketing. It’s cheap and easy to run a couple of search engine ads. Develop a word of mouth campaign that your customers can use to spread the word.
2. Lower your prices. Your customers are cutting their spending. If you want their business now and in the future, cater to their needs. They will remember you for it.
3. Offer a free trial to potential customers. If you can take advantage of those people or businesses that are price shopping now, you can steal some market share from the competition. Now might be the cheapest time to attract new business.
4. Focus on customer service. People need to know that you care. Now, more than ever, a good customer service department can go a long way towards forging strong customer loyalty.
5. Create a detailed spending plan. Don’t be afraid to spend money, just know where it is all going. Find the things that are working, and do more of it. When the market comes back, you’ll find yourself on top.
Just because the economy is in a recession, that does not mean you are. Take a second to think for yourself. Could your business be doing more right now? The way to get to where you want to be is to be moving forward as everyone else is standing still.
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Zach Heller is the marketing coordinator for two online education companies, Lawline.com and TrueNYC. He is a contributor for two blogs, The Legal Beat and the TrueNYC Blog. He also hosts his own blog called Be Innovation at www.zachheller.com. He is working on his first book which is due out in 2009. Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/zheller
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The Secret Recipe to a Successful Small Business
Ever wonder if there is a common thread amongst successful business people, and small business owners that make them successful?
It’s common to think that really successful people must know something the rest of us don’t, that they have some business secret that has given them such success, right?
Jenna Jantsch, who works with VerticalResponse, was asking herself those same questions when she decided to interview three very successful business owners and see if they would divulge their “secret recipe”. Their responses were interesting, and should be quite telling for anyone who thinks to be successful you need to have some insider information that only a few are lucky enough to possess.
By: Jenna Jantsch
I work for VerticalResponse, a self-service direct marketing firm geared towards small businesses, you can just imagine the variety of businesses I encounter on any given day. But it never seems to matter if it is a salon, chocolate shop, marketing firm, film studio or a pizza parlor I am always blown away by the owner’s optimism, creativity and determination. After pondering these three ingredients for sometime I decided I needed to find out what the prefect receipt was for creating a successful small business. I asked three of the most successful small business owners how they took that leap of faith you need to start a small business. What qualifies these three to be some of the most successful small business owners? That’s easy, they love what they do and they can make enough to support themselves doing it. John Jantsch, a marketing and digital technology coach and author of ‘Duct Tape Marketing – The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide’ said,
It was the fact that I knew everything would work out – win or lose everything happens for a reason. That is something my parents thought me and I bring that with me in everything I do. John Jantsch – Duct Tape Marketing
Something all small business owners need is optimism. Optimism allows you to try new things and believe that it will work out. It allows you to trust your employees during the times you have to put your business, also known as your life, in their hands. It permits you to make mistakes while understanding that you can learn and grow from them. Connie Hanrahan, owner of The Mantooth Company, a marketing and event planning company said,
I sent out a direct mail piece to all of my contacts asking what I should do next. I had an overwhelming response that said to start my own marketing firm. It was good to listen to others which just fueled my initial gut thought that I could do this. Connie Hanrahan – Owner, The Mantooth Company
Creativity is what makes your next big idea different than the any other. Let the creativity flow, allow yourself to be inspired by keeping your eyes open. Being one of a kind is never a bad thing when it comes to your small business. And Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse, a self-service direct marketing firm said,
Starting a business and taking on responsibility for others will always keep you up for some portion of the night. That’s what keeps you going and makes you successful – you don’t want to let anyone down. Janine Popic – CEO, VerticalResponse
Having determination when starting your own small business is a must. Anyone who has done it knows there are sleepless nights and long hours in the beginning. Believing in yourself and knowing that you have a strong product will take you leaps and bounds farther than your competition. Optimism, creativity and determination are the three ingredients that I believe could make your next big idea into a thriving small business, even in this economy. In addition to an explanation of the three most important ingredients I was also reminded that you must never be scared to try. Succeed or fail jumping in is always the best way to go.
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Small Business and Social Media – A BETTER Approach
Social media is growing like the proverbial weed, and getting the attention it deserves. I think even to the most casual observer the effects of social media not only on individuals, but small businesses as well, is apparent. Most small business owners realize a need to leverage social media to grow their businesses, but in my conversations with owners many do not know where to start, or how to get the most out of their social media experience.
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Should they Twitter, Plurk, Pownce? How about Myspace, Facebook, Bebo or LinkedIN? What they do know is that they must blog, digg, and Stumble to be successful right? And at the end of the day they’ll want to post a video to YouTube, and upload photos to Flickr before going to bed.
With all these social media outlets to promote their business their only worry is when will they have time to work? My advice is this…the social media outlet is less important than what you do within the outlet. That’s why the B.E.T.T.E.R approach works. You’ll be concentrating your time and efforts in value adding activities regardless of what network you choose to be involved with.
For some small businesses that have taken the step to expand their social presence many feel like they aren’t “doing it right”, and for others they feel just having the presence is good enough. Both ideas are flawed, and if your business is approaching social media in either of these ways I hate to say it, but you’re wasting your valuable time.
So what’s the answer for small businesses to get the most out of the plethora of social media outlets out there? I’m going to suggest a B.E.T.T.E.R approach for small business owners which should help them expand into the opportunities social media is offering. It’s exciting times for small business, never has a business been able to reach so many people, so quickly, and with such little investment other than time. Again the outlet you choose hardly matters, what you do within that outlet will determine your social media success.
Belong
- Belonging is crucial. Wherever you choose to hang your social media hat you have to remember you are now part of a community, and you need to belong in that community. You can’t move to a nice neighborhood, be anti-social with your neighbors, and then expect to be invited to all the dinner parties. Social media is the same kind of neighborhood. You need to belong to the community, really care about what is going on with the members of that community, and make connections. Then and only then will you be invited to the block party.
Engage
- You must engage the community. Engagement comes in many ways, but it hardly ever comes from promoting your product or service. As a member of a social media community you have to ask yourself, “why would other members of this community care about me?” It doesn’t have to be that you have an over the top personality so people are automatically drawn to you…it could be that you asked someone about their hobby, or made a genuine comment on a photo they posted, that’s what makes people interested in you, it’s the two way conversation that engages. No different in the real world, you most likely talk with your neighbors about their kids, hobbies, what they do on the weekend, than the fact they sell life insurance.
Transparent
- You have to be prepared to be transparent. This doesn’t mean you need to post your company tax return on your Facebook page, but it does mean you will need to open up enough that people feel they know you. Again, they need to know you…the person behind the social media page, not the business persona. Many people know me as Small Biz Bee on the social sites I am a part of, but I am always willing to share information about myself, and sign my name to many of the post/comments that I make. It’s this transparency people enjoy, t hey like to know that I talk about business, but can also share that I love the Portland Trailblazers, and am a die hard U of O fan, that transparency makes me real, and it is a key factor to social media success.
Trust
- You absolutely need to build trust to thrive in social media. This goes hand in hand with transparency, as the more transparent you are the more people will be willing to trust you. Never jeopardize the trust you are building. How important is trust? Here’s an example:
- Britney Spears just tweeted this out to her followers on Twitter. Great, except we know that Britney rarely, if ever is really the one posting. Usually she has a publicist do it for her. Does this help build trust? Not really, like most I would take this with a grain of salt. On the other hand take somebody like social media expert Chris Brogan
- When he tweets this out to his followers we know for certain that it’s him, he’s taken the time to build that trust. Interesting to note who has more followers? Chris has over 19,000 while Britney, worldwide pop icon has around 7,800. Chris is more popular than Britney online, and it will stay that way as long as Britney keeps abusing our trust.
Explore
- Don’t be afraid to explore. There really is no right or wrong with social media as long as your are following the guidelines I am setting out here. Too many business have the antiquated mindset that they can’t just try something out to see if it works, because in the brick and mortar world they come from you just don’t operate that way. Those barriers have been completely destroyed with social media. You’d never buy 100 shirts with pink elephants on them to try out at your retail clothing store. If they don’t sell that would be a costly experiment. But you can post a picture of the shirt on Flickr, Tweet a pic out on Twitter, write a post about the shirt on your blog, and get feedback. You’ve risked nothing, and gotten invaluable information. Nobody will remember you as the weird shirt guy! The same goes with trying out different social sites. Get in their and see what resonates the most with you. Maybe you don’t get Twitter, but Facebook makes sense to you. You’ll never know what works for you until you get in there, explore, and try it all on for size.
React
- Social media is in a constant state of change as it evolves and matures. As a business owner spreading their wings in social media, you need to be ready to react to those changes. What if all of a sudden Facebook changes their business model and starts to attract only 16 year old girls? Great if you have a Facebook presence and your company sells Hanna Montana merchandise, but not so great if your company sells term life insurance. Be ready to react to changes, or shifts in the dynamics of the social world. What’s nice about social media is it is perfectly okay to say “YouTube was great for me last week, but next week it looks like it is going to stink, I’m moving on”.
Follow the above outline and I assure you you’ll see your social media presence expand and your business benefit. Get out there, have some fun, explore…and BE YOURSELF!
Don’t forget to take a $100 of our hard earned money just by sharing your story!
