If you’ve heard about Google’s newest social media platform, Google +, and wonder if it’s worth the hype, let me give you an overview so you can decide for yourself.
What It Is
Google + is a little like Facebook in that you can post updates (with no limit on characters), photos, videos and links. How it differs is that you can better target your contacts through Circles. Essentially, you can group people together (Co-Workers, People I Know Through Social Media) and target your updates to specific groups. You can also create Hangouts, which are video chats with up to 10 participants.
What It Offers Businesses
Just recently, G+ rolled out its Business Pages, which are pretty similar to their counterpart on Facebook. You can interact with the people in your Circles as your business, which can be good for branding. But as far as I can tell, there’s no extraordinary benefit of G+’s Business Pages over Facebook’s.
What’s Happening Right Now
Understandably, as a new platform, it’s a bit quiet on G+ right now. It’s only got just over 25 million users, to Facebook’s 800 million, so understandably there’s not as much activity there…yet. It can be frustrating if you’re trying to embrace the platform, but there’s no one really saying much or listening to your updates.
Is It Worth Your Time?
I’ve been on both sides of this answer. At first I said G+ was a waste of time. Who needs yet another social media site to have to post to? But I realize I might change my tune. I check in about once a week (whereas I am on Facebook daily) and try to update my status and read other updates. If adoption picks up speed, there may be more value for business owners to dedicate more time on the site.
One big benefit to having your business present on G+, if only nominally, is that Google (naturally) seems to rate G+ pages higher in search results. Google says that if you follow its instructions to set up your company through its Direct Connect program, anyone who searches for “+” and your company name on Google (as listed on your G+ Page), they’ll be taken directly to your G+ Business Page. Unfortunately, I can’t get this feature to work for my business. And having them go there versus my company website? I’m not sure there’s much benefit for me.
My suggestion is to set up a G+ account and spend a week or two playing around with it. Feel free to add me to your Circles. Set up a Page for your business. See which of your contacts and customers are actually using Google +. Then you can decide if it’s worth the time investment to have a strong presence on the site.
Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, an internet marketing firm specializing in marketing communications, copywriting and blog posts. She’s written two books: 101 Entrepreneur TipsandInternet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs, and has blogged for several sites, including The Marketing Eggspert Blog, as well as Mashable, Small Business Trends, FutureSimple, BizLaunch and Lead411. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.
So, here we are in the first month of 2012. How many of you whose business year corresponds with the calendar year have your plan written? Better yet, how many have taken action on the plan?
In my fifteen years in business, many of them spent assisting other business owners develop robust goals and action plans, I continue to be amazed at how many individuals think that drafting goals and action plans is nothing but a paper and pen exercise; that they are nothing more than stacks of paper to join the already ceiling high stacks of paper. All the planning in the world won’t help you run your business if all you do with the documentation is file it away until you get into trouble. Then, it will be too late to pull it out and dust it off. The famine will be upon you.
Often, business owners tell me that they are too busy running their businesses to take the time to review their plans, or develop the systems to sustain the actions that will deliver on the goals they set. All business owners who want long term success have to pause periodically and reflect on their goals and actions. Are you doing the right things in the right order at the right time? The small amount of time required to review your actions and systems can save you both time and resources in the long run. There may be things you can stop doing, things that require refinement, and things which are making the strongest contribution to your company.
When you are in action and building systems you have to know what it takes to run your business and how systematizing those operations will benefit you. Start with looking at your lead generation. What is your system to ensure your marketing and sales funnels remain full? Do you use advertising to generate leads? A website? Referrals? And do you have a process to follow in each case?
Here is a list of other business activities that may lend themselves to systemization:
• Social networking system for Twitter, Facebook, Linked In
• Invoicing system
• Accounting system
• Product creation system
• Customer support system
• Client retention system
Any of these systems will take time to develop and you will always be looking to improve them. But the documented step-by-step processes you develop will free you to engage in productive, profitable work, not just busy work that yields nothing. It’s still early in the year, so ready, set… take planned action.
The number of people who actively use Facebook has reached epic proportions. Last year the site had approximately 500 million active users and over this past year it has grown to over 800 million users. As the number of users continues to grow, so too does the amount of time we spend on Facebook. According to one article, Facebook accounts for about 16% of our total time spent online.
Perhaps one reason people are spending more time on Facebook is because they’re enthralled with games that can be played on the site. If you’ve ever played a game on Facebook – you know how addicting these games can be. One game I’ve been obsessed with recently is called Mousehunt. Founded by a social gaming company called HitGrab, Mousehunt has been attracting hundreds of thousands of players since its inception in 2008.
This week I sat down with HitGrab’s Co-Founder Bryan Freeman to hear about how he started the company. “I used to work at a dotcom,” he said, “but then I started doing some marketing work on the side to make a few extra dollars.” After earning seed money, Bryan and his Co-Founder Joel Auge decided to start a new venture. “Originally, we started out doing some web-based experiments to see what stuck,” said Bryan. After dabbling in a few different areas, the duo started working on Facebook development and noticed there was a bigger opportunity in creating games for the popular website.“One night we came up with a concept about catching mice, and when we shared it with everyone at the office they thought we were mad,” laughs Bryan. But after the initial shock, the team saw the potential for the game and then they spent the next couple of years developing it.
The game’s revenue model is similar to many online games. The game is completely free for people to play, but players can buy additional features if they want an enhanced gaming experience. I was shocked when I heard who the paying audience was made up of. “In Singapore we have an audience that’s really young, in the UK we have an audience of middle aged women, and in the US it’s completely mixed,” he said.
The widespread appeal of the game is a big part of HitGrab’s success. As HitGrab employees shared the game with their friends and family members, the game went viral and more people started joining all over the world. “It really was amazing to see how fast the game caught on, and we were shocked to see our players come from all over the world” said Bryan. To reward their success, Facebook gave the company 1 of 5 coveted grants for $250,000.
“The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. As a practice, it consists in coordination of four elements called 4P’s: (1) identification, selection, and development of a product, (2) determination of its price, (3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer’s place, and (4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy.
As a philosophy, marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. Marketing differs from selling because (in the words of Harvard Business School’s emeritus professor of marketing Theodore C. Levitt) ‘Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs.’”1
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing.html
The essence of marketing is to understand your customers’ needs and develop a plan that meets those needs. There are four goals of marketing: acquiring more customers, persuading each customer to buy more products, persuading each customer to buy more expensive products or up selling each customer, and/or persuading each customer to buy more profitable products. All four of these areas can increase your revenue and profit, but it depends on your own business model and budget which you pursue.
There are only so many marketing resources
When it comes to your marketing strategy, keep in mind the importance of knowing your target. By taking time pitch your sales and marketing efforts to the correct niche market you will be more productive and not waste your efforts or time.
Perhaps it would be most effective for you to market by creating a well rounded program that combines sales activities with your marketing tactics. Your sales activities will not only decrease your out-of-pocket marketing expense but it also adds the value of interacting with your prospective customers and clients. This interaction will provide you with information that is priceless.
Here are a few other marketing tactics to consider:
• Participate in co-op advertising.
• Take some time to send your existing customers referrals and buying incentives.
• Tell memorable stories that provide specific and practical examples of what you have done for clients. Use real projects you completed or problems you solved. If you are new business owner, create realistic scenarios about how you would help your ideal client.
• Create a short (2-3 minutes only) and compelling video that succinctly explains your product or service. This video not only informs, but entertains and/or personalizes you and your company. This can be done quickly and easily using a camera like a flip video. Then post the video to your site and as many video sharing sites as possible. The internet is a powerful marketing leveller!
By being diligent and consistent in your marketing and by creating real value for customers your business can grow, even during challenging economic times.
Businesses, just like people, can benefit from well-tailored New Year’s resolutions. Simply by setting these resolutions (or goals), you’ll be more likely to make them happen. But there are a few things you should know to ensure your resolutions work.
1. They must be realistic. Setting impossible goals will only frustrate you. Instead, focus on resolutions that are achievable. If you increased profits by 30% last year, set this year’s resolution to 40%. Aim high, but within reason.
2. They should be measurable. Use numbers and percents to really home in on what you want out of your resolutions. You don’t just want “more” clients; you want 10 new clients in 2012. That way, at the end of the year, you can see how close you came to your goals.
3. You must take action to make them happen. No resolution will just happen without hard work. Break down each goal into action steps, and assign them to the appropriate employee. Create a sort of project plan to make each one a reality by year’s end.
4. You have to keep your list where you can see it. Just like your marketing plan, your list of New Year’s resolutions won’t do you any good squirreled away on your computer or in a drawer. Post the list to your wall as a daily reminder of what you want to achieve this year.
5. You need support. If you run a company with employees, you need their buy-in to make these business resolutions happen. Hold a meeting in January to discuss what should be on the list, and encourage your staff to feel vested in your company’s success.
What Type of Resolutions Should My Company Have?
Your goals will be different from any other company’s, but here are some ideas to get you thinking:
- Increase revenues by X%.
- Get Y more clients.
- Increase average client monthly retainer to Z.
- Get X% more leads from social media/blogging/speaking engagements.
- Break into the Y niche.
You start to get an idea of what your own resolutions should look like. Making resolutions each new year can help your company grow, and it can also be interesting to look back to see what your goals were a few years ago. The way your company has changed over the years will be obvious when you see how your goals have changed!
Photo: Stock.xchng user pedjami. Royalty free.
Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, an internet marketing firm specializing in marketing communications, copywriting and blog posts. She’s written two books: 101 Entrepreneur Tips andInternet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs, and has blogged for several sites, including The Marketing Eggspert Blog, as well as Mashable, Small Business Trends, FutureSimple, BizLaunch and Lead411. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.
Now that the holidays are nearly over, it’s time to think about your marketing strategy for next year. You do update your marketing plan each year, don’t you??
With technology moving 90 to nothing, your marketing plan likely isn’t the same as it was two years ago. Now we’ve got daily deals, social media and blogs taking precedence, where billboards and print advertising were hot a few years ago. It’s time to brush off your plan and make sure it’s current to your marketing needs.
Step 1: Review What Worked This Year
Look at the marketing tactics you used in 2011. What worked? What didn’t? Focus on the strategies that worked well and aim to ramp up efforts and budget in these areas, while culling those that were less successful. I’m willing to bet social media played a role in your success this year. So why not add to your plan more efforts on Twitter, Facebook, and yes,
Google +?
Look at partnerships. Who was a great advocate of your brand this year? Maybe it was a customer, or a blogger who wrote about your products. Find a way to work with these brand evangelists again in 2012 through a more structured program.
Step 2: Create Action Items
A plan doesn’t go very far if you don’t have action items to accompany it. For each strategy in your plan, list out what needs to be done to make that happen. For example:
Goal: Increase clickthroughs to site from Twitter, Facebook and G+.
Action items:
- Add X followers to each site weekly
- Increase daily postings to Y
- Start asking daily question tied to blog post
Once you have your action items, assign them to someone and set a due date. If it’s a weekly task, like the one above, plan for a weekly or monthly followup to ensure it’s on track. At the end of the year, you should be able to look back and make sure that all tasks were done, which means your goal should be achieved!
Step 3: Discuss the Plan
If you’ve got a team, they need to be in on the marketing plan. Hold a meeting to discuss the plan and let them weigh in with their own ideas. They’ll feel more vested in the success of this plan if you listen to their input.
Step 4: Check Back In
Once your marketing plan is finalized, don’t forget about it! Set a reminder on your calendar each month or quarter to see the progress. If a new social tool comes out in February (and likely it will), you may want to experiment with it as part of the strategy; you certainly don’t want to wait until next year to try it out! A marketing plan is meant to be a living, breathing thing. It’s meant to be changed and updated as often as you need to, so keep it visible!
Photo: Stock.xchng user paolamuria. Royalty free.
A brand reflects the perception of how your market, clients and customers, think of your business. A brand also represents the immediate tangible and intangible images, emotions, or perceptions people have when they think of you. Brands create a perception in the minds of the customers that there is no other product or service on the market that is quite like yours. A brand promises to deliver value upon which consumers and prospective purchasers can rely to be consistent over time.
Here are just a few benefits you can enjoy when you create a solid brand:
• A strong brand influences the buying decision and shapes the customer’s experience.
• Branding creates trust and an emotional attachment to your product or company that then influences your market to make decisions based, at least in part, upon emotion– not necessarily just for logical or intellectual reasons.
• A strong brand can command a premium price.
• Branding helps make purchasing decisions easier.
• A strong brand signals that you want to build customer loyalty, not just sell product.
• A strong branding campaign will also signal that you are serious about marketing and that you intend to be around for a while.
• Branding builds name recognition for your company or product.
• A brand will help you articulate your company’s values and explain why you are competing in your market.
Branding consists of three layers:
• Brand awareness is an understanding of what sets you apart from the competition.
• Strategic awareness occurs when not only does the person recognize your brand, but you have differentiated your brand in the mind of your market.
• Brand preference occurs when consumers connect emotionally with your brand, making a decision that your brand is superior to others for some reason or combination of reasons, and choosing it over competing brands.
Some branding questions to ask yourself:
• Who are the leaders in your market?
• Where is your product or service positioned?
• Who are your closest competitors?
• What so they provide that you don’t?
• What do you provide that they don’t?
• Do your customers understand your product or service well enough to be able to describe your product or service clearly?
• Do your customers understand what makes your product or service special?
• Do your customers value your product or service so much that they are willing to pay more for whatever it is that make it special?
• Do your customers feel so strongly about your brand that they are willing to defend it, even at a higher price, when it comes under attack?
This may sound like the beginning of a personal ad, but when you’re hiring someone to work for your small business it’s all about finding the right person for the job.
Finding the right person can be hard. Most small business owners will agree that hiring is one of the biggest challenges they face and yet there are so many qualified people looking for work. Even if a candidate has a stellar resume and awesome interview skills there’s still no guarantee that the person will be a good fit for the business.
“Hiring is broken,” says Ben Baldwin the Co-founder of a hiring application called ClearFit. According to Ben, the rates for employee turnover, retention and success of new hires haven’t changed much in the past thirty years. “Currently there are 6.5 million small businesses with payroll in North America who spend 60 billion dollars every year on hiring through job boards, newspapers, and recruiters. Most of these businesses don’t know how to find the best job candidates, so they spend a lot of time guessing and about half the time they get it wrong.”
Getting it wrong can be extremely expensive when you consider the amount of time and resources that are spent on recruitment, selection, and training activities. “If you’re a small business it’s basically make or break,” says Ben. Larger companies can usually eat the costs of hiring the wrong person, but for small businesses who need to get it right – the mistake can be fatal if things don’t work out.
That’s where ClearFit comes in. Ben noticed that so many businesses were having issues with the selection process that he decided to make the process easier and more effective. ClearFit is an all-in-one hiring solution that gives small businesses all the tools they need to hire the right employees. The company has partnership agreements with popular career sites like Monster, Workopolis, and Career Builder, so businesses can get candidates the same way they normally would, but ClearFit will provide a rating of how well the candidate matches the job. This is done by asking each candidate to answer questions that are based on the company’s core values and then the answers are used to develop a PDF report that compares the applicant’s motivation, personality and drive to top performers in similar roles. To narrow down the search even further, ClearFit will also provide their clients with interview questions and sample responses that will help them select the best candidate.
The company’s biggest goal for the future is to fix hiring, and they are well on their way. ClearFit has helped thousands of customers hire the right people so they can be sure that they’ve found ‘the one.’
For more information please visit www.clearfit.com . For even more information, attend one of our free small business webinars.
