Cleaning Out the Cobwebs

Life is funny. There are a multitude of universal truths that are relevant no matter what religion, faith, non-faith, philosophy, or lifestyle you lead. One thing that I’m learning is true, as I move into a new house, is that cleaning the space around you can effect you mentally. When was the last time you truly looked deep into the archives of your life and decided to clean everything up? When you did that, did it change the way you thought? Did you feel as though you were newly acquiring the old you? I know I have. I feel more connected to ME since my move, and I feel as though it has made me more creative and able to accept the good that I know is coming my way.

Since our businesses are entities, then we need to do the same for them that we do for ourselves. Think about getting out your old business plans, communications documents, balance sheets, income statements, and amortization schedules for your equipment. Throw out what is not necessary so that you have physical and energetic space to make room for the good that we have yet to consciously realize we thought of.

I am making a pact to myself, today, to clean out my mental and physical space once a quarter – as well as my business documents. Anybody out there want to make the pact with me? I hope so, because I remembered how much I don’t like being alone when I did my cleaning this past week. 😀

Additionally, even if you don’t plan on a new “Big Idea” then you should still bi-annually take out all the unnecessary or weak words from your communications then hit the scene/business landscape again with a cleaned up and recent representation of the greatness that is your small business.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave me a message about the last time you cleaned stuff up in your life. I’m inspired right now; I hope you are too.

Share

Be Grateful for your Customers

Do you have a loyalty program? If not, you might be one of those people that believes the E-Trade baby is really talking. Okay, that’s not fair.That E-Trade baby is convincing. Regardless, as a business  you should be grateful for your customers. The best way to show that is through loyalty. Loyalty is great because it translates – like many things – in business as it does in life. When there is a confluence of relevancy in this way, emotive feelings of that thing (in this case loyalty) are projected on to your brand/business.

Loyalty programs can show up in a plethora of forms. You can send out a monthly email/newsletter to all of your customers that has discounts embedded in the communication. Loyalty cash, for repeat purchase, is great for irregular or large purchases like cars. You might even offer sample products you’re weighing whether or not to stock, if you’re a retail establishment. Regular purchases like coffee or gas lend themselves well to freebies based off of a certain number of purchases.

Most important, loyalty programs regularly remind your customer base why they spend their money with you and not the other business. Let’s face it, there are very few product/service niches that are so unique that there isn’t anywhere else for a customer to get a similar product or service. So, it is imperative that you treat your customers as a valued friend or acquaintance. Caveat: If you happen to be one of those people that itemizes the dinner bill and fights about splitting it evenly because ‘you only drank water’ then don’t treat your customers like friends because that is just kind of rude and classless. But, if you realize that the value of your friendship is greater than one dinner then you’re in the clear. Yes, I said it.

Remember, it is 60% less expensive to obtain repeat purchase than it is to gain new customers, so take care of the people already patronizing you. Any decent CRM will allow you to keep tabs on who is purchasing what and when so there shouldn’t be any problem with knowing which customers to incentivize and which ones to leave out. The point is to reward people that have rewarded you with their dollars and loyalty by showing some loyalty back to them. Reciprocation isn’t only suggested but expected in life.

Finally, you can link it to your integrated marketing communications strategy. If you’re focusing on individuality, then you might offer free or discount ringtones. Ringtones might not directly associate to your product but if it fits with your IMC big idea then go for it!  Offers such as this can translate to positive reinforcement of the intangibles or brand personality you want to convey.

Do you have any loyalty program successes? Tell me about them, or anything else you might want to talk about.

Share

Matching Technology to Need

How To Gain Respect with Businesses

Usually I write for businesses and since this is a small business marketing blog that would be appropriate. Today, I want to speak with some of my cohorts in marketing who focus on technology. The social media, web dev, app dev folks of the world apparently need to be reminded that they are often ahead of the rest of society in technology acceptance.

Think of technology as hip-hop and businesses as your parents in the late eighties-early nineties. Remember hearing, “this stuff isn’t music,” and the ever popular, “rap will never last”?  Well, we knew what was up, but Young MC and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s mainstream hits were needed to get the late adopters to finally resign in acceptance. [Read more…]

Share

Future so Bright the Midwest Needs Shades

FMW 2010This past weekend saw a conference of epic proportions. Typically I’m underwhelmed by conferences; they promise these mind-blowing, motivation inspiring experiences that rarely metastasize into realization of the guarantee. This was not to be the fate of the Future Midwest Conference (#FMW10 on Twitter), held in Royal Oak, Michigan. [Read more…]

Share

I Got The Feeling

Yes, this post is a play on Sir James Brown’s epic ditty. Yeah, I said “ditty” and I Knighted James Brown today.  “Baby, Baby, Baaaaby.” Sometimes people don’t think that entrepreneurs need that extra kick when they get a feeling on something, as they are natural risk-takers. On the contrary – the more I work with entrepreneurs the more apparent it becomes that getting the ‘I got the feeling’ mojo needs to be followed up by pragmatic strategy with implementable tactics.

Too often excellent ideas are conjured but fall short of hitting the mark or driving revenue, due to a lack of follow-through.  Follow through is the number one thing that can change the arc of an organization. Conversely, there is no greater feeling than taking an esoteric idea and turning it into a tangible product or service that can move the needle.

First, you need to take incremental steps to reach that larger idea/goal. Map out exactly what it will take to get you to the end which you seek. If necessary, form strategic partnerships to help map out the parts that don’t fall into your area of expertise. Don’t be so arrogant as to prevent yourself from seeking help.  Also, go toward your goal in achievable and manageable increments. [Read more…]

Share

Free Marketing Help

Some people might not be comfortable enough to offer free solutions for the same services they charge for. Well, there is a reason; I understand that many small businesses are operating on a budget. If nothing, Hand-Raiser Marketing is about small business success, which sometimes conflicts with our own capitalist goals. Without further adieu, here are a list of companies that I don’t make a dime to promote, but I do because I like their offerings.

I like to use Survey Monkey for all survey “stuffs,” when I’m on expense control.

Map Stats can give you the lowdown on what demographics are in the markets you serve. If you’re looking to expand…

Microsoft offers a pretty comprehensive Budget Planning tool. It’s easy, just fill in the blanks!

Want to network online? Try LinkedIn to start growing your online professional network.

Email is still important, no matter how inefficient and SPAMMY. I use Mail Chimp when I want to design HTML emails, or manage not-so-large email lists.

That’s enough for now. So, get to it and start doing your messaging thing. It feels good to get the word out about how awesome your business is at doing what you do. Don’t forget to call me if you need some help, though. Nobody’s ever made it alone, regardless of what they tell you.

Share

Research

If you’re not sure what your current customers and prospects think of you, or just want to make some directional decisions and are unsure of which way to go, Hand-Raiser can work with you to develop surveys, questionnaires, and offer the data analysis to help you make those revelations and decisions.

Let’s face it, you might be too busy worrying about payroll, products, logistics, operations and navigating the ever-changing marketplace to worry about direction. Call us, we can help.

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Subject

Your Message

Share