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Does Your Company Keep its Inventory Stocked?

By on March 8, 2012 in Blog Coach, Marketing with 0 Comments

Stock Your Online InventoryWhen I was in the retail business, I had a regional manager once ask me how my sales of “blank wall space” and rental of the “vacant carpet squares” were going?

I raised my eyebrows and waited for the lesson to be delivered. I didn’t have to wait long:

“I love white space as much as the next person,” he said. “But we’re not in advertising. This is retail. Floor space and Wall space?  That’s for our inventory. Keep ‘em full, clean, and looking good. Move a few things around once in awhile. We can do quantity and quality at the same time.”

He wanted customers who visited to always be thinking:

  • Lots of Selection
  • I Can Always Find Something Good Here
  • My Friends Should See This
  • I Should Come Here More

So let’s take a look at your (own) website. Your site is your “display” and the content you post is your “inventory” and you can do quantity and quality at the same time.

As you look at your individual content pieces – are they easy to read? Are you using eye rests in your posts? Or do they look like a sales rack with everything just piled on top of each other?

Your blog, your Twitter stream, your Facebook Timeline? That’s where you display your online inventory – your digital footprint.

We can do quantity and quality at the same time.

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Does Your Company Measure Anything Above the Bottom Line?

By on March 7, 2012 in Marketing with 0 Comments

Shoe (and Web) MeasurementsA lifetime ago I operated a boutique shoe store in Pacific Grove. Lots of tourist foot traffic. Lots of window shoppers.

And I did my best to gather as many numbers as I could between sales and shoppers:

  • How many stopped to look at a window display and kept walking
  • How many walked in and didn’t buy
  • How many shoes were tried on/how many pairs sold
  • How many times I brought out a “hunch” pair was it tried on/purchased
  • What day-part hours affected these numbers

I wasn’t just measuring the bottom line, but the top line and everything in between. I wasn’t better than anyone because of it – but I was obsessed … to get better because of what is learned from measuring the data.

When the question of measuring data comes up with small business, I try to start with what they’re measuring offline as it gives a good starting point to what we’ll measure online.

Sadly, too many business owners don’t track much more than their sales totals and some of the main expenses. Sadder still – many don’t measure their traffic on their website (if they have a website). Sometimes they’ll get weekly reports from their “web” guy who tells them how many “hits” they have – but that’s about it. And that’s bad practice.

It’s going to be hard to determine Social ROI if you’re not counting much of anything else. Which is why it’s so important for a small business to own their own website, use Google Analytics to track data … and get better because of what is learned from measuring the data.

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Does Your Company Own and Operate its Website?

By on March 6, 2012 in Marketing with 2 Comments

Small Business Should Own Their Website

Last year, I found these numbers catching my attention

30% of small businesses do not have their own website

20% of all searches are for local businesses

40% of all mobile searches are local

That first number is surprising. For many readers here, it’s probably surprisingly high. From my perspective, it’s low.

30% of small businesses do not have their own website

When I meet with a small town Chamber of Commerce and ask how many members have a website of their own, many estimate 60-70% — right in line with the number above. However, not all businesses are members of their local Chamber of Commerce. And those that aren’t Chamber members often to not have their own website.

In today (and tomorrow’s) marketplace, to not have a website is perilously close to not existing at all.

20% of all searches are for local businesses

40% of all mobile searches are local

These two numbers should motivate the small business owner, especially those in non-metro areas. It’s about “findability” – if a business not findable in a search on the web (or via a mobile device), well, it’s easy to see why some business don’t last long.  Search engines are the new yellow pages and the new 411 combined.

Thankfully, there are sites like MerchantCircle and Manta who, in many cases, already have a business listed. An owner can simply sign up, claim and verify themselves as owner, and start making updates to the page.  While these sites help with findability and web presence, it’s rented real estate on the web.

Also, Google’s Get Your Business Online is making a nationwide tour (launching in California) and around the globe (Canada and India). While the sites offered are simple, 3-page sites — they’re a great starting block for a small business.

Every small business should have their own website that’s updated regularly – even it’s only a single page.

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A Favorite Business Book

By on March 1, 2012 in Books, Brain Stew with 0 Comments

One of my favorite business books ever is “Oh! The Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss (right beside “Ish” by Peter Reynolds)

Keep your chin up
and your dawber from getting down
have a look at this
and flip that frown
around

MAP: Charting a Journey in Social Media

By on February 20, 2012 in Blog Coach, Social Media with 2 Comments

Using a MAP on your Social Media JourneyTwo instruments we use in navigating uncharted travels are a compass and a map. We can do likewise with social media, too. Our compass can be our strategy, our purpose (a good compass lasts a long time).

Our Map? What’s our next step. Sometimes we get wandering while wondering what to do next. The acronym MAP might quicken your pace in the right direction.

M.A.P. = Meaning. Announcements. Personalization.

Make Meaning (70% of the time): While you should use other tools of social to “make meaning” for your information consumption (infosumption), when publishing or sharing content, look for ways to “make meaning” for your reader. We both know in our heart of hearts that your business can help them, but more times than not – share things with them that will improve their life/work/bottom line. Things that aren’t about your business – but their lives.

Make Announcements (20% of the time): By sharing and writing most often about stuff that helps your readers,  you quietly earn the right to promote your work, your sale, your event. Be a resource twice as often as being a bullhorn – but don’t neglect the bullhorn either.

Make Personalization (10% of the time): This is the “chit-chat, hey how’s your cat?” type of chatter that personalizes social media.  Remember that this process of MAP is a guideline. There will be some days you chit-chat more, and some less. But as a business, 10% is a gauge for personalizing your professional platform.

This is a variation on the 70-20-10 guideline we practice on Twitter, and it works across the landscape of social media. So get your compass (your purpose) and your MAP (your plan) and enjoy your journey.

Nominate Your Local Business for a Dialing 8 Membership

By on February 14, 2012 in Dialing 8, Social Media with 0 Comments

Small Business DrawingTo show our appreciation of small business owners and solopreneurs, Dialing 8 is giving away three annual (full access) memberships to The Dialing 8 Project.

You can nominate yourself, your local small business or independent, or even a friend or family member just starting out. Just have them (or you) fill out the form below.

Winners will be notified by email on Friday, February 17th.

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Watch Your Day: Create Your Own Stock Images

By on February 14, 2012 in Blog Coach, Cool Tools, Marketing with 3 Comments

Create Your Own Stock ImagesHow many of you have a camera on your phone, raise your hand …

Whether you have a smart phone or not, the opportunities for taking your own stock images are plentiful. Additionally, improvements and growth of mobile apps such as Photoshop Express and Instagram make capturing, editing, and sorting images a breeze.

I’ve seen a lot of folks invest 20 minutes writing a blog post, then spend another 20 minutes looking for the right image. Better to take a few minutes here and there to be prepared.

Create some stock images of your own. Have a library ready to help tell your story. Just as you should Listen to Your Day in writing your blog, Watch Your Day for capturing great storytelling images.

 

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Tired of LOLcats, Animated GIFs, and Th*ngs People Say?

By on February 13, 2012 in Social Media with 1 Comment

These LOLcats are PracticingAre there times you grow a bit weary of the memes of Th*ings People Say, Funny Cat posters and looping mini-movies in your social streams?

Don’t Be. It’s a learning process. And we’re all in beta.

Some of these messages are probably not intended to entertain or inform you – but they don’t have to be a complete waste of time either.

As you see these items scroll by over and over again, recognize patterns of popularity and sharing and SCAMPER your findings into your own content.

In many ways, these creations of clatter can be an example. Allow these experiments of non-critical content to be a research project of what might be.

A tweak here, a substitution there – and maybe you’ll find a gem of your own.

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Why There is Always Room for One More Good One

By on February 7, 2012 in Blog Coach, Blogging, Social Media with 2 Comments

Always Room for One More Good OneFans are Fanatics.

Searchers Find.

Shoppers Discover.

Trekkies Trek

Ask the sports fans … the crafting hobbyist … the thrift store shopper. Watch the Trekkies.

Is there just one place, one site, one convention?

Or is it all of them?

There’s always room for one more good one.

That baseball fan getting ready for her fantasy league draft? She’s not looking at just one site or one magazine. She’s got them all. That quilters in your life? They don’t just go to one store, they know them all.

Before you doubt yourself or change what you’re good at because someone else is already doing that …

There’s always room for one more good one.

Next time you go to the book store, check out your favorite section. Not only are there many titles to choose from, there are more coming.

Be you. Be the best you that you can be. And remember …

There’s always room for one more good one.

photo credit: wvs via photopin cc

My Facebook: Business Page Public and Personal Profile Private

By on February 6, 2012 in Marketing, Social Media with 20 Comments

This weekend, I turned my Facebook profile into a Business page.

Most of the connections I had on Facebook were from business contacts, most of what I shared was about business. I was most of the way to a business page already.

I had been thinking about making the move for awhile. When Tracy Sestili said Bye-Bye to Facebook, I started making my move by following her lead. (By the way, Tracy is a solid-state, straight-shooting social media strategist – one to follow).

Tracy’s steps and reasons are sound. While Facebook is a closed system in many ways, it remains a confusingly open system in other ways. From a privacy perspective, Facebook has pieces in place – but good luck for the average user to find and use them.

So, I decided to create a “stealth” personal page, following the first six steps Tracy outlines in her exiting post. On the last step, rather than delete the account, I transferred to a business page.

The only real difference in  converting my profile rather than cancelling creating a new business page is those who were either “friends” or subscribed, become “likes” on the business page. My messaging still is part of the stream (and since most of what I posted was business …).

For me, I still want a presence on Facebook for “Mike Sansone”, though the only parts I want public and searchable are business postings. My personal page is for a very small group of people (mostly family).

I know a lot of business owners who want the same. To keep business separate from personal. To be able to maintain focus and balance. Many are just not comfortable with “transparency” on Facebook at this time.

 

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