Small Business Online

Do you podcast?  Should you? 

 For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Wikipedia’s podcast definition is this:

A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication.  (Read rest of podcast definition.)

I was having a conversation with John Jantsch, the author of Duct Tape Marketing, at our coaches conference a couple of weeks back.  He and several of my Duct Tape Marketing colleagues were raving about the effectiveness of small business podcasts.  I haven’t added this tool to my marketing mix (yet), but I am considering it. 

I like the freedom that a podcast brings.  Your listener isn’t chained to their desk.  They can be walking the dog, driving in their car, at the gym, and filling otherwise unproductive moments with your business wisdom.  They are getting to know, like and trust you in a deeper way, because hearing your voice is more powerful than just reading your words. 

So I guess my question is this.  Do you subscribe to podcasts?  Why or why not? 

If you’re just not sure where to find podcasts, here are a few “top 15″ lists to get started.

• 15 Podcasts That Will Make You Richer by Business Pundit
• 15 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter by College Crunch
• 15 Podcasts Every Geek Should Listen To by Make Use Of

Being a smart, rich geek.  I’d be OK with that!

As I was scratching my head, committed to writing a blog post, but not committed to a topic, I ran across a great article by a Twitter friend of mine, Adam Baker, called “How NOT to Suck at Blogging…”

Well, I definitely don’t want to suck at blogging, and I don’t want my customers and blog readers to suck at blogging, so I was intrigued.

Now the article itself is more about blogging for monetization (whereas most of my readers and clients are blogging for business) BUT the blog post had several gems that overarch all types of blogging and in fact all types of business. Adam Baker, the Man vs. Debt’s blog author sums up the video shown below by Gary Vaynerchuk nicely.

• No non-sense follow your passion.
• Giving a shit about your readers.
• Stop crying.  Keep Hustling.
• Legacy is greater than currency.
• The nature of the game is changing. [still is]
• “Stop watching f***ing Lost”

Unlike Adam Baker, however, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve NEVER watched this video.  No wonder people love this guy.  He’s so unedited.  It’s refreshing.

Now what are you waiting for? Go follow your passion.  NOW! Doing what you love to do will not only ensure that you don’t suck at blogging, but you won’t suck at life either.

Thanks to a handful of blogs that were well search engine optimized for the keywords “dog poisoning” and “hop poisoning in dogs”, I was able to quickly figure out that my sweet little dog Roxy was probably poisoned by the hop plants growing in our new backyard.   Who knew?  Not me.  Not even the vet.  There are only a handful of documented cases of hop poisoning in dogs out there.

Our dog Roxy was poisoned, and almost killed, by hops plants growing in our backyard.

But THAT right there is the beauty of blogging and website optimization in general.  You can optimize obscure terms – like hops poisoning in dogs – and no matter how small your business is, you can show up right at the top of a Google Search!

For example:

• Hops Poisoning in Dogs
• Hops Toxic to Dogs
• Hops Poisonous to Dogs

If you’re not blogging, you should start.  Not only can you help your business grow by “being found” and “being credible” – but who knows, your blog just might save a life!  Or a business.  And that’s a FAST way to get people to know, like and trust you.

How many times has this happened to you? 

You discover an urgent need with one of your customers or prospects.  They have budget.  They’re raring to go.  They are a qualified lead in every way – EXCEPT the product or service isn’t something you can deliver.  You either don’t have the training, you don’t love doing it, or it’s just not part of your business model.  What do you do? 

Sometimes, you can refer that client to someone you already know and trust.  Of course, you have a go-to business network that you can usually rely on.  However sometimes, you don’t have anyone in your Rolodex who is a perfect fit….but you want to be helpful.  You may gain future business from this client – and it’s just nice to be nice, right?

I’m encouraged to see lots of good online matching programs popping up to fill this void.

For any industry, check out Referral Key, which allows you to easily expand your circle of trust to give an receive qualified lead referrals.

If you are a Microsoft Partner, check out  Microsoft Matchmaker.  Microsoft Platform Partners will get paid $250 for every Microsoft Dynamics lead they enter into the system.   Use the link above to register for the free introductory webinar they’re hosting on April 30, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. PT. 

For dental industry referrals, look into DDS Weblink, a program that allows you to make sure your patient recieves the proper care and follow up. 

Know of any other programs that fit this niche?  Post a comment with a link to the referral lead service.  We all know that referrals are the BEST source of business.  The more you give, the more you’ll get!

Are you part of the Orange County Duct Tape Marketing Group yet?  Our March topic is Blogging for Business!

If you’re not blogging about your business, you are missing out on one of the most effective and affordable ways to promote your business online! Blogging is the foundation of social media marketing, providing fresh conversations. In this meeting, you will learn why blogging is should be a foundational part of your marketing mix. We’ll also discuss:

• Why blogging is an extremely effective marketing strategy for small businesses right now.
• Finding keywords that will bring the most traffic from search results.
• How to develop persuasive, compelling content in just minutes.
• Leveraging your blog to influence friends in online social networks.
• How to develop persuasive, compelling content in just minutes.
• Etiquette, tips and tricks that make you look like a pro!

Why should you attend?

Blogging is an easy and fun way to promote your business – BUT if you don’t have your blog set up right, you won’t be getting the full business benefits.

Register to learn about Blogging for Business

MEETING AGENDA:

5:30 Welcome and Networking – Appetizers Served
6:00-7:30 Marketing Meeting
7:30-8:00 Wrap Up

Come mingle with other small business owners, marketing and sales professionals as you learn how to apply Duct Tape Marketing’s principles to your business. Veteran marketing professional, Adrianne Machina of Tornado Marketing, an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach, will facilitate a discussion on the practical steps you can take to market your business affordably and effectively.

Last week, one of those “famous” internet marketers sent me an email.   He was mad because people were taking too long to see the value of his product.   His readers would hem-and-haw before making a purchase.  I’m sure his email was meant to be some type of psychological ploy to get you to buy his info-product.  But it sure backfired on me. 

I wondered how much this guy could really know about marketing. So here’s what I wanted to say to him.

Dear Internet Marketer,

I know you think you have a fabulous product, but if there’s anyone you should be mad at, you should be mad at yourself.  You obviously haven’t done a great job of communicating the value of your product. You are being defensive instead of understanding that people are wary and you need to assuage them and prove to them that your book is different. It’s not that they wouldn’t (or don’t) invest in their business. It’s that there are a lot of internet marketer snake oil salesman out there promising something for nothing.

I work primarily with professional service and technology companies and hear that same indignation all the time.

“I can’t believe they bought from that shmuck when we’re a jillion times better…we take over their unhappy customers all the time.”  I know.  It DOES HURT when someone doesn’t see your value. It hurts your balance sheet as much as your ego.

As you may well know, ‘building a better mousetrap’ is only step one of building a successful business. Communicating how and why that mousetrap is better (a.k.a. MARKETING) is the key to blowing out your sales.  For all of you who are out there feeling under-appreciated and a best-kept-secret.  You have two options.

1.  Call and cry on someone’s shoulder. 

(Net effect: You’ll know you have friends who care and you’ll temporarily feel better.)

2.  Improve your marketing so that your product or service looks as good as it actually is. 

(Net effect: Pretty soon you’ll be selling more and attracting more of the clients who value you.)

Simple, huh?  So which path will you choose?

No.  Well, sort of.  But not really.

If you just read my Tornado Marketing blog, you’d probably think I devoted 24/7 to social media consulting – but that’s not true.  I actually don’t consider myself a social media consultant.  I consider myself a marketing consultant. 

Social media is just ONE tool in the metaphoric marketing toolbelt – one that my customers, readers and friends are trying to make sense of right now. So even though I write a lot about social media, it’s  because social media new and it’s changing the marketing game. Smart businesses need to start paying attention to social media marketing – but not at the expense of everything else.  

I don’t want my customers or my readers to forget about the basic blocking and tackling of marketing, like:

• Do you know who your ideal customer is?
• Do you have a way to communicate with them?
• Are you able to articulate your differentiation?
• Are you marketing consistently?
• Is your material educational, persuasive and smart? 
• Do you make it easy for people to do business with you?
• Do you provide good products and services?

Marketing has never been about doing “one thing” right.  I hate to tell you this, but there is no magic bullet that will transform your business overnight.  Marketing is about doing lots of things right, learning from everything you do, and marketing your business consistently and professionally. 

Yes, you should have social media as part of your mix. Yes, you can call on me for social media consultation if you need help.  But I just don’t want you thinking that social media is the end-all be-all of marketing.  When you call, I’ll ask you to take a holistic look at your business and your marketing practices – and then we can talk about how social media marketing can work for you.  Fair enough? 

Vinnie Mirchandani of the Deal Architect blog recently wrote a very interesting post about finding the IT Buyer on Twitter.  You can read my response to him here:  Response to Looking for Mr. Customer. 

In some ways I totally agree with what Vinnie had to say.  The majority of CIOs and CFOs are not on Twitter and perhaps never will be.  These roles require a keep-your-guard-up type of mentality.  They’re typically not hanging around the water cooler at work – so why would they do it online?   

The C-Suite positions (CEO, CIO, CTO, CFO, CMO)  are so sought-after and so inundated with continual requests from employees, board members, etc. that they have to shield themselves from  as much info-clutter as they can.  This is true online as well as offline.  You can’t get through to them when you call. Their mail is screened.  Their email is filtered. So why would they close all the windows, and then open the door?  They probably wouldn’t. 

 But here’s the secret.  You don’t have to reach that person in the marketing cycle.  You need to find the person with the most pain.  Many IT decisions begin with business decision makers screaming loudly for help. 

“We keep getting charge backs on our EDI!” 

“Our customer list in accounting is completely different than the one we have in marketing!” 

“The inventory we sold through our website isn’t in our warehouse.”

Find the person with the pain.  The marketing manger. The warehouse manager.  The accounting manager.  Market to them.  Get them to open the door and walk you into the CIOs office with a warm introduction.  That’s the person who is begging for your help and will become your “internal champion” in the sales cycle.  Is that person is on Twitter? or on FaceBook?  That’s what you need to find out.

I’m on Twitter. If you want to connect to me, I’m at http://www.Twitter.com/Amachina.  Yep, I’m on FaceBook too.  You can find me at: http://profile.to/adriannemachina/

And if you skipped the link at the beginning, you might want to go to  Response to Looking for Mr. Customer now to read the reasons you may want to be on Twitter – whether your end customer is there or not.

You’re using Google Alerts, aren’t you?  No?

Well then, sit right down and listen up, because Google Alerts will save you from countless hours of web surfing, and is an essential tool in your marketing strategy. 

Did you know:

• The Internet is composed of  that 108,810,358 distinct websites? (as of February 2007, according to the Netcraft Web Server Survey)
• There are over 112.8 million blogs (according to Technorati).
• 175,000 new blogs are created every day (though admittedly some of those are splogs (aka spam blogs)

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write a blog – you should, especially if you have something interesting to share with the world.  What it means though is that it’s virtually impossible to keep up on all the new and interesting things going on in your industry, With time being your most precious resource, you need to filter the information and get it delivered to you!   That’s why I’ve put together this two minute video that shows you exactly what you need to do to get started.

Bring the mountain to Mohammed

Google Alerts brings the mountain of information to you, consolidated into one neat little email (or RSS) package.  Once you have the alert set up, and delivering the information, you can use it as a foundational piece of your SEO and Social Media Strategy.

Act on the alerts by:

• Comment on a blog a day.
• Send a letter of congratulations! (Did someone get a new job, an award or a promotion?)
• Track which bloggers and journalists cover your industry.
• Write a blog post.
• Check out the competition.
• Create a new product or service that addresses the concerns you’re hearing.

Once you start using Google Alerts, you’ll wonder how you managed to live without them all this time. 

Do you use Google Alerts?  In what innovative ways do you use them to help your business?

If you are still struggling to understand how social media marketing can help your business, watch this video by Perry Belcher called “How to Make Money With Social Media.”

Delivered with sweatshirt and whiteboard simplicity, Perry delivers a message that we can all understand – that you must understand –  if you want to take advantage of this new social media marketing opportunity.

In my opinion, social media marketing is even better than a party, because it keeps you connected even when the party itself is over.  It allows you to get to know what people really do, and to easily make and receive referrals.

Make sense?