5 key traits to be a successful entrepreneur

Taking the first steps to start your own business can be difficult and there are certain traits that help entrepreneurs have a positive outlook and push through their toughest early days.

Financial services company Santam published  a Start-up Survey, speaking to 606 South African entrepreneurs who listed coping with pressure and being adaptable as some of the key traits needed for success.

When questioned what their motivation for success is, respondents said the following:

• Passion – 47.6%
• Be your own boss – 28.2%
• Other – 12.5%
• Time flexibility – 11.8%

What key skills should an entrepreneur have? The respondents listed the following as traits required to make it as an entrepreneur:

1. Coping with pressure

Stress is a part of our daily lives and includes having to juggle family life, relationships, and financial difficulties. Dealing with pressure has to do with your personal perspective and the importance you place on a task relative to your own self-identity and self-worth.

Rather than seeing pressure as a negative, an entrepreneur identifies the need to apply core skills and knowledge to solve the challenge at hand. Learning to perform under pressure is crucial to surviving personally and professionally.

2. Adaptability

Building a start-up requires an entrepreneur to constantly find new ways of doing things and to react as new information emerges or situations evolve. Running a business in an ever-changing environment is difficult enough but a successful entrepreneur needs to be able to adjust quickly and seamlessly.

From the initial decision to become your own boss to changing markets in the business landscape, you need to be able to change your focus accordingly to benefit your business.

3. Self-confidence

A firm belief in your abilities and your own success is an important characteristic to possess. You represent your business and have to be confident in your ideas, services and capabilities. This will help you to rule out any fears or doubts.

Part of having high self-confidence means being able to identify where you are and where you would like to be. Establishing your idea of success in your mind’s eye will motivate you to progress and overcome any obstacles in your way.

4. Ambition

Ambition is key to an entrepreneur’s success. The will and courage to achieve your goals fuels an entrepreneur through economic uncertainties. An ambitious attitude drives you to actively seek out opportunities, to think big and take calculated risks.

Setting your sights higher will help you prove to yourself that there are no limits to what your business can achieve. Embrace failure and tirelessly seek out ways to improve your ways of working. High risk = high reward.

5. People skills

Do you think you’re fit to lead a team? Being a leader means being able to engage and invest in people in a way that motivates them to reach business goals. Your communication skills are directly linked to how much influence you have over the people you work with.

Successful entrepreneurs need to be able to build people up, value them and inspire them. Social skills are also essential for networking with other business owners to secure potential partnerships.

More than 90% of respondents cited these are vital traits to succeed.

Additional traits cited by the respondents included: optimism, financial savvy, leadership and the ability to negotiate.

Even though education is not seen as a key requirement, 72.2% of respondents had some form of post-matric qualification, Santam said.

  Source: http://bit.ly/1SnnoT5

Top 7 Startup Marketing Mistakes

When starting your own business, especially the first one, there’s definitely a learning curve. As an entrepreneur, you have so many things on your plate you have to deal with for the first time, that it is inevitable that you will make mistakes.

Also, marketing is usually not a founder’s specialty, and that’s why we tend to see many startups making the same avoidable mistakes.

Here are the top 7 startups marketing mistakes and how to avoid them:

1. Not identifying your target audience  – Some startups fear of “missing opportunities” and decide to cast a wide marketing net. But, one of the staples of marketing is targeting, and if your message is vague and unclear, it will not be effective. Before launching any marketing campaign, stop and strategize. Who is your target audience? For example, if you have a solution for enterprises in the financial sector, you need to understand WHO in those enterprises you are selling to. Is your product a solution for IT executives, CMOs or CFOs? Each role has a complete different set of priorities and responsibilities, and the success of your product is very much dependant on identifying your exact target audience.
2. Failing to check marketing results –  Marketing is a continuous process and is not a set and forget one. In order to understand if your marketing efforts bear fruit, you need to setup the necessary analytics tools and check your results on an on-going basis. Tracking everything, including the amounts you spend on each channel and how much traction you receive, is crucial for understanding marketing results. Without tracking, you will not be able to calculate your ROI and will not have the sufficient information needed to make improvements in your activities.
3. Spending too much money too soon – This is actually a common mistake that startups make on all fronts. According to CB Insights, among the 20 primary reasons causing startups to fail, the #2 is running out of cash (the #1 result for failing is that there’s no market for the product). Unlike the option of hiring a programmer for a low salary but a large chunk of options, you can’t pay Google for AdWords in shares. But, there are ways to launch and grow your startup with no or minimal budget. Before jumping to marketing tactics and spending a lot of money on buying media, spend time in analyzing and figuring out what is important to do now for your marketing, and how much – if at all – will it cost.
4. Failing to check on competition – Few are the companies that don’t have any competitors. Even if you think that’s the case, map the closest ones to you as your company cannot operate in a closed-off bubble. Follow your competitors’ social media accounts, create alerts on their brand name so you are always on top of things. We all know that users are comparing when shopping, especially in the early stages of the purchase cycle. The purchase will probably not happen once they first visit your site and chances are they will look at competitors to compare. Don’t mimic what your competitors do but rather, add reviews and posts to your website that compare you and the competitors. Adding such a comparison page has also side benefits, including increased SEO for your site.
5. Expecting immediate results – Marketing takes time, and it is very much dependant on the market (if it’s educated or not), type of product (quick online purchase or a slower buying process) and clients (individuals vs. SMBs vs. enterprises). If you have a B2C product and run a Facebook campaign, it’s OK to expect fast results. If you, however, have a B2B product and run a LinkedIn campaign – you have to chill. The campaign can provide you valuable leads, even in the form of a comment from a potential client to a promoted post. But don’t expect immediate results as the buying process itself takes time. In addition, most marketing budgets, especially ones that involve building online presence and SEO, require months of efforts before you can see results. SEO is not exact science but estimation is that it can take a brand name up to a month to rank on top 3 results and a niche keyword up to a year to rank.
6. You keep recycling – One aspect of marketing is content and for it to be effective, it has to be good quality one. Recycling content is OK, to a point. Even if you don’t have any news or product launches, you need to be innovative and come up with new angles and stories to existing ones. If you published a press release about new data your company found, you cannot re-publish the same data as ‘new findings’ 6 months from the date of the original release. You can follow up with new information, mention the initial release, but to showcase the data as new or even – gasp – copy and paste from the first release, is not effective at all and can also paint your company as untrustworthy.  
7. Lastly – not investing at all in marketing – This can be one of your biggest marketing mistakes. Investing in your marketing does not necessarily mean putting aside a hefty marketing budget, but rather investingthought into it. Running forward with your company’s roadmap while leaving marketing activities behind can be a crucial mistake as marketing defines the positioning of your company in its market, your brand and the packaging of the product you are selling. As budgets are often tight in startups, marketing can be viewed as a frivolous expense. But, it can be done for a minimal budget and if you keep an eye on results and make sure to shift efforts towards the positive ROI channels, any funds you invest will come back, with an interest.

Source : http://bit.ly/1PTZmL4

7 Simple Ways To Be Famous In One Year

There’s fame and there’s infamy. There’s long-term fame and “15 minutes of fame.” Actors and actresses have fame. Some of them have infamy. Barack Obama has fame, and he has long-term fame as a President of the United States. Osama Bin Laden had infamy, and he certainly had his 15 minutes of fame until taken out. Anyone can become famous, for good or for bad. And many can have 15 minutes of fame by getting hundreds of thousands of hits on a YouTube video.

There is another kind of fame, however. It is not global fame necessarily, such as that enjoyed by Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. But it can be a local, regional, and then national fame within a niche. And that fame can result in respect, authority, and income, whether that income comes from a business venture, a very smart investment in a startup or IPO, book sales, or another source.

This is the fame that is long-lasting and that says “success.” Many people achieve this kind of fame and do so relatively easily. And here are 7 relatively simple steps on that path.

1. Begin By Making It All About Others, Not Yourself

If you are going to reach niche celebrity status, your first step is to become a truly trusted resource for others. This means that you do the following:

• Inspire, entertain and educate others without thought to making sales or promoting yourself or your business
• Be a real person behind that company, not a faceless entity
• Be accessible and transparent; have a social media presence that involves conversations; answer emails; be present wherever there are important conversations occurring, especially in groups related to your niche
• Do not be “better” than others; rather be helpful and friendly and humble
• Engage others daily, especially influencers. Hanging out with influencers makes you one too.
• If you succeed, don’t be the first one to boast, but try to share the lessons you’ve learn and inspire other people to follow your path. And if you don’t succeed from the first attempt, don’t be discreet about your failure either. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes and talking about that, rather than trying to appear as a super human.

Compare this to the traditional concept of a supposed industry leader – one who gave an occasional interview; one who had “gatekeepers;” one who knew s/he was “better” than the others; one who was inaccessible. This won’t work for you, because you don’t have any fame yet.

2.  Get Your Face and Your Personality “Out There” 

Brands are not really spread by products and services anymore. They are spread by personalities on social websites and news media.

It’s almost as if we have returned to days of old when storekeepers had personal relationships with all of their customers. Of course, these can no longer be face-to-face, but they can be strong relationships nevertheless. Today’s digital consumers of anything demand relationships.

If you have written a book, for example, you need to show online communities who you are, your sense of humor, your sense of compassion, your incredible expertise, whatever it is that makes you a bit of a “giant” in your niche. Provide excerpts from that book for free to every digital community possible. Set up book signings everywhere possible and call the local news media to cover them. Offer an additional benefit with a book purchase. Get buzz going by pushing your face and your personality, not just your book.

Inject your personality into everything you do online and on the ground. If you are in a business niche, hold events, make videos, and plaster them all over the place. Feature your customers in your blog posts, on your social media platforms. Do anything that you can to spread your brand by spreading the people factor, not by pushing the product or service. Come up with something that people will look forward to every week – things that will draw them to you and make them draw their communities to you too.

3. Provide Consistent, Public, Interesting, and Free Content

Jack Daniels is a well-known brand. It has been a well-known brand for years. And it has done this by consistently keeping itself in front of the public. Now, in years past it relied on TV advertising – expensive advertising. Advertising that those of us who would just like to become famous in our niche cannot afford.

We have to find cheap ways to become famous, and even Jack Daniels is going the cheap route now. It’s not all over TV – that’s a thing of the past. What does Jack Daniels do now? It has an amazing website and an amazing social media presence. It sponsors contests for people to submit new drink recipes. It asks customers to submit weird bar stories, which it publishes – consumers love it and they continue to love Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels will be famous for years to come because it understand how fame is now built. When you use the same strategies that Jack Daniels uses, you can build your fame too.

Get your “public” involved in everything you do. Other than the cost of maintaining your websites and social media platforms through employees or contractors, your cost of providing amazing and interest and entertaining and inspirational content is cheap. No one wants to read what looks like a textbook; and no one want to just hear about products. They want some fun and some education and they want it in engaging ways.

Even if your niche seems “boring”, there’s still a way to interact with your audience successfully and leveraging your authority status. Simply, by offering free detailed information of every aspect related to your business. For instance, Moverscorp publishes loads of amazing guides, covering pretty much any aspect of moving – from choosing the company to packing to tipping movers and things to do after the move.

You can build your fame if you are committed to giving your public the best content ever. On the Internet there are no walls and there are few rules. You build a fan base and that fan base reaches out to its communities, as long as your content is great. People share what is free and what is publicly provided. So give free and public!

4. Sponsor an Important Charity

One of the best ways to enhance your fame is to sponsor a well-known and compassionate charitable cause. You can do wonderful good while you increase your fame as well.

Why do people love Toms Shoes, and why has Toms Shoes become so famous? Because owner Blake Mycoskie, “chief shoe giver,” donates a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair of shoes he sells. And he has branched out now into efforts for restoring eyesight and drilling water in 3rd world countries. He is a hero, especially among millennials, the biggest buying demographic, for all that he does. And he has great fame within his niche.

Jessica Erickson, owner of Headbands for Hope has gained national fame for her charitable work with children’s cancer research and her donations of headbands to young girls with cancer. If you want to make a difference in the lives of people and gain fame as well, this is a great path. Local, regional and state media love these kinds of stories, and the reach spreads. Both Mycoskie and Erickson have been featured on national television shows several times.

5. Develop Relationships with Influencers

There are famous people in related niches. Influencers are already famous within their niches. One of the “rules” for success is to hang out with successful people.

The same goes in the digital world. You can “follow” influencers, participate in their discussions, and make yourself known as an expert in your niche. Cultivate these relationships before you propose any reciprocity of promotion, but ultimately you can get to that. Being respected and liked by an influencer, even if not directly related to your niche is big. And influencers can introduce you to other influencers as well. This can ultimate get you speaking engagements, interviews, and/or promotion of your book, and so forth, depending upon the type of fame you are seeking.

6. Work on Your Fame Everyday

This means many things. It can be to join new groups. It can mean to contact local media with a press release. It can mean creating amazing content or videos. It can mean reaching out to new communities on social media. But you must consistently commit to doing something every day to promote your fame. If you do this for an entire year, you will be pretty amazed at how famous you have become with your ideal audience.

7. Cultivate your Guru Status

At first, you will give away a lot of stuff, maybe you will create free “how-to” e-guides.  Maybe you will create slide shows and videos that provide expert advice. As the demand for your stuff grows, create new “stuff” and begin to charge for it. Why? Because famous people are expected to charge for their “stuff,” and because you have the right to earn money for your hard work.

Neil Patel, the guru of content marketing, has the perfect combination. He is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Hello Bar. These are for-profit companies with famous clients like Amazon, GM, NBC, etc. He also has a blog, called Quick Sprout. Here he provides free educational articles for content marketers and business owners. But always on that blog, he is promoting his fee-based services, one of which is to make a business owner a “guru” and famous in his/her own niche.

Becoming famous in a year is simple, but not necessarily easy. It takes concerted effort and a commitment that must be held every single day of that year. It means spending two hours working on that book; or it means an hour contacting local press to promote a charitable event; or it means writing the best content ever; or it mean networking and “rubbing elbows” with influencers. It can be tiring and it can mean that your workday just got longer.

You have to ask yourself, before you take on this “fame” goal: why you want to become famous and what it will mean for you? If you can answer these questions positively, then you are ready for the journey.

   Source : http://bit.ly/1Q6zc8g

The 5 Most Damaging Marketing Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Make

The term “mistakes” has a negative connotation: You've made a decision or implemented something that didn’t go as planned; now you have to deal with the repercussions.

Yet most mistakes, even ones that in the moment seem massive, end up being only temporary setbacks. In fact, they usually end up as positive assets because they teach valuable lessons about how to improve your business or approach.

Unfortunately, not all mistakes are this innocuous. Some, in the marketing realm, actually do long-term harm to your campaign. And, as described below, most of these mistakes are especially damaging because they aren’t obvious. Fixing a blog post with a spelling or accuracy issue is one thing. But when you exhibit a fundamental misunderstanding of best marketing practices, it’s much harder to smooth over the effects.

So, if you’re a new entrepreneur, or unsure if your marketing campaign is going well, take a moment to make sure you aren’t making these five truly damaging mistakes:

1. Ignoring the brand

Trying to market your business without a brand is like throwing a house party without specifying the address. Your brand serves as a foundation of identity for new and old customers alike. It should underline and inform all messaging you put out, from the content of your website to the images on your Facebook banner.

When people see your brand, or notice your logo, or pick up on your style of speaking and area of expertise, they’ll form an opinion of certain traits of your business. Without that connection, your material is floating in space with no association. Plus, the more connections you build, the more familiar your customers will become with your brand, and the more likely they’ll be to buy from you. Without that presence or consistency, you won’t be able to build relationships -- and you might not even get credit for your work.

2. Marketing to everyone

You have to choose whom you want to market to, but too many entrepreneurs make the simple choice: market to everybody. After all, “everybody” is the largest possible audience, so it offers the largest possible return, right? Wrong. Even if you could somehow use one selection of platforms to get a specific message to everyone in the world, that message would be too generic for the entire population to value or remember.

Instead, to stand out, you have to be unique, and if you want to make an impression, you have to be relevant. Being both unique and relevant requires you to create specifically crafted messaging for one segment of the population at a time.

3. Making assumptions about an audience 

All that being said, there are some marketers who understand they must create messaging for specific audience segments but still don't do it effectively. In large part, this is because they’ve made broad assumptions about their target audience, rather than relying on data and research to support their ideas.

For example, they might assume that middle-aged men interested in their product would want a stoic, professional voice and bare-bones, straightforward information, when in reality, this audience would prefer a more casual tone, with humor. As a general rule, you should question every assumption you make. Are you making your marketing decisions because of the way you think things work, or because of the way thingsactually work? Data is your only path to the truth.

4. Investing too much (or not enough)

Successful investment in a marketing campaign demands a careful balance. Investing too much money at the start of your campaign, before you’ve gotten to know your target audience intimately, can create excess waste. You don’t know what platforms work best because you haven’t had the opportunity to test them, and you’re essentially gambling on what you think might work in your favor.

On the other hand, investing too little will leave you with few results, and barely enough data to form any meaningful conclusions.

5. Failing to experiment

Marketing isn’t a point-and-shoot game, no matter how much we sometimes want it to be. It’s a game of setting and resetting expectations, getting asymptotically closer to a “perfect” strategy, without ever quite getting there. The only way to get better is by experimenting -- trying new things and being bold with your strategies, to see which ones work and which ones fail.

If you aren’t actively experimenting, you can’t possibly improve, and that means you’ll remain stagnant in your long-term progress. Never rule out a strategy unless you have data proving it to be ineffective; and never turn down an opportunity to learn more about your brand and customers.

In sum, these mistakes aren’t just the most damaging for new entrepreneurs -- they’re also some of the most common. I’ve spoken and worked with dozens of entrepreneurs who have banked their entire strategies on some of these ideas. And, the good news is that if you catch these mistakes early enough,

If, at this moment, you can identify yourself making them, you’ve already won half the battle. 

Source : http://entm.ag/1Sh696u

10 Reasons Why Brands Should Be on Snapchat

There is no denying Snapchat’s growth. Since November, the messaging app has gained another billion views bringing it to seven billion views, Business Insider reports. The number of views has been growing exponentially for the brand, which has tripled its views nearly six months earlier. It is still just shy of Facebook’s 8 billion video views a day, but with Snapchat’s growth points that they will be passing Facebook very soon. As 2016 gets underway, it is clear that Snapchat is one of the social apps that marketers should have their brands on.

So what should you know about Snapchat before diving in?

1. Everything is short-lived; Snaps and stories only last one day on the app. Snaps are individual pictures or 10 second videos; while Stories are the compilation of the day’s stories. The ephemeral nature of Snapchat means users are continually checking in on their favorite channels and users. Users create about 800 million snaps and videos per day.

2. More than 60% of smartphone users, between 13-34 years old, use Snapchat. 37% of Snapchatters are between the ages of 18-24 years old.

3. There are at least 200 million people using Snapchat; about 100 million users are snapping daily. They are highly engaged and they are staying with the product. Snapchat thrives on engaging their users through user created content that never stays the same.

4. Snapchat Discover allows brands to get in on creating their own content. Like Stories, Discover allows brands access to 24 hour storytelling for their company. Snapchat’s layout of vertical videos and full screen layout are conducive to easy viewership. Brands like Food Network, Refinery 29, IGN and Wall Street Journal are just a few brands that are taking advantage of Snapchat Discovery.

5. Snapchat Live is a unique feature that curates user created content. Users who are at the same event location have an opportunity for their snaps to become part of the Snapchat Live story. In Brixton, London fans spontaneously gathered to celebrate David Bowie, and the snaps and videos were curated as a tribute which runs through the end of January 12th.

6. Snapchat counts video views that are less than a second; however, the user has to proactively play the video for the tally to count. Other social media giant, Facebook considers three seconds to be a view, but their videos will automatically begin to play as the user scrolls past. According to Business Insider, 90% of all brand advertisers are repeat advertisers. While it is still difficult to really monetize the ROI with Snapchat, the audience keeps bringing advertisers back. Why? It is the “in” place to be. As we said before, Snapchat tripled its video views per day in six months, and added another million views per day over the holiday period.

7. Lenses and filters are two ways that marketers can reach users on user created content. Lens is a type of feature that allows users to change their appearance. Brands can sponsor the 24-hour lens, like Beats did on Black Friday. A lens will cost a brand about $500,000-750,000. Filters (geofilters) are tied to a location or event and allow users to put a sticker, frame or drawing that overlays their snap. McDonald’s created one of the first sponsored filters which allowed users to add a burger and fries to their snap whenever they were near a McDonald’s location.

8. Snapchat is growing quickly outside the US. In the UK, Snapchat users account for 25% of smartphone users and in Norway 50% of smartphone users. The app itself is also expanding offices to the UK and taking along some powerful social media presences with them. The former director of agency partnership at Facebook in the UK, Claire Valoti, and former members of Twitter, AOL and Buzzfeed have, joined the Snapchat UK offices.

9. Snapchat is building an application programming interface (API), according to Digiday. This will allow advertisers more precision and better execution with their marketing campaigns. While the API maybe a few months off still, Snapchat has made advertising growth their focus for 2016. “Snapchat’s ambition going into 2016 is to have many more opportunities for e-commerce on the platform and other stuff that is more about building audiences,” said an ad agency executive with direct knowledge of the plans.

10. The numbers do not lie. Snapchat has set themselves up to be one of the strongest contenders in 2016. Their quick growth and their highly engaged users make Snapchat a great place for marketers to stretch their creative muscles, and tap into that hard to reach 13 to 34 year old market. With their promises of stronger e-commerce opportunities for the upcoming year, Snapchat is where marketers want to be. 

Source :http://bit.ly/1OxpDio

10 Stupid Mistakes Small Businesses Make With Social Media

It’s hard to find a person or a company that doesn’t have a Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn account—but small companies beware! Just because everybody uses social media doesn’t make it a useful marketing tool. In fact, without a smart strategy, committing human and financial resources to a social media campaign could cost you big, draining resources and generating negative ROI.

Here are 10 mistakes to avoid:

1. Spreading Yourself Too Thin

Building a social media presence takes a lot of time and effort. You have to engage with people continually, and communicate highly informative and/or provocative messages to stand out from the crowd. It’s hard enough to do this on one social platform, let alone two, three, or twenty. Smart small businesses, knowing their internal resources are limited, take on one platform at a time.

2. Having an Undifferentiated Strategy

When companies make mistake No. 1, they begin taking shortcuts, usually in the form of mechanically sharing the same content on each of their platforms. Big mistake. Social media users use multiple platforms; once they read your company’s same message everywhere, they will lose interest. Have a unique strategy for each platform. For instance, use Twitter to announce sales promotions and Facebook to share action shots of your products in use. This gives users a clear reason to follow you on the applicable platform(s).

3. Not Responding to Comments

It’s amazing how many companies forget social media is social. When someone reaches out to your company with a comment, you must respond—quickly and thoughtfully. Once the perception takes hold that your company is above engaging with the audience, you are dead. You will be labeled as a company that is interested only in self-promotion, a cardinal sin of social media marketing.

4. Controlling the Message

Similar to No. 3, companies err by viewing their social media accounts as advertising platforms. On social media, authenticity is valued highly. It’s OK to admit a mistake, ask for help, and respond frankly to criticism. Many small companies are unwilling to do this, and if you are one of them, either change your attitude or look for another method of Internet marketing.

5. Not Giving to Get

“Giving to get” is the path to success in social media. This strategy requires a generous spirit. Small companies succeed in social media when they go out of their way to help people by providing useful content, sharing other people’s content, jumping into conversations where they can lend a hand, and making it easy for people to try their products and services.

6. Selling Too Much

Social media users don’t like the hard sell. As a matter of fact, many use social media to escape commercialism. Don’t try too hard to sell your products and services; there will be a backlash. Again, social media is social. The best path to generating sales is to build relationships with your social media community, and then introduce the idea of doing business together.

7. Not Selling Enough

The flip side of No. 6 is also a big mistake—not attempting to sell through your social media campaign. This amounts to not having a strategy at all. If you view social media as a way to build credibility and brand awareness, that’s fine, but at some point you have to turn that credibility and brand awareness into sales. Smart small businesses gradually ramp up lead and revenue generation activities on their social media accounts; not doing it prematurely, but when the time is right to convert the “soft” asset of brand affinity into hard dollars.

8. Failing to Leverage Your Knowledge

Small companies know a lot about their products, services, markets and audiences. This knowledge, when communicated on social media, attracts the interest of potential customers. When a small business delegates its social media campaigning to a junior staffer with limited business knowledge, these potential customers will not be attracted, and may additionally conclude your entire firm is inexperienced and incompetent. By overdelegating, such companies turn their biggest potential advantage into a crippling disadvantage.

9. Failing to Establish Metrics

Many small businesses that have been on social media for a few years have absolutely no idea how well their campaign is working. Obviously, not having a way to evaluate a social media campaign leads to wasted investment and an inability to improve campaign effectiveness. Popular and useful metrics include tracking brand mentions; social shares of your company’s content; referred traffic from social media sites to your company website; and the number of engaged community members as measured by comments, direct messages. and other measurable actions. These metrics are not perfect, but provide a reliable sense of whether your campaign is stagnant, improving, or worsening.

10. Putting Too Many Eggs in the Social Basket

Social media marketing is really, really tempting for small companies because the financial barriers to entry are basically zero—signing up is free and the main investment is time. However, for revenue generation, brand awareness, and credibility building, other Internet marketing options may produce far better and quicker results—pay-per-click advertising and email marketing, to name two of the more obvious. Companies are smart to test various options. Social media could be the path of most resistance, but you won’t know unless you test. Budget accordingly and prosper!

Source : http://bit.ly/1QatO8u

Small Business Power Tip

Dominate Your Niche Online Then Move to Offline

IN THE EARLY part of this decade , I managed a Restaurant that attracted foodies looking for exotic, Asian dishes.  We were generating  a decent monthly income but due to the ‘exotic’ part, foot traffic wildly fluctuated.  In any given Sunday we could have barely two tables full or a busload of tourist barging in the front door, at any given minute.  Being a ‘family business idea’, our restaurant didn’t have solid systems to handle such large influxes of people.  We hear it all the time, “you are the best exotic Asian food in the area!”Even the local foodie magazine, agreed with the chorus of what people were saying.

Two problems started to arise:  Bad financials — cost analysis was deeply flawed and I was getting bored out of my mind waiting for customers.   

I’ve never been a patient kind of guy, I guess; classified as a ‘go-getter’ I like going after opportunities rather than waiting.  I view minutes sitting down and waiting as hours misspent.  I also believe in the importance and power of focus.

I can already hear people say, “then just find something to do while waiting.”  I did.  I didn’t literally waited and stared at the ceiling.  I would go at the backroom at do inventory, call suppliers, stock supplies,etc.  The problem with that ‘set of things to do’ is it might be productive but it’s not an effective way of taking a business to a higher level.  For that, you need strategic planning, face-to-face time with interested people, building relationships with companies who might be interested in bulk orders.  You need to build a system and more importantly, the time and resources to see it through.

It’s hard to do that when you’re waiting for the next customer to barge through the door.  So I went on a different direction and started a website Reno Homes.  That was in 2007, I’m really glad I made the leap.

With the reach and limitless leverage of internet, small businesses can now dominate their niche online just as well, if not more efficiently, as in a brick and mortar store.  There has never been a better time in the history of the world! (If you think I’m exaggerating, think about this: we are the last generation to experience life on planet earth without the world wide web.)

Some facts about small businesses and online marketing:

• A large majority is unwilling to invest significant time and resource in building their online presence.  That’s why Google tried to buy an unprofitable, but local-centric business, for six billion dollars.

•  I was a small business owner three times over.  We just didn’t have time to deal with ‘internet stuff’.  The urgent bullied us to forgetting the important.

• In short, you have Google’s good graces.  Search engines, especially in the last two years, has tried to win small business owners  by giving them favor in their search results in the hopes of letting them see the benefit of search to their core business.

• It doesn’t cost a lot to build an online presence.  But it takes time, consistency and initiative.  Don’t forget the older your site is the better.

The best thing is you can do a combination of Groupon-Living Social-Whatever-New-Coupon-Company, Twitter, Facebook, SEO online marketing campaigns.  Meaning, if you try out these avenues and do a bit of testing to see where you get results, you can leverage it to shoo-in traffic to you brick and mortar business.

Now, there simple is no reason, just to wait.  I just wish I knew this back then.

Source : http://bit.ly/1OZUYtx