On the weekend I attended an Internet Marketing event and as always left with my head spinning and lots of great new information. The event was run by two gentlemen of the same name, spelt differently – Shaun Stenning and Sean Rasmussen. Both are leading internet marketers within Australia and passed on their invaluable knowledge and experience to help anyone, who was willing to take action, make their first dollar online.

Not only did they cover internet marketing principles such as SEO (Search engine optimization), Affiliate marketing, website layouts and colours, email marketing and the new social media, they also covered many psychological aspects of internet marketing. That is the why and the how of what people do what they do online. It was fascinating. For example, do you know that green is the worst colour you can have for a website? In contrast, blue creates immediate rapport with customers and is a great colour to use.

Another thing that was imparted was the need for us all to take action. It’s fine to read, listen and learn, but the real change occurs when you take action. This is relevant to anything we do. Don’t just look at nice recipes – make them. Don’t just read a book on how to improve your business – take action and apply some new strategies. Don’t attend a seminar for two days and then do nothing with your new information. Make the most of your opportunities. As Shaun says: Opportunity + Action = $million.

Action Step - Take Action!

Until next time
Samantha

Small business marketing, while it can be very time consuming, is a critical component of your business. Regardless of the stage of your business and even if you think it is the best idea ever dreamed of, it is going absolutely nowhere if people do not know it exists. The only way you will get get people calling, visiting and buying from your business is if you tell them about it. Some considerations on how to spread the word are outlined below.

The traditional methods of advertising may not work for you and could be very costly. For example, an advertisement in the local newspaper can cost anywhere from $50-500 (or more) depending on the size, scale and frequency with which the ad runs. This method of advertising is only as effective as the people who notice the ad in the paper. With print media (eg newspapers, magazines, Yellow Pages) fast becoming lower on the priority list for most people looking for content, this advertising medium is becoming less preferred for small business marketing.

These days, many of the ways to advertise your business depend on having a website. In this age of information technology a website is not a ‘maybe’, it is a ‘must have’ for small business marketing. If you don’t have a website, you can be assured that your potential customers are visiting your competitors online. Once you have this site operational, you can use the power of the Internet to drive visitors to it.

Some ideas for driving traffic to your website are to create a blog about the industry your business is in, join a forum, create a press release, upload a video to sites such as YouTube and perhaps most important, generate keyword-rich content for search engine optimization. Don’t be concerned if you don’t know a lot about these tools, there are plenty of people that do, so you can outsource the work. Alternatively, there are plenty of learning materials available to help.

Small business marketing is a lot of work that needs to be conducted carefully with intelligent spending; do not throw a lot of money at advertising without first defining a solid strategy for it. Having a good strategy for promoting your business will help drive the types of customers you want to it and convince them to buy from you.

Until next time
Samantha

Use your small business advantage whenever you can. As an example of what I mean, consider the phone script for the following two businesses.

“Hello and thank you for calling Mell Computers, the worldwide leader in notebook PCs, media centers and wireless networking. This is Michael, how may I help you today?”

“Hi, this is Steve’s Computer Shop, this week we are having a special on notebook computers. How are you today?”

Did you notice a difference between the two? The first is a large, multi-national firm with a particular script that must be followed for answering all phone calls. The second is a small business where the person answering the phone is free to customise whatever they would like to say. Perhaps the next person that calls will be greeted with information on Steve’s printer range!

Flexibility is a fundamental difference, and a definite small business advantage. Having the ability to pay particular attention to one segment of your business and change it as frequently as you see fit is a great strength. If notebooks are not selling well, pull them off and answer the phone with a different product. In a large business, it can take weeks if not months of meetings, documentation and other time wasting activities before the script to answer the phones can be changed.

The beauty of being able to change frequently is that you can also provide excellent, personalised service – another small business advantage. Steve’s computer shop knows exactly what Mr. Jones needs in his computers because he has been in the store a few times. On the other hand, all Mell Computers knows about Mr. Jones is that his account number is 123456 and his street address for security purposes is 1 Main Street.

The ability to pay special attention to individual customer needs helps to spread the good word about your business quickly. Being small also affords you the opportunity to try different things without drastic impact, and you can implement them quickly instead of waiting forever as you would in a large business. Those who pay attention to their customers, constantly modify their offerings, learn from mistakes and aggressively seek to maximise their small business advantage are the ones who can grow quickly and be successful.

Action Step: Use your small business advantage by being flexible, responsive and attentive to your customers needs.

Until next time
Samantha

Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup For the Soul, outlines how to plan your day for maximum success.

A simple formula, but one that I personally know to be very effective. Particularly planning your day before going to bed. It’s amazing what you can achieve while you’re sleeping.

Sweet Dreams
Samantha

Last time we started to look at the purpose of a business plan. If you haven’t already read this post, please start below before coming back to here…
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Purpose 3: Funding and Investment

Many small businesses require bank funding or seek investment. In this situation, the business plan purpose is to act as a financing proposal. Just by having a plan will put you in front of many other small business owners and certainly be viewed favourably by lenders and investors. In fact, some will not even give you a second glance without this information.

Purpose 4: Business Sale

Although it may seem pointless if you have reached this stage in your business, a well written business plan will help not only sell your business, but could result in a higher price. It will indicate to prospective purchasers that the business is well planned and give some security that a road map is in place for the future.

Purpose 5: Employee Morale

Another underestimated business plan purpose is to use the plan to keep employees informed about the business. While some business owners may cringe at this thought, it is a great way to get staff involved in the business, encourage feedback and help implement the plan.

It is not necessary to give the full plan if you don’t want to include sensitive information such as financials. Whatever format you present it in, staff will gain an instant sense of ownership and involvement that could prove very valuable.

And remember, whatever the business plan purpose, for best results be objective and honest during the planning process. If you aren’t, it will not be the complete document it needs to be and therefore unlikely to fulfill its purpose!

Until next time,
Samantha

Any small business needs a plan. Even if it is only a one page piece of paper on the fridge, some form of plan is critical to business success. The business plan purpose is primarily to force small business owners to look at their industry, products, operations, management and finances. From here they can set business goals and objectives.

While the process of analysis is extremely beneficial, the business plan purpose also extends into other areas including using the plan to monitor and grow the business, obtain finance, sell the business and even motivate employees.

Purpose 1: Critical Analysis

Simply undertaking the planning process itself forces you to critically analyse all aspects of the business. You may already think you do this regularly (although not formally with pen and paper), but do you truly cover all facets of your business? Do you continually look to your customers, competitors and industry for new trends, ideas and opportunities? Are you on top of your finances and cash flow position? Have you set goals and objectives and put in place the planning for your business for the next 6 months? 12 months? 3 years? Do you know what marketing is working for your business and have forward planning in place for advertising, promotion and web marketing?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, it’s time to implement or revise your business plan. All of these questions, plus many more should be answered in the plan. Even if you are a solo, home-based business, you need to critically analyse your business and have a plan. Like anything, if you don’t have a map, you won’t get to your destination.

Purpose 2: Monitor, Maintain and Develop Business

So now that you have your small business plan in place, it needs to be reviewed regularly. Another key business plan purpose is to provide a tool to help monitor, maintain and grow your business. Set business objectives, put plans in place, monitor results and make adjustments as necessary. Taking the time to regularly spend on your plan and revising it will go a long way to ensuring your business growth and success.

Next time we’ll look at Purpose 3, 4 & 5 of the business plan.

Until then,
Samantha