What It’s Like Marketing In The Nude

Russ Henneberry — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:21:55 +0000

Your business is exposed.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, personal blogs, business blogs, forums — you are out there.

If you haven’t taken your clothes off willingly, we did it for you.

We are talking about you and your tiny business on the web.

We are “sizing you up” — no pun intended — wait — there was a pun intended.

Anyway — this has caused some interesting things to come to light:

We Like Being Naked More Than I Thought

I thought we were more bashful but apparently not — the success of check in sites like Foursquare sealed the deal for me — we are truly willing to hang it all out there. Foursquare essentially tells your network where you are all the time. Talk about putting it all out there!

The sharing, debating, discussion, and downright gluttony of openness going on out there — I have thought — would send the average business diving into the shower stall.

Nope. Many stand unabashed in our birthday suits.

We Are More Forgiving Than I Thought

It’s become evident to me that we don’t want you or your business to be perfect — in fact if you seem perfect it may raise an alarm bell.

We want you to be “REAL.”

If you make mistakes — that’s ok — we all do. If we think your products or services suck we are going to tell you. And you need to take it like a man and try harder.

We don’t want to hear your faceless “COMPANY” talk, we want to hear a real person talk and then — we will forgive nearly anything.

We Are More Vicious Than I Thought

The dark side.

If you aren’t REAL — or sometimes if you are too real — you will get “thrashed” by the crowd — and it can be nasty.

There have been tons of examples of large brands taking it on the chin because of there poor handling of social media and a complete misunderstanding of how to market in the nude.

To these companies we say — I aint mad at you. Just get real and we won’t be so vicious. Fix your products, fix your customer service.

Give us more reasons to spread the good things about your company and less reasons to spread the bad.

What about you? How have you handled this new form of marketing? Are you careful about the message your tiny business sends? What advice do you have for the rest of us?

Finding Yourself On Your Knees [Ahem... get your mind out of the gutter]

Russ Henneberry — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:26 +0000

The difference between wanting that sale and needing that sale can be devastating to almost every facet of your tiny business.

You have to have cash to operate. Duh.

When we [tiny business owners] find ourselves with no cash — we will do some pretty stupid things:

We Take Projects We Can’t Handle

Sure, I can do that. And you probably can. But how well? Can you do it efficiently? Do you have any experience with it or will you be attaching a steep learning curve that the customer will not be willing to pay for.

Will you fail at it? Will it damage your reputation if you don’t do it well [uh... damn right it will].

Sounds rough doesn’t it? Perhaps it would be smarter to refer this project to someone in your network. You may be making a more sound business decision by referring this business on and growing the good will around your business with someone in your network.

But hey — I get it — sometimes you have to take something outside of your comfort zone when times are tough — just be careful.

We Let Customers Push Us Around

Hey, we are desperate. We NEED that money — and we have to make that customer happy.

So — we let them dictate the terms of the deal 100%.

They are not paying until services/product are rendered
They have negotiated some extra perks [that will cost you time or money]
They keep growing the scope of the project

And on and on. And we stand there with our tail between our legs — powerless.

It is the nature of business to get the most value for your money — and your customers will be seeking the same — don’t kid yourself.

Make sure you have processes in place — policies that protect you from getting into a bad position. These policies will rarely break any single deal — but if they aren’t in place, they could break your business.

We Take Projects For Less $ Than We Should

Is it better to be working for 1/2 of what I need to survive than nothing at all?

Not necessarily.

You have to remember that there is an opportunity cost to your time. While you may need to execute some work to increase your portfolio or testimonials — the time you will spend executing on that project may be better spent finding customers that can pay you what you are worth.

There is a fine line here — no question — you have to weigh your circumstances carefully with each project.

Your turn! What kinds of crazy things have you done when you were strapped for some business cash? Did it work out? What advice do you have?

Why Are You Are Such A Meanie!?

Russ Henneberry — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:10 +0000

Ever hear any of this from a big companies customer service department —

usually from a nasally, crabby voice waiting for you after your miraculous negotiation of an automated phone system filled with land mines and booby traps threatening to send you to the wrong part of their twisted outsourced world or disconnect you altogether:

Sorry sir/madam — It’s against our company policy to provide a refund.
Sorry sir/madam — Our Terms of Service states that you can’t have an extension on that warranty — even if it is only expired by one day.
Sorry sir/madam — Our legal department maintains that it is your fault that you used our product on your pet ferret.

And we generally take it — sometimes we get steaming mad. But [those of us that are rational] are not mad at the nasally, crabby voice.

After all — why do you think the voice is crabby? Because it consistently has to enforce company policies that customers are less than thrilled about.

The nasally voice is just a messenger. And we don’t shoot messengers. It’s not their call. They have no power.

It’s nothing personal.

Tiny Business Don’t Have This Luxury

When your client calls you and says:

Hey — can I get an extension on paying this invoice?
Hey — can you redo this service even though I gave you the wrong specifications?
Hey — can you pay me “pain and suffering” damages for the loss of my pet ferret?

Can you say?– Sorry – that’s against my Terms and Conditions – Sorry — that’s against company policy.

You ARE the company.

Now, it’s personal. The customer is talking directly to the person that makes every decision for this company — the boss — YOU. Uh oh.

Your customer is thinking — “Certainly you will make an exception in this case — for me.”

Get Your Ducks In A Row

Most customers do not care that there is a policy about this or that but they don’t want to find out about it — after the fact.

They don’t want to feel like you are making up the rules as you go along. This is easier said than done for a tiny business — but there needs to be clear policies in place and those policies need to be discussed with all current and potential customers.

Don’t wait until it’s time to pull a “bad cop” and enforce the policy. If you must do this [because you can't cover every contingency at the outset of a project] make darn certain that you are in the right — and then enforce the policy sternly in person if possible, over the phone if not possible.

Try not to do so over email – could get lost in translation.

Blame It On the Rain

Bring a third party into the conversation — even if that person doesn’t really exist.

For example you could say:

Listen, I have been working with a business coach and she is encouraging me to enforce the Net 30 terms on my invoices. I hope you understand.

This advice has worked for me in many situations and was provided to me by a dear friend and business mentor. Don’t consider it to be misleading even if you are not truly working with a third party business coach.

I am my own business coach in some ways — and I have certainly been encouraging myself to put the policies in place that will create win-win situations for all involved in a business transaction.

What about you? How do you keep it from getting too personal without letting customers take advantage of you?

The “Net” Cost

Russ Henneberry — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:00:40 +0000

The goal of all marketing is the same — increase sales.

To do so, we must get our message in front of as many qualified people as possible — increase the size of our marketing net.

It is called Reach.

Reach is the number of different people we are able to get our message in front of at least once.

There are many methods by which we can increase the reach of our marketing — you could run a Super Bowl Ad on television and reach millions.

I can see it now — Tiny Business, Mighty Profits running an ad right after the Bud Light commercial.

Let’s be real — we need reach but we can’t get it the way that the big brands do. We must market more intelligently. We must market using the inexpensive (in most cases free) methods available to us on the Internet.

The good news is that if you learn these new marketing methods you can get the reach [and the frequency] you need with none of the cost.

Commit to it. Become a student of these methods. Increase the size of your net, extend your reach and achieve mighty profits for your tiny business.

What about you? How do you increase the reach of your tiny business marketing? What advice do you have for us?

Tiny Action, Mighty Payoff: Google Keyword Tool

Russ Henneberry — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:03 +0000

Have you ever researched what keyword phrases people use on Google when they are looking to

Buy
Compare
Read reviews about

your products and services?

If not, you need to click here and do some keyword research using the Google keyword tool.

Start by typing in a “seed list of words” you think people are using when they search Google

If you can’t think of a “seed list” you could also get started by sending Google to a competitors website [or to your own website] to see what Google suggests you should be targeting.

Scroll through the list of words and suggestions that Google returns

Do some research to find out if you are ranking well for any of these keywords by typing the words into Google yourself (make sure you are not logged into your Google account while doing this research)
Get busy learning some basic “white hat” SEO techniques that will help you rank for those keywords.

Are You Living With A Lie?

Russ Henneberry — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:00:03 +0000

When working as an employee of a business — we live with L-I-E-S.

This is what I hated most about working for a large company. Sitting in meeting after meeting BS’ing each other. Avoiding real issues. Making things up that justify the reasoning behind poor products, poor processes or poor customer service.

It’s kind of sick really. Full grown adults sitting around in a room making things up to cope with the reality of the workplace.

What Is That Reality?

When you are working for an organization there tends to be certain indisputable realities. The larger the organization, the more flagrant these tend to be:

The organization moves slow
Sometimes the organization doesn’t move at all
There is great distance between executives and customers

Tiny Businesses Don’t Have To Lie, But Some Do

One of the most refreshing aspects of running your own [tiny] business is that you DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE WITH LIES.

This doesn’t mean that tiny businesses don’t live live with lies.

As an owner of a very small business — ensure that you are not lying to yourself. Make sure your products are top notch. Make sure you are putting the customer first. Fix your processes. Fix your customer service.

Don’t BS yourself.

Realize that this is one of the critical advantages you have over larger companies. Realize that larger companies have trouble telling the truth but you can be Honest Abe.

Patience Young Grasshopper

Russ Henneberry — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:00:42 +0000

It’s a flaw that is apparent in us all.

We don’t usually go looking for solutions to problems that we don’t yet have. We fail to plan. We fail to look ahead.

When the problem finally becomes apparent, we expect to solve it NOW.

Now, now, now!

In this case, the problem we are talking about is getting SALES for your tiny business and the marketing solutions that fix that problem NOW are generally sloppy, unethical and in some cases illegal.

In all cases, the benefits you can gain from these types of marketing tactics are short lived. The purely ethical method for marketing on the Internet and getting results NOW is called Pay Per Click Marketing. You set up a Google Adwords or similar account and begin paying for clicks to your website. This method works very well, but the benefit of each click is extremely short. If you stop paying, the traffic stops coming.

Patience Is Required For Long Term Success

If you plan to have a sustainable business on the Internet, it will require first and foremost that you are selling something that is worthwhile. You will need to build something worth talking about on the Internet. This “something” is where your marketing must start. It is in the content of your product or service and in the content of your message.

How do you feel about this? Do you have the patience and persistence to create a sustainable business on the Internet?

Learning To Be A Connector

Russ Henneberry — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:00:42 +0000

I didn’t see it.

It was there — plain as day but I didn’t notice it — too caught in in furthering my own goals. Too worried about how I was going to grow my own revenues.

I missed a connection.

A chance to grow someone elses revenues. A chance to further someone elses goals. It was someone I had worked with and someone I trusted. It was someone I considered a colleague and friend.

The embarrassing thing is that they have referred business to me. They are a connector.

I am not.

Or, at least I wasn’t. But I have grown and learned. In fact, I have spent a considerable amount of time working on this aspect of my business. Listening attentively for chances to connect people.

The benefit of becoming a connector is enormous and is not the subject of this post. Suffice it to say that I have seen a dramatic increase in the size of my network and an equally impressive increase in referrals as a result of what I have learned.

Here are three important lessons that you may be able to apply to your business –

“Fill Yourself” With Information About Being a Connector

As my good friend and colleague Jennifer Tobias, author of Live, Love and Earn always says –

“We become what we fill our Kool-Aid pitcher with.”

So — fill your Kool-Aid pitcher with great books about connecting such as:

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
and Tribes by Seth Godin

Read the blogs of other connectors, listen to their podcasts, and attend their speaking events.

Don’t Connect Just For Connection Sake

Let me preface this by saying that I have never been a member of a referral group like BNI but I have spent quite a bit of time around business owners that are members. BNI operates on a quota system — in other words you MUST connect people to other people — or you can be removed from the group.

Some business owners, usually because of these quotas, will make weak connections. They will connect people that they don’t really know with someone that they don’t really trust.

This is a good rule to follow:

Refer good people to other good people when there is a win/win for the both of them.

Spend Time With Connectors

Surround yourself with those that you would like to emulate. One of the most selfless connectors I have met in the Saint Louis area is Fred Miller of No Sweat Public Speaking. He is the genuine article and the consummate networker. Whenever I see him at a networking event, I sit next to him. I have learned a lot about being a connector from spending time with Fred and other connectors.

Don’t Keep Score

You do someone a favor, +1 for you. Now they owe you one. Right? Wrong.

I am not saying you should let others take advantage of you but you must work hard to not keep score.

You may give someone “10 points” worth of favors over a two year period with nothing in return — and then in the third year — it is returned to you in a “50 point” favor. If you were keeping score you may have stopped giving — and never received the “50 point” breakthrough connection that was coming your way.

Of course, you may never receive anything in return — but that is OK. If you are connecting good people to other good people, you WILL win in the end. I promise.

What about you? How do you connect good people with other good people? What advice do you have?

No related posts.

Tiny Action, Mighty Payoff: YouTube Search

Russ Henneberry — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:04:06 +0000

You haven’t heard? YouTube is the second most searched property in the United States.

People are looking for information on YouTube — could you be the provider of that information and possibly win some business?

What is being created around your industry and uploaded to YouTube? Take some time to navigate over and search YouTube for your keywords.

Watch some video and determine whether online video is a good fit for you and your business.

The Sniff Test

Russ Henneberry — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:00:33 +0000

I know, I know…

the stuff that I write and speak about doesn’t pass the “Sniff Test” that we instinctively apply to all things business –

Take a whiff of the following —

1) create great content and give it away for free

2) spend more time helping other people’s businesses than you do your own

3) create win-wins with your customers.

It just doesn’t smell right to us – because we were taught –

There is no such thing as free
Nice guys finish last
There are winners and there are losers in business

Well get over it. Things have changed. In fact, there is no smarter way to market your business than giving away free content, being as helpful as you possibly can to good people in your network and creating business transactions where everyone wins.

I know it sounds crazy — but try it for a few weeks and see what happens.

The fact is — business doesn’t smell the way it used to.

What are your thoughts. Does this type of marketing pass the “sniff test” for you?