Blog on Management Direct.

4 Thoughts on Managing a Team

There are as many ways of managing a team as there are managers or, for that matter, teams. Here we look at four areas of team management which affect every group of people whose job it is to work together:

Membership - Personnel
Culture - Working Atmosphere
Credit - Recognition
Criticism - When Things Go Wrong

Membership - Personnel

Choose your team with the utmost care. It is possible that this is the manager’s most important role. If the team is being built up from scratch, what are the requirements? What range of skills do you need? How many do you need?

It is better to take time over a choice than to end up with a personnel problem. Therefor a mutual trial period with no recriminations is a good idea. If a mistake is made, a good manager will always take responsibility for it. Not just because, having been the one who made the appointment, it is the right thing to do, but also because it is the approach that will get the best from the situation.

Choose people with talent and ability. In each skill area try to find someone who knows more than you do. Chose people who seem like they will work together well. People you would look forward to spending your days with. People who will not just say 'yes'. People who can "disagree without being disagreeable." Make sure they all know they are there because you want them there.

Culture - Working Atmosphere

The previous statement also belongs here: Make sure they all know they are there because you want them there. If you have the good fortune to be managing a team of talented and knowledgeable people, you will have the potential for the stresses and strains of strong personality differences. These can be mitigated to the point of irrelevance if every team member is operating with a conviction that their input is wanted and valued equally.

Create a culture where no idea is too stupid. Play with it. Tease, gibe, poke fun. Whatever it takes. As long as the rules are the same for everyone. As long as you make sure you notice how many ideas that initially get shot down turn out to be the best ones. As long as you notice which 'rubbish' suggestions gave the seed for the great idea. Like a perfect pass that set up a big score. Would you sack that player? It's a cliche but it's true: People who are not making mistakes are not doing anything. We quoted Michael Jordan in Tenacity in Business - 23 Quotes on the Multi-Faceted Nature of Perseverance:

"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot...and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's precisely why I succeed."

The day after he missed a vital shot, would you still pick him?

Credit - Recognition

Simple really. If the team is successful the team takes the credit. If an individual is being given the credit then it is not a team.

I imagine the atmosphere in the writers room on a show like the Simpsons. Ideas must fly around like a puck on an ice-rink. I bet sometimes it is just as dangerous too. I bet people show up to work wearing their 'protective clothing'. I bet it is an exciting game. In the end, who actually wrote the script?

It is not in human nature to credit the 'failed' ideas which lead to the big successes. The world of science is full of it. Entrepreneurs talk about it but usually after they have been successful.

"I would never have thought of this if you hadn't said that."

"If x had not come up with that idiotic idea, y would never have had the brain-wave."

If your team is aware of these things, they can truly work as a team.

Criticism - When Things Go Wrong

Of course, it can never all be about credit. If you are working in the type of culture described, most teams will deal with failures with little need for criticism. They will get there before you. When 'words' need to be exchanged, the manager who has gone to his boss and taken the blame full-on will be listened to when private words of criticism, however harsh, are kept within the team.

Another cliche (too bad! some things are worth repeating.): Criticise in private, praise in public.

"Sorry boss, my fault, I will get it sorted."

"Thanks boss, we have a great team, would love you to drop by and tell them yourself."

Simple Ways to a Greener Office

Not only does going green allow you to do good in the world, it can also be profitable. Turning your office into a more environmentally friendly workplace is not as difficult as you may think. Below are some pointers to get you started.

First of all always remember that small changes do in fact add up.

Be ready and willing to change - going green means changing your habits and the way you think. This is often quite a daunting prospect but it will be worth it in the end. Your business, you, your colleagues and managers must be open and willing to implement change. Management communications, sales & marketing campaigns and even your product or service itself can all be changed from traditional to eco-friendly, sustainable and energy-conscious. Change can be gradual but must be supported every step of the way if it is to be successful.

Educate everyone - creating a more eco-conscious business requires knowledge, awareness and commitment. Everybody involved must understand the processes and what the end goal is. Confusion will greatly hamper your efforts and cost you money.

Vendors, customers and communities where you do business need to know how your business fits into the eco-friendly universe and how it benefits them. Join green industry associations and organizations and network with organizations that have connections to businesses, colleges and universities and local government on green issues and sustainability. A simple way to help your company implement a new environmental policy or to educate everybody involved is to hire an environmental consultant.

Create an energy management plan – Your businesses energy usage should be analyzed for two or three years and compared to similar businesses in your industry. By analyzing this you should be able to establish in which areas energy can or should be reduced. Goals should be created to avoid overusing energy.

Lighting – Office lights use 44% of all electricity used in offices. Make it a habit to turn off lights when you are the last to leave a room (for more than 15mins), utilize natural light where ever possible. Make it a company policy to buy Energy-Star rated light bulbs and fittings. Install timers and/or motion sensors to automatically switch off light when they are not needed.

Computer use – make it a habit to turn off your computer and screen at the end of every day, do not just log off as this leaves the computer still running fully (Check with your IT department to make sure the computer doesn't need to be on to run backups or other maintenance). Setting your computer to sleep rather than go to a screensaver after a short period of time can cut down your computer's energy usage by up to 70%, it is worth noting that a screensaver does not reduce the energy usage of a computer at all. Make it a company policy to buy energy efficient equipment and to make sure that old equipment is recycled in an environmentally friendly way.

Print – Printing on both sides of a piece of paper will save you twice as much paper! Use the backs of old documents, faxes, etc, as draft paper. Print in black and white as much as possible. Buy chlorine free paper, use a thinner grade paper. Also consider buying and using recycled paper. It may be possible to use reusable, recycled or remanufactured (these usually cost up to 15% less than the brand new ones but each cartridge saves about 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic and about half a gallon of oil) ink cartridges in your office, depending on your printer make (please consult your printer’s instruction manual or manufacturer for further details).

Paperless where possible – do you really need to print that email or document?

Recycling – recycle as much as possible, nearly everything today is recyclable to some extent. Place recycling bins in communal and high traffic areas.

Office supplies - purchase recycled office supplies and furniture.

Travel - change the way you commute, use public transport or walk wherever possible. Do you have a company carpool? Use video conferencing and webinars to reach people in a more energy and cost efficient way.

Heating/AC - put your heating and/or air conditioning on a timer and thermostat so that it is not running unnecessarily. Lowering the temperature of your heating by only a few degrees can reduce your energy consumption substantially (or raising your AC by a few degrees).

Mailing – Could you organise to send your direct mail by email? Doing so could save your business hundreds of dollars and reduce the amount of paper used by your company.
Remember be visible in your conservation actions instead of preachy. If you cannot convince your co-workers or boss to implement policy on environmental grounds, convince them to conserve on the grounds that it will save money and boost customer perceptions of the company.

See our previous blog post on green energy products to further reduce your energy consumption and carbon footprint.

What happens when the price of everything drops to 1 cent?

Google 'daily deals' anywhere in the world and you will get a vast array of sites offering you huge price reductions on just about anything you can imagine. Shopping and selling on price is big business these days and it is one of the things the Internet is particularly good at. Price comparison is easy. Use your smart phone, define your location, find the best deal and off you go. The trouble is where does it all end? In the long-run is it good for your business? How do you know if and when it is a good idea to join the rush to offer the lowest price?

We say to ourselves that it is an offer, a deal. Our prices are still the same, our products hold their intrinsic value. But do they? At what point do offer prices become the value of the product? Can the image of quality be recovered? The logical conclusion of all this price cutting came to me the other day in an absurd question:

What happens when the price of everything drops to 1 cent?

How do consumers decide what to buy then?

That is not the only problem of course. In fact it is the easy one to answer. Once prices cannot fall any further, quality and service come back into the equation with colossal force. Will there be anyone left standing who is capable of providing that quality?

This is an extreme case to highlight the danger that failure to put real value on things and an increasing need to get the cheapest available, epitomized by the daily deal craze, can harm business in profound ways. Not just harm businesses, but meet out lasting damage to future consumer experience.

Brand loyalty, personal trust in a local business, belief that quality has a price and value. These things are not dead, far from it. Last week we reported that the US manufacturing businesses that are taking on new works are the ones who are making durable products.

Deals, daily or otherwise, are not dead either. We love them, we always will. We love to tell our family and friends about the great deal we just got. The point is they have to be rare. If they are not rare there is nothing to be pleased about, nothing to talk about. If everything is a deal, it just isn't a deal anymore.

What is a deal saying to customers old and new? What type of new customer is it attracting? How long will they stay with you when the deal making stops? Meanwhile have you devalued your product?

Your thoughts please ..........

2013 Year Mobile Goes Big

The PC has a large sprawling screen, and yet it is losing it’s allure for consumers who are used to carrying around smartphones and tablets. This means that online advertisers have to start thinking about providing ads on this new, smaller battleground.

Facebook has already started integrating Sponsored Links into it’s stream. Mobile advertising is expected to see a 180 percent increase this year. That will push spending over the $4Bn mark. By 2016 the channel is expected to approach $21 billion.

A portion of the growth is attributed to native ads which are integrated into Facebook and Twitter’s feeds. One advantage of native ads is that they allow a seamless experience for the user. Native ads are believed to be a more effective and seamless form of mobile advertising than banners.

Google is also seeing growth in mobile display ads and will earn $315 million in US mobile display ad revenues. Google is expected to take a 17% share of mobile advertising for the year.

It looks like 2013 will finally be the year mobile goes big and native.

Facebook Finds New Growth From Ads That Follow You

Wall Street wants Facebook to find a new source of growth, and the social network appears to have done just that – with ads that follow you from site to site and remember you for long periods of time.

Facebook launched its Facebook Exchange ad-bidding network three months ago. The system delivers a huge volume of users and helps advertisers follow users for longer periods of time than with other competing systems. Facebook is giving Google a run for its money.

The success of Facebook Exchange appears to be helping to lift Facebook stock even though it hasn’t been publicly discussing the exchange’s performance. Even though it is still really early and only a small percentage of Facebook’s revenue.

Despite this growth, there are concerns that the exchange is handicapped by the trend of Facebook users to use mobile devices to primarily access the social network. This impedes the exchange to retarget users as they switch from browser to apps and back again.

Whether it’s by luring international advertisers, helping e-tailers follow their users onto Facebook, or connecting users, it seems Facebook is always intent on making the world a smaller place.

Online Tax Advice for Small Businesses

It is the time of year when small businesses are concentrating on the approaching deadlines for filing tax forms. Not everyone's favorite job not least because it takes away from the important work of actually running your business. It could be that the best option is to hire an expert but when making that decision you would want to be aware of the amount of advice a help that is available online.

Lets start with the IRS's own resource:

Here you will find a pretty comprehensive 'how to ' guide along with learning tools and opportunities. There are down-loadable forms and advice on how to do file your tax returns online. You can also sign up to their free tax newsletter which will keep you up to date with tax related issues throughout the year.

The second most important government, online resource for small businesses on tax issues would be the US Small Business Administration (SBA) site. It is not so easy to find what you are looking for here but here is search result which brought a long list of very informative tax related articles. Subjects range from filing and paying your taxes to state and federal obligations.

As well as the official information available on government sites there is a lot of advice out there from professionals.

Microsoft's business resource center has a selection of articles available on tax advice. This series by Portland, OR, Tax Professional, Joseph Anthony, might be of particular use if you are facing the decision whether or not to look for professional help.

6 secrets tax pros won't share
6 signs you don't need a tax pro
7 tips for hiring a tax pro
Good reasons to have both: a bookkeeper and a tax pro

John Tozzi's 25 Tax Traps in Bloomberg Business week is an excellent article which is refreshingly and clearly worded.

Bizsugar.com contains a rich resource of articles on tax issues from tax professionals and fellow business owners.

Awareness of available deductions is crucial and two sites set out to help small businesses with this:

bankrate.com

and

Nolo Law for All

If you are looking for a one stop shop then go straight to the IRS, it is a good resource and not nearly as impenetrable as you might expect.

Finding Fame and Fortune in Social Media

Social media may have made it easier to go from obscurity to prominence. For example, a teenager posting videos to YouTube can get a movie deal such as “Fred: The Movie”. Elsewhere someone posting quotes from their Dad lands a tv show on CBS with “$#*! My Dad Says”. And bloggers who create memes are being offered book deals.

Twitter user Kelly Oxford has landed both a book deal and a tv show. However, alongside web celebs, not to mention actual celebrities with huge online followings such as Rihanna and Katy Perry there’s a new class of microstars who are viral but have no aspirations of going to Hollywood.

How they became famous and made comfortable incomes offers insights to those unsure of how to use Twitter or Tumblr to promote themselves.

Joey Mueller tweets from his iPhone to nearly 400,000 people. An example of his observational humour is “Nancy Grace is the human equivalent of caps lock.”

He said that he has never purchased followers and that he posts on Twitter during midday when most people spend time online. His parents remind him that he’s not really famous and that he should stay in school.

Radio DJ Jamie Black, a self confessed “huge radio nerd” works weekends at Q101 in Chicago. In 2005 he started podcasts about Chicago’s underground music scene called Dynasty podcasts. He records with local artists and club owners and made the MP3s available on his website to which he got a modest response.

But since posting his podcasts on SoundCloud he now has 43,000 followers. He now works full time at Dynasty Podcasts and can earn up to $500 for an hour of work.

A Sea of Job-Seekers, but Some Companies Aren’t Getting Any Bites

Policy makers continue to debate how American companies might create more jobs. But business owners say thousands of jobs around the country are sitting vacant, particularly at small and midsize companies.

Express Employment Professionals, a national staffing firm based in Oklahoma City currently has 18,000 open job orders they can’t fill.

How can so many jobs remain unfilled with unemployment so high? Possibly because workers lack the necessary skills to fill those positions. There is a high demand for skilled workers.

One solution is to invest in robots to do the jobs which is exactly what Drew Greenblatt has done. His company, Marlin Steel Wire Products manufactures high-quality sheet metal products for customers like Pfizer, Caterpillar and Toyota. “Our big problem is that we don’t have enough talent to run those machines at off hours, which means they sit dormant 70 hours a week when they could be working.” “We’re in the middle of a recession and we have to hire someone to help us find talent. It’s so upside down.”

His operators are in constant contact with customers like Pfizer and Boeing so good grammar is essential – something not everyone possesses.

Another option is to train in new recruits but this takes time and money to accomplish.

Small Businesses Open Up Storefronts on Facebook

Mandie Miller started up her business Got What It Cakes after receiving such positive praise from her friends when she took up baking just for fun. Although she already had a website it was when her sister created a Got What It Cakes Facebook page when things really took off. Cake orders went from two or three a weekend to up to ten. Now Ms. Miller is turning away an additional ten each weekend and the annual revenue at the end of her second year of business was just over $40,000.

Got What It Cakes is part of an online revolution in online commerce: F-commerce. A term used to describe sales made online through Facebook. Payvment, a company that provides support to F-commerce transactions, says it has 170,000 clients and is signing 1,500 stores per week.

Small companies seem to having more success on Facebook than large companies. According to Sucharita Mulpuru, a retail analyst at Forrester, Gap, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney and Gamestop have all shut down their Facebook stores in the last 12 months, mainly because consumers are used to a richer experience on retailing web sites.

It’s easy for small businesses to open a Facebook storefront by uploading photos of their product and adding shopping functions. Other ideas include having a menu or holding competitions. Apps can also be added and can be custom developed. To attract fans and friends a storefront needs to frequently post status updates and photos. Tagging people in photos is another good way of advertising to friends and friends’ friends.

Although online store fronts are a must have for small businesses, having a real world outlet is crucial for those customers that don’t like sharing their credit card details online. Although most of Mandie Miller’s customers order online they pay her when they collect the cake in her store.

How Should Mobile Internet Use Affect Your Landing Page?

Our recandent post: 15 Golden Rules of Successful Landing Pages sets out important dos and don'ts when designing a landing page. It doesn't mention the device on which the landing page will be viewed. With a recent report from Marin Software predicting: A Quarter of Paid-Search Advertising Will be Mobile by Dec. 2012, it is worth considering this issue with all landing pages.

It is safe to think of smartphones and tablets as mainstream Internet interfaces. It is usually not necessary to design separate sites or pages for these devices. There are, of course, exceptions and there can be pros and cons on either side. What is certainly true is that it is important to check how pages view on a variety of machines.

Does it read clearly and easily?

Is the call to action accessible and tempting?

Remember also that a desktop user will likely be happy to fill in a quick and relevant form. A phone user is more likely to want to click to call. A tablet user will probably be somewhere in between.

A note on conversion:

The same Marin report has mobile conversion rates substantially lower than computer conversion rates. Tracking issues need to be looked at carefully here. Using click to call and store-locators can help to get better data on the full conversion picture.

Much mobile Internet use takes place on the way to shopping outlets or even actually in the store itself. Conversion can mean a decision to lift a product and walk to the checkout.

Are your landing pages good enough to tip that balance?

15 Golden Rules of Successful Landing Pages

A Landing Page is the first page a visitor 'lands' on when they click on an ad or when they make a particular, targeted, search. A landing page is a page with an express purpose.

You have invited your visitor to your site with an offer. Usually you have a particular result in mind: a sale, a sign-up or a contact. It is the landing page's job to achieve that result.

Many businesses make the mistake of linking all traffic to their home page. Landing pages exist because they work. If you have a specific goal in mind, the page you bring your visitor to needs to reflect that.

Here are 14 Golden Rules gleaned from some of the best writers on the subject around the web:

Create a landing page that has one goal and only one goal.
Don't crowd your landing page with 'just in case they are interested in something else' type information. It only confuses. Take your visitors to other parts of your site for that.
Remember that your landing page is a landing page from an ad or a particular search term. Your visitors should already be interested in the offer.
Only collect information that is clearly and obviously necessary to deliver your offer.
Make promises you can fulfil, then fulfil them.
Don't quote authorities without permission. It is as likely to land you in court as to improve your conversion rates. People do check.
Show your product in its very best light without making false claims.
Show confidence in your product and your offer.
Piling in loads of peripheral information only causes confusion and weakens confidence in the offer itself.
Write in ways which clearly lead your visitor to conversion.
Make it clear that any problems will be immediately and positively dealt with.
Your visitor is there to check out an offer, probably in a hurry. Keep your text clear and scan-able.
Use white space to break up your text.
Don't go into unnecessary detail, there are other parts of your site for that.
Remove all distracting detail from your landing page. If this means creating a separate template for your landing page then that is what you should do.

Data Security - 2 Obvious 'Don't Forgets' when using Mobile Devices for Business

Use your password protection and auto-lock.

Enable your remote tracking and wiping.

The holiday shopping season of 2011 saw the sale of huge numbers of smart phones and tablets. They are here to stay. Mobile access to the Internet will increase and increase and with it bring some problems in the realm of data security.

They are not going away, who would want them to? The advantages far outweigh the potential problems. They represent one of many tides which cannot be turned back.

It seems so obvious to say: mobile devices are easy to steal and easy to lose.

BUT

Which of us has never succumbed to the 'it's not going to happen to me I am too careful' syndrome?

Mobile devices are also easier to hack.

Deluxe.com recently hosted a webinar by John Sileo, an identity theft expert. He suffered from business identity theft and now seeks to help others prevent it. The webinar, Cyber Attack: Data Defense for Your Mobile Office, covers topics including:

Protecting smartphones and tablets from common attacks
Weighing the pros and cons of cloud computing
Locking down Wi-Fi data leakage in the office and on the road
Protecting your traveling office in hotel rooms, airports and beyond

This is the upper end of the problem and well worth looking into if you are carrying sensitive data around with you.

Meanwhile:

Turn on your password protection and auto-lock and put some thought into the password. Hackers are way better than us but that is no reason to make it easy for them. Just like house alarms, it won't keep out the skilled professional, but the lazy burglar may go somewhere easier.

Enable your remote tracking and wiping facility. If you lose your phone or tablet and are lucky, you may get to it before anyone else does. If not, you can wipe it clean.

ps: Don't forget to make regular backups!!

Spotting Niche Opportunities in Social Media

Involvement in social media is pretty much a must as part of an overall online marketing strategy. Direct benefits and influence on organic search results make it impossible to ignore. This means Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for starters. Next will come niche networks relevant to your business and your customer profiles. If the perfect niche social media site exists, well and good. However, it is worth keeping an eye out for changes in the demographic of the users of other networks. Being among the first to spot changes could give you an edge.

Visual.ly has put together an infographic laying out differences between the users of the fast growing social media network, Pinterest. From it you can see if your market is already well represented. You may also spot trends which could be worth watching.

10 months has seen Pinterest reach 13 million users, according to some sources. Most of these are in the US but a growing number are in the UK. Importantly there are significant differences in the demographic profiles of users in the US and in the UK. This is worth knowing if you have a market in the UK. It is also worth keeping an eye on US users as you may find that your market begins to make use of the site here too.

A site with predominantly female users in the US has predominantly male users in the UK. The UK has, on average, younger users. The UK users represent significantly higher earnings brackets than in the US. If the subjects of interest to UK users begin to cross the pond then it would have important consequences for the types of business who would consider it worth their while engaging with Pinterest.

by visually.

2011 Saw 13% Growth in E-commerce

comScore has recently published the most recent report in their popular series U.S. Digital Year in Review. The review examines the key digital marketing trends in 2011 and talks about what they mean for the coming year. There are no great surprises, although, the degree to which online purchasing appears to be growing may surprise some.

E-commerce had a particularly good end to 2011. The advance of mobile, video and social networking are all discussed but in this post you can hear what Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman and founder, has to say about "The future of e-commerce" followed by highlights of the most significant ideas and statistics.

Growth in e-commerce driven by convenience and lower prices
2011 e-commerce sales up 13% on 2010
End of year holiday shopping season 15% growth on 2010 compared with instore growth of 4%
Free shipping has become the norm. 50% of consumers who were asked said they would leave and go to other sites if they are not offered free shipping.
Avg. Non-Free shipping purchases $100
Avg. Free shipping purchases $118
56% of e-commerce sites offer free-shipping, up from 50% in 2010

You can download the full report here

What Should Your Product Cost?

You know what your product should cost based on your input, your time, your expertise, its quality (as judged by you), the mark-up you need to achieve your profit margins .... need I go on?

Do you know what your prospect thinks it should cost?

Do you know what price they have in their head before you start talking to them?

Your negotiating task is going to be much easier if you do.

How do you find out what that cost expectation is and what it is based on?

One way to approach this is to prepare to sell by preparing to buy. And to do this many times, so that your are constantly up to date with what your prospects are finding when they go looking to buy.

It occurs to me that it will be important to continually remind ourselves that buyers wants to believe what they read, particularly if the promises come at a price that looks too tempting.

You know it is too good to be true. You know that some of the claims you are reading are rubbish.

You cannot expect your prospects to know this.

How are you going to differentiate your product?

Criticising the opposition does not work, in fact mostly the opposite is true. If you can point out accurately, clearly and dispassionately what your competitors are offering and exactly what your prospect would be paying for, you will be able to explain the benefits of what you are offering in a way which will be believable. This is as true if your product is cheaper as it is if your product is more expensive. It is just that the explanations will be different.

Imagining that you represent a mid to high range product and can sincerely say of a competitor: "If my budget could only rise to that, I would definitely buy from x. They provide a great service for that price." Your prospect will be exactly where you want them. If their budget is limited they have just been given some great, impartial advice. If their budget can stretch, they will be waiting to hear why they should spend more with you. If you can answer that question equally sincerely, you have a great chance of a sale.

One of the most difficult questions to answer for a buyer is. "What should x or y cost?" Easier in some cases than others. If we can help prospects to have a genuine sense of the value they are looking for then they are much more likely to be able to trust us enough to buy. This becomes truer if we present them with statistics which include competitors and which backup what prospects will have been finding if they have been researching.

Have you ever had the line: "I'm not the cheapest and I can help you find a cheaper product if you like" used on you?

If so, what was the effect?

Outsourcing - Why and When?

One of the most important reasons behind the creation of Management Direct is a recognition of the importance of outsourcing when running a small business. Having decided that you need to outsource certain aspects of your business, you need somewhere that will help you to access the services you require.

When and Why Outsource?

1. Whenever it makes business sense.

2. You are taking twice the time to do things which a more qualified person would do better in half the time.

3. You are doing things you dislike so much that it saps your energy and enthusiasm.

4. You are doing too much. Quality is suffering, deadlines are being stretched.

5. Your staff have an hourly value to your business. Outsource all tasks which can be done to standard at a lower rate.

6. Tasks which must be repeated regularly and are, therefore, easy to monitor.

7. Anything which is stopping you from concentrating on bringing in business.

A Quarter of Paid-Search Advertising Will be Mobile by Dec. 2012

The increase in the use of mobile Internet devices is being watched and reported everywhere including on this blog. The habits of searchers are crucial to small businesses, they are our customers. Smart phone and tablet use are on the up and up and another recent report, How the Emergence of Smartphones and Tablets Changes Paid Search, by Marin Software, confirms this and goes into some detail in trying to predict the affect this will have on business and advertising.

The report predicts that by December 2012: 23% of "Google's US paid-search spend will come from mobile campaigns." That represents 103% annual growth in click share and 164% annual growth in ad spend. Huge figures!

We are talking smartphones and tablets here and tablets are set to increase their share of the mobile advertising market. At the end of 2011 38% of mobile paid clicks were on tablet devices. Marin predicts that that will grow to 45% by the end of 2012.

The report points out that some sectors will wish to pay more attention to mobile advertising than others. Retail in particular, where price and review focused searching is informing purchasing decisions.

CPCs are generally lower and CTRs generally higher on mobile devices but conversions apparently lower. This last is a metric which needs to be treated with caution. Tablet conversions are given at 4.9% compared with 5.2% for computers. Smartphone conversion is given at 2%. Smartphone conversions are much more likely to happen on the phone or even in-store:

"Mobile searches often result in conversions that happen via a call or a physical store. Unfortunately, most marketers lack the ability to glue these clicks together into a unified conversion funnel. Marketers should look to estimate their mobile-influenced revenue through the use of popular mobile ad formats such as click-to-call and store-locator. By combining the typical conversion rate for in-store and phone-based transactions with the average revenue per transaction, marketers can estimate a revenue per click for mobile devices, and adjust their mobile CPCs and budget accordingly."

Economic Good News for Small Businesses

Last month the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported the sixth consecutive monthly rise in its optimism index, making it a good time to look at what the optimism is about. Job growth, expansion of the service sector, more companies increasing stocks and fewer reducing them, all come into the mix.

Government figures in early March put job growth for February at over 200,000 - the third month in a row which has seen such a strong performance. Along with this, unemployment is holding steady at 8.3%, the lowest figure for three years. Long-term unemployment, however, remains a big challenge.

Signs that the market believes there are real reasons for optimism are good. Wall Street is reacting well and Treasury debt prices have dropped, with dealers lessening their belief in the need for further bond buying by the US central bank.

The percentage of Americans in work or actively looking for work has risen slightly with the workforce increasing by 476,000. This is the biggest increase in the workforce since April 2010.

That we can really only think in terms of optimism rather than hard evidence is shown by the fact that economic growth is still expected to slow from Q4 2011's 3%. High fuel prices and recession in Europe are thought to be the main reasons for three flat months in consumer spending. This is exacerbated by the fact that wage increases continue to lag behind inflation.

All of February's job increases came in private firms. A very interesting aspect being that 31,000 workers were taken on in manufacturing all of which were in firms making long-lasting goods. There is an obvious message here in terms of what the consumer market is looking for and prepared to invest in.

The service sector is responsible for two-thirds of US economic activity so a rise in the Institute for Supply Management services index is always good news. Economists expected it to drop in February, instead it rose from 56.8 to 57.3. This is the highest it has been since February 2011. A figure above 50 indicates that the service sector is expanding.

Perhaps the best cause for optimism, though, is to be found in the NFIB's inventory figures. 14% of NFIB members reported adding to their stocks in February, 3% more than in January. At the same time, the number reporting stock reductions fell 4%. These are the signs that companies are slowly finding the confidence that real economic growth might be on the way.

Startup America - Master Challenge

There is a buzz about the Startup America Initiative and its private counter-part the Startup America Partnership. Just into its second year the program was given another push by President Obama in his State of the Union Address in January:

"After all, innovation is what America has always been about. Most new jobs are created in start-ups and small businesses."

Now the Master Challenge has begun.

The challenge is to tech groups to "compete for top influencer honors, measured by the number of startups each Master recruits." The aim is to recruit 100,000 startup members by March 31, 2012. There are 'throwdown' challenges pitting organizations against each other in a light-hearted competition to be the top influencer. A league table is also being kept with Brad Feld, Startup Weekend and TechStars currently in the top 3 slots.

As a fun and innovative way to recruit members, there is serious side. The need for Startup success and the job creation that goes with it is a crucial part of economic recovery and Startup America wants to generate as much success in this area as possible.

Members will have access to resources in 5 key areas:

Expertise: Connect startups with training, mentors, advisors and accelerators
Services: Provide startups with access to critical services at reduced costs
Talent: Assist startups in recruiting, training and retaining the people that can help them grow
Customers: Help startups through acquisition of new customers and expansion into new markets
Capital: Highlight sources of capital available to startups in various regions and sectors

The program includes conferences and networking events and offers real support to young companies, recognizing the irreplacable role they have to play in the modern economy.

For more info see: Video Advice from Startup America Board Members

Video Advice from Startup America Board Members

Using its Master Challenge to kick up a stir and gain more recruits, the Startup America Partnership is working hard to get its message out there. The message is one of support for entreprenneurs and for new and young businesses. In these two videos, board members talk about entreprenneurship and the nature of the support available from Startup America.

Tax Advice for Small Businesses from the SBA

Tax season is in full swing and many businesses are looking for help online and from tax professionals. The Small Business Association (SBA) is an obvious place to start and was one of the sources we mentioned last week when looking into tax advice available online.

The SBA website carries a huge amount of information, there are many entry points and it is not always easy to find what you are looking for. They have updated a 2011 post on Money-Saving Year-End Tax Tips for Small Business and provided a link to it from the slide show on their home page.

It is worth a read in itself but what drew my attention was the link at the bottom of the post which takes you through to the real meat of the SBA's contribution to Tax advice.

Here we get to pretty much everything you need to know. You can also see in the left column how to get to this section from the home page:

Starting a Business - Business Data & Statistics - Taxes

This isn't an intuitive place to look and it is surprising that a search for 'tax advice' doesn't put this section on its first page.

All pretty understandable in the context of a large site containing huge amounts of information. It does remind us that when we know where something is we cannot be qualified to say how easy it is to find. It also reminds us how useful it is to provide a variety of entry points. In this case the blog post, highlighted because of the time of year.

White House Startup America Initiative and Startup America Partnership - One Year On.

A full year has passed since the White House announced its Startup America Initiative and since the private-sector Startup America Partnership was formed. The anniversary was marked by the Obama administration by sending a Startup America Legislative Agenda to Congress aimed at expanding tax relief and releasing capital for the startups and small businesses that are so important for the creation of jobs. Several new agency actions were also announced to act as an incentive to the growth of new, job-creating companies.

President Obama introduced the new initiative with the following words:

"One year ago today, I called for an all hands on deck effort to ensure that America remains the best place on Earth to turn a great idea into a successful business. The private sector responded, with the Startup America Partnership launching new entrepreneurial networks all across the country. Today, we're taking new steps that build on that progress, and I urge Congress to send me a common-sense bipartisan bill that does even more to expand access to capital and cut taxes for America's entrepreneurs and small businesses."

Many of the measures in the original initiative met with a stormy reception in Congress and as is so often the way the efforts of the Startup America Partnership may well have had the more noticable effect. Their website is well worth a visit.

However, 17 tax-cuts aimed at easing the burden on startups and small businesses have be signed into law in the year since the Startup America Initiative was announced. We would be very interested to hear your comments on how these cuts have affected you businesses.

In his State of the Union address in January, the President said:

"Most new jobs are created in start-ups and small businesses. So let's pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Both parties agree on these ideas. So put them in a bill, and get it on my desk this year."

The agenda proposes four new tax cuts:

Expand and Make Permanent Zero Capital Gains on Small Business Investments.
Reward Job Creation with a New Jobs and Wages Tax Credit - 10% income tax credit on new payroll for small businesses through either hiring or increased wages added in 2012.
Double Deductions for Startup Expenses - permanently double the amount of start-up expenses entrepreneurs can deduct from their taxes from $5,000 to $10,000.
Extend 100 Percent Depreciation - extend 100-percent first-year depreciation for one year, effective for qualified property acquired and placed in service before January 1, 2013.

The agenda also includes 4 measures aimed at unlocking capital for small businesses.

Expand Mini-Offering Limits - from $5 million to $50 million, coupled with strong investor protections.
Crowdfunding - national framework that allows entrepreneurs and small businesses to raise capital through crowdfunding.
Creating an "IPO on-ramp"
Expand the Small Business Investment Company Program - increase the SBIC program to allow for up to $4 billion in annual support.

The President has challenged Congress not to allow partisan considerations to delay implementation of these measures so we can hope that their effect can be put to the test sooner rather than later.

Please let us know your experiences with new tax measures and the current availability of capital and whether or not you think that the administration's proposed agenda has the potential to achieve its aims.

Is 2012 Finally the Year of Mobile Marketing?

For several years now, online marketers have been announcing the 'year of the mobile' and 2012 has been no different. No different that is except that now you will read reports that this time it is mobile users who are saying it. That makes a real difference and with one recent report making the claim:

"More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions."

It may be time to sit up and listen.

The report comes from PewInternet and contains many interesting statistics which should point us towards taking mobile marketing very seriously indeed.

"38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making"

Of course this has nothing to do with online marketing. It has everything to do with modern culture and the speed with which we can contact each other. Instant word of mouth.

"24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store"

Soliciting and managing online reviews from contented customers has become a must. They affect your search rankings and increasingly customers are using them in their decision making. Mobile devices, particularly smart phones allow us to consult reviews while in the store. So, no, you are not being paranoid, those people looking at their phone screens may well be reading what is being said about your shop or products online. If so you need to know what they are reading. You need to be encouraging the good and mitigating the bad.

"25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else"

There is nothing new about the necessity of knowing how your prices compare with the competition. It depends on the product and the market how big an issue it is. Less need for paranoia here though. The price difference needs to be worth leaving your shop for. Some good old fashioned customer service might well do the trick. However, there is no point in hoping that people will not know that your product can be bought cheaper on another street even if it is harder to find. Smart phones have GPS.

52% of the adults surveyed used their phones for one of these thee reasons during the holiday shopping season. 33% used them to find information online while actually inside a store.

This last part is important. This is the real power of mobile access to the Internet, whether actually in a store or in a coffee shop planning your next burst of shopping. Sales may be holding up in-store but the Internet is increasingly influencing where, when and what is bought. Strong off-line sales are not an excuse for neglecting online presence, they are more and more likely to reflect a strong online presence.

Pay Per Click Advertising to Rise by 27% in 2012

Paid search advertising, known as pay per click (PPC), already plays a major role in the advertising policy of many businesses. This role is set to grow in the coming years, according an eMarketer report published today.

Google will remain the dominant player by a long way. Yahoo will lose out and Microsoft is expected to grow from 7% in 2011 to 8.7% in 2014. Compare this with Google's predicted 77.9% share in 2012!

eMarketer sees 2012 as a bumper year for PPC advertising siting national elections and the Olympics as potentially bringing windfalls. More important is the apparent solidity of the medium over the next 5 years. Annual spend is expected to reach $29.11 billion in 2016.

The report includes three charts which tell a loud and clear story:

Twitter Use and Squeamish Markets

One of the aspects of Twitter that comes up over and over again is the importance of understanding the unspoken rules of engagement. Generally this boils down to taking care not to be too obvious when using Twitter as a way to promote your products and services. Research by Lab42 suggests that Twitter users are much less squeamish about direct marketing that has generally been thought.

Of course it always depends on who is watching. If the people reading your Tweets want and like your product, they will not be offended by hearing about it. It is a matter of balance. You might find these statistics from Lab42's research helpful when seeking to strike that balance:

Reasons for using Twitter (US):

Follow friends - 72%
Get a good laugh - 64%
Get the news - 62%
Share the news - 57%
Following brands - 46%

Following brands on Twitter:

Don't follow any - 10.6%
Follow more than 50 brands - 8.2%
Follow 1-5 brands - 30.6%

Twitter's equivalent of paid search ads are Promoted Tweets. The report shows encouraging results for the advertiser.

Promoted Tweets:

Annoying - 21%
Seen relevant promoted tweets - 48%
Got a discount from a promoted tweet - 42%
Found out about a new brand - 41%
Re-tweeted a promoted tweet - 27%
Haven't noticed them - 8%
Don't know what they are - 7%

It is clearly a mistake to over-estimate how squeamish the Twitter community is about direct marketing.