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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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

Business Ideas: New Niche - New Approach

In setting up Tea Campaign, the entrepreneur and teacher, Günter Faltin, set out to practice what he preached. He thought he had a good idea. He was asking himself two questions:

"Might it not be possible to organize the tea trade in a radically new manner?"

"Might it not be possible to offer high quality at a low price?"

So he set about testing his idea. He started by finding out how the tea market worked. He needed to find out why quality teas commanded such high prices.

Traditional tea selling is done by carrying many varieties of tea and selling them in small quantities. Faltin's research surprised him by telling him that the main cause of the high prices was in the packaging.

If he concentrated on one tea, the best, could he sell it in large enough quantities to be able to bring down the price significantly?

Faltin discovered that tea keeps for up to three years so wondered if customers could be convinced to buy an annual supply. He homed in on Darjeeling, the "champagne of teas", which grows on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. More Darjeeling is sold around the world than is grown. In other words, not all 'Darjeeling' tea is Darjeeling tea. Here was another opportunity. By buying organic Darjeeling tea direct from source, certificated and guaranteed, he could convince customers of the quality and authenticity. By concentrating on one variety only he could buy in bulk. By convincing customers to buy large quantities he could reduce the cost of packaging and offer the highest quality at the best price on the market.

For Günter Faltin and Tea Campaign, it worked.

What is so clear and fascinating is to see how questioning the status quo led to a great business idea. There was no jumping in blind here. All ideas were tested to the limit and a market was sought and found.

Faltin was being told it only works one way. He took a different opinion and put it to the test.

Negative Comments Online - Just Another Opportunity to Improve Your Business

Negative comments on the Internet are an understandable and often major concern for many small businesses. Instead of worrying about it, or trying to ignore it, here are some thoughts on how to turn online criticism of your or other businesses to positive advantage.

I came across the expression "HateSurfing" for the first time the other day. It turned out to mean: intentionally searching for negative comments about your business, whether directed at you or not. It also turned out to have very positive implications.

I found it in an interesting SmallBusinessNewz article by Rohit Bhargava. He reminds us that people are ten times more likely to complain than to praise. He also points out that the Interenet is the ideal medium for venting anger. You don't have that 'what's the point they won't even read it' thing that stops so many of us sitting down to write a letter. Put it on the Internet and someone, anyone, will hear you.

Many businesses are scared of engagement with the Internet precisely because of the potential for negativity. And it is understandable. It is also unavoidable, so the best option is to use it to your advantage.

Everywhere, including on this blog, you will find the advice to engage with criticism. Use it as an opportunity to improve your business. Tell the folks who criticised you what you are doing to improve and thank them. And so on, and so on.

HateSurfing goes further. It reminds me of the old saying:

"Look after the cents and the dollars will look after themselves."

The positive stuff will look after itself. It will do its work. Look after the negative stuff and turn it positive.

Find out what is being said about your business both directly and indirectly. Find out what is being said about your competitors. Find out what angers people in your market as a whole.

What are people complaining about?
What do they need?
What do they want?
What makes them mad?
Are there things there that point to new features, services or processes that could benefit you and give you an edge.?

It is that golden rule and holy grail of criticism.

Listen without taking it personally.

Easier to do if you are experiencing the benefits of what you learn.

In the same way that watching the cents can be over-done and become penny-pinching and damaging, it is essential to sort out the really useful lessons from the rantings of the mal-content. Not so hard to spot though, and while your competitors are luxuriating in their positive reviews you could be stealing a march by learning from comments that they have not even noticed.

Global Market for Great Business Ideas

Alex Tabarrok talks about the breaking down of the walls which broke up the world during the first half of the 20th century. The tumbling of walls was symbolized literally by the falling of the Berlin wall and metaphorically by the tearing down of the iron curtain.

Trade tariffs fell from 45% to less than 5%. Transportation of large amounts of goods became easier and cheaper. The Internet brought instant global communication, whether governments liked it or not. Trade between nations increased. Economic growth outstripped anything that could have been predicted.

Tabarrok's theme is that ideas create great businesses. Great ideas have no respect for economic crises. The more interconnected the world becomes, the more people are taken out of poverty and into education, the greater the number of ideas and the bigger the market for them.

His talk is worth ten minutes of your time and if you have a few more, please send us your comments.

Small Businesses Under Threat from Lack of Data Protection in 2012

Small businesses will be seen as a target by data thieves in 2012. They are identified as having quantities of valuable data, often without the budget to secure it properly. Along with this, many small companies do not see themselves as under threat and often do not give sufficient priority to data security.

The greatest threats will come from the increasing use of mobile technology and social media, the use of which is increasing at speeds which leave most companies unable to keep up with potential security implications.

These are some of the findings from the 2012 Cyber Security Forecast published towards the end of 2011 by the Cyber Security and Information Assurance Division of Kroll Inc. Kroll Inc. used their experience of the issues faced by their clients in 2011 to predict the problems they expect to affect businesses in 2012.

Increased use of mobile devices

The use of smart phones, ipads and other mobile computing devices in business daily life is increasing. This increase is at such a speed that Kroll Inc. considers it to put small businesses at greater risk of data theft.

Social Media

The rapid development of business involvement in social media is seen as a similar risk. The risks to data of social media use are unclear and untested and changing every day. Budget and time restrictions put the hackers at a huge advantage and the report advises business owners not to underestimate the threat.

Small businesses considered an easy target

Those involved in data fraud and theft and other forms of cyber attack, tend to consider smaller businesses to be the path of least resistance. Again, lack of budget is an issue as is a tendency to under-prioritize the issue.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is on the increase for very good economic and technical reasons. Done well, it should improve your security not damage it. However, the report cautions against the tendency to fail to vet providers sufficiently well. Good cloud computing providers will put security very high on their list. Companies who do not should be avoided.

Regulatory compliance

Many of the cyber security and data protection measures taking by organizations, large and small, are led by the requirements of regulatory compliance rather than real perceived threats. Kroll Inc. see a big danger in this as it leads to companies overlooking key vulnerabilities.

These predictions come as a timely warning not to neglect the issue of data protection. The most important part of the warning is that it is a subject which should not be ignored. Much can be achieved with a priority, common-sense approach. More complex needs may require the input of expert help, which our directory can help you to find. In the view of Kroll Inc., underestimating the potential threat represents a greater risk than many small businesses realize.

Concept is More Important than Capital - Tim Ferriss Talks to Gunter Faltin

Tim Ferriss, author of the 4 Hour Working Week, is interviewed by Gunter Faltin, author of Kopf schlägt Kapital. The title of the two books point to a real meeting of minds. Both believe that you should concentrate on the most important components of your business. These should fall into the category of things you both enjoy and are good at. The rest should be outsourced or disgarded. Kopf schlägt Kapital means the Head beats Capital or the concept is more important than capital. Both believe that if the concept is good enough there is capital to be found. Ferriss believes that lack of capital is usually an excuse.

The video is worth investing 15 minutes, but if you do not have the time or want a summary, here are the main takeaways:

Don't do everything yourself.
Break the concept into components.
Limit yourself to the most important components.
Focus on the overlap between what you are good at and what you enjoy.
Eliminate OR Delegate components which are outside of that overlap.
As an owner/ CEO it is extremely important to focus on working ON your business as opposed to IN your business
Think about Process.
Get and pay for the best advice.
Bring on advisers, offering .25% to 1%, to refine the business model. Use their credibility to gain investment.
View business relationships the way you would view a marriage. It is a lot easier to get into a relationship than to get out of it.
Choose people for business reasons not social reasons.
Choose advisers who know things you don't, have experience you don't and are strong-willed enough to disagree with you.
It has never been cheaper to start a business.
You can test a concept before you put in money.
If you can't improvise to get started you probably won't be able to improvise later so probably should not start your own company.
Lack of capital is usually an excuse.
Avoid wasting time. Test your product really early. Before you make it you should be selling it. If you can't sell it don't build it.
People will tell you what you want to hear. You have to make them vote with their money.
Surround yourself with a good peer-group.
Seek out people who are in your world. Don't go it alone.
If you are surrounded by people who are trying to build a business they will all have the same problems.
If you want to get capital you have to show that customers are responding well to the idea and that there is a large enough market. Build a team which impresses potential investors.

"It is a really exciting time to be an entrepreneur."

Local Businesses: Neglect Your Search Rankings at Your Peril!

Everywhere you look you will read about what social media can do for your business. A recent report from Pew Internet & American Life Foundation reminds us that organic search results and print media are still the places where most people are looking for information about local businesses. Social media may or may not be the marketing media of the future and it should certainly be put to the test. But local businesses neglecting their search rankings, do so at their peril.

The hype these days is certainly all about social. All over the place, reports and articles are telling us that many businesses 'rely' on social media for their advertising. This is simply not true. More and more businesses are trying out social media and adding it to their portfolio. Many are finding it effective in conjunction with the other channels they use. Few, if any, rely on it.

1,000s of 'Likes' and 10s of 1,000s of 'Followers'? Great! Definitely worth it, not least because in conjunction with citations and reviews, Google likes it. But ask these questions:

How many visits are they bringing you?
How many leads?
How many sales?

And the most important one:

How did the 'buyers' first find you?

Pew Internet & American Life Foundation give us some very useful information. The report results from a telephone survey of 2,251 adults over 18, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from January 12 to 25, 2011.

Finding restaurants, bars and clubs

Internet - 51%

Search engines - 38%
Speciality websites - 17%
Social media - 3%

Newspapers - 31%

Printed copies - 26%
Online copies - 5%

Word of mouth - 26%

Local TV - 8%

Finding local businesses

Internet - 47%

Search engines - 36%
Speciality websites - 16%
Social media - 1%

Newspapers - 30%

Printed copies - 29%
Online copies - 2%

Local TV - 8%

Local radio - 5%

The numbers for social media are very low indeed. One area of possible confusion is the use of the term 'word of mouth' as some consider social media a form of word of mouth. However I checked the way that questions were presented and it seems that word of mouth was sufficiently distinguished from online activity to accept these figures as referring to actual word of mouth.

So the only conclusion possible here is that social media activity for a business is more important for the affect it is having on your search results than for actual advertising of your services. That being said, it is important not to neglect the subliminal awareness created by the likes of social media activity and for that matter local TV and Radio advertising. All of whose affect is probably underestimated by these figures.

Many of those surveyed reported use of a variety of sources.

This is something we are passionate about here. Don't ever put all your eggs in one basket. AND. Don't ever give up your own piece of online real-estate. Your website is your hub, your centre. It is yours. Engage with every other useful platform. Get it to point back at your website. Let them come and go as they will. Your website will still be there to engage with what comes next.

Negative emotions can lead to positive entrepreneurial success.

There is a saying that: "When your best and worst intentions coincide, things happen." This might be jealousy at the success others are having, coinciding with your own genuine desire to do the same thing better. Whatever the case, there are certainly a number of negative emotions traditionally involved in the elusive recipe for entrepreneurial success.

Joe Cohen, founder, in 2006, of Seatwave, writes about two of them in an article for the Independent in the UK. He calls the article Dissatisfaction, disruption and determination: the three Ds of success.

There are, of course, many other criterion required for success but we should not let that spoil a good title! I am leaving aside the positive essential, 'Determination', to concentrate on the two negative catalysts, 'Dissatisfaction and Disruption'.

Cohen's Seatwave was set up in response to his irritation and disgust that unwanted tickets to 'sold-out' shows could only be found on ebay or through ticket touts. This would frequently lead to outrageous prices being sought and paid. With Seatwave, fans were offered a transparent way to buy and sell tickets, keeping prices to real market values. They were very aggressively received by the status quo in the early days, a sign, for Cohen, that they were doing something right.

Seatwave now claims to be Europe's leading fan-to-fan ticket exchange. Cohen attributes a large part of that success to the idea being born from dissatisfaction and causing disruption.

Dissatisfaction

This is the easier of the two. If you are dissatisfied with something and have an idea of how to do it better. You have three choices. You can moan and complain, you can let it go or you can do something about it. Which you choose depends on your personality. If you choose to do something about it then your dissatisfaction can be a constant source from which to nourish your determination.

Disruption

Disruption of the status quo is a more complex matter. There is a lot to the idea that if you are not upsetting anyone then you are not doing anything of value. Change disrupts. Change, necessarily, meets its equal force in resistance. Cohen concentrates on the fear of disruption and controversy and rightly advises a "feel the fear and do it anyway" attitude. I would go further. It can be faced down as a fear, but it is so much more powerful when the sense of dissatisfaction is so strong that you actively want to disrupt. If that disruption takes the form of genuine and constantly renewed desire for a better situation then the resistance will slowly give way.

These traditionally negative emotions are crucial to the energy required to feed the determination needed to keep facing the difficulties of running your own business.

We would love to hear which negative emotions you might add to the list.

Three Great Marketing Ideas in One

The video marketing company Gisteo produce advertising videos in which they aim to "boil your" message "down to its essence". One of the ways in which they convince that they will be able to distill the essence of a customer's message is their clear ability to distill their own.

What's in a name?

At first glance Gisteo is meaningless even, possibly a little clumsy. The logo and tag line, however, solve that.

None the less, Gisteo saw further explanation, often a mistake, as an opportunity; and this is where they triumph.

They give us two 'dictionary' definitions:

Gist
noun [jist]

The central meaning or theme; the main idea. The choicest or most essential part of a concept.

Gisteo
noun [jist-ee-oh]

A highly entertaining, informative video that communicates the essence of a company, product, service or idea. A cost-effective alternative to painfully dull websites and sucky presentations.

Done! If they can really do that for my company, I am sold.

These are the three marketing ideas that roll into one great impression.

A name which, when explained, defines the essence of what they do.
Demonstration, by means of a succinct explanation of their name, that they can do for themselves what they claim they will do for you.
Evidence that they have succeeded in achieving their goal for other customers.

Here's one marketing video that says way more about how the world and the Internet interact than words alone ever could:

YouTours from Stephen Conley on Vimeo.

Is Customer Service a Central Part of Your Marketing?

It has often been said that attracting new customers costs 5 times as much as retaining an existing one. We are all looking for ways to improve sales and existing and past customers are a key market for many companies. So exactly how important is customer service? We came across an infographic today from ClickSoftware Field Service Management which highlights some key facts around customer service. I think it is a timely reminder of what might be possible if businesses focus on the cusomer experience and what can happen to their customers if they don't.

Here are just some of the highlights:

91% of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with that organisation again.
For every complaint there are 26 others who remained silent.
90% of north american firms viewed customer service as either important or critical.
Customer experience is a priority for buyers and even in a down economy 60% said they will often pay more for a better experience

Click to enlarge

Source: ClickSoftware Field Service Management

Financing Cash Flow - Factoring - ARF and POF

Cash flow problems can bring an apparently healthy business to its knees even when orders are strong and money is due in unpaid invoices. Businesses will often seek credit, usually from the banks, to solve short and medium term cash flow problems. There are alternatives which you may wish to consider if credit is difficult to come by. One such alternative is factoring which taks account of assets held by a business in the form of invoices and confirmed orders.

Invoices can be redeemed for cash by a finance company, known as accounts receivable financing (ARF). The finance company pays the business the value of unpaid invoices and undertakes collection in return for a fee and a percentage. Older invoices attract high percentage fees with 61 - 90 day invoices often being considered worth only 15% of their face value. Invoices over 90 days old will usually not be financed. So for AR financing to be really beneficial it needs to be based on 1 - 30 day invoices which represent a genuine business asset. To put it another way, it should be a way of increasing cash flow to allow orders to be processed rather than primarily as a solution to debt collection.

This leads to the second form of factoring which is purchase order financing (POF). Purchase order financing is used to secure an advance to cover the expense of delivering a contract. The contract itself acts as the security for the advance. It is typically useful in allowing a company to take on big orders when they do not have the ready cash to pay for the upfront costs of delivering the order. POF will normally be used for goods rather than services and where profit margins are 20% or above. Also, your customer will have to have a good credit record.

There is a form of POF now being used in which the buyer sets up the financing as part of the contract with the supplier. This is known as reverse factoring and allows the supplier to avail of a lower interest rate.

Lendio.com have produced this excellent infographic which explains both ARF and POF. Of course, the greatest of care needs to be taken over the choice of a reputable finance company and the terms of the contract they make with you.

If you are looking for companies that offer ARF or POF services try the Financial Services category in our directory.

Having a laugh with a HR Business Moral

A little bit of light relief with a serious message for human resources. Geoff Burch, a British comedian and business coach, goes for the laughs to be had by poking fun at the differences across the Atlantic! Americans seem to come in for some bating at first, but just wait to hear what he gives his own in the final seconds.

The moral?

Educate and trust your employees, it will pay off.

Holiday Sales Still Have Room to Grow

We have been following the Nov - Dec 2011 holiday sales through ShopperTrak. So far it has been a bit up and down but with a good average-plus growth on 2010 sales. Sales have been on the flat side in the period ending Dec 13th. However, week-over-week increases of over 10% show that there is every possibility that early optimistic forecasts will prove realistic. Signs are good for these final days of the season.

ShopperTrak forecast a 3% increase on Nov - Dec 2010. This has been seen as conservative a view which is backed up by an increase of 4.1% in sales for Nov 2011 over Nov 2010.

"Retailers will see sales increases all the way up to Christmas Day and the end of Hanukkah. As these important days get closer, shoppers will concentrate on completing their holiday shopping and year-over-year losses will be wiped out." says Bill Martin, founder of ShopperTrak.

Let's hope he is right.

It looks as if the signs are good with week-on-week sales growing strongly. Some weaker days were put down to mild weather preventing shoppers from purchasing traditional winter fare.

Hanukkah also falls 19 days later this year than last. This is another factor in the apparent late rush.

"There is still a lot of holiday shopping left," said Martin. "Retailers who accurately monitor daily foot-traffic and make appropriate staffing and inventory adjustments to assist the season's focused, value-driven buyers will succeed."

Definitely a year to keep up the effort right to the end.

Customer Retention Using Marketing Incentive Programs

Incentive programs use a variety of methods to reward desired behaviours. In the case of Consumer/Customer Incentive Programs or Marketing Incentive Programs, the desired behaviour is usually loyalty, expressed in the form of repeat custom.

Common marketing incentives include:

Price reductions
Vouchers towards second or more purchases
Buy one get one free
Loyalty cards collecting points or discount value
'Free' gifts

The incentive you offer will depend on the central aim of your program. A need for immediate sales increase may call for price reduction offers or 'buy one get one half price' type offers. This type of offer can stimulate one-off sales but the long term effect may not be positive. Customers looking for this type of offer will quickly go where the cheapest prices take them.

Marketing incentive schemes are more usually aimed at developing customer loyalty. Loyalty cards and other long-term incentives can work well in this respect. Using a loyalty card can allow a customer to collect points which can be used as purchasing power or to redeem gift items. Some programs collect money per purchase which can be saved or used as a discount at the customers' choice.

Loyalty cards are also a great way to make special offers available to your regular customers only. Many food stores do this and will have special prices every week which are available to card holders only. This has the double effect of acting as an incentive to sign up to a loyalty card.

This is a great example. There is a sense of tongue in cheek fun about it. You can use your smart phone to scan a QR code and find out when you qualify for your free pizza or extra garlic bread. On top of all this it will sit in your wallet and remind you where to go when you are hungry.

Customer retention is possibly even more important than customer acquisition. Companies quickly realize that existing customers are cheaper and easier to reach and much easier to sell. Crucially they are also much less vulnerable to attacks from competitors. Loyalty is worth its weight in sales. For this reason longer term marketing incentive schemes are the most successful.

Where are Your Customers? - Where is Your Marketing Budget?

eMarketer has just published figures for the amount of time spent by US adults engaging with the various media available to them. They show these results alongside the percentage of advertising budgets being spent on each media. It makes for interesting reading.

TV and Video watching has increased by 20 mins per day since 2008. Internet use has increased by 30 mins. Radio listening is down by 8mins. Mobile has doubled to 65 mins per day. Newspaper and magazine reading is down from 38 to 26 mins and 25 to 18 mins respectively.

Media Time vs. Percentage Advertising Budget

The graph below gives a clear view of the relationship between time spent and % advertising budget for each of the media.

We might have expected a higher percentage of budget to be committed to online marketing given that it is a growth area with unprecedented capability to monitor ROI.

The under-spend on radio advertising is interesting given that radio ads can be very effective. A lot of radio listening time is in the car where there is much less temptation to switch channel, switch off or do something else during ad sequences.

The 'year of mobile advertising' has been predicted every year for 3 years now. It seems that in 2011 it still has not arrived. It will, you can be sure. Use of mobile Internet devices is on the constant increase.

Traditional spend on newspaper and magazine ads is beginning to look like bad policy. It is a form of advertising which has been the staple for business for very many years. Tried and trusted, it is not surprising to find change coming slowly. Much of it must work or publications would simply not be able to command the sometimes extremely high prices they can still get for advertising space. But, as many other publications know, demand is also dropping as businesses find it harder and harder to justify the money spent for what can be intangible returns.

Source: emarketer.com

How Big is the Internet?

Here is an extraordinary interactive infographic from Online Schools which not only goes some way to answer the question: "How big is the Internet?" but also gives an idea of its power and reach. The figures are staggering. Not only does it emphasise the shear amount of activity, it is a graphic illustration of the monitoring power available. Available to every user. Monitoring of the behaviour of customers and potential customers which has never been known and perhaps never dreamt of. In case you are wondering there is still an amazing potential for growth. Only 71% of the developed world have Internet access. Only 21% of the developing world. Have a look and see if it changes your perspective of the potential.

Created by: Online Schools