What if you could break up traffic with a simple gesture? Your super-power, “able to dissipate afternoon gridlock in a single bound.” How much time would that save you, knowing that you had a technique to keep the highways clear so that you never waste another moment sitting in afternoon or morning traffic?

In terms of brainstorming, idea generation, and breaking mental roadblocks, clustering – or the more common term mind mapping—is that tool (if you trust it and do it right).

In “11 Tips for a More Innovative 2012” Anita Campbell says:

“The key to mind-mapping is that because it’s visual, it engages a different part of our brain than verbal communication does, which encourages us to think in new ways.”

It’s all about awakening both sides of the brain so that you can look at your problem, business or idea in a new context. Learning to see your business from a fresh perspective may carry fresh and creative solutions.  In “Innovation Starts With Defining the Problem” Anita says:

“The way you define the problem affects the solution.”

And she suggests context-mapping which is a form of mind-mapping to help you get clear.

But why does it really matter?

To answer that question, we have to have a little brain talk (I’ll make it quick).

The Right Hemisphere is The Artist: Pictures, Designs

According to Dr. Gabrielle Lusser Rico, Author of Writing the Natural Way, the right hemisphere “looks at the whole,” operates in metaphors, and “is mute.” The right brain uses pictures instead of words. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Author of Stroke of Insight, adds that the right brain  sees the big picture and the more subtle kinds of understanding:

“The brain is dual and each hemisphere is capable of operating independently of the other.”

So if you want to benefit from both, you have to activate both.

What about the other side?

The Left Hemisphere is The Critic: Words, Analytical

This part of the brain uses sequential and linear thinking.  According to Dr. Rico, the left hemisphere is literal, precise and driven by information and processes (sounds like business doesn’t it?). In fact, Dr. Jill says, the left brain carries our ability to relate to the world. It’s the part of the brain that interprets language, performs it function and “talks and talks and talks.”

All This Talk About Mind-Mapping

. . . is about getting to the best of both worlds. And more specifically, activating the right hemisphere in addition to the very active left, so that you can benefit from the creative ideas that lead to unique and effective design and innovation in your company.

Clustering can shake up the mind. You can use it when you don’t know where to begin. You can also cluster your way out of overwhelm and into an angle and a focus that makes sense. And when clarity comes, action can follow.

It seems so simple, but clustering, mind-mapping, can break the creative gridlock.

More Information About Mind-Mapping 

Create A Visual Marketing Plan Using A Mind Map

Ivana Taylor shows you how to start your marketing plan by using this creative process. She says, “creating a mind map before you develop a marketing plan activates the creative visual part of your brain. It allows you to see patterns and opportunities” that you would have missed with a traditional outline.

Writing the Natural Way 

Dr. Gabrielle Lusser Rico says:

“I specifically developed clustering as a way to gain access to the right brain.”

This book is for writers but it will help anyone trying to maximize the creative process.

Mind Map Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

The Right Brain Holds The Key To Your Company’s Innovation

So, what can you do to build a glowing reputation that helps you stand out to potential customers online?

Turn to your secret weapon: your happy customers!

Unfortunately, people tend to naturally turn to the Internet to share negative feedback about a company.

You know the saying: a happy customer will tell one person, but an upset customer will tell ten.

When you take the time to ask your happy customers to share their feedback, you might be surprised just how big an impact it can have. Many satisfied customers are glad to share their feedback, they just may not know it’s valuable to you as a business to have their reviews posted online. In fact, you may already receive notes, letters, or comments from happy customers. It may just be a matter of giving customers another avenue to share their feedback.

So, here are three ways you can put this idea into practice inside your business:

1) Get Your Team Onboard and Involved

Take time to explain to your staff that your online reputation is an important area of improvement for your business. Get them involved in the process of reaching out to customers to ask for reviews. It’s important to know and share with your team that you can’t pay for positive reviews, but you can certainly ask people to leave them. And sometimes, all it takes is to ask.

Encourage employees to ask customers for reviews every time they have a great customer interaction and recognize your team for their effort when they do.

2) Create and Share a List of Top Sites

When you start focusing on building your reputation online, select a list of a few top review sites you would like to get more reviews on such as Google Places Pages or Yelp. Then, create signage with these sites prominently displayed to serve as a visual reminder of your request. Post signs in your business reminding customers that you appreciate reviews on these sites. You can also create small cards to share with your customers so they can easily remember and navigate to a site to leave you a review.

This can help you develop your reputation on important sites – an important first step.

3) Leverage Current Communication Channels

Another way to encourage customers to leave a review of your business is to use your current customer communication channels to share your request. For example, you could put an article in your monthly customer email newsletter, or post a message to your Facebook fans. The benefit of this is that your customer is probably already at a computer when they see your request. Think about how you currently communicate with your customers and find ways to include this message in a friendly, professional way from time to time.<

These are just three ideas for how you can leverage your secret weapon – your current customers – in building a great online reputation.

Do you currently let your customers know you appreciate reviews online? Have you tried any of these tips? Feel free to share your ideas and thoughts in a comment.

Secret Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Your Secret Weapon in the Battle of Online Reputation

Consider handing these over to the experts:

1. Business Cards

Sure, Vistaprint and other sites have free templates you can customize to create your own business cards, but do you really want to use a template that hundreds of other companies have also used? The point of your business card is to stand out and be memorable – and you simply can’t do that with a cut and paste template.

Alternative: Good designers can be cheaper than you’d expect.  Especially if you choose a relatively new freelancer (perhaps a college student) or use a crowdsourcing tool like 99designs. You can also save by bundling several projects together, such as your business cards, brochures and direct mailers.

2. Website

While you no longer have to be a programmer to design a good website, you still should have some sense for design and layout. Content management systems (CMS), while useful tools, don’t make it foolproof to goof up on your website design. And with basic CMS functions, you may not know about more advanced features that let you add in descriptions and metatags.

Alternative: If you insist on designing your own site, go with a do-it-yourself content management system that provides ample customer support so that you can get feedback and help, making your site more user friendly. Try Weebly, SnapPages or Yola. Or ask for referrals for a good web designer based on your needs. Realize that if all you need is a simple 4-page website, the cost won’t be astronomical.

3. Mobile Apps

There’s a reason there are over 500,000 iTunes apps, many of which have few to no users. Companies that have no business creating apps are doing so. There are DIY app design programs like AppMakr, but they don’t help you with mobile app strategy, and without that – your app is useless. After all, do we really need a store locator app for your brand? Doesn’t Google Maps do that? What are you really trying to accomplish with your app?

Alternative: Find a mobile app developer with experience in your space. If you’re in the travel industry, find a designer who’s created other travel apps. Let the developer guide you to building an effective mobile app strategy rather than being stubborn about how your future app will be more popular than Angry Birds. It’s simply not happening.

4. Content

I could write books about the companies who undervalue good content. Suffice it to say, a lot of brands want content that will help them connect to customers, but they don’t want to pay its worth. Job boards like Elance are filled with writing gigs promising to pay a whopping $4 for 600 words (I’m not joking). If you devalue writing this much, you probably don’t get the overall content marketing thing. You pay to have a professional writer to create content that reflects positively on your company. For $4, you simply can’t guarantee that it won’t be riddled with typos and run-on sentences. Is it worth the savings to have to rewrite it?

Alternative: If you can’t afford a full-time writer or marketing staffer, outsource your writing to a freelancer or a firm. Look for a company or writer that’s written about your industry before and negotiate a rate for bulk numbers of articles.

5. Software

Sure, there are plenty of freeware programs available and you’ll get a lot done with Google Docs and a free membership to Basecamp. But when you need software to fill a hole that the freebies can’t, it’s time to invest. Paying a nominal fee for accounting software will prevent a major headache, as will project management software.

Alternative: Rather than paying a big chunk of cash for accounting software like QuickBooks to install on your computer, try the online edition for a lower monthly fee (QuickBooks Online starts at $12.95 a month). You’ll constantly get upgrades, which keeps you from having to shell out another few hundred on the latest and greatest edition.

Business Cheapskate Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

5 Things Business Owners Shouldn’t Skimp on

Ecosystem

The real benefits of blogging. The truth is you may never make a living solely from your blogging endeavors. That said, business blogging can open some amazing doors including book deals and speaking engagements like the one mentioned here. ProBlogger

Many bloggers work from home. And since bloggers are a subcategory of the growing work-at-home demographic, it’s helpful to have a look at some tips designed to keep home workers focused. Like other home business entrepreneurs, bloggers need focus and discipline. Bloggertone

Commenting

Why commenting is still important. In the era of social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, it’s easy to loose site of the original social interaction: the blog comment. Here are some reasons commenting remains important and is something you should consider  no matter what. Brick Marketing Blog

Don’t let Viagra ruin your community. Of course, commenting works both ways and it’s critical to keep your blog free of comment spam to keep it relevant to readers. Here are some tricks to recognizing the craftiest spammers. PC World

Networking & Marketing

Business bloggers help build connections. Small business woman and blogger Nikki Peele founded a group where entrepreneurs could gather, support each other, network, and discuss their ventures. It’s another example of how bloggers build community offline and on. The Washington Post

Is blogging part of your marketing plan? It should be, according to this post from Mark Nolan, if you have the time or resources to manage it correctly. A well maintained blog and social media presence can have huge impact on your business efforts. Amsterdam Printing

Pros & Cons

Why one size really doesn’t fit all. While many small business advisers will tell you about the importance of a blog to reach your customers, build your brand and market your business, there may be some legitimate reasons why blogging is not for you. Entrepreneur

Want traffic on your Website? Then blog! It’s that simple, according to Bryan Ring, who argues in this light-hearted post that business blogging is about both learning and sharing your knowledge. It’s a combination guaranteed to boost your knowledge and your business, so get started now! Business Website Building

Getting Better

Belt tightening tactics when blogging. Sure it’s a fairly inexpensive means of marketing and community building already, but here are some other ways to save money while blogging. It’s a good reminder to always seek ways to cut costs. Don’t Do It Yourself

Simple tips. Want to understand how to improve your business blog today? A few simple tips will improve your efforts dramatically. Consider these ideas and put them into practice. You’ll surprised at the difference they make. Earning Diary

From Small Business Trends

Triumph of the Business Bloggers

The recent recession had been dubbed a “mancession” as men lost jobs in record numbers. By comparison, the study found, women fared better at keeping jobs (however, men are faring better in the current recovery). Not only that, but “Single, childless women in their 20s are more likely than their male counterparts to graduate from college,” says Sphere Trending CEO Maxine Lauer. “That demographic segment is going to be where a lot of the new young talent will come from in years ahead.”

Overall, some 70 percent of U.S. women now work outside the home, and one in four married women earn more than their husbands. What else do you need to know about today’s female employees? The study examined women in three age groups—Gen Y, Gen X and Baby Boomers.

Each faced special challenges:

Gen Y: Overall, this age group is doing great. They’re out-earning their male counterparts and embracing technology and social media as tools for both business and personal life. In fact, 53 percent identified themselves as early adopters of technology, and women were more likely than men (32 percent vs. 24 percent) to use social media to network and connect with co-workers. Younger women believe work-life balance is crucial and are less likely than older generations to sacrifice their personal lives for a job. Instead, they’re using tools like flextime, remote work and mobile devices to get it all done.

Gen X: Stress is the key word for this age group, which has more family responsibilities than Gen Y. Even though men are taking on more duties at home, most of the childcare and housework still falls on Gen X women, who may also be dealing with elder care. Gen X has high standards and these women often feel like they’re letting down their families and their bosses, satisfying no one. In the workplace, Gen X’s strength is “brokering” between Gen Y and Boomer employees and serving as a facilitator to smooth the generation gap.

Boomers: Boomers face many of the same issues as Gen X. Although their children are generally adults, the economy has pushed many of those adult children back into the nest, leaving Boomers in a tough position. With Americans living longer, even the oldest Boomers are often caring for aging parents, which can lead to lost productivity and greater stress. At the same time, Boomers may feel they’re getting pushed aside or left behind by younger employees, especially as Gen X employees rise up the ladder.

How can you help your female employees succeed? As with many employee motivation issues, the key is understanding what they need. That will vary from age group to age group, from life stage to life stage, and from person to person.

If your workplace is filled with young women, allowing remote work and making sure they have the mobile technology they need to work anytime, anyplace can be key. Be more focused on results, not on hours spent in the office.

If your team is mostly moms, flexibility to handle family responsibilities is most important. Like Gen X, they’ll appreciate being measured on their results, not the hours clocked.

If you’re dealing with Boomers, be aware they may be reluctant to share their challenges, especially eldercare. Being sensitive, providing resources to help them and finding ways to let them share their knowledge and experience with others on your staff can keep them feeling valued as members of your team.

Generational Women Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Understanding Women Workers

Whether it’s an overly-demanding client who’s prone to instant message you any time of day (or night), an indecisive client who’s sole feedback usually entails “that’s not quite it,” or the client who’s perennially slow to pay, some clients just aren’t worth the business. An extension of the Pareto Principle says that 20% of your customers probably account for the majority of your time and trouble.

Most of us strive to avoid conflict and stick with the mantra that clients are good for business. However, staying too long in negative client situations can take a significant toll on your job satisfaction, emotional wellbeing, and business.

If your attempts to actively manage the negative aspects in a client relationship ended up hitting a brick wall, it’s time to cut the cord. Firing someone may not come as easily to you as Donald Trump, but here are some ways to make the process as pain-free and professional as possible:

Take emotion out of the equation: When deciding to fire a client, don’t act rashly from frustration or a bruised ego. Take a few days to consider the situation before acting. Although, if you find yourself going through this process multiple times in a month or year, it’s time to listen to your gut.

Review the contract: Before approaching the client, go through every line of your contract and check for loose ends. If you don’t have a contract, gather any documents you have (including initial emails) that define the project scope and expectations. Make sure you have completely lived up to your obligations. If a client has already paid for certain parts of the project, make sure you have delivered on them. If you’re concerned the client may fail to pay what they owe, consider how to minimize the damage. This could mean waiting until they have paid before telling them your intentions.

Meet face-to-face: As tempting as it may be, firing a client doesn’t mean you just stop answering their emails or calls. Meet your contact face-to-face (or over a phone call if you’re a web-based contractor).

Keep it brief: No doubt you have a billion reasons why you don’t want to continue working with this client, but you only need to offer one. And it can be as simple as, “I no longer think my services are meeting your needs.” The more details you provide, the more you open the door to an argument.

Give sufficient notice: If a client relies on you for regular work, give them time to find a new contractor or vendor. This could be 30 days, the end of a major deliverable, or whatever works in the context of your relationship.

Offer alternatives: Unless the client was disrespectful or a major problem, help them find a new solution by referring a colleague who could meet their needs. If you don’t have a specific person in mind, you can still offer guidance on the type of provider who might be a better fit such as, “Your needs have grown, you may need to consider a full-size agency.” Or, “Why don’t you look for someone who specializes in x.”

At the end of the day, firing a client is never easy. Yet the difficult conversation will be over soon enough and you can move on to more restful nights and bigger and better things.

Fired Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Is It Time to Fire That Client?

One feature small business owners want to specifically be aware of is the ability to create company profiles on the site. By claiming and building out your profile, SMBs will be able to increase your company’s prominence on the site, help prospective employees find you, and use it as your own personal recruiting network. If you’ve ever had to hire locally, you know important this is.

So how can small business owners take advantage of this new feature? Here are five easy tips to get you started.

1. Create/Claim the Page

Your first step to creating a rocking LinkedIn company profile page is to create and your claim your page. By creating your page you give your brand an outlet to highlight your products or services, keep followers updated on what you’re working on, show career opportunities within your organization, tell your personal story, and highlight various aspects of your company. To get started, perform a company search to see if you’re already listed on the site. If you are, it’s a simple process to claim your profile. If you’re not, once you’re in the search feature you’ll see an option on the right-hand side of the screen to add your company. Select that and claim your company page.

Once you’ve added your company (or have found an existing listing), it’s really important that you take the time to fill out the profile in its entirety, including:

• Your Company Overview
• Company Product & Services pages
• Information about Career Opportunities

The more information you provide, the easier it will be for like-minded prospective customers to find you, AND the more likely it is LinkedIn will show your company for prominent search queries.

2. Get Your Employees Using LinkedIn

The more involved you can make your company with LinkedIn, the bigger payoff you’re going to see. For more information on how to use your employees to create a rockin’ social media presence, check out a recent Blueglass post entitled 8 ways employees can improve your company’s LinkedIn presence where writer Kerry Jones discusses, in impressive detail, what steps SMBs should take to maximize their exposure. I won’t ruin the post for you, but she mentions things like:

• Taking advantage of the activity field
• Properly highlighting the teams skills & expertise (and why this is so important)
• Including customized links
• And lots more

If you haven’t used LinkedIn much in the past, that post is a really great primer to get any business up to speed. SMBs can really increase what they’re showing up for simply by showing employees how to set up and use their own profiles.

3. Follow Relevant Companies

Another thing SMBs may not know is that with the creation of LinkedIn brand pages, you can now follow companies of interest. For example, maybe you want to follow what your vendors are doing. Or companies that you’re considering partnering with in the future. Or people whose radar you want to get on for media opportunities. Or to hire down the road. This feature allows businesses to do stay up to date on what other businesses are doing, who they’re hiring, what they’re working on, etc. If you like your social media with a high amount of signal and very little noise, you may prefer to follow a brand on LinkedIn instead of on a more socially-inclined site like Twitter or Facebook.

4. Build Followers To Your Page

Obviously if you’re taking the time to build a brand page, you want to get people follow that page. Doing so will help you increase your visibility and authoritativeness with relevant users. Without that following, all the work that you’re doing on LinkedIn may go relatively unseen.

Encourage people to follow your company page by:

• Using your profile to share exclusive information about your company and/or articles and news pieces relevant to your audiences’ interests.
• Highlighting your brand’s LinkedIn page on your Web site and in all company information (in email newsletters, direct mailings, etc)
• Following the LinkedIn pages of other companies in your neighborhood/industry with the hopes that they’ll follow you back and you can create a local referrer network.
• Participating in industry-relevant LinkedIn discussion groups and let them know about your business (without spamming them).

5. Stay Active

Unfortunately, you can’t simply create your LinkedIn page and then step away. Even though LinkedIn is a business social networking site, it’s still a social networking site. That means you’ll still need to be active there to develop a real presence and following, and keep the relevance of your company profile Being an active site contributor means making sure you’re using your page to share information via your status updates, participating in relevant discussions, joining and being active in groups, acting like resource in Linked Answers, and otherwise be a good site member. If you don’t keep up your site investment, you’ll lose all the goodwill you’ve created.

Those are some quick tips to help SMBs develop a strong presence on LinkedIn and keep it going. Are you using LinkedIn for business? Why or why not?

From Small Business Trends

How To Build a Rockin’ LinkedIn Presence

Boosting Your Social IQ

The time suck of social media. We all know the value of social media for small business. This said, learning about social media has become a real time suck for many small business owners, especially the learning curve required to gain skill and a competitive advantage in this new field of marketing. Here are some tips to help. The Sales Lion

Creating engagement on your blog. Writing posts isn’t enough, of course. You’ll need to create engagement and community to make your small business stand out, attract fans and eventually customers. If you  had trouble building your blog in the past, see these suggestions for improvements. Small Business Trends

Thoughts On Social Media Marketing

Has social media helped your business? An online poll is collecting the answer one vote at a time from small business owners just like you. Have you shared your thoughts? Participate in this measure of small business owners’ experiences with social media success, then check the results. WSJ

Creating brand evangelism. Social media is about much more than ”likes” and ”clicks.” It’s about finding customers crazy for your brand who want to tell the world about you, your products and services. Here’s how to take your social media presence to a whole new level. Fast Company

Following the Pinterest Revolution

Pinterest: The next big thing? In case you’re wondering, the time has come! Time for all self-respecting social media gurus to fawn over the latest social media business tool you must be using. Forsake all others and follow! ReadWriteWeb

Social media hijinx. Not everyone goes crazy for the latest technological trend. This business blogger has even thought of a creative project that “pokes gentle fun” of a social media site he hasn’t yet found a use for. Want to join in? Darren Barefoot

Linking To A Brave New World

Not your average social media links. This collection of curated content comes to you from a top copywriter. We hope you find it useful, entertaining, inspiring, and unique. Now, those are great adjectives that should describe your content too, right? Copyblogger

How much are your followers really worth? As much as $42,500, or $2.50 a month for every follower in the case of one man’s Twitter account. Before you sell your social media following short, consider the dollar value some people put on this important fan base. CNN Tech

Tracking SEO and App Innovation

Don’t forget about SEO. If you think social media negates your need for good Search Engine Optimization strategy, think again. SEO is still very much alive and very important to your online business, even in the age of social networking. Brick Marketing Blog

Facebook apps for fan building. Creating fans on any social media platform remains essential for your small business, but here are some tips to help you improve communications with your fans on what may remain the most critical social network of them all. MyBeak Social Media

From Small Business Trends

The Time Suck of Social Media

However, after attending a series of small business classes filled with artists and shop owners in the home and decor industry, it was easy to see that this social network is a mainstay for this creative group of entrepreneurs. And I wanted to know why.  So I finally signed up.  And quickly became addicted.

Something About Pinterest: Organic, Easy to Use

If you see something you like, then you “pin it” to one of your boards. Uou can come back to it whenever you need or want to.  It’s fun. It’s mesmerizing. But is it business relevant?

Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then Pinterest is really on to something.  It’s like an online scrapbook but better than that. It’s a little haven for the “neat freak” in some of us and perfect for the messy creative types too.

According to social media strategist, Kathryn Rose, “Pinterest is a great way to create interest in, and drive traffic to your blog posts.” Remember, traffic is the potential for conversion. Casual visitors to your website can become loyal subscribers and eventually paying customers (if you’ve prepped your site for the traffic but that’s a different post).

Kathryn uses the second half of her “in-depth look” to give you some specific things you can do to maximize the SEO benefits and in turn get more traffic.  Reb Carlson, Founder of NY Creative Interns, provides four tips to help you enjoy and add to the Pinterest community.

If You Fall in Love With Pinterest

Decide to make it your next social media hang out.  Consider Reb Carlson’s advice:

“Brands need to be creative in order to fit with the environment without being disruptive.”

It’s a creative space so be sure to honor that.  Have fun at Pinterest and start pinning some pictures or videos, including ones from your own website, and check out the pin boards of others, too.

Push Pin Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

A Picture Is Worth A 1000 Words: Pinterest Is On To Something

His proposed “Startup America Legislative Agenda,” would eliminate taxes on capital gains in investments in small businesses and provide a 10 percent income tax credit on for new hires or to spur job-creation, double the deductions a startup business could take from $5,000 to $10,000, and extend 100 percent first-year depreciation for qualified property. The President will offer details of his proposals in the fiscal 2013 budget that will be submitted to Congress on February 13.

In an election year in which the economy will likely be the determining factor, both Democrats and Republicans will want to be seen as supporting small business, and cutting taxes is always popular with the electorate.

The White House sees small business growth as a primary driver of the economy. In fact, my company has been providing data on loan approval rates at big banks, small banks, credit unions and other alternative lenders to the President’s Council of Economic Advisers for the past several months. While the economy has risen above the dark period in early 2009 when the country was in a tailspin, the recovery is far from complete.

Credit markets are still tight for entrepreneurs, and big banks, in particular, are making it more and more difficult for startups. For example, many ask for three years’ worth of financial data before granting loans. How can a startup provide such numbers? Therein lies the challenge.

President Obama is positioning himself as an advocate for entrepreneurship and innovation. It is a good platform for reelection. Recently, he elevated Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), to be a member of his cabinet. The President called this decision:

“A symbol of how important it is for us to spur entrepreneurship, to help startups, to move aggressively so that we can assure more companies that create the most jobs in our economy.”

The SBA has been instrumental in getting funding for startups, particularly during a period when financial institutions have been reluctant to lend. The agency’s 90 percent loan guarantee program was very successful, and only a very small percentage of SBA-backed loans defaulted.

Although it is admirable that the President is trying to be innovative, I believe the government’s most effective vehicle to help small companies has been the SBA, which was created by President Eisenhower almost 50 years ago. Ironically, it has been the Republicans who have called for the scaling back of the agency. President Obama has repeatedly bolstered the SBA, and its loan programs have helped countless businesses get the funding they need for growth.

President Obama Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

President Obama: Small Business is Part of His Reelection Strategy