Small Business Answers

Do you understand what your customers are saying?

Wed, 06 May 2009 07:46:01 -0600

Every expert tells marketers that they must listen to customers. Fair enough. My problem is that too many of us misinterpret what customers are saying to us. I think we forget that customers are people too, and while some of them don't mind bluntly giving us a piece of their mind, most are at least trying to be civil and to protect our feelings. When we interpret what customers are saying, we need to keep that in mind.

Cookie Cutter Marketing: Efficient or Effective?

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:59:15 -0600

My wife and I are in the midst of moving my mother-in-law from New York to New Jersey, and one of the things she needs help with is changing her car registration and driver's license. So, as you might expect, I headed to the Web to find out what to do. What I found from the New Jersey motor vehicle bureau has a lesson in it for many small business Web sites.

Don't Cheat Your Business by Going Cheap On SEO

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:44:46 -0600

Are you a bargain hunter? I am. I'm always looking for the best deal, the cheapest price and the least expensive... whatever. If you're like me, that frugality carries over into just about all areas of your life, including searching for an SEO company. But one thing that bargain shoppers tend to find out the hard way is that sometimes the best deal isn't always the best deal. In fact, the bargain often turns out to cost you more in the long run.

But before I get into the details of SEO bargain hunting, let me first give you a real-life story of non-SEO bargain hunting that went right, only to turn into a disaster.

Don't make your small company look like a big company

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:37:11 -0600

Someone once told me that all small companies try to look like big companies and all big companies to look more like small companies. I guess I once accepted that at face value, but I am starting to question it. My wife and I recently had an experience with our local car dealer that felt like a small company looking like a big company—it was a huge turn-off in multiple ways, and might serve as a cautionary tale for other small businesses.

If it says it's not spam, it really is

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:27:13 -0600

I received an "interesting" e-mail the other day. It was an unsolicited offer, but it clearly wasn't spam. How do I know? Because it said right in the e-mail that it wasn't spam. I mean, how much more proof do you need?

Why I Use Vimeo Over YouTube

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 07:45:57 -0600

I've worked with many large companies to incorporate video into their digital marketing, but I am not terribly proficient with a video camera myself. I'm hoping to add more video to my personal Web site over the next few months, but for now have only a handful of clips uploaded. So, while I'm not the most video-savvy person around, I do know one thing. I prefer the relatively unknown video service Vimeo over YouTube.

A Lesson of Real Customer Service

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:06:59 -0600

In customer service, it's the little things that matter most. A little eye contact here or a head nod there may seem insignificant, and largely are, but to a customer needing acknowledgment, these things are everything. There is nothing worse than needing help in a store and getting ignored by the very people who are supposed to be there to help.

I recently went to the motorcycle shop to set an appointment to bring my bike in. When I walked into the service department there was no one at the counter to help me.

Books: The Sweet Nectar of Life

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:18:23 -0600

When I was a kid I read a lot of books. Usually when I was grounded and had nothing else to do, but there were no shortage of books such as the Chronicles of Narnia or Little House on the Prairie type books for me to read. By the time I hit Jr. High or High School, however, I stopped reading altogether. Except, of course, that which was required in my classes.

How to Change the World with $20 and 20 Hours

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:49:19 -0600

As small business people, we often know what it's like to be on the receiving end of a helping hand. This is a brief profile of two small business owners who have been there and decided to try and give back by providing a platform for business to help business. BusinessHelpingBusiness is founded on the principle that businesses can help other businesses to survive and succeed by making needs known and favors available. This is an entirely grassroots movement intended to bring together large and small, global and local, and product and service businesses alike in cooperation rather than competition.

Does your marketing still rely on fine print?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:45:32 -0600

There's lots of talk these days about authenticity and transparency and lots of other feel-good ideas in marketing. I'm glad, but I am also skeptical, because I still see plenty of tricky "fine print" marketing. If your offer requires fine print, maybe something's wrong.

Time to Rock

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:30:02 -0600

Are you cutting your budgets because of the economic turbulence ahead? Lots of small business folks are, maybe rightly so. Perhaps this is a time accelerate some things and cut out others, but don't just stop. There are various schools of thought on how to navigate choppy waters, and lowering costs is always good, however just don't let it dominate your every move. During these troubled times do not become paralyzed, and in fact capitalize on your competitors trepidation.

The Social Media Split Personality

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:22:49 -0600

If you're like a lot of small business people, you've been hearing about social networks (such as Facebook), social bookmarking (such as Digg), and other social media stuff such as blogging and microblogging (Twitter). Perhaps you've dipped your toe in the water, jumped in with both feet, or maybe you're still at water's edge. But newbies and veterans alike struggle with what some people call the "Social Media Split Personality"--the decision of whether to mix your business and personal life, and just how to do that online.

Engage Emotion and Shape the Customer Experience

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:46:18 -0600

These are certainly some pretty strange economic times for small business owners and lots of folks are afraid, understandably. And, all indicators point to a pretty tough 2009. So, what are you going to do, pack up the tent stakes or wrestle down this dragon?

Book: Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:04:14 -0600

Description from Amazon:

Top performers in any field--from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch--are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn't come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades.

And not just plain old hard work, like your grandmother might have advocated, but a very specific kind of work. The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness.

The Most Important Part of a Web Site

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:33:29 -0600

I am constantly running into small business owners who are very concerned about the Web. They typically fall into two groups: those that have a Web site and those that don't. But both groups are concerned because they just aren't getting any business from the Web. The ones that have no Web site know why, but they don't know what to do. The ones who have Web sites don't know why, but still don't know what to do. Both groups need to understand the most important part of any small business Web site, but almost none of them do.