I love reading how-I-did-it interviews with successful start-up CEO’s!    Especially entrepreneurs that share how they grew their small businesses by bootstrapping—pure gold.  If you’re a B2B small business owner looking for real world examples of growing a small business, you’ll get great ideas from a NY Times blog interview with CEO Elizabeth Charnock of Cataphora.

You’ll get insights about how Charnock grew the software company from 13 employees in 2002 to 60-plus employees today.

Bootstrapping Lessons from CEO Charnock

Make all employees owners of the company. Most start-ups can’t pay big salaries so providing stock options is a great way to go. Offering stock options in lieu of a big-company sized paycheck also ensures you’re recruiting people committed to making your business a success.

Mentor employees into managers. Charnock explained that one of her biggest challenges was finding qualified Silicon Valley employees on her start-up budget.   Senior managers, in her experience, were looking for large salaries—even at a start-up.  So early on she made a decision to hire good people and then help them grow into managers by doing, in her words “large amounts of personal mentoring”.

Personal mentoring is rare in my personal experience in the start-up environment of the 1990’s.   Kudos to Elizabeth Charnock!

Use public relations and marketing effectively. I’m betting many folks recruited and mentored by CEO Charnock are in marketing because Cataphora is doing a bang up job of getting its story out.

Surf around Cataphora.com and you’ll see prime examples of effective marketing.  The company uses both traditional marketing/public relations and social media marketing.  Here is its news page.

Its news page shows that they’ve been ‘getting ink’ in tech publications since the beginning of the company.   They have positioned CEO Charnock as a thought leader.  Here’s a column written in 2004 (2 years after launching) about a panel Charnock participated in on the topic of the malware threat.  Media exposure like this is a big win for any business—especially a start-up.

Build a B2B team or group blog.   My personal favorite is the Cataphora team blog, Catablog.  Well, the catchy name helps.

The post titled, What is the ‘Digital You’?  demonstrates how to effectively use your business blog to share your company culture.  The author wrote about how two major company events taking place that week came together.

• The new book, E-Habits, by CEO Elizabeth Charnock was published

• Digital Mirror, new software for a brand new segment (consumers) was released

She explained how employees really pulled together to make sure the new software was ready at the same time the CEO’s book was given an early release by the publisher.

A blog post/article like this one maximizes Cataphora’s blogging efforts because:

-    They didn’t simply republish a corporate news release on the blog (a big no-no in my book)
-   For bloggers/journalists that scour blogs for story ideas, they provided a view inside the company’s culture.  They shared how excited the team was about the new software and the CEO’s book being published.
-    The post is (yet) another chance to explain the concept of the new software “Digital You”
-    It summarizes the E-Habits book theme and positions Digital Mirror software by explaining, “Cataphora designed the Digital Mirror software to complement the ideas introduced in the book. Digital Mirror provides users with a reflection of their digital universe and their role within it.”
-    The blogger invites us to watch here for more news as ‘Digital Mirror’ expands to email and social networking.

This is smart corporate story telling.  I’m hooked!

If you’re looking for ideas on how to bootstrap a start-up, increase the visibility of your business and to position your company or yourself as a  thought leader, check out Cataphora and its company blog.  Click here for the complete interview.

Also, visit Adriana Gardella’s blog, You’re the Boss.  She publishes great stuff on ‘The Art of Running a Small Business’.

Photo: iStock.com

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Marketing Tactics That Work:  How Social Media Led to Followers, Customers and Sales for Startup GoGo Gear

Putting Social Media Marketing to Work Like IBM

Andres did an excellent job of involving us in the audience to share our suggestions during his presentation. What became clear from the business owners in the room—lots of web developers and marketers (like me) and others—is that online reputation is something you just have to stay on top of.

Today’s consumers are searching online for opinions of others.  According to Mashable, for local small businesses, directory websites like Yelp are a necessity—not an option. (See Mashable’s great post here.)

Managing your online reputation and consumer reviews can be as easy as using Google Alerts to determine when you’re reviewed and claiming your site on Kudzu®, Urbanspoon and others.  (I’ve personally found excellent restaurants using reviews at online directory listing website Urbanspoon.com)

Andres puts Yelp’s monthly visitors at 32 million and a quick check on Alexa.com (today) ranks it as the 49th site in the US.   Though from this chart I just pulled from Alexa.com, both Urbanspoon and Kudzu visitors are very engaged based on the number of Pageviews per User!

Comparison of Daily pageviews per user for:  Yelp.com, Kudzu.com & Urbanspoon.com.   Screen shot taken August 15, 2010 on Alexa.com.  Link I used is here.

Seems hard for local small businesses to not participate in this kind of popularity.

Here are my favorite tips Andres Hernandez shared in his presentation.

• The hands-down best way to get online customer reviews is to ask for them!  Check out Kudzu’s helpful page for more info.
• Email your customer, thanking them for their business and ask for a review.  If email doesn’t work, the second best way is to send a personal letter.
• Best time to ask your customers for a review is at the end of a project.

• A small local business should make sure its information is accurate and up-to-date on Yelp, Kudzu and others.  (Details like address, phone number, hours, etc.)

• Best way to make sure your customers follow through and post a review for your business?  Make your review request as simple as possible.  Andres suggests sending your customer a link to the exact website page where you’d like them to post a review.

• Check out Google Places and decide if you want to be listed there.

Here’s a cool template from BIIS Solutions website that you can follow to create an email asking your customers for a review.

Here is another recent blog article you may find useful about managing online reviews about your business. Google Places Now Allows Replies

Thanks Sonia for hitting the nail on the head 50 times over with your remarkable post of 50 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew.  Thank you for reminding us of 50 of the things we must do to (continuously) earn, build and retain our customers’ trust.

My five personal faves:

#2. Telling me what you don’t know makes me trust you.

#20.  I don’t understand how to use your Web site, but I can’t admit that because it would make me feel dumb.

#31. I want you to do the hard work for me. Even better if I can get all the credit.

#34. I have the attention span of a goldfish. Go too long without contacting me and I’ll simply forget you exist.

#47. I don’t know what I want most of the time. You need to figure it out for me.

In addition to printing Sonia’s list of 50 things to keep in mind about our customers, and taping it to our desk, car dashboard, bathroom mirror…

I think we business owners will do well to keep this list in mind when we:

-    Review our websites and business blogs for content ideas
-    Build new websites and business blogs and figure out what needs to go where
-    Surf through LinkedIn for business relationship building and nurturing ideas
-    Prepare products and services for our new and existing customers

Thanks so much Sonia Simone!  You’ve made my day/week/month.  I have work to do.  Anyone else have work to do?  Or care to contribute # 51, #52?

Read Sonia Simone’s complete, compelling list here.

Industrial Interface Website Video from One Step Productions on Vimeo.

IndustrialInterface.com is a BtoB startup business that’s using social media marketing to reach its engineering customers, build its brand, and generate leads and sales.  Industrial Interface is eliminating the hassles and time-consuming aspects of the sourcing of industrial products and services.

According to the Industrial Interface.com  team, small businesses should keep in mind that it’s all about sharing on social media—not talking about your products and services. Brian Patrick, co-founder at IndustrialInterface.com says,  “Internet users can smell marketing speak a mile away…Social media marketing is all about people sharing with other people.”  Find more social marketing ideas here from Brian.

The video above is an excellent example of using online video to tell a story.  In this case the story  explains to engineers how to use the IndustrialInterface.com online service to locate (source) parts and servcies needed for design and other engineering projects.

The company wrote the story and used an outside company to create the video.  I think this is a useful example for other small BtoB companies of how to use social media (in this case, video) to tell a story or explain something to your prospects and customers.  The video is both entertaining and informative.

Check out the successful B2B Engineering blog at IndustrialInterface.com here.

Related posts you might find useful:

Rev-up Your Small Business Website with an Online

Putting Social Media Marketing to Work Like IBM

How to: Use Social Media to Increase Your Visibility and Get People Listening

I love social media marketing success stories about small businesses and startups operating on a tiny budget.  If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur looking to create awareness, earn interest and actually win paying customers on a budget, blogger Mary Hall’s recent interview with the founder of GoGo Gear is a must-read.

Marketing expert Mary Hall published a valuable, how-she-did-it interview for anyone starting a new company or looking for a marketing tactic that won’t break your budget.

Mary Hall spoke with Arlene Battishill, founder of GoGo Gear, a new company making stylish and protective riding gear for women motorcycle riders.

This interview is a rich case study for small businesses and startups in all industries because it provides insightful detail about the founder Arlene’s thought process.  You can peek into her personal approach as she  shared steps to building her new brand using social media and no budget.

Social Media Was New to Founder
Arlene Battishill acknowledges that she didn’t know a lot about social media.   Importantly, she did deeply understand GoGo Gear’s target customers and her new company’s mission to fill a gap in the market.  This clarity helped considerably.

She knew that her future customers, women motorcycle and scooter riders, did not believe that riding apparel could be both stylish and safe (padded for protection in case of falls).   Why?  Because as a motorcycle rider herself, she couldn’t find any protective riding jackets that were also fashionable.

Arlene kept the skepticism in mind when she began her Twitter account @LAScooterGirls three months before launching the company’s finished website and new riding apparel line.

Arlene used a business approach to Twitter.  She searched for terms that pointed to her potential customers on Twitter (“motorcycle” or “scooter”) and began following them.  She crafted a clear Twitter bio that explained exactly what the company does. In her words, “… we only have only one  click to gain their interest.”

Seth Godin, visionary author of global bestselling books like Purple Cow and Tribes, would say, GoGoGear set out to appeal to only those folks that shared their worldview:  Women motorcycle and scooter enthusiasts who want to wear stylish jackets while riding.

Women motorcycle lovers on Twitter began following @LAScooterGirls because Arlene was a real person sharing her ideas for riding apparel quietly.

• She shared openly and candidly experiences in building the brand new company.
• She was not selling or pushing her new brand.
• Arlene posted on Twitter frequently and enthusiastically.

Twitter Followers Became Referrers

When the new company’s website was launched, three months after the @LAScooterGirls Twitter community began, GoGoGear experienced a wave of support and it’s Twitter followers acted like, well, a community.  They shared the new company’s website with friends, made purchases and then shared their delight with the fashionable riding jackets on Twitter.  In other words—Arlene’s Twitter followers built buzz for the new company by referring others to GoGo Gear.

The Best (Marketing) Money We Never Spent

According to Arlene Battishill after the launch of the clothing and website,  their Twitter followers   “…started sending out RT (Retweets) to their own followers and we continued to pick up more followers. The momentum continues to this day. The “Twitter-verse” has been the most important marketing tool we’ve used and the best money we’ve never spent.”

2 Key Success Factors

Personal Approach. I think the key success factor in this new company launch success story, is the personal approach Arlene Battishill used when posting on Twitter.  She was her authentic self and she was “all in”.    She achieved the personal touch in her Twitter posts  by sharing overseas travel anecdotes as they were happening.

Commitment to Use the Marketing Tool.  The founder Tweeted non-stop for three months before the company website and product line launched.  What did she Tweet (post) about?

She frequently Tweeted about her global travel adventures involved in finding manufacturing partners in Asia.  Arlene’s Twitter followers became invested in the progress of the new apparel line and startup company because they connected with Arlene as a person first.  They followed her progress for three months and became “invested” in the new brand.

Twitter Followers to Sales

For those (few) cynics among you that may be saying, well, Twitter followers are not customers—wrong! @LAScooterGirls followers soon became customers and sent their friends and family too.  When new riding jackets were shipped to a retailer, GoGo Gear Tweeted the details.  Retailers would find a line of loyal @LAScooterGirls fans lined up to buy the new jackets right out of the box!

Follow the new company on Twitter here http://twitter.com/lascootergirls
Their Twitter handle is   @LAScooterGirls
The company’s blog is here

Social media marketing is long on hype and short on from the trenches examples of what works.  Mary Hall has prepared a terrific case study for consumer marketing with the article, read full interview here. Thanks Mary!

Mary Hall blogs at Huffington Post and at the wildly popular blog, The Recessionista here.  You can follow Mary on Twitter here.

Ready to put BtoB social media marketing to work for your small business to increase leads and sales like IBM?  See my earlier post here about how IBM has generated millions in sales based on social media and blogs by sales folks and others.

Here’s a quick next-steps checklist to help you get started:

1.    Identify people in your company to create exceptional content. IBM suggests that subject matter experts are the best. (Usually not sales people.) Business buyers and prospects want from-the-trenches technical help to make buying decisions.  Here are some content ideas:

• Develop easy-to-locate information that answers questions quickly for your crazy-busy prospects.

• Include information that helps a prospect ‘fill in’ her business case to her boss to purchase your products and services.

• Create valuable case studies about niche problems you can solve better than anyone else.  This 1-2-3 format works for many small BtoB companies I’ve worked with: problem, solution, result.

Impact Interactions has built online communities for BtoB companies for 10 years.  Their research shows senior executives use information from online BtoB communities to build business cases for purchasing upgrades and new solutions.

• Write a short story that explains clearly to new website visitors, prospects how to use your products or services.  Get help to make it into a how-to video that shines like IndustrialInterface.com

2.     Determine the keywords or industry terms that are most popular with your prospects for online searching.  Then use these terms to monitor websites where your prospects are discussing their issues and questions.
 Click here for a keyword tool I created. Copyblogger has great articles on choosing keywords for blogs that apply for websites too.

3.    Share your how-to and informational content on the social media websites frequented by your prospects.

DemandGenReport.com’s survey titled “Transforming the BtoB Buying Process,” showed that 90 percent of BtoB buyers said “blogs impacted their research during the “Solution Analysis” phase and 3 in 4 respondents said social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Delicious were utilized during the early Analysis phases.”

4. Launch a company blog that’s updated at least weekly.

• Prepare a plan and assign someone to monitor websites where your industry, your competitors and your products are being discussed.

5.  Choose your metrics to track success.  Create a list of metrics that will best help your business to measure and evaluate social media efforts. For IBM it is: number of leads created, lead value, win revenue and win rate.

• If you’re just starting, your metrics might include:  number of new visitors to website, number of pieces of content downloaded, number of new enewsletter subscribers, number of leads generated, number of returning visitors to website, or new sales.

• Or any other data points that let you know how social media is helping you to grow your business!

Have any ideas to get results from social media like IBM?  Let me know in the comments below.

Photo: iStock.

Is your small business looking for proven B2B social media marketing tactics that generate leads and sales?   Read on!  You may like this business-to-business marketing case study.  IBM shares their experiences with social media roles for subject matter experts, sales reps, and results metrics. Clark Fredricksen at eMarketer uncovers valuable social media best practices from Ed Linde II, who is in charge of Internet presence at IBM.

According to Linde, IBM’s social media efforts have uncovered millions of dollars in sales.

I think the aha fact shared here is the four classic metrics IBM uses to track social media leads: number of leads created, lead value, win revenue and win rate.  These basic metrics sound a lot like traditional marketing measurements to me.

B2B Social Media Marketing Excerpts, Tips from IBM interview:

Who in the business should participate in social media?
Experts are best to lead social media marketing in the B2B space.  Not sales reps. Use your subject-matter experts with established authority on key topics.  They have credibility in their area to help buyers that are looking for more information in order to make informed decisions on equipment purchases.

Note:  According to IndustrialInterface, a BtoB startup using social media marketing to grow, it’s all about sharing on social media—not talking about your products and services. Brian Jones, co-founder at IndustrialInterface.com says, “Internet users can smell marketing speak a mile away…Social media marketing is all about people sharing with other people.”

Sales Reps (Do) Blog
Sales reps use individual blogs to deepen relationships with their own customers.   Many IBM sales reps have blogs with RSS feeds that are connected to LinkedIn and Twitter.  Sales reps’ customers can follow them and have an individual relationship.

How to Listen for Leads
The Listening for Leads program consists of IBM employees that are volunteer “seekers” who monitor particular social media sites.  They listen to online conversations and determine whether there’s a potential sales opportunity.  “Seeking” is not a full time job.

”Seekers” visit government agency sites where RFPs (request for proposals) are posted, and there are discussions about proposals. In the tech space, they frequent blogs or discussion boards about the new Intel chip for servers.

“Seekers” listen for clues (leads) that someone is in a buying mode:

• “I’m about to issue a RFP. Does anyone have a sample RFP that I can use?
• “I’m looking to replace my old server”
• “Does anyone have any recommendations on what kind of storage device will work in this in type of situation?”

Then “seekers” try to get these leads to a telephone rep that qualifies and validates the lead then passes it to a sales rep.

Events are Tweeted
IBM uses Twitter to inform customers about Webinars, podcasts, virtual trade shows or physical trade shows and to advertise some promotions. Individual reps keep their customers updated about interesting news and events via their own Twitter accounts.

Right Keywords are Key

Key to B2B social media success: knowing what the right keywords are so that you can search the various blogs and other sites where people are talking about your products.  Using Google tools that filter the conversations that are happening within blogs or on Twitter will help you locate the best websites.

In my next post, I’ll suggest next steps for business-to-business owners and marketers looking to use the IBM approach.

Have any thoughts on the IBM social media successes?  Share them below in comments.

Photo: iStock

You can read more of the IBM interview here.

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Business owners and startups are often looking for ways to increase visibility, stand out, and get known.   Social media marketing can level the playing field for small businesses working to get known online—even on a tight budget.  However, gaining recognition and visibility is still a steep hill to climb for many small businesses.

Here’s a from-the-trenches success story of how a small, startup organic skin care company named Four Truffles won an award for its “Do Good” work.  Four Truffles and its founder, Ana Soriano, were recognized along with three others with the “Do Good” award from Ladies Home Journal.

Full disclosure, I’ve been working with Ana Soriano and Four Truffles for several months.

Small is the New Big

Take note small business owners!  Size is not a barrier when it comes to winning recognition for your products and good works.

In addition to Four Truffles, three other companies received the LHJ Do Good Award: Lands End, Avon Products, Inc., and HERSHEY’S.  Three established companies with large staffs.  FourTruffles is a young startup with a tiny staff, but a big vision for giving back to the community and the LHJ editors recognized their work!

Small Company, Big Commitment

Ana Soriano founded Four Truffles a year ago with two key goals as her mission:

1) Expand her philanthropic work of empowering women
2) Develop eco-friendly skin care products that meet high performance targets

Before launching Four Truffles, Ana traveled to several countries researching eco-friendly ingredient sources.  Four Truffles makes organic skin care products using sustainable ingredients that also give back to the communities where they originate.

Giving Back from Day One

From the beginning Four Truffles has donated 10 percent of all profits to its charities.  Also the company sources all ingredients and most packaging from global communities where women are the primary workers.

Extending the volunteer work she does in her Southern California home community, Ana made it her mission to develop Four Truffles in way that helps to empower women globally.  She found the Women Cooperatives in Morocco to source the Ecocert certified Argan Oil used in the company’s body butters, body smoothers, body wash, and other luscious products.

The Women Cooperatives are the caretakers of the endangered Moroccan forests where the Argan trees grow.  The Cooperatives provide a structure for the local women to support their families in a sustainable way.   You can read more about Four Truffles’ sustainable sourcing here.

Get Social to Get Known

The Four Truffles team makes the time to participate in social media.   Not always an easy task for a small team growing a new brand.  They post as often as they can on the Four Truffles Blog.  They are active on Facebook, Twitter and ImagineThis TV.

They collaborate with their online partners like, BeautyFix to create fun giveaways.

In fact, the ImagineThis website is where Four Truffles learned about the Do Good Awards opportunity!  They took the time to prepare the application, reach out to the charities they support to request recommendations, and prepared a thoughtful post-interview follow up to the LHJ editors.  The process was a big investment of time.  But it certainly paid off!

Branding Opportunities

As a winner of the LHJ Do Good Award, Four Truffles can use the Do Good Award logo for two years on their website and packaging. They will be featured along with Avon, HERSHEY’S and Lands End, in the July 2010 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Self Nominate!
What can your small company do?  Keep your eyes open for recognition opportunities such as the LHJ Do Good Award.  When you find them, invest the time to apply.  If giving back to the community is part of your mission, make sure others know about it.

Have your own Big Image/Giving Back success story? Post it in the comments below.

These are the nonprofits that FourTruffles supports:

Bridges of Hope South Africa

Paul Carlson Partnership

Palos Verdes Jr. Women’s Club

Here’s how Henry DeVries answered the $64 million question “how do I find  the time to create great ongoing content?”

“One secret that worked for me was to contact authors through a service called profsnet.com. Authors hunger for book promotion and welcome attention from bloggers. Often I praise the book and summarize a few tips from the book. You can freely use promotional materials like book flaps and Amazon descriptions to round out your post about the book. I only mention books I like and see no need to waste energy on books I don’t like.

There are two kinds of thinking in this world: abundance mentality and scarcity mentality. Abundance thinkers will only talk about what they want, like and wish for others. For instance, according to the book The Secret, Mother Teresa would happily come to peace rallies but turn down invitations to anti-war rallies.

Monday: Washing and Pasta

Another trick for coming up with content is to buy out the time like our grandmothers bought out the time for tasks. Monday was wash day, Tuesday was mopping. Wednesday was changing the linens. And so on. Every week there was a day for doing something. At our house the menu is set for Monday through Friday: Monday is pasta, Tuesday is stir fry, Wednesday is chili, Thursday is soup, and Friday is fish (usually a wild Alaskan salmon, yum).  With two working parents who share chores, having a plan makes sense. So for my business, Monday is marketing day. On Mondays I blog and write book content. Fridays are also my writing days, but for longer pieces. Failing to plan, as the old adage goes, is planning to fail. Plan to succeed by having a day dedicated to creating content.

Need Inspiration?
Ah, but where does inspiration come from? The answer is R & D: rob and duplicate. Rob and duplicate ideas from other publications. I keep files of ideas I pull from newspapers and magazines. For those online only people, I like websites for Business Week, Forbes and Inc. These give me the seeds of ideas that I can comment on or use to create my own spin.

Thanks Henry!  You can read more of Henry’s ideas at his website, Marketing with a Book

If a social media marketing program is a part of your small business growth plan, here are a few basics that will set you up for success.  First, you’ll want a regular supply of fresh how to articles, and other original content published on your website or business blog.

Exceptional content is important because it helps customers find your business when searching online, more bloggers will link to great content (boosting your search rankings) and it encourages ‘sharing’ of valuable links back to your site.

Image purchased at iStock.com

These basics will help you clear the decks and set your company up to become a team of social media marketing ninjas.

1. Ask your web developer to add a ‘content management system’ (CMS) capability to your company website.  Content management makes it easy for non-technical people to add/update information and content on your website.   It should be as easy as creating a Word document.

WordPress (not just for blogs) and Drupal software are my personal ‘content management’ favorites.  I can’t program HTML on a bet, but I create and post website content without waiting for my web developer on a Drupal site.  It’s as easy as publishing on this WordPress blog!   You can read more about content management system options for small businesses here.

2. Make a list of topics that you are excited to write, blog, video and talk about.

3.  Pull together a selection of good quality content you’ve previously created that you can ‘repurpose’ into shorter blog posts or how to articles, PowerPoint presentations, audio Podcasts or online videos.

3.  Assign responsibility to the team members in your small business that will create new content.

4. Compile a list of partners, suppliers, and/or raving fan customers who are willing to help you produce exceptional content.   They can be guest authors or co-authors of ‘how to’ articles, case studies or short (1-3 minute) online videos.

5.  A weekly schedule for creating and publishing your company’s ongoing content on your website and/or business blog.
6.   Arrange for someone to be responsible to review Google Alerts and track online mentions of your company, your products/services, your competitors and your key customers.  Reviewing the topics being discussed online in your industry will provide fresh insights for creating content.

7.  A regular schedule that you follow for talking to two or three customers a week just to see what’s keeping them awake at night.   This keeps your content topics sharp and up to date.

8.   Identify the specific marketing or other functions that are not delivering positive results and  eliminate them.  In order to add social media marketing that require your time and attention you’ll benefit from letting go of other activities that aren’t paying off.

Good luck with setting up your social media marketing basics!  If you’ve got other key items you’ve found are needed, post them below in the comments.

Related posts:

1. How an Online Customer Community is Different Than Your Company Website

2. Danny Brown’s Discussing Social Media with Lisa Hoffman