SWOT the Competition

A smart way to guide your strategic planning

Whether your business is cruising along or struggling, a SWOT analysis is an effective tool for helping you identify where to concentrate your efforts.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A well thought out analysis of these factors can help you to match your business' strengths with the best opportunities in your market, and also show you where you need to do some work to improve your own processes or deal with threats from the competition or other market factors.

A SWOT analysis should consider both internal and external factors that can impact your ability to meet your business objectives. You don't need a highly paid consulting firm to perform a SWOT analysis. Here are some of the basic questions you need to consider to complete your own SWOT:

• Strengths. Ask yourself: What does your company do better than any other? What do you do that no other business does? What distinguishes you from the competition? Focus on your strengths in your marketing materials, and tap your best performers (and friendly customers) for their insights into your business.
• Weaknesses. Where has your business struggled? Consider every possible angle: Do you have weak seasons during the calendar year? Issues with customer satisfaction or returns? What are some factors that have caused prospects to balk during the sales process? Quiz your employees too. Are they lacking any tools that could help them serve your customers better or do their own jobs better?
• Opportunities. Look inside your company and outside for ways to expand your offering. Visit your competition (in their shop or on the web) to see where they are failing to satisfy their customers. Subscribe to any relevant industry journals, or at least check them out online regularly, to keep up to date with trends in your industry.
• Threats. As with opportunities, you'll need to look outside your company, to the competition and wider trends in your industry. Are the market forecasts for your industry strong? Do long-term cultural trends (for example, wireless communication or environmental consciousness) favor your industry, or do they suggest a need to monitor your course? Look inside your company too: Are your finances solid? Is employee retention strong?

Any and all efforts you make to take the time to analyze what you are doing well and where you can improve will almost always turn up at least one new idea to help you continue to grow. A SWOT done even once a year, by hand, on a blank sheet of paper is better than doing nothing at all in the analysis department.

Are You the Next Great Tweeter?

Tips to help you succeed in the social media space

We recently came across an interesting study by Opinion Research Corp. that found that 52 percent of small businesses believe having a social media presence is important for a company, and of those that currently engage customers through social media platforms, 59 percent say it has provided value to their business. While the percentage of small businesses using social media channels to boost their business development efforts is still relatively low, there's no denying that sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (not to mention company blogs) are becoming an increasingly cost-effective way for companies to build relationships with customers. If you're considering the social media space for your growing business, we suggest that you take it slow. But do consider these tips:

• Be a good listener. Before you create, say, a Twitter account, take the time to see how users are engaging their "followers." What is being said? What kind of messages are being forwarded? Who should you follow? It's important to sift through the noise and find people with whom you wish to engage. Here's how to get started: go to Twitter.com/searchand type in a keyword or phrase, such as "brand building." You'll immediately see "tweets" from those folks who have posted messages on the topic.
• Have a conversation. Think of social media as a room filled with potential customers. Your job is to find a way to converse with them in a meaningful, relevant way. Like the real world, if you bully your way in and try to steal the spotlight, people will simply give you the cold shoulder.
• Lay out your objectives. Do you want to boost brand awareness for your business? Gain new customers? Promote a product or service? Track your competition? It's important to establish your objectives so that implementing and maintaining a social media program takes up a reasonable amount of your overall time.
• Be informative. Rather than react to a post with a blunt sales pitch, tell your side of the story. Provide expert advice if someone asks for it, or point them to a white paper you may have developed on the topic. Inform rather than "me-form."
• Know thy audience. To better connect with social media users, understand their needs and engagement style. That will give you a better chance of joining the conversation and having a positive experience.

Keep It Simple

How to appeal to the boomer demographic

The University of California, Berkeley, recently did an interesting study on the brains of older people, specifically baby boomers. Through brain scans, it was discovered that as people get older, they become less able to filter out distracting information. The research speaks directly to those of us responsible for strategic communications — in an age of constant disruptions. The message? Keep it simple! To that end, a new book by A.K. Pradeep, titled The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind, suggests these three techniques for targeting an older demographic:

1. Keep the message obvious. Avoid extraneous information in your marketing. Unnecessary details and wordiness will only distract your target audience from the important facts and ideas you are trying to convey.
2. Streamline your layout. Avoid clutter at all costs — on your website, in your emails, or in your print newsletters. Shy away from having copy and images compete for space because that can be distracting to the reader. Also, allow room for white space so as to help a page of marketing information breathe and make the most important information stand out.
3. Avoid distractions on your website. Unnecessary sounds or visuals or distracting animation will complicate your web page. This is one case where simpler is better. Boomers desire relevant information, not a show.

Connect With Your Biggest Fans

How to boost the value of your social media sites

When you have a presence on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, your "fan base" on these sites can influence 30 percent or more of your overall sales, studies show. Fans who have warm feelings for your business and what you have to offer are very likely to spread the good word about you to their family and friends. Follow these customer relationship-building tips to boost your company's impact on social media sites:

• Focus on quality, not quantity. Social media sites are most effective when you use them to enrich your relationship with customers. So rather than focus on how many people you attract (which is a common goal, especially on Twitter, where building a large following is all the rage), focus on the quality of the relationship your company has with your current fans by delivering valuable content. For example, if you run a small graphic design firm, post at your social media sites some practical print and web design tips that your followers can really use.
• Analyze your fan base. Monitor traffic on your social media sites and the participation level of your fan base. To keep them coming back, engage followers with sweepstakes offers, contests, or polls, for example. You will quickly determine which customers repeatedly participate, and you should develop off-line strategies for building long-term relationships with your most engaged fans.
• Build lifetime relationships. By offering promotions, regular communications, and easy access to your product or service offerings, you can develop a lasting relationship with your customers. Businesses that utilize interactive tools at their social media sites, such as a poll, will often see a significant increase in their participation with your content — ultimately, leading to brand loyalty and more sales. For example, an insurance agency could regularly poll their social media followers about what types of life challenges are top-of-mind — and then highlight product offerings that serve those topics, such as life insurance, homeowners' policies, or auto coverage.

Sharpen Your Focus

4 keys to conducting valuable focus groups

Focus groups are great for soliciting in-person feedback about your brand, your business strategy, even possible new products or services. And you can better understand the beliefs and behaviors, wants and desires, of your customer or prospect base. Here are four keys to getting the most out of a focus group:

1. Know when to hold a focus group. Conducting a focus group can be time-consuming and expensive, so you need to hold one for the right reasons. To incorporate a wide range of customer opinions into the strategic operation of your business, you should consider conducting one of these engaging sessions. You'll learn about an untapped market, or you can screen concepts that your business is considering. For example, if you run a plastics manufacturing company, you might hold a focus group with current customers to get immediate feedback about the design and functionality of a proposed new product line — in person, you can ask participants to test a prototype of the new item. If, however, your sole purpose is to measure the appeal of current products or services, conduct a simple written survey instead.
2. Invite the right participants. To determine the right participants, you first have to set some strategic goals for your focus group outcome — are you trying to gauge how current customers view your business or potential products/services? Or are you looking to tap into the thinking of prospects about how your organization stacks up with the competition? Whatever your goals, your recruitment questionnaire should lead you to people who fit your desired profile. For example, if you run a hotel business, you might want to conduct a focus group with non-customers to assess how prospects perceive your marketplace position, to help hone your brand identity messaging.
3. Use a non-direct approach. If you're only looking for yes and no answers, send out a survey rather than conduct a focus group. Focus groups should ask lots of non-direct questions that inspire the participants to talk freely about the suggested topic. Make inquiries such as: "What does this remind you of?" or "Tell me how this makes you feel," rather than, "Do you like this product?"
4. Foster open discussion. A focus group is not meant to tell you what percentage of participants like your product. Instead, use a focus group to foster discussion about your company. Every comment made in a focus group setting is important. For example, Arm & Hammer's marketing strategy of suggesting that customers place a box of baking soda in their refrigerator came from just one comment from a participant in just one focus group. And a nutrition newsletter publisher used a comment from just one person in a focus group who wanted a "best foods" booklet to create a powerful subscription premium that has netted them millions of dollars.

Build Buzz Quickly

4 tips for launching a successful business blog

Launching a blog for your business is an exciting way to generate continual buzz and to boost your word-of-mouth marketing efforts. Blogs are a more personal, conversational way to communicate with your customers, and they help foster customer loyalty. Through helpful, entertaining posts, you can start and maintain conversations with customers about your business and position yourself as an industry expert. Here are four ways to help your business blog reach its full potential:

• Build buzz. Blog posts are a great way for your company to spread the word about new products or services. Just be sure to include a direct link to the products page on your website. Consumers want to be educated before making a buying decision. Also, use your blog to announce an upcoming sale or promotion — this is one of the best tactics for generating repeat visits. For example, kitchenwares retailer Williams-Sonoma offers a free knife-sharpening session with a manufacturer's expert as a promotional way to get traffic to their stores and make more sales.
• Highlight customer stories. Including stories in your blog about happy customers will not only inspire your readers, but also ensure that they feel valued. As an added bonus, the people you highlight will most likely share the entry with their friends and family, leading to even more traffic to your website. For example, if you run a home furnishings business, when you highlight a specific customer who raved about some of your bath accessories, that person is sure to forward your blog to others and refer them to you.
• Offer practical advice. Use your blog as a forum for answering some of your customers' most pressing questions or providing important insight on the uses of your products. This tactic will make your readers feel appreciated and spark a two-way conversation. For example, if you sell water heaters, you can advise customers about the best machine settings to optimize performance and function of home hot-water systems.
• Encourage buzz. Include a link in your blog that will easily allow readers to share the posts they like most. Give them the option to re-post your blog on their Facebook or Twitter account or through email. The more they share and talk about your business blog, the more successful your blog will be.

Uncover Market Realities

How to quickly conduct market research without a big budget

Conducting market research doesn't have to take an entire department or a big budget. There are many fast and effective ways to gather competitive intelligence with limited resources and without breaking the bank. Start collecting valuable information right now by following these easy tips:

1. Dig up competitor information on the following websites:
   • Northernlight.com: This website provides searchable marketing research, economic analysis, and company reports. Added benefit: You can purchase individual pages of a report rather than the full report, saving money.

   • Marketresearch.com: On this website, you can search 250,000 market research reports, compiled from 650 top research firms.
2. Get help from your employees. Much of the information you gather will come from in-person accounts. Often, your own employees will know valuable information about your industry from past jobs or colleagues at other companies. Create a list of factors that are important to your company and ask employees to help fill in what they know. For example, if you run a cleaning business, many of your employees will know what other companies offer that you don't, based on their friendships with employees at other cleaning companies.
3. Build relationships with experts. Develop relationships with experts in your industry to keep abreast of changes in your marketplace. You'll need to offer something in return to keep the experts interested in helping you — a white paper, for example. Befriending industry analysts can also help you in researching other companies, and building relationships with staff at like-minded industry associations can help you identify suppliers. Additionally, local journalists may provide you with information they've collected that may not have made it into print, so pump up your communication with them too.

Make a Splash

4 tips for planning a website redesign

If you're thinking about redesigning your website as part of a niche marketing effort, start out with a clear set of goals. Rather than focus purely on cosmetic changes, consider the navigational and marketing challenges that lie underneath. You'll save time and money by focusing on the key drivers that make your website valuable to visitors. Here are four tips for planning your website redesign:

1. Develop a plan. Just like blueprints for a new house, a properly executed wireframe shows you how a new website will function before being built. It's far easier to move a wall during the planning stage than after construction has begun. The same principle applies to building websites.
2. Go easy on technology. Studies show that a well designed and easy-to-navigate website will outperform one with every bell and whistle over the long run. While it's alright to integrate hot technology, just be sure it not only serves the needs of your website, but also your customers and their technology to view and use your site.
3. Take a team approach. Before you launch an updated website, seek buy-in from key people within your business, especially during the planning stage. Not only will it make them feel valued, it will reassure you that what you're doing makes sense for growing the business.
4. Seek customer feedback. Once the site launches, the only way to know what is working and what is not is to ask your customers. Send out a questionnaire, conduct a phone interview, or make a few house calls — whatever it takes. And if you put their feedback to good use, be sure to thank them via a personal letter, card, or email.

Find Your Niche, Find Your Customers

Lessons from day care centers

Day care is a textbook example of an industry where entrepreneurial small businesses rule the field. These small operations, often run out of private homes, can be exciting and profitable ventures. Kris Murray, CEO and founder of Child Care Marketing Solutions, has a lot of lessons that can apply to many other small businesses. Her main suggestion for getting new customers: conduct thorough market research and find your niche.

"Set yourself up for success initially by specializing," Murray recommends. Your initial research can involve just some simple footwork. For example, what kinds of parents live in your area? If you live in a college town with a lot of young intellectuals or university professors with families, it might make sense to open a "child development center," with a learning environment. If your neighborhood has a major blue-collar industry, consider opening a day care center with earlier or later hours to accommodate common work shifts.

Researching and visiting other like businesses in your area is also an essential part of your research. "It might sound like a scary task, but it's really not," Murray says, "It's basically just talking to people." Go to other centers in your area — or send a friend — and inquire about rates, sizes, and specializations. Finding out how full the other childcare centers are can be a good clue, as well. For example, if they have a long wait list, chances are better that there's room for your business in the market.

These market research and specializing tips can help any small business discover where their potential customers are hiding. By paying attention to your market and thinking about what your customers are looking for, you can create a strong business that fills a need in your community.

Know Your Customers

3 steps to make customer research work for you

Conducting customer research is one of the most valuable things your business can do to maintain a close relationship with your most profitable customers. Why? Because it helps ensure that your customers' needs are continuously being met. So rather than guess what your customers really think about your business, ask them. Your business will better from it. Here are three points to consider:

1. Show customers they are appreciated. When customers see that you are analyzing your business to make their experience better, they will feel valued. Everyone likes knowing that their opinion matters. Make sure that your customers know their feedback is not only important, but that it will affect how you run your business in the future. For example, tell them in person how much you appreciate their input, or send them a handwritten note.
2. Don't just stop at marketing! Make sure your customer research doesn't stop at sales and marketing. There are many other areas of your company that will benefit from a little investigation. Look into your operations, finances, human resources, or other segments that also affect your customers' experience.
3. Take a walk in your customer's shoes. To know what your customer is thinking, try looking at your business from your customer's perspective. For example, if you own a restaurant, sit down and have a full meal to assess the service, cleanliness of the location, and quality of the food. You might be surprised by the small changes that you can make to ensure a better experience for your customer.

Targeting Your Audience

How to gather information on your target customers

Defining your target audience is a crucial step in developing an effective sales and marketing strategy for your business. For budding companies, conducting this research can help you determine if a viable market exists for your new business idea. For established businesses, this information can help in updating your existing marketing plan.

A good way to jump-start your research is by brainstorming a profile of a "target customer." Base the profile on your own knowledge of your product. Consider your users' gender, age, location, income, purchasing influences (family members, etc.), and reason for buying. With these details in mind, you can determine if this customer profile represents an available niche in your target areas. The most cost-efficient way to figure this out is through researching secondary data, or data that already exists. Here are a few sources of budget-friendly or free secondary data to try out:

• Reference libraries. Today, most of the information that you'll want from a reference library is available on computer databases, which makes researching an easier proposition. Reference librarians are also a huge asset — most libraries have reference staff who will help you get started using the system and assist you in finding the data you need.
• Chamber of commerce. Your local chamber can supply you with demographic information for your area, market trends, and more. Information from chambers of commerce is usually free or close to it.
• College business libraries. Head over to your local university and check out the business library. That will have more information on trends and economics than a typical public library.
• Small Business Development Center. The Small Business Association operates Small Business Development Centers in many cities. Stop in at your local center to stock up on their publications; they often include very useful information and feature advice or market predictions. Visit sba.gov for more information.

How to Identify and Prioritize Your Competitors with 6 Easy Steps

At every organization and company, no matter what size, you should identify your competitors, rank them, analyze how you're different from the competition, and then create your competitive edge list: the unique and positive differentiators that make your products and services special.

When you identify your organization's competitive edge, you are well on your way to building your brand and growing your business ... or making an already-strong brand even stronger. Establishing, or even honing, your competitive edge will help every aspect of your business, but it must begin with a well-executed competitor analysis -- performed at regular intervals, at least once/year -- that will lead you to a clear and concise strategy for effectively selling your products or services.

Now, you can conduct a competitive review, and arrive at your powerful competitive edge, with a simple 6-step process that will guide you, step-by-step, through the method for accurately pinpointing every relevant data point. It's easy to use, and with this Webinar, you'll learn how to complete every section of the review, with sourcing suggestions for your research and crystal-clear examples of how other businesses have arrived at their competitive edge.

Register now for this Wed., October 20th event...

Sometimes, you may think you know everything about every competitor, but things change quickly these days -- new competitors can pop up suddenly, or an existing competitor might change their products or business model ... or simply go out of business. To maximize your position in your marketplace, you must conduct -- at least annually -- a formal review to certify how you are different and special.

And here is your best resource for establishing your competitive edge -- sign up for this Webinar: How to Identify and Prioritize Your Competitors with 6 Easy Steps. Complete with a FREE template, built in Microsoft Excel, that allows you to follow along live during the Webinar with your own company's confidential information. Led by StepByStepMarketing.com resident marketing expert Diana Pohly, you'll be guided through the 6-step process to establish your own competitive edge:

1. Define Your Business: 6 easy-to-follow data points about your business -- the things that really matter!
2. Identify Your Competitors: Describe the competition, and make a list of who they are. It's easy to fill in with the template provided.
3. Rank Your Competitors: Complete the critical information about your competition, then assign the simple rank: A, B, or C. With this Webinar, you'll get great ideas for research sources about your competition.
4. Review Top Competitors: With this step, the template will automatically sort only your top competitors and allow you to review the critical data points, at-a-glance.
5. Compare Top Competitors to Your Business: With factual comparison analysis, you'll describe the impact on your own business of every key item for your competitors. Diana Pohly will help you craft your analysis and give you concrete examples from a variety of industries.
6. Create Your Competitive Edge: Here is the big benefit -- you'll walk away with 5 clear statements about the positive ways your organization differs from the competition. Complete with examples and guidance from Diana Pohly, you'll develop a powerful competitive edge statement that can be used to pump up your brand identity and boost sales and marketing messages.

Get Tech-Savvy

Simple steps to make your website user friendly

In today's technological world, your customer will be accessing your business's website in all kinds of new ways. It is important for owners of small businesses to consider devices like iPads, smartphones, and netbooks when developing their online content. But how do you please everyone when your costumers use such a wide array of gadgets? Here are a few tips on how to make your website more usable for your tech-savvy audience:

• Utilize analytic applications. Use an analytics or metrics application to track visitors to your website. Not only will you be able to see how many hits you are receiving, but many applications will also show you the browser information for the people viewing your site. Once you determine the most popular browsers and operating systems and your customers' usage of mobile devices, you can decide how to best develop your website to cater to your specific audience.
• Consider mobile devices. Check out how your website looks on the smaller screen of a mobile device. If your audience is frequently accessing your website through these devices, consider asking your web developer to create a less image-heavy site targeted directly for these users. You could, for example, create a style specifically for mobile web browsers, or create a program that adjusts your website to specific devices and screen sizes.
• Install easy printing options. If you know that your audience likes to print content off of your website, you might want to make it even easier for them to do so. For example, ask your web developer to add a printer-friendly sheet that can be accessed by your readers by a "print" icon on the webpage.
• Give your audience control. Demonstrate your flexibility to your customers by allowing options on your website that cater to individual needs. For example, including an option to increase or decrease font sizes for easier reading or adding color controls to adjust the page's contrast are both good ideas to show your customers that their preferences matter.

Get to Know Your Market

How to use secondary research to understand your customers

Knowing your market inside and out is one of the most essential tasks in running your business. You may think that market research is only for big corporations with big budgets, but in fact smaller businesses can take advantage of all kinds of free resources that are already out there for the taking. All you need is time, patience, and a little know-how. Here are a few ideas on how to use existing secondary research to your advantage:

1. Read between the lines. Get your hands on publications related to your trade. The articles themselves will inform you on important news and trends. However, a close look at other parts of the publication can be even more helpful. Letters to the editor, for example, can offer valuable information about your customers' opinions on existing companies, or alert you to niches that they're searching for that have yet to be filled. Paying attention to your competitors' advertisements can tell you a lot, as well. Keep notes on what they spotlight in their ads, and what they downplay. Find older publications and compare competitors' older ads to their newer ones. What has changed over time?
2. Utilize online discussion boards. If used correctly, online discussion boards can function like ready-made focus groups. Think about the helpful information you could glean from an online forum to foster discussion on the type of product or service that your company offers. Do an online search for existing forums, and review threads about your field and read through past comments. (Most discussion boards have an archive of past discussions available to peruse.) Try searching the boards for the name of your business or the names of your competitors. If you want to go even further, start your own question thread. Open up a discussion that will give you insight on what potential customers like and what they want. For example, ask questions like "What do you look for in a day care center?" or "Where's the best pizza place in town?"
3. Keep tabs on competitors. Experience your competitions' businesses the way their customers do. For example, click around their website, visit their stores, and call them directly to find out more about their services. Get on their mailing list to keep yourself up to date on their products and special offers. Write down your key impressions, keep a record of each encounter you have, and then ask yourself how your business can do better.

Seek Testimonials

Ways to collect and use customer reviews

Today's consumer often looks for positive customer reviews before they spend their money. Your business will increase its credibility when it's visibly backed by users who love your products and services. Not only that, but you could also extend your reach on the Internet if reviews are posted on third party websites. Incorporating glowing reviews into your marketing strategy will inspire your customers in ways that other marketing attempts just can't. Here are a few ways to collect and use customer reviews:

1. See what your customers are already saying. Search for your company on a search engine along with the words "reviews" or "complaints." You may find comments about your business that you didn't even know were out there. And when you know where your customers are already writing, you can help direct other customers to publish reviews in those places.
2. Make it easy for customers to submit reviews. Give your customers choices in how they submit reviews to you. For example, use your email newsletter to supply links to third-party review sites, such as Yelp.com, where they can talk about their favorite aspects of dealing with your company. Also, encourage submissions directly to you, either through email or by posting to your social media fan pages. Trust us — if a customer sees other great reviews on your social media site, they'll be more likely to join on the bandwagon and submit their own!
3. Distribute surveys after a sale. It's always a good idea to get a testimonial while the customer's positive experience is still fresh in their mind. Don't forget to include open-ended questions in your survey, so you can extract a few nice quotes. For example, you may want to ask customers why they value your product or service over a competitor's. You can even contact customers who had great experiences to ask for another interview or a longer testimonial. We don't suggest offering an incentive, though — you want the review to convey sincerity.
4. Post your success stories. Share your customers' reviews in your print publications, emails, business blogs, and on your website. Sometimes you'll want to use just a short quote, other times you might want a full testimonial. Put them where all visitors will see them — on your homepage or a landing page for a product, for example. Often, an enthusiastic review can convince an indecisive customer to take the plunge and do business with you.
5. Listen to your customers' opinions. Don't forget to use all of these reviews to your tactical advantage — you'll be able to see the areas where your company is doing well, as well as areas that could use some improvement. This will help you mold a business that really considers its audience's needs.

"Know thine enemy..."

(A webinar is a live event where you watch a presentation on your computer screen and listen to the presenter over the phone or through your computer speakers.) Our three-step training system has been in development for many months, and we finally "took it to the streets" this past Wednesday. The webinar offered a really cool tool for summarizing your own business and comparing it to the business attributes of your key competitors. As you work your way through the tool's analysis process, you discover the Holy Grail of marketing: what makes your business truly different and compelling. If you missed the webinar, we recorded it, so you can still benefit from this important brand-building event.

But what I really want to talk about for just a minute is Harvey Mackay's book Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, published by Ballantine Books back in 1996. If you're serious about thinking through your competitive situation and strategy, I highly recommend the book. Mackay has written a whole bunch of great business books, and most of them focus on helping business owners and managers drive growth and do things with a great deal of passion and panache. The books make for very motivating reads, especially when you find yourself floundering a bit during a period of business stress or great change.

Anyway, Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive includes a great quote that I used in part as the headline for this blog: "Know thine enemy. Knowing your competition is just as important as knowing your customer." I subscribe wholeheartedly to the notion of knowing where you stand in relation to those that compete for the hearts and minds of your customers. I don't subscribe, however, to the idea that competitors are "thine enemy." In my business career, I have often learned the most from people who do similar work to what I do. Joining your own industry's association (where your competitors share a seat at the table with you) is a truly great way to get a handle on your market or markets. You can also find out which businesses are successful and what kinds of challenges everyone in your industry is facing. That can be comforting when you hit the inevitable potholes in the road to success.

Some of the longest, and most valuable, relationships I have built over the past 15 years have been with people who do what I do. Now, we don't reveal really critical information about our business and clients that would allow a competitor to gain an advantage, but we do share general information, frustrations, and solutions. Exchanging information with your competitive peers is a truly great experience. But I've also discovered that there are a few serious sharks — people whose intention is only to one-up everyone they meet. They are stiff, egotistical, overly theatrical (in many cases), and really want to bite you. No kidding. But we're all smart, right? Those sharks tend to reveal themselves pretty easily if you are paying attention, so don't get anywhere near them once you've figured out who they are. They are out there, but they are few and far between.

So, take the critical step of getting involved with those who do what you do. The rewards, I promise, are worth your time — and the risk, as small as it is.

If the Shoe Fits...

Use a crowdsourcing approach to grow your business

You may wonder why Rob Langstaff, the one-time president of Adidas Japan and Adidas America, would leave one of the largest and most successful shoe companies in the world to go off and start his own business. Simple: He recognized that the market lacked men's footwear that could work in both a casual and business setting. So in June 2008, Langstaff launched RYZ Footwear to fill this niche.

Langstaff quickly built his business through "crowdsourcing" — the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or a contractor and outsourcing them to a group of people or a community. In other words, he allowed his customers to become part of the production and decision-making processes. In the case of RYZ, Langstaff decided to produce an entire line of shoes designed and voted on by customers themselves. At the company's website, users can create their ideal shoe by mixing and matching a variety of materials and designs. According to Langstaff, by directly involving his customers in the production of his product, he was able to generate "a lot more diversity and range of ideas" that appealed to his particular audience. RYZ is now the envy of the industry.

Crowdsourcing is an affordable, easy way to get your customers to interact with your brand, empower them, and keep your company from losing touch with what your customers really want. Social media is the perfect crowdsourcing tool. For example, you can ask fans of your blog for feedback on your products or services. If you're launching a new product or service, ask your community what they would pay for it. It helps take the guesswork out of finding the right price tag.

You can even offer prizes or discounts as part of your crowdsourcing effort. For example, Netflix awarded a prize to the customer who came up with the best algorithm for their movie rating system. The bottom line is that people love expressing their opinions and being asked for help. Like RYZ Footwear, your business can gain an incredible amount of support from letting your fans take charge.

Spend Your Time Wisely

Understand what represents a solid sales lead

Successful salespeople are selective about where and with whom they spend their time. They are out looking for "real" buyers — customers and prospects who have both money and the ability to buy. Every minute you spend with an unqualified prospect is time not spent with a qualified one. To that end, someone has a good chance of being a solid sales lead if:

• They initiate contact. Keep track of the people who come to you — at a trade show booth or on your website, for example. If someone initiates contact with your business on their own, their interest has already been piqued and they have a high chance of being a customer in the future.
• They participate in promotions. When your company is offering a special promotion, such as a discount or a free gift, your prospective customers will be more likely to share their contact information with you. That will allow you to stay in contact with them and grow the relationship.
• They are referred to you. No sales lead is stronger than one gained through word-of-mouth referral. A customer recommending your product to a friend is the absolute best advertising you can hope for. You could encourage this positive behavior by establishing a referral rewards program, for example. Offer free goods and services, or discounts, to customers who get their friends to buy from you.

Marketing to Seniors

How to stake your claim in the senior market

There are more than 480 million people in the world age 65 and older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and that number is expected to nearly double by 2030. Indeed, this important demographic is growing, and changing, and seniors want to build a relationship with businesses that cater to their specific needs. Here are four ways to market to the many segments of the senior demographic:

1. Use a no-frills approach. Having been exposed to a lot of advertising in their lifetime, seniors are rarely impressed with flashy ads. Instead, they look for advertisements that help them evaluate their personal need for a product or service. Seniors are smart consumers who rarely make impulse buys. To help them make educated buying decisions, make sure your sales staff is patient and willing to explain all the benefits of your product or service.
2. Specify your market segment. A 65-year-old consumer is very different than one who is 95 years old, so gear your marketing to a specific segment within the senior demographic. For example, consider the segment's education level, political and cultural values, and health status.
3. Realize that baby boomers are different. The boomer generation is healthier and more active than previous members of their age bracket, so they have high expectations for how much they'll achieve in their golden years. Their youthfulness should be reflected in your marketing through the photos and colors you choose. And always highlight the value of your product to pique their interest. For example, if you own a niche watch company, play up the craftsmanship of your products.
4. Don't underestimate them. Seniors are the fastest-growing group of Internet users, so don't assume they're unaware of new technology. This market spends more than $7 billion per year on online shopping alone, and their loyalty to current brands is not as strong as you may think. As a whole, seniors' buying habits do change over time, providing an opening for your company to prove itself.

Monetize Your Blog

How to use your blog to generate sales leads

Blogs are hot. According to a new study by eMarketer, more than half of all Internet users read blogs at least monthly, and by 2014, readership will rise to more than 150 million Americans, or 60% of the Internet population in the U.S. Given those statistics, your blog can be a great way to collect contact information from your customers and, ultimately, convince them to develop a relationship with your brand. Here are a few easy steps to maximize your blog's potential for generating sales:

1. Make contact. There are several tried-and-true ways to yield contact info from your blog. For example, provide a mechanism for readers to submit questions from their personal email address, or offer something of value in exchange for their contact information. That "something" could be a useful white paper or article, an e-newsletter, or a video on a topic that would appeal to your audience.
2. Communicate with prospects. Think of every person who submits their contact information as a potential sales lead. Follow up with them via email or by phone to gauge their level of interest in your product or service. The people who seem the most interested in what you're selling are the ones you should spend the most time courting.
3. Develop familiarity. Maintain regular contact with your prospects — through email, for example. Keep them updated on any happenings at your company, and even send them discount offers that would lower the price of an initial purchase. Over time, your customers will become familiar with your brand and, more likely, do business with you over a competitor.
4. Make a sale! Help prospects overcome any objections by answering any and all questions they may have. If you're regularly communicating with prospects and developing familiarity with your brand, closing the sale should be the easiest step in the process!

Nurturing Your Leads

Tips to improve your email marketing

Most businesses would argue that email marketing is one of the most powerful prospecting tools. In fact, spending on the medium is projected to reach $2 billion by 2014, according to Forrester Research. Not only is opt-in email marketing affordable, it also generates a response rate between 1 percent and 20 percent. To improve the success rate of your emails, we suggest these tips:

• Market to the right person. For example, if you sell children's furniture, who are you marketing to? Bunk beds are made to be slept in and enjoyed by children, but they are ultimately bought by parents. Determine who will be making the final decision on a purchase and reach out to them.
• Offer engaging content. Yes, it's tempting to turn an email into a sales pitch, but to prevent a recipient from hitting the delete button, offer information that's useful and relevant to their needs. For example, if your business is in the b-to-b space, you could offer customers a white paper on industry trends. That's the key to earning customer trust.
• Focus on the subject line. In general, subject lines should run 65 characters or less and entice the recipient to take action — for example, Save 25% on All Pet Food. Also, refrain from using all caps or excessive punctuation so as to avoid spam triggers.
• Encourage pass-alongs. Entice recipients to forward your emails to family and friends by offering them a special discount or gift.