Growing your small business can be a difficult and frustrating process. No matter how talented, experienced, or proficient you are as a leader, business development may not be one of your core skills.
So, how do you develop the business leadership skills necessary to grow your business and achieve the success you envisioned when you started the business? You need a growth strategy. Here are a few ideas:
Leveraging. Every leader should look for ways to leverage everything they do in multiple ways. If you have a satisfied customer, they are one of your best resources for new business. Simply ask them “who else do you think would benefit by using our product?”
Relationship-building. Relationships are key to growth. Build high-trust, high-integrity relationships with everyone you do business with – clients, vendors, bankers, colleagues, alliances, etc.
Clarity. A key business leadership skill is clarity. Clarify what your company truly is and what you want to accomplish. Clarify job functions, performance metrics, ethics and more. Defining these and a multitude of other factors that will impact performance and growth.
Infrastructure. Many small business leaders overlook this critically important aspect of doing business. They manage by the checkbook method, thinking, “if there is money on the checkbook, I must be doing ok.” But if you don’t plan your growth, and measure against your goals, how will you know where you are headed? Your infrastructure must include goals, budgets and planning at a minimum. Measure everything that you can so you can notice improvements as your small business grows. To help, hire the best people you can afford in key measurement areas such as accounting, finance, sales leadership, manufacturing and all front line personnel
Business Development. Everyone is responsible for business development. Everyone is a salesperson… regardless of their job title. If you know the challenges that keep your clients up at night, all that remains is to provide your clients with solutions that will work for them. That is, after all, what a growth strategy is. Identify the problem; provide the solution that will meet or exceed your client’s expectations and your business will grow.
Ask for expert advice
As a small business owner, you have vast resources available to you to assist in developing and growing your business:
The Small Business Administration (SBA) website has a section that provides proven Strategies for Growth. They also have a vast library of resources for you as a small business owner to learn from and utilize. Let them help you.
You small business lender is also a great resource for you as you develop and grow your small business. They have probably seen it all and can give you great ideas on how to expand and grow with the right financing products for your business.
Always keep in mind your small business lender has a vested interest in your success. There is no need to fear the client/lender relationship as they can be of great help to you and an ally in you realizing your dream.
To your success.
This article was written by Praxis Strategy Groupand originally appeared in Small Business Connect, an online resource for small business from Alerus Financial. For more information, go to Alerus Small Business Connect.
Praxis Strategy Group is a partner with the Flint Group
The Center for the Study of Government and the Individual will be co-sponsoring the Annual School of Public Affairs Leadership Conference at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs on Thursday, April 8, 2010. The Center will be bringing in David Osborne and Delore Zimmerman.
David Osborne is the author of the best seller “Reinventing Government” and co-author of “The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis.” He also served as senior advisor to Vice President Gore.
Delore Zimmerman, Ph.D., President of Praxis Strategy Group, is a strategy consultant with twenty-five years of domestic and international experience working with local and regional economic development groups, businesses and universities. He is the publisher of http://www.newgeography.com/, a website devoted to analyzing and discussing the places where we live and work. As a researcher he has been awarded eight Small Business Innovation Research awards to develop leading-edge practices and tools for use by development professionals and community leaders to work more effectively with entrepreneurs and to build competitive, innovation based economies in the global, networked economy.
The conference will be held on Thursday, April 8, 2010, 8:00am to 5:00pm.
To reserve a spot in the conference, please contact Jane Muller, jmuller@uccs.edu or 719.255.4093.
Today Andy and Alissa Pesta sit down to discuss her tenure at Flint Interactive and the Flint Group, staying on top of new trends and advancements on the web and what the future of digital marketing looks like. We also talk about her family, working remotely and coming back to work after her first child.
I’ve been there, about to present our communication audit findings to the client team and truly understanding how an IRS auditor must feel. But unlike the dreaded IRS audit, a communications audit is better compared to a complete physical at a doctor’s office where routine health indicators are reviewed and tested to determine “how you’re doing” or where improvement is needed. That may make you cringe as well. But the opportunity to take the time to examine how well you are communicating with key audiences is an investment in your organization’s future, and just like an annual physical, it is a smart investment.
What is a communications audit?
A communications audit is a method of research, where we focus on the process of communications. We look at the exchange of information between you and your audience (think internal or external, customers or members, potential customers, those who influence your audience, volunteers, employees and more) and examine how well you are achieving your communications goals in reaching each critical audience. We define the audit scope based on the audit objectives; some have included interviews with key audiences or review of media coverage, others focus solely on advertising and communications materials.
The hardest part is getting started
Actually, the most painful part of the audit is the process of pulling together representative samples and lists of all audience touch points, both internal and external. Once you strip away the different silos, department ownership or rationalization that can surround communication and advertising, and review all your communication collectively, you’ll discover consistency or inconsistency, strengths and weaknesses, gaps and opportunities.
This process also helps you analyze how effectively you’re telling “your story” and most importantly, can serve as both a benchmark and a roadmap for your future. Just yesterday, I read a client’s 2010 communication plan that was developed from our 2009 audit findings.
What about your company or organization? Do you cringe at the thought, or are you ready for a communications audit?
Marketing communications, in simplest terms, helps put a customer or prospect in the right frame of mind to buy. It can educate, inform, advise, recommend, encourage, scare and influence a prospect, but it cannot make them buy. At some point someone or something (e-commerce for example) has to close the sale. A recent presentation by Datacore Marketing describes this as “The Last Four Feet.”
The Last Four Feet represents the final steps that a customer takes as they approach the sales counter (or online checkout). Without question this is the most important part of the process. Can you close the sale?
Marketers place great emphasis on campaigns to the end-user or customer. Significant, sometimes huge budgets are invested to help put the target audience in the right frame of mind to buy. But too often, after marketing communications has done its job with the customer, the process falls down at the sales counter.
Picture a customer who receives direct communications on your product, investigates online, reads the reviews, talks to their friends and decides “I want to buy.” They enter the “store” to purchase, approach the checkout, and the salesperson (or process) says, “Have you seen the features on alternative product #2 over here?” At that point, in the last four feet, all of your marketing communications efforts are shot down by one missed communication.
So how do you avoid losing your customer at the sales counter? Here are four sure-fire steps that will help with “the last four feet.”
1) Educateyour sales channel first – before any external customer communications begin. Be sure products and processes are easily understood (this applies to e-commerce too).
2) Let the channel in on the process early, ask for feedback and implement suggestions that will strengthen the relationship with the channel. If using e-commerce, be sure to test the checkout process to make sure it is intuitive and without distraction.
3) Involve the channel in the product or campaign roll out. Give the channel an active stake in the process that encourages their engagement. A kickoff event, an incentive, an interesting (but not burdensome) program.
4) Reinforce the sales process within your marketing communications. Suggest to the customer in your messaging the easiest route to purchase while reinforcing the same “easy route” to the channel audience.
Marketing communications can put the customer in the right frame of mind, but it can’t ring the till by itself. Include a solid channel strategy to make sure your marketing investment isn’t lost at the sales counter.
Have you ever dropped out of a sale at the counter? If so, what could the marketer have done differently?
Ok. (Deep breath). I have a confession to make. I am a bonafide email nerd. Yep, there it is, I said it. I live it, I breathe it, I put ez-cheese on it and eat it. Now I wouldn’t have admitted that a few weeks ago…until I made a discovery. I’m not alone. I had the pleasure of attending the Direct Marketing Association sponsored Email Evolution Conference earlier this month in Miami, FL. So while the Indianapolis Colts were poolside next door, Jordan Sparks was giving a concert in an adjoining conference room, and Lou Ferrigno was having drinks at the lobby bar (I’m not making this up folks) – hundreds of fellow email practitioners gathered behind closed doors to discuss the latest eMarketing trends and best practices. Oh yeah, email nerds unite!
Listening and learning from the brightest minds in email innovation, I took away a few simple gold nuggets of knowledge I’d like to bestow upon my fellow email enthusiasts out there…
Don’t forget the welcome mat. Growing your email list can be difficult and sometimes expensive. My advice, once you get that email address – treat it like your mom on Mother’s Day. The first thing many email marketers do is forget to send an immediate welcome email after a prospect/customer signs up for their email distribution list. A big no-no. Why is this so imperative? Well, like the saying goes, first impressions are everything, besides that here are a few reasons why welcome emails are imperative:
Immediately reminds the subscriber they signed up for your emails (hey, I forget where I put my keys down two minutes earlier). By gently jogging their memory it also helps reinforce their decision to begin a relationship with you and lets them know that you will be attentive to their needs.
Allows the subscriber to put your email send from address in their safe sender list. This way your email will always reach their inbox and images will automatically be displayed in their email browser. If you aren’t asking your subscribers to put you on the white list, start asking now.
Provides you the opportunity to set expectations with your customer. Give them a taste of the content, promotions, or value-add your emails will be bringing to their inbox. Start training your subscriber on what you’d like them to do in your emails, whether it’s as simple as gleaning industry knowledge or directing them to your website to purchase a new widget.
Four seconds to save the world. That’s it, four seconds is all you get. That is how long the average email reader scans (I didn’t say reads, scans) an email to see if it is worth their time. It shouldn’t surprise you – you are guilty of doing it yourself. Heck, sometimes I don’t make it past the send from name and subject line. As email practitioners this should give us some understanding of just what an integral part email design and call-to-action play in your email. When they glance at your email they should know exactly what the purpose of the email is, what the offer and call-to-action is, and what their next step should be. You accomplish this by first and foremost having these items above the fold (before you scroll down to see the rest of the email) as well as having them stand out using both images and text (in the event images are disabled when they preview). Remember, your readers are busy just like you – don’t make them regret signing up for your emails. Give all your emails the four-second-glance test. Tick tock tick tock.
Email isn’t near extinction. Nowadays everyone seems to be enamored with the new shiny object called social media. And well, rightfully so. Its public adoption is unparalleled and has countless ramifications for marketers regarding their brand participation and perception. However, email and social media need each other. Email remains the foundation for social network verification and notification. Furthermore, email ROI continues to be the strongest of any direct marketing medium with numbers that continue to increase each year. Email isn’t going anywhere and in fact it’s getting sexier. Technology advancements now allow email content to be dynamic based on behavior and soon, still in beta testing, these advancements will allow email to be interactive with content that changes and moves (much like a website or rich media banner ad).
The best game plan is to embrace and integrate the three newer digital mediums -call it the “Triangle Offense” – of email, social media, and mobile. You will see all three channels of marketing become stronger when used together.
I sit down with Libby Issendorf, Digital Strategist for the Flint Group, to discuss her past experience at Campbell Mithun and what brought her to Fargo. We’ll also talk about her social media work with the US Speedskating team, her upcoming trip to the Winter Olympics, and where businesses should start their social media efforts.
About a week ago I booked a long overdue family vacation. We looked at several options from resorts to villas to cruises, and settled on a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line. Needless to say, my 4 and 6 year olds were bouncing off the walls.
Last night I was thinking about the process we went through in booking our trip. Many queries started either on Google Maps, Cruise Reviews or Trip Advisor. From there, it was usually a brief stop on the website for the property, then right back to consumer reviews and photos on a third-party site. This happened over and over.
When we settled on the cruise, we wanted to look at the excursions the ship had to offer. We found ourselves off the NCL website and on to caribbeanportreviews.com to get what we really wanted, which was firsthand opinions of the excursions. My kids wanted to see every square inch of the ship, so we looked at pictures posted by past vacationers, again off the corporate site. NCL did provide some nice 360 view tools, but there were large parts of the ship missing.
I have seven different websites bookmarked, and when I put them all together, they answered most of the questions we had. It shouldn’t take that many sites to get the content I’m looking for. That just leads to a very poor customer experience. I know it is a big undertaking, but why wouldn’t NCL want to provide a one-stop platform for this information? Six of the seven sites (the seventh being ncl.com) I used to make my decision had information on all the major cruise lines. Do they really want potential customers reading about everything everyone else has to offer?
Are you providing what your customers want? Have you asked them what they want? Remember, if they are not getting the information they need from you, they are getting it from someplace else. Do you know where that is?
People are looking for authentic content when making buying decisions. You need to provide the opportunity for your customers to provide it. If you don’t have the capacity to maintain a sharing platform, you need to at least provide links out to sites that have this information, like Amazon reviews, Yelp, or Trip Advisor. Make it easy for your audience.
Question: Are reviews, tips and photos less credible when they are on a corporate website, even if they are not being sanitized? Do you trust them? Would you go to a third party site anyway? Tell me what you think.
Flint Interactive’s Nicole Sandman and I sit down to discuss digital marketing, social media, and the lessons she learned from growing up on a pig farm. She also fills us in on the history of Flint Interactive, how her work has changed in the last seven years, and balancing her career and time at home with her husband and two lovely daughters.
Starbuck’s, Target, Wal-Mart and Bloomingdale’s are just a few of the major brands that have been engaged in brand tweaks, tests and teasers in-store, down the street and around the corner in several markets.
In the case of Starbuck’s, three “stealth” stores opened as a test in the Seattle area as reported in Entrepreneur magazine. The strategy was to introduce a new store concept that was “inspired by Starbuck’s,” and as a possible strategy to a larger rollout of “unbranded” cafes.
Bloomingdale’s created a “pop-up” Nespresso coffee bar brand in the center of its recently renovated cosmetics department in New York’s 59th Street location. Bloomingdale’s officials described the strategy; “cosmetics sharing space with a coffee company is a little out of the box,” an unexpected discovery that Bloomingdale’s holds core as an approach to keeping loyal customers – well, loyal. The boutique functions as a location to make a few gift purchases and enjoy a free specialty caffeine drink and learning a bit more about the specialty coffees.
Target Corporation introduced four temporary “bodegas” in Manhattan in the fall of 2008. The high-profile spaces called attention to a collection of design-inspired products. None of the products were scheduled to appear in the traditional Target stores until much later.
Even Wal-Mart has been tinkering with the notion of reaching out through a Latino-themed warehouse, based on its more traditional format. The Mas Club opened in August 2009, as part of an attempt to lure recent immigrants, hungry for familiar foods from home, to buy products in bulk-sizes, ala Wal-Mart style.
While it’s important to note that brands must evolve to remain relevant and continue to engage consumers, the articles referenced for this post suggest that either leaders of the brands are trying much harder to keep their image fresh, or they are becoming more active in the search for new consumer markets.
From a research perspective, imagine being able to drop your brand into a new location, observe consumer interactions within the environment, study the results and rollout a bevy of new “tested” products to your target audience. It must be working, otherwise these brand leaders wouldn’t be going through such efforts.
The professionals at AadlandFlint are always hungry for new marketing trends, techniques or hot topics that we can share with friends and clients. Watch for a regular stream of insightful information – or join in the conversation.
I have seven different websites bookmarked, and when I put them all together, they answered most of the questions we had. It shouldn’t take that many sites to get the content I’m looking for. That just leads to a very poor customer experience. I know it is a big undertaking, but why wouldn’t NCL want to provide a one-stop platform for this information? Six of the seven sites (the seventh being 
