Posts tagged as:

small business

Double Down on Facebook Marketing

by Eric Brown · January 31, 2012

I have been thinking about the value of Facebook fans lately, and how they stack up against other types of online and digital marketing payoffs. The problem with getting to an answer to the value of a fan, and what many small business owners face when trying to sort out what square to place their marketing dollars on, is the array of mismatched direction.

Small businesses aren’t very good at increasing their Facebook fan base. So even though they may be following all of the “rules of the Facebook road,” they aren’t seeing much if any return on their effort.

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15 comments

Always Listening to the Customer is a Race to Mediocrity

by Eric Brown · September 27, 2011

As a business owner, do you care what people think about your business and the decisions you make? More specifically, do you care what your customers think? Perhaps the short answer is, “yes,” however is that holding you back? With the onslaught of social media and review sites, everyone has an opinion, and it is easier than ever to be a critic. The plethora of social media platforms has provided folks with a megaphone to chant their dislike about this or that. The adage of “The Customer Is Always Right” burrows into our fear factor and may stifle innovation and necessary change to your business model.

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35 comments

3 Questions to Ask Before Jumping on a Marketing Bandwagon

by Andrew Hanelly · September 1, 2011

It’s tough not to fall victim to me-tooism in our competitive media landscape. There are oohs and ahhs to reap, awards to win, client and board expectations to exceed and egos to stroke. So we see something shiny and we chase it. We see a toy and call it a tool, and make it part of our marketing program.

And who can blame us? We’ve got boss/client/coworker/thought-leader/consultant/blogger/friend/avatar telling us we need to embrace (whatever piece of) technology before it’s too late.

But what if it’s too soon? What if there’s never a good time to adopt? What if we’re adopting a technology or approach that could fundamentally shift the relationship we have with our audience in a detrimental way?

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11 comments

Should We Be Un-Integrating Our Marketing?

by Eric Brown · June 14, 2011

Ever notice that there are always two camps: One that wants to split things down the center and be all things to all people, and the other that is radically on one side or the other sucking down the Kool-Aid with a giant straw?

As of late I have found myself trying to be closer to the center, saying such things as you need an integrated marketing approach. I think that is a mistake. I should be asking, “What marketing venue or platform are you going to stop doing, before you start doing social media marketing?: The best way is NOT an integrated marketing approach. Businesses simply cannot add more things. More marketing equates to spending more money. A more appropriate question would be, “What are we going to stop doing in order to allow room for worn out ways to pass and new ways to emerge?”

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33 comments

5 Reasons Your Marketing Is A White Hot Mess

by Heather Rast · May 5, 2011

“Whaa? Are you talkin’ to me?” Yeah, I’m talking to you. Whether you’re part of a small marketing team or just a regular ol’ small biz (where everyone wears a marketing hat), I’m talking to you. Specifically, you team managers or small business owners who, along with an assistant and intern, do it all.

Or maybe I should say, do it all wrong.

White. Hot. Mess. Your marketing programs may be in poor shape for some of these reasons (why stop at 5?):

  1. Misplaced value
  2. Vague or inconsistent priorities
  3. Not beginning with the end in mind
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9 comments

Is Facebook for Business Overrated

by Eric Brown · March 22, 2011

This may not be a popular position, or even a right one, but our experience with our own business, and the businesses we do social media marketing for, Facebook for business is completely overrated. Marketers are flocking toward Facebook in droves, partaking in an array of circus acts to garnish “Fans” and “Likes”, mostly with lackluster results at best, yet the Facebook madness drones on.

Facebook Is the New Web site

Small Business Labs reported on some interesting data from the Network Solutions State of Small Business report on the impact of social media on traditional websites;

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118 comments

The Magic Words

by Ike Pigott · December 27, 2010

Businesses are clamoring to hear the magic words that will let them know what to do in the social space. And those magic words are as familiar in everyday speech as they are absent in any real conversation about social media adoption:

Yes and No.

Simple Answers?

I have a bad feeling about this...I was on a panel discussion recently in Birmingham, where the theme was trends for 2011. Our audience was not the tweet-up insider crowd — I was pleased to see that most of them were from small businesses, and most of them didn’t look like Digital Natives. I was also pleased to find out that most of them were on Facebook, and nearly all of them had heard of Twitter, even if they weren’t active.

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7 comments

Who Runs Your Business: You Or Your Employees?

by Eric Brown · December 22, 2010

Who runs your business? Is it you or your employees? Which is better? Does it depend on the business?

Perhaps there is merit to both sides

This argument came up in a recent blog post discussion about keeping our business open longer hours, Want Higher Occupancy, Stay Open Longer and how, in doing so, our business increased noticeably on several basis points. The move caused a little riff from our employees as you might expect. However, in this instance I didn’t give them an option. Many of the comments we received from the post surrounded the topic of employee dissatisfaction, or perceived dissatisfaction, about extended hours in a field of work that typically closes up shop by 6 p.m. Staying open until 9 p.m. is perceived as radical.

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12 comments

Expand the Shelf Life of Free

by Eric Brown · October 22, 2010

What Does Your Business Give Away

Giving stuff away is nothing new to business owners. Remember S and H Green Stamps, where you collected stamps given away at gas stations with the hope of amassing enough stamps in your booklet for something from their gift catalog?  Fast food restaurants have toys for the kids meals, retailers have sales all the time, with some having way too many. Not to mention cereal companies have had free gifts inside since the beginning of time. And, for those of us old enough to remember, there was the famed Cracker Jack “Toy Surprise” inside. That was a pretty big hit for me as a kid, although I didn’t really care for the Cracker Jacks all that much.

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16 comments

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