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Extensive Research On How To Build Wealth From The Comfort Of Your Own Home.
Google Makes Business Photos Self-Service
Feb 1st
Back in May we told you about Google Business Photos, an effort by Google to pair small business owners up with professional photographers to take high-quality images of their business for their Google Places profile. At the time the program was only available in select cities so we encouraged SMBs not to wait for Google and to take their own photos. Today we tell you that if you didn’t listen to us, you’re in luck because Google just made the whole program self-service. So if you do want a professional photographer to come take photos of your business, here’s your chance.
Because of the success of the original pilot, Google has created a new Business Photos Web site so that small business owners can find a “trust photographer” in their area. SMBs can get started by finding a photographer from Google’s list and then both parties work out a time and price on their own. Within days your photos will then be available on Google’s properties. Google has essentially taken itself out of the equation and is now playing match-matcher between SMBs and photographers.
A few things worth noting about the program:
In its FAQ, Google does disclose that these photos may be used outside of just your Google Places profile, including possible Google Maps integration. By allowing a Google “trusted photographer” to take your business photos, you license the photos to Google to use. This probably isn’t an issue for most SMBs who want their photos out there, but something to keep in mind for certain businesses. If you want full rights to your pictures, you may want to hire your own photographer and not go through Google.
Something else to keep in mind is you won’t have the ability to review the photos before they go live on your Google Place page. Again, from the Google FAQ:
Because of the technology takes individual unstitched and unreviewed images that need considerable processing after they are uploaded by the photographer, to produce the attractive ‘walk- through’ experience, you will not be able to review the images before they are uploaded to Google.
However, if you find a major issue, you can ask Google to blur some areas of the panoramic images. You can also ask to have all panoramas removed, but they’re unable to take down individual ones, which may be a bummer.
Months after our original post, I still think small business owners are better off finding their own photographer rather than looping Google into the process. By doing your own legwork you can potentially find a photographer you can barter services with (allowing you to get the photos for free) and you get full control over how many photos are taken, which are used, and how they’re used. Maybe I’m just paranoid but I don’t see the value of bringing Google into the equation.
However, if you’re interested, Trusted Photographers is currently available in 14 US cities (Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle and Washington, DC.), as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France.
Happy photo taking.
Google Makes Business Photos Self-Service
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Data Driven Marketing Makes Branding Objectives Clear
Jan 21st
The numerous ways to conduct digital marketing, combined with traditional media, can create an elaborate process to measure results. To make the hard work of analysis easier, try Data Driven Marketing: The 15 Metrics Everyone In Marketing Should Know by Mark Jeffery. Jeffery, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management, has provided the right starting points to discovering the value of a data-driven marketing campaign. The book is also an excellent primer for small businesses establishing a measurement platform. I picked up a copy from a local bookstore to review.
The introductory chapters explain the role metrics play, based on surveying 252 firms dedicating $53 billion to marketing. Examples like Circuit City’s failure – constantly running sales to draw customers despite thin retail margins – make effective punchlines, particularly with counterpoints such as competitor Best Buy spending its budget on branding and customer relationships.
“…few firms get marketing, and many do not. The result is that firms that get marketing have a competitive advantage and those that don’t struggle.”
The first opening chapters note why many companies are not analytic, outlining obstacles to data driven marketing and defining traditional marketing metrics. One typical excuse of B2B businesses – “We’re a B2B company and sell indirectly to customers. As a result we don’t know who our customers are.” In the best analytic traditions, Jefferies remind that improvement is possible without oversell:
“There is a frame work for developing a data-driven marketing strategy. You don’t need 100% of the data to get started.”
The next book segment outlines the 15 Metrics ballyhooed in the title. Five nonfinancial metrics are grouped, with the next 4 grouped to address return on investment. Chapter 6 is a particular favorite (All Customers are Not Equal: Metric #10 – Customer Lifetime Value). It includes a breakdown formula for determining the value of a customer segment, and has an example chart of a value-based direct mail marketing strategy. Chapter 7 rounds out the 15 with web analytics metrics such as bounce rate and cost per click.
These middle chapters, containing calculations and supporting material, sets Data Driven Marketing apart from other marketing books. Jeffery strikes a proper tone between presenting super-absorbent-dry textbook material and text dripping with useless generalities. Chapter 5 for example includes a spreadsheet template explanation to support a Return on Marketing Investment calculation. The discussions are advanced but also include charts that will help you envision campaigns more comprehensively.
The ending chapters return to broader ground, serving as a primer for today’s data management and broader operational concerns. There’s a nod to the ethics for collecting customer data.
“Marketers should clearly communicate the privacy policy both external and internal and how data will and will not be used.”
Examples also note how to demonstrate data to support your product branding. A great B2B instance occurred during OpenHack, a competition in which Microsoft showed how its servers faced 82,500 attacks, yet maintained 100% uptime. The competition was the genesis for an image changing campaign for Microsoft server, perceived as susceptible to hacking.
“IT professionals were given free training on how to secure Microsoft products within the enterprise, then their perception toward Microsoft products and security change very significantly and positively after the training.”
The formulas enhanced the book without reminding you of a bad study hall experience. There is an appendix for instructors, a nod towards classroom purposes. But recalling my grad school days, I can’t think of a better book that noted data, finance, and operations in a digestible package. Business owners who like to learn are in for a treat.
For building a business based on sound practices and beyond tips and hints, you will want to keep data driven marketing at your side. While it says Marketing on the cover, you will be hard pressed to find a more solid book that sets a marketing context against other operations in your business.
Data Driven Marketing Makes Branding Objectives Clear
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
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5 Reasons Why Effective Marketing Makes Your Business More Valuable
Apr 28th
5 Reasons Why Effective Marketing Makes Your Business More Valuable
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
Most of us suckers, I mean business owners, dream of one day handing the keys of the business over to another dreamer that decides that buying our business is the best investment they can make. Or perhaps your version of the dream is to be acquired by a much larger organization that needs your particular innovation to round out their offerings.
Image Ian Muttoo via Flickr
Sadly, the majority of small businesses simply close up shop with little or no return on the asset to the owner – making the entire ordeal little more than a very hard, albeit oftentimes rewarding, job.
If indeed you have any vision of selling your business in the future you’ve got to focus on marketing instead of simply focusing on sales.
Some might ask, what’s the difference? Well, in simple terms – sales is an important function of marketing, but marketing includes how the market thinks about your business, how and why they talk about your business, and the experience they have with your business. In my opinion, a greater focus on these elements not only creates greater sales, it leads to the creation of a more valuable asset – or something you might indeed be able to sell.
Below are five reasons why I think effective marketing makes your business more valuable.
Less dependent on you
Done right, marketing builds the kind of repeatable momentum that can be documented and taught like a system. This is the first very important step in making your business an asset. If a potential buyer can see how they too could operate your marketing system, even after you the owner is long gone, you’ll build value.
Start looking for ways to create and document a marketing system that you can teach others to run and remove yourself from the lead generation and conversion game. If the business has to depend on you to make it rain, well, how can run it without you?
Expect to pay a premium
Implementing a marketing strategy that allows you to carve out a clear point of differentiation and perhaps a narrow market focus, allows you to charge a premium for your products and services.
When a market comes to view your firm as the obvious and maybe only choice for their needs, they also expect that getting that need fixed is going to come at a premium – and they’re okay with that!
If you stay in the price war game there will be no reason to think someone will value your business over another that claims to do the same thing.
The experience creates referrals
A business that takes a marketing view over a sales view, clearly understands that the most powerful form of lead generation comes in the form of an existing happy customer.
When customers have a great experience, one worth talking about, the value the business receives in terms of referrals can send the overall value of the business through the roof.
When you develop a market leader position through word of mouth you not only attract more business, you attract buyers that want to obtain this status as well. There are countless examples of companies not even making a profit, but getting tons of buzz, that sell for what seem like ridiculous amounts.
Convergent streams
The most effective marketing strategy not only focuses on a core market and differentiators, it also finds ways to build multiple streams of recurring revenue.
If you must go out each and every month and build your business from new sales you’ll always be tied to the whims of the next deal and few potential buyers will see much value in that.
If however, you can build a business that includes recurring revenue streams and finds ways to converge those streams to make them even stronger the value of the business for any buyer will become crystal clear.
Recurring revenue is generated from an effective marketing strategy teamed with an effective customer service approach – this is a combination that can practically guarantee a successful transition to a new owner.
Multipliers for the brand
Valuation experts rely on certain data, such as revenue, profit and market conditions to attempt to assign a value to business being bought or sold.
When your business charges premium pricing, is the market leader, receives evangelistic support from repeat customers and comes with a documented road map for operating an ongoing marketing system, the common multiplier approach gets thrown out the window during the buying process.
Buying a strong brand creates an entirely different set of math.
If you want to make your business more valuable remember this mantra – focus on marketing over sales.
Plan on selling your business at some point? You need to pick up John Warrillow’s great book – Built to Sell. I had John on a past episode of my podcast – Your Business Is Worthless if It Depends on You
Built to Sell provides the blueprint for how to get started right now working on the things your must do to get your business ready to sell.
John is running a promotion this week where people who order one copy get a $65 basket of goodies including a one year subscription to Inc Magazine, an e-book from the E-myth, A BizBuySell Valuation Report, a 2-hour conference call with John and a $25 Kiva loan in their name. The deal ends this Saturday April 30.
View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing
What Makes Marketers Tick?
Apr 2nd
Most of us are fascinated by what makes others tick. Why else do so many of us love to see and read interviews?
Pamela Lockard, author of Profiles in Marketing Excellence, is no different. In fact, it was her inquisitiveness about marketers that led to writing her book. She says:
“First, I just have this tremendous curiosity about people… and I really wanted to know more about what makes marketers tick. So I started looking… and I found nothing, not one single source where I could go and find a lot of information about marketers. So I decided to create it.”
For Profiles Lockard interviewed 25 marketers, noting, “We began our search looking for marketing pros that had at least one of the following criteria”:
- Top level marketing experience within a large corporation
- National recognition for their work
- Published
- Marketing educator
While the author has been in marketing for 30 years herself, she says she realized she knew little about what makes top-notch marketers tick. “Those at the top of the field often stay in the background, doing their best work behind the scenes.”
A good interview will give you a snapshot of who the person is (if they are open). The best interviews come from an interviewer who knows how to ask questions that tease out revealing answers.
Profiles gives you a chance to peak under the hood, inside the minds of 25 marketers. The marketers reveal in a conversational style how they made it to the top of their game. To some degree the book pulls out and distills lessons about marketing techniques. But you also get inspiration from reading about others. You learn from their experiences — when they got it right and also when they got it wrong.
Some of the marketers interviewed are:
John Jantsch, President, Duct Tape Marketing
Small effective and affordable small business marketing
Chris Martin, Regional Director, Radio Disney
Radio home of the hottest kids’ music and videos
Ruth Moss, Executive VP, Added Value
Marketing inspiration that works
She also included me as one of the profiles. Now, I don’t necessarily think of myself as a marketer — certainly not a remarkable marketer. But I suppose I’m not that different from many of you who have started your own businesses. Faced with bills to pay and people depending on us, it’s trial by fire. We learn how to market and sell if we don’t want to starve.
What Makes The Author Tick
Lockard (pictured in the image above) is not only an author, but is the CEO of marketing agency DMN3. She’s one of the few Certified Professional Direct Marketers in the United States.
Giving back to the community seems to be the order of business at DMN3, the company that she runs with her husband and a team of 30 marketers. In fact, a business that cares about and supports the community has become a trend in business and marketing in recent years. In her case, it’s more than a recent trend — giving back is part of who she is:
“I’m most proud that I have achieved a point in my life, where I can work to give back. I continue this business because it allows me to help a homeless shelter that is very dependent on my husband and myself to stay open. 70 women and children have a place to sleep because of our business.”
Who Should Read This Book
This is a perfect book for marketers, of course. If you’re committed to the field, you will want to know more about how others made their marks in the world.
But I think it’s also inspiring for entrepreneurs and small business leaders. We may have the best products or services in the world. But if we don’t know how to market and sell, we have a tough road ahead.
Thumb through the book, and find a profile for someone in a business similar to yours or in a similar industry. Dive in and start reading. This is a good book to pick up and read for 30 minutes here and there, and thumb around in. It’s not one of those books where you have to start at the beginning.
According to Julie Pitts, Development Director of DMN3 Institute, “Profiles is meant not as a sit-down read but for motivation and insight and new ways of thinking.”
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Google Makes Hotpot Reviewing Easier, More Social
Mar 8th
How do you train mainstream Internet users to not only leave reviews, but also to use your platform when they do it? You make it as simple as you can. And that’s just what Google has done.
The Google Mobile Blog announced last week that users can now update their Twitter status when they review a location on Google Hotpot or Google Latitude via their Android device.
From Google:
“When you rate and review places like restaurants or cafes from Google Places, you can share valuable recommendations with your Hotpot friends and across Google’s products – in search results, on google.com/hotpot, and on Place pages. But we wanted you to be able to share your recommendations even more broadly. So today, you can start sharing your ratings and reviews with your followers on Twitter directly from your Android-powered device.”
Reviewers can use the Google Maps rating widget to share their reviews and ratings with their friends. Nothing particularly new or revolutionary, but at least we get a really clean interface.
And that’s not all.
Google also updated Google Latitude to give users the option to “ping” friends they see are nearby but who they don’t really want to call or text. Once you ping the friends you couldn’t be bothered to call, they’ll receive an Android notification asking them to check in wherever they are.
Once they do, you’ll receive a notification back letting you know where they’ve checked in so that you can see where they are and potentially meet up with them. (I’m not so sure about this one. Hopefully there’s also an option to “hide” your location so people can’t see you popping up all over the place.)
Personally, I think it’s really interesting to watch the moves that Google is making in local and social. By adding Twitter functionality to Google Hotpot reviews, they’re building more awareness and making it easier for users to share their recommendations (the service) with others. And they’re doing essentially the same thing by peer-pressuring users into checking in via Google Latitude–two services that, I imagine, haven’t been getting too much play compared to Yelp, FourSquare and even Facebook. With the new additions, Google adds some incentive for users to get involved and increases product awareness at the same time.
A smart play. But is it enough?
What do you think? Have you used Google Hotpot or Google Latitude, either for your business or personally? Have you seen many reviews being left for your business via Google Hotpot?
Google Makes Hotpot Reviewing Easier, More Social
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
