So, what can you do to build a glowing reputation that helps you stand out to potential customers online?

Turn to your secret weapon: your happy customers!

Unfortunately, people tend to naturally turn to the Internet to share negative feedback about a company.

You know the saying: a happy customer will tell one person, but an upset customer will tell ten.

When you take the time to ask your happy customers to share their feedback, you might be surprised just how big an impact it can have. Many satisfied customers are glad to share their feedback, they just may not know it’s valuable to you as a business to have their reviews posted online. In fact, you may already receive notes, letters, or comments from happy customers. It may just be a matter of giving customers another avenue to share their feedback.

So, here are three ways you can put this idea into practice inside your business:

1) Get Your Team Onboard and Involved

Take time to explain to your staff that your online reputation is an important area of improvement for your business. Get them involved in the process of reaching out to customers to ask for reviews. It’s important to know and share with your team that you can’t pay for positive reviews, but you can certainly ask people to leave them. And sometimes, all it takes is to ask.

Encourage employees to ask customers for reviews every time they have a great customer interaction and recognize your team for their effort when they do.

2) Create and Share a List of Top Sites

When you start focusing on building your reputation online, select a list of a few top review sites you would like to get more reviews on such as Google Places Pages or Yelp. Then, create signage with these sites prominently displayed to serve as a visual reminder of your request. Post signs in your business reminding customers that you appreciate reviews on these sites. You can also create small cards to share with your customers so they can easily remember and navigate to a site to leave you a review.

This can help you develop your reputation on important sites – an important first step.

3) Leverage Current Communication Channels

Another way to encourage customers to leave a review of your business is to use your current customer communication channels to share your request. For example, you could put an article in your monthly customer email newsletter, or post a message to your Facebook fans. The benefit of this is that your customer is probably already at a computer when they see your request. Think about how you currently communicate with your customers and find ways to include this message in a friendly, professional way from time to time.<

These are just three ideas for how you can leverage your secret weapon – your current customers – in building a great online reputation.

Do you currently let your customers know you appreciate reviews online? Have you tried any of these tips? Feel free to share your ideas and thoughts in a comment.

Secret Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Your Secret Weapon in the Battle of Online Reputation

Unfair Advantage

I’m a big proponent of social media, blogging and networking. To be honest, my business has an unfair advantage in using these tools since it’s a marketing firm that ultimately provides these services to others. Churning out blog posts or social media updates comes naturally. However, not all small business owners may have the same ease with the keyboard or the time to do it themselves.

Marketing Strategy

There aren’t hundreds of clients coming from Twitter or Facebook. Occasionally someone will pop up and ask about a service. A few people have stumbled across blogs and made contact. So you see, it’s not a clear cut A to B path that gets new business. It’s more about branding and building your presence online.

Projects are bid on through Elance and Guru and some proposals might not stand out more than others. But you see, it’s really about what people find when looking at blog posts and the other 4 million results that appear when Googling your name. Potential clients can read blogs to get a sense of your writing style as well as where you stand. They can find social media posts that share links to great articles. And in my case, they can also find a few answers on Quora and Focus.

In short: Potential clients can get a degree of confidence by looking at what you’ve done online.

So you see, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get marketing results. Become known for what you do and make sure that when people search for keywords in your industry – your business appears. Social media and blogging work; just ask the hundreds of companies who use it daily to brand themselves.

Take the time to figure out what works for you and your company, regardless of how little it costs – and run with it.

Zero Dollars Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

How One Company Spent Zero on Marketing

Have you protected this valuable asset? How well do you understand trademark law? Maybe you’re just starting your business. Maybe you’ve been running a successful business for years, but administrative details always seem to take a back seat to day-to-day operations. When it comes to your business name and trademark protection, a few proactive steps can go a long way toward protecting your business name, brand and identity.

I’ve registered with the state…isn’t that enough? 

Many new business owners often think that registering with their state (by incorporating or filing a DBA) is enough to protect them. Yet there is an important distinction. When you incorporate, form an LLC, or file a DBA (Doing Business As), this process registers your business name with that state’s secretary of state. Once approved, the business name is yours and yours alone to use within that state. It prevents anyone else from using the name within the state, but it doesn’t offer any kind of protection in the other 49 states.

What does this mean? If you’ve started a business that’s physically tied to your state (for example, a boutique shop) and never plan on expanding into other states, registering your name with the state or county might be enough brand protection for you. But if you’re planning on conducting business outside your own state, or even on the Internet, you should look into trademark protection.

The Benefits of a Trademark

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design (or a combination of any of these) that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. Trademarks are managed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

There’s no legal requirement for you to register a trademark. Using a business name can give you ‘common law’ rights, even without formally registering it. However, as expected, trademark law is quite complex. Simply registering a DBA in your state doesn’t automatically grant you common law rights; in order to claim first use, the name has to be ‘trademarkable’ and in use in commerce.

By registering for U.S. Federal Trademark protection, you’ll be eligible for several benefits, including: treble damages in some cases of infringement, the right to use the ® in your trademark, and a streamlined process for securing your domains and usernames at social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Trademarks registered with the USPTO enjoy significantly stronger protection than ‘common law’ (unregistered) marks. This can make it significantly easier to recover your property.  For example, if someone happens to be using your company name as their Twitter handle. Additionally, trademarks have value and can be sold as corporate assets.

How to Register a Trademark

To register a trademark, you’ll need to file an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It’s approximately $325 (for online filing) per class that your mark falls under and the process can take anywhere from 6-12 months once you submit your application.

Before submitting an application, you should perform a trademark search first to make sure your proposed mark is available. This should include a free online trademark search to check availability. If that preliminary search shows the mark is available, follow up with a comprehensive trademark search that scours local databases, common law, and county registrars. Here’s why a comprehensive search is prudent. If your name turns out not to be available, your application will be rejected right away – meaning you’ll lose your application fee, not to mention all the time invested in the application.

If you have already incorporated or formed an LLC for your business, you should register your trademark under the umbrella of the corporation or LLC. And if you are considering incorporating or forming an LLC but haven’t gotten around to it yet, you should do so before registering any trademarks.

While the process of registering a trademark is more involved than registering a DBA, rights to your name will be enforced by both federal and state governments. And registering a trademark can save you a ton in legal fees down the road.

Trademark Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

You’ve Started A Business: Is Your Brand Protected?

When you answer these questions, there’s a new set waiting to surface. And that’s OK. It’s the questions that drive the business–and how you answer them can make you stand out.

After reading Visual Marketing, the new book co-authored by Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends, and speaking with Kelle Boyd, an artist who turned herself into a successful small business owner, I am inspired to pay closer attention to my company’s image.

When you’re solving problems for clients, creating products for customers, managing your staff and contractors or just trying to navigate all your mail, phone calls and email messages, it’s easy to miss some basic decisions when it comes to your visual marketing.

Decisions like:

• your visual message can and should reinforce your mission and your story,
• you can afford help sooner than you think,
• you’re not good at design and you need help sooner than you think,

These can’t be ignored and don’t have to be.

After talking with Anita and Kelle, it occurred to me that there are three marketing things that many small business owners do wrong that we could easily do right—on any budget.

#1. The Confused Vision. It’s Time to Get Clear.

Anita, along with her co-author David Langton, provides 99 proven ways for small businesses to market themselves with images and design. And as I read their book, Visual Marketing, I was inspired. I now have a list of ideas that I’m implementing one at a time.

But even the best ideas have little value if the vision is muddy.

Surface Designer Kelle Boyd says you have to “know what the feel and heart of your brand is” before you get started. If you don’t know who are you, what you stand for and whom your product serves, then anyone can redirect your business for their benefit.

The beautiful thing is vision doesn’t cost money, so any small business can afford it. Just decide to get to the heart of the business—take the time.

#2. The “I-Can’t-Afford-It” Excuse. It’s Time to Get Help.

Not everyone is an artist or designer. In fact, most of the small business owners I know just don’t have the “eye” or the skill to lay out their own visual designs.

When they do it themselves, they often end up with print items that look second-rate. And their rationale is, “I can’t afford to pay someone to do it for me.” But your visual message is directly related to the public’s perception of your product, and that impacts your bottom line.

You can’t afford to wait.

In a recent interview, Anita suggests that you spend your money on a quality logo. This advice makes sense because a good logo gives you a color scheme and an image that you can use on all your marketing pieces.

If you cannot afford to work with a design firm, Kelle suggests that you hire a college student who is studying and practicing design. That way, you save money, and the student builds his or her portfolio.

#3. The Inconsistent Message. It’s Time to Say What You Mean to Say, Every Single Time.

Establishing a clear vision and figuring out a way to deliver a consistent message can take time at first. And that’s OK.

I know that Apple wants me to “Think Different.”  Many U.S. citizens know that Burger King wants you to “Have It Your Way.”  And the blog readers at AnnKelle.com on some core level know that she wants “to see you smile.”

When you know the vision—spoken or unspoken—then it’s easier to establish a consistent message that your audience will respond to.

These three actions cost more time than money. But they can help you build a brand—a message, a marketing image (whatever language you choose)—that resonates with your people.

Decide to match your visual message with your core vision, and then run with it.

Oops Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 Marketing Things We Do Wrong That We Could Easily Do Right

“Interactive marketing is becoming a larger part of the marketing mix, and Forrester estimates that by 2016, online advertising spend will be equivalent to television spend today. Marketers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing by 2016.”

According to StrongMail’s annual marketing trends survey, conducted by Zoomerang, the majority (68%) of business executives worldwide said they plan to integrate their social media marketing efforts with email in 2012.

I remember back in 2007-8, when I first launched my business, I was running several workshops dedicated to email marketing and integrating it with social media, especially Facebook. I had a cross section of attendees from lawyers, consultants, non-profits, MLN’s and blog hobbyists.  They thought it was a good idea, but most looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Fast forward to 2012, the cycle has moved to a different place with regard to adoption and the effective usage of it now.

The benefits of professional email marketing have been very strong and clear from the beginning. It was the very first platform I used to build my business database. It has experienced quite a resurgence, as we all can attest to the massive email marketing we get daily, many of which we did not subscribe to. (Ugh, it’s spam people.)

Benefits of Permission
When someone voluntarily signs up to become a part of your email marketing database, they are committing to you as a professional and are giving you “permission” to send them timely, helpful and relevant resources and information. This is the greatest way to grow and build trust . It is also a very targeted and effective way to ‘ask people  for their business’. There is great power and responsibility in permission based marketing, as long as you are using it appropriately and respecting your community.

Here are 5 ways to grow and build trust using email marketing:

1) Create a monthly Newsletter with specific themes and content that is thoughtful and highly targeted to what your followers need and want from you. Get to know who is on your list and why they joined it in the first place.

2) Be consistent with sending your message and campaign out monthly and find the best frequency and timing. Do not over kill your list with too many daily emails. More and more people are tuning out and unsubscribing  to those that over email, regardless of how popular they are.

3) Offer content especially for this community that other people do not have access too that are NOT on the list. Let your community know how exclusive they are to you and how much you want to serve their specific needs.

4) Integrate your email marketing campaign into all your other platforms. Unify the message across your social media, blog, websites, podcasting, video and mobile. Make sure your visual logo, look and feel are consistent over all your platforms.

5) “Serving is the New Selling’ should be your approach and mantra. Giving lots of FREE WHY, then SELLING the HOW is a perfect formula. We are in it to make money right? Yes, but earning the business by building strong relationships and using the trust to sell your products and services is why they choose you and ensures more longevity in customer retention.

Make a commitment to one of the professional email marketing systems like Constant Contact, which has been mine since 2007, or several other great choices like IConnect, Aweber and Mail Chimp.

Email marketing has been one of the top platforms that I will continue to use. My list grew over 30% last year nationally and internationally. It has allowed me a more personal, direct and exclusive way to communicate to and with “my tribe” and serve them.

Email Marketing Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

The Power of Permission in Using Email Marketing

What you wear should enhance what you have instead of playing up your weakness. In fashion, the goal is to wear what looks good on you. I’m saying clarity and balance looks good, so wear it well and wear it often. But how?

In “What Not to Do: The Most Important Decision You’ll Make,” John Mariotti says,  “Refocus your time, talent and money on the important things, the big things, that will make a difference.” Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but here are two things worth your time—profiling your profitable passions and your ideal customers.

The goal is to understand your passion and your customers.

Profile your profitable passions

What do you want to do and can it pay for your lifestyle?

Ivana Taylor shows you how to find your passion and turn it into a profitable business. But it takes effort. You not only need to discover what you are interested in, but you must also find the market who would buy the product or service and the language that would get their attention, using tools like Google, eBay and Amazon.

And after you find the right niche, then it’s time to put more effort into clearly identifying your clients.

Profile your ideal customers

Who do you serve, what do you they want, where are they now and how do you reach them?

The last three questions become much easier to answer when you figure out the first one.

Ivana says:

“When you narrow your message…to a group who values what you are selling, then the rest of your marketing system becomes obvious and easy to implement.”

I spent a lot of time confused and it didn’t look good (or feel good) on me either. To profile my target client I used 3 of the 8 creative ways to profile ideal customers that Ivana mentions—complaints, Web traffic and character descriptions.

Understanding what my clients complain about and the types of people visiting my site based on my Alexa.com profile made it easier to create a character sketch of my target audience. And when you understand what your target audience looks like, then you can figure out where they shop, what they read, where they go to have fun, etc. All that knowledge creates opportunities to meet, market and serve them.

Now that’s a good use of time. Get clear and then get busy.

Confusion Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Confusion Doesn’t Look Good On You: Profile Your Way To Clarity

Below are four rookie mobile marketing mistakes to avoid. We made them first so you don’t have to.

1. Using Mobile to Share Non-Mobile Content

You’ve read all about how to use text messages and quick response (QR) codes to target customers while they’re out in the wild or even just sitting on their couch at home. And that’s great–until you use these techniques to send users to content that is anything but mobile friendly. Perhaps it’s a video their phone can’t download or the desktop version of your website, which takes too long to load and far too much scrolling to use on their device. These types of mistakes leave customers feeling frustrated and almost ensure they never again try to load your website from a mobile device. They’re also a waste of time and resources on your part if you’re creating campaigns that don’t work, let alone convert.

If you’re going to use text message marketing to offer a discount or present a call to action for someone to visit your site, make sure the page you’re sending them to is mobile friendly. Ensure it will load on their device and present them with the proper experience. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels and their data plan.

2. Using QR Codes to Direct Customers Back to Your Site

For many of us, when we think “mobile marketing” we really think “QR codes.” A QR code is that barcode-like symbol that a user can scan with their smartphone to be taken to a page of your choosing. QR codes are great for sending users to mobile-friendly landing pages, informing them about specials and promotions, or providing an exclusive experience via their phone. When QR codes don’t work is when you use them to direct people back to your home page. Or, worse, when you try to put them in an email. (How do you scan a barcode while using your phone for email?)

If you’re going to invest in creating a QR code, don’t simply use the code to drive people back to your website. They could have gotten there on their own. Instead, pack that code with something valuable and unique. It could be an exclusive discount or special offer, time-sensitive information, an image they couldn’t get otherwise, a free download, etc. There has to be a “why” to make the experience worthwhile. Otherwise, you’re going to have a frustrated customer when they take the time to scan your QR code only to be given the same experience they receive every day.

3. Missing a Chance for Better Targeting

You can bet that not all of your customers are going to feel comfortable giving you access to their phone and opting into a mobile marketing campaign. And you know what? That’s OK, because it means you’ll be able to target your marketing to the type of user who is OK with a more personal interaction. To really leverage mobile marketing, find out more about the demographics of the people who do opt into this service and adapt your campaigns to specifically address them. This may including knowing what kind of offers they’re most interested in, the products they buy most, the price point they stay within, the types of deals they respond to, etc. If you don’t know offhand (and why would you?), your analytics will be able to give you this information.

As with anything, if you want customers to do something, you need to give them a reason. People will be more likely to sign up if you send them special discounts and offers that have been hand-crafted for them.

4. Not Optimizing Your Mobile Website

The mobile version of your website should be more than just a shrunken version of what your site looks like on a desktop computer. It should be optimized for a different experience and for a customer coming to you a different intent. We know that desktop users and users pulling you up via a mobile phone are coming for different purposes. They’re not just browsing on their phone; they’re on the hunt for specific information or content. For best performance, use your analytics to understand what your mobile users are after, the pages they request most often, and the mission they land on your site with. This will help you to optimize an experience that is relevant to their needs and that helps them achieve their goals faster. Give your mobile searchers what they want and very little noise.

Above are four very common mistakes SMBs (and even large brands!) make when entering the mobile landscape. But you don’t have to make them. Understand the intent of a mobile searcher, know the tools available to you, and then use them to create a unique experience.

From Small Business Trends

4 Rookie Mobile Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

As a small business owner, you want to focus on creating content with a purpose. Because the truth of the matter is, not all content is created equal. If you’re going to spend time fattening up your site or your blog, you want to make sure you’re adding the right meat instead of wasting your time throwing spaghetti at the wall.

Below are four questions you should ask yourself before starting in on any content marketing strategy.

1. Who Are You Building Content For?

Have you created user personae to connect content to conversions and help you understand your audience’s specific needs? If you haven’t, I’d encourage you to do so. By breaking your audience into specific buckets, you can create content based around their specific user intents. Once you know the intents, you know what kinds of content you should be creating.

You should also think about what type of content will help you best meet your needs:

• Blog posts
• Authority articles
• Videos
• Images
• Electronic documents such as PDFs
• User-generated content

Ideally you’ll want to use a mix of these and try different formats, but think about how each format can specifically address a user goal. If your audience is notoriously busy and on-the-go, for instance, then audio that they can download and take with them may address their needs better than a written tutorial.

2. How Will Your Content Aid Lead Generation?

As I mentioned above, you don’t just want to create content for the sake of creating content. You want there to be a purpose driving your content creation.  One of the most common reasons for starting in on a content marketing plan is to aid lead generation.

You want to give some thought as to how your content will help you attract and convert more customers. Will you be creating blog posts and white papers to help get that initial consumer attention, or will you focus more on buying guides to attract consumers coming to you later in the conversion funnel? Or, ideally, will you do both?

Either way, you want to really think about how your content is going to compliment what you’re doing elsewhere so that it works for your site and brings value. If you’re going to dedicate resources to creating content, you want to make sure it’s having a positive effect on your bottom line. Otherwise you’re just throwing away money and calling it “blog posts.”

3. How Will You Spread the Word About Content?

Yes, we’re back to the dreaded S-word: Self-promotion. If you don’t have a plan for how you will promote and spread your content, then you don’t really have a content marketing plan. You just have a lot of content.

When it comes to spreading the word about your content:

• What sites do your customers visit to find and consume content?
• Which users are really active about spreading content?
• Where does your audience go online to ask questions and connect with others?
• How much time do you have, realistically, to promote your content?

Take all of these things into account, because, despite what the Internet (and Google) would like us to believe, good content does not spread itself. We still need to help light the spark that will build the flame.

4. How Will You Track Your Content?

With the content created and being spread to the right audience, you’re now left to track its success. Tracking your content helps you identify things like:

• The type of content your audience most responds to
• Communities most accepting of your content/brand
• Who your brand advocates are
• Your ROI for specific content pieces

This data can be invaluable in helping a small business to determine where time is best spent and what types of content are most profitable.

Creating a content strategy means more than just slapping a few new blog posts on your site and calling it a day. As SMBs with limited time and resources, you want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck with the content you create by focusing on targeted content, created for a specific user, with a direct purpose. Anything else is just playing.

From Small Business Trends

4 Questions to Ask Yourself About Content

The Problem Constant Contact Wants to Solve

I’m not sure why, but a lot of small business owners are intimidated by the “technical factor” of social media. (It’s not really all that complicated, but it’s perceived that way) More small businesses would use the more advanced features of Facebook if they knew how. And then knowing what to do with followers and fans also presents a conundrum.

Their Proposed Solution

Constant Contact, which serves an estimated 450,000 small businesses according to SeekingAlpha, intends this product for small businesses that are frustrated by the return on investment of their social media efforts. This is from Constant Contact’s recent press release:

“Constant Contact’s Fall 2011 Attitudes and Outlook Survey showed a significant increase in social media adoption as more and more small businesses find it to be low cost and easy to use. However, few can point to real business success from their investment.”

What The Product Does

The core of the offering is a tool to create Facebook customized landing pages, that are integrated with other social media and the Constant Contact email system.  Using the tool you can run “Liked-gated” Facebook campaigns.

If you’ve ever been jealous of customized Facebook tabs you see other businesses using, but don’t feel tech-savvy enough to create one, this product will help you. There are different campaign templates you can customize, including Coupon, Product Showcase, Downloadable Content, Video, Event, and Fundraiser. When a visitor goes to your company’s Facebook page, she’ll land on this page.

Mark Schmulen, General Manager of Social Media at Constant Contact explains:

“The user can choose to “like-gate” their campaign, an option that requires the participants to first “like” the user’s Facebook page before being able to participant in the campaign.”

Once your campaign is set up, you can post updates to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter directly from your Constant Contact account (a feature that sounds similar HootSuite, SocialOomph or other social media aggregators). You can also send email invites to drive traffic to your social media campaign.  There’s also a reporting feature that helps business owners see how many fans they connected to, and how many participated in the campaign.

Let’s Talk Pricing

I’m sure you’re all wondering what this will cost. Constant Contact says more details on pricing will be available in the new year, but to start, every user gets one free campaign. And any campaign with 100 or fewer fans will be free forever. (Although, I guess if the program is worth its salt, you should have many more fans, right? So you will end up paying if Constant Contact does its job!) After 100 fans, pricing will be tier-based, depending on your number of fans.

More Information

Social Campaigns will have free, live customer coaching and technical support to all users (even the free accounts).

Right now, Social Campaigns is only available by private invitation, but it will be rolled out to the general public early in 2012.  Be one of the first to use it by going here.

From Small Business Trends

Constant Contact Introduces Facebook Campaign Tool

What is your marketing message?

Pay attention, because it’s wrapped up into everything that has anything to do with your business.  Your logo, sound bites, Web content, press releases, website design and business cards all communicate a message about your business to your clients. And since these elements are saying so much about your company, you need to shape that conversation into something that matters.

To make the most of your marketing, Ivana Taylor suggests that you jumpstart your marketing with these four mix-and-match power tools:

1. a logo package,
2. a top 10 article,
3. a WordPress blog and
4. an email marketing account.

She includes software suggestions to help you maximize your logo package and key ideas for using the “top 10 article” to generate leads for your company.

She also shows you how to transform your B2B website into a customer magnet because, as Ivana puts it:

“Your website is a huge budget-friendly untapped resource that you’ve been ignoring for too long.”

While her article targets the industrial and manufacturing sector, the website is a major marketing tool for most businesses – especially since the Internet is the modern-day Yellow Pages.

But marketing is only the first half of the equation.

I have noticed two things:

1. some small business owners ignore their marketing, and then wonder what’s wrong with their businesses;
2. others fail to master the sales process and also end up confused.

Marketing gets the attention, but your sales process advances the relationship by turning potential clients into customers.

Sales and marketing work together. The stronger the marketing, the easier it is to sell.  But no matter how great the marketing is, sales is a process that has to be acknowledged, practiced and honored with repeated execution.

Diane Helbig shows us how not to approach a sales pitch.  At the core she suggests that we get training:

“Whether you work for a company or own your own business, sales is a critical part of your success – or failure. You owe it to yourself to be sure you are trained effectively.”

But after we get the training, she tells us to practice on “non-ideal” clients. “Practice on the companies or people with which you don’t necessarily need to score a deal. You’ll be more relaxed, and you’ll get the chance to work out the kinks of your communication” before you get to your crucial prospects.

Following her process has the benefit of calming your nerves. Practice, and then deliver.

Image from Frannyanne/Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Sales and Marketing Go Together, But They Are Not The Same Thing