The topic was branding:  Is your brand helping or hurting your small business?  Let’s take a look at some of the responses and comments on this topic.  The Twitter handle of the person who said them, follows:

1.       What exactly is a “brand”? Is it a name, a logo – or more?  – @FedExOffice

A brand is the overall perception the publicgets when they think of your business.  - @Smallbiztrends

A brand has many parts: name, logo, tagline,reputation, experience customers have had … and more. @Smallbiztrends

Even your business cards, packaging and signagehelp the public recognize your brand. @Smallbiztrends

It’s a combination of all. It’s the whole picture that pops in to a client’s mind when they hear a company name  -@a_biro

To me, a “brand” is symbol of your business story. Logo, name, everything should refer & infer the story  -@3keyscoach

When branding works well it immediately tells your story   - @CASUDI

A Brand is the thoughts, feelings, and psychological relationship between a business and a customer  -@paintermommy

Sum of who you are, what you do & stand for visually and viscerally. -@DeborahShane

A brand is what people say about you when you’re not around  - @philsimon

2. Can your brand hold your business back? If so, how?  – @FedExOffice

Yes, brand can evoke perceptions of poorquality or unprofessionalism. – @Smallbiztrends

For example, an inappropriate look (e.g., acartoonish font for a serious business) may undermine confidence. – @Smallbiztrends

Inconsistent design details are also aproblem (e.g., multiple styles in marketing materials). – @Smallbiztrends

I’ve seen logos & websites of such poor quality I couldn’t trust them. Hence, no sale. – @robert_brady

Some businesses outgrow their branding or shift biz focus – old branding might be blocking new customers  - @CathyWebSavvyPR

Small biz can learn a lot from big biz – both face similar challenges in establishing a brand – dif steps but useful lesson   - @ZimanaAnalytics

Wrong image can alienate potential buyers – I feel this way abt “edgy” clothing lines – some local – @janejoeyxo

3: How do you assess if your brand is helping or hurting?  – @FedExOffice

Start with your biz name and logo. What do others think of when they seethem? Is name easy to spell, say?- @Smallbiztrends

Do people say they don’t know what you do? If so, consider re-naming,re-designing your logo, or adding a tagline. – @Smallbiztrends

Website analytics, how ppl look @ my biz card, types of questions/comments they make tells me if my biz is connecting   - @3keyscoach

When U hear ~ I didn’t know you do that!   - @CASUDI

A professional logo is simplistically memorable, practically appropriate, and conveys an intended meaning.  - @TommyGuns

4. What if your name and logo do not need overhauled? What other brand elementsshould you look at? – @FedExOffice

Look at how you present your business. Areyou putting best foot forward in brochures, website, business cards, signs? – @Smallbiztrends

You have 5 to 10 seconds to make a goodimpression – as a person or as a biz. – @Smallbiztrends

Too often I see small businesses sabotagetheir own brands, and that’s a shame. – @Smallbiztrends

What about a “headline statement” such as what http://t.co/tPWyzIxR has  -@DIYMarketers

Simple one… Font type!  -  @lvansteen

Maybe if your logo and name don’t need to change your marketing plan does…  – @Apex_Biz

Customer service, without positive customer interactions your logo is nothing but a reminder of a bad experience. – @TommyGuns

5:  What are some ways small businesses sabotage their own brands? – @FedExOffice

Faded signs and tattered trade show bannerswill undermine your brand, suggesting lack of pride. – @Smallbiztrends

Poor quality printed items (fuzzy graphics,cheap paper, bleeding ink) make even the best brands look bad.- @Smallbiztrends

By not marketing properly  -@carnivalfanatic

Setting up auto-responders on social networks that don’t engage customers can be a bad thing – really bad….  - @BasicBlogTips

I’ll never forget early on I handed a potential client my biz card made w/ generic logo, her card had same logo  - @CathyWebSavvyPR

They forget why they started their business in the first place.  - @KStaib

Bad customer support smashes your brand. To have successful brand, control every aspect of doing business  -  @lvansteen

The right #smallbiz signage equation: simple + clean = best. Read more to see if your signs stack up: http://t.co/fjVyl66G  – @FedExOffice

6:  Is consistency an important element of brand? Why or why not? – @FedExOffice

Consistency is crucial. People notice if abusiness card has a new logo and the brochure has the old. – @Smallbiztrends

Also, it is easier to build brand recognitionwhen you use similar graphics throughout multiple channels. – @Smallbiztrends

Yes very important, it creates comfort for customers and trust   - @marilola33

Promotes consumer confidence in your business  -@GeekDad248

7:  Complete this sentence: “A professional looking logo …” – @FedExOffice

A professional looking logo helps you cut through the marketing clutter and create a memorable association for your customers  -@GeekDad248

8:  Can you present a quality brand on a small business budget?  - @FedExOffice

Yes! For marketing materials, weigh “value.” Cheap cost = good. Cheap look = bad. – @Smallbiztrends

You can get a pro look using a DIY tool, provided it’s a good tool. Find a good “partner” to execute, too. – @Smallbiztrends

Example: a brochure based on a Word templatecan look professional if printed in color on quality stock. -  @Smallbiztrends

A personal touch and attention to your customer’s needs can go a long way and might not cost much  - @Ileane

Choose wisely where you spend your branding dollars. Keep your customer’s response in mind @ all times  - @CathyWebSavvyPR

A smile is the best thing a business can offer me, costs nothing but makes my day   - @TommyGuns

9:  What is the biggest mistake to avoid when presenting your brand?  – @FedExOffice

Mistake: presenting your brand in anyway that you would feel compelled to apologize about. – @Smallbiztrends

You can hardly focus on sales if the next breath has you apologizing for yourwebsite or outdated business cards! – @Smallbiztrends

Too cluttered. Too many words  - @janejoeyxo

Overspending on marketing, making outlandish claims, using negative pressure tactics to gain business – @itmaiden

10:  What are your two best tips for presenting a small business brand professionally?  – @FedExOffice

Tip 1: spring for a professionally designedlogo. You will have it for years. Get the best you can afford. – @Smallbiztrends

Tip 2: quality materials count! People are tactile. We feel a business card’sweight, or a mailer’s gloss. – @Smallbiztrends

Acknowledge the value of the relationship with your customer, say thank you and don’t be afraid to ask for testimonials   - @Ileane

Make sure your branding showcases what you/yr product can do best for yr customers, and is memorable   - @CathyWebSavvyPR

Attending marketing events helped me a lot – ones sponsored by prof org  -@janejoeyxo

2 tips to present a smallbiz brand professionally: (1) set clear expectations; (2) Underpromise, but overdeliver.   - @crowdSPRING

This Twitter chat was part of the FedEx Office® Our Office Is Your Office Tweet Chat Series

Note:  to make the recap easier to read, tweets above have been edited to remove redundant information, such as hashtags and answer numbers, and fix obvious misspellings.  Tweets may be slightly out of order, for better readability. The above represents only a small portion of the tweets — it is intended to cover key highlights for reader convenience.  Go here for a transcript of the chat.  

Disclosure: FedEx Office compensated me to participate as a small business expert during the FedEx Office Our Office Is Your Office Tweet Chat program. The ideas in this blog post are mine and not ideas or advice from FedEx Office.

From Small Business Trends

Is Your Brand Helping Or Hurting Your Small Business? Chat Recap

“Is my brand helping or hurting my small business?”

If this question only has you asking more questions, without answers, then you will certainly want to join us for this chat as I will be discussing common branding mistakes and providing tips to fix them.

$100 Gift Card as Giveaway

As part of the chat, Small Business Trends will be doing a giveaway of a $100 gift card. The gift card will be good for services at a FedEx Office store near you. To be entered into the giveaway here’s what you need to do. Just tweet out the following, filling in the blank with what a statement about the value of a professional logo.  At the end of the chat we’ll randomly choose from among the best responses received:

Q:  A professional looking logo …

Example answers:  

- A professional looking logo gives customers confidence in your company’s professionalism.  #FedExOffice

- A professional looking logo says your company cares what customers think.  #FedExOffice

Your answer needs to be no longer than 140 characters, and must include the hashtag:  #FedExOffice

This Twitter chat is part of the FedEx Office® ”FedEx Office Our Office Is Your Office Tweet Chat Series.”  The discussion will be moderated on the @FedExOffice Twitter handle and the chat will take place under the #FedExOffice hashtag.

Submit your questions in advance of the Twitter chat to the @FedExOffice Twitter handle, either via direct message or in a tweet, using the #FedExOffice hashtag.  And we will be there to answer them!

Be sure to join us:

TOPIC: Is Your Brand Helping Or Hurting Your Small Business?

DATE: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

TIME: 1:00 pm ET (New York time)

WHERE: Twitter.com, of course! Simply follow the hashtag #FedExOffice.

Be sure to follow me, @smallbiztrends as well and if you’re new to Twitter chats, check out Lisa Barone’s “How to Participate in a Twitter Chat.”

Disclosure: FedEx Office compensated me to participate as a small business expert during the FedEx Office Our Office Is Your Office Tweet Chat program and write this post. FedEx Office also provided the $100 gift card. The ideas in this blog post are mine and not ideas or advice from FedEx Office.

From Small Business Trends

Twitter Chat: Is Your Brand Helping Or Hurting Your Business?

I was on the phone with this individual and when I mentioned the website issue, it was quickly shrugged off and they immediately launched into sales mode on the seminar. As this individual chattered away, I decided to conduct a search online for their name. Low and behold, three of the first four listings that come up were for an essential oils distributor. That was interesting. Also interesting to note was the fact that the only top 10 post that related to this individual was their LinkedIn profile.

It took me exactly 30 seconds to dismiss their credibility. And I felt sorry for anyone paying the $30 bucks to attend the seminar without doing a search first.

In 2005, I coined a term for this.  I call it “G-cred,” which amounts to Google credibility.  And you don’t need to be a marketing expert to pay attention to this. In 2009, Execunet reported that 86% of job recruiters relied on Internet searches to learn more about their job candidates. Today, that number is probably in the mid-90’s.

No one can afford bad “G-cred.”

When I talk to people about it and they say, in a resigned way, “My name is Mary Clark. There’s a gazillion people with that name.”  Does that mean that people won’t ever be doing a search on your name? It’s actually more of a reason to work on your G-cred. After all, do you really want the shoplifter Mary Clark, or the stripper Mary Clark, to precede you – the Mary Clark?

There are many ways to begin improving your G-cred. It’s called online content creation which simply means creating online content that, in some way, is associated with you in a positive way. It can be in the form of blog posts, online articles, presentations, memberships, press, videos, pictures, and social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MeetUp, and Pinterest.

The best, and easiest place to start is LinkedIn. If you haven’t done so already, set up your LinkedIn profile and make sure you’ve filled it out completely. There are many tutorials to explain how to do that. Then follow suit with others. If you enjoy writing, starting a blog is easier (and cheaper) than ever. That will help your G-cred in a big way. If you do, just make sure you write about the kind of things that you want to be identified with.

Start with these simple actions and before you know it you’ll have yourself some decent G-Cred – even if your name is Mary Clark.

Google Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

If You Don’t Have Google Credibility, You Don’t Have Credibility

Your PR to-do list is filled with Spring in the air, right?

Wrong.

For the majority of companies out there in just about every industry, if you focused your PR campaign on only springtime angles you would be missing out on a huge PR opportunity. Right now, thousands of reporters at major consumer and business magazines are writing about Summer, not Spring.

Case in point, if you own a boutique salon with a branded cosmetics line and wish to get a review in Cosmopolitan or Redbook magazine, you better be pitching a summertime angle right now. Perhaps their website editorial teams are still focusing on Spring because they do not have as long a lead time. But if your goal is to make it into the print edition, those section editors are focused on finishing up June and getting ready for July angles.

Most print magazines that have three or four-month lead times are in the consumer segment. Walk into any Barnes & Noble and browse the magazine section (remember, physical bookstores still exist). Most of the major titles you see (Ladies’ Home Journal, Better Homes And Gardens, Parenting, etc.) are published with this long-lead approach. Regional lifestyle magazines (Ocean Drive, Naples Illustrated, Denver 5280) are also published with a long lead cycle.

This is not isolated to just consumer magazines, by the way. There are many business print magazines that are published with a long lead time. Florida Trend, Builder, Money, are all business magazines that have a long lead cycle. As with all PR campaigns, it is important to know whether your story is better suited for a consumer or business audience. Once you have that figured out, do your research to see if your list of targeted magazines has a long lead cycle.

Here are some tips for pitching a long-lead print magazine:

1: When crafting your story pitch think three to six months ahead. What season are we in at that time? What are the major holidays? What are the annual occurrences taking place? Shape your story around all of these to get the editors attention.

2: Take a trend that is currently happening (high gas prices, Presidential campaign, housing meltdown, economic recovery) and try to project what the landscape will be like a few months down the road. How does your company, product, service, or trend story fit in?

3: Apply the same rules as every day pitching for a reporter. Send a well written email with a compelling subject line. Offer links to your website where the editor can find additional information and resources. Also offer contact information where editors can get back in touch with you.

4: Read the magazines first and get to know its style, tone, format and editors/contributors. Create a pitch that matches all these and target the appropriate editor or contributor. Most magazines will include contact information for many of the editors and writers. Google contributors to find their contact information.

5: If you are pitching a product it is okay to send a press kit with your product for a review. But do understand you may not get the product back. The press materials that accompany the product should focus on the trend and explanation of why it is a compelling product, in addition to the focus on the features and benefits. If you call the editor be sure to get to the point and make your phone pitch impactful.

Every PR campaign should include long lead print magazines because achieving a story in one of these magazines can change your business overnight. Depending on the publication, a feature spotlight of your product in a magazine read by millions, and passed on to thousands more, is just as good as appearing on daytime television.

Beach Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Springtime Means Time To Pitch Summer

1.)  You Try to Do It Yourself

Yeah, I know, you’d get marketing help if you could trust it, or afford it. Yes, it’s true that many marketing firms are beyond the financial reach of many small businesses. However, if you truly believe in the benefits of smart marketing there are professional resources that your small business can afford. You just may have to invest the time to find and qualify them. And, the better you’re able to qualify them, the more you’ll be able to trust them.

One business owner who knew the value of investing in marketing expertise was Steve Jobs. Apple incorporated on January 3rd, 1977, and within the year was running ads created by an outside agency. Great, creative marketing has been a driving force behind Apple’s stellar success ever since. As the very wise Anita Campbell, Founder of Small Business Trends, says:

“Business success is all about finding the right outside service providers and using them wisely. You can’t do it all yourself.”

2.)  You Hire Marketing Help, But it’s the Wrong Marketing Help

Unfortunately, most small business owners don’t know what they don’t know, which makes it easy for them to be misled. It’s kind of a Catch 22. Because while they may be smart enough to know they’re not marketing experts, it’s very tough to be smart enough to know who is. Getting referrals helps, but it’s not enough. So, to know how to qualify marketing help here’s part one of a three-part series on it.

3.)  You Don’t Have a Realistic Definition of What Success Is

“Success” can mean a million different things to a million different people. Plus, every situation is different. For example, if you’re offering a coupon or running a sale it’s easier to define success than if you’re rebranding your business with an upgraded logo, tagline or website. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that an upgraded logo, tagline or website is any less important.

My point is that the idea of “success” is something to be discussed upfront. This is where an outside professional perspective will definitively help. Because not only will they know more about marketing than you, but they’ll also have a more objective perspective. And, that objectivity is key. Assuming you’re able to come to an agreement about what a successful effort might look like you’ll then be in a much better position to move forward with confidence and try to achieve it.

It’s unfortunate how often business owners and outside marketing resources move forward without doing this and then end up equally disgruntled.

It truly kills me to see frustrated and jaded business owners struggling because they’ve never figured out how to resolve their marketing issues. Hopefully, this will help.

Failure Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 Reasons Why Businesses Fail at Marketing

To recap the list from part one (of this three part series) titled “3 Ways to Qualify Marketing Help:”

• Google them.
• LinkedIn Profile.
• Website Bio.
• Find out how well they know Social Media.
• Results.
• The Work.

Now, for my final few:

7.) Awards and Press: This one can be a bit controversial because while awards can be a great litmus test for some, for others, not so much. The argument is that few award shows factor in “results” as a winning criteria. I can appreciate that argument. Also, if an agency is doing lots of boasting about their awards, it’s often a way of overcompensating for weaknesses in other areas. On the other hand, if someone has no awards, that’s not good either. So, seek a happy medium.

Press-worthy work is another good litmus test because great press can be a great, free, added benefit for you. So, find out if they’ve gotten any. If they have, are we talking the local Penny Saver, or The New York Times?

8.) Are they a respected industry thought leader? The more respected they are in their industry, the better the chance they’re truly good at what they do. How can you know? Do they get invited to speak? Do they get interviewed? Have the agency principals been published in the trades? Are they on Wikipedia?

9.) Do they make it easy to work together? This is one you might not have considered. The fact is that investing in marketing help is a scary proposition for most business owners, especially first-timers. A smart marketing resource will be aware of that and have an easy way to start the process and test the waters.

10.) Are they driven and truly passionate about their business? It’s one of the most important, yet most overlooked items on the list. If you’re passionate about your business you’ll want to work with someone equally passionate about theirs. Sometimes you can simply hear it in their voice or see it in their eyes. You can also tell by how they present themselves online. Does it feel inspired, or rudimentary?

11.) How well do they market themselves? This one almost seems dumb because you’d assume that any marketing firm looking to help you would be awesome at their own marketing. Not true and I’ve heard all the excuses: “Well, I guess I’m like the shoemaker with no shoes.”…. “Hey, I’m just way too busy with my clients.”… yada, yada, yada.

Don’t buy it. The last thing you want to do is to hire a marketing firm that sucks at marketing themselves.

To conclude I’ll repeat a last key point that I mentioned in my first post regarding referrals. Referrals are an obvious, logical way to find help and they often work out fine. I don’t list “getting referrals” as a qualifier because everyone already knows that. What they may not know — and what this series addresses — is that a referral is just a starting point.

I could probably add a couple more to this list, but if you follow these 11 guidelines you’ll be well on your way to finding the right, qualified, marketing help. This is the final installment of this three part series. Check out part two, “3 More Ways to Qualify Marketing Help.”

Good luck, and “Happy Qualifying.”

Handshake Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

5 Final Ways to Qualify Marketing Help

I’d also like to say that while this topic is intended for small business owners seeking marketing help, I was pleased to see so many positive comments from other marketers. So, if that’s you, keep reading and maybe you’ll pick up a tip or two on ways to fine tune your current presentation.

My first three ways to qualify a marketing resource were:

1.)  Google them and see what you can find.

2.)  Check to see if they have a LinkedIn profile.

3.)  Read their website bio.

My next three ways to qualify a marketing resource are:

4.)  Find out how well they know Social Media:  Sure, everyone’s talking about Social Media. What you’ll want to find out is how involved they are with it and how effectively they’re putting it to use. But even better than asking them, do some simple online investigating. Some specific questions to answer are:

• Do they have a great blog? If so, when was their last post? Was it interesting, current and relevant?
• How’s their Facebook Brand Page?
• How’s their YouTube Channel?
• Do they Tweet and if so, what about? Are they tweeting about the bar they’re drinking at or something that reflects true marketing intelligence? You’ll find all this out pretty quickly just by logging in.

5.)  Results: Ultimately, it comes down to this, right? And, yet, how many marketing firms truly have a lot to say about it? Well, they’d better if they want to be seriously considered. So, on their website do they display great testimonials and case studies? Just a couple or a bunch? The more they show, the more you might be convinced that maybe you’ll be the next one.

6.)  The Work. This may be the most important litmus test of all because you can’t possibly consider anyone if you don’t seriously like – or better yet, love — their work. So, when you visit their site make sure you give yourself more than enough time to review and fully digest their work. It’ll be well worth the time you invest.

That covers Part 2 of this three part series. Check out the final post, “5 Final Ways to Qualify Marketing Help.”

Handshake Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 More Ways to Qualify Marketing Help

1. Turn Paper into Digital

By simply making your book available via Kindle and other ebook resources, you expand the reach of people who can buy and read your book. Kindle books are remarkably easy to market: all  a customer has to do is click a link to download. This makes your work easier than having to convince them to drive to the bookstore to buy it. Kindle Direct Publishing provides a comprehensive guide to help you format and market your Kindle book.

2. Use Amazon to Your Advantage

It’s hard to remember life before Amazon, isn’t it? Many authors don’t realize the amount of tools available to them, just on their book’s page. If you’re self-published, you should have access to fill out your book’s description and details, as well as tags that relate to the book. The cool thing about tags is that as other people search for books with these tags, they’ll find yours. You can also start discussions that may draw in others who are looking at your book.

Listmania is another great tool for authors. With it, you can create a list of related books, such as “Must-Read Small Biz Books” and include your own. “So You’d Like To…” is another useful feature. If you’re an expert in, say, baking organic pizzas (and have written a book on it), you can create a guide that discusses the topic and recommends books to help readers.

And don’t forget reviews! Amazon shoppers look to see what others think of books, so encouraging your readers to review your book on Amazon will help sell more.

3. Check Out Author Marketing Club

Author Marketing Club, a new free service created by Jim Kukral, aims to help authors who don’t have a clue how to market their books promote it through various tools. The service is also available for readers who want access to new and free releases.  As Jim says:

“You can’t just throw your book up on Amazon and hope and pray.”

His site includes tools that get authors’ books in front of readers, a forum to connect with other authors, and free landing pages for books. There are also videos to help with uploading a book to Amazon.

4. Use GoodReads to Promote

If you haven’t checked out GoodReads, it’s worth a look. Think of it as Facebook for book lovers. You can share what you’re reading, review books and look for suggestions. As an author, there are marketing tools at your disposal. You can create an author bio and list your books, conduct a book giveaway, or give a Q&A on your books. Many people use the site as a way to discover new reads, so this is a good audience to be in front of.

5. Connect with Bloggers

Bloggers review books. By getting several respected bloggers to cover your book, you can be introduced to their readers and find new customers. Find bloggers who cover your topic and reach out to them and offer a review copy.

In addition to these suggestions, blogs and social media are a great way to find new readers. Remember, just like marketing anything, book marketing requires long-term dedication, and begins before your book is even released.

Book Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

5 Marketing Tools for Book Authors

But hold on a second. There might just be a silver lining here and small business could be a big part of it.

When you think of public relations (PR) and the cruise ship disaster you probably think of the PR nightmare the cruise ship company (Carnival Cruise Lines is the parent company) had to deal with in the ensuing days, weeks and soon-to-be-months following the disaster. You are not wrong in this assessment. No doubt, it’s been a big lesson in crisis PR.

But there is actually an opportunity to be had from this and other crisis that have unfolded before our eyes, Blackberries and iPhones. On any given day it would be nearly impossible for a local travel agent to capture the attention of a CNN producer or USA Today reporter, but that is exactly what happened to CruiseOne franchisee, Amber Blecker. It would also be nearly impossible for a local restaurant in New Orleans or oil boom manufacturer to get the attention of FOX News or The New York Times. But while some face crisis, others see opportunity.

Local travel agents have an opportunity to chat with reporters when a major cruise ship situation occurs anywhere in the world much like an oil boom manufacturer is in demand when a BP oil well ruptures in the Gulf of Mexico.

Whether it is Carnival Cruise Lines, BP, Tiger Woods or a political candidate embarrassing themselves on social media, news stories occur as a result of tragedy and the following days are filled with plenty of talking heads serving as subject-matter experts. These experts can and should be represented by small businesses that have something to add to the story.

This is not ambulance chasing. This is a PR opportunity. See, the story is going to be written whether you think it is fair or not. Small business owners can and should seize the opportunity and get their company in the news, positioning themselves as a subject expert. Some might think this is capitalizing on someone else’s mess. The truth is, it is an opportunity for a small business to feed the news machine with information that is ultimately going to be distributed anyways. And If you are not participating in the story, your competitor will be more than happy to give information and a quote.

To be fair, this is certainly not the time to be promoting special deals. But it is appropriate to provide information and perspective interested viewers and readers want to learn. More importantly, you will develop a relationship with a key national reporter who may or may not listen to a story pitch a few years later when you have an idea for a different story.

The 24-hour news cycle is filled with plenty of news that is not very positive. As a small business owner you have an opportunity to see where you fit in with the story line and offer up your insight. The ensuing coverage will position you as an expert and just might lead to a few people who want to learn more about you and your business.

Tragedy happens almost daily in today’s world. In this tragedy, small businesses can find a PR opportunity.

Costa Concordia Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Finding Small Business PR Opportunity In Tragedy

A common theme with small business owners is that they can’t afford the expense of marketing help. I’ve learned that whenever someone says they “can’t afford” something it usually means they don’t see the value of it. Savvy owners and managers do see the value of good marketing help. The problem is: finding and qualifying it.

Referrals are certainly a logical way to do it. And, often times they work out fine. On the other hand, what’s right for one business may be wrong for yours. If you understand that a marketing service is only as good as the top person (or people) behind it, learning as much as you can about that person is one of the best ways to qualify a marketing service and see if they’d be a good fit for you.

Here are 3 ways to do that:

1)  Google them: This is the broadest most objective way to get the scoop on anyone. It’s a great way to get a full picture. I call it “G-cred” for Google credibility. Just be sure you’ve got the right person since there are probably tons of others with the same name. You can get around that by adding a key word or two to refine the search – like adding the industry or profession. You might also add a geographic location. Since the person you’re searching for is supposed to be a savvy marketing pro it’d better not be real hard to find them, regardless of their name. So, if their “G-cred” sucks, consider that a reason to rule them out.

2)  LinkedIn Profile: Since every professional has one, you can also search there. Again, there could be tons of others with the same name so be sure you’ve got the right one. LinkedIn will provide a good sense of where they come from and how professionally qualified they are to service your business.

3)  Website Bio:  If you’re checking out their website there should be a bio on it. Let me rephrase that. If you’re checking out their website, there’d better be a bio on it. That said, I’m amazed at the number of companies that don’t post any bio info about the company leadership. That’s pretty dumb because all it does is raise a flag. As mentioned earlier, a company is only as good as the top people behind it.  If a site doesn’t include a great bio of the boss you’ve got to wonder why.

Rather than viewing marketing as an ‘expense’ Anita Campbell says that “marketing is an ‘investment’ to help you achieve your revenue goals faster.” She adds that

“Not finding the right outside resource will probably hobble your business.”

Do these things and it’ll increase your odds of getting the right marketing help that your business deserves.

This is part one of a three part series.  Check out part two, “3 More Ways to Qualify Marketing Help” and part three “5 Final Ways to Qualify Marketing Help.”

Potential Employees Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 Ways to Qualify Marketing Help