BizStratBlog2

If Rochester, Michigan can do it, why can't we?

Rochester, Michigan - a smaller city that shares our name in Michigan, has decided to make their downtown a "winter wonderland" - lighting every building downtown for the holiday season.  As we "enjoy" our dead downtown this holiday season - think of what doing something like Rochester Michigan has done, in combination with free downtown holiday parking and a strong police presences to ensure and maintain safety could do to improve the vital retail and business environment downtown...

http://www.ledgenlighting.com/slideshow3.php

Rochester Rocks: Networking is Alive and Well Here

Life in Rochester is never dull. If you aren't experiencing the excitement, the interactivity, the good food and good connections, then you aren't paying attention. Rochester has so much going for it, it's amazing that anyone can whine about "nothing to do."

For businesses, we have a proponderance of good networking groups and events, on a weekly basis. SCORE always has something important and useful going on - including how to market yourself on the Internet. A worthy seminar, if ever there was one.

Plus, each town has its own Chamber of Commerce and as such, offers monthly programs to help local small businesses be uber successful. If you do nothing else, please look into the Chamber of Commerce in your area. You will find like-minded people eager to connect and learn more about you.

NAWBO, the National Association of Women Business Owners, has a local chapter and its leader this year is the dynamic Jonna Martin of Advance Me Associates. We heard her speak at AWC, yet another women's chapter of a national org, the Association of Women in Communication. She was not only informative and approachable, she was a lot of fun.

Rochester is also home to RAMA, the local chapter of the American Marketing Association.  This well-rounded group of marketing professionals contributes to the local business focus by providing monthly events that rival anything you might attend in bigger cities. Case in point, Monday, October 29th, one of our own, Howie Jacobson, (part of RAMA's super hero marketing series) will be talking on branding and Tavern on the Green. The event is at the Pittsford restaurant, Tastings, and sure to be a memorable one (good food always makes an event more memorable).

And, of course, there's the ever-present and very useful group of small business consultants who meet every Friday, RPCN. RPCN, the Rochester Professional Consultants Network, is focused on small businesses, and has programs that cover financing, marketing, sales, setting up and office, and more. Anyone even thinking about starting their own business as a consultant should join this group. (they also rent out their projector, if your group is in need of one)

This is just the tip of the iceberg that is the Rochester business center. We have technology covered, we have publishing covered, we have women's groups covered, and we have business in general covered. Networking to find new business, to meet new professsionals in your field of business, or to introduce a friend around, is alive and well in Rochester. Just ask anyone involved in the groups listed here - they will likely introduce you to other groups that can help you make your business a success.

Are you throwing your money away on web advertising?

Recently a potential customer called me to ask "Why isn't my web advertising working?"

He was spending around a hundred dollars a month on targetted Google Advertising, and had actually done a pretty good job of working out what keywords were the right ones for his business. But he was getting no results - no new calls, no new orders, no new sales.  What was he doing wrong?

In analyzing his situation we looked at two things - the advertisements themselves, and the website. The ads weren't all that bad - but they were very sales oriented. This is a common error that marketing people make when they create an online ad - they think in terms of print advertising. In print, radio, and TV advertising your goal is to get the advertisement reader to buy your product NOW, or remember you and buy your product LATER.

In search-based web advertising the ONLY GOAL is to get the user to click your link and go to your site.  You can sell them all you want on the site but you need to get them to click through first.

Click through on the post continuation to see what to do to optimize your web ads, and what this customer's second mistake was...

Effecting Positive Change in Advertising

A popular axiom states “If you continue to do things the same way, you will always get the same results”. Too often advertisers adhere to marketing strategies that foster marginal or no results. It is essential at this point to take a step back to decide if new ideas and tactics should be implemented. Even the best marketing approach can become passe' and in need of refreshing. Here are some top tips on effecting positive change...

Sales success—it's all about details.

The true mark of a good salesperson is not always about how many sales you can close, but rather how many clients choose to stay with you because they can count on your reliability. From an employers’ perspective closed sales are important, but from the clients’ outlook, their main concern is whether or not you and your company will provide consistent service and performance.

Some years ago when I served as sales manager for a local printing company, I was charged with overseeing the activities of 4 to 5 other sales people and assisting them in building and managing their respective client base. One of the junior salesmen had an abundance of energy, and was affectionately referred to as the “Wild Mustang”. He was rather freestyle but had a natural talent for getting past the “gatekeepers”, engaging with prospects, and securing a sale – often with his first meeting.  No one could fault him on his sales approach. You can’t knock success!

Social Media Tutorial

We're hearing a lot about "social media" these days. The phrase has become a catch-all for anything Web 2.0. -- which is another catch-all. Within the marketing realm, these two phrases are bandied about as easily as "email" and "internet"... both phrases that took their time becoming accepted use concepts.

Naturally, when new tools and opportunities create new ways to reach and interact with customers, they spawn a list of new terms. Each term is a way to identify what's new and different about that particular approach. Unfortunately, these new terms get in the way, sometimes, of actually helping small business owners understand the value of participating in the new format of marketing.

Some of the small business owners I talk to actually get a bit testy when I say, "Web 2.0" or "social media." They're most annoyed by the whole "blogging" phenomena, although I do notice that they're less so, as time goes on. What seems to be happening, here in Rochester, as well as throughout the rest of the U.S. (and elsewhere - remember, the Internet is global), is that business owners have enough to do to run their businesses successfully. They bristle at the thought that we techies want to drop something new - and complicated - on their desks.

Marketing Tips From Jerry

As we, Business Strategies Magazine, come to the end of another successful year at the SOHO (Small Office Home Office Trade Show), I'd like to share some marketing secrets for the benefit of our clients. Here are my top four things to remember to maximize your trade-show efforts:

· Make certain that someone is always staffing your booth and ready to greet visitors. Regardless of how well designed your display may be, it is no substitute for the information that prospective clients can obtain only by interacting with you. 
· Greet each person as you would a guest in your home. Don't jump right in to a sales pitch!

Citizen Marketers

One might believe, if one is actively engaged in marketing in today's digital world, that consumer generated content rules. This week Rochester will have the opportunity to hear an expert speak on the subject, at Mario's Via Abruzzi, one of our best restaurants.

Jackie Huba, of Church of the Customer, will be discussing citizen journalism - of which this blog is part. Her new book, Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message, will be offered as a free give away at the luncheon.

But, is that really where the world of marketing and advertising is going?

Is the highly regarded profession of journalism and reporting going the way of the ball-point pen? (I mean, who uses a ball-point pen these days? Few people, I'm guessing.) Are newspapers and magazines in danger of being shredded into oblivion?

Not likely. While it's true that blogs and wikis and user-generated content seem to be consuming the net, there is no danger of losing our print publications. The print version of Business Strategies magazine offers a great deal to the reader - as much if not more than they get here, on this blog. More in content, value, and focus. The print publication has its place - on CEO's desks, executive's desks, on the table in the lobby where visitors can read it, and in briefcases going to the airport, or on a bus traveling to work, not to mention, in the library. This blog is always here, to be accessed at will - as long as you have an Internet connection.

We need to be aware of all of our options - using the Internet, reading books, subscribing to blogs and  magazines. The citizens of the world need to express themselves - online and in print; on TV and on the radio; in whatever form is best suited to their message. Most often - it's many forms. It's a variety of platforms.

I hope many of you get to see Jackie Huba. She has a message that should not be ignored. Just don't think she (or I, or anyone else) is predicting the end of print. Some things are just too good to let go of. Print publications are among those.

Business Strategies, anyone?