Posts filed under ‘small business tips’
The Return of Mom and Pop shops
It has to be said; big box stores are still at large. They dominate urban landscapes, offer competitive pricing, great deals, low to high quality products and services, but they still cannot and will not replace the mom and pop shops. Home cooked food, detailed hand made products, service with a real smile, all the things that your friendly neighbourhood and locally owned Bob and Martha stores provide.
History repeats itself. Before the Walmart’s of today, business was social. Owners interacted and knew their customers by name. The butcher knew what cuts of meats their customers liked, the dry cleaners knew whether or not certain customers wanted their clothes folded or on hangers, and if there wasn’t something a store carried, it would surely appear on the next visit. Shop owners were once your next door neighbour, your ‘buddy’, your weekly friendly face.
It was once all about knowing your customers needs and creating a personal experience. We are slowly and surely heading back that way. Looking at the statistics, big companies are still laying off thousands of people each month. On a brighter side, more people are seeing the value in starting their own businesses. Most recently, the biggest employment rate and job creation has been through entrepreneurship and small business ownership. It could be said that it is easier to start a business now then it was 10 years ago. Perhaps this has influenced and helped people make that leap to entrepreneurship.
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Want to learn more? Thinking of starting or growing your business? Let BizLaunch help you guide the way. Visit www.BizLaunch.ca for free tools, seminars, webinars and low cost programs to help you get your business up and running or growing to the next level.Talking Like Obama: 5 Ways to Capture Your Audience
1. Talk about the Audience’s concerns
2. Use the KISS Principal (Keep it Simple Stupid)
3. Anticipate what your audience is thinking
4. Learn to pause (John Maxwell also does this VERY well)
5. Master body Language
To see the rest of the article click here: Five Ways to Talk Like Obama. BNET news put this out today
I thought it was very insightful and helpful.
Social Media Thoughts and Barriers to Entry. Part 1
It is not easy finding your space in the social media sphere. With the likes of people like Ashton Kutcher and The Real Shaq, it is hard to determine whether or not using platforms like Twitter for your small business has any worthwhile importance. (For more information on Ashton Kutcher and the First Tweeter to get 1 Million followers, click here).
For Twitter:
It really all depends on your goal in using social media. If you are out there to get as many people to follow you as possible, then you would be ill-advised to use social media for your business. However, this does have some benefits. I sometimes ask open questions on Twitter and get decent replies. People will direct me to other blogs, websites, and Tweeters for my answer. It all helps. But WHO follows you often has a huge impact on what sort of replies and ‘advice’ you’ll get. Who YOU chose to follow also shapes your Twitter success. I suggest you use Tweetdeck to organize your columns into strategic groups. This way you can keep track of what is happening in all your communities of interest. You can organize your groups anyway you chose.
Barrier to Entry:
It is not tough to get in, but it is tough to build a decent community and gain credibility. The biggest barrier: INVESTMENT OF TIME. In order to stay on top, in the know, and on-the-scene, your social media campaign(s) must be updated everyday! Yes….E V E R Y D A Y. (I am a hypocrite as it has been 9 days since I made my last blog post. Don’t do what I do). However, when it comes to Twitter and Facebook, you only need 20 minutes a day to start. 10 minutes to check out what is happening in the Twittersphere and 10 minutes to update your status and RSVP to events on Facebook. Easy as pie.
Part 2…coming soon.
Until Then:
If you want more information on how to develop a simple Social Media Startegy for your business, contact me at renee@reneewarren.com
Sweet Flour’s Customer of the Day
Is me! You can see my cookie story here.
This is a fantastic small business with a great idea: Custom make your own cookies.
If you havent already checked out the new custom bake shop Sweet Flour on Bloor Street in Toronto, it’s time you do. All I can say is Mmmmmmm.
Happy Cookie Making.
Speaking Events
I will be speaking to the Post-Graduate Humber College Marketing Management and International Marketing class on Social Media and Small Business on Monday April 13th at 9am. The Humber Et Cetera will be covering the event.
Social Media Reality Check: cool stuff!
It is often hard to find relevant Canadian content in terms of Social Media ‘stuff’. But Newswire put this out there today. If your small business has not adopted a social media strategy, these survey results will open your eyes.
Kindergarten: The Basics for Small Business Success
Remember the saying “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten“? That saying should hold true in your small business. The list is basic, ironically whimsical, and valid.
These are the things I learned:
- Share everything. (Good for power brainstorm sessions and idea creation)
- Play fair. (Merit, merit merit!!!)
- Don’t hit people. (If someone ‘screws up’. Let them dust off and try again)
- Put things back where you found them. (Like my stapler!)
- Clean up your own mess. (Tidy workstations, businesses, and offices, are easier, healthier, and more productive places to work)
- Don’t take things that aren’t yours. (Ideas, thoughts, inventions…and merit!)
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. (If you ‘screw up’, apologize and fix your mistake)
- Wash your hands before you eat. (Makes for a healthy flu season)
- Flush. (duh!)
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. (I always loved the ladies that brought in home-cooked food. It surely increased morale)
- Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day – some (Don’t make your business your life. Make sure to live and love too.)
- Take a nap every afternoon. (To the dedicated entrepreneur, a ‘nap’ is a 15-20 minute afternoon siesta. Try it sometime)
- When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. (What is your competition doing? Probably taking a nap)
- Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. (Plant your businesses roots deep and watch it grow. If you water it and give it light it will turn into a beautiful flower)
- Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we. (Your business will change, it will evolve, and hopefully prosper into something amazing. It’s your duty to avoid business death, but to understand that it can happen)
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK (Self explanatory)
Now take one or all of those items and apply it to your life and your business.
Watch it grow.
Twitter Tools for Tough Times
Tweetr
This tool allows you to send files to your Twitter friends by simply dragging them on to the application. Tweetr automatically uploads your file or picture and provides you with a shortened link. Great, with only 140 characters to use.
Twitsay
If you got a BIG announcement to make, perhaps a launch of a new product, or you want to propose to your girlfriend (haha), this app is just for you. Twitsay let’s you record a voice message and broadcast it via your Twitter account.
Twits Like Me
Simply enter your Twitter username and it will analyze your recent tweets and then suggest other Tweeters that may interest you. I tried it and found some pretty cool people.
Twhirl
This free desktop client lets you follow live Twitter updates while you work. It is both Windows and Mac friendly, and it connects to multiple accounts so that you can simultaneously monitor your, say, Twitter and Friendfeed accounts. I don’t particularly like this app, as the window is small, the updates scattered and you can’t organize the people you follow into groups.
Twitterlight
This app allows you to highlight text on your screen and submit it to Twitter. You can also shorten a copy of the URL of the page and ad it to the text.
Group Tweet
Allows you to make a protected Twitter group so you can discuss private information with many people. This is great for internal business conversations.
Twitxtr
This app lets you upload photos from your phone to post to Twitter. You can also grab pics from Flickr, Picasa and Facebook accounts. Talk about intense photo sharing.
Straw Poll
Awesome and cute. This is an excellent way to do quick and simple polls to get to the bottom of some of your small business issues. It’s easy to use and fun for followers to engage in some basic research/polling.
Twitgraph
Analyze your Twitter usage by simply entering your user name. It will output graphs that shows you information about your tweets, including the most commonly used words as well as overview of your daily tweet volume.
My fave – TweetDeck
Tweetdeck although intimidating at first, easily enables you to organize your ‘followed’ into columns, know as ‘groups’. The fun part is that you can label these groups however you like. Tehehe.
From my ‘Your Social Media Start-Up Guide’
In the era of Social Media, everyone has a say. Smart businesses have already made that leap and are participating in their client/customers conversations. They are engaging in their markets needs and wants and creating products and services from immediate responses. Other than face-to-face contact, it is the most intimate, real-time relationship building that businesses can do to get to the heart of their most important assets, their customers
Social Media is important to a Small Business because it is becoming a new way of marketing. Mathew Ingram from The Globe and Mail said “All media is becoming Social Media”. Just like the creation of the Morse code allowed for cross-Atlantic communication and the internet enabled one to instantly send mail, Social Media is quickly becoming a fundamental element to daily business operations. If you aren’t on board this social media train yet, you better buy your ticket. The next train is coming. Are you ready to get on?
Note: I am currently writing “Your Social Media Start-up Guide”, a useful, no fluff guide for entrepreneurs and small business owners. If you are interested in contributing or receiving a final copy, please email me at renee@reneewarren.com. I look forward to your feedback
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
I call it, Care, Relate, Manage.
Let’s Daydream here:
So you confidently left a networking session and made two new contacts and potential prospects. (Refer to my last post Networking to Get Work). You go home, email those people and develop a relationship. Then, within a couple months, they’re your customers.
Wake up. Now ask yourself:
How are you going to manage and maintain all these new relationships? You need to consistently follow and track leads. This process should be inexpensive and time saving.
How can you use CRM effectively? Oddly enough the same relationship management tools still apply at this stage of the relationship as they do while networking, only you’re way more involved and have more data to track.
Having a CRM system to track leads that come in through networking events, your site or your on line marketing activities is fundamental if you’re looking to convert those leads into customers or members. But for companies on a tight budget, especially small business and start-ups, there are only few alternatives to the expensive package.
Here is the reality:
There are many software packages out there that are cheap or free and easy to use. Here are 4 CRM tools to help you better manage your database.
1. FreeCRM
2. ZohoCRM
3. CiviCRM
4. Salesforce.com Free CRM
Remember: free versions have their limitations. Don’t expect to have access to all available CRM tools and applications with these free packages.
Renée Warren's Blog 