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Hickenlooper’s Colorado Blueprint
Patrice Barber - Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Last month I had the honor of attending a reception for Ken Lund, Executive Director of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The event was hosted by TiE Rockies, an organization that supports entrepreneurs and therefore, receives my undying admiration and support.
Mr. Lund outlined Governor Hickenlooper’s Colorado Blueprint, a plan designed to bolster economic development through entrepreneurship in our state. I was pleased to join a group of about 30 other business leaders to listen to the presentation.
With the mission of helping local entrepreneurs start and grow viable businesses, TiE Rockies is a perfect organization to assist in implementing the Colorado Blueprint. The local chapter of TiE provides education, mentoring and networking events throughout the greater Denver area. Its membership includes successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists looking to assist promising start-up companies.
I am delighted to join other TiE charter members to provide expertise that will transform the plan into a reality. Our goal is to expand and enhance the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Developing programs and initiatives that will propel start-up businesses onto a fast track of success will definitely create jobs and improve Colorado’s economy.
Having spent over 15 years providing training and consulting services to entrepreneurs, my team and I are ready to join forces with Ken Lund and TiE Rockies to launch some strategic initiatives and get the ball rolling. For more information, go to rockies.tie.org.
90 Minutes to a Successful PR Campaign - Workshop
Patrice Barber - Thursday, September 15, 2011
What if you could have the Business Journal calling you?
ABC news saw your article and now they want an interview!
What would that mean to your business?
The reach of the media far exceeds our ability to network in person.
Many business owners see PR campaigns as limited to a corporate budget.
We used to believe that PR campaigns required a PR agency or ad agency.
Now that the PR landscape has changed,
you have direct access to the media.
In this hands on workshop, you will develop a PR campaign specific to your business.
Leave with your completed PR campaign ready to implement.
In the workshop :
- Get your business and get "media ready" with your very own updated media kit
- Create the backbone of your marketing arsenal - your advocate list
- Outline the key points of your next press release
- Identify your target industries and related media connections
- Get ready to shine the spot light on your PR campaign
When: September 28 from 1:30-3:30 pm
Seating is limited to the first 30.
Reserve your seat today http://bityurl.com/PR-now-aa
The workshop is held at : Remax Professional Training Center 9200 E. Panorama Cir Englewood, CO
10 Critical Points To Get Your Press Release Accepted
Patrice Barber - Wednesday, August 24, 2011
10 Critical Points To Get Your Press Release Accepted
Publicity is one of the best ways and most cost effective ways to drive traffic to your site.
You already know it is an excellent marketing tool for your business overall.
Because it is very cost effective it makes a great tool for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
The key to success is understanding when, where, and how to submit press releases so they get accepted. Many of our clients use press releases on PR wire and PR Web as a way to drive serious traffic ( 1000’s of new visitors) to their sites, promote upcoming events, and they never even talk to the editors. Others send releases to the media (not online sites) and end up with the governor coming to their event.
That is the power of publicity from the media.
If you seek printing in publications, here’s an important fact - publications with under 30,000 subscribers – local publications - are THRIVING as the rest of the bigger boys are seriously struggling to stay in business. Keep your local focus, use your local publications, and build your local presence. You never know where that will lead since the A/P picks up lots of local stories for national coverage.
Join us at our workshop Aug 31, 2011 and find out the Insider Secrets to Getting Publicity on a Shoestring Budget.
Getting started:
- At the top f your press release give the instructions about what the release is for. FOR RELEASE AUGUST 28th, 2011 or FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Also include the type of release: News Release above the instructions .Submit releases about 1-2 weeks before an event if you want to attract media coverage. Submit them within the week for shorter turn times and if you have some relationship with the editor or reporter(s)
- Type ,don’t hand write releases. Use double spacing and a large margin. Editors use the margin for their notes and get huffy if you use “their” space. Huffy means they easily may toss your release. They get hundreds per day for significant publications.
- Use your logo and header above the actual press release. Send in as a .pdf attachment, submitted to the editors site online, or sent in by snail mail – not my favorite, but can work.
- Use a headline that grabs attention and invites the reader to want more. Some examples: (Name of Company) launches new website for Your Target Market Free Information Available at Type of (Critical Business Resource, etc) Taylor Made Small Biz launches new website for Military Entrepreneurs Online
- Start with the place the story originates as the first two words. Looks like this (City, State)…in parentheses and three dots or 3 dashes after. Denver, Colorado---August 28th, 2011- A new website launched this week to help our soldiers coming home realize the benefits and ease of starting their own business. MilitaryEntrepreneursOnline.com offers free training to our veterans on how to start their business using online marketing strategies that are low cost, high tech, and very effective at getting more customers in the door.
- KISS – Keep It Simple Sweetheart – Most of us struggle a little here, so get a good editor. Make sure your first paragraph answers who, what, when and why. ( See above example)
- At the bottom include your short paragraph about your company About Your Company (Company Website)
- Below the about the company provide the contact’s name. Include the first and last name of your contact person to call for more information. Show the email and if you really want to get contacted include home phone (or cell phone), as well as the business number.
- Keep the release to a single page. If you have more than 1 page, number the rest at the bottom. Put “more”-centered at the bottom of each page. Don’t add another subject reference or headline on the other pages.
- And most critical - At the end of the release, add –END- or three # signs centered on the page. Who knew ### could be so vital !
Getting Started With Social Media
Patrice Barber - Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Social Media is the exciting new tool of the future businesses today are using to expand and grow. To successfully and efficiently use Social Media, there are some key points every business needs to address.
First of all, you must have a clearly started purpose, a select target market and a vision. After this initial step, you must choose appropriate platforms to cater to your purpose, target market and vision. Next, come up with a budget. How much do you want to spend/how much can you spend on Social Media? Once the budget is decided, allocate someone to manage your Social Media. Next, time and resources must be set aside to work on and maintain your Social Media efforts. Then you must decide which KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you are going to measure. These measurements will allow you to keep track of how your company is doing in regards to its Social Media efforts. Next, is it important to decide how you will integrate your Social Media with your conventional marketing and website. This integration is very important as it gives your target market a clear vision and understanding of your company as a whole. Next, decide how will you create the content for your Social Media. Also decide how much content you will present and how often you will present it. And finally, give examples of the content. This can be in the form of articles, eBooks, blogs, video, coupons, sampling, podcasts, contests/sweeps etc. Efficient Social Media efforts can lead to a more successful business, reaching its target markets and expanding its fan base. By following these steps, any business can effectively utilize Social Media!
Google Plus
Patrice Barber - Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Google Plus is the newest social networking site to hit the Internet. Being as its from Google, it's no surprise that this is going to turn out pretty big. While the network is still in its infancy, anyone who has a Gmail account has access to the network. Due to the huge number of users of Gmail, the number of uses in Google Plus skyrocketed as soon as the network was made available. However, since it still has not officially launched, there are many things lacking in Google Plus that Facebook has. For example, businesses are not allowed on Google Plus yet, making the avenue inadequate for advanced marketing. There are many things that make Google Plus quite unique, and it will take some time for Facebook to catch up.
Many people theorize that Facebook has been slacking on updating its features, because until now it did not have any major competitors. MySpace unofficially died long ago, and frankly I have always hated the extremely cluttered look of the site. Facebook will always have a place in the social networking world, as it will be forced to innovate, but for now Google Plus has some very interesting features.
Google Plus's two most innovative features are Circles and Hangout. Circles is what all the high school and college users of Facebook are really excited about. It allows you to exclude certain categories of people from certain postings, and is much more efficient than the Facebook system of categorizing posts. You can create as many circles as you want and name it whatever you want, and your friends cannot see the name of your circles. For your work supervisor, you could friend him and put him in the circle of "Dumb boss", and he/she would not be any the wiser. It truly is an innovative system!
Then there is Hangout, which is a really awesome feature. It allows you to video chat with multiple people at once. You can get all your friends together and chat in the same place, which is an unparalleled social networking feature. The future is finally here, and it is only a matter of time before we are speaking to each other using holographic representations of ourselves. It might sound crazy, but such technology already exists, and at the rate technology is changing we will probably see that in the next couple years. It is going to be pretty incredible! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6455881
At Taylor Made Small Bizwe can help you create a online business strategy that incorporates all social media platforms to help you gain an ROI quicker.
Shiny new things that will burst your bubble on Google Places.
Patrice Barber - Tuesday, July 26, 2011
If you haven’t checked lately you may be in for a surprise on your Google Places page.
First you will start seeing a Write review red button to begin capturing Google reviews which of course will be highlighted before the other reviews like from Yelp or Merchant Circle and others. This is a wonderful addition that your clients will find helpful. Encourage them to use it as it is going to be very powerful to your business. This will be interesting to watch as Yelp takes a back seat to Google.
Next you may find you are missing reviews. Google is not showing your reviews from non Google reviewers ( like Yelp etc) AND some of our clients have found even their “Google Reviews “ have gone missing . hmmmm.
In addition, check on your Details section as some are finding that their details are not showing up.
For service based businesses like us that provide our services for a wide area, the Service Area Map was quite useful and for the time being has gone missing too.
Overall there is a long term “nit” between service based business and brick and mortar businesses both of whom would like to take advantage of the SEO (traffic driving) advantages of Google Places. There are of course new, alternate ways to accomplish the online traffic driving goals.
Our online business clients are getting the details of how we will be fixing their pages to continue to optimize their online business. As always, we have followed @Perry Marshall age old advice and don’t rely all that much on Google directly BECAUSE it changes and is not predictable. If you haven’t considered widening your traffic generating strategies beyond your Google usage, perhaps now is a good time to reconsider all the aspects to growing your online business.
Find out more about google places change here http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/07/ongoing-evolution-of-place-pages.html
It's a Three Legged Stool Thing
Patrice Barber - Wednesday, July 13, 2011
How many of you started your business because you love to sell? Or because you love to do the bookkeeping and accounting for your company? Or create processes or manage employees? My guess is: not many!
But all of these "other" responsibilities are vital to a successful small business and, if you are like most small business owners, these vital tasks get back-burnered while tending to the day to day obligations of your business.
1. DOING. 2. MANAGING. 3. BUILDING.
These are the three legs of the proverbial three legged stool that must be tackled to grow and sustain a viable business.
DOING
For most of us, it is easy to address the DOING leg. Usually, this is the most enjoyable part of our businesses. It's what you would do all day long if you could. It is the day to day work of the business. It's your core skills and probably why you started your business in the first place.
If you are a cabinet maker, it is working with the wood. If you are a therapist, it is being with your client delivering the services that will benefit him or her. If you own a retail shop, it is selecting lines and interacting with shoppers. If you're a web developer, it is creating the web site. In short, whatever you started your business to do, is what you spend the most of your time actually DOING. That makes sense. But it often comes at the expense of not addressing the other two legs which are equally important.
MANAGING
The idea of MANAGING your business is more than managing employees. It is the effort you invest to develop or improve the processes within your company to create greater efficiency. It is getting invoices sent on time. It is following up on past due invoices. It is researching and developing new products or services. It is tending to administrative issues such as your lease or verifying you have a good interest rate with your merchant service provider. These duties are part of managing your business. They often do not require daily attention, but should be addressed on a regular basis to ensure you are running your business efficiently and profitably. Even though you have good intentions and these tasks get added to your To Do List, they often get skipped over because you need to do "more pressing things". This can wait until tomorrow. The tomorrows to weeks and then months and you miss the opportunity to MANAGE your business for maximum profit, effective employees and efficient operations.
The penalty for not managing your business is a poorly run organization that does not improve with age. You'll have bored and weak employees, ineffectual processes and log jams, lousy cash flow and poor profit and will find yourself stuck - unable to move forward in growing your business.
BUILDING
As a business owner you must engage in BUILDING your business so it is sustainable. Building your business entails the ever-present need to expose your products and services to potential buyers. It is actively marketing your business to create a pipeline of leads. It is a vigil of listening to customer needs and reacting to them. It is staying on top of industry and business situation trends. It is seeking out people who can use your products or services. In short, it is sales and marketing.
This leg is the most elusive of all. There are no deadlines to force you to react. Building your business is entirely up to you and you must be accountable to yourself to regularly build you business. Most entrepreneurs struggle the building leg because it's hard! How do you know how to reach your potential clients? How are you supposed to make time to build your business when all your time is spent doing your business? How do you make that first call? How can we afford to do marketing?
If you don't BUILD your business, it will fail.
So, if you're thinking that you don't spend enough time on managing and building your business, what can you do?
- Admit to yourself that your business will fail if you do not spend adequate time managing and building your business. Fear is a good motivator.
- You, as the business leader, will have to direct these activities, but you do not have to do all of them. Allow employees to take on some of the responsibilities.
- Outsource what you can't do or don't want to do. Hire a part time bookkeeper or a professional telesales rep to make calls.
- Create a comprehensive marketing plan with reasonable due dates that give you adequate time to execute the tasks you need to accomplish. Stick to it.
- Find an accountability partner to challenge you to keep to your commitments.
- Make appointments with yourself to dedicate to managing or building tasks. Do nothing else during that time except those tasks.
- If having the money to build your business is an issue, choose lower cost, yet effective, strategies such as social networking, in-person networking or working the telephone to contact leads. These take time, but are relatively inexpensive.
- If you are reticent about an aspect that you know you must do, take a training class on the subject to give you the tools and confidence to tackle them.
- Set aside one day a month when you do not schedule any other business responsibilities and work on managing and building responsibilities. Don't allow for interruptions.
- Contact some of the many organizations that offer professional counseling such as the SBDC, SCORE, SBA, etc.
Remember, it's a three legged stool thing. If one leg is weak or broken, the whole thing will crash. And that hurts.
Thank you for letting us use this article Mo
Maureen (Mo) Kanwischer
Momentum Business Consulting
5 Useful Internet Marketing Tips
Patrice Barber - Thursday, July 07, 2011
Using the internet to promote your business is the newest form of advertising. There are many different ways to make sure that your business is being recognized online. When considering your internet marketing strategy there are a few tips that can help ensure the success of the campaign. Below are five tips for starting a successful internet marketing campaign.
Tip 1: Online Research
One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is to not research what other businesses in the same industry are doing. Taking the time to research your competition will give you a heads-up on what is working and what is not. Look into how they are developing their internet marketing campaign to gain useful information before starting your own. Another important step in the research process is to determine who is using your product and how to best reach this target market.
Tip 2: Analyze Data
After researching information about your competition, it will be important to sit down and analyze the information that has been found. Consider the strengths of your competition and how your company may use a similar strategy. Determining the websites that are visited most often by your targeted market will enable your business to consider these websites as targets for advertising. Consider something that your company could offer the consumer that your competition is currently not offering, such as a bonus or other incentive.
Tip 3: Develop Strategy
Using the research that has been performed, it is time to start developing your Internet Marketing strategy. Plan the type of marketing methods that your company wants to use and what it will cost to use them. Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, pay-per-click advertising, blogging, email, link building, and webinars are all worth consideration. These options should be ranked in order of preference and cost. It is important to consider your time and budget when considering your internet marketing strategy.
Tip 4: Implementation
Once a plan is in place, the company should start implementing it as soon as possible. After starting the internet marketing campaign, it is important to monitor the success of each type of marketing technique that is being used. Consider your SEO rankings; are they performing at a rate that is satisfactory? Track the time the consumers are spending on your website, if it is less than 30 seconds it is important to find out why.
Tip 5: When in Doubt, Hire a Professional
It is important as a business owner to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are. Hiring a professional for your internet-marketing plan may be your best option, especially if no one on your team is comfortable with this type of work. There are several businesses that offer professional services that can benefit your company greatly. Consider the amount of money that is in your budget for your internet marketing campaign. It may be well worth it to hire a company that will guarantee the creation of a successful strategy for your business.
How Small Businesses Can Use Mobile Marketing To Increase Revenue
Patrice Barber - Thursday, June 09, 2011
Great article I found on ezince artiles by: YK Hu
With the advent of mobile phones, people tend to be used to having received and sent information in just a few minutes. Having this tool on hand, people have already utilized it as a marketing strategy and it has become more common in this generation. What is really meant by mobile marketing? As others described it in a simple way, it is marketing through the use of mobile devices. One best example of that is cellphones. Almost all people all over the world have cellphones so access to it is very easy. This kind of medium is utilized as a way of marketing communication, such as informing the people about a promotion or it could be advertising a new product.
Have you ever wonder why Short Message Service (SMS) marketing has been widely popular in Europe and Asia? Why do entrepreneurs prefer to use it? The main reason of this is due to the fact that it is cheap and effective since a large number of SMS can be sent to a number of recipients and in a matter of a few minutes these people can already respond to the advertisement or announcement. In this way, the company has already saved cost because they have already sent the desired message to their target market. There are a lot of ways wherein this marketing strategy is used. One example is building a relationship between the mobile users to the company since the customers can register to the advertising company so as they can be contacted and can receive regular message from the advertisers regarding any new announcements and promotions. This is a win-win relationship because both parties are benefited.
However, despite the benefits it provides to many people, others still have a negative feedback on it. Although almost all people use mobile phones some of them don't like to receive promotional messages from advertising companies for they have the notion that their phone is something very personal. Also, businesses find SMS marketing non-appealing because of the problems encountered from the opt-in SMS lists.
Aside from SMS Marketing, there are still other streams of mobile marketing. A multimedia message service (MMS) marketing is also used which is more advanced than SMS because its content can include images and sounds. Still, it is similar to SMS marketing. Other streams include Bluetooth marketing which sends messages through Bluetooth wireless technology. You also have what you call infrared marketing which transmit announcements and advertisements through infrared.
21 Point Check-Up for Your Business
Patrice Barber - Thursday, June 02, 2011
Our strategies are industry best practice and
they work!
We have worked with large and small business owners, just like you, for over 15 years.
Our proprietary online marketing systems for entrepreneurs , monthly education, and private consulting, gives you just the edge you need to stream line your, marketing, sales and cash management.
Take your business from "offline to online"
- Not sure about marketing on the internet?
- Want more clients without going to lots of networking events?
- Worried about maxxing out the credit line?
- Struggling to manage paper invoices, checks, spreadsheets and manual work?