Recently, Twitter has finally started to show its business model and realizes that one way is to help companies and brands utilize Twitter for all sorts of things. Network Solutions in fact utilizes it for customer service and community outreach and has seem immeasurable success in using it along with providing a channel for customers to reach out. You can find us at NetSolCares.

The new Twitter Guide for Business, uses this explanation for businesses thinking about signing up but asking about what it does, what they can use it for and the value/return they could see from it:

Twitter is a communications platform that helps businesses and their customers do a number of useful things. As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company. As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you’ve had a great–or disappointing–experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers.

I have found that there are three primary ways to effectively use Twitter for Business:

1.) Customer Service – This is probably what Twitter is known the best for in business circles with companies like Comcast, Dell, Starbucks, Zappos and Etsy to name a few using this channel to communicate with customers having issues or to thank them when there are positive mentions. Network Solutions has use NetSolCares to great success and I think about how many issues have been resolved or the customer put in touch with the right person because they reached out on Twitter and we listened.

2.) Community Outreach – This goes beyond customer service to informing people abou things that will help their business and engage the broader community. This can be done on the same channel as customer service and we use this channel to post blog headlines from our various blogs in addition to putting out notices to the community about changes or issues they might be experiencing (e.g. System Downtime on Friday for new Network Solutions brand switchover).

3.) Selling those that want to be sold to – This is a challenging on that Dell Outlet does extremely well. They have often said that they make $1 million a year off of Twitter. This is because they set up a specific Twitter channel/handle for selling Dell Products.

What Ways Has Your Business Used Twitter Effectively?

I know I mentioned the “Top 3″ but I want to start the conversation and hear from you how you are creatively using Twitter with your business and gather a longer list of best practices for everyone in a future post.

Well fear not Terry, and all of you trying to have your business take flight. This post is for you.

I talked about being frugal, but smart, with your marketing pieces. Most people I’ve come across that have started a business don’t have a huge cash resource to pull from and need to be a little creative, and yes…cheap, about what they spend their marketing dollars, and time, on. Their focus tends not to be what their marketing pieces will bring them, but how much it will cost them now. It’s a reasonable thought process, because the world is a very scary place when you’re wondering? where the next customer will come from.

I also asked you “to not think with the wallet you have now, but the wallet you want once your business is established”. What I mean by that is ask yourself, with each marketing venture you go into, ‘will this bring me closer to the next client/customer’. What you’re looking for is a financial reward for investing into your own company. In business, that’s called ROI (Return on Investment). It’s really simple; you want the amount of money you gain from this endeavor to be equal to or greater than the amount you spent on it. Common sense, right?

But what if you’re not putting ANY money into your own company, should you expect a return? Something for nothing?

When I started out, just like a lot of small business start-ups, I spent a lot of time thinking “People will pay the premium price I am asking for my service even though I haven’t invested in promoting my company, because they will understand that I’m just starting out.” Or my favorite, “They’ll take me seriously with the business card/brochure/flyer I just printed it out on my home computer and printer, because they understand starting a business is expensive.” I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Now back to how you can market your business on a shoestring budget, because that’s what this post is all about. The reality is simple. The tools you need to accomplish this goal are all ready a few keystrokes away.

Starting out, you don’t need a huge brand icon like the golden arches or a yellow sea shell. See, I don’t have to say the names of the companies and you know what I’m talking about. Keep in mind, as we go on, that what I’m suggesting is only a temporary solution until you’ve gotten a few sales down the road and can hire a designer.

For now, a clean, clear font is good for you. Go with something that’s not on everyone’s home computer. I beg you, for the love of your future marketing dollars, do not use Comic Sans as a font. You are not a comic strip artist (and even if you were I’d stay away from it) and you want your business to be taken seriously…unless you’re a professional clown or children’s entertainer, then have at it.

Websites like overnightprints.com or vistaprints.com can get your business cards printed efficiently and look like you paid a lot more then the often “Free 250” offers they run, but you need someone that has a bit of design sense to put something together for you if you want something that’s more than just text. And please, I beg you, see…I really care I’m begging you twice, stay away from the overdone backgrounds they offer for free. If I see one more purple lotus flower on an attorney’s card or badly gradient beach scene on a roofer’s card…I’m going to go nuts. It’s going to happen. Be close by me when it does; it will be hysterical for everyone else. Choose a simple, tasteful (just because it has the name of a fruit doesn’t mean it’s tasteful…lime green just hurts the eyes) solid color background and an opposite colored font. You can’t go wrong with black text on a white card.

Add a little gloss on the front for some style, but leave the back blank and clean so you, or a client, can put notes on the back. Put all of your pertinent information on your business card. You never know what medium people feel comfortable reaching out to you on.

While you’re at it, these sites are great for brochures, post cards, and a world of other things that would cost you an arm and a leg by going to a big printer. But before you start going after those things, remember a simple rule, because everyone has one…doesn’t mean you need one.

If you want fun and funky right out of the gate with a great brand, and you want to be cheap, go to your local colleges. Most of them have design classes where students in those classes are looking for opportunities to cut their teeth on your project for the experience. If you have the time, since you’re being smart and planning ahead, you can make your business the next class project where you’ll have tons of choices as the students put together design pieces that would not only get your business a great look, but a good grade for the student at the same time. What you will need to do, and this is just polite, is give that student, or students if they work in a group, credit for the work. This does two things: gives the student a source of credible experience and provides you with a potential designer who will do more work for you down the road on something they all ready care about.

Now for the item that might seem self serving, but isn’t. Your website.

Domain names (that’s your www.yourbusinesshere.com) can run you anywhere from $9.99 on up. The cost isn’t important, because you can often get one free with your hosting package, but the name you choose is. Your first domain should be some clear version of your company’s name. The first domain you use shouldn’t be too cute or clever. Again, save that for when you have a few sales under your belt. For now, focus on one of the things that will stay with your brand.

Sites like freewebsitetemplates.com can give you ready to go websites, but, like using one of the pre-done backgrounds for your business card, you run the risk of several people having the same look as you. Since this is just a temporary fix, please pick one that is, like your business card, clean and easy to view. People will understand expanding and evolving from a small clean design to a larger more eye appealing design, but since we’re starting with what you’ll need at first…I beg you, for now the third time (I must really care that you do well), to choose a design that accurately represents the image of how you want your company to be perceived. Just because you like sports or race cars doesn’t mean your future clients will. Explaining, and yes I came across this once or twice before, “I went this route because these are the colors of my favorite racecar driver and the black and white is for the checkered flag.” [This is an incomplete sentence. Explaining blahblahblah does what?] Needless to say this business had absolutely nothing to do with cars, races, flags, or…you get my drift.

As for hosting your website, choose a plan that truly will work for you. If you aren’t going to be selling things online for a while, the basic package is good. If you’re expecting a lot of visitors to your site right away…go with something that will give you a little more room. To save yourself some upfront coin, start out on the month-to-month plan, but remember to pay your bill.

Doing the math on this, using the suggestions above, you can accomplish everything for under $300. It will cost you just a little time. That, coupled with the freeness of social media networks like LinkedIn and a laundry list of other online networks, means you can start getting out there quickly and inexpensively.

There are tons of other options for accomplishing the things I listed above. Local copy or office supply shops are starting to offer inexpensive business card printing. There are some hosting options that offer design services as part of the package. All in all, if you do the homework, you can find that the cost of your start up items can be returned back to you in your first few sales.

Before I leave you, I want you to keep a few things in mind as you’re creating these pieces:

• It may look cool and amazing because you worked on it, but if someone handed you this business card or website…would you buy from them or take them seriously?
   
• This is a temporary fix. I strongly suggest once you start saving for a marketing pieces to be designed by an experienced designer or design company.
   
• Be a fan of your own marketing materials. If you take the time and care about the end result…it will show and yield results.

Remember, this is your company you’re getting these pieces for. You wouldn’t send your kid to school in your neighbor’s oversized clothes. Don’t send your company out looking uncared for.

Till next time…stay wicked.

Does spending a lot of money guarantee you are going to be successful?  No, but spending it smartly does help.  I’ll get into that in a few.

Does spending very little money guarantee you are going to be successful?   It’s more than likely to ensure…you’ll get the type of client that’s looking to make the same decision about your product/service/widget as you did on your marketing pieces.  “I want the biggest bang for the least amount of money”.

I was recently talking with Steve Fisher about the upcoming “Rock Star Entrepreneurs and Your Business: a Webinar Event” and my frustration with some past clients I had.  Keep in mind; these are clients who thought that by investing very little in their own business…their success was guaranteed because people would just “want” their product/service/widget.

As if the magic Small Business Fairy was going to bless their frugalness with a line of clients stretching a mile long, a phone that magically rings every five minutes with people saying “yes” before the elevator pitch is done, and a website that has to have its bandwidth updated daily to handle the flood of internet savvy customers that magically found their website without the use of a search engine, business card, advertisement, or word of mouth marketing efforts.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that little pixie of small business goodness doesn’t exist.  Trust me I’ve been looking and I assure you when I find that winged temptress with the strategically placed golden horse shoe I will quickly pin that fictional character of business down and sell tickets to let it discontentedly bless new entrepreneurs who want to take the cheap way out.

There are things you will need, right out of the gate, which will help you.  In later posts I’ll go into each in greater detail, but to start a good brand name and identity that will resonate with your clients, a business card with your brand and company information on it, and a website with key information that will visually engage your prospects/clients.  Think of a networking event or coffee shop corkboard where you’ve seen a business card or flyer of a company that blatantly did not invest much into their business.  You have two companies side by side that offer the exact same services.  Without knowing a thing about their actual performance you have thirty seconds to make a decision on which company you will go with. Company A has a business card with a strong visual presence, their messaging and information is clear, and the quality of the card alone shows the business invested in itself.  Company B printed their business card on their home computer in black and white, the edges are perforated, and their information doesn’t clearly identify what the company is about.  Which would you choose to take with you?

Be smart with the time and money you invest in establishing your marketing pieces.  You can find some very talented designer/marketer starting their own consulting business and accomplish visually, and at a reasonable cost, what major companies pay thousands of dollars to marketing/design firms to accomplish.  You should look at the money you spend on marketing your company as, you guessed it, an investment in the way you, and your company, will be perceived.  Done right, your marketing materials should speak about your company without you even having to be in the room.  Your marketing materials should resonate the type of attitude, style, experience, and care that your customers will come to expect of your company and services.

I’m not asking you to break the bank, but what I am asking you to do is to not think with the wallet you have now, but the wallet you want once your business is established.

I’m also going to ask you to invest some time in your business, and yourself, and attend the “Rock Star Entrepreneurs and Your Business: a Webinar Event”.  This FREE, live webcast has an all-star line-up of entrepreneurs who will talk about some of the pains that small businesses will face in the areas of finance and marketing.

In the end, the money you invest into your company will come back to you through your clients.

As all ways, stay wicked.

“Go BIG or go home”

For the longest time I took that to mean that the actions I took in marketing, design, and in life, had to be larger than life.  Ultimately, I learned the hard way that ‘big actions don’t all ways result in big rewards’.  I also learned the time it took me to plan, prep, and execute my Big Whatever resulted in me being well behind the time that it could have been effective or, more often than not, out a greater amount of time, money, and effort than what came back to me.

Frustrated and determined to not “go home”, I gave up on trying to create catchy messaging, flashy visual displays, and the big song and dance and focused on my results.  I toiled and planned and stressed over how to get the biggest bang of my buck, or my best Return On Investment (ROI) for those savvy.

I pinched every penny…twice.  I argued with my vendors to get the cheapest things I needed.  I used the cheapest materials from my local office supply stores.  I was confident that I could, alone, produce the same quality with lesser effort and get greater results.

Man, was I wrong.

Too wrong, this ultimately ended up with a very polite guy coming up to me at a networking event and saying, “Is everything…ok?” He explained that my materials looked like I didn’t care about my business.  That I was asking more from the people who’d invest in me that I was, appearing to, invest in myself.  I explained to him what I was trying to do.  He politely smiled and said, “Try the middle ground.”

I went home, dejected, and thought about it.  It took some time, but I realized he was right.

Initially, I spent too much time focusing on the “Look at me” factor.  What I thought was amazing, attractive, eye catching, and compelling…was only that way to me.  I didn’t stop to look at it from my future, and current, customers’ perspectives.  The mindset of “I like it so everyone else will too” ultimately cost me more, as far as lost time and money, than it did me good.

When I changed my focus, I still didn’t think of my customer, I thought of myself.  I thought of the gobs and gobs of money I would get by saving money and time. I still wasn’t focused on my customers -  I saved some coin in the long run, but I didn’t gain much either.

Essentially, I went back to the chalk board and started smaller, but more detailed.  I started looking where my best customers were coming from, where they needed the most help that I could provide, and what I could do to catch their attention, or be in a position to come to mind quickly, when they needed my services.  I started focusing on having my big result be only double the effort I put out and grew it from there.

I recently replaced the “Go Big or Go Home” quote with one I found while reading Juliette Powell’s “33 Million People in the Room: How to Create, Influence, and Run a Successful Business with Social Networking”. That quote is:

“Do business as if you were playing a game, have fun, know the rules, and when it’s time, make up your own.” ~ Guy Laliberte, Founder and CEO, Cirque Du Soleil

Don’t get me wrong, I still love to “go big” and do things that are, sometimes, a little over the top, but I realized to improved my results that I would have to change my focus for Big to mean the impact that my marketing had on my customers.  From their experience to the outcome, the interactions my customers had with me, and my company, had to reflect that the “show” was worth the “price of admission”.

Until next time…stay wicked.

To get it out of the way, as if you couldn’t tell, the tone of this blog series will not be stuffy, terminology laden, or over your head with jargon.  Steven Fisher came to me and asked if I’d like to tackle a blog.  I expressed my concern, because my approach isn’t necessarily…for the faint of heart.  I tend to be blunt, direct, and to the point, but with a sense of humor.  I believe if you’re going to be spending the money on it…marketing your business should not only pay for itself, taken seriously, but you should have a bit of fun as well.  Steven reassured me that the blog will be geared not to designers, but people either in their first years of business or who just want to think about expanding the visual branding of their company.

I understand that things like bleed, taglines, font weight, scope creep, appropriate resolution for a web banner or large printing run, and a wide variety of industry related terms may turn you off or confuse you.

So relax.

If those type of terms do pop up from time to time I’m going to find an easily understandable comparisons to put them in plain speak for you.  Please don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying this is going to be the “See Spot Run” of blogs in this genre, but if you’re reading this, you’re someone who is interested in learning more about how to get your business out there to the masses, may have had some frustrations dealing with marketing your business, and have some fun while you do it.  This series should feel like a conversation with someone over a cup of coffee and not something you need to jump up and grab a dictionary for at every paragraph.

I’m bringing over ten years of experience in fields of marketing and design to help be the translator between the business owner and the designer as well as the marketing and the customer.  Being of the rare breed of designers who balance well between print and web (there’s a world of difference between the two and in future posts you’ll learn why), I tend to focus on designs with a focus on sales and marketing for my clients.  As a large portion of my work experience has been with startup companies, I spend a lot of time finding creative solutions to help business owners, marketing managers and startup companies effectively understand why a visual brand is an extremely effective tool for their business that not only needs to be created, but maintained and nurtured.

So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, of course mine being coffee, and join me each week for a rare glimpse into the mindset, expectations and opinions of a professional graphic/web designer.  Some of my posts will run parallel with some of the blogs here on Network Solutions, but my goal is to support them to help you get the most out of your business. I look forward to give you some topics that may spark some thoughts or conversations. I also look forward to hearing your horror stories, successes and thoughts on each topic.

Until next time…stay wicked.

Building brand is something that you start doing & then build on it. It can be as simple as the suggestions in the Word of Mouth article. As you have success you can add to it. The nice thing about establishing your brand & marketing your business online is that it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. But it will require you to consistently invest time.

For my example I’m going to use a niche business & customer segment that I worked with for almost two years. Let’s consider a professional photographer that wants to sell her photos online. She has created a site for posting proofs from portrait & event shoots. And she also has created a section where she displays her nature & landscape photography that’s for sale.

So, she’s ready for business right? Her clients can view their proofs, place them in the cart & order them. But how can she get the word out about her service & her nature photography?

Here are a number of ideas that you can use immediately. Some also work for your personal blog. In upcoming articles I will be covering the following:

Brand Monitoring & Responding

Having a blog (forums for more conversation if it makes sense)

Monitoring Site Traffic & Trends

Newsletter

Listing Sites

Online Press Releases

Participation in Social Networking sites

Utilizing an Events service

What would you add to this list?

·

The focus of the conference is: “Web 3.0 Conference is for the builders of the next generation web: designers, developers, entrepreneurs, marketers, business strategists, and venture capitalists, people who have experiences to share and a passion for learning the “hot new thing”, lessons from failures, innovations and inspirations, and the practical applications of all of the above. What are the ways we can create more value for our businesses? How can we provide a more meaningful experience for users and customers? How can we have a positive impact on the world we live in? What tools and applications are right for a given project? How do we gather and focus data points to deliver relevant information? How can we increase conversation and collaboration?”

Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy is the Chief Knowledge Officer and VP of Analytics at Network Solutions. Prior to this he co-founded and RKR Group, Inc. a strategy, business and technology consulting firm. Prior to RKR Group, Dr. Priyadarshy was a Senior Research Scientist at AOL. Dr. Priyadarshy has extensive experience in web data mining and consumer experience metrics. He has authored over 30 papers in various scientific areas and given invited talks on technology topics including social networking, semantic web etc. Dr. Priyadarshy also teaches Managing Information Systems in Global Environment course at the School of Management, George Mason University.

If you’re interested in attending the conference you can use customer code ‘SPKGF08′ to save $100 on a full-conference pass or sign up for a Free Special Events Pass giving you access to the exhibit area & admission to the Keynotes. The conference is Oct 16-17, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Santa Clara, California.

Business Acquisition

Career Advancement

Competitive Advantage

Employee Satisfaction & Retention

The panel will cover how business social networking & social media are being used to leverage a competitive advantage.

WHEN Wednesday, October 1, 2008 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

WHERE The Tower Club, 8000 Towers Crescent Drive, Vienna, VA 22182

View Event Summary

RSVP here by Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Cost is $45 (which is a special rate for guests of the speakers)

The distinguished panelists for the event will be:
* Terry Hsiao, CEO of Hook Mobile. Innovative high-tech entrepreneur, with a proven track record in developing concepts into successful operations, currently leads Hook Mobile, a market leader in multimedia applications for mobile and Social Media.
* Katherine Kennedy, Owner, KMK PR. Image Consultant for Social Media and owner of PR firm that places emphasis on utilizing social media for branding of individuals and companies, both traditional brick and mortar, as well as online based entities.
* Dan Latendre, CEO of Igloo. Senior level technology executive, heading up Igloo, a Canadian firm that provides a secure online corporate social networking platform which helps organizations create more productive connections with people.
* Shashi Bellamkonda, Sr. Product Manager of Network Solutions. “Social Media Swami” for Network Solutions, leads the company’s social/new media strategy which includes brand development, online content tools, customer outreach, and blogger relations.
Our moderator for the panel discussion:
*Kim Hart, Washington Post Technology Staff Writer
Come take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions and get answers. Meet professionals for business development, partnerships and career advancement.

Enjoy a gourmet lunch at the Tower Club.

To become a member or for more information about the TelecomHUB go to www.telecomhub.org

Here are five steps to get you started after you create an account.

1. Make sure that your Summary is descriptive of what you’re looking for & what your company offers. Chris Brogan recently had a great list of ideas to pay attention to when creating your profile.

2. Connect with people that you know. You can use your email address list to see if those people are on LinkedIn. You can also search by name or company. When you find people that you know, you can connect by using their email address. They will appreciate a quick note about why you’re connecting.

3. Find a group to join. There are many! Groups offer many opportunities to meet new people. They range from location specific to topic specific

*tip – if you want to connect with people & don’t know their email address use the Group option & select one of yours. Then write a personal note telling them why you want to connect.

4. Answering questions is a great way to meet new people & establish yourself as knowledgeable in your subject area.

5. Asking a question can also introduce you to new people as well as provide you with expert advice. I recently asked a question that resulted in saving me a lot of research time.

So LinkedIn can be used to connect with like minded people, share ideas and answer questions that you have about your business. It’s a perfect place for the busy professional!

Bonus tip: You can also download all of the email addresses to create a mailing list. For example if you created a group – you could do a mass email.

For further reading:

articles at My Solution Spot

articles on SCORE Chicago

What tips do you have for using LinkedIn?

This is the first part in a series on how you can put your business on the web & attract customers interested in your products & services. It’s an overview of the steps to take & I’ll cover a topic each day.

It’s like building a house & that’s the analogy that I’ll use. I’ll also include the many resources & products that Network Solutions offers to make it straightforward & customized to your needs.

1. Find a location for your house & an address – purchase a domain name

The best part about having a business online is that it’s relatively inexpensive to get started. It’s much more inexpensive to have a business online than in a physical location! I’ll take the guesswork out of choosing a domain name. Once you’ve decided on a domain name, Network Solutions makes purchasing it easy.

2. The foundation – hosting package

Every house needs solid footings to support the infrastructure. Network Solutions offers a number of options so that you’re able to start your online website off to a good start.

3. Building it – planning architecture & choosing the design

As with a house there are many ways to build a website. Network Solutions has options for every level. If you’d like to do it yourself you can no matter whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned programmer. And if you’re just too busy then Network Solutions has talented people that will do it for you!

4. Furnishing it –

content is very important

An empty house is of no interest to those that live there or are visitors. So it’s important to create information that’s of value & is relevant to your visitors. And if you keep adding more then it will give people a reason to keep returning to see what’s new.

5. Helping customers locate your house – SEO, keywords, & metatags

Once you get your house built it’s not of much value if people can’t find it. There are some straightforward things that can be done to help those searching find your site. Search engine optimization (generally abbreviated as SEO) sounds complicated but Network Solutions offers services to assist you with it. Keywords & metatags are also helpful to providing a more direct path to your site.

6. Doing business - ecommerce, paypal

It’s as easy as using a spare room for an office. Network Solutions has a number of options for setting up your site to allow people to purchase your products. They also have an in-depth article on selling online.

7. Inviting people to your house – marketing & networking

Once your website it set up & ready for business the last step is to get the word out. There are two parts to this. Network Solutions offers some great options for helping with marketing. And I’ll also give some tips on finding & networking with potential customers.

As you can see it’s relatively easy to get started. Start thinking about how you want people to find you online because that’s our first step!