MyEntre.Net Iowa Small Business Blog - Marketing

Is it Time to Use an Email Marketing Service?

Chad Feldmann — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:22:00 -3650

If you regularly communicate with groups of people, whether they be customers, vendors, or organization members using email or a print newsletter, you may be able to do so more effectively, saving yourself valuable time along the way. To determine if utilizing an email marketing service makes sense for you, ask yourself the following questions.

Friday-palooza for 7/23/10

Dan Beenken — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:47:00 -3650

Good piece from Scott Allen on passive income, every entrepreneur's best friend.

Looking for ways to write a blog that's twice the drivvel that I have here? It won't be tough, but if you need a little help- Tim Berry has some great ideas - http://timberry.bplans.com/2010/07/10-blogging-tips-my-1000th-post-on-this-blog.html

AllState's Mr. Mayhem Commercials

Rob Williams — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:09:00 -3650

I can’t help myself, when I watch TV I now watch almost as intently to the commercials as I do the programming. Perhaps it’s my demographic, but I find the funniest commercials to be the most memorable. Much like watching the superbowl commercials during half-time, the funniest ones tend to stick with me. To this end, AllState’s latest Mr. Mayhem commercials leave me chuckling everytime. While I used to always associate AllState with the, ‘are you in good hands’ tagline, I now find myself thinking about Mr. Mayhem and what crazy escapade he’s going to setup next for the unsuspecting victim he encounters. Despite the more edgy tone of the commercials, I suspect they are working to catch the attention of consumers. Utilizing one part fear marketing, two part humor can work. Just watch some of the commercials below and comment what you think!

Great Video about B2B Marketing

Rob Williams — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:05:00 -3650

Handling/Leveraging the Media for your small biz

Dan Beenken — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:28:00 -3650

When you are livin on the cheap side, "frugal" - as I like to say, you are constantly on the look out to save a buck. That all goes without saying. So why would you pay for advertising, when you can work the media for a little free ink?

Funny & Creative ways to Utilize Twitter for Your Business

Rob Williams — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:11:00 -3650

So I’ve been following a couple of creative people on Twitter who are using it first for entertainment, second for business. With that said, I think they are on to something. Instead of pushing out boring content that consumers, by-and-large expect and ignore from businesses (i.e. special discounts, coupons, or other material incentive deals), some companies have created online characters for their brands. It could be risky, but it could also be great fun!

Consider one of the first companies that did this, Best Buy. Before Twitter was nearly as popular as it is now, they created an account that would serve the sole purpose of helping other people out through twitter with their technology problems. The account is named @TwelpForce, and you can still find them on Twitter working away. Guess how many followers? 26,048.

Some other companies have taken this idea even further, and they are really the types of accounts that I suggest you check out. Here is a short list:

@Askjeevesdotcom – Jeeves from Ask.Com
@NatHistoryWhale – Whale at the Natural History Museum
@DMThinker – The Thinking Rabbit in the Des Moines Pappajohn Sculpture Park
@DMNomade – The Man Sculpture next to the Thinking Rabbit in the Pappajohn Sculpture Park (they frequently talk back-and-forth)
@PaulLessing – The Founder of Lessing-Flynn in Des Moines (actually, it was Josh Fleming who got me thinking on this topic, @admavericks)

It just seems that for some specific types of businesses- this may be a winning idea. Perhaps not having a brand character is the way you want to go- what about adapting whatever your product does for twitter? For instance, there is @8ball_, a bot that will reply to you when you tweet it with a yes/no or random answer- much like the original Magic 8 Ball. This bot was not designed by the company who now makes Magic 8 Balls (I think Mattel), talk about a lost opportunity- this dummy account has managed to pickup a following of 3,227 people! What if Ohio Art (the makers of the classic Etch-a-Sketch game) created a twitter account that made ascii art with the 140 characters? I think that would get some attention…

Look at what some creative fans of the Fox TV Series “Bones” have done with the lead character- @DrTBrennan. Again, another missed opportunity to engage with consumers in an innovative way. I say all of this, yet I haven’t quite figured out if this other Fox character is an excited fan or someone working at Fox (I suppose that may be the point) @HomerSimpson – leaning toward fan what do you think?

Anyway, hopefully this gets your creative juices going- please post your ideas. Also, post any fun characters you have come across while playing on twitter! While not totally appropriate for this particular blog posting, I do find @DrunkHulk to be pretty funny. I’m not sure it would go well if some company like Smirnoff decided to create a @SallySmirnoff account or something, not that it hasn’t been done by others: @Captn_Morgan. If you do decide to create a brand character- make sure it has a real personality, don't try to force it like @MichelinManUSA.

"How to Start an Internet Business" class coming up

Jason Trout — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:07:00 -3650

Just wanted to let you all know about two upcoming classes for next week. Both are called "How to Start an Internet Business" and one is being held on Thu/Fri of next week and the other on Sat/Sun of next week. The class is designed to teach you everything you need to know to start an Internet business.

Class topics include:

The benefits of starting a web based business, including low start-up costs
The ability to launch a business while keeping your current job
A review of the four basic Internet business models including advertising based, retail, forum and service
Web design and the variety of web-hosting options that are available
Internet marketing strategies and techniques
The importance of testing your website and making incremental improvements
How to discover which keywords your site should target, public relations, blogging, and merchant affiliate programs
How to run your own e-mail newsletter

Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm (both sessions), with a one hour lunch break
Location: Steyer Opera House, Hotel Winneshiek, Decorah, IA.
Cost: $125

You can learn more here: http://www.StratusWebGroup.com/how-to-start-an-internet-business

If anyone has any questions, just shoot me an e-mail. Thanks!

Does Your Website Help Potential Customers Find You?

Chad Feldmann — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:04:00 -3650

I was recently on a website for a retail shop that couldn't answer the following questions… At least not without combing the entire site, front to back, and top to bottom.

What does the business do or sell?
Where is the business located?
How do I contact them if I have questions? Is there a Phone number? Email? Web form?
What are the hours of operation?

If you own a brick and mortar business, your website is a tool to get people in your front door. The more people through your front door, the more you are likely to sell, right? The bad news is that other businesses are competing for these peoples' foot traffic, too. The good news is that there are simple things you can do with your website to help drive people to your store. A big step in the right direction is to readily answer the questions above. Don't make them search for this information. Here's how you do it:

Put this information on the home page. This is the most important page on your site. Your home page is your chance to make a first impression, it is your elevator speech, your foot in the door. The Kate's On Main home page illustrates this, as it answers all four questions. OR,
Place it at the top of every page. By doing this, you can answer these questions regardless of the page the customer is on. The Roots Market website illustrates this.
Include a "Contact Us" page. Every site should have this page, especially if it is for a brick and mortar shop. In addition to displaying the address, phone number(s), email address(es), and (optionally) a web form, you could embed a Google map into the page. Unless your business is totally online, you should do this. See the Welter's Custom Cabinets website for an example.

Take a moment to review your site and see if your potential customers could easily find the answers to these questions. You'll be glad you did.

photo by viZZZual.com

If you found this post helpful you can read more at blog.farreachinc.com or you can subscribe to Far Reach Technologies' Blog by Email.

Google Places

Rob Williams — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:43:00 -3650

Google allows you to take control over your business listing in their search results. Even if you don’t have a website, this is an excellent way to ensure your business is findable on the web.

Lots of Driving, Lots of Radio!

Rob Williams — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:06:00 -3650

This past week I’ve logged over 1,000 miles on the road (went to a conference in Kansas City & went up north to hang out with some friends). With this much time in the car, I was able to listen to a whole lot of radio. I heard a couple of good programs and found a neat local radio station down in Kansas City.

The radio station I found in Kansas City was Gen X radio based out of Mission, Kansas (http://www.997kiss.com). I kid you not when I say every song they played seemed to come right from my own iPod playlist! Although I’m technically part of the Generation Y cohort- this radio station was great and I found it interesting that they are using the Gen X branding for their station. As soon as I heard their announcer say Gen X radio- I knew I had found my local favorite for the area. Is the name of your business consistent to your target market? If you are just starting up- consider your business name carefully- Gen X radio is much better than ‘Rob’s Easy Listening KBCD FM’.

The other cool thing I learned about on the radio came from a specific program, Brian Gongol on WHO AM 1040 (http://www.whoradio.com/pages/briangongol.html). He was talking about what value top paid CEOs really bring to the table for the companies they work for. He posed the very interesting question, what could a company do with all the money they are paying for their CEO? The specific example they used was CBS’s CEO who is being paid $43.2 million dollars. Brian posed the point that with the $43.2 million, CBS could hire 432 people at $100,000 a piece (twice the national median household income). The question then becomes, is CBS’s CEO worth 432 very well-paid individuals? I had never heard that point of view expressed before, and found it to be incredibly intriguing to think about. Next time you hear CEO’s defending their pay on TV, think to yourself, are they really doing the same work of 400-plus people making $100,000?

Anyway, just thought I would share the thought. What do you think? Is anyone’s work ever really worth multi-millions?