Archive for the 'Media' Category

Apr 25 2010

Do-it-yourself NEWS RELEASE (Part I of II)

Why pay fees

                                    

if you have time

                                         

to nurture the

                                 

media and the

                                                     

ability to sound

                              

newsworthy?

                                                              

     Here are some of the unwritten rules of the game that can help you gain media exposure.

     Right off the bat, realize that because news coverage is free, whatever you submit is subject to the trade-off of arbitrarily being discarded, deleted, completely re-written, misquoted, even twisted to set up a favorable impression of your biggest competitor!

     Be aware that many trade, professional, and small-time community publications will demand advertising space purchase before they’ll consider printing your release (or before they’ll consider mentioning you or your company, or noting key points from your release in another separate story).

     Start out by mentally putting yourself in the shoes of those who are likely to receive your news release: writers, editors, and publishers. None of these people are likely to be getting paid commeasurate with their training and experience. It is also 100% at their discretion as to whether anything you submit gets accepted.

     So they are interested in placing news releases that require minimal rewriting; the more time they have to devote to your release, the less likely it will get coverage. Each of the news channels these folks represent is probably stretched tight, highly budget-conscious, and perhaps even on the verge of shut-down.

     More than ever, media writers and editors need to justify giving up online attention, or print space, or broadcast time to news release coverage, and that translates to the fact that the news must be worthy. Thinly-disguised sales pitches get tossed.

     Besides being newsworthy, being professionally written with minimal editing needs, your release cannot be a one-time, stand-alone document. You need to establish an ongoing relationship and have media professionals recognize that your releases are part of a commitment to an ongoing series of releases — two or three a month usually accomplish that.

     Don’t expect any response to your first or second release. If you get some, great; you’re ahead of the game, but many editors and writers want to make sure you’re serious enough to stay around; they don’t like one-night-stand PR efforts.

     Your news doesn’t have to be earth-shattering. Try: community fund-raising participation or activity sponsorship; a new product or service offering or new application of an existing product or service; an employee promotion or accomplishment; a professional or industry association membership, stance, recognition or certification; an expansion, consolidation, partnership, alliance or affiliation; etc. 

     Personalize your cover note with every release you send out as much as possible: “I saw your story about local entrepreneurs last week in The Cape Gazette and thought you might be interested in the attached release about two area teachers who started a new educational services business just six miles from your office. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

     Include at the end of the 1.5 page double-spaced release mailed or hand-delivered to print and broadcast media, or your .75 page single-spaced release and photo emailed, a name and phone number and email address preceded by a small “Contact:” at the end of each release so the recipient knows how to follow up if there’s interest in knowing more. 

     Do not expect copies of anything that does manage to get coverage; it’s your responsibility to find it!

TOMORROW: How to write it and where to send it!

Click Here to work with Hal!

                Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Apr 20 2010

ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS UP IN ARMS?

“Break out the

                         

tambourines,

                                   

Boss. It’s time

                             

 to collaborate!”

                                                                   

Okay, ready? Take some deep breaths Here comes a long question:

Are you and your business standing quietly on the sidelines, like celery stalks in search of a Bloody Mary…while others in your building, block, town, county, state, region, profession, industry are taking action to improve community well-being?”

     Maybe your answer has to do with how you define community? So here’s a short question: How DO you define “community”?

     And while you’re beating your brains in trying to answer that, you may want also to consider how you and your business typically interact with other businesses and business owners within the community you ultimately define. I know this is getting mind-boggling, so here’s a little historic help from your friends:   

     First we had affiliates, then we had partnerships, next came alliances, and then –so no one would construe these deliberate arrangements as involving money transfers during economic times of question-ability– we gave rise to strategic alliances. Now, however, living in the age of social media (which we have slathered on top of a deeply troubling economy), we have all become collaborators.

DID YOU HUG YOUR COLLABORATOR TODAY?

                                                 

    Actually, collaboration as you know is nothing new, but its prepon-derance in today’s txt msg literature brings to the surface a more cooperative spirit. Like it used to be “What have you done for me lately?” and then “What has your business done for me lately?” and now it’s “What has your business done for the community lately?” 

     Well, that kind of all comes full circle back to how you define “community.”

     Wherever your business is located — basement, garage, ware-house, office building, construction site, the cab of your truck, your hall closet — it comes packaged with a geographic community.

     Whatever type of business or profession you practice, it comes packaged with a business, industrial, trade or professional community.

     That means that you and your business have a responsibility to others around you besides your customers, employees and suppliers. Ah, but acceptance of that notion that doesn’t have to be burdensome if you pick and choose your community involvements carefully.

You and your business have a responsibility to others around you besides your customers, employees and suppliers.”

     Being a good business citizen doesn’t always have to mean undertaking charitable crusades, though that’s a wonderful thing when it’s possible. Actively standing up on behalf of those around you who can’t or won’t is itself an act of charity. And regardless of what it achieves, it inspires.

     When you can collaborate with other businesses, you can, for example, share marketing expenses and perhaps use the savings to afford to offer better customer discounts or higher employee bonuses, or both. When you can collaborate by sharing employee talents, it serves to broaden every one’s horizons and presents opportunities for enhanced customer service.

     Best of all, it need not cost a penny. And you thought you had no cause to celebrate? Break out the tambourines, Boss!

 Click Here to work with Hal             

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Apr 19 2010

HALF-HEARTED LEADERS

If you’re not gonna

                                            

finish stuff,

                             

don’t start it.

                                                       

     I’ve seen guys who are so slow, you’d think they were going uphill in molasses, backwards, in the middle of a blizzard. And the flip side brings out the best in frenzied, knee-jerk, entrepreneurs with maniac schedules. Then there’s the workaholics who barricade themselves off from the rest of the world to avoid dealing with feelings of intimacy.

     This is, curiously, also one of the main (usually unconscious) reasons for obesity: it’s hard to express feelings when food is going down the throat. So, here we have those who want to work themselves to death, those who prefer death, and don’t those who don’t want to work at all. What a choice!

     My father always told me,“If you’re gonna do something half-assed, don’t do it at all!” and I guess that stuck, but I must admit there have been times when I sure wished I had the capacity to choose to just wing it, instead of seeing a task all the way through to the end. Well, I suppose that sets the stage for taking a brief look at quitters.

     Who cares? I do. Okay, well maybe I don’t anymore; but I did. I always believed in learning something from everyone. Quitters were no exception. What I learned from these partly-pregnant people (and that, believe me, is one very big feat!) is that they shouldn’t be functioning in today’s business world. But they are.

  • I have had no fewer than four clients I can recall who hired me, paid me, put me through the wringer with meaningless changes, told me they were delighted with my work, and even paid the next level of application (printer, website designer, and media people), but never finished the job. Two even paid extra for “exceptional” work!
  • One guy delayed printing a brochure I wrote for him for ten months. He paid me and he paid the printer nine months ago. Then one day he decided to finish the job which was — by then — practically outdated, but that didn’t matter.
  • A website client had me write ten pages on a “rush” basis, hurry to get the site designed, pay everyone involved, put the site on a disk, and pack it away. Now, a year and a half later, she decided she wants to launch it. Go figure.
  • Another individual contracted me for writing his business plan, which he said he loved, and then put it on the shelf to collect dust. I could go on. It simply amazes me that people do this.

     Having a sense of urgency about your business will carry your business through the lean times. Foot-dragging will simply be a ball and chain affair in trying to address business ambitions (if there are any). Who could ever know what goes on in these minds? I’m happy to report that most clients I’ve had, have made great successes of the materials I’ve created for them.

     They take the marketing plans and programs and materials and run. And when more business comes in the door, they come back to me for more. That’s the stuff that makes it all worthwhile.

     The other stuff? The stuff that never gets finished? Don’t bother to start it. And if you do, start it somewhere else where people appreciate lethargy and indecision. I’ve learned all I can learn from those folks: that half-hearted leaders get half-hearted results!   

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Apr 15 2010

Small Business Social Media Rampage MYTH

Only 16%

                          

of Thirty Million

                                                      

US Small Businesses 

                                            

Use Social Media!

                                            

     We have already recently heard that fewer than half of America’s 29.7 million small businesses actually have their own websites, and were astonished. When you’re clicking back and forth to your own and other sites all day, it’s incredulous to believe that everyone else is not. Well, now we have more fuel for the opportunity fires.

     Results of a poll http://bit.ly/bWvym3 commissioned by EMPLOYERS, a small business insurance company, was reported today in Angelique Rewers’ final edition of  The Corporate Communicator (rolling over next week into her new online publication, “BRILLIANCE … Rich, Smart and Happy” — Watch for it. Angelique is a sensational writer and online publisher!).

     The poll is a reality slap! 

     Bottom line: You thought the whole world was TWITTER and Facebook crazy and that any business worth their salt had to be heavily engaged in this explosive new media form with knock-’em-dead marketing messages and links galore. Not according to the 500 small business owners and managers surveyed:  the total number of small businesses using social media for marketing is hovering somewhere around a very unimpressive 16%.

     But what does this mean? First of all, consider the vast untapped market potential this information suggests. What a fantastic opportunity this awareness serves for those who focus their businesses on Internet marketing development, and on small business development and related services.

     Just consider the prospect pool. There are more businesses out there who need what you have than there are those who already have it, and clearly everyone will at some point down the road indeed have both feet in the websites and social media arenas.

     Now add to that mix those who already have websites and social media savvy. They either do or will soon need overhauls, updates, upgrades, revitalizations, and expanded, pizazzed-up, better-functioning services. Nowhere does this ratchet up service needs more profoundly than with content development (copywriting) because word content is king in the visual world of the Internet. [If you need help with this and you’ll pardon my brashness, you can find my rates and services at www.TWWsells.com]

     To top off the survey findings, the majority of small businesses leveraging social media are finding it effective, more than half those interviewed believe that having a social media presence is important, and nearly 60 % who do use it say it has provided value to their businesses. So, how much farther does the gauntlet need to be thrown down to you, for you to consider crossing the moat?

     What are you waiting for?

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Apr 10 2010

Are YOU really worth “an arm and a leg”?

“Start savin’ your

                         

toenails, kid!”

                                                                       

     Growing up, my father always told me things were too expensive by saying “they cost an arm and a leg.”

     Heaven forbid, I used to think, that we should ever willfully exchange body parts for materialistic possessions! Unless of course hair, and toe and fingernails suddenly blast the roof off the commodities market, and can be traded in collector jars or Ziploc bags for cars, flat screen TVs, Wii programs, iTunes, and sushi hand-rolls.

     But remembering the exaggerated childhood lesson in economics, I am prompted to raise the question: Am I really worth what I charge? I look around me and see a zillion other businesspeople, who haven’t a fraction of my hard-earned experience, charging outrageous fees for services they clearly haven’t a clue about, like strategic marketing and leadership development (or HRD, or CRM, or SEO, whatever those are).

     I see even more zillions of people who are self-proclaimed writers (minus of course the ability to communicate) or “social media experts” (can you believe even: “Twitter Coaches”?), yet when I weigh my worth, I rationalize that I write as well if not better than many of those over-the-top-paid authors out there. And only God knows about the rah-rah Twitter Coaches? (And the crowd roared: “FF, RT, Give ’em a Tweet and break their feet!”).

     It gets tiring to be so overloaded with pinkie finger talent and only be getting 35-cents an hour. So what’s the answer? Wayne Dyer? Zig Ziglar? How many dollars have you spent buying quick-fix books, tapes, pyramid marketing schemes, CDs, instant cash programs, seminars, webinars . . . huh? And who’s making money on whom? 

     Oh, and a great interview the other night on Delaware TV with a man (who looked like he was wearing Salvation Army clothes) captioned “Avid Gambling Fan.” The slot machine puller noted how wonderful more casinos would be because “it’s a great way to be able to donate to charity and not pay taxes.” 

     The point is that you’re worth to others whatever you think you’re worth to yourself, and if your life is all about thinking you’re worth 35-cents an hour, you are! If you are so blind as to see slot machines and casinos as your savior, you are surely headed back to the Salvation Army for a full wardrobe. Wayne and Zig? They have plenty of right answers, but your brain has to be open and receptive enough to gain their value.

     Twitter Coaches? Pfffffft! Good luck! The answer about what you’re really worth is in your spirit. It’s in your attitude. It’s what you believe about you. And all of that is a choice. So stop sitting around choosing to drag yourself down when you can just as easily choose to pull yourself up? Hmmmmm? That’s maybe a better question. 

 

               Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Mar 27 2010

Hey, Taco Bell Fans: Think INSIDE The Bun!

Start with

                         

INTROSPECTION.

                                                        

Then, add the

                                 

decorations. . .

                                                                                                          

     There comes a time in every economic curve (and especially like now, where the curve has become a plummet) when we must stop the centrifuge that has our backs slammed up against the spinning wall. Nice imagery, huh? Ever feel like that, or am I just imagining things? 

     We need to step off, collect ourselves, take a deep breath, regain a sense of balance, and re-examine what’s going on with our business. You know, take a look at those activities (or lack of) that we haven’t paid attention to lately because we’ve spun ourselves into a state of dizziness (no I’m not talking about that dizzy state on the West Coast!)

     Management gurus seeking creative nirvana in their leadership styles have been urging us all for years to “think outside the box.” I disagree. I’ve watched an endless stream of business ventures think themselves out of the box and into financial quicksand.

     Contrary to their brilliant branding message, even Taco Bell needs to think “inside the bun” in order to ensure consistent quality of food ingredients, as well as service. Thinking INSIDE THE BOX is like circling the wagons, shoring up the foundation, strengthening existing connections and relationships, reinforcing the structural integrity of existing products and services, and promoting value-added innovation all at the same time.  

     It rivals the explosive levels of productivity that surface the day before leaving for vacation (ah, yes, vacations; I remember those).

     A truly great and successful, well-known man whose memoir I’m presently writing, always says (rather authoritatively): “You can’t do two things at once!” 

     I’m thinking about staring so hard out the windshield that you spill the coffee — or worse, reaching to balance the coffee and crashing into the car in front of you. Well, when it comes to business ownership and management, the expression is equally true. Thinking OUTSIDE the box takes you too far away from what you need to be focused on when cashflow is dwindling.

     I’ve often noted here that the best way to do this is with http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw which I guarantee will help you stay focused on what’s important. The bottom line is that you REALLY need to not leave home without it and the “it” is the part about first making sure your home is safely protected, that some one’s around to keep an eye on it for you, that mail and messages will get forwarded or saved.

     Thinking OUTSIDE the box requires that INSIDE-the-box operations are safe and sound and moving forward without you having to risk divided attention. It’s simple when you start with INTROSPECTION. 

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Mar 23 2010

Overcome the Fear of Marketing

This is not the time

                              

to back off your 

                                                   

marketing plan!

                                                                               

     Three times in recent weeks I have firsthand experienced business owners running scared from the economic crunch, straight into the debris left by salesquakes that erupted because each decided they were too afraid to carry out their marketing plans.

     If you don’t think that’s remarkable, try this on for size: all three had already paid 90-100% of the associated expenses to activate the marketing programs that they had planned. Something is clearly wrong here. Fear of failure? Fear of success? Fear of competition? Fear of more government regulation? Fear of being out of step with the marketplace? Fear of the words and images they were about to use?

You live in the wilderness, and routinely hunt for food for your family. The deer you’ve been tracking all day is now ten yards ahead frozen in place, do you load your gun and then turn around, unload it, and walk away?

Do you say, “Oh, I guess I wasn’t really interested in hunting anyway,” or “Our food supply can hold out ’til next week,” or “Gee, I can’t just shoot it because it’s not running,” or “What if I miss?” or “How would I ever get the thing back to the truck?” or “I should probably wait because one more after this and I could end up exceeding the limit,” or . . . 

     When I asked each of the three what made them pull up short of triggering programs they had already paid for, the answers I heard back were just as ridiculous as the hunter example. You would not believe the credibility each attempted to put behind the excuses they offered.

     It would have been like the hunter deciding to sit and take the whole gun apart to make sure all the pieces were clean and properly connected before resuming the pursuit, by which time the deer would obviously be six counties away.

     This is not the time to back off your marketing plan.

     You’ve come this far. You’ve put together the best program you can, and engaged the best help you can afford. Don’t start to question yourself and your efforts and Monday morning quarterback your decisions! Your instincts are what got you here in the first place. Trust them.

     What’s the worst that can happen if the plan fails? What’s the worst that can happen if you do no marketing? What’s the worst that can happen if you don’t find another deer before your food supply runs out?

     Roll up your sleeves and get in the game! This is what entrepreneuring is all about. Stop choosing to fret and start choosing to take action. You’ll get to your destination. Enjoy the journey.  

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

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Mar 11 2010

Let Salespeople Sell and Marketers Market!

Should “A-Rod” 

                            

be negotiating

                                

terms for Scott Boras

                                                     

to play third base?

                                                                

     With immediate apologies to all those “not a baseball fan” types who prefer brawn-over-brain sports that require heavy drinking to appreciate, and, oh yes, apologies also to all those who suffered great heartache at having to see Olympic curling competition come to an end.

     It’s just that even Herman’s Hermits have heard of baseball’s super-star Yankee slickster, and America’s champion sports agent (No, not the Tom Cruise character from the “Show me the money!” movie). And everyone knows that neither of these guys could do the other’s job with even a shred of success. Besides, it hooked you into reading this, right? 

     Well, this is not much ado about nothing because business owners and managers insist everyday on putting the avalanche of marketing burdens on the shoulders of salespeople who haven’t a clue about the most appropriate tools to use, nor any sense of the command of psychology needed to make those tools work effectively. And designating marketing people for sales roles can be an even bigger joke.

     Marketing is not sales. Sales is a function of marketing.

     Marketing is also the umbrella over all these other functions: pricing; packaging; online and offline promotion, merchandising, and advertising; online and offline public relations, community relations, investor relations, industry relations, business alumni relations, and much of customer relations; professional practice development; formalized networking, blogging, and social media activities; website design and development; and “buzz” (word-of-mouth) marketing.

     Sales has many parts to it. Not the least of these is that being a sales representative means running one’s own small sales performance business complete with bookkeeping and all the other migraine-promoters. But sales is sales.

     Marketers are the planners, organizers, strategists and creators. Salespeople are the movers and shakers. Salespeople are the lifeblood of every organization. Marketers provide the support services that bring prospects to the point of sale. Salespeople sell!

     If you want your salespeople to do a better job of selling, let them sell. Take away the responsibility for marketing that drains their energy, makes them crazy and is beyond their comprehension to begin with, and let them sell.

     Give the responsibility for marketing to people who are trained to do marketing. Let them come up with the words and pictures and designs and plans and budgets and strategies and slogans and jingles and branding lines and media plans and scripts and news releases and online program approaches.

     When their work succeeds at driving prospects to your door, reward them for the results; but then let your salespeople do their job! 

     Of course they all need to interact and share insights with one another. The more each team and individual knows about what makes the other(s) tick, the more successful all of them will be, and so will be your business. Your greatest challenge is to motivate everyone to do what they do best to take your business in the direction you want it to go. That’s leadership, and only you can do that!

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT DayGet blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

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Mar 06 2010

C’MON IN . . . IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!

Your Moment of Truth

                             

is NOW!   

                                                                            

     Who’s reading this stuff on a Saturday night? YOU are. Why? Well, I can’t answer that one, but I can report that you’re not alone. Saturday nights are — believe it or not — one of the highest quality visitor nights here at BusinessWorks.

     I have to think it’s because entrepreneurs never sleep and are always looking for that innovative edge they can grab hold of . . . so, okay, here are some innovative edges:

     If you’re the geeky-type, intent on being the next great Internet-market guru, OR if you’re a down and out sales-type struggling to make ends meet, OR you’re a business owner-type who feels like you might have been losing touch with reality lately (like who hasn’t?), please allow me to offer the following advice: (Consider it my investment in wanting to see you succeed because you came here on a Saturday night.) 

1) GET OUT! Put down and turn off all the hi-tech trappings for just an hour a day and use that time to take the risk of meeting and one-on-one socializing with real living people. Go out for breakfast tomorrow morning and actually talk with the waitress or waiter and the people at the next table instead of texting your Facebook friends or Twitter followers.  

2) INSTEAD OF BRUSHING OFF THIS IDEA, and deciding it’s a waste of your time (and I guarantee you it’s not!), listen to what those around you have to say and how they say it. Withhold your judgements. Just listen and absorb. Clarify. Ask for examples. Take notes (with a real pen and paper pocket-pad!). Then go sit somewhere quiet and write down what you learned about your SELF in that process.

Go to a busy street corner and ask three people for directions. Listen to what they say and how they say it. Ask them if they would repeat the directions slowly enough for you to write them down because you’re not good at remembering things like that. Then go sit somewhere quiet and write down what you learned about your SELF in that process.

3) GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY! The best vehicle I’ve ever found (and I am now nearly 300 years-old!) is this one:   http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw  Do it! I promise you will NEVER regret this piece of advice. It may be the single most important thing you ever learn in your life, or are ever able to teach anyone else.

4) REMEMBER THAT THE MORE YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT YOUR SELF, the better you will be at dealing effectively with others, and you can never be a success in life (regardless of how you define “success”) until and unless you can deal effectively with others.

     These 4 suggestions go F A R beyond using cell phones and social networks, and F A R beyond wallowing in self-pity about how bad finances are, and F A R beyond being swallowed up by nonproductive, fantasy (non-here-and-now) thinking.

      It’s all about getting back to basic, real, in-person, human contact . . . no matter how much that threatens you. Because the moment of truth for your business and your SELF . . . is NOW!. 

~~~~~~~~~ Visit Hal’s Recent Guest Blog Posts ~~~~~~~~~

“Every Sales Pro A Small Business Owner” @ www.iSalesman.com ; “The SALES Snow Job” @ http://bit.ly/bYHmXx ; “Got A Sick Website?” @ http://bit.ly/6iYe6g ; “Leadership Puzzles” @ http://tinyurl.com/yfsczbk ; “What’s Your T-Shirt Say?” @ http://bit.ly/7K0s4a   

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT DayGet blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

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Feb 25 2010

“TWITTER Doesn’t Work for My Business!”

If TWITTER

                                

“doesn’t work”

                                         

for your business,

                                         

maybe you don’t either!

                                

     With cha-ching, cha-ching becoming a  sound of the past, many owners have resigned themselves to “try anything” to lift their businesses up out of the muck, get things back on track, make more sales, bring in more customers, pay the bills, and put some money in the bank again.

     A lot of “old-timers” are even giving social media a try. They’re baffled, but are willing to “give it a shot!” They locate www.Twitter.com, fill in the blanks, set up an account, then put up one feeble 140-character post every week or so telling the world how great their business is.

     They wait. No Twitter-types break down the doors.

     They walk off shaking their heads and vowing never to return. “TWITTER doesn’t work,” they tell people. “It didn’t get me any business, and besides, what do I care if somebody in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Honolulu, or Kalamazoo hears about my little local service business in Pleasantville?”

[Pssst! What works for your business will only work for
your business if you make it work for your business.]
                                                     

     You wouldn’t run (and pay for) one ad or commercial and think that’s going to produce droves of visitors. Why would a few Twitter “Tweets” (which of course you’d not pay for)  do the trick? And, by the way, why would anyone — even someone who puts posts on Twitter a few times a day — think that telling Twitterland how great a business is, will send the masses stampeding to their doorstep?

[Pssst! You can only make something work for your business
if you work for your business. It’s called “walk the talk.”]
                                                           

     TWITTER can work wonders for any business that’s willing to put in the effort to make it work. Making the absolute most of 140 characters takes considerable skill; you can’t breeze in and wing it like a car salesman. It takes brains, organization skills and marketing savvy. A psych degree helps. 

     Are the dynamics any different for FaceBook, LinkedIn, or any other social media networks? No. The closer you study these sites and see what makes them click, so to speak, the better your odds for making them be productive for your business. And you can’t beat the price, so the learning curve trade-off is a worthy investment of time and effort.

     Finally, the lame excuse for avoiding social media because it’s worldwide when they only service local customers? Today’s world has shrunk from a basketball to a marble in terms of instantaneous multi-directional communication. Through social media like Twitter and FaceBook and others we suddenly have “friends” we can be in regular daily contact with from our laptop on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, to Greg in Canada, and Pamela in Australia, and Doyle in Dallas, and Jonena in San Diego, and Victoria in Thailand.

     Do you think any of the millions who are exposed to online messages, might have a friend or relative in Brooklyn (or Pleasantville)? Do you think they might refer to one another the same ways you do? So why not be global, even if you are a little local service business. Hey, you really never do know where business can come from. It might even come from TWITTER.   

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting.

Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!

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