How to Inject Personality into Your Business – Without Going Overboard

Every business owner knows that the single most important aspect of running a successful business is having a good product or service that people want to buy.  But, that’s far from the only ingredient in the complex recipe for long-lasting success. You’ve got to make your business memorable somehow.  In standing out from the rest of the businesses in your field, you’ve got to do more than just serve up quality goods at competitive prices.  Injecting some personality into your business will help customers remember who you are, leading them to come to you more often.

Many startups and small businesses make the mistake of hiding behind a corporate façade in order to come across as more professional.  Folks, looking professional is one thing – turning into a bland, boring, smaller version of a big-box business isn’t going to get you anywhere.  You’ll appear cold, stiff and forgettable.  You’ve got to stand out from the crowd – in a good way.

The first thing you should consider is: who are you? What makes your business special? Perhaps it’s your value system – the fact that you’re personally dedicated to making sure every single customer has the most positive experience possible, or that you take the time to treat everyone like an individual person, not a number.  Maybe there’s something special (and relevant) about your background or previous experience, something that makes you an expert in your field.  But even if you can’t define a specific trait that could help give your business ‘personality’, just making it clear that you’re real people will go far in giving your business a memorable face.

That’s where you’ve got a leg up on most big corporations doing business in your field.  They can’t mock your small business sense of ‘real people’.  Very few get away with it when they try – Wendy’s is one example, though they did take a strange side-step into weird, pointless ads for a while there.  So, if you’re still a family-run company with only a handful of employees, run with it.  The general public tends to associate better, more personal service with companies that project that ‘I’m a real person’ aura.

Here’s the thing, though: don’t take it in a cheesy direction.  You really don’t need cartoon characters or campy over-the-top ads.  Don’t confuse loud, brash attempts at forcing people to pay attention to you with showing personality. There’s also no need to plaster your photo all over everything.  An example of an effective, classy, understated yet memorable projection of personality – by a corporation, no less – is the Dyson vacuum commercials featuring inventor James Dyson, who talks a bit about his passion for developing an efficient bagless vacuum cleaner.

So, how do you go about projecting your new-found sense of identity? First, make sure your marketing materials read like a real person wrote them, not like the flat droning of a faceless corporation.  That doesn’t mean including grammar or spelling mistakes – it just means being casual and conversational.

You should also have a ‘company profile’ or ‘about us’ page on your website that has photos, a personal message and some information about your background.  People want to know who runs the company they’re giving their hard-earned money to. This is something you can also incorporate into your blog – show the photos and names of the people writing the posts, and include a short bio for each.

Finally, use the power of the internet.  Video and social networking are extremely valuable tools that can help you brand your identity into people’s minds. You can create videos that demonstrate or discuss your product or service, give a behind-the-scenes look at your company or delve into issues relevant to your industry.  Stay tuned to Biz Ninjas for more tips on using video and social networking to your advantage!

Photo via TIME Magazine

Breakdown: What Makes a Great Blog Post and How do I Apply it on my Business Blog?

You’re going through the trouble to start and maintain a blog for your business, so why not make sure you’re doing it right? While there are no great secrets to blogs that gain sizable followings, there are definitely some guidelines that can help you avoid becoming one of the thousands of boring, practically unreadable business blogs on the web.

First, let’s go through a quick list of don’ts.  These are things you really want to stay away from when writing posts for a business blog, unless your aim is to lose readers, drive away potential customers and gain a bad rep for your company.

• Don’t drone on and on about yourself.  You’re really not that interesting.  Your business blog shouldn’t be a means to constantly promote your company – it needs to have value for the reader.  A little self-promotion here and there is fine, but keep it to a minimum.

• Don’t just repost stuff from other blogs. Especially if you fail to give credit to said blog, and make it look as if you wrote the content yourself.  That’s a great way to get negative attention.  It’ll also kill your search engine ranking – Google penalizes sites with duplicate content.

• Don’t constantly post negative things about your competitors.  You’ll come off as a bitter, elitist jerk – not exactly the image you want the public to have of you and your company.

Now, here are the do’s.  Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way to blog success.  They’ll help you gain and keep readers, and that’s the point of a blog after all, isn’t it?

• Do write about relevant topics.  Your business blog posts should be related to your industry, your company or to business in general.  Don’t go off on tangents or include random uninteresting personal topics.  The idea of your blog is to gain an audience of readers that look to your blog for expert information on a given topic.

• Do write in plain English with proper grammar and spelling.  You might be tempted to use industry lingo that makes you sound like an expert (and you do want to present yourself as an expert in your field), but it’ll confuse and turn off readers.  Stick to plain English.  Oh, and if you’re a terrible writer, please hire someone.  There’s nothing worse than trying to read a meandering, poorly written post that barely makes sense and/or sounds unintelligent.

• Do keep your posts concise. You’re not writing a book.  Posts should be just long enough to relay important information, tips or news.  Leave out unnecessary details, avoid flowery language and keep paragraphs short and easy to read.

• Do post regularly enough to maintain an audience.  If you randomly publish new posts once or twice a month, your blog won’t be memorable enough for people to keep coming back.  Checking for new posts and always seeing the same thing gets tiresome.  You should update at least once a week – preferably more than that – so readers have fresh content that makes visiting your blog worth their time.

7 Twitterers Business People Should Follow

A couple of days ago we told you all about Twitter, and why you as a businessperson should be using it.  Twitter is an online communication service that allows people to send each other short messages, to keep each other updated on what you’re up to.  Businesspeople can use Twitter as a form of permission-based marketing, since the people who follow your updates are free to unfollow you at any time.

Whether you’re totally new to Twitter or have been at it for a while now, as a businessperson there are some people you should be following.  There are many experts and businesspeople on Twitter who not only have interesting and knowledgeable things to say, they’ve also learned how to work Twitter to their advantage.  Here are 7 Twitterers businesspeople should follow.

1. Guy Kawasaki is managing editor of a venture capital firm, columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine, editor of Alltop.com and author of eight business books.  He was one of the original Apple employees who helped market the Macintosh in the ‘80’s – he knows a thing or two about marketing.  Follow him and soak in the wisdom.

2. Got a thing or two to learn about personal branding and business building? Gary Vaynerchuk transformed his family liquor store business into a $50 million national industry leader, and he’s become an internet celebrity in the process with his ‘Wine Library TV’ daily video blog.  Gary also quickly gained a reputation for passing on some valuable instincts about branding within the social media landscape and is quickly becoming a social media guru – or sommelier, as he prefers to call it.

3. Jeremy Schoemaker turned a love of writing simple programs for his Apple computer into a company called ShoeMoney Media Group, which embraces new trends and looks for opportunities to exploit them.  If you want to be in on the next big thing, Jeremy usually knows about it before anyone else.

4. Peter Shankman is an entrepreneur, author and speaker, and is widely renown for his skills in social media, PR, marketing, advertising, and creativity.  He’s also the founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), which connects journalists with sources using a social media platform.  Follow Peter and you’ll see frequent HARO requests, and get a voyeuristic look into life as a businessman in NYC.

5. If you’re floundering with your company’s presence on the web – or could just use a few pointers – Jeremiah Owyang’s your guy.  As a web strategist, Jeremiah helps businesses use web technology to meet the needs of their target market.  He also researches the social computing industry and uses that info to help his clients make decisions.  His tweets often feature his opinions on the latest social web applications.

6. Valeria Maltoni, founder of ConversationAgent.com, one of the world’s top online marketing blogs, defines modern business as a long and open conversation. She’s an expert blogger and is full of wisdom about marketing, branding and how social media can serve business strategy. Follow Valeria to network, connect and for links to great articles and information.

7. Still figuring out how to use social media to your best advantage? Chris Brogan advises businesses, organizations and individuals on using social media  and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.  His blog is full of expert branding and marketing tips, and his tweets point out relevant info all over the web.

The Power of Trump: How to be a Shameless Self-Promotion Whore

What’s Donald Trump’s secret to crazy-huge business success? A whole lot of vanity, and the tenacity of a pit bull.  If there’s one thing Trump has never been afraid of, it’s tooting his own horn. He proudly emblazons his name across nearly every piece of commercial property he owns, will go on for days about how he made his fortune and isn’t afraid to flaunt the money he has made off his business ventures.

Trump told ABC News, “Most successful people I know are vain. That’s why they’re successful. … I don’t think there is anything wrong with being vain. If there was, I probably wouldn’t admit it.”

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has seized on to one of the secrets of success: self-promotion. Though he may take it to extremes – often exaggerating to get attention – Trump has mastered the art of image building.  How else could a real estate mogul be a world-famous figure? And, for that matter, Trump’s business ventures haven’t all been successful.  Far from it.

That doesn’t mean he’s portrayed as a failure, though – Trump keeps the hype going at all times, obscuring those business failures and continuously painting himself as the best of the best.  And it works. He’s portrayed like some kind of superhuman master of business on his hit reality show, The Apprentice, and people buy it.

So, how can you parlay Trump’s tactics into success for your own company? Of course you don’t want to come off as arrogant or a braggadocio, but self-promotion is often the ticket to getting recognition. After all, if you’re not confident about what your company’s selling, how will anyone else be?  You’ve got to trumpet your accomplishments, because your competition sure ain’t gonna do it for you.

Did your company just land a huge account, open a new store, meet an important sales goal or reach some other objective? Put out a press release, write about it on your blog, tell your friends and family and add it to your resume.  Make sure potential customers know about your every success.  You don’t have to do it in an in-your-face, annoying way – you could simply add the information to the company profile page on your website.

The perfect time to self-promote is when you’re networking.  Headed to a conference, or a business get-together? When introducing yourself in a business setting and talking about your company, don’t be afraid to mention awards and recognition you’ve received.  Those things will help cement your company’s identity in their minds, which may just get you more referrals, press, or investors.

Another great avenue for self-promotion is social networking.  As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, Twitter is a great way to get out information about you and your company in an effective yet not-too-annoying way.  Tell your friends and business associates about that new investor, or the interview you did with a magazine.

You should also have an elevator pitch memorized that sounds natural and is easy for others to remember.  Don’t know what an elevator pitch is, or how to craft one? Check out our previous post, ‘Honing the Elevator Pitch: The Art of Who You Are in 30 Seconds’.

Keep in mind that you don’t want to drive people away by incessantly droning on about your successes. If you’re overbearing, you’ll soon find that people will avoid you, stop following you on Twitter, or ignore you. Don’t turn yourself into a spammer. Keep it brief, and make sure you’re listening to what people around you are saying as well.

For more tips on shameless self-promotion, Trump style, check out his #1 best-selling book, ‘How to Get Rich’.

7 Ways Small Businesses Let Money Go Down the Drain

As a business owner, you’re probably painfully aware of the fact that you’ve got to keep a tight reign on your budget. Of course, that means no extravagant company parties or needlessly fancy office décor. Those things are obvious, but what about the little ways that money can slip away from you without you even realizing it? Even the most frugal of business owners can get a firmer grip on their assets by avoiding these 7 common ways that small businesses waste money.

1. Always buying new. For a small business, thrift store furniture and refurbished electronics are your friends. When you’re first starting out, you may be tempted to put fancy matching sets of furniture and brand-new top-of-the-line computers on your credit card, but there’s really no reason to. Simple desks, chairs and bookcases will work just fine, and refurbished PCs often come with a warranty that’s just as good as those on new machines. You can always upgrade later if the need arises. Of course, that doesn’t mean to buy total junk that will fall apart soon – but if you look hard enough, you’ll find plenty of items that are like new at rock bottom prices. In addition to local thrift stores and consignment shops, check eBay and Craigslist.

2. Failing to comparison shop. Most small businesses have to buy a lot of items and services – paper goods, ink cartridges, telephone service, internet, computer software, shipping and much more. Saving just a little bit on each could add up to big money each month. That’s why it’s so important to comparison shop. Use the internet to compare prices, and always ask each vendor whether there’s a special program or plan for business owners.

3. Focusing on the wrong things. Let’s say you’re the owner of an online store. You’re a technophile, and convinced that your site needs all the latest high-tech features to stand out from your competitors, so you pay programmers thousands of dollars for special ‘zoom’ technology and other fancy widgets. Meanwhile, you’re not putting enough of your time, money and attention into the most important facet of your business: sales. Never put sales on the back burner – no matter what else you’re trying to accomplish at the same time.

4. Skipping low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies. Paying top dollar for television ads, Val-pak direct mail packages and flyers may not be worth it if nobody’s familiar with your business yet. Take advantage of all the free ways to market your business online – they’re plentiful, and easy to master. Check out our previous post, “Marketing with No Money: Using Social Media to Grow Your Offline Business”.

5. Not knowing how successful your ad campaigns are. It’s really important to keep track of whether your latest marketing venture actually got you any sales. You may be using dozens of different marketing devices all at once, from e-mail campaigns to yellow page ads, but if you’re not keeping track, you won’t be able to tell which ones are actually working and could continue wasting money on the ones that aren’t drawing in any sales.

6. Using too many keywords in Google AdWords. Newbies to this online marketing tool often think more is better when choosing keywords for ad campaigns; it’s best to stick with a few targeted keywords that will get you visitors that will actually buy something from you. Use this free keyword suggestion tool to make a list and then place only a few keywords in each ad group.

7. Having too many employees. Remember that graphic designers, writers, accountants and HR can all be hired as independent contractors, which will save you big money on taxes and benefits. There’s no need to have in-house employees for jobs like these. Just make sure that you’re familiar with the characteristics that classify a worker as an independent contractor, or you could face penalties.

Print Marketing: What’s Essential and What to Skip

There’s no doubt that the business world is increasingly web-based.  Companies are more wired than ever, with web sites, search marketing, social networking and other electronic means of getting their name out there.  That’s great – the web is full of opportunities and potential – but that doesn’t mean you’ll never need paper again.  Far from it.  While you may want to cut back on business-related paper items, whether to be more eco-friendly or to save money and space, some items are indispensable.

Rhonda Abrams of USA Today names the following items as essentials:

• Business cards
• Brochures
• Price lists
• Catalogs
• Sales sheets
• Flyers/postcards

The reasoning behind this is simple: you still need face-to-face marketing, and for people to remember your product or service, you need to leave them with something tangible. Printed materials make you look prepared, knowledgeable and professional and ensure that prospects have all of the important details as well as relevant visuals. Nicely done printed materials that include your logo also function as your brand identity system, helping to solidify your company’s presence in the market.

On that note, what are the items you can skip? Print companies will push a lot of add-ons when you place an order, mostly consisting of the sort of stuff that people throw away – calendars, stationary, holiday cards and the like. For most companies, this kind of stuff is a waste of money.  Concentrate on the important items above and you’ll get the biggest bang for your marketing buck.

If you’re a small business and only need a limited number of printed items, you can get away with printing some of it in-house (provided you have a good quality printer).  If you’re going to do this, however, stick to price lists, sales sheets and flyers – it’s unlikely your business cards or brochures will come out looking professional enough.

There are plenty of inexpensive places to get business materials printed up if you’re on a limited budget and can’t afford to work with a local printer.  Check out VistaPrint.com, 123print.com and PsPrint.com, all of which offer good quality for low prices (just watch out for those add-ons!).

Photo credit: Flickr user rahim

10 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Copywriter

Hiring a copywriter can be one of the most important marketing decisions you make for your business. A good copywriter will help define your brand, keep readers engaged, build their trust in you and make them feel the need to purchase your product or services. A bad copywriter will undermine your professionalism, confuse potential customers and possibly rip you off.

How do you tell the difference between the two? Asking 10 important questions before you hire them. These questions will help you weed out the wannabes and find the true professionals who can help advance your business.

1. Work samples – Ask about the copywriter’s recent work and read a variety of samples in different areas such as sales letters, web copy, brochure copy, product descriptions and email marketing campaigns. Don’t place too much emphasis on whether they’ve done the exact sort of project you’re looking for before – you can tell a lot about their abilities by looking at other work they’ve done.

However, be advised that there’s a big difference between copywriters and creative writers – don’t hire someone whose portfolio is full of short stories or poetry. Similarly, there’s a difference between content writers and direct response copywriters (though many writers do both): content writers can provide a nicely written article according to your needs, but may not have sales and marketing experience. Bottom line: work samples are the single most important factor in hiring a copywriter – they give you an instant idea of what you’re going to get.

2. References – Get a few references from previous clients of the copywriter (family and co-workers don’t count). When you check the writer’s references, ask about how happy they were overall, how professional the writer was and whether they recommend the writer’s services.

3. Adaptability – How well the writer can mimic or develop the right tone and voice for your piece is an important factor in how successful it will be. If the writer seems to write in the same voice over and over again for various clients (i.e., playful or authoritative), ask if the writer is adaptable to achieve the effect you’re going for. ‘Voice’ is an important branding factor for businesses, so if you have one already established you want a writer who can stick to it.

4. Subcontracting vs. working alone – Does the writer subcontract any of his or her work, or do it all him/herself? If subcontracting is part of their business model, ask exactly which tasks are done by others and which will be personally completed by the writer. Some writers farm out tasks like research, proofreading and fact checking, while others may farm out entire projects. You want to know exactly who the work will be coming from. If the writer does subcontract the actual writing of the piece, ask if they guarantee the quality.

5. Market research – How extensively does the writer research your market before beginning a project? Unless you provide it all for them, they’re going to have to get out there and do some grunt work before starting (and be advised, this may cost extra). How will they get to know your industry and market? Will they interview clients, or research statistics? If the writer doesn’t know who they’re speaking to, their work won’t be as effective.

6. Turnaround time – How long will it take to finish the piece? Be aware that freelance writers usually work for several clients at the same time. Rush jobs cost extra. Disorganized writers who can’t tell you approximately how long it will take could be a headache in the end. Both parties agreeing to a deadline before work begins is the best way to prevent this problem.

7. Rates and fees – The writer should have a rate schedule with ballpark estimates for various types of projects. The actual total for your project may vary depending on how much research is involved and how many revisions you request. Ask for a detailed list of any other fees that may crop up, also – some writers charge for things like hard copies and conference fees. And yes, it’s true: cheap copywriting isn’t good, and good copywriting isn’t cheap. You get what you pay for.

8. Contracts – Ask if the writer provides a contract. Most professionals do. The contract should outline the project, what’s expected from both parties, expected turnaround time and an estimate. The contract may include a purchase order or letter of authorization, which guarantees payment for the writer. Fees for initial projects often require a 50% advance payment. Some contracts stipulate that the writing, unless otherwise specified, is the intellectual property of the writer and that they retain the right to use it in their portfolio.

9. Revisions – Some writers include a set number of revisions in the fee for each project, with additional revisions charged at a set hourly rate. Make sure you find out what that rate is before beginning, and be aware of it when asking for revisions. Writers should be open to changing their work to please you, but be aware that it takes time and effort and the fees can add up. Some writers may set a maximum number of revisions they’ll do on any one project in order to ensure that they can keep their commitments to other clients.

10. Questions from the writer – Ask the copywriter whether they have any questions about the project before you begin. Unless you’ve provided it up front, a good copywriter should ask about how the writing will be used, who it’s targeting, what action you want the reader to take, what are the features and benefits of the product or service you’re selling, and whether you have testimonials. All of these things will help the writer create a piece that meets your needs and produces the wanted action from the reader.

MARKETING | Marketing With No Money: Using Social Media to Grow Your Offline Business

Marketing doesn’t have to be a huge drain on your budget. Online social media allows business owners to connect with the public like never before, providing an outlet for you to get your name out there and get noticed. You don’t have to be an online business to use social media to your advantage; you can use it to grow your offline business, too. Social media comes in many forms, from blogs and microcommunities to video and social bookmarking.

What social media does is create an elevated platform for your content, to give it a broader reach. It’s not a miracle worker – you’ve got to have high quality content in the first place to be successful with it (and how to create viral content is a topic for another day!).

The essence of social media is person-to-person contact. Marketing is no longer about faceless corporations plastering ads all over every possible surface. Consumers want ‘conversational marketing’ – wherein the advertiser actually listens to what they have to say in return. The old yelling-into-a-megaphone routine doesn’t work so well anymore.

Social media isn’t a direct highway to sales – social media users like the notorious Diggers and Stumblers don’t care about your static direct-response website. They want to see unique content that pertains to their interests. That’s why some social media sites work hand-in-hand – like creating your own blog and then using media like Digg, Twitter and Stumbleupon to promote interesting posts. The best use for social media is to boost unique traffic and high quality links, which will in turn create a community of supporters and better search engine rankings.

Once you get the hang of it, using social media isn’t complicated. You might provide updates to new content published on your website via Twitter, or create and upload a how-to video related to your field on YouTube. You could network with others on Facebook and LinkedIn, social networking sites that let you virtually schmooze and make new contacts.

Some of the best online social media resources available are the previously mentioned Twitter, YouTube, Stumbleupon, LinkedIn, Facebook and Digg along with Flickr, Technorati, Newsvine, Del.icio.us, and Reddit. Go to each individual site, take a look around and see what other people are doing with it. It might just inspire you to jump right in and start getting noticed.

A great place to start is this article by social media marketing guru Muhammad Saleem, ‘The Social Media Manual: Read Before You Play‘. DoshDosh also has an excellent rundown of the benefits of social media marketing along with some tips on how to use it.

Free TV And Radio Time: Five Websites To Get Recognized As An Expert

The first Google Image return for “experts”–really.

At one point or another every hardworking business owner has probably found themselves wondering how to get on the gravy train that is consulting work.  Those of us that are particularly lazy are big fans of thinking every time somebody from our industry is on TV or the radio “that should be me.”  As luck would have it, it’s depressingly easy to penetrate these circles (just think of how people in them can shape public opinion)–and there are multiple websites out there that will give you the first step up.

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