Responding to Customer Comments

We all hate rude comments, but we have to face them. When a customer leaves a rude comment on your Facebook, Twitter, Blog or other social media channels our first instinct is to delete it or not respond to it. Not responding to customers comments takes the personality out of your brand.

If someone leaves a nasty comment, getting to the bottom of is the comment is what is important. If the customer chooses to continue to leave one nasty comment after another. Respond one time in a respectful manner. After that let it go.

If your company does something wrong own it in a public way but be careful what you are  apologizing for. Be specific when apologizing. If not, it can be used against you.

So lesson of the day:
  1.  Respond to negative comments
  2.  Don't delete negative comments right a   way but remove it after a period of time.
  3.  Be professional.
  4.  Be specific.

Five Types of Bloggers. Which one are you?

I found this picture on Google +. I thought it was cute. Which one describes you?

Lower your Bounce Rate

 

 

What is a bounce rate?  According to Wikipedia a bounce rate is when a website or blog site visitor only views a single page on a website, then visitor(s) leaves without viewing any other pages. Which totally defeats the purpose of website. The goal is to have visitors view you're website/blog on a daily basis. So the question is;  "How do you do that?" What I found after I did some research was some fairly simple answers.

 

Focus on a simple and consistent website or blog.

 

Only publish excerpts of your blog on your home page of your website. Make  the first couple of paragraphs of your posts interesting and engaging. The goal is to get your visitors to click through more of your content.

 

Also blog posts categorizing is helpful.  Have a list that categorizing keywords to make it easy for visitors to find related posts.

 

 

Is your Idea Original or Not?

Today I was reading an article online about stealing ideas and originality. The author bought up a really good about originality. Do originality really exist? Is there a such thing of new ideas?  All ideas come from somewhere. Right?

It's important to do some research before presenting your ideas to the world. Ask your

self: "Has this idea been done before?" Is there a patent out there? What makes my idea so different from others?  All I can say is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. You cannot do enough research. The more you research the less of a chance you will get sued.

We all know an idea come from somewhere. But make sure your ideas are original, unique and different. 

The Right Ingredients

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you're week started off good. Today, I was talking to one of my clients about a business plan. He's has an established business, but the demand for his products are going down due poor marketing. This guy makes a great deal of profits off of his products and services; never had to do much marketing. At least that's what he thought. He came to me today inquiring about a marketing plan. I gave him the The Right Ingredients to a Marketing Plan. Never heard of it...

The Right Ingredients to a Marketing Plan:

Be Prepared to Write. Before you start writing, collect all your information. When you gather your information before hand you avoid interruptions. Make sure you have information such as; Financials, Market Research,Competitors Analysis, Detail description of your product or services.

Know you Market Situation. Know your standing in the marketplace. Provide a clear and concise description of your company. Match up your products and services against your competitors products and services. How well do you stack up? Inlcude: What your products and services are. What geographical area you sell to. Describe your audience (provide demographics. Who are you competitors?

SWOT Ananlysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats & Opportunities). This section focus on the good and bad implications of the entire marketing plan.

Executive Summary. The executive plan summarizes e final part of the plan. The most important part of the plan.

Marketing Plan Outline

HAPPY SUNDAY!!  It's the beginning of a new and productive week.

I often get ask about marketing plans.  What is a marketing plan?  How do I write one?  A marketing plan is somewhat like a business plan, with a few differences.  Like a business plan; marketeing plans has an executive summary, company summary, implementation summary and financials. Depending on the nature of your plan you add detail or take it away to suit your needs.

You’ll want to customize your plan based what type products or services you are selling. Although the outline does change in some respects as a result, this is a good standard sample outline for a basic marketing plan.

Marketing plan outline

1.0 Executive Summary

2.0 Situation Analysis

2.1 Market Summary

2.1.1 Market Demographics
2.1.2 Market Needs
2.1.3 Market Trends
2.1.4 Market Growth

2.2 SWOT Analysis

2.2.1 Strengths
2.2.2 Weaknesses
2.2.3 Opportunities
2.2.4 Threats

2.3 Competition
2.4 Services
2.5 Keys to Success
2.6 Critical Issues
2.7 Channels
2.8 Macroenvironment

3.0 Marketing Strategies

3.1 Mission
3.2 Marketing Objectives
3.3 Financial Objectives
3.4 Target Marketing
3.5 Positioning
3.6 Strategy Pyramids
3.7 Marketing Mix

3.7.1 Services and Service Marketing
3.7.2 Pricing
3.7.3 Promotion
3.7.4 Service
3.7.5 Channels of Distribution

3.8 Marketing Research

4.0 Financials, Budgets, and Forecasts

4.1 Break-even Analysis
4.2 Sales Forecast

4.2.1 Sales Breakdown 1
4.2.2 Sales Breakdown 2
4.2.3 Sales Breakdown 3

4.3 Expense Forecast

4.3.1 Expense Breakdown 1
4.3.3 Expense Breakdown 2
4.3.3 Expense Breakdown 3

4.4 Linking Sales and Expenses to Strategy
4.5 Contribution Margin

5.0 Controls

5.1 Implementation Milestones
5.2 Marketing Organization
5.3 Contingency Planning

Go Ladies!!

Today I was reading an article on Women entreprenuers. I must say I am very surprised of the number of women owned businesses. All I can say is GO LADIES!!! Oh and i must add: Women owned businesses employs 40% more people than McDonalds, IBM and Walmart.

How Important Small Businesses is in the U.S.

Tips to Increase Your Blog Subscribers

Writing a blog is so much rewarding when you know people are reading and sharing your work. If you are managing a blog as part of your business; increasing you subscribers  is an important task. 

Here are some fairly simple tips you can implement to help boost your subscribers.

1. Decrease your loading time. Slow loading times means a 7% drop off rate. Slow loading times is a sure way to lose visitors to your blog before they get to read your content. Slow loading times can also lead to lower Google search rankings.

2.  Offer Exclusive content for your subscribers. Give aways can give your readers an extra push to sign up for your blog.

3. Add Sign-Up Forms. If you only have sign up forms in one place (at the bottom of the page) you can lose a potential subscriber. Add your sign up form to the side bar. The more places the better.

4. Use pop ups to capture email addresses. Most blogging platforms will allow you to set up one.

Perfect Social Media Post cont'd

Tips for Posting to Pinterest, Facebook & Google Plus

A few tips to keep mind:

Pinterest
Avoid using human faces. Images gets repinned 23% more.

Facebook
Provide links. Drive your fans to your website, blog site, etc
Positivity. Positivity is definitely more appealing.
Provide valuable information.

Google Plus
Tag people. Encourage people to comment on your post.
Include images.

No Such Thing of "The Perfect" Social Media Post

I get so many questions on Social Media. When is the best time to post? What should I post? What Social Media sites should I use? How can I get more followers or more likes?

I wish there was a secret formula to all of this, but there isn't. Each Social Media site is different. Each brand followers/fans have their own preferences.

The key is to find what Social Media site works best for your business. In order to find that out you have to know where your market is.

Remember the more Social Media sites you use the more time you have to spend maintaining them. Find at least three sites to use. For instance; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Small Business Challenges

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Committing to a Business Partner

A business partnership is like a marriage.  It often starts out wonderful and blissful--only to end in chaos and legal proceedings.  Before committing to a business partner, learn as much as you can about them.  Take the time to get to know as much about their family life and their lifestyle in general before making that BIG step.

Questions to ask before deciding on a partner:

1.  What is your potential partner financial situation?
Okay, it's a little to personal but it is important to know.  Having a clear understanding of someone's financial status is crucial before committing. 

2.  What do you need from your business partner?
Find a business partner who can bring something different to the table.  Opposites attract.  If you are a more detailed person.  Find someone who is creative.  If you are shy or have money to invest.  Find someone who is not shy and have great connections to a market.

3.  Is your potential partner commitment to the business as strong as yours?
If your partner is not as committed as you are, they can ruin your brand in due time.  Pay attention.

4.  Are they willing to put in the time?
It's important that you and your partner be on the same page.  Find out how many hours are they willing to put in a day.  Do they're expectations meet yours? Partners do not have to spend the same amount of time as you, but it is important that they are just as committed as you.

5.  What questions do they have for me?
Your partner should ask you questions.  You want them to know about your character, expectations and reliability.  If they don't, then do not commit.