Whether you are a startup business owner, a seasoned veteran, a designer, a wedding planner, or a theatre director, chances are you have the occasional basic spreadsheet that needs to be put together or sometimes a more technical analysis that you may need done as well.

In this economy and with a lean small biz budget, we do not always have the necessary funds to purchase or license fancy software. The bottom line is that most people have Microsoft Excel on their home and/or work computer and much of the analytical work that needs to be done for your business can be accomplished in Excel!

The 411 on Excel

Some of the valuable tasks a business owner can accomplish with Excel include:

• Perform basic and/or complex formulas
• Place to create and store a database
• Cleanse and organize information
• Create charts & graphs
• Create company reports: Excel is often used for Monthly reporting. Whether your data dump comes from another system and is exported into an Excel File (xls or csv), users can create standardized professional reports that merely need to be updated with the new data as it becomes available (weekly, monthly, quarterly etc). These reports can serve as a great template for reporting and ensuring consistency.

Excel and then SUM

In addition to some of the fundamental tasks that can be done in Excel, Excel can also be used to house some more advanced items. Below are listed some sample cases of companies who have used Excel to house some fancy spreadsheets.

Wage Performance/Tracking and Reports: Many small businesses do not have the budget for a fancy payroll system like ADP, or their needs are too specific to use a generalized system solution. That being said, everyone needs to monitor employee pay. Custom databases can be created to track employee payroll that will allow small businesses to easily calculate and keep track of employee hours, payroll and benefits.

Data Management/CRM: Lots of small businesses have databases full of useful data, like customer lists, inventory items, or sales leads, but they don’t always have ways to effectively utilize that data. Often times, it is hard to organize this data in a useful and productive manner. By creating a clean database in Excel, that will house all of this info, you can:

• track each customer call made
• use simple filtering techniques that will allow you to see quick lists of customers based on criteria like Location, Customer Rating and past purchases
• get rid of all of the paper cluttering your home office
• create fancy (well kind of… we are still just talking about a spreadsheet) reports

Financial Analysis: Plenty of business owners, from finance novices to econ experts, use Excel as their go-to place for financial forecasting or budget planning.

Get your spreadsheet on!

So check out Excel, it can be simple and fun. Store your data here… maybe you will become obsessed and use Excel forever. Maybe Excel is just a band-aid till you can afford something else. If this is the case, you will easily be able to import your Excel Spreadsheets to other software when the time comes.

Happy Spreadsheeting!

This guest post was written by Jen Portland. Around the Results Revolution, we also love spreadsheets as a dashboard for keeping up with small business marketing metrics. We export our stats from Google Analytics or our e-mail marketing software and manipulate them to help us reach our customers better and to learn how to market smarter from our data. Excel is definitely a friend to small business owners, so if you want to get more from your spreadsheets, chat with Jen Portland, founder & spreadsheeter at Excel Rain Man, an Excel outsourcing and training service. Check them out at www.excelrainman.com.

There seems to be a “post video and people will watch (by osmosis)” mentality floating around in web world these days. Video is a key element of a solid on-line marketing program, but to assume the best by using the “post and forget” approach is a terrible mistake. Instead, as a small business owner, you should optimize your video posts to benefit YOUR business (and get YOUR web site more traffic), not the business of the video provider.

Search engine submission for video can be a complex and rapidly-changing process, and many sites may wish to turn to their video platform provider to assist them in achieving maximum results. This doesn’t have to break the bank. But if you DO wish to take your video marketing to the next level through search engine optimization, here are a few questions you should definitely ask your search professional before engaging their services:

• Will you index both my video permalink pages and the videos themselves?
• Will links point back to my site, or will they drive traffic to pages hosted by the video platform provider?
• How often will feeds be updated?
• In which search engines will my results appear?
• How will I be able to track click-through and ROI?

Guest Post by Benjamin Wayne. Around the Results Revolution we LOVE video, but we also know we don’t know it all. That’s why folks like Benjamin and his company, Fliqz, are a superb asset to businesses and projects like ours. This list of questions made us really think, and I hope they make you think, too. Any way you look at it, video is a good thing – and on-line video is here to stay. So, hopefully you’re making video. Check out Benjamin Wayne, CEO of Fliqz, a company that helps businesses of all sizes optimize their videos at www.fliqz.com.

This weekly e-mail is your chance to learn from the experience of other small business owners. In this issue, a 37-year photography studio veteran and her team share the details of their marketing success including their “Give to Get” marketing strategy.

Michele Jakacki, owner of Focal Point Studio of Photography, has been growing her business for 37 years. Michele and her husband Jerry, are truly a mom and pop team who have embraced the idea of a family business, with Michele’s sister Maresa Miller and niece Amanda Coulon also playing key marketing roles in the business. With TWELVE professionally trained photographers, Focal Point Studio of Photography is serving a second generation of customers from their 10,000 square foot studio in downtown Farmington, Michigan and growing in to the digital age by staying focused on what has mattered since the beginning: high touch relationships with their customers and community.

This week on ResultsRevTV, Michele, Maresa and Amanda talked to Marianna about the secrets to their marketing success. Watch or listen to the 30-minute episode archive here.

PLEASE NOTE: The ladies of Focal Point will be answering your questions about small business and marketing on our web site through the end of this week. Submit your questions by posting comments here.

Use “GIVE TO GET” as a marketing strategy.

1. Give to your community! Being involved in the community will increase your word of mouth sales. The more you are involved, the more customers will know your name. Also, work with other businesses to help grow the community as a whole. Michele is an outspoken volunteer for the Farmington Downtown Development Authority. When the community grows and prospers, so will your business.

2. Give generously to non-profit organizations. At Focal Point Studio, they give a minimum $150 gift certificate to any verified non-profit organization that requests a donation, door prize or auction item. They confess that this one of their best and also least expensive forms of advertising. With each gift, the business gets exposure at an event or fundraiser, often with signage and verbal mention. Most gift certificates bring new customers that have not previously been exposed to the business. Of course, some gift certificates are never redeemed, but the business still gets the exposure at the event. And the ones that are redeemed usually spend more than the gift certificate’s face value!

3. Give to other businesses. Focal Point is currently partnering with doctor’s offices to give all expectant parents a gift certificate as a gift from the doctor. They are also partnering with jewelry stores allowing them to give a gift certificate whenever an engagement ring is purchased. This partnership is free to the business and makes them look good to their customers – and earns new business for Focal Point in the form of infant and bridal portraits respectively.

Here are four more marketing strategy ideas that you can use in your business, too!

4. Be in the customer retention business. Michele says that she instills this idea with all of her employees: “Make a connection with each person who walks in the door. Get to know them; learn their name. Become friends with your customers! This will bring them back to you in the future.” Michele says her business is “90% public relations and 10% technical.” She tells her employees that she doesn’t sign their paychecks – the customers do.

5. Use your employees’ skills and life experiences to your advantage. Michele says that she has learned a lot about the needs and desires of her customers by listening to her employees and learning from their lives and current phases of life. This has helped her understand her target audience better and allowed her to more accurately shape her marketing messages – and better serve her customers.

6. Observe other businesses to get ideas for your own customer experience. Michele says that they are always paying attention to how other businesses treat their customers or what other businesses do for their customers. They note bad habits they want to avoid and learn new tricks they can modify for use in their own customer service.

7. Make it right. How you fix mistakes can often be your best marketing. If something goes wrong, it is critical to validate the feeling of your customer and to be empathetic or apologetic. Assure them that the problem can be fixed and NEVER be defensive. It can be stressful knowing that you may lose money to make it right, but you won’t lose your reputation by doing the right thing. Michele told the story of a bride whose wedding day portrait files were lost. While most studios simply offer a financial refund, that is really not adequate considering the personal loss of not having the photographs. Focal Point offered a studio portrait session – and also paid for all related expenses including hair stylist, professional makeup, recreation of the wedding flowers, tuxedos and even a limousine and other special touches to make the photos authentic and the experience extraordinary. They lost money, but the bride and her family referred thousands of dollars in business in the years following.

Want more?
See the full episode here to learn more. Don’t forget! The ladies of Focal Point will be answering questions about small business and marketing through the end of this week. Submit your questions here.

Michele Jakacki is co-owner of Focal Point Studio of Photography, a locally owned and operated, independent photographic studio business located in downtown Farmington, Michigan. Michele started the business with her husband, Jerry, 37 years ago, with the vision to be the home of Michigan’s finest photographers. They believe they have realized that vision.

You may reprint this article in its entirety if you attribute the article to the Results Revolution and include our mission statement and website address in the credits.

A myriad of practical marketing ideas from a budget-conscious, socially aware entrepreneur

Grace Bateman has a revolutionary small business story indeed. She’s not just transforming her business with extraordinary marketing, but she is transforming the lives of sixteen formerly impoverished Peruvian women (and counting) who now have fair wage jobs with potential for growth and development – all while working flexible hours and raising their families in Peru.

On yesterday’s show, Grace shared a myriad of marketing and business advice from her own experience. So much, in fact, that you will definitely be amazed by the examples and stories she tells in the video archive of this week’s ResultsRevTV show.

In the meantime, here are a few bite-sized pieces of advice from Grace that you can go apply in your own business this week:

1. Create beautiful, memorable packaging for your products AND save money! We think this tip applies whether you are a brick and mortar storefront or e-commerce business. How you package your product leaves a lasting impression on your customer. Grace uses a set of three ink STAMPS to create her customized packaging. (Each stamp cost less than $20.) With this inexpensive touch, Peru Paper cards move from a greeting card commodity to a package worthy of giving AS THE GIFT or a box worthy of being displayed on a desktop rather than stored away in a drawer. Now, that’s added marketing value!

2. Use the “Help a Reporter Out” service. Fondly known as HARO, this FREE service connects journalists with sources for stories. Everyone from the Wall Street Journal and the Today Show to local mommy blogs use HARO to find sources for upcoming articles, broadcast appearances, blog posts, e-books, published books, and more. Learn more about the service here.

Grace has, in just a few short months of using this service, been featured in numerous news outlets through her response to HARO queries. Using HARO’s Gift Bag query service, she even got her cards into a high profile swag bag at the Oscars earlier this month – a bag given to more than 40 A-List celebrities including Oprah, Morgan Freeman, Sandra Bullock, James Cameron and many more. All she had to do was respond to a query and donate a few cards. Grace would say that finding 15 minutes a day to read the daily HARO queries and respond when appropriate has paid big returns for her small business.

3. Turn publicity into more publicity. Once you get a taste of publicity, tell all of your local media that you are getting this attention. They might just give you more. Grace had a story done on her business at the local television news level because of her inclusion in the Oscar swag bag. But only because she told the news this was happening. She also uses media mentions to engage her existing audience by including links to these mentions in her weekly e-mail blast, posting relevant links on her active Facebook Page and archiving her press mentions on her web site.

4. Don’t be afraid of web site technology. Grace recommends having a web site or e-commerce site that you can update yourself almost entirely. Grace admits that she was a complete novice who was a bit afraid of this possibility just a few short months ago, and she now adds and deletes pages, products and all the related information, photos, etc. for her web site on a regular basis after just a couple of hours of training. She has full control which allows her to make quick decisions and upgrades from any Internet connection.

5. Pay attention to Search Engine Optimization. Grace explained that even the basic attention given to search engine optimization had paid big returns for her e-commerce web site in terms of increased search traffic in a very short period of time. Her web site software includes fill-in-the-blank fields for such items as meta tags, meta description, page title and more. Grace recommends taking 30 minutes with your web guy to understand what these words mean and how to update them for every page on your web site as a way to significantly increase search traffic. “I just work on my keywords page by page while I’m watching a football game or something,” Grace said.

6. Tell your story boldly. Grace told us of a time recently when she was upgraded to first class on a flight. The guy sitting next to her happened to be a Vice President from the Coca-Cola Corporation. She told the business’ story, and he ordered his Christmas cards from her.

Examples like this are endless for her business, but they can be for your business, too. The first step is to make sure that your products and services are outstanding. Then, with exceptional product or service in hand, tell your story…a lot. No one should be a greater advocate or hold more passion for your business than you, the owner. Tell your story one at a time. Tell your story in your marketing and packaging. Just don’t be afraid to tell your story from the heart. In marketing circles, this tactic is literally called “storytelling,” and it humanizes your business and will increase sales.

7. Use technology to your advantage. Don’t be afraid of it. In the case of Peru Paper Company, technology like Skype allows Grace to develop new products with her Peruvian employees, participate in weekly employee meetings, and handle routine business decisions with her Peruvian manager face to face…using a technology tool foreign to both she and the Peruvian employees not long ago. Whether your business has an international slant or not, Grace challenges you to consider how technology can save you time, money and make your life more efficient – and convenient. Don’t be afraid of technology; embrace the opportunities that it offers.

Want more?

How does Grace choose her employees in Peru? How does she manage an international team of “work from home moms” while keeping a business going at an efficient pace? What other media exposure has she received – and how did she get it? What are her plans for the future? See the full episode archive HERE and learn the answers to all of those questions and much more.

Grace Bateman is owner of Peru Paper Company, a locally owned and operated, independent e-commerce business and wholesale line of 100% post-consumer waste, recycled handmade paper and handmade greeting card line, created and made by formerly impoverished women in Peru. Grace started her business with $100 five years ago.

You may reprint this article in its entirety if you attribute the article to the Results Revolution and include our mission statement and website address in the credits.

The Results Revolution is on the Road! This week we will host our webcast of ResultsRev TV live from Michigan! The show will be broadcast live on Ustream, so even those back in the south can attend!

GUEST & TOPIC
We are in Michigan this week to talk with FOCAL POINT STUDIO OF PHOTOGRAPHY. Tune in to hear about this photography business and the lessons learned from over 36 years of experience!

SPONSOR
This week our show’s sponsor is FARMINGTON DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY. We are so excited for their sponsorship in Michigan!

This isn’t a post about what to do with the traffic once it gets there. Nor is it an advanced tutorial on Search Engine Optimization – that will be left to someone far smarter than myself, like maybe our friend Will Scott down in New Orleans, who specializes in local search optimization or another friend Ryan Kelly out in San Antonio that is behind one of the smartest, most user-friendly SEO tools I’ve seen in a long time.

For now, I just want to remind you that your small business web site needs attention in order to bring you a return on investment. Andy often says it this way: “A web site truly begins when it’s finished.”

Here are a few basics that you absolutely must address with your small business web site, no matter how local or “mom and pop” you are.

1. Update your site often. Often equals no less than once per week. If you do not have a web site that you can easily and quickly update yourself or train a teenager to update without need for any additional software, you might want to get a site update done. In 2010, there is no reason that a complete novice can’t update his/her own web site in a basic way in about ten minutes. Updates mean a lot to the search engines and to your customers. Regular updates mean there is a REASON for me to visit your web site repeatedly – and visiting reminds me to buy.
2. Create a strong collection of inbound links. Inbound links are simply links on the web that point to a page on your web site. It is much more complicated than this, but when boiled down you simply must have an increasing number of inbound links pointing to various pages of your web site. How do you get inbound links? Here are a few ideas:If you’re a locally owned and operated, independently owned small business, take advantage of the free listing in our Shop Main Street Business Directory. It provides you with an inbound link to your web site and your blog (as well as your social media if you use those). Both huge wins for you in this department.

• Make a list of all of the major brands that you carry in your store. Contact your rep and ask to be listed as a dealer on their web site along with a link to your web site.
• Contact every organization of which you are a member. This includes Chambers of Commerce, civic clubs, etc. Ask them to post a membership directory with links to business owners’ web sites. Make sure you are there with a link back to your web site.
• Submit press releases to the local newspaper when you have events or announcements, including new hires, new product lines, new or altered services, etc. Make sure they post on their web site with a link back to your business. Most will accommodate this request gladly if you write the article for them.
• Offer to write guest blog posts for related web sites and get links back to your web site through the attribution of these posts. This is a double whammy because it lets you show off your expertise, has relevant keywords that match your web site (hopefully) and gets you the inbound link(s). We love guest bloggers here… just ask me.
• Post articles in article directories.

3. Drive traffic to your web site. Inbound links certainly help with that. However, you can do a lot OFF-line and through online marketing that can increase traffic.
4. Traffic tends to beget traffic. Simply put, search engines often follow the crowd, so the more traffic you drive to your web site, the more traffic you will get through search. Here are some additional ideas for driving traffic to your web site.

• Send out regular e-mail messages with multiple links back to specific pages of interest on your web site.
• Include your URL on all store signage, advertising and other outreach efforts.
• Create a bag stuffer or bag tag that gives your customer a new reason to buy or increase their shopping frequency. Point them to the web site to learn more.
• Create on-line exclusives, coupons, and contests that can only be accessed at your web site. Promote these offers off-line.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

The most important thing to remember is that social media is still a media. Which means it is still a marketing TOOL – not an end to itself. However, in contrast to both traditional media and new media tools, such as web sites and e-mail, social media is used differently. By name and nature, it is SOCIAL which dictates a relationship. At the very least, this demands a TWO-SIDED conversation/interaction format.

More specifically, social media differs from traditional media in that anyone can create, comment and add to social media. Social media can take the form of text, audio, video, images and communities. Traditional media doesn’t let you PROVE how many visitors or engaged customers you really have (Yes, I know all about Neilson ratings and circulation numbers – How many of you really believe all of that?). Social media shows you REAL numbers for your audience – or at least a more “real” number than any other media that’s ever existed for small business marketing purposes. Social media also allows you to track and know information about your audience – not just know that they’re there.

WHO USES SOCIAL MEDIA & NEW MEDIA?

1. Practically everyone uses Google and other search engines regularly, and the searches frequently return blog posts, YouTube videos or other social media content high in the search ranks. So even people who say they don’t use social media are actually consuming social media content without knowing it.
2. 63% of consumers turn to the Internet FIRST to find a local business. (Yet a whopping 80% of business owners reported spending LESS THAN 10% of their marketing budget on web-based marketing.) – Source USA Today Snapshots, March 5, 2009 – cited Neilson Online/Web Visible survey of small business owners.
3. When people who are NOT social media users ask their non-social media networks for advice (usually via e-mail or phone call), the answers come back include URLs to blog posts and other social media content.
4. There are more than now 400 million active users of Facebook (up 150 million from one year ago). More use Facebook than any other existing media (including television). The fastest growing demographic are those 35 and older. More than 2/3 of the users are outside of college age. By nature of the beast, those users are also at least semi-educated, literate and computer literate – making them far more likely than average radio or television listeners to have a decent income.
5. YouTube statistics – Recently, I got to inform a client that 74% of his target audience visited YouTube at least once every two weeks and often multiple times a day. They were shocked. They where even more surprised when I told them that a significant number of those visitors used YouTube on a daily basis to research products and services, view product demonstrations, and find information for work purposes. But, when I told them that visitors to YouTube actually based their buying decisions on what they saw on YouTube, well, they were shocked and couldn’t wait to hear more.
6. On October 9, 2009, the third anniversary of the acquisition by Google, Chad Hurley announced in a blog posting that YouTube was serving “well over a billion views a day” worldwide. comScore had previously reported that the number was actually over 10 billion per month. In September 2009, and the average video viewer watched more than 10 hours of video during that month. That’s pretty significant.

Those are just a few reasons why social media is critical to your business. This doesn’t tell you how or when or how often to use social media. (Strategically is a good start – it’s not a waste of time play tool anymore! And it’s getting crowded, so you have to stand out in the crowd by doing it smartly.) But hopefully, if you’re a business owner or community leader trying to convince yourself or your fellow locally owned, independent small business owner friends and colleagues to network with you, promote your business and your community using social media tools, this will give you some ammunition to open some eyes during that conversation.