Tragedy. It struck Mississippi two weekends ago when deadly tornado’s hit several counties. Last weekend, Nashville, TN hit with torrential rains, not seen since 1937 in that area.

Small businesses are already here, ready to respond, give and help when those events happen. And again the need is great…how can you help? And let’s just be honest, how can your help… help your business?

Remember a couple of things.

1. If you are only doing it for press, don’t do it. It will never be enough to satisfy if you don’t have a generous heart. So if you aren’t generous, why pretend to act that way? People aren’t stupid. You’ll come out way better not giving, than trying to over promote that you are helping. It has to pass the all important “smell test.”

2. Try to find out the NEED that you can meet. Don’t just donate things that you have. Check on Facebook or Twitter (do a geographical search for “HELP” within 15 miles of the place affected). Finding real needs and real people is very easy on these new media tools. Listen and engage to find out who the folks are that are networking and staging supplies and needs. Talk to as many as you can, without taking too much of their time. It’s important to try and get to the right person with the right needs.

3. Once you’ve identified a need you can help fill, engage others to come along beside you. Sure, you are doing something, but see if others will help you, too. Directly asking for outside help via Twitter or Facebook wall posts or status updates are a great way to ask. For example: “We need 3 or 4 more people to chip in to get this truck full of cleaning supplies headed out to help. Can you join us with a donation to XYZ organization?” This isn’t a post bragging about YOU helping; instead it’s you engaging your customer base to help fill the need together.

4. Thanks. A big public thank you to anyone who gave with you or helped you goes a long way. Make them the stars; put the spotlight on someone else. And watch how that works. Everyone likes to be appreciated, so make sure and thank all of those who are willing to let it be known that they helped. Some people don’t want the spotlight, and that’s okay, too. But for some, it will mean a lot to them for you to share the spotlight and talk about how they helped make a difference.

5. Don’t just give once, keep on giving. Often after the main influx of help and supplies, the news media goes away. However, the people on the ground are still very much working away, and the needs sometimes are even greater. Ask again how you can help. Keep in touch with those that you’ve helped before, both for accountability for them and for your own good as well. Tweeting “@personinneed “hey, how are things going? can we still help?” may give you a response that you can help additionally in new ways. Often their network will have grown and your reach in the good you are doing will be greater the second and third time around.

6. Be human. You probably are a time-starved small business owner. I know what that’s like. I’m writing this post at 11 PM, while a client Facebook messages me, and another texts me a last minute question. Trust me, I get it. You are busy. But get out there, in person, YOURSELF if at all possible. Your gifts and time will go much further. You’ll be able to see what you can do better to help those in need and also how you can better leverage the time, money and effort you are exerting. But you might have to get your hands dirty in the process. I highly recommend it.

Editors Note: Andy Chapman, a co-founder of the Results Revolution, speaks from first-hand experience in disaster recovery work. Andy worked in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He helped facilitate thousands of volunteers, as well as hundreds of donors and millions of dollars in gifts during the post-Katrina rebuilding process.

In closing, we’re sending a shout out to our friends at The Rogue in Jackson, Mississippi who partnered with a local church in an affected community within 48 hours of the Mississippi tornadoes to donate over $50,000 in clothing from their own store shelves to help one community recover. He then persuaded several of his clothing vendors to make additional donations and used social media to encourage customers to bring quality, laundered clothing for immediate distribution to families in need.

Interview with Serial Entrepreneur & Publisher, Jack Criss

Jack Criss chatting with ResultsRevTV hostess, Marianna Hayes Chapman.

Yesterday, I interviewed 20-year publishing industry veteran and serial entrepreneur, Jack Criss. Criss is currently publisher of locally-owned and operated Greater Jackson Business magazine. Here are some of the questions we discussed and my paraphrases to his answers. For precise quotes, please watch the full interview on ResultsRevTV here (30 minute video).

Marianna: As a news insider, explain how small businesses can get their business covered in the media? What approach would you recommend?

Jack: Realize that the media love to be contacted and love to have their ego stroked. Recognize their work. For example, “Dear Jack, I read the article you wrote about the Two Lakes project – incredibly well written piece! I love what you’re doing with the new magazine… I have a story idea I think would fit well…” Address press releases or story ideas to specific people. Find their real name and correct spelling and send a personalized e-mail directly to that person’s e-mail address.  Be personal and find ways to connect with them unrelated to the need. Don’t mass send information to 50 journalists and address it to “Dear Sir/Madam” – those messages get trashed immediately.  If you don’t personalize a press release at least make sure it’s well written and correct and keep the information to one page as much as possible.

Marianna: How has technology played into having a successful business?

Jack: The demographic that the magazine is geared towards calls for a print magazine in addition to the website.  Jackson isn’t ready for a 100% online magazine yet, in my opinion. However, corrections can be made online within hours instead of waiting for the next edition to be printed.  We can supplement the print magazine stories, post video and photos not in the magazine and much more. Also, GJB is really a multi-media effort with the print magazine as the cornerstone providing readers and advertisers with a valuable and interesting long shelf life. But we supplement that with Facebook, a weekly radio show and vide on the web site.

Marianna: How have you overcome your fear of technology to keep up with the speed of news?

Jack: Facebook is often primarily used to communicate, network and make deals, in many cases more than e-mail. You have to get over your fear and get on Facebook.  Your competitors are on and you have to be too.

Marianna: How do you use Facebook to network while balancing your personal and professional life?

Jack: I’ve used it in incorporating my business and personal life. I’m just an ordinary guy who likes to run and has two daughters. I love being a father and a runner and a member of the community. I think being who I really am on Facebook helps me connect with others who share my interests and builds deeper relationships.

Marianna: How do you make time to do it all? Facebook, web site updates, sales, writing, events, networking and Twitter, too?

Jack: One way is that I’m leveraging the technology so that some things just happen automatically without me spending any time at all. For example, whenever a news article is posted to the web site, Facebook and Twitter are automatically updated with that information. You can leverage technology to make time to do it all without a big staff.   Facebook and Twitter all point to the magazine and help promote it.

Marianna: What do you do in your business to give back, even when cash is tight?

Jack: I can’t always give cash, but I can always give space in the magazine. Of course, certain “restrictions apply,” but non-profits that need advertising get free advertising in Greater Jackson Business – always. You’ve talked a lot about generosity in recent weeks, and this is how we do it at Greater Jackson Business – it’s important.

Marianna: What have you learned from failure?

Jack: Learn from your failures and be humble. You have to appreciate your customers more than ever.  Make friends with them and take time to develop a friendship. See them face to face on a daily or weekly basis as much as possible. Also, know when to say no and know when not to expand.

Jack talks much more on each point in the 30 minute ResultsRevTV broadcast…watch it now.

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.

Andy and I arrived in Chicago this morning to mix and mingle among the conference goers at the National Main Streets Conference happening now through Wednesday of next week. Notice, I didn't say that we came here to attend the conference. Because we really didn't.

Hopefully, that statement doesn't highly offend those of you reading this, but this is a key point to attending a conference, trade show, market, etc. where lots of folks you know or need to know are also attending. As we (Team HALO) live blog this event throughout the next few days, you'll hear us talk a bit about the content of the conference – mostly from interviews conducted from attendee viewpoints, some of our own application (it is our blog after all), and possibly some speaker interviews. However, most importantly – and of most value to you – our small business constituency – will be our play-by-play application of our success and failures as we seek to make the most of the opportunities that present themselves this week. It is our goal to do all we can to meet, greet, find follow-up opportunities, etc. so that we can most efficiently and effectively help you, the small businesses across America that call Main Street your home. Our live blogging will mostly consist of the steps we've taken to achieve our goals – and the steps you can also take to achieve yours in similar circumstances.

So, let's dive right in… what are our goals for this conference, after all? As with any business venture, great or small, we will never know if we've arrived or how best to get to our goals if we have no road map. Goals are specific and measurable and targeted – when accomplished, they add up to success. Let me put our strategic planning in perspective for you:

Context: For the first time in three years of attending this conference (I know, we're young tikes still at this Main Street stuff), we are not presenting. We originally had a scheduling conflict and were not planning to attend this year at all. Then, at the last minute, plans changed and opportunity availed itself. We had approximately two weeks to plan our trip and set our goals.

We could not set goals without admitting that for one year concluding about six months ago, our business suffered periods of inconsistency in service stemming from personal matters that are now resolved. Having taken steps to protect our business from these sorts of issues again, then restructuring our business entirely to meet the demands of a new economy and the budgets of small business owners, re-defining our mission with laser sharp precision and marking the past six months as evidence of the measurable results we provide (not to mention the other eight great years prior to the fumble), Andy and I confidently went about the business of setting goals and a budget for attending this conference. With no presentation to prepare and no scheduling limitations (I must admit this left me feeling quite liberated), we set a primary objective and five goals for our conference attendance.

Target objective (basically the same as our 2009 mission statement): Open doors that allow us to encourage and equip hundreds of Main Street businesses towards success and profitability in 2009-2010.

Here are a couple of our goals for achieving that outcome through conference attendance (we can't give away all our secrets, can we? Maybe later.):
1. Meet and secure follow-up opportunities for further discussion (relationships are all we are looking for – not business deals) with three targeted people of influence (we identified them and set a plan for meeting them).
2. Leverage our attendance at the conference to raise awareness for our work with Main Street businesses across social media networks and at the conference in general.

Small business tip: Both budget and goals should be well researched and
well defined prior to making any firm commitments like registration
fees, hotel reservations, etc. Wise business owners (and non-profit execs) test the waters as
much as possible PRIOR to spending any money. A target objective with 3-5 measurable goals sets the framework for success.

Stay Tuned: Next post will give you a sneak peak into our pre-conference planning.

P.S. For real live blogging of the actual conference sessions, etc. check out the official conference blog which is very well done so far at Main Street Live 09. You can get an insider's perspective as the staff of Michigan Main Street live blogs the conference on their blog (What can we say? They are our star student!). And you can follow the conference on Twitter at #MainStreet09.

Last week, I was attending the weekly lunch meeting of our local "networking group." It’s an informal group – less aggressive than a Business Networking International group. But progressive, intent, and purposeful. (As a sidenote – everyone should participate in such a group, if for no other reason than to keep your marketing and networking muscles toned and tuned in to the market.)

During the course of the lunch meeting, one of the attendees posed the question to the group: "What kind of marketing has worked best for you recently?" Some of the answers that were given disheartened me a bit, but to each his own. I am a marketing coach, after all, and yes, I did freely give advise to my friends – whether they wanted it or not.

Then, today, I got an e-mail from an online networking group in which I participate. The EXACT same question was posed.

So…. to get the ball rolling, I’ll tell what’s worked best for me – and in return, I hope you’ll post in comment form below what’s worked best for you – and furthermore, by "best" – how do you know it’s working and specifically how well is it working.

My point isn’t really to get to the bottom of hot button marketing concepts. While that is a worthy endeavor, I’d really like to gather a stack of common marketing ideas and see if we can’t help you improve upon them by adding a new twist or piece of flair (as Facebook calls it…) to bring even more success to your best tricks of the trade. So, comment away, dear friends, and let’s work together to make your marketing dollars stretch further.

Now – what’s working for me? Anything that allows my prospective customer to sample my offerings first – whether hearing me speak, reading an article I wrote, or trying one of our introductory services – we are in the business to keep customers for the life of their business – to help them grow to the next level and the next over and over again. We want to help your success breed success. So, what’s working for us? The Team HALO version of good old fashioned product sampling – made new for the year 2008.

Still thinking about how networking can benefit your business? (This comment is something I modified from an article sent to me by Zale Tabakman of Hydrogen Creative – thanks Zale!). Here is some "networking math" to consider:

Bonus Small Business Networking Tip: Never, ever forget the people you already know. Make sure you keep up-to-date with your existing contacts and continually work these contacts for new business and/or referrals. Maintain your value by passing along resources that you find out about at your networking groups – like great articles, web site links, etc. Sometimes I am suprised at how people don’t take advantage of the
opportunities offered at networking groups and use these resources and opportunities to their advantage.

Happy networking!

If you’ve been listening to me for five minutes, you’ve heard me talk about the importance of networking and alliances to you small business’ success. But maybe you know you should be networking, but you aren’t sure where to start. Here are a few ideas – I’m going to list a few good ideas from around the state; however, there are lots more. If you know of a valuable club in your community or state, please let me know – I’ll post it here and help you promote your cause. Small business owners – it’s time to network!!

Networking at Noon in Tupelo, Miss. – http://www.tupelomainstreet.com/luncheon.cfm

Networking in the Neighborhood in Jackson, Miss. – http://www.mylocalhotspots.com/networkingintheneighborhood/index.php?&MarketID=2&RefAddr=FeaturedEventNetworkingHomepage

Team Women in Jackson, Miss. especially for women business owners – www.teamwomen.com