Choosing one social network over another might seem like a toss-up for small business owners. What does it matter which one you use, as long as your business is online? You’re interacting, you’re building a network, so you’re accomplishing your online marketing goals, right?

Well, maybe. But with a little insight you can not only make better decisions about which social network(s) to put time and effort into, you can also learn how to use them more effectively. That means more results in less time, and that’s a good thing for anyone in the hectic world of running a small business.

What Are Your Goals?

(If you don’t know, check out this recent post on how to set your goals – and follow our series on marketing planning.)

What do you want to accomplish with your social networking? If your first answer is “to create an online presence,” well, that’s a good starting point. But what do you want to do with that online presence? Do you want to connect with customers? Get feedback? Build a mailing list? Generate leads? Sell your products and services online? Get people to your blog or website? Collect customer information? Interact with your most loyal customers? Get word-of-mouth spreading via the online networks?

Certainly it would be nice to accomplish all of those things with social networking, and over time you can get close to achieving all. In fact, most of those goals are spin-offs; achieve one, such as spreading word-of-mouth, and you’re automatically achieving another, such as generating sales leads.

But goal achieving isn’t automatic. While any online presence is better than none, a smart small business will make savvy use of the Internet and those vast resources.

Facebook vs. Twitter: A Few Surprises

Facebook is the online giant, bigger than Google now, with 78% of all social networking traffic belonging to Facebook, That’s great news for you, when you set up your Facebook Business Page. And Twitter, with only 5% of the social networking traffic, is a much, much smaller piece of the pie. But traffic isn’t the only thing that matters; you not only need people to visit you (on Facebook or Twitter) you also need them to respond, to interact, to follow through, to take you up on those great offers. And while Facebook, the social giant, gets an average of 3 clicks per link posted, Twitter users get a much higher response: an average of 19 clickthroughs for each embedded link. That’s a huge difference!

How to Be Savvy
Now before you go delete your Facebook page and focus all your time and attention on Twitter, take a moment. Facebook and Twitter are vastly different social networks, and if you’re smart, you’ll use both – in a partnership – and reap the benefits of both. Here are a few key differences:

Facebook reaches a bigger audience, but Twitter reaches a more targeted audience. So it’s going to take longer to get noticed on Facebook, but there’s huge potential once that happens. Once you do cross an attention threshold with Facebook, your audience is almost unlimited. So realize that you’ll have to invest more time into building up your Facebook page, but that the investment can pay off in big numbers.

Twitter is very of-the-moment, but Facebook makes browsing easier. Although the new Twitter interface makes it easier to look back at the history of a particular user, it’s a different atmosphere. Twitter users want to be in the moment, so if they miss your first link or mention, they might not go back and find it. With Facebook, however, when a user visits your page they get all your latest information right there in one spot, and responding to older posts or information is easier and more common. Use Twitter to tweet and retweet relevant news, information, links, updates, deals, and ongoing items of interest, and use Facebook to interact on a deeper level with your customers and fans.

Image by 10ch.

Sources:
Entrepreneur Magazine
SocialTwist Sharing Trends Report

This is a post in the “How to Create a 2011 Local Business Marketing Plan”* series. Some of it will be shared here on [resultsrevolution.com]. The rest will be shared via my free newsletter. Sign up now to get the newsletter so you don’t miss a single tip in the planning series.

As you look forward to 2011, if you’re a local business, here are four tips to help you embrace your inner “local” and to help your small business stand out in a BIG way this next year!

1. Be local.

You’re a local small business with a brick-and-mortar storefront in your town. Maybe you have more than one location. Maybe you’re the oldest business in town, or maybe you’re the newest one. Whether you’re small or big, you’re the only store offering your service or product in the area, or you’re in the midst of many competitors, your local edge is a brand advantage and one you should use wisely.

Don’t try to be something you’re not: a national, faceless, anonymous business. Sure, those big boys have larger budgets and more resources, but they don’t have the local roots and the local connections you do. Put a local spin on what you do. Celebrate being local, Take part in the community. Highlight local products. Promote other local businesses. Advertise in local publications. Get involved with local organizations, charities, and business groups. Meet your neighbors, both personal and business. In short, position your brand as the local business option.

Highlight your strength as a local business and use your knowledge and relationships to offer what the local people want. Embrace your local-ness – love being local and use it to your advantage in marketing and customer retention efforts!

2. Have a specialty.

How do you stand out if you’re a single, locally owned restaurant in a town with five other great local restaurants? Find your niche, your specialty, and play it up. Maybe you’re the King of Cajun Cuisine, or you have a big-city wine list in a small town. Perhaps your dessert is out of this world, or you offer great seasonal specials that highlight the local produce, or you know that customers order your soup just to get those amazing garlic breadsticks on the side. Whatever your specialty is, find it and magnify it. Make it a prominent part of what you offer. Talk about it and market it. It’s not a specialty if no one knows about it.
While we’re on the topic, here’s a great case study on niche positioning and related customer experience that might be helpful to you as you pursue this idea.

3. Give amazing service.

No matter where you are or what your product or service is, giving consistently superb customer service will cause you to stand out amongst your competitors, both local and national. When you treat customers like your friends, that’s what they will become. When problems do arise, as they inevitably will, deal with them promptly and courteously.

A key element of this tip is the word “consistent.” We’ve talked about this before, but it stands repeating. Consistency is critical – especially in customer service.

4. Offer what the box stores can’t.

Big box stores and huge, national chains have advantages over local, small businesses, sure. But local, small businesses have advantages too; as part of a locally owned small business, you can make your own policies, create personal relationships, follow up on a personal basis, set your own hours, take special orders, and do custom work. You may not have the inventory capacity of the big store down the road, but you have the small business capacity to listen to your best customers and adjust the inventory you offer to meet their needs. If you find that your busy times are in the afternoon and evening instead of morning, you can open later and stay open later. Take advantage of the freedom you do have as a small business to relate specifically to your customers.

2011 is the year for local success. Please let us know how YOU benefit from your “local-ness” in your marketing and business efforts – drop us a comment below!

Image by Cameron Cassan.

A customer loyalty program, sometimes known as a rewards program, gives your small business an easy way to reward your customers for doing what you want them to do: coming back and giving you repeat business. You already have a base of loyal customers, and creating a customer loyalty program helps you strengthen those relationships. For newer customers, or those who are still deciding how much they like you, a loyalty program can be just the right incentive to keep you front of mind and keep them coming back to your brick-and-mortar store.

Need convincing that customer loyalty is critical to your business? Try reading these posts on customer loyalty and the value of customer retention.

Elements of a Customer Loyalty Program

Implementing a customer loyalty program is a pretty simple matter. You need to make it easy for people to sign up, preferably in several ways: a short form to fill out when they’re shopping or checking out in the store, an easy form to fill out online via your Facebook page, blog, and/or website. (You can do it in conjunction with growing your e-mail list – we explain step by step how to do this here.) Once people sign up, you need to have a system for keeping track of those in your loyalty program; you want a single place with all the information on each customer who has opted in. That way, when you do special mailings or offers, you have your mailing list right there.

The third element of a successful customer loyalty program is the rewards that customers can “earn” by continuing to give you repeat business. Rewards programs can be simple, and are usually very low cost to the business, but they need to be measurable and tangible. Your customers need a tangible reason to opt in to the loyalty program, and you need a measurable way to see what you’re investing in the loyalty program and what kind of return you’re getting on it.

Types of Customer Loyalty Programs

Points system: this is what airlines and credit card companies use. In simplest terms, a point is awarded for every dollar spent, though the ratio may vary (1 point for every 1.50 dollars, for example). When a customer accrues a certain number of points, they can be redeemed for a product or service offered by the company or, often, by a partner company.

For small businesses: this system is simple in theory but can get a little complex to keep track of without an electronic system. Be sure you have an accurate way to track the points earned by your customers and to track when those points are used for rewards. You’ll also need to set up a rewards scale with specific prizes or options for certain amounts of points.

Discount system: many retail businesses use a discount system for loyalty programs. This works well for both retail shops and restaurants. For every purchase or for every dollar amount spent (could be $10 or $20 or whatever level you choose to set), the customer receives a credit. Once the customer has earned a certain number of credits, he gets a discount, perhaps a dollar amount or percent amount off on their next purchase.

For small businesses: this system is easy to implement and track. Generally, businesses use a punch card type system and customers simply show their card when it is full to receive their discount. Another bonus of this system is that the reward actually brings in even more business.

Freebie system: similar to the discount system, the freebie system is often used by cafes and coffee shops. When a customer makes a sufficient number of purchases or spends X amount of dollars, she gets a freebie. A coffee shop might offer one free coffee drink for every ten cups of coffee purchased, or a free pound of coffee for every ten pounds of coffee purchased.

For small businesses: this system is also easy to implement and track using a punch card set-up, and customers love the idea of getting something for free. It’s also easy for small businesses to track the amount of money they’ll invest for each customer, and it’s usually minimal. Retail shops can always offer freebies too, and it’s a good way to get rid of excess inventory.

Image by Easa Shamih.

Improve Your Holiday Sales by Promoting your Holiday Sales Online

In this day of increasing e-commerce importance, Black Friday is now only half of the post-Thanksgiving shopping megathon. Cyber Monday is the other half, just one more (strong) indication that the masses aren’t just shopping in-store anymore. They are, most definitely, shopping online. As we near the Christmas deadline, the shopping averse, busy mommy in me has once again found myself leaning on e-commerce… With that in mind, I send my annual encouragement to make this the year that you enjoy the increased profits possible from delving into the online world of e-commerce sales…

It’s easier than ever before: You can attract the online shopping crowd even if you’re not selling online by promoting your holiday specials via your website, blog, Facebook page, and/or Twitter account. Any presence you have online is a great opportunity to let the crowds – local and beyond – about your holiday specials.

Do a Little Decorating

Customize your website, blog, or Facebook page with a little Christmas décor. Add a graphic or two, or simply put a big “Happy Holidays” or other seasonal greeting front and center where all the visitors will see it.

Tell Them Where to Go

Put up a graphic, tab, or link on the navigation bar to direct your online visitors to your holiday specials. If you’re using Facebook, you can add a special tab designated as “Holiday Deals” or anything along that line. You can even make that tab the default-landing page for the holiday shopping season.

Talk About It

Have a blog? Put up a post each day describing one of your holiday specials, your great product, your discounts, and why what you’re offering will be the perfect gift. Get customer testimonials and put them on your blog, website, and Facebook page.

Use Twitter

Be sure to promote your holiday specials with your Twitter account. Use Twitter hash tags like #holidayshopping, #holidaydeals, #cyberweek, #shopping, and #deals. Offer good deals and great products, and make sure people know about them.

Take notes and don’t let another year go by without having online shopping options for your business. These same ideas translate nicely to Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s & Father’s Day, etc. – so get out there and grow your business with online sales options!

Image by Medmoiselle T.

The busiest time of the year for most retail businesses starts with the dawn of November. As you reflect on 2010′s holiday season, there’s never a better time to plan for next year.

Next year, when the official busy season rolls around again, you’ll be ready. There’s a lot you can do to boost your retail sales beyond playing Christmas music and hanging a few lights in the windows. While creating a festive atmosphere is always a smart move, creating holiday specials, which keep customers coming back, is an even smarter move. (For other holiday marketing ideas, check out these posts.)

Holiday specials are not a new idea. Local business owners have been creating seasonal menus, gift baskets, packages, and holding special sales and getting good results from these seasonal strategies. But incorporating a few new ideas into your holiday specials this year could help you boost your sales even in a slow economy. Remember that people are still going to be shopping for gifts; they’re just going to be a little choosier than usual with tighter budgets. That’s where your holiday specials come into the picture.

Strategy 1: Create Holiday Specials for Every Price Point

Marketing research is showing that shoppers enjoy having options. A lot of options. (Read Chris Anderson’s fascinating book at www.longtail.com, for a discussion of this research.) So give your shoppers plenty of options by creating not just one or two holiday specials or packages, but 5 or 6… or 10… or 12. If you’re a higher-end establishment, go ahead and offer a higher price point selection of holiday specials; but expand into a lower price point and offer options there as well.

Use the same principle if you tend to sell more items at a lower cost; offer several lower cost options, but offer some higher price point selections as well. Create multiple displays throughout your brick and mortar store. You want your customers to be seeing this amazing selection – and the great prices and products you’re offering – several times as they move through your retail space.

Strategy 2: Create Limited Availability Holiday Specials

Have you ever thought about why people love seasonal specials? Because they’re only here for a limited time. Think about candy corn; is it really that great? And if it were available all year ’round, would people ever get very excited about it? But people do, because it’s only around for a short time out of the year. That limited availability makes the product more desirable and more valuable.

Use that limited availability concept with your holiday specials. If you’re a retail establishment, you could create several custom, one-of-a-kind gift baskets; once each one is gone, it’s simply gone. Or offer a great deal on a special product, but only through the next week. Don’t feel like you have to extend your holiday specials all the way through the holiday season. Instead, create value by placing time limits or quantity limits on particular specials.

Strategy 3: Introduce New Specials Through the Holiday Season

This strategy works hand-in-hand with the concept of limited availability specials. As you phase out one holiday special, phase in another. Not only will the limited availability increase the perceived value of each special, but your customers will want to keep coming back to see what’s new this week. Remember: shoppers enjoy options. They also enjoy the feeling that they’re getting an “insider’s” special.

Strategy 4: Collect Customer Information with Each Holiday Sale

Let your customers be insiders by offering to keep them informed about new, exclusive holiday specials as they become available. Collect customer names and contact information with each sale, and make the offer as well to customers who aren’t yet making a purchase. They can still sign up to be on the list and find out about new specials.

If you’re planning to hold a special holiday event (such as an open house or one-day sale), then this list is your first step in the marketing for the event. Send out an exclusive invitation to those folks on your holiday list, inviting them in an hour or two before the general public. They get to enjoy a privileged shopping time, you get to interact and build relationships. It’s fun for everyone.

Strategy 5: Promote Holiday Specials via Website, Facebook, and Twitter

Whatever presence you have online should be part of your holiday marketing. Put up notices about your holiday specials, big and bold, on your website’s front page. Send out an email to all your online subscribers. Send out regular updates via your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, letting your customers know about new holiday shipments, specials, coupons, events, deals, and so on.

Ask for feedback, too. What kind of holiday specials are your customers looking for? Ask specific questions (“What’s the best Christmas present you ever received?”) and interact with those who respond. Have an online contest or giveaway, with the prize being one of your holiday exclusive specials.

Remember that you have to give shopper a reason to choose your product, your store; over the other options they have available. Using some creativity with your holiday specials can create a powerful appeal, and offer value to both your customers and your business.

Image by Sister72.

This is a post in the “How to Create a 2011 Local Business Marketing Plan”* series. Some of it will be shared here on [resultsrevolution.com]. The rest will be shared via my free newsletter. Get the newsletter to get the full planning series.

Don’t Put Yourself at a Disadvantage at the Start

Whether planning or executing a small business marketing plan, one of the biggest failures I see is in the area of branding. In particular, brands seem to disappear – or at best – are very weak. With that in mind, I want to encourage you that as you think towards 2011 that you renew your dedication to your small business brand (or establish one – if you’ve never cared about branding before).

Nuts & Bolts of a Small Business Brand

We’ve talked about branding basics before. You can read more about it here without me re-hashing the basic elements of visual logo, color scheme and domain name.

Behind every good brand are the “nuts and bolts” that hold it together. The breath that gives it life. And that’s what I want to focus on right now.

In my experience, there are two basic types of businesses: there are businesses that have to compete in a category (men’s clothing, ladies shoes, groceries, etc.) and those that created and own a category (like the lost and unclaimed baggage store in Alabama). The second category is pretty rare. But both categories need some branding “nuts and bolts” in order to survive because we ALL compete for the spending dollars and attention of consumers.

What will make your business stand out – no matter how “typical” it’s product – is the personality and culture of the business. Before you can promote a brand – you have to have a brand. And a brand is simply boiled down to be your reputation.

Your Brand is Your Reputation

That’s right, the logo, color scheme and domain name are just the elements that propel your brand into the marketplace. Your reputation IS your brand.

The Chick-fil-A Example

Chick-fil-A has the fun-loving personality of a bunch of cows campaigning that we all “Eat Mor Chikin.” Their antics and creativity are the “reputation” upon which the brand that sells an average chicken sandwich has soared to amazing heights of success and profitability.

The Broad Street Baking Company Example

On a local level, our client, Broad Street Baking Company, has embraced a colorful (literally) bunch of employees from all walks of life to meet, great and sell with the same enthusiasm that embodies their owners Jeff Good (a former technology sales guy  whose passion for community and people is contagious) and Chef Dan Blumenthal (a descendant of a baking family from New Jersey who loves driving very fast cars and can create amazing menu items in every possible menu category). They live the “Have You Hugged Your Baker Today?” mentality that fronts their famous t-shirts, and they also rock and roll through the day just like their new “Grateful Bread” t-shirts attest. They keep life jazzy and full of fresh colorful flavor – on and off the plate – a colossally successful recipe in a town full of great sandwiches.

The Peru Paper Company Example

On the flip side, another client, Peru Paper Company, is filled with heart-warming, genuine goodness that spills over into every life it touches – whether employees or customers. Her brand is the story of changing lives by giving previously impoverished workers a way to provide for their families safely and with dignity – and by spreading a culture of helping others in everything they do stateside and abroad. Their story is their brand – a story that is constantly unfolding because it is the “breath” of who they are. A different kind of brand – but one filled with the brand “nuts and bolts” that lead to success. (Want to read their story about “Cards That Care,” check out this online article out today.)

What is Your Brand?

As you set your sights on 2011, make a list of the elements of your own personality and that of your business that you wish to embody more fully in the new year. Branding needs a CONSISTENT presence that you and your employees can live. It must be your business personality naturally – and fit your business culture naturally. As you cannot force yourself to be someone you are not, you cannot force your business to be something it is not. Find the “nuts and bolts” of your business, then explore ways to bring them more into focus in 2011. Look at the case studies above – and others that you see around that are making their mark – in a highly competitive market. I guarantee it’s because they are far from vanilla – they have a brand that is memorable and consistent. They know who they are – and they’re BEING THEIR BRAND.

Here are just a few more small business branding ideas for you as you embark on this part of your 2011 Marketing Planning journey.

How will you BE YOUR BRAND in 2011?

Twitter can be a powerful marketing and outreach tool for small, brick-and-mortar business. You can reach out to and engage with your local market, and you can also reach further than your local boundaries. But you’ve got to start with a few basics if you want Twitter to promote your business rather than just take up your time! Most Twitter “failure” comes from just not knowing a few basics, and then getting lost in the question of “Okay, now what?”

There are three basic rules of Twitter business use; and these rules define the purpose of your tweeting. Every tweet you send out should accomplish one of these three purposes: to entertain, to educate, or to engage.

Rule 1: Tweet to Entertain

You already know your potential Twitter audience has lots of choices, so don’t bore them with mundane items like “Just drank my 3rd cup of coffee” or “really bored today.” They’re looking for something new, interesting, something they don’t already know or can’t easily find out for themselves.
For example, if you’re a chef or restaurant owner, you can provide endless entertainment by giving people an “insider view” of the kitchen. (Here are more restaurant marketing ideas.) Think about all the reality TV shows, cook-off shows, and celebrity chefs out there; people are nuts about knowing what really happens inside a commercial kitchen. Remember, this stuff may seem mundane to you because you live it every day, but for the average person, this is intriguing, different, and thus, entertaining.

Examples:
“Just cracked 142 eggs for the batter for our fried fish.”
“I’m slicing up the fresh tuna just flown in… will be the chef’s special tonight!”
“Making up 3 gallons of hot fudge sauce for our dessert special.”
“Lettuce just arrived from the produce market; half of it is bad, going to have to redo the night’s menu.”

Rule 2: Tweet to Educate

Think about what the average guy doesn’t know about your business, product, service, or specialty that you do know. Tweet about what you have expertise in; remember, it may be day-to-day stuff for you, but it’s new, interesting, informative, and educational for folks who don’t work and live this subject daily. Get into the educational aspect of your business; maybe you’re a retail shop owner (more retail ideas here), a restaurant owner, or a service-based business. You might not think of yourself as an educator (education-based marketing is a winning strategy), but take time to think about how you would train a new employee, or explain a process to a new contractor. What do people find fascinating about your business? What expertise do you have? Break that knowledge down into bite-sized pieces, and you’ve got educational Twitter material just waiting to be shared.

Examples:
“Just got in a new shipment of linen skirts. Linen is one of the most durable materials out there! Always wash it in cold water for longest life.”
“Picked up some great heirloom tomatoes from the local farmer’s market today. Check the market out – they’re open every Saturday.”
“Best time of year to put a new coat of paint on your home’s exterior is fall. Anybody know why?”

Rule 3: Tweet to Engage

One of the biggest things people fail to use on Twitter is the question mark. Ask questions; lots of questions. And when you see questions related to your topic, answer them! Ask for input, ask for opinions, ask for help. And be ready to offer your professional input, expert opinion, and help whenever you can via Twitter interaction. Answering a question or responding to a direct message on Twitter only takes a few seconds, but it can gain you a fan who will share that information with all their friends… and so on it goes that leads to sales.

Examples:
“Which new dessert should we add? Vanilla bean cheesecake or apple crumble with caramel sauce?”
“Having an open house at the store for Halloween; Anybody know a great bluegrass band for hire?”
“What’s your favorite fall clothing item? Boots, sweaters, scarf, something else?”

Don’t waste other people’s time; stick with tweets that entertain or educate or engage (or all three, even better) and you’ll be using Twitter successfully to build, promote, and expand your local business.

Photo By: Spencer E. Holtaway