Evernote is a great technology tool that can be especially helpful with organizing your small business ideas, blog posts, e-mail marketing content, etc. It’s been around a little while, but it’s uses seem to only grow while it gets easier and easier to utilize – so I hope you’ll use it to organize your small business marketing as much I have in mine.

Evernote was built as a multi-purpose, multi-platform tool to help folks save their ideas, photos, and notes in one place and access it from anywhere – and I mean anywhere. Evernote works with nearly every type of computer, phone and mobile device out there (including Android, iPhone, iPads, Mac and PC, etc.)

It’s really easy to use, and most notably, I’ve discovered that it’s made my blogging and business life a lot more organized since I started using it. And that’s why I want to share it with you today.

Small Business Uses for Evernote

I’m always emphasizing that small business owners should create content for the web as much as possible and create it on their own real estate as much as possible – using outposts like Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic back to the mothership, so to speak (YOUR web site, YOUR blog, YOUR e-mail list, etc.). But creating all of that content can sometimes be burdensome. Don’t you hate it when you think of a great idea for a blog post or an e-mail campaign – and you even snap a couple of photos with your mobile phone – only to get busy and forget about the idea or the photo or both until it’s become old news?

Lost opportunities equal lost income in our small business lives, and Evernote is a great solution to help you consolidate all of those ideas into one place, organize them by topic and easily access what you inputted on your phone from any Internet connected computer to be converted into that all-important blog post, web site update or e-mail marketing send.

Here is just one example of how a retail storeowner might use Evernote to make their business blogging easier:

As a retail storeowner, a great blog post idea is to share ideas on HOW to use the products that you sell. Consider a home interiors, gift or decor store seeking to market their products at Christmas. As you decorate the store or re-arrange merchandise, use Evernote to snap a photo of a decorating or gift idea right there in your store, then attach a short note to it explaining the idea and tag it in Evernote as “blog idea, Christmas 2010.” All of this can be done from your smart phone. Maybe later that same day you visit a customer’s home to deliver that fully decorated Christmas tree that they ordered – or you attend a holiday party and notice the decorations are amazing. Snap photos, write a note about how to use YOUR products in this everyday setting and tag them accordingly so you can easily find them later.

Then, when you’re ready to sit down and blog later that night or the next morning, simply login to your Evernote account from your desktop or laptop computer, and you’ll discover all of the photos and notes you made from your phone earlier are ready to access from your computer with blog posts already half-written because you jotted down those simple notes.

Time to Setup YOUR Evernote Account

Now it’s your turn. I’d encourage you to go setup your FREE Evernote account on your computer and go ahead and add the Web Clipperso that you can save ideas easily into Evernote that you find on the Internet. Then add it to your phone, and get started right away collecting marketing content, business ideas, to-do lists, and much, much more. It took me a total of 10 minutes to get all of the Evernote entry points setup on my computer, phone and web browser.

Evernote has great video tutorials, a helpful blog and many other resources available to help you make the most of their really easy-to-use tool – and did I mention that it’s free??

Happy Evernote-ing.

Disclosure: I have not relationship with Evernote and will receive NO financial incentive for writing this post. That means that I really like this tool and am thrilled to share it with you.

This week our guest on ResultsRevTV will be Elizabeth Sparkman Fowler of MyScoop.us. My Scoop is an online style magazine dedicated to keeping Southern fashionistas in the know with the latest fashions, events and trends. They provide readers with daily articles, newsletter and the scoop on local events.

Elizabeth was a My Scoop reader from its inception and served on the blog’s Advisory Board. She has over six years of marketing experience and has worked in industries ranging from higher education to architectural projects. She has worked in TV, radio and Product Packaging as well.

As a native of Mississippi, Elizabeth spent the first four years of her career in Birmingham, AL after graduating from the University of Alabama. She has recently made her home in Jackson as Editor and Publisher of My Scoop Mississippi. We are thrilled that she will be with us this week and can’t wait to talk with her!  Here are some of the topics that Marianna will be discussing with Elizabeth:

• How to leverage the power of relationships in social media marketing to get more exposure for your business
• Media Marketing
• What the media looks like today

You can visit MyScoop’s website here and read more about Elizabeth here!

We hope you will join us for this episode of ResultsRevTV on May 11th to hear more from Elizabeth Sparkman Fowler.

When Andy and Marianna asked me to be a guest blogger on Results Revolution I was super psyched, but also a little nervous! I’m just a small business owner that likes to blog – not an expert on blogging! But then I think that was the point – right guys? If I can do it, you can definitely do it!

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Mandy, and I own Swagger Gifts in Cary, NC. I have been blogging for my gift shop since February 2008. I love to blog, and I do the best I can. But I KNOW I’m not the best blogger out there. I think when I finally realized that, I actually became a better blogger! The fear of “am I doing this right?” is gone, because there is no right or wrong! I know there are a bunch of people out there giving advice on blogging – and I try really hard to follow some of it – but the best advice I received was – JUST DO IT! And in turn it is the advice I am handing out to you today!

Creating your blog (which you can do for FREE – just Google “free blogs”) and then writing a post are the first two steps. I promise it is easy and basically painless! Then commit yourself to the blog. It only works if you are consistent!

Marianna asked me to answer two questions for you:

1. How often do I blog? Of course my goal is to blog every day, but sometimes I can only make it happen twice a week (you know all the other stuff that comes with owning a small business gets “in the way”). However I do strive for twice a week – remember consistency is key – it gets your readers in the habit of coming to see what is going on at your business and the search engines love it!
2. What type of content do I put on my blog? I guess “a little bit of everything” would be the answer here!

One thing that we do to get people visiting the Swagger Gifts’ blog on a regular basis is to do a weekly giveaway. It is a lot of fun to interact with our customers in this way and it showcases a specific item that generally customers come in and purchase (which of course is the goal!). Our blog also feeds into our Facebook page, so people will share the giveaway on their pages which also increases our “fan” numbers (more people to market to – yeah!). The weekly giveaway has been very beneficial financially for Swagger Gifts!

I also blog about “new stuff” that has come into the store. I have done posts on 23 boxes just arrived to Hot New Trends to Baby Gifts under $40. I think pictures are worth a thousands words, so I always attach a picture to our posts! One of our most popular posts was about how a new oversized flower could be used in the Front Door Idea blog post. I know it was popular because the flowers sold out almost immediately, and we had a “people to call” list waiting when our next shipment came in. Most people said they saw it on Facebook!

Blogging about community events and charity events that we are doing in the store or ones that our customers are involved in is great for goodwill! It also shows that you are involved with the local community!

A while ago, Marianna wrote a blog post about sharing “Behind the Scenes” info with your customers. I have posted Behind the Scenes info a couple times and our customers seem to love it! We live in such a “social” society that people love reading about what your life as a business owner is really like! I should do this more often – thanks Marianna for the tip!

This also leads me to writing about going to tradeshows or other places you visit for your type of business. I have been writing about our market trips for two years now and our “sneak peak” blog posts get customers excited and coming into the store asking “when is so and so going to arrive!”

There are so many other things to post about, and I would love to hear what you do on your blog to generate traffic for your business! Please comment below – I’m sure all of us who read the Results Revolution blog would love some new ideas!

For those of you who don’t have a blog (yet) – go out there and start one! Then come back here and comment on how easy it was!

Thanks for reading and for sharing your tips below!

Mandy

A few weeks ago, I wrote the following for my weekly E-mail letter (Want to get this letter? The content is current, relevant and behind the scenes business owner information. Sign up here):

Sometimes a project comes along that just warms the soul. Right now, Andy and I are working with the new owner of a historic soda fountain as he seeks to share the nostalgia and heritage of this landmark with a new generation – using New Media and Social Media tools. Recently, when meeting with the new owner, I found myself saying something that I say a lot: “Customers are more loyal when they feel like an insider, and prospects are more likely to convert when they have ‘insider’ information.”

Similarly, several times a week, without fail, folks ask us about our lives… Usually the question goes something like this: “It seems like you are on the road ALL THE TIME… HOW do you do it?” Or, “How do you have time to do all of this?”

Really, the bottom line is that folks want insider information – they want a peak behind the scenes. And your customers want the same from you. As strange as it may seem, in this age of reality shows and YouTube (check out our channel), people really do care what happens behind the scenes at your business. I don’t think I’m that interesting, but who am I to tell you how to feel or what to be interested in? Or maybe, if you’re like me, it’s so refreshing to know that other people think or feel like I do. I believe “Insider Information” is a “needle-mover” when it comes to customer loyalty, word of mouth marketing and long-term success.

What are YOU doing to make your customers and prospects feel like “Insiders?” (Yep, go ahead, hit the “reply” button and tell us. Seriously.)

Maybe “Insider Information” from us will help you become more motivated and/or equipped to use the tools of Social Media or New Media effectively for your business. So, from this point forward, our e-mail newsletter will be flavored with the spice of our life: tales of life on the road, digital nomad-ism, social media, new media, late-night brainstorming sessions, work/life balancing acts and our disdain for early starts. Welcome to the INSIDE, loyal readers.

In follow-up to this e-mail, I got a note from friend Mandy Becker, owner of Swagger Gifts in Cary, NC. I asked her permission to share her comments with you because I thought her feedback was so apt – it reinforces the message. Here’s what Mandy had to say:

I loved this!  I totally think the insider info think is critical!  The last three times I went to market, I wrote a blog about what it was like, what I was buying, etc. My customers loved it! They felt like they were part of the action! I have heard so many times, “Oh, I wish I owned a gift shop – what’s it really like? Do you love it?  What’s a typical day.” It is amazing how much people care about one another’s lives; I think we live vicariously through others in some way. Anyway – thank you!

P.S. I think I might even do a weekly blog post called “Insider Information.” Thanks for the idea – I hope it is okay if I use it?

Where are the points in your customer experience that make a new customer feel awkward, out of the loop? Do some customers walk into your restaurant and know exactly what to do, what to expect, how to respond? Learn from your regulars – and find ways to make new customers feel equally comfortable. Sales and tips will increase accordingly.