Every year, I quietly dread two things.

• ONE is having to organize the growing collection of receipts which will one day be part of my tax input (hugs to my tax expert, who has more patience than Job!).
• Two is to confront the reality of this waning business year and truly commit to my approach – and goals – for the year to come.  I think I resist this because I know, underneath it all, that to accomplish what I really, really want – thank you, Spice Girls! -  means something’s going to have to change. That ‘something’, of course, is ME!….and so it goes.

Imagine my surprise and relief, recently, to hear two smart and accomplished women I know discussing the same thing.  In face, they were both delighted with a book they had shared – which successfully dealt with the whole process of change in a remarkably effective way.

The book in question is “Switch”, by Chip and Dan Heath, who also brought us “Make it Stick” (which was all about ideas and business success…despite the duct tape model).

This book will surprise you, engage you, and get you working inside your own mind.  Not for the faint of heart (one of my colleagues listens to each chapter 3 times, to make sure to ‘get’ it all!), this is neither trivia nor pop psychology;  it’s about making change when change is hard.

Do yourself – and your business -  a big favor for 2011. Read this book, do what it says, and make the changes you need to support your success.  I have made a start!  Good luck, and “Happy New Year”.  Pull the switch and turn on your goals!

Technorati Tags: business, CEO resources, change, communications, planning

Sit on a bus, get yourself a cup of coffee, join a friend for dinner….it won’t be long before you are enveloped in a conversation. Granted, it may NOT be your conversation, though it will be in your ear.  The truth is we are inundated by conversations, every day, in which we play no part, have no say, and cannot participate.

Some of those conversations are only ‘half there’, as we hear only one side of chats, shared confidences, and parental advice in public places.  Often I find myself in awe at the personal, private details people advertise about their lives to their ‘fellow transit riders’…..many of whom, like me – I suspect – would prefer to avoid hearing it at all.  Sometimes it’s funny, but often it is trite and occasionally sad or disquieting.  What’s a person to do?

My goal every day is to make a new acquaintance or give someone a genuine reason to smile, every chance I get.  I find that often a smile, a nod, the offer to open  a door, make room for a parcel, assist at an elevator….or even to simply say ‘Thanks’ for a small courtesy is all it takes to start an exchange that elevates the mood. What a gift – and all it takes is paying a little attention.

Read the name tag worn by the next clerk who helps you – with anything. Thank them by name, and watch them grow.  You may be the only person who recognized them as a singular human being all day – and they may be performing a service you take for granted, or would not want to provide yourself.

Remember how much effort you take in your business to open the door to new customer relationships.  These are the same skills; practice them well and often. Be the person you want others to see, and you will affect lives all around you!

More importantly, you will start drawing others to you, effortlessly, and that’s the start of your own ‘inbound marketing life’.  Live it! We all strive to create online conversations that convert.  That only really builds relationships when it comes offline.  Make someone smile today, start a conversation that counts….and it will!

Technorati Tags: communications, Duet Media, Facebook Sopam, inbound, Inbound Marketing, Marketing, marketing plan, small business owner, social information processing

What do you get when you add a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University to a Harvard MBA/columnist and editor? The answer is, of course, brothers Chip and Dan Heath, whose CEO-favorite book “Made to Stick” is the only book I know which features an actual piece of duct tape on its cover.

Think about that image for one moment, please. Duct tape. What springs to mind?

For me, the first image I see is a scene from the movie Apollo 13, in which a group of engineers is tasked with finding a way to repair the space-bound rocket’s air cleaning system….square filter/round hole –or was it the other way around? – and the Ops Manager says “Ladies and gentlemen, failure is NOT an option!”

They solved the problem, with some ingenuity and a fair amount of grey tape.  There is no doubt Chip and Dan understood the metaphor – many business ideas have been born the same way, and the ability of a great idea to “stick” can be the defining difference in making it an actual business success.  In fact, they define 6 critical traits they feel all great ideas share, and lay out a blueprint for generating sticky ideas of your own.

Specified reading for the business-bound entrepreneur and the established executive alike, …….get used to getting ‘sticky’ – you’ll be glad you did!

Technorati Tags: business, Chip Heath, Dan Heath, Made to Stick, Make it Stick, sales, small business owner

That said, I “know what I like”, and Christine Romans, anchor of “Your $$$$$”, often has me coming back for more.  Last night’s program was no exception.  Moving from money – her new book “Smart is the New Rich” puts values and dollars into a 2010-post credit perspective – Christine talks about other valuable ideas for our businesses today.

Her topic? “Using Social Media to Improve Your Business”.  She hits her target squarely, going after the most common objections “I’ve heard the complaint from small business owners and professionals a million times: “How can I monetize social media?” and providing clear examples in response.

Mitch Goldstone’s story is a great illustration. He is the owner of a photo-developing shop in Irvine, California, who has used the internet and social media to take his business international.  He says “If you’re not into social media social networking you will be out of business. I’m going to repeat that: You will be out of business if you don’t tweet, use Facebook, and social media today.”

This may not be ‘news’ to you, but it is important because this is one  man’s real story…and there are plenty more.  Romans offers insights and tips, even touching on my personal favorite – keeping an eye on your competition. (I call it ‘business research, but knock yourself out, either way!).

Her final word?  TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! Thanks, Christine; I’m glad you did!

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Inbound Marketing, Internet Marketing, online marketing plan, social marketing, Social Media Tools, social media vancouver, Twitter

Then, I thought about the book I was going to ‘feature’ and knew I couldn’t do that. This book is too good, holds too much valuable information, and offers too many important insights to be shortchanged like that……and so do you.

The book in question here is Roy Osing’s masterful Be DiFFERENT or be dead, hailed as a new primer for survival in these challenging business times. Oddly enough, the title made me think of dinosaurs and Darwin (as in “The Survival of the Fittest”), which may not be too far off the mark.  It also applies to our online communications world, because it takes a real difference (a clear point of view) to stand out from the herd there, too.

I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Osing speak recently, which is how I came to own his book. In a crowded pub, he spoke for over an hour and I took 7 pages of notes. I was hooked; he had a new fan.  He spoke about “only” statements and why we need to be that different to our customers.  He takes a “customerized”  view of marketing and has created an operating model to “execute offers brilliantly”!

Best of all, his ideas have been tested and proven in practice, for Mr. Osing served as president of TELUS Advanced Communications – working to position the company as a global leader in its field.  That is not a position in the middle of the herd; to be distinctive in your market and differentiate your service takes vision, conviction and courage……strengths his calm demeanor manage to convey.

With BlogWorld Expo only a few days away, I thought of all the  thought leaders who will be there.  These are people who have opinions and shape those of others, too.  In a sea of so many fishes (About 706,000,000 results (0.22 seconds) in my recent Google search for “blogs”), how can one mere minnow hope to stand out?

You read what the man said: “BE DiFFERENT or be dead”. Roy Osing knows how – he’ll share it with you!

We worked together on a collaborative blog during the 2010 Olympics and as a result of his entertaining posts, he was interviewed by CBC.

Early in 2009 Marc realized he needed to reach out to more potential clients. Taking skills he’d learned from traditional networking Marc consulted with twitter experts and then started to tweet to get coffee dates with prospective clients. By early summer 2009 twitter was responsible for all Amuse Consulting‘s new business contacts and a year later twitter was responsible for tripling Marc’s expansive business network. Marc’s experience is supported by Hubspot’s State of Inbound Marketing Report which reports 41% of companies using twitter for leads and sales have been successful acquiring new customers.

Marc’s advice to small business owners who are new to Social Markting: Do what you do naturally. Being consistent and transparent is important to establishing your personal online brand.

His perspective on using Social Marketing is that in traditional marketing you’re in control of your brand, but in the Social Marketing community, it’s the community that dictates your brand.

Marc will be sharing his success secrets in his workshop How to use Twitter to Raise Your Profile and Increase Business on Sept 14th 2010 at the Network Hub . You can register here.

The topic of conversation runs from uber geeky to the ridiculous and somewhere during the conversation at least three people pay homage to the great Apple god. Not me though. The only Apple equipment I own is an 18 month old iPod Touch that is falling apart. I’m waiting for Android tablets to be available near the end of the year. I’ll be standing in line somewhere and will be blogging and tweeting about the experience.

Two weeks ago Android sales surpassed iOS sales (that’s iPhone)  . Yes that’s right .. every time I say that, someone goes to the internet to prove me wrong. Sorry folks – it’s true.

Today at DotCom Pho I take on the Apple fan boys and it’s on video. The bad news is smart Android phones are in such demand they cost more than the flawed iPhone4.

Technorati Tags: Android, Bonnie Sainsbury, DotCom Pho, John Chow

So that you know the effectivity of any promotional campaign, it is crucial that its component parts are analyzed and be correctly understood.First step is to come up with a list of email addresses. There are infinite number of means of list building.  They can nevertheless, be classified into the fast and easy way and the more targeted manner.One fast and easy way is thru the use of electronic mail extraction softwares that collect electronic mail addresses from web sites visited such as forums interested in the product you have to offer.  One other way is through buying lists from email vendors.  Established companies are wary on going the painless way of list building.  A large percentage of those land in junk e-mail folders and filtered by email service providers. Building a listing is no easy task. It is not difficult to miss and not find what you want in the massive arena of the World Wide Web. It needs time in doing the steps required to broadcast your existence to your target market.  Generally, it is best to let prospective customers to your site join by keying in specific contact info which includes email addresses.  Opt email lists are generated when website visitors grant permission for webmasters or publishers to include them in their list. Depending on the site’s TOS, becoming part of the list also means being able to receive newsletters or other forms of applicable advertisements. Those who choose to opt-in in any list are targeted, therefore are to a greater extent receptive and more likely to read email transmitted to them thru the site they signed-in.This permission based way of receiving email makes opt email lists the best alternative for a direct email campaign.Once you have generated your list, create content that will compel your readers to action. According to some observations, it takes about 7 times for a person to read from the same source sent thru email before they are convinced to take action.Surprisingly, a direct email campaign is an email marketing solution that is said to provide a favorable response.Frequently used by affiliate marketers, this method proves to be effective because of the fact that a connection has been established. The element of trust is already there.Bulk email may seem to be impersonal but most recipients don’t feel this way. Most promotions indicate a person’s name making it appear that it is meant for just that individual. This approach never fails to generate sales.

Learn how Masterdigm CRM can help you do targeted email campaigns and provide your customers regular updates on your products and services. Visit http://www.masterdigm.com.
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Email marketing is the direct mail vehicle of the new millennium. It has proven to be an effective and low-cost advertising medium for online and offline businesses, both large and small. Email marketing allows easy tracking and measuring of results. More importantly, it allows businesses to stay in front of their customers for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. The bad news, however, is that everyone is using email marketing. The question becomes, then, how do you stand out from crowd?

An effective email campaign must be strategically planned out in advance for optimal success. What is the purpose of your campaign? To sell, to inform, or to support are possibilities. What are your goals for the campaign? Do you want more orders, new customers, or backend product sales? The bottom line is you want to keep the customers that have already purchased from you!

Consider your list. Is it targeted? Can you segment your list for greater success? Segmenting is creating subgroups within your list that you can then target with specific information and offers. If one customer orders one service and another customer buys your widget, you would want to offer the two different customers different follow-up support and complementary products. Also consider where your list evolved from: did you buy it, did it come from your website, blog, or is it an affiliate list? This information is important to know when you plan your campaign.

Before you begin designing, consider the following metrics you will use to measure the success of your campaign:

Read Rates: How many people open your emails is a good indication of the interest they have in your information. More importantly, is how many open your email more than once or keep opening it down the road.

Click Throughs: Are your emails successful in driving traffic to your site? Do you have compelling content and calls to action that directs your prospects to act? What calls to action worked or didn’t work?

Sent to a Friend: Are you getting the word-of-mouth viral marketing from your campaign? Are you utilizing this important method?

Unsubscribe Rate: What causes your prospect to want to unsubscribe? Is your information not compelling enough? Do you provide enough or too much content? Are you capturing what your prospects want to know?

Now when you are first starting out, these things will be a mystery. The only true way to know is to target your goals the best way you can to your list and of course, trial and error. The knowledge you have of each of these components will help you make adjustments along the way.

Again, consider the objective of your campaign. If you want your list to buy, a simple invitation to visit your site is okay. More effective, however, is to give them an incentive to buy now, not later and from you and not from your competitor, etc.

A call to action is giving specific instructions to be followed. You are pointing them to the infamous X marks the spot. But do not send your prospects on a treasure hunt. They will get fed up and go about their day. Every call to action should be accompanied by a direct link to your spot X.

Equally important as getting them to spot X quickly and easily is to not misinform them about where you want them to go. In short, do not tell them to go to spot X for more information and send them to spot Y which is the order page. Again, they will be miffed and go away.

Strategically place your call to actions throughout your email. Most people simply skim an email on average for only a few seconds. They will most likely not read word-for-word your entire message (unless you have killer content!) If you just put one link down at the end of the message, you will have a low click-through rate.

Email users have been studied extensively and results show they respond best to shorter, clearly designed messages. This means they will be looking for your call to action and the link to spot X. Make sure you provide clear instructions with a targeted message so that you take advantage of the few seconds you have. Attach specific call to actions in clearly visible spots in your email and you will see better results than if you didn’t.

As you send more and more emails, look at what your prospects are responding to. Adapting to the specific nature of your list will help improve your click-through rate, decrease your unsubscribe rate and you will realize more viral referrals.

Ruth Harris is a real entrepreneur who has helped many others start and promote their online business. Visit http://www.iprofit.viral-business.com to get over 170 best-selling eBooks and software titles with Master Resell Rights and ready made profit-pulling minisites all for one low price.
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As a small business owner (or small not-for-profit), networking is productive use of your time. An unconference doesn’t have a set agenda or speakers. The first order of business is for the attendees to choose the agenda. Either “experts” volunteer to lead a workshop on their area of expertise, or attendees  lead a session to solve a problem.

I attended the NetSquared Unconference this weekend. 150 people discussed everything from SEO (how to get on the first page of Google) to email marketing using MailChimp.

Reasons to attend an Unconference:

1. The Price

An unconference in your town is usually about $25 for the day. Excellent value for your dollar. Everyone’s budget can accomodate an unconference.

2. Connect with your Peers

Other attendees often have the same issues you do and they may have found a solution or work-around. Arrive early and network; share your expertise with others. Don’t forget to get their contact infromation, twitter, Facebook and Linkedin ids. When you return to your office – connect with the folks you met!

3. C0nnect with Experts

Attend the workshops of Experts. Because the topics are chosen by your peers, the information will quite possibly help your business. Ask questions – participate. If your budget will allow the services of an expert, this is your chance to connect to find the best fit.

Pay close attention to Twitter and Facebook for advance notice of unconferences; they often sell out fast.

Technorati Tags: blog hosting services, Facebook, online social networking, small business owner, social information processing, social media, Twitter, unconference, web 2.0, world wide web