Motivated Employees are More Productive Than Their Unmotivated Counterparts

As a small business owner, it is difficult to focus your energies in all the places they are needed when your  number one priority is the bottom line.  However, if you have employees who work for you, it would be in both yours' and your company's best interest to expend some of your energies on those employees.  Did you know that a motivated employee is more productive than an unmotivated one? 

Fostering a team mentality in your business will go a long way in your success. Team players work together towards a common goal. Why not make sure your employees are on your team?

"Deer in the Headlights Trap"

Are you a small business owner?

Are you overwhelmed by the vast number of "things" to do on the Internet as part of your marketing efforts?

A common reaction to being overwhelmed is to become immobile and do nothing - just like a deer caught in your headlights. This is not a dig at anyone; it is more of an understanding of why some react to the whole idea of Internet marketing by doing nothing.

Many people don’t make decisions out of fear of making the wrong one. Unfortunately, this usually results in the biggest mistake of all – doing nothing! In business, this result can be quite costly. While you are procrastinating and continuing to evaluate all your choices, your competitors are out there making things happen. Will some of your choices be wrong? Absolutely! But as long as you own up to, recognize and learn from your mistakes, you will still be one step ahead of where you would have been had you done nothing.

Keep in mind that nothing you do is etched in stone and can be modified, changed or even deleted (Unless you have spent tons of money putting up a huge billboard. That might be a little more difficult to just "erase"). Take for example, re-designing your website. If you look at this as more of a process than a task with a definite beginning and a definite ending, you will be more comfortable taking the necessary steps in this process to get to your desired goal - a newly designed, well-optimized website. But even when you think you are done, you are not done. You will more than likely be adding content to your site, you might want to make some design changes, you might want to re-design your logo, your tagline, etc. Don’t be afraid to make a decision on the design or content because it might be the wrong one. It more than likely will be the wrong one, so expect to make many wrong choices along your way to finding a better one. It is all part of the process.

The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Small Business Owners

The world has changed yet there are still many small business owners who haven't accepted this change. It is time for everyone to jump on the bandwagon so as not to be left out in the cold. Mike Clough from America's Best Business Practices wrote a great article with tons of insight:  How Important is Social Media in a Marketing Plan?

Still Not Sure if You Should Use Social Media Marketing?

Whether or not to get involved in social media marketing and if so, to what extent, can be a difficult decision for small business owners to make.  Take a look at 20 Goals for Business Social Media Use to help you decide.

Small Business Internet Marketing Does Not Mean Throwing Successful Babies out With the Bathwater

What on earth does this mean?

It means that just because the rest of the world is on the Internet promoting their brands, it doesn’t mean they aren’t or shouldn’t be continuing to utilize traditional offline marketing strategies that are working. With all the hoopla about SEO, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and the tons of other social networking sites, small business owners might be led to believe that they have to do a total about-face in their marketing efforts and jump into the Internet with both feet without looking back. Instead, they need to analyze, evaluate and strategize.

First small business owners need to take stock of what their current marketing initiatives are and analyze their success rate. Are your current programs attracting qualified leads? If something is working, keep doing it – even if it is not on the Internet. For instance, if attending or participating in trade show events results in valuable and qualified leads for your company – then trade shows are a viable marketing initiative that you should continue. In addition, you should be analyzing your competition. What are they doing that is working? You want to do what they are doing – only you want to do it better.

Next you need to look at all your current marketing efforts and evaluate how effective they are in terms of return on investment. Using the trade show example, attending a trade show is usually far less expensive than exhibiting at the same show (unless the show is out of town and you are bringing many employees. Then of course you have travel and accommodation expenses). But if having a booth attracts enough qualified leads (“enough” can only be determined by the business owner) that convert to sales, then the expense is worth the effort and exhibiting at the successful trade shows should be included as part of your overall integrated marketing strategy.

The last step is to strategize or plan. This is not a final step because your marketing strategy should be dynamic in order to remain competitive and keep up with the ever-changing market and latest technologies. Without a clear and concise marketing plan, the small business owner can literally get lost on the Internet scrambling to try to find out where to put the most effort.

Internet Marketing? Is it Right for My Business?

If it feels like your online business is lagging in last year’s dust, keep in mind that it’s normal to fall behind in the race. With all this talk about Facebook, Twitter and the plethora of other Social Media Marketing tools it sure is easy to be confused if not down right overwhelmed. However, it’s absolutely possible and critical to pick up the pace of your marketing strategies and increase your chances of of bringing in new business with Internet Marketing. Read full article here.

Local Small Businesses and Social Media Marketing

Liana Evan in her post, points to the fact that social media marketing might even be considered more advantageous to small businesses than larger ones.  The reason for this is that social networking is no different than face-to-face networking from the traditional marketing realm, except that it is done on the Internet.  For small, local businesses, it is highly likely that some of the people you market to socially are also people you have met or will meet in person.  Read full article here.

The top 3 reasons small businesses shouldn't use social media for marketing

This blog post by Teicko Huber is a a great read - pointing out the obvious with supported by facts with a twist of humor. Read and watch it here.

Top Small Business Marketing Trends for 2009

Marketing in 2008 became decidedly social — and 2009 will see the social elements of marketing accelerate. Social media went from being on the cutting edge, to approaching the mainstream. When I say “social” I mean marketing driven by word-of-mouth relationships. Read full article here.