Better Business Blog

7 Tips for Networking

Networking goes hand in hand with running a successful business.

But many of us dread walking into a room and introducing ourselves to a bunch of strangers.

I've been asked to share my best networking tips at a meeting today of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Philadelphia. Here are the most valuable tips I've come across – and put to work myself – over the years:

1. Resist the urge to arrive late. It's almost counter-intuitive, but showing up early at a networking event is a much better strategy than getting there on the later side. As a first attendee, you'll notice that it's calmer and quieter – and people won't have settled into groups yet. It's easier to find other people who don't have conversation partners yet.

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10 Tips For Keeping Your LinkedIn And Business Connections Fresh

Keeping connections fresh is entirely about giving. You are giving someone attention, and you are not asking for anything. It is a pleasant contact for them. And it makes a huge difference. If someone hears from you, even once a year in an email when you don’t need anything, then when you ultimately do need something, it is very comfortable for both parties. But if you haven’t connected with them at all in five years and suddenly, out of nowhere, ask them for something, it becomes very uncomfortable for you and potentially annoying or easy to ignore for them. You may recognize this situation from having been on one or both sides of the exchange.

If you have kept the connection fresh and updated, not only will it be much more natural and comfortable when you need to reach out, but the other party will be much more inclined to actually help you!

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When It Comes to Networking, Farmers Will Always Beat Hunters

Has a complete stranger ever solicited you for a referral or business? I call this “premature solicitation.”

I’ve been its victim many times. I was recently speaking at a networking event, and before my presentation, a man came up to me and said, “Hi, it is a real pleasure to meet you. I understand you know Richard Branson. I offer specialized marketing services and I am sure his Virgin enterprises could benefit from what I provide. Could you please introduce me to him so that I can show him how this would assist his companies?”

Here’s what was going on inside my head: “Are you completely insane? I’m going to introduce you, someone I don’t know and don’t have any relationship with, to Sir Richard, whom I’ve only met a few times, so that you can proceed to attempt to sell him a product or service that I don’t know anything about and haven’t used myself? Yeah, right. That’s never going to happen.”

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5 Ways to Build a Solid Email Marketing List

Email marketing is a powerful tool that can extend your reach beyond your website and create new salesopportunities. If you simply sell to customers when they happen to visit your site, you have an all-or-nothing chance of making a sale. Should they leave without making a purchase, there's no guarantee they'll return later.

But when you build an email list of current and potential customers, you can reach out repeatedly to your prospects with targeted messages.

Here are five ways to integrate email marketing into your website and stay in touch with your best prospects:

1. Build an opt-in form on your home page.
Perhaps the easiest and most common way to create a list is to integrate an email opt-in form into your home page. To get attention, place your form "above the fold," so visitors can see it immediately and don't have to scroll down.

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The Ultimate Digital Customer Service Guide

In our recent Customer Experience Series, Mashable dove deep into the mysterious alchemy of customer service. Those who own their own business will tell you: Getting (and keeping) customers is not easy. There are so many different factors that must work together perfectly within a company to ensure that fans of your brand stay happy.

Whether its making sure that your ecommerce platform doesn’t drive your users crazy or organizing your social media to build your community, forethought is key to a premium customer experience. These articles will give you comprehensive knowledge of many facets of digital customer service, with expert advice from community managers, CEOs and web designers.

Here’s a roundup of all of our articles, brought together into this handy guide. To read more, click through to the full article, and you can access the entire series here.

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15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers

Here are 15 hashtags that have created successful chats.

#Mmchat

Every Monday at 8 p.m. EST, @JeffAshcroft hosts a great chat with leading experts from successful firms in the marketing and social media industries at #Mmchat.

15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers

Setting up a Twitter chat is really easy, especially for social media marketers who already know how to utilize the power of a Twitter account. All it takes is a set date, a topic, and a hashtag. You let people know it is happening, and ask them to tell others who might be interested. Then you carry on a conversation at the set time with anyone using that hashtag.

SEE ALSO: 7 Tips for Better Twitter Chats

But knowing how to set one up isn’t always enough. If you want a few tips on how to best create a great chat, you should take a look at some that are already popular.

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How to Get in With the Big Guys



Written By Cindy Vanegas,  FOXBusiness

After sealing three deals with players in the local trucking industry, Tucker Robeson said he knew that in order to scale CDL Helpers, an employee retention and management consulting firm focused on truck drivers, he’d have to make inroads with a larger firm.

Robeson, the company’s co-founder and CEO, used his alumni network to convince Lawrence Transportation Company to agree to a 90-day trial.

“We focused on making our target company better and the lives of the people who run it easier,” said Robeson.

Finding a way into a major corporation can seem daunting. However, through persistence, strategy and bargaining the path to partnering with big business will have fewer roadblocks.

Ilana Eberson, president of The NYC Business Networking Group, recommended that entrepreneurs make relationships on the lower levels and have a list of benefits that they can provide the company.

“I always go in with a give instead of a take,” advised Eberson.

Read more: http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/entrepreneurs/2012/04/05/how-to-get-in-with-big-guys/#ixzz1rDm5QpeL

Earn the Trust of Hispanic Consumers and Your Brand Will Dominate

As organizations seek to find new ways to capture sustainable business growth, the estimated $1.2 trillion dollars of Hispanic consumer purchasing power in 2012 represents a time-sensitive opportunity for America’s corporations to earn this powerful relationship.   

Creating and sustaining momentum with this rapidly growing consumer segment is key, yet risky if not executed properly.   In fact, many brands have tried to market to Hispanics, yet have failed miserably losing millions of dollars along the way.  These unsuccessful attempts have proven that Hispanic consumers are looking for brands to create greater cultural affinity and to listen to their needs more carefully.   

As a group of participants shared with me at a Hispanic Consumer Roundtable event my company recently hosted, “If you take the time to know me you will not need to sell me.”

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Learning to Network: Organized Study vs. Winging It

My colleagues and I, as co-authors of the new book Business Networking and Sex – Not What You Think, thought it would be interesting to see if men and women acquire networking skills in different ways. So in one of our surveys, we asked participants how they learned to network.

Most respondents--both men and women--cited multiple ways. More than one-fourth said they had been mentored, which is widely considered one of the most effective ways to learn anything. Almost half said they had learned on their own, but many of them also participated in networking groups or read books and articles. In fact, more than three-quarters of respondents cited their use of networking groups. Which isn't surprising. Such groups often provide training programs and materials. Their popularity also illustrates the old wisdom of learning by doing. Many people learn fastest by watching others, making mistakes and correcting them.

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Entrepreneurs Network for Success

Networking…as entrepreneurs we do this almost instinctively, but are we taking the wrong approach when networking for our small businesses? Here are some resources that may help.

Networking Advice

What Reid Hoffman can teach you about connecting. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or not, networking is the key to your success. Realize that as an entrepreneur your ability to connect will define the direction your small business takes. Bloomberg Businessweek

Even businesses without Websites can network online. A surprising number of small businesses don’t yet have Websites, but that doesn’t keep them from networking online. LinkedIn specifically creates a hub for entrepreneurs even without other Web presences. The Sydney Morning Herald

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A Guide to Ambient Social Networking for Business Owners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ambient" social networks were all the buzz at Austin's annual South by Southwest tech festival. So what are ambient networks? They include social discovery platforms and "proximity"-based apps on a smartphone or mobile device that locate other app users within the same geographical area.

Unlike Foursquare, which connects people to places, ambient social networks aim to connect people to people. Startups playing in the ambient social networking sandbox include:

• Highlight
• Sonar
• Glancee
• Grindr
• Banjo
• Circle

Depending on the app, users can search for and connect with Facebook contacts and Twitter followers, or locate nearby app users who have friends in common or share their interests, hobbies, or even dating preferences.

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22 Executives Share The Best Advice They Ever Received

No one can make it alone. The most successful leaders are where they are today because they took advice from people they trusted.

We've compiled some of the best tips that executives have shared throughout the years, including lessons from tech icons like Bill Gates, empire-builders like Richard Branson and legendary investment gurus like Warren Buffett.

Read More: 22 Executives Share The Best Advice They Ever Received

Effective Networking Takes Commitment and Clarity

These days the word networking has any number of meanings and context.

There’s social networking, the kind of networking you do wherever two or more of you are gathers and of course that pesky wiring together of far flung computer nodes that might come up in a random search on the term networking.

I’m at SXSWi this week in Austin and hidden in all those tweets and posts from giddy geeks gone gonzo is the fact that this event is one of the premiere networking events for people in the online and interactive world.

Read More: Effective Networking Takes Commitment and Clarity

Does Your Business Need a DBA?

Have you ever wondered about the meaning behind those seemingly endless listings of ‘Fictitious Business Name’ entries in the newspaper classifieds? Do you know if your business needs to file one? Read on to learn all about the DBA or Fictitious Business name.

Fictitious Business Name: An Overview

Sometimes called a Fictitious Business Name, Doing Business As (DBA), assumed business name, or trade name, these filings let the public know the true owner of a business. Note that I’ll be using DBA and Fictitious Business Name interchangeably throughout this article.

Read More: Does Your Business Need a DBA?

How to turn blog readers into brand advocates

If you have been blogging for more than a few months than you have super fans whether you know it or not. You just have to keep an eye out for them. Fortunately there some key indicators.

• They comment regularly
• They send you personalized emails
• They share EVERYTHING you write

But simply knowing who they are is not enough. The same way you water seeds for a plant, you must cultivate your super fans.

Read More: How to turn blog readers into brand advocates

4 Rules For an Effective 'Thank You'

A university professor began reflecting on the people who had a positive impact on his life.  In particular he remembered a schoolteacher who had gone out of her way to instill in him a love of poetry.  He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in many years, but he located her address and sent her a letter of thanks.  A short time later, he received this reply:

Read More: 4 Rules For an Effective 'Thank You'

6 Ways Your Business Card Can Still Pack a Big Punch

MOO.com pioneered business cards the size of a stick of gum; the company expects to churn out 100 million in 2012. Here's how to leverage that small bit of paper into a big branding opportunity.

Richard Moross wants you to know that business cards are alive and well. As the CEO of MOO, the company that pioneered those clever mini cards with do-it-yourself design options, Moross says the business of printing may be 500+ years old, but it's doing quite nicely, thank you very much.

Read More: 6 Ways Your Business Card Can Still Pack a Big Punch

An Urgent Letter To Small Businesses Who Don't Understand The Importance Of Yelp

As a frequent user of Yelp and Seamless and other social web apps, I feel compelled to send a message to business owners with a bad rating or no rating at all.

Perhaps you've never heard of Yelp or perhaps you think it doesn't matter. Word of mouth and newspaper reviews were enough to bring in customers for the past thousand years. Why change?

What I want you to understand is that I and over 50 million other Yelp users like me will never be your customer.

Read More: An Urgent Letter To Small Businesses Who Don't Understand The Importance Of Yelp

Content Marketing: Use Your Voice

You and your company have a voice and content marketing gives you a chance to use that voice to connect a relevant message/solution to your target audience.

Content marketing — blogs, social media, articles, case studies, videos, infographics, etc — let’s people hear your message. It gives them a chance to see who you are, what you have and how you do what you do. It’s a tool that small businesses, even the hard core Do-It-Yourselfers, can use to get their message out.

 

Read More: Content Marketing: Use Your Voice

How to Redefine Your Business in a New Market

What happens if you get your market research wrong and sales don't take off?

You don't have to call it quits, but it's clearly time to consider a new customer focus--and fast. "You can't just say, 'If we build it, they will come,'" says Kevin Daum, author of Roar! Get Heard in The Sales and Marketing Jungle (Wiley, 2010). "You've got to go where the business is."

Here are three ways entrepreneurs have refocused their companies to jumpstart their businesses -- and you can, too.

Ticket Kick Founder Greg Meunder

Photo courtesy of the Company

No. 1 -- Change the focus of your service. When Greg Muender was a junior in college, he founded TicketKick, a San Diego-based company that helped contest speeding tickets for California drivers. Back then, in 2008, he thought pinpointing his core market--college-age men--was a no-brainer, given their high number of speeding tickets. In those early days, Muender's customers came almost entirely by word-of-mouth, and business was slow.

But about a year after starting TicketKick, Muender got a call from a driver who had received a ticket in the mail showing that a camera had caught him running a red light. Muender didn't know what to do for the customer, but he couldn't afford to lose the business. As he looked into the matter, he found that most drivers were stumped when it came to disputing red light tickets based on camera surveillance.

Read More: How to Redefine Your Business in a New Market

The 5 Ways to Make Yourself Memorable

The formula to marketing success? Being memorable. Throughout our lives we constantly encounter many people from many walks of lifes. Often though, we only remember a select few of those folks.

Why are some more memorable than others? Why were they more interesting and seemingly more distinguished from the countless others you spoke with that day? The answer is relatively simple: they planted the seeds in your mind that made them take root in your memory. That is some powerful stuff, because if you too can make people remember you, you will stand out by default. And it’s the stand outs who garner all the business.

1. Be different, not better. It is hard to be better. Even when you are, no one really cares. If you are a little faster (your deliver proposals 30 minutes earlier), a little more polished (you wear the modern skinny tie, when your competition still wears last year's wide tie), a little more professional (you send a thank you note after visiting a prospects office), you’re clearly better, but it will likely go unnoticed.

Read More: The 5 Ways to Make Yourself Memorable

Managerial Intuition Is a Harmful Myth

I've been learning a lot from Danny Kahneman's great book Thinking Fast and Slow. Kahneman is the world's leading expert on human judgment and decision-making and the only non-economist to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics (he's a psychologist by training), so his insights and conclusions should be taken seriously. In Thinking Fast and Slow he collects them and explains them to the non-specialist. Read it and you won't look at the world the same way again. And you and the world will both be better off for it.

In particular, we'll all be better off if we stop placing so much weight on the intuitive judgments of 'experts' -- those who have risen to the top of their professions or hierarchies due, typically, to some combination of education, experience, tenure, previous success, and moxie. The business world, of course, is full of experts. We have financial analysts, product planners, business unit managers who hire people and assemble teams, marketing VPs, and an endless variety of consultants, pundits, and gurus.

Read More: Managerial Intuition Is a Harmful Myth

How To Build a Rockin’ LinkedIn Presence

Let’s face it: Too many of us spend a lot of time actively ignoring LinkedIn. We don’t intend to, it’s just not as flashy as some of the other social networks. But if you haven’t checked out the business social networking site lately, it’s time to stop ignoring LinkedIn and go back. Because the site has added a host of new features in recent months that have helped transform it from a static resume site to a full-blown business networking site that SMBs will want to take advantage of.

One feature small business owners want to specifically be aware of is the ability to create company profiles on the site. By claiming and building out your profile, SMBs will be able to increase your company’s prominence on the site, help prospective employees find you, and use it as your own personal recruiting network. If you’ve ever had to hire locally, you know important this is.

Read More: How To Build a Rockin’ LinkedIn Presence

6 Emotions That Make Customers Buy

Customers make purchasing decisions because they have carefully considered a set of good information, right?

Wrong.

Buying decisions are always the result of a change in the customer's emotional state. While information may help change that emotional state, it's the emotion that's important, not the information.

All buying decisions stem from the interplay of the following six emotions:

1. Greed. "If I make a decision now, I will be rewarded."

2. Fear. "If I don't make a decision now, I'm toast."

Read More: 6 Emotions That Make Customers Buy

Are You Brilliant At Marketing?

Are you brilliant at marketing? We think you can be., We’ve assembled some great links meant to boost your marketing creativity. Check them out and see how “brilliant” you can become.

Getting Started

Want to be marketing brilliant? Of course, who doesn’t? Well, lucky for you this list tells you how. These ten lessons will help you get better at marketing anything (including hopefully your small business) today. Entrepreneur

How to stop being bad at marketing. Is marketing ability a rare gift possessed by only a few or can mere mortal small business owners like you learn its secrets and get better (much better) at marketing your business? Extreme John.com

Read More: Are You Brilliant At Marketing?