Are You Fatigued by Facebook and Twitter?
October 15, 2009
Facebook gave us a way to find old classmates and renew friendships, find clients and share ideas.
Email has given us a way to quickly conduct business or send silly stuff to co-workers and friends.
So now we have IM, text messaging, friends on Facebook, and constant communication by 140 characters or less on Twitter.
All of this messaging is great as it is supposed to bring us closer to our friends and find new ones, but if we aren’t careful, these interactions can harm our real-life relationships. Columnist Elizabeth Bernstein quite recently said that she is experiencing Facebook fatigue because loved ones are sending so many photos of their children or parties, forwarding funky quizzes, and posting dozens of jokes. And they are tweeting about their whereabouts and what they are doing at the present moment.
To improve our daily interactions, Bernstein says: Before posting an item, ask yourself if it’s something you would want one of your contacts to send to you. Reward people by responding to interesting messages.
While private blogs can be platforms for political ranting, it can be considered poor form on Facebook to constantly post your political opinions.
Grow Your Business With Proven Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies
October 12, 2009
Word of Mouth Marketing, the oldest form of marketing is gaining ground again. How can business owners beat the current recession with Word of Mouth Marketing?
Educate and Nurture Your Current Customers
Don’t put all emphasis on new customer acquisition, but affirm your current customers,
find ways to develop loyalty programs that increase the lifetime value of your customers. Reward
clients with your time, attention and little extras – they will become enthusiastic promoters for your products and services.
Get Known as an Expert in a Niche Community
Are you creating compelling stories (ideas, articles, informative presentations or videos) that are picked up and shared person-to-person via social networking sites or within niche communities? If not, observe successful entrepreneurs in your niche and find out how they have become experts and what has contributed to their success. Participate in discussions, create conversations and relationships that help you become an expert and share your ideas.
Offer Pleasant Surprises to Create Viral Marketing
Surprising your clients is worth your time, since it gives you an opportunity to exceed their expectations and satisfied customers will be back. It is not hard to come up with a special offer or free complimentary service, you can always add something remarkable to your product. The level of expectations changes fast these days, you have to be creative and continuously find new ways to “over deliver” so that your customers keep having new reasons to talk about you. Get to know your customers, their habits and buying patterns, develop a system to pleasantly surprise them.
Become and Stay Referable
Never stop learning how to be better and more efficient at what you do. Give your customers every reason to drum up more business for you and find out why or why not people refer you. Always welcome opportunities to meet and help other small business owners. Be interested in their business and volunteer activities. You will learn from them, also share your expertise and they will refer you as they get to know, like and trust you. You and your business will be on their mind as people in their network need products or services that you offer. Find time in your busy day to send thank you cards and notes to people who have made a difference in your life. Make it effortless for your loyal clients to provide information about you, your products and services (make sure they have your business cards and promotional materials, etc.) If you become and stay referable, you don’t have to try to sell your business to others, it will come to you.
Improve Your Communication Skills While Travelling and Meeting New People
October 7, 2009
Warning for Tourists
I have been traveling quite a bit lately. I embrace these opportunities as there is always so much to learn from people who live in different parts of the world – frugality and resourcefulness from citizens of countries that have to get by with much less than people in the U.S, relaxed and easygoing attitude from a young man who lives in Brazil, efficient time management from German professionals and eloquence from British gentlemen.
I have witnessed different approaches to marketing and politics as well – pre-election Germany had a different feel than pre-election Estonia. Overall, it looked like Europeans had taken a low key approach,
people and governments are tightening their belts.
Just like people in different countries have different needs, so do small businesses. Product and service customization as well as getting to know your customer are both equally important, or you’ll miss the mark. We have so much to learn from each encounter with potential and current customers.
