George W. Bush Parody Video Scores 78,000+ YouTube Views in 6 Days with the Thomas R. Reich Developed SEO Method!
Reprinted from PRWeb
On March 8, 2013, Tate Carson looked at his 3-month-old video featuring a very funny George W. Bush impersonator, John C. Morgan, and saw 311 total views on YouTube. “Barter Rewards is one of the premier barter companies with great reach and a great website but we had no idea how to promote a video,” Mr. Carson said.
Tate decided to try the new social media protocol called “Deep Rich Data” which has been getting some buzz lately. Thomas R. Reich, developer of Deep Rich Data said, “I come from a music industry background; in the past I promoted INXS, WHAM, Debbie Gibson, Yes and 60 other gold and platinum successes.” Reich continued, “We used taste makers
and key stores back in the 90’s, I found a way to incorporate key social media nodes to effect the same result.”
By Monday March 11, 2013, the video “21st Century Trade Exchange” had 3400+ hits; it started to get noticed. By Wednesday, total YouTube views hit 40,000+ and on Thursday March 14, the number topped 78,000. Reich iterates, “It reminds me of the old days of the music industry really, if a product was good, you got it noticed and it took care of itself. This is a great video.”
Tom Reich, Marketing Director for BizCentral USA explains that the key to any successful promotion is a great product. “The video follows the cardinal rules of YouTube success.” Reich continues, “It is under 1 minute, funny, has accomplished talent, written well and represents a respected product.”
Tate Carson, founder of Barter Rewards said, “We were looking for a funny but wholesome spokesman for Barter Rewards. John C. Morgan fit the bill, he is the best Bush impersonator out there, and I think some may think it’s really him. It’s all in good fun.”
“I’m a Barter Rewards member myself so the fit was great,” said Orlando based actor John C. Morgan. “I will not bring George out for anything mean spirited. This was good natured and all in good fun. You can feel Bush’s values of love, country, God and family behind the jokes.”
“The key to making a video hit with big views using the Deep Rich Data method is the same as it ever was,” said Thomas R. Reich who was CEO of Cheetah Records in the 90’s, “one part talent, one part good product, one part promotion and one part luck.”
Barter Rewards is an international barter company, for more information on the Barter Rewards programs call 407-251-0980.
The newest traffic generator DRD or Deep Rich Data was developed by Thomas R. Reich PhD to help clients with sluggish websites and landing pages. With Deep Rich Data methods, even dull or mundane subjects become search magnets. The coolest thing about DRD is that the system is not a gimmick, not a fancy program, or a get rich quick MLM scheme.
DRD is a simple concept that works with Pinterest and Twitter to promote blogs, website pages, YouTube videos, landing pages on FaceBook and LinkedIn, just about anything with a URL. It is a straight forward method that takes time and patients but delivers results that are undeniable.
The system not only delivers Pinterest traffic from the Owners Pinterest site but from every Pinterest repinner as well, and all the Twitter activity and retweets as well. But the real boost to traffic does not involve either Pinterest or Twitter, it is traffic generated from organic Google and Bing searches, primarily image searches, but since DRD uses rich snippets, the organic search goes to regular organic search as well.
To use Deep Rich Data properly, the originator needs to fully understand Pinterest and Twitter. The website must have a fully enabled Pinterest site with multiple boards which have been SEO optimized for that website. Also, a fully enabled Twitter site is needed, with at least 1000 true followers. All these together will allow DRD to help disseminate the message and stimulate the organic search properties.
Let’s say a company is promoting a special sale on floor cleaning in Orlando Florida, obviously leads from California are not desirable. At the same time if a company was promoting a new kitchen aid for peeling a papaya, it would want as wide an area of leads as possible since the company would be shipping the item anywhere rather than servicing locally. Deep rich Data can work for either situation with equal efficacy.
The basic foundation of DRD is the SEO of an organization’s Pinterest site. SEO must be in place and pointed either to the product or service. If dealing with a local product, use random local, city and state as descriptor words in the SEO.
Back links are also a key element of Deep Rich Data, they work to direct the picture to selected locations within the target website or desired landing page. Without the URL re-direct, the system will not work. Just creating a clear SEO path is not enough, a picture must have a URL redirect for DRD to function as a mass Lead generator.
Use Deep Rich Data for:
• Event Announcements
• Specific Products
• Specific Services
• Regional or Local Re-directs
• Website Landing Page
• Website Home Page
• Specific Page within the Website
• FaceBook or LinkedIn page
• Video (YouTube or Vimeo)
• Recorded Webinar or Seminar
The direct point is not a factor; anything with a URL can be specifically and definitively programmed in advance. The key to Deep Rich Data method success is the SEO and key word selection and careful selection of the pictures on the Pinterest boards. Keywords are the crucial to credible traffic. Remember that due to the Pinterest file share rules, the pictures that cause the re-direct of traffic do not necessarily come from the target website or any specific location associated with the target.
Deep Rich Data is in its infancy, growing daily and becoming more viable with each new success. Have questions or suggestions, let us hear from you, together we can make Deep Rich Data a tool for greatness, it’s worth the effort!
Business Certification is all about gaining a competitive edge in doing business, especially with the Federal, State and Local governments. A business certification lawfully differentiates your company from your competitors. This creates a distinction that is important to a potential government or government contract customer’s decision to buy your product or service. This distinction sets your business apart from your competitors who do not have business certification.
The following is a list of ways a business certification provides you with an opportunity to set your business apart from your competition:
Price – Being certified can mean that your potential customer need not buy from the lowest bidder. Your certification demonstrates other important values to them; they are more likely to contract with you.
Quality – Your potential customer will be willing to buy in your higher-quality product or service rather than simply hire a cheaper alternative. Business certification adds extra prestige and validity to your product or service.
Ease of Use – Business certification means that your potential customer can avoid developing detailed procurement specifications and having to conduct complex and lengthy competitive procurements.
Speed of Service – Simpler procurements are faster procurements. Your potential customer can receive your products or services in a fraction of the time required through the conventional competitive bidding process.
Customer Perceived Value – Being certified shows your customer that you are more accessible and more personally accommodating to your potential customer than your competitors.
Different – Business certifications separates your business from other small businesses in the U.S. that are not certified. You can share the benefits a business certification provides with your potential customer, leading to more fruitful client accounts and partnerships.
There are various business certifications available to increase your ability to do more business with the Federal, state, and local governments in which you operate your business. The most important certifications are:
8(a) Business Development – The SBA’s 8(a) BD Program, named for a section of the Small Business Act, is a business development program created to help small, disadvantaged businesses compete in the American economy and access the Federal procurement market.
HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program – This business certification stimulates economic development and creates jobs in urban and rural communities by providing federal contracting preferences to small businesses. These preferences go to small businesses that obtain HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) certification in part by employing staff who live in a HUBZone. The company must also maintain a principal office in one of these specially designated areas. The program resulted from provisions contained in the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997.
State Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program – Both the Federal DBE and Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Programs are usually considered your state’s MBE Programs. These business certifications seek to achieve a percentage of MBE participation on state issued contracts. Certification as a DBE provides greater exposure for work opportunities on federally funded state projects.
State Minority Business Enterprise Program – The state-run MBE Programs seek to achieve a percentage of MBE participation on state-issued contracts. Business certification as an MBE provides greater exposure for work opportunities on state funded projects.
Women Business Enterprise – Both state run and national level WBE programs validate that the business is at least 51 percent owned, controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women. This business certification gives women owned businesses the ability to compete for business opportunities provided by private corporations and government agencies.
Deep Rich Data, Taking Social Media to the Next Level
Reprinted from Newsday
A new term, coined by Thomas R. Reich PhD Marketing Director for BizCentral USA, is now recognized in Wikipedia. It refers to a method of SEO delivery associated with Pinterest, which connects pictures to a given online media network and selected blog.
The traffic Deep Rich Data (DRD) brings to a well-constructed online media network is beyond what simple rich data has done in the past. Using DRD, a picture can be“Pinned” to a Pinterest board, and after the multi level SEO of DRD is applied,
that picture shows up on multiple search engines under image search, as well as connected to its URL link or whatever associated link is applied to the base level.
Tom Reich of BizCentral USA, a national business services company commented on DRD, “Deep Rich Data combines many of the properties of Rich Data, with the multi levels of SEO which can be achieved by originating a picture on a blog, “Pinning’’ it to Pinterest from the blog itself, then using three levels of SEO within Pinterest and re-posting the same picture from Pinterest to a given marketing media network.”
Reich continued, “By linking the image over and over, and having the image originate in a specific blog, the traffic generated is far greater than simple Rich Data linking.”
Tate Carson of Barter Rewards, an international barter company reacted, “We have seen our leads from Pinterest go from negligible to almost 45 percent of our entire traffic, whatever Tom is doing seems to be getting us followers by droves in Pinterest as well; it just keeps growing.” Barter Rewards, a client of BizCentral USA for some time, has a great website and a well-organized online media network. Tom Reich has been using the Deep Rich Data with their accounts for some time.
Dr. Reich added, “To work within the confines of DRD SEO you must have an active online media network, social media network and a very active blog.”
Don Bruno of ITEX added, “Whatever it is Tom and BizCentral USA is doing, I see my pictures everywhere, and they all lead back to my site!” ITEX is another account Tom is using Deep Rich Data in conjunction with a measured website, social media and blog design.
Deep Rich Data is a new trend, setting new standards in the ever changing world of online media. Reich has been using this system for some time, but is now beginning to incorporate it into customer accounts with great results.
Deep Rich Data or DRD is a new trend in social media SEO and link-building that is drastically increasing search results for targeted websites and blogs. Thomas R. Reich Marketing Director of BizCentral USA developed the deep search technique while experimenting with Pinterest.
Are you a small business owner located in an economically distressed urban or rural community with high unemployment or low income levels? Are you looking for help with federal contracting and interested in becoming certified in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone Certification) program? If so, you may be eligible for the program if you can answer yes to the following questions. Ask yourself:
Am I a small business according to SBA’s size standards?
Is my business 51 percent owned and controlled by a U.S. citizen?
Is my principal office located in a HUBZone Certification designated area?
Do at least 35 percent of my employees reside in a HUBZone Certification designated area?
HUBZone Certification Program – What is it? The HUBZone Certification program — enacted in 1997 – helps small businesses located in HUBZones get contract help, thus promoting job growth, capital investment and economic development in economically depressed areas, in both rural and urban communities, and on Indian reservations. The federal government has a goal of awarding 3 percent of its contracts each year (measured in dollars) to eligible HUBZone certification small businesses. In FY 2010, the federal government awarded $11.97 billion to HUBZone Certification firms. Small businesses certified in the HUBZone Certification program are eligible for three types of contracts including:
sole-source contracts (for some contracts with an anticipated award price between $3.5 million and $5.5 million, the government can give a contract to a HUBZone Certification after soliciting and negotiating with just that one single company, depending on what business sector the company operates in.
full and open competitive contracts (HUBZone Certification companies compete with other bidders, but get a 10 percent price preference).
How do I Know If My Business is in a HUBZone Certification Designated Area? HUBZones are located across the U.S. and its territories. These areas are largely based on unemployment and income data. These areas include:
qualified census tracts determined by the Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD)
qualified non-metropolitan counties
difficult development areas
qualified Indian reservations
former military bases closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC)
To see if your area is a designated HUBZone Certification and to apply for the program, visit www.sba.gov/hubzone. What’s New with the HUBZone Certification Program? On September 1, 2011, the SBA informed HUBZone companies by e-mail of the expiration of some re-designated areas on Oct. 1, 2011, the date the Census Bureau publicly released the first results of its 2010 decennial census. Re-designated areas are HUBZones that lost their HUBZone Certification eligibility before October 1, 2008, generally because of changes in their unemployment and/or income status, but were temporarily re designated as HUBZones Certification until Oct. 1, 2011. Since some of the re-designated areas will no longer be HUBZones, the SBA encourages small businesses located in these areas to go to the HUBZone Certification locator on its Web site to determine whether they are located in one of these expiring areas. In October 2011, the SBA sent out letters proposing desertification for HUBZone Certification businesses located in expiring re-designated areas. Small businesses also have the option of submitting a voluntary desertification agreement. HUBZone Certification firms desertification from the program must wait 90 days from the date of desertification to reapply for HUBZone certification. Companies currently working on a HUBZone Certification contract may continue to work on the contract.
Are you leaving money on the table? Are there contracts you could be getting that you are excluded from by not getting a simple certification? We will discuss the many ways you can be certified, based on location, minority status, sex, veteran status even business type in some cases. You can be certified on a local, state or national level, and each level could mean more contracts!
Benefits of Business Certifications with Felix Zapata
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm est online from BizCentral USA Key Note Speaker: Felix Zapata Join us for the rare chance to look into the world of certifications. Discover the benefits of federal and state minority certification, and the whole gamete of certifications that can give you the edge in competition and authorize you to bid on state and federal contracts. You will benefit greatly from the knowledge if only to enlighten you on what may be available for your company. All it takes is the knowledge and desire to succeed; we give you the knowledge FREE in this information packed webinar! Contact Business Consultant Howard Walker for more info at Felix@Bizcentralusa.com or call him at (407) 857-9002 Register Now, even if you can’t attend we will send you a link to the recorded webinar after the event. Your Friends in the Struggle, BizCentral USA
Today we explore the secrets of marketing; we talk with 7 marketing experts. What each one thinks will help your organization grow and develop in your marketing efforts. Each secret is a great piece of advice from a unique marketing expert. Secrets of marketing are advice that, if you add it to your marketing program, will help the internet work for you. Become a marketing mogul, a publisher and an expert in your field! Want to know how to start doing it right now? Read on.
Tip # 1 – To market effectively, you must become an expert in your field. In the world of today’s internet, this is easily accomplished. It is important that you don’t try to be a jack of all trades. One secret of marketing is to concentrate your total efforts throughout your entire network on one area of expertise that highlights your organization in a positive way!
Jennifer Bourn of Born Creative wrote “Don’t waste your time being good at lots of things. These days, people don’t want to work with some who is good. Consumer expectations have risen and consumers want to work with people who are great. They want to work with brilliant experts!”
Tip # 2 – Bring your marketing programs into 2013, forget about any marketing guides old enough to talk about Yellow Pages and Industry Journal adds.
Jim Connolly, London Marketing Expert wrote: “If you want to avoid wasting stacks of money and missing countless sales opportunities, throw your old marketing guides and audio programs in the recycling bin!
You need to know what works today; where even the smallest business can advertise itself to millions online for less than the cost of a one-off trade journal advert – AND – where you can mail a million potential clients in a few hours for just pennies.”
Tip # 3 – Spend some time learning the way social media works and how it can benefit your company. Learning the difference between using social media for fun and using it for business is a big secret of marketing.
Tip # 4 – You must set yourself up for success by creating good quality content, the tricks and tips are nice to help good content get more exposure, but one of the biggest secrets of marketing here is that good content is the key.
Brad Smith of Fix Course Marketing wrote: “Be a Publisher First: Online marketing can’t exist without content. No SEO. No email marketing. No social media. That means you’re in the media business. So you better start learning how to create valuable content. Check out Red Bull, American Express and Lowe’s for good examples.”
Tip # 5 – One of the big secrets of marketing to create great content, and use that content to increase your status as an expert is to do customer case studies or spotlights. Doing a story on your best customers makes you and your business look great and gives them some positive exposure at the same time.
Neil Patel of Quick Sprout wrote: “If you already have happy customers, why not get a case study from them? Get them to talk about your product or service, how they used it, and the results they got. Case studies can help build credibility for your company, and get you new customers. One company that is notoriously known for creating case studies is Conversion Rate Experts, and through them they have been able to lock in a handful of customers.”
Tip # 6 – Don’t miss out on all the free advertising available to you in your local market. There are any number for free local directories on line in your area and if you do not go online and fully sign up with a complete profile of your business, you are tossing money out the window.
Janet Attard of Business Know-How wrote: “Set up a free listing for your business in search engine local directories. You can do this at Google.com/local/; Bing.com/local/; and listings.local.yahoo.com/ Be sure to include your website link and business description.”
Tip # 7 – Another of the biggest secrets of marketing is information and information that is interesting enough for your readers to pass it on can drastically increase your marketing reach.
Davis Searns of Haley Marketing wrote: “An Idea Virus is a marketing message that spreads from one person to another without your intervention. Some idea viruses are entertaining while others reward people for sharing. They may be based on humor, contain intriguing information, or in some other way engage the recipient. Examples include: Refer a friend options on e-mail newsletters, online contests, Blog content that creates, Engaging twitter followers, Using social networking groups, Jokes and photos on Facebook”
One final tip: Here is my #1 of the secrets of marketing as of today, do yourself a favor and read up on the Pinterest blogs here in this website and the many available in the vast world of internet search. Pinterest is the single most important thing you can do on the internet right now.
Thomas R. Reich of TroblinReich.com wrote: “I was asked what I thought was the 1 most important thing I could do today to increase traffic to all my marketing efforts on the internet. There are many answers to that questions but, I would have to say Pinterest. A well set up and active Pinterest, properly linked and completely SEO Optimized can bring more marketing traffic to your website than anything out there today!”
Pinterest has become one of the most important parts of social media. However, it has become one of the most misunderstood social media sites at the same time. Today let’s look at how your organization can benefit from Pinterest tips for a site which has more hits per day than Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook combined.
You may have heard that Pinterest is a site built for women, or that Pinterest is all about hobbies. I wonder if you have heard the truth about Pinterest, that is, did you know it is the hottest visual search engine on earth, or that more and more people use it for product and service comparisons. There is more too; Pinterest can link you to anything from videos to blogs to website pages and yes even Facebook pages!
So let’s look at some great Pinterest tips to help your organization with backlinks, SEO and Keyword exposure and help you integrate Pinterest into your social media network:
1) The first of the Pinterest tips is to pin as many pictures that relate to your website and your product, service or mission as possible. The more pictures you pin that relate to your ideas and your organization in a way that more people will be attracted to your Pinterest boards.
2) The second of the Pinterest tips is to link the URL of each picture you pin to your Pinterest boards to a page in your website, or a particular cause report page or a video, even a Facebook landing page. It is the URL link that makes Pinterest an effective marketing tool.
3) Any list of Pinterest tips would be incomplete if it did not mention SEO. You can SEO each picture within the world of Pinterest by captioning each picture with Keywords and Pinterest even allows hash tags (#) for increased search results within Pinterest.
4) Another of the Pinterest tips is to SEO each board. Under the board description itself, you should fully explain the boards, making sure to pay attention to SEO within the explanation, then list the keywords at the end of the explanation with hash marks (#) for maximum exposure to both Pinterest search engines and outside search engines as well.
5) Pinterest tips to further promote SEO can go even deeper in to your website SEO strategy. Using the data from each page in your website, create a board on your Pinterest site with description and keywords that match, and link each picture on each board to the page with corresponding data in your website.
6) One of my favorite Pinterest tips is built right into the Pinterest basic commands. It is a tip that helps coordinate your entire social media network into a click generating machine. Each time you pin a new picture you are given the opportunity to tweet about it directly. Click yes tweet, and then insert a custom message before the link Pinterest pre-generates for you. This will encourage your Twitter followers to visit your new pin and your Pinterest boards and site by default!
7) My favorite Pinterest tips of all is another one Pinterest offers as a basic tool, the Pin It button. Install this Pin It button on your Chrome Tool Bar and you can automatically pin any picture on any site you are visiting. If you see a picture you like on a site you are visiting click the Pin It button and all available pictures on that site come up, pick the picture you want and click the Pin It symbol. Then Pinterest gives you the option to pin that picture to whichever of your boards you want. Later you can optimize the pin with the methods listed above.
Bonus: Make sure to install a Pin It button on your website to make it as simple as possible for others to pin pictures from your website to their Pinterest Boards. If they have not read the tips above, and they are among the 99% who simply pin pictures they like to their boards, the picture they pin from your website will be URL back linked to your website!
Please, help us all. Pinterest is very new, if you have learned more Pinterest tips and tricks, then list them in the comments below and help us all! As this amazing marking tool, Pinterest, grows and shapes the marketing landscape of the Internet, let’s all grow our knoledge together!
Using Your Social Media Network as a Lead Generating Machine
By: Thomas R. Reich PhD
1) Have a clear CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVE – As with any marketing activities, companies should first develop a clear objective for their lead generation campaign. This gives the campaign direction, against which you will be able to gauge progress throughout its duration.
2) Contact all LEADS Directly – A lead must be contacted as soon as possible, but a business will derive great value from nurturing leads long after the lead generation process and the initial contact phase is complete. Keep in mind that each consumer will be at various stages of the purchase cycle when they submit their details.
3) CHEAP LEADS ARE NOT ALWAYS the BEST Lead generation – We believe that not all leads contribute equal value for a company. 1,000 leads from one supplier might be totally different in origination, method and quality to another. While it is human nature to want more for less, it is better to generate one lead that converts into a sale than one million leads that don’t generate any revenue at all!
4) OFFERING THE LEAD TOO MUCH to respond is not good Lead generation – An incentive is often required at the ‘lead capture phase’ to entice the lead to provide their correct contact information. While they are sometimes necessary, those undertaking a lead generation strategy need to find the right balance between consumers who are interested only in the incentive and those that actually want to engage with your product. A news letter or white paper should be all you need for lead generation.
5) DEVELOP A FOLLOW-UP campaign in your lead generation STRATEGY – By nature the modern consumer is time-poor and expects a response in merely a few minutes not hours. The time from when the lead is captured to when the company makes first contact could be the difference between a lost or converted lead.
6) lead generation Requires that you UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF YOUR LEADS – The value of each lead captured through your lead generation campaign varies greatly depending on the marketing message and origination method. There is a place for leads at both ends of the spectrum but you need to know which is which in order to prioritize your spend.
7) DON’T WASTE BUDGET ON lead generation of DUPLICATE LEADS – To ensure that companies are not paying to communicate with the same lead twice, there are various platforms that ‘dedupe’ lead supply in real time. This means that duplicate contacts are removed so that your company is not wasting budget on a lead that has already been contacted.
8) When using lead generation PERCEIVE LEADS AS OPPORTUNITIES – Instead of possessing a ‘shortsighted view’ that a lead equates to one sale, perceive every lead as possible of providing multiple opportunities to your business. These opportunities could include cross selling, repeat sales or even business referrals.
9) SUPPORT LEAD GENERATION with HIGH QUALITY CONTENT – Quality, relevant sharable content supports SEO rankings which increases online visibility and consequently improves the number of visitors to your website. Once on your website engaging content can serve as your key advantage point between you and your competitors. This basically means that engaging, informative and interesting content is likely to enhance your credibility within your field and consequently improve your chances of gaining leads through your website.
Let’s start with an old adage: the most important order you ever get from a customer is the second order. Do not forget to market to your customer base as well as new prospects.
With Internet marketing, spend 10 percent of your time or more on testing; make sure your great marketing idea reads through to the customer.
Knowing your competition and adapting to consumer motivation and behavior is not an option. It is an absolute necessity for competitive survival.
A well-designed Pinterest site can hold all your products, videos, testimonials, blogs and inspirational pictures in one place all leading back to your website.
Using a properly designed social media network and a functional business website can replace the old fashioned Yellow Pages.
Be ever alert of your internet reputation. Know the power of repetition. Be sure your message is consistent. Employ reputation management.
The two most common mistakes companies make in using the phone is failing to track results and tracking the wrong thing. Involve your CRM and website in all sales calls.
Internet marketing activities should be efficient, consistent and not just sales ads. Build your reputation and trust while fishing for prospects.
It costs five times as much to sell a new customer as an existing customer. Nurture your customer base with consistent updates, newsletters, and offers.
Selling 100 percent of the time in all things marketing can gradually lead to low open rates of your emails, web promotions, and webinars. Remember, give your customers something first; become an information source. Then they are your friend and selling becomes secondary.
You must entice your prospects to enter your website and then be prepared to wow them! Don’t think that product superiority, technology, innovation, or company size will sell itself.
New prospects are great, but they are not customers until they buy from you. You must pay attention to your present customer base, in order to build new business; a happy customer base will help you build reputation, trust and new prospects.
Remember, when you build your social media branches and the information parts of your website, stress how you can improve a situation or problem. People don’t buy products, they buy the benefits and solutions they believe the products provide.
Direct mail campaign can cost $1.25 per piece or more and give less than 1% results. Putting that same campaign cost into a great social media campaign and email newsletter will reach far more people with far less cost per hit.
The average business never hears from 96 percent of its unsatisfied customers. Actively look for unsatisfied customers and become a problem solver. 40 percent of unsatisfied customers note no one ever contacted them after the sale.
50 percent of those customers who complain would do business with the company again if their complaints were handled satisfactorily. Pay attention to your customer base.
You love to get those testimonials and compliments; we all do. But it is estimated that customers are twice as likely to talk about their bad experiences as their good ones.
Have a talk with your staff, building a good customer base is a gallant cause and will increase business. However, marketing is everyone’s business, regardless of title or position in the organization.
If your product is a great answer to an accounting concern, don’t claim it will sharpen the pencils too. Exaggerated claims can produce inflated expectations that the product or service cannot live up to, thereby resulting in dissatisfied customers.
Target marketing is the key and will lead to much greater results. Get to know your prime customer type—the 20 percent of product users who account for 80 percent of the total consumption of that product class.
Bonus: Remember that good marketing is bringing your product or service to light with potential customers. If you over sell in the marketing, sales has nowhere to go. Marketing’s job is to excite prospects about the virtues of the actual product you sell.
Start a Business in 2013: Here are the Top 10 Tips to Follow!
By Thomas R. Reich PhD
Are you ready to start a business in 2013? A new venture can be an exciting prospect, but your success depends on 10 simple pieces of advice. Millions of men and women have had a dream to start a business and have done so successfully. Most have one thing in common, planning. The more prepared you are the better your chances of success.
You have heard many statistics about starting a new business; some cover the failure rate and some the success rate. Common sense will tell you the following 10 tips can help you be a new business winner in 2013.
TIP #1: Right up front, make sure what you are about start a business, what do you love, and what you are willing to devote you life and your passion to for a long time. Remember, running a business takes a lot of time, energy and effort. Building it into a successful enterprise will require even more effort. Since you need to put a lot into your business, you better make sure that you love what you are going to do to make it easier and more fulfilling. Besides, doing something you love means you already have a head start. Being familiar with your product or service eliminates much of the steep learning curve that first-time entrepreneurs normally encounter.
TIP #2: Put together a proper business plan; this is a must when you want to start a business. To get a loan, to speak intelligently to government agencies, investors, suppliers and even key potential employees, you need a complete business plan. A well structured business plan should include the following:
Details about your business (e.g. corporate structure, number of employees if any).
A marketing plan that specifies minutiae like pricing, product/service details and promotion strategy.
An operational plan, which describes supply chain requirements and staffing needs.
A financial plan that goes over current financing and cash flow projections.
A risk analysis that analyzes market operational, staffing and management risks.
And so much more to be truly a complete representation of your intentions as a business owner and developer.
TIP #3: Research. Research. Research. You have already done a lot of research for the creation of your business plan, but the work does not stop there when you start a business. Every aspect of your new business should be researched, who is in the area, is your potential office or store convenient, what about your colors and logo; do your potential customers react positively? You know from your business plan that there is a need for your business, now micro-define your research.
TIP #4: Get your legal house in order; make sure you understand what it means to be a business owner and start a business, your legal responsibilities to your employees and suppliers. Make sure you have properly formed the business entity, and that you understand the local state and federal regulations that may affect your particular business.
TIP #5: Work with a professional to create a well thought out logo and graphics package that gets attention and represents who you are when you start a business. Even before you open your doors you need to be building your reputation and image through your logo and graphics package, and make sure you have a standard color package, which carries through all you do.
TIP #6: Have a full online presence even before you open your doors. The nature of business today is the Internet. You need a fully operating business website when you start a business, fully branded and using the colors and logo you developed in tip #5. Make sure to register this website to all local directories and as soon as you get a physical location, register both the location and your website to Google maps and all local directory services.
TIP #7: Have a full social media presence, including Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook (including a business page for each distinct product or service), a fully filled out and implemented LinkedIn, and any other sites you can find. Brand everything you can when you start a business with your logo, graphics and colors. Make sure you are creating a network of social media that is funneling back to your website and eventually your business.
TIP #8: Have a YouTube presence; create a simple video about you and your mission when you start a business. You may have access to training videos made by the manufacturer of the products you are representing, or training videos of a service you are providing, make sure these videos are fully branded to you and your new business. YouTube is the largest search engine in the world; make sure you are a part of it!
TIP #9: Always be professional in everything you do. From the minute you begin to start a business and talk about your dream and begin planning, you need to represent the character you want your business to project. If you go to training or a meeting, you are representing your business, dress and act accordingly.
TIP #10: Hire professionals to help you start a business every step of the way. Have you spent your life creating graphics and logos? Probably not; so why think something that important can be produced from thin air? Use professionals to help you create a stunning business plan; again have you done one before? Using professionals saves time and money, if you have an amateur business plan, who will respect you or invest with you? If you need a delivery van you aren’t going to build it yourself, you let the pros at GM or Ford do it; same thing with business services, let the pros make you shine!