Smart marketing in a tough economy

Last week I had the distinct honor and pleasure of participating on a marketing panel organized by Leasa Maxx of Maxx Marketing & Design and the Maumee Chamber of Commerce.

On the panel with me were three very talented marketing professionals: Susie Joyner, marketing manager at Allshred Services; Deborah Rasmusson, director of vocational services for Sunshine Inc. and Georgette’s Grounds & Gifts and Tim Langhorst, executive vp at Thread Information Design.

We covered a lot of ground on topics such as:

• how small businesses can get more bang from their marketing dollars, without spending more
• what can small businesses do to combat the need for cold calling
• how can small businesses foster stronger relationships with clients and prospects
• what is social media and does it make sense for “my” small business
• tips and advise on how to build a practical online strategy

Small business marketing takeaway:

Carve out 60 minutes and watch this video. It’s loaded with tons of practical information and tips on how to market smarter in this very tough economy.

How customer focused is your website, really?

With the words that you use on your site, are you talking mostly about your customers and their needs or are you talking mostly about yourself?

In order to help small businesses answer this question, Future Now Inc. has created a “WeWe Monitor.” This is a free analysis tool that counts certain words on your site that are key indicators of whether your focus is on the customer or not.

Click here to run the customer focus calculator on your company website. All you have to do is enter your url and company name, then click on “Test Your WeWe Score.”

As you use it, keep in mind this is nothing more than a handy, but rough guide that will help you focus on something important. There are lots of variables and also remember there are no shortcuts to writing great copy.

• Discover what your word choices say about where your focus really is
• Get a sense of the impression you are making on your prospects
• See where you can make changes, quickly and easily, that will increase your sales

Small business marketing take away:

As proud as you may be of your company and your product or service, most customers only care about how well you can help them meet their wants and needs. If you want more of them to buy, your focus (online and offline) must be on your customer.

Strong local interest sparks first Social Media Breakfast Toledo event

I am so pleased to report that local participation for the April 3 Inaugural Social Media Breakfast Toledo meeting was extremely strong. The planning committee could not have been more pleased at the turnout, interest and engagement for the event, which combined an overview of web 2.0 social media with an opportunity for business networking.

We had 79 people attend in person and an additional 67 watch the live stream, which exceeded our expectations. Erica Shaffer from WTOL 11 stayed for the entire event. See her reporting of the event here. It shows that there is tremendous interest at all levels in social media and people are actively looking for venues to learn, connect, share and network.

Panelists for the event included Victoria Kamm, Allen Mireles, Dave Rigotti and Damian Rintelmann. Led by moderator Michael Temple, the panel discussed such topics as attracting new customers with social media, retaining existing customers with social media and market research to learn what customers want through conversation.

The panel also answered questions on Social Networking tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and other social media platforms, citing personal experience on tactics, tools and trends.

If you’ll be in the NW Ohio area on May 1, please join us for SMB Toledo #2.