I am sure everyone has heard the scary numbers relating to the chances of failure of a new company.聽 In case you haven’t, here is a quick recap…80% of start up companies cease to exist after 3 years of starting.聽 After year 5, there is only a 10% chance that you are still around.聽 Not the most promising numbers when considering to leave your comfortable salary and benefits to live a “dream.”

With our break down of mistakes that most start-ups make…it should help you eliminate some risk and get started on the right foot.

1) Starting Your Business With Debt-

Although this sounds like a basic principal, majority of business owners plan to carry negative cash flow with debt for the first 24 months of business.聽 Bad idea!聽 The number one reason companies file bankruptcy is due to lack of cash.聽 It is never due to lack of a good IDEA, or hard work ethic, it is failure to plan on cash.聽 One way to eliminate this risk is to make sure that you have the financing in place to run your business for a minimum of 12 months with no cash flow.聽 If you can with out a doubt look in a mirror and know that you can run your company without making a cent for 12 months, than you are in business.聽聽 With banks on a tight lending leash, there is no way you are going to be able to walk into a lending institution and write up a business loan.聽 They are going to want to see P&L statements of profit in order to lend.聽 There is NO institution that will lend with the idea that you will turn a positive cash flow sooner than later.

2) Hiring Employees You Don’t Need

Avoiding unnecessary expenses is a key element to finding success.聽 One of the ways to eliminate expenses is to hire few employees and giving them a busier work load.聽 Some ways you can eliminate the costs of hiring employees is to look for outsourcing methods.聽 There are companies now that can do just about everything to run your company from a virtual location.聽 This is a big cost savings when starting out.聽 You can use these business expenses as a tax right off, as well as avoid having to pay for employee benefits as well as Social Security taxes.

One of the best sources to building your credibility virtual is by running a professional looking website.聽 A website can essentially be your marketing employee that works for you 24 hours a day 7 days a week.聽聽 Let your website tell your business story the best way possible with pictures, video and interactive features to build trust with prospects.聽 Your website with effective SEO strategies can be found any time of the day.聽 Never forget to use local internet marketing as an effect marketing tool to help your companies branding efforts.

Wed, Oct, 2010 @ 11:38 pm
Tags: internet marketing, marketing, seo
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Thomas Jefferson once said “The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.”聽 There is a lot to be said for his wisdom in marketing.聽 Unless customers see you, you won’t get business.聽 Spending money on marketing doesn’t just make business happen either.聽 You should always do the research on potential ROI and loss on each marketing dollar you spend.

It is not always easy to determine your ROI on your marketing before you spend the money.聽聽 So we have put together a list of tips that can help you make sure you won’t be wasting your marketing money.

1. Know your prospect- You need to take the time to really understand what your client is doing to find your company.聽 Where is your customer spending their time? How much research are they doing before making a decision to buy?聽 Take the time to interview past clients what they did to find your company.
2. Advertise to your buyers.聽聽 Don’t spend money on people who will have no intention into purchasing.聽 Make sure if you spend the money to advertise, it is directed to your target market.聽 If you run a facebook social media ad, focus in on the demographic that is best suited as your customer (ie, Women, age 35-55, homeowner, college education).聽 Make sure to define this before you start advertising.
3. Advertise, Report, Review, Do it again.聽 Advertising one time will never draw all of your customers.聽 Studies show that someone will not act on an ad until they have seen it 6 times.聽 How many times have you seen a Geico ad TODAY? I have heard it 3 times on the radio while writing this article.聽 Make sure you are consistent.聽 Take the time to review your results and monitor success or failure.聽 Take note, make changes, do it again.
4. Multiple sources.聽 As mentioned in point number 3, it takes several times for a customer to notice you, let alone make an action.聽 To speed up this process, make sure you are finding your clients through multiple sources.聽 If you are running an online campaign,聽 run ads on Facebook, Google Adwords, other common websites similar in your industry.聽 When they get to your website, invite them to submit their email address.聽 Send them some promotions to their email.聽 Send them a direct mail piece as another follow up method.聽 Create your own All-Star line up of marketing sources.

Free yourself from unnecessary spending on markets that aren’t buying.聽 By doing the research, you will save yourself plenty of money, and see a higher ROI.聽 For any internet marketing questions, make sure to visit your local internet marketing company for ideas and free consultations.

Thu, Sep, 2010 @ 11:44 pm
Tags: internet marketing, marketing, ROI, seo, Social media advertising
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There is major shift right now in corporate America. Making a sufficient profit is tougher than ever. This economy has made acquiring clients and bringing in cash flow difficult. There are ways to adapt to this environment, but you have to be the first one to recognize it and be willing to change with it. Recognizing and doing are two different things. Here is a list of 3 things you MUST DO to adapt with the new trends of business going forward.

1. Expand on the internet- Bill Gates said, 鈥渂y the end of 2002, there will be only two kinds of businesses: those with an Internet presence, and those with no business at all.鈥� Gates continues to state, 鈥淧erhaps this is overstating the case, but an effective Web site is becoming an integral part of business today.”

Making your website visible on the internet is vital. It is not good enough to just have a website; you need to make it visible. There are now more than 4 billion web pages on the World Wide Web, with the internet doubling every 100 days. How do you expect your clients to find you unless you make the effort to be found? Content on your website is the secret to getting found. Put together a great content strategy based on your consumer鈥檚 behavior. 聽Take the time to write articles and content about what consumers have questions to, why this, why you, how to, where to start鈥tc.

2. Identify Your Brand. How many times do we see a red circle with a red dot in the middle and think of Target? If you are like me, every time. Take a look at your brand. Are you using it consistently on letterheads, invoices, business cards, marketing pieces? Take the time to build a brand. Once you have identified a logo and a mission statement, you can start building your brand equity. Shout it from the rooftops. Take 90 days and visit as many networking functions as you can find to tell the world of your brand. Build that reputation and you have a higher ROI on any marketing efforts you have going forward.

3. Upgrade Your Customer Service. With social media booming, the internet ruling, and mobile media flourishing, every company is more transparent than ever. If you have one unhappy customer, they can share that ONE experience to the world with a click of a button. Take a look at your customer service strategy. It is not enough anymore to make your customers satisfied. Make them ecstatic to work with you. Take the reverse roll of business transparency and play it to your benefit. Create incentives for clients to boast of their relationship with their new favorite company. This will lead to more customers as they hear people raving of your positive energy. Make your company contagious by solidifying a customer service that builds your customer satisfaction.

I guarantee if you implement these strategies aggressively, you will see a change in your business.聽 This economy has taken down a lot of companies.聽 You have a choice.聽 Will you stick to your old ways and be yet another victim of these hard times, or will you DO something? You鈥檝e got the 3 best strategies laid out here, now use them. 聽If you need help with your local internet marketing, make sure to leave a comment in the box below. 聽Make sure to ask any questions relating to SEO, Social Media or even a PPC campaign.

Wed, Sep, 2010 @ 12:30 am
Tags: internet marketing, marketing, ppc, seo, Social Media
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Our market place is changing faster now than at any other time.聽 There is a saying, “Adapt or die!”聽 I couldn’t agree more.聽 As business owners we need to have the flexibility to adapt to new market expectations and opportunities.聽 If we fail to understand this importance, we will be run into the ground by our competition.聽 They will win because of their willingness to adapt.

Thu, Sep, 2010 @ 7:03 pm
Tags: marketing, marketing mistakes, seo
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