august 2008

I just noticed my class is online. I’ll be teaching a class at Arapahoe Community College on October 7th from 6 to 8:30 pm.

The class is titled, How To Use Social Networking To Boost Your Business. If you’re in the Denver area, I’d love to have you in class.

We’ll be talking about a variety of different ways to use the new social media to build up connections for your business, where to look for social sites, and how much time it really takes to stay active online.

Hope to see you there.

Out and about at the DNC in Downtown Denver, it’s amazing how one event can completely change things.

The old Brooklyn’s restaurant that sat on the grounds of the Pepsi Center has been completely redone as the CNN Grill.On CNN’s website today   I found the time lapse video of putting the entire place together - pretty amazing what they’ll do when they move in for a week.

While things like the DNC can literally change the structure of a business, it can have huge impact on even the smallest of business owners. Why not sell a few shirts, or create your own bumper stickers? You can find it all.

To celebrate our daughter being back in school, and our chance to get back to work on a fairly regular basis, we decided to head out to lunch at our fav - Qdoba.

We spent a long time going over our goals for this fall, and talking about ways to bring in different types of clients. While we were talking about lead generation, we suddenly got onto the topic of lifetime value of customers.

We’ve been Qdoba regulars since they first came to town - at least six years ago. Qdoba has a frequent customer card that allows you to get one meal free when you purchase 10 meals. Because we usually go together - 2 meals at once - we usually can fill the card in five visits.

Each meal is about $6, which means they give you $6 when you spend $60. We also made the assumption we filled one card every two months (it is our favorite place after all). Which means we spend about $360 a year, and they give us $36 of free food each year.

Because we’ve been going there for around six years now, we’ve spent about $2160 - if you assume everything I mentioned above is constant. [Wow, this is actually a great lesson for me - I can't believe how much we've spent going out to lunch once every week or two.]

And because it’s one of our favorite lunch spots, we’ll be going there well into the future. Which means our lifetime value will end up being several thousand dollars. What’s an occasional free meal to someone who is going to bring several thousand dollars into your business?

You can see how quickly even $6 adds up. What about big ticket items? Maybe you have a $1000 monthly program, or several different products worth several hundred dollars a piece. How many times do your clients buy from you? What’s your overall lifetime customer value?

Once you find out how valuable a client is to you, you can begin to see how much you can spend to get a client through your doors. If your average client is worth $5000, maybe mailing $100 worth of marketing materials to gain that client isn’t very much after all.

As I’m planning two new promotions for the fall, I’ll be spending some of my time calculating the lifetime value of my clients. Even with quick calculations, I know my numbers are high. I’ll definitely be using this to come up with my promotions.

The tour of the Pepsi Center for the Democratic National Convention was a lot of fun! I finally had a chance to get all of my photos cropped, saved, and posted, and thought I would post a few more for you to take a look at.

No matter if you’re Democrat or Republican [or somewhere in between] it’s an exciting time to be in Denver. Denver’s last Democratic Convention was held 100 years ago in 1908 - which makes this a historic moment, one that I’m thoroughly enjoying.

The preparations are amazing.

Already the protestors and propaganda are evident all around downtown.

Outside every restaurant on the Pepsi Center grounds has been taken over by the media.

When you walk into the Pepsi Center, it seems to be transformed into a whole new venue. Everything sports related has been converted to DNC.

And the stage area is amazing. The lights flash; the stars roll by, the words pop out.

Want to see more? Visit my Flickr to see the rest of my DNC 2008 images.

Today I was invited by two special friends, Jeannine and Brad Crooks, along with Ronald Lewis, and together we toured the Pepsi Center in Downtown Denver, home of this years Democratic National Convention. The events don’t officially start until Monday, so they allowed a select few people the chance to come in and tour the building as things are being set up and finalized. And what fun we had.

I’m going to be adding a few more posts here in the next couple of days, just to share with you some of the excitement. This whole event is taking over Denver, and since I’m a Denver native, I’m enjoying the entire process. No matter what your beliefs, or what your political preference, it’s fun to be involved in something so big and really life changing. Even three days before the official start, there’s already a ton of protestors and propaganda on display.  

I captured a wide variety of images - stay tuned, I’ll be posting both here and to my Flickr account as soon as I return to my computer.

As marketers, our job is to sell our products and services (or the products and services of our customers.) How do we do that? By setting up a problem, and offering us as the solution.

But any time you have a problem, you have unhappiness. Something in your life isn’t right, or isn’t the best it could be, so you’re out searching for a way to make it better.

The more products and services available, the more unhappiness there must be, right?

As I was blogging today, I came across a great post by Seth Godin on happiness. He stated something that got me thinking.

“What you have doesn’t make you unhappy. What you want does.

And want is created by us, the marketers.”

One of the reasons I quit watching the news is because of all the negativity. I can get the news I need on world events through various sites online - why should I sit through a half hour of negativity?

So maybe the same holds true with marketing. What if we could change it around and sell not from the “want” but from the “growth” factor? Instead of selling to you because something’s missing in your life, what if something could help you grow?

hmmmm…

Last night I enjoyed another great dinner and conversation with my mastermind group. Every three weeks we get together to discuss business. We’re all building businesses online in some manner, and we ended up together to help each other grow and succeed online.

After a year and a half together, it’s amazing how much we’ve all grown. We’ve seen many changes in our business, some successes and some failures. But the great thing is every three weeks we can share our ideas, ask for opinions, and get honest feedback from people that share a common interest.

I started thinking about why being a part of a mastermind is so important. Obviously there are a ton of reasons. But the one that kept coming to my mind was having a group that in no way is impacted financially by what you do, yet know you well enough to see exactly what you should be doing, and has no reservations on telling you exactly what you should be doing.

Let me give you an example. One of the members has an incredible niche, and has made her full time income from her website for many years now. She’s been adding a few products and changing some of her ideas over the past year and a half. But a few months ago, as she started developing a coaching program, the rest of the mastermind group told her she needed a membership site. It was a perfect fit for what she was doing.

She was skeptical at first, but kept pursuing it. She’s been working on building it during 2008, and last night she reported she’s almost got it all together. Way to go!

It’s so amazing watching things come together for the people around you. And what’s more amazing is that while you are watching their progress, it usually comes together for you too.

We’re not meant to do things by ourselves. Instead we’re meant to build things together. If you’re a solopreneur, get in a mastermind. They are highly worth it - I can’t rant enough about the benefits of a mastermind. You don’t have to meet in person; some very good ones have formed through phone calls.

The important thing is to find people that have something in common, and work to help build the knowledge base of all the members. 

Blog Action Day 2008 has just been announced - and I’m excited to be a part of this amazing event.

Thousands of blogging sites will take place in this unique online event. On October 15th, every blogger registered for the cause will make a blog post about poverty. To be truly unique, the blog post should be targeted towards your audience of readers. So of course I’ll be reflecting on the importance of financing an entrepreneurs dream of making a better life.

I’ll also be supporting Kiva that day - an amazing organization in which you can help entrepreneurs in developing countries with a micro loan.

Do you have a blog? Do you want to join this amazing cause yourself? Come join in the fun, and see how blogging can take you to new heights. 

With an afternoon email yesterday, we were ready to make Maureen McGuire Interiors site live and ready to go. We were waiting for word on an award status - which she found out she won late Thursday afternoon! Way to go Maureen!

When we first started working with Maureen, she wanted a simple site that she could use to showcase her work for current and prospective local clients. Her business is mainly referral, and she was looking for something to use as a portfolio, and to help her reach out to people that search online for a designer in the Denver area.

We created a dynamic showcase for her that allowed her to take her photographs, and turn it into a gallery. It adds action to her home page, and engages people to want to stay and look through her portfolio. We also incorporated before and after photos, allowing clients and prospects to really see what she can accomplish.

We also designed a Flash presentation for her design page to show people how she moves from concept to completion. Again, our goal was keeping pages simple, yet incorporating sophisticated design elements to make her site  reach out and grab attention.

Thanks for being a part of our Vision Family Maureen!

We’re excited to be releasing the newest site, The Gift Of Questions, in a series of sites for entrepreneur Barbe Ratcliffe.

In one of our monthly strategy sessions, we began talking about Barbe’s upcoming book release entitled, “The Gift Of Questions”. As she’s finishing up her book, she was also looking for some input from other people, including clients and friends.

“What if we put up a site that allows people to give you their answers?” And her newest website was born.

The site is a simple, one page site with a built-in database that allows people to answer two questions, and fill in their contact information to receive two free chapters of her book.

We also worked to fill in back end pieces, such as autoresponders and thank you pages, to make sure the entire submission process runs smooth.

And when the book is complete and ready for sale, we’ll convert the whole thing over to her book site, ready to sell.

Way to go Barbe - we’re excited to have you on board and a part of our Vision family. 

Over the past few months I’ve spoken with dozens of business owners about designing a website, a blog, or both.  Some get it. And some don’t.

In many cases a small business owner simply wants a small brochure type site to exist online - something they can direct current and prospective clients to see their work. In theory this sounds great. And I always encourage a small business owner who currently has nothing, to at least start with this type of a site.

But what most small business owners are lacking is the understanding of the long term effects of having a website. Your website isn’t just a brochure. It isn’t just a one time form of marketing that will help you gain a current client.

It is your best long term strategy for building your business.

Imagine creating a brochure for your company. You spend hours gathering the photographs, creating the copy, working with a designer, and sending it to the printer. The final brochure looks great, and you’re excited to start handing it out.

If you print 1000 brochures, you have 1000 chances to connect with potential clients. In some cases some people will share the brochure with others. But once the 1000 brochures are gone - you have to start over.

Now let’s take a look at a website.

Let’s say you go out and design a site filled with information. You start up a blog, and you start sharing information on a regular basis. You create a great article that specifically targets one section of your niche.

The potential of this article is lifelong. As long as your business is in existence, and as long as your website is up and running, this article can work for you. Months from now. Years from now.

[I wrote an article in 2005 that is still on my site, and pulls a huge amount of traffic every month. I would never delete or change it.]

If you create a brochure, the goal is to have it generate leads.

If you create a website, it too can have a goal of generating leads. But it can also do a whole lot more.

• You can capture email addresses for future, free promotion.
• You can promote your services.
• You can have a shopping cart for products and services.
• You can use it to expand your business model.

Many people go into a website with a closed mind. They create it as a way to advertise their business to their local marketplace.

But once they get online, they open up their minds, and find many ways to connect and sell to people. It is possible to grow any type of business - product or service - to an international level.

And if someone has the capability of making a decision and acting out it immediately, you’ll see a definite rise in your sales.

[Ready to market your business with your website? Check out our monthly marketing services, and let us join your marketing team.]

We don’t watch much tv in our house. In fact other than a few movies, it hasn’t been on at all the past three months.

But Friday night we turned it on to watch the Olympics, and we’ve watched each night over the weekend. There’s just something about watching people that put all they have into a four year training period (since the last Olympics, even though I know training is much longer than that) just to enter a race - and have the chance to win gold.

Watching Michael Phelps was truly breathtaking. We were all cheering and literally holding our breath as he won his first two gold medals. Not only is he relying on his own skill to capture gold, but also relying on those of his team mates in last night’s relay.

Ultimately it comes down to action. They’ve practiced, trained, raced and practiced some more.  They’ve devoted their lives to being the best they can be. But if they don’t take action in the end, they will lose the race and never make the history books.

The Olympics show us truly what is possible. Setting goals is mandatory: world record times, capturing 8 gold medals, etc. They see their goal, and imagine the goal is within reach. And for some it is.

And they stop at nothing to achieve it.

It’s much the same for us as entrepreneurs. We’ve made the break from a traditional “job” lifestyle. We’ve plunged in to taking our lifestyle and businesses to a place where most people will never go. Even most entrepreneurs never reach beyond a “job” - they never achieve what they truly could because they don’t reach beyond their comfort zone.

Push a little harder. Make a bigger goal. Step out of your comfort zone, and reach for the stars.

You may be truly amazed at what you achieve.

photo by IndianSumm

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about LinkedIn the past couple of days. Does it work to network online? Can you really build your business using tools like LinkedIn?

Or should you limit the number of friends you have on social sites, and make sure you only use great people you actually know well?

Take a look at this blog post on LinkedIn which will give you insight as to how people are using social sites as marketing for their business.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on LinkedIn connecting up with other business owners. I answer questions regularly, and have started asking a variety of my own questions.

So as I logged in today to start surfing through the site, I was surprised to see today’s featured question - by John McCain.

Think of how a presidential candidate could operate in the future. If there’s a topic brewing  among the masses, he or she simply logs into their social site, asks a question, and begins analyzing the responses from average American citizens.

Talk about the power of the people.

In less than 2 hours, 81 people have posted answers to his question. Imagine the response in 7 days. And imagine the answers he can get by asking a question every day.

It doesn’t have to be just for presidential candidates. It can be for small business owners too.

What if you could ask a question to a group of people and get answers from people around the globe? How do they feel about something? What opinion do they have about something in the news? Could it impact the way you build a new service?

I’ve been asking questions just to get an overview of how people feel about social media and blogging. While none of the answers surprised me, it did confirm things I already had a feeling about.

What can you ask to help you build your business?

In the past few weeks I’ve written about the doom and gloom that appears daily in the news, and about people hiding their true fee in order to post as low a price as possible.

Well it’s in the news again.

JetBlue just announced that they will now be charging $7 for pillows if you so choose. When will other airlines follow suit (in hours I’m sure)?

Airlines are hurting. If you’ve seen any type of news in any type of format, that’s common knowledge. But once again they are hiding the actual cost of flying in “hidden” fees.

JetBlue originally grew because of their service skills. They were customer friendly, and supplied you with all the extras that somehow vanished from the other airlines. Yet now they are following in the footsteps of their rivals.

If I choose to fly, I must pay a fee for my ticket, a processing fee, a booking fee, a baggage fee, food charges, tv/movie charges, and now pillow/blanket charges. What’s next, a charge for the seat?

So my “cheap” $200 ticket can soar by $100 or more by the time all the fees are added up. Why can’t they just charge me the $300 in the first place? I’ll pay that if I choose to fly; why not give it to me all up front and let me decide?

The name of the game right now is to bring in a customer at the lowest possible price. Then once you have them, tack on every charge you can think of. This isn’t just in the airlines - I’m assuming it’s the rationalization for surviving the recession. Bring a client on board for a low price - then start adding up the extras.

Use this to your advantage. Charge one fee, and stick with it. And advertise it that way.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s sick of bringing out my wallet ever step of the way.