Monthly Archives: April 2009

Hit the Ground Running: Jason Jennings’ Rules for New Entrepreneurs

Congratulations! You’re a new entrepreneur. Now what? Best-selling author Jason Jennings says you should get after it, Hit the Ground Running. In this episode of Power to the Small Business, Jason Jennings shares his rules for new entrepreneurs.

Guests: Jason Jennings – Best-selling author of Hit the Ground Running: A Manual for New Leaders
Length: 26 minutes

(Email subscribers and feed readers – Click here to listen if you don’t see the player)
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #28 (for personal use only)

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Press the play button on the player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below.

Hit the Ground Running Show Notes

Jason Jennings’ Rules for New Entrepreneurs:

  1. Make your value proposition incredibly simple.
    – This is the business we’re in.
    – This is what we do.
    – Here’s who we bring value to.
    – Here’s how we positively impact lives.
    – Here’s how we monetize that.
    – Here’s how it’s good for everybody. 

    If you cannot answer these questions within 60 seconds, Jason says “You don’t have a business model worth sneezing at.”

  2. Everyone must know your strategy
    – Employees don’t know why they do what they’re doing.
    – They allow corners to be cut and illegal/unethical activities to be engaged.
    – They offer no accountability.
  3. Don’t waste time studying the competition.
    – Instead, study your customer.

Buy the Book: Hit the Ground Running
Jason Jennings Website: www.jason-jennings.com

 

 

 

Create Your Own World Wide Rave

In the online world, Internet riches are often talked about, but rarely achieved. The conventional wisdom is to tell your story and to tell it loudly. Websites and social media channels are filled with gurus, experts and blowhards trumpeting their own greatness. And that tactic fails miserably. So what’s a business to do?

 

Best-selling author David Meerman Scott says people get it backwards. Rather than raving about yourself online, create a World Wide Rave. The most powerful way to get your story out there is to let people tell your story for you. If you people are going to talk about you, you have to be interesting and create content that people want to talk about.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, David Meerman Scott tells us how to get a world-wide rave started. He also shares examples of local businesses that have authentically tapped into online riches.

Guests: David Meerman Scott – Best-selling author of World Wide Rave
Length: 28 minutes

(Email subscribers and feed readers – Click here to listen if you don’t see the player)
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #27 (for personal use only)

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Press the play button on the player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below.

World Wide Rave Show Notes

 

Selected quotes from David Meerman Scott:

“What people care about are themselves. And they care about their problems. And they care very deeply about solving their problems.”

“If you want people to tell your ideas and spread your stories, you have to give them something interesting to talk about. And your product isn’t that.”

“If you have the guts to lose control of your messages, your content, and the ways people talk about you, they will talk about you.”

“You don’t go there (online communities) to sell. You go there to participate and provide valuable information. And people will learn your affiliation.”

 

Buy the Book: World Wide Rave
David’s Blog: Web Ink Now
David on Twitter@DMScott

 

 

The State of Small Business Marketing: It’s not what you think it is.

We are marketing in a great period of transition: a digital divide. The abandonment of traditional media and the adoption of new media in small business marketing is in. Or is it? So what should you do? Jump wholeheartedly into social media and online marketing? Are traditional media like newspaper, TV and radio dead? Is Facebook and Twitter the magic marketing answer?

To determine the state of small business marketing, I asked four small business marketing practitioners to give their opinion. Where should entrepreneurs do? What’s working right now? What does the future hold?

Guests: Rod Sloane, Drew McLellan, Becky McCray, Matt Foster
Length: 28 minutes

(Email subscribers and feed readers – Click here to listen if you don’t see the player)
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #26 (for personal use only)

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Press the play button on the player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below.

Show Notes on the State of Small Business Marketing

 

Rod Sloane – Author of 121 Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Business

  1. Do the simple things and get back to basics.
  2. Always do what your competition is not doing.
  3. The future is about you as an individual and what you stand for.

Rod Sloane’s Blog: No Bull Business
The Book: 121 Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Business

Drew McLellan – Top Dog, McLellan Marketing Group

  1. Pick one thing that you should be doing and commit to doing it for six months to a year.
  2. Your marketing is not about you, it’s about your customer.
  3. Don’t put too much information in your marketing message. Choose one key message.
  4. It’s ok to use a blend of old and new media.

Drew McLellan’s Blog: Drew’s Marketing Minute
Drew’s Company: McLellan Marketing Group

Becky McCray – Small Town Entrepreneur

  1. Reach beyond your community.
  2. Use traditional marketing tools to build awareness
  3. Engage customers. Don’t just advertise.
  4. Have a plan.

Becky McCray’s Blog: Small Biz Survival
Becky‘s Business: Allen’s Retail Liquor Store

Matt Foster – CEO of ArteWorks Search Engine Optimization

  1. Having a website without having at least some basic search engine optimization is pointless.
  2. Consider having some off-site search engine optimization such as blogs or a social media presence.
  3. Get a 5-6 page website, add contact, build links and start making a name for yourself.

Matt Foster’s Company: ArteWorks SEO
Matt on Twitter@ArteWorksSEO