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Extreme Payroll Contest–Win 1 Year Free Payroll Service

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

My friends at SurePayroll recently announced a fun contest they are calling "Extreme Payroll Stories,"  where you can win free payroll services for a year just by sharing your stories about processing payroll under extreme circumstances.

Entering the contest is easy – just go to the "Extreme Payroll Stories,"  website and submit your story. Then, encourage your family, friends, colleagues, customers, people on the street <g>, to visit the site and vote for your story. Get the most votes and you win! Second place wins free payroll service for three months.

Submissions are due by December 15, 2010, and voting ends on December 17, 2010.  Make sure to let me know if you submit a story by leaving a comment here.

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Categories : Misc.
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Small Business Saturday

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Friday, November 19th, 2010

First there was Black Friday, then Cyber Monday. This year, November 27th is the first ever Small Business Saturday, a day to support the local businesses.

Small Business Saturday is a national movement (sponsored by American Express) to drive shoppers to local merchants across the U.S.

More than a dozen advocacy, public and private organizations have already joined American Express OPEN, the company’s small business unit, in declaring the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday.

Join the movement, spread the word!

Make sure to get out and support your local businesses. Learn more about Small Business Saturday here.

You can also learn more about Small Business Saturday and connect with other small business owners on Facebook. Make sure to “like” the page as American Express is donating a dollar for every “like” they receive on their Facebook page to Girl’s Inc. – up to $500,000.

If you register your AMEX card and shop at participating small business, AMEX says they’ll issue you a $25 statement credit.

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Categories : Small Business Marketing
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Start, Run, & Grow Your Business

By Bill · Comments (13)
Monday, October 26th, 2009

Our friends at Palo Alto Software continue to deliver small business software goodness, this time with their Start, Run & Grow Your Business package. This package is a collection tools and services you need to start and grow your business. Here is a sampling of what is included:

For Starting Your Business

Startrungrowbox

  • Company logo
  • Business cards and letterhead
  • Website domain ($35 value!)
  • Legal forms and guides
  • Sample business plans
  • Car window decal or magnet
  • Incorporation tools

Running Your Business

  • Subscription to Inc. magazine
  • Bookkeeping software
  • Business calculators
  • Credit assessment
  • Legal guide
  • Complete office software suite
  • Time-tracking software

Growing Your Business

  • Email marketing solutions
  • Marketing fundamentals guide
  • Press release software
  • Sales contact database
  • Email management software
  • Online surveys
  • Project management software

Thisj package is available at your local Target Store. You learn more and purchase a copy online at the  Start, Run & Grow Your Business web site.

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Categories : Marketing, Small Business Marketing
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Twitter – Finding People To Follow Part 2

By Bill · Comments (0)
Monday, August 10th, 2009

If you find "following" people on Twitter a little too stalkerish, think of it as finding people you would like to have a conversation with. In the offline world, we often seek ou people in our area that share one or more of our interests. This is also a good way to find people on Twitter to follow.

Start by clicking on the "Advanced Search" link on the Twitter search page (http://search.twitter.com)

Twitter_search

This will take you to the Advanced Search form. You will notice that one of the search criteria you can specify is location and distance relative to this location. In this example, I am searching for anyone located within 15 miles of my zipcode who are discussing "marketing".

Twitter_advanced

How can this lead to new business?

I recently heard a story about someone who felt they were being mistreated by their auto repair center. They tweeted about their issues while sitting in the waiting room. Another repair center owner down the street saw the tweets, and started a conversation with the car owner. The car owner ended up getting his keys back and driving down the road to the shop owner he had "met" on Twitter.

Your customers are having conversations on Twitter – are you part of the conversation?

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Categories : Marketing, social media marketing
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How small business can leverage new technologies to their advantage

By Bill · Comments (0)
Friday, May 29th, 2009

John Jantsch is teaming up with the Verizon Small Business Center to bring you a series of webinars focusing on the networking and collaborative tools small businesses can utilize to grow their businesses.

The first presentation in the series takes place on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 2:00 pm
Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -04:00, New York).

For can learn more about the webinar series, John, and Duct Tape Marketing here. 

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Categories : Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Web/Tech
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Small Business Owners Get A “C-” In Marketing

By Bill · Comments (0)
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recently teamed up to conduct a baseline telephone survey of 1,000 small business owners with the goal of taking the pulse of small businesses and track their competitive health over time.

American small business owners scored highest in customer service and compliance (defined as the ability to understand and comply with laws and regulations, including ensuring data security).

The study gave small businesses the equivalent of a "C-" in the Marketing and Innovation. According to the study:

“Small businesses are not as successful as they would like to be in effectively marketing themselves to grow their business beyond their current size.”

According to the report, small businesses can improve their competiveness grade by ramping up its Internet business solutions. “Internet business solutions” include more than just a website, but also making a commitment to online advertising, allowing customers to view and order products online, providing email customer service and self-service options to customers.

We Duct Tape Marketing coaches, are big believers in harnessing the power of the internet when it comes to small business marketing. While some of the conclusions of the report may seem a little self serving given what Network Solutions sells, I think the advice related to creating internet business solutions is sound – when viewed in the context of creating a marketing system.

Websites, blogs, social media, etc., can all be effective marketing tools. However, one of the easiest ways to waste money and become frustrated trying to market your small business, is to charge into implementation before developing a sound marketing strategy.

If you would like to be more successful in effectively marketing yourself to grow your business beyond your current size, create your marketing strategy first, and then search for the tools and tactics to help you implement that strategy as efficiently and effectively as possible.

You can find the report referenced above in NetworkSolutions Research Library.

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Categories : Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Web/Tech
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Demystifying Facebook for Business

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Monday, April 20th, 2009

This week, Bethany Spilde and I will be conducting the third workshop in the  Growing Your Small Business – The Social Media Series. This session will focus on using Facebook to grow your business. Here is the workshop description:

April 22 Demystifying Facebook for Business
With over 150 million users, the ability to find and interact with current and potential customers, and Facebook’s highly targeted advertising and social interaction, Facebook has become a powerful business tool for creating and maintaining relationships, as well as promoting a business. Learn how you can make Facebook work for you!

For more information and to register for this workshop, visit the K-State Research and Extension web site.

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Categories : Kansas City, Marketing, Weblogs
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Growing Your Small Business Using LinkedIn – A Hands On Workshop

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Monday, April 13th, 2009

This weeks session in the  Growing Your Small Business – The Social Media Series is LinkedIn – From Profile to Profit. The workshop takes place on Wednesday, April 15th, from 6:30pm – 8:00pm.

This is a hands-on workshop where you will work on creating\improving your LinkedIn profile. You will also learn how to use the other tools available in LinkedIn to grow your small business.

This LinkedIn workshop is the second in a series 4 workshops that is hosted by the K-State Research and Extension center. For more information, and to register for the remaining workshops, please contact the K-State Research and Extension center

 

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Categories : Kansas City, Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Web/Tech
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Your Marketing Sucks – Book Review

By Bill · Comments (0)
Sunday, April 12th, 2009

According to Mark Stevens, unless you are doing everything possible to guarantee that every dollar you spend on marketing:

  1. is based on a strategic context (you know why you are spending it)
  2. is based on a plan to make sure that every marketing tactic and tool reinforces the other tactics and tools you are using
  3. returns more than $1 in return

then Your Marketing Sucks. 

I liked Mark Stevens book, probably because he shares a lot of views we preach in Duct Tape Marketing. Much of the book deals with the principle of "Strategy before tactics" - the idea of having a plan\stratey before jumping straight into things like brochures, web sites, advertising, etc. This is one of those ideas that everyone nods in agreement when you discuss it intellectually, but most people still skip right over it when it's time to do the work. When you don't start from a strategy and you don't have a way to track results, you may as well be throwing money out of your window.

I particularly like the advice given in Chapter 9 – stop every marketing program you have unless you can prove that it is producing a substantial return on the money you are investing in it. All to often, I run into small business owners who continue to spend money, particularly on advertising, without having any idea how much revenue that money is generating.

While the author makes a strong case for treating marketing as an integrated business system, some readers may be disappointed to find that this is not a "how to" book. This book is not a step-by-step recipe for creating your marketing system. I am obviously biased (I am an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing coach), but if you like the main ideas in Your Marketing Sucks, and are looking for a little more "how to" direction, I recommend taking a look at Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

Bottom line, if you are spending money on marketing just to be "doing marketing" take a look at this book because your marketing probably sucks. 

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Categories : Books, Marketing, Small Business Marketing
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National Small Business Association Calls for Health Care Reform

By Bill · Comments (0)
Saturday, April 11th, 2009

The National Small Business Association recently launched a new web site calling for health care reform. The site includes reform proposals as well as a list of related, pending legislation. 

For more information and to get involved, visit http://healthreformtoday.org

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Categories : Small Business Marketing
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