Holiday Gift Ideas for 2011

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

holiday gift ideas 2011Every year around this time we encounter the gift giving dilemma.  In my opinion, it’s not about how much you spend on the gift.  It’s more about the personal thought and effort you put into finding a meaningful gift that the other person will truly appreciate. 

According to ICSC Holiday Watch the top 6 holiday gift categories for 2011 are gift cards, clothing, toys and games, music, cash and consumer electronics.  If you want to give something more personalized than a gift card, here is my top 10 list of the most innovative holiday gift ideas for 2011:

1. Give the Experience of a Lifetime
If you know people like me who are downsizing and want to reduce the amount of “stuff” they accumulate, giving an experience can be a fabulous idea.  iFLYSeattle  just opened up a location in Tukwila.  For $59.95 you can give someone the experience of skydiving without jumping out of a plane.  It’s all done safely, indoors by floating on a column of air in a vertical wind tunnel.  If you would like to give an experience to someone in another metropolitan area, check out www.excitations.com – it gives you the choice of thousands of experiences around the country according to region, type and price range. 

Do you know someone who always wanted to learn how to sail?  Consider giving a membership to the Center for Wooden Boats at the South End of Lake Union in Seattle.  They offer sailing programs for children and adults as well as woodworking projects and wonderful volunteer opportunities.

2. Give the Gift of Charity
Make an impact by giving to a charity or non-profit in the name of your gift recipient.  Make sure the cause is aligned with the values of your friend, relative or client.  Here are some of my favorites locally and around the world:

Alaska Airlines has a Charity Miles Program that allows you to donate your miles to support various charitable causes including disaster relief efforts, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, Make-A-Wish-Foundation, the Nature Convservancy or Angel Flights to support injured military personnel. 

For anyone concerned about hunger relief locally, Rotary First Harvest provides millions of pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to over 300 food banks in the Northwest.  The produce is donated by farmers and distributors and Rotary First Harvest organizes the logistics and distribution.  It is one of the most efficient non-profit organization in Seattle.   They are happy to create customized gift cards so your friends or clients know that you donated fresh food on their behalf.  $25 buys 600 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Seattle Childrens Hospital  has a toy wish list online.  Business people might appreciate www.kiva.org where a micro loan as small as $25 is granted to a business venture across the world.  Kiva has a fabulous viral and compounding feature.  As the Kiva loan is repaid by a borrower, the money is then reinvested to fund additional ventures.  www.opportunity.org is a similar concept where small business loans (starting at $10) help people who are trying to work their way out of poverty.
 
Women might appreciate helping women in Uganda work their way out of extreme poverty by giving a Bead for Life Necklace or Bracelet.  The local artists are paid Fair Trade wages to create the colorful bead jewelry. ($10-$50).

3. For the Foodies in your life
Seattle has the number one chocolatier in the country.  You can’t go wrong with Theo Chocolate  or giving someone a tour of the chocolate factory in Fremont.  You can up the ante by combining chocolate with coffee.  For real foodies, go beyond Starbucks and consider a special roast from  Caffe Vita  or Professional Espresso Training from Café Vivace 

Given the number of famous local chefs, you might also consider a great local cookbook from Tom Douglas or Rovers.  Fabulous cooking classes can be booked from Blue Ribbon Cooking .  For the seafood lover family, you can create your own gift pack of fresh salmon, king crab, shrimp and more and have it shipped fresh from Alaska  overnight or locally from Pike Place Fish  .  Your gift will be a memorable feast!

4. For the Wine Lovers in your life
Eastern Washington has some of the best grapes anywhere.  You can go to Pete’s Market  and get personal advice on a great selection of local wines.  You could also give the gift that keeps on giving several times per year.  Your wine loving friends might appreciate a membership in a wine club  available from several local wineries.  Of course you can’t go wrong with tickets for wine tasting events in Woodinville  or a trip to Walla Walla.

5. For the Athletes in your life
Timex has a great Ironman Global Trainer GPS Watch that is loaded with features for triathletes such as a 20-workout memory, a performance pacer and route storage.  For the snowboarders, skateboarders and surfers in your life you can’t go wrong with a gift from Burton.  All board sports enthusiasts might enjoy a great new local book “Inside the World of Board Graphics:  Skate, Surf, Snow” that takes a behind-the-scenes look at board art and designs around the world.

6. For the Gadget Lovers in your life
If your gift recipients already owns an iPad oriPhone, consider a cool accessory.  Of course the latest gadget for this holiday season is the Kindle Fire from Amazon.  For $199 you get a 7-inch color touch screen device to access music, apps, games and reading materials along with free cloud storage for all your Amazon content.

7. For the Gamers in your life
The Xbox 360 250GB Console with Kinect ($399)is still one of most fun ideas for the whole family.  Kids and adults can enjoy video games, HD movies and connect with players around the world for interactive games and video chat.  Kinect has body movement recognition and will get kids off the couch.  For kids who want on-the-go gaming, the Nintendo 3DS ($169) features excellent 3D graphics.

8. For the Children in your life – young and old
Legos are still a great way for children to entertain themselves and let their creative juices flow.  There is even a cool Seattle Space Needle Lego Set.  Lego has sets for boys and girls appropriate for different age groups as well as a very cool option to custom design a Lego set for someone special.  Did you know that adults who grew up with Legos still love them?  More legos are purchased by 30-50 year olds than any other group.  Wouldn’t it be cool to get a custom Lego kit for someone’s favorite beach house, antique car or memory?    Hurry up on this option – DesignbyMe is only available until mid January 2012.

9. For the Little Boys and Girls in your life

Imagine creating a personalized CD for a toddler that includes his or her name incorporated into songs like Old MacDonald and other classics.  Available from www.nameyourtune.com for $20.  A great gift idea for grandparents.

Which little girl wouldn’t enjoy creating her own beauty products?  For $27 four little girls age 7 or older can mix their own potions and lotions from non-toxic  ingredients with the Smart Labs all Natural Spa Day including containers, stickers and labels to package the creations.  

Think Geek offers a very cool programmable Rover robot for $49.99 that allows tech-minded kids age 8 or older to instruct their robot to deliver treats to pets, messages or even dance. 

10. Unique Gifts for the Home
Consider a Hot Apple Pie Jar Candle for the holidays available from Candle Moods for $23.95.  Or even better, create a custom candle for someone special (starting at $25).  You get to choose the fragrance, color, intention and other attributes tailored to the recipient of this gift.

As a matter of disclosure, some of the links in this post are affiliate links back to Amazon.  It’s a convenient way to give you all the details about a specific item right at your finger tips. All prices and links mentioned in this post were verified as of Nov 23, 2011 but could change at any time.

Feel free to comment and share. Cheers and Happy Holidays!

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5 Retail Trends for Yearend 2011

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

Retail trends small business "forever frugal" consumersAs a small business owner in the retail industry, you can take advantage of the market research and surveys that large national chains conduct.  According to the Wall Street Journal , here are the top 5 trends in retail right now.  Understanding these trends can help you design and implement innovative strategies to attract and retain more customers:

1.  About 75% of consumers use a shopping list, up from 45% three years ago.
Could your business provide a shopping list for your customers with some upsell or cross-sell items and specials?  How about some QR codes to guide or entice shoppers beyond their list?

2.  Shoppers are buying 10% less than before the recession.  Symphony IRI found that shoppers reduced their on-hand items in their pantry and medicine cabinet from 511 in 2007 down to 467 on average in 2011.
Have you analyzed your top 100 selling items storewide or by department?  How has it changed for your store since last year?  Are you stocked and are your displays positioned accordingly?

3.  Shoppers are buying larger sizes right after getting paid and smaller sizes at month-end or just before they run out of money. 
Does your store have the right assortment of sizes stocked at the right time to match your customers’ needs?  Are you carrying smaller sizes to accommodate this trend?

4.  Consumers travel less to save on fuel and tend to shop more within a 5-mile radius.
What are you doing to market your business locally and raise visibility in your immediate neighborhood?  Is your marketing message tailored for the “shop local and save” trend?  What community events, groups or places are you associated with?

5.  20% of food and household items purchased these days are private-label goods, up from 15% just a few years ago.  Consumers now believe that they get better value and equivalent quality from private brands.
What store or private brand items could you add to your store’s product mix to increase your profit margins and offer an alternative to a premium brand?  If you already carry private brands, analyze your sales history data and adjust your buying and inventory patterns for this trend.

Don’t throw in the towel because the new “forever frugal” consumers stretch their dollars.  Know the trends, get creative with your strategies and implement them now.  Knowledge.  Planning.  Action.

What other trends are you seeing?  Please comment and share.

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Referral Marketing for Startup Businesses

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

referral marketing marathonReferral marketing is not just for established businesses with a sizeable database.  Startup businesses can utilize referral marketing as part of their marketing mix right from the beginning.   Many startup businesses tend to waste a lot of money early on until they realize that 80% of all traditional advertising does not work.  Because referrals are one of the lowest cost and highest quality lead sources for most businesses, referral marketing should be part of a startup marketing plan.

How to get more referrals?  Answer:  you need to ask for referrals.  Our Referral Marketing Marathon training program teaches you the specific soft skills as to the who, what, when and how to ask for a referral.  The program was designed by profit coach Isabella McPeak to help business owners and sales professionals get into the habit of asking for referrals.  10 minutes a day keeps cold calling away.

Here is a Referral Marketing Marathon sample startup tip:  don’t forget to ask your prospects for referrals.  You don’t have to wait until after you make a sale to ask.  Some of your best referrals can even come from prospects who do not buy from you, but know someone for whom your product or service might be perfect. 

Here are 5 general referral marketing strategies to help you get started:

1. Be Specific
In order to get an ideal referral, you need to be able to describe your ideal customer in detail.  Do not use the word “anyone” when asking for a referral.  The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get a specific name as a referral.  In a Business-to-Consumer scenario, ask for a specific age range, gender, geography or income level with specific interests, subscriptions or memberships.  If your goal is to attract other businesses, ask for a specific industry, size or age of business and focus on a specific position that would be your best contact inside the company.

2. Build Your List
As a new business, you have the opportunity to build a contact and email list from Day 1.  You should record and track every prospect and every customer in a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management) which will allow you to stay in touch with your database.   I highly recommend that you assign your contacts to specific groups right from the get-go since you’ll want to use different language for different groups.  You should also track the source of each prospect to measure conversion results and help you decide what areas of marketing to invest in.

Some of my current favorite hosted CRM software programs are Ace of Sales, Batchbook and Highrise.  They are super easy to use, only cost around $20 per month and offer a free trial.  Your need for mobility or integration may determine which CRM option is right for you.  These programs are ideal for solopreneurs or small teams.  You can always upgrade to a more sophisticated option after your business is up-and-running for some time.

Many established businesses may have billing information for their customers, but not necessarily good marketing contact information.  In most cases, the information is dispersed across multiple systems, Outlook address books or salespeople.   Good centralized contact information is critical for getting and tracking referrals.  It professionalizes your business and increases its value.
3. Stay in Touch
A good stay-touch-campaign is vital for referral marketing success.  Whether it’s a monthly e-newsletter, a short weekly tip, special occasion cards, a periodic phone call, visit or small gift, these touches are critical to stay top-of-mind with your customers, prospects and strategic partners.

4. Say Thank You
One of the best times to ask for a referral is right after a customer had a positive experience with your company.  Sending a hand-written thank-you card can be extremely effective.  You can include business cards or a referral card in your note to make it easy for your customers to recommend you to friends, neighbors or colleagues.

5. Trusted Advisor Team
In most industries, several businesses are strategically aligned, because they serve the same target audience and are therefore ideally positioned to refer business to each other.  Take realtors for example:  realtors have connections with home inspectors, appraisers, mortgage bankers, escrow companies, staging companies, movers, house cleaners, landscapers and lots of other home service providers. 

The best referrals typically come from these types of strategic partnerships.  In the case of a realtor, one home sale or listing can generate many thousands of dollars in revenue for a variety of service providers.  Whether you’re a new or an established business, you can always seek out more trusted advisors to become part of your referral marketing team.  Who should be on your trusted advisor team?

Please comment on and share any referral marketing tips or strategies that work well for you.

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Referral Marketing: Books We Love

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

referral marketing booksSome of the best referrals can come about when you have quality conversations with like-minded people.  Our Action Business Women Network Breakfast provides the opportunity once a month to have a quality conversation with a group of experienced and dedicated professional business women.  As opposed to a large, crowded networking event, our intimate roundtable discussion leads to more meaningful conversations and deeper connections.

This past month we encouraged everyone to either bring or talk about their favorite book.  As it turned out, we had a lot of fun with our mini-book club and we were able to create a rich and diverse list of books  that had special meaning to the women who participated.  The books ranged from business and communication skills all the way to emotional and spiritual topics.  We laughed, learned and empathized as the conversation went from “purple hairs” who tend to exhibit “up-speak”, work for a few months and then take time off to “helicopter parents” who hover over their kids all the way to what it takes to recover from breast cancer and start dating again.

We were honored to have two authors in our midst:   Lorraine Howell who specializes in media skills training wrote “Give your Elevator Speech a Lift” and now teaches communication at the University of Washington.  Dr. Julie Miller  who is best known for “Business Writing that Counts” joined us at the roundtable for the first time.  She just published her second book “Secrets of Self Starters” that is based on interviews of successful people all around the US and has brought her a wealth of keynote speaking opportunities.

The complete list of books is available right here on our Action Business Women Amazon page.  Feel free to leave a comment after reading any of the suggested books or suggest a book you’re passionate about.

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10 Productivity Tips for Business Women

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

Productivity tips - time managementAt our last Action Business Women roundtable, every attendee shared their tips on how to be more productive.  Here are the top 10 tips that came from a seasoned group of professional women over coffee:

1. Blocking Time
Parse out specific blocks of time for business development, marketing, writing, social media, administrative task, phone time etc.  The idea is not to schedule 100% of your time, but get those tasks scheduled that are important and urgent.  Not using a block of time for email first thing in the morning will also greatly add to your productivity.  Many participants recommended checking email twice a day – mid-morning and late afternoon.
 

2. Eat that Frog
“Eating that Frog for breakfast” refers to a time management concept introduced by Brian Tracy where you harness the energy of getting your least favorite task done first thing in the morning.  You know what it is – it’s the thing that you want to procrastinate on until the end of the day and that tends to drain your energy all day long.  Whether it’s a tough customer service call, a collections call or a difficult conversation with an employee – just do it first.  By getting that despicable item off your to-do list first thing, you can harness a lot of positive energy and the rest of your day will be significantly more pleasant and productive.

3. Be smart about your Calendar and your Smart Phone
Regardless of whether you use Outlook, Google Calendar or your smart phone, it is a wise investment in time to learn more of the features of these programs and technologies.  Whether you use an organizer that specializes in all things digital ( Elizabeth Bowman at http://www.innovativelyorganized.com was mentioned) or take an online time management class with Franklin Covey  http://ht.ly/4IavQ  either for Outlook or for you Blackberry.  Getting the most out of the tools or technology you’re using makes you more productive.

4. Schedule slack time between appointments
The best laid plans tend to get derailed on a daily basis.  By planning slack time into your calendar and not scheduling yourself too tight, you are more likely to stay on task and accomplish the things you set out to do that day.  Slack time allows you to make those in-between phone calls.
 

5. Do your most important work when you are most productive
Are you a morning person or a night owl?  Knowing yourself will help you determine when you should do your most important work.  By doing critical work in your most alert personal time zone, it will take less time and make you more productive.

6. Multi-tasking makes you less productive
Yes – women tend to be able to juggle more things simultaneously and occasionally that skill comes in handy.  For day-to-day business management, however, it can actually make you less productive.   If you want to test yourself, here is a fun exercise to prove the point:  http://davecrenshaw.com/multitasking-example/

7. Schedule time for Self
As women, we tend to take of everyone else first and then there is no time left for us.  It is vital for our physical and mental health that we schedule time for ourselves.  Whether that’s reading, running, getting pampered, watching a movie or taking that occasional nap, we’re  responsible for rejuvenating ourselves.  If we let ourselves get run down and completely exhausted, we’re not productive ourselves and may have a draining effect on the people around us.

 8. Maximum 5 Things on your Daily To-do List
Many of us admitted that our to-do-lists are way too long.  According to “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” by Verne Harnish, it’s all about the 5 things.  5 big items for the quarter are broken into 5 weekly activities that get further detailed into no more than 5 daily tasks or accomplishments.  Anything more gets overwhelming and rarely done.  For individual professionals, the list may only be 3 items.

9. Find the One Thing you really want to accomplish today
For many of us, it would make us more productive to identify the one thing on our to-do-list.  Ask yourself “Which one item/task if I really got it accomplished today would make me happy/proud?”.  Highlight the one item and then do it.

10. Plan tomorrow today
Jeffrey Gitomer frequently says that if you don’t know who you’re going to call first thing in the morning, you’re not in business until you do.  Rather than taking the first 15 minutes in the morning to organize or familiarize yourself with your plan for the day, use the last 15 minutes of the day to get prepared for the following day.  Your preparation might also include cleaning your desk so you’re ready to get a fresh start in the morning rather than start out by feeling overwhelmed by things that did not get done the previous day.

For more tips on productivity, feel free to take a look at some of the comments from other professional women around Puget Sound where I contributed to a blog post “Stop Being Busy… Be Productive!” http://t.co/suZW9ct

If you have more tips on productivity, please comment and share.

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The 5 Golden Rules of Goal Setting

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Isabella McPeak
  • goal, target, plan,What is the one thing you set out to achieve today?
  • Are you clear about your main objective this week?
  • What is success for you at the end of this year?
  • What needs to get done this quarter?

In order to succeed, you need to set goals. They provide you with focus and direction as well benchmarks for determining your level of success. Goal setting is a habit that can be learned.  To most of us it does not come naturally and that’s why so few people have written goals.  It is also important to acknowledge, that goals alone will not make things happen.  It requires Knowledge + Action + Excellence to get Performance.  You can’t simply say, “I want it” and expect it to happen.   Goal setting is the first step to determine what you want to achieve.  It also requires a lot of hard work and persistence.  There are some very well defined steps that need to be applied to each goal.  Here are the Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting:

Rule #1: Set Goals that Motivate You
Motivation is key to achieving goals.  When you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you: This means making sure it is something that’s important to you and there is value in achieving it. If you have little interest in the outcome, or it is irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of you putting in the work to make it happen are slim. Set goals that relate to the high priorities in your life and your business.
Without this type of focus you can end up with far too many goals, leaving you too little time to devote to each one. Goal achievement requires commitment, so to maximize the likelihood of success, you need to feel a sense of urgency and have an “I must do this” attitude. When you have the “nice to have” vs. the “must have/do” attitude, you risk putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. This leads to feeling disappointed and frustrated which in turn is de-motivating and puts you into unproductive frame of mind.

How to Tip:
Create your goals as part of a group of like-minded people.  Write down why it’s valuable and important to you and your business.  Share your goal with others – convince them why it is a worthwhile goal.  Verbalizing your goals and getting some accountability does wonders for creating a sense of urgency around your goals.  Join our Quarterly Strategic Planning Session with our community of business owners in Seattle.

Rule #2: Set SMART Goals
Most people have heard of “SMART goals”, but don’t apply the rule properly or consistently.  There are several variations on what SMART stands for, but the essence is this – your goals should be:
strategic plan, business planSpecific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time Bound

Set Specific Goals
Your goals must be clear and well-defined in order to give you direction.  Vague goals are not achievable because they don’t provide sufficient direction.  Goals are meant to show you the way.  If you look at your life or your business as climbing a steep cliff, then setting a goal is the equivalent of placing the next karabiner so you can pull yourself further up towards the top.  What’s waiting at the top?  Assess the place and conditions where you are starting from and determine exactly where you want to end up and what it will look like when you get there.  Be specific what you want and why it’s important to you.

Set Measurable Goals
Can you imagine watching a football game without a scoreboard?  How would you know which team won?  It is the same with your business.  Without a scoreboard business is just expensive gambling. Precise amounts, percentages and dates are vital so your degree of success can be measured.  If your goal is simply defined as “To increase customer satisfaction”, how will you know when you are successful?  A proper measurable goal would be: “Improve customer satisfaction from 50 to 60 by yearend using the Net Promoter Score as measurement”.  Without a way to measure your success. you miss out on the celebration that comes from actually achieving your goal.

Set Attainable Goals
Make sure that it’s possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no hope of achieving you will only demoralize yourself and erode your confidence.  However, resist the urge to set goals that are too easy.   Accomplishing a goal that you didn’t have to work very hard for can be an anticlimax at best, and can also make you fear setting future goals that carry a risk of non-achievement. Your goals should be a stretch goals.  By setting realistic yet challenging goals you hit the balance you need. The goals that require you to “raise the bar” and bring you the greatest personal satisfaction.

Set Relevant Goals
Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your life and your business to take. It can be helpful to do an annual visioning session to calibrate your big picture vision.  Having an overall vision makes it easier to align your goals.  If you set random and inconsistent goals, you’ll waste a lot of time.  Make sure you set no more than 3 to 5 goals that relate to your overall vision.  Less is more.  You want quality goals not an overwhelming to-do-list.

Set Time-Bound Goals
Your goals must have a deadline.  Having a deadline increases your sense of urgency and will help you execute more quickly.  Approach every day like it is the day before a vacation.  When you achieve one of your goals, celebrate your success.

Rule #3: Put Goals in Writing and Make them Visible
You can make your goals more real and tangible by writing them down.  As you write, use the word “will” instead of “would like to”. For example, “I will hold on to all existing employees for the next quarter” shows commitment and determination.  Not, “I would like to hold on to all employees.”  Or even worse “I would like to reduce employee turnover.”  The first goal statement has power and you can “see” yourself retaining your employees, the second lacks passion and gives you an out if you get sidetracked and some employees leave.
Post your goals in visible places to remind yourself everyday of what it is you intend to do. Put them on your walls, desk, computer monitor, bathroom mirror or refrigerator as a constant reminder.  Personally, I recommend big sticky flip charts and colored markers.  I also like using special colored paper for goal pages.  How about green for money?

Rule #4: Create an Action Plan After Your Goals are Determined
Many people have a much easier time diving into details and to-do lists rather than focusing on the big picture.  Only after you are focused on your goals and desired outcomes, should you plan all of the steps that are needed along the way.  This is the list of individual to-do-list action items with what, who and when smaller steps need to get done. Make yourself an Action Goal List or use the one provided as part of our Quarterly Planning Sessions.   A single goal is listed at the top of each sheet along with the SMART criteria followed by space for individual action items with completion date and person responsible.  By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you’ll realize that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is especially important if your goal is big and demanding, or long-term.

Rule #5: Persistence!
Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep you on track and remember to review your goals regularly and get an accountability coach. It’s easier when your goals are visible.  Your end destination may remain the same over time,  but the action plan may need to be adjusted to accommodate new information, obstacles or opportunities. In business and in life, we often don’t get from point A to B in a straight line.  It’s o.k. to adjust your course when needed, tack and catch the wind to reach your ultimate destination.

Summary
Goal setting is a habit that can be learned.  It is much more than simply saying you want something to happen. It requires you to clearly define exactly what you want and understand why you want it.  The habit of goal setting will considerably increase your odds of success. By following the Five Golden Rules of Goal Setting you can set goals with confidence and enjoy the satisfaction that comes along with achieving what you set out to do.
What will you decide to accomplish this quarter? Join us for our next upcoming Quarterly Business Planning Session and get into the habit of planning and goal setting or refer a friend.  Your referrals for expanding our business owner community are always appreciated.

Please comment and share.

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Start Podcasting to Get More Referrals

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

If you stayed away from podcasting up to now, here is an overview on how to get started from a group of experts who have done it for a number of years.  Thanks to Brett Clay, Dr. Dan Diamond, Linda Keith, CPA as well as Miles Austin who were kind enough to share their expertise, time and tools at the most recent National Speakers Association Northwest chapter meeting.  Many of the contributors are Certified Speaking Professionals who use podcasting as part of their marketing mix to attract more speaking, training and consulting engagements.  Why should you podcast?  Showcasing your talent, expertise and passion in audio format makes it easier for people to know you and refer you.

As with most marketing strategies, there are lots of different ways to execute.   First, you need to decide on your purpose for podcasting and how you want to represent your brand:

1. Be a subject matter expert – example http://www.actuationzone.com 
2. Be a news reporter  in your industry and create C-level relationships through informative interviews  -great examples http://www.blogtalkradio.com/linkintosales  or
http://www.smallbizamerica.com  or
Bill Blasingame’s http://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/
3. Create online audio training classes and content
4. Create an audio version of your blog, book or e-book
5. Create a show reel for your talents (acting, comedy etc.)
6. Increase your search engine ranking and overall online visbility

Depending on your level of comfort with technology and whether you’re a Mac or a PC, you need to choose your level of engagement.  Disclaimer:  I’m a PC and participated in the PC session when the room got divided.  Anyone from the Mac group is welcome to leave a comment in case there is a tool or Mac specific technique that everyone should know about.

Super Simple Podcasting
Cinch is a free iPhone and Android application that you can download to your smart phone.  On your computer (PC and Mac), you can go to http://www.cinchcast.com .  After a simple login, you can instantly record a short snippet of information on your smart phone or computer, attach a 140 character message, save it and distribute it to Facebook and Twitter instantly.  The whole process takes two minutes and is extremely simple.   This type of simple podcasting does not allow for any editing – you can start over several times if you stumble, but once you save it – it’s done and in the cloud (online storage –free – on someone else’s server).    The tool was simple enough for every workshop participant to create a small recording and upload it within the first hour.  Here is a Cinch recording sample.  Dr. Dan plans to use this tool to post short updates during disaster relief efforts – he is on standby to help out after the Japan earthquake. 

 

Simple Podcasting Using an Existing Platform
http://www.blogtalkradio.com is a platform specifically created for audio content and podcasting.  It is the #1 search engine for podcasts and audio content.  You can try it out with the free version that has all the tools and the control panel you need, but will include sponsor ads for you and your audience.  You can record, broadcast, take live callers, edit, syndicate your show to iTunes and promote your show via various social media channels. The $39 per month version includes the use of Skype and uploading/ replacing of shows after the fact.  The $99 per month version completely excludes ads and includes an 800 number.  If you are planning on working with live call-ins, it is important to have a second person help you manage the control panel and call queue.  Miles Austin posts his sales related podcasts to his LinkedIn Group where several hundred members actively discuss the postings which increases his visibility and expert status which in turn increases requests for his presentation and training services.

One of the big advantages of using BlogTalkRadio is the fact that is simplifies sharing of your audio content and tracks analytics of how many listeners and downloads you have.  It provides a widget that makes it easy to post your recordings to your own site.  It makes it easy to get your content distributed to iTunes and social media, provides a variety of audio players and allows your sponsors and listeners to feature your podcast on their site.   If your customers, vendors or strategic partners feature your content on their site, you have raving fans who will refer you all the time.  So, make sure you produce quality content that will help your sponsors and strategic partners solve their problems.   

Podcasting Using your own Website
The following discussion assumes that you have a website that is built on an adjustable content management system such as WordPress, Blogger or Hubspot so you can add content and keep it fresh.  If you are an HTML guru, power to you – you can add podcasts the hard way.  If you have a blog that is part of your traditional website, you can easily add podcasts to your existing blog.  Basically, your podcast is an audio blog post that also gets distributed to iTunes, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn depending on your audience.

Here is where things get a little trickier, because you’ll need multiple tools to record, achieve outstanding sound quality and get your audio content distributed.

Recording
You can record a .wav or MP3 file on your computer using www.Skype.com in conjunction with www.callburner.com or for phone recordings use www.freeconferencecall.com for call-in phone interviews.  On the PC, you can use the built-in Soundrecorder program to test recording yourself.  You’ll need a professional microphone and accessories – here is a list of all the podcasting equipment mentioned during the session available from Amazon.  The Amazon suggested pocasting equipment list also includes audio accessories for video recordings to ensure high quality audio for all your content creation efforts.

Linda Keith, CPA reminded everyone to eliminate background noise as much as possible.  Lawnmowers do not add to your professional image.  Some external noises like heating system fans can be eliminated by placing your microphone in a large padded box while recording. Yes – this is the most low-tech advice for this topic.

Tips and Tools
If you want to add music to your recordings, make sure you do not violate copyright law and purchase royalty free music from www.musicbakery.com or www.istockphoto.com.  3 second, 8 second and 20 second clips were recommended for different intro and transition purposes.  Some of our presenters also had a professional intro recorded by one of our members and award winning voice talents, Scott Burns .   A professionally recorded introduction is a wise up-front investment that improves your branding and provides consistency across recordings and topics.

In order to avoid page turning noise during your recording, Miles Austin pointed out a cool iPad application called Teleprompster that lets your script scroll on the screen just like a real teleprompter.  For those of you without an iPad, you can go to http://www.freetelepromptersoftware.com/  and download the free software for the PC or Mac.
 

Mixing and Editing
For the Mac:   Garage Band is your tool of choice to work with and edit audio content. 
 

On the PC, it’s a little bit more complicated.  Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

1.  Download a free tool called Audacity for recording, slicing and mixing audio. Install it on your PC.

2.  Import your raw .wav file recorded earlier into Audacity for editing, fade-in, addition of music, correcting voice levels and other special effects.

3. Save the fully edited final version of your recording in .wav or MP3 format and upload it into your media file section of your blog.  You can then simply insert the hyperlink for the edited audio file into your blog post preceded by a small written topic intro.  Visitors to your blog can listen to your recording by clicking on the link.  Based on the user preferences set up on their computer, the proper audio player will appear.

4. To syndicate your podcast recording to iTunes and get analytics, WordPress pluggin Podpress and an application called Blueberry were recommended by Brett Clay, author of Selling Change.

Syndication and Distribution
Regardless of Mac or PC, another option for distributing your audio content online is www.soundcloud.com .  The low-end version is free and gives you 2 GB of storage, distribution to iTunes and social media as well as RSS feeds for your listeners to subscribe to your content.  Dr. Dan Diamond is part of beta test team to use Skype in conjunction with SoundCloud.  Anyone interested in exploring SoundCloud with Skype should contact Dr. Dan to get access to this new feature.

As you can see, you can keep podcasting as simple as you want or go down the technology rabbit hole.  There is something for everyone.  Since there are many learning modalities for your clients and prospects, audio can be an important strategy to round out your marketing mix.  By providing your expert advice, interesting interviews or client testimonials in audio format, podcasts can be a conversion strategy as well as a way to establish referral relationships and to get more referrals for your business. 

Why not record an audio comment and post the link in the comment box below?

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Restaurants: How to Attract The Best Servers

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

More Tips

Waiters and waitresses make their living with tips.  Those with great people skills, fast service and able to serve great food typically get the largest tips.  But there is another factor that determines the amount of tips that has nothing to do with service and everything to do with a guest’s ability to do math.

I recently experienced this lack of math skills first-hand when I taught a group of young entrepreneurs as part of an 8-Day-MBA program to launch their startups.  One of the exercises involves a simulation where each participant runs a fictitious business for the day where leads, conversion, average dollars, number of transactions and profit margins increase by a percentage during each round of the game.  Out of the 12 adults playing the game, only 3 people were able to do percentage calculations easily using a calculator.  The remaining 9 players out of 12  (75%) needed heavy coaching at every turn to do these simple percentage calculations and update their profit game score accurately.

Problem:  If you translate this result into a restaurant environment and assume that 75% of guests do not know how to calculate a 15% or better tip, the lack of math skills translates into a serious loss of income for wait staff.  And the percentage may be higher, because most people don’t have a calculator in a restaurant or are reluctant to pull out their cell phones to do the math after a meal.

Solution:  Restaurants could program their point-of-sale system to print the suggested gratuity amount on each guest check.

Good service 15%               $xxxx
Excellent service 18%        $xxxx
Outstanding service 20%  $xxxx

Proof:  The January issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, published a scientific study that tested the concept:  “Persuasion by Way of Example:  Does Including Gratuity Guidelines on Customers’ Checks Affect Restaurant Tipping Behavior?”.  The result of the study:  Customers who saw the printed calculations tipped an average of 18.7% while those who did not tipped 16.3%.  Apparently, the printed calculations served as a subtle reminder for guests and made it easier for them to reward their server in line with the level of service provided.
This concept could mean hundreds if not thousands of dollars of additional annual income for each server.  And it’s a Win-Win concept:  The math chore is eliminated for the guests and the tip amount is increased for the servers. 

A restaurant could easily use the guarantee of higher tips by having printed gratuity suggestions on guest checks as a unique selling proposition to set itself apart from its competitors and attract the best servers in the industry.  The practice could also lead to lower turnover of wait staff, positive Word-of-Mouth and more referrals of high quality servers to the restaurant.

Do you know any restaurants that already have gratuity guidelines on their guest checks?  Please comment and share.

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Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Business

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Isabella McPeak
Here are some great practical tips for making social media work in a small business:
    1.  Your website is the central piece of your online presence.  Ideally, it should be built using a CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress, Blogger or Hubspot.

    2. Consider blogging – it works for any industry.  You can establish expert status by answering frequently asked questions, developments in your industry and other useful information for your customers and prospective customers.  In addition, it keeps your website fresh which helps your search engine ranking immensely.

    3. “Who is your customer?” is the most critical question when choosing social media strategies and tools.  If your business serves consumers directly (B2C) then Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Groupon, Yelp and Foursquare can be effective strategies.  If your business sells to other businesses (B2B), I would consider Linkedin, Twitter, Quora, white papers and ebooks.  In all cases, the purpose of these activities is to drive traffic back to your website where strong landing pages capture your prospects’ email address and contact information. Remember: Without contact info it’s not a lead!

    4. E-mail marketing is not dead.      Regardless whether you’re B2C or B2B, you should stay in touch with current and prospective customers regularly.  Your blog posts can be the content for your email.  All of this activity is meant to make your phone ring,  get requests for your products or services into your inbox and ultimately grow your bank account.  Be creative and more importantly be consistent!

    If you click on the link below, you’ll see some helpful small business social media case studies from Hubspot.  Enjoy!

View more documents from HubSpot Internet Marketing
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10 Social Media Tips for Professional Women

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Isabella McPeak

At our recent Action Women Business meeting, we had a lively discussion among 17 business women about the tools they are using for their business and professional online presence.  It’s women in business supporting each other and generating some referrals along the way.  Here are the top takeaways from our roundtable:

1. Social media is really about having a conversation with people who are interested in the same topics, products and services.  The social media tools used to communicate really depend on Who your audience is, especially whether you sell “Business to Business” (B2B) or “Business to Consumer” (B2C).

2. Less than half the attendees had set up a Facebook Page for Business and had instead accumulated lots of prospective customers as friends.  I highly recommend that business and personal be separated.  You don’t want your clients to see your nephew’s party pictures.

3. Facebook works best in the Business-to-Consumer space that involves topics like health, wellness, food etc. where people engage in active discussion.  There are lots of Facebook tools available – just make sure you have a mechanism to capture email addresses.  1000 likes or friends on Facebook does not give you real contact information.  Email addresses are very valuable and allow you to stay in touch with people who opt in to receive your messages.

4. Every attendee had a website of some kind.  Some were old, some were simple one-page free sites and some were sophisticated sites with landing pages to capture leads.  For women looking to create a new website or considering a makeover of their existing site, I highly recommend to use a framework that allows you to modify content without a web designer.  WordPress is now considered a standard for websites and can be equipped with a ready-made theme like Thesis that helps your site be findable on the web (SEO).  It is best to outsource the setup of your site and personally concentrate on creating content.  Content rules!

5. Most women were utterly confused about Twitter as a social media tool and the speed at which information is transmitted.  Personally I love Twitter because I can find interesting people who post interesting content.  I can follow people without permission and feel up-to-date just by scanning my Twitter feed.  Feel free to follow me on business tips and topics.

6. The perception that social media is time consuming was prevalent in the group.  I highly recommend using a tool like http://www.hootsuite.com to manage all your social media interactions and post a single entry across multiple social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Unless you decide to start a blog, which is a more serious time commitment, you can manage your social media in 20 minutes a day.  Updates can be scheduled in advance as long as you have some interesting sources like industry websites, forums or news you read online.  Many online sites now have social media widgets right next to each article that makes it easy to disseminate a post.

7. A couple of the professional women had assistants who handle their social media setups, questions and ongoing content.  You might want to consider a virtual assistant for this task as long as you provide tight guidelines as to what makes for quality content in your specific business or profession.  From the perspecitive of professionalism, it is better if you are the author and it is your opion or advice that gets posted.  You can leave the mechanics to an assistant or intern.  Regulated industries such as financial services are now starting to adopt social media as a way to engage with their customers and prospects.  In that case it is vital to follow company guidelines to ensure compliance.

8. Action Business Women uses various online event calendars and registration mechanisms to let the local business community know about upcoming events.  The most professional tool is www.Evenbrite.com , followed by www.meeetup.com and  less professional tool www.Evite.com which is really better for social/party type invitations and frequently gets caught in spam filters.

9. Online presence also means using  a professional email address to showcase your  business.  I highly recommend using your own personal or company domain name in your email rather than Hotmail, gmail or aol.  Think about it:  Would you hire an attorney with a Hotmail address?  It is a “Blink” (great book by Malcolm Gladwell) reaction and you don’t want to be eliminated from an opportunity based on a first impression.

10.  Last but not least, LinkedIn is truly the tool that everyone can and should use.  I provided a handout with tips both for your professional profile and encouraged everyone to set up their company profile on LinkedIn.  You can now setup products and services, get recommendation for those products/services and get featured when people search for similar topics.  You can also follow companies you’re interested in and find out leadership and staff changes.

Please comment and share if there were any other useful tips you got out of our meeting.

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