If you’ve seen the power of social media in entrepreneurship and small business, can you afford to ignore Google+? I think not. Plus already has more than 100 million users, and some business press is predicting more than 400 million by the end of this year. 

But even if you’re already working with social networking for your business, maybe especially if you are, you may be feeling like I did, initially, about another social network. I like Twitter a lot and I’m there a lot, and I’ve tried to keep up with Facebook and LinkedIn, so my reaction was a lot like what Guy Kawasaki says was his first reaction to Google+:

I need another social media service like I need more email or my dog to throw up on the carpet.

That quote is from the introduction to Guy’s latest new book What the Plus. Yes, I recognized the feeling. But What The Plus goes very quickly from that initial hesitance to why you want to deal with Google+ at all. Guy Kawasaki is known as the original and quintessential Apple Evangelist, which makes this quote particularly significant:

“From my perspective, Google + is to Facebook and Twitter what Macintosh is to Windows: Better, but fewer people use it, and the pundits prophesy that it will fail. As a lover of great products, this rankles my soul.”

I liked this comparison too, part of an opening chapter called Why I Love Google+: Twitter is about perspectives, FaceBook about people, and Google+ about passions:

“Ask yourself if you want to enhance and expand the number of people who share your passions. If the answer is no, stick with Twitter and Facebook until Google + reaches critical mass. Or, you may decide you need multiple services: Twitter for perspectives, Facebook for people, and Google + for passions. That’s OK too.

I ended up reading the book from cover to cover on one weekend morning, loving it, and reviewing it last weekend on Small Business Trends as A Quick Practical Guide to Google+. I said:

a short, practical to-the-point book on Google Plus by Guy Kawasaki. It’s all about tips, shortcuts, and step by step to taking more advantage of Plus, and doing it better. Don’t judge it by my presence on Plus, because I’m writing this fresh after reading the book, before implementing. I’m not going to take long, though, to implement this books suggestions for modifying my profile, my profile pictures, my posting strategy, and my approach to circles. 

Often the best spend in business, dollar for dollar, is a good business book. You can get this one on amazon.com as an ebook for only $2.99.

Conclusion: As I said in that review: “It’s a lot easier to learn from a well-written and practical book than my trial and error.”

I don’t know what it is about Marketing, but everyone on earth seems to think they can do it. And yet I see so many people NOT doing it or wasting thousands of dollars and not getting results.  I see business owners try the same things over and over,  wasting more money, more time, and more energy. If I had 1/10^th of what business owners waste on stuff that doesn’t work, I’d be the most successful marketing consultant on the planet.  And yet, so many business owners would rather go it alone and try and fail and try again and fail again rather than reach out and get professional help. I don’t get it.

I know there are those out there who will always try to do it themselves so, so in the spirit of not getting it, here are the top 21 reasons why most small business owners fail at marketing:

1. Guessing – Great marketing isn’t an accident. It takes research, educated decisions, testing, tracking and measuring. Guesswork will leave you customer-less and broke.
2. Doing what everyone else is doing- Every business is different and your marketing mix should be too.  Following the crowd isn’t going to help you stand out from the competition!
3. Listening to sales people Marketing is a long term strategy, not a special advertisement, publication, or website; but every sales rep you come in contact with will try to convince you otherwise. Marketing is a process – a long term strategy, there is no magic pill and don’t let a slick sales person try to tell you otherwise.
4. Not asking questions –Question EVERYTHING about your business and ask everyone you come into contact with as many questions as possible to learn, grow, and constantly improve.
5. Doing nothing – It’s simple, if you don’t Market your business, you will fail.
6. Putting all your eggs in one basket – Marketing is like investing, the more diversified your strategy, the better off you will be. Don’t invest all your time and resources in one medium or on one marketing tool – mix it up.
7. Not tracking results – How the heck are you going to know what works and what doesn’t if you don’t track the results? If you’re not tracking you’re guessing, and we covered that in #1!
8. Assuming you have all the answers – Yes, I know: you know your business better than anyone. But do you know marketing?  I mean do you REALLY know how and where to reach potential customers and convince them to buy from you?
9. Not talking to your customers – No one knows your value – or faults – better than the people who actually buy from you. Talk to your customers – often. It’ll provide valuable insight and ideas.
10. Ignoring your competition- If you don’t know how you’re different from your competition how are potential customers supposed to? Knowing your competition’s strengths and weaknesses will help you differentiate.
11. Not setting goals –Goals keep us on track; they give us direction. Without them you’re wandering aimlessly and most likely wasting a lot of time and money.
12. Not building an email list – I don’t understand how anyone can market a business in today’s world without an email list! Email is the easiest and most inexpensive way to stay in touch with customers and prospects.  If you aren’t building a list you’re missing out on huge opportunities.
13. Not having  an opt in form – Emailing current and past customers is a great start, but what about the people who visit your website, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn pages and then go away never to be heard from again? Wouldn’t’ it be nice to engage the serious window shoppers in some way? An opt-in form is the way to do it!
14. Selling all the time.  We’ve all met the slick schmoozy salesy types, right? And how long does it take you to high-tail it in the opposite direction? Don’t be one of those. An effective marketing strategy eliminates the need to sell all the time… really!
15. Assuming because you have a great product or service you don’t need a marketing strategy – Sure, some products and services might market themselves, but that’s rare. Real marketing success takes strategy, planning, and work.
16. Assuming that just because you have a good product or service you don’t need a referral system- Again, there are some products and services that people just love to talk about, but building a successful business solely on organic referrals and “buzz” is rare.  Getting solid referrals, consistently takes planning and solid execution. .
17. Assuming anyone with a pulse is your client- Repeat after me:  “NOT everyone is a potential client for me”. Now look in the mirror and repeat that every day! Find your niche – that segment of the population you are born to serve and you will uncover a gold mine!
18. Not building relationships – I can’t stress enough how important this is. Hiding behind your computer screen, desk, or counter isn’t going to get you the level of success you want. You have to get out there – mingle, be helpful, connect people, and build relationships with the right people!
19. Spending all your time networking in the wrong places –Not every networking group is right for you. Find the ones that will help you get where you want to go and avoid the ones that won’t.
20. Ignoring the internet – Facebook and Twitter may not be right for your business, but chances are your target market is going somewhere on line for information about your product or service.  Your job is to find out where they’re going and be there!
21. Not hiring a professional- If you want to build an addition onto your home would you do it yourself or hire a professional?  I mean, you know your home better than anyone, right? So why not do it yourself? Ridiculous, right? So then why would you try to “add on” – or grow – your business yourself?  Hire a professional who has the right tools and knows the ins and outs of growing a business.

So what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
 Want to share?? Please do! Leave your comments here.

By the way, if you liked this post, I’d really appreciate your Retweet!!! Thank you.

We’re all familiar with the “who-actually-falls-for-this-stuff” SPAM and we all know its complete bogus.

I think you get the point. Hilarious, right?!?

But what about the SPAM that isn’t so obvious? The emails from people we handed a business card to at a Chamber  mixer (and did not give permission to be added to their list) or who friended us on Facebook or emailed us through the Contact page on our website? What about those SPAMMERS? They’re a little more insidious – but are you competing with them? I would hope not.

Here’s the thing. I get hundreds of SPAM emails a week some are of the hilarious type and some are from people who actually want my business and think that SPAMMING me is the way to get it. And what strikes me hilarious is that for each SPAM email I get, I probably know at least 5 businesses personally – or even virtually for that matter, that I would turn to if I were looking to hire that particular product or service.  Why would I hire a complete stranger – and a SPAMMER at that?

So here’s my point:  When I am working with small business owners to develop marketing systems for their businesses one of the key elements of that process is figuring how they are different so they can stand out in a crowd. One way you can be different is to NOT spam, another is to actually get out there – either off- or on- line and meet people.  The more people who know you, the better your chances of being thought of when they are ready to buy what you have to offer.  The whole goal here is to you’re your business known in your niche so that your target market never has to turn to a stranger!

 Here are 4 things you can do so you don’t have to compete with SPAMMERS (or anyone else!):

1. Network – This is a great way to meet potential clients and expand our sphere of influence. Join a networking group or two – and whatever you do, make sure the networking group, association or organization is full of people who fit your target market profile – or at least can introduce you to them. If your target market is women between the ages of 25 and 35, Rotary is probably not the best networking group for you.
2. Engage in Social Media – I know thousands of people online. Some I’ve met face-to-face, some I haven’t yet, some I probably never will. But in today’s world, none of that matters. I have formed real professional relationships with people I may never meet face to face – and I’ve received and referred business to them!   Social media is not about merely blasting ‘salesy’ stuff; it’s about educating, informing, and engaging an audience. This is a great way to stand out from the crowd and build some top of mind awareness for your brand.
3. Blog– Blogging is a great way to promote your brand and build a reputation and credibility.   Writing relevant, informative posts/articles will help you stand out from your competition (and certainly SPAMMERS). And blogging isn’t just about writing a few words and posting it to your blog site; you must become diligent about repurposing your blog posts and submitting them to sites that our target market reads to expand your reach.
4. Be a giver - I was in sales and marketing for 17 years when I worked for other people and it wasn’t until I became a business owner that I realized the power of being a giver.  I had always approached networking and relationship building with a “what’s in it for me” attitude. I now approach it with a “how can I help you attitude”. And the more people I meet the more I am able to refer and make introductions that can help other people.  I enjoy this aspect of it much better than the old way! Being a giver instead of a taker, makes it that much more fun!  When is the last time a SPAMMER gave you anything?

It boils down to this: our goal as business owners is to help our target market Know, Like, and Trust us so that when they are ready to buy, they buy from us (a John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing saying). What are you doing each and every day to work toward that goal? If you don’t have an answer, your target market could be encouraging those SPAMMERS! 

I use photos a lot, for business use. I try to have a picture with every blog post I do, because I think it improves the overall result. I  do a lot of presentations, and I like to use nice-looking photos instead of bullet points. I talk, you look at the photo, and think about what we’re talking about it. Neither you nor I read the bullet points.

So I was glad to see that TJ McCue posted 50 Stock Photo Sites for Every Small Business Need last week on Small Business Trends. Thanks TJ, that’s a very useful list.

I’ve been using mostly shutterstock.com, occasionally istockphoto, and I’m looking forward to an account on bigstock.com. I also use Flickr creative commons photos often. And in all cases, I try to make sure to cite the photographer. It’s hard to do that as part of a slide presentation, but I usually cite the source in the blog post. TJ’s list includes istockphoto, but not Shutterstock. The istockphoto site lets you buy pictures for as little as $1-2 each, and shutterstock for more like $10 each, in groups of five. Flickr creative commons pictures are free, but usually only if you properly attribute the rights to the photo to its photographer. And you have to make sure, with Flickr, that you’re searching for creative commons (often called cc photos, not all photos.

TJ adds an important note:

Remember, just because a website has a collection of images does NOT give you the automatic right to use those images.  The owner of any image or photograph has a legal copyright in that image.  Make sure you  purchase the right to use an image, or the image is in the public domain, or the image is under a creative commons license that gives you the right to use that image, or you receive written approval to use the image from the owner.  Check the Terms of Service of any website.  Never assume you have the right to use an image unless it’s clearly spelled out.  Otherwise, you could someday get a letter demanding that you pay $1,000 (or some other large amount) per image, or a lawsuit charging you with misappropriating someone else’s copyrighted material.

Disclosure: shutterstock, which is my favorite by far, gives me an account for free for use with this blog. Of course I like them for that. It’s a great service.

Also, the photo on this post, the illustration here is a photo from Shutterstock, by oxystel.

Have you heard the way-too-familiar numbers on small business failures? Supposedly there’s a study somewhere that says seven out of every 10 new businesses started in the US fail within three years. I’ve seen it referred to dozens of times. But is it true? And does it matter to you?

If you’re curious about the research and business failures, do a good web search. You can start with this Google search on statistics on small business failures. You’ll see there that what we tend to take for granted isn’t necessarily so. What you won’t see there — at least I couldn’t find it — was the supposed definitive study that’s so often referred to.

The truth is that nobody knows. Because business existences and business fates have so many tax implications, statistics are distorted. Lots of businesses exist for tax reports only. Lots of businesses are born and die as statistics only, not real people with real hopes. Some businesses are doing fine but cease to exist because they were sold or absorbed, meaning there was a successful exit. Some businesses move or change their name. It’s really hard to see what really happened.

For some healthy published skepticism on these small business statistics, I recommend Mark Hendricks’ Why the Small Business Failure Rate is 90 Percent Smoke and Mirrors on BNET a couple of months ago. The title describes it pretty well, and so does Mark’s subtext as “the debunker.” Here’s an important quote:

According to well-supported studies by reputable researchers, 70 percent of new firms that have at least one employee survive for at least two years. Roughly half go on for five years. That comes from the SBA, but other studies reached similar conclusions.

And even the 30 percent failure rate after one year may overstate the real risk of starting a small business. That’s because other studies have shown that most firms that close their doors were profitable at the time. They may have closed because the owner had health concerns or decided to do something else more personally interesting. They didn’t, most of the time, go broke.

My conclusion for today is: put down that article. Step away from those statistics. The small business failure that matters is only the one that affects you. Do your homework first, Break your uncertainty down into pieces. Your business isn’t a statistic. Do people want what you’re selling? Will they pay enough to cover your costs? Will your numbers work? Is it real? Are you kidding yourself?

(Image: mac steve, Flickr cc)

With so much “stuff” on the web about raising venture capital, I want to pass on this very good list of 7 tips for raising venture capital that I caught this morning when it was re-posted on Small Business Trends. The author, Prasad Thammineni, says he raised venture capital money last year, and it shows. I raised venture capital for my company about 10 years ago, and everything he says here rings true from my experience.

Just as a reminder, venture capital means money managed by professional investors. Some newbie entrepreneurs use that term to refer to any outside investment, but VC money is rare, reserved for only a few thousand startups per year, the cream of the crop.

I try to stay on top of this out of personal interest, experience and keeping up on trends for this blog. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen as realistic and practical a list as this one.

My personal favorites, of the seven, are the last two. And I think you should click either of the links above in my first paragraph to read the whole thing. But here are the headlines of all seven, with details from the last two:

1. Understanding your business is key.

2. Know when to raise capital.

3. Prepare for a long slog.

4. Approach VCs the right way. 

5. Practice your pitch.

6. Have due diligence materials ready.

We put together projections, operational stats and related legal files (as recommended by our lawyer) in one place online so that we could share the information with interested investors right away. We worked hard to keep momentum going when investors showed interest.

7. Hire a good lawyer.

Venture terms are constantly changing. VCs negotiate investment terms constantly; most entrepreneurs do so only once or twice in their careers. Without the help of an experienced venture lawyer, I don’t know how we would have gotten such a good deal.

Raising venture capital is a difficult process, but it can really help grow a business. Preparation is key to succeeding at the venture capital game!

Nice work.

I just saw Denise O’Berry’s post “Credit Becoming Available to Small Business Again (Slowly)” on her Small Business Expert blog. Denise knows this territory very well because she focuses a lot of her work on the financial side of small-business management. She says:

It’s been a long, dry spell, but I think things are slowly picking up again.

She also includes a Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp list of 10 tips for making your business as credit-worthy as possible. That’s about paying on time, minding the reporting and credit rating, and so on.

Remember, banks don’t loan money for ideas or business plans. They’re subject to laws that govern collateral and lending to protect depositors. So whether you get the money depends a whole lot more on the risk you present to the bank than on the bank’s guess of your future prospects. You need assets to match what you borrow.

Also remember, what you borrow from a bank is money you’re going to have to repay. That’s not free. I say you should work your business planning carefully, and make sure it’s a good risk for you, regardless of the bank’s risk, before you apply for the loan at the bank.

But after those words of caution are done, credit lines can be a healthy financial tool when your cash flow is caught in waiting for your business customers to pay, or buying inventory; and when you use commercial bank loans to finance growth, then if the growth happens you haven’t added new investment to dilute your ownership. You’ve leveraged off somebody else’s money.

Just plan well, please, before you do it.

It reminds me of the chorus to Bob Dylan’s Ballad of a Thin Man: Something is definitely happening here, but you don’t know what it is. And neither do I. But Scott Shane and all his data give us a pretty good idea. Scott has excellent in-depth data, complete with some eloquent business charts, in his “Trends in Venture Capital” post yesterday on Small Business Trends. He links in that post to this presentation, with even more data, from which I took this chart:

Thanks Scott, that’s very eloquent. What it shows is the total amount of investment money managed by venture capital firms, in billions of dollars, from 1982 through 2009. You can see in the chart how it shoots up during the dot.com boom, then levels and, more recently, falls to about half as much.

What’s going on is a combination of factors: the great recession, of course, but also a drought of VC companies going public, startups taking longer to reach exit, a lot of portfolios worth less now than they were three to four years ago, worries about changes in taxation, and a lot of new technologies giving startups ways to get themselves up and running with less money than it would have taken 10 years ago.

Credit Scott for drawing the chart, and the National Venture Capital Association for supplying the data.

And consider this: Decline in venture capital is not good news for startups. Of course. No way. But still, you in particular might be much better off without outside investment. Better no investment than an incompatible investor.  Hooray for bootstrapping.

If you’re at all interested in buying into a franchise business, I think you’d definitely want to become familiar with Joel Libava, his Franchise King blog, and his new e-book called How to Carefully Select a Franchise to Buy.

I just read a good review by TJ McCue, founder of SalesRescueTeam.com, someone I’ve come  to know and like from a relationship that started on Twitter. That’s on Small Business Trends, one of the best small-business blogs. TJ does a good review and includes a good video summary from Joel.

I know and like Joel Libava and TJ McCue, both of them, and I respect their work. And regarding franchises, Joel is the king there; he really does know the territory.

This collection of posts on my unretirement (I think I’m adopting Steve King’s term) came up this week, I guess because of the interview Romy Ribitzky did last week with me and my daughter Sabrina, about how I stepped down from managing the company to focus on blogging, writing, speaking and teaching instead.

That was three years ago last April. In retrospect, I’m even happier about it now than I thought I would be then. It’s worked out fine for me, thanks; and I think the company is much better off, too.

• How to Rewrite Your Job Instead of Retiring | Small Business Trends
  This is my post on Small Business Trends, reflecting on the three years  since I stopped running Palo Alto Software.
• Small Business Labs: Tim Berry’s Baby Boomer Un-Retirement – Part 2
  Steve King of Small Business Labs goes back to earlier posts on my succession safe harbor new job, picking up where we left off.
• Advice For Father Daughter Father Son Businesses – Resources – Portfolio.com
  A good compilation of two-generation family business advice from fathers and daughters and sons who’ve successfully worked together, including me and my daughter, who runs my company.
• Father Child Business Talk About Working Together – Companies & Execs – Portfolio.com
  Romy Ribitzky on Portfolio.com retells the story of Palo Alto Software (among others) …

Warning: there’s a whole lot of me in those posts. The first one is by me, the second one about me, and the last two mixing me and Sabrina with some other stories.