The Power of Hype

Last month the rapture was to have occurred according to Harold Camping.

It generated enough attention that it was the top trending topic a few times that week and weekend on Twitter.

CNN, CBS, and the other networks all spoke of it both before and after.

Most people did not believe the hype, but had fun making fun of the hype.

When the Hype for an event, product, service, or person is bigger than than the event, product, service, or person; credibility is lost.

You don't have to do something on the scale of a rapture prediction to create Hype.

You can create an incredible offer, promise or guarantee.

Just make sure you can back it up.

Embrace Change, Beware of Change (Part 1)

97% of all paying employment will change in the next 50 years.

I just made that statistic up.

But it doesn't matter what the numbers are, we live in an era of change where the technology will make some peoples lives better, others lives will become worse.

What determines if your life becomes better or worse?

The way you handle change.

The changes will occur outside of your control.

So you cannot stop the changes, only learn how to adapt.

Let's take the coffee shop I'm sitting in right now.

The Firefly has been around since 1999. Some of the original employees still work here. Others have come and gone but are part of the Firefly family.

A few years ago they added a second location in the downtown library but it didn't feel right so they shut it down.

They still grind their own coffee and use the non-automated equipment to "pull shots" of espresso. Starbucks is a different story. Starbucks automates as much as possible to create consistency in all of their worldwide locations.

So the Firefly has developed consistency by training their employees to do things the "Firefly way".

The Firefly has also embraced change by adding an arts & crafts section so people can browse and purchase some unique gifts while they are waiting for their beverage.

The Firefly also has free wi-fi, one of the first public venues to do so. They encourage loitering as long as you buy something. Ever been in a restaurant for 2 hours without getting some hostile looks from the staff?

One of the owners is a talented carpenter and he has built and designed furniture and also their latest addition, a three compartment recycling center for plastics, paper, and regular trash.

There are regulars who come in every day or every week. They have a winning formula.

Contrast this with a former coworker of mine who worked in the plastics industry for years and was resistant to change. He liked his job at one time, but as the plant evolved, he resisted, and as a result, he was replaced since the job he use to do did not exist and he never trained for a new one.

I'll take this one step further today.

Your clients and customers (The Marketplace) have embraced the internet in multiple forms as part of the new normal.

No, not everyone has a smart phone, and everyone is not on Facebook. But the world continues to move the web and related communication tools into the mainstream.

Which means if you don't have a website, you are out of business to many of your customers.

If your website has not been updated in the past 3 years, you are out of business to many of your customers.

If you are not participating in social media, you are out of business to many of your customers.
Next week, a few warnings about change.

Your comments are always welcome.

Early Adopters & Late Bloomers

Changes are occurring faster and faster.

I'm sure my parents and even grandparents felt the same way in their lifetimes.

With the speed of technology improvements, it seems that what was last months new thing, is already outdated.

And there is no sign that any of this shows any sign of slowing down.

So how do you ride the wave of the next new thing?

Understand that the Early Adopters are always going to be looking for the next new thing. These people will not make you rich, but if they have influence, they can help push your new thing to Mainstream.

Once the new thing becomes Mainstream, the Early Adopters may or may not stick around, since they are always on the look out for the next new thing.

But Mainstream is where the money is at. If there is money to be made by your thing, this will be the time. If your thing becomes really popular, you will face competitors, more than you can imagine.

What about the Late Bloomers? Typically these are the hardest to convince. Usually no amount of advertising will ever move them to spend their money with you. Word of mouth and peer pressure along with a low price is what gets them to become your customer.


Once you understand this business cycle, you can create a focus, a strategy, and the tactics to make it work, and worry less about trying to please everyone, all the time.

Questions that need Answers & Ideas

If your best customer was also your best friend, what would you be doing differently in your interactions with them?

If your best friend was also your best customer, what would you be doing differently in your interaction with them?

If you treated all of your new customers the way you treat your best customers, what would you need to do differently?

If you treated all of your current customers the way you treat new customers, what would you do differently?

Take a moment and answer those 4 questions.

Write those answers and ideas down.

Only you know the real answers.

Now I have one more question.

If you implemented the changes and ideas you just wrote down, would your business be more successful and your future more secure?

The Big Give

Last month I was invited to lunch for some marketing brainstorming.

I find brainstorming fun. It is one of the favorite parts of my day, because I get to play detective.

I ask, observe, listen, watch, suggest, and repeat.

This particular brainstorming session was with a hotel manager who is looking grow. His property is not the most expensive, nor is it at the bottom of the heap.

It is mid-market, without anything special or unique. He has spent the past 22 months cleaning the place up, making improvements, and "setting the stage" for more customers. He has improved the appearance and improved customer service.

Several ideas were discussed but the one that I remember the most is an idea that I use in my business. It is a question I like to ask, and in a moment I'll tell you the 5 magic words.

I discovered that he can devote 15 to 18 hours a week getting out in the community. My advice was for him to go door to door to door to door to every single business within a 3 mile radius of his hotel and offer to help each of these businesses.

See, he estimates that in a year he will have between 10 and 20 thousand guests staying at his hotel. Most of these guests will be from out of town.

These out of town guests will have various needs while they are visiting. Sure there is the obvious like a place to eat, or a drug store. But what about a car wash? A cell phone store? A Chiropractor? A ____________?

As he goes door to door and starts a relationship with his business neighbors, he is offering to give recommendations to his thousands of guests to these businesses. He will collect names, literature, business cards from these businesses and give them his information too.

But he will also use the 5 magic words:

"How Can I Help You?"

These words are the beginning of the Big Give. When you ask that question, you are not asking for yourself, you are asking to help others. You are opening the door to starting a relationship.

"How Can I Help You?" is not used in the same way the guy at Burger Barn speaks when he wants to take your order. It is used sincerely without expectation of immediate financial reward in return.

Most business people won't have an immediate answer, and not every business will be a good fit, but he is doing something none of the other hotel operators are doing.

Can you apply the Big Give to your business?

Business Cycles?

In my radio station life, we have ups and downs that are predictable, as far as advertising revenue is concerned.

Most businesses have cycles that are predictable but what it the reason for those ups and downs?

Is the pattern breakable?

Is it worth trying?

Granted, some businesses like the slow months, that's when they take 3 day weekends, or vacations, but what if you could increase the revenue during those slow times?

Restaurants are typically slower on Monday and Tuesday and pick up as they get closer to the weekends and paydays. Is there something different you can create that your customers and clients will pay you for during the slow times?

By the way, I believe the reason that advertising sales is slower in the 1st quarter is due to the activities of the advertising sales people, not the businesses we serve. We are often so busy in October and November taking care of the December rush, that our prospecting falls off and we start the new year from scratch.

This year for me is different than 2010. Yes there was a drop in January, but it only took 3 weeks instead of 9 to be back up to speed.

Your thoughts are always welcome..

Everybody knows about my business...

and other lies you are telling yourself.

And your advertising rep.

Two stories about what happened last week.

Monday afternoon, the first day back from the New Year's Holiday, I get a phone call from the advertising agency that handles the Hoosier Lottery.

She wants to know if we can place one commercial per hour on my radio station that afternoon and Tuesday afternoon.

Any other traditional media would have been powerless to respond and get it done. Newspaper, TV, Billboards. Too late . It was even past our deadline at the radio station.

But... I was able to do it. Between 3pm and 7pm and then Tuesday between 6am and 7pm, we aired 1 commercial per hour.

What was so urgent? $355,000,000 MegaMillions jackpot, that's what.

Now some people think that a $355 Million dollar jackpot wouldn't need extra advertising, after all, doesn't everyone know about it?

Nope. The drawing was 11pm Tuesday night, and the Lottery folks and their advertising agencies were smart enough to know that they had a limited time to sell as many tickets as possible before the 10:45pm cut off and so they increased their advertising.

Tell more people, tell them over and over until the deadline and you sell more and more and make more and more $$$$$$$$$$$.

It was a real deadline, not an artificial deadline like some stores like to set "Sales ends soooon"!

That was Monday.

Tuesday night two people won the jackpot, so it starts over at a measly $12 million.

Something else happened on Tuesday. I met with the owner of a Tax Preparation business with 4 locations. She is neck and neck with anyone in town for the number of offices in our city. But there are at least 50 places in town that do tax prep, plus the online services.

She is not sure if she wants to advertise this year. After all, "..we're established, we have a good name, blah, blah, blah..."

Yes, but....

Everybody doesn't know about your business, or there wouldn't be 46 other competitors.

She, like the lottery, have a deadline in April. Nearly everyone has to file their taxes between now and then. And if they don't visit one of her 4 offices, then she lost their business until next year... or forever.

I'll be seeing her today and telling her this story and we'll see how smart of a business owner she really is.

Stay tuned....

Is Anyone Honestly Honest?

Is it possible to grow from zero to 500,000,000 customers in 6 years?

The answer is yes.

The answer is Facebook.

Based on the sheer number of registered accounts, it is the most successful social networking company ever.

Let's look at another one: Starbucks.

Most of their customers are unaware that Starbucks is nearly 40 years old. Founded in 1971.

Today Starbucks has over 17,000 locations worldwide.

Step back in time to 1962. That's when Sam Walton opened the first Walmart. Last count was 8500 stores in 15 countries.

One more blast to the past: 1940, the year the McDonald Brothers started selling burgers. Now they have over 31,000 stores around the world.

These are just three companies that came to mind as I was thinking of Mega-Success Stories.

Each one of these grew because they had the money to grow.

A couple years ago I read the book, McDonald's - Behind the Golden Arches by John Love and learned the struggles and near bankruptcy that McDonald's went through in the early years. (The book was published 25 years ago and McDonald's is one of my clients.)

Each of these companies have had to fight the temptation to rip off their customers. And each have had their share of controversy in their lifetimes.

Many people misquote the Bible, "Money is the root of all evil", and then proclaim a gospel of poverty as a more honest way of life.

Let's clear up the quote.

From Wikipedia: The phrase derives from a saying attributed to Jesus in the Apostle Paul's First Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament: "The love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10, KJV). The expression is commonly misquoted as simply "Money is the root of all evil". A more accurate rendering from the original Greek may be: "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil," (New American Standard Bible).

Ah, ha... It's not money, it is greed and what how people act out their greed that causes the evil.

So, back to the question, Is Anyone Honestly Honest?

Look at the motives, look at the heart. Everyone is tempted. The small business owner is tempted to pay someone under the table. The millionaire is tempted to sock away assets in an offshore account.

The man in poverty is tempted to rob, steal, even kill for money.

Temptation does not always result in bad behavior. It 99% of the temptations we face we overcome. The same is true in the business world.

So what does this have to do with marketing, and advertising?

Advertising is the paid form of marketing that you buy for your business.

Marketing includes advertising and everything else related to your business and that includes you and your staff.

Are you honest? Look at your motives.

Is it okay to want to earn lots of money? Look at the motives behind it.

If you let greed take over as you primary motivation for making money it will fail eventually.

If your primary focus is on helping people by selling them a product or service, and set your prices and fees accordingly, everyone wins.

Enjoy the Holidays.

It's the Money, Honey...

30 years ago, I was a rock and roll radio disc-jockey.

I worked on the air on the top music station in town playing everything from the Doors to John Fogerty, Black Sabbath, and even some Cat Stevens and the Jacksons. WMEE was the #1 Top 40 music station in Fort Wayne.

After a few more stops, I moved over to the advertising side of radio in Detroit. I had learned the business side of the entertainment industry and the truth about radio, tv, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Today, I am back in the radio advertising business and social media, and a few other projects too.

The vast majority are supported by advertising. And advertising money is spent to get and keep customers and clients by the businesses that run the ads.

If the advertising doesn't produce a Return On the Investment (dollars spent on advertising), then a couple things happen.

First off, the business may stop advertising. The business may close if they cannot afford to stay open due to lack of customers.

Then the advertising medium, (radio, tv, newspapers, magazines, etc.) loses money because they have lost that particular advertiser. And they advertising to fund their operation and pay the people they have on staff. Including those rock and roll disc-jockeys.

If a radio station cannot generate enough money through advertising, it is in danger of changing its format. If a TV program doesn't generate enough money through advertising, it is canceled.

If a newspaper of magazine doesn't generate enough money through advertising, it slows down or stops printing.

US News & World Report was a magazine that I used to subscribe to in my 20's and 30's. Not anymore. And they are one of a multitude of print publications that are no longer going to be available.

Is the web the answer? Is social media the answer?
I say maybe and no.

Maybe if the internet can generate money. The same for the social media platforms.
No, if you are looking for a quick fix. Despite the tremendous growth in technology via smartphones and the like, despite the growth of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, (and the list goes on and on)...

Unless there is money being made it won't work.

Someone has to be willing to buy something and someone has to be willing to sell something of value.

And the marketers job is never done because of the continuing changes.

So, got an idea? Great! Now figure out how to sell it. Need some help? Contact me @ScLoHo on Twitter or with an email to Scott@ScLoHo.net

Rock on....

Procrastination and the Crock Pot

Most of us are told that Procrastination is bad.

And for good reason. Waiting until something is due to start often results in a half-assed, rushed job that is likely to have errors that would have been avoided if you hadn't done it at the last minute in a rushed, half-assed manner!

However, I've been giving this word some thought and want to challenge you to do the same.

It all began on a Friday morning. I was attending an introductory sales presentation by Paul Lushin when he mentioned that procrastination is good. Due to the time limits of his presentation and all of the other items he was covering, he didn't same much more about the subject.

But I thought about it the rest of the day, and decided to write about it.

However before I began writing about it, I checked my email and low and behold, there were not 1 but 2 newsletters in my inbox talking about the evils of procrastination.

More fuel to my fire.

First a posting on the Dumb Little Man blog entitled Four Crucial Steps to Avoid Procrastination.

Ali Hale gives some good advice on how to overcome Procrastination if it is a problem in your life and business.

Next, Seth Godin touches on the subject as he talks about Finding Inspiration Instead Of It Finding You.

Again, good advice about a more disciplined life, but there is another side of procrastination that I know is good.

I call it Crock Pot Procrastination.

Crock Pots and Slow Cookers became popular in the 1970's, as more Moms entered the work force fulltime and were still expected to feed the family at dinnertime.

A crock pot allowed you put raw food into a slow cooker, add some water and spices and let it simmer all day so when you came the house was filled with the aroma of a delicious dinner and our plates were filled tasty morsels of goodness.

Contrast this with the Microwave. What used to take an hour can now take 5 minutes. And that is how a lot of us operate with multi-tasking, doing everything now, etc.

In order for procrastination to work for you instead of against you, you need to follow the Crock Pot rules:

1. Prepare the ingredients. Start thinking about the project way ahead of the deadline.
   
2. Let it simmer. Go do something else. Some of my best creative ideas come when I'm mowing the yard, or playing a game. Staring at a computer screen and trying to be creative can be counter-productive.
3. Capture some of those ideas. Like the aroma that fills the kitchen as the food is cooking, those random ideas can add flavor or direction to what you are going to create. Write them down, save them in your voice mail, just have a system to capture those ideas.
4. Have a deadline. Dinnertime is 5:30 tonight. Not 9:30 tomorrow morning. Set a time to take the ideas that have been cooking in your crock pot, set the table and eat.
5. Save your leftovers. Not all of your ideas will fit into the project you are working on. Perhaps they are ideas you can use in the future.
   

By the way, the Friday that all of this happened was 11 days ago, August 20th. And I wrote this after about 24 hours of "Crock Potting" the idea of Good Procrastination.

But due to an abundance of ideas, I scheduled it to appear publicly today on the 31st, which takes the pressure off of having to Microwave an idea for a blog post that I've committed myself to update every week.

So how it all works?

Three Choices

There is a bit of magic in the power of three. But today I'm going to refer to three that every business owner has to make everyday.

1. Improve.

2. Stay the same.

3. Go out of business.

Let's look at #2 first.

Stay the same. Coast for awhile. A lot of folks decided to do this when times were tough. When the recession hit their business, when the phone stopped ringing off the hook with new customers, when the easy money stopped being so easy... Many decided to hang tight, "I don't want to do anything different right now"

Problem is that by doing nothing, or cutting back, or staying the same, the world continued to change. Every corner of it.

Even yours.

The internet has changed the way we get information, make choices, and how we play. And now you don't need a computer to access the web.

I recall being amazed that even homeless people still had cellphones. And last month when I moved up to a Smartphone, another light bulb lit up above my head.

With the mobile web technology, even the most remote locations now are connected. And that connection means, they are not waiting for you.

I only use the homeless example to help you realize that if they are moving forward, you should be too.

There is only one way to coast.

You can't coast uphill.

You can only go so far by coasting on a flat surface.

The only way to coast is downhill. And once you start going down, you pick up speed until you crash at the bottom.

I don't think that's what most people were planning when they told me they were going to "ride it out". But unfortunately, it happened anyway.

Gravity is a law.

Of course, there are those that decided to choose #3 and close the doors and retire. Good for them if that's what they want.

But what about you?

For most of us the best choice is #1.

It's not the easiest, I can promise you that! But it is your only chance to survive. And if you can survive, you can also thrive.

In a couple of weeks I'll list a number of ways you can improve, survive and thrive.

I like that list of three, "improve, survive and thrive", don't you?

Go Out on a Limb

Yesterday I met with a gentleman that oversees 30+ restaurants.

It's a national chain, but locally owned.

We talked about what makes them different than other, similar chains.

His answer was basically, "we do a better job of doing what everyone is supposed to do."

In other words, "we are better at being average than the other guys".

Or perhaps, "we don't piss off and annoy as many customers as our competitors do".

I challenged him to make a customer promise.

A customer promise that they would stand behind, no matter what.

And to empower their front line employees to stand behind the customer promise without having to get permission from "the manager."

I could see he was getting nervous about this idea.

He came up with a half dozen excuses as to why they couldn't do that.

We'll meet next week again and see if I can push him out of his safe box, which is really a very dangerous place to be.

In the meantime, I'll share with you a few places that I know first hand will exceed the average.

Last week I was wrapping up a short vacation in Michigan and nearly every place we went to and spent money met our expectations.

Most of them exceeded them, one way or another. The restaurants, bed & breakfasts, the hotel.

The fast food joint was average. So were the gas stations and the movie theater.

But the other places that did a great job, they deserve credit.

We started at the BaySide Inn. Spent two nights there. http://www.baysideinn.net/ Really enjoyed the outdoor hot tub along with the usual B & B experience.

We also spent 1 night at Heritage Manor Inn. Very nice hosts and the breakfast was excellent. http://www.heritagemanorinn.com/

We ate here twice! http://www.saugatuckdouglas.com/phils.htm

Also here for lunch 1 day: http://www.thewilddoggrille.com/ Check out the Guinness & white cheddar soup.

Burgers: http://www.thebutlerrestaurant.com/ Got 'em twice!

We only had desert here, but would have had dinner too if we hadn't already ate: http://www.restauranttoulouse.com/

A local coffee shop that is also a coffee roaster: http://www.uncommongroundscafe.com/v1/index

These guys got our money twice (That's a good thing!) http://www.wickspark.com/home.html

We also had lunch one day at: http://www.8thstreetgrille.com/

And one of most unusual surprises was the last night of our trip where we ate, drank & spent the night: http://www.cityflatshotel.com/

It's Not All About the Fans

Over the past few months, I've had a few people ask me how to set up a Fan page on Facebook.

I've told them to figure it out themselves.

And I ask them why they want a Fan page on Facebook.

I also ask them what are they doing to generate money, to create new customers, to retain current customers, to set themselves apart from their competitors.

Why don't I tell them how to do it? Because if they are going to use Facebook as part of their marketing, they need to learn the basics of Facebook. It's not that hard.

But there is another reason.

A Fan page on Facebook means nothing to the survival of your business. It's too easy to be a fan. I get an invitation and I click yes. I never have to spend any money to be a fan. I, as a consumer have no investment in your Fan page.

If you want to create a Fan page on Facebook, go ahead and do it. But don't fool yourself into thinking that because you have 500 fans, that equals $5000 dollars, or whatever the dollar amount you think you can assign to a fan.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday and for the 2nd time the Indianapolis Colts were in the big game.

Living in Indiana, everywhere you went, you saw Colts Football Fever. Royal Blue with horseshoes was the official color and logo worn by MILLIONS of Fans. I'm sure the same was true for fans of the New Orleans Saints.

But, no matter how enthused, how passionate, how crazy the fans are, it's up to the players to win or lose. It's how you react to surprises, how quickly you respond to things going wrong, and taking advantage of opportunities when they open up.

That's why both the Colts and Saints made it to the Superbowl in 2010. It wasn't the fans, it was the team. And in the final game between the two, the same was true.

Make sure your team is the best they can be, and then you'll generate fans, the real kind that keep you in business.

And if you want a Facebook Fan page, Click here for a few tips.

Looking Forward by Looking Back-1

I turned 50 years old this month. For awhile, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about being 50, until last month, when my son turned 25.

Then I thought back to what my life was like when I was his age, and all that has occurred since then. And I started getting excited about the next 25 years I'll live.

Let's apply that to your business.

If you knew a year ago, what you know now, would you have done the same things you have done in the past 350+ days?

That's not a yes or no question.

Dig Deeper.

What are the best parts of 2009?
What were the worst parts?

What did you learn?
What don't you understand?

What do you not want to do anymore?
What do you want to do more of?

Let's go even deeper to make things even better, but first write down your answers. Put the paper down and pick it up again a couple times before next Tuesday, when we finish this exercise.

Oh, and a couple more rules. Don't erase anything, or black it out. If you want to change something or use a different word, just cross out with a single line and continue.

Enjoy Christmas and I'll have part 2 on December 29th.

End of the Year

If you are in retail, this is one of the most stressful times of the year. Because it's make it or break it time.

Should you extend your hours to be available to any and all potential customers? Will you be burnt out by the time you finally get a day off to celebrate the holidays with family? What about staffing, bonuses, or even survival in 2010?

Hard questions I know.

If you are in an office or sales environment, it's also crunch time. The last two weeks of this month may be the least productive of the entire year, because of short weeks and Christmas/New Years.

Please don't toss in the towel and take a mental vacation when you can be using this time to prep and plan for 2010.

This may be the end of 2009, but it's also the beginning of 2010. Do when you need to do right now and you'll be thankful next month.

A Plan

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day to day, week to week process of running our businesses and our life overall, we neglect to put together a plan.

Yeah, I'm going to toss out the big words for a moment and simply call this your Plan.

The most successful and the least successful people you know have the same amount of time each day. Time is the great equalizer.

However it really doesn't matter how much you get done each week, if it isn't a part of your plan.

My challenge to you, (and me!), is to create a direction you want to go and include why you want to go in that direction with your company and your life.

Then once you know where you are wanting to go, you can start to put together your plan.

Over the past 20 plus years, I have seen organizations that put together plans, without knowing what direction they wanted to go, and this is backwards.

I've also seen organizations without a plan and without a direction, spend money and time on marketing and advertising efforts that they should not have done; and if they had a plan, they wouldn't have.

Finally, I've seen organizations that are going to stick rigidly to a plan and ignore the changes in the marketplace and as a result, die a slow miserable death.

Let's wrap this up with 3 tips:

1. Decide what direction to go.
2. Put together a Plan to take you there
3. Measure all the marketing and advertising opportunities against #'s 1 & 2. If they fit, consider them. If they don't fit, double check your direction and plan to see if they are still relevant for you and if they are, then say no (for now) to those opportunities.
   

How to Drive Traffic to Your Website

I know the title of this has been used by thousands of people, over and over. But what I'm about to say may run counter to what some of my friends in the marketing/media/internet world have been telling you.

Most of the folks that I know that answer the question will tell you, you need S.E.O.

S.E.O. stands for Search Engine Optimization.

And while this may be important, I discovered a couple years ago what I believe is more important.

First, let's explore SEO and why it can be important.

Most people will find your business by clicking on a link on the internet.

And before they find a link, they will perform a Search, using a Search Engine such as Yahoo!, Google, or perhaps MSN. This chart shows the popularity of various Search Engines just three years ago in 2006:



Yet, times have changed. In a report for July 2009, Google now has grown to 64.7%, Yahoo has shrunk to 19.3%, Microsoft has rebranded its search engine and is now know as Bing and has an 8.9% share, Ask is at 3.9% and AOL is down to 3.1%. Click here for the details.

So Google is the king of Search, which means that websites need to be Optimized so Google will find them and send traffic (visitors) to your website. This is why there has been such a boom and push in S.E.O.

Problem is, S.E.O. is not cutting edge, it's just one of those things you probably should do because everyone else does it. However there is a new way to be found....

And it's not really new. I discovered this a few years ago, and it follows the growing trend of how and why people are using the internet.

The trend is current information. We want to know what is going on now, and this search for information will leave many (or most) current websites in the dust.

When I began blogging a few years ago, I was undisciplined, unorganized and not really focused. It took me awhile to develop a purpose and a strategy, but once I put those pieces into place, the rest grew.

The answer to driving traffic to your website that has been working for me the last few years and will continue for the foreseeable future is provide current content that people want.

I believe one of the easiest ways is to write a blog about a subject that you are passionate about and keep it fresh with a new, worthwhile posting at least once a week.

That's what I do on this blog you are reading now, however this is really my 4th blog.

My number one blog is updated 3 to 5 times a day/ 7 days a week and is also about Marketing, Advertising and Sales. It is currently one of the top 240 marketing blogs in the world according to a couple of different ranking services. This number one blog is titled ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom and you can find it be clicking here.

My number 2 blog is a fun, personal blog that I started as a way to post items that were not related to my business.
Last year I featured links to other blogs in my town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, then this year committed to featuring a Fort Wayne Site of the day, every single day which has garnered lots of attention, including requests to be featured. You can visit it by clicking here.

Blog number 3 is simply a collection of random pictures, a few personal, most were found on the web. It gets updated as I see fit.

The last one is a political blog which I use randomly to share some ideas of a political nature.

Here's why I know this works:

1. I have tracking counters that show me how many visitors I am getting. Over 500 per week currently.
   
2. I have received offers for work and projects for me and my company from these blog postings. This includes unsolicited speaking and seminar engagements.
   
3. I have been recognized locally, nationally and internationally by various individuals and organizations that found me online via the blogs.
4. It is paying off for me financially, yes real money.

Finally, Google is changing the rules.

Yes, the worlds leading Search Engine is preparing to revamp itself and make it harder for static websites to get noticed, even with S.E.O. in place. Click here for details and a preview.

And this also falls into my ongoing push to build your business through relationship based marketing. By engaging in current conversational practices online, you are providing what people are looking (searching) for.

It works. Now, and even more in the months ahead.

The Ten Year Plan, 1 year later

On August 10th, 2008 I wrote the following challenge.

It is now 53 weeks later, and my question to you is, have you started your plan yet?

My life definitely has taken a different direction and I am much more in control than last year at this time. If you read this last year, read it again.

If this is the first time, then act now:

Ten years from now, what will be different in your life?

Ten years from now, how will your business be different?


Ten years from now, will your life and your business be the result of a plan or simply circumstance?

One of my activities is serving on a marketing advisory board for a financial firm and when I began 18 months ago, I asked the owner these same questions.

As a result of knowing where she wants to be in ten years, she can formulate a plan for today that will move her firm in the direction it needs to go.

Yes, I know there are many things that we cannot predict that will occur in the next ten years, but if you honestly take a look at your life and your business, you'll be surprised at what is predictable.

Set some goals, complete with a timeline. Then start down the path to get there. You'll be in the top 10% by simply doing these steps.

The Word to Learn is Value (part two)

Just a few more words on the topic of VALUE.

People attach a VALUE to everything they trade for their dollars.

My wife mentioned to me that she really liked the Wendy's new fish sandwich, priced around $4.

My wife complained at the little burger she got off Wendy's VALUE menu. Her exact words, "Where's the beef?"

No matter what the price, we want something for our money that we feel is fair. Otherwise we feel ripped off.

I felt ripped off a couple years ago after buying a used Mercedes. Not by the guy that sold it to me, but by the multiple repair shops that charged me to fix a problem that they didn't really fix.

These days I take it to an import dealer who gives me a loaner, not a rental. (The last time I dropped my car off, they gave me a brand new red Jetta to drive that only had 35 miles on it!) It may cost a few dollars more, but they give VALUE by repairing my car right the first time, (and the loaner is pretty cool too.)

So, selling cheap stuff doesn't mean you can sell crap. Just focus on VALUE, no matter what the price tag and you'll be a winner.

This is Your Time

The other day, I had someone approach me and ask if we had any openings but she didn't want to do sales. Further in the conversation, I asked her what she was doing, she said looking for a job. "How long have you been unemployed?", I asked. 9 months was her answer.

The day before, I was at a seminar and sat next to a man who was also unemployed for nearly a year.

I can sympathize, however I am also shaking my head. There is no reason to be without a job if you are physically able to work. There are enough companies looking for good workers that will pay you to get off the couch and work.

The time to look for your dream job is not when you have no income. When you need a job, you get a job. Not a career perhaps, but at least a job. And once you have a job, you can start looking for a better job.

What does this have to do with advertising and marketing? Simple lesson. Just like the unemployed need to adapt to their current situation and do what it takes to earn money, so do businesses.

Now is not the time to cut back on advertising, hide and wait this one out. Pulling the covers over your head in this economy will only put you out of business. Instead, I'll let you in on a secret.

Now is a great time to get a good deal on your advertising. Many companies are cutting back. This means media and advertising outlets have more unsold inventory than they had a few years ago. And the smart ones would rather sell out their inventory at a lower rate than let it go unsold.

Now not everyone in the media and advertising business is going to follow this law of supply and demand. They will be stubborn and try and raise their prices and if they are doing this to you, beware, because they are looking out for their interests, not yours.

See, if I have more unsold inventory on my radio stations, then I have room to help some smaller business that need to get the word out to potential customers, and I will do it at a lower price per ad than a couple years ago, until my inventory gets tight again.

So Mr/Ms Business owner, this is your time:

• Time to buy advertising that you couldn't afford before.
• Time to negotiate with your current suppliers and get the best price
• Time to grow while your competitors hide under the blankets.

Your comments are always welcome.