Archives for June 2014
The Importance of Knowing When to Quit
Many of us have had the “never give up, no matter what” mentality hammered into our heads for our entire life. But truly great leaders and business people understand that sometimes the wiser decision is to back down from an idea or project rather than to hopelessly push forward with it. How do you know when to pull the plug and when to plow forward?
Here are some scenarios in which you may just have one of those “time to quit” situations arise. Consider these scenarios carefully, and remember them the next time you reach a crossroads with an idea.
1. You're fighting against your own colleagues and teammates in hopes of moving forward.
If you don't have the support of your team, it's going to be an uphill battle for the entire duration of your project. Everyone knows the importance of bringing in the right people for your team, but it's also important to remember that you brought those people in for a purpose; you believe in their abilities to do their jobs well and to give you honest feedback about the direction of your company. If even your team members are against moving forward with a particular project or mission, it is likely a sign that you need to turn back. Or is it? The exception may be if you purposely hired polar opposites to your methods. If your methods were not advancing the company, and now you have a problem with your team making changes – you may be the problem.
2. The benefits of your project are not worth the cost to complete it.
Will your plan give a positive ROI to your business? Or even more simply, do the benefits of completing this project outweigh the costs? If not, it's probably time to reconsider the merits of the project and to put it to rest. Be sure to do a thorough cost-benefit analysis before moving too far into any project you undertake; the last thing you want is to put your business through a major ordeal for some very minimal benefits. Never forget to track everything you do, every decision you make – this helps remove emotions from business decisions.
3. You've failed to properly plan out your project or mission.
This is an area where a nimble small business has an edge, the ability to move quickly. It's also what can inflict operational pain. It's a common problem in business: a brand new project or idea comes in, people get excited about its potential and then the business moves forward without stopping to properly plan it out first. You need to do your due diligence in these situations, otherwise you will likely wind up creating a mess for yourself to have to clean up. If a project has gotten to the point where it looks like your failure to plan has had a major negative impact on its potential to succeed, then it's best to put an end to it before things get truly out of hand. It's easy to point the fingers of blame. It's difficult to look in the mirror to find fault. The latter should be your first reaction. Quitting under this circumstance is like an army regrouping. It's often a symptom of reacting to change versus planning to impact change.
“A goal, without a plan, is just a dream.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
Have you ever encountered any of these scenarios? How did you respond? Let Viral Solutions be your guide whenever one of these scenarios arise.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
How Gondwana Collection Namibia Involved over 30,000 Users in a Photo Contest
At just under 10,000 fans, Gondwana Collection Namibia, a Namibian tourism company, contacted us in May and asked us to create a like-gated Facebook photo contest that required entrants to like five partner Facebook pages before entering. The result was Ultimate Road Trip Photo Competition, involving more than 30,000 Facebook users.
The prize for each winner included a round trip flight sponsored by Air Namibia, a 14-day car hire sponsored by Caprivi Car Hire and Savanna Car Hire and 14-day accommodations at Gondwana Colle
ction Namibia.
More than 700 pictures were entered and 33,342 users from all over the world voted for their favorite. In doing so, they shared the competition with their Facebook friends (an estimated 10 million people), making this a sensational marketing campaign for GCN.
Hitradio Namibiaâs Wilfried HĂ€hner, one of the partners in the Ultimate Road Trip Competition, was floored by the campaign results. âIncredible, I never expected such an overwhelming success.â
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Which Social Media Platforms are the Most Important for Businesses?
When you think of social media, which platforms immediately come to mind? A decade ago, you might have said Friendster, AOL, or MySpace. Today, youâd likely say Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
According to Social Media Examinerâs 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, the most important platforms for businesses are indeed Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. 54 percent of respondents cited Facebook as the most important, 17 percent chose LinkedIn, and 12 percent said Twitter was the most important one. Blogging came in fourth with 8 percent of the vote. Other social media platforms such as Instagram (1 percent), Pinterest (1 percent), Google+ (3 percent), and YouTube (2 percent) barely registered.
Does this mean that the other social media networks are irrelevant or ineffective? Not at all. However, if youâre not sure where to start, it may make sense to start with the platforms that are widely believed to be the most important by other businesses.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogging are all important, and they all serve different purposes. Thus, you may find that one is better for your business than another or that it makes sense to have two or more social profiles. Letâs take a quick look at the top four social media platforms:
- Facebook – In April, Facebook announced its latest numbers, and theyâre eye-popping. The worldâs leading social network now has over 1.28 billion monthly active users. Considering that only about 7 billion
people live on our planet, many of whom are too young for Facebook, thatâs huge. Chances are, your customers and prospects are on Facebook, making creating a presence there a fantastic way to reach your market. In addition, Facebookâs targeted ads program allows you to specify the exact market you want to reach.
- LinkedIn – LinkedIn reportedly had about 300 million users as of May 2014. While significantly smaller than Facebookâs user base, its size remains impressive. LinkedInâs focus is on business networking, making it a different environment than Facebookâs. In general, if youâre marketing to consumers, try Facebook; if youâre marketing to business users, try LinkedIn.
- Twitter – Twitter is a microblog. With its 140-character limit, Twitter lends itself to bite-sized messages. Hashtags are wildly popular on Twitter. When used strategically, itâs possible to reach a wide audience far beyond your follower base. Twitter tends to be more of a real-time social network than the others, making it ideal for tweeting live events and reminding users to enter your social media contest before the deadline.
- Blogging – Though not a social network per se, blogging is indeed a form of social media. It can also be highly effective. For example, by regularly blogging about your area of expertise, you can build trust, attract search engine traffic, and slowly turn your website into an authority site filled with relevant articles and blog posts. You also have the most control over your content with a blog. Blogging complements other social media sites, allowing you to provide deeper insights by directing Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter followers to your blog.
Any of the these social media platforms can be a fantastic choice for your business. Which one do you feel is most important to you?
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Setting Expectations Early and Often
As the manager or owner of a business, it's extremely important that you know how to set and manage expectations for yourself and for your clients. This is a process that occasionally takes a while to truly master, but the earlier you start and the more often you set expectations with projects/clients or with aspects of your company, the better you'll get.
Here are some tips for how you can set realistic expectations early on, particularly with your clients:
- Know what your limits are as a company. There's only so much time that you can dedicate to every client that comes through. You should always be focused on
delivering the best possible quality and creating a great relationship with your clients, but remember that you need to maintain balance as well. If you already have existing obligations with other clients, you should not feel like you need to accept a big project from a new one. Remember: it's better to do one job well than to do two half-heartedly.
- “Under promise and over deliver.” This old business phrase will help you to avoid making promises that you have no way of keeping. That practice can quickly create irreparable rifts in a business relationship. Don't rely on big promises to lure in big clients, especially if you can't deliver on them. Instead, make small promises and then exceed expectations.
- Explain challenges before they arise. Be upfront with all clients about any issues that may occur as you work with them. These challenges may or may not actually come up, but if they do, clients will know to expect them and how to deal with them.
- Be flexible with your deadlines. It's a lot more stressful for you to give one firm deadline that you may or may not be able to manage if you have other projects to work on. Instead, be flexible with your deadlines to prevent disappointment on the part of the client.
- Be available to talk at all times. Be proactive in alerting clients about project progress and any potential delays, and make sure they know they can contact you at any times with questions. This helps to set expectations for your working relationship.
These tips will help you to create better relationships with your clients based on truthful communication. Be sure to set these expectations early in your relationships so that you can work together much more smoothly.
Christine Kelly | Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
Integrating Social Media with Traditional Marketing
Social Media Examiner recently released its 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report detailing the latest trends in social media marketing. With 50 pages of interesting details, thereâs a lot to absorb and numerous takeaways. For example, more companies are integrating social media with traditional marketing than they did last year. In fact, 83 percent of respondents indicated that they have done so. However, that means that 17 percent have not.
If youâre one of those who has yet to integrate social media with traditional marketing, letâs get started! Use the tips below to extend your marketing efforts into the social realm.
- Put your social media icons out there – including in print. Whether youâre advertising on television, radio, the Internet, or in print, you need to let customers and
prospects know where to find you socially. Using social media icons is immediately identifiable, so make sure to use them. However, some of these marketing channels are not clickable. Thus, youâll also want to make it easy for your prospects to find you by including the URL to your social sites.
- Use QR codes – QR codes can solve the click problem, too. These images can be printed in ads, on business cards, on invoices, on brochures, and even on your company car. They contain a special code that can be âreadâ with a smartphone. Once scanned by a smartphone, the userâs mobile browser opens to the designated URL. For example, if you run a restaurant and want to encourage diners to like your Facebook page, place a QR code in your menu along with the words, âLike us on Facebook.â In addition to creating static QR codes pointing to websites and social media profiles, you can create them for online contests, YouTube videos, and more.
- Use hashtags – Youâve likely seen hashtags displayed prominently during television shows such as The Voice or American Idol. These hashtags encourage social media users to hold conversations around the tagâs topic and then filter those tagged conversations. You can do the same with your traditional marketing. For example, you could run an ongoing social media contest for your customers and prospects. Instead of drawing names from business cards placed in a fishbowl at your establishment, you could encourage people to tweet a message using a specific hashtag. Not only is this a fun way to interact with potential customers, it also exposes your brand to a larger audience. As with icons and QR codes, hashtags arenât limited to online communications. Superimpose them over television ads, read them out loud on radio ads, or add them to printed materials such as direct mail, coupons, brochures, and promotional items.
- Use your email signature – Your email signature has plenty of virtual real estate for marketing purposes. Use it to link to your latest blog post, encourage recipients to check out your social networking profiles, or promote a social media campaign. Change it up every week or two and spread the additional exposure across your various social media properties.
Integrating social media marketing with traditional marketing isnât difficult. You simply need to think about extending your traditional marketing to the social sphere and then do it.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.