7 Questions To Answer Before You Market Your Business

What if I told you there was a simple way to kick start your business, where you spend less money, and annoy less people? Are you interested? Would it sound like magic? To me it would. But, it’s not magic. It is just marketing 101 stuff. But, this marketing 101 stuff so so so many people get wrong.

Yea you can ignore this marketing 101 mumbo jumbo. And instead hit the streets, start the cold calling and push your ‘ultimate 10% off offer’. But, how far would that get you? Not very far. And it would probably annoy.

But, as a wise old man once said to me ‘I don’t take shortcuts, because they take to long’. Let us, you and me, be honest, no short cuts, and answers these 7 simple marketing 101 question.

1) Who is Your Target Market?

Marketing is just a word for communicating what we do and how we help.

If you say ‘everyone’ is your target market you need to start over! Seriously! Why? Because a) not everyone wants your product and, b) Addressing everybody is not practical. Not enough money in the world nor hours in the day. Just. Not. Possible.

Do this instead. Choose a slice of the market, a niche, that is already served, enter it, then position yourself differently.

Yes, entering a market with competition sounds counterintuitive. The premises is sound. If a niche has competition then people are buying. If people are buying then profit is being made. All you have to do is position yourself differently from the others and you will attract your audience.

And you positioning yourself differently with your voice, your viewpoint, your expertise, customer service, or with testimonials.

The alternative is a finding a niche without competition, the classic gap in the market, and convince people who are not buying to buy. That is way, way more difficult than positioning yourself differently in a profitable market.

Another niche is to sell to (and lead) a group which you are a member of. The premises is people will buy from you, because you are one of them. Think of this as the insider helping insiders, a tribe if you will.

Tribes is not new, Seth Godin, wrote a book, about it ‘Tribes’. People gravitate into groups around a leader or ideas. Use your tribe to your marketing advantage. Rally like-minded people around your product, your idea, or your cause.

2) HOW will this Niche Become Aware of What you Have?

In marketing parlance this is the promotional part of the 4 P’s. Promotion suggest advertising and pushing. And no one likes be sold to.

How will your Tribe know about your products? If your niche is your tribe of like-minded people, then talk with them as normal and show what you have. Selling will take care of itself.

If your niche has competitors, assess their tactics, then do one better and market from your own angle.

Remember all your online business emanates from your home base — your website.

Yes, you can interrupt people with advertising, but, chances are you’ll get ignored if you don’t have a compelling story to tell them. Leading us to number 3.

3) WHAT Story are you Telling, Living, or Spreading?

The most engaging and memorable marketing is marketing told through stories. Big brands do this expertly in 30sec TV ads. The ads show how lives are transformed, get better, or are improved.

Yes, a story. But, why stories? Why not just ‘here’s our features and benefits buy from us’?

Because our brains are more active when listening to stories and stories activate the language processing parts of our brains. Both help us relate and connect with your brand easier.

Yet, the best story is the how peoples lives are transformed, improved or are better.

Stories are great only if they connect with existing beliefs and views people have.

4) Does Your Story Resonate With their Worldview?

What does your audience believe? What do they want? What are their fears?

Marketing Personas is a one powerful tool in your toolbox helping you focus your messaging to a subset of your market. Better than using marketing personas, is identifying prospects worldview.

A worldview is how people view their world. E.g. what should we do next? What is right or wrong? How should we reach our goals?

Tapping into the worldview of your audience focuses your messaging and builds a deeper bond with people.

Apple did this with their Think Differently campaign. The rallied cry called people:

…the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the trouble makers, the round pegs for square holes, the ones who see differently…

And it worked expertly. It worked because people identified themselves in this campaign. And we all identify with being a rebel at some stage in our lives, or being a trouble maker, and we all fell the system, puts round pegs into square holes.

Find the worldview your audience associates with and foster it.

Take, for example, two families. Both sets are married, home owners, have 2 teenage kids. One a VW family, the other a Ford family. Both sets work full time. One is a Apple product family and the other Android and Windows family.

Would the words and images in your marketing be the same for each family? Are the worldviews the same? No, probably not. If you ignore their worldview you’ll speak the wrong language and annoy people you want to attract and waste your money.

5) WHERE is the Fear that Prevents Action?

For us, as owners and marketeers, action is a signup/registration, or phone call or a sale. So identify the fear preventing our prospects from taking action?

Is the fear the basic I must ‘Know you, like you, trust you’, before I buy from you? Does your website ooze confidence (trust). Is social proof is missing – testimonials and social shares. Or maybe the fear is internal. Or maybe people want your product, but, just not today.

Figure out what fear is holding people from opening up their wallet and giving your their cash.

6) WHEN do you Expect People to Take Action?

If your answer is I want action ‘now’, then ask what is keeping people from saying, ‘no, I’ll buy later’. Because deferring decisions to later is safer and easier.

As owners want people action now, so figure out and fix, that part of your marketing funnel ‘allowing’ people to say I’ll take action ‘later’.

7) WHY Would People Do Business With You?

Seldom is the features and benefits of your product stopping the sale.

So, ask yourself, why would people do business with me? Is it your charm, your good looks, your humour? Maybe it’s your customer service? Or it’s the hand written thank you card after an order? Or a voucher for a coffee?

Further, what will your customers tell their friends about you? And if you ask your customers – ‘why did you do business with me?’ Will you be pleased with the answer?

And what would happen if take their answer and lead your marketing the it? As we know customers speaking about you (earned media) is 100x more powerful then you talking about you.

Kick Start your Marketing

To kick start your business and annoy less people — answer the 7 question. And like magic you will attract the right people, repel the wrong people, spend less money and be massively ahead of your competition.

Wow. That sounds like cheating.

Want to cheat more? Download for FREE this Worksheet, it walks you through the 7 question to Market your business and Annoy Less People.

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UK budget 2015: An Action‐Packed & Politically Charged Budget

The 2015 general election was a speed camera for austerity, or so we thought. Given the content of the Budget back in March, the Chancellor had been expected to put his foot down on the austerity accelerator. Instead, however, he is set to keep the austerity drive in cruise control, with the pace to remain steady. The huge public expenditure cuts forecast in March for the next two years are now not going to be as steep as projected. Furthermore, the Chancellor has pushed back his objective of achieving a Budget surplus by one year to 2019/20. And, in fact, there is now £83billion more in departmental spending than was forecast in March. For perspective, this would be enough to fund Northern Ireland’s entire public spending for almost four years. It should be noted though that this doesn’t mean there is more public spending being made available; it is simply that the cuts will not be as severe as forecast. This is funded by welfare cuts, net tax increases and higher levels of borrowing.

Uk Budget 2015

There are some similarities between today’s Budget and the emergency Budget of 2010. Back then, multi-year benefit and public sector pay caps / freezes, alongside significant welfare spending cuts featured prominently, and the same was true today. Osborne billed it a Budget for working people. In many respects this was the case, but perhaps not for those working in the public sector. Public sector workers will see pay rises capped at 1% for the next four years beginning in 2016, and they are therefore likely to face real-terms pay cuts in some of these years (i.e. increases below the rate of inflation). They are also likely to see changes in their terms and conditions in the autumn.

From 2016, most working-age benefits will be frozen for four years, and from April 2017, child tax credit will be limited to two children. The household benefit cap will be reduced from £26,000 to £20,000 per household for regions outside London and the South East of England. Overall, all the welfare spending announcements unveiled today will impact on Northern Ireland disproportionally more than elsewhere due to its reliance on welfare spending. In turn, this will have adverse effects on consumer spending, impacting, for instance on the retail sector. As a result, the Northern Ireland economy is expected to see sluggish economic growth in 2016.

New National Living wage

One of the surprise announcements by the Chancellor was the introduction of a new national living wage (NLW) of £7.20 per hour for over 25s from next April. This is due to rise to over £9 per hour by 2020. This will be welcomed by employees in lower paid jobs, however it will represent a higher cost to employers in low wage sectors such as food, retail and hospitality. This measure will make under-25s more cost-competitive from an employer’s perspective which could help alleviate Northern Ireland’s high youth unemployment rate. Those on low pay will also welcome the increase in the tax free personal allowance to £11,000 in 2016, with the prospect of this rising to £12,500 by 2020.

When it comes to businesses, another surprise was the planned corporation tax cut to 19% in 2017 and to 18% by 2020. This will make the cost of a 12.5% corporation tax rate more affordable for Northern Ireland but it will dilute the benefit by reducing the rate’s relative competitiveness. Businesses will welcome that the annual investment allowance has been raised and will be set permanently at £200,000 from January 2016. Meanwhile businesses will also have their employer national insurance bill cut by a further £1,000 from April next year. Large employers will also face a levy to fund apprenticeships, which will add to their costs but should help address skill shortages in some sectors. This initiative does not apply to Northern Ireland.

Scaling Back Reliefs

The Budget has significantly scaled back tax reliefs in certain areas, including reforming dividend tax, with tax rates on dividend income increasing. Tax relief on pension contributions for those with incomes over £150,000 is also being scaled back. Property landlords will soon only be able to off-set mortgage interest costs at 20%, rather than up to 40/45%. This will erode profitability in the buy-to-let sector and potentially provide another headache for those in negative equity.

As far as Budgets go, this was an action-packed fiscal affair, and very political, with the Chancellor effectively stealing the clothes of the centre left, and unveiling a Budget that surprised many. Indeed, more surprises are likely to be unveiled in the coming hours and days. As they always say, the devil will be in the detail.

Download the complete UK Budget 2015 Analysis by Richard Ramsey here. (.PDF 323 KB)

Post by Richard Ramsey, Chief Economist, Northern Ireland Ulster Bank Group Communications, www.ulstereconomix.com

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Website Localisation: Preparing Your Website to Market in Another European Country

Being in the EU offers some great opportunities to make sales in other European countries via your website. Geographically, it is fairly easy to offer order fulfilment in mainland Europe if you are based in the UK, and of course, if you sell through your website then it is very easy for people all over Europe to place orders with you. Of course, if your website is only available in the English language and you don’t do any marketing targeted at people outside of the UK, you will probably find that almost all of your sales come from your own country, except perhaps for the odd sale to expats, or sales of very niche or unique items

Branching into Other European Markets

You may, therefore, be missing out on a lot of potential business by not taking other European countries seriously as a market. If your products are suitable for mainstream customers in other countries (for example they are things like clothes, toys, hand tools or jewellery as opposed to language specific things like books, or electronics that come with UK plugs), all you need to do is come up with a strategy to advertise your website to different markets using things like targeted Facebook and Google ads, and of course, prepare your site to receive foreign customers.

Website Localisation

If you want to make your website ready to sell to people brought in by your foreign marketing efforts, you are going to need versions of all of your static content in the right languages (for example your ‘About Us’ and FAQ pages), as well as your product descriptions. It can be easy to get content like this quickly translated using a professional translation agency, and unless your product range changes very regularly you will be able to get most of your copy translated in one go. You will also need to set prices for your products in the currencies of the countries you want to sell to, which in most cases will be euros. If you already have euro pricing for the Irish market then you can use this. You’ll also need to work out shipping and handling costs to add on. You may want to also buy your site’s equivalent domain in the country you are going to sell to, for example if you have example.co.uk, you would buy example.de to direct your German customers to. If you use a .com domain you may not want to do this, as .com is universally used.

One at a Time?

You can translateyour site and adverts and start marketing in several countries at once, or you can employ a strategy that deals with one new market at a time. If you have research that suggests your products will do very well in one particular country then it makes sense to focus your efforts here and expand gradually, however if you believe your products are just as likely to sell well in any given country then it can make sense to go by the size of the market, and the expense of shipping to it (shipping to France or Germany will be cheaper than shipping to Greece, and so will add less to the total cost of buying your product for the customer).

Branching out can allow you to tap huge new markets with only the relatively small expense of some translation and some changes to your marketing strategy. Is it time you considered mainland Europe as a major market for your business?

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NI Chamber initiative in partnership with Ulster Bank.

Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell today launched the second phase of business support programme ‘NI Chamber Connections’ – a Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NI Chamber) initiative in partnership with Ulster Bank.

Launched on board the Tall Ship Buque Escuela Guayas, the private-sector led programme aims to create a network of local businesses who share common interests, goals and challenges.

Following a highly successful pilot phase in June 2013 – June 2014, NI Chamber Connections will assist businesses to develop and grow, whilst providing a vehicle for shared learning and new market development for those companies looking to grow via exporting.

The second phase of the programme will also include a series of regional events and web based support, as well as continuing to link companies for advice locally and through the overseas network of Chambers, which has proved a valuable resource for companies who often don’t know where to access advice and information.

Richard Donnan, Managing Director, Retail Banking and NI SME & CIB at Ulster Bank:

“We’re very pleased to be supporting the next phase of NI Connections – it’s an excellent initiative aimed at fostering international cooperation and providing an important resource for growth

“Strong local exporters can play an important role in the sustainable expansion and development of the private sector, and making it easier for them to break into new markets abroad can have significant positive impacts on jobs and opportunities at home.

“At Ulster Bank, we have £1.5bn available to lend to businesses this year, and we want to support Northern Ireland’s many great businesses.”

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PowerPoint Presentation Mistakes: What to Avoid

Here are some common but easy to avoid PowerPoint presentation mistakes…

Avoid using too small font

Using small font size is a big mistake you should avoid at all cost. If you use small fonts, slide titles are usually barely noticeable. Additionally, a small font makes everything almost confusing. This is because the hierarchical importance of your slide title is almost lost. Using the recommended size ensures your slides command more attention. The smaller your font size in the title text or body, the more you encourage presenters to include much more text. Generally, this is not a prudent practice.

Avoid using weak contrast

Just like with a small font size, a weak contrast is also disastrous. Combining small texts and a weak contrast makes your titles essentially worthless and invisible. Moreover, the text can disappear depending on a projector, if a designer selects a faded orange color on the bullets. To be on the safe side, change the title text to white. Additionally, ensure the bullet color is bold. This eliminates any chances of the text appearing washed out by a projector even if it is bright.

Off-center bullets

Designers often reduce the bullet character size as a ratio or percentage of the text, for example 80%. This is especially true if they need to use a smaller bullet. What the designers fail to realize is that by changing the bullet mark size, they create bullets that are no longer line centered. A better approach would be to use a smaller version of a similar object (dash, square, circle etc.) on one of the standard fonts such as normal text, webdings, wingdings, etc.

The use of a default color theme

Every PowerPoint template ought to have a color theme, which matches perfectly with the business or corporate brand colors. Do you only have default PowerPoint colors in your template? If so, you have missed a golden opportunity to assist presenters select colors that are used across the company.

Mismatched shape formatting

Most often, most designers place much emphasis on aspects such as color themes, layout or slide background. A good number of designers often forget to come with a standard format for objects or shapes that match the overall template presentation (for example text font, outline color, fill color etc.).

It is very simple to come up with a default style through creating your desired formatting. After this, right click on the specific shape. Finally, select the “Set as Default Shape” before you save the template file.

No blank slide

With the escalating use of images in many PowerPoint presentations, a good number of presenters appreciate and embrace a layout option for the simple blank slides. The template designers frequently neglect to include this particular option. However, it ought to remain a standard option in any great PowerPoint template.

No dark/light background options

At one point in time, the need to use a light background presentation for internal meetings might arise. Excellent presentation templates have both dark and light versions for presenters to select from.

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Content Marketing: Five Social Forums to Share Content

‘Content is King’ – this remains constant amidst the changes all around. But how many of us actually know the trick behind creating a ‘kingly Content’? Quality content is the most important element, however getting it across the right masses makes the entire content marketing process complete. If you write and share fantastic content, your community is more likely to become your client, remain your loyal client, and send you more of them.

Spread Your Words With Social Media…

#Integrating the Basic Social Media Plan

  • Goal: Content should serve as a means to gain followers on social channels, drive brand awareness and convert the viewers into your desired customers.
  • Type of content: Considering which messages are appropriate for each channel and which of them resonates with specific audience, customize the content you plan to distribute.
  • Tone of the channel: It is critical to determine the overall tone of the channels as and when you share content on each one of them. Check whether it is friendly, conversational, fun or professional?

#Facebook and Twitter’s Native Video is about to Transform Content Marketing

  • Facebook Native Video: Posting content only on Facebook limits the potential relationship brands can build with their audience. There has to be some different algorithm advantages. Keeping this in mind, Facebook developed its native video empire adding auto play, mobile function, and view counts. The importance of short and visually appealing video content cannot be overlooked. The auto play provides a great opportunity to grab visitor’s attention and engage them in real time. Content marketers can now post through native video player to drive greater Facebook Traffic.
  • Twitter’s Native Video: It is not just Facebook, but Twitter also launched its native player to help content marketers and advertisers create premium video content. The six-second auto play allows content creators to be more flexible with the video structuring. This is an excellent way to reach the target audience within a short span of time.

With the advent of native video players, there will be significant changes in the way content marketers create and distribute video content.

#Google Plus to Amplify your Content Marketing

Google Plus is catching up with 50% of internet users having a Google Plus account.  When you connect Google Authorship with Google+ profile, it builds a confirmed connection between the content and its creator. Using Google Plus gives you the following benefits of content promotion

  • Enhance Visibility: Once you start posting content on Google Plus community, you establish a dynamic presence on the search engines too. The Google Plus layout is more visual.
  • Group Followers and Interact: You can group the followers of your brand using Google Circle and interact with your target group using Google Hangouts.
  • Connect to Influencers: Google Plus allows you to get connected with the influencers and make them talk positively about your brand.
  • Email your Audiences: If you check the little box at the bottom of your post that reads ‘Also send email to your circle’ in Google Plus, each of your followers in the circle will receive email and be aware of your content.

#The Key to killing it on LinkedIn is Content

In this content-driven marketing era, LinkedIn platform has enormous potentials

  • Content Marketing Score: With LinkedIn’s Content Marketing Score tool, you’ll be able to market your content effectively by measuring your audience’s engagement with the content. The tool also determines which content is getting the best response and which aren’t.
  • Personalized Content: LinkedIn is a great platform to learn about the geographical location when you want to address specific audience members. You can also listen to what your audience has to say through social media listening tools and accordingly craft segment-specific content.
  • Top Results in Search Engine: Articles already published on LinkedIn appears at the top on Google. You’re more likely to see LinkedIn articles in Google as you release more content on this popular social media channel.

#Pinterest’s Visual Content Marketing is the Buzz

With human brain processing visual information 60,000 times faster than text, people respond better to visual information

  • Increase the Use of Visual Content: You can add videos, functional slideshares and podcasts within Pinterest boards to make it more interesting and engaging.
  • Encourage Contribution: Your Pinterest boards can be set into ‘group boards’ that allows your followers to add pins to them. You can also encourage user feedbacks to improve your social media activities.
  • Content Curation: Pinterest is an excellent content curation tool thereby making it a two-way communication channel instead of only one. The more you use Pinterest or pinner’s photos, the better you create niche networking circle.

Sharing your Content at Optimal Times

Posting content at the optimal times gives your content an edge. There is always a best time to post to social networks. Certain times proved to drive engagement to content. Posting the same content multiple times helps it to get exposed to different time zones thereby making the content reach people living in different parts of the world.

Your social presence is an extension of your brand. Help your brand reach your target mass through this mind blowing social media content marketing strategy.

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InterTradeIreland Event Provides Insight into Complex Public Procurement Market

More than 600 local SMEs attended the recent InterTradeIreland Meet the Buyer event in Belfast to find out how they could be better placed to tap into the lucrative public procurement market, which is worth £2.8bn in Northern Ireland and €8.5bn in the south.  Both markets continue to offer substantial opportunities for small businesses, despite the decreases in public spending.

Public Procurement: Consortia can open doors

With recent changes to procurement practices by governments North and South, resulting in increasingly larger contracts being issued, delegates heard how it is now more important than ever for companies to consider forming consortia to bid for tenders.  This may seem daunting at first, but there is support available.

Government support

Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister, Jonathan Bell, who opened the event, emphasised that there are extensive opportunities available through government contracts, highlighting that a significant proportion of these contracts will be awarded to SMEs – a key commitment within the current Programme for Government.

SMEs – an innovative approach

SMEs are well suited to helping public sector buyers find new and innovative solutions. This event presented the perfect opportunity for businesses to better understand buyers’ needs and for local companies to improve their capabilities with regards to the tendering support that is available. It is vital for our economy that we have a truly joined-up approach to make tendering as accessible as possible to businesses of all sizes.

Popular events

The Meet the Buyer events are oversubscribed every year as they offer firms the unique opportunity to get directly in front of the key buyers from public organisations across the island including CPD in NI and OGP in Ireland, along with the likes of Translink, DRD Roads Service, NI Water, RTÉ, Dublin Airport Authority and ESB Networks.

Support available for complex process

Tendering can be a complex process but more InterTradeIreland supports are in place to help small businesses than ever before so that they can increase their chances of being successful.  One example of this is providing access to our dedicated ‘consortia facilitator’ to help companies ‘find’ each other.

Tendering success is encouraging

According to InterTradeIreland’s latest Business Monitor survey, over the last year, of the SMEs active in the public tendering market 31% have bid on a cross-border tender, of those that bid cross border, encouragingly 69% of these were successful. A sign that these opportunities are accessible to all – with the right support.

Global opportunities beckon

With an all-island value of £10 billion, local tendering success can also be a stepping stone to other markets with even more significant public purchasing power, such as GB and Europe.  Our Business Monitor figures highlight that there has been a significant increase in those bidding successfully for cross-border tenders, which confirms that this is a route to new business that cannot be ignored.

Meet the Buyer

The event was held in partnership with the Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) in NI; The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) in Ireland, Invest NI, the Strategic Investment Board and Enterprise Ireland.

A range of tendering supports

InterTradeIreland offers the following range of supports:

  • Meet the Buyer Events: Access key public sector buyers on the island under one roof.
  • Go-2-Tender Workshops: 2 day workshops providing SMEs, whether new to tendering or wanting to enhance their knowledge, with tender skills and insights.
  • Consortia Facilitator Service: Providing advice and facilitation to companies looking to form joint bids.
  • Tender Apps & Alerts: Automatic updates on the latest tenders direct to your mobile phone through Apple or Android Tender Apps.
  • Information & Guides: All the information you need to help you tender more successfully.

For more information www.intertradeireland.com/public-procurement.

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How Local SEO Can Help Your Business

Many small and medium sized business owners think that local SEO is something of a dark art cloaked in mystery, but really it isn’t all that difficult if you have a bit of time to spend. Most webmasters can do a lot of the work themselves without relying on the services of an SEO agency, but for those who do require a bit of expert guidance, we are always here to help. And for those of you who want to have a go, here are a few simple tips to get you on the right path.

Local SEO: Identify Your Target Audience

Different audiences require different approaches to content creation. For this reason, you need to spend a bit of time considering who you are marketing your website at. A more in-depth understanding of your target audience and their buying habits will help you make the right decision when identifying keywords and devising marketing strategies.

Keyword Research

Keywords are extremely important. Search engines use keywords to determine what your website is all about, so using relevant keywords will boost your rankings. The Google Keyword Planner is a useful tool. Use the planner to find out what people are searching for in your local area and pick the keywords that most accurately describe what your business is offering. Location based keywords – for example Chicago plumbers – are important, but be sure to include non-local keywords, too.

Create a Blog

Don’t underestimate the value of a blog. All small and medium sized businesses should have a blog. A blog ensures your website is regularly updated with fresh content, which is valuable from a search engine perspective. You can build keywords into your blog posts and link to other website pages, both of which are effective SEO techniques. Including share buttons on blog posts also encourages readers to ‘share’ them on social media, which is good for boosting traffic to the site.

Local Contact Information

All small and medium sized businesses should have contact information on their website. A contact email address is not enough – you need to include a geographical address and telephone number (in text form) on every page of your website. If you have more than one office, list the details of your main office on each web page and include a separate listing for branch offices. These details are crucial for local SEO but, sadly, many businesses overlook their importance.

Local Directory Listings

Directory listings have become devalued in recent years, but for small and medium sized businesses, good quality local directory listings are worth their weight in gold. Yahoo!, Yelp, Yellow Pages and other business directories will help your search engine ranking position, but make sure your listing information is exactly the same as that on your website. Even the smallest of discrepancies will hurt you. It is also worth creating a Google+ and Google Places account.

This is only a summary of how local SEO can help your business. If you would like to learn more, contact us today for more information.

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How to Avoid Negligent and Reckless Misconduct in Business

A business should be a safe place that employees can come and do their very best. Catering to this idea can not only be good for morale but also for your checkbook. Every company needs to institute policies and procedures that prevent negligent or reckless misconduct in business.

Failure to maintain competent operations can lead to serious consequences, including injury or even litigation. Fortunately, there are several proactive steps a business can take to maintain an orderly and ethical environment.

Misconduct in Business: Provide Standard Operating Procedures for Employees

Employees should understand the general operating procedures of their departments, and possibly, the entire company. For example, they should become familiar with policies about attendance, vacation, holidays, scheduling, sick days, injuries, and related issues. This information should be organized and collated into a company handbook that can be linked to the company website or provided in print format to each employee, or at least each department. Everyone should know what to do in the event of an emergency as well as how to keep everyone accountable.

Review HR Hiring and Training Procedures

Human resources has the responsibility of hiring and training company personnel. This process begins with a clear-cut job description and continues through hiring the best person for the job. An outside lawyer, like these Pennsylvania personal injury attorneys, can be hired or consulted for legal advice on covering these important aspects. Adequate training for each position is also mandatory so that everyone is doing a job for which he or she is qualified and prepared. A list of job duties in conjunction with the job description should be explained to new employees so they know what is expected and can ask questions for clarification.

Implement an Effective Monitoring and Disciplinary Policy

There should always be a checks and balances system to ensure the company procedures are followed. If questions arise, these should be dealt with promptly. Occasionally, policy changes may be needed based on shifting duties or workforce population, such as family leave policies. Department supervisors are responsible for monitoring employee actions through their daily work routine as well as documented files and records. If a problem occurs, it should be documented and addressed according to standard company policy. For example, if the policy states that an employee who is late more than fifteen times a year should be warned verbally and in writing, and then fired if absenteeism continues, this should be recorded and followed if needed.

Holding employees accountable is an important part of any company but creating a safe atmosphere where the business owner would be held accountable. Instituting policies and following them diligently is a sure way to help prevent negligence and misconduct. Failure to do so may incur harm on your employees and your business.

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Best CRM Systems: Which Platform Gets You The Most Bang For Your Buck

Best CRM Systems: CRM (customer relationship management) software is a class of enterprise software that basically covers a wide range of applications as well as software that’s designed to assist companies in accessing important business data, managing both customer interaction and customer data as well as automating sales, customer support, marketing, and also managing vendor, partner, and help a business decipher between customer needs and wants.

CRM Software Today

CRM software is created to help companies meet the goals and demands of customer relationship management. CRM software today is highly customizable and scalable, which enables businesses to gain more clientele insights along with a back-end diagnostic engine, streamline operations, view key business opportunities with foreseeable analytics, and personalized customer service according to the client’s past history and former interactions with your organization.

CRM software is generally used to effectively manage business-client relationships. But, the software can also be used in a similar manner in order to successfully manage contacts, sales leads, contract wins, and clients in general as well.

Below is a basic CRM Software Review of the top five systems according to global market share:

Salesforce

Although Salesforce is relatively new, it follows the path of no one. It’s currently the most popular CRM software publisher overall. While it’s not as large as its fierce competitors, including SAP, Microsoft, or Oracle, it has nevertheless gained more than two million customers worldwide.

Salesforce has become one of the primary providers of CRM software applications that’s delivered through a cloud computing model or SaaS (software as a service). The company’s main solution involves a CRM system created for businesses and industries of all sizes throughout the world.

Also, Salesforce provides a PaaS (platform as a service) solution known as ‘Force’ (Force.com) and manages an integrated third party type of systems portfolio in an ecosystem online called ‘AppExchange’. Salesforce markets its enterprise software and CRM solutions to various organizations on a subscription basis, essentially via a direct sales model as well as indirectly in a business partner approach.

SAP

SAP’s CRM solution includes a fully integrated client relationship management software system manufactured by SAP that primarily targets the general requirements of business software of both midsize and large businesses for virtually all sectors and industries.

The SAP CRM application involves a variety of integrated modules that fully support client-facing functional areas such as:

  • SAP CRM Sales
  • SAP CRM Marketing
  • SAP CRM Interaction Center
  • SAP CRM Service
  • SAP CRM Partner Channel Management
  • SAP CRM Web Channel (including E-Service, E-Marketing, and E-Commerce)

Like its top competitor Oracle, SAP chose to release a SaaS CRM type of product known as SAP Sales on Demand. But, this web-based solution is more about enhancing their on-premise products in general.

Oracle

Oracle’s range of CRM products consist of Oracle Siebel CRM, Oracle Contact Center Anywhere, Oracle CRM on Demand, Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise, and Oracle E-Business Suite. The company itself retains more than 5,000 CRM customers worldwide, about 130 million users in self-service, and approximately 5 million users in general.

Since its acquisition in 2005 by Oracle, the product has maintained a forward push, but not without some hefty competition from one of its biggest competitors (SAP) along with a number of ways to measure market share. Today, Oracle and SAP both claim the top spots in the CRM software industry. However, most analysts are inclined to give Oracle software a slight edge, although it’s primarily based on which benchmarks are counted and variables are used overall.

Sugar CRM

Sugar CRM is considered the best CRM software available today. Not only is it very affordable, it doesn’t require you to get an upgrade or feature any hidden fees. It also enables each staff member to effectively handle customers face-to-face. Sugar CRM is known for creating excellent relationships between clients and salespeople. It automates different aspects of the business including customer service as well as marketing and selling.

Also, Sugar CRM can potentially make sales teams as much as 20 percent more efficient overall since it perfectly combines the basic mobility, simplicity, and social components of a consumer app along with optimizing the business process of traditional CRM.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM has turned into a prominent CRM software solution. Microsoft CRM stands alone in an ever-changing CRM marketplace since the same code set can be used in the SaaS remote delivery model or incorporated on-premise. Customers can also directly subscribe from Microsoft to Dynamics CRM or else choose from a variety of specialized partners.

Microsoft CRM’s latest release now enables SaaS clients as well as business partners to easily install server-side code within the Microsoft data centers and cloud. Microsoft CRM software will keep advancing together with Azure, Microsoft’s highly regarded public cloud.

This CRM comparison regarding CRM software is offered in a variety of installations, which include on-premises or as cloud (web-based) applications where the software itself is typically hosted through a CRM provider and then accessed by the client’s online business through the secure services of the provider.

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