Business Builders #2
Business Builders just had show #2 over at BlogTalkRadio.com
We started by going over how the Wall Street Journal uses Digg and quickly segued into Digg being dead. Looks like they’ve even hired a company to try and sell Digg. It’s unfortunate they didn’t do that before the whole DVD code debacle happened. It proved what the actual demographic was for Digg and that it did not appeal to the Internet as a whole (which no one really expected it to, but it was trying) but only to gamers and geeks. Well, mostly. It showed what the community was willing to step up and take a stand for.
I say this as a geek, but come on, I have other ineterests too!
We talked briefly about Snowglobe, a move that I saw the marketing for last week and was going to watch the show this week and try to glean a marketing parable out of. I’m usually pretty good at that…but fell short after watching the movie. It was pretty cut and dry, and didn’t lend itself to marketing parables. So we kind of had to mention we watched it because we said we would last week…but didn’t have much follow up because the movie kind of sucked.
Then we dove into our main topic for the evening – Top Ten Tips for New Year business success. We even separated it into two sections – Starting your business and Growing your business.
Starting your business
Don’t choose a business JUST because you think it will make you a lot of money.
Don’t do work you suck at – get training or move on
Know what you are selling – especially if you’re selling a service
Give your business or product a personality – and make it a good one
Be able to explain what makes you different – in a good way that adds value
Growing your business
Tell People About your Business – every chance you get
Network – in person and online
Everything Costs Time or Money … or time and money
Don’t be Lazy – do something for your business whenever you can
Be consistant – working one day a week isn’t going to cut it
We even had our first caller! A person that trains fitness instructors. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but it was an interesting marketing story, because she pretty much told me about her business without finding out why it would be relevant to our show, or either one of us hosting.
After the call ended (partially because the show is to give advice and partially because I’m sick) I went through and gave suggestions on how she could have presented a bit better. Her response in the chat room was “You didn’t offend me, people say I’m overwhelming a lot!”
My question: If you hear something like people telling you that you are overwhelming a lot, why wouldn’t you do something (ANYTHING) to try and correct that? Do you hear it and somehow rationalize that this is positive feedback? Do you not notice that people can’t get a word in edgewise? I mean come ON – how oblivious are you to the person you’re talking to? If someone is interested in what you have to say, they will ask questions. The only way to give them a chance to ask questions is to let them talk.
There is your “Marketing your Business 101″ tip of the day. Don’t give a “pitch” – have a conversation.
I think that wraps up this Sunday’s Business Builder show. Please feel free to join us at 5pm EST at BlogTalkRadio. We have live call-ins, a chat room, and we’ll be happy to plug your business or website if you call in – just please ask a question, be relevant, or be friendly and let us hosts get a word or two in.
Really, that’s not too much to ask for…is it?
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