Small business has historically been one of the greatest enablers of community & societal growth.   When a company is small there is often a direct link between the personality of the CEO & the culture of the company.  Communicating the values of a company are told through a variety of mechanisms – from how an employee answers the phone, to how your salespeople represent you, to how you advertise and market your goods and services.

Things to think about:

• Through communication, leaders influence and transform.  Want to see how transformational your leadership style is?  Take the test.
• Marketing at its simplest is communication representing a message about your company.   Marrying the science of wants and needs to traditional marketing gives Neuromarketing.  To what extent do your dialogs make use of neuromarketing techniques? 
• Given the degree of talk about the good works companies do, is there a place for credentialing oneself as being a responsible company, or  is this Neuromarketing at its worst? Read about B-Corp Companies.

What do your communications say about you?

Welcome to the fourth installment of our Next Level Leadership Series, wherein we speak with TAB members about the challenges each small business owner faces in the contemporary business world. Through this series of interviews, we find how business owners have risen above and beyond to become Next Level Leaders.

This week we spoke with Will Truex, manager of Marketing, Advertising and Sales at Budget Home and Office Cleaning. Will kindly shared his experiences with social media work: from introducing Budget Home and Office Cleaning to outlets like LinkedIn and Flickr to running promotional campaigns on Twitter.

When was Budget Home and Office Cleaning founded?

We were founded in 1995. [My parents] started it, just the two of them, and then it exploded from there.

When did you start delving into social media? (I.e., how long have you been participating in social media?)

We weren’t doing anything with social media [before I took over the role]. We were doing a Facebook page that was basically a graveyard, wasn’t updated at all.

I started social media work when I started [full-time] with the company, last August. Social media was my only role, and as I advanced in the company and learned more from day to day, I got more responsibilities.

I started a Twitter account, looking into Google.

What social media outlets does Budget Home and Office Cleaning participate in? (E.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, etc.)

Presently we have two Twitter accounts (residential and commercial); LinkedIn (my personal account); a Facebook fan page; a YouTube account; a Flickr account; and we have a blog (Google blogger).

I noticed you have Twitter updates on the Budget Home and Office Cleaning blog. How does that work?

By experimenting with blog layouts, I could incorporate Twitter feed, and the blog updates itself whenever I do a tweet. [The blog is updated] almost every single day.

How has Budget Home and Office Cleaning founds its voice online? That is, do you have corporate guidelines to follow while participating in social media, or do you trust your personal judgment?

Typically with Twitter accounts, if there’s an issue I am personally one way about, I do not include that in Budget Residential and Office account. I do my tweets impartially. If there’s an issue I care about, I generate a general statement but I won’t go either way. I’ll try and give both sides of the issue.

Never use profanity. I try to lighten the heavy subjects, et cetera.

Have you run any special promotions or marketing campaigns through social media?

I did run a contest that we ran on Twitter. I got the idea from another business. I would provide a code on Twitter at random time of the day. A customer could come across the code and get a discount off cleaning. I did [that promotion] early on in our social media campaign.

From 9 am to 2 pm, I like to schedule Tweets every hour. I use a platform where I can send it to multiple accounts (HootSuite). I do an article, and then an advertisement. I constantly give news and advertisements. Advertisements are usually links towards directly ways you can save money: coupons, et cetera.

I’ve gotten a good response. People find you on Twitter. I do a lot on green cleaning tips. One site, paper.li, featured one of my coupons.

Do you consider the promotions successful? How do you gauge success in social media?

Specifically with HootSuite, I can monitor who is looking at what. HootSuite has Google Analytics with Twitter. [There’s a] click summary – it gives you a report: who’s clicking what, in what region, what’s popular. Recently, we got a lot of clicks directly on Facebook and Twitter.

The way I gauge Twitter and other social media is traffic to our website, via Google Analytics. I also look at mentions, like mentions on Twitter. There’s a group of people, you develop relationships with people with similar interests. [There are] retweets on all the feeds I follow, that I find pertinent. You may not see a huge return, or lots of referrals, but the more people talk about you, the more you get known, the more it helps. You become so ubiquitous, you can’t be ignored – but you’re not in everyone’s face.

We were trying other methods – cold calls, door knockers, mass emails – none of them work like they used to. People want to see what a company has to offer on their own time.

[Our marketing] is all online and word of mouth. It works really, really well. The only cost is time. You need the time to update. If you don’t update, no one cares and your name disintegrates.

Businesses often cite social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter as a great place to hear, and respond timely to, customer complaints. Has participating in social media enabled you to engage more with customers? If so, how?

We’re very small, so it doesn’t happen very often. Typically it’s direct responses via email.

Our demographic is a different generation. Occasionally you’ll get a younger person [who is] more tech savvy.

Any interesting social media stories you can share with us?

When I started doing [our social media work], I got a little gun shy. I had correspondence with one woman who thought I was a spammer. I used to search for cleaning questions on Twitter, and I’d answer them. I wasn’t trying to sell anything, just offer advice.

One woman didn’t know who I was and thought I was trying to spam her. I told her I wasn’t trying to spam her, just help. If you don’t like free help, I don’t know what to do for you.

One time I made a mistake in giving advice. The person told me, I admitted my mistake, and told the truth. Once you put it out there, it’s out there – it will be there till we’re all dead. So you have to be careful what you say.

What do you like most about The Alternative Board and/or personal coaching you get?

TAB – my favorite part with Marcy and TAB is that I get unbiased input and different angles to approaching problems. I have different people from different professions, who think differently, who offer advice and hold you accountable. There’s accountability.

TAB is like a huge ocean where you can pull all these resources. It makes me be more experienced without having to go through all the years of experience. I get both real life experiences on my part, and I can learn from other people’s triumphs and struggles. TAB makes you wise beyond your years.

As summer starts to edge closer, so does the season of long weekends, extended vacations and other trips out of town. When your customers are gone, how do you keep your business busy? Here we offer five marketing ideas to help keep your small business hot during the summer. Grab a glass of lemonade and read on:

1. Make a reason to celebrate.

It may seem that between Memorial Day and Labor Day, only Fourth of July stands out as the lone holiday of the summer. That’s not exactly true – summer is chock full of zany holidays: July is National Ice Cream Month; International Friendship Day falls on the cusp of July and August; Saint Jonas’ Festival happens every June 24^th. You can use any of these interesting holidays as reason for special promotions or events, all the more special because, really, who else is celebrating International Friendship Day?

2. Do a good deed.

Your business may already be associated with a special cause or charity; if not, now is the time to get rolling. Summer is the perfect time to organize a community service day or host an outdoor barbecue fundraiser. Invite everyone to become involved: customers, employees, other local businesses. Special causes help you give back to your community and connect with potential customers who share similar values with you.

3. Shorten your social media To-Do list.

You may have a lot of items on your To-Do list, things that keep getting pushed down by higher priorities: updating your blog, starting a Twitter account, researching a mobile app for your business. Social media can be a great way to run seasonal promotions and contests.

4. Spread the word.

If you’ve been meaning to book a speaking engagement or two, now’s the time to go ahead. Many clubs and associations, like Kiwanis International, meet year-round and are always on the lookout for speakers. Speaking engagements are opportunities to communicate what you know and love – and network with others interested in the same.

5. Spread the love.

Host a party, like an afternoon grill-out, in honor of customer appreciation. Invite your customers and let them bring a guest or two. Promote your event through Yelp.com, as well as through your other social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. For an added bonus, arrange a prize contest or giveaway for one of your products or services.

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Malcom Gladwell describe how spaghetti sauce changed the concept of marketing, consumer tastes and product offerings through a great new site, Ted.com.   His discussion on consumer choices raised an interesting dilemma - how do you maintain profitability if you constantly expand options for your customer offerings. Certainly larger companies can do this, but what can you do as a small to mid-sized business?

Flanking pricing is one strategy that can help.  Develop varying options (service, delivery, maintenance, accessories, etc) for your offerings.   Set your richest feature offering with the highest (premium) price and your bare bones offering at the lowest (value or budget) price.  Your target pricing/offering (features and options your customers most want) is priced between these.  This is effectively flanking your pricing and creating value for your offerings and can increase the price your market will pay for your offerings.  If you find you are getting more sales at the higher end or the lower end, adjust your pricing accordingly until the majority of your sales fall into the range you desire.

Marketing, in its simplest definition, is communication.  Historically this communication has been one way - initiated by a company toward prospects and customers, and often purposely one-sided (the difference between talking at someone versus talking to them).  Social media has the power to take your company to the next level by conversing with your audience.  Just as the telephone made conversations two way (versus sending a letter and waiting for a reply back while circumstances around may have changed), Social Media allows you to bridge this communication time-distance gap.  Every business can take advantage of some aspects of Social Media, the trick is determining what’s right for your business.  Consider the following for your company:

• Expand your marketing department – 2 of the top 5 Superbowl 2010 ads were created by customers as part of a contest Doritos ran.
• Allow prospects to interact with you and your customers outside of your “office hours” – Make your blog a place where not only do you share information, but you get feedback from your market. 
• Use discussion boards and the concept of community to engage your audiences.  Don’t brag, don’t do commercials - sharing relevant information of interest is the way to gain friends and fans.
• Track what’s being said in your industry, about you, your markets and competitors.  Use Google Alerts and Twitter Alerts.
• Maintain and track your reputation.  Remember the old adage, “For every bad experience you hear about, there are 10 more that you don’t (hear about)?”  Consider that in today’s world that means anyone can create a Twitter account, blog, or Facebook account and share a bad experience they’ve had with you.  Knowing what that experience was and addressing it before it goes viral will keep your reputation stellar.

Have additional tips to share on how you’re using Web 2.0 and Social Media?  Please share below, and if you’re a business owner who would like to join us for one of our upcoming “Social Media Matters – Setting Your Strategy” sessions, please visit our registration site. You'll hear great tips from the CEO of iMarketing, Keith Kochberg while brainstorming with Peer Business Owners on how to address marketing challenges & opportunities today.

Think Social Media is for other businesses?  Think again.  Facebook is now the most used application on the planet with Fan Pages growing rapidly as a way for companies to promote their businesses outside of their websites.  In one message posting Twitter can undo years of work a company has put into building its brand and loyalty (just ask Southwest Airlines how Kevin Smith's sharing of his treatment on a recent flight impacted their loyalty).  And get ready for the latest.  Chat Roulette.  A new website ChatRoulette.com allows you through a random process to connect to others around the world and have video chats with people you may never have had an opportunity to meet otherwise.  That's the fun news.  The not so fun news is that you may never have wanted to chat with some of these people to begin with.  But you can quickly move on to others and gain new experiences and insights through the process. 
Social media now allows us to create conversations in whole new ways with new people that we've never been able to before.  Which is the key point. Conversations.  It's not about one way or one to one discussions.  It's about two way conversations one to many and many to many.  So the next time someone says Social Media doesn't matter, post a twitter comment on that and see how many replies you get back joining into the conversation. 
Want to learn more about Social Media Matters?  Join us for one of two upcoming complimentary sessions taking place in Sussex New Jersey and Flanders New Jersey on Social Media Matters for Small Business and get a customized website effectiveness report for your company. Email us to learn more.

Great marketers know that how an offering is packaged, priced and presented will determine what a buyer will pay.  Put two identical offerings having different marketing messages side by side and you’ll get different results regarding how customers and prospects feel about what they are buying.  Pricing items higher or lower also impacts your customers’ and prospects’ value perception.  I recently learned of a social experiment funded by the Washington Post that reinforced this concept.   

In 2007 Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten enlisted renowned violinist Joshua Bell, winner of the Avery Fisher Prize for outstanding achievement in music to perform in a Washington DC metro station during rush hour.  The event was “an experiment in context, perception and priorities – as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste.”

Without publicity, treated to a free concert, played by an amazing artist dressed in street clothes, using a Stradivarius violin worth over $3.5 million dollars, over a thousand commuters passed by.  After 45 minutes of playing some of the most spellbinding music ever written, only 7 people stopped to listen, just one recognized the performer and Mr. Bell, who days earlier had played for audiences paying over $100 per ticket received $32.17 for his efforts.

For business – understand how your price, position & package your offering has tremendous impact on your ability to succeed.  But consider these questions as well:

• In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty & worth?
• Would we stop to appreciate it?
• Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? 
• How does this impact our definition of what is good? 

View a portion of Mr. Bell's performance here & don't forget to post your comments & thoughts below!

With all the emphasis on customer service, you would think companies would remember how important it is to gain and maintain trust. 

I received a call last week from my cell carrier provider who wanted to provide me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  I was going over on minutes, so they were going to let me upgrade for one month.  “AHA!  I thought, they’ve done this before.  And I’ve gotten tricked into contracts that lock me in for 2 years.  There’s no way I am falling for it again.”  I declined the offer.  Even while the lovely customer service representative assured me there were no strings.  The more they assured, the less I believed.  It came down to a matter of my perception that they had clearly exhibited a complete lack of integrity for my well-being as a customer and so completely missed the boat on servicing my account in the past that there was no way they could ever regain my trust.  The poor CSR.  I politely shared that she was very nice indeed and that had I not experienced such bad service in the past I would take her up on this, but I was just biding my time until April when I can finally set free of the contract binds that are keeping me tied to the carrier-who-shall-not-be-named.

Why do I bring this up?  Because one of the fundamental tenets of business says it is much easier to keep a customer than gain a new one (not to mention a happy customer spends more and is more profitable for you).  It is less expensive (think marketing & sales costs) and it takes less effort (think how much pain the prospect has to be in to move from a safe, known factor to you – someone they don’t know).  And yet, companies consistently do not consider loyalty efforts and initiatives as strategic in their companies.  Bear in mind that right now, another company is spending money to take them from you.  Given enough time, some competitive pricing and some compelling messaging and your customers may just decide to give the others a try.  Consider this – what are you doing to keep your customers?    

And while you’re at it, consider what your customers are saying about you.  I recently had an opportunity to meet someone at a local deli, which was a halfway meeting point for the two of us.  While looking for the address online, I came across a review -  “Bad food, bad service and bad attitude – bottom line, don’t go there”  Yikes!  Since I’m a sucker for the underdog, I called the owner to share the bad news (the review) and the good news (easy to take care of, have your fans sing your praises online).  Rather than consider that this could be a learning moment, he shared that he doesn’t go online so it doesn’t bother him.  Really.  Consider jobvent.com, consider Facebook, consider twittering.  Consider what Social Media makes your customers.  Your biggest marketers.  So treat them well.  It’s a matter of trust.