Small Business Marketing Minute

Most businesses will tell you that a majority of their new customers come by way of referral, but few have a systematic way of getting those referrals.  They simply either happen or they don't, and businesses treat it as something that is outside their control. My guest for Episode 269 of the podcast, Steve Gordon, takes a different approach.  Steve Gordon is the author of Unstoppable Referrals: 10x Referrals, Half the Effort, and his latest book, The Exponential Network Strategy. He’s the host of The Unstoppable CEO™ Podcast and has written over 400 articles on marketing for service businesses. Through his firm, he helps service business entrepreneurs create leveraged marketing systems so they can spend less time on business development, and more time on what matters most. In my interview with Steve, we discuss the following: Why aren't you getting more referrals? Why do most formal referral programs not work very well? What role can networking groups like BNI play in your referral efforts? Three top tactics for foolproof referral marketing  

With Google Local Services Ads (formerly Google Home Services) now available in most of the U.S., I thought it was high time I dedicated an entire episode to explaining them.  So, this is that episode.  I will tell you what these ads are, how they work, and why I believe that every eligible business should immediately sign up for them. 

Having good business systems is very important to delivering consistent results to your customers over a long period of time, but most small businesses are not very good at developing these systems.  In this episode of my podcast, I interview Brandon Vaughn, the CEO of Automate Grow Sell, about a very simple process for creating business systems that he teaches his clients. We also discuss the four departments that every small business must have, and go over how to attract and retain good employees even in a hot economy when jobs are easy to come by. 

Recently, my sister and brother-in-law visited my wife and I in southwest Virginia.  During their visit, we took them on a self-guided wine tasting tour where we visited three different wineries in the area.  At the first two, the four of us spent an average of $50 per person on the wine tastings, bottles of wine, and food.  At the third winery, we only spent $5 each on the wine tasting.  In this episode, I talk about the things that the last winery did and didn't do that caused us to spend so little money there, in the hopes that you won't make the same mistakes in your marketing.

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.   

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.   

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.   

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.   

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.   

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way).  Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day.  For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action. 

In this episode, I use a story about fishing for stocked trout in Virginia to introduce a new series that I'll be running on the podcast next month called Spring Into Action.  The series is 30 simple, affordable, and practical marketing tips in 30 days, with most tips being things you can do on your own without hiring any marketing experts to help you.  If you implement all 30 of these tips, I guarantee that your business will explode (in a good way) in 2019.  Listen to this episode to learn more about the series and find out what trout fishing can teach us about small business marketing.

When it comes to local business marketing, there is no shortage of examples of bad photography.  Whether it's badly cropped LinkedIn profile pictures, blurry product photos, poorly lit pictures of a store, or stock photos that don't even show anyone from the business at all, you don't have to look at too many local business websites to find examples of what not to do when it comes to using photographs in marketing. However, on the rare occasion when a local business does use professional photographs to support the message they want to communicate about their brand, it can be very powerful and effective. On the latest episode of my podcast, my guest was Marina Barayeva, an international portrait photographer who is also the host of the Marketing for Creatives podcast.  We discussed why it is important to use a professional photographer to take pictures of you, your place of business, your products, and your employees to use on your website, on social media profiles, and in printed marketing materials. 

It's the end of the year, and that means it's time to take a look forward at some of the marketing trends likely to affect local small business owners in 2019.  In this episode, I discuss five specific trends that, in my opinion, will be so important in the coming year that businesses who choose to ignore them will do so at their peril. 

Most types of marketing (such as all forms of advertising, event marketing, direct mail, video marketing, etc.) are things that businesses can choose not to participate in if they don't want to. The topic of my episode today is a form of marketing that every business is already participating in whether they know it or not, and whether they like it or not--reputation marketing. Listen to my interview with Brian Greenberg, author of the book The Salesman Who Doesn’t Sell, to learn all about this very important topic for local businesses.

When it comes to having a well-run business, marketing is a very important part of the process but it isn't the only part.  That's why I occasionally like to invite guests on my podcast who are experts in other areas of business management, and that is the case with Episode 232 of the show.  My guest for this episode is Scott Smith, the founder and CEO of Royal Legal Solutions. Scott is no stranger to high stakes litigation and has spent his career deconstructing asset protection structures and developing strategies that serve both to protect what you own, as well as leverage your income and maximize your tax savings. In my interview with Scott, we discuss some of the common mistakes local small business owners make when it comes to legal issues and especially asset protection.  As you'll find out if you listen to the interview, Scott recommends an approach that not too many businesses are taking but that makes a lot of sense.  Use the player below to listen to the interview, and then visit Scott's website to learn more about him.  You can also download his ebook "Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Assets", or send a text to 512-607-9848 to have the ebook sent to your mobile device.   

My guest on this episode of the podcast is Nick Usborne, who is an expert in copywriting and web writing. He has written copy for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Citibank, Apple, Chrysler, MSN.com, New York Times, WebEx, the U.S. Navy, and others. He attributes his success to “conversational copywriting,” and he has recently started a training program for copywriters that teaches them that approach. In my interview with Nick, we talk about how local small business owners can find good copywriters and work with them effectively to improve their marketing. 

In every community, there are a few businesses that have been around so long and have become such a part of the fabric of the town that people just take it for granted that they'll always be there.  In some cases, the business is also taking it for granted...and in those cases, that business is in big trouble.  Listen to this episode to learn why it's dangerous for any business, old or new, to have the mindset that it is entitled to exist. 

In a recent survey, only 26% of small businesses said they are investing in email marketing.  That's a tragedy, because it is by far the most cost-effective marketing tactic available to those businesses.  In today's episode, I make a compelling case as to why email marketing is an absolute must for every business, and address head-on the main reason small business owners give me when I ask them why they aren't using it. 

In light of several recent news stories that have involved the intersection of local small businesses and divisive national politics, including the stories of Masterpiece Cake Shop vs Colorado and the Red Hen vs Sara Huckabee Sanders, I thought it was time to address the subject in a podcast. Specifically, I thought it was time to do a podcast to help local business owners think through whether or not they wanted to use their businesses to take a public stance on a divisive political issue.  The reason I am recording this episode now is that I think that in many of the stories about this topic that have been in the news lately, possibly including those involving Masterpiece Cake Shop and the Red Hen, the business owners in question may not have fully thought thru the potential consequences of their actions before taking those actions. I make no judgement about whether their actions were right or wrong, and I am not suggesting that local business owners should never under any circumstances take a stance on a political issue.  However, I do think that if they do take a stance, they should do it only after going through a discernment process to help them decide if it is the right thing to do for them, their business, their employees, and their customers.  In this episode, I lay out a suggested process for doing just that, including three questions business owners should answer for themselves before deciding to "get political". 

I recently had the honor of interviewing marketing legend Perry Marshall on my podcast, the Small Business Marketing Minute.  Perry is best known as being one of first people to crack the code on Google Adwords—he literally “wrote the book” on how to properly set up and run a Google Adwords campaign (The Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords).  He’s also the author of the best-selling book 80/20 Sales and Marketing, which is widely considered one of the best marketing books of the decade.   The title of the book comes from the famous Pareto Principle, which states that for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.  What this means for sales and marketing, Perry says, is that 80% of your sales are going to come from 20% of your prospects—which makes it absolutely essential that you identify those people so you can focus your time and energy on them, instead wasting most of it on people who just aren’t going to be very valuable customers for you.  To that end, in his book he talks about what he calls the “Five Power Disqualifiers”—in other words, five ways to determine that someone is not your ideal customer.  In my interview with Perry, we reviewed the five power disqualifiers and discussed how local small business owners could use them to improve their sales process.  

As longtime listeners to this podcast know, the first step in the Duct Tape Marketing system is creating a marketing strategy for your business, and the first step in that process is identifying your ideal customer. My guest for today's show, Jeffrey Shaw, is a former portrait photographer who has become a nationally acclaimed speaker and business coach.  He has developed a 5-step process for helping business owners learn to speak the secret language of their ideal customers.  In my interview with Jeffrey, we go through that process in detail and give some examples of how it applies to local business owners.   

Last year, I started volunteering for the local chapter of a national organization called Heroes on the Water, which takes veterans and first responders and their families on free kayak fishing trips.  Helping out that organization has reminded me of something that I already knew--getting involved in the leadership of local nonprofit organizations is a great way to get access to people with a lot of influence in your local community.  In today's episode, I talk about what I've been doing with Heroes on the Water, give some tips about how to think strategically about supporting local nonprofits so you can get the most marketing benefit from it, and give some suggestions about groups you could get involved with if you want to give it a try. 

It's not every month that issues that affect small business marketing make international headlines, but this month there have actually been not one but two stories that could dramatically effect small business marketing. There is also another news item that almost went completely unnoticed, but that might have an immediate effect on any business concerned about getting positive reviews from customers on Google (which should be all of you).  I tackle all three of these news items in one whirlwind podcast episode, so buckle up!

If your marketing message sounds something like "We have the best prices, best quality, and best service, so come buy our stuff", then you need to listen to my most recent podcast episode. My guest for Episode 223 of the Small Business Marketing Minute show is Tom Poland, the bestselling author of Leadsology©: The Science of Being In Demand.  Since the age of 24 he's started and sold four highly successful businesses and managed teams of over 100 people, so he has a lot of great knowledge to share with business owners. The topic for my interview with Tom is how to create a marketing message that cuts through the noise and speaks directly to your ideal customer.  Unfortunately, many local business owners put little thought or effort into their marketing message, and many of them end up just parroting what everyone else is saying--hence, the prevalence of that "best service, quality, and price" message I mentioned earlier. Not only is it impossible to have all three of those things at the same time (if I'm willing to accept poor quality or bad service, I can always get a cheaper price), it's also been repeated so often that it has lost all meaning to consumers.  Luckily, Tom's Leadsology system provides a proven, ten part model that reveals each step on the path to generating a steady stream of high quality, inbound, new leads flowing into your business virtually every week of the year, and it all starts with the marketing message.

The small business marketing industry, in my opinion, is broken in two very important ways.  In today's episode, I explain what those ways are, and how together (marketers and the small business owners who buy marketing services) we can start to fix them. If you are looking for in-the-weeds marketing tips about a specific tactic, you can skip this episode.  This is a high-level discussion about some major issues facing my industry.  However, if you do listen to the episode, it just may change the way you think about buying or selling marketing services (depending on which side of the equation you're on).   

A client asked me recently if they should be on Instagram.  It's a good question, and the answer is not entirely clear cut. In today's episode, I break down which social media platforms you--or any local business--MUST be on, which ones are optional depending on your circumstances, and which ones you can safely ignore.

I recently discovered a startling fact.  Many local small business owners, apparently, are not familiar with the term "lifetime value of a customer." Lifetime value of a customer is a very important concept that is fundamental to making your business more profitable, and allowing you to select the marketing tactics that are most cost-effective for your business. In today's episode, I explain what that term means, why it is important to you, and what you can do to increase it.