Posts Tagged ‘scratch’

As I start my business from scratch, I am finding I have to create everything. I like having a logo, so I paid attention to this from the very get go. I considered getting a VistaPrint logo for Broad River Creative, but I prefer having something unique. So I designed my own logo. Now, it needs to be said, I am not a graphic designer. However, I think I have a pretty good eye for things, and with a little training on Photoshop, I could probably crush a nice logo. But I don’t have Photoshop or the time for training. So I used what I have and designed a logo. I put it on my first batch of business cards. In the end, though, I didn’t like it.

This left me adrift without a logo. Not the end of the world, I know. When I redesigned BroadRiverCreative.com, I just left the logo out of it. I still wanted something nice for the site, for letterhead and other materials. I think a logo helps bring things together. But it would have to wait.

Then something pretty cool happened. I don’t consider myself lucky. I hardly ever win things. But, out of the blue, I got a tweet from 99Designs saying that I had won a $1,000 design package. I was pretty blown away. I could use the award for anything I wanted on the 99Designs web site.

Okay, in case you don’t know, here is a little information about 99Designs. This web site offers crowdsourced designs. Basically, any business or individual puts a job out for bid. Instead of bidding for the price, designers bid with their designs. As someone looking to have something designed, it works out pretty well. You get a lot of variety to choose from. I personally had 236 designs to choose from.

Now, I know that there are quality designers out there that hate sites like this. They feel it commoditizes the process. In some ways, they are right. If you have a little more money, you may be better off hiring a proven designer whose portfolio you like. That gives you more control over the end design. But for people that are just starting out, 99Designs and sites like it are a good match. Its a step above (way above) stock logo sites. You get a custom design, but the cost is lower and controlled.

My experience with 99Designs has been great. In the end, the hardest part was choosing a design. There were some pretty creative entries, and the designers responded to my suggestions and kept working to make just the right logo. In the end, my choice came down to a few really great designs. Some were fun and very unique. I thought that this was what I wanted, and almost went with a design that looked like a box of water with two fish swimming in it. But then I didn’t. I went with a more traditional logo instead.

Why did I make this choice? Well, while I want my company to be fun, I also want a design that is easy to use across multiple mediums. I was afraid the fish one wouldn’t make sense as a logo in some settings. Also, I am going after business customers, and I didn’t want to have a logo that confused them. Taken by itself, the fish logo could look like a fish tank. I don’t sell fish tanks, so I thought that may be a problem.

So I chose another logo that I really liked. This one did a good job of capturing the essence of Broad River Creative without being over the top. It was a design that I saw progress from the simple original that the designer submitted to the end product that you will see below. I liked the cleanness and vibrancy of the logo, and thought that it was simple enough that I could easily grow with it.

That was another important aspect of my decision. Would the logo last? Could I envision myself using the same logo, or perhaps a variation of it, for years to come? A logo should have staying power, otherwise, what’s the point?

So now I have a logo for Broad River Creative. I am so thankful to 99Designs for awarding me the money. Also, they were great to work with all throughout the process. And each and every designer put in a great effort, some making many adjustments. It was hard to say no to many of them.

Of course, the logo is only a small thing. As I create this business, there are so many more important things. Often, I get sidetracked by things like design and look, and don’t pay enough attention to sales and profit. Next time, I’ll tell you a little about my marketing plan and how I hope to bring in a bunch of new clients.

Here is my new logo:

I hear this question a lot. When a small business starts getting involved in social networks, such as Twitter, the owner wants to know if they should allow any personality to show or not. The question is a valid one, and my opinion comes down pretty heavily on one side. However, before I give that to you, I want to walk through the process that a small business goes through when its first dipping its foot into social media.

Why Do You Get Involved?

As a small business owner, there is really only one reason to get involved in social media. You want to get sales. If you are moving into social media for this, congratulations, you are still ahead of the curve.

Its possible that you were involved in social media on a personal level before you decided to bring your business into the mix. Most of us have Facebook pages and LinkedIn accounts. However, you probably didn’t spend that much of your personal time on these sites. As a small business owner, you simply don’t have all that much personal time.

So when you decided to bring your business into social networks, you probably didn’t already have a huge personal presence. You have to build something from scratch for your business. You think, and rightly so, that social networking can drive sales to your business. But you may be mistaken in how you think that will happen. Lets look at where most small businesses are coming from in terms of marketing driven sales.

Where Are You Coming From?

As a small business, the truth is, you probably don’t do a whole lot of marketing. You are probably considering social media because you have heard its effective and, just as importantly, its free. There is no shame in this. Free marketing can be just as effective as paid.

When a small business does market in the offline world, it is usually in the form of newspaper ads, yellow pages, and post cards. And because all of these things get expensive, you probably don’t do these as consistently as you would like. With social networks, you will be able to be very consistent. In fact, it is a necessity.

When you market now, you probably spend a fair amount of time talking about your business and hoping your message will reach people who are ready to buy. This traditional form of marketing could also be called interruption marketing.

So, it would make sense if you tried the same tactics on social media. You may think that the best thing you can do on Twitter and in your newsletter is to provide deals and advertisements for your business. When you first start out, you will likely want to talk about your business all of the time. That is what you are used to doing. You get sales by telling people what you do.

Let me intervene right here. If there was a television station that was all commercials, all of the time, would you watch it? No, you would not. Likewise, people will not pay attention to you online if you are a 24/7 commercial. Its okay to make some mistakes when you get started. But in order to make social media worthwhile for your business, you need to get a feel for what it is all about.

How Long Does it Take to Get Comfortable?

Getting comfortable with social media tools is an important aspect of your success. If you don’t “get it”, you will never make a dime and will be wasting your time.

“Getting it” involves more than learning the technology. You also need to learn the people. Your prospective customers don’t log in to Facebook with the hopes that they will see a promotion from your business. People aren’t interacting looking to buy. Instead, they are looking for entertainment, education, and answers to their problems.

What you need to do is take enough time building relationships so that you can get a feel for your prospects and how they use social media. Then you can position yourself to be an entertainer, and educator, or a problem-solver.

This takes buying in to the power of online relationships. If you think its all a gimmick, please feel free to stay away. If you don’t spend time on social networks yourself, you aren’t going to be able to find the perfect voice for your business. If you learn how to interact, on the other hand, you will be turning up all kinds of new opportunities for your business.

Should You Be Yourself or Not?

Making the decision about whether you should let your personality shine through on social networks needs to be informed by your own usage of these tools. The  question is whether  your business is interesting without your personality. Also, you need to recognize how important you are to your business’s brand.

Think about this. The most popular people on Twitter are, well, people.  Businesses get follows, but there is less of a personal connection. If you are going to be interacting and building relationships on social networks, it is much easier to do it as a person. And as a person, you can build trust and point people back to your business.

My answer to whether you should be yourself on social networks is a resounding yes. It starts with you taking a different view of social media than you take with your traditional marketing. In a way, social media is more about sales than marketing. This is because its about personal connections. When you are on Twitter or Facebook, your big goal should be to build a network. It is only later that you can tap that network to drive sales. And when you are ready to, you will already have a good understanding of what your prospects will respond to.

In the end, it does all come down to sales. But its not a numbers game. Social media allows you to build a group of qualified prospects that respect you first, and then buy from you second. It is hard to build this kind of network as a faceless business.

Don’t be afraid to be a person. You are a person when you make a sales call, or when you talk to a customer on the phone. Be the same person online. Join social networks as yourself and contribute to the conversations. You will have plenty of opportunities to talk about your business. And if you do decide to send out a special offer, at least there will be people listening.

photo credit: We-Present: Travel-UggBoy-The-Photographer!

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

Ultimately, you want to build conversations around your own site and your own brand. You want the long comment streams to be on your blog, the vibrant communities happening around your personality. But if you try to create that from scratch, you will probably spend a lot of time talking to yourself.

When you are getting started, you need to hitch your wagon to other people’s horses. In other words, join the conversations that are already happening, even if they are happening in orbit around a competitor.

Where to Join

Conversations are happening everywhere. Pick a few places you are comfortable with and then join. You will be most effective if you can find conversations that take place within your industry. I highly suggest finding an active forum to be a part of. Forums have plenty of conversations going on, and will also provide you with lots of links out to blogs and such to explore.

Blogs are another great place for conversation. Find the top blogs in your industry and start commenting on them regularly. Always stay on topic and add something to the conversation. In fact, that is a rule across the board when joining ongoing conversations.

Social networks are powerful conversation tools. On Facebook, you can try to connect with friends of friends, and then join streams that are talking about things within your industry. On LinkedIn, get active by posting answers to people’s questions. Twitter may be the mother load for conversations. It is easy to find people with an interest in your topic through Twitter search and tools such as Twellow. Also, you can find Twitter chats on all sorts of subjects. These are great conversations to join to hone your art and network with more people.

How to Act

There is one rule to keep in mind when joining ongoing conversations. Be a contributor, not a publicity hound. Yes, your ultimate goal is to build your own brand. Keep in mind that there are many steps to the process of building your own community though, and creating trust in existing communities is a big one.

So when you join conversations, make sure you are adding value. Be a good listener and talk when you have something worth saying. Do not blast your marketing message all over the place when it is not asked for. Give good, solid, advice and you won’t have to.

What to Do Next

The end goal is to grow your own brand and bring in more sales. To that end, you are going to want to build relationships from the communities you join and eventually invite people into your own sphere. If you ultimately want conversations to happen around your brand, you need to create hubs for this to happen. One big one would be a blog.

You need to have some place to send people who are interested in learning more about you and your business. A static business web site isn’t going to cut it. We are living in a world of engagement, so make it easy for people to engage with you.

Once you have some influence, start hosting your own conversations. Here’s one option. Host a webinar on a topic that you know something about. Invite the people you meet through ongoing conversations, and ask them to invite their friends as well. Of course, keep in mind the rule of giving and provide excellent content in your webinar. This is not a traditional sales pitch, but rather a way to educate prospects and show them why they need your business.

There are all kinds of ways you can start to build your own engagement portals. Take it one thing at a time and don’t overdo it. Always keep relationship and trust in the forefront of your mind. If you do a good job of engaging with people in ongoing conversations, chances are good that many of them will be happy to join your new conversations that revolve around your business.

All of this leads to sales. While it may seem indirect, you will actually be building a foundation from which to attract more sales then you could ever go out and get. Building your influence today will pay off in business tomorrow.

photo credit: stevendamron

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com