Kicking off this month topic of Small Business marketing. Tonight’s discussion covered ideas about how small businesses can identify, understand and communicate with their customers.
- We’re on every Tuesday from 8-9 pm EST. The next chat will be held on June 8, 2010.
- You can read the instructions on how to participate here: http://sbbuzz.biz/instructions
- Invite others to join in, help them get started. We started this chat to facilitate conversation between small biz owners.
| sbbuzz: | Welcome to #sbbuzz, a Tweetchat for the next hour of small biz talking technology on Twitter. Join us! http://sbbuzz.biz/instructions |
| sbbuzz: | Rules: 1)NO pitching till end 2)Be nice 3)Stay ON TOPIC! 4)Send ?s for group to me w/o hashtag 5)Use #sbbuzz in all messages 6)Have fun! |
| sbbuzz: | Start off w/an INTRO: 1 message about you and your business and whatever else we need to know. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | Hi folks! I help coaches and other small biz owners write masterful content for newsletters and blogs http://ht.ly/1SMaF (Intro for #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Hi, All! Gina w/ writeytidy.com, content creator to the stars…& everyone else! Happy to discuss & learn marketing w/ everyone. #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | I?m a web designr/developr @chaostoclarity. I show small biz & freelancers how 2 take advantage of the web. #chaostoclarity #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Howdy hey! I am a writer, publishing useful information for savvy small business owners. #sbbuzz |
| decker_chris: | I’m a technology professional specializing in web development, social media, and helping people communicate. #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | I’m a search engine optimizer (SEO) running my own small business. First time on this chat.  #sbbuzz |
| scoblitz: | @sbbuzz Hi all – Scott from the Customer Experience team @batchblue. Looking forward to learning a lot from everyone tonight. #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | I provide a comprehensive resource for business professionals who want to learn more about online marketing channels #sbbuzz |
| stellel: | Hi! I’m Christelle, Customer Experience @batchblue software. #sbbuzz |
| MHBoys: | Michael Boys, cloud integrator for SMBs #sbbuzz |
| mriggen: | @sbbuzz Hi all, I’m Michelle Riggen-Ransoms and I’m with @BatchBlue, makers of software for small businesses. #sbbuzz |
| smitty1966: | Jeff Smith – technology director for @edupros – we help businesses and orgs with teaching and training. #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | Welcome everyone! I’m Pamela with @batchblue and the hostess of the #sbbuzz chat (iow the one wearing the bee costume) |
| Zimana_: | I am a web analytics marketer, helping small businesses update their websites and online marketing #sbbuzz |
| smitty1966: | We use @BatchBlue at @edupros. Love it! #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Tonight we’re kicking off a month long discussion of small business marketing. Let me know what you want included. #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Q1 What is the most challenging part of marketing your business? #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q1 – Defining the right niche is way up there for me. Until you do, it is hard to market correctly. #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | @Zimana_ Hi Pierre! Welcome! #sbbuzz |
| Zimana_: | for Q1 @sbbuzz Processing new marketing information and tools not just for me but for helping clients as well. #sbbuzz |
| MHBoys: | new customers other than referrals are VERY expensive to find – turning that marketing into sales #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | @bradfordshimp Q1. Agreed. It took us some time to figure out our niche. Things were smoother after we figured it out. #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | Q1 #sbbuzz Staying focused is hard. Our communications team has so many brilliant ideas, but not enough elves to do them all. |
| ginabee: | Q1 – Defining my market & finding them. Once they’re identified, it’s easier to explain how I can help them. #sbbuzz |
| scoblitz: | @sbbuzz Q1 – For me it was deciding where to best focus my efforts (time and money) until I could get measurable results. #sbbuzz |
| mriggen: | @sbbuzz Q1 Coming up with new ideas that will translate into new customers is always a challenge. And balancing resources… #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A1: Focusing on Trends vs. getting stuck on a Fad, is and area I always have to force on my self. #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | Q1 – Finding inexpensive ways outside of the Internet to reach our target market. #sbbuzz |
| selahsynergy: | @scoblitz I second that. There are so many new options without enuf track record to know what works. So little time. #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | @TraceyHolinka there are things outside of the internet?? #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A1: Social Media Technology is alsoa pain point for me right now. #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Q2 What are you doing to find your niche? What would you like to learn more about? #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q1 – Be sure to know that you actually want to work with the customers that you are trying so desperately to reach. #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Q1 – Another challenge is finding the time to do any marketing at all when you’re busy actually working your biz. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q2 – Finding your niche is part self-discovery, part-trial-and-error, and perhaps a dash of luck sprinkled on for good measure. #sbbuzz |
| smitty1966: | Q1-value for $. Focus is key, fostering referals and chosing right channels helps with results. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q2 – I am personally just trying things, seeing what fits. #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A2: I am defining my niche based on the audience(s) that need my products and services. W/O customers a product is only an idea. #sbbuzz |
| Chris_Hendricks: | @sbbuzz Q2 What are you doing to find your niche? A2 I ask myself…what am I passionate about #sbbuzz |
| JoeCascio: | @mriggen I know there are many people who need my help. The problem is connecting with them when they’re looking for help. #sbbuzz |
| mriggen: | @sbbuzz We’re kicking off a series of small, in-person events this summer. Enjoy mixing IRL events w/online marketing efforts. #sbbuzz |
| selahsynergy: | @mentormarketing Amen to that! “W/O customers a product is only an idea.” #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | Q2 My niche came out of my own professional journey – I started out as a coach, writing my own coaching articles. #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Q2 – When everything began fitting together into a bigger picture.That’s *my* niche. Found it by taking work I’m passionate about. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q2 – With my blog, I am able to see which articles are more popular with my readers. Working on turning those into products. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @bradfordshimp Excellent! You’re really responding to your market by doing it that way. Not creating out a vacuum. #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Q3 How do you measure results? Do those results drive your marketing strategy? #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q3 – I have a new way of measuring marketing results – it is called sales. A good result for marketing is new sales. #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | A3 Depends on the tactic, but ultimately, we tie tactics back to customer records so we can see true ROI. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | Q3 It’s sometimes tough to know when to tweak and when to stay with a plan and ride out natural ebbs and flows. #sbbuzz |
| selahsynergy: | @sbbuzz Q3 Results are measured against objectives whether its sales, traffic, subscriptions. Strategy &tactics change in response #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A3: We measure client satisfaction, Return engagements, and New Sales. #sbbuzz |
| smitty1966: | Q3 results are striaghtfoward since we are so close to our marketing. Lead conversion means we adapt to what works #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Q3 – Good ol’ fashioned testimonials r my results – that & repeat business.Best marketing I can do is referring to satisfied clients #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @ginabee Yes, repeat business and referrals are GREAT measurements of success. #sbbuzz |
| selahsynergy: | @ginabee Great to measure satisfaction. Were you satisfied with the prod/service? Would you tell a friend? #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | Q3 There are some efforts we measure against sales (new promotions) and some we know are immeasurable (like #sbbuzz) |
| sbbuzz: | Q3 What is your most effective marketing effort? #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Q3 – Yes, some results are a definable result of an effort and others are just from putting yourself & your biz out there. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @pmohara Great point about some efforts being immeasurable, or slower (like a newsletter subscriber hiring me after a year!). #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | A3 Word of mouth is by far our best marketing tactic. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @sbbuzz My most effective marketing effort? Consistently producing masterful content, of course  #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Q4 – For what I do, the Internet has served me well for marketing. My biz coach still encourages me to do face-to-face too, though. #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A4: @janetdmiller I agree WOM is like being handed a sale that is already closed. #sbbuzz |
| smitty1966: | Q3- Getting out in front of potential clients. Conferences, shows and workshops. #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | @mentormarketing Absolutely! And I find networking to be key to word of mouth. #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | @mentormarketing Ain’t it the truth. Ain’t it the truth! #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | @lindadessau Exactly.. You can’t put a number on community, good will, collaboration, idea sharing and friendship. #sbbuzz |
| MHBoys: | @bradfordshimp how do you systematically tie the sales to specific marketing campaigns #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Q5 What marketing tools & techniques would you like to learn more about? #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | @MHBoys Depends. For some, you can track via code. Others, you just ask. Also, you can set up individual web landing pages. #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | A5 I find ad retargeting fascinating. Would like to learn more about mobile and TV as they evolve too (like with Google TV). #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q5 – I would like to learn how to better use Facebook and LinkedIn to bring in sales. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | @janetdmiller Good one. Mobile is going to be huge (going to be??) so this is an area we can all learn more about. #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A5: I think it would be good to learn about email platform advanced features, FB pages, Linkedin Q&A these are on my short list. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Q5 – I want to learn more about Apps as marketing. #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | @bradfordshimp I think mobile has amazing potential for local-based businesses too. #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | @bradfordshimp Google Apps? #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @bradfordshimp Agreed. I’d be interested in learning more about mobile marketing, also. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | @janetdmiller I agree. I have a friend who just released a local tourism app that points to all the best places. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | @pmohara No, just apps in general (yes, google apps as well). Providing bite sized tools that point the way to a bigger sale. #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Thanks for the ideas, folks. We’ll dig in to these more the next few chats. So be sure to COME BACK! #sbbuzz |
| janetdmiller: | I’d also love to learn more about Android apps for marketing. RT @pmohara: @bradfordshimp Google Apps? #sbbuzz |
| mentormarketing: | A5: Article marketing best practices, and a deep dive into picking your content distribution sites. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Where did that hour just go? #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | And somehow it is already what we affectionately call Pitch Time. Please tell us a little about your business. #sbbuzz |
| MHBoys: | think of mobile as an extension of the internet in the short term – make sure all material (and website) are accessible via mobile #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | I’m taking a stand for the quality of your content! Read my manifesto at http://bit.ly/content-creation-manifesto (pitch time on #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | @chaostoclarity helps small biz & freelancers use social networking/media & the Web to grow their biz #chaostoclarity #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | If you’d like a once-a-week e-mail reminder of #sbbuzz (including the topic) sign up at http://sbbuzz.net #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | Pitch: Releasing my first e-book soon (next week?). I will be giving it away free to email subscribers of http://allbizanswers.com #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | It is on the value of the customer after the sale, testimonials, referrals, second sales, having a follow up plan … #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Thanks to everyone for great new topic ideas! We’ll get the #sbbuzz summary posted on the site soon at http://sbbuzz.biz |
| ginabee: | Those who do, do. Those who need it put into just the right words contact me: http://www.writeytidy.com #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | @bradfordshimp Looking forward to your ebook #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | #sbbuzz is a small business Twitter chat hosted each Tuesday night 8-9 PM ET by the folks from @batchblue Come again soon! |
| scoblitz: | @sbbuzz I’m going to pitch http://freelancecampchicago.org/ on June 26th – would love to connect with folks there if you’re close. #sbbuzz |
| smitty1966: | Learning made easy. We can be found here @edupros. Great chat tonight. Cheers. #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | @scoblitz Thinking about heading out that way some time, have a brother in law roaming around out there. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @bradfordshimp Congrats on the upcoming book! I just subscribed so I’ll get my copy! http://ht.ly/1SN6V #sbbuzz |
| mriggen: | @scoblitz Yes, what you said! @batchblue will be at http://freelancecampchicago.org/, come say hello! #sbbuzz |
| bradfordshimp: | @lindadessau Cool, thanks! #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | #sbbuzz Pitch – Pamela here from & @batchblue makers of BatchBook Social CRM (when not busy sbbuzzing) |
