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Business Development

Cornerstones and Cobblestones

by Daria Steigman on March 4, 2013

CobblestonesI learned about propinquity at the Solo PR Summit.

Okay, to be fair, the concept isn’t new–but I would have been hard-pressed to define the word itself. Propinquity means nearness, but it’s really about the relationship between proximity and relationships. Or, as Tom Martin put it:

See me. Know me. Like me. Hire me.

This lies at the heart of a good content strategy.

In a session entitled Painless Prospecting, Martin talked about strategies for becoming and staying top of mind with potential buyers of your products and services. One element of that is designing your Web site to funnel prospects where you want them to go. (That’s a topic for a different post.) Another element: having lots of quality content to educate people and to showcase your smarts.

You need to create cornerstones and cobblestones.

Martin pointed out that most content creators focus on cobblestones–blog posts, videos, podcasts, and other “one off” pieces to feed the content machine.  But if you start with a “cornerstone” big idea instead, you can then chunk it into blog posts, videos, presentations, podcasts, and the like to feed your content needs. Then you can go back and reverse engineer the “cobblestones” into a white paper, an ebook and/or a conference presentation.

I love “duh” moments.

My content strategy has always included some cornerstones because I plotted the strategy a long way back: business column, then blog, then early social media use.  The column provided evergreen content for the blog, and the blog provided an anchor for my early forays into social media. But as the demands for new content grew (and the business of running a business interrupted), it became easier to just focus on cobblestones. Now it’s time to get back to cornerstones, and my brain is already working on a couple of ideas.

Your turn: Are you creating cobblestones or cornerstones?

Photo by Bri Weldon (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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Why LinkedIn Is No Longer Optional

by Daria Steigman on January 24, 2013

LinkedIn logo on blue surfaceThe other day I was looking for insights into a few people I was scheduled to meet. Do you know where I turned first? Not a company Web site. Not Facebook. Not Google Search.

I started with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is no longer optional. It’s a must for any business professional.

Here are three reasons to make sure your profile is up to date and ready for prime time:

1. A glimpse of the real you (more or less). While a corporate bio is likely to have been written and rewritten by sales or marketing folks, most LinkedIn profiles have been developed by the individual. I get to see what you think is important to know about your background and expertise. I get to figure out if you are business smart or just good at resume cut and paste.

2. A search for connections. LinkedIn’s core function is to draw lines between and among people, but the real connections are shared skills, shared interests, and shared opportunities. One reason I look first at LinkedIn is to understand not just who we might know in common but also whether there are tangential linkages I can tap (e.g., universities, past jobs or job responsibilities, places we’ve lived).

3. Opportunities abound. Executive recruiters who spoke at a recent IABC/Washington meeting said that LinkedIn is the first place they look for prospects. The first place. While you might not be job-hunting, chances are you are looking for customers, clients, colleagues, partners, or vendors.

Recruiters are searching for you. Prospects are scrutinizing you.

If you’re in certain professions and you’re not on LinkedIn, then I wonder why. If you’re using it but you don’t have a photo, or your information is old or incomplete, then my advice would be to fix that right now.

What’s your experience? How do you use LinkedIn?

Photo by Coletivo Mambembe (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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The Worst Thing You Can Do When Networking

by Daria Steigman on September 10, 2012

Red Chair By the CurbThere’s a women’s entrepreneurs’ group that I joined last year. There are chapters, and bimonthly meetings, and a rigid meeting format that kind of drives me crazy. The intent of the sessions is solid: brainstorming solutions to members’ business challenges and sharing lessons learned. But there are usually too few people in the room and too many of them are business newbies.

So why did I renew my membership for a second year? Because the overall membership is expertise- and industry-diverse. 

In other words, people who aren’t like me and whose networks and customer/client bases don’t overlap my own.

Why do you network?

  • To build a referral engine?
  • To expand your connections?
  • To identify viable vendors or potential business partners?
  • To touch base with existing colleagues, contacts, or prospects?
  • To connect with your next great client/customer?

Your answer is probably “all of the above.” But here’s the challenge: You can’t accomplish this if you don’t move outside your comfort zone.

The worst thing you can do when networking is hang out with your friends.

You see it all the time: Lawyers hang out with lawyers. Doctors hang out with doctors. Marketers, plumbers, scientists… We like easy, and hanging out with “our own” is easy. But it’s not the best strategy for growing your business.

One of the biggest challenges that many businesses face is finding new business. New customers. New clients. New orders. One reason so many entrepreneurs struggle with this is that they’re spending too much time networking with peers rather than talking to the stranger who just might know (or be) their next great customer.

What’s your networking strategy?

Photo by Stefan Kloo (Flickr)

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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Out of Practice

by Daria Steigman on November 7, 2011

Business, Networking, Boston Red Sox, Jon Lester, Independent ThinkingBoston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester suggested that his team’s historic late-season collapse had nothing to do with the fact that he and his teammates were drinking on the job. His rationale: they were doing the same thing in April and May–and the team was winning.

Sure. And if I substituted laziness for running laps, the fact that I’d be sucking air after a couple of months would be coincidental too.

You have to practice. And practice isn’t just for athletes. 

  • If you get out of the practice of blogging, you stop looking for inspiration.
  • If you get out of the practice of networking, your pipeline dries up.
  • If you get out of the practice of business development, it’s harder to make that first call.
  • If you get out of the practice of budgeting, it’s easy to go into debt.
  • If you get out of the practice of planning, it’s easy to miss market signals.

If you get out of the practice of doing, what falls down in your business?

Photo by Newtown grafitti (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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How Not to Be Dumb, Slow, and Expensive

by Daria Steigman on March 29, 2011

Business, Marketing, Social Media, Independent Thinking, Steigman CommunicationsWhen a colleague asked me whether I wanted to review David Siteman Garland‘s new book I did what every Web-savvy marketer would do: I went to Amazon to read the reviews. I got no further than the author’s own video introduction.

In other words, he found a smart, fast, and cheap way to hook me in.

Garland lays out the premise of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper on page 1:

When you break down all the fluff, there are two ways to promote and market your business: dumber, slower, and expensive–or smarter, faster, and cheaper.

The other point Garland makes is that savvy entrepreneurs and smart business owners can compete against big brands. (Sometimes we even have an edge.):

Lean companies are at a distinct advantage in the new world of business building, marketing, and promoting, because they aren’t required to ask a board of 739 people before posting something online… David has been given a slingshot and can outmaneuver Goliath.

Faster, Smarter, Cheaper is filled with marketing advice about being human, building trust, growing your community, and leveraging social platforms to expand your reach and demonstrate your uber-smarts. While the book seems aimed at newbies, there’s plenty of advice for seasoned business owners and marketers alike.

In fact, the book saved me big time the other day. I was reading Garland’s chapter on “Creating a Sharable and Spreadable Website” when I came across a bulleted list of things to consider in addition to content. One of the bullets: “Is it clear to users how they can contact me? Do I tell them what the best way to reach me is? E-mail? Phone?…”

I was so focused on making sure I was getting my shiny social media icons on my new Web site that I’d forgotten to include e-mail and telephone information front and center. Fortunately, the site wasn’t yet live.

There are lots of reasons we read business books. Some are for Big Ideas. Others for inspiration. Still others are designed to help us do what we do, but a little bit better. Smarter, Faster, Cheaper is great for this.

*Disclosure: I received a free copy of Smarter, Faster, Cheaper in exchange for agreeing to review it–but without any restrictions on what I might say.

Photo by puuikibeach (Flickr).

Have you grabbed a free copy of Your Social Media Checklist? Download it today to get 9 tips for being findable and attracting the right customers for your business.

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