Posts tagged as:

Business Development

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).

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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).

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Is 2011 the Year the Workforce Grows Up?

by Daria Steigman on January 11, 2011

Business, Marketing, Branding, 2011 Trends | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcOver at Small Business Labs, Steve King set out his top 10 business trends for 2011. At number 9: “Freelancers Realize They’re Small Business Owners.” King identifies two categories of contingent workers: those embracing freelancing and those stuck with it because of a lack of full-time job options. He writes:

Both groups will increasingly see themselves as long-term freelancers and realize to be successful they will need to view themselves as small business owners. [Emphasis mine.] This shift in thinking will improve their businesses and result in a stronger, more successful freelance community.

I agree completely with King’s premise. To succeed in business, you have to have a business mind. That falls right into my definition of Independent Thinking, which says in part that “to venture out on your own, you have to be great at your core business and savvy enough to manage everything else.”

But I think his conclusion is wrong.

It’s just not that easy to be a business owner, much less an entrepreneur. You have to understand that it is about more than just picking up projects or handing out business cards at a networking event. It’s about managing clients, marketing, branding, budgeting, forecasting, innovating, learning, business development–and getting the paying work done.

And you have to really want it.

I’ve seen some freelancers be very successful freelancers. Some independent contractors try to be business people and fail miserably. Some business people try business ownership and be completely lost. Looking at the landscape of the unemployed, it’s rare that I meet people who get how to pivot to small business ownership.

Are there some? Sure. But a trend? I’m not seeing signs of it.

Photo by Obliot (Flickr).

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5 Reasons Businesses Use Social Media

by Daria Steigman on November 15, 2010

State of Social Media for Business | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcSo why are businesses using social media?

According to the State of Social Media for Business, the top goals for companies are branding and community. Rounding out the top five are increasing Web site traffic (hmm, I hope that’s not really an end in itself), identifying and addressing consumer needs, and business development.

The report identifies eight trends in business use of social media–from who is using it to how effective companies think their efforts have been.

Social Media Outposts

Twitter, Facebook | Businesses Using Key Social Media Platforms | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llc

The report also looks at where companies are focusing their attention. Not surprisingly, Facebook and Twitter lead the list. But are their customers, clients, and prospects hanging out there? And do most businesses even know the answer?

The evidence suggests they don’t.

Clued In or Clueless?

Two things really stood out for me:

  • only 14.7 percent of companies are measuring their social media efforts; and (perhaps not coincidentally)
  • only 14.2 percent of companies say their strategies are very effective.

What makes the statistics particularly interesting is that survey respondents self-selected. As a result, the numbers reflect companies that are more knowledgeable about and more inclined to use  social media. That so few of these have adopted measurable strategies means there’s still a long way to go to make businesses truly social.

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What’s Your Biggest Marketing Challenge?

by Daria Steigman on October 27, 2010

Branding, Lead Generation | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcI was just looking over a short report on business-to-business marketing put out by MarketingProfs and Forrester Research. According to What Works in B2B Marketing 2010, the top three challenges facing marketers are lead generation, increasing product/service awareness, and reaching decision makers.

While the first one was no surprise (lead generation is consistently one of my top challenges too), I was a bit surprised to see the other two on the list. Maybe that’s because, as a small business owner, I find that social media has made it far easier to identify and reach out to key decision makers in companies. It’s also made it easier and more cost effective for small companies to build brand awareness.

What’s your take?

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