The One Mistake That's Killing Your Business

In business school we’re shown case studies about Apple, Starbucks, and those other big guys – but the idea that their marketing methods are "best" is the biggest lie in business.

Just because it works for them doesn’t mean it will work for the rest of us who work at small or medium sized businesses.

What you should be learning in business school is that you should not be focused on brand marketing like Apple or Starbucks – but rather on direct marketing.

Every dollar you spend on marketing should be tracked and expected to produce a return. Billboards and Super Bowl commercials only work for the 1%.

So if you’re serious about upping your marketing game, you need to refocus on learning what the best direct marketers do to build successful businesses. And one of the best resources on this subject is Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Direct Marketing. Below are 10 rules from the book:

1. Always Include An Offer

As Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of marketing is to create a customer.” If you don’t include an offer, you’re creating more awareness instead of more customers – a poor result when you have dollars on the line. Make the call to action clear and direct.

2. Give A Reason To Respond Right Now

With everything going on in our busy lives, we’re either going to take advantage of an offer now – or not at all. Put a time limit. Make it a limited quantity offer. Put a sense of urgency. Grab the attention of the people who see your ads and give them a reason to act right now.

3. Give Clear Instructions

Don’t assume people will know what to do when they see your marketing material. Tell them exactly what step you want them to take next. You’ll be amazed how this skyrockets your conversions.

4. Focus on Tracking, Measurement, and Accountability

If you’re not testing and tweaking your marketing continuously, you are guaranteed it won’t be as effective as it could be. And the only way to test is to track and measure everything. In fact, if it can’t be tracked and measured – don’t do it.

5. Only Do No-Cost Brand Building

There’s nothing wrong with brand building. It’s only wrong when you pay for it. Jack Trout (author of Positioning) said it best when he said that unless you have a billion dollars, don’t start a brand building campaign. Instead, focus on direct marketing. Enjoy any brand building you get as a bonus of your marketing – not as the goal.

6. Always Follow-Up

Dan Kennedy once asked a room of business owners which battery company ran ads with the bunny that kept “going and going”. Half the room thought it was Duracell. So if Energizer spent billions of dollars on advertising and still couldn’t get people to remember their brand – do you really think just one ad or marketing effort is enough to sway people to your cause? You need to follow up – follow up with your prospects, follow up with your customers.

7. Make It Look Like Mail-Order Advertising

Most people think mail-order advertising is ineffective. But the truth is, it works big time. The point is that mail-order advertisements are some of the most tested marketing pieces that exist. So study them. Use them as role models for all your campaigns.

8. Strengthen Your Copy

Most marketing we see in the digital age is made of nice pictures and cute catch phrases – seems that the people behind those ads forgot that those things don’t make people buy. And remember our goal: to make people buy your product. So focus on writing in a way that sells – focus on strong copy. (I highly recommend the book How To Write An Advertisement as a great guide for that).

9. Focus On Results. Period.

It doesn’t matter what image or copy you like, or which ad you think you should use. As a marketer, you need to listen and act only on results.

10. Put Your Business On A Strict Direct Marketing Diet

Next time your local newspaper calls about putting your logo on the fourth page – say “no” – unless you’re ready to use the above 9 points in there as well. Forget about awareness marketing and go on the diet of business champions: direct marketing.

What Did You Think?

How many of those rules did you “get”? Which one was spot on? Which ones did you already know? And more interestingly—which do you disagree with?

From Entrepreneur

4 Ways You Are Driving Your Employees Crazy

You spend a great deal of time recruiting and training the best people possible. But are you driving them crazy without realizing it? It’s possible, says human resources consultant Roberta Matuson, founder of Matuson Consulting and author of Talent Magnetism: How to Build a Workplace that Attracts and Keeps the Best (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2013). Just like few people will tell you if you have bad breath, employees aren’t generally eager to point out the error of these management ways, she says. So, check yourself for these bad behaviors.

1. Saying one thing and (appearing) to do another. 

If you've just gotten everyone on board with foregoing raises this year because company profits are down, don't show up driving a new Lexus a few weeks later. Even you got a great deal on the lease or your spouse surprised you with it for your birthday, you’re not acting the way you’ve asked everyone else to act, Matuson says. That can make your employees feel duped and erode their trust in you.

2. Cheaping out. 

It's one thing to have a method of purchasing supplies to reduce costs. It’s something else to refuse to invest in the equipment or support your employees need to be effective, Matuson says. If the copier has duct tape on it or your servers are constantly crashing because you have a sub-standard IT service provider, you need to revisit how you’re spending money on your business.

"If the equipment they need keeps breaking down or you’re constantly understaffed, your employees can't perform at their best. Eventually, that’s going to wear on their morale," Matuson says. "You have to find ways to give people what they need to do their jobs." 

3. Micromanaging. 

This one is a biggie. If you hired good people to work for you and you’ve trained them properly, let them do their jobs. Correct performance problems with more training, but if the outcome and efficiency are acceptable, you have to let go and let them do their jobs. Micromanaging demoralizes your employees and reduces their incentive to find new and better ways to do their jobs because they know you’re always going to correct them.

Next time you’re tempted to tell someone they’re “doing it wrong,” ask yourself if that’s really necessary. If not, take a deep breath and move on, Matuson says.

4. Expecting everyone to be like you. 

You didn’t hire clones. That’s a good thing because different people bring fresh ideas and insights to your business -- but only if you let them. You might think that sleek open floor plan is great for collaboration, but some employees may do their best work in a more private setting. You might love to work on Sundays when the phone is not ringing, but your assistant likely wants at least most of his weekends off. Respect the different personalities and preferences among your employees, and understand what they need to do their best work.

From Entrepreneur

6 Things You Forget About When Building a Personal Brand

Most professionals know by now that a strong personal brand is the foundation for a successful career.

Whether you use your personal brand to find jobs, promote your freelance business, or build your professional network, it’s important to create a brand that illustrates your professional experience and personality. Your personal brand can also help you stand out from professionals in your industry and make a name for yourself as an expert.

While you might understand the basics of personal branding, such as building a blog or connecting with people on LinkedIn, there are a few things you’re forgetting to include. Here are six things people forget about when building a personal brand:

1. Create a personal mission statement.

Before you can position yourself as an expert in your field, you need to have a mission for your brand.

Your personal mission statement defines what you want to accomplish as a professional. Whether you want to become a thought leader or help people reach their dreams, make sure you incorporate your goals into your mission.

2. Develop a lesson to teach your audience.

Do you have a unique story to share with your audience? If so, this is your opportunity to shape it into a lesson to teach your audience.

For example, if you’ve managed to have success breaking into your industry at a young age, share some of your tips with young professionals who are trying to follow your path.

3. Connect with influencers.

If you want to become known for your expertise in your industry, connect with influential leaders. By building a network of influential people in your industry, you’ll learn from their success and discover how you can become of value to them.

4. Create an email list.

Whether you’re networking with employers or reaching out to professionals in your field, it’s a good idea to create an email list. This list will enable you to keep track of important contacts and know who to contact when you have a question or need advice.

5. Help others.

An excellent way to build your personal brand is to help others. You have a variety of skills, knowledge, and relationships you can share with others.

For example, if you find a job opening that would be perfect for one of your colleagues, share it with them. This gesture shows that you genuinely care about their success.

6. Ask questions.

When building a personal brand, it’s essential to ask questions. Ask people for advice. Ask others to tell their story. By asking questions, you’re able to learn more about your field and gain valuable lessons from your networks.

From Entrepreneur

If You Want to Succeed, Here Are 5 Things You Need to Do Differently

No matter what your individual definition of success may be, finding it can often be a challenge. Whether its career success, monetary success or something in between, most people have a certain level of accomplishment that they want to reach in their lives. However, many fail to reach that magical level of success and have no idea why. The good news is, there are a few things that every person can do differently to change their current course of action and find the success that they deserve.

Below are five:

1. Stop looking for a perfect strategy

For the many people who take their quest for success seriously, they can get caught up in looking for a “perfect” strategy in reaching their goals. The truth is, there is never a perfect time to do anything, and there is no such thing as a perfect strategy. Many people fail to start “doing” the things they need to do, because they spend so much time planning. The only way to start a strategy is to get out there and take the first step. You can tweak and improve along the way but getting out and doing will be much more beneficial than spending all of your time trying to find the ideal strategy.

2. Stop seeing problems, start seeing opportunities

If you start looking at hurdles that come up as problems, you can put yourself in a negative mindset that will prevent you from finding success. If you instead start looking at these obstacles as opportunities, you can start finding more success. Take the challenge of approaching every problem and instantly calling it an opportunity. It can be hard to find opportunities in some problems, but if you look hard enough, there are positives even in the most overwhelming of issues.

3. Stop the information overload

Some people unfortunately find they spend too much time gathering information on how to succeed. When people do this too much, they can struggle with what is known as information overload. When you have too much information, you can suffer from paralysis by analysis and all of the research you have done can actually hurt instead of help. Nothing is as powerful as taking action and getting started.

4. Stop focusing so much on entertainment

While all people love to be entertained in a certain manner, society spends far too much time focusing on entertainment, instead of education. While you should always have you personal time outside of your professional life, many people spend too much time watching television, gossiping, playing video games and reading celebrity news. Doing this too much can prevent you from staying focused on your goals and your success. Spend your personal time entertaining yourself by consuming educational materials for personal growth. It will pay off in the long run and help you enjoy your personal time in a way that is still beneficial to your overall success.

5. Stop looking at the short term

Focusing on short-term accomplishments can actually get in your way when it comes to finding the substantial success you seek in life. This is something that many people struggle with, as there is nothing wrong with fulfilling short-term accomplishments but this shouldn’t be your focus. You should always be focusing on laying down a strong foundation for long-term growth. You can do this in a number of ways. Start looking at everything you do as a long -erm investment. Invest in your education, the future and do your best to ignore the appeal of instant gratification. This can take practice, but you can condition yourself to no longer find the same appeal in instant gratification.

From Entrepreneur

5 Unconventional Techniques for Improving Your Company's Culture

Organizational culture is comprised of consistent practices that build into a company’s cadence. Every business has a cadence -- the pulse at which the company operates on a day-to-day basis that includes how and when things get accomplished and by whom.

Culture is different from climate. Culture refers to how things get done whereas climate describes what it’s like to work for someone. The habits and routines, systems and processes that play into a company’s agenda are what determine its culture -- and ultimately, its bottom line.

However, old habits die hard, and implementing new routines at scale is exponentially more difficult that doing so for just a small team. Start your business off on the right foot and consider the following methods when tweaking your company’s culture:

1. Play musical chairs.

Hopefully, office cubicles are not part of your startup’s makeup, because if they are, employees won’t have the option to sit next to someone new every day as they would in an open floor plan. Rotating physical presence around the office forces interaction between people and prevents cliques from forming. As a result, new conversations emerge, leading to new ideas and perspectives. Employees learn more about each other and hence grow their internal awareness of the company.

2. Get up and get after it -- together.

There’s an old saying that “couples who workout together, stay together.” Additionally, studies show that people who exercise in the morning are more likely to stick with their routine than those who wait to sweat later in the day. Consider a team fitness schedule where employees generate their own workout or physical training plan.

“Who has time to work out as an entrepreneur?” you ask? Everyone. Time is inelastic. It’s constant and everybody has the same amount of time. Scheduling, however, is a matter of priority.

Put it this way: if your health declines then so does your daily performance, and if your performance (physical and mental) isn’t up to par, then neither is your business.

3. Have everybody interview.

Soliciting employees from every level to participate in interviews communicates two things. First, it conveys that everyone’s perspective counts and that they have a say in the company’s culture. Second, it screens the job applicant for fit because not everyone takes an interview seriously when conducted by a 22 year old, for example.

4. Fuse functions together.

When Gen. (Ret.) Stan McChrystal was head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), he implemented “fusion cells,” which served as a means to force and foster a culture of transparency and inclusion by cross-pollinating disparate organizations with divergent interests. The results were astounding: 18 special operations missions conducted per month in 2004 to over 300 per month in 2008.

5. Greet people.

Establish a rule for people to share one positive aspect about themselves or another daily, or ask people to share what they’re grateful for. Doing so does two things: When you repeatedly search for positive meaning in situations and interactions, you build the habit of looking for the positive in everything you do. As a result (and the second reason), by associating positive images and feelings while at work you also create anchors of positivity towards your work. In other words, by constantly associating reward with work, your brain begins to feel that work is more and more rewarding.

Culture is key to the success of your business as it represents its brand, strategy and execution. Identify the habits that create the results and culture you want and continually optimize your company’s performance.

From Entrepreneur

The Physical and Emotional Truths of Entrepreneurship

He looked at me as if I had just set his office ablaze.

I hadn’t done anything of the sort.

I had however vomited in his wastepaper basket.

It was a wire mesh container and it was not a pretty sight.

He was my $450-an-hour lawyer. 

This transpired during my first million-dollar deal and I wasn't dealing with things too well.

My mind was calm because I knew the deal was good and that both parties would be pleased with the financial outcomes of the venture and the related opportunities, but my body felt differently. It shook. I had sweaty hands. My mouth was full of saliva. I wasn’t too keen on sleep for about two weeks. 

Here’s the truth: Being an entrepreneur can be like taking two perfectly good eggs, cracking them and scrambling them in a frypan. 

To the layperson looking on, it might seem just like two eggs. 

But to the entrepreneur, it's a mess of mixed emotion and a swirl of risk-reward assessment. The businessperson is uneasy, never too sure if the heat is about to be lighted under the pan that's keeping it all together. 

Being an entrepreneur can seem very different, depending on the vantage point and whether it's a physical or intellectual assessment. 

After I had my first child on a Friday, I went back to work on Monday because there is no maternity leave for entrepreneurs. Six months later I drove to my doctor's office. I was beginning to buckle under the stress and pressure I had put on myself to not only be a super mom but also a high-octane entrepreneur as well.

I had been driving along, considering the negotiation I had been having with myself about my ability to manage the life I had built. I drove to the doctor’s office.

My company's bottom line has never been affected negatively by my vomiting in wastepaper baskets but the health of my relationships, pursuit of opportunities before me and my own belief in myself have all been affected from time to time. 

A true entrepreneur will find a way to succeed, survive, adapt and transform but all of this comes at an expense. There is a toll on the body and mind that comes from keeping the throttle at full tilt. For a long time I never knew how to pull back on the throttle. Full speed ahead was the only way I knew how to proceed. A lot of my colleagues in entrepreneurship say they feel the same: It's full tilt, no matter what. 

I am here to offer the notion that sometimes the emotional and physical toll of full-throttle entrepreneurship can have a cost much greater than what can be measured on a profit and loss statement.

I offer to the entrepreneurs out there who feel like they may have the speed wobbles, that they may also be sick in a wastepaper basket or worse, head to the doctor post haste, please get clear for yourself.

Figure out at what point the physical and emotional toll on you is simply because you're taking your business and life so seriously that you can’t help but feel it emotionally and physically when things both good and bad happen in your business.

Or determine if you’ve crossed a line and need to pull back on the throttle for the benefit of the entire system. Your health, the health of your relationships and your ability to act on opportunities on the horizon will depend on your ability to know the difference. 

Usually your gut knows the line: The harder part is confessing up to it.

From Entrepreneur

20 Ways Gratitude Improves Productivity

Gratitude is a word that is thrown around a lot. But what does it really mean?

We are told to be grateful but often it seems as if gratitude is more an obligation than anything else. Another item on our already overburdened to-do list. We may end up feeling resentful when we are expected to feel grateful particularly under difficult circumstances.

The key is to understand what gratitude really is and the impact it has on your life and the lives of those around you. In fact, gratitude has some hidden benefits that can improve your productivity and your life.

Why We Want To Cultivate Gratitude

Gratitude is not a feeling. It is really a way of life and a way of meeting life and all of its challenges.

Gratitude is a frame for reality, which enables us to align with the good in the world as well as the evolutionary progress of the human race. It is the opposite of resentful entitlement. Gratitude allows us to accept things as they are even as we try to improve them. It enables us to see ourselves as participants in creating the good in life.

Gratitude puts us in more positive relationship to life and others around us. It separates our attitude from our circumstances so that our current reality does not drag us down. Gratitude is a way of being that lets us participate fully in life without concern for rewards and status. It gets our ego out of the way.

Gratitude lets us give what we can, knowing that we are one of many so that we do not have to carry the burdens of the world on our shoulders.

Gratitude comes from valuing the opportunity to be here on the planet. Everything else is up for grabs.

How Gratitude Helps Us Live Productive Lives

When gratitude is the cornerstone of your life, a number of things happen:

1. You can let go of controlling outcomes by simply working toward the best possible outcome and letting the chips fall where they may.
2. You can be a work in progress and let the rest of the world be a work in progress as well – we are all learning. Mistakes do not make you or another person “bad.”
3. You can give your all to anything you do and trust in the best possible outcome whatever that is. Gratitude lets you throw yourself into what you are doing. Happy to be able to participate, you can give your all and generally do better work as a result.
4. You are free to completely immerse yourself in your life without reservations about comparisons and status. You can be yourself.
5. You are free to love since loving is what makes life good for you and everyone else. There is no need to hold back.
6. You are free to create since you are aligned with the positive. This means that even mistakes are positive since they help you get closer to creating something better.
7. Emotional issues no longer affect you since you are not spending your time comparing yourself to others and fighting for an agenda.
8. You can more easily accept others and yourself. We are all imperfect people seeking the best possible life. There is no reason not to be friends.
9. You no longer take anything personally. Life presents difficult challenges for everyone; it’s not just about you.
10. You let go of the need to immerse yourself in unnecessary adversarial relationships since you seek only the best for everyone. There is no one to harm.
11. You trust that when something does not work out it is for the best. It fits your view that we are learning.
12. You can embrace a trial and error mindset without fear. It is OK to experiment.
13. You can have a positive attitude toward your choices by accepting what matters in the present without rejecting what may work at another time. Anything can be productive or counterproductive depending on the wisdom of its use.
14. You can be more process oriented which raises the quality of your work. When you do not spend your time forcing outcomes or fighting other people, then you are more focused on the work at hand: the process and the details involved. You are able to do better work.
15. You get rid of your own agendas so that you have a more accurate perception of what is needed at any given point of time. Each point in time has certain possibilities but not others. You embrace the current possibility, work with it, and let others go.
16. You can let others make their own mistakes. We all make them as we learn. Letting people make their own mistakes is a way of trusting others to know what is best for them.
17. You more easily align with what is necessary and what is good because everything else is a waste of time and energy.
18. You do not need discipline since you are more naturally aligned with positive forces, so you are more comfortable with yourself, your actions and less likely to have regrets.
19. You do not fight yourself or others since there is no reason to.
20. You can be very relaxed because you are unfolding along with everyone else. Life works for you.

Gratitude Helps You Enjoy Life

Gratitude is a generous and relaxed quality that lets us be with life and a part of life. It is trusting, a quality that is often lacking in our social space. Because of that relaxed trust, work and love are easier and more enjoyable.

We only live a short period of time. Gratitude helps our time on earth be one of joy.

From http://www.lifehack.org/