Category Archives: Small Business
What Three Things Can a Champion Wrestler Teach Us About Marketing?
by Scott McIntosh on December 8, 2011 | no comments
in Marketing, Productivity, Small Business
As any marketing firm will tell you, marketing is a never-ending process. Whether it’s attending networking events, connecting with past clients or writing that new blog post, there is always something that can be done. This can get overwhelming and cause one to want to give up. But if you want your company to stand out above the rest, you have to keep going.
Anthony Robles, winner of the 2010-2011 NCAA individual wrestling championship, recently spoke at a local school in Nashville, TN (watch his inspiring speech here). He had some great things to say about not giving up and he should know. Anthony had a hard time getting started in wrestling. He had a losing record his first years in high school. He wasn’t recruited by any colleges. His father left when he was young, leaving his unemployed mother to raise four kids (at one point they were homeless). Oh, and did I mention he only has one leg?
Anthony Robles was born with only one leg but wrestled through his daily challenges to become a champion! He didn’t give up when times got tough and neither should you. Here are some takeaways from Anthony’s speech that you should consider next time you’re ready to quit:
- Focus on what you CAN do in life and not what you CAN’T do. The only thing you have power over is yourself. You can’t control your environment, you can only control how you respond to it.
- The only difference between a champion and an average person is that champions work harder, champions put in more time.
- The prize is in direct proportion to the price, the greater the rewards you seek, the greater the effort must be to achieve them.
In business as in life, passion and hard work pay off and that includes achieving your marketing goals. And this story gives me the inspiration to dig in and find a way to deal with every challenge.
Have you ever faced an enormous marketing challenge and overcome an obstacle to create a success?
Women Entrepreneurs in Nashville
by Paula Lovell on October 6, 2011 | 1 comment
in Nashville, Networking, Small Business
I had a chance to moderate a panel of some of Nashville’s top women entrepreneurs which you can watch in the video below. There is some great information in this video for anyone in business, especially for those who’ve started their own business or are looking to start a business. Hope you enjoy!
25 Likes No Longer Needed for a Unique Facebook URL
by Allison Russo on September 15, 2011 | no comments
in Facebook, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media
Is it just me or is Facebook.com/php? =12yl727th6f3 not exactly the easiest web address to remember? This is an example of what newly created Facebook fan page URLs all resembled prior to a very exciting recent update from Facebook.
This week AllFacebook.com announced that Facebook pages no longer need to acquire 25 likes before creating a unique URL for their page. This is great news for companies who have recently launched, or are planning to launch, a company page on Facebook. Prior to this enhancement, Facebook pages with less than 25 likes had URLs that made no sense and provided zero brand recognition for the page (see above). Now, companies can more easily tap into the massive Facebook social network with improved URLs that include either their company name or perhaps their target keywords. For example, one of our favorite non-profits uses the custom URL of Facebook.com/StrengthforService.
Why does this matter? First off, it’s just plain easier to direct people to a custom URL rather than a stream of code-like numbers, letters, and symbols. It also helps with brand consistency and recognition, creating a memorable web address for fans to easily return to. A custom URL is also easier to include in marketing messages such as email signatures or print materials. Another great benefit that many people overlook is a Facebook page can be indexed in search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. That means your Facebook page can rank separately in the search engines when people are searching for your company name or products and services. Each additional spot you own in the search engine ranks is one more opportunity to be discovered (and one less opportunity for your competitors).
Ready to create a Facebook page unique URL? Follow the steps below:
If you already have a page but not a custom URL:
1) Go to Facebook.com/username and select your fan page
2) Insert the unique URL name you would like to use and hit “Check Availability”
3) If the name isn’t in use, it is all yours! If not, keep trying until you find one that is available.
4) Consider getting a custom URL that contains your favorite keyword instead. For example, if you are a Nashville PR firm, you may want to consider the URL of Facebook.com/NashvillePR.
If you don’t yet have a page, follow these steps:
1) Go to Facebook.com/pages and click “+ Create Page” in the upper right hand corner
2) Follow the steps to create the type of page that best describes your company or organization
3) Launch the page and click the “Edit” button in the upper-right hand corner
4) Click on “Basic Information” from the left sidebar
5) Select the option “Create a username for this page.”
6) Select your name of choice as stated above.
It is important to note that you can avoid the 25 likes rule only one time. If you want to create another page with a custom URL, you’ll need to obtain 25 likes first. You should also note that when you create a unique URL for your page, you can never change it. So make sure the URL will always be applicable to your company.
What’s your favorite Facebook page? Let us know in the comments.
Three Successful Start-Ups With Marketing Strategies That Will Make You Smile
by Paula Lovell on February 22, 2011 | 17 comments
in Lovell, Small Business
Starting and running a small business is exciting, challenging and rewarding. It can also be daunting, stressful and exhausting.
As the founder of a 23-year-old marketing and PR firm, I recently moderated a panel of three rock star women entrepreneurs and got a dose of inspiration. The audience at the business breakfast, hosted by The Bank of Nashville at an innovative office suite designed for start up or fledging businesses, loved these women’s unique and ambitious stories about how they started and marketed their successful businesses.
First, Beth Chase, a serial entrepreneur, explained how she ventured out of a lucrative job that required constant travel and enriched her pocketbook, but not her quality of life. She figured out there was plenty of local need for a consulting firm that can help grow businesses through technology…without a full-time technology department on staff. She funded C3 Consulting personally and quickly brought on several partners, who further fueled the cash flow of the operation. Beth used her Vanderbilt University and local business contacts to generate word-of-mouth buzz and hundreds of contracts for her multi-million dollar/45+ employees company.
Next, Sherry Deutshmann, founder of Letter Logic, discussed how she left a mail and fulfillment business because there wasn’t enough attention paid to the employees. Her company delivers three million pieces of mail a month and is on track to hit her target of $100 million in annual revenue by 2018. How has she marketed and grown this enterprise? By building a culture that focuses on employees first. In fact, Sherry tells all potential customers, “If you become a client, you must know that you will NOT be first priority to me.” I’m certain they are more than little surprised at that. “When I explain that I put the team members first — and that respected, appreciated and well-paid employees are happier and more dedicated to the customers’ needs — they get it. They totally get it.” Sherry pays 100 percent of employee insurance, shares profits and allows children and pets to come to work!
Finally, Gina Butler was born an entrepreneur. She had several micro-businesses as a child and at age 15 bought some mops and brooms and walked a mile to clean houses. She grew that business and sold it when she got a call from her brother who had stood in line in New York City for more than an hour to get a cupcake. “These aren’t as good as the ones you and Mom make,” he said, and her idea was born. She went to three banks, all of which laughed out loud when she told them she wanted to start a cupcake store. Eventually she got funded and three short years later Gigi’s Cupcakes has 35 franchisees. Her marketing strategy? “Well, after I got the money to open the store, I had $33.00 to my name,” she said. “I couldn’t advertise to let people know I was open, so I stood outside with a sign.” She says her best marketing strategy is to hire happy people. “It’s a happy thing to buy a cupcake, and I want people to have a delicious baked good as well as an upbeat, friendly experience.”
I started Lovell Communications 23 years ago and it’s been one of the great loves of my life. I wonder what makes a person have the mindset of an entrepreneur? Surely, a good idea. Most definitely, ambition and energy. What else? What’s in the DNA of an entrepreneur?
Are Women and Men Managers Really That Different?
by Paula Lovell on August 3, 2010 | 6 comments
in Organizational Behavior, Productivity, Small Business
By nature and by trade….I am interested in communications.
I had a lot of fun bantering back and forth with Jim Blasingame, well-known Small Business Advocate, on his recent radio show devoted to small business owners. We were discussing male and female managers and, although we were talking in grand generalities and had a lot of laughs, we agreed there are some very basic differences in the way men and women communicate and perform as leaders. It emanates from the fact that, in general, the sexes process information differently.
I was first alerted to the “science” behind those differences when listening to a lecture given by biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher. After much study of the way the sexes think and communicate, Fisher points out some interesting capabilities of most women. In her book, The First Sex, she lists many common characteristics, including:
- a capacity to read postures, gestures, facial expressions and other non verbal cues;
- excellent senses of touch, taste, smell and hearing;
- an ability to do and think several things simultaneously;
- a broad contextual view of any issue (called web thinking);
- an impulse to nurture;
- and a preference for cooperating, reaching consensus and leading via egalitarian teams.
By comparison, and generally speaking, men have their own set of natural talents, that include:
- a superb understanding of spatial relations;
- a talent for solving complex mechanical problems;
- an ability to intensely focus on one thing at a time;
- and a gift for controlling many of their emotions.
According to Fisher and many other experts, these differences play out in the management ranks of the workplace in a number of interesting ways. Women make good strategists because they collect a broad range of information and look at issues or crises from a holistic perspective. They want to gather data, look at all the angles, negotiate consensus, and talk through the options before settling on a position or resolution. Men on the other hand are more reactive, dictatorial and focused on securing a swift and tidy resolution – sometimes with or without “buy-in” from colleagues, employees or associates. Men will occasionally view women as not being focused; women can see men as being narrow-sighted or having “tunnel vision.”
In terms of which style is more effective and will produce better results, I think the answer is: Both. And that is precisely why it is so important for businesses and organizations to have women and men leaders at the top, working on senior strategy, jointly call the shots during challenging times and bringing complementary approaches to the management of business.
What do you think? Is this all malarkey? Have you had an experience where you noticed such a difference between the styles and strategies of men and women leaders?
Small Business Owners Need Big Supporters
by Paula Lovell on April 8, 2010 | 2 comments
in Lovell, Small Business
Yesterday I got a good reminder about roles and responsibilities of a small business owner. It was: Practice What You Preach.
I am frequently asked to speak about how to market small business; in fact today I am speaking at a Nashville Chamber of Commerce event called CEO Storytellers. I plan to discuss how I started Lovell Communications: our company history, our growth, challenges we’ve faced, managing cash flow and other tidbits I think small business owners worry about.
One of the tips I will likely relate is that every small business owner needs a mentor, coach, friend, confidante and/or advisory board. A friend might give you the courage and confidence to make the leap of faith when you want to start your business; a coach might help you decide if you have the personality or characteristics to be a entrepreneur; a mentor might help you think through your business plan and an advisory board might guide you to the financing you’ll need.
Frequently small business owners can get so busy, so focused and so crazed that they don’t have time to sit quietly and listen to outside advice. I admit it; I’m sometimes guilty of keeping my nose to the grindstone so much that I don’t come up for perspective or planning.
So yesterday I finally got around to taking a half a day “off” to meet with a business consultant. We went through short term plans, long term dreams, real life challenges and worrisome road blocks. We didn’t have time to develop all the answers, of course. But it did put me back on track, give me some focus and “fire me up” to do some long-term planning and make some strategic adjustments.
I’d forgotten how isolated a small business owner can become, and I’m glad I took my own advice to bring in a consultant who specializes in one area and can provide expert guidance, insight and perspective. It’s well worth the investment.
Paula on Small Business Radio
by Nick Tazik on March 18, 2009 | no comments
in Lovell, Small Business
Paula is a frequent interview participant on Small Business Radio, a production of Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Advocate. Last week, she sat down with Jim to discuss how and why small businesses need to market themselves during a recession. Click below to hear Paula’s thoughts on the importance of free or cost-effective marketing efforts like enhanced networking, improved customer service and maximizing public relations opportunities.
