Social Network Sites for Business - Twitter may be the wrong choice

Is Twitter becoming obsolete for business networking and promotion? Has it run its course and the novelty is starting to decline? Some businesses would agree. In the beginning, Twitter was promoted as the next big Internet social site. They promoted that you could stay in touch with all your contacts easily and frequently. However, from a business view, Twitter does not appear to offer any real benefit to business networking. Twitter only allows a limited number of characters to post updates. As a blogging forum, this is not enough to share real value in messaging. Do business professionals really care to know what you are doing at any given moment? Why do business people need to know that you are sitting on the patio? There appears to be no real marketing value from a business perspective. Short-cropped messages (tweets) cannot deliver enough marketing power like a blog, an email, or website promotion.

A recent online article posted by CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/26/has.twitter.peaked/index.html?iref=allsearch) suggests that Twitter’s initial hype has started to dwindle. The decline appears to stem from Twitter’s limited ability to offer business-networking features offered by many of its competitors. Business professional want to deliver marketing messages with impact, not just tweet a quick update. More and more business professional are turning away from twitter as a business social tool.

Many marketing experts will tell you the use of Internet Social Networking is a powerful tool for developing opportunities. I agree if you know how to use them. As with any endeavor, you only receive back what you put into it. Too often, a person signs up for a social networking site like LinkedIn and then waits for the leads to roll in. Wrong!

People want to find value in a network contact that helps them achieve a benefit. The benefit for each person is individual to that parson’s goal. Goals can be looking for a job, finding more clients, looking for advice to make better decisions, seeking expertise to solve a problem, and so forth.

Using online social networks means you must get involved and engage with others. Joining group forums and contributing your expertise is one example. The more you contribute, the more you will be perceived as a reliable resource and possibly an expert in your professional field. As you become more recognized as a topic authority, so will people attempting to make contact with you. You are in a stage of branding yourself and differentiating yourself from the crowd. There are so many ways to interact with others, but you must put forth the effort to receive any benefit.

This brings up the issue of identifying the best online social sites to use. That depends on your areas of interest. It also depends on your purpose to join. Are you seeking new business? Is the site a platform for you to promote your opinions? Whatever your purpose, you must first determine your objective. You must also decide how much time and effort you will devote to it.

Very important to use of virtual network sites are the features and tools available. There can be a chat feature, forums, advertising space, and more. Which feature(s) to us depends on the level of involvement you will undertake. Some sites have more features than others do. Use of features and how many to engage with depends on knowing what value you expect to receive from them. This also applies to joining groups on the site. Make sure the group is relevant to your knowledge and interest level. It makes no sense to join a group if you will not make contributions because the content does not fit within your goals. If you join a group and later find out it does not offer the benefits you anticipated, then remove yourself from it and find another. Last, do not join so many groups or engage too many features that it becomes unmanageable. Start slow and be selective.

Choice of online social sites depends on your objective. Whatever online social site you decide upon, you must be actively involved to receive benefits. Make sure the site you join offers enough features that will help you achieve your goals.

Business Plans - What Goes In?

Business plans need not be elaborate works of genius – they just need to be accurate and organized. Many authorities have different versions of what goes into a business plan. The plan is your guide to implementation. It should also be written so a third party can clearly identify its purpose and feasibility. The latter comment is generally required when seeking investors or partners. The major sections should address four distinct sections.

1. Business Introduction and Description
2. Product/Service Description and Marketing Strategy
3. Management and Operations
4. Financial Data including Budgets

Following is an outline of a typical plan and shows its major components. The trick is knowing what relevant data goes in these components. That is a topic for another discussion.

1. Introduction of the plan
2. Executive Summary including Mission Statement
3. Table of contents

I. The Business

A. Description of business and product/service
B. Marketing Strategy including Sales
C. Competitive Environment (research, analysis, and conclusions)
D. Operational and Administrative Functions
E. Staffing including Management
F. Financial data

*IMPORTANT - The marketing section is a plan in itself. Do not take this part lightly. You may have a great organization and product, but marketing shows how you will generate revenue. Industry and marketplace research must be collected and analyzed. The data must support conclusions to implement proper action and must compliment the remainder of the business plan.

II. Financials

A. Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Budgets
B. Equipment and Supply requirements to operate (if any)
C. Loan or Investment requirements
D. Product Cost - Pricing - Breakeven analysis
E. Pro-forma P&L projections (the company in general and the marketing program)
F. Insurance
G. Special fees or licensing requirements

III. Supporting Documents

A. Disclaimers and Assumptions
B. Additional supporting analysis
C. Contracts, Letter of Intent and so forth
D. Legal issues and / or legal documentation if any
E. Licenses
F. Resume of owners

IRS Tax Refund Scam

There is an email scam floating around these days. Recipients are receiving an email that appears to be sent by the IRS. The email looks very authentic, Beware!

Do Not open this email or download the attachment in the email. It is a fraud.

The IRS will NOT ever email you unless you first contact them. They WILL NOT EVER email you to tell you you owe money or are due to receive a refund.

The bogus email message goes like this:

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have
determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $648.50.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to
process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

Please submit the form attached to your email in order to finish your tax
refund

Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and
time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

MARKETING MODEL FOR BUSINESS

1. SELF-ASSESSMENT

2. MARKETING PLAN DEVELOPMENT

3. SEGMENTATION (TARGET MARKET)

4. POSITIONING (BRAND RECOGNITION)

Marketing Mix: PRODUCT + PRICE + PLACEMENT + PROMOTION + PERSUASION

5. TEST & EVALUATE

6. REFINEMENT

To use marketing concepts effectively, the following steps are required:
• Analyze your firm’s competitive advantage. What do you do best?
• Identify specific markets you serve currently.
• Determine needs and wants of present customers.
• Determine how to satisfy needs and wants.
• Prepare a Marketing Plan that allows you to reach out to “new” customers and / or sell more to existing customers.
• Test the results to see if new strategies are yielding desired results.

A good marketing plan must compliment the overall business plan. Neither one will work without the other. Sales and Business Development are different activities. They are, however, components of the Marketing Mix. Understanding this distinction is vital in ensuring activities are performed to achieve successful results that are aligned with company goals outlined in the business plan.

Sound management procedures are also vital in providing leadership to ensure staff employees are working toward meeting company objectives. All managerial functions must employ the following stages continually in any defined leadership role:
• Planning
• Organizing
• Staffing
• Directing
• Controlling

SALES PLAN DEVELOPMENT

Every sales manager must plan for success. No plan means no control. Trying to sell without a plan is like trying steer a ship without a rudder.

Here is a list of elements required for developing a sales plan. If you find yourself struggling with content for each element, then it is time to work with a sales consultant.

1. Summarize and Identify Strategic Objectives
2. Determine Realistic Goals by Time Periods
3. Assess Prior Sales Performance - Successes and Failures
4. Segment Your Customers and Market Niches
5. Develop Territories with Actionable Tactics
6. Establish Develop Initiatives for Key Accounts - 80/20 Rule
7. Develop Reporting Tools to Measure and Monitor Results
8. Identify and Establish a Realistic Sales Cycle
9. Prepare and Write an Executive Summary - A Mission Statement
10. Review Frequently and Revise as Necessary