Customer Engagement Is Key To Branding Yourself

The days are gone when a techie or a genius could build things in his garage and customers would find and buy the product, based purely on the “wow factor” of the technology. New technologies are everywhere today. People have seen so much that they are blasé, or actually fear pure technology. They want a personable brand, before they will consider the product.

They are overloaded by the media with amazing advertising messages, and people now realize that you can’t believe anything you see in pictures, and even videos can be edited to deliver any message. In fact, we are all media companies now, with our cell phones, computers, and professional-looking publishing tools.

Thus customers and partners rely more and more on personal engagement with people. Social media, like Facebook, allow them to convince themselves that they are engaging on a personal level, even when they aren’t. They definitely look for more personalization, and more “me, myself, and I” in the message.

David L. Rogers talks about this phenomenon in his book, “The Network is Your Customer: Five Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age,” and suggests some strategies to improve your perceived engagement level. I’ve focused these more towards startups and entrepreneurs:

1. Show a personal face. Engage customers by showing a personal side and an authentic voice in digital content rather than the authoritative voice of an institution. That means a startup should never use the old-fashioned anonymous website, with no names, addresses, or personal pictures. Show people you are an approachable real person.

2. Focus on each particular segment and need. Focus on niche audiences and their specific needs and interests, rather than trying to engage every possible customer with the same content. Use the power of available tools to provide video, interactive, and highly targeted messages to each segment of your audience, and each business partner.

3. Try branding yourself, not selling a product. Offer a story, entertainment, or a compelling idea that you can link convincingly to your brand, rather than trying to sell products or services directly. People buy from people, and in a startup, you are the brand. Sell yourself as the expert, and business sales will follow.

4. Offer utility to each audience member. Provide content and interaction that helps solve a problem or answers a critical information need for your audience. Avoid the abstract value calculations that don’t apply to the segment you want. Use the power of the new media to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time.

5. Make it an enjoyable experience. Use the interactive, goal-based play of online games to engage customers for fun, education, and relationship-building. People today are used to multitasking, and have very short attention spans. Keep the messages short and sweet.

As the digital media continue to evolve, you have to change your content rapidly to keep up. Shorter books, for example, transfer better to phones and other modern reader devices. Links and interactivity become more important as high-speed Internet access becomes pervasive on more devices and appliances.

The key is an ongoing “engage” strategy, producing relevant, sensory, and interactive content that is at the heart of your customer networks. So start now to think of your startup as a media company, rather than an outsourcer of advertising from some anonymous experts. If you can build a product, but not a brand, then you are not quite ready to start a business today.

Marty Zwilling

Don’t Forget Grants If You Need Early Seed Money

In the US, many entrepreneurs see grants as “free money,” since they are not loans and don’t have to be repaid. A grant is not an equity investment, so the entrepreneur doesn’t have to give up a stake in the company either. Typically they can be used to fund product development and commercialization that would otherwise require outside investors.

A good place to start looking is the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which is a lifeline for high-tech startups. A more general approach is to check out Grants.gov, which is a searchable directory of more than 1,000 federal grant programs. An advanced search tool is provided to search for a grant by eligibility, by issuing agency, or category.

Grants start as small a few thousand dollars, but can provide millions of dollars in capital to new ventures. But before you conclude that your funding problems are solved with grants, you should consider the direct and indirect costs of grant funding:

• Grant applications are bureaucratic. Even experienced people dealing with grants tell me that it can take a couple of months of concerted effort to gather data, fill out the forms, and get the necessary certifications to submit a credible grant application. That is time and resource that you must add to the million other high-priority startup tasks.

• Processing and approvals take time. If you meet all the requirements, complete all the paperwork, and submit your grant application today, it will likely be six to nine months before you see any money. In today’s fast moving technology world, that may give your competitor the edge, or your startup may wither and die waiting.

• Professional help costs money. Of course, there are “experts” at grant preparation, available for a fee, and even people who can introduce you to key decision makers in the grant approval process. For all the value of a large grant, isn’t it worth a small investment to get your application “on the fast path,” and optimize your selection probabilities?

• Stringent spending controls. Since government grants are funded by tax dollars for specific industries and research, usage of grant funds is carefully monitored. For example, federal and state governments don’t provide grants for starting a business, paying off debts, or covering operational expenses. Violations can lead to jail time.

Here are a few tips that I would recommend to startup clients, on how to position themselves for funding success through grants:

1. Use local university connections. For university professors, grants are their lifeblood, and they know the process well. They need you, since grants associated with commercializing products are favored over ones allocated simply for academic study and papers. If they do the application for you, and get to publish the results, that’s a win-win situation.

2. Pursue grants and investors in parallel. Putting your grant application intent and status in your business plan will greatly enhance your potential to get Angel funding for the interim. To the investors, it means less dilution and lower overall risk.

3. Research related tax credits and incentives. You need to enhance your business plan and marketing with all the benefits to your customers of the multiple “stimulus” plans and tax breaks now being put together, especially related to alternative energy products.

4. Extend your networking. Let’s face it, the business world and the political world are getting tightly intertwined. It’s time for you to meet state and local government officials, make them aware of what you are doing, and get them excited and working for you.

Money has always been tight for high-tech entrepreneurs who need to raise capital from investors willing to gamble on a new idea. Even though the situation is improving, and we now have crowd funding to fill in the gaps, there is never enough investment money to go around. Now is the time to get on the grant bandwagon, but do it with your eyes open, and budget for it.

Marty Zwilling

Every Small Business Should Celebrate the Positives

Sponsored by VISA Business

Running a small business as an entrepreneur is a never-ending challenge of new products, customers, competitors, and an unpredictable economy. This week is National Small Business Week in the US, so it’s a good time to celebrate your successes, and allow the rest of us to acknowledge your dedication and innovations.

Too many entrepreneurs never find the time to reflect on the positives of their lifestyle, or even take a break. They forget that they became entrepreneurs, according to the “DNA of an Entrepreneur” study a while back, for just this flexibility. Almost nine in ten respondents (87%) found benefits from running or working in a small company, like flexible working hours and being in control of your life.

Related benefits cited include the ability to influence the direction of the business (45%), and greater pride in your work (43%). Other studies show that only about 30% list money as a key benefit of running their own firm. This indicates that lifestyle and satisfaction factors are usually more important than financial ones.

As with everything in life, there are advantages and disadvantages to every choice we make. Choosing entrepreneurship is no exception. Beyond the obvious advantages mentioned above, there are some additional advantages that get mentioned often.

• High level of excitement. Entrepreneurs love the continuous challenges of a startup, and the satisfaction of tackling them. Some are so high on this life, that they hate the fact that they have to "waste" part of their life in sleep!

• Minimal rules and regulations. Work in a conventional job is often difficult to get done because of all the "red tape" and consistent administration approval needed. With a startup there are no rules until you make them.

• Challenge of originality. A good entrepreneur feels the incentive to offer a new service/product that no one else has offered before. That’s the same challenge an artist feels on every new canvas, or every musician feels when composing a new work.

• Beat the competition. Entrepreneurs are driven to offer a new or better product at the same cost, or an existing product as a lower cost. Competition drives innovation, and innovation drives competition. The cycle never stops.

Of course there are some disadvantages that every entrepreneur knows all too well:

• No regular paycheck. Starting your own business means that you must be willing to give up the security of a regular paycheck. In fact, most startup founders work for no salary during the first year or two of company operation.

• Few benefits. There will likely be no medical and dental benefits, and no vacations or other perks during the formative years. Don’t expect a staff to do the accounting, handle correspondence, or even clean the bathrooms.

• Decision responsibility. All the decisions of the business must be made on your own, better known as “the buck stops here.” This may sound like an advantage, but is actually a major source of stress and loneliness for startup CEOs.

• Staffing challenges. Hiring and firing decisions are hard, and that’s just the beginning. Often times, you will find yourself working with people who "don't know the ropes" and require extensive coaching and assistance. Then you have to deal with the mistakes.

By definition, if you see the rewards here as outweighing the risks, you are an entrepreneur. So you should fully appreciate the right to celebrate National Small Business Week, and maybe even decide to take some time off and enjoy the family. You earned it, and you need the rest. We couldn’t make it without you!

Marty Zwilling

Disclosure: This blog entry sponsored by Visa Business and I received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa's. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business.

The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently.

Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner's success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa's small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business.

7 Steps To Making A Great Entrepreneur Impression

Entrepreneurs are all about firsts, and the most important is you making a great first impression – on investors, customers, new team members, and strategic partners. Poor first impressions can be avoided, but I’m amazed at the number of unnecessary mistakes I see at those critical first introductions, presentations, and meetings.

The key message here is “preparation.” People who think they can always “wing it,” bluff their way past tough questions, or expect the other party to bridge all the gaps, sadly often find that what they think is a win, is actually a loss which can never be regained.

We've all met people that we instantly like because of a great first impression, and want to do business with. Here are some common sense things that they do and you can do to maximize the first impression that you impart in any business environment or discussion:

1. Dress appropriately from the perspective of the person you are trying to impress. This one is so obvious that I hesitate to mention it, except for the fact that I see it ignored so often. Maybe you love wearing Hawaiian shirts to work, but when you visit a traditional banker to close on a loan, it will be worth your time to put on a solid shirt and jacket.

2. Always research the person online before a first meeting. In today’s world of LinkedIn and Facebook, there is no excuse for not recognizing a person as you meet them for the first time, and knowing their accomplishments, if not their interests and academic background.

3. Google the organization and the role they represent. It’s polite to ask a professional you just met about their company affiliation, but it’s much smarter to ask them about a current issue, making it clear that you already know a good bit about their company, and their role in that company.

4. Find a common business link or friend to warm up the connection. The best introduction to a new customer, or potential angel investor, is a warm introduction from a common friend, rather than a cold call. In my opinion, this approach will double or triple your probability for success, no matter what the transaction.

5. Be prepared to concisely state your key objective. Before the other party has to ask, you should look for an opportunity to net out what you are here to accomplish, and even have a couple of questions in mind that you would like to get answered. Think of it as not forgetting to ask for the order.

6. Know a lot, but don’t flaunt it. Some people do all the right legwork, but then kill themselves by appearing arrogant or obsequious in the way that they can’t stop talking about everything that they know. When you meet someone new who is important, your first words after “Hello” should be a question rather than a long personal dissertation.

7. Be positive, courteous, on time, and attentive. We have all met people who, when asked “How are you?” provide a long litany of their latest woes, or a diatribe on current political issues. Obviously, being late to your own meeting, or appearing distracted or uninterested, will also leave a bad first impression. Smile and relax.

All of the common first impression mistakes are avoidable, and elements of the right approach are easily learned. Most entrepreneurs have spent months, and hours of hard work, preparing the necessary business plans, executive presentations, and financial models to impress investors. Just apply the same diligence in preparing yourself for all those “first” opportunities.

That image of you that you first present usually lasts longer and has more impact that any document you can prepare. In the book “You Are the Message,” media executive Roger Ailes wrote that your first impression will be solidified in the first seven seconds. Use them wisely.

Marty Zwilling

Don’t Let Investors Conclude Your Startup Is A Hobby

Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” The right question is “What is the minimum that I need?”

The simple answer is that you need to implement one process at a time, starting with those things that are most critical to your business, until you feel a relief that things are starting to happen naturally and consistently, without the attendant stress and continual recovery mode. If you feel that the process itself is a burden, you have likely gone too far.

Here are eight key business tasks that relate to almost every startup, generally prioritized by criticality. Think about the implications of each to your own business, and the potential impact of getting them done incorrectly, or forgetting to do them entirely:

1. Manage your financials and physical assets. I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs who go for months into a new business without really keeping a formal record of money spent or assets acquired. Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need.

2. Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization.

3. Product development process. Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important. Otherwise you will find yourself a year later being no closer to a product that you were yesterday, with no idea why.

4. Funding process. Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, Angel investors, and institutional investors. Measure yourself against a researched plan, or your “out of cash” brick wall will be looming before you know it.

5. Manage human resources. At this stage, you should start recruiting, hiring, paying, and training others to help you run your business. In addition to effectiveness and consistency, you now have a myriad of legal and tax considerations to get right. Don’t try this without a formal process.

6. Leverage information technology. Find an IT person you can trust, and plan how you will acquire, implement, and utilize computer technology to run your business. How do you access the Internet, what servers do you need, applications required, databases designed, and backups scheduled? It all has to be written down and maintained.

7. Billing and revenue collection. Whether you provide an online subscription service, or sell products in a store, you need to consistently and economically sell your product and collect revenue to survive. Here you will likely need to train others to help you, so more detail may be required in this process.

8. Customer service and support. Here is another often overlooked area of process that kills many startups, both in cost and time. Don’t assume that you can fix every problem yourself, or that there won’t be any problems to fix. Even if your business is online, people want a contact, real expertise, and quick response.

If you are a great startup, you won’t just copy the processes of your competitors, even in these basic elements. Innovation is the key, to keep each process small, but make it more effective than competitors and big-company processes.

But having no process does not make you more competitive. In my experience, no process means a business “out of control,” or simply a hobby masquerading as a business. Neither of these is really much fun, and both situations will cost you money rather than make money. Even the government is watching to see where you fit.

Marty Zwilling