Marketing and Selling Workshop Helped with Starting New Business

Comments from  two attendees of a SCORE Chicago “Marketing and Selling Workshop”  Information about this workshop is at: http://bit.ly/MarketingSelling

Alan,

Last week’s marketing class at SCORE was a great primer for folks like
me looking to launch a new business!

The spirited end-of-class discussion with Lauren put all the pieces
together, helping a classmate put together an action plan to
understand the needs of her targeted high-end salon customers and
employees.

Thanks again!

Paul Stark
B2B Marketing Consultant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I attended the SCORE “Marketing and Selling” workshop on Friday and enjoyed the presentation and met some very interesting people. I signed up for the entire core series and will be attending the Finance workshops next week. My goal is to complete the entire series of six this month and obtain my SCORE small business certification…….

My head is spinning for I have so much to do, yet I am an excellent planner and plan executor, so all will be well. I also have the assistance of you (sic SCORE Counselor) and SCORE.

Rosalyn Carlton

Segment your marketing and sales efforts to be successful

Sharon Aby says there is no such thing as a universal market.  Sharon discusses a client situation where that client wanted expand from the consumer marketplace to the commercial market.

She highlights that your sales and marketing process for one market is different than another market.

Getting good sales leads at a trade show

For small business, exhibiting at a a trade show can be a major expense.  Give aways are often seen as a great way to get leads.   Here’s a short video about using a fish bowl to gather prospects.  Matt Heinze from GES Exposition Services suggests that you think  quality and maybe not quantity .

What is an internet domain?

This is part of a series of video on our YouTube Channel.  http://www.youtube.com/user/ScoreChicagoVideo . These videos are excerpts from a live call in TV show.  In this excerpt Jacob Cynamon discusses the internet.  He provides some insights on getting started.

City of Chicago deserves recognition for First Annual TechExpo

Despite the Olympic disappointment of last Friday, the city deserves kudos for Thursday’s TechExpo at the UIC Forum .

The official line on the Tech Expo was…

The Chicago TechExpo introduces and connects small business owners to technology solutions to grow and evolve their businesses. The one–day conference and exposition provides relevant, training and education, to allow business owners to learn how technology can improve operations, minimize time spent on administrative tasks, market their business and increase sales by using a very powerful tool: technology.

The training and education provided at the conference will empower business owners to ask questions and gain a better understanding of what technology to implement and when the best time to do so.

In today’s highly competitive environment businesses thrive by having the right technology at the right time.

The theme for this first annual conference is Positioning your business for the future. Now more than ever it is critical for businesses to position themselves for growth and technology is a powerful tool.

The city gets an A for effort.  There was a set of sponsors and exhibitors ranging from Microsoft, Harris Bank and Best Buy, through such companies as SurePayroll and Openhill, to small IT consulting and web development companies.

Attendees got a great exposure to a wide rage of IT related solutions.  While this is a start, we need to go forward..  Chicago of the 20^th Century was a wonderful invention driven city.  While service is important, next year, it would be great to see a bit more on invention.

This Season’s CANTV 21 Hotline show listing

Our CANT21 Hotline season is coming to an end.  We have one more show left.  Here is a listing of shows so far.  Special thanks to the CANTV staff.    Next week, we will interview Arthur Kitlas,  a construction entrepreneur about building a business as an immigrant

Here are the shows so far this season.

Why attend a Trade Show-Small Business help  - Matt Heinze: GES Exhibition Services http://blip.tv/file/2635449 —  September 22

Obama Stimulus Plan (ARRA) – How can you participate –  Kevin Ferguson: Kwame Building Group http://blip.tv/file/2610567 — September 15

Help with Email Marketing –   Steve Robinson: Constant Contact http://blip.tv/file/2622599–  September 8

How an Online Internet Services Company doing Payroll Works – Michael Alter: Surepayroll, Inc http://blip.tv/file/2546364 — September 1

Help Developing your Business Plan – Carlos Bastidas http://blip.tv/file/2519453 — August 25

How a Business Started – Kathryn Kerrigan : Kathryn Kerrigan Footwear http://blip.tv/file/2491231 — August 18

Help with Sales & Marketing – A Process for Success- Sharon Aby : Beyond Ideas http://blip.tv/file/2465442 — August 11

Get Loan Help from a Banker – Meghan Kearns : Harris Bank. http://blip.tv/file/2497513 — August 4

How Social Media helps Small Business – Jacob Cynamon http://blip.tv/file/2416632/ — July 28

Buying a Business & Internet Use Policy Development Domenic Rinaldi : Chicagoland Suncoast and Dahlia Saper: Saper Law http://blip.tv/file/2416283– July 21

Networking Help from a Chamber of Commerce Bernadette Shanahan Haas : Tinley Park Chamber of Commerce http://blip.tv/file/2388822 — July 14

Help with Trademarks & Copyright- Brian Fons: Corporate Creations http://blip.tv/file/2380479 — July 7

Interested in Obama Stimulus ARRA – Consider these 6 Points

First consideration is likely to go to companies who are already doing business with government

Spending decisions will be made by Federal, State and Local Agencies who are in charge of that area

Many of the Projects to be funded are likely already proposed – or extensions of current programs

All the money appropriated may not be spent

There will be transparency on award and scrutiny on spending (investment may be required to comply)

Find a niche (consider being a subcontractor) – then find the money

Please check out our interview with Kevin Ferguson of Kwame Building Group.  Kevin discussed how his company is positioned. http://blip.tv/file/2610567

Additional information is at: www.recovery.gov and www.recovery.org .

Workshop about what kind of website does a small business need?

What to do about a website is a question every business owner is asking.   It was a topic when we were on WVON radio.  Also , addressed at a recent breakfast forum sponsored by Crain’s  Chicago Business.

We have a workshop on September 30th on Website Design.  Here is a bit of info on the workshop.

First impressions are important–so make your business website as professional and inviting as possible.  If you need to create a website for your small business or want to improve your existing site, take this workshop to learn how to work with a graphic designer or web developer, what you should expect to pay, and what you can do yourself.  You’ll take away the knowledge that you need for this essential business tool.

During this seminar, you will learn:

• Why online branding is important to your business
• What you want in a Web site vs. what you really need
• What you can do yourself and when you should hire a professional
• How to talk to a Web designer and developer and how to shop for each
• How to identify features of any Web site and what those features cost
• How to reach your audience and increase your visibility through Search Engine Optimization and other online marketing techniques
• Different ways you can keep the cost in your control
• How to get a leg up on your competition!

Registration information about the Workshop on September 30th is at: http://bit.ly/DesignWebsite

Understanding Media / Marshall McLuhan : Part 2

Marshall McLuhan was one of the foremost writers about media in the 20^th Century.  He created “the media is the message”.  Recently, I have been rereading Understanding Media.  The book is packed full of ideas.  Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of these ideas.

Continuing the commentary  from the editor’s introduction by W. Terrance Gordon.  Gordon notes that… McLuahn teaches that a new medium typically does not displace or replace another as much as it complicates its operation.

When it comes to a marketing campaign, this is very powerful. There are some basics to consider.  To make a purchase, the customer needs a problem solved.  The purchase process is one of evaluating the options and finding answers to questions.   Once the customer is sufficiently convinced your product will solve his problem he will purchase.  Consequently, your creation of content is the creation of a series of answers to questions.

So, think of your brochure or other content as a series of answers to questions.  In each medium, the questions may be represented differently based upon the needs of that medium.  But, the content can remain basically the same.

McLuhan divides medium into what he calls “Hot” and “Cool”.  Hot media gives a lot of information and requires little of the user, where as Cool media provides less information a, making the user to fill in the information.   When looking at media in the 1950’s McLuhan characterized the media world as follows.

Cool…………………………………………………..Hot

Telephone                                                    Radio

Speech                                                            Print

Cartoons                                                Photographs

Television                                                    Movies

Seminar                                                         Lecture

For my purposes I would propose

Web 2.0                                                             Web 1.0

So, for business owners, your first website was HOT, as you move forward into the world of Web 2.0, you will move to a COOL environment.

In a Hot environment, you provide the content.  In the Cool environment, you’ll manage a dialogue; understanding the customer will provide part of the discussion.  In Hot, you managed the exploration process through a list of questions and answers.  In Cool, you provide the answers; the customer provides the questions; and the process of answering them.

Understanding Media from Marshall McLuhan:Thoughts for Small Business

Marshall McLuhan was one of the foremost writers about media in the 20^th Century.  He created  “the media is the message”.  Recently, I have been rereading Understanding Media.  The book is packed full of ideas.  Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of these ideas.

My goal is to put these ideas into the context of the internet, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.   Also, draw some parallels between McLuhan’s innovative look at media in the middle of the 20^th Century, and today’s new media.

The first part of this comes from the editor’s introduction by W. Terrance Gordon.  Gordon notes that  We think of media principally as a media of communication; press, radio and television.  McLuhan thought of a medium as an extension of the human body or mind; clothing extends the skin….A medium, or a technology can be an extension of the human being.

Media comes in pair, one “containing” the other.  So the telegraph contained the printed word. …. The contained medium is the message of the containing one, but the effects of the latter are obscured for the user who focuses on the former. Because those effects are so powerful, any message in the ordinary sense of “content” or “information”  has far less impact than the medium itself.  Thus  “the medium is the message”

What does this mean for a business person?  Increasingly, the internet is allowing for a large scale conversation done electronically with each individual.  What we could call an e-conversation.  When you create content, think about how is that content an extension of you and your business.

Also, when you create content, you must create the content a subset of the medium.   A 60 minute presentation works in person, but putting the video up on YouTube can be problematic.  Looking at Web 1.0 (the internet in the 1990’s) as a medium:  for many businesses, the response was putting their brochures up on the internet. But over time, the internet developed its own set of protocols.  Your brochure was no longer enough.

These two points are a good start.  More to follow