In part 1 of this post, we covered (1) how to craft your message, (2) figuring out your baseline online stature, and (3) deciding which press release service to use.  Picking up where we left off:

4.    How to format your one page press release:

• Headline – For an online release, give your tease, company name and location. For example: “Carat Diamond Ring Giveaway, Corrigan Jewelers, Minneapolis”
• City – note your city and state
• Date – it is no longer necessary to put your date in your release because the service will date it
• First paragraph – pack in the who, what, where, when, how and why, and end the last sentence with a tease
• Second paragraph – quote an actual customer’s thrilled reaction to your news
• Third paragraph – include a quote from the owner or manager
• Fourth paragraph – mention the other services your business provides, such as: “wholesale jewelry, estate appraisals, engagement rings, necklaces, gold, silver”
• Links – on the left side, list 3 or more links to distinct pages on your website; follow the release service guidelines
• Media contact – list someone who will answer the phone 24 hours a day, the person’s phone number, company phone, email and mailing address
• Embed video – follow the easy guidelines to embed a customer testimonial video that you have uploaded to YouTube and linked to your website

5.    Results: It is unlikely that the New York Times will publish your story, but you will have greatly increased your SEO so that people searching for your type of business can find you.  Over time, you may find that your company appears higher in Internet search results, just like it did for my colleague (the one who leaped from page 18 to the number 1 spot), but again you must be patient and not expect huge changes overnight.  If your story related to a specific offer (as with our diamond ring giveaway example), you can measure results based on the response to your promotion.

6.    Special offer: When new customers call or email, give them a special offer, like 25% off wedding rings and a stuffed animal bearing your now slightly-more-famous logo.

7.    Follow through: Follow through on your giveaway and also contact media outlets and editors directly to reinforce your story. You may find that the old-fashioned method of taking an editor to lunch might get you in the local paper, but your online press release is like taking editors to lunch all across the country!

In the old days, the best way to get press for your business was to take a news editor to lunch or run for public office (actually, those ways are still pretty good!). But now it’s all about expanding your Internet presence, and a press release distribution service can be a tremendous boon. Here’s how to harness the power:

1.    Your press release must have the WOW factor: No one cares that your jewelry store is celebrating its 23rd year in business, so go big and bold. For example, instead of spending $2500 on advertising in the local magazine for one month, you could put $99 into a press release service (more about that below) and $2401 into the cost of a 1-carat diamond ring nationwide giveaway to the most deserving engaged couple.

2.    Identify your baseline stats with a Google search: Do a Google search for the the description of your business and see what comes up.  Ideally you will be on the first page of results, and your stretch goal is to appear in the top three listings.  Be realistic.  For example, if you are a regional jeweler, you should care about “jewelry Minneapolis,” or a similarly descriptive phrase for your business, but not a generic phrase such as “diamond jewelry” or “diamonds” unless you are De Beers or Blue Nile.

3.    Which online press release service should you use? Comparing online press release services is as easy as comparing sand grains on the beach:

• Free services: There are free press release services, like PR.com, i-Newswire and My Free PR, but there is disagreement on whether these services will get your information out to the media that you would like to hit.
• Pay to play: If you’re willing to spend some money, you can go with Marketwire for distribution in one state such as Minnesota for $150-200, or around $300 for the entire Midwest  (All prices are estimates to give you a feel.)  Marketwire includes national media outlets such as the USA Today and Wall Street Journal in all packages.  For maximal Internet marketing benefit, definitely pony up an additional $75 for the optional SEO Enhanced (search engine optimization)  service, which allows you to embed live hyperlinks into your press release, targeting keywords (for example “jewelry Minneapolis”) that you care about.  These links can not only drive traffic to your web site, but also raise your search ranking.  There are lots of companies angling for your money, including some that go after niche markets, like Business Wire for business releases and PRWeb and PR Newswire for specific industries.
• The key: Look for a service that is used by lots of other companies, particularly ones in your industry, and that meets your desired budget. For example, over 30,000 companies have used PR Leap, which has a service starting at $49, going up to $149 for a Premium package that includes SEO and Social Media distribution and a generous 2,000 word allowance.  PR Leap positions itself as more affordable than the top 3 wires, with an easier to use web interface.  To be fair, PR Leap probably does not have the reach of Marketwire (download the list of media outlets reached in your state from Marketwire, and you will be impressed by how many local media sources are contacted). Their press releases can be found on Google News, Google Search, Yahoo! and MSN, and are submitted to UPI and AP news services. PR Leap may represent a happy medium between free but possibly ineffective services, and the established but more expensive leaders.  One colleague of mine used PR Leap to, well, leap from page 18 in Google’s search results to the number 1 spot for a local search phrase (i.e. city name + type of business) for his business — in mere days!  I should note that this is a highly unusual result, and I am certainly not suggesting that a single press release will consistently pull you from search engine obscurity to the top of the heap, but my colleague’s example shows what is possible!

Next time in Part 2: how to format your press release, following through, and tracking results.

It’s bad enough to receive telemarketing calls and other unwanted marketing intrusions at home, but it’s even worse for the employees of a small business to have their time wasted — the lost productivity costs the business money.  Here’s how to curtail the deluge of junk marketing:

Stop Junk Calls: The national do-not-call site set up by the FTC to stop unwanted phone calls is at www.DoNotCall.com. You can register up to three phone numbers at a time and it takes about 31 days for your opt-out to take effect. You will love the peace and quiet of working without phone interruptions from solicitors.

Stop Junk Mail: The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) set up a website to make it easier for you to opt out of junk mail at www.DMAChoice.org. The DMA divides direct mail into 4 categories: Credit offers, catalogs, magazine offers and other mail offers (donation requests, bank offers, retail promotions and more). You can opt out of one or more groups.

For some local solicitations, you may have to contact the sender directly. And forget about signing up for surveys, product registrations, nonprofit donations, free gifts and sweepstakes unless you want more junk mail.

Stop Junk Faxes: The FTC prohibits soliciting faxes, unless the company already has a business relationship with you. The opt-out phone line at www.DoNotCall.gov stops only unwanted phone calls, not faxes. You can contact the offending company directly, but reports are that this only encourages them, so if you receive an unwanted fax from a company you have never done business with, file a complaint at complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx.

If you are unable to get the faxing to stop, you may want to switch to electronic faxing, (for example, check out www.eFax.com). Instead of worrying about your fax machine’s toner being used up by junk faxes, you can simply press the delete button in your electronic fax service.

Stop Junk Email (Spam): Are you receiving less spam than you were 5 years ago? You can thank the laws and systems that now protect you somewhat from those unwanted daily missives.

Historically, some of us have relied on spam blocking software installed on our own PCs (there are many 3rd-party products based on the open source SpamAssassin project), but now most commercial email services and Internet Service Providers have their own effective spam-blockers. Spam blocking is now built into many popular email readers such as Microsoft Outlook.  You can check your mail reader’s settings to ensure that spam filtering is enabled, and to adjust the setting higher if possible. Also, oftentimes you can “train” your email software or service by flagging spam in your inbox, possibly giving the system a higher chance of identifying it as junk the next time around.  Be sure to check your Spam or Junk folder periodically to delete unwanted messages, and to make sure that the system has not snagged an important email that you actually wanted to see!

You can also avoid increasing your spam volume by never sending along a chain email, because doing that exposes your email address to people who pass the chain along. Also, be wary of giving your email address at web sites you don’t trust, and don’t post your email address to the world in blog postings.  Some people opt to create an alternate email address using free services such as Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail, to use with untrusted web sites — anytime you need to give an email address and aren’t sure where it may end up, you can just give your alternate address rather than revealing your primary email address.

If you receive offensive spam, you can report it to www.FTC.gov, which enforces the brilliantly-named CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act).

The Direct Marketing Association has found that the average response rate to direct mail is between zero and 2 %. There are ways to improve your odds, so read on.

1. Promote a loss leader: The key to increase your results is with an unbeatable offer.  Forget about 10% off a marginal product and instead go with a loss leader. Look at your local grocery chain’s mailers with below-cost specials for a few popular items, like milk and bananas. Store marketers know that once customers walk onsite, then they will spend more than they planned. Try out your loss-leader offer on your present customers – are they excited?
2. Target your audience: Get your direct mail into the right hands. The best list is based on your current customers and people who have expressed interest in your product. If you decide to purchase a mailing list, make sure it is run through CASS Certification (Address Correction and Standardization) and double-check to keep off names of people who have requested that you not contact them. Don’t be offended; instead be grateful that you don’t have to spend money soliciting them.
3. Make your pitch short and sweet: The best pitches are no more than 7 lines that are laid out with clear subheads. Again, follow your grocery chain’s lead and cut to the chase. Add an expiration date no more than 60 days away.
4. Eye-catching art work: A picture is worth a thousand words, so show your audience exactly what they are buying. You can purchase a stock photo from a service like istockphoto or get a piece for free from one of your suppliers.
5. Pick a top-notch printer: There are services that can give you multiple quotes, like directmailquotes.com. Pick your top 3 vendor choices and call their references. Also get samples of their card stock (some of the biggest vendors use flimsy card stock unless you pay more) and make sure that you review the final proof in hand. Do not view the final product electronically, so pay the extra cost to get it delivered for your final review.
6. Mailing service: Many printers also offer mailing services. While you can do this yourself, you will often save money by hiring a professional. The mailing service will make sure that you are properly using Standard Class (formerly called “3rd Class”), which means that your pieces must be identical without any personal information except for recipient names and addresses. The service will properly label, attach the correct postage under their bulk mailing license and pre-sort your mail for the post office. Unless you plan on doing many direct mail campaigns in a short period of time and taking a crash course in mailing, it is best to hire a mailing service. Their expertise is worthwhile.
7. Track your results: At a minimum, keep a spreadsheet to track callers and their purchases. With a great pitch and the right mailing list, you should see a return on your direct mail investment – or you will quickly learn that direct mail is not the best way to reach your customers.

I was told today that there are 28 million companies in the U.S., and that 96% of them have fewer than 10 employees.  Of course it’s not surprising to learn that most companies are not huge (they don’t call it the Fortune 500 for nothing!) but despite having seen similar data before, I was still caught off guard by how dominant the “small” are amongst the small-to-medium business universe.  So, SMB is mostly S.  When the next U.S. Census data on businesses comes out, expect the number of fewer-than-10-employee businesses to be even higher: the Internet has spawned so many micro online businesses, and enabled others via cheap marketing and infrastructure, that I don’t see how the rate of new busineess formation can’t be increasing.

Howard Greenstein over at Inc. Magazine wrote the first half of a two-part blog post a couple of weeks back posing a reader question: what is the best way to reconnect with previous customers?  The person asking the question runs a golf tournament accessory company and had not been in the habit of trying to sell again to existing customers — in fact, the company had changed contact information without letting its previous clients know, such that previous customers could not purchase again even if they wanted to!  By the same token, the reader did not know whether some of his previous contacts at various golf courses and country clubs still work there, or whether they had moved on to greener fairways.

Though the BizSnap blog is more apt to weigh in on trends, new technologies, or clever tips and tricks to get things done in business, in this case our advice to Howard’s reader is more straightforward: the good news is that there is some very low hanging sales and marketing fruit to grab.  For starters, simply pick up the phone and reach out to anybody who has ever purchased from you before. For one thing, you will figure out which of your contacts are still working at the golf courses and country clubs that you did business with.  If they are not, ask for the person’s current employer and/or phone number; you can track that person down and perhaps gain a new account.  For the people you get on the phone, ask them what their problems are and how you can help.  Make their lives easier and make them more successful in their jobs, and you will be building relationships that bear fruit for years to come.

Also, start a simple CRM system — if Salesforce.com or similar is not your cup of tea, just start out with some simple information in a spreadsheet: names and contact info of all your previous customers, history of what they purchased and how much they spent, when you last contacted the customer, and some freeform notes.  If you don’t have the historical information, just start a now and maintain it going forward.

By the way, part two of Howard’s post will consist of some expert advice, but it hasn’t been posted yet.  In the meantime, if you’re in this reader’s shoes, get on the phone!

It never ceases to amaze me what one can get for free on the Internet.  Today a colleague, Tom Stuart of BeFiled, asked me what would be a free alternative to a web conferencing service such as WebEx.  I had come across one in the past, but couldn’t recall the name.  A quick Google search yielded these two names: Dimdim, and Yugma.

In the small world department (and in the spirit of full disclosure), it turns out that Dimdim has as investors and board members two guys I know: Naren Gupta, and Howard Hartenbaum.  The point is, there are some very high quality people involved (both investors and management team) and some capital investment in place, so this is not a fly-by-night company.  Dimdim offers:

• Dimdim Free for up to 20 attendees at no charge
• Dimdim Pro for up to 50 attendees (and including Pro features such as enhanced performance) at $19/month
• Dimdim Enterprise for up to 1000 attendees at pricing “1/3 the cost of other guys” (read: WebEx)

I don’t know the people involved with Yugma, but I have to say that the company appears very polished judging from its web site and rich product features.  To the latter point, one cool feature (which is totally free to use, whether or not you are a Yugma customer) is Yugma SE (Skype Edition) which claims to enable instant desktop sharing and collaboration via Skype.  In terms of its mainstream, WebEx-competitor product, Yugma offers two packages:

• Yugma Free for up to 20 attendees at no charge (includes a 15-day trial of Yugma Pro, just so you can see what you’re missing)
• Yugma Pro for up to 500 attendees at an undisclosed price (again, you get a 15-day trial, and I’m sure that the sales department would be more than happy to get you a price quote!)

I haven’t had a chance yet to try out either of these products; if you have, please comment and tell us what you think!

Free WebEx, who woulda thunk it?

Mickey Meece of the New York Times Small Business ran an article yesterday proclaiming that “Small Businesses Are Taking Tentative Steps Toward Online Networking.”  To answer the question posed by the title of this post, I offer this quote from the article:

(A software executive) estimates that small businesses have a 12-month window to figure out online social networking. “I hate to say it, but if they don’t, they’ll get left in the dust,” he said. “It’s here to stay.”

Though I resonate with this executive’s general sentiment about the importance of social networking, I’d say his timeline is a wee bit aggressive.  If you’re an established business with a loyal customer base, you’re not going to be out of business within 12 months if you ignore social networking.  I would claim, however, that businesses that ignore new social media systems such as Facebook and Twitter are taking a risk, and probably leaving money on the table.

The most amazing thing about these two systems, and many others like them, is that they are totally free.  If I told you five years ago that you could go to a web site, set up an account for free in 5 minutes or less, and have a system where all your customers can sign up to be instantly notified by phone or computer whenever you have a message or special deal, and that you could control everything using almost any mobile phone, you’d have thought it was pie in the sky — but that’s Twitter.  Facebook is, in some ways, even more powerful, and again totally free.  We’ll explore how small businesses can take advantage of Facebook and Twitter in future posts.

Today Intuit announced its attention to acquire PayCycle, a competitor well ahead of its own business, Intuit Online Payroll.  Intuit will pay $170M to acquire PayCycle.

What does this mean to you as a small business professional?

• In the short run, not much.  The deal has been announced, but is not expected to close until sometime in the third quarter of this year (which, admittedly, is not far off).  A deal is never done until it’s done, so until the acquisition closes, expect both companies’ payroll businesses to operate as usual.
• If you are considering signing up for PayCycle or Intuit Online Payroll, don’t be deterred by the pending acquisition.  Given the challenge of migrating customer data, and the disparate features/functionality, I would expect that both Intuit Online Payroll and PayCycle will likely continue to exist independently for some time (well beyond the deal closing).  Having said that, it’s not inconceivable that customers will ultimately be asked to migrate to one platform or the other, or to some future merged Intuit/PayCycle service.  Given that PayCycle is a more mature product that is ahead on features and functionality, if only one service ultimately survives the merger, my money is on PayCycle.
• If you really hate uncertainty but still want to sign up for a web-based payroll service, consider another vendor such as SurePayroll.
• If you are already a customer of either PayCycle or Intuit Online Payroll, don’t even think about switching due to the planned acquisition.  Changing a payroll system that is already humming along smoothly is asking for a big headache.  If you are required later by Intuit to switch between PayCycle and Intuit Online Payroll, you can bet that the transition will be made easier (perhaps even completely seamless) than if you try to switch away to a competitor today.  Of course, if your quality of service degrades, then a change may be necessary, but as I said I do not expect that will happen.

We will continue to monitor the situation, and make sure that BizSnap readers are kept informed of any details which might affect an online payroll decision.

This month, Internet Retailer released its latest email marketing survey results, which showed some bullish signs for those attempting to drum up business by sending electronic mail to its customers.  The study surveyed 275 chain retailers,  web-only retailers, catalogers, and consumer brand manufacturers.  Even if you are not a retailer or manufacturer, there are some helpful lessons for you.

The big take away is that email marketing is working well for most companies engaged in it, despite what we like to call the GEC (saying it that way is a tad more cheery than saying “global economic collapse”).  Despite the adverse economy, 56.4% of retailers surveyed reported the same email marketing conversion rates as last year — and as many have said about the GEC, “flat is the new up.”  Furthermore, 22.8% of survey respondents are seeing email conversions “up slightly,” and 3.7% up significantly.  That’s a whopping 83% (rounded) doing the same or better than last year.  Just 17% say that conversion is down (13.7% down slightly, 3.3% down significantly).

That’s staggering if you stop to think about it.  What other barometers of business activity, other than perhaps foreclosures and bankruptcies, are up so strongly post-GEC?  I would guess that many of those 275 retailers and manufacturers surveyed are down overall as a business, with email conversion gains offset by setbacks in other forms of marketing and sales.

I said earlier that there is a take away for everybody, and it is this: any business, and I include most non-profits and other organizations, that is not doing email marketing is missing a huge opportunity.  If you are doing email marketing, how can you do it more frequently, or more effectively?  The ROI is there: the article suggests that the cost to reach a customer via direct mail is 50 cents to a dollar, versus pennies for email (possibly more depending on your design and production requirements, but in general the cost of email is never anywhere close to the cost of direct mail).  If you’re an experienced email marketer, refer to the full Internet Retailer results to see how you stack up on metrics such as email open rate, conversion rate, number of emails sent per month, and percent of company sales driven by email.  If you’re new to the subject, check out our email marketing learning center.