Upgrade Your Business
With a new year comes new business goals. But are you making the most of all the low-cost resources you have at your disposal?
Make this the year you upgrade your business through the following strategies:
Develop a Technology Awareness Strategy
Technology is essential to every business, even those that aren’t considered “technology” companies. You deal with technology in your office productivity software, security system, air conditioning, computers and networks, phone systems, and much, much more.
A good technology awareness strategy boils down to four simple steps:
1. Determine your needs.
2. Assess the resources available to you.
3. Rank the resources in order of usefulness to you.
4. Make or allow the time to use the resources.
Let’s take a closer look at each step here.
Real-Time Marketing
Sure, almost all businesses use Facebook and Twitter. But are you really harnessing the power of "real-time marketing" like the following:
Real-time insight: is all about knowing what's being said about your business in real-time. If you don't have a Google Alert set up, make sure you do so. Yelp is another important tool for businesses with a brick and mortar presence. Finally, set up Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to monitor mentions of your business.
Real-time response: Customers have questions or complaints? The amount of time you take to respond could mean the difference between keeping or losing a customer. Take a look at these "real-time" tools for customer management.
Real time content studio: Consider the Orabrush story.
An elderly inventor crafts a tongue-scraping device meant to combat bad breath but has no luck in marketing it. and then tries mightily to market it via informercial and direct to retail with no luck. Then he visits a marketing class and pitches his concept. While the plucky inventor's tale sails over the head of most of the student, one person in the room has a brainstorm -- how about if they use YouTube to brand the quirky project?
Learn how to use real-time marketing in your business here.
Trademark Yourself
Make this the year you finally get that trademark. Procedures vary from country to country, but in the U.S., you can file via mail or online at the USPTO Web site. Registration costs between $275 and $375. The initial application primarily includes a representation of the mark and a description of the goods or services. You should have already performed a search to be sure your mark is unique for the category for which you are registering.
As part of the approval process, you may be required to demonstrate your first use of the mark, so you will want to prepare records of things like a DBA filing, bank statements in the company name, or advertisements in printed publications.
Learn more about trademarks here.
Get a mentor
A mentor is someone with more entrepreneurial business experience than you who serves as a trusted confidante over an extended period of time, usually free of charge. Why do they do this? First and foremost as a way of giving back to their community and to society at large. They may do it to develop their skills as a teacher, manager, strategist, or consultant. And a true mentoring relationship also works in both directions—they learn about new ideas from you just as you learn timeless wisdom from them.
Find out how to get a mentor here.
Make this the year you upgrade your business through the following strategies:
Develop a Technology Awareness Strategy
Technology is essential to every business, even those that aren’t considered “technology” companies. You deal with technology in your office productivity software, security system, air conditioning, computers and networks, phone systems, and much, much more.
A good technology awareness strategy boils down to four simple steps:
1. Determine your needs.
2. Assess the resources available to you.
3. Rank the resources in order of usefulness to you.
4. Make or allow the time to use the resources.
Let’s take a closer look at each step here.
Real-Time Marketing
Sure, almost all businesses use Facebook and Twitter. But are you really harnessing the power of "real-time marketing" like the following:
Real-time insight: is all about knowing what's being said about your business in real-time. If you don't have a Google Alert set up, make sure you do so. Yelp is another important tool for businesses with a brick and mortar presence. Finally, set up Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to monitor mentions of your business.
Real-time response: Customers have questions or complaints? The amount of time you take to respond could mean the difference between keeping or losing a customer. Take a look at these "real-time" tools for customer management.
Real time content studio: Consider the Orabrush story.
An elderly inventor crafts a tongue-scraping device meant to combat bad breath but has no luck in marketing it. and then tries mightily to market it via informercial and direct to retail with no luck. Then he visits a marketing class and pitches his concept. While the plucky inventor's tale sails over the head of most of the student, one person in the room has a brainstorm -- how about if they use YouTube to brand the quirky project?
Learn how to use real-time marketing in your business here.
Trademark Yourself
Make this the year you finally get that trademark. Procedures vary from country to country, but in the U.S., you can file via mail or online at the USPTO Web site. Registration costs between $275 and $375. The initial application primarily includes a representation of the mark and a description of the goods or services. You should have already performed a search to be sure your mark is unique for the category for which you are registering.
As part of the approval process, you may be required to demonstrate your first use of the mark, so you will want to prepare records of things like a DBA filing, bank statements in the company name, or advertisements in printed publications.
Learn more about trademarks here.
Get a mentor
A mentor is someone with more entrepreneurial business experience than you who serves as a trusted confidante over an extended period of time, usually free of charge. Why do they do this? First and foremost as a way of giving back to their community and to society at large. They may do it to develop their skills as a teacher, manager, strategist, or consultant. And a true mentoring relationship also works in both directions—they learn about new ideas from you just as you learn timeless wisdom from them.
Find out how to get a mentor here.