We’ve heard them all. Excuses that is. We’ve been at this Internet Marketing game for almost 10 years now. In that time we’ve seen a lot of things change with respect to the Internet, our industry, the economy, politics, etc. But, one thing hasn’t seemed to change much. That’s the excuses and objections that we hear from small businesses about why they aren’t using the Internet to market their businesses.

I thought I would catalog 4 of the most common objections that we’ve heard from people over the years. I’ll also share a few comments from those same people after allowing us to help market their small businesses on the internet.

1.) We really don’t get a lot of business from our Website
This is probably the most common objection that we hear from people about doing business on the Web. Generally, this objection comes from a person whose Website has little or no hope of generating any business to begin with because it’s completely static and has been neglected for years.

I’m never surprised, albeit disappointed, when I hear an objection like this. What’s really at the heart of this comment is the disbelief that the Web can actually provide any real monetary value for their business. Like I said, we hear this one a lot. Fortunately, after they become Cazbah customers, we hear this quite a bit too:

“The Internet sales have been tremendous…much better than I had hoped for! During our first busy season, it was the max that I could possibly handle. We are also seeing an increase in our order size of about 40% over our walk-in trade. Our return on investment has been better than we ever anticipated.”
Diane Cappel, Owner – Cappels, Inc.
WATCH VIDEO

2.) Our Website is really like an electronic brochure
Meaning? It’s doing nothing for us. The people who respond with this objection are typically rooted in some pretty basic and traditional marketing practices and haven’t yet embraced the Internet as the most effective marketing tool for their businesses.Once they step over their own objection, this is what we hear:

“Before Cazbah our Website was just an electronic brochure. With Cazbah, it’s an active part of our business that brings (sales) inquiries in that we can filter through.” “I would say on average, we’re talking about five to ten inquiries a day.”
Andy Severson, VP/GM – Armstrong Brands.
WATCH VIDEO

3.) My customer’s aren’t on the Internet, or don’t use the Internet
Generally, we hear this excuse from traditional businesses, manufacturers or distributors, that have been doing business a certain way for a very long time. In most cases, these folks have restricted themselves to a particular territory or region and haven’t considered how the Web could change their business by opening up new markets or opportunities for them. Once we show them how much more efficient and effective (i.e., profitable) it is to do business on the Web we hear:

“We get more than 5 phone calls from the website each day. When somebody calls us from the Website they’re usually very interested in buying something. If we have it (in stock) we’ve got the sale. At least 60% of our sales are attributable to the Website and plenty of the rest of the sales are helped by the Website because we can refer people to it…”
Don Welch, Owner – Cylinder Services.
WATCH VIDEO

4.) We don’t sell our products online
This objection comes from people who don’t yet understand the power of the Internet to reach new customers, regardless of the type of products they are selling. In most cases, they don’t believe that anyone would spend the kind of money that it takes to buy their products on the Internet. There are still quite a few people that we run into who have the incorrect assumption that the Web is only good for consumer products that will easily fit into a shipping box. Fortunately, we know otherwise and so do all of our customers:

“Before Cazbah we had no ability to sell online. Since our relationship with Cazbah (our business) has probably doubled. We ship nationwide every week, almost every day, whether it’s small sales UPS or common carrier tractor trailer. The volume and the ticket sales are just tremendous. We are now getting three to five to 10 thousand dollar sales.”
Joe Jackson, Owner – Bristol Valley Hardwoods.
WATCH VIDEO

What are some of the objections you have to expanding your business online? What are some of the successes you’ve had through your website? Write back we would love know and help if we can.

I am in the process of preparing for potential new clients and presenting to them over the next few weeks. It can be a laborious act – reviewing what they want to do, comparing that to the existing market, coupling that with the current viability of what they are doing today, and vetting several other key factors for good measure.

It’s an exhausting process, but one I’ve come to realize is the most important part of my job.

All combined, I may decide they indeed are doing well given their particular market segment.. (and in those cases – Congrats to them!). They may also be doing poorly on several levels and really don’t expect to be doing any better. Further, they may be able to do so much better, but are not able to dedicate any resources to the effort.

Determining up front these factors and ultimately deciding if we are a good fit together is so important to the success of both companies – not just theirs and not just ours.

If the fit is not right we spend our internal resources trying like heck to make them successful, only to not succeed. At times they get frustrated (and disappointed) because their hopes are dashed as they fail to gain the return they expect from the relationship.

On many occasions, we have stepped away from a potential new client, because when it’s all totaled up, the likelihood of their success was remote, if not impossible. It hurts up front to not accept a new client, but it’s for the best all around.

On the converse of that, when the fit is right, we are in step with each other and we set both realistic goals and shared tasks to reach those objectives. Both companies are seeing the benefits and we are moving forward in the establishment of a true long term relationship.

Fiber vs. T1 – is there really a choice?

When Cazbah moved into new offices a few years ago, we explored options for phone and internet service.  The only feasible option was to choose a conventional T1 line to be installed that would be split between a VoIP phone system and internet service.  We contracted with a major provider who coordinated the work between a number of companies and after a few months, our service was operational.  This approach also required the purchase of a standalone hybrid VoIP telephone system to “translate” between the T1 and our phones.  The system works fine.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, the build-out of a fiber optic network throughout Ontario County was not yet positioned for service into our facility.  A little background:  The $7.5 million ring of optical fiber being built in Ontario County is designed to bring high-speed Internet service and improved wireless and cellular service to all corners of the county. The ring is a project of the nonprofit corporation Axcess Ontario, also known as Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corporation.  Additional information can be found at http://www.co.ontario.ny.us/tdc/index.html .  One national bit of recognition from the Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government entitled Ontario County Fiber-optic ring garners praise can be found at http://www.rbj.net/article.asp?aID=185241.  All-in-all, the project has received significant recognition on a national level that should be saluted by all of us that have access to the ring.

Now, back to Cazbah:
We recently determined that our bandwidth was insufficient due to our growth and we went about the process of bringing in additional bandwidth.  We contacted a local company, Finger Lakes Technologies Group and were pleasantly surprised to discover that the ring was now totally accessible to our location and after a few simple conversations, we committed to the installation of a local link to the new fiber optic network that was now approaching maturity.

Here’s what it came down to:

Choice 1 consisted of the installation of an additional T1 that, although it would increase our bandwidth, involved a lengthy installation process involving more than 1 service provider.

Choice 2 would be to go with Finger Lakes Technologies Group and have them install a link from a local demarcation point into our facility.

The T1 would be a static increase in bandwidth that was based on conventional technology that has been around a long time.  The fiber optic link, based upon new but proven technology, has a very interesting feature in that now, when our continued growth demands additional bandwidth, we simply place a call and through a software modification, can instantaneously dial up the bandwidth without requiring the installation of any new hardware!

Oh, and by the way……  the economics of the fiber ring option certainly added to making the choice an easy one.  It is not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but the performance difference of 10 to 1 in download speed and 2 to 1 in upload speed along with a significant cost advantage certainly suggests that the choice between fiber and T1 is an easy one for those whose proximity allows access.

We are warning our clients and small businesses to be aware of a search engine ranking flimflam. A confidence game played on the unsuspicious who pay for keyword ranking and traffic. This unscrupulous charade demands money upfront and promises that your website will move ahead of the pack. They also guarantee oodles of visitors that could take other websites months if not years to accumulate. Don’t be scammed, these third party search engines are illusionists. They use slick technology as their smoke and bots as their mirrors, all the while lining their pockets with your much needed marketing dollars.

The misconception of “the more traffic the better” is only part of the equation. Relevant traffic is what affects the bottom line. These “new” search engines that are charging upfront for web positioning and traffic are using bots and malware to make it appear their false promises are true. To separate the wheat from the chaff we rely on the data. Google Analytics provides us with the raw information that shows that these new search engines or catalog referral sites are not bringing relevant traffic. In fact, in many cases they are using bots to click on your site. The bots will show as a visit, but they aren’t real people who wish to do real business.

This scenario has reared its ugly head recently. A fairly new client bought into this suspicious and intricate ruse. They we’re charged $1,500 a month for website traffic. They did get plenty of visits but with a bounce rate of over 92%. The fraction of visits that did not immediately bounce out stayed on the site for an average of 11 seconds. Out of all this buzz and bother there was not one goal conversion. Not one of the so called visitors purchased anything nor requested more information.

Google Organic (unsolicited web traffic) for the same time frame was about 20% higher in visits, had a bounce rate of fewer than 43% and the visitors here spent an average of 3 minutes on the site. Affix that with 23 goal conversions (and another 24 from other reputeable referrals) and it is apparent to us that the “new” search engine is about as reprehensible as it gets.

There are no quick fixes to Search Engine Optimization and everyone should be very wary at the “throw money at it” solution process. Before you send one RED cent to these companies with unrealistic promises, do the research. A basic search will pull up many threads of conversation regarding deceitful web marketing practices.

Because this is an ongoing investigation and for legal reasons we cannot provide the exact name(s) of these internet advertising scammers here.  But we will offer free consultation regarding this post. You can leave questions in the comments section or email me directly at bgriffin@cazbah.net

If you are a victim of fraud of this type of criminal marketing scam or sales pitch activity you should file a complaint at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Victims need to report these incidents and start fighting back. Don’t let the Internet Search Engine Data Merging Keywords scammers do this to other victims.

Have any stories about internet advertising or instant traffic scams? What are your experiences with the “new third party” search engines? Write back on the comments section we would love to know your thoughts.

For years now my customers have asked me about video on their websites and how that medium might be used to compliment their products and services sales. Until recently, I have always been a bit cautious because of the time and cost of producing videos versus the benefit received from such a marketing activity.

In the last year we’ve seen a number of tools introduced into the marketplace to increase value while decreasing the amount of time spent producing videos. Social media sites like YouTube and Facebook have made it very easy to upload videos and share them. Additionally, video camera and even cell phone technology have made it much easier to create videos and get them onto the internet for viewing.

Why
So why would you ever want to create a video for your ecommerce web site? You want sales. After all isn’t that why you have a commerce site? Video can give you a real competitive advantage by sharing your knowledge and advice on how to get the most out of the product or service you are selling. This will attract viewers who,if done correctly, can become customers.

How
I like to use a video camera called Flip Video. This inexpensive video recorder is small and easy to use. It creates quality video without a lot of complexity. Most importantly Flip Video has very easy to use software for editing and uploading your videos. Once you have shot your video you need to decide where to upload it. I use YouTube as the hub for my customer’s videos. YouTube allows you to store your videos for free and has a number of tools to allow you to promote them. Once I have uploaded the video to YouTube I can embed that video on my customer’s web site, blog, Facebook, etc.

Results
In the end the reason we do this is because we are creating value. We are showing the world what we know about our products and services so we can build trust and ultimately make more sales. This is precisely what a number of our clients have done. For instance take a look at my customer’s video listed on the Google search page for the term “saniguard spray”. My customer doesn’t just sell Saniguard spray, he creates value by showing how to use it properly. This video has done a lot to increase their sales of the Saniguard spray product line. Lastly I will leave you with a video that took me about an hour and a half to shoot, produce, and upload. I used a Flip Video, uploaded to YouTube and then embedded the video to my customer’s appropriate product web page. The “video value” my customer creates in this video will be sure to increase his sales. How can you increase your “video value”?

read more

(The importance of your differences cannot be overstated.)

The short answer to this question is, you do! If you want to do more business, more effectively on the Internet, then you definitely need a Unique Value Proposition.

The term Unique Value Proposition can be best understood by breaking it down into its parts.

Unique refers to the characteristics of your product or service offering that distinguish you from as many of your competitors as possible. Think about it. What is it about what you do that sets you apart? Take the time to really understand how you are different from your competition. Then, write it down!

Value is the intrinsic worth of your offering to your customers. In other words, it defines what your customers get for their money. If you’re having difficulty with this one, ask your customers to describe how your service or product has helped them. Take this input and translate it into several concise statements.

Webster defines Proposition as; a statement containing only logical constants and having a fixed truth or value. That pretty much sums it up! It is your factual and truthful proposal to your customer. Being able to qualify and quantify your claims is very important and makes your Unique Value Proposition that much stronger!

The Internet is a tremendous resource for gaining a better understanding for the UVP concept. There are numerous examples that you can find online through a search using any search engine, on the terms ‘Unique Value Proposition.’ Using the results of your search as a model, construct your own Unique Value Proposition.

Documenting your Unique Value Proposition and making it easy to understand is very important. As with goals, the elements of your Unique Value Proposition are not real until you have written them down. Once you have done so, place them somewhere that you are sure to see them. Reading them on a regular basis is an excellent test of their accuracy. Ultimately, your customer will determine how well you have captured your Unique Value.

As an aid in this process, ask yourself this question: “What is it about what we do that makes us different (better)?” And, “Why should anybody care?” Combining your honest answer to these two question with some objectivity and customer input will get you far along the path to identifying and documenting your Unique Value Proposition.

Use mind mapping to capture your Unique Value Proposition. Write your product or service features in the center of separate pieces of paper. Once you have documented the features in this way, draw a circle around each one. Then, write the benefits that your customers receive from that feature in smaller circles, surrounding the center. Connect the circles with lines, like spokes in a wheel. When finished, evaluate them all to ensure that they accurately represent your offering. Compile each feature map page into one sentence. Then, combine the sentences into an itemized list or paragraph. Congratulations, you have just created your Unique Value Proposition.

As I mentioned before, your customer will be the ultimate judge of the accuracy of your UVP. Take the time to test your newfound focus by sending it to some of your better, longer term customers to gain their insights. Their input will provide you with the finer points that will allow you to refine and sharpen your Unique Value Proposition even further.

All The Business!

We’ve been at this specialty small business online marketing game for the better part of 10 years now, and we have hundreds of successful specialty small business customers, for whom we generate literally tens of millions of dollars in new revenue from the web…

So here’s what really chaps my set-upon; I would have to say that every customer (to a one) that we’ve gotten (and still have by the way) over the years, has had at least one (if not several) bad experience with another web development company or so-called guru or expert, before we’ve had the pleasure of their business.

In most cases this has cost them tens of thousands of dollars in fees for a mediocre website and whatnot, plus the loss of revenues, i.e., the money they should have made but didn’t. This can easily get into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Being completely objective, which is difficult for me to do in this particular case, this is a blessing and a curse:

The Blessing — There are an ever increasing number of hucksters out there putting out an incessant commentary on the virtues (not that they would know virtue if it bit them) of Internet Marketing, in all of its varied forms and functions.

That’s good, because whether they realize it or not, they are advancing the cause, so-to-speak, by raising the awareness of the relatively uninitiated small business owner or entrepreneur for all things Internet. If there is anything we can use more of it’s awareness.

The Curse — These maleficent marketers who shill, bait and switch, sell a pig in a poke, have no concern for the bad faith and jaundice they create in the industry as a whole. I can’t tell you the number of times we hear things like, “You guys are all the same.” Or, “I just talked to a group that does exactly what you do.” Or, “I spent 2o grand with the company who did my website and now they want even more money to fix it. Why should I trust you?”

Not too long ago – perhaps 6-8 years ago (ages ago in Internet time) – having a website for a small business meant either hiring a web development company or, assigning the task to an individual in your organization to design and develop it. With that complete – you arrived on the information highway and were cruising along down the road.

Marketing your business remained very traditional – with one additional ‘cool’ feature – a web address, which you listed on every brochure, business card, and magazine advertisement you placed. And it was powerful. So much product information, industry knowledge and articulate value propositions could be displayed – graphically. Provisions for updates including internal procedures, job assignments, and sincere dedication to this new media assured its contribution to your small business success.

Celebrations were held all around and with baited breath – results were expected. Often, these results were good, sometime phenomenal, too often however – very much lacking. Even more review and internal discussions to change some of the content bore little fruit.

In the end, a decision – perhaps not a conscience one, but a decision all the same was made: ‘This site is not going to produce the results we expect. Let’s just leave it up there and get back to the business we know best. What the heck, maybe someone will find it and give us call.”

I find it curious that a small business that specializes in a particular market segment – and advocates to their customers all the good reasons for leveraging their unique abilities – doesn’t apply the same thinking to the growth of their own business.

Just having a site is not enough – certainly not today. It requires constant attention to understand the ever changing conditions in the Internet as-well-as the practices of those who use it to find relevant information, i.e., your target customer!

Are you an expert in your industry? I expect so. Are you an expert in Internet marketing? … Perhaps – but is that the business you are in? Probably not.

That statement may seem optimistic considering all the negativity in the traditional media right now. But, it is something I truly believe. First, access to top level employees is high and getting higher. Your business gets to be at the forefront of helping to solve the unemployment dilema.

Next, a lot of your competitors are sitting on their hands waiting for something to happen. If you are out there making something happen, you have a huge advantage. I think Winston Churchill’s statement during WWII sums up our current state pretty well, “This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.”

This leads us to the next advantage. Your business is part of the solution. Small business is the back bone of the American economy. Our own President acknowledges this. So, running a well oiled successful small business, in today’s turbulent economy, only sets you up for greater success as the economy moves forward into more rewarding times.

Now, do I think it is going to be easy? Absolutely not! It’s going to take creativity, thought, planning and implementation on a huge level. Your business is going to need to have a rock solid strategy from top to bottom. In today’s business environment, any hole in your business model will quickly lead to a sinking ship.

So what can you do as an entrepreneur to ensure success? First, get a strong business plan. Plans help you set a course for success. They show you were your strong points are and where your challenges are. Next, be willing to make adjustments based on the information you gather that will impact your business plan and create a strategy for implementing your plan. Finally, follow through with the plan. I have seen more small businesses than I care to remember set themselves up for failure based on their lack of follow through. They have a great plan, but never implement it and end up dying off or just winging it. In today’s economy this is truly a recipe for disaster.

Lastly, as Nike likes to say ‘JUST DO IT’. Whatever it takes, do it! Don’t be afraid to ask for help there are a lot of places out there to get help. You can go to the Small Business Administration, the Internet has a ton of information and advice, local business groups, or even other local business owners themselves. Business owners can be the greatest resource because in many cases, they have been there and done that.

President Obama has appointed Karen Gordon Mills to take the top spot at the Small Business Administration (SBA). I had never heard of Karen Mills and I think that I’m going to be hearing quite a bit more about her so, I did some research. I’m genuinely interested in ‘where’ people come from because I believe you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their history. I did a little digging. Here’s what I found.

Karen Dale Gordon was born in 1950 to Ellen R. and Melvin J. Gordon. She is married to Barry Gordon (an attorney), who graduated in ’72 from Bowdoin College in Biochemistry and Government, got his PhD in biology from Syracuse University (“Cuse – Go Orange”), and got his JD from Columbia Law School in ’79. He is currently the president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. They have 3 sons, William, Henry and George. Karen did her undergraduate work at Harvard in Economics in 1975 and got her MBA from Harvard Business School in 1977.

Karen’s father Melvin J. Gordon (88) has been the Chairman of the Board of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1962 and serves as its Chief Executive officer. Mr. Gordon serves as the President of HDI Investment Corp., a (Gordon) family investment company. He has been a Director of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1952. He serves as a Director of HDI Investment Corp.

Karen’s mother Ellen R. Gordon (76) has been President of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1978 and serves as Chief Operating Officer. Her father William Rubin originally bought the company from its founder, Austrian immigrant Leo Hirschfeld, in 1935. Mrs. Gordon is also a Vice President and Director of HDI Investment Corp. Prior to her election as President, Mrs. Gordon served as Senior Vice President of Tootsie Roll. Mrs. Gordon has been a director of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1969 and is a Member of the Executive Committee. Mrs. Gordon has been a Director of Unilever – Bestfoods since 1991.

Tootsie Roll Industries is a top 1000 company and has been very good to the Gordons. Mr. & Mrs., have a reported and combined annual income + options of more than 8.4MM.

So, Karen comes from money (or candy), a lot of it. Is it any surprise then that she went into the Venture Capital industry? She has served as President of MMP Group, a private equity investor and advisor since 1993. From 1999 to 2007 she was a founding partner and a managing director of Solera Capital, a late-stage, ‘controlling interest’ VC firm with $250MM+ under management. “Our operating philosophy is to invest about $15-20 million in each deal and take a controlling interest,” noted Mills.” We like to be the capital that comes in to grow the business to the next level – build the next plant, make an acquisition, or expand the brand.” (…and then flip it and get our multiple.)

The media is reporting that Karen has taken a leadership role in the growth of more than 20 companies in the consumer products, food, distribution, textile and industrial component sectors since the mid 1980s. That’s less than 1 (one) deal per year. Not exactly aggressive lending by any stretch of the imagination. We’ll see how (if) that translates to her role with the SBA.

I am very hopeful that Karen can step up and reform a government agency that is in desperate need of leadership. That she can see her way clear to developing conscientious funding policy, developing flexible and easy to access funding for the majority of small businesses, not the sweetheart deals that she is used to working with in her current life.

At this point, the jury is still out on Karen Mills!