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SEPTEMBER 16, 2015It may not be as flashy as social media, but savvy small-business owners know that a carefully curated email list can be priceless.

“When it comes to ROI, email is still king,” says Jon Clark, owner of Fuze SEO. “Growing your email list should still be one of your top goals.”

Customers on your email list tend to be the most loyal, adds Eric Groves, CEO and co-founder of Alignable, a free online social network for local businesses and author of The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing.

An important part of creating an effective email marketing channel is building your list, says Lance Brown, vice president of product development for Huzzah Media. “You want highly interested and engaged customers on your list who appreciate the type of email that you’re sending and will act when the time is right,” he says.If you’d like to build an email list that hits all the right points, try using these five proven methods:

1. Let Customers Know

To encourage people to sign up for emails from you, broadcast the fact that you have an email list at every customer contact point. “Anywhere you’re engaging with people, take the opportunity to let them know about your email list,” Groves says. “If you’re at a conference or social mixer and people give you their business cards, put a star on the cards of those individuals who want on the list.”

Promote your email signup form on every page of your website, social media channel and email signature, adds Clark. “The more options users have to sign up, the more likely they’ll do so,” he says. You should also remind your employees to let customers know about your email list.

2. Make It Easy and Accessible

People are more likely to sign up for your email list if doing so is a simple task. Place a sign-up sheet next to the point of sale in a restaurant or retail establishment. When people visit your website, rather than jumping all over them with popups, put an easy-to-see signup link on all the pages.

“Keep it simple and short,” Clark advises. “Remember that each field in a sign-up form represents a roadblock to getting that user to sign up. Don’t ask for all their information upfront, such as an address. That’s a big put-off, because it takes too much time to fill out. Get the person’s name and email address in a form that takes five seconds to fill out, and capture additional information through your re-marketing efforts.”

3. Give Customers a Reason to Sign Up

Incentives are a good way to encourage those who might be on the fence to sign up. “As a thank you for signing up, give an awesome, valuable and free gift, whether it be a white paper, e-book, discount or T-shirt,” Clark suggests.

At the same time, don’t force people to join, Brown adds. “The size of your list doesn’t matter,” he says. “You want quality people who want to be on your list. Never include people who didn’t ask or agree.”

4. Alleviate Fears

The two main reasons people hesitate about signing up for an email list are that it won’t contain relevant information and they won’t be able to get off the list if they want to, Groves says. “Assure them they can easily unsubscribe at any time,” he says.

To show people the value of signing up, Groves suggests giving them examples of the kind of emails they can expect. Provide a link on the homepage of your website that takes them to a sample email, or, if you have a brick-and-mortar location, display a sample email at the point of sale, right next to the email sign-up sheet.

5. Attract, Don’t Promote

Don’t oversell on your email list. “When it’s all about me, me, me, recipients tune you out and eventually ask to be taken off of your list,” Groves says. “They already know what you’re selling; you don’t have to hit them over the head with it. And don’t send too many emails, as this can easily be considered spam.”

Instead, Groves suggests, “be brief, be bright and be gone, which makes ripples in the brains of your customers. To do this, offer 30 percent promotion and 70 percent education. People feel like you’re talking directly to them when you share your knowledge, and that will keep them opening your emails.”

Remember, the quality and effectiveness of your email communication and resulting engagement with customers is only as good as the strength of your list. These strategies will help you build a list that works.

For more tips on how to connect with customers through great emails, access this exclusive video course, Rethink Your Emails to Customers.

Read more articles on email marketing.

This article was originally published on September 3, 2014.

Photo: iStockphoto

To stay competitive, small businesses should make adjustments to help increase their online presence and sales, believes Caleb Garrett, a partner and angel investor for Hawkers Co. “It’s inevitable for small business brick-and-mortar retail to move toward online digital sales, because the buying power has changed and continues to evolve,” Garrett says. “We have social media, cellphones and tablets thrown in the retail mix, and to not have an online presence is detrimental to a small business.”

Online Retail Benefits

The shift from offline to online sales has its benefits, including in the area of overhead costs. “With online sales, you are able to offer more discounts, sales, free shipping and other benefits that are not possible with brick and mortar,” Garrett says. “As technology advances, the convenience of saving time and not having to drive trumps buying items in person. Online is even changing the way we search for items. We see something we want and then go find it online first, rather than look for it in the store.”

To be a viable business in today’s marketplace, you should have both an offline (brick-and-mortar) presence as well as an online presence, adds Darnyelle A. Jervey, CEO of Incredible One Enterprises, a business consulting and coaching firm. “Some of your clients will prefer the face-to-face power of touching and feeling what they desire to purchase and interfacing with your sales team. But as the consumer base, which includes millennials, becomes more comfortable with the ease and convenience of buying online and security and privacy measures increase, convenience shoppers will opt for ease over experience.”

Thanks to improved online marketplace technology, you don’t even have to worry about losing the high-touch feel that customers want, Jervey notes. “If you own a high-touch retail business, consider ways to provide customers with a personal touch. It’s possible to offer add-ons and upgrades, even online,” she says. “For instance, you can create a preferences list and keep track of what customers buy so you can suggest ways to enhance their experience on your website.”

Tips for Making the Shift to Digital

To help successfully transition to a stronger e-commerce platform, you should keep a few things in mind.

“The most important thing to do is to put in place the foundations of digital marketing, regardless of whether you’re currently selling online or not,” says Kevin Layton, CEO of Data-Dynamix, which offers demographic data, marketing strategies and training and experienced a 343 percent 3-year growth rate. “A website, map listings, local search with optimization, solid landing pages, social media and valuable content that helps your customers solve problems are all paramount to bring people online who are not in your backyard,” explains Layton, author of The Digital Marketing Machine. “Once you have your online presence in place, direct your current customers to your site and give them the option to buy from you online.”

When it comes to your offerings, start small, Garrett suggests. “Begin offering your bestselling items and keep your content clean, streamlined and shop friendly; don’t overwhelm customers. Also understand your audience and add benefits that cater to that audience. Then use your social media accounts to create your voice and post content.”

Keep up to date with the latest technology to help you deliver the best e-commerce experience possible, and use analytics to track how the site is doing so you can make improvements. Most important, don’t give up, advises Layton: “Building your online presence and driving digital sales takes time and investment, just like it does with your brick-and-mortar location.”

Read more articles about websites.

Photo: iStock

AUGUST 21, 2015

As students across the nation make their way back to school, some of them may be your employees. If anyone in your company is hitting the books this fall, consider that a positive—homework and all.

“In many businesses today, it’s important that employees continue going to school and learning their trade,” says Greg Davis, owner ofSouth Coast Computers, a full-service, external IT firm. “There are always new certificates and certifications needed—no matter your business. We usually have a few employees in school each semester.”

Back-to-School Benefits for Small Businesses

The advantages of continuing education for your employees are many. “For most businesses today, the hardware and software changes so fast that it’s imperative your employees keep up,” Davis says. “Trends and new ways of conducting business also constantly appear, especially as we continue to globalize. Any new information that your employees absorb helps your company become more knowledgeable, innovative and proactive.”

“To be competitive as a small business today, you and your employees must actively work to find better ways to solve new problems that arise,” Davis says. “Those employees who go back to school can learn new techniques and broaden their horizons by learning from instructors and the coursework and by working with other students, who often have different ideas and solutions than their coworkers.”

Offering your employees the opportunity to go back to school can also make them feel valued, which leads to more job satisfaction and a desire to use their newfound knowledge to better their work environment and improve their performance.

Back-to-School Challenges

Of course, having employees hit the books isn’t without challenges for small-business owners. Whether yours is a service- or product-based business, the time employees are away from the office or client site can strain your infrastructure, which for many small businesses is already limited.

“Like many small businesses, we provide service, and as such our clients require their problems solved quickly,” says Davis. “A customer generally can’t wait for IT assistance from an employee who needs to go to class, or if the employee is onsite, he or she can’t leave to attend school until the customer’s IT problem is solved. Our clients also generally require our services during extended business hours, so unless employees can find classes they need at night, the schooling cuts into their working hours, which can lead to reduced paychecks and affect the company’s productivity.”

Davis has also found that going back to school can stretch some employees a bit thin—especially if they have substantial priorities in addition to work. This can negatively affect work performance.

Making School Work

If your employees have expressed the desire to go back to school, or you wish to encourage continuing education, keep the following tips in mind.

• Be flexible. “Look at the big picture, and you will realize that having trained, A-level employees is better for any company,” Davis says. “Spend extra time being creative with work schedules to give those employees who go back to school first priority on weekend or after-hours work to keep them busy. Make sure the employees understand that you are being flexible in order to benefit them and the company.”
• Guide coursework. If possible, sit down with your employees and assist them in choosing courses that are mutually beneficial for them and the company.
• Offer educational expense reimbursement. Pay for a portion of books, supplies and even tuition, which can encourage employees to pursue continuing education and may make it more likely that they continue working for you once they finish the classes or graduate with degrees.
• Keep an eye on performance and priorities. While you want to encourage employees to improve themselves and thrive in their positions, it’s not feasible or advisable to let their absence from the company affect your bottom line. If it becomes apparent that an employee’s performance is slipping, it may be necessary for him or her to cut back on the number of classes being taken, or if that isn’t possible, you may need to hire someone to pick up the slack.
• Consider online learning. Depending on your business and the classes required, it may be possible for employees to obtain some or all of their educational training online. Many virtual classroom programs allow employees to complete coursework during off hours. Even if your employees do need to attend class during work time, it will most likely only require taking an hour or so out of the day to log on, rather than having to leave the premises.

Read more articles about motivating employees.

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Of course, Google’s not the first company to pivot, notes Zach Szukala, the executive creative director of the digital design firm A Hundred Years. “Alphabet feels a dash too childish, yet in-tune with clever pivots of the moment like European telecom Orange shifting to Salt, and the recent evolution of Airbnb from house-sharing tech startup to a community-driven lifestyle brand.”

Other effective business pivots include PayPal, which started as a payment system through Palm Pilots; Starbucks, which once only sold coffee machines and beans; and Twitter, which actually began as the site Odeo, a podcast network the owners felt would fail because of iTunes, so they made the switch to what is now a social media giant.

These big-company pivots raise the question: Should you consider making a major pivot with your small business?

There can definitely be benefits to making major changes, according to Szukala. “A well-timed pivot can be the precise move necessary to capture market attention for a product, service or personality that has been waiting for attitudes, technology or a generational shift to be fully realized and embraced,” he says.

In other words, if your company is in the right place at the right time with a new and/or improved way of doing business or presenting itself, you could end up with increased recognition and a substantial jump in business.

Time for a Pivot?

So how do you know when it’s time for a change?

“When the time comes, you’ll know it,” Szukala says. “The essence of your work will no longer match your name or identity, or your business will be fulfilling goals that are now different from when you started. Pay careful attention when you constantly find yourself having to explain your name in some fledgling effort to substantiate it with the obvious mismatch between your work and its status quo.”

Other signs it might be time for a change:

• You find yourself clinging to the way you’ve always done things and are getting sick of hearing yourself say, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Just because your business isn’t failing or even faltering now doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make some changes.
• You’ve discovered a better way of doing things, and these superior methods could potentially make your company more successful.
• Your customers let you know that they’re in the mood for changes. If you begin to hear the same or similar suggestions for changes from clients, sit up and listen.

Mastering Pivots While Maintaining Your Brand

Pivots are a normal part of doing business, so don’t think you’ve done anything wrong if you find it’s time to do a 180. The key is to not be afraid to make changes that can eventually lead to more success.

Here are some additional steps to mastering pivots, suggested by Szukala.

• Focus on your business. “Take a close look at that core story that deep down embodies you, your organization and your product or service,” he says. “That core story is your differentiator.” It’s embracing that differentiator that can mean the difference between wild success and dismal failure.
• Don’t mistake a new logo for a new brand. A logo and a brand must work together, but they are completely different entities. Whereas a logo is an easily recognizable design element, such as a symbol or your name written in a certain script, it’s only a tool that can enable you to communicate your brand. Your brand encompasses your message and mission and is essentially how the public perceives and interacts with your company. Without the brand behind it, the logo is simply a design. Together, a good brand and logo can drive a company’s success.
• How your brand speaks is as important as how it looks. “You’ll get an initial reaction with the visuals, but longevity in voice, tone and, more importantly, experience are the keys,” Szukala says.
• Strong opinions in both directions can point toward a more vibrant brand. “Gut check your updated approach with trusted partners, clients and new business acquaintances,” Szukala says. “If you don’t find folks riled up in both directions, you may need to alter your approach.”

Read more articles about pivoting.

Photo: iStock

Though it might seem early to start thinking about the holidays when the weather is hot enough to melt Frosty in five minutes, the fact is that “U.S. consumers have shown interest in early holiday shopping, and this has resulted in early holiday advertising campaigns being launched by a number of large companies and small businesses,” says Jake Dacillo, marketing director for Balboa Capital.

“It is not uncommon to see pre-holiday advertising in late August or early September,” Dacillo says. “This is done to meet consumer demand and gain a competitive advantage.”

Time to Plan for the Holiday Sales

You might not want to pull out your Santa decor just yet, but it is a good idea to prepare for fourth quarter sales as soon as possible.

“Small-business owners should start planning their holiday marketing efforts several months in advance so they can remain focused on their day-to-day responsibilities when their holiday campaigns roll out,” Dacillo says. “Savvy business owners who do this understand that the final months of the year are extremely busy and often involve extended work hours to meet the needs of shoppers.”

Early planning is best, agrees business optimization strategist Darnyelle Jervey, CEO of Incredible One Enterprises  and author of Market Like a R.O.C.K. Star. “Using a seasonal approach to marketing and advertising can be a very sound strategy,” she says. “Start planning in August/September and then launch just after Halloween. Sometimes a soft launch earlier in October also works, because most holiday clubs pay out the savings the first weekend in October, and people start spending right away.”

Benefits to Early Holiday Season Marketing

“Although December is the most lucrative time of the year for many small businesses, the months leading up to it can be great for the bottom line,” Dacillo says. “Small businesses that begin their holiday efforts early, perhaps in late summer, can get a jumpstart on their holiday sale’s revenue and begin the final months of the year on a positive note. In addition, acting early can positively affect a company’s bottom line if they are inventory-driven. They might be able to secure inventory at a discounted cost by buying early.”

Of course, it’s essential that you’re completely ready before you start offering holiday sales around Labor Day.

“An ill-prepared early holiday campaign can spell disaster for small-business owners who end up running out of inventory or marketing dollars before the holidays are in full swing,” Dacillo says. “Watch your competition to see when they start their holiday marketing campaigns and what they offer, but don’t rush to launch a last-minute campaign. It’s easier and more beneficial to modify already prepared and well-designed holiday marketing efforts.”

When developing your early holiday campaign, ask these questions:

• What products and/or services will you offer discounts on?
• Will you have enough inventory to meet shopper demand?
• Will you advertise a loss leader to help drive sales of more profitable products and/or services?
• What are your holiday revenue goals, and do they differ from last year’s results?
• What is your holiday advertising budget, and what marketing channels will you be using to maximize sales?
• If your company can’t compete on pricing during the holidays, can you develop a winning strategy that focuses on quality and highly personalized customer service?

Unsure About Customer Reaction to Early Holiday Marketing?

If you’re not convinced that your customers want to start holiday shopping early, then ask. Use an in-store, online or email survey or social media outreach to ask your clients about their holiday shopping needs and expectations.

“Asking customers when they usually begin holiday shopping and how early they’d like to be able to get started gives you valuable insight into their holiday buying habits,” Dacillo says. “Even better, asking makes your customers feel honored to take part in a holiday survey from a small business they trust.”

Read more articles about customer feedback.

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Until now, it was necessary to have a Google+ profile to take advantage of all Google services. With the new changes, you now only need a Google account. The only reason you would need Google+ is to use the platform to share with other Google+ users.

Google’s original intention had been to streamline things and give Google+ users the opportunity to have one identity for all its services. Many users balked at this mandatory integration, so Google’s launch into social didn’t seem to catch on as planned.

YouTube and Google+

Separating things at Google will start with YouTube. When Google set it up so YouTube users had to have a Google+ account, many users protested—in particular because it removed the ability to be anonymous when commenting on videos and sharing content. The new changes should make it easier to share videos with your customers and to encourage them to also share them.

Other Notable Google+ Changes

Google+ users tend to gather and engage around specific shared interests. For this reason, Google will continue to develop the new Google+ Collections, which allows you to share posts organized by topics. The site’s photo sharing capability has been moved onto the Google Photos app.

Benefits of Google+ Changes

Although there may be a lot of rejoicing going on about the detachment of Google+ from YouTube, it doesn’t mean the network is being “dismantled,” as has been indicated, believes Bonnie Harris of Wax Marketing, Inc

An upcoming change that may be useful for small-business owners is the addition of location services to Google Hangouts. Hangouts are communication platforms developed by Google that include video chat, VoIP, SMS and instant messaging. The hangouts tend to be focused on various areas of interest and include live streams and live conversations. “This change to Google Hangouts could be really, really helpful for hyper local marketing,” Harris says.

Using Google+ Effectively

To make the most of Google+ for your business marketing efforts, in addition to checking out the new changes, keep the following in mind:

• Pay attention to your profile and cover photo. Make sure your Google+ profile page reflects your company accurately. Include eye-catching and recognizable photos for your profile and cover photos, such as your company logo.
• Write an engaging “About” section. This is your chance to shine and show the world what your business is all about and why people would want to check out your offerings.
• Create circles. Consider the main goal of having your company Google+ profile, such as enticing new customers, and then build your circles based on your goal. You should build relationships with people who are regularly engaging with you, as they’ll be the ones to share with others about your company. Take advantage of the fact that you can add anyone to your circles.
• Share. Click share to public when posting, which will maximize your exposure and fuel engagement. When you share a post from your blog or website, comment on the post and why you’re sharing it. Avoid always sharing your own products. When possible, do some cross promoting.
• Comment. Click on the “Explore” tab and see what everyone is talking about and also add your own comments. This shows you’re engaged and may entice people to go to your profile page.
• Try hangouts. Put your personality behind your brand by hosting hangouts for events like product demonstrations and to answer customer questions.
• Join communities. Find other hangouts to join and then participate and comment regularly. Share your expertise when possible, which can increase your exposure.

Read more articles about social media.

Photo: Getty Images

JULY 16, 2015  Despite their advantages, Health Savings Accounts are underused, according to a recent study by employee benefits consulting firm HelloWallet.  Informally known as HSAs, these tax-advantaged savings accounts tied to high-deductible health insurance plans (HDHPs) are increasing in popularity among employers attempting to provide affordable healthcare coverage to employees.

HSAs allow holders to save tax-free money for medical expenses not covered by insurance. Contributions are made into such accounts by employees and/or employers, and unused funds roll over from year to year. The contributions are invested, earning returns over time, thanks to the power of compound interest. Funds can be removed tax-free to pay for qualified medical expenses, including vision and dental.

Despite the fact that HSA accounts are tax deductible for employers and employees, grow tax-free and feature tax-free withdrawals, they aren’t as widely used as you might think. Part of the reason for that is “due to the market driving premiums up on HSA qualified plans,” says health insurance agent and registered employee benefits consultant Paula Wilson. “It used to be a great idea for every small-business owner to offer HDHPs/HSAs, but now knowing whether to do so requires examining on a case-by case-basis. Sometimes it’s an excellent idea, and sometimes it’s not.”

When an HSA Makes Sense

For small-business owners wishing to lure specialized, in-demand employees, an HSA plan can be a big draw. “If you want to attract high-caliber employees, an HSA offers a way to do so without busting your budget,” says Wilson, a former board member of the National Association of Health Underwriters. “If you fully fund your employee’s healthcare premiums and contribute to their health savings accounts, you provide them with affordable healthcare that is also a tax deduction for your company.”

The perks are many for the employees and small-business owners themselves, who can use the tax-free money in the HSA account for a wide variety of health-related expenses, including co-pays, dental and orthodontic care, prescriptions, eyeglasses, contacts, corrective vision surgery, acupuncture, chiropractic, smoking cessation, hearing aids, physical therapy, mental health, nursing home care and COBRA payments.

If a person remains fairly healthy and doesn’t need to withdraw money, it rolls over from year to year and can grow into a substantial tax-free, medical care nest egg, Wilson adds: “The original idea of HSAs was for people to continue to contribute to them tax-free so that they would have funds later on for more serious health conditions or long-term care expenses.” If a person remains well into advanced age and doesn’t use the funds, the money can be removed and taxed at his or her income level after age 65 without penalty.

HSA Requirements

For your small business to qualify for a high-deductible health insurance plan, you must have at least two employees, including yourself and someone who’s not a spouse. Your company must also pay at least 50 percent of the health insurance premium. (An 80/20 split between the employer and employee is common.) As an added perk for your employees, you can choose to contribute to their health savings accounts, but that’s not a requirement.

There’s an annual out-of-pocket deductible for HSAs that must be met each year before insurance begins to pay. For 2015, it’s $1,300 for individuals and $2,600 for families. The annual maximum out-of-pocket liability is $6,450 for individuals and $12,900 for families—at which point insurance pays 100 percent of costs. And annual contributions are up to $3,350 for singles and $6,650 for families, with individuals 55 and older allowed to make an extra $1,000 catch-up contribution.

Educate Your Employees About HSA Benefits

Vivian Ciampi, a professional certified coach who worked for a large employer for 20 years prior to opening her own business two years ago, believes that HSAs/HDHPs are underused because of a lack of awareness about their many benefits.

“Health Savings Accounts were offered by my former employer, but you typically had to sift through manuals to really understand the benefits,” says Ciampi, who has an HSA plan for her company. “It behooves employers to hold seminars on this subject so that employees truly understand the benefits of what they could be saving by opening and optimizing an account like this. In today’s age of information overload, benefits such as these really need to be highlighted and made easy for people to understand and use.”

To see if a HSA plan is right for your company and employees, consult with a health insurance agent for an assessment.

Read more articles about healthcare.

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For example, Amazon recently announced Amazon Prime Day, to occur on July 15, when it plans to offer discounts to customers who hold Prime memberships. Likewise, in 2009, the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba created a big shopping holiday on China’s Singles’ Day, November 11. In 2014, Alibaba recorded more than $9 billion in sales on Singles’ Day.

“Creating a company holiday offers you an ideal marketing opportunity to stay one step ahead of your competition,” says Ted Mayeda, co-owner ofM & M Nursery/Fairy Garden Expert. The home and garden center, which specializes in miniature (fairy) gardens popular among gardening hobbyists, holds an annual day that celebrates its gardening techniques and features a free seminar open to customers.

“The day encourages customer loyalty, and all of the attention to miniature gardens helps with sales,” Mayeda says. “Customers come to the free seminar and purchase a lot of plants and supplies.”

Creating a company holiday is a great way to increase business, agrees Olga Mizrahi, owner of ohso! Design and author of Sell Local, Think Global: 50 Innovative Ways to Make a Chunk of Change and Grow Your Business. “Your first annual ‘Lemonade Holiday’ can be a hit if you wrap it in a festive atmosphere, give doorbuster savings to the first X number of customers and free lemonade on a hot day for all.”

Mizrahi and Mayeda offer these tips for creating your own company holiday.

Consider Your Customers

“Creating your own successful promotion takes a true identification with the wants and needs of your customers, loosely tied to your company’s culture or an anniversary of your own,” Mizrahi says.

Think about what theme for your holiday would best serve your clients and fit nicely with your company offerings. Since Mayeda’s customers tend to want to build their own miniature gardens, it was a natural to create a day just for that. “Customers look forward to the event, which we hold every spring, and many come every year for the seminar and day of special sales,” he says.

Look to Your Community

To come up with a holiday that means something to your target audience, take a look at what’s going on in your city or, if you run a virtual company, in the larger marketplace, advises Mizrahi. “Is your town celebrating its founding or is there a new trend out there buzzing around online?” she says. “Take advantage of the euphoria of a season or general consensus and package it up into your business’s annual ‘Hoopla Day.’” Make sure whatever holiday you come up with in some way supports and promotes one or more aspects of your business.

Hold Live Events When Possible

“Local storefront businesses have the advantage of putting on live events, which supplements the party atmosphere of holidays,” Mizrahi says. Personal interaction with your customers can generate even more interest in your products and build loyalty. Having face-to-face interaction beats virtual communication any day.

Make It Meaningful

Use your holiday as an opportunity to highlight what makes your business unique and relevant to your community, suggests Mizrahi. “Also make sure that the holiday is equally meaningful to you, because you are committing to an annual day, or possibly weekend at the same time each year.”

Be Clear About Benefits and Create a Call to Action

Clearly spell out the advantages of the holiday to customers, such as discounts, freebies and festive fun being offered. Customers should know that if they come to a local event or check in online that they will receive certain perks for participating in your company holiday.

Read more articles about events.

Photo Courtesy of M & M Nursery

This order, which would affect nearly 50 million workers, follows on the heels of the president’s recent executive order that raised the minimum wage.

As a small-business owner doing your best to pay your employees fairly, the proposed overtime changes may bring some concern—and it should, claims communications strategist Sheila Stewart, CEO of Sonic Seven Communications. “Incentivizing more than 5 million workers with overtime is going to have a broader and more far reaching impact than many may understand,” Stewart says.

“Like the minimum wage hike, the bottom line impact of the overtime pay will be on consumers and businesses, who will end up paying more for services and products, because no business can afford to cut profit margins in an already competitive market and economic recession,” says Stewart, who offers an example. “A manager making $50,000 calculated at a 40-hour week is making $39.66 per hour. That means for every extra hour over 40 hours, there will be almost an extra $18 per hour paid to the employee.”

While many small-business owners strive to pay their employees fairly, there can be a lot of gray areas and special circumstances. “I don’t believe that anyone will dispute the fact that employees should be paid adequately,” Stewart says. “Rather, the issue is when an emergency happens, such as a late night email or the need for a red-eye flight, such instances will be considered overtime and subject to the additional hourly rate, the cost of which has to be passed along.”

Unintended Consequences

As with any sweeping change, the overtime pay decision may bring unplanned consequences that can affect employees and owners, according to Stewart. “In regards to company culture and internal morale, the change creates a divide between those making less than $50,400 and those making more,” Stewart says. “This divide could cause those making less to actually make more. Businesses may also raise the pay of existing salaried employees to more than the threshold in order to avoid paying overtime, which could cause employees to leave and work for competitors that pay the overtime.”

Other possible results of Obama’s decision announced by Randy Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, include reclassified employees potentially losing opportunities for advancement, benefits, status and flexibility. Johnson feels it’s possible that small-business owners may find it necessary to cut workers to part time and hire more independent contractors.

The consequences can be far reaching, Stewart agrees. “With this new law, every hour and every minute will need to be tracked, documented and then compensated for by the business,” she explains. “This means the person is not really salary anymore, but technically hourly. Most businesses will likely reduce the ‘hourly’ rates of employees from what they were making in their salary in order to compensate for the additional monies that will need to be spent tracking hours, monitoring emails, cell phones, etc.”

Another wrinkle may occur in the area of training. Currently, when an employee is getting up to speed on new information, extra work hours are involved. “This new system actually punishes business owners by having them pay to educate and provide experience to workers,” Stewart says.

Suggested Solutions

To ensure that your company weathers the salary changes, Stewart suggests focusing on creating a positive morale by implementing these processes:

• Create an apprenticeship program. When employees are being taught new skills, consider moving them into an hourly apprenticeship program that is structured as a learning lab. This tactic can support a positive win/win scenario among the workforce and management.
• Develop a mentorship program. You can take the apprenticeship program a step further by creating an internal mentorship program where higher paid managers are incentivized to work-mentor others on the team. “A mentorship program allows for more of a hands-on approach to managing and identifying potential inefficiencies and ways to reduce overall overtime while increasing overall camaraderie,” Stewart says.
• Update record keeping. New overtime rules will create the need for an updated set of internal systems to be implemented by business owners, because currently, if there is a salaried manager on a team, the individual’s hours are not tracked, as most companies work on the honors system. Rather than determining the record keeping method yourself, though, encourage a buy-in from employees by asking for their opinions on how this should be done—such as suggestions for the best app or software solution for tracking hours.

For small-business owners, changes in overtime hours regulation can be challenging, but those companies that work smart and develop creative ways to bring work teams together are the ones that will thrive.

Read more articles about HR.

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Self-actualization, the final stage of noted American psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, refers to the point when you realize your true potential and seek personal growth and self-fulfillment.

While not all great leaders have learned to be self-aware, many of the most recognized are those who’ve achieved self-actualization, says Jill Salzman, co-host of the Breaking Down Your Business podcast and founder of The Founding Moms, a collective for entrepreneurial moms. As Salzman points out, “Self-actualizing business owners are much more successful in the long-term.”

Wondering just how self-aware you are? There’s a good chance you’re there if you possess many of the following eight attributes:

1. Accepting

Self-actualized leaders accept themselves, as well as their employees, colleagues, vendors and customers, as they are rather than hoping for something different. This approach allows them to have realistic expectations, which facilitates a positive, productive work environment and helps prevent resentment and disappointment.

2. Humble

Leaders who are self-actualized don’t announce it. “It’s easy to spot self-actualized leaders,” Salzman says. “They’re the ones who don’t act like they’re great leaders, but employees and others in their orbit look up to them as though they are. In other words, self-actualized leaders will never tell you that they’re leaders, but everyone knows they are.”

3. Willing to Seek Assistance

Self-aware leaders have no problem reaching out to their customers and clients or membership bases and asking questions that reveal their lack of knowledge or skills in certain areas. “The interesting thing is that by sharing with the business world that they’re aware of their need for help, they receive more empathy and support,” Salzman says.

4. Able to Solve Problems

“Self-actualized small-business owners know they can accomplish just about anything,” says Gregg Weisstein, co-founder and COO of BloomNation, a company that works with local artisan florists to hand deliver flowers in more than 3,000 cities nationwide. “Self-aware leaders know they can be and do anything, and they realize that no problem is too big as long as they’re willing to put in the hard work to solve it.”

5. Realistic

Self-actualized leaders are fully aware of their personal faults and the weaknesses of their businesses. “Because of this, they can address those faults far faster than leaders who choose to overlook the tough stuff,” Salzman says. “They have no problem revealing issues about their businesses, and this attitude results in creating better businesses.”

6. Spontaneous

When an interesting idea or suggestion is made, self-actualized leaders aren’t afraid to put tradition and schedules aside to try something new. They know that some of the world’s most groundbreaking discoveries came out of trying something unique and even unheard of.

7. Independent

While self-aware leaders work well with others and aren’t afraid to ask for assistance, they’re also more likely to be autonomous. This means they’ll gather the opinions and ideas of their employees and associates, then retreat in order to process and synthesize the information into a useable and workable format.

8. Grateful

Self-actualized leaders view the world with a perpetual sense of wonder and appreciation. They enjoy simple experiences and are thankful for employees and others who help them run their businesses. And they freely share their appreciation with acknowledgements, thank-yous and rewards for jobs well done.

If you think you still need to work on developing some of the attributes mentioned above before you can say you’re a self-actualized leader, Salzman has some tips.

“Becoming self-actualized is similar to a recovery program [for addiction],” she says. “First, you have to admit you’re in need of improving yourself as a leader and your business overall. Then, and only then, can you believe that the power to become a better leader lies in understanding that the issue is not you but that it lies within your business sphere.

“Once you delegate to the appropriate people,” Salzman adds, “you can improve your awareness of which things need work and let that evolve over time into a deep understanding of the kind of businessperson you are.”

If you’re hoping to become a more effective leader, examine your leadership style and see if there’s some room for self-actualization.

Read more articles on leadership.

This article was originally published on August 29, 2014.

“The onset of ads inside of the Instagram feed is an overdue and very welcome addition,” says Amanda Vega, founder and CEO of Amanda Vega Consulting Inc. and 3 Peas Baby Product Marketing. “The reality is that a brand’s audience spans multiple networks, and the ability to reach them via Instagram has been nearly impossible unless you were already a well-established brand. This recent change opens up the playing field.”

Previously, the only way to get exposure on Instagram was to find individuals with a huge following to promote your product or service, adds Courtlandt McQuire, president and executive creative director of Green Advertising & Vidpop Productions.“This was a lengthy and expensive process that usually didn’t pan out. Now, however, with Facebook’s data and platform injected into the tight knit Instagram network, I think we can expect higher conversions yielding higher advertising earnings.”

Vega agrees. “Instagram will give small businesses an opportunity to capture market share in areas where they can’t compete in the traditional space due to budget constraints,” she says. “In Instagram, much like with all social networks, the agility that small businesses have that larger brands don’t gives them a huge advantage. For instance, whereas a large company would have to get 10 layers of approval on one photo and its message before posting it to Instagram, small-business owners can move much more quickly, because their ad creation process has less constraints.”

Big Advertising Profits Expected

Marketers and investors anticipate lucrative profits from the ads directed at Instagram’s users, who are a young group that likes to share, click and comment.

“If you are a small business looking to benefit from Instagram advertising, you’re in luck,” McQuire says. “Instagram users are an ardent culture of creators and influencers. These users generate their own content, rather than propagating others. They’re individuals with opinions and key influencers in millions of micro cultures within society. This is exactly what advertisers want: people who create consumer change.”

Instagram plans to launch ads later this year, including testing ones that allow viewers to click on an advertised product or app, rather than the current route they must take that involves pasting a product into a website browser or searching the site. Such click-to-buy advertising will allow small-business owners to track how ads are performing, a convenience that could increase the click-through rate.

How to Take Advantage of Instagram Ads

Considering the changes are coming soon, you should consider developing ad strategies now so you can proceed quickly once the platform is open to advertising. Keep these tips in mind.

• Do a dive of your audience specific to Instagram. “Brands don’t always have the same demographics of following on Facebook as they do on Instagram, and no, they don’t necessarily align with the overall demographics of the network either. So use tools that dive deeper for real data,” Vega says. “This will help you better target you audience in your ads.”
• Create varied messages that are aligned with traditional Instagram posts. “Do not take an ad you use in print or on Facebook and throw it up on Instagram,” Vega says. “The cadence and voice on Instagram is vastly different in many ways than other social outlets.”
• Test multiple ads in content and imagery. And test different delivery times. Start with small campaigns of $50 to $100 to test the waters. The results you gather from such attempts will give you valuable information on how to make larger campaigns pay big dividends. “Whatever you do, don’t wait for your competitor to test it for you,” Vega says. “Be brave and be first.”
• Don’t feel pressured to stay with Instagram ads if they aren’t working for you, even if they are working for a competitor. Do your due diligence, but stop if after a while you’re not seeing results.
• Be patient. The rollout of ad availability on Instagram will probably be slow, so take advantage of the downtime to make sure your ad strategy is ready to attract new business.

Read more articles about social media.

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“The average small business is unaware that it’s being hit with more than 10,000 attempted intrusions a day, and the number of these attacks are growing. When a data breach does occur, it can take months to discover it,” says Erik Knight, CEO of SimpleWan, a defense system for businesses that allows for tracking real-time statistics and responding to threats immediately. “The days of small businesses not taking data breaches seriously are over. If a small business has an ‘it can’t happen to me approach,’ I guarantee they are a target for a cyberthreat.”

In addition to an increase in the volume of hacking, “the scams are becoming much more sophisticated, and the landscape is changing regarding culpability,” Knight says. “Organizations and governments are starting to hold businesses responsible for protecting customer privacy.”

Without ample security resources and the finances to survive a catastrophic occurrence brought on by data theft, small businesses can be especially vulnerable, notes Robert Neivert, COO of Private.me, a secure hub of online privacy tools, including Private.me API that protects user data.

Data theft can be disastrous to a small business, adds Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. “Customers expect the businesses they patronize to protect their personal information. Cyber intrusions lead to a loss of trust in your business and can damage your brand.”

How can you protect your small business from cyberattacks? It can help to follow these five security measures.

1. Be Proactive

“Prevention is the key to preventing all attacks,” Knight says. “There are technologies available that provide a monitored security product much like an alarm system for your Internet connection. If you have an alarm system for your office and don’t have one for your firewall, you’re missing your biggest wide open window.”

Knight advises ensuring that your computer system is monitored, audited and tested for security holes monthly—not when there is a breach. “The small-business owners who don’t do this are easy targets and will most likely be hacked,” he says. “Hire a professional IT vendor that knows about proper procedure and threat assessment.”

All businesses should take the time to do risk management evaluations to determine vulnerabilities, Kaiser adds. “Follow basic best practices, such as keeping software up-to-date, and look into new ways to make your business more secure, including adding multi-factor authentication to work networks or email accounts.”

Don’t delay in updating your system, advises James Pooley, a lawyer and author of Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyber Espionage. “Always update your software as soon as patches are available. Many breaches happen because companies wait too long, and hackers know this.”

2. Follow Industry Compliance and Rules

It used to be that you could appear to be making an effort and you would be okay, but the Home Depot breach in 2014 changed all that. “A number of vendors are being named in the ongoing lawsuits, and all of them are at risk for a part of those expenses related to the breach,” says Knight. “A single event like this could be a business ender. The cost of an average breach in 2014 was $3.5 million.”

3. Purchase Data Breach Insurance

Insurance to protect your business in the case of cyberattacks is becoming a necessity. “A few years ago you couldn’t even buy such a thing, but by 2020, research by insurance groups indicates that almost 90 percent of all businesses will be required to have data breach insurance,” Knight says. “It may sound silly, but it may also save your business and is well worth the investment. Even if you’re not the cause of a breach, you may have to defend your actions in court. Many of these policies cover such a defense.”

4. Opt for Cloud Services

A stand-alone computer device you purchased even just a year ago that hasn’t been updated or monitored may already be breached, and you wouldn’t even know it. “With a cloud service, you pay a service fee, and it’s someone else’s job to keep everything current and secure,” Knight says. Consider this tactic for everything from ecommerce to computers, firewalls, phones, email systems and servers.

5. Don’t Forget the Human Element

According to Neivert, employees are a small-business owner’s biggest security threat. “We often focus on tech, but people create many of the issues,” he says. “Often passwords are shared among employees, are simple and reused. Every employee should have a unique password, and it should be of reasonable strength. Train employees to be careful about opening emails from unknown sources, have an anti-virus scanner on computers, keep access to sensitive information like banking to only a few people, and most of all, pay attention to employees that might have malicious intent. They can do a lot of damage.”

Also keep an eye on individuals from outside your company allowed into your system, Pooley advises. “The big Target hack of 2014 came in through its heating contractor, who had trusted access, but whose own system was more vulnerable than Target’s,” he says. “Even a restaurant’s website can be used to hack into a company whose employees often eat there and might click on the menu, exposing their own systems to malicious software.”

Cyberthreats are here to stay. Have a plan in place to thwart hacker attacks, and you should be well on your way to protecting sensitive company and customer data.

Read more articles on cybersecurity.

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“In many ways, 2015 for mobile advertising is like 1995 for the Web itself,” says Jeff Sauro, author of Customer Analytics for Dummies and founder of MeasuringU, which measures the ease-of-use of websites and the mobile experience. “Back then, while some companies started shifting ad dollars to online advertising, others dismissed Internet advertising as a passing fad,” Sauro says. “Of course, the latter companies missed out or were late to the party.”

Good Reasons to Try Mobile Advertising

Mobile usage among millennials and consumers in general is rising, notes Terry Murphy, president of SmartLink Internet Strategies, Inc.   “Reaching for a smartphone and tablet before a desktop computer to look for something online has become commonplace across all age bands,” he says. “Google recently announced that mobile search has for the first time surpassed desktop searches.”

Give it five more years, and “mobile search” will simply be referred to as “search,” adds Kirill Storch, CEO of Electric Web, which specializes in mobile app and website development and online revenue generation through e-commerce.

“Approximately 64 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and this number is only predicted to grow,” Storch says. “The conversion rates from mobile campaigns far exceed the paltry ROIs that desktop advertisers have become accustomed to. According to a study by Google, mobile-only searches are [about six times] more likely to result in a phone call to the business than [PC-only] searches, and 73 percent of all mobile searches result in a commercially relevant action. The typical costs for running the ads are far lower and there is less competition.”

Businesses That Should Consider Mobile Advertising

Not every small-business owner needs to take the mobile advertising plunge, but if you’re targeting consumers under 50, Murphy believes you should try it. “With geofencing, an advertiser can solicit customers right out from under its competitors,” he says. “This underscores the need for most companies to have a robust mobile presence.”

Any small business that has experienced even marginal success with desktop ads should jump into the mobile ad space to realize a significant increase in ROI, adds Storch. “If you are a new business that hasn’t done any online advertising, you should absolutely try it.”

Tips for Effective Mobile Advertising

Keep these tips in mind when taking the mobile ad plunge.

• Develop an eye-catching, highly functional website. “Gone are the days when you could set up a cheap mobile template and expect high ROIs,” Storch says. “Think of a new customer walking into your front office. You want the person to see an elegant, visually impressive landing page. In addition to looking incredible, the landing page should also be highly mobile optimized.” Also make your mobile site easy to read, adds Murphy: “Think of it as a mini-billboard where an economy of words is of the utmost importance. Use a clean, legible font.”
• Don’t be flashy. People also use their phones to call and text, so avoid being intrusive. “While you want to present your message at the right time in their decision process, you don’t want to interfere with their tasks and goals,” Sauro says. “If ads take over the screen and get in the way of finding information or making a reservation, you’ll gain detractors rather than customers.”
• Make the process frictionless and seamless. “Ensure you have prominent clicks to call, email, map and purchase,” Murphy says. “Nothing is more annoying than scrolling and clicking all over a website to find the Contact Us page. Millennials expect a certain level of interactive functionality and user experience and will move on to your competitor if they don’t get connectivity.”
• Engage and personalize the experience. Jaanuu, Inc., which creates fashionable medical apparel, is “laser focused on mobile advertising that is not only engaging but personalized,” says Shaan Sethi, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “This type of mobile advertising has become a critical enabler in achieving top of the funnel awareness while driving attractive order level economics.”
• Try to test ads regularly. “For text-based ads, such as those on Google’s mobile search, write the ads fairly restrictively so you don’t run into the problem of getting too many clicks from folks who are not interested in actually purchasing your product or service,” Storch says. “On a more complex ad platform, test numerous ‘creatives’ or image-based ads. Generally, animated GIFs convert better, but even this is not a cardinal rule. Retest ads often. Even experienced marketers can take up to a year to unlock the perfect combination that maximizes ROI.” Sethi agrees: “Use a portfolio of tactics to reach the customer via multiple touch points; test and learn with sophisticated analytics and never ignore data.”

Don’t Wait

Customers aren’t yet making a great number of purchases online, but they do a lot of pre-shopping on their smartphones, so you want to be there to make a good first impression when they browse while standing in line at the supermarket. Once they hit their desktop to make a purchase, it’s often too late.

“Mobile is an exciting new area of advertising, and ad revenues are practically doubling year-over-year,” Storch says. “The uptrend won’t last forever, though. The smartphone market already shows signs of cooling in mature markets like Europe and North America. The next few years represent a massive opportunity for small businesses to advertise in this space, but the opportunity is time limited. Once mobile search becomes more accepted as the norm, ad ROIs will stabilize and begin to look like their desktop predecessors, so take the chance while it’s available.”

Read more articles about digital tools.

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MAY 07, 2015  As a small-business owner, you’re probably no stranger to longer workweeks. According to a recent study by the consulting and tax firm EY, the rest of the world may be just as overworked. The global survey found that almost half of managers around the world work more than 40 hours a week, and their workweeks have lengthened over the last five years.“The workweek has continued to lengthen in the same way the cheeseburger has continued to get bigger,” says Scott L. Girard, Jr. of Expert Business Advice  and co-author of the Crash Course for Entrepreneurs series. “Competition drives everything, and when one person works 40 hours a week, the next guy works 41 hours a week to get ahead of the first guy. Then another guy works 42 hours a week to get ahead of that guy, and so on. The extra work clearly drives results, and getting results is what earns business and wins industries.”

1. Be Clear About Your Expectations

You may be motivated to push your own hours because the returns are going into your pocket, but the quickest way to foster a miserable team is to push them as hard as you push yourself, Girard notes. “At a certain point, even with overtime, people just want to go home. This is where the science of management meets the art of leadership. Foster a positive environment where your employees want to stay, or find some way to cross-train or develop rotational schedules.”

Be clear about how much you expect employees to work, advises Nancy D. O’Reilly, a clinical psychologist, founder of Women Connect4Good Inc. and author of Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life. “Make sure employees realize you don’t expect them to put in the kind of hours that you put in,” she says. “If you don’t spell this out, they might assume you do expect it. They may comply resentfully—which will harm their happiness and thus their productivity—or more likely just quit.”

2. Minimize Stress When Longer Workweeks Are Necessary

Burnout from extended hours may not come so much from the work itself as from the stressful environment in which your employees find themselves working. “Long work hours can be energizing and exciting, if you and your employees like what you’re doing,” O’Reilly says. “If those hours are unnecessarily stressful, however, burnout and high turnover are likely.”

To decrease stress, O’Reilly suggests holding an end-of-the-week debriefing. “Ask employees what stressful problems came up that could have been avoided, and put systems in place to prevent those problems from happening again,” she says.

Flexibility can be equally important. “As a small business, you may not be able to offer the same kinds of benefits a big corporation can provide, but you can offer flexibility, and that is worth a lot to employees,” O’Reilly says. “Most likely, the work ebbs and flows at your business, so use that to your advantage. Take time off when it makes sense for you to do so and urge your employees to do the same. Look for opportunities to say, ‘You worked really hard last week finishing up that big project, so why don’t you take this Friday off?’”

Flexibility can be one of the greatest mitigators of fatigue and burnout, Pound agrees. “People have lives and they need to have the time to go to doctors’ appointments and make time for their families,” he says. “The best team members will enjoy that flexibility without impacting their output or letting other team members or clients down.”

3. Be Fair and Appreciative

If you want to keep talented employees, you should treat and pay them fairly, Wolf warns. “Overworked employees are understandably sensitive to an imbalanced workload where some employees work longer hours or on more complex tasks than others. This is a surefire way to upset your best workers, so be sensitive to this issue.”

When employees do an exceptional job, acknowledge that, Girard urges. “The appreciation may come in the form of a monetary bonus or simply stopping by the employee’s desk to say, ‘I know things haven’t been easy lately, but I just want to tell you that I really appreciate the hard work you’ve been doing.’”

Read more articles on productivity.

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