Another Reason be part of the digital world

Just picked this up from my Digital Boot camp Class. For anyone not in the digital world, this should cause you to sit up and take notice.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/11/11/holiday-shoppers-turning-to-social-media-and-internet

Stories like these are why I believe that what we are trying to do in Stokes County with building a web presence, developing better broadband connectivity and helping small businesses is exactly the right strategy.

Marketing Tid Bit: Leave them wanting More

Running a successful business has many components. The article I am posting below addresses what I think is a critical point: give more than you receive when dealing with your customers and keep them coming back for more. I am a firm believer that your best source of advertising is word of mouth. If you do a good job, your customers will tell others, either in person or on-line. It you fail to live up to expectations those same customers will tell hundreds. You have the power to control that message, based on your service, product and delivery.

How to make your customers Cheerleaders for your business.
First let me begin by apologizing for my long absence. But I am back. For those of you who do not know, I own a "bricks and mortar" cleaning company. We steam clean carpets, rugs, upholstery, tile and grout, and we are certified to do Crime Scene/ Trauma clean up. Whenever one of my people does a job, I GIVE my client something extra, FOR FREE. Something they were not expecting, for example; I will give free deodorization if they have pet stains, or do the bathroom tile along with the kitchen, or I will do the drapes for the customer. The key here is that I don't do any advertising, but I DO give my clients 10 business cards with their client code written in the corner on the back. I ask them to give these to their friends, and let them know that any work I get from their referral, will result in 10% of the job coming back to them in the form of a gift certificate to a popular local restaurant. They can take their spouse out to dinner on me. By the way, the restaurant is also a client of mine, therefore I am bring my commercial clients business, while rewarding my residential clients for bringing me new business. The beauty of this practice is that I am GIVING far more value, than the customer expected to receive, when they called. This makes them fans of my business, and aggressive cheerleaders for my company. The same practice holds in MLM, Or Internet marketing; GIVE value first, then your customers/prospects will want to follow you to see what else they can obtain from you, be it education, advice or technical savvy. Let's face it the same reason you monitor where your kids go on the internet, and who they talk to, is exactly why you need to give before you seek a return. It is Dr. Ivan Meisner's principle of "giver's gain". You need to give value before you seek to influence the decision making of others. This is because no one online really knows who you are unless they can see verifiable aspects of your life, talk to you on the phone, read your articles and gauge for themselves, the value of your training, advice, etc. This is why established internet marketing trainers like myself, give away their content. I don't charge for all of the training that I provide. I instead make small commissions of of several affiliate marketing arrangements. This way I am giving my clients value, and helping them build their business' long before they ever become clients of mine. I build a relationship with my clients before they become my clients, and it is that way that the internet becomes a tool for me while remaining a game for my kids, and wife. This is the latest in a series of articles designed to apply traditional business training to the online marketing environment, for more insights like those above, or to learn where I got my training, check out; http://www.BusinessBuilderAutoPilot.com/?s1=emarketing To learn more sign up for the free training on my site, And I will send you a FREE bonus. Mark Acciard Owner, Business Builder Autopilot 781-424-8863

Good Business Advice

Thanks to Homer Dearmin, Town Manager of Walnut cove for sharing this information. It sounds like common sense but I am always surprised at the number of businesses that fail to do the simple things.


A Business Dies Every 2 Hours
It breaks my heart to go shopping sometimes. There's the "Going out of business sale!", the pride saving "Lost our
lease sale!", and the cardboard headstone "Space For Rent". They are all a result of the same problem . . . not
enough customers.
It's nice when you can open a business and attract new customers the next day. It's great when a web site
guarantees your profitability. But none of those things happen without good planning. Without a good plan, and
the proper execution, businesses die very quickly.
3-RULES TO ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS
1. Let people know you exist - Advertise and market yourself -- don't forget social media. If people don't know
where you are and what you do, they can't buy from you. Advertising and marketing greatly increases your
chances of success.
2. Don't scare the customer - Make the customer feel comfortable with your product, service or services.
Provide an environment that they will feel safe in. Make them feel good about spending their money.
I walk by stores all the time that are open, but look very dark inside. That doesn't make me feel like going inside.
You can't attract new customers if they are not comfortable with you.
3. Look the part - Businessmen wear suits. Policemen carry guns. You are reading this article because we look
the part. We effectively display our ability to attract new customers. You can do the same when you look the part.
If you were going to buy tools, you would expect a guy with a tool belt and a smock to help you out right? After all,
he looks like he knows what he's talking about. What if you went to go buy a power saw and a lady in a clown suit
asked if she could help you? Exactly. Look the part and you can attract new customers without any problems.
You be surprised at how many people break these simple rules. I go exploring around my city and I find little out
of the way businesses that I would have never known about before. They are good businesses with absolutely no
exposure. So when I go back a few months later to see them again, they are out of business. It's very sad. They
don't go out of business because they are bad at business, it's just that no one knew where they were so they
never made enough money to stay open. You can't attract new customers when they don't know you exist.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Our work is the presentation of our capabilities."
Edward Gibbon
English historian and Member of Parliament
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Barbara Wold
International Speaker, Author and Business Strategist
Global Retail & Consumer Expert
Keynote Presentations -- Seminars & Workshops -- Retreats
Manager Meetings & Corporate Conferences
Downtown Revitalization & Merchant Retention
P.O. Box 5755, Balboa Island, California 92662 USA
949.675.8845 fax 949.675.7732
bwold@ix.netcom.com
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Barbara Wold is a street-smart, down-to-earth business speaker, presenting topics from sales and marketing to
customer service and tourism. She is an international speaker who has "WOWED" over 450,000 people from all 50 of
the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines,
Japan, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, India and the United Ar

Stokes Business Extravaganza Save the date

STOKES COUNTY
Economic Development Commission


Stokes County Business Owner:

The Stokes County Economic Development Commission has scheduled an event in January 2010 to bring all Stokes County businesses together for a night of fun, food, networking and socializing. In doing so, we are asking our businesses if they would like to participate with a display or in some other manner.

The event will be held at YMCA Camp Hanes in their Dining Hall on January 21, 2010 from 5:30 until 7:30 PM. (Set up time for those having booths will be from 2:00 till 4:30 PM.)

Display space is limited so booths will be issued on a first come first serve basis. We will provide tables and table cloths. Power availability is limited, so if you will need power, please make that request when reserving your booth. (No floor displays are permitted)

If not interested in a booth, please consider providing business cards, brochures, or promotional items (Pens, Notepads, Magnets, etc.) These items will be available to all attendees as they register.

We anticipate this being a fun and entertaining evening. We will be providing numerous door prizes and will have give-aways through out the evening. We will be happy to accept door prizes (all companies providing door prizes will be featured in our program handout.) Deadline for receiving door prizes is January 10, 2010. This event is free of charge. Event sponsorship is available

If you have any questions about this event or to reserve your booth, please call Alan Wood (Economic Development Director) 336-593-2496 or Missy Dodson (Office Administrator) 336-593-2811 ext 1677 or via email at adwood@co.stokes.nc.us .

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the


Stokes County Business Extravaganza


PO Box 20 Danbury, NC 27016 336-593-2496 adwood@co.stokes.nc.us

Weekly Tid Bit

As any of you that know me are aware I believe that digital marketing holds one of the keys to success for many businesses. Our EDC is working to promote this in numerous ways, building web sites at no charge for local businesses, providing a local facebook page, a blog and our just started by local campaign.

To further continue these efforts, I am attempting to find relevant information on how, what, when, why and where to go in digital marketing. I hope this information is useful. Please feel free to share comments and other links as you find them.

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=9723877&gid=41352&trk=EML_anet_qa_ttle-cnhOon0JumNFomgJt7dBpSBA

Stokes County Branding

We have been working for the past six months on an updated brand for Stokes County. This is an exhilarating and often frustrating process. If you have never been involved in such and effort, give it a try, you will most assuredly learn something. Below is a link to a story an edition of USA Today on such a process. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-11-02-city-slogans_N.htm?csp=Travel

After you finish the story, take a look at our efforts and remember it is a process and not a science. We are trying to promote Stokes County as the playground of the NC Piedmont. Let me know what you think. I think it is pure fun! Let me know which logo you prefer.

The Depopulating of Rural America

I just finished reading this article: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Rural-Brain-Drain/48425/?mc_cid=a5b81f8ff2&mc_eid=2f1f545fff and I believe it provides a reasonably accurate description of what we are seeing occur in rural North Carolina and to a certain extent Stokes County. I think it is exactly the reason that we must move forward with our plans to strengthen our local infrastructure, to become more engaged with our elementary and HS students. We must also make every effort to have training made available through our community college system and reach out to our institutes of higher learning. If we can not provide a reasonable opportunity for our best and brightest to earn a competitive wage, they will continue to leave for rural America and our small towns will die a slow and agonizing death.

I do not think this is inevitable but it will take a concerted level by everyone from local governments to institutes of higher learning with egos checked at the door to turn the situation around. I welcome your thoughts and comments after reading the article.