crowdSPRING Blog

Small Business Pinterest Starter Guide

Ross — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:46:35 +0000

Are you wondering how you can leverage Pinterest for your small business?

Pinterest is currently one of the hotest websites. For some businesses, Pinterest is delivering more user trafic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Pinterest, here’s a brief summary: Pinterest is a free social sharing site launched in 2009. Pinterest invites people to “pin” images and videos from all over the web, to pinboards directly on Pinterest. You can, for example, pin images of your favorite wedding dresses if you’re preparing for a wedding, or your favorite cars if you’re a car enthusiast. Other people browse or search for images that interest them and when they find such images, they’ll share them with their own followers and friends by “repinning”, “liking” or commenting on the images and videos.

Pinterest offers a new channel for businesses to connect with existing and new customers. But is Pinterest right for your small business? Should you invest your time to learn yet another social network? How can you best leverage Pinterest to increase sales?

We answer these questions in the following 10 tips for how your small business can use Pinterest to increase traffic and sales.

1. Learn what’s popular on Pinterest. Pinterest’s value to your business is in its network effect. When you add an image to your Pinterest board, you want that image to be “repinned” or “liked”. The more times users engage with your image by repinning it, liking it or leaving a comment, the more exposure you’ll have.

Pinterest makes it easy for you to see what’s popular. Visit the Popular section of the site and you’ll see what other people are sharing, and their comments. Now ask yourself: what does your business do and how can you leverage similar images on your own Pinterest boards.

Don’t force the connection – if you are a financial consultant, would it help your business to post images of phone booths or cakes? Probably not. Try to find synergy between popular images and your company’s products or services.

To succeed on Pinterest, your images must be interesting – nobody will repin boring images. For example, if your small business is a bakery and you create fancy cakes, you should be posting original images of your cakes every time you create one. People love cakes.

2. Share other people’s content. It’s never enough to simply “pin” your own content. As you should do on all social networks, take the time to find and pin other people’s content.

You can find this content on Pinterest and repin it, or you can pin original content from sites you already visit.

Pinterest makes it easy to pin from the web – there are numerous extensions available for most browsers.

3. Set up topical pinboards. Avoid the urge to create one pinboard and pin everything there. Think about the types of things you’d like to pin and create topical pinboards to help you (and your potential customers) classify the images you’re pinning.

For example, our imaginary bakery might have the following pinboards: Beautiful wedding cakes, Weddings, Funny Cakes, Family Parties, Cake Recipes, etc.

Look at how your competitors or other companies are using Pinterest and the types of pinboards they’ve created. For example, the yogurt company Chobani has created a rich group of pinboards on many topics that interest its customers and potential customers.

If you are a painter, share images of painted rooms – ones you painted and others, as inspiration for your potential customers. If you create gift baskets, share images of your baskets and other unique gifts.

4. Add prices and promote you products. Don’t be shy about creating special pinboards to promote your products. You can easily add prices to your images – and use a pinboard to promote special sales. Threadless does this very effectively.

Even if you don’t add prices, you can promote your products on dedicated pinboards. For example, Nordstrom promotes different collections on separate pinboards.

5. Set up a Pinterest competition for your fans and customers. One great way to use Pinterst is to invite your customers to pin images of your products to their pinboards. Offer a small prize for the best pin.

Here’s how one company, Nails Inc., leveraged Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter to promote its products in a competition that invited its customers to share images of their painted nails.

6. Include your fans and customers. Pinterest makes it easy for you to invite your fans and customers to pin directly to your pinboards.

If you’re worried about inviting everyone to help, select your favorite or most active fans or customers and invite them to help.

Ask your fans to pin their favorite photos of your products. Or ask fans to pin photos showing how they use your products in unusual and creative ways.

7. Add a Pinterest “Follow” or “Pin It” button to your site. When you add one of these buttons, you encourage your customers and potential customers to pin your products or content to their own pinboards.

Pinterest makes it easy to add these buttons.

8. Be smart about keywords. When you add a new pin, you have an opportunity to add keywords that will help other users find your content. You can add multiple keywords, so think about ways that customers might be looking for products you’re pinning.

For example, if you’re posting images of cakes, you can add the following keywords: #cakes #bakedgoods #weddings #cupcakes #bakery #food.

9. Engage with other users. Always keep in mind that Pinterest is a social network. Don’t silo yourself and expect everyone to come to your pinboards. Take the time to browse, repin and comment on other users’ images. That’s how people notice you and ultimately, your products and services.

10. Hold Pinterest only promotions. One good way to build a following and expose your customers to Pinterest is to create unique offers only on Pinterest. People like to share deals – this is a good way to spread the word about your company’s products and services.

How do you feel about Pinterest? Do you have other tips you can share with small business owners or a question? Please leave a comment below.

Small Business Spotlight of the Week: AppMonsta

Amanda — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:05:05 +0000

I was recently blessed with an iPhone and have fallen into the world of apps. Lord knows all of us here at the cS offices love our apps. Just last week Ross insisted all of us download SayHi Translate and speak to him in Swedish. This is a true story, I encourage all of you to tweet at him for the details.

This week, my app honoree is AppMonsta. If you and/or your company are in the process of developing a mobile app, look no further than this company. AppMonsta is truly a one stop shop when it comes to brainstorming, researching, and developing. Businesses are able to identify niches in the marketplace, gauge growth, and find publishers and developers. And that’s just with their tool AppInsights. AppEverything allows users to identify the top apps in multiple countries, as well as collect social media metrics on popularity and reviews. There is also a weekly email available, AppHighlights, that gives a run down of top app downloads and other trends. Overall, pretty rad.

AppMonsta used crowdSPRING in the development of their own app, Federal Job Search Pro, which connects the workforce with available government jobs.

The ever jovial Jeremy took some time to answer our Small Biz Questionnaire:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

AppMonsta provides data about apps and app stores, helping companies make more informed decisions based on data.

What are some industry specific challenges you faced?

We have worked hard to make the massive amounts of data into consumable products – boiling down our Big Data into even more useful and actionable insights for customers of all kinds.

What was your biggest learning curve/experience?

We’ve needed to learn a great deal more about databases, data structures, and the app stores as a whole. Every app store is different and every one has something valuable to offer to every type of business – its just a matter of finding it and highlighting it. Ask questions on our new blog (Ask AppMonsta) – we’ll answer all those we can with our data!

What made you use crowdSPRING?

One of our projects needed some outside inspiration, creativity and design chops – crowdSPRING offers all three. We needed an icon for one of our iPhone apps – Federal Job Search Pro – an app that was was designed for a niche in the iPhone app store that we found with our data.

What’s the craziest story you have from starting your own business?

We are designing an ‘AppMonsta’ at the moment – a big and huggable beast that loves apps. It has felt a bit like an animation studio with drawings and sketches everywhere. Our gaol is to make this data more approachable as we know it can help app developers, entrepreneurs, investors and researchers alike.

If you could go back, would you do anything differently? If so, what and why?

We would have learned from this app market data first, then we’d have built the apps we found the market wanted.

How do you see your company growing in the future?

With more and more attention on this burgeoning app eco-system, there is a rising need for data to inform decisions in the mobile space. AppMonsta will be there – adapting to the changes in the market, and making sure the most cutting-edge app market data gets to our customers.

Six words of advice to those looking to start their own company.

Talk to customers. Build them value.

AppMonsta’s call for a knock-your-socks-off icon received 96 entries.

Dear Mentee

Mike — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:05:10 +0000

Hi. I’m Mike. Yesterday Amanda posted an article in which she talked about the experience of professional life for a young person just starting out in her career. Well, as of tomorrow Amanda has been working at crowdSPRING for one year (note to self: get cake for Amanda); for the first few months she was an unpaid marketing and PR intern but was ultimately promoted to the position of underpaid marketing and PR intern. She and I have worked closely together during this time and have gotten to know one another well, developing an appreciation for the other’s sense of humor and learning about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Over the months, Amanda has gained lots of marketable skills, made huge strides in her professional development, and contributed to our efforts and our culture. And the filing has actually gotten better! This is the second of two blog posts reflecting on the mentor-mentee relationship and how both sides can gain insight and experience success.

Dear Mentee,

First, let me thank you for the hours of effort you have given to our company in the past year; your work is truly appreciated as is your willingness to learn, to listen, and to contribute in any way you can. In your letter, you mentioned that you felt intimidated by my professional accomplishments; I do realize that Ross and I might be a little frightening, but that is the last thing we think about when interfacing with you and everyone else on the team in our day-to-day work. It is important for you to remember that, first and foremost, we have a business to run and we don’t have a great deal of time to consider whether we might be intimidating. But even if you are scared, it is critical in your professional life to be outwardly confident, unruffled, and self-assured; employers look for these qualities in their workers, and you need to develop the ability to conceal and self-doubt. Listen, we all have insecurities and we all secretly expect that we will eventually be found out, but my advice is that you deal with your own uncertainty and not let it become a vulnerability to you professionally.

You also mentioned in your letter that you are afraid of failing. Don’t be. Try things, experiment, let yourself take risks in your professional and personal lives. Yes sometimes you will fall flat, sometimes your efforts may backfire, and occasionally you will even meet with disaster, but more often than not your effort will pay off and the risk you took will be rewarded. Understand exactly what it is you are afraid of and then face it; as Master Yoda said, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” Remember, nobody here expects you to know everything, or to be capable of doing everything; we hired you because we thought you were bright and competent and that, most of all, you had the capacity to learn and grow. What we do expect from you is that you will be assertive, take chances, gain knowledge, and stretch your limits.

Your input and ideas are valued, but remember that not every meeting or every moment is the appropriate one to share these with your bosses. There is a time and place for everything and you have to be conscious of the fact that we typically have multiple balls in the air and might not have time to listen to your latest insight about how we can better run the business. In your professional life you will have some bosses who are open to your input and others who will resent it; one of the key skills you can develop professionally is the ability to gauge people – be a human barometer and learn to understand the moods and personalities of those around you. Keep in mind that context is key when offering your ideas and that those ideas are more likely to be accepted, or even tolerated, if you choose your moments wisely.

As a manager I have learned that criticizing one’s subordinates is something of an art; a good supervisor understands that sometimes you have to tear someone down another times you need to build them up. For better or worst, I probably am better at the build-up than the tear down part, but ”sugary, self-esteem building euphemisms?” Seriously? I want you to feel good about your work here and about your role in the company, but just because I compliment your work it doesn’t mean that I am trying to be obsequious or ingratiating. The flip side to this coin belongs to you, however. Taking criticism and internalizing negative feedback is as much an art as giving it. My best advice is that when your boss is going on about your latest failure or your shortcomings as a member of the human race, you train yourself to stand there, nod your head, and bite your tongue. And, most importantly, listen closely and don’t let your own biases get in the way of taking that criticism to heart, learning from it, and growing into a better professional.

As for having you listen in on everything that I do, well we’ll see. Again, this is about context and sometimes it will be appropriate to have you involved and at other times it will make sense that you be a fly on the wall, but sometimes it is simply not the time or place to have you there and you have to respect that. Make yourself available, but don’t expect that you will get to sit in on the meetings with investors, or that I will invite you to listen in on every call. Trust that I have a strategy for you and that I will know best when you should be included and when it is simply not suitable. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ask to be included, but expect that often times the answer will be no.

Finally, your schedule. Yes, I know you have classes to attend, and yes I know that you have projects due, but do your best to be as available as you can. If you’ve got extra hours, hang out here; if you have homework to do, do it at your desk; and if you have other professional obligations try to schedule them around the commitment you have made here. If you are intent on being involved, on learning, on growing professionally then you have to be around here to do those things. Try hard to just be around as much as you can and the probability of accomplishing these goals will increase correspondingly.

So thanks again for everything you’ve contributed in the last year: your time, your energy, your intelligence, your humor, and your ideas. We appreciate what you bring to our company and look forward to watching your career take flight!

Sincerely,

Your Mentor

Photo: 20th Century Fox

Dear Mentor

Amanda — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:05:37 +0000

Hi. I’m Amanda. I know you’ve seen me in and out of these parts for a little over a year now, but here’s a formal introduction: I’m 22-years-old and I just graduated from college. I’ve been fortunate to have three internships during my undergrad years. My tenure at crowdSPRING has included working on PR, marketing, and mastering our co-founder Mike’s filing system. This is the first of two blog posts reflecting on the mentor-mentee relationship and how both sides can gain insight and experience success.

Dear Mentor,

First of all, thank you so much for this opportunity to work for you. I’m sure you are incredibly accomplished and admirable and slightly intimidating in your success. I am really hoping that I’m smart and savvy enough to keep up with you, and that we both can learn a lot from each other.The first, single most important thing I will tell you is: I’m terrified of failure. Unlike you, I haven’t much experience with professional success OR professional failure. I don’t know what it’s like to really mess something up. More importantly, I don’t know that if I fail at something and do mess up, it’ll probably be okay. I have almost zero faith in my problem solving abilities. Frankly, I have almost zero faith in any of my skills. If you ask me to do something and I seem hesitant, it’s not because I don’t want to or feel it’s beneath me, it’s because I am scared. I feel like those who have worked professionally for a long time forget how terrifying those first few months, or even years, of work can be. I am petrified that someday soon, I will be forced to move into my parent’s basement and cry about my student loan debt. Don’t coddle or baby me or not ask me to do something difficult, just remember how frightening it can be.

Try to make it clear from the outset if and how you want input and ideas from me. So many people talk about how great it is when young people offer their ideas and they should never be afraid to do so. My experience has told me otherwise. I may be coming from an internship that didn’t want my input. I may be coming from a classroom whose professor is condescending and dismissive. Do not assume that any one expectation you have is universal and does not need to be clarified. There’s a really simple way to do this, too– just ask! During a meeting, ask me directly for my thoughts and, soon enough, you won’t have to because I’ll know that is what you value.

Please try your hardest to respect my schedule, especially if you’re bringing me on as a student. If I’m going to school full time or part time, it means I have class, homework, group work dates, meetings with my professors, meetings with professional organizations, and on campus activities on my plate. Any student worth hiring will probably keep school as their number one priority– as it should be! Trust that my job with you is probably my second priority. I may not be able to work late all the time; I may not be able to come in an extra day often. It’s not because my work with you isn’t important, it’s honestly because I have an eight-page paper and a Photoshop layout due Thursday at noon and every minute of my day is scheduled to allow for this. Let’s develop a mutual respect for one another’s busy lives.

I can handle criticism. Generation Y gets a lot of flack for being whiny and sensitive to criticism. For what it’s worth, most successful and smart people my age like getting constructive feedback about their work. I would even say they are hungry for it. If I have a bad idea or fail to meet your standards, let me know. Don’t be a jerk, but also don’t feel like you have to give those sugary, self-esteem building euphemisms. Most of us find them pretty condescending.

Finally, let me listen in on everything that you do. Got a phone call? Let me pick up the other line. Have a meeting scheduled…can I sit in on it? I can learn so much from listening. I can learn what questions need to be asked; I can learn how to phrase those questions. I can learn how to gracefully say no; I can learn how to enthusiastically say yes. I can probably learn a good joke or two. I really just want to learn everything about anything that you do.

Thank you, again, for this opportunity. I hope we can both grow in this relationship, and if done right, stay in contact for years to come.

Sincerely,

Your Mentee

Editor’s note: Amanda Warner, the author of this post, graduated last week from Columbia College Chicago, where she was Class Valedictorian. We’re trying to figure out how we can get her more hours over here at the crowdSPRING office…

Photo: 20th Century Fox

Twitter Link Roundup #130 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Ross — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:52:48 +0000

Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!

The image above is an ad created by TBWA for Moustaches Make A Difference – a campaign to raise support for prostate cancer research. More interesting ads in the Social Media and Marketing section below.

Growing Your Small Business Using Social Media: The Facts – http://bit.ly/JfbaI1

Web Tool of the Month: crowdSPRING – http://bit.ly/IIQ5GA

Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media – http://bit.ly/ImKDaT

How to Increase Trust for a Landing Page Design – http://bit.ly/JZnGsr

Better Agile Than Smart – http://bit.ly/J9Di3c

The 5 Qualities of Remarkable Bosses – http://bit.ly/JN9J5a

Four Things to Get Right When Starting a Company – http://bit.ly/JewYHD

8 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses – http://bit.ly/Ja53TR

Six Myths of Product Development – http://bit.ly/IAYevk

When Selling is the Worst Way to Win Customers – http://hub.am/JYMXJ8

Building It Is Not Enough: 5 Practical Tips On User Acquisition – http://bit.ly/IMfZca

Unlimited Vacation Doesn’t Create Slackers–It Ensures Productivity – http://bit.ly/IPcnXs

Crowdsourcing taps public for work, money, ideas – http://bit.ly/KmvBUJ

If You’re Competing On Features You’ve Already Lost – http://bit.ly/KwmMKZ

Tips for small business (and startups): Negotiating With the New Recruit – http://bit.ly/J9uuqk

Growing Your Small Business Using Social Media: The Facts – http://bit.ly/JfbaI1

The Scarcest Resource at Startups is Management Bandwidth – http://bit.ly/JCo0xb

If You’re Not Pissing Someone Off, You’re Probably Not Innovating – http://bit.ly/JCnwqS

Unlimited Vacation Doesn’t Create Slackers–It Ensures Productivity – http://bit.ly/IPcnXs

Fred Wilson: what crowdfunding means for the VC business – http://bit.ly/Jesq3W

Good reminder about the importance of face to face communications – http://bit.ly/JexdlS

When Selling is the Worst Way to Win Customers – http://hub.am/JYMXJ8

Andreessen Horowitz Confirms Its Scout Program, Calls Out Lazy Angels Who Hate Competition – http://bit.ly/JesvER

Are You Willing To Pay For The Change You’re Demanding? – http://bit.ly/Kjc9It

VC Rights: Up, Down, And Know What The Fuck Is Going On – http://bit.ly/Je0IAy

The 5 Qualities of Remarkable Bosses – http://bit.ly/JN9J5a

8 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses – http://bit.ly/Ja53TR

Poor long term returns by VC funds, according to Kauffman Foundation – http://bit.ly/JesrVv

What I learned from raising venture capital – http://perfor.ms/yRB2WZ

Better Agile Than Smart – http://bit.ly/J9Di3c

Four Things to Get Right When Starting a Company – http://bit.ly/JewYHD

So what exactly is a tech company? – http://bit.ly/JesoZY

If You’re Competing On Features You’ve Already Lost – http://bit.ly/KwmMKZ

It’s Time to Rethink Continuous Improvement – http://bit.ly/KjbEhu

Taking E-Mail Vacations Can Reduce Stress, Study Says – http://nyti.ms/JO5YfT

Six Myths of Product Development – http://bit.ly/IAYevk

Crowdsourcing taps public for work, money, ideas – http://bit.ly/KmvBUJ

Early Startup Time Wasters – http://bit.ly/LJSEuP

The CEO who invented a cure for hiccups – and, oh, yes, she’s 13 – http://j.mp/Ja37uK

Sequoia Confirms Existence of “Stealth” Scout Program. Who’s Next? – http://bit.ly/KayBTX

The Maturation of the Billionaire Boy-Man – http://bit.ly/IEffbQ

How to Increase Trust for a Landing Page Design – http://bit.ly/JZnGsr

Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media – http://bit.ly/ImKDaT

Is Facebook Larry Page’s Moby Dick? – http://onforb.es/INEEKx

Building It Is Not Enough: 5 Practical Tips On User Acquisition – http://bit.ly/IMfZca

Web Tool of the Month: crowdSPRING – http://bit.ly/IIQ5GA

After Timeline, Top 50 Brands See Facebook Comments Dip 11%, Likes Rise 11% – http://bit.ly/IPcGl0

Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media – http://bit.ly/ImKDaT

Tips for small business (and startups): Negotiating With the New Recruit – http://bit.ly/J9uuqk

Building It Is Not Enough: 5 Practical Tips On User Acquisition – http://bit.ly/IMfZca

30 Sophisticated Ads To Give You Great Inspiration – http://bit.ly/JVYybF

Very shallow argument that Facebook is not a publisher, and thus should not be blamed for horrible ROI – http://bit.ly/K1C3Cj

Another Big Newspaper Says Digital Ads Shrank Last Quarter – http://dthin.gs/K7gvlZ

Klout to expand +K button – http://bit.ly/J7GmHy

50 More Humorous Print Advertisements to Make You Smile – http://bit.ly/JVYIQr

Creative Advertising In These 90+ Epic, Smart & Beautiful Ads – http://bit.ly/J93Xtu

Beautiful And Creative Advertising Design Ideas – http://bit.ly/Jfbt6A

22 Fresh And Free Fonts For Your Design – http://bit.ly/KA4usf

100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design – http://bit.ly/JcxYMg

60+ High-Quality Graffiti Fonts for Your Design Works – http://bit.ly/KwTaHJ

50 Photoshop And Illustrator Tutorials For Creating Text Effect – http://bit.ly/JQPMGc

700+ Ready to Grab Free Photoshop Pixel Patterns – http://bit.ly/J8ICUy

30 Gorgeous Examples of Very Creative Business Cards – http://bit.ly/Jfcagt

48 High Quality Wood Textures – http://bit.ly/JfcvQ1

40+ Beautiful And Creative Letterpress Designs – http://bit.ly/J8IN1S

35 Different Types of Liquid Textures – http://bit.ly/KOaKXZ

20 Beautiful Examples of Efficient Brochure Designs – http://bit.ly/J94Lyl

20+ Step by Step Tutorials in Designing a Typographic Poster – http://bit.ly/IRxqf6

15 Useful Chrome Extensions For Designers And Developers – http://bit.ly/J94ICF

25 Flashy Pink Business Cards – http://bit.ly/ImKfci

20 Creative and Appealing Business Card Designs – http://bit.ly/Jf9DTm

50 Amazing business cards – http://bit.ly/JVYAR5

30 Free and Appealing Outline Fonts – http://bit.ly/Jf9jE7

Food Packaging – 10 of The Tastiest Designs – http://bit.ly/JfcFXS

Beautiful And Creative Advertising Design Ideas – http://bit.ly/Jfbt6A

Free Peeling Paint Textures – http://bit.ly/J8GyM8

How to Use Drop Shadows in Photoshop – http://bit.ly/Jf9Zt2

New Design Practices for Touch-free Interactions – http://bit.ly/JQPFup

30+ Examples Of Brilliant Typography Designs – http://bit.ly/JVYDvZ

45 Useful Paper Textures – http://bit.ly/J8Iu7s

30 Spectacular Red Business Cards – http://bit.ly/ImKxQw

Free Stone Textures – http://bit.ly/ImKq7n

Rough Concrete Tiles: Texture Pack – http://bit.ly/ImKunD

12 Questions: Meet Tiffany Silverberg (USA) – http://bit.ly/Kq8mG2

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/1ySfi

Legal Contracts for Graphic Designers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/XTLkS

25 Inspiring Logos with Innovative Use of Typography – http://bit.ly/JriyiP

30 Free and Appealing Outline Fonts – http://bit.ly/Jf9jE7

20 Simple, Yet Clever Logos – http://bit.ly/JVYQPW

36 Impressive Logos Inspired By Cats – http://bit.ly/JQPYoV

22 Fresh And Free Fonts For Your Design – http://bit.ly/KA4usf

Turn It Up: Musically Inspired Logo Design – http://bit.ly/JVYPeH

60+ High-Quality Graffiti Fonts for Your Design Works – http://bit.ly/KwTaHJ

40+ Creative uses of Ribbons in Web Design – http://bit.ly/ITrqwN

Footer Design Trends – http://bit.ly/JVYGbd

World of Watercolor: Beautiful Watercolor Effects in Web Design and Tutorials – http://bit.ly/JQPu27

30 Orange Website Designs Which Look Stunning – http://bit.ly/J8HuAj

How to Increase Trust for a Landing Page Design – http://bit.ly/JZnGsr

30 Inspiring Examples of Textures in Web Design – http://bit.ly/JfaRy3

30 Beautiful Gray Web Designs for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/ISnA66

20 Pure Websites with Clean White Backgrounds – http://bit.ly/JNs9jY

22 HTML5/CSS3/jQuery Tutorials for Frontend Web Developers – http://bit.ly/J8InbZ

UI: Proper Indicators for Hidden Elements – http://bit.ly/IEkzgh

30 Awe-Inspiring Black and White Website Designs – http://bit.ly/JVYusA

21 Beautiful Examples of Typography in Web Design – http://bit.ly/ImKuUU

Top 10 most read books in the world – http://bit.ly/J2WHzh

Ever come across such people (constantly talking on the phone)? http://youtu.be/AgOEvi9rbHs

Disturbing data on how chemicals affect people (and animals) – http://nyti.ms/IPcdiS

So you know, how astronauts sleep – http://j.mp/J0y86I

The Unknown Inventor Whose Work Is Saving The Developing World – http://bit.ly/J8I693

Suncream Ingredient ‘Zinc Oxide’ Linked To Skin Cancer – http://huff.to/ITlmYy

Amazon Leaps Into High End of the Fashion Pool – http://nyti.ms/JesqAX

People to marry robots? With a 50% divorce rate in the U.S., doesn’t seem far fetched – http://slate.me/Jesscg

Ha – there’s scientific support for the egos of “social media experts” – http://on.wsj.com/Jesktb

Given what passes for journalism today on some sites/publications, this robot is sure to be a huge step up – http://bit.ly/J9CN9m

Once Upon a Time in Dubai-Amazing photographs of a time before the boom – http://bit.ly/JwMiIS

I hope you enjoy these links! Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked/didn’t like.

Growing Your Small Business Using Social Media: The Facts

Ross — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:10:07 +0000

We’re previously written about ways that small businesses are using social media, how businesses can leverage social media to deliver customer service, and the innovative ways some businesses use social media.

There’s no clear consensus about social commerce and whether businesses should invest marketing dollars in social media. For example, Forrester Research, last year, released a report questioning whether retail stores should invest money in social media marketing efforts. In that report, Forrester and GSI Commerce concluded that retailers wasted money on social media efforts because social networks had little influence on online purchasing behavior.

However, more recent (and more authoritative) research questions and contradicts the conclusions reached by Forrester.

A report released earlier this year by Altimeter Group – The Rise of Digital Influence - discusses, among other things, digital influence and ways that companies can identify individuals with social capital who can increase word-of-mouth for a company’s marketing efforts.

While many studies have focused on the U.S., studies done in other countries reflect the same conclusion – friends do influence purchases on social networks. For example, a Harvard Business School study in Korea found that moderate users of social networks reflect a 5% sales increase over the average, based on the influence of their social network friends.

We’re seeing more and more credible research, including from Altimeter Group, suggesting that social influence does, in fact, translate into increased sales. Notably, a new report just released by Market Force suggests that 81% of U.S. consumers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts (The Market Force study measured 12,000 survey respondents – half in the U.S. and half in the UK. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 65 years old – 75% were women (the primary household consumer purchasers).

Other studies reflect similar percentages. For example, a study conducted by the firm Chief Marketing Officer Council and Lithium, found that 80% of people are more likely to try new things based on their friends’ suggestions in social posts.

But here’s where it gets a bit more interesting – the Market Force study reveals that a comparable 78% of people are influenced by the companies‘ own social media posts (see following chart).

This data suggests that company-driven social media efforts can indeed drive purchasing decisions.

Some small businesses worry that their social media efforts will simply uncover a hornets nest – inviting consumers to publicly complain about those businesses. This is generally untrue. “Social media channels create an ideal two-way platform for direct conversations with customers. What’s striking is that consumers have more positive things to say than most brands realize,” according to Janet Eden-Harris, chief marketing officer for Market Force. “Using social media monitoring tools, brands can mitigate the downside by pulling negative comments into a private conversation, and maximize the upside by giving consumers an easy way to engage. There’s no reason not to take the plunge. Consumers are out there talking about you.”

Before you rush to start posting on social networks, you should understand that consumers are rarely interested in rich “content” – they care mostly about promotions, sales and giveaways, as the following chart from the Market Force report shows.

What can/should your small business do, in light of this data?

First, you should understand that not all content is created equally. When you share content, you must carefully pick content that is interesting and of value to your fans, followers and customers.

Second, the promotional, sale and giveaway content should be a regular tactic in your social media efforts. While many small businesses work hard to build thought leadership in social media, the research suggests that most purchasing decisions are influenced by discounts and incentives, not merely by great “content”.

Third, you should consider your business and your industry and decide whether social media makes sense for you. For example, the Market Force study shows that consumers “like” restaurant pages 86% of the time – far more than any other category on Facebook. If you have a restaurant, you definitely should consider a social media strategy.

On the other hand, if your business is in the financial services space, you should think twice – only 13% of U.S. respondents and 7% of UK respondents “liked” companies in the Financial Services industry.

Fourth, as you develop your social media strategy, we strongly recommend that you test your tactics in small batches, listen carefully to your customers, and learn fast. More about this in our Lean Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses and Startups post.

Do you have additional data you can share from your own experience on social networks? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Tips for small business: Negotiating With the New Recruit

Mike — Mon, 07 May 2012 05:04:18 +0000

Last year, I wrote a couple of posts about the process of hiring new employees and what applicants can do to help. Recruiting and hiring can be one of the more painful aspects to running a small business, but job applicants can go far to ease the process for those doing the hiring and, at the same time, improve their own chances of landing the job.

Today, we take a short leap forward in the action. Imagine that you have gone through the process – sorted through the applications, identified attractive candidates, completed two or three (or four) interview rounds, and taken the time to contact the personal and professional references provided. Now you have made your choice and that incredibly talented rock star you want to hire wants the job (yes!) and is excited to start. Now comes the part that many entrepreneurs dread: negotiating the deal itself.

Compensation negotiations differ from other types of negotiations, because the goal is not just to get the best deal you can possibly wrest from the other side, but rather to get the person you want and to turn them into a happy, motivated, and productive member of the team. This is not to say that you can’t draw on your experience negotiating with vendors, suppliers, and investors, but bear in mind that the compensation negotiation is a different beast and your goals are necessarily different. Classic negotiation strategies include thorough preparation, defining specific objectives, setting a reservation point, and working to understand your negotiating partner’s objectives and reservation point. Compensation negotiations include all of that but also need to emphasize, trust, open communication, flexibility, and a willingness to let the new hire drive the conversation and find the deal that will make them happy.

Here, then, are five tips for negotiating compensation for your new recruit:

1. Define your goals but understand theirs.
One of the key principals in negotiation strategy is to comprehend the other party’s goals and gain an understanding of what they are trying to accomplish from their side of the negotiation. In compensation negotiations the deal you are making should not just include an economic goal, but also must focus on the objective of gaining (and retaining) a valued employee. To achieve this objectives, it is critical that you take the time to really understand this person; what are they looking for professionally and personally and how can you help them to achieve this? When signing on to a new job, the recruit’s goals will always include their salary requirements, but will also include other, sometimes less tangible, rewards as well.

2. Remember it’s a person.
Your approach to the process must reflect and accommodate the recruit’s humanity. This is not an outsourced service you are bargaining for, nor is it a house you are purchasing – it is a member of your team and (if you have done a good job in selecting them) someone who will bring energy, experience, skills, and countless other contributions to your business. What is important to them? Obviously salary is critical, but what about work hours? Child care? Vacation time? Take plenty of time to understand what drives this person; ask good diagnostic questions, listen closely to their answers, and be sure to ask about this when you make those calls to their references. If you can achieve a good understanding of what is driving the recruit, you can effectively use this process to gain trust. Then take time to consider the ways you can create an offer which represents the ‘total’ package that will meet their needs and satisfy their negotiating goals

3. Consider the alternatives.
One of the first rules in negotiating is to assess your alternatives should the deal fall through. The “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement,” or BATNA, is what will drive the decisions you make during the process and can help you to develop your reservation point. Is there another candidate whom you like? Does the position need to be filled today or can it remain vacant? Consider carefully how far you are willing to go before your BATNA becomes preferable to a negotiated deal. Also remember that the person you are recruiting has their own BATNA and if you can learn what that is, you have a meaningful advantage in reaching a deal. It is imperative that you not share your BATNA and you should assume that the recruit will protect theirs as well, but the more you can learn about it, the better your assumptions will be during the course f the negotiation.

4. Stay in the zone.
In any negotiation, there is what academics sometimes call the “zone of proximate agreement” or the “positive bargaining zone.” If you picture a Venn diagram, with one circle representing the deal that is acceptable to you, and the second circle representing what is acceptable to the new hire, it is the overlap of those two circles that embodies the ultimately successful offer. In other words, a space exists in which both parties can be happy with the outcome. One tactic that can be very effective in expanding that space is to craft multiple offers, or even “ala carte” menus of deal elements that the recruit can select from. This is a great strategy that can help you to better understand what makes them click, but also to let them know that you are working hard to make them happy with the outcome; the most successful negotiations will always end with both parties satisfied that they achieved their goals and got what they wanted.

5. Create value for both of you.
You read often about the fabled “win-win” negotiation, but most negotiators have no idea what this means. Win-win does not mean that a compromise was agreed to or that an even split of the resources available was reached. A true win-win is achieved when there is no money (or other resource) left on the table for either side and that all creative opportunities to reach the deal were taken advantage of. Work hard with your recruit to build trust by identifying areas of common agreement; make multiple offers to diagnose what is truly important to both sides; build in meaningful and achievable incentives; and work to stay within the positive bargaining zone to achieve a successful outcome.

Creating real and meaningful value in a negotiated agreement is the goal, whether it is a deal to buy 50 tons of a commodity like aluminum, or to craft a creative compensation agreement for a new and valuable team member. Keep in mind that it is not just money and benefits that make up a great package, but other less tangible elements that will make your new employee happy, productive, creative, and effective!

Photo: net_efekt

Twitter Link Roundup #129 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Ross — Fri, 04 May 2012 05:02:54 +0000

The video above shows why cats will never be as cool as dogs. Ever see a golden retriever dance the Merengue?

Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media -http://bit.ly/JkbC4O

Illinois 3rd-worst in nation for business, CEO survey says -http://trib.in/IGNZHh

Traits of successful founders - http://perfor.ms/zlOEzG

The dirty secret behind the incubator boom - http://bit.ly/JVZmNX

Startup Founders: Don’t Freak Out - http://bit.ly/Ix80ko

VCs in Angels’ Clothing: The Sneaky New Trend of “Deal Scouts” in Silicon Valley - http://bit.ly/Ix8iI4

The 11 Harsh Realities Of Being An Entrepreneur -http://perfor.ms/y1q1uV

Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media -http://bit.ly/JkbC4O

What Google Analytics New Social Reports Offer & What They Can’t - http://bit.ly/K2d5kc

Frustrated advertisers to Facebook: Take our money — please! - http://cnet.co/IYuJ7y

Traditional Advertising is Truly Dead - http://bit.ly/K2dfrR

$20m given to Kickstarter games projects, but only 25 per cent succeed - http://bit.ly/Ju9YNX

30 Sophisticated Ads To Give You Great Inspiration -http://bit.ly/JVYybF

50 More Humorous Print Advertisements to Make You Smile -http://bit.ly/JVYIQr

30 Spectacular Red Business Cards - http://bit.ly/ImKxQw

60+ High-Quality Graffiti Fonts for Your Design Works -http://bit.ly/KwTaHJ

Rough Concrete Tiles: Texture Pack - http://bit.ly/ImKunD

50 Amazing business cards - http://bit.ly/JVYAR5

30+ Examples Of Brilliant Typography Designs - http://bit.ly/JVYDvZ

Free Stone Textures - http://bit.ly/ImKq7n

25 Flashy Pink Business Cards - http://bit.ly/ImKfci

12 Questions: Meet Tiffany Silverberg (USA) – http://bit.ly/Kq8mG2

The $1000 May cS Award and the April $1000 cS Award Winner -http://bit.ly/KxuVJt

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/1ySfi

Legal Contracts for Graphic Designers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/XTLkS

20 Simple, Yet Clever Logos - http://bit.ly/JVYQPW

Turn It Up: Musically Inspired Logo Design - http://bit.ly/JVYPeH

40+ Creative uses of Ribbons in Web Design - http://bit.ly/ITrqwN

20 Pure Websites with Clean White Backgrounds -http://bit.ly/JNs9jY

UI: Proper Indicators for Hidden Elements - http://bit.ly/IEkzgh

21 Beautiful Examples of Typography in Web Design -http://bit.ly/ImKuUU

30 Awe-Inspiring Black and White Website Designs -http://bit.ly/JVYusA

Footer Design Trends - http://bit.ly/JVYGbd

Why cats will NEVER be as great as dogs: http://bit.ly/cALfO4

Web Tool of the Month: crowdSPRING -http://bit.ly/IIQ5GA

Crowdsourced design is not a risky business - http://bit.ly/JuaDz7

Big LCD tv’s are a low margin biz. Ben Kunzsmartly argues Apple will fill a niche at smaller sizes - http://buswk.co/JtxPNZ

I hope you enjoy these links! Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked/didn’t like.

The May cS Award and the April cS Award Winner

Mike — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:25:35 +0000

Last summer, we announced that we would issue a monthly cS Award to honor quality work by designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community.

May cS Award

The May cS Award of $1,000 will be given to a designer who does the most to upgrade their crowdSPRING portfolio in the next 4 weeks.

To be eligible, you must upload, during the month of May, at least five (5) new portfolio items. In case of a tie, the award will go to the creative who has the highest average buyer score for their entries in May.

You do not need to win a project to be eligible for the May award.

Good luck to everyone!

And now…. the April cS Award Winner….

We are thrilled to announce that the April $1,000 cS award will go to iconicdesign!

Connie joined crowdSPRING way back in July of 2008, which makes her one of our longest-serving Creatives! Since then, she’s submitted work to over 300 projects, has won 24 and is a consummate professional in all of her communications with the community and our team.

We are proud to have iconicdesign in our community.

Thanks to everyone who participated in March, and congratulations to iconicdesign on winning the cS Award!

12 Questions: Meet Tiffany Silverberg (USA)

Audree — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:03:11 +0000

In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.

We’re very proud to feature Tiffany Silverberg (crowdSPRING username: TiffSilverberg ) today. Tiffany lives and works all over the United States.

1. Please tell us about yourself.

I’m a marketing writer and consultant – which means I work with small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them develop their brand and tell their story. I work from home, for myself, which frees me up to travel and explore! I move often with my husband’s job so I love having the chance to get to know new communities and the businesses that drive the local economy.

2. How did you become interested in writing?

I’ve always been completely obsessed with languages and the ability to communicate. I grew up moving a lot – much as I do now – and had the chance to learn Cantonese and Spanish. When I went to college, at the University of California Berkeley, I studied linguistics, with research in language development among Deaf children. I also took Danish linguistics, Latin, conversational Spanish, and of course American Sign Language classes. All that random knowledge sort of coagulated into my job now – which to me is still all about communicating.

3. Who/what are some of the biggest influences on your writing?

All the great copywriters that produced the retro magazine ads of the 1960′s and 1970′s really inspire me. It was an age when words were respected and manipulated to say the cleverest things. I keep old ads all around my desk. On a more philosophical level, I’ve always adored Jane Austen’s ability to draw out the nature of women in her books in a way that we fellow women can both appreciate and learn from. I want my story telling to be the same way. Lighthearted, but thoughtful.

4. Please tell us about your favorite projects.

Really practically, I love doing projects that force me to pull out a few thesauruses and dictionaries and delve into the etymology of words. I love to swim in words. But from the clients’ perspective, if I had to choose one project, it would probably be bios. I love helping my clients see themselves in a new light.

5. What types of writing interest you the most?

Copywriting is probably one of the most fascinating to me. It’s so full of spark and creativity – and yet at the end of the day, it’s about selling and you have to stay within the parameters. It’s like a puzzle.

6. Do you do your best writing in a Porsche 911?

Well, I think everyone around me would prefer that I keep my eyes on the road, rather than on my paper when I’m in my car, but I do love driving fast down country roads – and that retro style of ad writing does rush in when I’m there.

7. What kind of on-line resources do you use?

Oh, http://www.etymonline.com/ is probably my favorite. Quick resource for Latin and Greek derivations. There are also some great lists of roots, prefixes, and suffixes that you can pull up and muse. When I’m trying to create new words for companies and brands, it’s fun to mull those lists and just try the sounds.

8. How do you promote your work?

Mostly through my website, TiffanySilverberg.com, and on Facebook and Twitter.

9. Please describe your typical work day.

It normally starts with a cup of coffee or three while I peruse Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and emails. Then I delve into client projects all morning, through lunch. Then Crowdspring projects until dinner time.

10. What is your favorite book?

That’s like asking a painter their favorite color – it depends on the situation! The novel I’ve read and marked up the most is Pride and Prejudice. But I spend a lot of time with dictionaries, word usage books, and linguistics books – and I can’t choose just one.

11. If you weren’t writing, what would you be doing?

In college, I occasionally dreamt of doing field work – unearthing and preserving languages in the jungles or deserts of somewhere… and sometimes think that’s what would have happened if I hadn’t taken this path… but it would have involved words, language, and stories.

12. What do you do with your free time?

Knitting has become my recent interest. It fascinates me what can done with string and needles. I also love to decompress in the kitchen, experimenting with spices.

_____________________________
Thanks so much, Tiffany!

Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media

Mike — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:04:39 +0000

We write often about the power of great customer service and share ideas for how to engage with customers. improve delivery, and analyze your performance in this crucial arena. There are reasonably priced tools aplenty which can help you provide better service to your customers: help-desk software like Zendesk, virtual call center services such as ifbyphone, and real-time chat tools for your website such as velaro.

By leveraging the power of social media you too can open up completely new and valuable channels through which your customers can reach you quickly and easily. Today we’re going to discuss some tools which will cost you a grand total of $0, require virtually no time to set-up, and with which your employees are already fully trained. What’s that you say? Free AND immediate? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well my friends, read on, because it’s not too good to be true.

Several key components are important to the use of social media to deliver customer service effectively and when well-executed, these can add up to a meaningful competitive advantage. First and perhaps most important, your company must learn to actively listen; people out there may be talking about your company or even complaining about your company and you need to develop the ability to hear them. Second, the active engagement of customers (or potential customers) via the channel that the customer prefers is critical to your success with this strategy; this is an incredible opportunity for you to learn about your customers and an equally incredible opportunity to create true fans. Finally your company needs to develop the ability to measure the SM traffic to your business; by better understanding your customer’s online behavior, you can better understand the customers themselves and anticipate their needs.

1. Twitter.

Twitter is the simplest and most powerful of the social media tools for providing great customer service. Powerful and simple search capabilities make it easy to listen when Twitter users mention your company and the ability to track those comments in real time and respond immediately makes a huge and lasting impression. Use Twitter search to set up a search for mentions of your company’s name and e ready to immediately pounce at the first complaint, complement, or question someone might have abut your company. We use Tweetdeck which allows you to view multiple search terms simultaneously and respond to people with 140 character answers. Of course you can also use Twitter to direct people to your site or other support channels when a more complex answer or solution is required. Twitter also offers web analytics tools which allow for tracking of traffic sent to your site by. Help desk software like Zendesk even allows the full integration of Twitter and will create new tickets when Tweets are received to your account.

2. Facebook and Google +.

These services allow people to contact you directly through a trusted platform that millions of people around the world are already using comfortable and effectively. By setting up a page for your business on Facebook and Google+ you make your company available and accessible for customers with problems or questions, or even folks who just want to share something with you. We receive comments and questions every day on our FB page and are instantly notified when someone posts something. This allows us to respond quickly, either right there on Facebook or by moving the conversation to our own help desk.

3. Skype.

Not so much a social media tool, but a very practical and inexpensive way to communicate with customers from around the world. Skype provides high-quality voice and video-chat features which enable our customer service agents to reach out to anyone anywhere anytime. Nice.

4. YouTube, Flickr, et al.

Great customer service should be a two-way street. Remember it’s not just about responding to the questions your customers ask, it’s also about anticipating those questions and making the answers easily available. We post videos on YouTube that explain everything from a high-level view of how crowdSPRING works, right down to the nitty-gritty of how to post your first project to the site. A link to these pages can be sent out or shared through the various support channels or people can easily find them for themselves with a quick search.

5. Blog and newsletter.

Your blog and your newsletter are other great channels for providing customers with valuable information about your company and your products or services. Using content distribution to preemptively help your customers is an effective way to share information, engage users, and build valuable relationships. Whether you are contributing ideas and information intended to help other business owners and managers, or sharing tips about your own offerings these channels can be easily measured and analyzed to determine if people are interested in what you have to say – if they are keep up the great work; if not, adjust your approach and try again.

Photo: Widjaya Ivan

Twitter Link Roundup #128 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Ross — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:03:01 +0000

The video above is a fascinating account on the excess and hubris of the International Art Market (reporting by 60 Minutes journalist Morley Safer).

Small Business and Startup Tips: Managing Remote Employees – http://bit.ly/HVo69c

The Economic Clout of Women-Owned Small Businesses – [INFOGRAPHIC] – http://t.co/ZLSNaSEa

Small business Congress-watch: Three Reasons to Vote Next November? – http://bit.ly/I6a3Og

crowdSPRING”s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Invitation Consultants – http://bit.ly/Jq2XzC

Small Business and Startup Tips: Managing Remote Employees – http://bit.ly/HVo69c

Nice write-up on Google’s venture capital investment company – http://bit.ly/IqlFb5

5 tech deals that need to happen – http://bit.ly/I0xKro

Good thoughts on assembling a board for a startup – http://bit.ly/Jt2mRq

Startups Should Say No to 99% of Partnership Opportunities – http://t.co/7FV94ni6

What It Takes To Innovate: Wrong-Thinking, Tinkering & Intuiting – http://t.co/sWeGOD1o

Entrepreneurs, keep you eye on the ball and don’t get distracted! – http://t.co/Rm4MAUm3

Jeff Bezos: ‘Even Well-Meaning Gatekeepers Slow Innovation’ – http://t.co/1qbf8w4b

Making the Turn – Leveraging a Pivot into Growth – http://t.co/UruvDKFX

Why Being A Meaner Boss Will Help Your Company–And Make Your Employees Happy – http://t.co/gvZAe5mt

Should Your Brand Launch a Film Festival? http://t.co/b5meagjD

Why Obama’s JOBS Act Couldn’t Suck Worse – http://t.co/qwBiJnT1

Twitter’s Revolutionary Agreement Lets Original Inventors Stop Patent Trolls – http://t.co/qWUXfcqr

The Twitter IPA: What does defensive really mean? – http://t.co/1EJwRmDY

Linking To Facebook Pages Lowers Ad Costs – http://bit.ly/HLmcn4

Why Earned Media Alone Won’t Cut It – http://bit.ly/Jjym5P

Facebook, Google Must Adapt as Users Embrace ‘Unsocial’ Networks – http://buswk.co/I9RFBd

25 Stunning Examples of Minimalistic Advertising – http://bit.ly/IiHiYt

Digital ecosystems: an in-depth comparison – http://vrge.co/HLpWVI

Crowdsourcing on Facebook Gets You Consumers’ Ideas and Their Purchases – http://t.co/LvD0xELh

Collaborative commerce: Pinterest and Amazon are a match made in affiliate heaven – http://t.co/hlvG1TNf

Click-Through Rates May Matter Even Less Than We Already Thought – http://bit.ly/I9HcXx

Clever Twitter ad from Smart Car Argentina. Go here and hold down the letter J – http://t.co/EiqXRNMy

Study: Those Social Media Logos On TV Actually Work – http://t.co/TNLVrZOz

What It Takes To Innovate: Wrong-Thinking, Tinkering & Intuiting – http://t.co/2kBVE99l

The funny side of advertising: 20 amusing and clever print advertisements – http://t.co/cLtn5oTA

Creative Examples of Billboard ads – http://t.co/EtVse2Db

The 18 Most Ridiculous Ads Of The Dot-Com Super Bowl – http://t.co/27SOnBcv

55 Latest Free Fonts for Professional Designers – http://t.co/I9xkCMkY

40+ Creative ideas in business cards – http://bit.ly/IiFPBg

10 Things to Consider Before Starting a Freelancing Career – http://bit.ly/IDIlF8

Magazine Cover Design Through The Decades – http://bit.ly/I6oTnX

200+ Pinterest Boards for Designers to Follow – http://t.co/ttPi6KYQ

50 Extremely Beautiful Photoshop Patterns for Elegant Designs – http://bit.ly/Icm7bq

200+ Free Vector Grunge Graphics for Designers and Illustrators – http://bit.ly/IDInwC

29 Hot New Freebies Every Designer will Love – http://bit.ly/IDIgky

Cool and Unique Bookshelf Designs For Inspiration – http://bit.ly/IDIice

General Info and An Intro to Font Selection – http://bit.ly/IDIsAz

35 Stylish and Creative Wedding Invitation Designs for Inspiration – http://t.co/Y4UaoFs2

40+ Fresh & Creative Minimal Art & Film Poster Designs Inspiration – http://t.co/FkfLyiHp

30 High Quality Examples of Scratch Texture – http://t.co/jcxdWTod

A fantastic free font: Valentia typeface, an antique Spanish didone – http://t.co/g00mQASB

35 Stylish and Creative Wedding Invitation Designs for Inspiration – http://t.co/Y4UaoFs2

Showcase of Creatively Designed Brochures – http://t.co/VJMLC73s

Getting Creative Things Done: How To Fit Hard Thinking Into a Busy Schedule – http://t.co/gQljYBKG

Newly Released Tools And Resources For Web Designers And Web Developers - http://t.co/dVzfoOPc

Six Brochures That Will Amaze You – http://t.co/JrSFXZ9Q

Absolutely Fresh And Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials – http://bit.ly/IDIbO0

Excellent Collection of Brochure Design for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/IiG0ww

40+ Creative Sticker Label Inspirations In Package Design – http://bit.ly/Ibe4kH

30 Awesome Examples of Free Wood Font – http://bit.ly/IcmaUy

30 Amazing Photoshop Tutorials That You Can’t Missed – http://t.co/2AaEC82r

20 Superb Labels Used in Package Design – http://bit.ly/IiFIWm

Latest Business Card Transparent Designs – http://bit.ly/JB6dKq

30 High Quality Examples of Rope Texture – http://bit.ly/IiFiPZ

15+ high quality, free pattern sets – http://bit.ly/J5psrB

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/1ySfi

Legal Contracts for Graphic Designers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/XTLkS

60 Photography Logos That Are Among The Best – http://bit.ly/IcmfYi

30 Fantastic Celtic Fonts for Free – http://t.co/LZcN4ksO

Showcase: 40 Appetizing Restaurant Logos – http://t.co/Gqy5yYZB

55 Latest Free Fonts for Professional Designers – http://t.co/I9xkCMkY

18 Beautiful Examples of Parallax Scrolling in Web Design – http://bit.ly/IiGaE6

45 User Friendly Navigation Menu Examples – http://bit.ly/IiGkeL

Using Photo Backgrounds in Web Design: 30 Examples – http://t.co/Kpj0c5OM

21 Inspiring Examples of About Pages - http://t.co/hWcL4l5n

Showcase of 27 Beautiful Restaurant and Food Websites using WordPress – http://t.co/MKbrtieb

32 Examples of Usable Mobile Website Layouts – http://t.co/PCofRb8a

20 Best Examples of Landing Page Design – http://t.co/HCU0TNme

40 Creative Examples of Pricing Page Design for Your Inspiration – http://bit.ly/IkbXrV

23 Inspiring Examples of Contact Pages – http://bit.ly/IiHV4n

35 Beautiful Landing Page Design Examples to Drool Over [With Critiques] - http://t.co/8WBdFlMd

1st grader without hands wins a penmanship award – http://abcn.ws/IBvzpH

Wonderful set of infographics about the foods we eat and our diets – http://bit.ly/J9uyHP

How Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Patients Face Death – http://nyti.ms/Ikicf8

Apple nearly doubles quarterly profit – http://bloom.bg/JpIb37

13 Fun & Fascinating Facts Not to be Feared on Crowdsourcing – http://t.co/57sz5bLm

The dumbest toilet door #FAIL I have ever seen – http://t.co/V3hJadd4

Audi Crowdsources The Design Of Their Race Car Inspired Chair – http://bit.ly/Jh3atM

Truly despicable how women are treated in the Middle East in Arab countries – http://bit.ly/IMMgyg

NASA crowdsourcing solutions for a way to get to Mars on the cheap – http://tnne.ws/HRvLkp

New study says social security will run out of funds 3 years earlier than previously thought – http://trib.in/I8USni

Why Are We Drugging Our Soldiers? – http://nyti.ms/Imfk27

Not surprising that data centers require lots of coal and nuclear power to operate – http://t.co/deGFJ13i

Interesting … clinical research suggests there’s a connection between inadequate sleep and ADHD in kids – http://t.co/wW1Dsoci

Mobile Payments Won’t Replace Cash or Credit for Another Decade – http://t.co/qsOKsb5a

Art for the One Percent: 60 Minutes on the Excess & Hubris of the International Art Market – http://t.co/ZWGtttAF

Seems far fetched but at some point, I believe we will mine asteroids for minerals – http://bit.ly/I8lp2b

Outstanding look at depression and clinical research on Prozac – http://nyti.ms/IfIsYd

Confirmed: He Who Sits the Most Dies the Soonest – http://bit.ly/JinNmU

I hope you enjoy these links! Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked/didn’t like.

Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Invitation Consultants

Amanda — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:05:01 +0000

The Bridal Association of America reports that the average cost for a wedding’s invitations and reply cards is $659. (If you have a few extra minutes, check out that link to wedding stats. It’s pretty fascinating.) Stationery is a very expensive venture, for both individuals and businesses alike.

Invitation Consultants provide classy, customizable invitations at an affordable price. What Vista Print is to business cards is what Invitation Consultants is to your invitation needs. This includes anything from weddings to corporate events. They also provide users with suggestions for how to word your invitations and proper etiquette when mailing or sending them out.

Each year, Invitation Consultants crowdsources one of their designs using crowdSPRING.

CEO Allison De Meulder discusses the business of invitations below:

How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?

Our company designs invitations, stationery and gifts for all event types. Customers use our website to personalize each item to suit their occasion.

What are some industry specific challenges you faced?

When we first started having vendors let us sell their product because they did not know who we were. When we said in 1999 that we were internet-based they thought we were a sub-par company. Now when you say internet company, people take you seriously.

What was your biggest learning curve/experience?

Learning to do the production angle, best practices, be efficient, not waste and economies of scale when implementing new technologies and equipment.

What made you use crowdSPRING?

We decided to use crowdSPRING to bring fresh ideas into our invitation line. Each year, we host an invitation design contest where winners are selected to have their designs sold on our site. We knew that crowdSPRING would help us reach talented designers who could bring new perspective and inspiration to our product line.

What’s the craziest story you have from starting your own business?

Crazy is defined differently by each person. I am typically a conservative person, but I walked into Best Buy spent $1000 on my first laptop and started a business and never looked back. No money, school loans, credit card debt and minimal life and work experience at 23. I define crazy as a risk and this was risky.

Six words of advice to those looking to start their own company.

Generosity. Perseverance. Honesty. Creativity. Efficiency. Leadership

How do you see your company growing in the future?

We want to be more involved in the production and manufacturing of our products. Not only is this option more economical, it is also important for us to be involved in every step of the process.

If you could go back, would you do anything differently? If so, what and why?

No, I don’t ever believe in regrets. That’s the truth. Everything I did – I had a purpose at the time. If you question anything too much or regret what you have done, you are creating road blocks.

Invitation Consultants most recent contest received 71 entries.

Want to see your business here? Email Us!

Small business Congress-watch: Three Reasons to Vote Next November?

Mike — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:04:41 +0000

A few times a year I take a browse through current legislation that has been introduced in our Congress. The idea is to stay current on what the folks in Washington are doing for small businesses and startups and to briefly analyze some of those priorities and efforts.

As business owners and operators who live our lives without the luxury of lobbying firms to represent our interests, we are vulnerable to the decisions that will be made with little or no input from us. Sure we can (and sometimes do) pick up the phone or send an email to one of our elected representatives to voice an opinion or advocate for an issue, but at the end of the day we have very little real power; what happens with legislation will happen and the impact on our businesses will occur regardless of our input.

Here - for better or for worse - are three pieces of legislation proposed or pending in Congress that have the potential to impact your business. You can reach out to your Representative or Senator and let them know where you stand on these. Or you can simply wait until November and send your message in a electorally appropriate manner; in other words, feel free to vote the bums out!

H.R. 585: Small Business Size Standard Flexibility Act (Introduced 3/21/2012) Many of us have businesses that are heavily regulated by the government, while others enjoy lighter oversight. In either case, rules and regulations can have a real economic impact on small businesses. The Small Business Size Standard Flexibility Act along with H.R. 527 (the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act) would require government agencies to consider whether new rules conflict or overlap with other existing rules, and require more input from small business representatives in making the rule making process. The point being that rules are often formulated without taking into account the real impact on small business in particular.

H.R. 4293: Restore Main Street’s Credit Act of 2012 (Introduced 3/28/2012) This law, currently in committee, would amend existing law to specifically define ‘Main Street business’ to mean “an organization, other than a nonprofit organization, with 20 or fewer full-time employees that possesses, occupies, or leases a physical property other than a home for the business’s operations.” The law would require that credit unions, specifically, make extensions of credit more easily available to companies that meet this standard. More credit for small business during a time of notoriously tight lending standards? Sounds right to me.

S. 2284: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide expensing for small businesses (Introduced 4/16/2012) We all buy stuff for our businesses, right? And we all filed our business taxes recently, right? And we’d very much like to be able to deduct more expenses from our tax liability, right? Well this bill, introduced just a few days ago is designed to make it easier for us to do just that. Currently, when we make a capital expenditure, we typically have to depreciate the item over time and amortize the cost over several years. The bill would permit small businesses (defined as those with profits of less than $1 million) to expense, or immediately deduct, the entire value of the purchase in the year that purchase was made. Let me put it more simply: buy something and get the full value deducted in the same year you bought it. Nice.

photo: Photo Phiend

Small Business and Startup Tips: Managing Remote Employees

Ross — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:46:00 +0000

Did you know that more than 34 million Americans already work from home, at least part time? In fact, that number is expected to nearly double in the next five years, according to Forrester. If we have anywhere close to 63 million remote workers by 2016, remote workers will represent over 40 percent of the entire workforce in the U.S.

Some companies hire remote employees in order to find the best people. By hiring only in geographically small locations, companies give up the opportunity to find better candidates elsewhere. And while it’s not unusual for small startups to work remotely, this can scale to hundreds of employees working remotely.

But how can you effectively manage your remote employees? I encourage you to watch the following video where, together with representatives from DELL and Microsoft, I discuss the challenges of managing remote teams and how to overcome those challenges with policies, culture changes, and technology.

Do you have any questions or additional tips for managing remote employees? Please share in the comments below.

Small Biz and Startup Tips: 5 Ideas to Plan for Success(ion)

Mike — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:05:21 +0000

When starting and running a new company it is easy to focus on the present and quickly lose track of what may come in the future. This is not a bad thing - in fact the present is exactly where entrepreneurs should place most of their priorities and devote most of their energy. But as a company matures and strategic planning starts to concentrate more on the future, consideration should also be given to the future of the company’s administration, operations and financial structure and a succession planning process should be an important part of that. The word itself should provide some basic guidance; Merriam-Webster online defines “succession” as “the order in which or the conditions under which one person after another succeeds to a property, dignity, title, or throne.” Throne, you say?

While much of the literature on succession planning tends to be about long-term legal planning as well as the importance of valuation, buy/sell agreements, and tax and estate planning, my advice is that you first focus on what will happen tomorrow if you don’t have any plan already in place. The kind planning I want to discuss should be driven by a simple question: “If I get hit by a bus on the way to work today, what will happen?” Taking some time to ponder this simple question will lead you to some straightforward steps you can take to assure that your venture will continue on (triumphantly) during your days in the hospital. In other words, start planning for an emergency succession, then turn your focus to the longer term planning that should follow.

There are several immediately practical as well as the legal and financial questions that will arise immediately during your absence. On the practical/operational side, good succession planning should be designed to ensure that everything you are responsible for doing at your company will continue to get done – from paying the bills to maintaining the database and on down to taking out the trash. On the financial/legal side, this planning should be about making certain that the business can continue to operate effectively under its bylaws or operating agreement, that cash flow will will not be impacted by your absence, and that the resources are available to enable new hires or bring in outside assistance to make up for the loss of your personal capacity. Here is a list of 5 uncomplicated steps you can take this week to get things going.

1. Document. First and foremost take the time to make a list of the things you do every day that someone else will have to do in your absence. Are you responsible for payroll? Is there a marketing campaign underway that needs your daily attention? Are you the person who locks up at night and sets the alarm? Make sure that you carefully write down instructions for these things and that you know who will be the one to take these on. Simple cheat sheets can be incredibly helpful – just make sure that at least one other person knows where these reside and has access to them. Creating comprehensive written instructions is not so important for taking out the trash, but for more complex tasks such as accounting and finance functions, documentation is critical.

2. Insure. One way to make certain that you will have adequate cash to survive an emergency succession is to take out appropriate insurance policies. Many small businesses carry some type of “key person” policy which pays out in the event of the death to disability of a founder or CEO or other important employee. In the case of multiple founders running the company, matching policies can be set up to safeguard should something happen to any of these people. There are a number of factors that will drive the value of such a policy: business valuation, costs of hiring and training a replacement, and the lost revenue or business opportunities attributable to that person.

3. Train. Don’t overlook the importance of training other people in the company to take on whatever tasks will need doing. Each of us has specific knowledge about the tasks we perform everyday and it is dangerous to assume someone else will be able to pick up the reins while you are in that hospital bed. So my advice is to plan for redundancy and to identify the backup person for any given area of responsibility. Then be sure to give that person both the written instructions discussed above and, more helpful still, an opportunity to learn the task – let them watch you do it once or twice or, better yet, let them try it on their own with the help of that new cheat sheet.

4. Anticipate. In any succession, there will be many issues that inevitably result: conflicts and disputes can emerge between employees, investors, or other partners; a loss of confidence might take place for employees, clients, or creditors; potential tax exposure could also result for your family or partners. The point is to take some time now to consider what could happen in your absence and start considering steps you can take now to head off what could be potential problems later.

5. Clarify. Whether in legal documents or in your informal notes and cheat sheets be sure that all succession instructions are clearly defined. Issues such as the transfer of power and transfer of assets are important, but so are the little nitty-gritty operational details that must be seen to. During the early stages of starting your business there is typically very little strife or conflict between partners or investors, an succession emergency can bring out the worst kinds of discord and tension. A good succession plan accounts for all of the possible things that can go wrong – it should be an instruction manual for those left behind that clearly and in a detailed manner describes what happens now. Take the time to determine the issues and the terms to provide for the smoothest of transitions and it will pay off if and when the tie ever comes that you need it.

And, please remember to look both ways when you step off the curb.

Photo: Stephen Wilson

Twitter Link Roundup #127 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Ross — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:00:44 +0000

The video above is an 11 minute short about a 9 year old boy in East L.A. who built a very elaborate cardboard arcade inside his father’s used auto parts store. It’s a fascinating look at curiosity, drive, and flash mobs.

The Economic Clout of Women-Owned Small Businesses – http://bit.ly/HD6PRT

Compete on Know-Why, Not Know-How – http://bit.ly/HzMo34

10 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Academics – http://bit.ly/Im4slR

Did everybody see what just happened? The pendulum has swung – http://bit.ly/HRw3oW

Good & useful post for entrepreneurs about founder stock vesting & things to consider – http://bit.ly/HCLVz0

Good look at how the office has changed and why companies favor collaborative space – http://bit.ly/HRAO1Y

Compete on Know-Why, Not Know-How – http://bit.ly/HzMo34Facebook acquires Instagram – http://bit.ly/IbmV45 & http://on.fb.me/IbnbA2

The purchase price for Instagram (by Facebook)? 1 billion dollars – http://bit.ly/IbnJ9d

Zynga Spends Big to Keep CEO Safe – http://bit.ly/HGQcCc

How to Fail: Mark Pincus – http://buswk.co/HBM9c4

Harsh words, but good observations from Seth Godin – Is everyone entitled to their opinion? – http://bit.ly/I3BmoE

Why a remote workforce is bad for startups – http://bit.ly/IjNscp

Things To Consider Before Saying “I Do” To Investors – http://tcrn.ch/HuaHEP

The Economic Clout of Women-Owned Small Businesses – http://bit.ly/HD6PRT

Can Brands Market on Facebook Without Actually Spending Money on Advertising? – http://bit.ly/Izn5NX

Ten benefits to using Springpad’s social notebooks – http://bit.ly/HKIC9L

PR people continue to struggle with social media – http://bit.ly/HRuV4O

Thoughts on the Future of Social-Digital Agency Services – http://bit.ly/HvhIRI

Less marketing douchebaggery. More Tanks (or how to get more likes on Facebook) – http://bit.ly/IjPvx1

Unilever continues to blaze path – crowdsourcing sustainability suggestions – http://bit.ly/HrGhP2

The funny side of advertising: 20 amusing and clever print advertisements – http://bit.ly/HEJc7q

30 Cool and Stylish Curly Fonts – http://bit.ly/HvkaaX

10 Tips for Writing for Designers – http://bit.ly/Hvk6bc

11 Extremely Useful Fresh Free Fonts – http://bit.ly/ItZGPk

40+ Different ideas in business cards – http://bit.ly/IHwzqs

250+ Retro Patterns for a Vintage Look – http://bit.ly/IlpyS5

20 Creative Grunge Fonts To Download – http://bit.ly/ItZ6RA

Fresh Package Design Inspiration for Designers – 32 Examples – http://bit.ly/ItZwaS

20 Beautiful Free Fonts for Vintage and Retro Style Website Design – http://bit.ly/HBsQRl

80+ Effective Minimalist Packaging Designs – http://bit.ly/HKR0Xt

Typographical Infographics That’ll Make You Go “Wow!” – http://bit.ly/HKQiJF

Grunge Photoshop brush roundup – http://bit.ly/HEJ1cv

25 Free Hi-Resolutions Concrete Textures – http://bit.ly/IlpiCE

31 New Inspirational iPhone & iPad Application Websites – http://bit.ly/IlpbHe

25 Tutorials for Learning Character Design – http://bit.ly/Ilp6Dp

I love this creative potato chip container design (that blooms into a bowl) – http://bit.ly/Hyf7dV

50 Beautiful Examples of Clean and Minimalist Package Designs – http://bit.ly/Is6mwr

30 Free And Fresh Photoshop Brush Sets – http://bit.ly/IuG1Rg

50 Most Incredible Examples of Icon Design #2 – http://bit.ly/HCgvFs

A Handy Guide to Proper Typography for a Successful Design – http://bit.ly/HvjZfI

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/1ySfi

Legal Contracts for Graphic Designers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/XTLkS

30 Cool and Stylish Curly Fonts – http://bit.ly/HvkaaX

25 Type-Based Logos for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/IfEgbZ

20 Creative Grunge Fonts To Download – http://bit.ly/ItZ6RA

11 Extremely Useful Fresh Free Fonts – http://bit.ly/ItZGPk

20 Stunning Websites Using Bright Colors – http://bit.ly/IHw6Ve

30 Awesome Blue Websites For Your Inspiration – http://bit.ly/IHwjYo

20 Beautiful Free Fonts for Vintage and Retro Style Website Design – http://bit.ly/HBsQRl

30 Awesome Dark Web Designs – http://bit.ly/IlpmlP

30 Excellent Textured Website Designs for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/HKQA3d

12 Killer Sites that do Parallax Right – http://bit.ly/HCgpO7

65 Fresh and Creative Portfolio Website Designs for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/Iu05kQ

50 Most Incredible Examples of Icon Design #2 – http://bit.ly/HCgvFs

Free Icon Set In PNG (120 Items): SweetiePlus – http://bit.ly/HBt3nz

40+ Useful Free Online Books for Web Designers – http://bit.ly/IHvGy0

Guide to User Flow – The “Foolishly Ignored” Backbone of Website Design – http://bit.ly/HvkeHO

31 New Inspirational iPhone & iPad Application Websites – http://bit.ly/IlpbHe

30 Red Websites Which Look Great – http://bit.ly/Is6nk9

23 Fantastic Examples of Dark Colors in Web Design – http://bit.ly/IHvYos

What Recruiters Look At During The 6 Seconds They Spend On Your Resume (eye tracking study) – http://read.bi/IBER3K

Clever Twitter ad from Smart Car Argentina. Go here and hold down the letter J – http://bit.ly/IxNKRj

Interesting look at how computing has become more energy efficient over the past few decades – http://bit.ly/HDPFgU

Wow – 1 in 6 dads are stay-at-home. Hard to believe – http://bit.ly/Hxlw8r

Very impressive stats for online population in China (infographic) – http://bit.ly/HxT46z

Watch an iPad get made from the Foxconn factory floor (>250,000 people work there) – http://bit.ly/HEjRP5

For the Elderly, Emergency Rooms of Their Own – http://nyti.ms/HNLJOa

Cut in E-Book Pricing by Amazon Is Set to Shake Rivals – http://nyti.ms/HNFAl5

Antibiotics for Livestock Will Require Prescription, F.D.A. Says – http://nyti.ms/Hw51EE

I hope you enjoy these links! Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked/didn’t like.

The Economic Clout of Women-Owned Small Businesses [INFOGRAPHIC]

Ross — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:03:44 +0000

Did you know that women start businesses at 1.5x the U.S. national average? While it’s not surprising that certain types of businesses are heavily dominated by men, there are many types of businesses that are well represented by women. Women-owned businesses account for trillions of dollars in sales and employ millions of people, in the U.S. alone. This is not true in all sectors – for example, women are being nearly completely left out of the venture capital game.

In the United States, the number of women-owned businesses (and revenue) have both steadily increased for the past 15 years.

Not surprisingly, California, New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois are the top five states with women-owned businesses in 2012 (the top five hasn’t changed in 15 years).

The role of women in business is increasing not only in the United States, but also around the world. For example, according to a recent report of Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and several private firms, the role of women in Middle East and African mobile markets is increasing.

If you’re interested in recent numbers for the U.S., you should look at the 2012 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report (commissioned by American Express OPEN). The two charts above are from that Report.

I also invite you to look at the fascinating stats about women entrepreneurs (and leaders) in an infographic published by the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School (below).

Via MBA@UNC & Women 2.0

10 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Academics

Mike — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:05:08 +0000

As college graduation weekends and summer business incubator announcements loom, I thought I would take a few minutes to consider the connection between the entrepreneurship and academia.

Entrepreneurs, by definition, take an idea or a concept and strive to make that idea into a operating business. To do this, we spend a great deal of time laying the groundwork: researching, modeling, testing, and (finally) executing to turn all of that work into a revenue-generating enterprise.

scientists, and pedagogues of all stripes – also explore ideas but in a theoretical structure. They use a rigorous and clearly articulated process of scholarly examination to explore concepts through investigation, experimentation, analysis, and interpretation to (finally) arrive at a conclusion or support a theory. Although the scholarly process itself is not necessarily about the actual creation of a concrete “something,“ it doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs can not learn from their erudite cousins in academia. Here is a list of 10 things that academics do that can provide valuable lessons for entrepreneurs:

1. Academics research throughly.

Academics leverage scholasticism to answer questions and to resolve conflicting theories and ideas; the scholarly process is the formal methodology used by academics around the world for validating ideas and theories. Through the use of a similarly rational, meticulous and methodical approach to their businesses, entrepreneurs can also solve problems, find answers, and support theories in their own industries, markets, or companies.

2. Academics believe in empirical data.

Through research and experimentation, academics collect data to produce or support a theory or to investigate causal relationships between actions and outcomes. Entrepreneurs should also collect and interpret accurate and appropriate data to support their business ideas and also to measure the actual outcomes of their strategies and tactics. We often hear the term “data-driven” used in the context of business decisions and the credible and careful collection of that data can lead to better decision making and a clearer understanding of the observed effects.

3. Academics are rational.

The research and experimentation that is conducted as part of the scholastic process is strictly logical, reasoned, and sensible; subjectivity should always play a negligible role in the approach researchers, scientists, and other academics take to their work. Entrepreneurs should also strive for the rational; the best decisions and the most successful strategies should be built on a foundation of data, historical fact, and cogent, well-reasoned theory.

4. Academics respect history.

By using the historical method and leveraging primary sources, scholars reconstruct facts, context, and derive meaning through past events. Entrepreneurs should always conduct their own historical research to better understand the context of their idea, the likelihood of the venture’s success, and to determine the value of a market or a business model. For instance, the use of comparable company data to make projections or imply valuation is one way entrepreneurs can leverage historical fact to help arrive at conclusions.

5. Academics review one another’s work.

The formal process of peer review allows for the credible evaluation of a scholar’s work. Peer review is most commonly associated with the publication of scholarly articles or papers, but extends to experiment design, grant proposals, and even software development. In business the concept of peer review is under-utilized; entrepreneurs can and should engage in this in an informal manner. Ross and I both speak often on the need to question your assumptions and to actively seek out disconfirming information; these ideas are analogous to the concept of peer research – bringing in other qualified individuals to harshly question your ideas, criticize your assumptions, or review your data is a powerful way to strengthen your approach.

6. Academics experiment.

Well designed and executed experiments can provide valuable data for analysis and interpretation. This is true in the world of academia and scholarship, and equally true in business. For example, we often advise businesses to experiment with different marketing tactics and then to collect, analyze, and act on the resulting data. Scientists will design multiple experiments with the goal of proving or disproving a theory and those investigations can provide meaningful answers to serious questions; business people should emulate this diligent approach to their own experimentation.

7. Academics observe and measure.

A critical part of the experimentation process is observation and collection of data; high quality data is invaluable to the process and experiments are designed specifically to protect the integrity of the information collected. Entrepreneurs also need to practice and perfect the art of observing causal effects and measuring factual results as they design and execute business experiments such as A/B testing, trial tactics, and marketing pilots.

8. Academics cite their sources.

Proper attribution is not just encouraged in scientific research and publication, but it is essential to the credibility of the author and the research itself. In business, too many entrepreneurs are quick to claim concepts as their own, and slow to cite the original source for their ideas. Business people may not be required to provide proper attribution, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t.

9. Academics accumulate knowledge.

Over time, scientists, researchers, and other academics have accumulated a huge store of knowledge and ideas. This mass of knowledge is celebrated and it is also incredibly valuable to other current and future scientists and researchers as well as to the world at large. Entrepreneurs can also benefit through the accumulation of business-specific knowledge and data, whether about their own ventures, experiences, and experiments or through the knowledge acquired by other entrepreneurs; writing, speaking, and participating at conferences and through professional organizations are ways that we share knowledge and build resources that can help others who travel the same road.

10. Academics learn continuously.

The goal for all of us, whether scientist or business person, is to constantly grow, constantly challenge ourselves, and constantly test new ideas. In academia this is completely normal and expected; those of us engaged in entrepreneurship can mimic this approach and add value to our own ventures by consistently seeking to acquire knowledge and to take the time to discovery, analysis, and experimentation.

Photo: Jon Tucker

Twitter Link Roundup #126 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Ross — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:58:10 +0000

The image above shows the amount of caffeine in various types of coffee and tea. More interesting facts about the health benefits (and risks) of tea and coffee in the Other section below.

Fall In Love With Your Business, Not Your Business Plan – http://bit.ly/H5aib0

Design is Marketing – http://bit.ly/I0QCUz

The Dirty Little Secret Of Overnight Successes – http://bit.ly/HfUrro

How much does Pinterest actually make? – http://bit.ly/H59xyN

Design is Marketing – http://bit.ly/I0QCUz

Forget Self-Improvement – http://bit.ly/H59Vxk

The Education of Google’s Larry Page – http://buswk.co/HoYgHC

Fall In Love With Your Business, Not Your Business Plan – http://bit.ly/H5aib0

Some Thoughts about Selling at Startups – http://bit.ly/H36Mu6

The Dirty Little Secret Of Overnight Successes – http://bit.ly/HfUrro

Study: How one dresses impacts how they perform – http://bit.ly/I0R0lP

Getting the Feedback You Need To Raise Capital: Thick Skin Needed – http://bit.ly/Hi4Ay0

Eye Movement Study Reveals Six Must-Know Things About Facebook Brand Pages – http://rww.to/HVnEms

Design is Marketing – http://bit.ly/I0QCUz

Interesting case study of what happened when Pepsi gutted its advertising – http://bit.ly/H7Yncs

More on Pepsi’s market slide (with useful insight about ad strategy) – http://bit.ly/H7YtkA

30 Attractive Rounded Fonts to Download – http://bit.ly/HPC0qU

40 Stylish Fonts For Professional Web And Print Design – http://bit.ly/HWBmDV

Redesigning With Personality – http://bit.ly/HESUKQ

Drop Caps: Historical Use And Current Best Practices With CSS – http://bit.ly/HkF1PT

30 inspiring calligraphy works – http://bit.ly/HPJYCo

Design is Marketing – http://bit.ly/I0QCUz

30 Examples of Innovative Packaging Designs – http://bit.ly/Hx62uQ

Color and Emotion: What Does Each Hue Mean? – http://bit.ly/HczGwb

30 Excellent Pixel Art Tutorials For Pixel Lovers – http://bit.ly/HgATTJ

Mobile UI Design Patterns: 10+ Sites for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/HDJ6KX

How to Design a User-Interface Element in Photoshop – http://bit.ly/HkF3av

37 FREE Graffiti Style Fonts – http://bit.ly/HNoEe3

The Importance of White Space: Take a Breath Already! – http://bit.ly/HNnGym

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial: Create a Detailed Restaurant Chalkboard – http://bit.ly/HNoof6

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/1ySfi

Legal Contracts for Graphic Designers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/XTLkS

Logo Design Inspiration: 60+ Fresh Logo Designs – http://bit.ly/HNoSSw

30 Attractive Rounded Fonts to Download – http://bit.ly/HPC0qU

40 Stylish Fonts For Professional Web And Print Design – http://bit.ly/HWBmDV

40+ Legal Institutions Logo Inspirations – http://bit.ly/H8vs4n

30 Very Creative Logo Designs for Your Inspiration – http://bit.ly/HWujfW

33 Logo Designs from the Music Industry – http://bit.ly/HkFaCX

30 Beautifully Designed Eye Logo – http://bit.ly/HfctEm

30 Bright & Energetic Logo Designs – http://bit.ly/HDIPHM

37 FREE Graffiti Style Fonts – http://bit.ly/HNoEe3

15 Stunning jQuery Lightbox Plug-ins for Your Upcoming Designs – http://bit.ly/Hd65zv

Mobile UI Design Patterns: 10+ Sites for Inspiration – http://bit.ly/HDJ6KX

35 Deliciously Creative Ice cream websites for inspiration – http://bit.ly/HNvqSG

28 Cool Yet Inspirational Login And Signup Forms Ideas – http://bit.ly/HPKiRC

Parallax Scrolling: An Introduction – http://bit.ly/HNnVtg

How to Design a User-Interface Element in Photoshop – http://bit.ly/HkF3av

I’m in Unicode Love: The Curator’s Code – http://bit.ly/HI31xL

Forget Self-Improvement – http://bit.ly/H59Vxk

Alarming obesity trends in the U.S. – http://bit.ly/HATGnn

Make no little plans: http://buswk.co/HVnEVV

With $25M From Benchmark And Larry Summers Advising, Can Minerva Build An Online Ivy? – http://tcrn.ch/Hh7rcv

More about obesity in the U.S. … The True Cost of Unwalkable Streets – http://bit.ly/HAU4lT

There’s little doubt that freelancers impact how companies operate & manage their workforce – http://onforb.es/HeVGDr

The competition is close, but tea seems to edge out coffee in terms of benefits – http://bit.ly/HaQb6H

I hope you enjoy these links! Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked/didn’t like.

The April cS Award and the March cS Award Winner

Ross — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:10:38 +0000

Last summer, we announced that we would issue a monthly cS Award to honor quality work by designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community.

April cS Award

There are now more than 113,000 graphic, web, industrial designers and writers in the crowdSPRING community. You come from nearly every country on the planet and speak over a hundred different languages.

The April cS Award of $1,000 will be given to a designer or writer who is awarded at least one project on crowdSPRING during the month of April and who has the highest average buyer score for all entries they submitted to projects during April. If there’s a tie, the tiebreaker will go to the creative who participated in the most projects during April.

Good luck!

And now…. the March cS Award Winner….

We are thrilled to announce that the March $1,000 cS award will go to Seagull!

Gokul joined crowdSPRING last June. Since then, he’s submitted work to numerous projects and has always been professional when communicating with our team.

We are proud to have Gokul in our community.

Thanks to everyone who participated in March, and congratulations to Seagull on winning the cS Award!

I’m in Unicode Love: The Curator’s Code

Mike — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:04:54 +0000

Attribution on the web is a controversial topic; ideas, stories, videos, graphics are copied and pasted over and over again, propagating their way across the virtual universe. As an entrepreneur and blogger, I am always pleased when I see my articles shared on other sites, or linked to in the social media. While I would prefer for all of those readers to come over to our blog to read the piece, I certainly understand the value of additional reach that can be gained when my posts are re-published elsewhere or when others discuss ideas I may have written about first. The negative comes when those posts or ideas are used without any attribution whatsoever. The formula for plagiarism on the web is sometimes as simple as copy+paste=post.

Last week Maria Popova, the founder of brainpickings.org was interviewed by Brooke Gladstone of NPR’s On the Media about her latest creation, The Curator’s Code. The code, created in collaboration with Tina Roth Eisenberg of swissmiss.com is their attempt at a structure to govern online usage and attribution.

The code is a straightforward way for an author (or curator in some cases) can give honest and proper attribution not just for a source, but also for “inspiration.” It works by sorting all attribution into to basic categories, the “via,” which is the original content that the author is reposting, quoting, or paraphrasing, and the “hat tip,” which is the secondary source where the author may have first learned of the primary material, idea, or article.

Popova and Eisenberg have created two uncomplicated unicode graphics meant to be inserted into text, graphics or video which simply and cleanly indicate to the reader that the content was discovered or created elsewhere. For instance, I would use the following ‘hat tip’ attribution when referring to the On the Media story where I first learned of the Curator’s Code, I would attribute in a footnote or parenthetical, using a ‘hat tip’ like this: ↬Brooke Gladstone, onthemedia.org. But, I would credit Popova and Eisenstein who originated the idea and are the primary source, using a ‘via’ like this: ᔥ curatorscode.org. I could also display as a twofer like this ᔥ curatorscode.org | ↬Brooke Gladstone, onthemedia.org. The unicode character always links back to the Curator’s Code site allowing a reader to better understand the usage of the symbols as well as the philosophy behind the code itself

Simple and elegant, Popova and Eisenstein have created an uncomplicated method for visually and ethically providing attribution where attribution is due. You can listen to the entire interview here or read the transcript here.

Twitter Link Roundup #125 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

Ross — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:26:36 +0000

The video above is the world premiere, of Woflgang Amadeus Mozart’s old piano, of a new composition found in a notebook in an attic, believed to have been composed by 10-year-old Mozart. The composition is called “Allegro Molto in C Major”. The composition is performed by Austrian musician Florian Birsak.

Lean Marketing Tips: Hyperlocal Marketing Channels – http://bit.ly/GSoFiR

4 Code-Free Steps to Launch Your Business Website – http://read.bi/GVCtW6

Jackpot! 50 (mostly) free social media tools for brands – http://bit.ly/GKGNLF

Why the Best Product Doesn’t Always Win – http://bit.ly/GXxTsR

Agile is a Sham- http://bit.ly/GWykzT

Why Youth Has An Advantage In Innovation & Why You Want To Be A Learn-It-All – http://bit.ly/GUbydB

Never Make Counter-Offers – http://perfor.ms/xtPlDd

5 Key Talents of Successful Startup Founders – http://on.mash.to/H0Nfvg

Bill Gates: We need crazy energy entrepreneurs – http://bit.ly/GRNmwj

Why the Best Product Doesn’t Always Win – http://bit.ly/GXxTsR

Spotify Is Raising At A Stunning $3.5 Billion Valuation, Multiple VCs Say – http://read.bi/GSiyGY

What Every Start-up Should Know about PR – http://bit.ly/GRNVX1

Turning down Zynga: Why I left after the $210M Omgpop buy – http://bit.ly/GZPhcb

4 Code-Free Steps to Launch Your Business Website – http://read.bi/GVCtW6

Why Premature Hype Kills Start-ups – http://bit.ly/HdmFCe

Solving the Wrong Problem – http://bit.ly/H1AxfY

Jackpot! 50 (mostly) free social media tools for brands – http://bit.ly/GKGNLF

Do you really need a full-time hire for that? – http://perfor.ms/GPFhmQ

Do you telecommute to work? There are many benefits [INFOGRAPHIC] – http://bit.ly/H0hhfO

Digital advertising is broken – http://bit.ly/GWDKLt

Facebook Sets High Asking Price for Log-Out Ads: $700K a Day – http://bit.ly/GRMurr

Interesting perspective on truthiness in advertising – http://bit.ly/GZ4PO2

Is Pinterest the next Facebook? – http://bit.ly/GTT5eU

Will CPE (Cost Per Engagement) advertising ever take off? – http://bit.ly/HgOuH9

I lost interest in Pinterest. – http://bit.ly/HmD6aS

Hot Girls in Demotivational Posters – http://bit.ly/GLjWOg

Going Viral on Pinterest: Driving Big Traffic and Making Pinterest a Real Marketing Solution – http://mz.cm/GKH2WV

Is Klout “score marketing” the path of least resistance? – http://ow.ly/1J8KRh

Google’s Punchd wants to replace loyalty cards with an app – http://lat.ms/GKxj2Z

Google Research: Even If You Rank #1 Organically, You Can Double Your Clicks With Paid Search – http://selnd.com/GZxpgT

Vision vs Research – What are focus groups good for? – http://bit.ly/GROiAM

Google spending big money on traditional advertising – http://on.wsj.com/GUc2kt

Magazine print circulation is mostly dead and digital isn’t growing fast enough – http://bit.ly/H22kR7

Nielsen TV ratings are “a bit of a joke and need to be replaced” – http://bit.ly/GLjAr5

QR Code-Enabled Condoms Let You Check-In When Having ‘Safe Sex’ – http://su.pr/1jMmQd

Twitter Data Scientist Takes on McDonald’s Entire Menu, Survives – http://bit.ly/GT2fId

Jackpot! 50 (mostly) free social media tools for brands – http://bit.ly/GKGNLF

Lean Marketing Tips: Hyperlocal Marketing Channels – http://bit.ly/GSoFiR

49 Beautiful Letterpress Business Cards – Dark – http://bit.ly/GSlR5q

+70 Awesome Letterpress Business Cards – http://bit.ly/H0GyMs

40+ Fresh And Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials – http://bit.ly/H7oywU

Give Your Website Soul With Emotionally Intelligent Interactions – http://bit.ly/H0i1ld

Free high-resolution texture pack – http://bit.ly/GWxTG2

30 Free Cracked Clay Textures Collection – http://bit.ly/GVkR1s

40 Free High Resolution Asphalt Textures – http://bit.ly/GY67Oq

25+ Fresh & Beautiful Print Postcard Design Inspirations – http://bit.ly/GYWcaX

26 Examples of Outrageously Original Resume Design – http://bit.ly/H0GCvL

Paper: the next great iPad app, from the brains behind Courier – http://vrge.co/Hvbn6Q

40 free high resolution leaf textures – http://bit.ly/H0hQ9y

30 Lovely Rose Textures for Making Backgrounds in PS – http://bit.ly/GY6iJn

Quick Tip: Creating a Tri-fold template in InDesign CS5 – http://bit.ly/Hfz8Rq

15+ InDesign Tutorials for Magazine and Layout Design – http://t.co/aMhYTg9s

Make Everyone Jealous with Green Themes, Palettes and Artworks – http://bit.ly/GY6h8l

40+ Meaty Packaging and Label Designs – http://bit.ly/GY6ad0

Handy Roundup of Free Vector Ornaments & Flourishes – http://bit.ly/GSGBek

Visual Aesthetics in human-computer interaction and interaction design – http://bit.ly/GVIA0g

New Typography Inspiration – 34 Superb Examples – http://bit.ly/GSGIGM

20 Stylish Package Designs That Will Surely Make You Buy The Product – http://bit.ly/GNKr3H

Email Newsletter Designs – http://bit.ly/GSpibg

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/1ySfi

Legal Contracts for Graphic Designers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – http://bit.ly/XTLkS

+100 Awesome Logos That You Can’t Miss – http://bit.ly/H0GEUp

45 Logos Inspired by Famous Proverbs – http://bit.ly/H0GGvo

29 Fantastically Simple Fashion Logos – http://bit.ly/GXBK61

55 Free PSD UI Kits and Templates for Web Designers – http://bit.ly/Hdgmv2

Device-Agnostic Approach To Responsive Web Design – http://bit.ly/GSlV5g

30 Water-Based Website Designs – http://bit.ly/HgIUoJ

Showcase of Web Designs with Delicious Typography – http://bit.ly/GSlJmn

How to design the best website user experience – http://bit.ly/H0GufP

Can User Experience Be Beautiful? An Analysis Of Navigation In Portfolio Websites – http://bit.ly/Hbey50

Give Your Website Soul With Emotionally Intelligent Interactions – http://bit.ly/H0i1ld

Create a One-Page Retro Web Design Layout in Photoshop – http://bit.ly/GVkyni

20 Cool jQuery Text Effects – http://bit.ly/GSlKqp

Email Newsletter Designs – http://bit.ly/GSpibg

Tips on Designing the Perfect Navigation System for Your Website – http://bit.ly/GJBCZo

Do you telecommute to work? There are many benefits [INFOGRAPHIC] – http://bit.ly/H0hhfO

7 Great Books by TED 2012 Speakers – http://bit.ly/GMA6lQ

Connecting Nonprofits With Pro Bono Help – http://bit.ly/ABntyi

If this is indeed Mozart, 10 year old Mozart was already brilliant – http://bit.ly/Hi0Ugd

Parents’ New Stress: Baby Names – http://bit.ly/GSuXyw

William Gottlieb’s Iconic Photos of Jazz Greats, 1938-1948 – http://bit.ly/GV3YS4

What’s Next for Linux as Red Hat Passes the $1 Billion Mark? – http://bit.ly/Hk4rhz

Gray Nation: The Very Real Economic Dangers of an Aging America – http://bit.ly/Hl4veF

Phenomenal progress by Google on the self-driving car. It’s the future… – http://bit.ly/H4CMAb

RIM died last year. It’s just now starting to realize this – http://tcrn.ch/GYmRQO

Amazon is slowly but surely killing Best Buy – http://cnet.co/H0NvKC

Why Don’t Young Americans Buy Cars? – http://bit.ly/GZmniQ

As Sweden Goes, So Goes the World: The Beginning of the End of Cash – http://bit.ly/GKHGDY

How Chicago Is Beating Silicon Valley At The Patent Game – http://bit.ly/GSmgor

Amazon Man Questions Logic of Apple Solar Farm – http://bit.ly/GKFWus

Neutrino Beam Carries Message Through 240 Meters Of Solid Rock – http://bit.ly/GT3zux

How one man escaped from a North Korean prison camp – http://bit.ly/GMJITX

James Cameron to dive many miles deep into ocean … very cool … http://bit.ly/H2RFQL

Disruptions: Time to Review F.A.A. Policy on Gadgets – http://nyti.ms/GKFoog

QR Code-Enabled Condoms Let You Check-In When Having ‘Safe Sex’ – http://su.pr/1jMmQd

I hope you enjoy these links! Please leave a comment and let me know what you liked/didn’t like.

Work From Home Fridays

Ross — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:55:46 +0000

We encourage our team to work remotely when they want. We care about performance, not face-time in the office.

Did you know that the average commute is 45 minutes each way and that telecommuters report having 25% less stress?

We leverage technology to work remotely: Basecamp and Campfire from our friends at 37signals, Skype and Google+ hangouts for video calls, iChat for private communications, etc.

In fact, I’m working remotely this entire week (my kids are on Spring break and this is a good way for me to spend some time with them during the day). Plus, my last tank of gas was $100 and I’m still getting over the shock.

A few years ago, our engineering team asked if they could work remotely every Friday. It was a great idea – people could focus on their work without the many distractions found in the office, save time on their commute, and start their weekend earlier.

I thought it was such a great idea that I also telecommute every Friday.

Telecommuting has many benefits. Here’s a nice infographic from splashtop highlighting some of those benefits:

Lean Marketing Tips: Hyperlocal Marketing Channels

Mike — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 05:04:23 +0000

We write often about marketing strategies and tactics for small business and startups. These companies typically have limited budgets, thin resources, and strained capacity which combine to create a challenge for managers and owners: how to develop an effective marketing campaign using tactics that will work for their business.

The Lean Startup movement provides a wonderful template, and Ross wrote a great post in which he discussed how managers can use these principles in their own marketing campaigns. We have written about many tactics that have worked in our own marketing efforts, such as public relations, goal-setting, branding, etc.

Today I want to focus on tactics with a local flavor. A phrase we hear a great deal is “hyperlocal,” which Wikipedia defines as being “synonymous with the combined use of mobile applications and gps technology.” I would enlarge that scope beyond mobile applications and GPS, and explain hyperlocal marketing as a strategy for reaching a specific, targeted audience located in a very specific geographical location. In other words, hyperlocal is a way for marketers to deliver an effective marketing message to customers in a particular local community.

This is nothing new for marketers; a great example of hyperlocal marketing that has been with us for decades is the Yellow Pages. This still ubiquitous book of business listings, made of the cheapest paper stock available and found on shelves and in recycling bins everywhere, has historically been a great way for businesses to reach local customers – from “AAAA Auto Repair” all the way down to “ZZZZ Welding.” But the world of marketing has grown way more sophisticated, and in the age of GPS and QR codes, small business can leverage some sophisticated tactics to reach local audiences, build awareness neighborhood by neighborhood, and make the most of a limited marketing budget. Here are 5 ideas for hyperlocal marketing that you can consider for your own business:

1. Yellow pages.
If it still works and still fits your budget, why not experiment with this chestnut? For very small sums a business can target a very specific local audience (in many cases right down to the zip-code). If nothing else, using Yellow Page advertising guarantees that your business name is right there along with your competition’s and that you have an equally good chance of capturing the customer who is looking for you. Most of the Yellow Page publishers now include online listings along with the print version, which can also serve to enhance a business’s web presence and SEO efforts.

2. Daily deals.
Groupon, Living Social, Woot, and the like are available in virtually every city in the US and many more cities overseas. For lots of businesses, particularly brick and mortar, these services offer a way to reach a very large audience of potential customers and pay only for those that actually show up to buy. The downside is that many of the folks who actually buy these deals are fickle and may never return once they have used their coupon with you. The upside is that this tactic can be a great way to build your customer base and to get your brand in front of millions of potential customers at a relatively modest cost.

3. Mobile.
Alright, here’s where that mobile and GPS thing comes in. Applications such as Foursquare, Yelp, and Urbanspoon allow businesses to build awareness and reputation online. I don’t know abut you, but when I travel Yelp is a go-to app for me; I need a good place for breakfast near my hotel and I log in and do a quick search. Restaurants near my location pop up complete with photos and reviews and before I know it, there I am sipping coffee and eating eggs with bacon. Yum yum yum and huge value delivered to that restaurant and to me the customer. Foursquare does that but also allows businesses to offer their own coupons and discounts available to anyone who stops by and checks in. Bacon and eggs taste even better when they come with a nice discount, no? In addition, social media platforms such as Facebook and Google+ allow local targeting of online ads. For the marketer, the cost of these tactics is small and the ability to track ROMI in real-time is powerful.

4. Outdoor and print.
QR code marketing has brought outdoor advertising into the 21st century by tying together the ancient art of cave painting with the modern art of website metrics. Customers love having the ability to learn more about a company or a product or a house for sale simply by pointing their smart phone at a sign or a poster and learning more right there on the spot. Marketers get the reach they crave via outdoor advertising on billboards, bus kiosks, and telephone pole handbills and at the same time get the ability to track analyze real data and real sales. Print ads in magazines as well as door hangers and mail stuffers can also include QR codes and marketers add transparent value to these time-tested tactics.

5. Direct mail.
For 14.5¢ businesses can use the Every Door Direct Mail service to reach out directly to potential customers via the United States Post Office and target these customers right down to specific mailing routes. Marketers can search for zip codes in their city (or nationally) that match the demographics they are working to reach; and with targeted mailing routes you can send direct mailings in batches as small as a few dozen or as large as 5,000! The USPS has a great demo tool which allows you to play with targeting zip codes, routes and customer types and that gives you a real time cost and will estimator. Fun!

Photo: Howard Lake