BusinessBuilder Guide
A c c o m p l i s h i n gM o r e W i t h L e s s
They’re Going to $ell
Themselves
March 2015
The Power of Teamwork and Synergy
(#) Hashtag
Marketing
Quote
In Winter, I Plot and Plan.
In Spring, I Move.
Henry Rollins
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BusinessBuilder Guide
On The Cover
Accomplishing More with Less
By: C. Franklin NilsonThe fastest way to accomplish more with less is synergy, within a team that shares a one-team one-goal mentality, where trust is dominant, and competencies are complementary!
Shot Box
The origin of Shotbox is a lesson in patience,.
The Age of Paralax Web Site
Parallax website design is an effect of a website layout.
Hash It or Pound It
The Hashtag - Power in Social Media Marketing
Page13 Page 35 Page 31
Editor E. Kelly Gray Publisher Christy Smith Dark TwinPublications
Sales Editor Dave Nilson
Copyright 2015
All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo copying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher.
The publisher has no responsibility for external websites of contributors and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will be legal or appropriate.
The content in the magazine is researched to the best of the ability of the editorial staff. Due to the nature of contributors, this magazine does not verify any content submitted by external writers.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the pub-lishers will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent issues.
Business Builder Guide is a Dark Twin Marketing publication that is owned and managed by Cassie Designs and Marketing Solutions.All correspondence and advertising request should be sent to
Dark Twin Publications P.O. Box 100 Hyrum, Utah 84319
They’re Going to Sell ThemselvesPage 7
How Does Customer Service Fit into Business Networking?
Page 19
SEO: What Is It and What Do I Do With It?
Page 21
100 Shades of Blue Page 23
Good to Great Read Page 26
Let’s Get Clear
Page 27
Why GenesisPURE Page 30
Ask the Expert Page 33
Your Turn to Talk
Organize Until It Hurts
I know the bottom of my desk is hiding in my office somewhere but it doesn’t matter how hard I look, I just can’t seem to find it.
Have you ever spent hours looking for something that you know you had, and you know you set it
on your desk, but now it is completely gone?
I like to blame the fairies that steal my work, or misplace my keys, or steal just 1 of my socks from the dryer. As our businesses grow, we seem to get
a bit more cluttered and disorganized.Let’s all take this spring opportunity to sit back and reflect on our success, and organize our minds and
our desks. I promise to start with myself.
Christy SmithPublisher
5
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hy the old mantra we’ve all heard, “these items are so great, they practi-
cally sell themselves?!” Is there any truth to this saying? That depends on the interpreta-tion.Today’s interpretation: while objects don’t literally “sell themselves,” the actual phe-nomenon this statement refers to is when buyers come to the table having already made the decision to buy. Perhaps it was the TV advertisement, the musical jingle, or their observing the desired item in use enough times by the right people…whatev-er it was, something pushed them over the edge, they didn’t need to “be sold,” and their mind was made up.Who wants to see more of this in your sales? (c’mon, raise your hand high!) Me too! How can we create this phenomenon in our own sales interactions?
The key to this phenomenon is the pronoun their – their mind was made up. Their in-ternal conversation is what did the self-con-vincing & concluding & decision-making.Anyone who has ever sold anything knows that without one thing the sale will never occur – the buyer. This is obvious - but on a deeper level, how much does the buyer re-ally play a role in the sales process? Is there more to it than their signature, their open wallet?Consider a contrast: Salesman 1 does all the talking, rather loudly & aggressively, always having a quick bold response to anything the buyer may say (if they can get a word in edgewise). If the buyer dares to disagree he is sure to be made to look a fool. Salesman 1 is the reason people attach such words as “pushy” to salesmen!Salesman 2 also has quick responses, and
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They’re Going to $ell
ThemselvesBy Dave Nilsonwww.darktwin-marketing.com
W
can do plenty of talking, but the approach is entirely different. More questions are asked. The buyer does at least half of the talking. Instead of being focused on dragging a buy-er along and beating them down by brute verbal contest, Salesman 2’s focus is on the buyer’s remarks, taking notes, showing gen-uine listening, seeking “first to understand, then to be understood” (Habit 5 from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”). “Pushy?” More like, “considerate.”The outward difference? Salesman 1’s voice is louder and stronger and forcefully leads the sales beating… er, process. Salesman 2 PURPOSEFULLY allows the buyer’s responses to lead the sales process. More on this momentarily. But first, what is happening inwardly in these interactions? Buyer 1 will be telling himself, “I don’t want to be here, this guy is rude and makes me uncomfortable, the only way to get rid of him is to give in…I’ll just cancel the deal lat-er over the phone or some way I don’t have to see him again…”Buyer 2 will be telling himself, “this guy really cares what I think, he’s here to serve me, remembers & repeats what I say, and is even taking notes! I’m enjoying this atten-tion and this great deal he’s giving me! I’m going to tell my friends about him…”The best salespeople know what the im-pressive likes of Dale Carnegie, Margaret Wheatley, and Mary Kay Ash all poignantly stated in their various styles, paraphrased, “People support what they help create.”There are myriad ways to incorporate this principle in sales. As we seek to make our sales process so smooth & persuasive “they sell themselves,” this principle must be at play. Get the buyer involved. Speak to teach, rather than lecture. Ask the right questions – where any answer the buyer gives is perfect for you to reference & rein-
force, as they lead where you want – a win-win deal.(Rather than force-feed you a list of good ques-tions and ways to get the buyer more involved in the process, I’ll take my own advice and get YOU involved in creating your own successful process.)What service do you offer? How does it really bless the lives of your buyers? What questions can you ask that allow the buyer to create their own need/value for your service? (see Sales Tips in the previous issue of Business Builder Guide) In what way can you pose your ques-tions such that any & all answers the buyer gives are correct? (one power suggestion - to deepen their selling themselves, when correct answers are given, ask, “Why do you say that?”) Do you repeat their statements back to them, and use them to reinforce progress toward a win-win deal? (“You told me ____ so I’m getting you ____.”)As you incorporate this key principle, and get the buyer as involved as possible in creating the win-win deal, you will notice happier buyers, more referrals, longer-lasting relationships, and less stress in your sales role.“People support what they help create.” Be careful! It works so well, you may become addicted, and may never get to be that “pushy” salesman again.
{ }“People support a world they help create.”
Dale Carnegie
While some articles in The Business Builders Guide may be continua-tions, our objective is to make all
of them pertinent and valuable as stand-alone articles – in so doing there is a minimal amount of repetition. In this article, to provide you the necessary foundation to understand, allow me to summarize a few points from our premier issue of several months ago.
We discussed our ‘whitewater world’ and the reality of being under pressure to accomplish “more with less” concerning resources of every kind; people, marketing & advertising dollars, physical equipment, and even time. We are always asking ourselves, “Is there anything we can do about these pressures? They don’t seem to be diminishing in any way, shape, or form.”
The fastest way to accomplish more with less is synergy, within a team that shares a
one-team one-goal mentality, where trust is dominant, and competencies are complemen-tary! Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s Habit 6, from “The 7-Habits of Highly Effective People” is SYNERGY. This is defined by him, “1 + 1 = 3 or more,” sometimes significantly more, even an exponential increase in effective results! Sim-ply put, the unified combined efforts of a true team are far greater than the sum of the parts. Now, in theory – that sounds simple and easy. However, in my life experiences I’ve seen
many things that are simple in concept, but certainly not easy in practice or application. Clearly without TRUST there is only minimal or fragmented benefit to being a team. Quite often we as humans make things harder than
By: C. Franklin Nilsonwww.fortunecookiecoaching.com
“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
Steve Jobs
Accomplishing More with LessPart 2
9
they need to be, especially in interpersonal re-lationships. The KISS principle (Keep It Sim-ple Stupid) is unfortunately not often utilized, because it isn’t complex enough.
Along these lines Steve Jobs said, “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplic-ity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Einstein said, “If you can’t ex-plain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
Why do jealously and intimidation always seem to play a starring role in the evolution of any organization becoming a true TEAM? Remedy this problem - believe and then adopt
the words of Zig Ziglar, “There is no limit to what a person can accomplish if they don’t care who gets the credit.” For synergy to exist, members of the team must not show-boat – they must realize that the outcome of the whole will exceed the combined outcome of the individual effort. The teams that sim-ply demonstrate true synergy are few & far between, but I think of the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII (or Super Bowl 48 for us non-Romans). I refer to the spring of 2014, not the 2015 Super Bowl in which the Sea-hawks attempted a repeat. In the most recent Super Bowl, the Seahawks were only a small fraction of the synergistic masterpiece they were the year before. I believe part of this dif-ference had to do with the hype of 2014 being their first opportunity at the big show, but
regardless, they clearly didn’t demonstrate in 2015 the same level of synergy they did the year before.
In the 2014 game, where they annihilated the Denver Broncos, the Seahawks played with a higher level of teamwork than I’ve ever pre-viously observed. Some may call this hype or that the players were psyched up and aggres-sively willing to be the underdogs against the Broncos – but their playing as a TEAM was stellar, and should be talked about for a long time. Watching their synergy was like hearing terrific poetry, like seeing a magnificent sun-set, like the sweetest music to my ears! The Seahawks had so much synergy it was practi-cally oozing all over the field.
The Broncos, highly favored to win, were
mentally slapped from the opening play and they could never get back into the game. The Broncos had been record setting all season! Peyton Manning, arguably one the finest quar-terbacks to ever play the game, had set nu-merous records leading up to Super Bowl Sun-day. The very first play of the game - where the ball was hiked way over Manning’s head into the end zone, and the way the Seahawks were all over the play – in my humble opin-ion, psychologically removed Denver from the ball game! This score within 12 seconds of the kickoff set a Super Bowl record. Ironical-ly the Seahawks also scored again within 12 seconds in the second half of the game! This spectacular 87 yard kickoff return by Seattle’s Percy Harvin, where he picked up the ball off a bounce, not only solidified a record that will
T e a m W o r k
most likely never be beaten, but it destroyed the psyche of the Broncos for the second half as well. I was personally astounded by the minimal number of single defensive player tackles. It seems like every tackle was execut-ed by two or more Seahawks swarming like a well-orchestrated hive of bees – going in for the kill.
It’s enlightening to examine what happened with Percy Harvin after he played so fantasti-cally during this particular Super Bowl. Ac-cording to reports, he was not really a team player. He got into fights with other players, and although he was a singular superstar, the Seattle Seahawks traded him to the New York Jets, because he would not contribute to the synergy of the team. In the 1980 victory of the USA’s Olympic hockey team over the dominant Russian team, which had won gold medals in so many Olympic games that they were intimidating by the mere mention of their name, Coach Herb Brooks was ridiculed and belittled when he insisted on having the ‘RIGHT’ players not necessarily the ‘BEST’ Players. Clearly even though Percy Harvin was an exceptionally talented player – he wasn’t right for the Seahawks.
Often times people tire of the sports analo-gy for life or business parallels, but they are so effective in making these kinds of points. Within a sports type environment, the frui-tion of days, weeks, months, or years of con-centrated effort can be visually culminated in mere moments - or at the most, several hours – so these parallels are tremendously pow-erful & effective. As such, the parallel lessons that can be learned from them are clear.
Football is a sport where no one single player, from the offence or defense, can single-hand-edly win a ball game – so the TEAM concept is a must. The TEAM is either effective - or
it isn’t! The TEAM is either trusting of each other & synergistic as a result, or it isn’t. Of course the acronym for TEAM is: together ev-eryone accomplishes more! And this 2014 Se-ahawk Super Bowl TEAM lived up to the acro-nym - they had a terrific chemistry. I challenge readers to check out these “2014 Super Bowl highlights” which are still available online.This lesson is so much easier in sports than it is in the world of business. Yet the example set by the Seahawks in this case should often be replicated in the business world. It’s been said that businesses should hire slow & fire fast, and that is true, but is another example of something that is simple in concept but not
easy in practice. I marvel at
the difficulty for some to catch the vision that only about 15% of the success of an individ-ual comes from technical knowledge or skill set, and the remaining 85% is directly tied to a pleasing personality and the ability to com-municate effectively in a team environment – a topic for another article.
The 2014 Super Bowl was a perfect example of the type of team synergy and exponential outcome discussed by Dr. Covey. In reality the same excitement, confidence, and accomplish-ments demonstrated by the Seahawks in this Super Bowl can exist within your organiza-tion. It is a simple concept and not necessar-ily easy, but remember what Steve Jobs said, I paraphrase, “Whatever the efforts to arrive at the point where the same chemistry exists within your own team, it will be worth it.”
{ “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
Albert Einstein}
11
Originally inspired by the de-sire to digitally store and share historical family documents like journals and older photos that were piling up in tattered shoeboxes or already in scrap-books, Johnson explains, “…even back then there wasn’t a good solution to digitizing the larger format 12”x12” scrap-book pages. It took a profes-sional level, expensive scanner to do. And scanning has al-ways been such a pain. It has a lot of steps and you have to manage lots of pieces. So even though the idea originated for scrapbook and family history needs, the Shotbox can be
{ {“The origin of Shotbox is a
lesson in patience, perseverance, and
creativity.”
Company Spotlight
13
Aaron Johnson
www.shotbox.me
Smart Shots With the ShotboxBy E. Kelly Gray
If you’ve struggled with photography in the past,
Aaron Johnson is going to be your new best friend. As an inventor, Aaron Johnson has finally figured out a way to take studio quality photos, sans studio, with just a smart phone or other smart devices. He’s had a long career in the craft and scrapbook market which, 12 years ago, led him to discover a problem without a simple solution.
used for a wide variety of markets, in my opinion.”
Shotbox, a personal tabletop light studio, is the name of his creation. It’s a collapsible box mea-suring roughly 15”x15”x15” that allows for a controlled lighting environment. Aaron says of the design, “Even though the Shotbox is pretty simple in concept, it’s actually quite technical. Light diffusion is critical and we’ve spent a lot of time refining it, even down to the shape of the box itself. We bounce and scatter the light in many different directions and angles so the floor of the box has nice, balanced lighting, yet [is] still very bright.” To achieve this Aaron has utilized modern micro-LED technologies that are mounted closer together for better light diffusion.
The beauty of the Shotbox is the versatility. It can be used for the original purpose of re-placing an oversized and expensive scanner, or as a light studio for smaller 3D items. The latter is a saving grace for anyone interested in selling small sized items like jewelry or other crafts online! Bright professional pictures easily outsell dim or grainy cell phone shots on sites like eBay or Amazon. The Shotbox comes with
an attachment called the Sideshot which aids in taking steady, well-angled pictures of 3D objects. Because of its folding feature, it’s easy to take out or put away, so your desk doesn’t have extra clutter full-time. Aaron sums up his creation by saying, “When it comes down to it, the Shotbox can provide so many options for so many uses. I see it as a common tool for any photographer and they will want a deeper environment for their craft. Yet, we want it so simple that a non-photographer can set it up and have a shot within, literally, seconds.”Not only is Aaron Johnson creative in his ideas, he is also creative in his business plans. Initially, he plans to begin production of Shotboxes lo-cally. However, as the business grows, he plans to outsource fulfillment and assembly around America rather than overseas.“I call it the Creating Contributors Program. I will hire from the distressed unemployment areas, particularly vets, disabled vets, Native Amer-icans, ex-cons, and even human trafficking victims. They all need a second, or even a first chance to get their feet under them… I’ve done pretty well in life and felt that I needed to do more to contribute myself. I love people and the inspirational stories of their lives, where they’ve been, the stuff they overcome, and where
they want to go. So instead of just building my next business centered around a great product, I wanted to help individuals and families as much as I can… I have requests for a disabled
facility in Michigan, setting up a shop in Okla-homa for the Cherokee Nation, and even in a safe-house in the Midwest for human traffick-ing victims. So we’ll start local and figure out a good balance of how much we do in-house, make it a good system, and then go from there.”
– Aaron JohnsonAaron looks at the program as a way to help entry level employees progress to the point where they can springboard themselves to bigger and better opportunities. He aims for an environment where employees can acquire skills and training that will make them assets in their field of choice. With staggering obsta-cles facing veterans and other disadvantaged groups, Creating Contributors will be a huge
help on the road to reclaiming their lives. The program will also show who precisely made which box and will lead to that person’s indi-vidual site so the buyer can learn more about the employee’s situation. The site will be a show-case of their ambitions for their lives.
Buyers are presented with an option to assist if they have the means and desire to do so.The Shotbox will be available soon for a rea-sonable $129 and the Sideshot will be $59. Check out www.shotbox.me and watch the video showing the ease and practicality of the Shotbox.
Shotbox is about to launch a Kickstarter cam-paign this April to get the name out there. Aaron is also focusing on blogger realms as the most powerful marketing voiceforShotbox. Because of the fluid ease of using the Shotbox, it’s a great item to demonstrate on the HSN/QVC, hopefully by the end of summer. Shotbox won’t be available through box stores in the immediate future. With a long list of opportuni-ties in vertical interest groups and online, Aar-on doesn’t want to limit Shotbox just to retail stores.
The origin of Shotbox is a lesson in patience, perseverance, and creativity. It was twelve years in the making while Aaron waited for technology to catch up so he had the tools to hone his designs. Half a dozen prototypes later, the Shotbox will soon be ready for everyone, whether they are a family history buff, a pho-tographer, a Pinterest poster, or a jewelry maker.
15
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Like a glove. Allow me to explain…Business Networking is reaching out through those with whom you do business, expanding your network by sharing your partners’ contacts.
In its simplest sense, it is seeking and receiving referrals. Everyone knows word of mouth is the best way to increase your network.
What brings referrals better than high-quality proactive customer service?!The way you treat your customers will naturally bring an attraction or repelling factor. This affects your customer directly, their network of referrals (your potential clients!), and indi-rectly affects your other business partners. They will find out whether you create thrilled or indifferent customers, and respond in kind, allowing their network to be attracted or repelled.
How Does Customer Service Fit into Business Networking?!
By: Ben Nilson
www.fortunecookiecoaching.com
In this, the Information Age, things have changed from previous decades – it’s not enough to have merely “satisfied” custom-ers. Businesses must strive for thrilled, loyal customers. What’s the significant difference? Consider a “satisfied spouse” vs. a “loyal spouse”…need I say more?!To me, customer service needs to be proactive. Do you notify your customers of relevant developments before they find out on their own (sometimes the hard way)? For example, my family and I experienced a power outage last week. The electric compa-ny notified us within minutes of the outage with an ETA on the repair! I was impressed with the speed & accuracy of this proactive communication.As my mental wheels turned on that experi-ence, I discovered a few more keys to
creating a thrilled, loyal customer. Speed & accuracy are critical. There are no excuses in our technological world for a lack ofcommunication – not just “hey, here’s the problem…” but “we are aware of and re-sponsible for this issue and will address it in the following ways ASAP…” So the customer doesn’t need to lift a finger (the service part of customer service).Finally, show appreciation. Nobody will do
business with you long-term if they do not clearly and frequently feel appreciated. “Charles & Susan, we know that you have a choice when it comes to _____ service. Thank you for choosing us. We will continue to _____ and take care of you. What more can we do for you?”So much changes so quickly today. How many times do you shop around, looking for that “better deal?” Creating a long-term thrilled, loyal customer will shine like a spot-light anytime your area of expertise comes up. How powerful will that be for your cus-tomers’ network to observe? Will they not yearn for similar dependability in their own lives? And last time you made a positive change in your service provider, was it not due to the suggestion of someone you trust? Highly likely.Ask yourself this question (whether you’re a customer or a business partner with our hypothetical example ‘John’) “John’s cus-tomers are thrilled with the results he gets them…wouldn’t my network benefit from working with John also?!”The definition of a loyal customer is one who will stay with you even if another company’s price or service could be better. That is so powerful in our competitive world! There will always be someone who does now or soon will outdo your business performance in one way or another. But this key – thrilled, loyal customers – will keep your business network-ing vibrant & growing, receiving referrals through multiple channels, setting you apart from the many others unsuccessfully seeking to snatch your customers.“No, thank you, but we must politely decline, we have been so well cared for by (*insert your name & business here), we will be their customers for life.”
“John’s customers are thrilled with the results he gets them…wouldn’t my
network benefit from working with John also?!”
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W h a t i s i t a n d w h a t d o I d o w i t h i t ?
SEO & Client Management
Client management can always be a chal-lenge, however, it gets increasingly difficult when most clients have never even heard
of SEO. In attempt to explain such a complicated subject, while also trying to sell the product to your client, you often create a gateway for mis-understandings.
Some of the most common misunderstandings can be avoided with a proper explanation of what SEO is, and what it does. The temptation is to make SEO look like a miracle solution to all of the client’s online problems. “It will increase your site’s traffic, which will increase your sales!” “SEO will get you on the first page of Google
searches. People will be sure to find you when they search for your products.” While these claims are mostly true, it is important that the clients know exactly what they can and cannot expect from this magical SEO.
Honesty
As your parents probably told you, honesty is the best policy. I believe you can still market SEO effectively without making claims that cannot consistently be followed through. Not much is worse than a client calling you two to three months into their contract wondering, “Why am I not on the first page of Google yet?” Client satisfaction will be much higher if they don’t feel like they are getting scammed. So, how can you be totally honest with a client about SEO, but still make a sale at the end of that day? Read on for a few steps that I believe will help you and your clients.
The Explanation
The first and most important step that must take place is helping your client understand what SEO is. If you don’t do this effectively, a couple things may happen. One, your client will
By: Erin Pavek
www.buzzbizz.biz
Erin specializes in SEO at Buzz Bizz Studio’s. Contact her to get the most of your website.
give you ultimate control of their website, and expect to have to do nothing on their end to improve their SEO. In actuality, a Search Engine Optimizer should be a consultant to the client. This means they research keywords, sign up for directories, take care of on-site SEO, etc. It does not mean they are ultimately in control of all content changes. There should be a healthy cli-ent-to-Optimizer interaction so both parties are on the same page. Two, if a client does not fully understand SEO they may resort to the Internet to learn about it themselves. Normally this can be a very good thing, however, with countless Blackhat and Grayhat sources for SEO, you have no idea what your client is learning. If the cli-ent then doubts what you are doing in any way, you’ll wish you’d given a proper explanation of SEO in the first place, to save you some uncom-fortable customer interactions. If the client has control over their website edits (which is usually a good thing) and they do not trust you, they may use their little knowledge of SEO to change the optimization of their website, which you have worked very hard to establish. You must tell your client that you cannot guarantee spe-cific results, especially not in the first month or two!
If you can’t guarantee, how do you sell?
It can be hard to sell something that is not guar-anteed to work as quickly as desired. However, proper SEO techniques do yield fruit. It is im-portant that your client is given the correct mea-suring stick for progress. If they are expecting to be in the top of search results for highly compet-itive keywords in a few months, your client will be very disappointed. But if they know achieving top page results for a keyword is very difficult, your client will be highly appreciative of even a slowly increasing keyword rank.
Try explaining SEO to your clients in gardening terms. “Initially there is a lot of work that must be done. Tilling the soil and planting takes time and effort. Even though a lot of time is spent right away, you do not see any produce until much later. Little by little the plants grow and eventually bear fruit. SEO is like this in many ways. The initial stages of on-site SEO tactics - deleting negative links, and fixing any problems with the site - takes time. You do not always see increased traffic and higher search rankings right away. These must grow over time, through constant maintenance and updating content on the site. The process is enriched and sped up by updating site content, establishing good exter-nal links, and even some paid online advertising, like Google Adwords. These things act like water and fertilizer. They enrich the SEO root that was established in the beginning.” Explaining the process this way can you’re your client under-stand what your goal is with SEO, and why it takes time.
A satisfied client
Keep the client updated with wins and success-es. Always ask them if they are seeing any dif-ference in their customer flow. If not, find out why. It’s a constant game of trial and error in the world of SEO. Let the customer know you are trying your hardest, and they will respect that. When a person does not understand what is going on, and what they are paying for, it is easy to doubt.
At the end of the day, the client’s satisfaction is always what is most important. Maintaining a good relationship with them will save you both time and money. Always remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make sure your client has healthy expectations of what SEO can and cannot do.
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100Shades of Blue
By: E. Kelly Graywww.darktwin-marketing.com
Branding a business is like wear-ing the same outfit every day for years on end. It’s the visual as-
sociation with your product or service. That’s quite a commitment to make for your business so it needs to be just right. Our last issue covered the power of two color personalities, orange and green. In this issue we will be discuss-ing the merits of the color blue. Blue is an incredibly versatile color because of the range of emotions it can convey.
Color is understood in either a natural or cultural view. Green, for example, is naturally associated with plants. Green is also culturally associated with energy efficiency. Red is culturally associated with danger in the United States while in China, it’s a celebratory color. White in a Japanese culture is a funeral color, while in several European countries along with the United States, it’s a wed-ding color.
When branding a business, you first need to know what your target demo-graphic is. Imagine the awkwardness of branding a wedding boutique with white in Japan. Blue is a wonderful col-or to cross countries with because it is easy to focus on the natural view. From the sky to the ocean and everywhere in between, blue is a color everyone is familiar with. It’s this familiarity that has made blue the ideal color brand for companies in several industries. Twit-
ter, General Electric, Chevrolet, AT&T, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield, and All-state are just a few businesses to utilize blue for their branding.
Psychologically speaking, blue can in-voke positive meanings such as loyalty, nurturing, reliability, devotion, honesty, and serenity. These are the emotions that should be in consideration regard-ing the target demographic. What mes-sage do you want your brand to convey? Different shades communicate different meanings. Warm, earthy teal tones are great for understated sophistication, spirituality, and trust. Cold, turquoise hues offer meanings for clarity and har-mony or self-expression. Sky blue is calming and can also stand for selfless and helpfulness. Darker blues are great to show a serious, knowledgeable, and responsible brand. Pale blue, on a dif-ferent note, offers creativity, inspiration, and freedom in its meanings. Azure blue, similar to Facebook blue, inspires pur-pose, ambition, and determination.
So what outfit do you want your busi-ness to wear every day? A dark blue outfit probably wouldn’t work if your target is an art student needing supplies. Also, let’s face it; it’d be hard to take an accountant seriously in a powder blue outfit. Don’t be afraid to take some time to pick the perfect shade for your busi-ness.
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A Good to GREAT ReadBy: E. Kelly Gray
Good to Great, written by Jim Collins, has been a bible to the business world since its release in 2001. Professors around the country still assign this engaging book to their syllabi, to exam-ine ways of excelling in business leadership & management. Collins, along with an extensive research team, examined big name companies such as Walgreens, Nucor, and Phillip Morris, against comparable companies like Eckerd, Bethlehem Steel, and R. J. Reynolds, to dis-cover why the former businesses outperformed the latter, despite very similar business size, available technologies, and markets.Collins insightfully found a pattern of behavior in the leadership of the great companies. The great companies became selective of who they employed and where they were positioned. Much like assembling a tent, everyone need-ed to be in the right place for the business to function properly. Once appropriately staffed, the companies had to swallow what pride they may have had and acknowledge the true circumstances they were in, for better or worse, which is easier said than done. More importantly, they looked at their prob-lems and pressed on without losing hope or discipline. He introduced the Hedgehog Con-cept, an idea comprised of a three circled Venn diagram that questioned what they were pas-sionate about, what they could be the best in the world at, and what drove their economic engine. The idea revolved around the fact that a hedgehog can’t do a lot of things other animals can, but is amazing at doing one thing instead.
If a business were to become great, they would have to focus on the one thing that they en-joyed, excelled at, and that could generate business.A disciplined culture was found in the great businesses. That’s not to say that there were excessive crack downs on behaviors. In fact, it
lead to a melting away of hierarchy and layers of bureaucracy which allowed ideas to float to the top rather than stay stagnant at the bottom. The great companies didn’t be-come great overnight. Each of the great companies were methodical in their plans, painstakingly so in the example of Walgreens - when they made the decision to locate their stores only on the corner of a block. They even went so far as to move existing stores from a mid-block location to a corner of the
same block over a period of five years.Other concepts discovered were Flywheel and the Doom Loop. The Flywheel is the idea that once enough momentum has been attained, the flywheel can spin indefinitely. The Doom Loop however, is the polar opposite. The not so great companies experienced a roller coast-er of shifting goals that constantly killed what momentum was being generated by previous leadership.Good to Great is a fantastic and surprisingly enjoyable book to read, whether you’re a new CEO, a fledgling entrepreneur, or even a camp leader. The principles contained therein are sound yet simple enough to be applicable for anyone in a leadership position.
Lets Get Clear!By: Chris Johnniewww.lifeenhanced101.com
There is always a better house. There is always a better neighborhood. There is always a bet-ter job/career. The tendency of many people is to stop and pursue until something better comes along and they start over again. Are you personally making decisions based on this bigger-fish syndrome? Becoming clear-mind-ed is a choice. It’s sad to observe, but many people either choose confusion & failure, or have never learned the tools to overcome neg-ative attitudes.
The key to this clear-minded overhaul is com-mitment. As you shift your thought process from negative to positive, you’re going to make mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just a fact of life. Rome wasn’t built in a day after all. Old negative habits may creep up on you from time to time, but don’t let small failures, or even big ones, shake your commitment to becoming peaceful and clear-headed.
Take some time in front of the mirror – men-tally evaluate the things you think or do that drag you down. Are you overly critical of yourself or others? Do you stress over prob-
lems that are outside of your control? Do you dwell on past failures? Take a complete inven-tory of yourself. What are your good qualities? Are you smart? Funny?
Policing your thoughts is no easy task. Take small steps in controlling your thoughts, such as the following: Start with eliminating nega-tive language. Do you really need to verbally beat yourself up? As you remove negative language, you’ll notice negative thoughts will begin to fade. Instead of thinking of scenarios of disaster, think of scenarios where Mur-phy’s Law is absent. Then start adding positive language - whether it’s praise for yourself & others, or just noticing simple pleasures of a nice day. Don’t be afraid to smile just because something bad may happen. Be willing to accept the truth about yourself and then go out and fix it. Write down the things you want changed the most so you don’t lose focus. Tell 12 others what you’re doing so you have peo-ple to be accountable to. Take care who you ask because skeptics won’t be as helpful as upbeat & encouraging people. Walk or ex-ercise to clear your mind. In a world of con-stant media bombardment, it’s no wonder our thoughts can become muddled & disoriented. Try to discover underlying causes for the bad habits you’re trying to kick. If you understand the causes, you’ll be able to identify triggers and learn how to cope with them. I was once told by someone that I should end
“A negative mind will never give you a positive outcome.”
www.businessmarketingmag.com27
each day by crossing it off my calendar and say-ing out loud, “There goes another day of my life, never to return again.” Try this for yourself, and notice how much it sharpens your focus. When you end a day with the feeling that you would have lived it the same if you had the chance to repeat it, you gain a sense of gratitude that helps you focus on what’s really important to you. When you end the day with a feeling of regret or loss, you gain the awareness to try a different approach the next day.
Can you see how this would work for you? It creates an urgency to stop playing around in life and motivates you to go after what you want more vigorously.
The most important part of this process is learning to look inside and ask the question, “What do I want.” Learn to be calm. Learn to
give yourself time to discover the answer.
Points to Remember:<What behaviors & thoughts are clouding your judgment< It takes time< Notice your language < Don’t be afraid of the truth< Make yourself accountable
This may be a stretch for you. It might be difficult for you to leave the comfort of what you were doing. If that is the case you will never reach your secret ambitions. They will always be out there somewhere, unattainable.
Power Question
What is Your Definition of Social Networking
Go on-line and answer this questions.
Social Networking has become one of the top forms of marketing to-day. Say goodbye to the days of Newspapers and Radios. Even small town businesses can’t stay on top if they don’t have the tools to be online today.
Your Turn to Talk
“The world is changing faster than ever.Technology is accelerating, job security is declining and income inequality is increasing. People are overworked and underpaid. With less time and freedom, people are left won-dering if there is a better way.
Our changing economy has led to the rise of the entrepreneur. The fastest, most depend-able and controllable way to become wealthy is to own your own business.”
These are the indisputable words of Eric Worre, of Net-workMarketingPro.com.Of all the entrepreneurial approaches, why is Network Marketing touted as the best choice by many brilliant & successful businessmen?In my research & experience I have found the pros of Network Marketing far outweigh the cons. I have found the opportunities are nigh endless (I am in Utah after all, the Network Marketing capital of the world). But I have also found a few companies that I can get behind, for several important reasons.
GenesisPURE
I have been a part of this company for just short of 7 years, since its inception & pre-launch. When I saw this business opportunity, I was very impressed. The products were what
initially interested me. There honestly wasn’t much of a team or system in place at first. But over the years, every one of the CRITICAL COMPONENTS for a powerful & successful business, especially amongst the highly com-petitive Network Marketing business opportu-nities, has evolved into proper place.The key components gleaned from the books, videos, and live trainings of such financial
wizards as Robert Ki-yosaki, Donald Trump, Warren Buffett, Steven R. Covey, and many more, are the following:
timing – as the in-cluded picture shows, the foundation or “ground-floor” of a business’ lifespan is
the prime time to get involved. GenesisPURE is in the Foundation, quickly approaching Momentum. This is the very best time to get involved.
executive team – the Owner & Founder, Lind-sey Duncan, is a powerful mentor & inspira-tion to me. Sitting at his feet for hours has absolutely changed my life for the better. The company is based on his bulletproof unchang-ing philosophy of CLEANSE, BALANCE, BUILD, & LOVE. The executives are constantly advanc-ing every aspect of the company under his vision.
www.businessmarketingmag.com29
W h y G e n e s i P U R E ?
accidents in 2013. My father broke his neck to near paralysis. My mother shattered her pel-vis. The doctors told them they’d be on dozens of medications, increasing throughout life, may never walk again, and would never again enjoy the quality of life they had previously. The details are astounding, but there is not room herein to include them all. In a nutshell, they both used the GenesisPURE products religiously, and blew the doctors’ minds! In a few short months, they were both off ALL medications, not just walking – but exercising, and are both enjoying equal or higher quality of life now than before.My own and my team’s results are also nu-merous & meaningful.I believe GenesisPURE to be the best Network Marketing business opportunity available today.I challenge you to beat it. (really…)
http://www. Genesispure.com/jeenacnilson
product – Lindsey Duncan’s passion & exper-tise are UNMATCHED for the highest-quality, highest-potency, most harmless, clean, & natu-ral products possible. I have compared dozens of other products, both store-front & Network Marketing health & wellness, and nothing has beat GenesisPURE. Few have even come close, in either price or quality.
system – my team leaders have developed a simple system that anyone can follow to also create success. If you can Show the plan, Share the product, & Connect to a leader, you can succeed in building your GenesisPURE earnings as high as you desire!leaders – my mentors in GenesisPURE are salt-of-the-earth people, who are absolutely com-mitted to my success. They have never let me down in matching their time & attention with my efforts.
results – both my parents had near-death
H a s h I t o r P o u n d I tBy: Christy Smithwww.darktwin-marketing.com
Hashtag: Clickable, Searchable, & Measurable grouped items, used in many Social Media outlets. Distinguished by (#) the pound sign before a word or group of words.
The Hashtag - it quickly became a buzz-word and can now be found in most social media settings - started as a simple idea back in 2007 when Chris Messina @Chris-Messina posted a simple message:“How do you feel about using (#) pound for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?”Not only did Twitter not see the value in this, but it took years to catch on.
The first big splash for the # sign was during the San Diego fires in 2007 when #sandiegofire, became the first viral hashtag.
Today it is widely used by not only Twitter, but:TumblrPinterestInstagramYouTubeGawkerGoogle+ and recently Facebook added the code to optimize the (#) hashtag symbol.
The first sign that the now infamous (#) was going to be a worldwide sensation was in July 2009 when Twitter started adding hyperlinks to every (#) hashtag group. With this one simple move Twitter created not just search functionality, but a whole new type of Twitter (#) community. Today there are (#) hashtag communities
that schedule synchronized chat events that are attached to #chats. Titles like #landscapechat, #gardenchat, and #busi-nesschat are now becoming regular week-ly chat sessions, places to post your ideas, answer questions for others, and so much more.
Companies are creating complete market-ing plans based around #ideas. For years we have put so much value on the key-words that we use for our websites - those keywords today are now being used as search words in social media. Now you can go to Pinterest and put in #girlsbows and a whole community comes up.
Let’s take a moment to look at how this simple little tag can help you and your business. This is just a brief look at some of the options available - if you want a complete list of great (#) hashtag market-ing ideas, a FREE copy of the (#) hashtag marketing kit is available at www.dark-twin-maketing.com
Getting StartedCreate your own Chat
Find the keyword that best describes you and your business. If you have done a keyword evaluation, you will know what your most successful keywords actually
are. (If you don’t know, contact your web-site manager and ask them for the list. A well-researched, successful keyword list, can be used to define every one of your marketing plans.)Once you have picked your chat name, start creating a series of posts, using your (#) hashtag. Post frequently with relevant information that intrigues others to join in. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and spe-cifically ask for interaction. One of the best ways to find out what people are thinking & talking about is to simply ask them.
Create your own Buzzword
Once again, let’s take a look at those well researched keywords. Let’s find a keyword that has excessive amounts of monthly searches on the search engines. These can be found using your Google keyword tool. Now let’s turn that into a hashtag and start building great post, blogs, links, etc., using our brand new (#).
Spread the Hash around
Now that you have started your very own hashtag marketing plan on Twitter, try spreading it to all of your other social me-dia. Just take what you have already start-ed, copy it and add to it. You already have great links and images for Pinterest, just add your (#) to the description.
One of the biggest ways to catch your customers’ attention is with a simple 2 minute-or-less InfoVideo. These videos are simple & catchy, usually set to some really fun music, and very easy to post on your YouTube or Vimeo channels. Make sure your video has your (#) hashtag listed clearly in the description.Also very popular and much easier to create is the infographic. This is usually a simple animation, using graphics that are eye-catching, and full of information that is relevant to your topic of discussion or keyword. This one is easy - all you have to do is post it on your website, blog, or net-work. Don’t forget to add your hashtag to the Alt tag of your image, and once again, you have a searchable & measurable way to put your hashtag to work.
What is the single most important trait to develop if I want to be successful in sales?
You may have heard it said that opinions are like belly buttons (or other parts of the anatomy), every-body has one and most people think their opinion is important so they’ll gladly share it with you whether you want to hear it or not! The irony of a question like this is that if you ask 10 sales professionals, you’d get 10 different answers. The trait is likability! You have to be personable, friendly and likable! And remember that part of this is be-ing able to smile! If you doubt that likability is the single most import-ant trait ask yourself this question, “When was the last time you bought something significant from someone you didn’t like?”
You never have a second chance to make a good first impression! Re-member the Golden Rule – it tends to work well at this stage of relation-
ship building. Treat your prospect the way you’d want to be treated. Make sure that the first impression is positive, and for heaven’s sake remember their name. Dale Carne-gie is the author of the classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence Peo-ple” published nearly 80 years ago and still the best book of its kind on human relations skills. In it he states that a man’s name is the sweetest and most important sound in the world.
If you’re likable – you’ll be off to a great start, but remain teachable so you can also add to your quiver of traits regularly.
Ask the expert is sponsored by
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Your Turn to Talk
Go online and answer this question. www.fortunecookiecoaching.comWe will post the results in next month’s issue, with tips & techniquesfrom our sales pros.
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The Age of Parallax Websites
By Michael Buzinskiwww.buzzbizz.biz
Just a few years ago, web developers came to an age of mobile responsive website design that allowed a unified code for PC driven and mobile driven displays. It was the dawn of a new era for web development offering a whole new realm of possibilities over a decade in the making. Some in the industry saw HTML5 as an evolu-tionary jump that wouldn’t be rivaled for anoth-er decade.
Now after only a couple of years, the industry has been exposed to the growing popularity of parallax design. Parallax website design is an effect that displays the background of a website layout at a different rate as the foreground when scrolling up or down. It creates a feel of interac-tivity with many story-telling implications. Many are calling it the next step in user experience.
The process of designing with parallax scrolling involves creating multiple layers of content and graphics for a webpage. The developer then varies the speed at which each layer displays as the user scrolls down. The designer can have elements of graphics and text move in and out of screen at will to help illustrate a point, give depth to a story, or create deeper dimension to the look of a page.
The experience of parallax can provide many benefits. Firstly, it presents a wow factor to visitors with an element of user-controlled an-imation, which then aids in storytelling, which boosts page visit times through inciting curi-osity. The experience can also be used to guide
viewers to a call-to-action.There is always a downside when dealing with bleeding edge technology and parallax is not exempt. The most critical negative implication of parallax design is its effect on search engine optimization (SEO). Some of these include:
• Slow load times due to a high volume of graphics required for the effect.
• Extended page lengths, which reduce the amount of meta information utilized by a single URL.
• Lack of internal links because of the re-duced page count.
• Incompatibility with mobile responsive design.
If a company can afford the SEO downsides of parallax design, they still want to make sure they implement it correctly to get the full benefits of the effect. One tip is to make sure to not overdo it. Motion sickness is a real thing for many people and over busyness scares the common user away to other less intimidating sites. The best approach is to use parallax to tell stories or illustrate processes. Try to keep the experience light and fun with emphasis on your ultimate call-to-action. The key is to find a way the effect can heighten the already pres-ent experience of your site. If the addition of parallax fails to improve your message, leave it out entirely. Lastly, make sure you account for older browsers, and don’t forget your mobile users.
Parallax is a cool gadget and for larger corpo-rations, a wonderful entertainment tool. For most small businesses, parallax can be utilized with restraint to help deepen their story, but should not become the center point of their on-line presence. The downsides at this time are too great for an internet driven by SEO rankings and cluttered with mass competition.
www.cassie-designs.com
Cassie Designs and Development
Specializing in Zen-Cart and Joomla Templates. Includes Business Printing Products.
Clinton Warren Web Design
State: Connecticutwww.clintonwarren.com
Full service web design, web development, and search engine optimization firm.
Buzz Bizz Studio’s
www.buzzbizz.biz
Buzzbizz Studios is a communications and marketing firm focused on providing world-class media production and marketing services to small businesses
Krisha Web
www.krishaweb.com
A perfect website is a combination of so many web design aspect including creative web design.
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State: Utahwww.lifeenhanced101.com
Chris Johnnie is a full service performance coach.Enhance your business.
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Fortune Cookie Coaching is the place to find business building tools and coaching.
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Dark Twin Marketing and Publications has a brand new e-edition coming in April 2015.
Reach thousands ofcustomers in your area. We are currently looking for writers and regular contributors.Professionals in your specific area to provide great content that is targeted to your geographical location.
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