Building a Small Biz Audience Using Facebook Ads Posted on November 23, 2015June 3, 2016 by Jessica Lunk There are 900 million people signing into Facebook every single day. And those people are discussing trending topics, sharing content with each other, and even looking to build their own business. You won’t have the time or the money to boil the ocean and reach every single persona on Facebook but you can carve out your own slice of the pie and reach the people that will be most likely to share and engage with your content. To help create a map that points you in the right direction of how to use Facebook for marketing success, consider some of the most popular ads on the site, how they work, and most importantly, why they work. So what is going to make them click your ad? Get Eyes on Your Ads The Facebook flow might be familiar to you… the blur of scrolling past political arguments, baby pictures, complainers, positive thinkers, on and on. And you want your brand to stand out amongst all that noise. Visual ads grab the attention of the individual and stop them from scrolling right past it. Even with the most intriguing content, if your ad isn’t attractive, no one will respond. So what can you do to get your ads seen? Use high-quality images Use the recommended dimensions: 1200 x 628 pixels Use images of people, especially your real customers. Avoid stock photography that’s too generic or cheesy. Your logo alone isn’t going to cut it unless your company is well known – plus, often your logo is in your profile picture already. Use bright, warm colors to help ads to stand out. Buyer personas come in handy here because you need to have a good idea of what will capture the attention of the audience you are trying to create. The more you know your ideal customers, the more relevant and targeting your ads will become. Test Different Audiences So there are 900 million people on Facebook and you want to create an audience for them. You’ve created a buyer persona and you have your creative ads ready to go. Always run ‘Page Like’ Ads to promote your page. With these ads, you can test your buyer persona and start to determine what makes your ideal customer tick. Show a little creativity; what are your ideal customers doing outside of the buying process? What interests can you use to tap into their emotions and get them to click to learn more? I like running these tests because they don’t have to take up a lot of your budget and you can play around with all the different targeting options Facebook provides. Mix and match your audience, creating many layers for a hyper-targeted segment. Track and compare all these tests next to each other so you can drill down to what’s working and what didn’t. Video: The Darling of Facebook Ads You’re likely hearing a great deal about new formats for advertising and the value of interactive advertising. There’s good reason for this. It’s engaging and less promotional. It helps to draw in customers and get the click. Facebook video ads are becoming an increasingly valuable investment for businesses as a result. These appear in the news feed. About 50% of all people who visit Facebook will watch at least one video during that visit. Brands are finding videos incredibly helpful in getting people to sites and to build their brand. To get more engagement, create a video that can be understood with or without sound. Show Off Your Products Often times, we hear about Facebook ads being all about brand building. However, you can and should use your ads to showcase products. Multi-product ads are very effective, for example. You can use the Power Editor feature from Facebook to create these. They allow you to promote more than one product (or service, or blog post, etc) in a single ad. You’ll get more bang for your buck this way. In addition to these types of Facebook ads, you’ll also find some outstanding success with local ads, promotional offers, and event ads. The key here is to be versatile and flexible. You’ll get the most attention from your ads if you invest in a variety of formats and put the time into creating a campaign that maps out a clear path to conversion for that treasure trove of leads. Drive Engagement Once you have built a good audience, you can start driving more engagement. In the beginning, I felt like I was talking to an empty room on social media. But once I found my audience, engagement soared and the chatter was ignited. Targeting your Facebook audience with your Facebook Ads make your ads more relevant so they are favored by the algorithms, sparking better conversations on social. You’ll notice with this approach that your relevancy scores will be through the roof because this is your audience that your are targeting. If you’ve been ramping up your content strategy, this is a great tool to start building some traction around it. Using Facebook advertising effectively can increase your audience and engagement without putting a gaping hole in your marketing budget. Want to see more ways I’m managing social media at Hatchbuck? Like our Facebook page!
8 Popular Project Management Tools for Small Businesses Doing Mighty Things Posted on November 20, 2015November 3, 2020 by Erin Posey Some small business owners believe that only large corporations need to use sophisticated tools to help manage projects. This might be because many activities conducted in smaller companies are of short duration and only conducted by a single person or a very small team. However, it might be fairer to say that many companies have grown large and prosperous because they do employ the right tools to manage all of their business activities. What is a Project That Needs Management? Sean Maserang, of the University of Missouri, points out that almost every business activity should be considered a project that needs management. If you are sitting down with an agency to discuss marketing strategies for small business or getting your accountant to prepare a tax report, it’s still a project. The right tools can make management simpler and more seamless. Because many of these tools are now delivered online, prices are often very friendly for small-business budgets. 8 Project Management Tools to Try Consider these eight popular tools for your own small business: Basecamp: This software works well for smaller teams of people. It includes tools for both project managers and team members to help schedule meetings, set due dates, and communicate. The monthly rate is based upon the number of projects, but the company allows unlimited users. When discussing small business project management software, Basecamp often gets mentioned first. The software also comes with online messaging. Slack: Slack is an app for teams that helps them organize projects by bringing communication all in one place, sharing and commenting on files, and integrating with other apps to get more stuff done in less time. TeamGantt: The Gantt Chart helps you track deadlines and milestones. If you are a visual person and would enjoy a nice interface and plenty of useful charting functions, TeamGantt might be a great choice. It’s also fairly easy to use and affordable. The highlight of this software is the slick interface. Trello: This software usually gets a vote for small companies because it is fairly easy to setup and use. The main interface functions almost like a whiteboard. There is a limited, free option to test out, and monthly fees are very inexpensive. Asana: The design of this project management software resembles a computer’s file management system. This company also offers a free option, but you can’t set permission levels with this option. The paid option is more expensive than the other tools listed above. Evernote: Evernote is my fave when it comes to saving things I love or find interesting. But it also has some features that make it flexible for project management, too. It’s simple to create notes and categorize everything in project-specific notebooks. You can even scan in paper docs to make keeping track of project documents a cinch. Google Drive: If you’re just dipping your toe into project management, Google Drive is a simple way to share documents, co-edit documents, see revision history, and let team members leave & resolve comments. Drive offers a plethora of business tools including documents, spreadsheets, and presentation slides. Plus, it’s free. Teamwork: Teamwork has five products in total that complement each other and can help small business teams run more efficiently and effectively. The main product is Teamwork, which is a project and task management tool that can increase visibility across the organization, allowing for better collaboration. They also have a chat product similar to Slack, a Helpdesk Product, a CRM, and Teamwork Spaces which is a collaborative document management system. How to Select the Right Tool for Your Own Company Determine Your Needs You wouldn’t want to take the kids to soccer practice or do the grocery shopping in a Ferrari. Nor would you want to sign up for the Mario Andretti racing experience in a mini van. The right tool for the job makes all the difference. If you need to track several people and multiple tasks, an app like Basecamp might suit your needs, but if you just need a way to stay organized, an app like Evernote might do the trick. Often, it can be a challenge to get your team members to adopt new technology or new processes. So give them a Ferrari when they need to be fast and nimble, and give them the mini van when they need room to manage for the long haul. Choosing the app that fits your goals will help avoid frustration, making user adoption much simpler. Take a Test Drive Most of the software companies that produce these tools offer some sort of free trial. If they don’t, monthly rates are usually low enough to justify paying them for a month or two for a test. Also, the companies will offer demos. The best option is to test a handful of them with your own projects in order to find the tool that works the best for you and your team. Project management tools can help the busy small business owner delegate tasks and monitor progress – without micromanaging their team. These tools can also help employees take ownership of projects and the role in completing a project successfully. And now, a time out for a project management rap: Happy Planning!
4 Ways to Stop a Leaky Sales Funnel Posted on November 18, 2015June 27, 2016 by Jonathan Herrick Investing in marketing channels such as SEO, PPC , trade shows and inbound is key for businesses to fill the funnel full of ripe leads. But, If you’re spending hard earned money on marketing to bring in leads only to drip out a few customers through the sales pipeline each month, you’ve probably sprung a leak. (And duct tape won’t fix it this time) A leaky pipeline is bad news. It can mean that your pool of customers stays stagnant – or even shrinks. Here’s how to spot leaks in your sales funnel and patch any holes so that your pool of customers can grow. Spot the Leaks We all remember the devastation that resulted along the Gulf of Mexico when BP pipelines burst and caused the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. Just like an oil company uses a pipeline to shift goods from wherever they are to wherever they are needed, companies use their sales pipelines to transport leads to sales conversions. Your sales pipeline should be built to take each lead at whatever point they are in the sales process and help them move in the right direction towards a purchase. One small crack in a poorly maintained pipeline can mean a disastrous result. So how do you know if you have a leak? Dive into Your Data In order to assess the main reasons for losing potential sales, you need to be able to understand what opportunities are won and lost by each channel and sales stage. If you’re tracking leads and customers in your CRM, you have access to a host of reports such as: Pipeline report by sales rep: Is there a particular sales rep that is having trouble winning deals? Pipeline report by lead source: Are there any lead sources that fail to produce customers? Closed – Lost report: Is there a recurring reason why customers are choosing a competitor over your business? By reviewing these reports, you can make sense of where you are running into roadblocks in the sales process. Insights can also be found from Google Analytics. If you’re using Google Analytics already, you probably know you can measure the performance of your website, but is also a great tool to measure the effectiveness of your funnel. In Google Analytics, set up the goal conversions you want to track. Then back up and look at the typical user flow on your website to build a funnel and identify points in the funnel where users tend to drop off or get stuck. Need help? Here is a great resource from Kissmetrics to get you started: The Google Analytics Conversion Funnel Survival Guide With the right website tracking tools, you can identify leaks in your pipeline. 4 Ways to Fix a Leaky Funnel Now that you know where your leaks are, you can get to work sealing your pipeline. Top of the Funnel: Attract the Right Buyers If you’ve sprung a top-of-the-funnel leak, and are losing interest early in the sales process, it’s time to evaluate the type of leads and prospects you are bringing into your sales pipeline. Focusing sales efforts on prospects that aren’t a good fit for your product or service to begin with is a waste of time – and money. Ultimately they will want features you don’t offer and get lost in your sales process, never making it to the customer stage. Your website content, emails, call to actions, and landing pages should be designed to ensure they attract your ideal buyer and keeps them moving in the right direction. Make it easy for your visitors to get into the funnel. The sales pipeline should look like a funnel aligned to your buyers journey, with one goal and not a spider web, ant farm, or corn maze. Need help? Check this blog post on identifying your ideal buyer, The Simple Introduction to Personas. Middle of the Funnel: Invest in a CRM If you’re collecting leads from your website, email subscriber list, or tradeshows, but have trouble moving them into a sales opportunity, a CRM can help you get organized. 60% of leads in your funnel will buy from someone down the road. But if you aren’t consistently touching base with the people in your pipeline, they might end up buying from someone else. An integrated CRM and marketing platform can track your leads activity, and then follow-up with them automatically. The result is, your business stays top-of-mind. The people in your pipeline stay engaged with your business, and when they’re ready to buy, they’ll reach out to you first. Bottom of the Funnel: Use a Lead Scoring Process When you score and rank your leads in your CRM, it gives you a chance to prioritize which ones to respond to first. In fact studies show that 35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. (Source: InsideSales.com) Research done by Steve Olenski on Forbes.com, and prior to that in Harvard Business Review and Inc.com demonstrated a 341% lift in results just by responding immediately and persistently to leads. If you aren’t tracking and scoring your leads, you could be wasting time following up with the wrong leads, while valuable opportunities slip through the cracks. Post-Funnel: Heat up the Leftovers Not all presentations and proposals close. It would be awesome if they did, but the reality is even with a 30% close rate the majority don’t make the cut. But what happens to them after they make their decision to not buy from you? Let’s take software or life insurance. If your lost opportunity is under contract with your competitor, automate ongoing communications with them based on their renewal or contract date and be there when it’s time for them to make their next purchase or decision. Spotting leaks and patching your pipeline is key to running a healthy business. As you drive more and more leads for your small business, it becomes tougher to follow up with each and every one in a personal way, causing leads to seep out the funnel. Being intentional about attracting your ideal buyer, and investing in a CRM with integrated marketing automation tools gives you the ability to follow-up with leads, nurture prospects, and receive notifications once someone is ready to buy.
3 Small Business Website Tracking Tools – and How to Use Them Posted on November 17, 2015June 1, 2016 by Jessica Lunk People regularly look up businesses online. They’re finding out more about your business before stepping through your storefront or hiring you for your services. It’s a two way street, though. Having a website means that you can find out just as much about your customers as they can find out about you. With website tracking, you gain insights into which pages are being visited, where your traffic is coming from, and even who is visiting your website. Here is how to use website tracking to learn more about the people who want what you have to offer: 3 Small Business Friendly Website Tracking Tools Google Analytics is a popular free tool that allows you to track your website analytics. Not only is Google Analytics free, but it’s also fairly easily to install without the help of a programmer or web developer. With Google Analytics, you can get super simple, yet game-changing information, like: How many people are visiting your site each day What channels (SEO, Paid, Direct, Referral) traffic is coming from How many pages visitors are viewing per visit The average amount of time people spend on your website Which landing page people are entering your website from Which pages are getting the most traffic As a free app from the most popular search engine, Google Analytics is a must-have when it comes to website tracking. But there are other tools in town that can help you track your visitors and make the most out of your website traffic. Crazy Egg heat map technology shows you how people are digesting content once they get to your website. You can get information like: Which buttons visitors are clicking on your webpage How far visitors scroll down on different webpages Where the best location is for important items like form fields, banner ads, buttons and more For small businesses, it’s often not the volume of traffic, but the quality of traffic that matters. When every person that hits your website counts, heat map technology can be a pivotal tool. With heat mapping insights, you can optimize your most important web pages to keep more visitors engaged and convert more of those visitors into leads for your business. With Google Analytics and Crazy Egg, website visitors are tracked anonymously. Marketing automation tools, however, can give you an additional layer of knowledge about your prospects and customers. Marketing automation web tracking tools can actually put a face and a name to the visitors on your website. With Hatchbuck, for instance, once a website visitor fills out a form, we pull in information like their name, email address, and even pull in a photo from the social media sites that they’re on. Then, you can see their activity on your website. This type of tracking is helpful for your salespeople or your customer success team. They can see what a prospect or customer is interested in before they pick up the phone to call them. So instead of calling a stranger, the stage is set to feel like a call with a colleague or friend. So you know that you can track website visitors, but how does this information really work to help you deliver a better customer experience? 3 Ways to Use Website Tracking As an example, let’s say that you own a landscaping business and want to know more about the visitors who are hitting your website. Identify Key Traffic Sources First, you install Google Analytics on your website. Through Google Analytics, you can see that a good chunk of your traffic is coming to your website from your Facebook page and landing on your home page. Traffic from your Facebook page is most likely quality traffic. After all, if they’ve been on your Facebook page, they have a good idea what your business is all about. It’s safe to assume they’re looking for more information on landscaping. Optimize Landing Pages Now you want to see if your home page is doing it’s job to convert that quality Facebook traffic into leads for your landscaping business, so you install Crazy Egg on your website. On your homepage, you have a form to subscribe to your monthly newsletter, “Landscapes and Lawns.” It’s a great lead magnet for your website. But, it’s pretty far down the page. After tracking for a few weeks with CrazyEgg, your heat map shows you that most visitors aren’t scrolling far down enough to get to the form. So you test moving your subscription form further up the page, and are happy to see more people subscribe to “Landscapes and Lawns” than ever before. Identify Leads Now that you’re actually converting website visitors into leads for your business through your subscription form, it’s time to look into marketing automation. You connect your “Landscapes and Lawns” form to Hatchbuck. When a new lead fills out the form, Hatchbuck pulls in their name, their email address, the links to their social media profiles, and a picture. In an instant, this person is no longer just another “lead” on your email subscriber list. Now you know them as Thomas. Once Thomas is added to your database, Hatchbuck website tracking monitors the pages he visits on your website. Thomas visits your blog, and hits several blog posts pertaining to maintaining greens on a golf course. Now, when your sales team reaches out to Thomas, they know what he’s interested in, and are prepared to talk golf, fairways and greens. With website tracking tools, you can better understand the online behavior of your prospects and customers. As a result, you make sure you’re targeting the right channels and serving up the content they want in a format that’s helpful and friendly – getting the right customers in the door.
Hatchbuck Best Practices: Email Subject Lines Posted on November 16, 2015July 8, 2016 by Jessica Lunk Your opening line is always important. Whether you are performing a comedy sketch, making a political speech, picking up a date, or crafting a great email, you need a great opener. But how do you do this? What rules do you follow? After compiling some research from companies like Litmus, Sendgrid, Return Path, and some quick data analysis of our Hatchbuck marketing emails, I found a few email subject lines best practices that might help as you are crafting your great emails! How long should my subject line be? According to Sendgrid, 3 word subject lines have the highest engagement while 7 word subjects are the most common. What’s always important to remember is that mobile devices (where about 50% of your contacts are reading their emails) typically only display 25-30 characters. Are there any keywords that will help my cause? ReturnPath did a study of their own and found that these 3 “types” of subject line keywords performed best: Urgency: expiring, extended, hurry, running out Benefit: best, cheapest, fastest, easiest Command: add, buy, call, get What else works? There are 3 other types of subject lines that perform well and are worth considering: Asking a question Using humor Offering a promotion The one caveat here is that variety is the spice of life. Don’t do the same thing every time or you will wear out your list. A Hatchbuck Study. To confirm, deny, or illustrate these stats I decided to look at some of the great emails our marketing team has been crafting. I took a look at 15 different subject lines and their performance across 95,000 sends. Here is what I saw. Average Length: 4-5 words Highest performing (>30% open): 2-4 words Keywords (or “power words” as I like to call them) First name Growth eBook Winning Skyrocket Guide Easier Experts More Save Solution Highest Performing: First name, Save “Types” of Subject Lines used: Personalized (with the contact’s first name) Hi, [Contact First Name] Description – straightforward explanation of what is in the email ex: The Marketer’s Guide to Hyper-Relevant Content Download – offering a piece of content ex: [eBook] Content Marketing Playbook Bait – enticing idea that will be answered in the email ex: We think you’ll like this winning marketing play Promotion – special offer ex: Save Some Bones Highest Performing: Personalized, Promotion So for the Hatchbuckers, our best subject lines are short, sweet, and personal. We also have seen great success with our promotions – maybe that’s because we don’t offer them that often! What works best for you? The rule is to test, test, test. Always be looking at your stats to see how you can improve!
Buying Into Buyer Personas Posted on November 13, 2015July 8, 2016 by Jessica Lunk If your product or service is good enough, people will buy it. At least, that’s what we’d like to think. But it seems that the old “if you build it, they will come” doesn’t apply to small businesses. What you offer your customers may be good enough to sell itself. But if your prospects aren’t coming, your product doesn’t even get a chance to toot its own horn. And with all of the avenues now available for advertising, it’s difficult to drive people in the right direction. Or rather, it’s difficult to drive the right people in the right direction. Getting the right buyer in front of what you are selling requires strategy: research, understanding your demographics, and marketing to those demographics with a hook that will put your product or service in their hearts and minds. That’s where creating a buyer persona comes in. Buyer personas and demographics differ in that they attack the problem in different ways. Demographics give you a range of people – a group, if you will – that is best suited for your product. Demographics can give you an geographical area, culture, or age group that you should focus your marketing efforts towards. While this is great information, there is a way to go a little deeper and find more precise matches for your product or service. Buyer personas delve deeper into the psyche of the buyer and reveal what it is about them that drives them to make the purchasing decisions they do. This approach offers you more insight into the reasoning and helps you tailor a marketing plan that addresses their “why”s instead of just being another product out there that claims to solve their problem. This is a big deal. Consumers don’t spend a lot of time researching products anymore. In this technology-driven society the more you can say about your product in a few seconds the better. Businesses don’t get a lot of time; full-page marketing slicks have gone by the wayside. Understanding this makes clear the need for a more in depth analysis of the need. That way you can market to that concern in a pointed and direct manner. This goes both ways. As you hone your marketing approach, whether visual, virtual, printed, or a combination of all of those mediums, you want to know where to place your ads and social media posts. The buyer persona process not only shows you who you want to target because they are they best fit for your product, but it also reveals who does not fit your demographic. Identifying the exclusionary personas is as important as fleshing out your ideal customers. This way you don’t waste time and money marketing to a group of people that are predisposed to be disinterested in your product or service. There are companies available that can help you create a buyer persona for a fee, but if you are a small business the capital for that process may not be so easy to come by. Here are some tips on creating a buyer persona in house: Figure out how people are finding you. This will reveal information about how and where they browse and what they are browsing for. How do you find this out? Ask them! Use web fields and surveys to gather this information. Ask your current customer base what they like about your product. It makes sense to find out what they don’t like as well. Gather feedback from team members who operate on the frontlines, speaking to prospects and customers every day. This information can help you figure out what makes your ideal buyer tick, giving you ideas on how to appeal to the right buyer. Sound difficult? It’s not! You have all the information at your fingertips. All you need is an understanding of the goal, the dedication to the task, a little bit of organization – and our handy Buyer Persona Workbook to help you put it all together When you’re a small business with limited time and limited budget, you want to do everything you can to get the greatest impact from the least amount of resources. Identifying the right buyer for your product can help you make a big splash and get your small business noticed in a sea of multiple marketing channels and distractions.
Online Photo Editing Tools (For the Design Pro to the Design Illiterate) Posted on November 12, 2015November 30, 2021 by Jessica Lunk As much as copywriters would like to believe otherwise, images are the key to engaging browsers. Social posts are significantly more effective when a photo or video is included, and blogs, articles, and copy all rely heavily on images to capture attention in time – you typically have only a few seconds to grab it before they leave your page without reading anything more than the heading. But what if you have no digital photo editing skills!? Fortunately, there are helpful tools that can make photo editing easier. You don’t have to be a pro to create great-looking photos for your company. Just get to know some of the tools that you can find online or download to your computer. PicMonkey PicMonkey has a free version that anyone can use to create photo collages or enhance existing photos by adding text and graphic elements. Beginners can learn the PicMonkey program pretty quickly. For advanced elements, you can used the paid version. You can use PicMonkey’s templates or upload your own for editing. The site is used to create images for Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram. The biggest drawback is that it can be slow at times. Canva Canva is similar to PicMonkey, although it is easier to navigate. It doesn’t have as many free graphic elements, but it starts you off with the perfect size image for each type of social media. Also easy to learn, Canva has more free options when it comes to grids and layouts, but does charge for most of its images. The fee is only $1 per element, so it’s worth the money if you want to use one. It is easier to navigate Canva and it doesn’t get bogged down as much as PicMonkey. Pixlr Pixlr is a mobile app photo editor that is completely free. You can use its various tools to edit your photos right on your phone or tablet. It has many elements similar to Photoshop, but is more complicated than either Canva or PicMonkey. It is a good choice for intermediate users that want to edit on their mobile devices. It is available for iOS and Android. Adobe Photoshop Elements 14 A smaller version of Photoshop, Elements is not as costly and offers quite a range of tools for a more serious photo editor. There is no free version of this program, but you can get a free trial. Beginners can learn by using the guided tutorials for the program. You do have to buy this program outright for your Mac or PC. Google Picasa 3 This is a free program for both PC and Mac that is a good choice for photo editing quickly and efficiently. Not for serious editors, this program is good for people who want to edit photos without much fuss. It is a good program to use for Google +. GIMP Available for Linux, Windows and Mac, GIMP is free to use on your computer and is compatible with all photo files. It is an open-source photo editor with a full array of tools. It also has a file manager, and offers advanced tools for serious photo editors. Creating images for your marketing can be a lot of fun. I would recommend playing around with a formula that you use to create consistency and to make it easier to produce images on the fly. Think about the emotion you want to convey. Is there tension? My secret weapon for finding great images that are free to use is The Stocks. It’s an aggregate of different photo sites so it’s easy to sift through and find the right image for a blog post, a motivational image, an email header, etc. When you are planning your marketing strategies for small business success, you don’t need big, complex software to reach your goals.
21 Great Small Business Blogs Posted on November 10, 2015August 2, 2018 by Jessica Lunk If you’ve ever searched for small business blogs, you know how ubiquitous they are—everyone, it seems, is blogging about small business (as well as entrepreneurship and startups). Most of these blogs are just marketing tools–their creators try to lure you in with a few bits of generic information and advice and then comes the pitch for whatever they want to sell to small businesses. There are some blogs, however, that do provide guidance, insight and advice for small business owners about how to build successful ventures. Here are twenty-one of the best blogs out there for small business owners—providing education, information and inspiration: BizSugar A blog with small business news and tips that is crowd-curated. BizSugar’s community of readers share business blog posts, videos and other content from which readers of the blog can learn something, For those that share content, they are reinforcing their reputation and brand and bringing online visibility to their content. The community votes on member-submitted tips, advice and information, advancing the most popular (and what’s considered by the community to be most useful) posts to the home page. Top posts are pushed to the top or can make it into the BizSugar Top 10 list. Kabbage Kabbage is redefining how small business find and apply for loans online and their blog is full of tips to grow, manage, fund, or innovate your small business. Social Triggers A blog from Derek Halpern, who writes about sales, marketing, entrepreneurship and the world of social media. Halpern was called “the master of social media” and the world of online communications by Inc. magazine. DIY Marketers Small business owners are often limited by their marketing budget. DIY Marketers focuses on those creative marketing strategies that help you reach more customers for less money and Ivana Taylor makes it fun. Penelope Trunk Raw, funny insights from the entrepreneur Penelope Trunk about starting, running and marketing a business. You’ll also find advice on productivity, management, blogging and other business-related issues, as well as life lessons—all of them Trunk’s, of course, but useful nonetheless. Marketing Profs If you’re looking for a digest of the latest and greatest marketing tips and news, Ann Handley’s got you covered. Her aim with Marketing Profs is to educate the modern marketer using real world data and examples. With the PRO membership, you get access to their best content. Both Sides Of The Table A blog written by Mark Suster, a two-time entrepreneur who sold one of those companies to Salesforce.com and then became a venture capitalist. (Get it? Both sides of the table?) He’s a general partner in Upfront Ventures and blogs about startups, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, management, leadership and more. Copyblogger The mother of all content marketing blogs. Copyblogger will help you advance your content marketing skills across the board. They produce some of the most valuable content resources on the web and their topics cover a wide range. Writing well is a skill that requires frequent studying and practice and Copyblogger can be an excellent guide to improvement. AVC A blog written by Fred Wilson, managing partner of two venture capital firms, Flatiron Partners and Union Square Ventures. Wilson is a leader in the entrepreneurial community and has been a VC for more than 20 years. He has been writing on the blog everyday since Sept. 2003 and the topics are wide-ranging but related to starting and running a business (while also trying to live a somewhat normal life). Small Business Survival This blog has been around since 2006 and is geared toward rural and small town small businesses, with how-to articles and an emphasis on social media marketing, plus a chance for business owners to share good news in the blog’s weekly “Brag Basket.” OPEN Forum American Express has really knocked it out of the park with OPEN Forum. They’re covering topics from agile marketing to building company culture and everything in between. Adrian Swinscoe Blog of consultant and speaker Adrian Swinscoe, which features interviews with business people and posts about customer experience, building a customer-centric business, service, social media as well as employee and customer engagement. Buffer All social everything! What I love the most about Buffer is their transparency. They are not afraid to share their data, what they’ve failed at, and what they’ve learned. They have a buzzing community of people who want to discuss what they’ve learned from the Buffer blog. Chat with Buffer’s content creators and grow in a fun, exciting community! The Franchise King The blog of Joel Libava, otherwise known as The Franchise King®. Libava is a franchise ownership advisor and the author of Become a Franchise Owner! The Star-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money and Owning What You Do (John Wiley) Everything you ever wanted to know about researching, choosing and buying a franchise. Evergreen Small Business Written by Stephen L. Nelson, a Seattle-based CPA who specializes in serving small business owners, this blog is focused on the details around running a small business, like tax issues related to LLCs, a review of do-it-yourself incorporation kits, Affordable Care Act information for small businesses and how to handle past due tax returns. Mixergy Mixergy interviews entrepreneurs on their successes and failures. Learn from a wide range of passionate business leaders who not only had a business ideas but a mission. Mission is #1 at Mixergy. Google Small Business This is Google’s official blog for small business owners, where the company discusses new releases, new Google tools and how to make the most of them, and instructional information like how to set up your first data feed, and experts weighing in on how to make the most of social media. The blog is somewhat promotional—after all, it’s mostly about Google products and tools—but it’s still very useful. Duct Tape Marketing John Jantsch is his name, and the “World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert” is his game. He runs Duct Tape Marketing, providing reliable marketing advice to small business owners and marketers. Farnam Street Have you been meaning to read up on the great philosophers but don’t have the time? Farnam Street will teach you how to think, read, and perceive the world around you the way the famous big thinkers do. Become a better leader and “go to bed smarter than when you woke up.” Fast Company So there’s Fast Company… and then there’s the Fast Company blog. They do things differently by using Tumblr as their blog platform filled with beautiful pics, gifs, and that same digestable information we crave from Fast Company. They cover leadership topics as well as design, productivity, business, and useful life topics. Richard Branson Because who doesn’t like the dude? This post was updated on August 2, 2018.
Letting Go: How to Move from Micromanager to Small Business Leader Posted on November 6, 2015June 27, 2016 by Jonathan Herrick You started your business, so who could possibly know more about your business than you? Right? After all my dad used to say all the time, “If you want something done, you need to do it yourself.” But as your business grows, you need to hire, train and retain great employees. Leading your employees and keeping them accountable is a huge part of running a thriving small business. However, the difference between “Leadership” and “Micromanagement” is often a murky one. As an owner, you want to focus on the vision and mission of your business. So you strive to encourage your team to run with day-to-day tasks and projects. But when it comes to actually handing over the reins to your employees, it can be tough to let go of control. In Scott Berkin’s Open Letter to Micromanangers he shares a great analogy on owners and leaders who are a bit too controlling: “But if you are in fact a micromanager, you started over-managing the first day others worked for you. You have no idea what they are capable of. You’re probably treating at least one potential Seabiscuit as if he were a toy pony at the county fair.” The term “micromanagement” carries a lot of baggage with it, and for good reason. It is estimated nearly 80% off employees have suffered from being micromanaged (aka having to complete the dreaded TPS Reports). 1/3 have changed jobs because of being under the thumb. After all, people don’t leave their job, they leave bad owners and leaders. Are You a Micromanager? If you don’t fully trust the opinions and skill of your top employees, then you are probably micromanaging them. Here are a few rock-solid signs you might be overdoing it: Hovering Are you lingering to see which employees are checking Facebook or waiting to see how your employee adjusts to the new project? Shoulder monkeys never make good leaders. Constant Feedback Yes, it’s good to give regular feedback, but if you are not waiting for the project to be completed, then you are probably too close to the process. What if your significant other was “helping” you cook in the same way you are helping guide the project? Would the level of suggestions make you want to hand over the spatula or would you have room to feel you were still the chef in the kitchen? Becoming the “Client” You know those pesky clients that keep asking for little changes, often ending up miles away from their initial direction? Well, sometimes owners do this too. If you are pushing for small changes and then find the project ends up in a completely different direction, then you probably took the helm and drove the bus off-course. Yes, that’s micromanaging. You’re the Bottleneck Do all decisions or approvals have to go through you? Are your employees constantly waiting on you before they can respond to your customers? Do you take back delegated work before it’s finished or ready for review? By making daily processes completely dependent upon one person, your employees are stifled and can’t fully develop their potential. Also, while you’re jumping into projects, you lose valuable time you should be spending looking ahead, working on the big picture items needed to fuel growth. Letting Go “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” General Patton Micromanagement kills creativity and innovation, ruins employee retention, and hinders the customer experience. The reality is, when your people feel like “Big Brother” is watching their every move, they are less likely to think or step outside the box to deliver a memorable experience to your customers for fear of reprimand. So if you find you have good intentions, but are a bit too overzealous when it comes to leading the troops, here are 5 simple ways to move from dreaded micromanager to respected leader: Know Your Style First, it is important to understand that there is not a ”One-size-fits All” kind of leader, but a variety of them. According to the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, there are four different kinds of leadership styles: S1: Telling (relying on a unidirectional flow of information to the group) S2: Selling (convincing the group the leader is worth following) S3: Participating (the leader shares decision-making tasks for a more democratic approach) S4: Delegating (the leader parcels out tasks to qualified team members) To be a great leader you need to adapt your leadership style to your team to get the most out of them, in every situation. Hire Smart If you don’t trust the people working for you then you will be more inclined to micromanage them. So when it comes to adding new team members, hire 9’s and 10’s don’t settle for 3’s and 4’s. Find employees that are problem solvers and can run with initiatives. To quote the great Theodore Roosevelt: “The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” Coach and Teach Most small businesses owners wear a ton of hats and employee training is delegated to baptism by fire. While there’s a lot that can be learned from on the job experience, it’s hard to hold your employees accountable for results if they lack the proper training and support. A solid training program starts with the proper new hire training and continues with ongoing coaching and mentorship. By investing in your people personally and professionally, you’ll spend less time doing their work and more time equipping them to excel. Leverage Technology Often, owners and leaders micromanage because they don’t have a clear picture of the process and how it is producing results. The right tools give you data and insights into each employee and what you can do to best support them for success without becoming BIG brother. Learn to Delegate Think about all of the items on your plate. Prioritize key projects you should be involved in and decide what tactical items you could move to you team. Once you decide to delegate, give them the autonomy to complete the project and deliver results. Let your employees know you fully trust them and step in only in an emergency or when asked to. There is a good chance they won’t do things exactly the same way you would do it, but if you are looking to grow your small business you hold the key: Moving from a micromanager to a leader. And everyone wants to follow the leader. I know there will be tendency to want to do everything yourself, but remember: Teams, when allowed to flourish, will always deliver greater innovation and productivity than a single individual. Learn to let go of any tendencies to micromanage, and you’ll be rewarded by increased productivity, more engaged employees, and happier customers.