Web Business Woman

Archive for May, 2010

Why
Aren't More Women Running Million Dollar Businesses?

Susan Wilson Solovic, author of The Girls' Guide to Building a
Million-Dollar Business, was the keynote speaker at Women's Small
Business
Expo a few years ago.

Solovic
posed the question, "Why aren't more women running
million-dollar businesses?" Her answer was, "Not thinking big
enough."

I totally agree and so does Sharon Hadary in her recent article in
the Wall Street Journal.

Hadary notes that women have been launching businesses at twice the rate
of men, and their growth rates of employment and
revenue have outpaced the economy.

But despite all this progress, on average, women-owned businesses
are still smaller than their male counterparts. Although the gap has
narrowed, women-owned firms are still only 27% of the average of
male-owned
businesses.

 
Think Bigger

• Invest in yourself and your business
• Hire
  professionals
• Form success teams
• Create compelling
  marketing
• Establish yourself as the expert in your industry
• Become
  a sales superstar
• Embrace change and take more risks

Look

at your pricing and think about raising your rates. That's
right. I said raising your rates, even in a challenging economy. People
will always pay for quality, service and value.

Let's get more
women into the Million Dollar Club.

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 You can create videos and upload them and share them and make them accessible, but are you actually marketing with them? Probably not.

This article at Technically Personal has GREAT advice on how to use YouTube to market yourself and your business. Well worth a read on this long holiday weekend.

Live and learn. Oh, while you're at it, check out the BoobQuake post. How did I miss this!?!

p.s. the site invites guest articles – if you write on web 2.0 or internet news or gadgets, blogging and more, you might consider an occasional guest post.

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Friend and big company sales expert, Jill Konrath has done it again, she has a top sales book on Amazon along with Linda Richardson and Andrea Walz. Jill is dead on with SNAP Selling, I’ve pitched thousands over the past 35 years; those on the other side of the desk were making snap decisions long before the Internet shorten their attention span even further. I can’t wait to read her book, Jill always delivers fresh approaches that work in today’s environment. I’m going to take advantage of the download freebies here as well. Congrats. Go Girls! #1 SNAP Selling, Jill…
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By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Being from Rochester, NY, I have worked with Eastman Kodak over the years and know many people who have and still work there. The company has been going through a huge transformation as the world has moved on to digital. We all in Rochester are very familiar with the company's challenges to become a digital company and have seen what it has done to our community.

Jeffrey Hayzlett has been Kodak's Chief Marketing Officer for the past several years and has become somewhat of a celebrity. He has embraced social media for the company and has been a regular speaker at many marketing and social media conferences. He even has appeared besides Donald Trump on the Apprentice. I first wrote about Jeff in this blog post almost an exact year ago when he spoke at a Rochester Ad Council luncheon on the subject of social media. If you read this post you'll get a good sense of Jeff's personality.

Jeff just recently published his first book, The Mirror Test…Is Your business Really Breathing? It hit the bookstore shelves on May 5th. He had a book signing at the Barnes and Noble here in Pittsford that Friday which I couldn't attend, so instead I asked for an interview, which he happily granted. But before I could interview him he announced on May 14th that he was leaving Kodak and his last official day is this Friday, May 28th.

So I picked up my copy of The Mirror Test at the Barnes & Noble and read it on the way down and back from our trip to New York City that we took to pick up our daughter from NYU. Yes, my husband was driving, not me.

In the book Jeff encourages all business professionals, especially small business owners and entrepreneurs, to take the mirror test and ask yourself…Is your business still alive and breathing? Does it fog the mirror? If you're company is not growing, then it's dying. Here's some of what Jeff and I spoke about.

The book is a project that he has been planning and thinking about for the past 15 years. His agent finally got it sold in to Business Plus, the publisher. She then proceeded to help find the right co-writer which ended up being Jim Eber. Jeff said that he would get on the phone every night with Jim and dictate to him. He said the chemistry between the two of them just worked well.

Jeff starts and ends most his talks with a personal story, so he based his book on this model as well. So each chapter starts off with a personal story and ends with a lesson that leads into the point of the next chapter. He tells the stories of how he started out as an entrepreneur running several businesses and the lessons that he learned. He says that you can remember and follow all the advice from his mirror tests, but there's still a chance that you can be done in by your competition. So he also follows this formula "Always win the RACE" which stands for:

R – Research: Define the program, objectives, strategy, audience

A – Action: Plan the program

C – Communicate and execute the program

E – Evaluate the results

There is just one chapter in the book on the power of social media and we spoke about how it has helped him get the word out about The Mirror Test. He uses several platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and has also been buying targeted ads on Facebook. He just recently started The Mirror Test Facebook page and a Mirror Test Twitter Page. "I first started using Twitter to stay connected with my family and people started paying attention to what I was saying, so I organically built a following there." Jeff also wrote about "Twankers", a word that he has coined that describes those people on Twitter that are just there to sell themselves and annoy the rest of us. Any of us on Twitter know who they are.

I read many marketing related books and columns, and I find that I connect so much more with what I'm reading when I know the author. This was true in reading The Mirror Test as well. Jeff shared with me that he has already started work on his second book which will be part of the next
chapter in his career. We'll probably also see his face on TV
again.

So good luck Jeff. Thanks again for sharing with me your thoughts during the interview. We're looking forward to seeing you again soon on your visits back to Rochester.

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Please stop referring to me as Mr. DiVita. Obviously, you know nothing of me or my blog, which makes me wonder why you're pitching me. (Mr. DiVita is my ex-husband and he doesn't blog.)

Please stop sending me off-topic pitches. I don't know what list I'm on but it's dead wrong. We do not do sex stories on Lip-sticking.

Please stop sending me music video information. I once or twice reported on a music video and it didn't really work for me. I do not do that kind of reporting any longer. If you read my blog, you'd know that.

Please stop sending me make-up, plastic surgery, healthfood, cooking, and/or kid-focused material. While all good and sometimes relevant to business women, those topics do not lend themselves to the kinds of content we provide here.

Please stop sending me pitches that include ALL the other people you're pitching, in the CC line. In case you're not aware of it – that's spam. I could not follow-up with those emails, and you should not be sharing them. If you need help on how to use email effectively, I can direct you to a good book on it.

Please stop thinking that every woman's blog is a Mommy blog, or a fashion blog, or a food blog. This blog is a business blog. If I report on lifestyle issues, it's because I saw a good article in the WSJ or the NYT or on a companion blog. Your pitch on behalf of your expert gets deleted. And don't mistake an image of a red high heel as an indication I write about shoes. It merely represents strong, powerful women in the workplace.

Please stop sending me pitches meant for Donna or Lena or Mary. Their blog posts are easily identified and if you have something to say about them or to them, leave a comment. I do not send your pitches along to them. They are busy women who are trying to field inappropriate pitches like yours, all day long.

In conclusion, do read the blog and recommend truly relevant information on women and business.

Thank you. Yvonne DiVita

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By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

Early Adopter, trend setter, trend follower, mindless cult member, one of the cool kids, one of those trying desperately to BE cool, one of the thundering consumer herd…

All of these terms have been used to describe us Apple users. I've got an iMac, a Macbook, an iPod, and now - ta-da! - an iPad (or, as I think of it, a puppy named Petey. All together now -  ewwwww…).

Regular readers know I'm not big on "cute" and I tend to be a bit of a cranky contrarian. ("You Kids, get off my Facebook page!") 

And yet…

PSA: The following is not an Apple commercial, stay with me
here.

I still smile – after nearly four years – whenever I walk in my office and see my iMac sitting there, a sleek looking package of gonzo, user-friendly computing power, ready to rock and roll, grab and save, cut and paste. My Macbook has never let me down and I've lugged all over the place, for both fun and biz (Nothing on the hotel television? No prob. Hulu and online feeds await via my magic box.) The iPod makes my power walks power dances on some days (one of the pluses of living in a "transitional" neighborhood – your neighbors don't care what you're doing, as long as you're not doing in their front yard…;-)  

Now I've got a new puppy iPad. And, it's – well – cute. (or as cute as a hunk of plastic and metal can be.)  It's a marvel of design. Yes, I know, techies – it has some limitations, and I.don't.care. As a user I love it. It's fun, easy to use and – yep – just downright cool.  (Check out all the custom cases and covers you can buy on Etsy and other sites – you don't see that happening for the Dell notebook, now do you? Oh, yeah…there's Kindle, but I can't download a bazillion apps I can use in both life and biz on the Kindle.)  

The power and glory of the Apple cult has been written about for years, but my new iPad reminds me anew of why there is a cult:

They design for the user, not the developer.  (Sure, the user may be uber-techie genius Steve Jobs, but the guy's got taste.)

They make their products fun AND functional.

Their products put silly smiles on people's faces (Check out your local Apple store. All kinds of folks in there playing and grinning.)

They're still way ahead of Microsoft. Those goofy commercials with "real users" telling how MS designed Windows 7 "for me!" always make me grin.  Uh-huh, we've been doing that in Apple land for years.    

And…they're turning into a content distribution company.  It's insanely easy to buy from them – you find yourself dropping more than a few dimes on apps and music. It's so easy.  Before I know it – I've spent thirty bucks, and I'm happy about it.

Are your customers happy about spending $ with you? Hmmm…

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Short and sweet: "Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today, I dare to win." ~ Bernadette Devlin
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By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Well results of another new study have been released regarding marketing to women and what influences our purchasing decisions. A joint study from iVillage and SheSpeaks highlights that interaction between women through online community websites, forums and message boards have a "dramatic" influence on driving product preference, loyalty, and purchase.

Online coupons and product reviews by other women are the most influential in persuading our purchase decisions. That doesn't surprise me at all. With the grocery bill continuing to go up and up every week I have made it a regular part of my shopping routine to first go online and print out coupons for products I need that week. Coupons.com has become my go-to site for these deals.

I also regularly will print out online coupons while I'm visiting other sites when I see a product that I like. Hungry Girl is one of my favorites that sends me a daily newsletter, quite often with links to print out coupons from brands. And when Hungry Girl tells me about a new product, I'm looking for it on the shelf next time I'm in Wegmans. They were the first to introduce me to Thomas' new thin bagels that are only 100 calories! Love 'em!

The numbers in the study state that women are 77% more likely to look for products and 67% more likely to
purchase them in a store after reading online reviews on a community
forum or message board. 68% of the women use online coupons and 60% percent also say that these coupons are more influential on their purchases now than one year ago. Purchases of food and beverage, health and beauty and household products are the categories most women purchase from these influences.

51% said that consumer recommendations on websites are influential, 45% are influenced by emails from companies or brands and 41% from articles read online. It also revealed that 51% of women actively follow brands and retailers online through social media networks like Facebook and find them to be valuable communications channels. However, only 19% said that posts from friends influence them to make a purchase, and 11% cite posts
from brands.

"Women want advice from other shoppers, but they also want to share their experiences and look for validation before making a purchase," says Jodi Kahn, executive vice president at iVillage. "They become much more loyal to a brand if you give them the tools to make the correct buying decision. Coupons and programs increase brand loyalty."

Just so happens that iVillage is scheduled to launch on Thursday a new parenting and a new beauty website. They claim these sites will make it easier for women to search for information and product reviews. We'll just have to check it out and let them know what we think. I'm also interested to hear from you women if you all agree with the findings of this survey. I welcome your thoughts and comments. What influences you the most?

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It's here! The first business book actually written ON Twitter! That's right – a business book about social media marketing comprised of a series of twitter tweets. How kewl is that?

I can tell you how kewl – very kewl! Toby Bloomberg, of Diva Marketing, wrote this book with the help of some marketing leaders (yes, I was one) and her keen insight into the world of social media. Toby hasn't merely created a unique book out of comments and musings in 140 characters, she's created a new approach to communicating. While the traditional publishing world may not have caught up to this new form of book, the social media world is embracing it with open arms.

As one of the people who participated in this endeavor, I received a copy of the book recently and I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. I especially love the Dedication: "Sail away from the safe harbor," it says. "Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain

And below that, Toby writes, "Dedicated to the pioneers of social media marketing who are showing the world there is a new way to do business." Not just a new way, I will venture to add. But a new mindset. A new method that is totally innovative.

Those who read this blog on a regular basis know I do not use the term "innovative" loosely. So much of what is touted today as innovative, is not.  So much of what is borderline ordinary, but just out of the box, perhaps, is touted at innovative, when it is not. So much of what we call "new" is not new – and cannot be said to be innovative.

This book is innovative. This book is full of the kind of conversation you wish you could be part of at conferences and seminars, but which seldom actually happens. This book contains the thoughts and advice of many marketers far more talented than I. People like Shel Israel, who wrote the Foreword. And, Paul Chaney, a giant among social media marketers. And, Wayne Hurlbert, and B.L. Ochman, and Neville Hobson, and Dana VanDen Heuvel…and Susan Getgood and Melanie Notkin (another innovative soul) and Liz Strauss, and David Meerman Scott.

Make no mistake – the conversations in this book are part of its innovation, but the book itself, it's conception, and it's purpose, make it more innovative than the sum of its parts. While the rest of us struggle to make Twitter work for us – the better to advise clients – Toby used the tool to push the conversation to its logical limit: in print, online, full of information and ideas that everyone can embrace.

If you're lost on the crowded landscape of Twitter (wondering who's who and who isn't and why you should care), you need a good GPS system. It's here. In this book. Download it today, and share, share, share. The world needs to read this. The whole world needs to read this. 

Happy Anniversary, Toby. I'm proud to know you.

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