Grasshopper.com is the company behind the below videos.  They are entertaining, but they also subtly promote the company.  But why did they work?  Typically advertising would have spent 30 to 120 seconds pitching the company or a product and as is traditional would have been on TV or radio.  These shouldn’t be effective at marketing Grasshopper.

You might be asking, what the heck is Grasshopper?  Grasshopper.com is a virtual phone system for small businesses.  You promote one number and can have the calls going to anyone in your business or to any one of your phones–mobile, desk, home, or voicemail.

Being a virtual system, it makes sense to market to people who are online.  But instead of just doing some banner ads or Google AdWords, they put out these viral videos, which have gotten hundreds of thousands of views.  To buy that many clicks they would have spent at least a couple hundred thousand dollars.

Their videos connect with the entrepreneurial desires felt by their market, which has helped get the videos passed along over and over.  And here I share them with you because you can emulate them and do your own viral videos to brand your business.

Enjoy.

Go here to see a presentation by David Hauser of Grasshopper.com where he explains the marketing approach behind the “Entrepreneurs can change the world” video. http://b.lesseverything.com/2009/12/16/david-hauser-of-grasshopper-com-at-lessconf-2009

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If you can’t get big opportunities handed to you, then make your own.

Steve Nash, point guard for the Phoenix Suns, is a really good basketball player, but…

Nash wouldn’t get picked for a full-blown campaign as a superstar pitchman for a big shoe company. Names like LeBron and Kobe get put on shoes, clothes and hundreds of other products and commercials with big advertising budgets.

Instead of whining about not getting multi-million dollar sponsorship deals (Nash used to shun sponsorships), Steve Nash created his own deals. Mr. Nash is turning into a top-notch entrepreneur with some serious marketing chops. At 36, he is pushing the retirement envelope for professional basketball. If he stays healthy, he could probably make it to 40. But then what?

Steve’s answer: Steve Nash Enterprises, the umbrella to dozen business ventures such as Mission Skincare and Meathawk Productions. As to the sponsorship deals, Nash pitched NIKE on a web video campaign. For Vitaminwater, Nash has created a very successful viral video campaign online. Nash pokes a lot of fun at himself while pitching products.

NIKE Trash Talk

— Article continues below –
Vitaminwater

What does this have to do with you and your business? Plenty. First, look to the future. You probably won’t be playing the same game you’re playing now. Second, be fearless. Try new ventures. Create new marketing. Third, lighten up. Let people see that you’re human and that humans work in your company. Laugh at yourself. That way when others start laughing they’ll be laughing with you and not at you.

~ t

For great articles on Steve Nash from Fast Company and more video links: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/142/transition-game.html and http://www.fastcompany.com/article/baller-steve-nash-scores-web-video-three-pointer

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I was tasked to first get them to outrank their Etsy competitors on the search engines and in less than a month I got them ahead on one keyword and right next to their competitors on several other keywords. They sell fabric covered magnetic bulletin boards. That’s a mouthful, but as you can see in the photo above, really cool stuff.

What makes them different is they are the only producers of uniquely shaped fabric covered magnet boards. Everyone else does rectangles and squares. Sometimes you’ll see a circle. The problem for their competitors is they have to cut the sheet metal by hand. Susan, one of the co-owners, was able to tap her husband’s machine shop which has a laser cutter. They create the design, it gets put into the CAD software and Bam! a unique design is cut.

Because of this machine, they are able to take custom orders, too.

As a search engine optimization client, my long term goal for Half Moon Originals is to get them showcased on fashion, style and home decor blogs and to get them ranking against boring old magnetic boards that get sold at office supply stores.

I’ll up date you with their progress. Half Moon Originals is run by two great women with awesome products so they totally deserve to succeed.

Check them out and buy one or two of their designs at http://www.etsy.com/shop/halfmoonoriginals.

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In the last week I had conversations with two prospective clients and I shifted their mindset so they could see how to create a breakthrough in their businesses.

The first prospect was interested in doing Internet marketing for his business, but before I would go any further with this topic I needed to know more about his business and what he was doing to get customers now.

In the process of telling me his story he complained that he was just buried in work and his business just wasn’t growing–it was feast or famine. I asked the most logical question when someone is having ups and downs, which is “Who is doing the labor in your business?” He said he was doing everything.

He then told me that he had been fired from his previous job because he kept making too much in commission checks as a salesman. Next logical question, “If you’re such a good salesman, why are you wasting your time laboring in your business when you could be making more sales to pay people to labor in your business?”

I’m glad to say the lightbulb went on in his head. His breakthrough was realizing that as a business owner he should work on his strengths and his most high-dollar activities. When he closes a sale, he can make thousands of dollars, which gives him the money necessary to hire people to do the labor in his business such as all the administrative work.

His business will see dramatic growth after this breakthrough.

Prospect #2 was telling me her business story and I mentioned that I outsource different tasks and jobs overseas where I can hire an expert for less than a novice in the US. To make the idea real to her, I said that when I had my pool company my office manager was in another state.

Her question, “How does one manage an office from another state?” Here’s the questions that I asked her and you can ask yourself:

Of the administrative tasks that your company needs accomplished must be done in a physical format?

What administrative tasks require a person at a particular location?

What tasks are you requiring someone do at a location and in a physical format that actually could be done electronically?

My pool company had to have actual labor performed at the customer’s home where the pool was located. However, there were no other tasks in the pool company that required people to be in Arizona. Bookkeeper and CPA were in Illinois. Office manager was in Florida. I was frequently on vacation. A business is a machine that works for you not the other way around.

I explained to her that she could hire an assistant from the Philippines who was fluent in English and had a college degree in Accounting or Business Administration for $5 per hour and could eliminate nearly all of her office tasks so she could concentrate on what she should be doing–marketing the solutions her company provides.

For those thinking that she would be taking jobs away from Americans, let me say this–WRONG. She had a similar concern, but here is how it works out.

An assistant in the Arizona will cost about $20 per hour including taxes and other expenses. This person will most likely not have a bachelor’s degree in business or accounting or a degree of any kind. Weekly cost is $800.

If she hires a Philippine assistant for $5 per hour her weekly cost will be $200 per hour giving a difference of $600. With the savings she can hire a laborer for her construction crew at a cost of $480 per week. The $120 per week could go towards the bottom line or reinvested into equipment to make her crew more productive.

With the new laborer out in the field, the skilled craftsmen can become more productive because they don’t have waste their time on low-dollar value, but important tasks such as site cleanup. Now the skilled craftsmen who cost as much as $30-40 per hour are getting the job done faster allowing her company to take on more projects, which means she can hire more people to work on the job sites.

All this from learning to use outsourcing appropriately.

Prospect #2′s breakthrough is much like that of prospect #1. High-dollar value activities are being put off or not done at all because low-dollar value tasks are being given priority. What is worse is they were assuming they had to do these low value tasks. This assumption was hindering their business growth.

In one week Prospect #1 has spent more time selling, which he is good at, and outsourcing tasks to subcontractors. He has already seen a sizable increase in his business and he is optimistic about being able to keep this trend going.

Since I just met with Prospect #2 yesterday, I’ll have to fill you in if she starts to implement outsourcing in her business.

Identify your high-dollar value tasks and your low-dollar value tasks that you are doing or should be doing and give the tasks to the appropriate person. Eventually, you’ll hire yourself out of job and your company will become a real business where you give it direction and vision and, best of all, you collect a check.

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Thank You Small Business Owners and Employees Everywhere.

You work hard and many of you do dirty jobs that the “gurus” look down on. There is a lot of business gurus telling people to follow their passion and they’ll be happy and wealthy. I know from experience, and I bet you do too, that sometimes–many times–rolling up your sleeves and doing the things that others won’t do is a path to wealth and happiness.

In celebration of you, small business owners and employees, is this video of Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. It’s 20 minutes long, but so insightful that I recommend you watch it all the way through.

Let’s welcome the New Year and when you run into other small business people shake their hands and say, “Thank you.”

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Use a mini digital video camera to hunt for what’s interesting to your market inside your business, capture it on camera and then share it using social media. This is a tasty recipe for connecting with customers and prospects and building brand loyalty.

Please forgive the background noise. This video was shot at a Friday evening get-together called #evfn, which is Twitter speak for East Valley Friday Night. You can see more info on PhoenixFridayNight.com to get a look into a fantastic movement to connect people in the ‘real’ world using social media.

To learn more about Evo, go to FunAnymore or Podiobooks.com.

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This past weekend and last night, I have been on a Gary Vaynerchuk jag. Watching videos, listening to interviews, devouring GaryVaynerchuk.com. I even watched a couple episodes of Obsessed with Samantha Ettus, a show co-produced by Vaynerchuk. And I haven’t gotten around to reading his new book Crush It! I’ll be buying that tonight.

For those who don’t know who Gary is, go check out WineLibraryTV.com. He created a hugely successful, daily wine review show. Here’s the thing. I don’t watch his show. I’m not interested in the topic and I find it only mildly entertaining. So why would I write about him you may ask? Well, he is the leading brand thinker on the planet.

He has seen the future and it is now. Gary tells people to live their passion and there is room in this world for all of us to be happy and make a living doing what makes us happy. He is also one of the ultimate big thinkers.

Which is why I have been obsessed with all things Gary for the last few days.

Recently, I wrote a post about Marketing Mindset and one of the guidelines is “Whatever you are thinking, think bigger.” Well, I haven’t been thinking bigger. Seriously, I know just how scary thinking big is and it hits me on a daily basis. Some days I win and other days I wallow in my small thinking.

A friend and client, Jason Knight, asked me yesterday evening what I wanted to be known as. And all the GaryVee from the weekend hit me like a pit bull and clamped down on my throat until I did something about it.

Here’s the deal: I want to become known as the “guy.” The guy who changed the way local business owners do business. Change the way they relate to their businesses, their customers and the entirety of their lives.

Pretty big goal, right? Big thinking, no? Well, it scares me and sometimes I procrastinate on the things I know will help me achieve that goal. I have told this to people I know, but haven’t made it public because once I do, you will know and you will watch to see if I succeed, fail or just wuss out.

You and I probably don’t know each other, but I care whether you succeed in your business. And I’m most definitely not just talking about financially succeeding, but that your entire life becomes what you want it to be. Family, travel, kids, grandkids, friends and charities. Whatever makes you happy.

I believe a business is there to support your life, not your life is there to support a business.

For me to achieve my goal of helping you, I need to become a bigger, better person. I need to put myself “out there” to be found. To be challenged and even to risk ridicule.

I have been putting off making a video podcast, which was supposed to be the purpose of Local Marketing Mastery. So, last night after Jason asked me that question, I committed to myself that I would become apart of the business community. I would produce more content to help you. Inspire you. And maybe in the process become friends with you so both of us can have a life that makes us truly happy.

Stay tuned to Local Marketing Mastery because soon there will be a video podcast about local marketing, a daily (hopefully) video segment called Marketing Mini, more blog posts and probably some live speaking engagements.

Lastly, I will be reaching out and participating in the larger business community so if you have a business blog or podcast, invite me to check it out. I want to learn from you as much if not more than I desire to share what I know.

I’m on twitter @TimConley. Shoot me a tweet. Or send me an email at tim [@] localmarketingmastery.com and I will email you back. (sorry that’s not a link, but I don’t want a ton of spam from getting my email scraped off this post)

Let’s all start thinking bigger, live with passion and as Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Bring the thunder and go out and Crush It!”

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11. Get exposure to potential customers as cheaply as possible and then make sure that all the information is there for them to make a decision.

12. If prospects won’t open their wallets for the beta or prototype, then no amount spent on marketing or sales will matter.

13. No matter how great your service or product, there will always be very smart people who’s advice you trust telling you that your service or product is crazy and will never sell.

14. S**t happens, but it’s usually not as bad as it first seems.

15. It’s tragic when good products never make it to market because they were never properly sold. If no one in your company knows how to find qualified leads for your product, you are in big trouble.

16. Take care of the people with integrity

17. Startup entrepreneurs need a handful of trusted, objective advisors who will share their perceptions of what’s so – no matter what.

18. How are you continuing to invest in your customers and their experience after they have purchased your product? Value relates to the entire customer experience.

19. No one deal or opportunity should be worth damaging a long term relationship (business or otherwise).

20. The most successful businesses are ones where a group of friends help each other succeed.

To get all 37 Pithy Insights From Street-Smart Entrepreneurs go here:

http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/10022/37-Pithy-Insights-From-Street-Smart-Entrepreneurs.aspx

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To read the whole post, and I recommend you do so, go to KickBackLife.

If you’d like more free time in your business, here’s some tips…

1. Automate as much of your business as possible, put it into operations manuals, and delegate the work out to the right people… replace yourself in as many ways as possible
2. Don’t take on any projects that won’t enhance your lifestyle – think Freedom Business
3. Hire a top notch personal assistant if you can afford to… they can make a WORLD of difference… just make sure it’s the right person, cuz the wrong person can be a pain in the ass
4. Read – The Emyth by Michel Gerber and The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris – do what those books say to do
5. Only focus on the big levers in moving your business forward, get other people to do everything else
6. Make your primary focus the marketing of your business, the strategies to get from point A to point B and networking
7. Get good at saying “No” to people… and don’t feel guilty about it, it’s your time… use it wisely

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A by-product is something that is created while in the process of creating something else.  Even if you don’t make a physical product, everything that gets created has by-products and waste.  If you make software like Jason Fried you may develop a new knowledge base.  That knowledge is a by-product and a valuable one, too.

Let’s say you create a more efficient system to process paperwork such as a mortgage application and now your company doesn’t use any paper internally.  If this new system saves you time and money, then others will want to buy that system so they don’t have to start from scratch to do the same thing you did.  Also, you created waste with this new system–your copiers and printers are now obsolete in your company.  You now have a waste product that someone else will find valuable.

One man’s trash is another’s treasure.

I worked with a bookkeeper some time ago who liked what she did, didn’t want to manage any employees, but wanted to make more money.  Bookkeeping is a commodity and if someone charges too much, no matter how good she is, the client will go somewhere else.  The bookkeeper, let’s call her Jane to make things easier on me, raised her hourly rate some since she wasn’t charging enough.  This gave her an instant pay raise without losing any clients.

In the process of coaching Jane on her business we discovered she has been finding ways to save her clients money.  While doing her bookkeeping she found that some of her clients would accidentally double pay a bill or spend too much on a commodity.  She was pointing this out to her clients and they were thankful she was looking out for them.  Also, Jane had several clients in very similar industries and could compare what each was spending on supplies and materials–while keeping each client’s privacy.

I suggested Jane formalize this as a service and take a percentage of the savings.  Most of her clients were happy to pay her a percentage of the savings and instead of just being thankful, they started telling people how much their bookkeeper was saving them each year.  (Lesson: people find more value in things they pay for than those they get for free.)

After that suggestion, I helped Jane develop a system to get more clients and then ‘sell’ those clients to other bookkeepers.  She would cherrypick these clients for herself and get a percentage of the other bookkeepers’ revenue.  Essentially, she was selling leads, but instead of a one-time fee, she got paid monthly for as long as the company remained a client.

I guarantee you have multiple by-products in your business that could add considerable revenue to your business if you would only look for them.

Here is Jason Fried’s video that way you can get a different perspective on making money with your by-products.

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I’m going to switch from talking about other business owners and managers to talking to you.  It might sound preachy or all “up on a soapbox” and that would be because I will be all preachy (and I just got a new soapbox in yesterday and I’m dying to try it out).

1. You have 2, maybe 3 channels for new business.
2. You have no idea which one is the most effective for time and/or dollars spent.
3. You have no idea what to do to make your 2 to 3 channels more effective.
4. You wish I would just tell you what to do so you can stop reading this and go put out fires in your business.

Here are the 6 Customer-Creating Strategies that are a MUST for a local business.

1. Referrals: I’m talking a real referral system not that nebulous “word-of-mouth.”  You need to have a formal structure to encourage your customers to not only tell people about your business, but to actively get their friends, family, co-workers, that guy you see once in a while at networking events—everyone they know—to spend money with you.
2. Public Relations: This isn’t about sending a crappy look-at-my-boring-company press release to the free local paper.  PR is the least used, though one of the most effective strategies a local business can use.  Hold events.  Invite the press.  Make sure your events aren’t boring.  Get involved with local charities.  Create something new.  Do something unexpected.  If you own a restaurant, make a new dish and name it after a local celebrity or tie the name into something going on in the news.
3. Print Media: I didn’t label this one newspaper or magazine or whatever because I don’t know where your customers are or what they are reading.  Odds are you don’t know either.  First ask your current customers what they read.  Then craft a compelling offer with a clear call to action and a deadline before you publish your ad in any medium.
4. Networking: You need to get away from your business and interact with other business owners and go to places where your prospective customers go.  Then just talk to them.  Crazy, I know, but people like to do business with people they know, like and trust.
5. Joint Ventures: When you get to know other local business owners, you will find that you share the same demographic base with most of them.  Why not do what has been so successful for online companies and promote to each other’s customers?  You create an offer and share a percentage of the revenue with the host company.  Be as generous as you can afford to be.  The goal is to gain long-term customers—not a one-time sale.  You do a dozen of these in a year, you could easily quadruple your current size.
6. Finally, I’ll talk about Internet marketing and specifically list building.  Not having a customer list in the offline world is a grievous sin and the same goes for your Internet marketing efforts.  If you are not building a list of email addresses, you are missing the chance to add tons of new customers.  In a recent email marketing campaign for a client, we sent out a series of 4 emails and made a gross income of $54,000.  You are giving up the opportunity to print money anytime you want by not building a list.

That’s the top 6 Customer Creating Strategies you need to implement right now.  No more of this, “I get most of my customers through word-of-mouth” non-sense.  You are going to have at least 6 ways to get new customers and I suggest you implement one per week or minimally one every other week.  In time, I can give you some more strategies and hopefully have about 50 or more ways that customers come to you.

Cheers,

Tim Conley

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Call me a heretic.  But there is a truth that has been lying just under the surface for decades.  Some business gurus and pundits have mentioned it, but were too afraid to bring it completely into the open.

Not I.  I can stand by no longer while my fellow entrepreneurs suffer from this unknown illness.

It’s called laziness.

What!!?  How dare I call small business owners lazy?

I am aware of the tens of thousands of small business owners who work 16 hour days 7 days a week.  And I am calling them lazy.  It is actually worse than just being lazy, it also contains a lot of fear of change.  I will explain my heresy in a minute.

For over a decade, I have worked with over 200 small businesses from local hardware stores to fledgling software companies and everyone of them suffered from this malaise to some degree.  The laziness comes from not wanting to work on the parts of their business that will release them from their long hours.  The whole working in their business and not on their business mentality.

The Courage To Deal With The Unkown Is Key To Success

The greatest strength an entrepreneur has is the ability to cope with ambiguity.  That’s why we are able to start businesses and others don’t.  Most people think it’s the ability to handle risk, but most entrepreneurs don’t do something to be risky or that seems risky.  We have a vision of a better future and then work to create that future.

We all start out wearing most or all the hats and handle the ambiguity of not knowing the ‘right’ answer to how things should be done.  We just get it done.

The problem of conservatism (maintaining the status quo) kicks in for nearly all entrepreneurs.  Some recognize it and then step out of their comfort zone and back into ambiguity.  These are the entrepreneurs who go on to build bigger businesses–ones that can run without them.  They relinquish control over jobs (hats) and create processes to guide people when they aren’t around.

The trap I see happen with most small business owners is they become conservative, which is based on a fear of the unknown.  “If I hire an employee, will she do it as well as me?” Or “What if I can’t afford to pay my bills when I hire an employee.”

The reason I call this laziness is that from all the consulting I have done over the years and from meeting hundreds of other small business owners is they say they don’t have time and/or the energy to work on their business.

Working 80+ Hours A Week Isn’t Hard-Work, It’s Stupid

Yet they have the time and energy to work 16 hours a day 7 days a week.  And mostly on tasks that they could pay someone minimum wage to do.  The crucial parts of a business that can’t be hired out are the vision and the leadership.  When building a business those to elements are crucial to success.  The job of an entrepreneur is to guide the business not do the jobs of the business.

I always ask my potential clients if they can find just one hour each week to work on their business.  Those who say they can’t, I won’t hire as a client.  Once I show them how they can replace themselves with someone else, cost effectively, and what they should do with the new-found time, they become more successful.  They are able to work less and achieve more.

In part two of this article, I will discuss how to replace yourself and what jobs should be replaced first and what to do with the time gained to become more successful.

Tim

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