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It disturbs me on a fundamental level that the concept of the press release has really died. There used to be a time that a well written PR could make it in papers around the country, informing the public about your product or service, letting them know the salient points, invigorating interest, and generally announcing to the world that something new has arrived.  This was a good system, and it had a simple purity to it that I frankly miss today.

The fact of the matter is that press releases, like so much else, have become a question of knowing the right people and not promoting a quality product. A purchase from sites like PRWeb is pretty much a waste of money if you’re hoping to see your press release actually make any sort of print. It’s a fundamental problem with a system that used to work, but simply can’t keep up with the sheer bulk of information that is available on a daily basis. Especially with print media slowly bleeding out all over the world wide web, editors have to play an educated guessing game with every piece they publish, asking whether this one will somehow draw people’s attention in ways that another piece might not. It’s no different than trying to predict fashion trends, only the odds are that their efforts will prove ultimately futile in the end and the print media empires will have to change drastically or go the way of ancient Babylon. At that point, why not simply cultivate friendships, especially if you might need a job? See my post on business models for more of my feelings on that topic.

In today’s business world, press releases are valuable not because they actually make it into the press. They’re valuable for their digital content. Blast emails to websites that may reprint your PR have a potential to increase your internet traffic. It’s a fair to decent way to promote your website and get the search engine spiders to believe that you are being linked by third parties. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work well or for long, and often you’ll find that you’re spending a lot of money on press releases (remember when you sent them to the papers for free?) that doesn’t translate into profits since there’s really no way of controlling your target audience with the kind of coverage you need in order to manufacture search engine relevancy.

It’s unfortunately, but soon we’ll have seen the end of the press release. A part of my past will be gone along with what used to be an important step in any product rollout. The world is changing, and we have to keep up, but the basic disconnect between company and customer that this represents, that businesses have lost one tool to communicate directly with people, makes me a little sad.

In what seems to be a continuing series on how to innovate from within your company, I’d like to talk a little bit about what you can do with the things you’ve found. Sure, that unmarketable gizmo looks a little different now than it did when you originally put it on a shelf, but you still don’t know what to do with it. Maybe, instead of looking outward, look to your left and your right. It’s not only the mass of consumers that can benefit from your work. Other companies can make customers just as easily as any singular person.

Now that you’ve found something to work with, ask yourself, “Is there anybody with a problem that this can solve?” This is not an easy question to ask: by definition it’s not always easy to know what another company’s problems are. However, like with any other product, finding the niche for it to fit into will make it potentially valuable. Marketing your failed product or service around with a smart sales force actually might reveal where those problems are and put you in a position to take advantage of being the first to offer a solution.

Take some time to also consider what five other companies might want your product, either to use or to sell. Do some roleplaying and put yourself in the shoes of people like you, both competitors and non-competitors alike. How might a competitor approach the product differently? How do they generally approach things differently from you? What might somebody in another industry do with this type of service?

By thinking outside of your own company, you’ll find new markets to tap. Commerce doesn’t flow in a straight line from you to the customer. It branches along many roads of which you are a single hub. Consider your connections to the rest of the people in the corporate world and how what doesn’t work for you might be something they want or need.

They’ve been around for several years. Back in 2004 there was a minor craze for ebooks, before that in 2001, and even as far back as 1996 the concept has been floated as a new and exciting enterprise for the digital age. Each time the hype died back down shortly after as obstacles like an ironic public unwillingness to read books on their computers and lack of intuitive measures in e-readers made it infeasible as a format and insoluble as a business. Combine that with the lack of interest in publishing companies to produce high quality ebooks of popular novels, and you have a lot of hype that amounts to very little in terms of an actual industry.

Recently, an ebook distributor called LibreDigital got $15 million in venture capital for second round financing from several different firms. Considering the incredible difficulty in getting funding for business in the floundering world economy, especially from venture capitalists, this speaks volumes for the viability of this company. One must wonder exactly what it is about it that attracted a class of businessmen and women known for very careful investment to this particular company.

My guess would be that many of the hurdles that prevented the ebook fad from taking hold previously are being overcome by expanding technology. 2009 has seen the release of nine new ebook readers (compared to seven total from 2006-2008), seven of which were released between June and now. These portable devices allow for the storage of gigs of books and easy access to all of them, not to mention ease of reading. The advent of devices such as this which are also small and light enough to carry on an airplane (though not for long the way airlines are limiting luggage), mean that ebooks may actually become a profitable enterprise this time around.

There is an old saying in law enforcement: “Follow the money.” This also applies to business. Business trends are often set by what is invested in them, filtering up from the street only when money is infused into marketing and sales. In this case, the money is going into R&D and I suspect soon actual advertising. Either way, watch the ebook business over the rest of the year, especially during the holiday season, for a huge expansion.

Affiliate programs are not a new idea. They’ve gained a form of rebirth lately due to the ease with which the internet lends itself to their use, but in the end the idea of rewarding somebody for bringing business to you is as old as business itself. I can easily imagine merchants in ancient Egypt or Greece paying others to support their businesses. It’s neither revolutionary nor particularly risky in most cases as all you have to do is run your business and hope people follow it to your Seller.

While there is money to be made in affiliate marketing, keep in mind that there are pitfalls that you have to watch out for as well. It’s easy to get involved in the excitement of a new business, invest yourself and your time into it, and see small or no returns on your efforts, so pay careful attention to what you’re looking at and how you approach it.

First of all, any article, blog entry, or casual mention of “affiliate marketing” will probably get several comments inviting the author to join their program, that many of them are scams or sound too good to be true, but this one is different and worth trying for a small investment. Let me say now, I’m not interested in joining your affiliate, so please keep any comments to a discussion of the article.

That being said, they are right that a lot of affiliate programs sound too good to be true. They promise quick returns for minimal effort, simply putting a banner ad on your website or posting it on a social networking place. These will often be accompanied by testimonials that prove that with hardly any work you can make remarkable amounts of money. Even if this is true of some people, the odds are heavily against you, and the more a company tries to assure you of the safety of their investment, the less trustworthy they likely are.

It’s also worth noting that affiliate programs are a form of work. You are working for another company to advertise their product, service, website, etc. If you get a job in an office, do you pay your employer for the privilege of working there? Then why should you pay for the honor of being an affiliate to another company? If they’re asking you for an investment of your capital in order to work for them, consider that perhaps they’re not making enough on the click-throughs to otherwise make a profit, so why would you?

The truth is no matter what you become an affiliate for, it’s going to involve hard work like any business. It’s a marketing technique like any other, and the company you’re working for will expect you to spread the word about their company by any effective means. It may be traditional methods like email marketing, SEO, or even display marketing. It might be in the form of reviews or clever blog entries. But the point is that there is no easy money to be had, and it will require effort on your part.

I’ve often heard small business owners wonder how to cut their capital output. All businesses have a finite amount of money to work with, so smart practices that help them spend less of it are always in demand. That’s why programs like service exchanges are such a good idea.

For those who haven’t heard of it before, a service exchange is where two businesses, rather than charge one another directly for complimentary services, perform the functions of their business for one another instead.  For example, a cleaning company might do monthly carpet treatments for a consulting firm that pays them in discounted or free service.

Now, the big problem with this is that there is a certain outset of money involved in service exchange. Our example cleaning company still needs to pay its cleaners, buy solutions, move their supplies, etc. The consulting firm has to spend time and resources developing strategies. However, the time and supplies are still a small fraction of what full charge would otherwise be for what they are receiving, especially new businesses that may not have a lot of business yet to keep them busy.

More important than the monetary incentive is the social one. No business can thrive on its own. It requires the good service of other companies, people who it depends on for resources. I wouldn’t suggest that any company wouldn’t do its job when being paid for the service, however too much distance between a company and a supplier means they have no personal incentive to go above and beyond for you. Service exchanges cut down on monetary gain, but they create a close relationship with a supplier who may be able to help you with referrals or at the very least will work harder to recognize the “favor” you’re doing them.

It may mean working for less or even for free, but a service exchange encourages communication between businesses and gives you an opportunity to do what you do best in exchange for what somebody else does. Moreover, the savings in capital outlay will add up very quickly.

A quick internet search about “business tips” or “marketing strategies” is almost assured of bringing up the phrase “network marketing.” Some people will wonder what it is, click on the link, and begin immediately to get sucked into an old idea that has been given a new name by enhanced technology.

What is now being called “network marketing” was once known to old-timers like myself as “multi-level marketing” or MLM. Many of you know that among the most successful users of this marketing technique is Amway. I’m not suggesting that Amway is in any way not legitimate, but they ride a very thin line in regards to their marketing strategy. The reason why is that MLM relies not on a person’s ability to sell a product, to make a product, or to provide a service. Rather, it is based primarily on their ability to garner more sales people. The advantages of actual sales are eclipsed by the advantages of selling the company.

The major problem is not in the companies themselves. Nor is it in the business model as a concept, which is basically a form of franchising on a very small scale. The problem comes from people who are not ready to actually participate and a structure that encourages people sales over product sales. People don’t realize that they are getting involved in a business, and that business requires that they treat it like any other business. In another business situation, you wouldn’t focus your efforts on encouraging people to compete with you, so what makes people think this is a viable strategy other than a graded payment structure that lends itself to recruitment?

MLM/Network marketing can be a viable marketing strategy, but the potential for it being nothing but a pyramid or Ponzi scheme is very high. Far too often companies base the profits on sign-up and renewal fees, with very few actual products being sold. This type of business is not sustainable and hurts both its employees and its clients, which happen to be largely the same people. Any business model founded on mindless acquisition of a larger sales force and not on the production of that sales force is highly suspect, and as a consumer and a business person you should be wary of any such model.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in the corporate world of late. As companies grow larger, become multinational conglomerations, push out local businesses, and generally change from a collection of businessmen and women into an entity, they’ve found new, more elaborate ways to divorce themselves from their customers.

I’m sure they all have reasons for this. Some do it in the name of efficiency and progress, arguing that increased computer-assisted help cuts down on hold times for common questions, making it more and more difficult to find an actual person to help you not just over the phone or the internet, but in physical locations as well. A few companies will say that they simply can’t afford to provide the customer service needed for the size that they’ve grown without a huge expenditure of capital. There are even corporations who unabashedly insist that customer service is not important in light of lower prices.

All of these arguments are poor excuses for what is essentially a desire to avoid having to deal with the repercussions of business decisions. I’m not suggesting that huge companies are looking for ways to swindle consumers like the robber barons of the 20s and 30s and get away with it, but rather that it is impossible to please everybody, and any decision a company makes will cause a certain part of their customer base to balk. The time and effort that it takes to address the concerns of customers and clients is by no means miniscule, and one could easily spend all of their time addressing every single concern.

However, the answer is not to develop labrythine systems designed to avoid the problem. The answer is to recognize that every individual problem is separate from the one before and, while offering computer-assisted solutions, make sure that you have a staff of human beings trained to deal with whatever problems may arise. If your company is too large to do this, then your company is too large.

No company, to my knowledge, has found a successful business model that did not, at one point or another, rely on consumers to generate cash flow. The nature of trade is that it is done between people. That’s how it was done when I was growing up and how it will continue to be done. Separating yourself from your customers is a short-term solution that encourages poor service, bad products, and eventually profit loss.

Regardless of how big or small your business is, think in the long term. The money you save cutting corners on customer service will eventually be money you wish you’d have spent.

Many factors go into properly targeting your advertisement to potential customers. The problem is that people often cast so wide a net that they waste time, energy, and, most importantly, money on too diffuse an effort. Rather than trying very hard to reach as many people as you can, focus instead on pinpointing the people you’re looking to target and keeping an eye on the scope of your efforts. Too much is just as bad as too little, and can actually be worse as it will tend to be more costly.

The first thing you want to look at is who you are looking for in terms of customers and clients. Not every business is geared to every person. A store that sells high end men’s clothing is wasting their time advertising in women’s magazines or discount websites. Buying radio space to promote your rock band’s new album on an R&B station probably won’t help you. There are outlayers in all cases (a woman might buy a gift for a man in her life, somebody may like a wide variety of musical genres, etc.), but for the most part it’s a poor approach to seeking out customers. We would all like those outlayers, the exceptions to the rules, to become loyal and repeat customers, but that should serve as a bonus to building a successful business supported by the kind of people that are most interested in what you have to offer. It’s always nice to see the middle-aged woman in your laser tag arena, but she won’t make up for the loss of the dozens of 8-12 year old boys that you normally would find in there.

Next, examine how you’re approaching your customer base geographically. If you have a storefront, are you spending your time advertising two or three towns away? Are they close enough that what you have to offer is worth bypassing nearer competitors? How far are you from your nearest competitor? You should be able to examine your business and determine things such as whether the bulk of your customers will come from the immediate area or have to travel a little to get to you. This will depend, for example, on where you are located (nearer to residential areas means more walk-ins) and what you do (businesses that target children will have more success in a smaller area as children walk or ride bikes/scooters/etc. to get there). Make sure that if you’re looking to draw in business to your location that you consider working outward in your advertising and taking advantage of convenience before you start trying to compete with older businesses on terms like price or customer confidence.

If you run an internet-based business, geographical targeting can still be important. Anything involving shipping means that a larger bulk of orders from nearby can save you money. Culture can play a role in advertising and how you present yourself may have more of an effect in one geographical neighborhood over another, meaning that you need to be aware of how to get and keep the attention of the people you want to spend their money on your product or service.

Being aware of how you target customers and why you choose those specific ones can save you time and effort over a long period. The trick is to keep a close eye on who is most interested in what you have to offer and make sure that you change your strategies when that factor changes.

When you’re starting out in business … or even after you’ve been in business for a while … you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you may miss one very important point that will have a major impact on your business.

The point that you’re probably missing is something your potential customers will see right away and what they see will either destroy your business are give it the boost it needs to survive. So what is this point that you’re probably missing? It’s your unique selling point … the thing that makes your business so very different from all the other businesses in town that are doing exactly the same thing as you’re doing. It’s what makes you stand out from the crowd.

Toni and her partner run a web design business in a small town and they’re in competition with five or six other web design businesses in the same town. Right from the start Toni realized that she needed something that would make her business stand out from the crowd and for her it was experience.

Toni, her partner and two of her other employees between them have a total of over 30 years experience in web design and e-commerce and  that’s far more than all those other web designers put together. And that’s the unique selling point for Toni’s business.

In a field where experience plays a huge part in producing a quality product … in this case the product is websites … 30 years experience gives Toni’s business and huge advantage over her competitors and she backs it up with great customer service.

So what’s your unique selling point? What does your business do … or produce … that’s totally different to every other business in the same vertical? What can you point to that will make customers come to you and do business with you rather than going to your competitors?

Maybe your business produces a better product at a cheaper price … maybe your business looks after it’s customers better than any of your competitors … maybe your after-sales service is second-to-none … maybe, like Toni, you and your staff have far more experience than any of your competitors. Whatever it might that can make you and your business stand out from the crowd is what you need to focus on in your marketing.

You don’t have to re-invent the wheel when you go into business … you just have to produce a better product at a comparable price and back it up with outstanding customer service.

So you’ve decided to have a website built for your well-known business. You want it to look smart, trendy and you want it to reflect the image that your business has already established over the last fifty years. Your business is already widely known for the wonderful products that it produces and the outstanding customer service that you provide to customers.

You’ve looked through the phone book and narrowed the field of potential web designers down to just two and you’ve asked them to come in to discuss the website with you. The first designer arrives dressed in a suit that’s contemporary but conservative. He speaks quietly but with authority and doesn’t need to use slang or profanity. He can answer all your questions clearly and concisely and he takes you through a prepared checklist of points that will help him understand what you want to include in the website.

He has a firm handshake and he looks you in the eye when he speaks to you. He uses a conservative gold pen to fill in the checklist and before he leaves he hands you his card … again, it’s conservative but it’s printed on good quality card and gives all the contact information that you could hope for.

When the second designer arrives he’s sporting a three-day beard; his jeans are grubby and his t-shirt displays a message that makes you want to cringe. His handshake is limp, he can’t look you in they eye and his business card is a inkjet printed on thin paper.

When he speaks he addresses you as ‘bro’ and ‘dude’ and he uses language that is full of jargon and profanities. He has no checklist and doesn’t really seem interested in hearing your thoughts on what the website should include.

Which website designer would you use? The one who projects a professional image or the one who looks like he sleeps under the bridge each night?

When it comes to marketing … whether it’s your product or yourself … image really is everything and first impressions are hard to overcome. In our example the second designer could have been a far better designer than the one who came dressed in a suit but the image doesn’t say that. The scruffy image says ‘LOSER’ in such a loud voice that it’s almost impossible to ignore.