Business, finances, forex

Good cash flow among factors in small business optimism. Wells Fargo released encouraging numbers on small business optimism recently calling small businesses the most optimistic since July 2008. San Diego Business Journal

Want to know why cash flow is critical to your business? See this report on difficulties facing small businesses as cash flow issues intervene. Always remember that cash flow is king in your business and that maintaining it is the key to your business survival. Dynamic Business

A closer look at the cash flow issue and why it’s important to you. Small business troubles from an international perspective have suffered setbacks in some places due to cashflow difficulties. Here’s a closer look at how cash flow problems have impacted small business owners in Australia. Dun & Bradstreet

Small business success means high sales, low costs. Lisa Irlam, founder of Swimovate, a company whose product PoolMate is making huge gains in the market, maintains a simple strategy of keeping cash flow her companies number one concern. The Sun

Cash flow means getting paid. A top tip for improving cash flow in yourcompany is to institute policies that make sure your invoices are paid on time. Here is a tip for boosting timely payment of invoices by your customers thus increasing cash flow. Business Credit Management

Timely paymentkey to small business survival. Small business owners say timely payment of pills by larger firms is at the heart of their problems with cash flow. They say solving the problem ofd timely payment is key to economic recovery. HeraldNet

Cash flow management mentoring offered. The Small Business Finance Institute of Atlanta will hold a training event Feb. 29 to focus on financial mentoring as a way to help entrepreneurs with their greatest challenge, to transform their enterprises with by teaching them to handle cash flow and financing challenges. eNews Channels

Public contracts bring more small business cash flow. Efforts to give small businesses the opportunity to bid on more public contracts offers a whole way for smaller companies to boost their cash flow and the national economy all at once. Huffington Post

Managing cash flow key to one small business success. If you want to understand why cash flow is so important to small businesses, just ask Jesse Farley, owner and proprietor of Farley Appliances. He’s survived competition from Sears and other big appliance retailers by keepingan eye on the cash. YourBayAreaNews.com

Projecting your business’s cash flow. For some, the mild winter is resulting in below expected revenue since there is no snow to plow. Understanding what limits your cash flow should help you tweak your business model to minimize the risk. NBC 29

From Small Business Trends

Mind Your Cash Flow for Small Business Success

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If your business is a corporation, you’re already aware that March 15th is the most critical tax deadline of the year. But March 15th is an important deadline for another reason…it’s the deadline for electing S Corporation status.

Choosing the right business structure is a significant issue, one you’ll want to consider carefully from all angles. The S Corporation is a popular way for small businesses to optimize their tax treatment and with the S Corp election deadline approaching, it’s a good time to examine this business entity.

If you’re launching a new business or are considering switching your corporate status, read on to learn if the S Corporation is right for you.

What is the S Corporation? 

Let’s start at the beginning. An S Corporation begins as general, for-profit C Corporation. After the corporation has been formed, it can elect ‘S Corporation Status’ by filing Form 2553 with the IRS in a timely manner (we’ll cover deadlines in more detail below). With this election, the company is now taxed as a sole proprietor or partnership rather than as a separate entity like the C Corp. This means that corporate profits and losses are “passed-through” and reported on the personal income tax returns of the shareholders. That’s why the S Corp is known as a ‘pass-through entity.’

What are the benefits of the S Corporation?  

The main reason to elect S Corporation status is to avoid double taxation. A C Corporation is a separate tax payer that files its own federal and possibly state tax returns. Any profits are first taxed in the Corporation’s tax return. Then if the Corporation decides to take that profit and distribute dividends to shareholders, the dividends are taxed again (this time, on each shareholder’s personal tax statement).

As an S Corporation, the company pays no income tax. The profit is distributed to the shareholders as a dividend and each shareholder is taxed at the 15% qualifying dividend rate on their own personal tax return. Of course, bear in mind if a shareholder also works in the business, they must be paid a reasonable wage for their activities. And these wages are subject to the personal income tax rate (in other words, you can’t just compensate yourself in dividends).

What are the drawbacks of the S Corporation? 

The S Corporation entails extra structure, formalities, and compliance obligations for the solo entrepreneur with a “payroll of one.” If you incorporate as an S Corporation, you need to set up a board of directors, file annual reports and other business filings, hold shareholder’s meetings, keep records of your meeting minutes, and generally operate at a higher level of regulatory compliance than your business might need or want to deal with. Instead of dealing with all this red tape and complexity, forming an LLC might give you greater simplicity and ease of doing business. And, the LLC still gives you the pass-through tax treatment just like the S Corp.

The other downside of the S Corp is its strict allocation of income. In an S Corporation, each owner/shareholder must share in the income in direct proportion to their ownership. If you and a partner each own 50% of the business, you each will be taxed on 50% of the profits, regardless of any other agreements you might make about splitting up the profits. In contrast, an LLC offers more flexibility when it comes to allocating income amongst the owners.

Who can’t form an S Corporation? 

The IRS places certain restrictions on S-Corps, including:

• An S-Corp cannot have more than 100 shareholders.
• All shareholders in an S-Corp must be individuals (not LLCs or partnerships) and legal residents of the United States.
• An S-Corp can have only one class of stock, so all owners must share equally in terms of profits and losses based on their percentage of ownership.

When is the S Corp deadline? 

If you have an existing Corporation (C Corp) or LLC, March 15th is your deadline for filing IRS Form 2553 with the IRS and electing S Corporation status for this tax year and forward. In other words, if your corporation/LLC existed on Jan 1, 2011, you need to file form 2553 by March 15, 2012 in order to have your S Corp in effect for the 2012 tax year. However, if you form a corporation or LLC on June 1, 2012, then your S Corporation deadline is August 15 (75 days from June 1).

If you miss the deadline, you’ll most likely be taxed as a C Corporation for the current tax year, and then your S Corp election will be effective for the following tax year. The IRS may give you a pass if you can show that your failure to file on time was due to ‘reasonable cause.’ Of course, no one wants to be at the mercy of the IRS, so play it safe and get your form in on time.

Your choice in business structure will ultimately depend on all the unique aspects of your business. But regardless of which business type you choose, taking a serious look at your legal structure is essential to set your business up for success.

Deadline Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

The S Corp Deadline Approaches: Is It Right For You?

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With large companies not stepping up to the plate as “job creators,” small business owners have been under a microscope, with polls and surveys monitoring our hiring actions and intentions as closely as Punxsutawney Phil gets watched on Groundhog Day.

For what seems like eons, there’s been little change in small businesses’ intent to hire. But now, it looks like we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. A recent Gallup/Wells Fargo poll pegs small businesses’ plans to hire as the best they’ve been since January 2008—that is, back before the recession began.

Nearly one-fourth (22 percent) of the small business owners told Gallup they plan to increase the total number of jobs at their companies over the next 12 months; only 8 percent expect that number to decrease.

More good news: Small businesses have shown great reluctance to commit to full time employees during the recession. But in this latest poll, preferences have shifted back to where they were pre-recession. Slightly more than one-fourth (26 percent) of small-business owners say they would prefer to hire full time employees, 36 percent say they would prefer part-time employees and 36 percent said they would prefer to add temporary or contract workers. Those are the same preferences as in January 2008.

Gallup’s positive findings are echoed by the latest Citibank small business survey, which shows small business owners’ hiring intentions at the highest they’ve been in two years. Over 25 percent of the small businesses surveyed intend to increase their permanent full time employees this year. That’s a 12 percent increase from January 2011 and a 9 percent increase in the last six months. In addition, 22 percent plan to bring on full time workers on a seasonal basis.

The majority (71 percent) of those surveyed in the Citibank report plan to keep their workforce the same size, but that doesn’t mean their outlook is negative. Forty-four percent say they’ll work longer hours themselves, and 40 percent expect their current employees to be more productive—all good signs that business is picking up, even if hiring plans haven’t yet kept pace.

But are small business hiring plans just pie in the sky? Small business owners in the Gallup poll were significantly more negative when asked to reflect on how much hiring they actually did in the past year. In 2011, about 22 percent decreased jobs while 13 percent increased them. The Gallup report says:

“Since the 2008 global economic collapse, the net percentage of small-business owners’ self-reported actual job growth versus job cuts has generally remained negative, even when small-business owners say they are more likely to grow than contract.”

I don’t think these plans are pipe dreams, but I do think small businesses are waiting for the right time to commit to hiring. The results of the Citibank survey back me up: Overall, small business owners are confident, with 87 percent saying they think 2012 will be better than or the same as 2011. Nearly half say they are “poised to grow when conditions are right.” And another 33 percent believe their businesses will be growing rapidly or moderately in 2012.

Are you as confident as the business owners in these surveys? Are you going to back up your optimism by hiring?

Thumbs Up Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Hiring: Things Are Finally Looking Up

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The affiliate marketing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry here in the United States and in the U.K.  By “affiliate marketing” we mean when one website (called an “affiliate” – example, Mary Smith’s blog) markets the products or services of another (called a “merchant” – example Amazon.com) in exchange for receiving a commission.  The commission could be based on X$ per completed lead form, X$ per completed  sale, or similar metric.

The affiliate industry consists of some huge players — companies like Amazon, Dell, Apple and Staples are just a few of the large merchants that offer affiliate programs.

But the affiliate industry is especially key to small businesses.  Many small companies offer affiliate programs — it’s an important sales channel for many involved in eCommerce and even for those that market information products.  And the affiliate industry is heavily populated by Internet entrepreneurs … the hundreds of thousands of small websites that act as affiliate sales arms of merchants.  That is why when you go looking for information online about affiliate marketing, or look for conferences to attend, what you find is usually targeting the affiliates who place affiliate links on their websites in order make sales — because there are so many out there.

Yet the merchants that offer affiliate programs need information and learning opportunities, too.  Up until now, the conference pickings have been slim for the affiliate managers who work for the merchants.   All of that, however, is about to change.

March 8 – 9, 2012 will see the kick-off of the first national-level conference devoted exclusively to educating managers who work for merchants offering affiliate programs.  Called “Affiliate Management Days,” this conference will focus solely on helping merchants learn how to make their affiliate programs more successful, recruit and support their affiliates better, and sell more through affiliates.

The conference organizer is Geno Prussakov, a well known figure in the field of affiliate management.  In early March we’ll be bringing you selected coverage of  news that you can use from this conference to run your affiliate program better, or help you decide whether to offer an affiliate program to increase your online sales.  Here’s an interview I conducted recently with Geno, to give you a sneak peek of what to expect:

Q: Why has there never been a conference exclusively for affiliate managers before?   How did affiliate managers get their information in the past?

Prussakov:  Very good question, Anita. The need for this conference has arisen precisely from the fact that, while they could get their information from forums, blogs, podcasts, and some sessions at the existing affiliate and broader digital marketing conferences, there has never been a conference for affiliate managers specifically. With Affiliate Management Days (AM Days) I’m seeking fulfill the need for:

(a) regular face-to-face affiliate management education, and

(b) a professional forum where affiliate management problems and challenges could be discussed in a very targeted and solutions-oriented manner.

In part the lack of such a conference before AM Days can be explained by the relatively young age of the affiliate marketing industry. Now, that it has grown to the size of what it is now, structured, up-to-date and regular conferences for affiliate managers must be held. We’ll start from two in the U.S. (the first of which is coming up on March 8-9, 2012 in San Francisco), but hope to grow to more than two, as well as expand internationally.

Q: How big is the affiliate industry?

Prussakov:   According to Forrester, in the U.S. alone we are nearing $4 billion in affiliate marketing spend. In the UK, on the other hand, the value of the affiliate marketing industry has crossed ?5 billion mark. According to the Performance Marketing Association, in the U.S. this multi-billion marketing channel “comprises more than 200,000 businesses and individuals”. Nearly every Internet Retailer Top 500 merchant has an affiliate program; and while it differs from one merchant to another, affiliate-referred sales tend to range from 10% to 40% of all their sales.

Q: Seeing your conference preview document is like examining some of the latest trends. If you had to highlight just 3 trends on the minds of merchants today, what are the trends and which speakers will cover them?

Prussakov:  Mobile and social are on the rise; yet both of these areas are either being mis-used or under-used by the majority of online merchants. We’ll have Marc Phillips of Skumatic talk about F-Commerce; Ali Pasha of Google will share case studies on successful utilization of these trends; Peter Hamilton of HasOffers will talk about the effective use of mobile apps; and, finally, an affiliate marketing veteran, Sam Harrelson, will cover some of the practical tips on how to integrate mobile and social media campaigns into existing traditional affiliate programs.

Secondly, attribution modeling and employment of web analytics for the betterment of affiliate marketing is another area that’s quickly gaining popularity. Again, in the course of two days both these topics will be covered in great detail by such savvy affiliate marketers as Todd Crawford, Kevin Webster, and Jared Saunders.

Finally, compliance is a big issue. Some merchants are having as much as 50% to 60% of “affiliate”-referred orders originate via violations of their program’s TOS, or through plain fraud, or are in violation of various rules themselves — without even knowing it. We will have the world-famous affiliate fraud detective, Ben Edelman of Harvard Business School, cover some of the newest affiliate marketing abuses.  David Naffziger, CEO of BrandVerity, is going to give us a glimpse into the increasingly sophisticated “tricks, traps and techniques” that “black affiliates are using to cheat your affiliate program.” There is an array of tools (from free to paid) that affiliate managers can use to identify abusing affiliates, and safeguard their affiliate programs effectively.

You’ve asked me to limit it to “just 3 trends”, but then there’s also online video, new payment solutions, and much more. It’s all on the agenda; and it’s going to be one great learning experience.

Q:  You have several sessions on optimization: why so many? Is there room for improvement in the industry? And what can optimization do for your affiliate program?

Prussakov:  There can never be too much optimization. The sessions at AM Days San Francisco 2012 will cover different aspects of it: Tim Ash and Chris Goward will talk about landing page elements, Linda Bustos will address checkout optimization, while Lena Siara Huang (who has contributed to the online success of giants like JC Penney and Marriott) will talk about optimizing customer experience and engagement.

Amazon, the merchant that gets 25 cents of every e-commerce dollar collected in the U.S., constantly tweaks things and improves them with one goal — to optimize for better results. So should we be! For countless number of times merchants have complained to be about low affiliate conversions. Yet, when we went in, and analyzed things, the affiliate-referred traffic appeared to be targeted, and the problems were on the merchant’s side (poorly-worded copy, clumsy website navigation, flimsy calls to action, etc). I always say that the responsibility for conversion is always mutual: the affiliate is to send you targeted and interested traffic, yet you, as a merchant, should do everything possible to convert that traffic. The latter is impossible without proper testing, analysis, and ongoing optimization.

Q: You have some interesting keynote presentations planned — tell us a little about those?

Prussakov:  I’ve already mentioned Ben Edelman’s keynote on affiliate adware and abuses. That one I, personally, am looking forward to the most. Besides Ben, we’ll have 3 more keynotes — all by stellar digital marketers: the already-legendary Tim Ash will talk about the importance of landing pages, Jason Spievak of RingRevenue will address the subject of leveraging the “offline” channels (which can also be tracked via performance-based models), and, finally, John Greathouse will help us apply the science of influence and persuasion in various affiliate management contexts (from an affiliate manager working with affiliates, to an OPM working with prospective clients).

More information about Affiliate Management Days being held in San Francisco, can be found here.  Or follow the hashtag #AMDays on Twitter.  And do check back here for online coverage during the event.

From Small Business Trends

Learn the Latest Trends for Selling Through Affiliates, at #AMDays

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Getting people to your Web site is one thing. Getting them to do something while they’re there is another. And then, of course, getting them to do what you want them to do is another beast entirely. But, as a marketer, that’s your job; to get someone to your Web site in order to take a desired action. So is there any way to increase your chances at a conversion?

Absolutely.

If you’re finding that customers are landing on your site but are either leaving prematurely or are leaving without doing what you’d hoped they do, below are four conversion optimization tips to stop that from happening.

1. Promote Benefits, Not Features

Your Web site doesn’t sell a product or a service; it sells a customer benefit.

It doesn’t matter if your business is set up to sell life insurance or overpriced toasters, realize that it’s not the item itself that your customer is paying for. No one is interested in the features of that new toaster. What they are interested in is the benefit it will have on their life.

The benefit may be a lazy Sunday morning breakfast at the table with their family or that they save 15 minutes every morning because that toaster cooks frozen waffles faster. It’s not the features themselves they care about – it’s the benefit to their lives and the story behind it.

And that’s what you have to promote. By promoting the benefits to your customers you show them what’s at stake and give them a story they can’t pass up. Promote that, not your four heating options.

2. Remove Distractions

You know what path you want someone to take when they land on your product pages. You want them to add the item to their shopping cart and either continue shopping or check out. That’s it. Two things. So why are you giving them 10 different options and directing them to a sea of non-buying distractions? When it comes to design, less is more. People can’t handle having more than a few choices. If you show me you have 500 different pairs of sneakers on your Web site and you try to show me ALL of them, as well as all your other apparel, I’m going to run away screaming. I can’t process that many choices. And (unfortunately for you) your customers aren’t much different from me.

Take a look at your Web site, especially pages designed to convert, and get rid of anything that does not serve the intended purpose for that page. I shouldn’t be able to get from your shopping cart to your home page in one click. All I should be able to do is finish my checkout. Give me something to distract from a purchase and I’m going to pick that every time. Don’t give me something and I’ll have nothing else to do but enter my credit card information.

3. Create a Clear Call to Action

You may know what you want customers to do on your Web site, but do they? If they don’t it’s because you’re not creating clear (or compelling) enough calls to action to make them move. Encourage forward movement by using color, visual cues, and site hierarchy to lead people toward a particular action. Don’t be afraid to tell someone what it is you want them to do – buy, click, read, subscribe, follow, friend, etc. Your customers don’t know what they’re supposed to do until you tell them with a call to action that grabs their attention and keeps them on course. Craft CTAs around these site goals.

4. Be Smart About Placement

Placement matters. In the olden days when people got their information from newspapers (I know, we’re going way back), journalists were careful to make sure the most important information was above the fold because that was their best chance of their audience seeing it. On the Web, we have our own above the fold. It’s everything a user can see before they have to scroll down the page. But we also know there are other hot spots that a user’s eye is drawn to — like the golden triangle. When you’re working up your calls to action, make sure you’re placing them directly in a user’s line of sight. Study how people navigate your Web site and place these conversion-heavy items where their eyes are going to be.

If you’re noticing that people are landing on your site but not converting, it could be that you’re going after the wrong traffic. Or, it could be that you’re simply not doing a very good job moving the traffic you have. The four tips above can help increase the number of conversions happening your Web site by keeping customers on task and removing any unnecessary distractions.

From Small Business Trends

4 Tips For Getting More Site Conversions

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Home businesses seem to get more popular all the time. Promoting a new home business around your products or services can be a daunting plan.

Success Stories

One mom’s home business has big impact. Think your home business can’t make a big splash? Think again! Read more and be inspired by this home business entrepreneur whose efforts are fostering national pride. What can your home business achieve? AZCentral.com

Home business successes become more common. Have you noticed that home business successes like this one have become more common. Unaffected even by a tough economy, home based entrepreneurs find many niches in which to thrive. Yahoo! News

Getting Started

How your home business can be a green leader. Going green isn’t just a consideration for big business. Home businesses can make environmentally friendly choices as well and save money in the process. Here’s how your home company can lead the way. Planting Money Seeds

Is home business protected in your community? Home businesses benefit communities and the entrepreneurs who operate them but some communities seek to regulate the kinds of home businesses allowed to be operated. Is your city or town friendly to small business owners who operate from home? The Wanderer

Tax Advice

Should you take a home office tax deduction? It’s a question that certainly many small business owners must consider and certainly those who run a business exclusively out of their homes. But here are some suggested guidelines about how to determine whether it’s a deduction you should consider. Bloomberg Businessweek

Solopreneur tax tips home business owners should review. Many home business owners are also solopreneurs so if your small business fits into this category, here is a list of advice you may definitely want to consider as the tax season draws near. Portfolio.com

Latest Tributes

Working from home could be a strategy for most companies. You don’t need to be a solopreneur or small business to realize the benefits of working from home. Large companies too are increasingly seeing the plus side of the savings that letting employees work from home can often bring. Washington Post

Home offices also spring up abroad. London, in particular, is seeing an explosion in the number of hiome offices established in the city. These include both businesses that are increasingly encouraging their employees to work from home and entrepreneurs starting their own home businesses, experts say. London Loves Business

Marketing Tips

10 ways to promote your home business. You’ve set up your home business. Now you’ve got to promote it. That could be harder than it sounds unless you have a strategy. Here are ten ways you should consider right off the bat about getting the word out. Support a Work At Home Person

Another way to promote your home business. As we’ve said before, getting attention can be harder than you think when launching a home business. There have been many suggestions for getting creative with your marketing. But here are some sites that suggest another way of networking. The New Business Idea

From Small Business Trends

Your Home Business Can Make An Impact

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I recently polled a bunch of managers and small business owners on how many resumes they receive for every opening they put out there. The result was staggering – 50 to 200. Whether or not you have a dedicated person managing these incoming resumes, it can be quite daunting and counter-productive not to have some process in place to weed through the pile.

Here are four simple steps every small company can follow:

Get Backup for Your Inbox

Email is great. But you cannot open 100 attachments from your email and make notes in spreadsheets. How are you going to keep track and share important pointers within your team? Resumes are bound to get lost in the ever building pile. To start getting organized – sign up for an online recruitment software, which caters towards small businesses. There are web-based ones that have free trials, so you can see if they fit your requirements before setting up your process and paying for one. For an average need of a small business, a good one should cost you no more than $50 per month. Here is a list of a few on google apps.

Get Candidates to Apply on Your Careers Page

Instead of simply putting an email address on your careers page, it helps to have a company overview and a job description. This gives the prospective applicant a more complete picture of what you are looking for. Moreover, you can have an application form under the description that asks for all the things you need to screen the applicant. For instance, instead of simply asking for a resume attachment, you can request a cover letter, linkedin profile and add a questionnaire as well.

How are you going to add this on your site? If you don’t have the IT resource, your above chosen recruitment software should be able to help you with this. Most of them provide a widget which enables you to display all openings, along with the form, on your website. All the information that comes in from the form will be organized on your recruitment software to help you screen faster.

Share the Fun

You may be the person assigned to screen all the applications, but you need to get the relevant inputs from all the hiring managers and stakeholders. Thus, if you organize the screening process using an online tool as described above, you can add team members to this system after the initial screening. Let’s say you narrowed down the 100 resumes for the ‘financial analyst’ position down to 15 by filtering for ‘CPAs,’ you can then move these 15 to stages which the Finance Manager can work on – either by adding her feedback or scheduling an interview. Having everything in one place gives a clear view to the entire team.

Find the Right Ear

When you create an opening, you can share its link on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Quora in the relevant groups and lists. If you want to receive the most fitting applications, you have to make an effort on pushing them to specific places where your prospects hang out. On the other hand, large job boards bring a lot of clutter with the cream.

Good Luck!

Email Overload Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Overwhelmed By Job Applications: 4 Ways to Manage the Madness

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A few years ago, we couldn’t have imagined that there would be actual jobs for people to “play” on Twitter all day. And yet, an entire category of employment has sprung up around Internet Marketing and Social Media. This infographic by Onward Search looks at where social media roles are, as well as what they’re paying.

The Jobs

We’re starting to have some consistency as far as job titles for social media roles, though many times, sales, marketing, PR and social media bleed into one another. According to the infographic, these are some of the more popular job titles:

• Social Media Strategist or Specialist
• Brand Manager
• Online Community Manager
• Marketing Manager
• Content Writer

Where the Jobs Are

Not surprisingly, social media jobs are primarily found in larger cities, like New York City, Miami, LA and the Silicon Valley. I suspect there are a lot more of these roles that are held virtually throughout the nation, but there’s no data on that as this infographic looks at the top 20 markets for social media jobs.

What did surprise me about the data is the wide range of salaries across the country (and even in the same city). For example, a Social Media Strategist would start at $36,000 in Phoenix, and cap out around $68,000. But in New York City (yes, where the cost of living is higher) the range for this role is $55,000-$103,000. I suspect the ranges would reveal a fresh grad who’s been using social media for personal entertainment for years at the lower end of the scale, as well as a seasoned marketing and advertising professional with a solid understanding of strategy and execution at the upper end.

The best paying social media job? A Social Media Marketing Manager in San Jose, California can make as much as $117,000. It might be time to consider that move to the Valley, eh?

I’d be interested to compare the roles and responsibilities of one position at a lower salary range in one city to a higher salary in another. I’m curious whether the increase in salary is completely about cost of living, or if the roles demand more work.

I’d also love to see data on full time versus part time or freelance, as many of us who work in social media and marketing do so on a retainer or hourly basis, as our clients don’t have the need for a full-time social media staffer.

What I take away from this data is that social media isn’t going anywhere. Companies recognize that they must invest in social media at some level, and are carving out roles to do so.

From Small Business Trends

Where Social Media Jobs Are

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“Getting good marketing help is one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses today,” according to Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends.  Anita acknowledges that, “marketing is more challenging today than ever” and “business success is all about finding the right outside service providers and using them wisely.”

A common theme with small business owners is that they can’t afford the expense of marketing help. I’ve learned that whenever someone says they “can’t afford” something it usually means they don’t see the value of it. Savvy owners and managers do see the value of good marketing help. The problem is: finding and qualifying it.

Referrals are certainly a logical way to do it. And, often times they work out fine. On the other hand, what’s right for one business may be wrong for yours. If you understand that a marketing service is only as good as the top person (or people) behind it, learning as much as you can about that person is one of the best ways to qualify a marketing service and see if they’d be a good fit for you.

Here are 3 ways to do that:

1)  Google them: This is the broadest most objective way to get the scoop on anyone. It’s a great way to get a full picture. I call it “G-cred” for Google credibility. Just be sure you’ve got the right person since there are probably tons of others with the same name. You can get around that by adding a key word or two to refine the search – like adding the industry or profession. You might also add a geographic location. Since the person you’re searching for is supposed to be a savvy marketing pro it’d better not be real hard to find them, regardless of their name. So, if their “G-cred” sucks, consider that a reason to rule them out.

2)  LinkedIn Profile: Since every professional has one, you can also search there. Again, there could be tons of others with the same name so be sure you’ve got the right one. LinkedIn will provide a good sense of where they come from and how professionally qualified they are to service your business.

3)  Website Bio:  If you’re checking out their website there should be a bio on it. Let me rephrase that. If you’re checking out their website, there’d better be a bio on it. That said, I’m amazed at the number of companies that don’t post any bio info about the company leadership. That’s pretty dumb because all it does is raise a flag. As mentioned earlier, a company is only as good as the top people behind it.  If a site doesn’t include a great bio of the boss you’ve got to wonder why.

Rather than viewing marketing as an ‘expense’ Anita Campbell says that “marketing is an ‘investment’ to help you achieve your revenue goals faster.” She adds that

“Not finding the right outside resource will probably hobble your business.”

Do these things and it’ll increase your odds of getting the right marketing help that your business deserves.

Potential Employees Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

3 Ways to Qualify Marketing Help

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Are you a small business owner with an American Express card? Well does Twitter have a deal for you! Last week Twitter formally announced a self-serve ad service designed to let small business owners buy and place ads in their Twitter stream using their AmEx card.

Yes, all ads must be placed through your credit card, which serves two purposes for Twitter. First, it means they don’t need any phone representatives to take ads and, second, it serves as an easy way to screen new advertisers and keep bad people out. The service is currently only open to 10,000 small and mid-size business owners (each getting a $100 credit from AmEx), but Twitter is expected to let in more buyers over time.

Small business owners currently using other paid advertising (for example, Google AdWords) will be familiar with the way Twitter’s self-serve ad system will work, but I’ll let Twitter CEO Dick Costolo explain anyway:

As is the case for any of Twitter’s 3,000 advertisers, small businesses can set bids for promoted accounts on a cost-per-follower basis and for promoted tweets on a cost-per-engagement basis/ In the latter case they pay only when users actively engage with the tweet (by retweeting, for instance.) While national brands might be bidding on keywords or hashtags associated with major events like the Oscars, which makes bidding competitive and expensive, small businesses would be more likely to bid on highly specific terms and to localize their bid.

So small business advertisers will be able to specify how much they want to spend, pick the cities they want their ad to appear for, and then construct their own sponsored tweet. It’s an inevitable growth move for Twitter as the social networking site attempts to start generating revenue; however, I do wonder how effective it will be for small business owners, especially small business owners who don’t have any experience with paid advertising. For some, this may be a low-barrier way to get into the paid ads game, but others may have a difficult time getting used to the 140-character format.

It will also be interesting to see how users will react. Part of the “fun” for users who engage with brands on Twitter is that it feels two-sided. They’re having conversations and they’re interacting with these brands as real people. Once SMBs start taking to Twitter for ads, not chit chat, will that change users’ willingness to engage with them there? With SMBs be able to balance the two?

Naturally, Costolo is confident that this will be a lucrative new area for SMBs:

Mr. Costolo pointed to Glennz Tees, an online T-shirt retailer that was part of this winter’s pilot group, as a small business that has already had success using the self-serve platform. After a character on “The Big Bang Theory” appeared on the show wearing a Glennz shirt, the owners took to their Twitter account and bought up terms related to the show. Mr. Costolo claims they doubled their holiday sales over the previous year and tripled their Twitter followers.

A fun little anecdote, but we’ll have to see what happens for the rest of the SMBs out there. I think there’s potential here for small business owners who have mastered talking and engaging their audience in small snippets, but if Twitter becomes too overrun with ads, we’re obviously going to feel some pushback from users.

But what do you think? As a small business owner, will you experiment with Twitter’s new self-serve ad platform or will you continue to keep advertising off social media?

If you are interested in signing up, head to https://ads.twitter.com/amex to get started. It’s worth noting that the ad system isn’t live yet. Twitter and AmEx are simply inviting advertisers to sign up for a formal launch of the service in March.

From Small Business Trends

Twitter To Try Out SMB Self Serve Ads

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