Management of Time for Social Media Marketing

    Yesterday we  held a social media basics training course for 25 like minded business owners and senior sales staff here in Boise, Idaho at a restaurant called the Sockeye Grill.  The event was sponsored by Keybank and the training was conducted by Craig Jamieson of NetWorks Boise!  The Lunch and Learn format was a popular schedule for my local area and may work well in your area, too.  The number one...

Strategic Planning – What's Your Plan

  We’ve all heard the saying before, ”Plan your work, work your plan”, but what does that mean?  What plan are strategist talking about?  A marketing plan?  An organizational plan?  A product delivery system?  Are they talking about short term plans (tactical plans) or long term plans (strategic plans)?          The short answer is yes to all of the above and more.  As a coach, I...

How Do New Business Owners Market Their Services?

  Hawk’s Eye On Business     There are many new business owners hitting the market these days as a result of all the layoffs in corporate America.  Statistics show that 80% of these new businesses will be out of business within 5 years and of those that make it that far, 80% of them will fail in the next 5 years.  So only 4% of the new business owners will make it through the first 10...

Tactics are Great But What's the Marketing Plan?

  Hawk’s Eye On Business Last week I had a couple of seminars with two strategic alliances, Martha Sandifer of Martha Sandifer CPA, and Corey Smith of Tribute Media.  One of the outcomes from those seminars was that all too often, businesses employ marketing tactics without having a marketing plan.  For instance, social media is a great way to market your business but it is a tactic that needs to fit...

Discounting Your Prices – Good Move or Bad?

     Yesterday we talked about setting the price on your product.  Today we talk about discounting the prices once you have set your price.  Before setting your “sale” price we need to understand what affect to the bottom line the discount will have.       The first step is to know your true margin on the product.  Without knowing this, you could be “Sale”-ing your way to...