The Blood Of A Small Business Is Innovation
The Blood Of A Small Business Is Innovation
The blood of a small business is innovation. But this isn’t the ersatz innovation that corporate executives sling around monthly meetings, but a unique, powerful innovation. Each business is equipped with its own entrepreneurial talent, and development depends on creative solutions. But how to identify this coursing stream of creativity and cleverness? How to be innovative?
Isadore Sharp, founder, chairman and CEO of the legendary Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, bases his business on a novel philosophy: in order to achieve a quality, home-away-from-home atmosphere, every single employee has to be actively engaged with and care about the goal. In marketing parlance, this is called “internal/employee strategic integration.”
Getting employees on board is not for cutesy office parties or pep rally marketing meetings, it is the heart of successful corporation. Without it, creativity slows, progress is hindered, and growth secedes. And yet, many businesses treat their employees like so many robots, which not only hampers business development, but rubs against the grain of basic human respect.
What about posting fliers, or buying banner ads? In other words, are you still stuck in a rut? The massive changes in marketing, spurred on by new social networking, the decline of newspapers, online advertising, and other events, demand new and novel marketing approaches. Blendtec, a small business that sells powerful blenders, rocketed itself onto the headlines and into households by launching a popular YouTube video commercial sequence labeled, “Will It Blend?”
Culminating with the nonconformist blend of a newly-released iPhone, the series boosted sales by 700% and gained extensive PR coverage. Successful small businesses and small business consultants should use Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, and other social media sites to spread news and engage customers.
Bland marketing vernacular reduces this essential selling point to the term, “Unique Selling Proposition,” or USP. In real-life terms, it means, “The product or service which knocks the socks off a customer.” Every small business should be based on a single unique, potent idea. In business, startup depends on the quality of the USP. Despite this, many corporations dismissively pass over it, and merely focus on the competition.
Let’s be frank. Beating everyone else is not a legitimate business philosophy. Take a stand, and make a difference, just like Apple. The wonder child of Silicon Valley, Apple has revolutionized the electronics, desktop publishing and personal media industries. Its 1997-2002 slogan exemplifies its push-the-boundaries style: “Think different.”
Not all hats fit all heads, and not all marketing ploys and development schemes fit all businesses. Inspiration is an individual thing. So how can a business encourage its innovation? By listening to dreams. Not all strategies must follow paradigms, not all success is easily quantifiable. Businesses should strive to develop individual innovation and creativity. For a little inspiration, study and learn from successful corporations. After all, imitation is learning.
Nick Messe is president of Lead Frog LLC. Joe Abraham is a small business consultant with expertise in all the key areas of small business development including business startup, business growth, traffic generation, sales development, marketing and succession planning and more.
Article from articlesbase.com
Categories: Heavy Duty Blenders Tags: Blood, Business, Innovation, Small
Video Blogging is a Great Addition to Your Business Blogs
Video Blogging is a Great Addition to Your Business Blogs
YouTube and other video sharing sites have made videos extremely popular on the Internet today. There are many who prefer to watch a short video before deciding if they want to visit your site or business blog.
Video blogging can convey a lot more information quickly and in a manner that is more entertaining than reading dull text. Research has shown that people tend to absorb and retain information a lot better when both audio and visual components are engaged, as is the case with video blogs.
So why not add video blogs to your current business blog? May be even create a full-blown video blog, also known as vlog. Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidblogging is a form of blogging where the primary medium is video.
This is especially true on the Internet as most visitors tend to skip read and in the process may miss some of your important selling points. Whereas a short, 2 to 3 minutes video that highlights the main benefits of your product or service may be more effective in the visitor taking action.
Video blogs can provide emotions, feelings and a visual aspect that mere words cannot. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a blog video is worth a heck of a lot more. People love to be entertained. So why not give them both, information and a good time all at once? If you can pull it off successfully, you’ll enjoy the added benefits of your video going viral.
The best example of this is the now famous Tom Dickson’s “Will It Blend” Blendtec Blenders videos. He turned the most unlikely things like iPhones into iDust using his Blendtec Total Blenders. His popularity exploded on YouTube making him an Internet rock star with a cult following. He’s been a guest on Jay Leno, as well as “I Want That,” and Modern Marvels on The History Channel.
The best-paid ad campaign couldn’t hold a candle to that kind of publicity and brand recognition. The bottom line – sales increased 5X!
You can Google “will it blend” and search for videos to see some of his popular videos.
I hope this article has given you a taste of what videos can do for your business blog and you may want to try it for yourself.
Download my free report “Video Marketing for Business” from here: http://tinyurl.com/dxv9o2.
Do you want practical and actionable Internet marketing help to increase your online income? Visit my site http://www.diymarketingcoach.com to get easy to follow, step-by-step instructions for building a successful online business without spending a lot of money or time getting there.
Article from articlesbase.com
Related Blendtec Articles
Small Business Video Marketing For 2010
Small Business Video Marketing For 2010
There are still debates going on about how business owners can use social media marketing, however the actual number of CEOs engaging in social media is surprisingly low.
In 2010 it seems that businesses have either grown comfortable, or have been forced to accept sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.. For example, there are a number of influential CEOs using Twitter to represent their companies and bring a friendly face to their businesses. Tweeting CEOs like Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Guy Kawasaki of Alltop are well-known for their successful social presences and large followings as a result.
There is more to the buzz than just Twitter and Facebook, and you can see this in action by watching how business owners are using video marketing. We took a look around the web to see how CEOs and founders are leveraging video to educate and engage consumers.
Unfortunately this list was very small, which leads us to wonder how long it will take for businesses to catch on to the 800% growth in video viewership on the internet. For the small number of businesses taking a lead role in video marketing, their success is easily noticeable. The following is a collection of 9 CEOs and founders using video marketing to boost their unique small businesses.
1. Tom Dickson, Founder & CEO, BlendTec
Tom Dickson, Founder and CEO of BlendTec, an appliance production company that specializes in blenders, host’s his own Youtube channel – Will It Blend? In the video series the blenders are tested against everyday items. Popular items that were blended include an iPhone, a vuvuzela, and an iPad just to name a few.
Dickson’s YouTube series is a tremendous success. With just over 100 videos uploaded, total video views today total almost 131 million. We would be shocked if that level of visibility wasn’t influencing the bottom line.
2. Gary Vaynerchuk, Founder, Winelibrary TV
Gary Vaynerchuk is the founder and host of Winelibrary TV, a daily wine video blog in which Vaynerchuk reviews wines and updates the world on the latest wine news.
Vaynerchuk utilizes Viddler to host his daily video updates, and he also maintains an established personal account on Viddler, where he uploads videos on social media, technology, and branding, among a variety of other topics.
Leaders with large personalities should take note of Vaynerchuk’s openness to be real. His message is to the point with a honest opinion. That’s what keeps his fans coming back for more.
3. Mitchell Harper, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an e-commerce platform that helps businesses launch professional online stores. Mitchell Harper, co-founder and co-CEO of BigCommerce, posts videos to BigCommerce’s YouTube channel around once a week, focusing on topics of interest to his core target audience, e-commerce experts. His videos take an educational point of view while maintaining a down-to-earth, yet professional tone. He says:
“I think it’s important to use a whiteboard to explain concepts, and it’s kind of become my trademark in the videos. I could use a proper studio but I want the videos coming off as genuine and not professionally made. Even when I make a mistake, I don’t edit it out, because I feel it takes away from the authenticity of the message.”
Harper appears to be incorporating value to both his community and business. Since launching the channel about six months ago, they have reached nearly 420,000 video views.
4. Tim O’Reilly, CEO, O’Reilly Media
O’Reilly Media, a media company that publishes books, magazines, websites, and produces conferences on technology topics. With over 1,000 videos and 2.5 million video views, the O’Reilly Media YouTube channel is a constant outlet for the organization.
The channel frequently incorporates speeches by and interviews with O’Reilly. We applaud O’Reilly Media for repurposing helpful content that would have otherwise been lost in the great unknown.
5. Kevin Rose, Founder & CEO, Digg
Kevin Rose, founder and recently appointed CEO of Digg (Digg), a social news website, co-hosts a weekly video podcast named Diggnation, together with Actor Alex Albrecht, where by they talk about the top stories from Digg. Diggnation at this time has over 3.3 million video views, proving that advertising your organization can sometimes be as easy as shooting videos that discuss what is happening in your community.
Rose also has fairly active personal accounts on YouTube and Vimeo, in which he posts on technology, travel and food, and hosts The Random Show with Tim Ferriss, writer of The 4-Hour Work Week.
6. Aaron Patzer, Founder & CEO, Mint.com
Aaron Patzer is the founder and CEO of Mint.com, and now the vice president & general manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group, since Mint.com was recently acquired by Intuit (makers of the popular personal finance apps Quicken and TurboTax). One of the best contributions that a company can make to an online community is educating its users on how to use its products. That doesn’t mean you have to create hundreds of videos, keep it simple and to the point while providing value.
Mint.com’s YouTube channel delivers powerful information on how to use the products and services that Mint provides. With just over 20 videos uploaded, many of which Patzer appears in, Mint.com is reaching nearly 700,000 video views. Congrats to the Mint.com team for always keeping it minimalist while still increasing video views. Their channel proves that quality always trumps quantity.
7. Pam Liebman, CEO, Corcoran Group
There are numerous real estate professionals diving into social media, and Corcoran Group, the biggest residential real estate firm in New York City, is ahead of the competition. Corcoran has an in depth social media presence, and their video presence spreads across to YouTube, Vimeo and blip.tv.
The videos feature CEO Pam Liebman responding to issues posted by Facebook and Twitter followers relating to the state of the housing market and New York living recommendations. For example, in the video above, Liebman answers a question posted by Inman News’ Rob Hahn via Twitter. These types of videos allow the Corcoran team to truly engage with potential customers, as well as showcase their expertise in New York City real estate.
8. Rob Banks (Co-Founder), BuildDirect
Rob Banks, Co-Founder of BuildDirect, a manufacturer and wholesaler of flooring and building materials, has a very active role in the companies marketing strategy. He appears in hundreds of videos on BuildDirect’s YouTube channel, discussing a variety of flooring and building materials. The videos often also feature Jeff Booth, President and CEO of BuildDirect.
BuildDirect’s mission for the YouTube channel is clearly stated: “We want to educate, to entertain, and to let you know who we are as a group of people.” The occasional Pancake Day video certainly gives us a glance into their lively company culture.
Charleston video marketing is changing and The Graham Marketing Group is providing the most effective advertising strategies for businesses all over South Carolina. Contact us today for a complete online 2 offline marketing strategy.
Article from articlesbase.com
Find More Blendtec Articles
Video for the Internet ? a Great Business Booster
Video for the Internet ? a Great Business Booster
Video on the Internet has gone from unheard of, to a novelty, to an expectation. Now, and more so in the future, you’ll need high quality video to capture and retain people’s attention. Speaking of which, let’s get to those great ideas!
Probably the most ‘fun’ way to promote your business online is to post your video on an Internet ‘distribution channel’ such as YouTube. This is a great way to conduct an online ‘guerilla’ marketing campaign. Create sales by making an entertaining, well-produced video that will appeal to viewers. Keep in mind that you’re not supposed to put blatant advertisements on YouTube. It has to be disguised as entertainment. But there’s nothing preventing you from putting your website address at the end of your ‘entertaining’ or informational video.
Perhaps you’ve already seen it, but a company called Blendtec has posted a series of amusing videos on YouTube. You can view several examples by searching for Blendtec on YouTube.
Blendtec produced a series of short, humorous and very effective demonstrations showing how powerful their blender is by chopping up a variety of unconventional items such as marbles, rake handles and magnets! Though these videos appear simple, they were professionally produced with graphics, appropriate pacing, proper lighting and audio, and a variety of other professional touches that allow their message to be conveyed without any ‘amateur-video’ distractions.
Not only has this company’s sales of blenders skyrocketed, but YouTube is actually sending them royalty checks based on the number of people who watch their videos!
There are many ways that you can distribute your video on the Internet through channels that are hungry for content. Google Video, YouTube, Yahoo Video, and Revver.com are a few sites where you can post your video. If you want more sources, type in ‘online video’ in a search engine and see what comes up. You can also use your video as an email attachment or posted on your website.
Copyright (c) 2008 Irwin Myers
For more related articles go to http://www.video1pro.com/articles.html
Irwin Myers is the president of Video One Productions, a Chicago-based company that has been providing production, editing, and duplication of videos, DVD’s, and CD’s for hundreds of companies for more than 20 years. To find out more about how Video One Productions can help you with your production and multimedia needs go to http://www.video1pro.com
Article from articlesbase.com
More Blendtec Articles
Several Things You May Need for Your Food Business
Several Things You May Need for Your Food Business
There are several different things that you might need for your food business or restaurant that may not be readily available in many supply stores. These range from commercial juicers to refrigerated pizza tables, certainly things that are not stocked at your local department store. Here are several different types of these items, each of which is available on the corrchilled.co.uk website. If you need one of these items for your business, they’re well worth looking into.
If you run either a fish market or perhaps on a grocery store in which you sell fish, a fish display counter is going to be necessary in order to allow your customers to see what they are shopping for. Some of the reasons why you would want one of these counters is because it is made in such a way that it can be kept as a sterile environment, something that is very important when it has a lot of fish passing in and out of it. It is also refrigerated so that the fish will last longer while on display and allows for the product be easily accessed by the person behind it.
If you run a restaurant which is known for its breakfast food, one of the more interesting things that you can add to it in order to keep customers coming back is fresh squeezed orange juice. Since it would take a lot of time for you to squeeze all of these oranges by hand, especially if it was a popular item, a commercial juicer can help you to get the job done quickly. Many of these commercial juicers are top fed and they can juice well over 20 oranges per minute and produce about 1 L of fresh squeezed orange juice in the same amount of time.
Another thing that you may want to consider, especially if you are serving breakfast is a bean to cup coffee machine. These typically come in single serve but there are also some available which will make an entire pot of coffee. There are two different things that the bean to cup coffee machine has going for it, first of all, there is the convenience of making a single cup of coffee and secondly, the coffee is going to be fresh tasting because the beans are going to be freshly ground. Although it certainly is possible for you to have one of these in your home, the price is often enough that it is typically found in a business or restaurant environment.
The final thing that you may need for a food business is one of the refrigerated pizza tables that are on the market. As a matter of fact, if you sell a lot of pizzas at your restaurant, this is almost a necessity. Not only is it going to make it convenient for you to put the pizzas together, having all the ingredients at your fingertips in the refrigeration unit is going to make the process extremely streamlined.
About the Author:
The author writes articles on Display Fridges. For more information about Blast Chillers, Display Freezers, Fish Refrigerators and Commercial Juicer, Bean to Cup coffee machine can be found on the net.
Article from articlesbase.com