Image: DannyBrown.me

What do you have to say to your clients and prospects and what do they have to say about your business or company?

You certainly do not need social media to reach out to your customers and clients but it doesn’t hurt to spread your name and brand in a way others looking for someone in your field can clearly see. Social media is about more than just marketing though. It’s about learning from those you engage with.

Karen Leland

Source: Karen Leland | Huffington Post

Earlier this week, I came across a springy King Charles spaniel happily chewing on a tennis ball, when he suddenly became aware of his owner filling up his water bowl at the drinking fountain.

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… and stick it to Wall Street at the same time! Sounds like the best of both worlds to us!

In November 2009 Ellen Brown wrote at AlterNet that bailing out the banking system “…has only fixed the economy for bankers and the wealthy; it has not done much to address either the fundamental problem of unemployment or the debt trap so many Americans find themselves in.”

Source: Catalyst QuickBooks Solutions

The Bank of North Dakota may seem like a sole-surviving relic of a bygone era.  As a “state-owned” bank, it offers discounted loans to farms and agriculture, students and education, and small companies.  It serves as an important  economic development agency and a “banker’s bank” that reduces the loan risks of private banks and assists the private banks to finance bigger business projects.

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Business owners often ask us what they should they be doing for social media their company. In our “expert” LOL opinion, this question cannot be glossed over, let alone without doing bonafide research. That being said, asking is the first step and so we will answer it with the help of social media experts at Catalyst House (follow them on Twitter).

Here is their quick list of what your company MUST first be doing to get into the swing of things ->>

(source: Catalyst House)

1. Create a Facebook fan page and Twitter account and use them. Keep them updated with fresh, relevant content and bring in your personal network for growth. Ask your community what they want to hear about and then provide them with that information. Talk to them, respond to them and do it in a timely manner…not just today, but tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. Make time for these tools – you’ll be glad you did.

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Source: Lynnea Bylund | Catalyst QuickBooks

Its a new era for Los Angeles bargain seekers with a constant stream of strongly discounted coupon offers: 40% off a Princess Cruise ticket, 55% off a facial, or $125 worth of laundry and dry cleaning for $60.

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and big corporations are gambling that the new discount coupon promotional services represent a tectonic shift in consumer trends, and a profound new way to pull in new customers.

Last year, Groupon, one of the largest players, turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google, and LivingSocial, the Web site that distributes daily deals for restaurants, spas and retail outlets, added $400 million to its coffers last week as investors continued to funnel money into the fast-growing company.

Even the megalithic facebook is launching a Daily Deals program to test the waters. And Yahoo announced the launch of Local Offers program recently and is partnering with websites like Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, and others to provide a wide selection of local deals and coupons from nearby restaurants and other local retailers.

So what’s the scoop here?

Can these help or hurt a small business?

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Source: Catalyst House

Keri Salls posted to her blog about cool research project published by Saras Sarasvathy, a Professor at the University of Virginia, captures distinctions between entrepreneurs & corporate executives in how they think.

In her article in the new issue of  Inc Magazine, Leigh Buchanan says, “Saras Sarasvathy concluded that master entrepreneurs rely on what she calls effectual reasoning. Brilliant improvisers, the entrepreneurs don’t start out with concrete goals. Instead, they constantly assess how to use their personal strengths and whatever resources they have at hand to develop goals on the fly, while creatively reacting to contingencies.”

Entrepreneurs are known for possibility thinking. They “Do the doable, then push it”.

Here’s Buchanan’s nugget about goals:

“That is not to say entrepreneurs don’t have goals, only that those goals are broad and—like luggage—may shift during flight. Rather than meticulously segment customers according to potential return, they itch to get to market as quickly and cheaply as possible, a principle Sarasvathy calls affordable loss.”

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Source: MarketWatch | Emily Maltby

Chargebacks are reverse credit-card transactions that can happen when a consumer disputes a charge, if the card is lost or stolen or if there’s a processing error. Business owners are ultimately responsible for the amount charged back to the company. To recoup the loss, merchants must prove to the card company that the transaction was valid, which often can be hard to do.

Small-business owner Dean Thompson recently took a routine look at his company’s bank account expecting to see an increase from the last time he’d checked it. Instead, he saw the balance had dropped by more than $3,000.

The culprit: a chargeback.

In Mr. Thompson’s case, credit-card payments made to his Austin, Texas-based business-services firm, EnterprisingWorks LLC, had been reversed because a customer disputed the charges. To show the charges were legitimate, Mr. Thompson said it took 12 hours in phone calls and paperwork to prove he had done work for the client.

Chargebacks generally are rare. Less than .01% of all credit-card purchases are disputed, according to Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a merchant-services provider that processes payments for more than 250,000 small businesses. But at small firms, where every dollar counts, even an occasional chargeback can cause big headaches.

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According to the Federal Reserve the first increase in credit-card debt since the financial crisis hit helped to boost overall consumer borrowing 3 percent in December, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.41 trillion.

Americans are putting more money on their credit cards after more than two years of cutting back, a sign that they are gaining confidence in the economy.

Martin Crutsinger, WASHINGTON (AP) —

Borrowing in the category that includes credit cards rose 3.5 percent, the first rise since August 2008. Borrowing on auto loans increased 2.8 percent.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, viewed the gain as an encouraging sign that households are becoming more confidence about the economy and jobs. He also said banks are loosening some lending restrictions put in place after the financial crisis.

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A while back in the Harvard Business Review, Rosabeth Moss Kanter posted: ”Unlike full-blown mergers, in which two really do become one because one company disappears, alliances and partnerships resemble modern marriages: separate careers, individual checkbooks, sometimes different names, but the need to work out the operational overlap around household and offspring.”

Moss Kanter lists 15 traits that optimal strategic alliances share with personal marriage –

1. Be open to romance, but court carefully. At the beginning of new relationships, selective perceptions reinforce dreams, not dangers. Potential partners see in the other what they want to see, believing what they want to believe. Hopes, dreams, and visions should be balanced by reality checks.

2. Know yourself. Build your strengths. An organization seeking partners should identify assets that have value to partners and strengthen them. Networks of the weak do not survive. The best alliances join strength to strength.

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We at the BizEdge Blog, along with a majority of marketing and social media enthusiasts has espoused the virtues of a paradign shift convergence of all things search and social related, especially where small business is concerned - “Facebook beats Google traffic” – “Twitter phenomena undeniable“ – yada yada.  But now a true industry pioneer and visionary is pouring a little much-needed cold water on the ‘dream-scape’.  Mr. Pace Lattin has analyzed the value of a Facebook member and put things back into perspective. –BJK

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From SiteProNews – “In perhaps the fastest growing industry ever, one person has made a name for himself as a leader and innovator. Pace Lattin, the publisher of the top newsletters in new media and online advertising, is one of the inventors of many of the technologies and methods that have become standards in the industry. He has been called many things, including a rabble-rouser, a guru, an innovator and a watchdog — but one thing stays the same: he is one of the most interesting leaders and commentators in the online advertising industry. Marketing Sherpa, a leading marketing research publication called him the most influential journalist in online media for a reason.”

One-Third of All US on Facebook, Yet Users are Worthless?

Pace Lattin – “First of all, I don’t hate Facebook anymore than I dislike any internet fad. One of my 30,000 readers asked me why I always write negative things about Facebook. First of all this isn’t quite true, since I’ve written a few articles about how to make money on Facebook and the top ads on Facebook. I just like to question what is going on, look beyond the headlines and the spin.

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Most business owners believe that whether customers refer them is entirely out of their hands. But science shows that people can’t help recommending products and services to their friends—it’s an instinct wired deep in the brain.

And smart businesses can tap into that hardwired desire.

Marketing expert John Jantsch offers practical techniques for harnessing the power of referrals to ensure a steady flow of new customers. Keep those customers happy, and they will refer your business to even more customers. Some of Jantsch’s strategies include:

Talk with your customers, not at them. Thanks to social networking sites, companies of any size have the opportunity to engage with their customers on their home turf as never before—but the key is listening.

READ SAMPLE CHAPTER

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