I have read a lot of articles recently about the growth of twitter, how it helps people connect and how – because of these connections – it can help business owners in their marketing by creating a relationship with customers and prospects.
I also read earlier this month that Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, said they were planning to charge business users.
Why would they do that? Well, I think the boost in sales that Dell reportedly enjoyed may have some bearing (you can read about it at TechCrunch).
So – is it too late to take advantage of the current free state of Twitter for your marketing?
Perhaps not.
If you don’t already use Twitter pro-actively for promoting your business activities it may be worth taking the plunge now so you know if it is worth the investment when charges are introduced.
And if you are new to Twitter (or just not 100% sure how best to go about using it effectively) then this 9-page guide not only gets you started but gives some useful tips on associated tools you can use to make the experience easier.
This is my gift to you – you don’t pay a penny… and I promise not to apply any charges for using it – ever 
Twitter for Business (opens in a new browser window or right-click the link to download a copy to your computer).
If you are already using Twitter has it had any impact on your business?
Share your experiences and thoughts below.
~ Carol Bentley
Yaro Starak describes on his blog how to approach possible joint venture partners. Although his post refers to online JVs, if this is something you are considering after reading the posts in my Finding New Business series then his tips could be useful to you.
In my original posts; 3: mutually beneficial arrangements and 4: get your competitors onside I described how coming to an arrangement with other business owners can be beneficial – on both sides.
Jay Abraham calls this arrangement a host-recipient relationship and has used it to great effect in offline marketing. It is more commonly known as a joint venture partnership in Internet circles. How you make your approach has a direct impact on your likely success, creating rapport and a friendly relationship is pretty important, don’t you think?
OK – I’m stating an obvious point here… it’s common sense, isn’t it?
Yes, but it is surprising how often common sense – or even marketing sense about creating a relationship before even suggesting a JV – seems to go completely out of the window.
In his post ‘How Not To Approach A Potential Joint Venture Partner‘ Yaro Starak lists 6 clear steps to follow.
Although he’s talking about Internet JVs the wisdom he shares applies equally to any potential host arrangement. As I said, worth taking a look.
Another thought…
It’s the same with people trying to get free professional help…
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked if I would write a full sales campaign on the promise of potential business to come (often from a start-up entrepreneur who hasn’t even considered who their ideal prospect is yet and has no idea of how to find their target audience). I hate having to say “No” – but it is not practical for me to do otherwise, no matter how much I’d love to help them
You see, I appreciate how difficult it is for these folk and I wish them every success. Of course, I’m happy to offer advice and suggestions through the posts on this blog or the free reports I give away.
But if I agreed to write their sales letter for free every time I’m asked I’d have no time available for my paying clients or my own projects… or for writing the posts on this blog!
If you ever find a safe, cloning machine let me know… ’cause then I’d never have to say “No!” 
~ Carol Bentley
In his post ‘You Can’t be a Beacon if Your Light Don’t Shine’ Fred Black is asking who you’d want to have to do your marketing. He suggests that Eeyore may not be the best choice… and it made me think of Marvin, the Paranoid Robot from Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I reckon he might not be a good choice either.
Fred’s comments are an interesting observation on the approach many business people take – drawing in, effectively hibernating and hiding themselves from view instead of seizing the opportunity to outshine the competition. And although he’s talking about his experiences in the US I reckon a lot of it applies here in the UK as well.
It will only take a few minutes to read but, if it encourages you to think a little differently so you find more customers, then it is time well spent.
Pop over to ‘You Can’t be a Beacon if Your Light Don’t Shine’ and then come back here to let me know your thoughts.
~ Carol Bentley
I know I said in my last post I’d stop talking about security but Alan sent this P.S. and if you keep your laptop in the boot of your car this is pretty important.
“ps! re. your Sat nav point: One latest trick.
You (may / may not) know that Police are now advising that when you park up (especially at countryside beautyspots etc) to remember to power down and completely switch off your Laptop hidden in the boot of your car….
What criminals now do (when people go off walking for a few hours) is wander around car parks and find cars which have a Laptop hidden (out of sight) in the boot.
Then when owners have gone off for a few hours, they break in and steal the expensive Laptop and all its contents
…but how do they do it?
Ans.
They use a mobile phone ….with blue tooth enabled
They find Laptops in cars which are transmitting a bluetooth signal – so gives away it’s hidden in the boot! So they break rear window, open door, access the boot and they’re away with it..
Hours later owner comes back and staggered how they knew to break into his/her car as all was out of sight? Was it pure chance of finding expensive Laptop hidden in boot? No, it was signalling it was there all the time!
Alan Jones
Alan, thanks again for the warning.
~ Carol Bentley
Following my post yesterday about the suspicious call my husband (Mark) had about promoting his website one of my regular readers, Alan Jones, sent me an informative email.
Because we are all busy people and can sometimes get caught out in the stress of the moment I asked Alan if I could share his insights with you. Sometimes we just need to be reminded …here’s Alan’s thoughts:
“I’ve got experience in detecting scams / phishing matters (being a co-ordinator for police homewatch / trading standards for our area) and also having had (nice) timeshare abroad, but now there are so-o-o many scams running you wouldn’t believe, including so called ‘solicitors’ in Spain & other locations – who dupe unsuspecting members of the UK & public elsewhere.
Your husband’s experience sound so much like yet another I’m afraid. Trouble is it’s so hard to catch these criminals because they hide their tracks so well (like using an internet cafe in Spain so you can’t find the exact sender / or using trojans in PC’s around the world so police can’t do an audit trail (as software keeps mutating into different identities) etc.
Also one of many other tricks to be wary of is that they pretend to be a genuine (say bank official) caller and give you part of your (correct) bank / or card number just to prove who they are …it’s just that they don’t have all of it, and they’re just trying anything to get your full credit card number…. if you (and so many do) fall for it (under a plausible guise of something you’re connected with) …then within minutes (never mind weeks) your account has been raided and vast sums removed / charged to your card etc… they then cover their tracks and quickly disappear. (I described this in an earlier post Telephone Scam).
You only find out weeks later when your statement arrives, and they’re long gone – and the credit card company has to pay out vast sums back into your a/c
We had this a while back where somehow they got hold of (I gather maybe via criminal internet sites) our Business Bank Account no. – and started charging for all sorts of stuff (like luxury dresses in USA?? – I’m a single male, we deal with Professional Audio / Events, UK based) – these were somewhere across America in our case?? VISA said it was a complete fraud (as it had happened on many other accounts) and we eventually got refunded – but your case sounds so much like a scam – and you called back and got no reply??? Major Alarm bells ringing!!!
My advice :-
Try and get any information / contact details from them, say you’ll call them back later – and call police / trading standards! Do Not, under any circumstances, give them any card / a/c number’s etc.
As you say, if your husband really wants to do stuff with Google Ad Words = go via a reputable supplier = one that You phone, not someone who phones you! (Goes for anything really!)
It is worth remembering the old adage (which we all know, but sometimes forget in the heat of the deal) ‘if it seems too good to be true – it probably is!’”
Alan Jones
The guy who phoned Mark has not called back – yet. Somehow I don’t think he will, but if he does then I’ll take Alan’s advice and record the conversation to hand over to the police.
And one final thought…
Did you see the Real Hustle on TV a week or so back?
This particular hustle was at an attended car park (in London I think).
The conman, wearing a reflective waistcoat, waited until the real attendant went off for a break and then stepped onto the site. He greeted the next person who drove in and asked for the keys to park the vehicle up – which the driver handed over. After seeing the car parked up the driver left (without getting the keys back).
The driver’s keyring had car and house keys on it. Plus - and this is the scary bit that made me stop and think - there was a portable Sat Nav in the car. The conman simply set the Sat Nav to the ‘home’ address and drove off to break into the house… he knew the owner wasn’t home because he’d got the car!
It had not occurred to me that setting your home address in your Sat Nav is effectively inviting burglars into your home if your Sat Nav is stolen.
Personally I wouldn’t leave my car keys like that – in fact when I have my car serviced at my local garage (and I’ve known the guys there for nigh on 20 years) I always take my house keys off the ring. Not because I don’t trust them… I just don’t know who else is likely to have access in the garage.
And needless to say, I’ve now changed my Sat Nav so it doesn’t show my home address any more!
OK – that’s enough from me on personal and home security. Back to normal next week, I promise!
Have a good (and secure) weekend – and look out for an email from me on Monday / Tuesday.
~ Carol Bentley
My husband, Mark and I share an office although we each run our own business. Yesterday Mark got an unexpected telephone call offering a ‘foolproof’ way to drive traffic to his militaria collectibles website (www.tigercollectibles.co.uk) and I’m almost convinced it was some type of phishing call – effectively a scam.
You see when he told me what the caller had said to him my first reaction was “That’s a load of rubbish”.
But then I thought about it a bit more and now I’m concerned that there might be more behind it. Here’s the gist of how the conversation went – see if you get the same impression I did.
Caller: “You know the display adverts that appear on the right side of your browser when you use Google to search for something?”
Mark:“Yes”
Caller: “Well we have the exclusive rights for the search terms Luftwaffe Collectibles and RAF Collectibles . For just £185 we can set it up so your website displays exclusively for those terms whenever anybody uses them to search on Google. And you can have that exclusivity for 12 months with an option to renew after 12 months. Would you like me to get that organised for you?”
Mark: “I’ll have a think about it.”
The caller explained the whole proposal again and asked if Mark would like to go ahead – he did this another twice! (Talk about pushy!!) and each time Mark said
“I understand what you’ve explained and, as I said, I’ll think about it. I’m not going to make a snap decision.”
Caller: “Right, can I have your full name?”
Mark: “I haven’t said I’m going to take up your offer so why do you need my full name?”
Caller: “This is a golden opportunity to get exclusive rights to those particular search terms and it’s for a full 12 months. How would you make your payment, by card? Can I have your card details then I can get it set up and call you back in an hour to let you know it is up and working?”
Mark: “No, I’m not going to give you my card details, I want to have a think about it.”
Caller: “Well, how long will it take you to decide?”
Mark: “You can call back on Friday and I’ll tell you my decision then.”
Caller: “OK, I’ll call you on Friday.”
Mark is not very technical and uses his computer purely to create his collectibles catalogue and answer incoming emails. All the other ‘techy’ stuff is taken care of for him. When he told me what had been said I explained that no-one can claim exclusive rights to a search term for a PPC (pay-per-click) advert. In fact, it is something he could have set up at any time if he wants.
But as I thought more about it I did wonder if someone who is not familiar with the way Google Adwords and other PPC advertising works could be duped into giving out their personal and credit card details. So was this really a phishing scam?
I did a 1471 (for those outside the UK dialing 1471 gives the number of the person who just called you if it wasn’t withheld) and got the caller’s number. When I rang back (I wanted to check which company was making this unbelievable offer) there was no answer.
Have you had any calls like this where someone you’ve never heard of tries to get you to give your card details over the phone for something they are apparently selling?
Do you think I’m being paranoid here? Was it a scam or was it just a very badly trained, pushy tele-sales person?
Hmm… it will be interesting to see if he does phone back tomorrow (Friday 13th). As they say ‘watch this space…’
~ Carol Bentley
How can you attract business without cutting prices? We know cutting prices can devalue your product or service and, after price drops, it can sometimes be difficult to return to your normal figures.
On top of that, as I’ve said before – and I daresay you’ve heard it from others – getting into a price war with competitors can put you on the slippery slope to disaster and demise.
So what can you do instead?
Today’s tip is one I’m putting into practice in a new promotion – it might be a viable approach for you too.
You see it’s not just us business owners who have problems in a recession. Fund-raising for charities is more difficult as well – many lose contributions from business owners who can no longer support the charity when things get tough.
But, let me ask a question.
If you have to make a purchase and are given a choice between two companies, where the quality, customer service and price are a match but one offers to donate a portion of their revenue to a charity… which would you choose?
I suspect you may feel strongly inclined towards the charitable option. And, as a result, the company offering that promotion may achieve higher sales; attract more customers than they normally would.
How is this different to price-cutting?
If you are or have considered price cutting then you are expecting to reduce your margin. By donating to charity and accepting a lower profit without dropping your prices you are not undermining your market position or credibility. When the promotion is over your prices are still at your normal level.
Will this idea work?
I dunno! Truly – I think it will, but it is not one I’ve done before… I’m testing it as I write this post.
If you are subscribed to any of my lists or have bought any of my products or services you will be receiving information about this promotion – either by post or email.
If you are not subscribed and would like to see the letter I’ve written for this campaign (or maybe even see if the offer is something you’d like to take up) you can read it here Charity Promotion
Something You Should Know
If you plan to raise funds for a specific charity and doing so generates business, you need to be aware of the Charities Act 2006.
The Act states you cannot name or use a specific charity’s logo without entering into a commercial contract in which you give some indication of the amount you expect to donate. Some charities (especially national ones) will only enter into a commercial contract if you agree to a specific minimum contribution (usually thousands of pounds).
Read my Sales Letter to see how I’ve used this approach without setting up commercial charity contracts.
Do you think this idea would work for your business? Yes? No? Share your thoughts; post a comment using the link below.
~ Carol Bentley
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