Brick and Click

Social Media Explained

If you're in search of a good explanation of Social Media, watch this short video called Social Media in Plain English, courtesy of  CommonCraft.com.

4 in 10 Small Businesses Don't Have a Website

Make sure your business is not in the smaller group.  It doesn't matter if you're a decades-old barber shop or any number of small businesses that never sell merchandise over the internet.  It doesn't matter if your primary customer base is in the small town you're in, and word of mouth has worked just fine so far.   The web is not just for selling things to people near and far.  It's about selling you, whatever you do, to anyone that's searching for the service you provide.  And if you're not marketing yourself online, with a decent website as the cornerstone, then you're letting business slip away and giving the competition a major opportunity to digitally outflank you. 

I'll be blunt.  Having a website is an absolute must for any business.  Any business.  It's your 'click' side ...  flipside to your 'brick and mortar' presence, as essential as a phone number and e-mail address.  It's your physical address on the Web's version of Main Street, and it's where many of your future customers will first try to locate you.   

People don't just pick up the Yellow Pages anymore.  The very first thing a majority of people do now is a Google search.  And if they're new residents in Blanksville (your town), when they Google  'barbershops in Blanksville', and your compeititor's website comes up on the first results page, whom do you think they'll try first? 

If you don't have a website, with a domain name/URL that fits the name of your business as perfectly as possible (it'll take another post to explain domain name picking), then you're letting other people define you online.  If I do a search for your business and you don't have a website, then the search will likely yield some results from places like MerchantCircle,  YellowPages.com, Yelp and other local business directories and consumer rating sites.  So the first thing I might find is a blurb about your business from a consumer.  It might be positive feedback, or it might be negative.   

The bottom line:  your business is on the web right now, whether you have a website or not.  People are talking about you whether you're aware of it or not.    Now, you can't control the conversation, but you can influence it first by providing superior products and service. Those things are within your control, along with having your own website, where you can tell your story and showcase your business in the way you prefer.  Your website is a platform to include essential information (address, phone number, contact info, etc), showcase positive customer feedback, interesting pictures, and a place to encourage and manage transparent customer feedback with an online suggestion box.  You can also use your website to promote an e-mail newsletter, which is a great 'permission-based' marketing channel.  Other things, like videos and blogs are options as well.

Right now millions of people who don't even own a business have a website/blog, and are also active on social networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Myspace.  If you think your Main Street, brick and mortar business will continue to do just fine without any online presence or effort at all, you need to think again.   For another voice on this, give this article from USAToday's Small Business blog, Entrepreneurial Tightrope, a read.  And if you want to know what's involved in creating and managing a website, give me a shout.  I'll be happy to answer any questions, and point you in the right direction, to small business specialists like my friends at SiteWhirks.      

(laptop picture courtesy of LogoPlusMore.com) 

Business Opportunities in Your Town

Sometimes it's not about a brilliant new business idea.   Sometimes it's recognizing an opening ... a void ... a trend ... and moving like greased lightening to fill it.  This is not an extensive or exhaustive list, just some trends and opportunities I see.  Is there an opening for one of them in your town? 

• Organic Fast Food (check out Washington Post article, Business section, June 3, called Fast Food Goes Organic, about the "growing appetite for quick, health eateries) 
• A Fabulous Ice Cream Joint - a local landmark. I'm talking long lines and crazy devotion, with heaping helpings of frozen custard like Ted Drewes in St. Louis, or Carl's in Fredericksburgh, Virginia (can't locate a website for Carl's ... talk to me Carl!).  Carl's offers only three flavors:  Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry, and people die for the stuff.
• Green Center - a place for all things Green: solar panels, battery powered equipment, etc.  Please tell me someone will soon launch a product line of heavy-duty, battery powered lawn equipment (John Deere???).  If they do, and you want to make a killing in the lawn business, be the quietest, non-smelliest, lowest emission lawn care outfit around.   Charge more for it.  You'd find plenty of takers.
• Modern (with retro touches) Barber Shop -  The barber shops in my town still operate like it's 1955.  How quaint, open 9a-5:30pm, which works great for barbers, but lousy for the modern commuter who leaves for work at 5am and returns home at 7:30p.  If I owned a Barber Shop, I'd open from 6am - 10pm, I'd promote the heck out of my extended hours, and I'd have my barbers work staggered shifts.   I'd have flat panel TVs, satellite radio, and here's the big money maker ... offer straight razor shaves.  Read this Wash Post article, For Men, Luxury Regains its Edge.  Looking for a perfect Father's Day gift? Give dad the equivalent of a manly spa treatment (hot towel/razor shave/haircut).   And do what all small businesses should do, and have a WEBSITE.   Imagine a web savvy barber shop promoting a "groomsman package" (straight razor shave, etc) to wedding parties.  Cha-CHING $$$.

Sometimes the best business plan is to take a stale, set-in-its-old ways business ... and add some modern touches.  It's not rocket science.  But it certainly could make your profits take off like a rocket.

Chick-fil-A Grand Opening links

Slight delay in getting back to this blog.  OK, now that I'm out of 'beta phase' ... here we go.   I've spent the past couple of months getting some things in order. 

In my first post, I mentioned the grand opening of my local Chick-fil-A restaurant.  It was a complete hoot.  Here and here is the coverage via my ConsumerPassion blog.   There are a few Qik.com video links, where I used my Nokia N95 to stream video.  Too bad there's not a 3G phone network yet in my area.   With 3G, you can stream live video, and even field questions and comments live from people at Qik.com who're watching the stream.  Without 3G, the N95 acts as a really nice portable video camera, and when the shooting is complete, it uploads the video directly to Qik.  Except when the phone network poops out on me, which happened a couple of times.

I'm putting together a proposal to pitch to Chick-fil-A.  I'm hoping they'll be interested in getting behind some serious multi-media coverage of a future restaurant opening (with my involvement of course!).  Their grand openings are so flavorful, with people travelling hundreds of miles from out of town to camp out, literally, for free food and fellowship with like-minded C-fil-A fanatics.  Chick needs to take advantage of the enormous consumer passion it generates, and let people from coast to coast and around the world take a front row seat at a grand opening later this year.   I'll keep you informed of my progress ...   

Kicking Things Off

First of all, thanks for stopping by.  This happens to be my first official post at BrickandClick.com.  Hopefully, it'll be the first of many.

I chose the words Brick and Click - short for Brick& Mortar and the Internet/Web - because they  represent the Offline/Online world.  The two happen to be merging at quite a clip, and it's having a profound impact on Main Street.  There are some really, really cool things sprouting along the Internet Highway ... the Digital Road ... call it what you will.  Instead of Web 2.0, I use the term the New Web, or the Evolving Web, because it's changing so fast, it's hard to keep up with it all.  New technology can be one big blur to many folks.  And hopefully, that's where I come in. 

I discover new things, and figure out how they can impact business.  My first thought when I stumble onto a new web platform, mobile device, or software offering ... is "can this be used on Main Street?".   When I first heard about smart phone video streaming (live and recorded), I knew it had serious potential.  I'm about to find out how fun and creative and engaging it can be, as I cover the grand opening of a local Chick-fil-A restaurant. 

Check back ... I'll have some links to my Qik page (Qik.com is a live streaming video platform).   If you haven't heard about Chick-fil-A grand openings before ... they're apparently quite a hoot.  People line up a day in advance, as the first 100 in line get a  year's worth of free food.  And the food is absolutely dynamite.  And so is the service.  Chick-fil-A is one of my favorite examples of how to run a business the right way.  They know how to create Passionate Consumers.