Would any of the following benefits be helpful to your business?

• increased exposure
• increased traffic on your website
• better search engine results
• new partnerships
• qualified leads
• improved sales
• reductions in marketing costs

Well why not have them all?! According to a recent study, you can – if you make the time and effort to use social media to promote your business.

This data comes from the recent 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, where a survey of more than 3,300 businesses found a significant 90 percent said that social media was important to their businesses. And in fact, small businesses (hello Edmonds!) are more likely to benefit from social media than their big business counterparts.

In a followup article from the survey, Social Media Examiner’s Phil Merson pointed out these findings:

• The self-employed and small business owners were more likely to report new partnerships, with at least 59 percent noting a benefit.
• Small businesses were twice as likely to find qualified leads than other types of businesses.
• Forty-eight percent of self-employed and small business owners saw improved sales as a direct result of their social media efforts.
• The self-employed (59 percent) and small business owners (58 percent) were more likely than others to see reductions in marketing costs when using social media marketing.

So the question is – how are you using social media to help your business grow?  Are you looking for strategies on how to maximize your use social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging? Do you need help figuring out where to start?

I’d highly recommend downloading the report to see what you can learn about making this powerful platform work for your business, and if you need more insights, please give me a call or shoot me an email at One Smart Cookie Marketing – let’s chat about how to make 2011 your best year ever!

This post was originally featured on My Edmonds News.

These “daily deals” are typically in the 50-percent discount range, with some even at a 75-80 percent discount off restaurants, services, etc . — who wouldn’t love that? These deals obviously are great for the consumer, but as a marketing consultant who helps businesses increase visibility and sales, I’m a little worried about what’s in it for the business.

I’m wondering how many Edmonds businesses have considered using a “daily deal” offer – and more importantly, have really investigated what the real cost of offering these deals will be. What happens if you set consumer expectations so high that they demand a deal on every visit and think 50- percent-off pricing should be the norm? And what if these new choosy, bargain-driven consumers simply take their business elsewhere when you return to full pricing?

You could argue that the high traffic and visibility that results from these daily deal offers will create a stream of new customers and that the wide-reaching mailing list they have is invaluable to a new business struggling for attention.

And yet, I disagree. Is it a good business decision to give a deep discount for a one-time sale — especially if you never see the customer again? For example, when a restaurant offers a $50 value Groupon for $25, the restaurant only reaps about $12.50 of that – yes, Groupon typically takes 50 percent of the sale.

That’s a steep price to pay to gain a new customer – if they ever do return. And is the visibility and word-of-mouth value from this one-time offer really worth a 75 percent (or more) discount off a business’s already tight margin? Is that good ROI??

Actually, it might be — IF the business also does one (or more) of the following:

- Capture the customer’s complete contact info when they redeem the Groupon. I’ve talked with dozens of friends who have happily purchased and redeemed Groupons in the past few months and virtually NONE of them were ever asked for their contact info so the business could follow up and make them a repeat customer. Retention and repeat business are a MUST if you offer a Groupon.

- Sell a follow-up/repeat service to the same customer when they redeem the Groupon. As a business, you have an interested customer right in front of you, happy with the deal they have purchased. Why not sell them a SECOND 50-percent-off deal right then (before they leave, possibly never to return)? And guess what? You get all of that money ($25 on the $50 value), rather than giving $12.50 of it to Groupon!

- Categorize this as a marketing/advertising expense only. This type of offer may return better results than advertising in the traditional media platforms, although that’s debatable. But if you have a budget to obtain customers, and know your true cost of obtaining new customers, this method could be effective.

- Have the bandwidth to handle a deal’s popularity. Can you accommodate 1,000 new customers who purchase a $10 haircut, if you are a two-chair shop open only 40 hours a week? Can you handle the demand of full restaurant nightly all eating at discount and still pay your staff and overhead?  Do you have personnel to handle the phone calls and web inquiries to schedule all these new customers AND to service them?

My firm belief is that with the exponential growth of social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, most businesses could offer their own special deals and discounts DIRECTLY to their fans and followers, without paying a middleman (Groupon, etc). And most of your fans/followers are more than happy to share the deal by word-of-mouth “advertising” with their friends in these online arenas.  Those are the strategies I prefer to use in helping local businesses build their visibility and credibility.

I know there’s going to be some feedback and plenty of discussion on this issue, so let your opinions fly in the comments below! I especially would love to hear from businesses who have used Groupon or other daily deal companies, and how their subsequent sales have been affected.

Originally posted on My Edmonds News

A must-read before you engage in social media, design a logo, create collateral - or anything!

I must admit I’ve often been confused about the difference between branding, marketing and advertising.  And with nearly 15 years of public relations experience and my current profession of social media advisor, that’s a bit embarrassing.

But thanks to branding whiz Maria Ross’ new book “Branding Basics for Small Business-How To Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget”, I finally get it!  The owner of Red Slice, a branding and marketing consultancy, Ross has done a convincing job of explaining why having a “brand strategy” is important, attainable and affordable for a small business.

My tendency is to write a too-long blog post, telling you all the fantastic things Ross teaches in the book, but instead, I am going to limit myself to 4 key reasons to run out and buy her book, pronto!

1. There is a fantastic 10-question process to help you build your  brand strategy.  While it will take some time and brain power to formulate your answers, isn’t your business worth it?  I wish I had taken the time to work through these key points when starting up my business, instead of just figuring it out as I went.  Can you say “flying by the seat of your pants?”  Giving significant thought to answer the queries about pricing, target audience, benefits, competition, metrics, etc. as you begin to build your empire is a much more fruitful process, trust me!
2. The “brand at work” examples of real-life companies that are scattered throughout the book.  Ross does an amazing job of bringing her principles to life by telling us success stories from companies that have implemented these concepts.  They are inspiring and show us what can be accomplished by having a strategy – and actually following it!   My favorite “Brand at Work” example was Bestfriends General Store, an online dog toyland that communicates from the dogs’ point of view!  This brand approach, with the “humans” playing second fiddle, is unique and incredibly effective for distinguishing Bestfriends from their multitude of competition in the pet services world.
3. The section on “Who and where is your audience? How can you find them?” is worth the price of the book. In my work with BNI (Business Network International), I work with many entrepreneurs and small businesses that are scared to death to narrow down what they do, or to establish a target audience.  They typically prefer to “help anyone with anything” which unfortunately often means no one hires them at all. Ross claims this ability to define your ideal client is the single most important aspect to a brand strategy – and I wholeheartedly agree.  Knowing your ideal client/target audience intimately helps you focus on a specific strategy that brings you the clients you want to work with, that are the most fun and the most profitable.  I dare you to try it!
4. And last but not least, I love that the book is logical and builds from one process to the next!  It is written in just three parts and each flows perfectly into the next, giving you a complete solution by the end.  Part 1 on “What is Brand and Why Does it Matter” deals with the question of why brand matters and how your customer actually dictates what your brand is.  Part 2 deals with the 10-questions I mentioned above and really gets to the heart of what you have to offer.  And Part 3 gives you a road map to apply the brand strategy you’ve just created, with specific steps to accomplish your goals.

This book has helped me truly appreciate the important work of branding, and created a new appreciation of its role in company strategy and communications.  When people approach me now for help with their social media strategy, I will spend much more time asking about their brand strategy before we decide what tactics to take on.  And if they don’t have a strategy, they will be sent directly to Maria Ross at Red Slice - do not pass GO, do not collect $200!

NOTE: Ross is hosting a book launch party Tuesday, June 15 at Little Red Bistro in Fremont (WA) from 6:00-8:30 pm.

An iPad in your restaurant is worth many customers at your tables

One of the common complaints I often hear from my restaurant clients – or potential clients – is that they lack the time, personnel and/or web access to successfully use Twitter to promote their business.  My suggestion – have your host/hostess use a smartphone or netbook computer at the check-in point of the restaurant – was usually dismissed for many reasons (which I’ll leave for another post!)

So I was thrilled, and inspired, when I read “5 Good Reasons to Buy an iPad for Your Business” on American Express’ Open Forum this week.  I wish I’d thought of it earlier – restaurants can easily use an iPad, as opposed to a smartphone or netbook!  It’s cool, it’s fun and it’s definitely a conversation-starter – all things restaurants want to be known for!

With that in mind, here are my 5 reasons to buy an iPad for your restaurant:

1. Your host/hostess can use the iPad at their front station to monitor Twitter (or Facebook) in slower times, to listen to what people are saying about you – asking questions, looking for specials, making positive comments, etc.  And they can actually respond in real-time, or close to it, making you look responsive and attentive to them. And training your host to use the iPad as an integrated part of their job eliminates the need to hire yet another staffer (except a one-time consultant like me to train you to use it – ha!)
2. The iPad would be a fantastic way to advertise current promotions/specials and to draw people into the restaurant that wouldn’t otherwise be headed there.  For example, on a rainy Monday evening when the resto is slow and you have tables to fill, you can Tweet out a special such as “next 5 people who come by and say ‘twitter’ get a free appetizer.  Or, you can promote a special entree that is only available that night or has limited availability
3. You can set up a open search on Twitter to see who is looking for something particular but might not know about you yet. For example, if you have a search for “happy hour Belltown”, you’ll find tweets from people trolling Twitter to see what’s going on – and then you can reply “come see us, we have the best cocktails in town, tonight it’s the XYZ” or “you want the best burger in town? we have ABC and it’s 1/2 price tonight!”
4. You can use the iPad to monitor reservations and other other details from Open Table, UrbanSpoon or Foursquare without having to run to the back office and log on to your big clunky computer.  In fact, UrbanSpoon has launched RezBook, an iPad app and online reservations platform that will allow restaurants to manage their tables and reservation books.  Need we say more??
5. Last but not least, the cool factor.  It will definitely set you apart from your competitors to be seen using an iPad at your front station – we’re trendy, current with technology, connected to our customers, just plain cool.  And it will open the door to better conversations with your customers, who will be intrigued and fascinated with your ability to do so much all at the front desk!

So there you have it – five quick and easy reasons to buy an iPad for your restaurant.  There’s an amazing return on investment (for the $499+ cost) with a little time and effort. I’m sure there are many more benefit to restaurants using this new tool and I’d love to hear what you think too!

No doubt, Groupon is great for the consumer. The “daily deals” are typically in the 50 percent off range, with some even at a 75-80% discount off restaurants, services, etc .- who wouldn’t love that? These deals obviously are great for the consumer, but as a marketing consultant who helps businesses increase visibility and sales online, I’m a little worried about what’s in it for the business.

In a recent article on Open Forum, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing posed the question “Could Groupon Save Your Business?”.  He highlighted the major benefits of the service – mostly for consumers! – but also noted how businesses could use the high traffic and visibility that results from these offers to create a stream of new customers. He noted “…I’m not sure there is a more effective play out there right now for the small business looking for ROI on marketing dollars invested.”

And yet, I disagree. Is it a good business decision to take a deep discount for a sale - especially if you never see the customer again? For example, when a restaurant offers a $50 value  Groupon for $25, the restaurant only reaps about $12.50 of that – yes, Groupon typically takes 50% of the sale ( although they do note their cut varies based on the market, merchant and number of deals sold.)  That’s a steep price to pay. And is the visibility and word-of-mouth value from this one-time offer  really worth a 75% (or more) discount off a business’s already tight margin?  Is that good ROI??

Actually, it might be — IF the business also does one (or more) of the following:

1. Capture the customer’s complete contact info when they redeem the Groupon- I’ve talked with dozens of friends who have happily purchased and redeemed Groupons in the past few months and virtually NONE of them were ever asked for their contact info so the business could follow up. Retention and repeat business are a MUST if you offer a Groupon.
2. Sell a follow-up/repeat service to the same customer when they redeem the Groupon- As a business, you have an interested customer right in front of you, happy with the deal they have purchased.  Why not sell them a SECOND 50% off deal right then (before they leave, possibly never to return)? And guess what? You get all of that money ($25 on the $50 value), rather than giving $12.50 of it to Groupon!
3. Limit the Groupon to new customers only – depending on the business, it might be a little harder to determine and track who is “new”, but the value of such a loss-leader deal is in introducing new customers to your products/services, rather than offering a cut rate to your current, loyal clients that are going to buy from you anyway.

So there you have it – my take on the Groupon phenomenon and its value to a business.  I know there’s going to be some feedback on this one, so let your opinions fly in the comments below!  I especially would love to hear from businesses who have used Groupon, and how their subsequent sales have been affected.

My pet peeve – or at least, strong dislike – are those social media users who post messages on Twitter via Facebook BUT never come to Twitter engage in follow up conversation. 

I hope you read the whole sentence before you dash off a nasty note to me – I’m not saying you shouldn’t post from Twitter to Facebook.  I understand the efficiency of creating your message once and “pushing” it to the various social media platforms.  BUT, what I don’t understand are those Facebook users who do push info to Twitter AND don’t come to Twitter for the follow-up conversations and relationship building.

Here’s what I see happening – and I’ll use a restaurant as an example.  If Restaurant-A-Rama (RAR) only posts messages on its Facebook fan page with distribution to Twitter et al, they are creating a monologue relationship.  They have “spoken” to us on Twitter, but aren’t there (on Twitter) for the Q&A or to monitor the feedback.  I may see a tweet that RAR has 1/2 price ribs tonight, but if I want to ask what type of sauce they use, or if they can accomodate my birthday party of 12 or if I just want to tell them they are my favorite restaurant in the city, it probably falls on deaf ears.  I want a dialogue – is that too much to ask?

You cannot monitor the Twitter conversations that come from your message while you are on Facebook. You have to come play with us in the Twitter sandbox, spend a little time, build a little sandcastle and let us get to know you – where WE are.  If I reply to RAR on Twitter and they don’t reply to my inquiry, thank me for my retweet or share additional information, they have missed the opportunity to build a relationship with me – and isn’t that the point of social media? If I feel ignored, I’m probably not buying from you, no matter how creative the message was.

Anyone can buy ads, post them all over town, on the radio/TV, and take whatever business comes from that.  Expensive, often not effective, and not very personal. But if you want to build customer/client relationships and be a good member of the community, you cannot force feed us one-way messaging on social media and then not participate in whatever ensues.  That’s an infomercial, and most of us will go running and screaming from you, far and fast.

So what to do? Go ahead and post your message once, using one of the many tools that offer this service.  It will go to Facebook, Twitter, et al.  But then allocate 10-15 minutes per day (or many times daily) to come see what has transpired on each of the platforms – and talk to us.  We assume you got into social media to be social, so we appreciate your feedback, your insights, your offerings.  Dialogue is king.

Karen is One Smart Cookie

I’m excited to announce the new, improved identity of the former Incredible Chef persona that used to grace these pages – please welcome One Smart Cookie Marketing!

One Smart Cookie Marketing focuses on making other “smart cookies” look smart.  Utilizing the appropriate marketing and social media tools, we help thought leaders, experts, influencers, and gurus get their message out to their target audience and earn the visibility they deserve.

Definition from the Cambridge Dictionary – a smart cookie is someone who is clever and good at dealing with difficult situations 

Okay, so maybe the marketing situations you face aren’t that difficult, but they are to you!  So why not hand these duties off to someone who is good at dealing with them and is clever, to boot?  That’s me, One Smart Cookie.

I love the name for another reason – it gives a nod to my background both as a personal chef and as one who has spent the past year specializing in social media for restaurants and food & beverage companies. But I’ve discovered there are many more out there, outside the food community, that are looking for One Smart Cookie too.  And so the focus broadens – although there will always be a special place in my heart – and in my list of clients! – for the foodies.

So who do I want to help now?  I’m looking for entrepreneuers (real or wanna-be) with that great big idea, thought leaders that influence large communities, authors and speakers that are subject-matter experts, and those on a mission to impact their world in some way.

These leaders know there is power in marketing and social media - but they aren’t sure quite how to use it yet, even though they know how important it is.  They are educated, eager to learn, computer savvy, and are hungry to make their stamp on their world.  They don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and doing the work, because they know the importance of being authentic in their communications. And they are willing to pay the price to be guided in the areas they are unskilled.

One Smart Cookie -meaning me, Karen Rosenzweig! – brings more than 20 years of marketing, social media and public relations to the mix.  You bring the big idea, and we will help you craft creative messages, find the people that need to hear about you, and display your brilliance.  It’s an easy recipe and it will be a beautiful, fully-baked masterpiece when we are finished.

Stay tuned for more details – it’s going to be quite a ride!  I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the comments – please share!

People like to talk about beautiful, delicious food on Twitter

Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the basics, such as, what exactly are we doing here on social media? 

I listened in on a teleseminar presented by the National Restaurant Association this week, and Stacey Kane, director of marketing for California Tortilla, presented some great, simple tips about why restaurants should care about and use social media.  You’ve probably heard them before, but for those few timid souls who have still not made the leap to Twitter or Facebook yet, here’s a short recap on why you should use social media:

1. Viral marketing - your message spreads fast and has wide reach
2. Virtually free - social media tools are free and the cost is only your time and energy
3. Immediate – you put a message out there and people see it/respond right away
4. Continuous customer engagement – you stay connected even after customers leave your restaurant, and you have access to follow up with surveys, thank you for visiting messages, trivia, specials, etc

And if you now “see the light” and are ready to Tweet away or create a Facebook Fan page, what’s next?  Here’s a few more bites from Stacey about how to get started:

• Decide who will handle the duties of tweeting/posting – they must be able to speak in your “voice” and have time to participate
• Listen!  Check out the major social media sites and listen to what people are talking about, investigate what they are already saying about you, do your homework
• Pick a platform – decide what target market you are trying to reach and which sandbox they play in (Twitter or Facebook or other), and then go and play where they like to play!
• Decide if you will offer discounts, specials, etc. to followers – and be sure everyone in your company knows about it and how to execute those offers

And I would add one more key component - develop a social media strategy and stick with it!  You really need a road map of where you want to go and how to get there – or you may end up in Poughkeepsie when you were headed for Tallahassee!  There are many social media consultants and advisors (like myself) who live and breathe these activities every day – use us!  Let us help you, and then you can do what you do best – make delicious food for your awesome customers – win-win for everyone.

Class dismissed

Related post: 5 Reasons Why Restaurants Should Use Twitter

Follow this smart cookie @Twit4Restos on Twitter!

I just love, love, love what my ”right coast” colleague Lara Dickson does at Twitter For Restaurants. 

Besides constantly beating me to the punch with great ideas for restaurants on how to use social media in creative ways, she is just one smart cookie.  And so today, I am taking my fork, reaching across the table and stealing a bite from her plate – with all due credit, of course!

Her recent post “Telling Your Story Across the Web“ details how restaurants can use five online tools to maximize their visibility out of something as simple as a photo of a cinnamon roll:

Get a really good photo of your product or event, then:

1. Prepare a blog post
2. Create a Facebook event
3. Record a short video
4. Document with photos

And finally, bring them all together for a measurable impact on your SEO and analytics

5. Tweet(s) about it all

This one fantastic image has been broadcast on five different channels, reached all of your fan and follower bases, picked up in searches because your content was loaded with keywords and interesting information and images.

Perfect. Simple. Well said. Exactly what I would tell any of my restaurant clients to do.  I tip my toque to you, Ms. Dickson – and Happy International Women’s Day!  And don’t forget to follow her on Twitter - you’ll be glad you did.

And isn’t that how some of you feel now, using Twitter.com? I’ve heard the frustration from many of you and the threats to quit Twitter because it’s too confusing, moves too fast and it’s hard to find what you care about.  Kind of like trying to pick a dish off a scrolling menu presenting in random, rapid-fire order, yes? 

And that’s my point today.  Don’t give up on Twitter – get TweetDeck now!

TweetDeck – like Hootsuite, Seesmic and similar products – is a productivity tool you download to your desktop (free!) that allows you to organize information into categories and topicsso they are more easily found and digested.  Just like a restaurant lists its dishes in categories – appetizers, entrees, fish, chicken, dessert, etc – TweetDeck allows you to create easy-to-view columns of information, so you can decide what to look at quickly, and it helps you focus if you have just five minutes to spend. As if…but I digress.

TweetDeck looks like a giant dashboard, with columns that allow you to group your followershowever you like. For example, I’ve created categories such as restaurants, food writers, friends, clients, Edmonds (my town), travel, etc.  When I open TweetDeck, I have 8-10 columns listing each of my categories in beautiful order – structure!  I can see at a glance what has been going on with my friends, for example, so I don’t have to scroll through the giant one-column mess that you find on Twitter.com.  No wonder so many people give up on Twitter, when they are left to watch Tweets scroll by like whitewater rapids – how could you ever find anything?

This efficiency allows you to manage your growing list of followers, so you can actually see what people are saying, in a logical way.  Once I have shown TweetDeck to novice users – and some intermediate users too – it’s like a light bulb goes on over their little heads, and they see the power in such an organizational tool.

In addition, there are three other major benefits in TweetDeck, that I simply can’t live without – and they aren’t available on Twitter.com.  There is an automatic URL-shortening featurethat allows you to paste a long web address and have it shortened right there in the same window, similar to tiny.url or bit.ly.  There’s also an easy way to simply drag a photoright onto the TweetDeck screen so you can attach it to your tweet.  And, you can actually edit and/or add a personal message when you are retweetinga Tweet, which is no longer possible on twitter.com.  These three features alone are worth the price of TweetDeck…oh wait, it’s FREE! (did I mention that?)

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  When you are hungry for chicken, you want to go right to the poultry section on the menu, and not be bothered with desserts or soups.  And thanks to TweetDeck, when you just want to see what your clients are doing, you can get right to it, and save yourself time and mental energy.  And that’s worth a lot.  Just hop on over to www.tweetdeck.com and download it today…you’re welcome!

NOTE: For those interested, I am teaching an intermediate Twitter class that focuses on TweetDeck and other tools to help productivity.  You can view the details at this link