LinkedIn or LinkedOut?
This month as we tackle some of the Social Media platforms and unpack some of the ways to best use them for small business and Entrepreneurs, we start with LinkedIn. Register HERE
Many people we speak to seem to have ignored LinkedIn as their primary focus for brand building and online activity. We get comments such as “Why LinkedIn?”, “It is only for job hunting”, “It does not do anything for me” and “There is no company stuff, just people”.
Well in all these cases the answer is, “It can assist you and your business, in many different ways”. But like all platforms: if you do not work it, it will not work for you. We constantly strive for new innovative ways to leverage our online presence for the greater good of our business. Recently I attended a workshop run by Charlotte Kemp, one of most informed LinkedIn person I know. Charlotte was able to show us some cool tips and tricks to add to the stuff I already knew to put our LinkedIn profile on the gas burner.
So here is a short quiz for you to take: Yes or No answers
- Do you have a current LinkedIn profile?
- Does your business have a LinkedIn page?
- Are both these up-to-date with all recent information?
- Do you have over 500 people in your LinkedIn personal network?
- Do you post articles, blogs and company information on LinkedIn at least once a week?
- Do you strategically research, identify and connect with key players in your sector?
If you scored more than 2 “No” for the above 6 questions, then you are in dire need of some LinkedIn butt-kicking and I extend to you a special invite to our Wednesday Weekly Webinar presented on 6th September at 12:00.
Register HERE and learn with many others some of the tips, tricks and strategic techniques to make LinkedIn work for you.
Why Social Media Today?
Why is Social Media important? 3-5 decades ago, long distance communication was limited to telephones and fax machines. Information was stored and distributed mainly on paper. With the rapid increase in knowledge, one would have guessed we were headed for a disaster especially in an environmental perspective. Then came Social Media.
It’s no surprise that social media is, well social. Social Media content generally has more informal tone than other communications. That not to say Social Media messages are not also professional. LinkedIn is a Social Media networking specifically designed for career and business professionals to connect. It’s about building strategic relationships, making it hard to sell product on the platform. Facebook is one of the cheapest, largest and the most prominent Social Media networking application today.
Social Media is useful when people can use the information to see their lives in new ways, change business strategic ideas, or learn something they didn’t know before. It’s also an affordable way to increase brand awareness, Launches, relevant quiz, marketing, competitions, surveys, referrals and much more. Its tools help to build awareness and direct readers to take action or find more information.
A blog is a frequently updated online personal journal or diary. It is a place to express yourself to the world. A place to share your thoughts and your passions. Really, it’s anything you want it to be. For our purposes, we’ll say that a blog is your own website that you are going to update on an ongoing basis. A blog is a short form for the word weblog and the two words are used interchangeably. Youtube most popular video sites on the web today.
Social Media messages should have a call to action, urging people to take the next step. What is your next step?
The weeks will be split into lessons pertaining to the different platforms. So save the following dates and follow the links to book your spots on the social media webinars and workshops and get yourself added to the mailing list to get the regular blogs on this subject.
6 Sept – LinkedIn – BOOK HERE
13 Sept – Blogging – BOOK HERE
20 Sept – FaceBook – BOOK HERE
27 Sept – YouTube – BOOK HERE
Do you have an Invention or a Disaster?
Do you have a new invention? Do you think it will get to market? Maybe make you millions, so you can retire on a beach and sip cocktails? Well, maybe this article is for you.
We all have those good ideas spark through our brains at least once in our life time: for inventors and innovators, it happens a lot. But what you do with these ideas depends on a number of things: Energy, Time and Money.
Do you have the energy to invest in the invention and start working on the initial concept? This will often take you on a roller coaster of emotions as you think you have a great idea but then find something else that is similar, so you change it and again you find something else, then your friends laugh at your idea and so it goes. Your mental and emotional energy needs to be prepared for the long haul here. Be ready to spend many hours online and getting your emotional butt kicked.
Time is money and money buys you time. Both will be a big issue as you work on your new invention. Do not think that this will be a short time to wealth. It will take months, if not years to get to market. You will need to do a bunch of research, design, prototyping and many different iterations of your idea until it works.
Then you will have to face the daunting task of IP: securing your Intellectual Property with PPA, PCT, Designs, and Trademarks that all come with costs and more time, and more costs.
Typically we see a physical product development from initial concept to final prototype in 9 months with a cost of around R50k. (This is an average and can change depending on the complexity of your product) At this stage, you should be ready to chat to people for a deal to go to market.
So pitch ready, prototype in hand you can chat to a big firm to get your idea into production and ready for distribution. You will need this to assist in the future IP costs, molds and logistics that still need to be done. A typical joint-venture goes to the inventor 10%-90% and if you are lucky enough a little more up to 20%. But if this product is good and it sells this should be enough to make you some money and pay for your kid’s schooling or your retirement plans.
Scary enough for you: Do not fear we are here to assist with all this and take your idea through this quagmire or complexity. We do not promise a smooth road but will keep you on the road and encourage, educate and support you emotionally along the way.
Join us on our monthly inventor’s get-together or call us direct for a chat about your new idea that will change the world.
Social Media and beyond for effective Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs are often great at the technical things and getting the detail done well. But when it comes to developing that all important online social media brand footprints for both themselves and the developed products…. well let’s just say it needs some work.
We understand Entrepreneur and the issues we face. We also understand Social Media and marketing and how important it is to build a business. So over the next 5 weeks, we will unpack some of the mysteries of the social media platforms and share some secrets that will help automate, improve and deliver awesome content that matters and help you get the right things done right.
The weeks will be split into lessons pertaining to the different platforms. So save the following dates and follow the links to book your spots on the social media webinars and workshops and get yourself added to the mailing list to get the regular blogs on this subject.
30 Aug – Social media introduction – BOOK HERE
6 Sept – LinkedIn – BOOK HERE
13 Sept – Blogging – BOOK HERE
20 Sept – FaceBook – BOOK HERE
27 Sept – YouTube – BOOK HERE
By the end of September, you could have all this social media stuff for you and your business sorted, mostly automated and geared up to start building your business.
Narrative Business Strategies – telling your story
Over the last 2 months, we have dissected and digested the methodology of storytelling in a business. Through this process, we have created a deck of story cards that are used in our workshops and can be used together with our workbooks and business strategy worksheets to develop a fully functional and sustainable business plan.
We also unpacked the joy of telling marketing stories and making what is traditionally boring stories come to life and invoke emotion and intrigue leading to better referrals and a wider online footprint for your business.
Please review the last of these webinars (just 28 minutes) in the video below and follow the links to the other webinars on our community page in the series if you missed them:
Narrative business strategy workshops are run at our venue in Woodstock, Cape Town or online via Skype or Expertise. We deal with helping business owners develop a narrative approach to their business development and planning as well as create well defined functional sales funnel and marketing strategy. Through this process, we work through our business development roadmap and identify gaps, assumptions and develop a risk mitigation strategy as we go.
If you are interested in starting or growing a business then please give us a call or complete the form HERE and we will be in contact with you.