Thank you, Jon, for the guest blog post and for being a guest on the radio show. Looking forward to talking about Nimble, which every CEO, president and business owner needs to discover – a platform which helps individuals and teams build better relationships by unifying contacts and social engagement. Jon is also a thought leader on social media and sales so we will have much to talk about. You can listen to the show right here on this blog post. – Howard -

It used to be that if either a person or a business wanted to buy something, their first contact was with a sales representative. After that initial engagement, they might have asked friends or co-workers for informed opinions, but usually only after they’d already been “sold” by the sales rep.

If a company wanted people to buy our product, we had to yell at people. We tried to get the attention of our target audience through direct mail, cold calls and print, radio and TV ads. If we were lucky, we generated positive, far-reaching word-of-mouth through Mad Men-style advertising gimmicks, raving customer service stories or clever taglines.

Social media have turned this model on its head. These days, the sales rep is often the last person that a customer contacts. Consumers and businesses are listening to what their online network is saying about your offerings. And they’ve started yelling back.

The Evolving Customer Relationship

It’s estimated that by the time an interested buyer actually approaches your company, they’ve gotten information and opinions from between seven and 10 different sources. The fact that you’ve been vetted already works in your favor, but you’re not a sure thing yet. Your prospects want to know who you are and why they should buy from you.
You’ll be better prepared for the savvy new customer if you know who they are. That’s where social selling comes in.

It’s not really a new concept, though our reach is now dramatically extended. We not only know what’s happening in our own personal contacts’ lives, but we can see what their friends and business associates are thinking and saying and doing.

Yes, people who sell things have always used personal connections to encourage patronage. They got to know the parents of their children’s friends through school functions. They joined civic organizations for face-to-face networking. They engaged with their communities in numerous ways because they genuinely liked expanding their pool of friends and acquaintances, but also because they knew that people base at least a part of their buying decisions on the likability, accessibility and personality of the seller.

Social selling simply moves that in-person interaction onto your computer, making your limited local network a vast, global one. Just as your potential customers already know a lot about you before they contact you, you, too, can learn a lot about them by engaging with social networks, like:

• What kind of marketing do they respond to?
• What do they say publicly?
• Who are they influenced by?
• What are they interested in, and what are they buying?
• What are their pain points, and how can you help them?

Building an Effective Online Presence

Social selling is about sharing your passions publicly and thus humanizing your brand. It lets you give your company a face and a personality. It’s not so much about the what as the how and why.

You’re not simply giving your audience a rundown on your products and services. You’re discovering what they’re passionate about, which can lead naturally – organically – into a discussion of how you can solve a problem or improve their lives, and why your company is the right choice.

It’s the age-old basics of persuasion, given endless possibilities by our modern social media tools.

I like to describe the basic tenets of this process by using five “E” words:

Enchant. Build an online presence that will attract the audience you want. You have something that many people need, so draw them in by building an appealing persona.

Educate. Here’s where the “why” comes in. What exactly do you have that they need? Why should they buy something from you? Don’t sell; describe and explain. Let them see value and benefits and results, not lengthy product descriptions and spec sheets.

Engage. Like. Comment. Chat. Get involved. You’ve shared your passions; encourage others to do the same. Even if they’re not potential customers, they have friends that are.

Embrace. Identify those individuals and companies whose needs mesh with your strengths. Formalize connections and continue to talk, listen and watch.

Empower. Show them how their lives can be better or their businesses can run more efficiently, how your presence in their lives helps them fulfill their own personal and professional missions.

In Other Words: Be the Butterfly Milkweed

My wife, Arlene, designs sustainable gardens here in southern California. She creates communities of trees and flowers and other vegetation that both nurture and depend on one another. They’re beautiful, and they require minimal maintenance.

Arlene understands these relationships. She knows that the natural order of the world has its own kind of intelligence, and she uses that knowledge to bring together life that will flourish as it co-exists.

One day when I’d been pounding away on my computer for hours, she brought me out into out garden and introduced me to Asclepias Tuberosa, otherwise known as the butterfly milkweed.

Want bright orange-and-black butterflies in your garden? Include these plants in your master plan. They’re what’s for lunch, if you’re a Monarch. In fact, it’s the only thing that both the caterpillars and the adult butterflies eat.

When I learned about this natural bond and the symbiotic relationships that all of the individual living entities in Arlene’s gardens have, it became instantly clear to me that this it was a perfect metaphor for my social selling philosophy. If I want to build and maintain the right social connections, I must attract the desired mix of people by providing something they need, and then planting myself in a place where they can find me.

New Sales Model, New Freedom

Effective selling requires lifelong learning, a lot of hard work and resilience. Effective social selling is actually rather a liberating concept. You can be yourself and let people discover who you are. And you can slowly become a part of their lives by showing genuine interest in them.

Social media and the connections they facilitate can accommodate this exchange of needs, passions and ideas beautifully. So cultivate your networks – your virtual sustainable gardens – wisely.

Jon Ferrara‘s passion is building relationships. He’s been designing tools that help salespeople and their customers create and strengthen relationships for over two decades. A thought leader in the social media field, Jon practices what he preaches. Jon was the co-creator of GoldMine in the 1990s, and his latest creation is Nimble, a social relationship manager that lets users unify the social streams of people in their lives. Its simple, elegant tools also provide myriad paths to new connections. You can check out more at www.nimble.com or follow him @Jon_Ferrara on Twitter.

PS: Don’t forget to listen to the discussion Jon and I had about social media, social business, social selling, social CRM and about how Nimble is a tool to help you improve your business. You can listen to the audio replay at the top of this blog post. You are welcome to post any questions or comments.

For anyone who has had children then you’ve experienced how children always want to eat the dessert and don’t want to eat their dinner. No matter how old you are, I’m sure you can remember your parents saying, “You have to eat all of your vegetables before you can have the chocolate cake”. Somehow magically we grew up, the years flew by but it doesn’t change, we still want to eat the chocolate cake first.

Business people are similar to the child who wants the dessert. You are in business to do it your way. But just like eating your vegetables first there are things in your business that you have to do even though you may not want to.  The topics discussed this week on Talk Business With Howard radio with guest, Barbara Weltman, are somewhat similar. Taxes, legal and financial issues are like vegetables. Essential to maintaining the life of your business just like vegetables are essential to your well-being and health.

When it comes to business taxes and attending to any legal or financial issues with your business, as a CEO, president or business owner, you always need to walk the straight line. Do what is right and within the rules and regulations. These are not areas of your business where you take a chance as they are the backbone of your company. Yet I see business people all the time try to cut corners which usually, eventually, catches up with them. Sometimes with repercussions and unintended consequences so severe that the business cannot survive.

That’s why it’s important to educate yourself about business every day. Raise your level of awareness and involvement.

Be open to new perspectives and look at your business in different ways. You can still be creative and play by the rules all at the same time. You just need to turn your thinking around so you are open and aware of all the different opportunities for your business as they arise each day.

As the old saying goes, “ You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” But you can enjoy the dessert if you eat your vegetables first.

Challenges to Cutting Taxes Today

Business owners know that it’s not what they earn but what they keep after tax that matters. Today, however, we are in an era of tax uncertainty that makes it difficult to get a handle on tax planning. More than 50 tax rules expired at the end of 2011 and the Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to run out at the end of 2012. Ongoing politics in Congress, as well as the upcoming Presidential election, only add to uncertainty. What can you do now to favorably impact your taxes?

Avoid IRS hot buttons

You may not be able to plan ahead when it comes to tax-saving breaks, but you can avoid problem areas likely to trigger IRS examinations. Here are some key areas in which you can take action now to minimize run-ins with the government.

Worker classification. Treating a worker as an independent contractor when he or she is really an employee can result in reclassification by the IRS (as well as by states) that will trigger back taxes, interest, and penalties. Reclassification can also mean you’ll have to pay a worker back benefits (e.g., health coverage and retirement plan contributions), which are amounts that would have been due had the worker been properly classified from the start. Make sure you understand the “control” indicators for employee classification. If you have the right to dictate when, where, and how the work gets done, the worker is very likely your employee. Also, understand your industry practices about worker classification. Think before you engage a new worker.

            Owner compensation. Financial considerations, such as cash flow and profitability, usually drive decisions about compensation to owner-employees. However, tax implications can be an important contributory factor when it comes to compensation. If you have a C corporation, only payments deemed “reasonable” are tax-deductible by the corporation. If you have an S corporation, an owner who works for the business must take reasonable compensation; FICA tax cannot be avoided by ducking salary payments. Failing to adhere to these rules can invite IRS inquiry. Note: If you have an unincorporated business, an owner’s draw has no impact on taxes.

Claim your breaks

Tax law requires you to have records to support claimed write-offs. If you don’t have required records, you can lose out on legitimate deductions and credits. Recordkeeping can be a time-consuming chore, but what choice do you have?

Consider using apps on your smartphone or tablet to simplify recordkeeping. For example, there are apps to help you:

• Track the mileage on a personal vehicle used for business driving.
• Record T&E expenses, such as wining and dining customers and prospects.

Work with a tax advisor

            The old expression that you have to spend money to make money applies to tax savings as well. You have to spend money—with a CPA or other tax advisor—in order to save taxes. A good advisor will discuss ways in which you can save money now by changing what you are doing (e.g., making changes in inventory accounting). An advisor should also alert you to any tax law changes that you can take advantage of to save taxes.

Barbara Weltman has been named as a Small Business Influencer by SmallBizTrends. Barbara’s website is: www.BarbaraWeltman.com. On the site you will find Barbara’s Idea of the Day and the newsletter, Big Ideas for Small Business. She is also the host of Build Your Business radio. Follow her on Twitter @BarbaraWeltman.

And remember to listen to Barbara and I on the audio replay of the show, which is available on this page.  We talk about business taxes, financial and legal issues that are on the minds of CEOs, presidents and business owners on Talk Business With Howard on Blog Talk Radio. You can also Click here for a link to the show page. Thanks for listening. 

When CEOs, presidents and business owners call me, it’s always about how to improve the business – to make the business better.

Listen to this week’s Talk Business With Howard on Blog Talk Radio for tips, strategies and ideas on how to improve your business. 

Here are 12 ways to improve your business:

1) Profit & loss statements: Look at these monthly. The report will often present clues where the business needs to improve.

2) Create a work environment of employee freedom but yet accountablity:  This will foster the creation of success at every level of your business. Encourages pride in the daily work.

3) Prospecting and sales: Most companies can always improve upon the prospecting and sales cycle.

4) Don’t assume it’s just sales that needs addressed to improve the business. Look at all areas of your company, including: operations, accounting, staffing and training, marketing, customer service, products and services.

5) Clear, concise communications: With employees – start with how you hire and train. Then go beyond that to every day communications with all employees. Next, look at how you communicate with customers – and also with prospects. Is your message getting through?

6) Look to other CEOs, presidents and business owners: Be inspired by what other business people are doing. With the advent of social media such as Twitter and publications online, it’s easier than it ever has been to study the habits of other successful people running businesses.

7) Study the competition: But don’t mimic the competition. Your company is unique. Let it stand alone so customers can see the difference between your company and the competition. This will make it easier for potential customers to choose your company.

8) Study well-run organizations that are not in your industry but are parallel to your industry.

9) Be open to change and new ideas. Small changes can lead to big, significant changes over time.

10) Know your business priorities. Stay focused on the priorities.

11) To improve your business involves change. Set a steady course that others will accept.

12) Remember: Leaders lead. Be the leader you were destined to be at your company.

After you read these 12 points, go back and read them again. See how they apply to your company. Then get into action to improve your business for profitable results.

We all need to have a little Frasier Crane in us. Each week in the classic TV series, Frasier, he would say to his radio audience: “I’m listening”.

The same is true for listening in business.

So let me ask you: Are you listening?

Are you listening to your customers or clients?

Are you listening to what your employees or co-workers are saying?

Are you listening to what the competition is doing?

Are you listening to yourself?

Just as important as listening, are you understanding what people are really saying? Not just hearing the words but understanding the meaning of the conversation?

And finally, are you listening to my internet radio show, Talk Business With Howard on Blog Talk Radio, every Wednesday at 11 AM/ET for valuable insight and information?

This week I’m talking about how to improve your business.

If you have a question or comment about how to improve your business, submit it in the comment section of this blog post.

Join me for the live broadcast on Wednesdays at 11 AM/ET. Click here for a link to the show page. Or you can catch the audio replay right here on the site. So bookmark the page now.

Thanks for listening.

To paraphrase the Bob Dylan song: “… these times, they are a changing”. And they are – especially with how people work and how companies hire. Every CEO, president and business owner should take 45 minutes and listen to what Gary has to say about the future of work. Not only did he share fascinating data but also very beneficial information on how the workplace is changing due to the economy, technology and mindset of both the employer and the employee – or eContractor.

A replay of the show is available here for your listening convenience.

Toward the end of the show, Gary briefly mentioned how hiring needs to fit in with a company’s business strategy.

How true that statement is.

Often hiring is part of a knee jerk reaction. For example, someone unexpectedly leaves the company and leaves a potentially big gap in an organization. Or there’s a sudden positive shift in the business and additional employees are necessary to meet production needs. I’ve also seen many times where positions are left open or not created till it becomes a situation of desperation. A rule to remember about hiring: never hire in desperation. Why? Because often the wrong candidate is hired which only creates other business problems.

Just as with all the other key segments of your business, hiring qualified, talented people as well as employee management and training needs to be part of your business strategy. When you are reviewing your business plan each month or each quarter include a section specific to your company’s personnel needs.

This leads to a bigger question for you to consider.

No matter what it is in your business, as the CEO, president or business owner, you need to ask:

Does it fit into the company’s business strategy?

Often we lose sight of this and plow ahead where perhaps we shouldn’t.

Always consider the big picture and how it fits in with the company goals. Is the timing right?

Of course, in business, as you know, things happen. That’s when you re-evaluate. But it still must fit in with the company’s business strategy. Otherwise, the company can lose its way on the pathway to success.

With unemployment in the United States continuing to hover at 8%+; and some estimating the real number to be in the mid to high teens, many wonder when these numbers will ever resolve themselves as companies continue to be slow to resume hiring workers. Will Work 3.0 be part of the answer to getting the economy moving again?

Work 3.0 is emerging as the new employment model. Work that is on demand, virtual and remote.

This Wednesday, April 25 at 11 AM/ET, on Talk Business With Howard radio hosted by Blog Talk Radio, the special guest will be Gary Swart, the CEO of oDesk, the fastest growing online workplace for companies seeking eContractors. Listen to the replay of the show right here on this page.

oDesk is on the forefront of the Work 3.0 employment model. It opens up opportunities to reach global talent. CEOs, presidents and business owners are no longer as limited when looking to hire great talent for the company.

In a blog post published on TechCrunch in March 2012, Gary Swart explains:

“… The tremendous growth of online work has changed the way businesses hire talent and structure their workforces, allowing them to build team that cross borders, time zones and skill sets. But it also yields opportunity for people around the world to tap into global demand that far outpaces the needs of local or even national markets.

In the Work 3.0, people are no longer limited to the jobs available within commuting distance. Graphic designers in rural Tennessee have the same access to jobs as graphic designers in New York or London. This elimination of geographic boundaries can refresh perspectives and development in new and interesting ways. It also means that individuals have the freedom to choose which projects interest them most, as well as when, where, and how often to work.

In addition, this shift actually leads to a happier and more productive global workforce…”

In a recent oDesk blog post, Gary further discusses Work 3.0:

“Given the tremendous possibilities of this way of working, Work 3.0 will likely become commonplace much sooner than you may think. Here’s why:

Every business runs on talent. “It’s the single biggest lever we all have in our companies, regardless of the size, yet we’re all struggling to find good talent,” Gary explained. Traditional hiring is expensive and time-consuming, especially when you consider how competitive it is to attract and secure the best talent, and that “typically the talent doesn’t live where the jobs are located.”

 But the times, they are a-changing. In the past two decades, we have gone from Work 1.0 — rigid, structured, on-premise work for one employer — to Work 2.0, where work is performed on site, but improvements in technology infrastructure have brought more flexibility to the workplace.

And now, with further improvements in software and cloud-based applications, we are passing through the gates of Work 3.0 — a world where work is on demand, virtual and remote.

A number of companies and workers have already found tremendous success with this model… the possibilities are endless.

“I don’t even think we’re at the knee of the curve of what’s to come,” Gary said.”

Work 3.0 may the future of employment as the world continues to go more and more mobile with the advancements in technology and the use of the internet.

Are you and your company ready to embrace Work 3.0?

Find out how Work 3.0 can benefit your company.

Listen to what Gary Swart of oDesk has to say about Work 3.0 on Talk Business With Howard radio, when I talk with him on Wednesday, April 25^th at 11 AM/ET on Blog Talk Radio. Sure to be a worthwhile and interesting business discussion. Join us! Click here for a link to the show page to listen live or… catch the replay right here on this page at the top of the blog post.

Do you remember as a child being reminded about how important it was to do your homework and to get good grades so that you wouldn’t be left behind while your classmates graduated to the next grade or subject level?

How about when you were a child your parents always reminded you to stay by their side when out shopping so you wouldn’t get lost or left behind?

Or while growing up you probably wanted to wear the latest clothes that others at school wore or you listened to the Top 40 hits each week on the radio so you knew what music was at the top of the charts. You didn’t want to seem like you were behind with the times.

The same is true in business. Especially in today’s fast moving business environment. It doesn’t take much time at all before you can get left behind or appear as though you are behind with the times.

I am not saying to stop everything you are doing. What I am saying, if you are a CEO, president or business owner, is to think about these three questions:

1) How can you improve upon what you already are doing successfully in your business?

2) What isn’t as successful in your business and how can you make it better?

3) What do you need to do that you haven’t done in your business?

Dick Clark of American Bandstand fame passed away this week. Dick Clark’s career spanned more than 50 years. Very few business people accomplish such successful longevity. The secret to his success was, as I heard on the cable news shows and read in USA Today, being able to reinvent himself and at the same time, have the vision to sense what the audiences wanted at a particular time. He reinvented himself through the decades. Always stayed current.

He worked in the mailroom of his father’s radio station. Started out as a country music disc jockey known as, “Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders” in Utica, NY. Then he got his lucky break and found himself hosting a television show in Philadelphia which became legendary in the music industry and in our lives, American Banstand. Barry Manilow wrote the lyrics to the famous theme music. At age 27 he formed Dick Clark Productions and produced American Bandstand for 26 years. Both the show and Dick Clark were cultural and industry pioneers.

Dick Clark went on to do much more than just American Bandstand. Including acting as host of the classic game show, $25,000 Pyramid, co-host with Ed McMahon TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes, created the American Music Awards (to rival the Grammys), produced other award shows including the Golden Globes, and was Mr. New Year’s Eve for years. He worked, not just with the biggest music stars, but more importantly with the technology of the day to create success and profit – and to give us all great music and memories.

In a Today Show feature, it mentioned that Dick Clark considered his greatest asset was being able to “keep his finger on the pulse…”

In your business, you need to do the same. Consider these four business tips:

- Keep your finger on the pulse so your business doesn’t get left behind.

- Reinvent your business in both small and large ways.

- Always be looking for how you can do business better.

- Have a never-give-up attitude.

When Apple’s Steve Jobs passed away numerous articles were written about the business lessons learned from Steve Jobs. The same can be true of Dick Clark. He was an entertainer, an American, a visionary, an entrepreneur, a salesman, and most of all, a businessman.

In the past decade we’ve seen a flip flop in the way technology gets introduced and adopted in the business world.

When I started out in business a few decades ago, we had the “trickle down technology” theory. Technology was expensive – so expensive that most small businesses couldn’t afford much technology. Technology was for large corporations. Technology was primarily built for big companies that could afford to spend five, six or seven figures on software and hardware, plus many thousands more on training, implementation and annual maintenance. Then, once the technology was out in the marketplace a number of years, some vendors would create “lite” versions that were attempts to scale down the product so that small businesses could (a) afford it, and (b) figure out how to use it without bringing their businesses to a screeching halt while employees struggled to learn a diabolically complex piece of tech. In other words, technology was “trickled down” from big to small companies.

Today, however, much new technology starts out as consumer technology – or it is designed to be so intuitive and easy-peasy that consumers could use it, even if it is designed for business use. The technology quickly get adopted by enterprising small businesses, and later on the big companies start using it. Think of devices like the iPhone, or email programs like Gmail, or social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. While the large corporations were still in committee meetings discussing whether they should use Twitter and what their social media policies should say, small businesses had built large followings and were offering “tweet specials”. Instead of being laggards in tech, small businesses are leading the business world in tech adoption in many segments such as marketing technology.

On top of that, technology is proliferating. Yes, we small businesses are bravely diving in, but there seems to be an endless supply of new technology to learn – in categories that may not have existed even a couple of years ago. Let’s explore 7 technologies for business you probably should know more about:

U.S. Postal Service Website – The U.S. Postal Service has a website called Click-N-Ship that allows you to purchase postage, print labels and schedule pickups, using Priority Mail packaging. Designed orginally for consumers, guess what? Out of 1 million users, half of them are small businesses. The Post Office is launching a business-specific version soon. There another service called Every Door Direct Mail aimed at small businesses, that allows you to send direct mail pieces to a city, zip code or neighborhood, without the need for a mailing list or affixing labels or a mail permit.

Analytics and dashboards – The field of analytics has exploded in recent years – everything from Google analytics to analyze your website traffic, to social media analytics tools like TwentyFeet and Tweeb. See more social media analytics tools. Dashboards, long used by large businesses, and often being custom built, are gradually being developed as off the shelf products or tools for small businesses. InDinero, Dashboard to Success, and Zoho Dashboards are a few approaches.

Google and Bing Webmaster Tools – Did you know that you get a free dashboard to monitor the health of your website, from both Google and Bing? You just need to go through a simple procedure to claim it. Trust me, it is amazing what you will learn. Google Webmaster Tools. Bing Webmaster Toolbox.

Mobile apps – The world is going mobile – what more can I say? If you are already creating apps for your business, pat yourself on the back. If not, learn to use apps yourself (and insist your staff use them) so that you can understand why your customers and the public want to use them. Don’t be left behind.

Accounting, payroll and invoicing solutions – No matter how tightly you control your business finances, I bet if yours is like most businesses, there’s room for improvement. There’s a dazzling array of solutions for accounting, and automating payroll and invoicing functions – solutions for even the smallest business. From Intuit to online services such as SurePayroll, Freshbooks, PayPal and even your bank’s billpay service, check out what’s there to make your operations more efficient and automate laborious functions. On top of that, you’ll be able to manage your business more intelligently, with new insight into where you are spending your money, which are your best customers, your growth trajectory, and other patterns you never “saw” before.

Google+ – You may feel overwhelmed with social media, but if there’s one social media platform for the future to invest time figuring out, it’s Google+. Google is integrating “signals” from its platform into the Google search results. For that reason alone, it’s worth getting on board with it.

Stock image sites – The online world is increasingly important, and the world is going gaga over images. So be sure to spice up your online marketing efforts with inexpensive (sometimes free) images from sites like iStockPhoto, Shutterstock and others. Check out a list of 50 image sites.

Anita Campbell is the Founder of Small Business Trends, and its CEO and Publisher.

A former corporate attorney and General Counsel, she went on to become the CEO of a technology subsidiary of Bell & Howell. Happily running her own business for the last decade, she founded Small Business Trends in 2003, while looking for a simple way to publish newsletter articles. The site grew quickly, and other sites focusing on the small business market were acquired along the way.

Anita is widely regarded as an expert in small business issues. She is the co-author of Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design (Wiley 2011).

Remember to join Howard every week on Wednesday at 11 AM/ET on Blog Talk Radio. The replay of the show with Anita Campbell is available at the top of this blog post. Thanks for listening. If you have a question or comment after listening to the show, just post it here.

It’s springtime. And no matter where you live, you can sense the changing of the seasons at this time of year.

Recently, I went to the garden center at the local big box home improvement store to check out the plants and flowers. When I walked in I immediately noticed that the company had changed how the annual, or seasonal, plants were priced, packaged and displayed since my last visit.

Though the plant nursery is a destination point in the store, it is also a highly perishable product. With the current economy, the company looked at ways to make the department more visually appealing to the consumer to buy yet more cost effective for the company.

My guest on Talk Business With Howard radio this week, Kathy Steele, co-founder of Desert Rose Design, a digital marketing company with a focus on manufacturing companies as clients, talked about how companies need to change what needs changing with their marketing to be known today in the marketplace. Hold onto the traditional marketing that continues to work but look to integrate the new media or social media strategies that will broaden the base and bring in new customers.

It’s about rethinking your business. And how you market your business. Making the necessary marketing changes in order to survive and prosper long term rather than just in the short term.

There is a real problem that businesses have today, I have observed. Over the last several years there have been many changes happening in the economy. Uncertainty remains. Many business people really don’t know what to do. They’re conflicted about next steps to take with the business.

Two marketing mistakes CEOs, presidents and business owners can make:

1) The big mistake is doing nothing.

2) An even bigger mistake is turning the business upside down with new ideas. Changing everything to the latest and greatest marketing trend or fad. Not thinking about what made them successful.

To avoid marketing mistakes, business people today need to combine their old school thinking with all of the changes that have taken place because of technology, the internet and social media. Don’t throw out what has worked for your company. Think about what’s worked and is still working. Get rid of what doesn’t work. Then integrate in the appropriate new media and opportunities to effectively market your business.

The replay of this week’s Talk Business With Howard radio show on Blog Talk Radio with Kathy Steele and I discussing digital marketing, can be found at the top of this blog post. The show is filled with useful, timely marketing information – not just for manufacturing companies – but any company wanting to be successful in today’s economy. Listen now!

And once you have listened to the show, you’re welcome to post your comments and questions here.