Small Business Marketing Minute

Three years ago this month, I made the best business decision of my life when I joined the Duct Tape Marketing consultant network. In today's episode, I explain what exactly that network is all about, why I decided to join, and how it has helped me grow my business and better serve my clients. Listen to the episode to hear my story, and then visit http://ducttapemarketingconsultant.com/ to learn more about the network and either find a consultant near you to hire (if you are a small business owner) or find out how you can get involved in the network (if you are a marketing services provider).

This week, Budweiser announced what has to be one of the stupidest marketing ideas in history. They said that they will be changing the label on cans of their flagship beer this summer so that instead of saying "Budweiser" they say "America". Apparently the Belgian-owned company thinks that this will help them sell more beer. While I think that this particular idea should have never made it out of the boardroom, there is validity in the idea that simply changing the way you package or brand your products or services can increase sales. In today's episode, I suggest some ways that small business owners can do some creative branding to help grow their business with little to no expense.

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way). Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day. For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.

Spring Into Action is a series of 30 simple, affordable, and practical small business marketing tips that, if implemented, are guaranteed to explode your business this year (in a good way). Most tips are things you can do entirely on your own, and some of them are things you can even do in less than a day. For a list of all the tips along with links to additional resources for each tip, visit redpointmarketingconsultants.com/action.

Matt Sharp is the co-founder and president of Causely, a tool that helps local brick-and-mortar businesses generate social media referrals while at the same time supporting some really great non-profit organizations. He recently was my guest on the Small Business Marketing Minute podcast to explain how the tool works and what benefits businesses get from using it.

The reason I asked Matt to come on the show is that I was impressed by the unique nature of his tool, in that it solves two very common and important problems that at first glance appear completely unrelated:

• Local business owners know and understand that getting current customers to refer new customers is really important, but often struggle to find ways to encourage people to make those referrals without sounding like they're desperate and begging for help. Offering people monetary incentives to refer new customers often has mixed results at best, and FTC rules prohibit businesses from paying customers to leave positive reviews online (although some do it anyway).
• Nonprofit organizations are constantly looking for ways to get their supporters to give more money, but at the same time understand that people only have so much money they can give away. When it comes to getting support from local businesses in the form of a sponsorship, nonprofits often find it difficult to give any real benefit to the business in return, other than slapping a logo on the back of a T-shirt.

Causely solves both of those problems at once by allowing businesses to automatically donate money to a non-profit organization every time a customer checks in at their location on social media. This makes it possible for a business to support a good cause in a way that actually benefits them beyond simply creating good will among their customers.

When customers check in at the business on social media, they are essentially giving an implied referral to all of their friends on that social media platform. As Matt explains in our interview, customers will often add a nice quote or two about the business when they check in, which adds even more value. However, because the business's donation is based on act of checking in and not on whether or not someone makes a positive statement about the business, there isn't a conflict with FTC rules about incentivizing testimonials.

Listen to the episode to find out how Causely works and what benefits it gives to local businesses.