This week, a colleague of mine is filling in for me on my blog, Mike Johnson. Owner of Ink Spot Graphics,  a Portland marketing agency, Mike works with small businesses to provide marketing brand strategies.

A local group, CEIC asked me to give a marketing presentation last  month. I have been talking to alot of people about story telling and having a purpose. I thought that it would be very pertinent for small businesses that are struggling with the economy to go to the chalkboard and reinvent themselves (or strengthen their current brand). My thought process was to demonstrate the “story” principle is to begin with local businesses that belong to the CEIC.

Get to Know Your Neighbor Tours

The CEIC offers once a month to go to a local members business for a tour. The “Get to Know your Neighbor” have been very successful for our group. They all begin the tour of the facilities with the owner going into detail about the company’s story. Franz Bakery, Taos Tea, Pratt & Larsen, Dennis Uniform or David’s School Specialty Co are just a tasting of the tours that we have had this year. Repeating their story to people in the community is an important part of marketing your company’s brand. And it is not important that the owner of the company knows it but their employees as well. If they understand the story, they will understand the company’s purpose. People like stories and like to tell others!

There is a little more of a challenge when you have a company that falls into the “Generic” category. Dentists, bankers, doctors, financial advisors, designers, etc. Even my company, Inkspot Graphics, has been a challenge to differentiate between me and my competitors. Besides making money… what is my purpose? To find out more about Inkspot Graphic’s story and purpose.

What About When You Don’t Know Your Marketing Story?

Your story has to peak your audiences curiosity. It is not that I am efficient or save my clients time & money. It can be that you work closely with non- profits, charities or support local schools. If you still are drawing a blank, I recommend that you talk to your clients and listen to your employees. They will help you.

Back in 2008, we had a little downturn. Most of my business at that point was accomplished by word-of-mouth. I found out the hard way that is one poor way to market your business. Since then, I have reached out to strategic partners to assist me in marketing my business. I have a group of professional men & women have an identical business model as my company. They compliment me. They help me brainstorm marketing ideas (for my clients). It is a very proactive way to help your clients build their companies.

Strategic Partner, Lasko Printing, has saved my Butt a Couple of Times

One of my partners is Lasko Printing. I can tell you of a couple times when they saved my butt. A good example of this is when their pre-press specialist called me and said, “I don’t do this very often but I was reading part of your CEIC postcard and it really didn’t make sense.” I told him that I am not a copywriter but he was definitely correct. Another time I had a piece that didn’t fold correctly and we worked it out and my client was very happy with the final product. I wouldn’t have the same results if I printed either of these pieces with an on-line printer. The on-line printing market is after pleasing color and bulk runs of printing. You cannot get any first timer advice. . .period!

Now back to your story.
I would ask you to do two things.

1.  First read a great book by Annette Simmons called “The Story Factor”.

2.  Call me at my office and I will sit down with you over coffee and we will brainstorm your story.

It is important for your business to have a story and you and should make your employees evangelists which will spread the news of your purpose!

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It’s the end of the month and I’d to do a quick wrap up of the top articles I think you can apply to your business and marketing. Lots of information on mobile and mobile commerce this week!

COLOR

Have you heard about Color? It’s the latest mobile social software app and it’s taking off like wildfire. Read the latest: http://www.webpronews.com/color-next-big-thing-or-just-overblown-hype-2011-03

Blogging Mistakes

Blogging is such a huge part of marketing for small businesses, learn what are the most common mistakes and how to avoid them: http://www.inc.com/guides/201103/7-blogging-mistakes-that-small-businesses-make.html?partner=newsletter_Success

Top Industries of 2011

What are the cutting edge industries for 2011? I bet you’d be surprised, but one of them is “e-commerce” -http://www.inc.com/ss/6-top-performing-industries-for-2011?partner=newsletter_Success

Mobile Commerce

Learn more about overcoming the barriers of selling via mobile – http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7285-mobile-commerce-25-essential-tips

Top Facebook Business Pages

Looking for inspiration for your Facebook page? Check out the top 48 Facebook Business pages: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2667-48-Facebook-Pages-for-Businesses-

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By the end of this year, more people will own more smartphones than computers in the United States. As a business, it’s crucial to know how to still provide an easy way for your customer to make purchases off your website, no matter if they are using a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Keep reading to learn about a few companies who are making it possbile to have cross-platform shopping without re-inventing the wheel each time.

First, let’s define what m-commerce is. Most m-commerce platforms (mobile e-commerce platforms) are hosted via the web by an m-commerce technology provider or use an m-commerce add-on from their e-commerce vendor. The two biggest challenges for these platforms right now is 1) making the shopping experience on the phone feel the same as on the retailer’s website and 2) taking advantage of the range of features a smart phone offers.

What are some of the advantages are available when you are using a smartphone to make purchases? Some of the technologies included type-ahead (helps suggest search keywords and phrases based on only a few letters) and voice recognition which can eliminate the need for typing. Having the type-ahead feature on the mobile version can give shopping on the phone a huge advantage over the standard web version that usually doesn’t offer those features. Through voice recognition, some platforms such as the vendor MeMeMe offer shoppers at the touch of a button, to speak keywords into the phone. MeMeMe’s software is able to identify the spoken words and populates the site search box.

For Buy.com, they originally visualized using voice during checkout, inserting information, and really going beyond just the search functionality. Buy.com worked on its mobile site for over a year and set it up so that staff members tested the system every day. Companies like Buy.com are pushing the boundaries of mobile and what the future holds for mobile commerce.

Digby is one companie that is currently providing a moble commerce platforms for businesses such as Cabellas, Babies R Us, Golfsmith, WetSeal, 1800Flowers, and more. Their software platform allows retailers a mobile optimized website and rich Apps for iPhone/iPod Touch, BlackBerry, and Android devices. It’s single platform integrates with the retailer’s back-end systems to receive and enable the following:

*Live Catalog – Current prices, specials, search by brand/price and store location.

*Specialized Images – Product images in an mobile optimized formal.

*Smooth Transactions – Provides an easy way for the consumer to purchase off of the mobile site via credit cards, gift cards, and more.

*Social Interaction – Consumers can engage through Facebook and Twitter to share information to family and friends on products.

*Analytics – Stats to measure ROI and traffic patterns to help improve overall behavior on the mobile platform.

*Security – PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant, (a collection of data security standards created by Visa and Mastercard merchants). Customers are able to access encrypted information by connecting to the back end of the retailer’s existing e-commerce site.

Similar companies such as Sprella LLC and Demandware are competing on the mobile market platform as well. Sprella LLC is focusing on working with the iPhone and iPad to re-create a similar mobile shopping experience without duplicating what already exists. Instead, it’s able to link up to the existing e-commerce back-end of a website which handles the shopping cart and order management on the main website.

Another company, Demandware,  offers something different in the market, focusing the most effective and tailored shopping experience on for the web, mobile, and call centers. Demandware combines customer experience applications, cross-channel merchandising engines, and an open development environment for full platform customization with a focus on cloud computing.

One of Demandware’s clients: Jewelry Television is using their content management system to control their e-commerce site, mobile and m-commerce site. A unique feature they developed is Gemopedia, an encyclopedia that informs consumers about gemstones on their background and purchasing. Being aware of the large difference between web and mobile, they also created unique content for Gemopedia for the mobile sites.

Purchasing products over the phone is just beginning to grow. It will be really exciting to see how companies develop and improve how we use our phone to buy a range of products. The buying process will only keep improving and become easier and easier.

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Looking for a catch all solution for your e-commerce presence is challenging. Did you realize that there are over 500 solutions out there? It’s enough to drive a business owner crazy. Today, I’d like to focus on two well-loved companies: Volusion and Shopify . I’d like to describe what they have in common and what makes them stand out. Hopefully this can help you make a decision when trying to decide which one to work with. Both are excellent, solid solutions that can help you increase your online sales.

First, let’s look at the similar features of the hosted solutions:

*Both companies have a base price starting at $29.99 monthly

*They both offer hosted solutions. Unlike other e-commerce solutions, both companies host the actual e-commerce stores and transactions and offer support through email and phone. They both upgrade and repair their software, handle bandwidth and security as well.

*They both offer to help you build a store with your own domain.

*Both work and integrate with most shipping providers (UPS, USPS, Fedex)

Here’s a look at some of the major differences:

Volusion:

*Provides extras features SSL certificates,  merchant accounts, live chat software, and integrating with social networking options.

*Their Shopping cart features real-time inventory management, batch order processing, and an integrated editor to make creating content pages simple.

*RSS feeds can be added to the dashboard and include free customizable, free website templates.

*They offer security alerts, step-by-step training videos

*Allows your customers to create wish lists, or email item information to a friend or even post customer reviews.

Shopify:

*Default theme includes easy-to-use product management tools to help business owners manage and track inventory and online orders.

*Ability to tag keywords for Search Engine Optimization and flexible layout of dynamic content.

*A wide variety of design, product management, online ordering, admin interface, and marketing tools. From the backend, you can have complete control over the HTML and CSS.

*Drag and drop ordering of product images

I’ve spoked with different businesses about which solution they preferred and the answers is usually “it depends”. I think it boils down to what features you are looking for, what’s important to you, how you run your current business (do you only have an online presence or are you only a brick and mortar store?) and many other factors. I hope this review can help you make that decision and help you move closer to using the best solution for your business.

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It’s the world’s first comprehensive online community formed around user generated content. It was around years before Friendster, MySpace or Facebook. You’ve probably only heard about if you are in artist circles because it’s mainly been geared to creative types.

DeviantART is a social network dedicated to artists and those who appreciate art. Since 2000, DeviantART was one of the first social networks to offer a free account with a personal profile picture, a blog, space to post artwork, and photo ability as well as space to comment and message.

It’s held a success model on running an online community – it’s sustains itself with layers of revenue streams: A working virtual goods and currency system, premium members and a retail shop that sells art-related merchandise and branded goods. The website also has a print service that allows artists to sell their art and earn royalties.

One of the more popular features is Muro, a free drawing tool that lets users comment with art instead of words. For example, on a Muro thread, a user draws a cat with front paws extended but the rest of the body is left for others to “fill in”. More than two dozen community members responded with different body parts with dragon wings, a mom tattoo or scales. Tools like Muro really give the community members an opportunity to be playful and have fun with art.

What can you learn from this special online community that you can apply to your own community of users or consumers? Here’s five tips the founder Angelo Sotira uses to maintain loyalty on the website.

1) Try it out. If you have an idea, pitch it to your audience and see how they react. Feel it out before launching something full force.

2) Get people excited! There’s always passion behind new ideas and it’s important to let it all out and share that energy. Put emotion into what you are doing.

3) Be Fair. DeviantART employs a “fair exposure” policy and lets everyone feel like they belong. DeviantART’s front page tries to maintain a balance of groups and mediums throughout the site (which is challenging when you have over 2400 categories).

4) Stay cool. Don’t always react to everything. Pick and choose your battles.

5) Hold yourself accountable. Just like as if you were in public office, follow through on what you say you’ll do.

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