Sensegon Adds Another Level to Ad Targeting |  |
- Sensegon Adds Another Level to Ad Targeting
- Lessons from Successful Entrepreneurs
- 5 Reasons Why Do-it-Yourself Marketing Can Actually Hurt Your Business
- The Commitment Engine Inspires Small Business Growth
| Sensegon Adds Another Level to Ad Targeting Posted: 21 Oct 2012 01:00 PM PDT Brands that advertise online and on social media are constantly looking for new ways to target customers based on factors like interests and demographic data. But there's more to social media users than just their age, location, and listed interests. Now, ad-targeting startup Sensegon is giving businesses the option to target users based on their actual personality traits. Sensegon's personality targeting tool, SenSplit, is a cloud-based intelligence engine that profiles a user's personality by taking into account their actual interaction and use of social media, rather than just their pre-determined profile information. For example, a company might want to target mothers who are interested in home décor items, but some of these users might be apt to make practical buying decisions, while others might be more likely to buy products based on an initial emotional connection or reaction. Social media campaigns to target these two different groups of women, who on the surface seem very similar, could be completely different based on their personality traits. Sensegon is an Israeli-based startup that was originally founded in 2010. The idea behind SenSplit came when the company's two founders, Omer Efrat and Tal Yaari, visited a car dealership together and noticed the salesman's completely different tactics when addressing the two of them. When speaking to Tal, the conversation was geared toward elements like gas consumption and safety. But when talking to Omer, the salesman focused more on things like engine power and acceleration. The two decided that this same tactic could be used when addressing consumers in an online environment. Companies looking to use the service can select their monthly budget, target segmentation size, and then work on identifying traits and behavior patterns of their target audience. The idea behind this type of tool is that it could allow businesses to create clusters of different kinds of social media users within their overall audience so they can develop more relevant campaigns to reach these different users. The post Sensegon Adds Another Level to Ad Targeting appeared first on Small Business Trends.      |
| Lessons from Successful Entrepreneurs Posted: 21 Oct 2012 11:00 AM PDT There are thousands of books, magazines and blogs proffering advice to small business owners. But the advice I heed the most comes from CEOs, founders and presidents that have successfully run their businesses (or even sold them). While at the New York XPO on October 17, 2012 (I was there for the Small Business Influencer Awards Gala), I caught the session, “How I Did It: Lessons From America's Best-Run Companies.” Three business owners shared their tips for running successful companies, moderated by Steve Strauss, senior business columnist for USAToday, and a Small Business Influencer Champion. Here’s the good stuff. Work/Life Balance We’re all in search of that mythical balance between our professional and personal worlds. But does a balance really exist? Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software (a Small Business Influencer Champion) says no:
Parsons, who was initiated into her father’s company as a teenager when she was punished by being forced to put labels on floppy disks, makes sure that family comes first. She works 7:30 to 4:30, then can take her kids to soccer practice. The compromise comes when she gets back on her computer after the kids are asleep. Building the Right Team Steven Aldrich, CEO of Outright, advises business owners to avoid hiring people identical to you:
He stresses the importance of delegating what you’re able to, and says you should focus your efforts on actions that will move the needle the most, and delegate the rest. Parsons adds to the topic by saying it’s important to not overwork your staff, and that letting people go home and rest their brains can keep them from getting burned out, and can help them come up with fresh ideas. Listening to Customers Mike Muhney, CEO and Co-Founder of VIPOrbit (as well as Co-Founder of ACT!, which was purchased by Sage), says he cares too much what customers say about his brand. He personally reaches out when a customer expresses frustration through social media.
Muhney says that the true test is when a customer is really upset with your brand, as this gives you the opportunity to stand behind your word. After all, he says, "people just want to be heard." The panel session was filled with more fantastic advice like:
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| 5 Reasons Why Do-it-Yourself Marketing Can Actually Hurt Your Business Posted: 21 Oct 2012 08:00 AM PDT Entrepreneurs, by nature, are do-it-yourself people. Not a bad thing. While that trait may serve you in many areas there's one where it actually works against you: Marketing. Here's five reasons why.
While you might feel savvy after reading a couple marketing books or listening to a savvy marketing guru, it doesn’t compare to working with a qualified team or consultant with great experience and a great record. You simply don't know what you don't know, and if you do it yourself, what you don't know will hurt you. Like having a tag-line that makes no sense, or sends a wrong message. Like pouring money into SEO or your website when the better focus is Content Marketing and improved organic search. Like not realizing you need video. Or having a self-produced video that's so unprofessional it works against you. The list goes on. 2) A Business Owner Can't Be Objective. Passionate business owners tend to be absorbed by their business—an advantage when it comes to DIY marketing, right? Not really. Effective marketing starts with an unbiased perspective. To be successful at marketing, business blemishes must be seen clearly. As a business owner you just don't have that objectivity. If you read Ken Segall's book Insanely Simple, about his working with Apple, you'll read how Steve Jobs was proven wrong time and time again by his more objective and talented outside team who created some of the most iconic and successful marketing ever done. 3) The Best Marketing Isn't About A System or Formula. As more small business owners attempt to save money by trying to do their own thing, more self-proclaimed marketing gurus are popping up on the Internet with their "Amazing Profit-Making Marketing" systems. They all sound amazing and they all claim amazing results. They even have amazing testimonials. But every business is different, and a cookie-cutter, systematic approach is not the most effective way to market a business or product. While an "Amazing Profit-Making Marketing System” sounds amazing, the ones making the most money from them are usually the ones getting you to spend money on them. 4) Great Marketing Requires Talent. Great marketing is part science, part art. Yet, the creative part often gets lost or diminished in this ever-advancing tech world. Focused, creative talent is the ingredient that helps communicate your message and persuade your prospects to buy. It's not easy to find, but if you do it'll make a huge difference. 5) DIY Doesn't Really Save Money. Because you're not spending money on outside resources you might think you're saving tons of money with a DIY approach. Just remember this…it's not just what you spend, it's what you spend and get back on what you spend. Great marketing will get you back more, and sometimes significantly more, than what you spend. So, how do you get great marketing? You find and hire great marketing people, like Steve Jobs did, like Nike's Phil Knight did, and like every successful business owner does. And, they didn’t just do it when they were big successful companies with huge marketing budgets. They did it from the very beginning of their companies, only months after they incorporated. You also have to factor in what your time is worth. It's not cheap. If you kept track of every minute you spent trying to do it yourself and applied a dollar value to that, you'd be surprised at the expense. Also realize that every expensive minute you spend fumbling with something you don't do great is taking away valuable time and talent from something you do do great. That's another expense. To sum up I'll end with a simple quote from someone who's interviewed hundreds of small business owners and knows what it takes to be successful: "Business success is all about finding the right outside service providers and using them wisely. You can't do it all yourself." – Anita Campbell, Founder of Small Business Trends
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| The Commitment Engine Inspires Small Business Growth Posted: 21 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT
After having several of these kinds of interactions, it's become clear to me that no one is really sure what commitment is or what it looks like. But we are all really sure that it's important to have commitment both in our businesses and as part of our lives. So where does commitment come from, how do we harness it and in what ways can we generate an environment of commitment inside of our business? These are all the questions that John Jantsch (@ducttape) answers in his latest book, The Commitment Engine: Making Work Worth It. This book comes as a follow-up to John's last book, The Referral Engine. It's interesting to see how Jantsch has taken his thought process and translated it into two powerful books. In The Referral Engine, Jantsch gives readers dozens of examples of how "main street" small business owners have used creative referral strategies to generate new customers and grow their businesses. The Commitment Engine takes a deeper gaze into what makes some businesses worth referring – and according to Jantsch, it's the commitment engine that drives the success of these businesses. What Drives The Commitment Engine? The book is divided up into three distinct parts:
The Craftsmanship Meme Is A Trend To Watch Every now and then, especially in the fall when a flurry of new books is released, I can see these patterns emerge and "craftsmanship" is a pattern to watch for in the next year. Cal Newport talked about it in his book So Good They Can't Ignore You and Jantsch is making the same point here in The Commitment Engine. Jantsch gets downright spiritual in this book. Don't roll your eyes just yet – Jantsch isn't waxing philosophically for no reason. He's done his research and he's telling small business owners that it's the internal stuff that counts. Take a peek at this snippet from a section called "What I know for sure about work" where he outlines several points that talk about what he's learned over the last 25 years of running his own business. Here are just a few of the points:
This book is filled with many, many more examples and stories of this kind. Here's how Jantsch describes the difference between his other books and The Commitment Engine:
In fact, you can see that The Commitment Engine is a representation of Jantsch's commitment to craftsmanship and all the points he's made above. His first book "Duct Tape Marketing" spoke to the essence of so many small business marketing folks and I'd go so far to say that it launched the DIY Marketing movement (of which I'm such a fan J). Jantsch has grown that "Duct Tape" brand into a licensed consulting system and online media publication. Then he's engaged the community he built into the research that has yielded both The Referral Engine and The Commitment Engine. How Will The Commitment Engine Help You Grow Your Business? I can imagine that you're sitting there saying something like this to yourself:
All I can say to that is – This is a book by John Jantsch. He's in the business of building businesses on a budget. He's written two preceding books that will give you the task lists and the strategies – but The Commitment Engine gives you the heart and soul behind growing your business. We all know that we don't buy things – we buy promises, we buy from people we like who are like us. And The Commitment Engine will help you identify your secret sauce – that thing that gives your business the unique flavor that sets it apart from others and makes your ideal customer choose you The post The Commitment Engine Inspires Small Business Growth appeared first on Small Business Trends.     |
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