Prepare or Pretend

Small businesses in the New York City area are enduring the third multi-day power disruption in the past fifteen months. This time there is a tragic loss of life and enormous property damage as well. Businesses are adapting – doing their best to return to productivity while scrambling to cover the disruptions to billings and cash flow that will follow. 

Is this the new normal? Should small businesses expect this type of disruption on a regular basis now?  In our book, two times is a trend – and this is now the third time. Small businesses can either pretend it is a fluke, or they can prepare to handle it better the next time. 

Our advice is to prepare. 

This perspective comes from helping small businesses take advantage of online (cloud) functionality for both their marketing and their IT infrastructure. Using these functionalities makes a business more productive when everything is running normally. The costs are so small that the payback is immediate, and that is typically our focus. In the case of disruptions, where workers in impacted areas can be effectively isolated for days, the business is more resilient. 

If an isolated worker has the latest version of a critical document, the business can be forced to wait until that worker finds connectivity, or risk inadvertently using the wrong version, or incur the expense of recreating the document. If a physical office location is the only source of common connectivity, the entire business comes to a halt without power. Customers outside the impacted area may not be able to adjust timelines and deadlines. In any case, the business runs the risk of costly mistakes and lost business. 

There is a large body of expertise dedicated to formal business resiliency and recovery planning – if you need a resource, we can refer an expert. Definitely explore online (cloud) for your marketing and IT infrastructure – for this, we are the experts. You’ll create a better functioning business, whatever the weather. 

Sustainable SEO for Small Business

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), structuring your online content to improve search rankings with Google (or Bing), is a topic about which many small businesses have questions.   We are often asked about the importance SEO or if it can be ignored without too much consequence.  And when a small business owner asks that question, it usually means they are ignoring SEO and they hope it isn't hurting their business. 


The answer: SEO is important.  But even more important are content and marketing.  And when you get the content and marketing right, the SEO will start to fall into place.


First, lets cover some basics about search rankings.


When someone does a search, two sets of results are provided by Google: 1) web pages, and 2) advertisements - both of which have been determined by Google to be relevant to the search query.  


Since Google's main (multi-billion dollar) business is advertising where they control all aspects of approving and placing the ads, they can be confident of the ad relevance.  Google has to infer the relevance of the websites to be shown for the search results - primarily, they make this determination through proprietary algorithms and methodologies.  


But they can use a little help - and to that end, Google announces what factors they look for.*  And so you know, they really work best with text-based content. 

Sometimes SEO is presented as a plan to outsmart Google - to force your pages higher in their search results - based on what Google has announced and what has been inferred.  This type of plan often includes the need for convoluted language on your website and blog, links back and forth to other sites, and often a high-priced service offering its own algorithms and  proprietary research methodologies.  This is a synthetic approach to SEO - determining the content of your online presence to satisfy Google.


We recommend a more natural, sustainable approach to SEO.  All of your online content should be designed with the customer in mind.  When you are speaking their language, addressing their concerns, and providing valuable solutions to their problems your online content will naturally resonate and will be relevant to their searches.  It will naturally include many, if not most, of the relevant keywords.


The key is to really take the time to understand and speak in the voice of the customer.  Sounds easy, but not everyone does it effectively.  And their concerns will change over time, too.  You have to stay connected with customers to keep your finger on the pulse of your business.


The other key is to put your content out there.  And we recommend engaging with as many Google properties as you can.  Google will ultimately find most everything that is out there on the web, but working with their properties will make it easier for Google to validate your information.  The Google properties are: 

1. Google Webmaster - registers your validated site with Google, optimization tools
2. Google Places - provides validated local information about your business
3. Google Blogger
4. Google+ - social results are influencing search results
5. Google Adwords - nothing validates relevance like your willingness to pay for an ad
6. YouTube - for video content

Lastly, we recommend a Google Analytics account, too.  In addition to the information about number of visits and other powerful information, Visitor Flow will show how visitors move through your site after they land.

Be smart about your customers and your content.  Don't try to outsmart Google.  Get SEO help if you need it, but be wary of programs that sound too good to be true or require your content to be unnatural.

*(Google has a great video on SEO)

Small Businesses - Ditch the Consumer Email Addresses

Hey, small business owners!  It is time...well past time actually...to move past using "consumer" email addresses to represent your business.

You know which ones they are: hotmail, gmail, aol, the one from your cable company.  You should be availing yourself of every opportunity to promote your business, not advertise someone else's  - and your email address is the first place you should start.

In case you are wondering, or perhaps are a new or about-to-launch business, what we are really talking about is a custom domain.  Every business should register a custom domain name for themselves - yourcompany.com.  No good excuse not to - registrars like Go Daddy and 1 and 1 (among many others) offer custom domain name registration beginning at $12.99 per year.  

The next step is to find an email plan that allows you to utilize that custom domain for your email address: yourname@yourcompany.com .  There is probably an email plan attached to your website hosting, and if you want the same email system that is used by the largest companies in the U.S., look at Microsoft Office 365.  Small business plans begin at $6 per user per month.

That is the how and how much, but we should revisit the 'why'.  We already mentioned advertising another company.  Your own email address also generates a perception of permanence, commitment, and substance regarding your company.  As a small business owner, you know the importance customers attach to a long-term, professional relationship.  Your own email address goes a long way towards demonstrating to prospective customers that choosing your company is the right decision. 

We routinely talk to companies with questions about their websites and keywords, questions about social media and engagement with customers, questions about email marketing with newsletters - some fairly sophisticated questions, which indicate good comprehension of the social media landscape.  And they already have registered a yourcompany.com custom domain name - yet they still use a consumer email address.

Don't let this be you!  Make the move to a professional email address based on a custom domain name specifically for your business.  Let every aspect of your business image match the brilliance of the work you perform.  And do it before your competition.

Keep it Simple, Not Stagnant

Simplicity is often a key for small businesses.  Keep It Simple is the famous mantra.  And for good reason; small businesses tend to be under-resourced and the impact of needless complexity can be swift and painful.  "Simple" tends to go hand-in-hand with lower cost.

Simplicity is an admirable, efficient goal.  But small business owners must guard against rejecting change in the name of simplicity.  The pace of business is increasingly fast, and yesterday's solution, simple and elegant as it may be, can prove insufficient in the face of new competitors and more sophisticated demands from customers.  Staying alert to new, lower-cost capabilities than can help a small business, such as marketing with social media and leveraging the IT power of the Cloud, are good examples of this type of change.

One risk for a small business owner lies in judging the capabilities of the new solution against the old simplicity/complexity (and cost) criteria.  Imagine having never heard of email marketing and trying to assess "producing and sending" a newsletter every month.  Suppose a company website conjures images of expensive web development and maintenance.  What if a company-wide email and shared information network immediately brings to mind thousands of dollars worth of computer servers and special facilities?  Without the proper knowledge, the small business owner would fail to grasp that these capabilities are now simple and inexpensive, and well within the reach of every small business. 

Another risk for a small business owner lies in the relative speed with which the customers and competition grasp that these capabilities are within their reach as well.  If the customers come to expect their suppliers to have these capabilities, and competitors are quick to introduce them, the market shifts.  And the impact of a market shift can also be swift and painful.

Are Small Businesses Safer in the Cloud?

Viruses named Flame and Stuxnet, and now another loss of customer data - this time from LinkedIn.  At the same time, leading small businesses everywhere are implementing cloud solutions like Microsoft Office 365 and reaping the benefits of this low cost/high capability revolution.  Which leads to a question: when it comes to the security of my business data, is there greater exposure to these threats from being in the cloud?

Small businesses are actually safer in the cloud.  Let's take a look why.

Security for your business data is, and always has been, important.  The basic idea is to protect that which you need to keep your business up and running, and out of the hands those with malicious intent.  (In the words of a David Taylor, a colleague in insurance: "don't risk what you can't afford to lose").    Before the advent of computers, businesses locked file cabinets, stored the cash in a safe, destroyed sensitive documents, restricted employee access to sensitive areas and information, and used an alarm system to deter break-ins.  Modern businesses extend those same types of precautions to computer networks and data storage.

But the question is whether putting a greater amount of your business processes and data online - in the cloud - represents a greater risk than an isolation strategy - keeping as much as possible in-house.

There are a lot of variables, of course.  The greater the number of cloud service providers, for example, the greater the potential exposure if any one of their security efforts fails.  But one thought that may cross the mind of a small business owner should be banished - that an isolation strategy might keep their business 'below the radar' of potential hackers, viruses, and malicious software attacks.

The truth is that this type damage to a small business will come from an "automated" attack of some kind - a virus that comes in through the internet or a flash drive.  The reason these types of attacks are called viruses is because the malicious software is designed to replicate itself and spread from computer to computer.  The viruses can wait until they "see" a vulnerability and find a suitable environment to infect and reproduce. This type of viral behavior puts the burden - a significant burden, as it turns out - of prevention on those would potentially be infected.  Under an isolation strategy, the entire burden falls upon the small business owner.

The world of viruses, malicious software, and other attacks is extremely dynamic.  There is (evidently) a dedicated community out there continually seeking new vulnerabilities and developing new viruses.  On the other side, governments, legitimate software companies, and cloud providers are waging a pitched battle rooted in the best security and authentication practices, research, and software upgrades and patches to quickly close a vulnerability or make a preemptive change.  They are employing resources and exercising vigilance levels that cannot be matched by the small business.  They often address the problem before a small business might even know about it.

When you think about this particular set of vulnerabilities, your business is actually safer in the cloud.  There are always basic requirements that every business must follow to keep their data safe (good resource for small businesses here , from NIST).  A medieval corollary is the cottage and the castle.  One might argue that the castle is a greater target than a cottage, but in the face of marauding hordes, the castle is a better strategy.    

Social is Collaboration Plus Communication for Small Businesses

"Do we need to be more social?" is a question we hear in various forms from small business owners.  Pressed to explain, their focus is almost always on the realm of 'social media marketing'; the company Facebook page, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Foursquare, Yelp...the usual suspects.  Small business owners want to know how to use these social media tools and if they are 'missing out' on customer engagement and revenue generating opportunities by not being fully immersed in social media.


Let's try to put the whole thing in context.


Companies are, and always have been social constructs - groups of people coming together to collectively create solutions that solve the needs of other people.  Companies have always performed best when all the groups are talking to each other - when there is a free flow of information.  When businesses were predominantly small and local, the information was exchanged in person.  As businesses grew larger and more remote, the information was exchanged via tools that substituted for the face-to-face interaction.


Social media are just another set of those tools.  Just like their predecessors, the choice of tool for a particular business or use is important, and based on their suitability for the task at hand.  It is not too difficult to understand that a hammer is optimized for a different set of tasks than is a screwdriver.  Social media tools should be viewed in the same manner, and chosen for the specific tasks to be accomplished and for which they are optimized.

The definition of a company offers a "social" insight; social media tools need not be only for customers.  They can be used to enhance any type of social interaction - between the company and customers, but also between customers, between company and employees, between employees, and between any other constituencies.


When the interactions are between the company and external parties, we talk about communications, of which social marketing is a part.  When the interactions are between internal parties, we talk about collaboration.


Collaboration tools, such as Salesforce and Microsoft Office 365, recognize this and include functionalities (such as chat) that would normally be associated with "social media" alongside their specific, application-focused offerings.


The correct question for businesses large and small is how to use these new tools to both enhance communications externally and improve collaboration internally.  Communication and collaboration are two sides of the same coin - enabling the free flow of information between all corners of the social construct called a company; driving increased revenue and lower costs in the process.

Social Media Awareness by Small Businesses

Social media seems to be everywhere, seems to be used by everyone....but is it really?  And how about small business use?  

We participated in a Small Business Week event yesterday in Danbury, CT (sat on a panel) that was co-sponsored by SBA, SCORE, and Constant Contact.  The questions from the audience of small business owners were better, more informed, more detailed, and demonstrated a greater level of awareness and understanding than we've seen at any previous event.

Was it the Facebook IPO this week, was it the self-selecting nature of the attendees, was it the presence of the SBA that were factors?  Undeniably; anything that could be a factor probably was a factor.  But let's share some observations:

• Just about everyone knew about Facebook business pages, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn.  First time.
• About half the audience knew about Pinterest.  And half again knew about the shifting nature of the Pinterest user profile.
• Many were aware that there were different channels by which Google determines search relevance.
• When the panel was answering a question in relatively new territory (manipulating the Timeline page, for example), facial expressions were generally of comprehension rather than confusion.
• Only one expression about commercial emails being intrusive and spam.
• No expressions that social media was irrelevant to business - and not one disdainful reference to a 'what I had for breakfast' Tweet.

Qualitative, yes.  Observational, yes.  But real.  And it made for more sophisticated discussions both during and after the panel session.  Note to practitioners - step up your game.

Are small businesses moving up the 'hockey stick' of social media awareness, integration, and use?  Think so... 

The Business Sustainability Continuum

Sustainable versus Situational.  Representing opposite ends of a continuum, it is

instructive to analyze the relative position of a strategy, system, or process between

these two end points.  Some of the considerations to include in a business context

are costs, externalities, and stability over time.  Macro-level factors (demographics,

technology, etc.) feed into the 'stability over time' considerations.

This concept can be applied in practical business-related instances:

• Go-to-market sales programs designed to generate long-term revenue stability.
• Marketing communication programs that build a loyal following.
• Internal communication and collaboration tools that capture the creative energy of an organization.
• Market strategies balanced between domestic and international.
• Organizational strategies that match focus with capability.

The concept also works in non-business instances, too.  Think of the popular uprisings

and overthrow of long-standing regimes in the Arab world last year.  There were clearly

factors that impacted the 'stability over time' component and when the tipping point was

reached, the change came swiftly.

It is tempting to think in terms of time only; long-term versus short-term.  Sustainable policies

driving long-term stability; situational policies driving short-term results.  A more comprehensive

view is called for, however, in both small businesses and large.   

The basis for that comprehensive view will be the strategic plan.  Even if a small 

business doesn't have a formal plan, it has one by default through it's actions.  We 

always begin any engagement, whether marketing or collaboration-related, with an

overview of the business goals, objectives, and performance.  Or, where are you, where

do you want to be, what are you doing to get there, and how is it going?

In practice, there needs to be a mix and a balance between sustainable and situational 

polices and practices.  The goal of a business over time is to move that mix more towards

the sustainable end of the continuum.  The business then starts to run more on "auto-pilot",

and the next set of decisions revolve around new opportunities from innovation or growth.  Those

investments can often begin with a situational reference; and the cycle begins again.

The sustainability continuum provides an insightful and instructive method by which to think

about strategies, systems, and processes.

Lessons from the Office Live Small Business Transition

As a Microsoft Cloud Partner focused on small businesses and Office 365, we approached the announced April 30th shutdown of Office Live Small Business (OLSB) with equal measures of excitement and trepidation.  Excitement because Office 365 really is a better platform for a small business - trepidation because we expected a large number of OLSB customers began using the service because it was free and we weren't certain what their reaction would be when it came time to transition.

We began promoting our support offerings early in 2012, but interest really began to pick up in late February.  One thing that made a difference for the transitioning businesses is that we provided our phone number.  So they called.  Some had questions, some had complaints, some just wanted to know why something free was being "taken away from them".  We were sympathetic, and expressed gratitude for the time that it was free...and then focused on the strength of the new Office 365 platform for enterprise-grade capabilities at a price small businesses can afford.  Better collaboration as a means to drive extraordinary productivity gains for small businesses; it can be a real game-changer for those that adopt early.

Some understood the message; and we continue to work with them today to exploit these new capabilities.  We are on a journey together.  We can teach them how to work with the tools - but the real excitement comes from the success generated by a creative application of the tools to drive sustainable results.