Lorraine Ball Named to IBJ Most Influential Women List

Each year Indianapolis Business Journal recognizes local women who have demonstrated professional excellence and leadership in their careers and community service. IBJ first published a list of influential women in 1996. They included government and civic leaders and top executives in a variety of industries.

This year, as the list was expanded to include women from the small business community Lorraine Ball, founder of Roundpeg, Indy’s leading small business marketing firm, was added to the list. Other 2008 recipients included:
<ul>
<li>Joyce Sommers  – Executive Director Of the Indianapolis Art Center</li>
<li>Melina Kennedy – Baker and Daniels, who I hope will run for Mayor in a few years</li>
<li>Claudette Einhorn and Yvonne Shaeen – Civic leaders and community volunteers</li>
<li>Susan Brock Williams – Purdue University</li>
<li>Alecia DeCoudreaus VP General Counsel, LIlly USA</li>
<li>Beverley Pitts President, University of Indianapolis</li>
<li>Linda McCoy – Pastor, The Garden</li>
<li>Teresa Lubbers – State Senate</li>
<li>Kathleen Givens Lucas = Bose Mckinney &amp; Evans</li>
<li>Margo Lacy Eccles – VP LDI</li>
<li>Melissa Profitt Reese – Ice Miller</li>
<li>Ann Shane, VP Bio Crossroads</li>
<li>Ann M. DeLaney – Founding Partner DeLaney &amp; DeLaney</li>
<li>Ellen Rosenthal, President &amp; CEO Conner Prairie</li>
<li>Sharon O”Donoghue Exec Director Business Ownership Initiative of Indiana ( The other Small Business leader on the list)</li>
<li>Susan Williams – President Indiana Sports Corp</li>
</ul>

Improving Your Website

Creating a productive website does not require more flash or more pictures.  A great website requires simple navigation and great content.

Content that is interesting to your visitors, and eye catching for search engines.  The challenge is to find a balance between the two different audiences.

Search engines like lots of copy, containing key words, repeatedly if possible.   You readers, with serious attention deficit want you to get to the point quickly.

The key is to be sure you know the very best phases. One tool you can use to find a starting point for word selection in your copy is the keyword tool from Google Ad Words. Simply type in a phrase you believe clients will use when looking for your type of business and the tool will provide a series of phrases, and how often they are used when by consumers searching for you.

For example:  I selected “small business marketing” and discovered “marketing strategy” was searched significantly more often – on average 201,000 times a month, and “small business ideas” a phrase I have never deliberately used, is searched more than 20,000 times a month.   While not the most popular, it has a steady following, and would be interesting to add to the mix!

The lesson for you?  Take the time to reserach the best key words, and include them  in your writing.  Don’t over do it with text which reads like this: Small business marketing strategy should include novel ideas for small business owners, which expand their current small business marketing activites. While the engines will love it, your readers won’t!

Need help with your website?  Roundpeg offers great starter sites as low at $950

Warning: Shameless Self Promotion

In April, when we launched the new roundpeg website we included the blog: Business Notes as a way of driving traffic, sharing good content, and occasionally pimping what we do. To be fair to our readers, I am telling you in advance this particular post is about pimping what we do. So, be warned, and if you aren’t interested in samples of our work, skip this post!

Now that we have narrowed down the audience: We really wanted to show off some of the websites we have been working on. Built on a WordPress platform, we are really excited about how much variety and personality we have been able to build into these simple sites. And the best part? They are easy to maintain, so our clients, (small business owners) can have an affordable, vibrant and dynamic site.

Check out: www.sunnymoondj.com, www.chefjj.com, www.gomomfitness.com ( this one is very pink), www.aballstudio.com, www.turningpoint-consulting.com, and www.makeroomnow.com.

Need help with your small business web site?  Call Roundpeg today!

Creative Partnerships for Small Business Developement

One of the fastest ways to establish your small marketing business is to establish a partnership with other small businesses, says Duct Tape Marketing blogger John Jantsch.

His ideas for like minded partnerships as well as outside the box partnerships can be found here.

For more information on this subject consider ordering a copy of Lorraine’s book : Confessions of a Networking Junkie

Build Relationships with Good Use of Web 2.0 Tools

Small business marketing is a different animal than marketing for a large corporation. As a small business you don’t have a budget to reach the masses, so to compete you need to have a more personal relationship with your clients.

Web 2.0 tools such as Blogs, e-zines or newsletters allow clients and prospects to get to know you as the first step in building a trusting relationship.

Not sure how to get started?  Which tools make the most sense for you?  Check out my Seminar: Web 2.0 and Why Do I Care on October 30. It is being offered as part of Rainmaker University.

Good Ideas are Worth Copying!

In marketing, there are few original ideas.  Every designer or writer gets inspiration from somewhere. According to the author of Ditch the Dusty Widget every small business owner should adopt this strategy when it comes to developing their own marketing material.  She suggests:

In your “Best Practices” hard file, you should collect those types of marketing tools that spark ideas for how to market your own business, or that simply grab your attention and strike you as really well done. Even if the advertisement is for a furniture store and you sell fishing gear, keep the ad if it contains imagery, style elements, a unique offer or some other clever marketing technique that you could repurpose for your own needs.

In addition to hard copy, I recommend collecting websites as well. I have document where i post links to sites I consider worth saving.  Maybe they have a cool layout, fun headline, or maybe the site is just a great resource for inspiration and new ideas.

Save the good and the bad…  whether you are going to do the creative work yourself, or turn the project over to a professional firm, knowing what you like and don’t like on the front end will make the process much smoother, with the end result something you are really happy with.

Entrepreneurial Behavior Can Be Learned.

In a recent post on Duct Tape Marketing, small business expert John Jansh argues:

Many of the traits that make up the entrepreneur are ingrained as habits, I suspect, knowingly or unknowingly, by our well intentioned parents and caregivers.

So this raises an interesting question.  If you didn’t grow up in an entrepreneurial environment, can you be a successful entrepreneur?  I think you can, but you have to recognize the skills and traits you didn’t see modeled when you are young, and find a way to model them now.

For example – i come from a family of teachers and social workers.  I know how to tell a good story, and break down complex ideas into manageable bites, but I still wrestle with skills which come easily to the natural entrepreneur.  So how do I compensate?  I hang out with entrepreneurs who do have that background, and hang out with the, observe how they approach their business.

Read the rest of John’s post

Deliver Relevant Content!

Jason Kintzler has written a terrific post for PR pros and amateurs alike.

He suggests when you put a pitch together, think like an editor. Write about ideas that are fresh and relevant?  Include details the editor will need to turn out a solid article, such as contact information for interviews, hi-res images and links to supporting material.

If you do your job correctly, your pitch not only isn’t spam, it’s content.  Read the rest of the article

Need help with your next press release?   Contact Roundpeg Today! 317-69-1396

Deliver Relevant Content!

Jason Kintzler has written a terrific post for PR pros and amateurs alike.

He suggests when you put a pitch together, think like an editor. Write about ideas that are fresh and relevant?  Include details the editor will need to turn out a solid article, such as contact information for interviews, hi-res images and links to supporting material.

If you do your job correctly, your pitch not only isn’t spam, it’s content.  Read the rest of the article

Need help with your next press release?   Contact Roundpeg Today! 317-69-1396

Move Marketing to the Top of Your To-Do List!

Do you have all the business you need?  This week, and in your pipeline?  If the answer is yes, then you can relax, skip this blog post, and work on something else.

If not pay attention.  -

• MARKETING is an important activity – It is what will feed your pipeline.
• MARKETING is not just advertising – it is networking, direct mail, email, blogging, and much more.
• MARKETING does not have to be expensive or time consuming
• if you are serious about your busienss – MARKETING is mandatory.

In a recent post on Duct Tape Marketing John Jansch says:

Marketing is and must become a habitual activity in your business. You must live by the marketing calendar or die by the lack of time available to complete the greasing of the squeaky wheel.

So what is your habit?  Do you set aside time weekly to evaluate what is working, and why your phone is or ins’t ringing?  He goes on to suggest:

The only way to find time for marketing is to plan for it. Create a marketing theme for every month of the year and then build marketing activities on a daily and weekly basis around the theme.

I loved this idea – It allows you to tie all the pices of your marketing together.  Messages you create in blogs can be used in newsletters, and emails.   A little planning goes a long way to making it easier to manage your marketing.

On-Line and Off-Line Work Together

In a recent post, Small Busienss Marketing Expert – John Jansch of DuctTape Marketing asked the question Are You Too On-Line?   My immediate reaction was surprise… his title made it seem as if he was backing away from his solid support of on-line strategies.

But he didn’t disappoint me.  He goes on to reinforce what I have been telling my clients for a long time, the on and offline strategies compliment each other.  While your website is the center point of your marketing it doesn’t stand alone.    You can not run your entire business from behind your computer screen.

Examples of how to blend the elements

1. Get out! Network then bring the cards home and send an email or better yet, MAKE A PHONE CALL ( for you Gen y’s and Gen next in the audience, some people actually talk into that device you use for texting)
2. Send targeted direct mail, and drive traffic to a personalized URL more information or even order fulfillment

For other ideas, read his origianl post:

The new small business marketing masterpiece: wallet mailers

As companies shift more and more of their marketing budget to the internet, direct mail while more expensive, will become more effective because people receive less.

You will however continue to need to find creative ways to get noticed, one suggestion my Intern Emily found – wallet mailers.  check out the article by Dave Russell

Read full article

It is Not How Much Money You Spend

When I was the brand manager for Bryant, I had a significantly smaller budget then my Carrier counterpart, so I learned to do more with less.

Those same techniques serve me well today as a small business consultant, helping my clients find creative ways to reach their customers. Charlie Cook from the Marketing Insider has written a good post on the topic. Yes he is promoting his book, but his advice is solid:

Give something away for free

Use publicity to attract attention

Use eMail appropriately are all solid pieces of advices.

Remember, when it comes to marketing, it is not how much money you spend, but how well you spend it that makes the difference.

Looking for more specifics check out Promotions on a Shoestring on September 23rd at Rainmaker University.

Overloading on Social Media

Getting involved with Social Media is like boiling a frog. If you put a live frog in boiling water, he will jump out. If you put him in cold water and heat slowly, he will never notice, and you get frog legs for dinner.

For the novice, I usually suggest starting slowly. Read before you write, comment first, then try to create.  To be actively engaged in the Web 2.0 world, without being overloaded a reasonable goal is :1 or more blogs, an RSS feed reader, one microblogging identities and accounts on business networking, social networking and aggregators.  For a broader perspective on this check out the following posts:

• There is no social media overload - Louis Grey
• Justin korn – How to make sense of it
• Kyle Lacy and the 4 Touch Point Model

As a matter of fact, considering adding these folks to your “RSS Feed Reader” and check them out on a regtular basis.

Email Marketing Still Makes Sense

Five years ago, I received an email from a small business owner just like me.  I knew  his company was really just him, but I was impressed, by the polished professional look of his email.  I was intrigued and signed up for a free trial of Constant Contact.

My first emails received rave reviews, and enjoyed a 70% open rate.   That was then… Today an estimated 60 billion+ emails are sent daily.   And my open rate isn’t as good.

While many of the 60 billion emails are SPAM selling male enhancement products,  dates with underage girls and self study medical transcription programs,  many are from legitimate small businesses, just like you carrying simple marketing messages. Unfortunately, most  will never be opened or read.

Does that mean email is dead? No it still works, if you use it selectively, build your list slowly as you meet people, and with opt-in functions on your website.   A concentrated list, makes it easier to write laser-focused marketing messages for clients and prospects.  Don’t worry about writing for everyone.

Write regularly, share information, not just advertising and you will see interest in your email grow. keep the content short, and link to your site and other relevant sites for the balance of the information,

Tony Brown had some other suggestions on how to use email effectively.