Reprinted with Permission Courtesy of New Business Minnesota ©2015 – www.newbizminn.com

April 2015

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Projecting Your Image

Your image is an essential currency that’s as good as gold. You’re able, capable. creative and committed to succeed. This team of experts has great ideas on how you can project an image that says you are up to any challenge: John Komarek, Curly Creative Communications; Lori Spiess, OffiCenters/VirtualOffiCenters; and Dave Meyer, BizzyWeb.

Special Report

Reprinted with Permission Courtesy of New Business Minnesota ©2015 – www.newbizminn.com

Projecting Your Image

Publisher’s Note:Every startup business has a unique challenge beyond merely launching: being underesti-mated. You’re new, small and people will think you’re untested. Like every small business that’s come before, you overcome this by working harder and smarter than your more established competition.

To assist you, we assembled this team of business leaders to share their expertise on how you can look larger to the world: integrate your web and social media efforts, build your brand that will convey a professional message of who you are, and learn to enhance the image of your capabilities through professional meeting space and collaboration.

These experts will appear at a free “Projecting Your Image” workshop and networking event in June. For more information, go to www.newstartupmeetup.com

By Dave MeyerBizzyWeb

Projecting a great image to your customers is one of the easi-est and most cost-effective ways to grow your business. If you use the right tools, you’ll present your company as a trusted

resource and professional solution provider. It can seem daunting to create a professional-looking website, get your social media set up and generating leads, and to build a mailing list that will ensure quality referrals. But building a fantastic brand includes just a few key steps that any business owner can manage.

Here are some keys to building your brand the right way, and turning your marketing into a lead-generating machine:

Know your customer.Before you do anything else, take some time to get clarity about

your best customer, who they are, where they shop, and their hob-bies. The more you know about the people who will buy from you,

the easier it will be to reach them effectively. Think about what they would type in a search engine to find you, and use those “keywords” or phrases in every post, email, tweet and Facebook update. Think about what you do better than anyone else, and why your custom-ers should work with you. Get right to the problem you solve, and illustrate how you solve it. Make everything about your customer.

Set your strategy. When you know who you’re looking for it’s much easier to create

a strategy to reach them. Make sure you hit all the basics: A great website, social media appropriate to your customers, email market-ing and content (more about each in a moment). Make your mes-sage simple, clear and memorable.

When you’re thinking strategy, it’s best to keep this mantra in mind: Engage, Inform, Capture, Convert. Make sure your strategy includes a plan to Engage your audience with interesting content, Inform them on what they need to know about your product or ser-vice, Capture their information via phone, email or simply a great call to action, and to repeat until you Convert them into a customer.

Build a Powerful Image OnlineProfessional Website, Marketing Strategy will Enhance Your Image, Grow Sales.

Trygve Olsen and Dave Meyer, BizzyWeb.

Build your brand. Spend a few bucks to hire someone to create your logo. Con-

sider adding your tagline or a catchy phrase to your logo to make your company easy to remember. For example, BizzyWeb’s tagline is “Generate Buzz Without Getting Stung.” Make sure your brand matches your target market, and take the time to put your best foot forward. Branding is one of the most common places companies shirk when they get started, but a great brand is the best way to get your customers’ trust and business quickly. Branding, like all mar-keting, is an investment in growing your business.

Build a great website. The first place your prospects and customers will go when they’re

considering you is your site: it’s the foundation for everything else you do online. Draw your customers in by keeping your site clear, informative, and by including clear calls to action that tell them what you want them to do (buy now, subscribe, like us on Facebook, etc.). Make sure your site is built to accommodate mobile devices: Google just announced that as of April 2015 it’s no longer show-ing sites that aren’t “Mobile Responsive” in it’s mobile search results. And that’s a big deal since up to 80 percent of searches now originate on phones and tablets. If you’re not mobile-friendly, you’re losing traffic and potential leads.

Choose a short, easy to remember domain name, and go with a “.com” address if possible. If your preferred domain is already taken, check to see if it’s available at auction and consider bidding if it’s for sale. You can get cheap hosting on your own and suffer down-time and frustration, or hire a company with real, local team-members like BizzyWeb to host your site for just $25 per month.

Spend time on web design. Hire someone who knows what they’re doing. Here’s the secret

all the “Website tonight” or cheap/free design tools won’t tell you… you get what you pay for. A cheap, hacked-together design makes it look like you don’t believe in your company enough to invest in it, and your prospects will decide if they’ll do business with you inside of 10 seconds of visiting your site. And cheapo website builders don’t give you a way to optimize your site for search engines or integrate social media.

For simple, inexpensive and impressive designs, consider using an open-source tool like WordPress to create your site. If you’re technically inclined, you can put a great site together for cheap. To project the best image and fast-track the process, a professional de-veloper is mandatory. The time you save hiring a pro is time you’ll be able to use making sales, and you’ll fill your sales funnel faster with a site designed to convert visitors to leads. At BizzyWeb, we take extra time to fully optimize your site to rank better on Google, and inte-grate your site with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus so your site publishes to each with every new post you create.

Make sure you can be found.

Spend some time on search engine optimization. Tools like WordPress make this incredibly simple, but in general the more of-ten you update your site the higher you’ll rank in searches. Make it easy to contact and follow you with obvious links to your email, phone, office location and social media accounts. And register for free with Google+ Local to automatically get top billing with nearby customers.

For your email, use your own domain (not Gmail, Hotmail or AOL). Use department names for official correspondence: for sales requests use sales@yourcompany.com, etc. Be sure to use an email signature that includes your contact information and tagline.

Participate in Social Media. The web isn’t the only place your customers will find you. Be

where your prospects and customers spend their time, and make it easy for your fans to recommend you to others. Facebook offers free Company pages, and you can set up your website to cross-pub-lish news and information from your website to Facebook, Linke-dIn, Twitter and Google+ automatically. You can reserve your own username (e.g. facebook.com/bizzyweb, google.com/+bizzyweb) to make your page easy to find. Post your profiles on LinkedIn (via a Company Page) and Twitter (with a custom background), and either search for instructions or hire a professional to set everything up for you. Again, your website can be a huge time-saver on social media by automatically posting to every account every time you update your site. Facebook is great as a catch-all, Twitter is best for short updates, LinkedIn is best for B2B and finding leads, and Google+ is a killer tool to help you rank better on Google.

Don’t forget email. Email is the work-horse of online marketing, and done well email

marketing can’t be beat for engaging your leads and staying in front of them. A well-crafted online newsletter that shares tips and tricks, updates on your company and invites them to connect with you will ensure your leads turn into prospects, and keep your clients com-ing back again and again. Constant Contact is our favorite email marketing tool, and for $45/month you can use it to email your prospects, send auto-response messages to new prospects from your website, manage events and registrations and even promote your business on Facebook. BizzyWeb is an Authorized Local Expert and has special offers for new businesses.

Conclusion.Finally, make sure you use your new online identity everywhere,

including your business cards, brochures and email campaigns. The easier you are to find, and the more you share about your company, the faster your company will grow to match your online reputation.

NBM

BizzyWeb Continued from Previous Page

Dave Meyer owns BizzyWeb, a 15-year-old Minneapolis-based company that creates WordPress-powered, mobile-responsive websites that publish to social media with a single click, saving businesses time and money. Dave frequently speaks on social media topics, and hosts webinars every Wednesday on social media topics at bizzyweb.com/bb. He can be reached at (612) 424-9990,

sales@bizzyweb.com facebook.com/bizzyweb, or twitter.com/bizzyweb

Call To Action

To learn more about how to “Generate Buzz Without Getting Stung,” check out BizzyWeb’s New Business Minnesota special. If you sign up for Constant Contact for email marketing, we’ll design a free template to match your website. Contact sales@bizzyweb.com for help with anything from this article, or go to BizzyWeb.com/NBM to see this 60-day promotion.

By Lori SpiessVirtualOffiCenters

What’s the difference between you and one of the big companies? They may have their fancy board rooms, conference rooms, receptionists, secretaries, big office

equipment and support staff, but… you have options, too! The real difference is that you can have many of the same re-

sources as a big business for a fraction of the cost using a virtual program. You get to keep your home office, but acquire a public persona of corporate brick and mortar with an array of services you can buy on an as-needed basis.

For most new businesses, the virtual office is the business mod-el for the future. After all, most new businesses created today are home based.

The virtual office is basically a low-cost means of preserving those benefits while adding a whole new layer of support services from the traditional office business center, sometimes referred to as executive suites.

Done right, the virtual office cannot only make you more effi-cient, but many of our clients see a direct impact on their success. It is amazing to see businesses blossom and grow in this model. I often hear people say they didn’t realize there were so many re-sources and options available to them.

Virtual Office ServicesThe backbone of our virtual office is the array of services that

improve your productivity and enhance your image. When a cli-ent calls you, we can have someone answer the phone with your company name. People aren’t impressed by the automated phone tree options.

Live answering is having a rebirth that’s very retro right now. It’s also interactive. The receptionist can take messages, answer basic questions and schedule appointments.

We have people to manage your mail, shipping and receiving. If you’re waiting for a check and are out of town, we’ll call you if it doesn’t arrive so you can react. There is someone at “your” of-

fice every day to accept mail and packages or to help with presentations, spreadsheets or big proj-ects.

A d d i n g virtual office c a p a b i l i t i e s means you can have a mailbox ser-vice, copiers, printers, access to conference rooms and furnished offices. You can even use an office for as little as 30 minutes. Your name is listed in the building directory.

Another reason virtual office plans are catching fire is because they are very flexible. You’re look-ing at a 30-day commit-ment and you only pay for what you need. That equates to a great value!

Virtual CommunityThe most significant ben-

efit to emerge in the past few years for our virtual office members is inter-action, collaboration and networking. A home

Harness the Power of the Virtual Office

Home Alone? Come In for Flexible Space, Community, Collaborative Environment

and New Opportunities.

Reprinted with Permission Courtesy of New Business Minnesota ©2015 – www.newbizminn.com

office doesn’t have to be lonely. Members come to our office loca-tions not just to use space, but to interact with other business own-ers. We offer events, such as free networking events, and a Lunch and Learn educational seminar series for clients that showcase cli-ent businesses.

We even created a whole new social media campaign to keep members up to date on events. Our holiday lunches are legendary. Our spaces are always busy, full of buzz and positive energy. It’s all about creating a real community.

CollaborationWith the wide variety of members we have, collaboration has

become an important tool for helping your business look larger and more capable. Projects they couldn’t handle themselves be-come possible when they can reach out to people with whom they regularly network. With the right partners, everyone be more ef-fective and efficient.

A key way to project your image is to tell more people about what you do. We help our members do that with our B2B directory called “CONNECT,” where every member get a free listing and, in return, commits to buying from the network when possible.

Through our member newsletter, we help tell their stories by promoting what they are working on, such as their seminars, proj-ects, specials meetings, books and accomplishments in general. The newsletter goes out to more than 1,000 businesses that are part of OffiCenters and VirtualOffiCenters.

In that environment, you get an idea of what people are doing. If you need a partner, you can easily assemble a team for just about any project imaginable.

Some members report a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in sales just from being part of this community. Two attorneys formed a partnership based on a successful collaboration. And a web designer got more business after teaming up with members in IT and social media to start a Google Hangout for live streaming our Lunch and Learn seminars to all five of our locations. And these are just a few of the stories we hear about every day.

Collaborating means you don’t just project a larger image, you are actually larger. If a prospective client needs a skill you don’t have, you know exactly where to find it. You can increase your sales and promote your business merely by expanding your col-laborative resources. Their clients see a difference. We are stronger – Together!

Our virtual office members value the home office lifestyle, but isolation continues to be the number one problem plaguing home based businesses. There are significant benefits from getting out more often.

The need to be around other business owners is what drives them to leave their homes and meet with other virtual office mem-bers. It is a chance to learn from those who are at different stages of their business life cycle and talk to someone who has been there. Information is very powerful. The energy is very contagious.

Flex SpaceWe have a variety of space that fit your needs on any given day

at a location that is convenient to you. We have 24/7 office space, offices by the hour, open work space, small and large meeting con-ference and training rooms.

Sometimes you just need to be in a productive environment. For that we have drop-in co-working space, which is open space with tables and work surfaces where you can work quietly on your own or casually meet others who are there for the same reason you are. No appointment needed.

It’s a magical place. You can hang out all day long or not. You never know what’s going to happen. I can’t go into the spaces any-more without hearing stories of incredible opportunities coming together.

Our virtual office members know that when they walk into the co-working space, there will be people looking for collaboration and conversation. It’s all about human interaction, free network-ing, collaboration, making connections and creating a sense of community.

We’re no longer selling 4 walls like in the old days. Now, our focus is finding ways to help our members raise the bar and run great businesses.

Virtual offices are aimed at what we call gazelle businesses: small, quick, highly flexible and frugal businesses. This isn’t a stop gap measure until they move into a physical office. This is a busi-ness and lifestyle choice.

With virtual office options, you won’t have to be a one-man band. As you grow your business, keep in mind that you now have very powerful options to make you more responsive to customers, project a stronger image, preserve your sanity and leverage all the advantages of your home office.

NBM

VirtualOffiCenters / OffiCenters Continued from Previous Page

Lori Spiess CEO of OffiCenters/VirtualOffiCenters has provided workspace solutions to the Twin Cities since 1981. She is an innova-tor, leader and motivator who helps businesses do their best work. Her company won Most Innovative Workspace 2014 and she made the 2015 Minnesota Business Magazine’s (Real) Power 50 List. Spiess, a recent cancer survivor, has a new motto: Life is short. Work someplace awesome! She can be reached at:

lori.spiess@virtualofficenters.com or (612) 373-7070www.virtualofficenters.com

Call To ActionStop at any of our five locations and mention this article to schedule one hour of free conference room time.

By John Komarek and Mina SaremiCurly Creative Communications

Every business with a computer and an Internet connection has access to a host of applications that give them the power to mass communicate like never before. While this is a great

opportunity for small businesses to reach larger audiences, every-one is still confronted with one of the oldest problems, and one that the journalist Edward R. Murrow described long before Facebook existed:

“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the old-est problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.”

Mr. Murrow highlights the essence of a brand – it’s communica-tion. A brand is the visual and verbal communication your compa-ny has with its audience, clients, and consumers. It presents a per-sonality whose job is to create a perception about your company, service or product. A brand accomplishes this by defining what to say, how to say it, and – now even more relevant today – where to

say it, and how often. Your brand perception makes a promise about what your com-

pany does, how it does it, and how we feel about it. While it might sound deceptively easy, building a brand is difficult for even the largest companies and takes much conscious thought, effort, and consistent execution.

For a small business, your brand is just as important. You may not have the resources to dedicate time, money and people to devel-op full brand development and strategy, but you can – and should – start to organize the building blocks that will form the essence of your brand.

If you are a new business, you won’t have to worry about undo-ing branding damage due to neglect or a weak brand. You get to start with a clean slate to create the image you want to project.

And, it all begins – just like being a good journalist – by asking lots of questions, and doing your research.

Ask Direct Questions, and Be Honest.Lots of companies start off with a great idea, but might not take

the time to identify the key communication aspects, and under-standing the audience before unveiling a brand. Branding starts with just a few questions that take time to answer, but it is time well

To Build a Brand, Think like a Good JournalistAsk direct questions, research, storytelling, and be consistent create brand foundation.

John Komarek and Mina Saremi of Curly Creative Communications

spent. The fewer questions you answer directly, honestly, and backed by research, the more time and money your business will spend with customer education afterwards.

Here are some questions to get you started: • What is your company’s mission statement? This will create a brand filter for deciding what is important, who

will be served and how, and define an intended direction. • What are the benefits and features of your products or services? Place this in terms of your consumer – what value does it bring?

How does that make them feel? What problems of theirs will you solve?

• What do your customers and prospects already think of your company – or the industry/competitors (if you haven’t launched yet)?

Avoid guessing, find out through research, and surveys. • What qualities do you want them to associate with your com-

pany? Words are always important, and extremely important here.

These are the words you want your customer to say back to you and to share with other people.

Remember, branding is not just about you; it’s about them.Knowing your target audience and your competitors will help

define how your brand will look and sound. First, do your research about your target audience. Who do they currently use for this ser-vice or product? What types of messages resonate with them? Or simply put: know what makes them tick.

Then know your competition, and define the company you want to keep. What messages and visuals do they use? How do they pres-ent themselves to their customers? Knowing them will help define how you wish to be perceived, and the best way to do that is through comparison.

Imagine your company and its competitors are on stage in front of your target audience. What is each of them known for and per-ceived to be by the audience?

Where do you fit in? Do you wish to be the innovative maverick? Are you the voice of experience? Are you the premium service only professionals use or the low cost, but high value option? How do I tell that story visually and verbally on that stage?

And, remember that you can’t be all things to all people. If it’s about them, they want a brand that speaks to them and meets their needs. Making a solid commitment to one image will help your con-sumer understand your brand and trust it.

Visuals and Voice: Create the First Point of ContactAfter answering the questions about your company, knowing

the image you wish to portray, it’s time to define how to portray it through a brand visual and voice.

Just like any person you meet on the street, your first impression begins with how they look. What type of clothes do they wear? How do they carry themselves? Haircut style? Jewelry? Your brand visual starts with a logo. It’s the focal point from which all other visual ele-ments should follow suit in style, color and feel.

After seeing how someone looks, you next analyze speech. What type of words do they use? What is the pacing and structure of their

sentences? Do they respond as if they are listening? Do they seem informed? This is your brand voice, which starts with a tag line and continues on into every piece of literature you produce.

Together, a brand visual and voice act as the face for your or-ganization. It tells a story to a consumer before they begin using your services. When putting these elements together, remember the stage exercise, and how your chosen image will look like in the com-pany you wish to keep.

When reviewing logo options, it’s important to remember the lesson that it’s not about you, it’s about them. See the logo and the words from their perspective. Place it next to competitor’s logos.

And when working on voice, remember that the reception of cer-tain words can change depending on the mood of the recipient – mitigating that landmine while effectively creating a strong brand voice can be tricky. If you have time and resources, test them with a target group.

If you can do nothing else, be consistent.Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you

plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages. This includes advertising, public relations, and marketing efforts. It’s your distribution channels where your visual and verbal brand com-munication are delivered and how they interact with the audience.

The building block of basic brand strategy is consistency. And, it’s one within the realm of all small business owners.

Make a schedule, stick to it, and never stray from your defined messages. Make sure your logo is correctly treated everywhere it’s placed – the most common problem is a logo being stretched. And, put your logo everywhere, in snail mail, email, signatures, social me-dia, and printed materials. Make sure it does not change in color or shape. These actions begin creating strong brand equity, which sup-ports the perception of your company’s service or product.

For Your Notebook: A Branding Checklist.1. Get a logo. Put it everywhere.2. Know your audience; define your key messages.3. Write a memorable, and concise tag line.4. Define a brand voice: word choice, and tone.5. Integrate your brand into every piece of communication.6. Be consistent with execution.7. Be true to your brand promise.ConclusionTake care of your brand from the beginning. Don’t be afraid to

call in professional help to help. You don’t have to do everything at once, so you can build your brand foundation in stages over time and within your budget.

The most important thing, is to start. NBM

Curly. Creative. Communications. Continued from Previous Page

John Komarek, is the founder and principal of Curly: Creative. Communications., a full-service ad agency that provides small busi-nesses big agency work. Curly provides services that were once only the realm of large businesses: branding, visual communications, advertis-ing and public relations campaigns, social media management, web development, and video. John can be reached at john@curlycreative.us

Mina Saremi, is the account director of Curly: Creative. Commu-nications. She works with new and existing businesses to provide the creative promotional services that meet her client’s goals, deadlines, and budget. She can be reached at mina@curlycreative.us or

(612) 501-2403

Call To ActionIf you are interested in learning more about how Curly can help grow your business, contact Mina at (612) 501-2403 for a free consultation.