Biz Tips Blog: Online Marketing, Visibility and Business Blogging Tips

Are You a Conscious Business Owner? A Nine-Point Checklist

What does it mean to be a “conscious business owner”?

There’s been an evolution in the online conversation lately, I noticed, toward dwelling on the personal experience of being “conscious:” being in touch with one’s sense of purpose, feeling good about what you’re doing, making heartfelt decisions, being grateful and fair, being healthy and promoting health, being spiritual and soulful…things like that.

While all those things are true and wonderful, there are also cultural criteria the larger business community and society as a whole use to measure “conscious business,” or, lately, “conscious capitalism.”

So if you’re wondering if you’re a conscious business owner, here’s a nine-point checklist you might try out on yourself for starters:

1. Do you strive to be ETHICAL in your dealings with employees, customers, and others?
2. Are you SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE in terms of the people you serve, the communities in which you operate, things like energy and the environment?
3. Are you AWARE of how your products and services impact the greater good?
4. Do you think you’re aligned with your HIGHEST AND BEST purpose?
5. Do you feel the CONNECTION your business has to the needs of the Universe?
6. Do you COMPLEMENT the businesses of others, rather than competing with them?
7. Are you FAIR in your pricing, policies, and other business dealings?
8. Do you BALANCE value with profits well?
9. Do you CONTRIBUTE to the betterment of your community?

If you checked off most of these, you’re a “conscious business owner” by anyone’s standards.  If you didn’t, you now have a new awareness of things you might want to strive toward!

Carol Liege is a contributing author to Align, Expand and Succeed; Shifting the Paradigm of Entrepreneurial Success. This “just released” book is based on the premise that the world is changing at a very rapid pace. We are starting to see that cooperation brings better results than old style competition. It’s a new era and we need to work together to create success for everyone, not just for a few.

This book features dozens of conscious entrepreneurs who share their wisdom, expertise, stories, lessons and insights about the new and exciting shifts that are happening for entrepreneurs worldwide.

This book is designed to raise the vibration of the planet like never before. Get your copy of Align, Expand and Succeed and enjoy an abundance of gifts with your purchase. http://www.aesbook.com

A Note From Denise: This has been an amazing project to watch as it unfolded. My colleague Kathleen Gage was the marketing mastermind and I'll have an interview with her soon discussing how the AES team used social media marketing to attract over 100 joint venture partners as well as create a mega bestselling success.

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The Wheel and Spoke Marketing Model

The Wheel and Spoke Marketing Model, by guest author Janis Pettit

One of the biggest mistakes small and solo business owners make is doing random, or what I call "shot in the dark" marketing, and expecting great results. With this approach you place an ad here, an article there, and maybe go to a networking event. It's like throwing a dart at a target in the dark and hoping you hit the bull's eye.

Why doesn't this approach work? The problem is that since there is no overall strategy, plan, measurement or follow through, the results are minimal and random. I've seen people working so hard and still not getting results and this is one of the reasons.

Using a "wheel and spoke" model can get you started in the right direction.

The wheel and spoke model is where a number of "satellite activities or strategies" are all focused on sending targeted leads into your business, by sending them to specific pages on your website or blog. These pages represent the hub at the center of the wheel. This model works as both an online marketing strategy and offline.

Use this model for all of your marketing. If your goal is to get 50 new clients or buyers this month, put that goal in the center or hub of the wheel. Create a short series of blog posts that will build trust and product interest and include a link to your sales page. Then create the spokes which are the specific marketing activities you'll do to attract people to your blog.

Writing is a key element in creating your success. Write your marketing message in exciting, compelling sound bytes that will interest people in clicking through to your blog. Twitter forces you to do this, and if your twitter feed is set up to automatically appear on your other social media pages, you're creating multiple spokes at once.

Start with 3 "spokes"

Take a Moment and Wear Your Customer's Shoes

Take a Moment and Wear Your Customer's Shoes by guest author, Kellie DAndrea, "The All Stuff, No Fluff Marketing Authority"

In today's very competitive market customer loyalty is on the decline simply because business owners are not pulling out the red carpet to improve their customer's experience.  Those that are using the "business as usual" method are at great risk of losing their customer base.  With the plethora of choices available to your customers, you want to take a moment and look at your business through your customer's eyes and put yourself in their shoes to see if you are making a difference with your customers. 

First, are your customers facing the same economic pressures as many others?  If so, now is a good time to re-evaluate your pricing model to see if there are opportunities to offer discounts or add additional value.  Even 1% will make a difference and show that you are sensitive to their situation but want to retain them as a customer because you care.  Look at your process and see if you can cut your costs and streamline the process.  If you can cut your cost and pass along those savings to your customers, you are showing them you are a team player committed to improvement.

Mindshare Marketing Touchpoints

Mindshare Marketing Touchpoints by guest author Dr. Rachna Jain

When you are developing a mindshare marketing campaign for your company, one of the first places to begin is by noting how many marketing touchpoints customers have with your business.

Marketing touchpoints, in this case, are defined as how many ways they can interact with your company, and should be separated into offline and online channels. If your business has a physical storefront or office location, for example (this refers to a physical location where customers may come and meet you), your marketing touchpoints might include location of your office, ease of access, condition of building, decoration and layout of your office(s). It would also include how the client is greeted when they arrive, how long they are kept waiting, and how they feel from these initial contacts with your company.

The Facebook Success Summit Ticket Winner is...

Congratulations to Karie Warf Price, winner of a ticket to attend the premier Facebook event - The Facebook Success Summit. 38 people posted their biggest Facebook challenge on the Blog Squad Facebook page. I used Random.org to choose the winner...

Karie's challenge was voiced by several people. Another recurring theme among the challenges people posted, was how to create/design a customized Facebook page or landing page for new "fans."

Here are a few posts that can help with direction: