Why You Don't Need More Followers

Many small businesses are ramping up their social media efforts to catch the Twitter and Facebook waves. As business owners build their online communities, the general focus is on getting more followers and more fans.

The more the merrier, right?

Not exactly.

While generating as many followers and fans as possible can certainly grow your brand, the real focus should be on quality and not quantity.

Your list of followers and fans should represent either a source of income or a source of referrals. Income and referrals build a business, not merely fans and followers.

If your list of followers and fans neither produce income nor referrals, then it might be time to rethink your social media strategy.

Would you rather have 10,000 self-proclaimed MLM Gurus following you or 25 qualified leads? 10,000 sounds like a lot, but the 25 leads are the ones that are interested, engaged and potentially profitable.

The same principle applies for email marketing and direct mail marketing. Unless each and every contact on your list is a potential customer, you waste time, money and energy marketing to massive lists.

If you want a number of followers and fans to shoot for, try 150. The Rule of 150--based on Dunbar’s number and a key component to Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point--states that communities with a high incentive to remain together rarely exceed 150.

So build your community around 150 advocates. Find 150 customers that will support your business and influence others.

But you might be asking, what about scale? If I don’t get thousands of fans and followers, how will I build scale?

Simple: let your community of 150 build scale for you. If you provide consistent and authentic value to your community, scale will come.

So devote yourself to a small community of dedicated listeners and contributors. Don’t worry about generating thousands of fans and followers. Focus on the 150 that can truly move your business to the next level and nurture the heck out of those relationships.

Going Rogue or Just Plain Nutz?

Marketing via controversy is a tough way to build long term marketing success. Nevertheless, you don't have to be "liked" in your marketing efforts.

In fact, a lot of great buzz can be created with divisive tactics.

Take Bookshop Santa Cruz for example. A locally owned and independent bookstore, Bookshop Santa Cruz has made a national name for itself with some notorious maneuvers.

It's most recent initiative was to include a bag of "Just Plain Nutz" with every purchase of Sarah Palin's new book, Going Rogue.

Santa Cruz leans left on the political spectrum, so there was little surprise locally. However, this tactic alone generated national coverage including a blog post on The Huffington Post.

Risky, maybe. Effective, yes.

It goes to show that a little contoversy, if managed correctly, can generate some terrific publicity.

If you are thinking about a good publicity stunt, ensure the possible outcomes are more Bookshop Santa Cruz than Balloon Boy. For Bookshop Santa Cruz, they either sell more books or resonate more with their target audience. Both outcomes are favorable.

You can use controversy to move your business to the next level. Just make sure all possible outcomes are positive.

It Doesn't Take Money to Make Money

Given the tough economic times, a lot of business owners are in the "it takes money to make money" rut. This line of thought is forcing many owners who see their bottom lines shrinking to pull back on marketing efforts.

From a marketing perspective, now is the time to get out of that rut.

Recall that money is not the only currency in marketing.

You can do a lot with time and energy. Arguably, you can do more with time and energy than money alone.

A wise investment of energy, for example, can lead to greater creativity, a fresh look at an old idea or a new way to leverage resources.

But energy doesn't produce itself. The First Law of Thermodynamics teaches us that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.

So don't think that you can energize your marketing by just sitting there. You can't just create an energy and buzz around your brand. But you can change its form.

Think of ways to divert the energy and attention towards you and your business. Use your own energy to convert it into different energy like new customers, repeat business or referrals.

Instead of sitting in your rut of "I need money to make money" get out there and drive the energy bus. Move your business to the next level with pure energy: go the extra step, ask for that close, create value, uncover new partnership opportunities, feed the "word-of-mouth" buzz, deposit referrals into the Golden Chain of Referrals. Marketing energy alone can go a long way!

Take inspiration from Chris Farley and Adam Sandler that created comedic energy from a couple tables full of food in their famous "Energy Brothers" skit on Saturday Night Live.

You don't need money to make money, but you do need energy.

Final Verdict: Keep It Simple

My tenant trashed my condo.

As my tenant was vacating my home, I inspected the residence. Needless to say, it looked like a college dorm after years of parties, fights and mistreatment.

The tenant refused to pay for any of the damages so I took him to small claims court. It was there that I got an important marketing lesson: keep it simple.

You see, I created a spreadsheet, I photocopied receipts and estimates and I printed a slew of photos. I was extremely prepared with tons of materials.

Big mistake. In the end, I was overly prepared.

The judge did not take the time to look at all of my documents. Instead, he focused on a couple of minor things, stated that the damage I was claiming was covered by the tenant’s security deposit and he ruled in favor of the defendant. Ouch.

Had I understood the target audience better (the judge) I would have focused on just one or two things. Had I known that the judge did not intend to review all of the documentation I provided, I would have kept it extremely simple and to the point.

Same goes for marketing. Less is more.

Marketing, much like the small claims court, is about communicating the important action items concisely and succinctly.

Succeed in marketing with brevity, clarity and simplicity. Move your business to the next level by communicating the core message and nothing more.

I should have taken my marketing expertise to small claims court.

Good thing I am not a lawyer.

Marketing Haiku

Track all marketing.

Perfect message and channel.

Test, learn and repeat.

5 Ways to Do More with LESS

Leverage should be a primary objective for any business owner. The ability accomplish more with fewer resources is a necessary skill to move your business the next level.

In terms of marketing, there are a number of ways to leverage your efforts. Keep in mind that the currencies of marketing are time, money and energy. So here are five ways you can spend less but accomplish more with your marketing:

1) Delegate: a good business owner will tell you that her human resources are perhaps the most valuable asset to the business. Find good people that can do the things you loathe to do or don't do very well. Researchers, virtual assistants, blog writers or even marketing project managers are very common ways to accomplish more marketing with less resources. Note: delegation takes both ego management and human resource management but if done well it can free up both time and energy.

2) Automate: not all marketing is good on autopilot, but automation of some marketing efforts can be very effective. Autoresponders through Aweber or other services can automatically send emails to people that fill out information on a website. Simple direct mail campaigns can be set up to send out on dates you specify. SendOutCards is one such service that has excellent do-it-yourself functions.

3) Share: there is much to be leveraged via sharing. Find a business that serves the same niche you serve. See if you can partner with that business. Get more contacts by sharing your list. Get more exposures by piggybacking on each other’s marketing initiatives. Build credibility and add to one another’s sales funnels through genuine reciprocation.

4) Use technology: I am no techie, but there are tons of tools available to help marketers do more with less. The mobile space is really blowing up in terms of applications and services that small businesses can use. A simple web-enabled cell phone can let you market on the go. Update your social media, check email, track your campaigns, monitor your security cameras and more while you wait in the doctor’s office or otherwise have some spare minutes.

5) Focus: many of us get bogged down in to-do lists. Marketing efforts are no exception. To avoid getting bogged down by all the marketing you wish to accomplish, pick one or two significant tasks per day. By streamlining your focus to one or two tasks per day, you will actually get more done with less. You will concentrate on performing one or two tasks well instead of offering a half-hearted effort on many tasks.

Nobody said leverage is easy. It takes work. The above are just some of the ways you can achieve leverage. Like anything, it will take some time to develop the right people and the right systems.

But if you can’t leverage your marketing efforts, it will be very difficult to move your business to the next level.

Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

Despite Aesop's sage advice, I say you should count your chickens before they hatch.

In The Milkmaid and Her Pail, Aesop tells of a young woman balancing a pail of milk on her head as she walks to market. She dreams of buying a dress with the money she will earn from selling the chickens she will buy from selling the butter she will make with the milk in her pail. Her dreams are ruined when she spills all of her milk as she fantasizes tossing her head at gentlemen suitors while wearing her new dress.

Excellent story and a great moral. But it's the exact opposite advice I give to small businesses. I say count every single one of those chickens before they hatch.

Run your numbers. Run your scenarios.

If you are on your way to market, be sure to calcuate what investment will yield the greatest return.

Some simple math can go a long way. Consider some basic marketing metrics like response rate, conversion rate and traffic. Apply some conservative assumptions and predict your outcomes.

Be sure to account for the pitfalls, hurdles and obstacles that might prevent you from reaching the desired outcomes and adjust your plan accordingly.

Had Aesop's milkmaid really counted her chickens before they hatched, she may have figured out some different options. Maybe she would have decided to make the butter at home instead of transporting the milk. Maybe she would have travelled a faster route to market or maybe she would have created a more focused plan to prevent daydreaming.

For your small business, think with the end in mind and plan accordingly. Move your business to the next level by counting each and every chicken before they hatch.