How fast do you return a telephone call or an email from a potential lead? I ask myself this every time a lead remarks to me, how quickly I responded. I wonder if perhaps most businesses do NOT return contacts as fast as they could. I try to respond the moment I get a contact. Even if I am busy, I at least try to respond and inform them that I will return their call when I have time enough to respond properly. Yesterday I left a message with a store, asking them to give me their store hours. The…

There are lots of ways that you can approach your brand to make it more effective. Some can be costly, while many are simple and relatively inexpensive. It is the latter that I will outline for you today. They don’t take much thought or effort but can impact your brand in a big way. 1) Sponsor a local adolescent sports team. This is not so much to get your logo on a jersey but it is part of giving back to the community. Volunteerism speaks to your brand values. Not to mention that many of the organizers are also leading…

Because our business does not employ full time employees (yet), some articles in business magazines don’t apply. Yes, we outsource and there are many parallels, though not always applicable. But while reading one an article by Jason Fried (co-founder of 37 signals and co-author of Rework) recently I was drawn to the many helpful points he raised. One of which really stood out for me because that’s what I’ve been sharing for a while too. In the article, Fried says that they generally, prefer to find out how to do a job before they start hiring someone to do it.…

This is going to be a slightly different type of post, one where you tell us what you think. In the last handful of years, there are certainly many brands that have fallen from their golden positions. Some fell much harder than others. To name a few that come to mind: BP Toyota CircuitCity.com Can these brands bounce back? What do you think they should do now? Keep in mind, there were brands who went through some pretty rough times and come up on top, stronger than ever like Tylenol and for those who are too young to remember ;)…

Hi It’s Ken Chandler. Some of you may recognize the name from Vera’s farewell post. Well, that’s me she’s talking about I am sure most of you do not know me yet but I hope to  change that. I have worked on military aircraft for almost 3 decades both as a U.S. Marine and as a civilian. I started my first offline business around 1992 and I have been working online with my own business since around 1996.   I  can easily understand how important your time is simply from my own experience. Given all that, I believe I will have…

One of the most frustrating areas of my business in the last 2 years has certainly been the hiring and keeping of contractors. Before you get the wrong idea, I am not difficult to work for :-). The reasons for leaving are very typical for independent contractors/freelancers. Family issues, health and moving on to other things are the biggest reasons. Sometimes, there’s plain irresponsibility. People just fall off the face of the earth. Sadly, it happens way too often and in my case, they leave while a project is mid way. Every time this happens, I have to start from…

There’s some pretty neat changes happening around here and I’m very excited about this decision. You see I’ve been wanting to pursue a road in life that is helping more people than just myself, and thankfully I’m now able to do this. This is a bittersweet post. Small Business Branding (SBB) has been a part of my life and my passion for a while now. I’ve ‘fallen in love’ with this community so making the decision to sell it wasn’t easy. If you’ve known me for long you probably know that I’ve been a small business owner since back in…

As part of my interview series with “Thought Leaders,” PR guru and author, Drew Gerber from “Pitchrate.com” shares his wisdom with us. I’ve been following Drew online for some time, so I was pleased as punch that he agreed to this important interview. Ed Roach: How much does personal branding matter in Public Relations? Drew Gerber: Personal branding is as important in the world of business survival as food, shelter, and water are to personal survival. If you want to set yourself apart from the competition you have to make a name for your products and services. Chances are someone…

Every week it seems there is another channel we can use to market our companies. Social Media for one appears to be leaping on to the stage at every opportunity. My inbox is constantly pushing out new sites to sign up to in the promise of delivering to us a new and exciting piece of business. I’m sure, like me, you wonder is it worth all the hype and will they get me any more notice than what I am experiencing with my current nest of sites. All I can advise is that it is extremely important that you do…

Opportunities come to you in a variety of ways: Referrals. These are by far the most desirable. These come from people who generally have a great deal of respect for you, and they feel that they can trust you with their contacts. Advocates. Advocates are people who follow you. Once you discover who they are, it is amazing what the cross-section of talent is. Colleagues. I consider this group part of my peer group. They are in many ways my competition, but they bring certain specialties to the table that I can draw from. You could call them “strategic competition.”…