In the past month, I’ve had a handful of people contact me and ask me to refer business to them. Once I do, they’ll give me money. I don’t know anything about these people, they know nothing about me, I have no idea how they work or if I think they are honest with their business. Not even helping me answer these unknowns makes me shut down immediatly. Kind of like when you start to have that gut feeling that something is a little off but you’re trying to be professional and hang in there. There are right and wrong ways to ask for, receive and give thanks for referrals. This cold approach, however, falls in the wrong way to do the act. It makes me think … if you’re treating me like this and handling your marketing in this matter, how else are you handling your business?

When you’re ready to offer a referral program, do it the right way. Figure out what works best for your referral sources, how you’ll consistently thank each referral source and how often you’ll do this thanking. These are just some starters for important elements. Before any of this takes place, though, take the time to get to know the people you’re hoping to help you grow your business with referrals. Any other way will offer the opposite up… a complete turn off and zero referrals… ever.

Ever heard of the SXSW conference? Big Omaha? These annual conferences have grown up out of a need for business owners and technology taste-makers to share ideas and examine the present and future state of technology. Technology and how we use it for business is evolving daily, and the residents of Austin and Omaha recognized the value in creating a venue to exchange ideas. So they created SXSW and Big Omaha.

If you are thinking that the need for that type of exchange is just as strong here in Indiana, you’re not alone. That’s why Bloomington, Indiana will be hosting the inaugural year of The Combine from September 9th through 12th. You might expect that the first year for this type of event would struggle to draw much in the way of celebrity speakers, but there are couple of big hitters on the docket.

If you are interested in measuring the ROI of your online activities, you won’t want to miss Neil Patel. A little birdie told me he’s going to be diving into analytics, testing, and highly targeted online ads.

The Saturday and Sunday of the conference has some cool stuff going on, but I’ll be honest: those two days are largely for the hardcore coders and development geeks. What does The Combine have to offer normal people? Thursday and Friday. The events on those days give you a chance to rub elbows with talented, driven entrepreneurs that are defining how we will be using technology in the coming years. Check out the full mix of networking, panels, and presentations.

I’ll be there. Come say hi at the Tech Cocktail on Thursday night.

I can already hear some of our clients balking at this idea…. we need a professional CV, this won’t fly in our industry… what other excuses would you like to toss in the mix? I’m not saying you cannot have a professional resume, in fact, make a link to that too for those who want that detailed look at your career path, but for people who do business with people, make it more real.

Here are some more specific thoughts to help you get on your way:

1. What was some silly or interesting event or title that was bestowed on you in your early years? Were you a prom queen? Were you the champion pig rider? Think of something that could bring in some flavor and immediately give your bio a nod to your past… way past.
2. We get that you worked somewhere and that your job was x, x, and x. What else did that experience bring for you? Did you learn the power of teamwork there? Were you introduced to a global network? Were your eyes opened to the power of technology? Share in those words, not in boring, corporate speak words.
3. What do you do outside of work? What are you known for? What do you love? This bio is about YOU, so it’s OK to make it as much. I always get asked questions about my personal side of life before my work life… and the questions are always coming due to someone reading my bio or reading this blog to learn about Raquel. It’s just interesting to know what we do while not at work. We are human. We just like to know.
4. If you finish writing it and you like to read it, chances are good your peers, prospects and clients will enjoy reading it too.

Here is my updated, fun bio. Use it as inspiration for your new fun bio, or to ask me about my cupcake-eating boys the next time you see me.

Idea girl, artist and founder of Silver Square, Raquel Richardson is an urban wannabe, lover of wine and mother of two cupcake-eating boys. Her business talents started at a young age and bloomed a bit more while enrolled at Butler University.

 After Butler, Raquel made a few twists working at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Bates USA Midwest (an advertising agency), the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Charles Schwab. These fine places introduced her to new people, big ideas and global concepts that helped shape the person she is today.

 Raquel’s not really limited to the marketing business; she was a Coca-Cola Junior Championship Bowler at age 10 and to her knowledge still holds the record for most runs in homerun derby in Winchester, IN, (ghosties on first) her hometown. She can be found gracing the pages of the Indianapolis Woman magazine (March, 2010), enjoying  yet another community project with her volunteer work or with her Square crew thinking up something fabulous with her colleagues and clients.

That being said, as more overhauls and features in Adobe’s new software bundle see the light of day, the package is beginning to look too good to pass up. For those that don’t use Adobe products, their suites provide a host of programs to aid designers and web developers. One new tool in particular has got me chomping at the bit for our scheduled Silver Square technology upgrade.

The Multi-screen Development Tool in Dreamweaver, a tool to build websites, enables the user to preview a website they’re editing as it would appear on three different screen sizes: phone size, tablet size, and desktop. Having all this in one place beats the alternative, which is having a host of simulators for the various mediums you’re targeting. Consider the following image found on Adobe’s website.

The image shows 3 different ways in which a website could be presented. Different rules can be defined depending upon how the end user is finding your website. Whether a website is viewed on a desktop computer or an iPhone, having a consistent presentation will ensure your site is always received in best possible way.

In closing, upgrading software isn’t always the best use of one’s time and money, but sometimes it’s best to bite the bullet.

Different is good.

It’s a great path to take in your marketing and maybe even in life. We all get caught up in what someone else will think of our campaign, what if our competition does something or learns too much info, or whatever that risk is that is holding you back from being different… or even wonky…  I’m willing to bet if you think through a worst case scenario of what would happen if you were ever so brazen to be so strange that you arrive at a place that’s really not all that bad. Give yourself, your company, your brand a chance to be unique, strange, funny, wonky; whatever name you want to call it, and see where it goes. You may make yourself more remarkable than you ever dreamed.

This chair is a little strange, but I love it and took the snap for just that reason.

If you’re on our newsletter list, I’ll be sharing all the good stuff that is happening with us Squares. The good problem to all of our new happenings is that you have to be careful of that mentality of that’s good enough. We don’t have that here. Never have. When faced with a lot of change, however, it can find a way to creep in just because you’re moving at a new and sometimes unfamiliar pace.

To hedge against this creep, I’ve started talking about this topic again with the phrase “Good is the enemy of great.” I don’t know who actually coined this phrase, but I like them. It’s a great phrase. For me, it makes me think about what I did that I think was probably good, then how I could have made it great. Should I give it more time, ask someone for feedback, push myself a bit more to think of just one more thing… what is it that takes your good to great?

Feel free to join me in this kick. Share how you’re making things great in our comment section.

One of the first things that really got me jazzed about this book was the idea of a Culture Book. A Culture Book  is a mini book about the culture of your company… after that, you can make whatever else is inside it all unique to your company. I asked each person at Silver Square to submit, individually, what they thought the culture was here. I asked them not to talk about this assignment as I wanted it to come from them specifically. I’m also going to add photos of our get togethers, of our upcoming office move, maybe of some pitches we do, who knows what all we’ll add to this by the time the year is done. I like that it will document, year after year, what we do and how or if our culture shifts. I’m shooting for constant improvement.

So check out the Zappos Culture Book and keep your eyes peeled for a contest we’re launching next week to win your very own copy of Delivering Happiness.

(for our email readers the video is here)

Facebook gives you an extra reach you don’t get with your website. That is one of the most general but true elements of why you would want to have a Facebook page. People that connect with you on your Facebook pages have a reach to others that you just don’t. If you want to have that kind of reach, you need to be where all those people are.

Creating your Facebook page is easier than you think. One of the things Facebook does well, that has allowed them to have the reach that they do, is they make a good majority of the things you want to do on there easy, i.e. setting up your facebook page. As you can see from the page below, they take you step-by-step on how to set up your page, even how to start advertising to reach more people who like you.

Now that you have your page set up, invite and share your page with those in your personal profile. Make sure you let everyone know through your regular channels too, like your monthly newsletter or in your email signature. Go really crazy and launch an advertising campaign!

Need help on what to put on your Facebook page? Read this guide from Clay on What’s on Your Facebook Page or check out our social media strategy services.

My disclaimer here is that… this is what has worked for me. I’m not a productive guru, I typically have lots of emails in my inbox and I never scratch all the things off my to do list. When it comes to my work, though, I do make sure that what needs to get done does.

1. Don’t watch T.V. Yep, it’s odd, but I just don’t. I rarely like the shows, I cannot sit still that long and I would rather be doing something else. Not watching T.V. gives me gobs of time that most people use for viewing the box.
2. Block time. I block time together well. On Tuesdays, I am typically out of the office because I’m out meeting clients, meeting prospects, networking, etc. When I need to sit down to do some design work, I make sure I have a few things that need done and I knock those all out at once.
3. Line time. When I am in line somewhere, anywhere, I reply to email. When I get back to the office, it’s most likely already in process or done. This helps when you have an awesome team like I’m lucky to have.
4. Exercise. That doesn’t seem productive, but for me, exercising keeps me sane, happy and healthy… which allows me to be my best when it’s time to sit down and work.
5. Use the phone. This one has taken me a long time to get use to, but I use the phone a lot more now than I ever have. It’s just quicker to handle something and be done with it than to respond and wait for an answer, i.e. which for me translates to use up brainpower on something I cannot control.
6. Do one more thing. I play a trick with myself during the week days that when I’m ready to call it a day, I make myself do one more thing. Obviously I’m  not biting off a four hour project for this task, but I do one more thing I can get done today instead of adding one more thing on my plate tomorrow.
7. Learn in the car. I rarely hit the road without a purposeful CD read to go. That’s not saying it’s always work related, but it’s something I want to make time to know more about or hear the story. Car time is a great time for that stuff. My husband schedules conference calls on his drive time. I don’t like that so I stay away from that type of activity, but maybe it will work for you.
8. Do what I want first. Here is where I’m going against the grain – lots of people say Eat That Frog or do what you hate to do first. Well, I try never to do something I hate doing, so that takes care of that. If I have a frog that needs eaten I plan that out for a dinner sometime later. I make time for that specifically when it’s best for me to do that work.
9. Use your network. If I don’t know how to do something, I typically call a friend or ask on social media for help. You can easily spend hours or days trying to do something, but it’s much easier and productive to just phone in a favor. People like to help, let them help you.

Please add your productive tips in our comments section. I would love to hear your tricks!

• Do you have one?
• Is it good?
• How do you know it’s good?
• What are you measuring?
• Are you blogging?
• How are you consistently working to improve your site?
• What new tactics are you adding to bring in traffic?

Your website is one part of your marketing mix, but it’s a big, big part.

One of our clients, Maddox Industrial Contractors, came to us last fall for marketing help. Their website was, in one word, atrocious. They hadn’t shared any love with their website, or, marketing in general. Lost images, broken links, poor representation of their brand and lacking content spelled disaster. After going through the market snapshot service we provide, they decided that website needed immediate attention… and it’s paid off to the tune of consistent sales leads. New business is knocking… and they have used the new Maddox website to help them determine if they want to talk.

In real life, it’s working for Maddox. In statistical life, 83% of people are saying a company’s website influence their buying decision. This news released by HubSpot says:

The survey was conducted by RainToday.com and included more than 200 buyers responsible for more than $1.7 billion in professional services purchased, such as accounting and financial services; architecture, engineering, and construction services; human resources consulting; IT consulting and services; legal services; management consulting; marketing, advertising, and public relations; and training services. 

According to the survey, this is a significant increase compared to 2005, when 69% of buyers assigned websites at least “some influence” over this decision. Furthermore, the number of people who say websites have “a great deal of influence” rose to 28% compared with 16% in 2005.

Take a look at your website with your prospect’s eyes. What do they see? Are they seeing too much of your face and not enough about the value you bring? Are they finding remarkable content? If you’re not sure what they are finding, ask us. This is a perfect use of our small dose, big consulting service. We’ll tell you straight up… challenges and solutions.