Boy tired at the Fair

Do you have a social media plan for your business?  Start simply … but start.

Use Google Alerts and set up some basic searches for your business.  Include your town, the name of your business, the products (or product lines) you sell.  You’ll be surprised at the things you’ll find that people are saying about you!

Choose a social platform or two to be involved in.  Do your research, where are your customers going?  Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumbler, Google+ and Twitter are some of the most common ones.  Remember, if you participate in these platforms, be sure to be consistent and take part as often as you can.  There’s nothing worse than setting up an account, doing a day or two of conversation, then dropping off the face of the planet.

Build content.  Continue to write, write and write.  People need to hear/read/see your content about 8 times before it registers.  Use your information in your newsletters wisely – spread it around the internet!  You can use information from your blog posts also.

Pay attention.  People are talking, are you listening?

Start right now.  

If you’re smart (and I think you are) you’ll subscribe to the Tourism Currents Newsletter.  Find that link just by clicking right here.  It comes out once a month and it’s free.  It is geared towards tourism, but any good small business will know they need to get people in their doors – and tourism smarts will help with that.

Here’s a snippet from their February newsletter.

See Your Place Through Fresh Eyes, Like a Visitor

To improve your visitor or guest experience, it’s important to be able to see your destination, attraction or lodging with fresh eyes.

Want to know how they experience your town with a mobile device, for example?  BE the visitor. Load up a vehicle with 3 staffers, each carrying a different type of smartphone or tablet, and drive into your town from the outside as though you’ve never been there.

Start with the basics.  Do the highway signs make sense? Is it clear how to get downtown, to your attractions and to your Visitor Center?

Then, have everyone pull out his or her phone or tablet.  Do simple local searches on each device’s browser, for the information that visitors want  -  ”restaurants in XYZ,” “places to eat in XYZ,” “hotels in XYZ,” “things to do in XYZ.”  What comes up?  Do the results make sense? Local search is changing the travel game, but you have to see what the traveler sees to know what needs to be done to improve the information they get.

There are many other ways to see things anew.

Try the Kansas Sampler Foundation 8 Rural Culture Elements  –  Architecture, Art, Commerce, Cuisine, Customs, Geography, History, People  -  as a guideline for discovering your town as a visitor might discover it.

Read this excellent post by S. Anthony Iannarino, on how to keep the beginner’s mind and why it will keep you (and your visitor/guest experience) from getting stale and ineffective.

Me on a rock at the Parthenon in Greece

I often get asked “what should I blog about?”

The answer is easier than you think.

Everything.

What?  Yes, everything.  If you are blogging as a business owner, the idea is to share not only what it is your business does, but what it is you do.  People want to get to know you.  They want to see how you live.  They want to know your kids are smart, or normal, or average.  They want you to tell them these things, in a nice way.

The idea is you are building a relationship with your readers.  It’s not a contract you are writing.  It’s a story you are telling.  

Here’s some ideas:

Small business owners -

1. why you chose the color of paint for your walls
2. how the last customer of the day is as important as the first
3. why your location is good for business
4. why your son-in-law does NOT work in your store
5. why the regular Friday night band concert is important to you
6. How you support your local schools
7. why you spend money in your local community versus going to Walmart
8. what thought process you use to decide which products you are going to carry
9. how to sell an item to a young person, old person, single woman, married man
10. why you belong to the Kiwanis (or any organization)
11. things visitors can do when they visit your town
12. what other kind of shops are in town
13. how weather affects where you live
14. how to use a product bought at your store (google Kreg tools, it’s amazing how they built their business around this question)
15. why you like facebook (or don’t like it)
16. things kids could learn that will make them better business people

That’s 16 quick ideas for a business owner.  Tell us your story.  We want to get to know you.  Show us why you are the expert in your field (and it’s not because you know everything – it’s because you know how to tell us what we want to hear.)

The picture is me on a rock at the Parthenon in Greece.  I’ll be writing about how Greece changed my life, and how that affects my small business next week. 

Thanks to Wikimedia for the picture of a friend, a mistress and Picasso!

How much is your time worth?  

It’s a question many freelancers (1099ers) are asked.

I charge $40 an hour or will negotiate a total project price.  WHOA!! Forty bucks! Geez, that’s a lot of money.

Well, no – not really.  When you consider the amount of experience I have, it’s frankly not enough.  However, my rate is comparable for the area I live in.

We are often asked to give of our time and expertise – for a good cause, for a non-profit, for a friend – and it puts us in a touchy place.  It’s hard to say “I charge for that” to a friend.  However, in order to become the smart businessperson you are destined to be, you’ll need to get better at sharing your worth.

I started out by saying “Let me take a look at my calendar, I’m pretty busy.” However, that never stops anyone!  You’ll get a response like “Great! We are so happy you’ll do it!”

Next I tried saying “We could probably work something out.”  Turns out, that doesn’t work either.  To me, it sounds like I’ll adjust my rate.  To the other person, it sounds like I’ll do it for free.

Finally, with the coaching of Becky McCray I now say “I’d love to help you.  My rates are $40 an hour.  Would you like me to find some time to work you in?”  That works well.  And you know what? I’m often surprised when I hear “Great, we really want your help.”

There’s a story that illustrates my point very well.

A woman in Paris spots Picasso in a cafe. She begs and pleads him to sketch her…he finally relents, whips out his pad and draws a sketch of her.

She’s delighted. “How much do I owe you?” she asks.

“$5,000,” he replies.

“$5,000!” she exclaims. “But it only took you 2 minutes!”

“No madam,” he replies. “It took me my life”

Saturday a group of us (gypsy chics) traveled to Randall, Story City and Gilbert to visit various resale shops and have lunch.  I took my phone camera and many pictures were taken.  I found some marvelous ideas for decorating.  If I had my own shop, I would use some of these ideas in my shop.

Please enjoy the photos!  You can view them here

I receive a brief enewsletter from Iowa Tourism.  They always send things most people and businesses around the state can use.  

WINE AND BEER VALENTINE’S DAY PROMOTION 

The Iowa Tourism Office and the Wine & Beer Promotion Board have launched a Valentine’s Day promotion encouraging travelers to visit Iowa wineries and restaurants. The “Iowa Wine & Dine Giveaway” offers a chance to win an iPad2, along with $50 gift certificates to an Iowa winery and Iowa restaurant. Enter here. (http://bit.ly/z3U1Gw )

DOES YOUR FARM OR AG OPERATION GIVE TOURS?
Iowa is known for agri-tourism, and the Tourism Office would like to update its resources for farm and ag tours. Colleen Murphy is collecting information on Iowa farms and agricultural operations that offer tours for groups or individuals.  Complete a questionnaire with the details of your facility and tours, and we’ll keep your information on file for tour requests. Contact Colleen Murphy (colleen.murphy@iowa.gov) for a form and more information.

SHOULD YOU BE A MEMBER OF IOWA TOURISM? 

The Iowa Tourism Office staff will be traveling around the state to attend a general membership meeting in each of the three tourism regions this winter and spring. These “Tourism Town Meetings” offer you a chance to find out more about the work of the Tourism Office and how you can take advantage of partnership opportunities. If you aren’t a member of your region, this is a good time to attend a meeting and find out more about the benefits of region membership. Visit the Central Iowa Tourism Region (www.iowatourism.com) , Western Iowa Tourism Region (www.visitwesterniowa.com ) or Eastern Iowa Tourism Association (www.easterniowatourism.org) websites to fin d out more.

The Central Iowa Tourism Region is home to the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism – and that meeting location has not yet been decided (it’s out for bid) but will occur March 28th somewhere in the Central Region of Iowa.  Why not join us and see if this is something you might consider being a part of? 

Today I worked on websites, tried my hand at coding a form for a friend, find someone to actually code that form, loaded a new photo gallery up on a website, made lunch, visited with my niece — and took 1.5 hours to watch The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame special on Netflix.  I thoroughly enjoyed Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Stevie Wonder.  But it was Simon and Garfunkel that did it for me.  They sang The Box, You Can Call Me Al, Sounds of Silence and finally Bridge Over Troubled Water.

These are some words to live by.  I practice being this kind of friend and I’m very happy to say I have a couple of friends who are my Bridge.

When you’re weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes,
I will dry them all
I’m on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I’ll take your part
When darkness comes
And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
When you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind

Tonight I went to a meeting at TownsEnd Winery.

We meet once a month, roughly, and build relationships and figure out ways to get people into our county and into our businesses.

There’s Country Heritage bed and breakfast, TownsEnd Winery, Carlson’s Tree Farm, Cathy’s Country Cook’n, Cornerstone Cottage and Cornerstone Cottage Kids, Latham Hi Tech Seeds, Debworks and Val Plagge (2012 ASA/Dupont Young Leaders of the year for the state of Iowa recipients) representing Franklin County at this meeting.

I promise by the time you’re done reading this blog post, you’re gonna want to travel to Franklin County Iowa and take advantage of one of many kick butt itineraries we’ve got coming.  Now we haven’t set prices yet, but we do promise you’ll get way more than you’ll pay for.

Here’s just a few of our ideas:

City to Farm Excursion

See how the new pig farmer raises pigs.  These little piggies cross over a scale and take their weight first.  Then they get to go to the food court for a little nosh.  Tired from all that weighing and eating, they retire to the lounge area.   What? Yes – the pig barn is set up with a food court in the middle and a couple of lounge areas to the side.  It’s great for weighing, eating, and sorting.  You won’t want to miss that.

Next take a ride on a tractor.  A nice big tractor pulling either a planter, a disc, a plow or maybe even a combine.  This ain’t your grandpa’s farm partner — we’re taking big, hunkin’ heavy duty machinery that will make a sailor blush, it’s so stinking big.

While your out there, walk up the stairway to the top of the grain bins.  That’s right – these farmers have circular stairways going around the bin so you can walk clear to the top and see three counties!

Bike Trail with a Twist

You’ll stay at the world famous Country Heritage Bed and Breakfast.  True to their name, they are out in the country only one mile away from the bike trail that traverses through Franklin County.  After a big country breakfast, take one of the bikes and head to the trail.  Go west (young man) and find your way to the Carlson Tree Farm.  It’s only a few miles away and once there, you won’t want to leave.  Perhaps you’ll take part in a scavenger hunt, and find all kinds of treats, coupons and fun things along the way.  Or maybe you’ll toast marshmellows over the open fire and make s’mores kids only dream about.  Be sure to visit the lodge and relax with a cup of hot cocoa or maybe a toddy.  There’s a tractor and haywagon that leave all day long taking folks on hayrides around the property.  See where they grow their own wheat and make their own bread.    Tag your own Christmas tree – and come back to get it during the holidays!  At the end of the day you’ll sit around the fire and listen to some truly scary ghost stories!  Don’t worry about getting home – the fine folks at the B and B will just come get you.  And yes, you’ll feel like you’re right at home.

Or go east and find yourself in the lovely town of Hampton.  Swing on downtown, just a few blocks off of the bike trail.  If it’s warm, stop at the aquatic center and go for a dip (try out that two story slide while you’re there).  Pop into one of the many specialty shops and pick up a neat gift for your loved one.  Hungry?  We’ve got Mexican, American, Chinese and fast food — we can fill your belly up!  Make your way east to Hansell and find TownsEnd Winery.  They promise good wine, great company and plenty of stories.  Once again, don’t worry about getting home — the fine folks at the B and B will come get you.

You can sit around and wait for something to happen, or you can get together with a group of committed friends – and MAKE something happen.  That’s what we are doing in Franklin County.  Making things happen.

See you soon!

Partnerships are a great way to get things done.  I’m working with a group here in Franklin County that include a seed company, a small business owner, a bed and breakfast owner, a member of the soybean association, a marketing company (me), and a winery owner. We meeting every couple of weeks to discuss what we as residents and businesses in the county can do to grow our businesses and attract more consumers.

I spoke with Shannon Latham, of Latham-Hi Tech Seeds in Alexander, Iowa.  She’s a member of our partnership team. 

Shannon, I know you are involved in the Girl Scouts with your daughter.  How do you see the Girl Scouts helping to build up our community?

 One way is to tap into local organizations that are working along a similar path.  Interestingly enough, the new Girl Scout handbook (at least for Junior Scouts) says you can “make a walking tour for your community.”  The Girls Guide reads:

If people appreciate places, they will want to take care of them! Find out about the history of some buildings in your community.  Put together a pamphlet that tells what you’ve learned, along with a map that locates the buildings. Give your pamphlet to friends or to your town’s visitor’s bureau.

As the Junior Girl Scout leader for West Fork, I’d gladly have my troop help on fulfilling this requirement for Sheffield.  I’d even be glad to contact fellow Girl Scout leaders in other communities within Greater Franklin County.  That’s one way to make a difference.

Another option Girl Scouts have to earn the Girl Scout Way badge is to “improve part of your community.”  The guidelines read:

Get permission from the person in charge of a park to leave it better than you found it.  Maybe your Junior group can “adopt” the park for a season and pick up trash, sort recyclables or weed and water plants every week.

I believe one could interpret “park” loosely to include Harriman-Nielsen (which provides a great opportunity for cross-generational leadership) or the Old Stone House.  Recruit one troop to adopt a specific historical place and help maintain it for a season. Then when these groups hold events, the Scouts’ families are more apt to come and invite others to join them at the event because they feel some ownership toward it.

The really great thing about this is that it doesn’t cost money!

I truly believe our Tourism Committee or Promotions/Marketing Committee of the Chamber can serve as a catalyst for involvement countywide by a larger group of people, working toward one united goal of inviting people to their “home county.”  It also accomplishes the goal of increasing awareness of local residents to the number of opportunities available to them right here in Franklin County.

Shannon – talk to me about partnerships and collaboration.

Another idea to foster collaboration is to give members a reason to work together. I realized that small business owners need examples of how they can come together and apply for Tourism Grants.  Donnis and the Country Heritage B&B could partner with Town’s End winery to provide a “Sweetheart Deal” for folks traveling to Franklin County during the month of February.  They could put together a “one-priced package deal” that would provide them with ideas (and coupons) for local specialty shops; dinner for two at Ridgestone; wine tasting on Saturday at Town’s End and boat rental.

Another idea is to put together a “Christmas in Franklin County” package.  Somehow we need to help bring together Franklin County business owners to create a “package dealers” that could include:

• One targeting families: Carlson Christmas tree where kids can feed the animals and run through the trees.  Even if a family isn’t able to transport a whole tree, they could buy greenery and wreaths), Cocoa with Santa at Cornerstone Cottage Kids, etc.
• One targeting couples: Make your wreath at Carlson’s Christmas Tree Farm, wine tasting at Town’s End, tickets to see “A Christmas Carol” (I realize this would require reserving a few tickets specifically for this purpose because otherwise it will sell out), etc.

These are just a few top-of-mind ideas that would only get better with input from more people.

Our partnership group will be creating many new ways to work together and market each other — what kinds of things could your community do? 

A little more about Shannon Latham:

Shannon Latham is one of the principals of Latham Hi-Tech Seeds and serves as the company’s vice president. She is responsible for the company’s marketing, communications and event planning. Prior to joining the family business in 2005, Shannon operated her own communications business for two years. She also worked for six years as an account executive and public relations specialist for The Meyocks Group in West Des Moines. Other previous work experience includes serving as agricultural program coordinator for the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship where she did public relations for the Beginning Farmer Loan Program and coordinated the Iowa Agricultural Youth Institute (IAYI).  In addition, Shannon served a two-year stint as director of legislative affairs for the Agribusiness Association of Iowa where she coordinated grassroots lobbying efforts.

Shannon earned an MBA from the University of Iowa and a B.S. in Ag Journalism / Public Service & Administration in Agriculture from Iowa State University. Active in civic and professional organizations, Shannon is an active member of the Tourism Committee for the Greater Franklin County Chamber.  She has served as a Girl Scout troop leader since 2007 and as Cub Scout Den Leader since 2009.  She recently finished a three-year term as a Trustee for the Iowa 4-H Foundation, as well as on advisory boards for the Iowa Small Business Development Center and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at North Iowa Area Community College. In addition, Shannon has served as president of the Iowa Chapter of National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA).

The cool people are beginning to come.  Some of them are even following me (Jason Falls for example).

The best news?  Kelby Carr is writing Pinterest for Dummies!  If you don’t know Kelby Carr, google her.  One smart cookie.  I love her boards.

Social Media Coolness has some things like:

How to Create an Editorial Calendar for Bloggers

The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page

Oh Yes….Say It has things like:

Courage

Love All

Business Needs has things like:

free printable budget 

Top 5 Apps for Goal Setting

That’s just a few things Kelby has in Pinterest collection.  You’ll notice that each link above takes you to another site, not Pinterest.  That’s called giving credit where credit is due.

I’ve got boards too.  You can view them at http://pinterest.com/debworks/

If you don’t have an invitation to join Pinterest.  Just send me an email, I’ll invite you.  Put in the subject line “Pinterest invite please”.

Have fun pinning!