The world’s most successful businesses all have two very common traits. The first would be innovation. Businesses that continue to innovate their products or services always have an edge in the market regardless of economic conditions. They are flexible to the changing economy and will adapt to continue their traffic flow. Those that are lacking behind are the ones that do not understand innovation. Innovating is not taking a product and adding an additional feature on top of it to make it better. Many businesses have changed their motives to offer more free consultations upfront in order to maintain great relationships with new prospects. This works out incredibly well as prospects feel obligated to pay you for your generosity. Its the basic law of reciprocation that business owners had forgotten in economic stress.

The second contributor to a business success is marketing. Marketing is broken up into what is commonly known as hope based marketing and results oriented marketing. Hope based marketing is when you are asked to pay to brand your business in hopes to get a return. You took an ad on TV or the Newspapers in hopes to get a return. You were told by other online marketing companies that you need to pay a sum of money for online marketing needs but are unable to receive a clear answer on expected results is another example of hope marketing. Many fortune 500 comapnies had been using hope based marketing, just because they could afford to do so. For smaller businesses, this is not much of an option. Results oriented marketing is carefully planned marketing that delivers targeted results. A financial advisor who places an ad on a magazine that preaches finance is results oriented marketing. Although the amount of return is not guaranteed, you know you have reached the right people. Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, Home Depot, McDonalds, and Dell dominate their markets using result oriented low cost high volume strategies. With the help of great technological advances such as social and mobile getting branded effectively does not require the millions like it did in the past. With the right viral marketing campaign, it could be possible to do it on less than $1,000 in many situations.

So what type of marketing is your business currently doing?

The primary issue with businesses is that they don’t pursue relationship building. There was a line in the 90′s stating “Build it and they will come”. That might hold true when the economy was at its peak but not during a recession. Just because its a recession does not mean there are no buyers. There are plenty of them out there, they have just gotten smarter about where their money is being spent. As a business you need to form a bond with consumers. Take a dental business in NYC for instance. There are dental businesses that have an enormous amount of patients and continue to grow while others remain stale.

A big contributor to making or breaking a business has been technology, or more specifically the social aspects of technology. Word of mouth had always been known to be the stronger form of branding a business can have and that is exactly what social technology is. Dental businesses such as Frank Orlando – Manhattan Dental are connecting with as many consumers as possible giving them the utmost pleasant visiting experience in town. Although not every individual can put forth money at this time they have friends and family who they will speak that will most likely be recommended. The best part is, when the economy turns around who would you think would be top of the list in the minds of the consumers? This business is essentially setting themselves up for success.

One of Stryker’s clients Moormends NYC had been dealing with luggage and consumer goods since 1938. They are a prime example of a strong surviving business that offers the best customer support around. If you walk into the store there is a very welcoming sense as your are greeted with great customer service. They offer you the best and most honest input available and work alongside your budget. There are no hidden charges or surprises. Most individuals that shop with them often end up going back or referring someone else to their location. There are many times consumers would go in to simply ask for advice about certain products and receive perfect honest answers without attempting to sell them. A place like like Moormends would probably never, or rarely get any negative reviews because of the strong relationships they’ve built. In fact they would get more customers over time as people are in the mood to purchase more goods when the economy turns around.

So the next time you are pondering how much you can make from your next client, think about what can happen to your business if you let your customer walk out the door with a sour taste in their mouth.

How can this be done?
Lets say a customer of yours is located within the USA

Simply have them text the follow

Follow  “@username” to 40404
example text (follow strykerdigital to 40404)

And you are currently opted in to the user of twitter. All tweets will be automatically sent to the phone number opted in.

To remove a phone number simply text
UnFollow  “@username” to 40404
example text (unfollow strykerdigital to 40404)

That’s it! You’ve just saved yourself a ridiculous amount of money sending SMS to customers

Below are shortcodes for countries Twitter currently supports
Afghanistan: 40404 (Roshan)
Argentina: 89338 (Movistar, Personal, Nextel customers. Nextel only supports sending updates to Twitter)
Aruba: 176 (Digicel)
Antigua: 176 (Digicel customers)
Anguilla: 176 (Digicel customers)
Australia: 0198089488 (Telstra customers)
Bahrain 88000 (VIVA), 98555 (Zain customers)
Bangladesh: 9594(Citycell customers)
Belarus: 40404 (life:) customers)
Bermuda: 176 (Digicel customers)
Brasil: 40404 (TIM andNextel customers)
Bhutan 40404 (B-mobile)
Bolivia: 40404 (Viva and Tigo customers)
Bonaire: 176 (Digicel customers)
Canada: 21212
Colombia: 40404 (Tigo customers)
Cambodia: 40404 (Cellcard, Smart Mobile)
Cameroon: 8711(MTN)
Curacao: 176 (Digicel)
Democratic Republic Congo: 40404 (Tigo customers)
Denmark: 40404 (Telmore)
Egypt: 4040 (Vodafone customers), 2222 (Mobinil customers)
El Salvador: 40404 (Digicel and Tigo customers)
Fiji: 40404 (Digicel and Vodafone customers)
Georgia: 40404 (Beeline and Geocell customers)
Grenada: 176 (Digicel customers)
Guatemala: 40404 (Tigo and Movistar customers)
Guyana: 1443 (Digicel customers)
Haiti: 40404 (Digicel customers)
Honduras: 40404 (Digicel customers)
India: 53000 (Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Videocon, and TATA DOCOMO customers)
Indonesia: 89887 (AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, XL Axiata, Bakari Telecom, TelkomFlexi, and Indosat)
Iraq: 71117 (Zain); 1432 (Asiacell) and +9988 (KOREK)
Ireland: 51210 (Vodafone, Meteor Mobile customers)
Isle of Man: 89887 (Manx customers)
Italy: 4880804 (Wind customers), +3424486444 (Vodafone customers)
Jamaica: 176 (Digicel customers)
Jordan: 90903 (Zain customers); 98788 (Umniah customers)
Kazakhstan: 4040 (Beeline, Kcell/Activ customers); 40404 (Airtel customers)
Kenya: 89888 (Safaricom customers); 40404 (Airtel customers)
Kuwait: 89887 (Zain customers)
Korea: #1234 (LG U+ customers)
Kyrgyzstan: 4040 (Megacom, Beeline Customers)
Macedonia: 40404 (VIP customers)
Madagascar: 40404 (VIP)
Malaysia: 28933 (Maxis, Tune Talk, DiGi)
Maldives: 4040 (Wataniya customers)
Mexico: 6464 (Telcel customers, only supports sending updates to Twitter)
Nauru: 40404 (Digicel customers)
New Zealand: 8987 (Vodafone and Telecom NZ customers)
Nicaragua: 89887 (Movistar)
Nigeria: 40404 (Zain and MTN customers ); 20644 (Glo Mobile customers)
Pakistan: 40404 (Mobilink, Zong, Ufone, and Telenor customers)
Palestinian Territories: 40404 (Wataniya customers); 37373 (Jawwal customers)
Panama: 3010 (Digicel customers)
Papua New Guinea: 40404 (Digicel customers)
Paraguay: 40404 (Personal)
Romania: 89338 (Vodafone and Cosmote customers)
Russia: 8080 (Beeline customers)
Rwanda: 3434 (MTN customers)
Saudi Arabia: 840404 (STC customers)
Saudi Arabia: 710001 (Zain customers)
Saudi Arabia: 606040 (Mobily customers)
Serbia: 40404 (Vip mobile, mt:s, and Telenor customers)
Seychelles: 9695 (Airtel customers)
Sri Lanka: 40404 (Dialog, Telecom Mobitel, and Etisalat Lanka customers)
St. Lucia: 176 (Digicel customers)
St. Vincent: 176 (Digicel customers)
St. Kitts: 176 (Digicel customers)
Sudan: 40404 (Zain customers)
Sweden: 71017(3 customers)
Tonga: 40404 (Digicel customers)
Trinidad and Tobago: 40404 (Digicel customers)
Turkey: 2444 (Vodafone and Telsim customers)
Uganda: 179 (MTN customers)
UK: 86444 (Vodafone, Orange, 3 and O2 customers)
Ukraine: 40404 (life:) customers)
United Arab Emirates: 335640404 (Zain)
Uruguay: 40404 (Antel)
US: 40404
Uzbekistan: 89338 (Beeline, Ucell customers)
Venezuela: 89338 (Movistar)
Yemen: 7070 (MTV)

Simply go to the following link and follow the steps
https://plus.google.com/pages/create

Some of you might wonder what is the purpose of setting up a Google+ brand page when Facebook has 800 Million Users. Its probably already difficult enough to manage what you currently have, however you would be missing out dearly by not setting up a brand page. Google plans on integrating these brand pages into their already widely used search engine. This means your brand page adds extra value to your content online and gives you an extra vertical for clients to reach you by.

Unlike Facebook Fan Pages, the Google+ experience allows you to create a much more dynamic approach to the way you communicate with customers. You are able to do a live “hangout” – video conference style chat with up multiple individuals in the same room. This is a perfect solution for businesses to offer live customer service, further increasing your brand awareness with consumers. Its redefining the way we communicate. Messages can also be segregated using the circles features. Traditional marketing is using the same ad to target everyone, however the new social marketing style uses dynamic messaging to maximize the effectiveness. Google+’s brand pages allow you to accomplish all of this by grouping customers/followers of your brand in circles so you may send each group a different message. By being able to message everyone with different messages, you add in the extra personal layer giving your business a true edge in getting the customer to make that purchase.

This is not the true method to you running your business. You should put more emphasis on your you can offer more customer service than your competition. It may not always be about the cheapest prices, bulking up the packages with little things, or even having a particular format on your website. An E-commerce store should be able to perform by offering rewards to a customer for going with your business. It should be timely on the shipping, offer incentives for customers to purchase items, be able to connect with the social media, and be easy to navigate as a customer.

When a customer walks into a brick and mortar location, he/she can see and feel the product before making a buying decision. Your e-commerce website should contain crisp images, a demo video of the product if possible, and certainly options for selecting sizes when checking out. Allow the customers to feel as if they were holding the product(s) in their hands. Be sure to adapt to all forms of users by having multiple languages whereas you see fit for your business and accept multiple forms of payments. Combining these basic methods most business owners should not have a problem attracting more sales.

More advanced methods include building a proper sitemap for the e-commerce website and having every listing optimized for product and organic search engines to further increase your presence.

The World Wide Web is becoming too compressed with a lot of websites, articles, and other contents that’s it’s becoming difficult already for people to pick the right one.  Imagine finding out the best iced out jewelry, when you type “iced out jewelry” in Google; expect to get millions of results.  Well, you don’t want to be opening up each website just to find out the best cheesecake recipe aren’t you?

Originally, people tend to open up the site that comes first on Google ranking.  However, it is not all the time that you get from that site what you’re really looking for. Google, the number one search engine provider understands your needs so it came up with a very excellent idea to help you with your searches- the Google+1.

What is Google+1?

For sure you know about facebook “likes” right?  Google will do the same thing.  But this time, the coverage is wider.  Google+1 will give you the opportunity to recommend a site, a news article, a blog, or any website content you find very useful to your friends and people you know.  So if you find an articles and reviews on iced out jewelries very helpful, just click on the +1 button and let people all over the world know about your recommendation.

Through Google+1, you are actually helping your friends and the whole world will be helping you as well to find the best information you’ve been looking for.

Google+1 is just on the experimental stage.  Once the program has been completed and properly programmed, your surfing experience will never become this easier and convenient!

But what exactly are QR codes? Quick Response Code (QR) is a matrix code utilized and read by bar code readers and other devices specifically mobile phones.  Information embedded in the code may be URLs, texts, images, etc.  The interesting thing about QR codes is that they can get decoded at a very high speed. These codes were first generated in Japan by Denso-Wave (a subsidiary of Toyota) in 1994.  Today, QR codes are being used in phones and computers all over the globe.

QR codes in Marketing. One of the most evident uses of QR codes is seen in the business world.  Billboards, adverts, ticketing, email and mobile marketing, websites, graphics, business cards and print-ads, trade shows, contests, couponing, and a lot more make use of QR codes.    QR codes give entrepreneurs a medium in calculating for the marketing costs; making it very beneficial for them in budgeting marketing allowance.

QR codes in Public Service. Some states make use of QR codes in speedy disposition of their services.  In Canada for example, the state government makes use these codes in filing and making passports.  Once the form is filled up by a person, the QR code is updated.  The scanning and authenticating of passports is made easier with such codes.

QR codes in Literature and Education. Books can be converted to audio versions through QR codes.  There are publishers that make use of these codes to help readers easily locate soft copy of books and other forms of publication online through Google Maps.  One can download e-books, poems, articles, and newsprints into their cell phones using QR codes.  Schools and libraries are making use of QR codes to inform students about the availability of books and other media.

Basically, life is made easier with the use of technology.  And QR code is a proof of it.

The first is to be as consistent as possible. This means you must be consistent when using your logo, your sub messages, your taglines, your visual objects, and most importantly the services your business has to offer. Companies such as Coca-Cola, UPS, and JetBlue built their solid foundation on the basis of consistency. Be sure everything you use to market your business offers the same feeling. The slightest change will be picked up on pretty quickly causing your brand to be lost in the array of message. Be clear and concise.

The second is to make sure your company message has a focus. Be sure to pinpoint who? what? and why?
What does your business have to offer?
Who does your offer serve?
Why is your offer relevant to the market?

The third step is to take your brand to the next level by having a strong offer. Your offer would be the motivation which recalls to the 3 Ws which gives your audience a reason to buy. Make the offer as sharp as possible with multiple call to actions. A mixture of elements in your message with no escape path is a surefire way to give your brand a negative recognition.

1. Do not fake anything. If you are unable to achieve real social interaction to your business then something is wrong. You are not getting the message out and/or people simply do not care to take a second look at your business itself. Providing fake comments, blog posts, community discussions to up your reputation will lead to suspicion. There are technical gurus that analyze the posts online and determine the majority to be falsified simply based on I.P. Addresses, time, comment trends, and etc. A reputation is easy to destroy but extremely hard to build so I wouldn’t avoid jeopardizing it.

2. Never rely on inexperience individuals for social media. Your company needs a voice, and that voice must be presented in a professional manner. A Chrysler employee was recently fired for using the F-bomb on twitter insulting drivers in Detroit, MI. Just imagine the negative impact this had on all Detroit consumers who own a Chrysler. Professionalism is a must and the social voice of the individual greatly affects how your business is viewed in general. Hire professionals who believe in your company or an organization that aims to help your company grow.

3. Don’t rush your messages to consumers. Take the time to craft the perfect message, take the time to design the perfect ads, and certainly review all marketing campaigns before launching it to the public. Imagine sending out  an ad with a mispell or an incorrect/choppy visuals?

4. Never try to force yourself to do everything. If you are unable to do it all in your business, especially a small business you ought to look for help. We are only human and there are only so many hours in a day. Don’t spend all the time doing senseless activities when you can spend the time to focus on your business.

5. Not listening or responding to your potential customers. They make suggestions or posts comments you have to act immediately. You have to show them your business is the business that can help them by providing a positive experience. Even if you do not get any buy ins immediately, you are creating a positive impact on them for the future. A long term relationship will generate more money for your business than a quick sale.