Deep Powder Skiing & Internet Marketing
By Marcy Mitchell, Owner of MTECH
Our company is located just 30 minutes from Wolf Creek Ski area, which is known for having the “most snow in Colorado”. However, the recent storm over the weekend gave a new meaning to “deep powder skiing”. I have never skiied in knee deep powder before. What an experience! As my thighs burned and my face planted in the snow multiple times, I felt like a brand new skier. Getting up out of that deep snow provided another challenge. Thanks to my children, I got back on my feet!
This “new way of skiing” requires different skills and techniques that I am not as familiar. To truly learn how to slice through the powder successfully, it also requires new equipment. This experience made me realize how many business owners feel regarding the rapid-fire changes in marketing.
Traditional marketing relies on direct mail, print advertising, trade shows, Email marketing and other “interruption-style” techniques. It is no secret that these types of marketing are becoming less effective and an increasing amount of businesses are shifting to attraction media channels, such as social media, Internet marketing and SEO. This trend is not just about changing media channels…it is also about a “change in thinking”. Marketers have to think more like publishers and socializers and less like advertisers. Therefore, effective content, tracking and time management of staff becomes critical. Businesses may spend less money on these new tools, but they also have to be aware of the time spent and how that affects their budget.
MTECH specializes in helping small business owners traverse the digital divide and take advantage of these new trends. If you would like to discuss how we can help your company, please contact us at 970-731-6325.
How to Use Linked-In
Need help figuring out how to use Linked-In for business? Then download the free ebook from Hubspot:
When it comes to using social media for business, many marketers put LinkedIn at the top of the list of business social networks. Create a profile, connect with colleagues, have conversations with customers, sure. But is that it? No.
LinkedIn has great tools for connecting you to customers, prospects, and industry thought leaders alike, and many marketers are under-utilizing the functionality available to them due to simple lack of awareness. Which brings us to the new How to Use LinkedIn for Business ebook!
Marketing Service Companies Shifting
I have recently had a number of conversations with small business owners on the changing dynamics of the Internet, SEO, PR and Marketing. One owner just expressed frustration that many “consultants” he had spoken with and paid seemed to have fallen behind. Instead of continuing to inform clients of new marketing trends, these firms just continue to collect annual funds and market the same as they did 3 years ago. MTECH Business Development has continually worked on keeping up with trends and proactively helped its clients understand and apply these trends for a better ROI.
Enjoy a recent article from HubSpot on the same issue:
The marketing services industry is broken.
There are of thousands of marketing firms trying to position their firm as unique and better, but the results they produce for clients are rarely better or unique.
Companies are lost trying to figure out whether to start with a Web designer, SEO company, PR firm or branding expert. These different flavors of firms are competing for the same shrinking budget dollars, instead of cooperating to ensure client success.
During a time when the Internet and software have made it easier and easier for marketing to impact sales and revenue growth, agencies are failing to predict and deliver a measurable ROI.
Even now as the traditional ways of marketing and advertising are dying a rapid death, marketing and ad agencies are still trying to adapt the old methods, terminology and approaches to a much more promising and more natural inbound marketing world; a world where buyers naturally find sellers and sellers simply make it easier for buyers to find them and buy from them.
It’s time for a rebirth of this industry. There will be firms that lead us in this renaissance. There will be agencies who lead us in this revolution. We believe that these will be the truths they hold self-evident:
1. Digital natives are empowered. An agency can learn the “digital world,” but chances are they’ve just adapted their old offerings to the web. If your agency hasn’t hired smart, young people and paired them with open minded senior “people” people, you’re not going to really transform your agency as fast as the market is.
2. New approaches are practiced before preached. If your agency suffers from the cobbler’s children’s shoes scenario (where your website hasn’t been updated in 3 years, you don’t have an active blog and your Twitter account has 3 updates), drop everything.
3. Continuous learning and experimentation is required.
Colorado Agri-Tourism Growing in San Luis Valley
This week I was honored to speak at the San Luis Valley Tourism Conference in Alamosa, Colorado. The theme of the conference was agri-tourism. Not only was I able to connect with many small business owners and non-profits in the San Luis Valley, but I also learned how important agritourism is to the Colorado tourism industry.
According to a 2006 economic report by the Colorado State University Extension Department, the tourism industry is a major economic driver for rural communities across the United States. In Colorado, 23 counties outside of Denver had more than 1000 jobs in tourism in 2005 and in 7 non-metro counties, 40% of all jobs were in travel and tourism.
Those statistics are not that surprising living in Pagosa Springs. What did surprise me, however, was that nearly 1/5 of travelers surveyed participated in agritourism activities more than 3 times per year. 56% of these frequent agritourism visitors were Colorado residents.
According to the report, an estimated 13.2 million visitors engaged in some agritourism in 2006, spending approximately 1.26 Billion. Of these:
- Agritourism was the primary trip focus for 4.1 million visitors who reported spending $807 million including 1.9 in-state visitors and 2.2 million out-of-state visitors.
- Unplanned agritourism added 6.7 million visitors who spent $189 million during their trips including 5.4 million in-state visitors and 1.3 million out-of-state visitors.
The greatest participation in agritourism activities occurred in Northern Colorado, the Southwest and the South Central areas of the state.
For more information on this blossoming Colorado industry, please contact us at 970-731-6325.
Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs
The following article is from Brian Tracy
The worst beliefs you can have are “self-limiting beliefs.” These exist whenever you believe yourself to be limited in some way. For example, you may think yourself to be less talented or capable than others. You may think that others are superior to you in some way. You may have fallen into the common trap of selling yourself short and settling for far less than you are truly capable of.
These self-limiting beliefs act like brakes on your potential. They hold you back. They generate the two greatest enemies of personal success—doubt and fear. They paralyze you and cause you to hesitate to take the intelligent risks that are necessary for you to fulfill your true potential.
For you to progress, to move onward and upward in your life and your business, you must continually challenge your self-limiting beliefs. You must reject any thought or suggestion that you are limited in any way. You must accept as a basic principle that you are a “no-limit” person, and that what others have done, you can do as well.
When I was a young man, coming from a difficult upbringing, I fell into the mental trap of concluding that because other people were doing better than I was, they must be better or smarter than I was. I accidentally concluded that they were worth more than I was. I must therefore be worth less. This false belief held me back for years.
The fact is that no one is better than you are and no one is smarter than you are. If they are doing better, it is largely because they have developed their natural talents and abilities more than you have. They have learned the laws of cause and effect that apply to their lives and work before you have. And anything anyone else has done, within reason, you can probably do as well. You just need to learn how.
Power of Worry
The following article is by Lee J. Colan and The L Group, Inc.
“Lauren,” Hank scolded, “you really have got to stop worrying so much. You’ve made it a full-time job! You worried about James failing high school. You worried that the girls would marry deadbeat husbands who wouldn’t provide for them. You worried about our flights getting canceled before our vacation. Last month, when you had that cold, you even worried about getting the whooping cough, of all things. You worried about all these things, and none of them happened!”
“See!” Lauren exclaimed. “It worked!”
How many of us are like Lauren? Sure, she was making a joke, she knew worrying didn’t do any good, but in some situations it seemed to be all she could do. She had long ago fallen into the habit of worrying, and she didn’t know how to fall out of it.
Research studies have revealed that we typically worry five times as much about things that will never happen as about things that actually do occur. That’s a lot of wasted worry! If you’re this distracted, you cannot effectively live up to your potential. Worry will drain your energy and stifle your commitment. Every minute you spend worrying is a minute that you’re not committing. Worry is the opposite of faith, so stop worrying, and deepen your faith.
One good way to combat worry is to commit to memory Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer”: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Once you’ve accepted the things you cannot change, how do you change the things you can? Simply take a rational approach. Let’s say you have a new job and are worried about making a mistake. The worrying mind quickly jumps to a worst-case—and highly unlikely—scenario: If you make a mistake, you’ll get fired. Rationally, you know this is improbable, but how do you prove it to yourself? It’s simple. First, you break down the chain of events that would lead to your firing. Then you assign a probability to each event; a rough estimate will do.
So what are the real odds of your being fired? Even though each individual probability is just a rough estimate, the total probability, which is the product of all these individual probabilities, is a good ballpark estimate:
Probability of being fired because of a mistake = 0.25 x 0.1 x 0.7 x 0.1 x 0.05 = .0000875, or .00875% (less than one chance in ten thousand).
Now, doesn’t that put things in perspective? This kind of rational approach can help you get a handle on your worries. If the chances of your being fired because of a mistake are less than one in ten thousand, there’s really no reason to worry about it.
I remember the words of the wise baboon, Rafiki (is that an oxymoron?) for the Lion King fans, “Hakuna Matata!” Meaning “There are no worries!” Well, that works great if you are living in the jungle …in a movie.
However, for today’s real world, I say, “No worries, take action!” Life’s rewards go to those whose actions rise above their excuses… and their worries.
So take positive action today and wash away your worries!
Winning with you,
Potential Colorado Tax Incentives Ending
Since so many of my clients are in Colorado, I thought it prudent that they become aware of potential new legislation that is currently being debated that may impact their bottom line. The following article was published on Coloradobizmag.com…
Ending tax incentives will hurt business
CACI survey reveals exactly how
By Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry
Elimination or suspension of tax exemptions, exclusions and credits proposed by Gov. Bill Ritter will harm businesses across the state and hamper job growth and economic recovery, according to a survey of companies by the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry (CACI).
In December, CACI conducted a survey of businesses on the potential elimination or suspension of 13 tax provisions targeted by Ritter to raise $131.8 million to help balance the state’s budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. On Friday, bills targeting these tax provisions were introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives. The House Appropriations Committee will hear the bills at 8 a.m. today in House Committee Room 109 as the legislative leadership fast-tracks the bills to send them to Governor Ritter for his signature.
Ritter said last week he had moved up the effective date of seven of the bills to March 1 to capture $18 million in new tax revenue before the current fiscal year (2009-1010) ends on June 30. View Full Article.
Research Shows Websites Influence 97% of Clients’ Purchasing Decisions
This following article appeared on the HubSpot Blog on 1/20/2010. View original article here,
Your website may very well be the most powerful tool in your marketing kit. Not only is it the place prospects and clients go to learn more about you and your services, but it has a huge impact on their ultimate purchase decision. In fact, only 3% of the 200 buyers surveyed – from companies of all sizes – say a provider’s website has no influence whatsoever over their purchase decision.
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 consulting; architecture, engineering, and construction services; human resources consulting; IT consulting and services; legal services; management consulting; marketing, advertising, and public relations; and training services.
The influence of professional services websites on purchasing decisions has increased significantly over the past four years. According to the survey, 74% of buyers report the service provider’s website holds at least “some influence” over their ultimate decision to buy services from the provider. This is 23 percentage points higher than in 2005 and represents a significant increase in the importance of websites.
It’s clear that professional services firms must take advantage of this power. With well-designed websites they can:
- Establish that they are professional: through professional design, writing, and arrangement of content.
- Establish that they are worthy of consideration: through an overview of their services, their client list, biographies of their professionals, and case studies that show how they helped clients and delivered what they promised.
- Establish themselves as an authority: through blog posts, publications, videos, and other resources to help build credibility, reliability, and trust-all essential elements necessary to win clients
How important is your website to growing your business?
You Can’t Teach What You Don’t Know
One of the guiding principles in my life has been to only take advice from those who have solved problems and personally experienced success. So many times we take financial and business advice from those who have not actually lived what they are professing. They “heard” through other sources that you should do this or that. However, they have never actually done or followed the advise themselves. There is a big difference between recognizing something and truly understanding it. One of my business mentors always says “If you listen to them, you will live like them”.
Case in point…many people profess to know about Search Engine Optimization based on articles they read 2-3 years ago. However, if they haven’t been optimizing web sites themselves over the past year, they would not be aware of the profound changes in the industry due to social media outlets.
So, the next time a “friend” or colleague gives you marketing or financial advice, evaluate their lifestyle and business success. Do they truly know and live what they are telling you or is it just a theory based on their own opinion?
MTECH has followed new marketing trends, but holds back on giving a lot of advice until we successfully implement the new marketing strategies and see in real world examples how they fit into the overall picture. For example, you may recognize you need a blog, but if you do not understand how fresh content and engaging with other social media channels affects your blog success, then you will not get the same results that others are experiencing.
Here is a great article from Colorado Biz magazine that speaks to the same issue:
http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/how-to-think-like-a-billionaire/
