Killer New Business Ideas

In our increasingly competitive marketplace, it seems to me that adding the 'X-Factor' or unique 'star power' to our businesses is pretty important if they are to grow.

But how?

From my own advertising agency background, I believe that it can be done in (at least) three ways:

1. 'Branson Your Business' - Richard Branson has a business persona that is extremely positive, fun, gregarious, generous and one that suggests he sees the world as a place of abundance where anything is possible (even space passenger flights!) rather than as a place of scarcity where there is hardly anything good and just many aggravations. He is completely extroverted and enthusiastic in approaching, talking to and connecting with everyone he meets. These attributes are a great model to follow.

2. Stardom by association - if your business has one or more well known clients, promote that fact. Some catering company vans that I often see around my neighbourhood here have the slogan under their company name, "Supplier to Virgin Atlantic". The fact is that if your business is associated with 'big name players', it implies that you or your business is a heavyweight, has credibility and should be taken seriously. The point is not to merely have one or more 'name' clients but to actually feature that association in your business marketing materials e.g. through their logos on your brochures or website. When I used to hire personnel in advertising, I was always far more influenced by who a candidate had worked for rather than one who told me that they were "hard working" or other tired descriptions (which were probably true).

3. Creating a buzz around your business - a business that is up to date, hungry to try new ideas and a sense that there is 'always something happening' is quite contagious. Staff should be switched ON, know their stuff backwards and not be time-wasting gossipers. I believe that this sense of 'something happenin' here' is often based on the tempo of the buying experience, the faster and more efficient it feels (depending on the business), the greater the buzz or 'vibe' in a business - this is particularly true in many retail businesses. Places where staff are busy, active and seem like they don't have enough time to do all that needs doing (within reason) are usually much more enticing than those with a snoozing guy behind the counter reading 'The Sun.' In short, a business should have the identity of an expert 'do-er' not a lazy 'snoozer'.

I do of course appreciate that these ideas are much easier to apply in some businesses than others.

More ideas can be found in my books over at www.Latest-Business-Ideas.com

Rules for Choosing a Business Name

5 Important Guidelines for Choosing a Business Name

Based on my experience as a copywriter and creative director in the advertising industry, here are some useful principles when brainstorming your new business' name:

1. Convey the specific benefit to your prospect in the name.

Rather than taking the time to build up a new business based on a branded name (you need pretty deep marketing pockets for this type of 'money pit marketing') e.g. Sue Smith Accounting or John's Auto Centre, instead build the specific benefit to your target market into the name itself.

In the case of the two above examples, Instant Cash Tax Refunds and 30-Minute Tune-ups would have a lot more immediate impact and generate business from Day 1. To be blunt, if a small business is to survive, it needs to be generating business quickly and very cheaply.

This is harder in some business types than others but all marketing should focus on solving a specific problem with a specific, measurable solution. Branding TV campaigns and full-page colour spreads are for Coca-Cola and McDonald's (and don't actually drive any business anyway).

2. Make your business name, your web address too.

We live in the internet age now and most service-based businesses will be attracting either a lot or most of their new customers and clients through search engine traffic and/or picking up (free) ads from Craigslist and Gumtree and (not free) Yellow pages (online).

Why not start building your web presence into the business from the beginning by actually having it there, working for you immediately e.g. InstantCashTaxRefunds.com (if you are locally-oriented, putting the area in too could be beneficial though try not to make it too long).

You should also make sure that your business website is properly set up with a location map, current deals/offers, testimonials, contact details and professional presentation (learn to use a digital camera if you don't already know - how many ebay products have terrible photos?).

3. Test, test, test. But with the right audience.

Testing is vital and should be built into all aspects of your new business marketing. You should be testing Google Adwords variations, different classifieds, colours and - if relevant - the visual appearance of your retail environment.

But even before that, join relevant forums or local groups in your niche and ask them directly about your business name and slogan - not just which one/s they like but why they like it or don't like certain options (ask them to pick from 5 maximum at a time) and engage in an ongoing dialogue about offering specific solutions to their needs. This marketing information is priceless.

Note carefully the actual words they use and feature these in your marketing - not marketing textbook jargon. Testing names on your family is worthless if they are not in your target market and they are probably too close to you anyway to offer unbiased assessments.

Testing is free.

Advertising is not.

Advertising a great small business with a lousy name and lousy ad copy is painful, expensive and, most importantly, unnecessary.

Removing your own assumptions about your prospects and testing can be tremendously enlightening and, strangely enough, people want to freely offer their thoughts on this subject.

4. Emotional not logical.

Virtually all advertising appeals to emotions and not rationality or logic.

Why?

Because emotion is far more powerful in influencing human behaviour than logic. Besides, what we buy based on emotion, we rationalise later. If possible, try to build an emotional 'hook' into your business name, or if not, your slogan.

Coming back to InstantCashTaxRefunds.com, clearly the appeal here is greed. 30-Minute Tune-ups appeals to impatience.

A flat, sterile, logic-appealing name and advertising will simply not cut through the ad clutter - at least not in the short term.

5. Should you make it poetic?

This is an area of huge debate among experienced marketers.

A catchy name is obviously easy to remember.

FedEx rhymes. Krusty Kremes has alliteration. Ikea has exotic flair.

But these are massive brands with massive budgets to drive home the customer benefits of what they offer. Personally I feel that a new small business name shouldn't be too cute or clever - nightclubs, bars and coffee joints are exceptions - and focus on a gut-level, emotion-tugging, benefit-related name that pulls customers right from the start.

Here's the acid test for your name idea:

When a customer hears the (proposed) name of your business, do they immediately go, "I want/need that service now"? Imagine you are in a book store and see a book's title and immediately think, "Wow, I want that book" - before you've even opened it. That's the kind of reaction you're after in testing so don't rush it and keep testing until you're getting that kind of reaction.

Bonus Extra Principle:

When you do build in the specific benefit into your new business name and/or slogan after testing, make sure you can actually deliver on it. Remember that you want to be creating word-of-mouth endorsement marketing 'disciples' and not antagonists bad-mouthing your operation.

YouTube has an option for displaying High Quality clips on its site (and yours if you have embedded them on your company's webpage/s).

In short, if you create TWO versions of your promotional video, a normal quality one and a bigger (file-size-wise) HQ version, YouTube will automatically direct the viewer to the HQ version if it has the characters, "&fmt=18" at the end of the URL of any video.

Try it at YouTube and you will often see two different versions of the 'same' clip.

With the widespread use of broadband now, it makes sense to promote your business with the best quality video possible via this YouTube feature.

By adding "&fmt=18" at the end of the URL of any video you embed from OTHER sites via YouTube, you will also make sure that your customers see the best quality version of those too.

The other night I was watching a DVD of Mel Gibson's 2000 film, "What Women Want", an entertaining enough 'rom-com', and it really resonated with a couple of things that information marketing guru Eben Pagan talked about recently.

Now for those unfamiliar with the film's plot, basically a sexist guy (Mel) working in advertising in Chicago kind of semi-electrocutes himself and suddenly has the power to hear what women are thinking. As a result, he can then use his marketing messages to directly 'tap into' the thoughts of women.

Now I worked for a long time as a creative director in advertising in the past on accounts like IBM, Pepsi, Cadbury's and Kellogg's, so I'll skip over the irrelevant comparisons with real-life advertising agencies.

But what WAS fascinating in the movie and VERY valuable to us marketers were certain brilliantly clarifying lessons:

Firstly, the film reminds us that customers' buying behaviour is largely driven by irrational fears, frustrations, hopes and volatile emotions.

Is your business marketing working on that emotional impact level?

Virtually all advertising appeals to emotion instead of logic because emotions are far more powerful in influencing behaviour.

However, the trick that the film showed brilliantly in the climactic Nike pitch scene was just how SPECIFIC we have to be in addressing the fears, frustrations and emotional impulses of our target markets.

In my view, the film is must-see marketing training for that reason alone. Watch that scene and the ad itself which Gibson's character narrates to see how specifically he addresses EXACTLY 'what women want'.

But, you ask, how can we find out what these (often hidden) emotions and irrational fears are?

In my humble opinion, we have to be in constant dialogue with individuals precisely in our target market and constantly inviting new research 'guinea pigs' in order to find more out about "What My Buyers Want" and no, it won't be a new car.

It will be usually be a SPECIFIC, deeply EMOTIONAL need, want or desire.

As Eben Pagan rightly says, most non-essential purchases are driven by emotion THEN rationalized by the logical part of the brain later.

The science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein put it another way: "Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalIZING animal."

People usually want to talk but you are looking for an especially frank, honest and blunt person who will tell you what's REALLY going on with your target market. Though the marketing 'inventor' is unknown, Eben Pagan recommends building a whole composite 'avatar' with a whole life story of your typical customer or client mapped out.

Are you doing that with your marketing at the moment?

One conversation with a candid prospect could be worth a great deal of money to your business not only in what SPECIFIC marketing messages you are putting out, but also in NOT saying things that alienate or turn off your prospects.

It may sound a bit crazy - actually marketing is full of way crazier stuff than this - but IMAGINE what thoughts you would hear if you could overhear your prospects' thoughts.

At their very psychological core, what common drives and specific thoughts exist among them?

Is it the desperate need for respect from their peers or superiority over them? A sense of power over their lives? The desire to be cool, accepted and popular? Even these are much too general and need a great deal more development on the SPECIFICS.

"What Women Want". Check it out for a quick marketing refresher course.

Have a great day.

Terry Kyle
Author/Editor
'400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World' [Amazon]

'These are not just small business ideas, they are SMART business ideas...you'll learn a great deal from these words of wisdom.'
David Meerman Scott
Bestselling author of 'The New Rules of Marketing and PR'

Visit me@
www.Latest-Business-Ideas.com
ezinearticles.com/?expert=Terry_Kyle
newbusinessideas.wordpress.com

7 Powerful New Ways To Boost Your Google Presence
by Terry Kyle
Author/Editor
"400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World"

Traffic. It's seems like all we talk about now on the Web. Hey, so why fight it?

Apart from all the usual techniques that you've probably heard a hundred times before, here are my latest 'secret' discoveries for expanding your business footprint on Google:

[1] Use (free) Amazon discussion forums at the bottom of bestseller pages in your niche area. Discuss a book or current issue in your niche BUT on the bestselling individual books pages only. You can find this near the bottom of the page under the area called "Customer Discussions". Google seems to love posts in these discussions. Make sure that your Web address and your favourite (Google) keyword search terms are in your post. You need a normal Amazon buyer's account to participate of course.

[2] Make (free) comments in your niche areas on the MOST VIEWED articles on ezinearticles dot com. Again, most viewed articles in your niche only, add constructive keywords-related comments and you are given a link on your name (no backlink though) but this is a very Google friendly site (Alexa ranking of 319!)

[3] Most press release Web services charge lawyer-like money but www dot prlog dot org and www dot freepressreleases dot co dot uk are free and picked up by Google quickly. Look for my own press releases to see what I mean.

[4] Having a personal blog might be good (I'm still deciding) but aggregating blogs (which all feature your landing page/s URLs and keywords) by automating their transmission across the web on hundreds of sites is much better. Go to www dot feedage dot com and www dot feedraider dot com (free registration to use).

[5] See my other post entitled "Video Marketing Through YouTube" or watch the video at the top of www dot trafficgeyser dot com.

[6] Set up press release and one-article news pages on your own site (must be numbered correctly to be indexed) and submit them to Google News (details at www dot google dot com/support/news_pub/bin/). Like Google Books, Google favors its own areas highly.

[7] If you have a book out, make sure it is submitted to Google Books - a service where they allow readers to look through a percentage of submitted books. If you only have an e-book, you will need an ISBN number but it is worth it. Caveat: Google Books is very slow to process submissions but the SE ranking for these pages is very high (go to books dot google dot com/partner/).

Do you have any Google gems to share?

Have a great day and I hope these help your business.

Terry Kyle
Author/Editor
"400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World"
www.Latest-Business-Ideas.com

In doing research for my huge new business ideas books (full details over at www.Latest-Business-Ideas.com), I came across these three new home business ideas or at least small business ideas that can be run from home that I thought you would be interested in:

Incidentally, I have no affiliation whatsoever with these businesses but think they are great ideas to model - even in cities and countries far from the original small business:

1. Weight Loss 'Buddy':
TV shows like "The Biggest Loser" and bestselling books like Dr Phil's "The Ultimate Weight Solution" illustrate how chronically overweight people
struggle to overcome their destructive habits. A weight loss buddy - like a 'dive buddy' - mentors, guides, inspires and supports obese individuals one-on-one in their drive to reform their health. This is obviously a massive market sector given the Western world's obesity 'plague' and plenty of free marketing 'oomph' could come from free classifieds sites like Craigslist, Gumtree and relevant forums. With a big number of clients mentored for 1-5 hours per week, this could be a dynamite small business. Obviously the 'buddy' should be fit themselves, possess decent people skills and have a good knowledge of health and diet. Positive word of mouth could drive a business like this for years. More info at www.weightlossbuddy.com

2. Shared Property Buying:
Even despite the credit crunch (or when it fades out), the ridiculous prices of real estate in most major cities still exclude most first-time buyers (Hello London!). One company, Shared Spaces, has set up a web-based facility for strangers to co-invest in property together, thus sharing the mortgage burden while allowing all parties to get on to the 'property ladder'. It's apparently all legal, contracted and doing well - it seems especially suited to young urban buyers who could not otherwise buy property. More info is over at sharedspaces.co.uk

3. A Jobs Website For Ex-Military Personnel
MilitaryExits.com specializes in job placements and employment listings for ex-military personnel. It is precisely this kind of targeted micro-niche that a successful small business can profitably develop. Initially, it could be web/home-based and would - if handled and marketed properly - generate a lot of goodwill with media, the armed forces, patriotic employers and governments (government contracts perhaps?).

I am always eager to hear about and share new business ideas so if you know of any other cool new small business ideas, let's share.

Video Marketing Through YouTube
by Terry Kyle
Advertising Copywriter & Creative Director

Recently I came across an interesting net statistic - over 50% of all web traffic is now video. And it's share of the internet 'pie' keeps growing.

Apparently, YouTube now accounts for 12%+ of ALL web traffic too.

In short, the simple reality is that we must all now integrate video-on-the-web as a necessary component of our overall marketing strategy.

From my own marketing and research, including stuff for my book, these are some (hopefully) useful learnings and observations that can help speed up your no-cost/low-cost transition to video marketing:

[1] Achieving pretty good quality for video is easy with any standard camcorder.

The trick is in the lighting - a 'softbox' (to you and I, a fancy shmancy light in an umbrella) is about $80+ on Yahoo shopping and some Muslin background paper (around $50+) will give you very professional results.

This is the setup used on apple's training videos on their website (go to www.apple.com/macbookair/guidedtour/ and click on "Watch the Guided Tour" to see this in action), a style copied perfectly by one of my marketing heroes, Eben Pagan.

This is a great video marketing template to follow and can be done for very little money.

So, what should you shoot?

I recommend a (series of) 3-5 minute informational segment/s genuinely helpful to your niche which has your web address featured throughout (semi-discreetly) and/or video testimonials from satisfied customers.

Quite simply, it will probably be you talking into the camera in a static mid shot (you may need to look that term up) for the entire clip.

Check out Eben Pagan's use of post-seminar video testimonials at http://doubleyourdating.com/CockyComedy/ (go to the very end of the page) and type in "Eben Pagan" on YouTube to see all his testimonial videos there.

This is a very powerful marketing tool. In fact, his 'Double Your Dating' website has an Alexa rank of about 13,000 which is sensational for an information product of this type and I'm sure his constant video marketing greatly helps this.

[2] Use Windows 'Movie Maker' (free), Adobe 'Premiere' (majorly not free but get a 30 day trial copy from Adobe to get started) or Mac's 'Screen Flow' to import your video into your computer.

Remember, YouTube videos are not allowed to exceed 10 minutes and under 5 is better from an audience attention perspective.

[3] Once you have your video made, DON'T submit it to YouTube.

Yet.

Instead, use www.tubemogul.com (free last time I looked) or www.trafficgeyser.com (not free but trial offer probably still available) to submit to DOZENS of web video sites at once including YouTube.

Yes you will have to go to each one first and set up an account and password (use the same one for all of them) but after that, these programs do all the uploading for you.

It is not uncommon for uploaded videos to be ranking well in Google in less than 30 minutes after uploading.

As John Reese says, the more action you take, the more success you make (or words to that effect) and your web videos do NOT need to be Hollywood standard.

Just get them made and up there to start getting used to working in this medium.

Your marketing videos are working in two important ways: [a] people will watch the video (because it is informational and genuinely helpful) with your web address burned on to the screen (haven't tried this with Windows Movie Maker but definitely works with the other two programs) and,

[b] Google will pick it up and usually give your video a decent (free) search engine result IF your video is titled with your EXACT Google keyword search phrase and your account with YouTube should be that phrase as a username too.

Trafficgeyser.com has a video tutorial on the exact steps of this (when you are there, look at how TrafficGeyser are using a video at the top of their page as their most powerful marketing weapon).

Keep in mind that YouTube has an Alexa ranking of #3 (i.e. it is the 3rd most visited site on the planet).

My site and yours do not.

You won't get a backlink to your site from YouTube but the spread and indexing of videos on the web is astonishing.

Of course, feature your helpful instructional videos on your own website too - you can embed them via YouTube if you are worried about your web host charging you extra for all that additional data transfer.

Message me if you aren't sure how to do this and I'll fill you in.

Best regards
Terry Kyle, Author/Editor
400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World [available at site below and Amazon]

"These are not just small business ideas, they are smart business ideas...you'll learn a great deal from these words of wisdom."
David Meerman Scott
Bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR

"Comprehensive, insightful and a must-read for today's entrepreneur."
Duncan Bannatyne
BBC's "Dragons' Den"

www.Latest-Business-Ideas.com