The boom of Social Media is giving Twitter an explosive impact in the marketplace

Since coming into the twitter world, I have to say this has been a great experience. I have learned a ton so far on so many levels. First, I have vastly expanded my circle of folks for sharing ideas and information. This has introduced me to a ton of great blogs and articles from other thought leadersin the industry. It has pushed me to articulate my own ideas more frequently and to expand the focus of my blog and subsequently the services and consulting support we offer. Having talked to many customers,  most have yet to fully get the reasons why Twitter is becoming so popular nor do they see why they should be embarking on this journey for their business. Social media platforms such as facebook and myspace are a lot easier to look at and say "oh I get it", it is a community. Twitter is a bit simpler technically in concept as a extended chat conversation with a community of folks. However it is not as easy to see up front how you can connect with customers since if you just promote products it is typically much harder to get a base of followers.

You will hear a loud "ding" when the light bulb goes off in your head

Once you "get it" and can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I say this because there is a bit of up front time investment to get started, the potential value is tremendous on so many levels.

For me, I was spending nearly $1000 per month on PPC plus another 2-4k on labor resources to manage it and the associated collateral campaigns. I am getting more traffic from a combination of writing in my blog and posting on twitter than I was getting from PPC. Not that PPC is not valuable when implemented correctly but in a slumped economy I just needed to cut back to what I can manage in house with a lower cost. This is why I took the plunge to experiment with twitter as a way to push traffic to my blog.  So far I have found twitter to be a great enabler for reaching new prospects and when I find other folks RT (retweeting) my blog posts, I can tell this will get a bit of ground swell if I am consistently telling a story that folks want to listen to. However, with anything you want to become successful there is a significant time investment and you must be consistent as well as fresh or you will begin to lose your audience. There is a lot of competition for folks time and attention these days.

All aboard the whistle is blowing

One of the key indicators that a technology or platform is going to be around for a while is when the open source and commercial development communities start going crazy building applications or plug ins for the technology. This has truly been the case with twitter.

To further understand this I recommend spending some time online investigating the tools and many articles on blogs like this that can help you build a solid social marketing strategy and leveraging this new phenomenon. I hunted around and found some great links, resources and reasons why Twitter has so much power and potential. I hope this can open your thoughts if you are just getting started or give you some new toys to explore if you are already underway as a "Twit head".

You may look at the list below and go "Yikes... where do I start?" Well... if you need help with a kick start, I can provide consulting support or you can download a publication we have for sale.

Get white paper on Success with twitter Fill out form and indicate that you want the "Success with Twitter Publication"

 

 

You may be asking... why? Here are 75 ways to promote your business on Twitter

If you are looking for different ways to use twitter that can benefit your business, then here's 75 to get you going on with.

1. To promote your worthwhile cause/favorite charity on justgiving.com 
2. To point people to the latest copy of your newsletter
3. To promote your internet radio show on blogtalkradio.com
4. To tell people of your event on eventbrite.com
5. To send out an updated price list to clients & prospects
6. To share your PowerPoint  presentation on slideshare.net
7. To ask for referrals
8. To qualify prospects
9. To tell people about your latest press release on prfree.com/
10. To promote your latest article on ezinearticles.com
11. To get eyeballs on to your ad on eBay
12. To Share some useful tips about your services
13. To get signups for your workshops and seminars
14. To conduct market research
15. To promote your latest podcast
16. To share your seminar talk on slideserve.com
17. To give your feedback of software you just bought
18. To conduct marketing research
19. To  show the latest thread on your blog (twitter feed)
20. To point them to your press release on PRWEB.com
21. To get eyeballs on to your squidoo.com lens
22. To get people to book on your workshop via regonline.com
23. To position yourself as an expert
24. To get new members to your clubs on groups.google.com & groups.yahoo.com
25. To promote your articles on goarticles.com
26. To increase response to your base.google.com ads
27. To tell people about onlywire.com
28. To share your white paper on scribd.com
29. To launch your new premium service
30. To tell people you're going on holiday
31.  As a way to promote your products online
32.  To promote your latest video on You Tube
33. To promote your ad on oodle.com
34.  To allow people to download a trial version of your software
35.  To promote your latest job vacancies
36.  To find out what latest job vacancies are out there
37.  Share some useful tips about your products
38. To promote your latest photographs on flicker
39. To get comments onto your blog
40. To share an important fact form wickipedia.org
41. To give referrals
42. To help others generate traffic via traffic swarm
43. To show your demo video on video.google.com
44.  To show people your trial software on download.com
45. To boost morale
46. To create mutual opportunity for friends
47. To simplify/improve your customer service and support
48. To tell people about theresultsacademy.com
49. To promote your new membership site on ning.com
50. To promote your latest book
51. To help with recruitment for your MLM Opportunity
52. To remind people of your terms and conditions
53. To tell people how to create a mobile website with mofuse.com
54. To give people a Google map url on how to find you
55. To direct people to your ezine sign up page
56. To get people to vote for you at dig.com
57. To collect case studies
58. To get people to sign up to your webinar at gotowebinar.com
59. To share customer testimonials
60. To run a poll or survey using surveymonkey.com
61. To advise others of  bad payers / bad debtors
62. To point people to your latest article on Business-Scene.com
63. To tell people about ping.fm
64. To tell people about your new listing on reddit.com
65. to tell others what the best sellers on eBay are
66. to link to your ads on Friday-ad.co.uk
67. to encourage others to subscribe to your group on facebook.com
68. To share financial market info from http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/
69. To ask for ideas, suggestions and recommendations for new products
70. To share a Spreadsheet via Google Docs
71. To Tell people how to book on your next webinar
72. To share your diary and get your appointments booked up
73. To give your feedback of a workshop or seminar you attended
74.  To demonstrate to journalists how responsive your network can be
75.  To say thank you  to people who care

Source: http://www.theresultsacademy.com/twitter-75-ways-promote-business/ 

Here are some from my personal book marks; Lists of nearly 1000 great twitter applications and widgets:

Key Twitter Management Apps:

• Tweetdeck: A desktop application that let's you organize who you're following, save and display searches and organize your Twitter account to accommodate issues such as distinguishing student Tweets from colleague Tweets. http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/
• Seesmic: The new version of this desktop app is great for educators and those in higher ed. It's Tweetdeck plus maintenance of multiple accounts at the same time. http://desktop.seesmic.com/
• http://blog.textoo.net/en/statuzer/
• http://splitweet.com/
• http://www.tweetizen.com/
• http://twitpipe.com/
• http://monitter.com/
• http://www.tweetsmarter.com/
• http://retweet.com/

Follower Management and Directories:

• http://friendorfollow.com/ ***
• http://www.twibs.com/
• http://twitseeker.com/about.php
• http://wefollow.com/
• http://www.twellow.com/

Pics and Videos:

• http://twitpic.com/
• Bubble Tweet - This unique application lets you post a short video message that pops up on your Twitter profile in a bubble shaped player. You can personally introduce yourself and/or your business to anyone who visits your profile. http://www.bubbletweet.com/
• http://12seconds.tv/

Twitter Automation:

• Tweet Later: With this tool you can schedule Tweets in advance, so they get posted when you want them to....like during a classroom lecture. http://www.tweetlater.com/login
• http://futuretweets.com/
• https://www.tweepme.com/

Links and Statistics:

• Tweetscan: By getting a notification every time your custom search terms are mentioned on Twitter, you're able to keep up-to-date on pertinent items coming out in the Twitosphere.
• http://tweetstats.com/
• http://twinfluence.com/
• Twitscoop: This tool allows you to track trends in what's being talked about online. Know what's going on in your discipline as soon as it comes out, or add some last minute content to the classroom setting. http://www.twitscoop.com/
• HootSuite - Easily manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets and measure your progress. You can even add multiple editors to your business profile. http://hootsuite.com/
• http://twitteranalyzer.com/Maintenance.aspx
• http://eyethinq.com/
• http://twitterank.com/
• http://www.whatthetrend.com/

Twitter Advertising

• http://be-a-magpie.com/
• http://revtwt.com/
• http://featuredusers.com/

Twitter Jobs:

• http://www.twitterjobsearch.com

Twitter for Education:

• Twits Like Me: This allows you to find other Twitter users who are talking about the things you like to talk about, so you can follow more people who offer you value.
• Tweetworks: Move classroom discussion online into threaded groups that can be responded to from most Twitter applications, with each discussion having its own url.
• Twitilator: This is an iPhone app that has a lot of great options for Twittering from your phone. Twitterberry has gotten some kudos for the blackberry.
• TweetGrid: You can break this real-time search browser into several searches that update in real time, not only perfect for general monitoring, but a great visual addition to a class lecture.
• Hashtags: Combining this service with something like TweetGrid or Tweetdeck, you can assign a specific hashtag to your lecture for students to Twitter live comments or questions, and project them onto a screen, or pick out the juicy ones for post-lecture content.
• Breaking Tweets: By compiling the latest world news and Twitter feedback on that news, you can know not only what's going on, but what people are saying about it in the Twitosphere.
• TwitTrans: Have your Tweets translated into any language!
• postica: Have a note you want to get out to your students or your department? Put it on a post-it on Twitter.
• twtpoll: Conduct your own poll, including students, colleagues, etc.

Here are some list sites for more twitter apps and widgets:

*** Twitdom is a database maintained by fellow tweeple like you.

• They have 817+ applications in their database. There are several more applications that could be added to the database. Suggest one if you find it not listed here.
• An alternate way of seeing the list of applications is by viewing the 3D Tag Cloud.
• http://twitdom.com/twitter-applications-list/

3rd party applications that work with Twitter that are useful for teaching and learning.

• Currently list is over 150 Twitter apps
• http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/socialmedia/twitterapps.html

7 Top Twitter Topic Trackers

• http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/7_top_twitter_topic_trackers.php
• 
  

25 Apps that Add Form and Function to Twitter

• http://www.the20life.com/2009/03/31/25-apps-that-add-form-and-function-to-twitter/

The Top 21 Twitter Applications

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-20-twitter-applications/

25 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Can Use Today:

Twitter is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds lately.  It seems like everyone is talking about Twitter.  The neat thing is that everyone seems to use Twitter in their own unique way.  Hundreds of Twitter applications can be found on numerous sites that offer cool tools to help you manage the way you use Twitter.  If you use Twitter for marketing your small business, I sorted thru tons of apps to bring you the most helpful.  Feel free to suggest other Twitter apps, for business owners, below in the comments.

• Twitter Toolbar - Downloading this free toolbar gives you instant access to Twitter. You can use the toolbar to access online Twitter tools, check your Twitter stats, post your updates and more. Versions are available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
• Twitoria - This simple application lets you quickly find out which of your followers has not been actively tweeting. Easily sort through your network of followers and purge the inactive users.
• Monitter - Get a live streaming view at what Twitter users in your location are saying about you or your small business. Simply insert keywords you would like to search for and the surrounding area you would liked monitored.
• Twitter Gallery - A collection of free backround themes for your Twitter account. You can use the one click installation or manually install them yourself. Lots of nice designs and colors to choose from.
• Tweepler - Simplify the way you manage your Twitter followers. Tweepler enables you to easily sort through new followers and accept them or ignore them on one simple screen. They have made accepting followers easier by giving the Tweepler user the followers stats and last 3 tweets in one screen view. This will save you time by eliminating the need to visit each individual follower's profiles.
• Twit This - Allow visitors to your blog or website to easily post Twitter messages about you or your business. Post the TwitThis button to your website or blog pages with the instructions and coding provided on their site.
• StockTwits - Follow and join into conversations with traders and investors. An active community of investors are sharing their views on current market conditions and recent news happenings. You can quickly see what others are saying about investments in your portfolio.
• HelloTxt - Update your status to several social networking sites in one simple step. You can choose from over 35 social sites to post to including Twitter.
• TwitterFox - This Firefox extension is one of my personal favorites. You can post Twitter updates without visiting the Twitter site each time. A small icon is added to the bottom of your Firefox status bar. The icon opens to reveal your friend's most current updates. You can add your updates from that dialog box, even for multiple Twitter accounts.
• Future Tweets - Do you have something to promote on Twitter tomorrow but are afraid of forgetting to do it? With FutureTweets, you can schedule your tweet ahead of time for a specific date and time. Even schedule reoccuring tweets to post daily, monthly, even yearly.
• TwitPic - Share your favorite pictures on Twitter. This would be a good way to introduce your new product to your network of followers.
• twtQpon - Create exclusive coupons for your business services or products and share them with your Twitter followers.
• Tweetburner - This site is designed to help you track your tweets. With Tweetburner you can shorten URLs and track the clicks your tweets accumulate.
• Tweetbeep - Just like Google Alerts, Tweetbeep tracks Twitter conversations that mention you, your business or your products and services. Alerts are sent to you via email.
• Twitter Counter - Proudly display the number of Twitter followers on your business blog or website. Add the badge to your site and invite customers to follow you on Twitter.
• Group Tweet - This app enables all employees within your company to post updates which can be privately viewed only by your group of approved members.
• Twitter Safe - This free service protects your years of hard work building your community of followers. This one click backup will restore your network of followers in the event that your list is compromised.
• Twitxr - Post product pictures and updates from your mobile phone directly to Twitter.
• Track This - This app enables tracking of any UPS, USPS, FedEx or DHL shipment. Updates are sent to your Twitter account direct messages whenever your package changes location.
• CoTweet - CoTweet lets your company manage one Twitter account while allowing several employees to contribute. Each person maintains their own identity and their activity can be monitored.
• Tweet Later - This one application contains several Twitter productivity tools. You can track keywords, track replies, schedule tweets, send welcome direct messages, and much more.
• Splitweet - Managing and updating multiple Twitter accounts is easily done from one screen. Choose to send updates to one or all accounts in one step. You can also follow your brand with notification when your company is mentioned on Twitter.
• Twimailer - Sign up to receive more extensive email notifications when your account obtains new followers. Instead of the generic Twitter email notification; the email contains the followers location, followers stats and their most recent tweets. At the bottom of the email, you can choose to follow the individual without even visiting Twitter.
• Digsby - Keep track of everything your followers are doing at all times. The Digsby box display gives you a real time view into your Twitter account right from your browser.
• TwitterHawk - This marketing app helps you connect with consumers in your area and related to the keywords you choose. TwitterHawk will send Twitter users your custom response when they tweet your keyword in locations that you specify. Say you sell shoes and you want your response to reach anyone within a 20 mile radius of your business. When someone 7 miles away tweets about shoes, your response will automatically be sent to that person.

Source: http://www.smbceo.com/2009/03/25/top-27-twitter-applications/

 

Special bonus links: Note, careful about linking twitter with facebook since this can overwhelm your facebook folks if you are not careful. Thisk through your whole socail networking strategy and map out where you what these to connect and how. Who do you want to communicate with and in what way?

Facebook Goodies:

Blog Promotion:

• Networked Blogs app - This app shows up on your profile or in your boxes tab and displays your blog and any of the blogs you like to read. It's a great way to promote yourself and others.
• Notes (Default App) - Default App found on the right side of your profile. Add your RSS feed and view your friends' feeds. When your blog updates it shows the article in your feed.
• RSS Connect - This one can be in either a box on your profile or even better, its own tab on your profile.
• Simplaris BlogCast - Quick and simple way to put the title of your blog post and a link to it in your feed.
• Business/Promotions:
• Define Me - Displays a cloud of words others use to describe your business. This could be your best friend or worst enemy depending on your business and customer service.
• GLPrint Business Cards - A flashier business card; gives you options to create your digital business card.
• IEndorse - Testimonials are a great way to build the value of your company. This app allows Facebook denizens to endorse your company or find it via the IEndorse business database.
• My BusinessBlinkWeb - Create a widget that promotes your business and that others can place on their profiles. This basically turns your friends, clients, or customers into your advertisers.
• Professional Profile - Create a tab on your profile for all of your professional contacts, information, and activities. Very useful if you want to separate the two sides of yourself.
• Posted Items (Default App) - This is one you can find on the upper right side of your profile and it allows you to share anything you find on the Internet by posting it to your profile. Videos, blogs, or even articles about you or your company or anything else you find interesting.
• Testimonials - Like IEndorse it's a way to gather customer testimonials, but it doesn't have the business database for searching businesses.

Communication

• CalliFlower - Free conference calls!
• Smart Phone - Phone to phone calls and even some conference call features that are all handled from your FB profile.
• SmartMessage Center - Smart is right. This tool allows you to send messages to groups or individuals and gives you back one single result that you can share. It's a great tool for gathering information and then organizing it into a single page instead of wading through pages and pages of replies. You can even get the results exported as a PDF, RSS, or XLS file.
• Telephone - Talk, IM, or leave voice messages. I'd say it's more like a cell phone than a telephone, but you get the idea.
• Voice Mail - Voice messaging, voice chat, voice enabled wall posts, and more. Add some sound to you profile or just make it possible to leave voice messages.

Networking:

• Introductions - If you're not good at meeting new people this app will help introduce you.
• My LinkedIn Profile - Creates a badge from your LinkedIn profile that gets displayed on your Facebook profile.
• SocialFly - Create notes about your online contacts, setup reminders to talk to them, and manage your contacts. Great app for keeping up with business contacts.
• Tag Biz Business Network - Puts a tag cloud of descriptive tags on your profile and participating friends' profiles. These tags link back to the Tag Biz directory where you can easily find similar businesses or people and make your networking time more efficient.
• Workin' It! - Helps you post and send out your work experience to potential employers or clients and gathers recommendations from your friends and co-workers.
• Xing - Hooks into your Xing account (like the LinkedIn app does with LinkedIn) and brings the networking features of Xing to Facebook.

Collaboration:

• Huddle by WorkSpaces - Store or share documents, make plans, collaborate on projects, and more (also one of the LinkedIn apps).
• My Office - This virtual office will help get everyone on the same page by sharing documents, tasks and more.

Audio Visual:

• Facebook Video (Default App) - Share videos of presentations, product demos, and even company commercials.
• PodCast Player - Share audio interviews on your profile, or your company's podcasts.
• SlideShare - If you're already using SlideShare to share your presentations online then you can connect the account to your profile. If you aren't already using it you should and start sharing your presentations on your profile.

Miscellaneous:

• JD Supra Docs - Stream your documents and info from your JD Supra Docs account to your Facebook profile.
• Memorable Web Addresses for Profile, Page or Group - Instead of having the default, crazy Facebook address to get to your account you can now make an easy to remember and easy to find address for your business or group.
• My Money - This online banking app isn't very useful if you're a large business, but for small or single owner businesses it's just one more tool that can help make Facebook a more valuable business stop.
• Page Maps - Display a mini map (with links to larger maps) of where your business or favorite place to have business meetings are.
• Static FBML - Add some advanced functionality to your Facebook Page by being able to render HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language) on the page. Change the look and feel, and even add apps, forms,

 

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Let me take a minute to tell you about and welcome Matt Zimmerman and the Value Builder Program to CNP Integrations . Here is a guy with years of experience delivering CRM solutions to large enterprises and small businesses alike. He worked in the world of IBM solutions and built sales organizations of 100+. When we started talking about having him work with our relatively small company that had a great bunch of technologies and significant expertise with them, we quickly realized his Value Builder Program was a missing link for bringing our great technology platform to companies and driving real success. It is one thing to sell software and associated services but what we wanted to achieve began with our mantra "Your Success is our Success". What we found is that when small businesses looked at our solutions they went WOW look at all of these features and hey I can actually afford this. However, without taking the step of careful planning and identifying where these solutions add the greatest value to your organization, this can cause significant frustration and often times failure once deployed.

Cost of Entry and Open Source

Unlike the big company enterprise solutions with huge R&D departments and proprietary code that drive expensive cost of entry and required maintenance contracts, we work with solutions that are based on open source code. In some ways this is a double edged sword and when you do not plan carefuly this too can slice into your pocket book painfully if you are not cautious in your implementation strategy. Open source projects offer two distinct advantages; one is you have the freedom to customize the framework if needed since the code is open source and two, the cost of entry if often free or very low. Along with this though you have to make sure your expectations are realistic and while you get in with a lower cost of entry you must also plan to reserve enough resources to get the greatest value out of this approach. The greatest value from open source is achieved when you can invest significantly in building and aligning your strategy with extended training and support.

The gap and the need

When we started our company CNP Integrations we saw a big gap and need for support services to companies looking to adopt open source solutions. What we found is that most folks looked at adopting open source technologies similar to a get rich scheme. Where they can skip the strategic planning and thorough needs assessment processing because they could get the software for free and then they would magically just transform what they do to match the software. "Ding Ding" this is where we run into another huge service need and where the Value Builder Program fits in. In the software development world you plan out a spec and set clear milestones for projects because there are so many possibilities for scope creep. If you do not keep this in check you can create a real mess and spend a lot of money on stuff that does not realize any return on your investment. The same is true if the software is already built and you want to integrate your team with it. You cannot just throw this software at them and say "have at it" since this can create just as big of a mess. Careful thought should be put into what features and business processes are going to give your teams the greatest possible return on their time investment and your dollars. You also need to develop a clear roadmap that rolls out some of these features over time, carefully integrates your existing business processes and has the buy in from everyone planning to use them.

Support contracts

Before we became a reseller of these technologies we began using them and I signed up for a service contract since it was just me in my basement on this adventure of launching a startup. Well this was great for the first month but then it turned out that the vendor just wanted to collect my money for not really doing much. I vowed to never sign up for a contract like this or never put my customers through such an ordeal. However, I think there is a happy medium where a service contract can build value and customer loyalty if it has a blend of the right technical support and alignment consulting strategy built into it.

The best of both worlds

With all of this in mind we have built two programs to help meet the need in the marketplace and help our customers get what they need to achieve results and ultimately "successful cost effective implementations of technology designed to empower their workforce and reduce overhead".

The Value Builder Program leverages Matt Zimmerman's strategy building methodology to help align priorities and identify ways of getting the best value out of your technology investment. Our Small Business CRBM Success Program blends this Value Building Methodology with a comprehensive support contract tailored to your companies needs. This allows us to deliver all of the components required for a successful technology and human integration with that technology, while providing a realistic ongoing service and support program that fits with your budget. The quality of the consulting we are able to deliver is higher and the results are greater since there is ongoing collaboration with our entire technical and training team as well as your users and deployment team.

Conclusion

Regardless of the platform you implement you are going to want to make sure you take the time required to sort out a solid strategic road map. You will want to keep in mind that the software cost is not the total cost of ownership and that the advantage of open source really offers its greatest value when you can invest more in the training, support and strategic alignment of your team. Blending a service contract with training and consulting allows you to get a better value from your service provider through building a much stronger and richer relationship. When you can do all this effectively you are on a path towards success.

See related articles and links:

• 100's of Entrepreneur and small business resources
• Integrating the People in your business with CRM Technology
• Let's talk about flat bid contracts and Value Building for Joomla CMS Web 2.0 Development
• 10 Tips for entrepreneurs and your business to beat the recession
• Leveraging CRM Software in the Small Business
• Integration of People with Technology & Acquisition of Business Intelligence
• Cheaper is not always better when it comes to hosting.
• Universal project management concepts
• Good insight from Jack Derby
• Building lists to grow your business opportunities 
• Lower risk through low cost pay as you go retainers
• 8 Bench Marks of a Great Client
• 12 U.S. Laws Bloggers Need to Know
• Social Technologies are revision in the model of power
• CRM/ERP, Joomla CMS, QuickBooks all-in-one Solution for SMB's
• Value Building Landing Pages with Lead Capturing CRM
• Info@hand "CRBM Platform" best kept secret in CRM Community
• Platform as a Service an inspired new generation of CRBM
• How important is a CRM Software Application for your SMB?
• Where do I get started with CRBM (Customer Relationship Business Management)?
• Open Source or SaaS CRM in Your Business
• Universal project management concepts
• Virtual Office Tools Save Money
• Web 2.0 boom and useful web tools

You can also visit our blog home at www.cnpintegrations.com/myblog/ for regular new posts.

For more information about the CRBM Platform and other educational resources be sure to visit: www.learningcrm.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With the record layoffs in the job market there are a significant group of displaced folks and many with talent as entrepreneurs. I am seeing signs that there are a lot of them flocking to start "Micro-small businesses". This is a great way for them to help keep their wheels greased and to create a launch pad for either their next big job or the next big thing. What I am seeing a need for is the low cost point of entry for these businesses macro startups. Typically these folks have a network that is hot but have to jump on it before the cold winds set in. They also are on a shoe string budget since they are in the bootstrapping stage of their business growth. The companies that can meet the needs of these businesses with low cost of entry products and services and can nurture the relationship over time to help these new businesses succeed have a bright future. It reminds me of my talent agent days where we would always be looking for the bright talent that stood out from the pack and plugged in our expertise and "connections" to help introduce them to the market place. Then if they kept their heads straight and you kept a good focus and strategy in place together you would go on to be successful. I think the same formula is true now in the growing micro small business community.

What we have done ourselves at CNP integrations is create a small business web site kick start program is a ten hour support service and consulting package priced at under $700 plus $29 per month for inclusive web hosting. The price point is within reach for most folks and includs enough to get a hands on business owner what they need to get started. This is not just "here is a web site, thank you very much bub bye". What we are doing is offering a mentoring program where we install and set up the web site in a collaborative hands on screen sharing environment, where we explain the process and teach non technical users how to manage their content and provide them resources to help them become successful. With the plethora of web technologies and features available it is important to understand the many options available and how to use them effectively or when not to use them in your business strategy.

This program is designed to deliver a powerful Joomla CMS site tailored to the business model you are building and the beautiful graphics and template designs of www.rockettheme.com.We also try to cover many of the right questions that should be asked and how to spend resources wisely as you build your program over time. For the micro-small business and start-ups this is a great way to launch a web program that will put you at the helm and lead  to success.

I am sure if your business is going to connect with this opportunity of micro-small businesses you can think of ways to not just deliver something cheap but to build a meaningful relationship with emerging business talent. In the end this approach can build tremendous customer loyalty if you remain focused on your customer's success and deliver them what they need when they need it most.

 CN

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This week CNP Integrations launched three new programs to help small businesses grow and prosper. Over the past few months we have been listening to the chatter in the blogosphere and comments by our customers and prospects. After all we are here to fill the needs of our current and future customers so they can in turn respond to their customers. The programs are designed to meet the needs for a range of small business owners that we typically support. Our Joomla expertise and programming team combined with our turnkey business solutions, training and support services makes us an ideal partner to help you grow your business through smart use of web technologies.

The Joomla Kick Start program: (download PDF)

The Joomla Kick start program is designed to help micro-small businesses or entrepreneurs quickly launch a Joomla CMS portal to showcase their products or services. This 10 hour consulting and support package offers one on one mentoring to take you through all of the steps required for installation and configuration of a Joomla CMS . We install and brand a rockettheme.com template with sample content and walk you through how to jump start your web business with Joomla content management system. This Joomla CMS system features over 4600 extensions . If you want to explore the capabilities of Joomla and build your site with hands on mentoring this introductory service is a great way to get started.

 

The Value Builder Program: (download PDF)

The Value Builder Program is a series of strategic workshops designed to help you build value with your technology investments. While this program centers on delivering a comprehensive implementation of a customer relationship business management system, the principles are universal to implementation of virtually any complex technology solution. The Value Builder program is a results-driven methodology that helps you succeed in deploying your online technology adoption projects. Through comprehensive collaboration and team building, we couple this core methodology with Web 2.0 CRM best practices to help you identify a clear results oriented implementation strategy .

 

The Small Business CRBM Success Program: (download PDF)

The CRBM Success Program blends a ongoing Value Builder methodology with a inclusive 1 year support contract designed to deliver all of the key components required to cost effectively implement a Customer Relationship Business Management (CRBM) solution . This program is optimized to your organizations needs and includes several discounted services and regular alignment workshops to assure your program endures the greatest levels of success. We help bridge the gap of integrating people with technology. We help you maintain your strategic focus without losing the ability to adapt to the needs of your customers and trends in the marketplace.

 

 

"CNP helps you reach your customers, respond to them faster and give you the tools to build meaningful relationships"

We hope these programs will help you get involved with our team of experts and learn more about how we can create value to you through our technology, support and training services.

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• Let's talk about flat bid contracts and Value Building for Joomla CMS Web 2.0 Development
• 10 Tips for entrepreneurs and your business to beat the recession
• Leveraging CRM Software in the Small Business
• Integration of People with Technology & Acquisition of Business Intelligence
• Cheaper is not always better when it comes to hosting.
• Universal project management concepts
• Good insight from Jack Derby
• Building lists to grow your business opportunities 
• Lower risk through low cost pay as you go retainers
• 8 Bench Marks of a Great Client
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• Social Technologies are revision in the model of power
• CRM/ERP, Joomla CMS, QuickBooks all-in-one Solution for SMB's
• Value Building Landing Pages with Lead Capturing CRM
• Info@hand "CRBM Platform" best kept secret in CRM Community
• Platform as a Service an inspired new generation of CRBM
• How important is a CRM Software Application for your SMB?
• Where do I get started with CRBM (Customer Relationship Business Management)?
• Open Source or SaaS CRM in Your Business
• Universal project management concepts
• Virtual Office Tools Save Money
• Web 2.0 boom and useful web tools

You can also visit our blog home at www.cnpintegrations.com/myblog/ for regular new posts.

For more information about the CRBM Platform and other educational resources be sure to visit: www.learningcrm.com

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This week we met with the smart folks at the Boardroom Advisory Group . After listening to our quarterly state of affairs and conversation about strategy moving forward, Tom and Jack were very insightful with their suggestions. Tom has a blog and has published a few white papers that I thought may be of value to you if you are a business trying to climb to the next level in your evolution. If after reading these you are interested in meeting them, I would be happy to make an introduction. I hope you find this information as useful as we did.

 

"What keeps you awake at night?" Survey Results

Results of survey taken of owners of small private businesses at the Providence Business Expo held on May 5 & 6, 2009. Respondents concerned with remaining cash positive and spending too much time on day-to-day activities.

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Save Money Today, BIG Money Tomorrow

To unlock cash in today's environment really takes creative thinking. The simple "cab driver" advice you hear on a continuous basis isn't all that helpful. You need to find and fix systemic problems that drain cash day after day. What techniques do I recommend?

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Call "The A Team"

Using variable labor for key strategic positions is an affordable way to reduce costs while still providing the support you need to run your business. It is critical for every business to have key positions in place, but can you afford the luxury of a full-time in-house resource? This article explores valuable alternatives you should consider to attract the most competent resources at an affordable price.

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You Know You are in Big Trouble if...

Are you aware the first stage of business failure is denial? Could you recognize many of the obvious signs your company is in trouble? Are you trying to save your company by doing things that may not be the best for you and your family? Are you aware owners who recognize early signs they have more trouble than they can handle are more likely to take the steps necessary to successfully turn their company around?

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I'm Out of Compliance... Now what???

Critical tips every business owner needs to consider if they have an outstanding bank loan about how to navigate the "new lending environment". Consensus among many bankers is that communication is key, but having a recovery plan is critical to that discussion.

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Do You Have a Contingency Plan?
It is important for you to focus on yourself before you work on more business related long-term strategic planning. "Put your own mask on first" comes to mind. You did not spend all your time building a successful business just to let it disappear because you didn't put key, and sometimes simple, safeguards in up front did you?

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Start Forecasting Now!

Whether your company is on a high growth roll, merely trying to survive this recession or somewhere in between, if you aren't using forecasts, you may be incredibly lucky. The odds of continued success and building a high-value company are stacked against you. On the other hand, that may help explain why you are in survival mode. Forecasting can change the odds to your favor.

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Are You in a Foxhole?

It is important for your business to continue working on your company's strategic direction regardless of the economic cycle. Although it is imperative to move carefully in light of the current economic uncertainty, you must continue to move forward. You must identify areas of opportunity to adjust or focus your strategies.

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Are You an Octopus?

Is your business in control or do you control your business? Do you delegate? Do you make all decisions big or small? Is it easier to do "it" yourself? You may be stifling your business and ignoring a key resource within your company. Identify the symptoms.

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Metrics Should Be Everywhere (Part 1)

Non-financial metrics are as important to all organizations (profit or non-profit, medical, service or manufacturing) as financial metrics. They help you understand the success of programs, focus on areas important for success, process control and problem solving. Using them effectively is the part most companies miss.

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Metrics Should Be Everywhere (Part 2)

In these trying economic times it is critical for every business to focus on what is most important. That focus should extend to all parts of the business, top to bottom. Those companies that are able to get their workforce focused on the Company strategies and ways to execute those strategies are using metrics as a powerful competitive advantage.

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What is Value?

The current turmoil in the stock markets has a severe affect on our personal psyche, but does it really affect your business's long-term value? It shouldn't. The long-term value of your business is built, and superior value takes effort and time. But it is something every business owner must do to ensure a valuable, lasting and transferable asset.

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It's All About Growth

Without top-line growth a business is in decline. Value is destroyed and the owner may not be able or willing to reverse the trend. It is not fair to anyone to let that happen. Are you willing to have your legacy be a shuttered business? What value will you receive in the end for all the hard work you put into building your business?

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Have You Thought About Your Future Lately?

As an owner or partner of a thriving business, do you have all the pieces in place to take care of your family? Are your business strategies aligned with you and your partner's personal goals and objectives? These questions and more may be very difficult and uncomfortable to discuss or address. But what if something sudden were to take you out of the business?

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