Talk to any business coach or so called marketing expert and the first thing they will tell you is that you have to differentiate your business, find some unique niche, angle, vertical… or whatever. Then you’ll pay them thousands of dollars for a USP – unique selling proposition. If the coach/expert was correct, and you execute well, then you should have unbridled success… that is until someone copies or even one-ups your USP.

You can continue to pay your coach/expert to revise your USP, or, after some marginal success, you can get back to what’s really important: your personal and company brand. No I am not talking about your logo, or blog, but what you and/or your company come to symbolize. Branding strategies used to be very expensive to execute… not anymore.

What is a brand? MBA textbooks aside, your brand is the sensory and mental image that you and/or company portay. Two 2 core components of your brand are reputation and credibility.

Reputation

When your name is mentioned to people that know of you or your company, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? a tight-laced professional or fat, lazy, casually dressed slob? In other words, does your visual appearance (the parts that you can control: clothing and grooming – and to some extent physical appearence, as would be the case for a personal trainer) meet society’s standards of your profession (name the last lawyer or financial planner you saw out of a suit and tie).

Do they know what you do? Why you do what you do? or How you do it? If not, then you have an education problem. Spend more time with people 1:1 and in groups. Take people that you are trying to establish a better reputation with on a meeting with a client or vendor or some other appt.

Credibility

When you’re in an intimate relationship, you’re constantly having to prove your love through acts of kindess, etc. Your reputation must also be proven on an ongoing basis. Put differently, your reputation is reinforced by your credibility - and can even grow by it. After you’ve executed your USP plan and have gotten some customers, I encourage you to spend massive amounts of time with your new customers finding out how else you can help them… and do just that.

Connect them with people/resources that they need, and/or, start evolving your business model to fill their needs. Get testimonials and endorsements from them everywhere and everywhere that is within the public eye:  notable mentions at Networking events, recommendations on Linkedin.com, wall posts on our company’s FaceBook Fan page, video testimonials in YouTube. Apply for every award you can personally, and for the business. Make sure to brag about the awards that you do win. Case in point, my company, Carceron, is the most recommended IT firm on Linkedin.com. I can claim this because my Linkedin profile has the most recommendation of any IT consultant in Metro Atlanta on Linkedin. See below:

In summary, reputation and credibility directly impact your networking efforts, and, by extension, the quantity and quality of referrals that you get. When you say that you “have the best customer service”, “are the most reliable”, etc. It’s a worthless platitude. When your customers and colleagues says those things, it’s GOLD.

(This article appeared in the special edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle that was distributed at the 2010 Annual Atlanta Small Business Growth Expo)

Whether you believe we’re headed into the second dip of a so-called “double-dip recession” or you think that the worst is behind us, one thing is clear: We have all learned how to do more with less.  And if we are headed into a second “dip”, I predict that there will be far less casualties than the first one, having learned our lessons the first time around… I hope.

More Cloud Adoption

Among those lessons learned was to preserve cash at all costs. This has certainly increased the adoption of Cloud-based solutions for everything from email (Hosted Exchange & Google Apps), to online file sharing and storage, as well as a large range of line of business applications (accounting software, customer relationship management software, etc.).

Adoption of the Cloud as a business’s core IT infrastructure will continue to gain momentum in 2011 for many reasons. As I have already stated, the Cloud lets you hang on to your cash by converting large upfront capital expense’s to much more affordable operating expenses, generally on a monthly basis. This is important for new businesses because it dramatically lowers startup costs and alleviates concerns about scalability. Existing businesses can benefit in a similar way. They can now upgrade their aging infrastructure at a much more manageable cost.

The Cloud is also a much more efficient way to enjoy consistent system and feature updates on a regular basis. Our helpdesk system is cloud-based and we enjoy feature updates once a quarter, versus the once per year that you often get with on-premise software solutions where you’re waiting for the next version to come out.

More Regulatory Compliance

Also in 2011, look for more fines from the Federal Government over violations of regulatory compliance. Despite its passage being 14 years ago, the Feds have started issuing the first fines for violation of HIPAA this year. The recent passage of the American Recovery and Reimbursement Act of 2009 (commonly referred to as “The Stimulus”) included another act called HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health Act) which reinforces HIPAA by specifically addressing the privacy and security concerns associated with the electronic transmission of health information.

The medical businesses aren’t the only ones that have to worry. All manner of financial intuitions have a wide range of regulations on them now: Sarbanes-Oxley (commonly called SOX), Graham-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), PCI DDS (for credit cards), etc.

There are several technologies that companies worried about regulatory compliance will need to invest in:

• Email Encryption: Secures email communication so that only the intended recipient can view the message
• Email Archival: A record of all incoming and outgoing email communication. Most regulations require 7 or more years of retention
• Disk Encryption: secures the content of hard drives on computers. This is especially important for laptop users. There have been many stories in the media lately stolen laptops that contain sensitive data. The Veteran’s Administration is a recent one that comes to mind.
• 2-Factor Authentication: A 2-phase process of authenticating to a network or computer system. Examples are: a password and a thumbprint scan or a password and a token ID gotten from a special application on your mobile phone.

How to Grow Business in 2011

So after you’ve saved money by adopting the Cloud and made the appropriate investments to get the regulators off your back, how do you continue to grow your business in 2011? Ask this question to 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers.  Some will say “more traditional marketing”, others will say “ implementing social media”,  and another might say “networking”. They’re all correct. You can’t just rely on one medium to market your business. My advice would be to get the online marketing (web site, Google ads, social media, etc.) as automated as possible (hire a firm to handle this for you if you can) and focus on your networking. Expand your personal network with the right people and develop strategic partnerships that are highly synergistic. Make sure that you are also connecting people together. It will pay off, I promise.

While I have written this in 1st person, I hope that I do not come across as being “bitchy”. This is a list of personal pet peaves that I suspect others share with me, coupled with common business sense.

1. Don’t hand me your business card unless I ask you for it. I promise to do the same. I meet a lot of people and if you’re someone that I don’t think I can help, or you can’t help me, or you can’t help someone I know, then what’s the point? We should be honest with one another. If you do force me to take a card, you’re getting added to my email marketing list and getting spammed – fair warning.
2. Don’t issue cheesy status updates to any of the various social media outlets (FaceBook, Linkedin, etc.). Make sure what you post is interesting enough to read. A good rule of thumb is the “So what” contest – if another person posted what you were going to post, would you say “So What?”. If so, it’s probably not a good post. I know the idea behind status updates and micro-blogging is to talk about what you’re doing right now – what they forget to add was “What are you doing right now, that is interesting to the people you are connected to?” Otherwise, I’m clicking the “hide” button. If my posts bore you, feel free to “Hide” me by all means. Here are some examples:
   • Good
     • I am at the Networking in ATL event at Sutra Lounge with Brandon Miltsch, owner of FireWolf (tells you where I am and who I am with, both of which might be of interest)
   • Bad
     • I’m going to ________   [mom's, bed, the toilet]
3. Don’t call me and try to sell me something the day after we have met. If I took the time to get to know you, I will have told you on the spot that we need to set a follow up appt to discuss your services or product. If I didn’t, and you want my business, then help me pay for what you want to sell me via a referral. This goes a long way. I promise to do the same (and already do).
4. Don’t send me invitations to cheesy FaceBook applications like “Snowball Fight” or Kidnap. These are annoying time wasters. ’nuff said.
5. Don’t hand me a brochure or any other kind of sales collateral at a networking function. Your business card will suffice. I assume that you have a web site if I need more information. If you don’t, I have a referral for you.
6. Don’t ask me to become a fan of or join a group related to something that is obviously not interesting or of benefit to me (e.g. cosmetics)
7. Don’t assume that I remember you if we’ve only met one time. Reintroduce yourself to me every time until we have had a 1:1 meeting, beers together or whatever. I promise to do the same. Again, I meet a lot of people (as you should be) and it is impossible to remember everyone after just one meeting in passing. (Exception: if you are someone important to the networking function I am at, i.e. chapter or associations president, etc.  – leadership has its perks)
8. Don’t connect to me on Linkedin with a free-mail email address as your primary contact email address. Freemail accounts are, for example: @yahoo.com, @gmail.com, @bellsouth.net, etc. (Exception: this only applies if you are a business owner. I understand the case for sales people to maintain control of their profiles with their personal email address? Also, this it is ok if you’re between jobs or retired)

Helping Others

Help connect people that need to know each other. The concept is simple, even the act can be simple, what’s tough is taking the time to get to know people and learn what their specific needs are. Things you should know about people you network with the most:

• Where are they from?
• What college did they go to?
• Fraternity / Sorority Membership
• Hobbies, Special Interests
• Most profitable client type
• Least profitable client type
• How they help most clients solve a problem(s)
• How they help their most profitable clients solve a problem(s)

In the current economic climate, helping someone get a job is also a great thing to use your networks for. Times are tough  – many who are not business owners are looking for their next job or worried that will have to soon. When you’re out and about, listen out for any open positions and for companies that are experiencing a growth spurt. Staffing and recruiting companies make great friends in this regard, for both getting friends a job and for helping fill positions for those businesses that you know are hiring. My friend is Larkin Dailey, owner of Snelling Staffing (http://www.snellingatl.com). She has helped me get numerous friends jobs, even in this tough economic climate. Remember, staffing and recruiting firms need opportunities too – companies that are looking to hire – especially in mass, like at a call center. (Staffing companies have more than ample supply of resumes given the current economic climate, so be discerning who you send them for placement. People with rare skills sets are obviously more valuable)

Form Strategic Alliances

Finding prospects while networking is good, finding strategic partners that open up fields of prospects to you is better. However, it does not always have to be business development related. More and more companies are looking to differentiate themselves by creating “mash ups” which might be a reseller or affiliate model relationship, and outsource relationship or something else a little more subdued.

Personal Branding & Social Media

I have become acknowledged as something of a defacto expert on this and I’m not sure why. What I do feels like common sense to me. Show up in all the right places at all the right times with all the right people and seek to help others which will make you more known. Translated into literal terms:  “If you belong to an association, get on the board – for more recognition, try actually doing something of value for the organization – avoid boards where you are a “rubber stamper”. Don’t feel bad about joining a board for exposure if you are providing value… it’s an expected trade off. When you are networking, make sure that events that you are going to have the right kind of people, i.e. people that you need to meet or people connected to other people you need to meet. It blows my mind why businesses continue to go to networking functions that they have long since outgrown and then complain that networking does not work. Know the demographics and psychographics of your customer base and adjust your networking accordingly. If you don’t know what I am talking about, seek the advice of a marketing expert.

How does social media tie in to all of this? Well, I’m no “expert” despite popular opinion, but here’s what I think: Social Media, simply described, is a marketing medium (platform) -  you have radio media, TV media, social media, and countless other platforms upon which to market. Whether or not that is what you use FaceBook for, it is still Social Media (how do you think FaceBook makes it’s money? not from you obviously! from Advertising). That being said, how do you use it? Simple, as an online extension of your physical networking world. When you come back from a networking function, immediately pull out of your business cards and connect to the people on those cards on whatever your mediums of choice are. I like Linkedin & FaceBook. Now, whenever you do status updates, they see you what you’re doing. You stay in front of them as long as you update. So what do you say in your updates?

• What are you doing that is interesting and might generate conversation?
  • Good: Headed to Networking in Atlanta tonight to network with hundreds of other business professionals
  • Bad: Going to a network event (too simple)
  • Bad: Taking kids to soccer practice (no offense, but no one cares about your kids but and whatever family members you connected to on FaceBook)
• Industry related news that people you’re connected to care about and can understand. Here some actual article titles from InformationWeek, a newsletter I an subscribed to:
  • Good: Laptop reliability study: Asus & Toshiba Come Out on Top
  • Bad: Roll Your Own Ubunto Private Cloud