America’s SBDC Blog

A “Forbes 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs”

HOW TO: Five Free Ways to Get Your Business in the News

November 5, 2013

The truth is you don’t really need a public relations firm to publicize your business. I realize that as the owner of a boutique public relations firm that’s probably not my best sales pitch. And yet, it’s true.

A PR firm will have experience and connections. They’ll also spend significant funds on media databases, memberships to various organizations, and a ton of magazine subscriptions. But as an entrepreneur, you already have the skills and passion you need to handle your own press outreach. Whether you’ll want to or not, well, that’s a different story.

If you’re looking to cut costs and invest time, here are five completely free ways to get yourself and your business in the news.

Know the Players

Players? What players? The journalists. Create an email account just for alerts, e-newsletter subscriptions and blog feeds. Then go to: www.google.com/alerts and www.alerts.yahoo.comand set up alerts for terms related to your business, e.g. if you run a pizza shop, set up an alerts for your business name, pizza, Italian food, and alerts for your key competitors. Next, using your new email address, sign up for related content that can help your business grow, like relevant emails from business journals, marketing gurus, etc. At least once a week read through your inbox and compile names of writers who’ve written about a topic similar to yours – it’s best to do this in Excel, so you can create columns.  (more…)

Great Marketing That Makes Money

November 4, 2013

For most companies, there are ways to turn marketing efforts into profit centers. Of course, every situation and every company is different. Creative marketing solutions do not apply across the board.

But in all cases, it pays to think outside the box. I like racking my brain to think of ways to turn marketing efforts into profit centers. And I have found that it is usually possible.

Here are some examples from the days when I owned an industrial equipment manufacturing company, building specialty machinery for the polymer industry. I have since used the same type of thinking in financial services, publishing, and other companies I have owned or consulted with.

The Demonstration Lab

As a cost center: Customers came to our factories to use demonstration equipment to see if it could handle their processing and new product development requirements. The hope was that if they had a successful experience then they would buy our equipment. Every trial session required our staff to be available. As our company’s reputation grew, demand for our lab services grew exponentially. It was a money-spending sinkhole that occasionally led to equipment sales. (more…)

Industrial Iron Man: Ekso Aims To Power Superhuman Workers

October 28, 2013

Max Scheder-Bieschin, CFO of Ekso Bionics, just comes right out and says it: “We want to create Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit.”

Looking around his company’s warehouse in an industrial section of Richmond, California -– the same warehouse that 75 years ago produced many of the tanks and Jeeps used in the Pacific theater — it’s hard not to take him seriously.

The bionic suits, which look closer to those worn by Matt Damon in the upcoming movie Elysium, are overrunning the place. Over here, one hangs from an industrial-strength gurney while a technician welds circuitry into its knee joint. Over there, another marches in place without a human inside, indefinitely automated for stress tests (an eerie fixture for the last person in the office at night, staff admit.) At the far end of the room, suits painted with military fatigues sit half-assembled. And that’s to say nothing of what goes on in The Tent, a 20-by-20-foot pup assembled in the corner to conceal Ekso’s most confidential projects from anyone — employees included — not on a need-to-know.  (more…)

Is Mediation Your Best Option?

October 23, 2013

Legal disputes are costly, time consuming, emotionally draining, and not good for business. A business dispute is a business illness. If mild, you can work through it, but it still drags you down and impacts profits. If severe, a business dispute can destroy an entire business. Unfortunately, just as illnesses are an inevitable part of being human, disputes are an inevitable part of doing business. Learning how to effectively manage the disputes that arise is critical for business success.

Negotiation, mediation, and litigation are each potent processes for breaking down an impasse so that disputants can move from conflict to resolution. As with any tool, there are right and wrong times and ways to use it.

Negotiate, Mediate, or Litigate?

Litigation is often the most costly, time-consuming, and ineffective method for getting to resolution. It takes control of the dispute out of the hands of the business owner and gives it to a third party, such as a judge, arbitrator, or jury. This is not to say that litigation is bad and should be avoided in all cases. Litigation is appropriate when it is simply impossible to work through issues consensually. (more…)

Cheers! Surly Brewing Breaks New Ground by Repealing an Old Law

October 22, 2013

Two and a half years ago, Minnesota craft favorite Surly Brewing announced plans to open a new $20 million “destination brewery” in Minneapolis. There was just one problem. It was illegal.

A Prohibition-era law still on the books in Minnesota forbid breweries from serving their beer on premises. The Free Enterprise Tour stopped at Surly Brewing for a tour, a sample of Furious IPA, and background on the fight to get the outdated law repealed. The original law, Surly Brewing President Omar Ansari explained, was designed to maintain a three-tier system keeping alcohol manufacturers, distributors, and retailers apart.

It’s fitting that Surly was given its name to describe “the anger fueled by the inability to find good beer,” and perhaps even more fitting that Surly led the charge to change the law and put good beer in the hands of beer lovers. The so-called “Surly Bill” to get the antiquated law repealed was championed by beer lovers throughout Minnesota. “Surly Nation”—which includes other craft brewers, an active social media community, and beer lovers alike—demonstrated what the brewery dubbed the “Power of the Pint” through a massive grassroots campaign to garner support for the bill.  (more…)