Phil Lauterjung

It’s not often that one can find 50 well-known business bloggers and their collective wisdom in one place.  Usually it takes quite a bit of time and searching all over the web.  But, thanks to to Gregory Go (Wise Bread) and the Open Forum you can.

These aren’t full blog posts, but there are some very good snippets from these 50 bloggers.  There are also links to each of their blogs in case you want to read more.  [After staying for a few minutes to read some of mine first of course ]

They are divided into a number of business categories in case you’re only interested in certain specific topics.  Since this is a blog devoted to sales, marketing, and social media here are some samples from those topics:

On Marketing

40. “The key is finding the advertising channel that best fits your company and your industry and use it to get the biggest bang for your buck. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you spend or how many eyeballs you reach. It’s about how many customers you can bring in the door while still making enough money to float your boat.”
— Rosalind Resnick, Entrepreneur.com

41. “Really think about if you need that $15,000 a month PR firm. Perhaps you can get a PR consultant to work on 2-3 projects a year for $10-15k each and save 75%. More PR firms are wasted half the year while you build up your product anyway.”
— Jason Calacanis, Calacanis.com

42. “Focus on generating attention. The Web has liberated us from the tyranny of paying for attention! Small business entrepreneurs can generate attention for their business in four main ways: You can BUY attention (this is called advertising); you can BEG for attention (this is called Public Relations); you can BUG people one at a time to get attention (this is called sales) or you can EARN attention online by creating great information that your buyers want to consume such as YouTube videos, blogs, Twitter feeds, photographs, charts, graphs, and ebooks—and it is all free. How are YOU generating attention?”
— David Meerman Scott, Web Ink Now

43. “Budget enough time and money to market your company; the world won’t beat a path to your doorstep if they can’t find you on Google.”
— Rich Brooks, Flyte Blog

On Social Media Marketing

49. “Ask Why, Not What: It might seem like everyone is on Facebook or using Twitter these days. When the latest marketing fads come into view, don’t ask ‘what’ should I do on sites like this, ask ‘why’ should my business be on these sites. If your customers don’t use these sites, should you?”
— Kevin Dougan, Strategic Public Relations

50. “Find your customers online and where they spend time. Once you’ve researched where your customers spend their time, use those venues to converse and collaborate with them toward shared mutual gain.”
— Steve Rubel, SteveRubel.com

51. “Don’t fear the social media space. Small business do excel in social media, because they understand relationships. Though the Internet is often seen as a place to sell, social media has made it a great space for extending customer relationships. Social media tools also offer great ways to connect with other small business to share ideas, to talk with customers for feedback, to announce special events and to find with new partners to make new innovative offers.”
— Liz Strauss, Successful Blog

52. “To increase the effectiveness of your activities, you need to integrate three basic components – research / intelligence, content development, and measurement. Remember that relationships are key in social media, so you will need to expand your thinking to earned direct and indirect links through good content.”
— Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent

53. “To make participation in comments and social media activities count for you, listen first, be aware of the context – are people talking about your industry in general, a competitor, or your company directly? – and look to engage in an honest, open and helpful manner. Drop the buzzwords, and do a gut check by reading your comment as you would read what someone else left on your blog.”
— Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent

On Sales

62. “Boost your sales by focusing on how each customer wants to buy, instead of plugging in some standard sales approach.”
— Michael McLaughlin, Guerrilla Consulting

63. “Talk to your prospects to discover their most pressing needs then direct your efforts to solving those challenges. Always be focused on being seen as a problem-solver, sharing and giving rather than focusing on your own gain.”
— Chris Garrett, ChrisG.com

64. “When you do make a request, frame it in benefits to the prospect. For example instead of ‘join my list’, say ‘get the 10 secrets to … delivered to your email inbox’.”
— Chris Garrett, ChrisG.com

65. “Sell more to existing customers – Create a sleaze-free sales process that upsells and cross sells highly-relevant, value-added products or services to clients in order to bump your average order size by 10-15%.”
— Jonathan Fields, JonathanFields.com

66. “Co-operate with a competitor. Up-sell related products after the initial sale. If your customers would benefit by having both of your products, you might negotiate the opportunity to include your competitor’s product inside your own box, or vice versa.”
— Martin Zwilling Startup Professionals Musings

There is much more, so check it out and enjoy the enlightenment.  101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers

Photo Credit: StevenBrisson

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