4 Things to Consider When Creating a Business Logo

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

With all the noise on the web today, good branding is more important than ever.  Even if your business is not a cutting edge tech startup, the overall identity of your face on the web, social media, and your storefront should be unified, clean, and compelling.

There’s a lot about doing business on the web that is inexpensive and turn-key: All you need to fire up a basic website, blog, or social media presence is an e-mail address. But no web app can substitute for real design vision, and your logo is the linchpin that ties all of your business’s aesthetics together.

Whether you’re going to hire a pro or put those college art electives to good use, take a moment to heed some advice from the experts about what makes a biz logo “sticky” in the minds of web-savvy consumers.

Read On: 4 Things to Consider When Creating a Business Logo

Five ways to make money from Twitter

(as seen in | Los Angeles Times)

Hundreds of people line up at the Kogi BBQ Korean Taco Truck in Los Angeles after they get its whereabouts on Twitter. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

Despite the tempest in the teapot brewing over what Twitter itself may or may not be making according to stolen internal documents that were leaked to various blogs last week, there are a handful of companies that have already found ways to make a buck from using the micro-blogging service.
As with two of our previous posts on Twitter, this one leans on the experience of our social media producer, Andrew Nystrom (@latimesnystrom). (You can read the earlier post about how to get followers on Twitter here, and one on finding engaging people to follow here.)
Without further delay, here are five quick examples of businesses that have made money using Twitter, beyond the usual driving traffic and building brand, whatever that means:
1. The Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck: Hundreds of people line up to get food from this L.A.-based truck, sometimes even before the truck shows up. How do they know where to go? Twitter. The family-owned company Tweets its schedule on a daily basis to more than 36,770 followers of @KogiBBQ. Of course, just because you Tweet your whereabouts doesn't mean people will show up. You also have to have the goods -- and Kogi's tacos seem to do the trick.
2. Threadless Twitter T-shirts: Threadless, an online T-Shirt store operated by skinnyCorp, has contests in which people can submit a T-shirt slogan (140 characters or less, please). The submissions are voted on by the site's visitors. Winners get to have a shirt designed around their slogan, along with a spot of cash ($500). A few of our favorite slogans: "You autocomplete me." and "Sadly, my day requires pants."

3. woot.com's Deal of the Day: The Dallas company -- whose motto is "One day. One deal" -- sends out its daily specials via Twitter. Who cares? More than 995,000 people apparently do, subscribing to @woot for notices of a pastiche of products that go on sale, including $12 kitchen choppers, $300 queen-sized memory foam mattresses and $15 power adapters. Much of the merchandise, however, consists of gizmos that fit well with Twitter's techie audience.
4. United Airlines Twitter-only deals: United, along with JetBlue and Virgin America, get rid of empty seats on their planes by offering last-minute deals that are available only via @UnitedAirlines. "These fares fly off the shelves," Nystrom said. (You think he intended that pun?) United calls these Twitter-only airfares "Twares," but it also uses Twitter to broadcast other messages as a way to polish its brand and build connections to its customers.
5. Dell's Outlet on Twitter: Dell raised eyebrows in June when the Texas computer maker said it tallied $3 million in sales of its desktops, laptops and monitors from Twitter since starting its @DellOutlet account in June 2007. Of course, that's a drop in the bucket for Dell, which took in more than $61 billion in sales last fiscal year alone. Still, it's proven to be a good way to move refurbished items or excess inventory, which appears to be the theme of our last three examples.
"Twitter is a good environment for promoting these impulsive, last-minute purchases," Nystrom said.
-- Alex Pham
Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Five ways to make money from Twitter | Technology | Los Angeles Times

5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

(courtesy of Mashable.com. Written by: Samir Balwani is an emerging technology strategist at Morpheus Media, a firm specializing in Social Marketing, SEM, and SEO. You can follow him on Twitter @samirbalwani and get his newsletter.)

Strategy 1: Multimedia Usage

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The term “A picture is worth a thousand words” has never been truer. Consumers are now using the web to look for product pictures and videos; they want more information and want to see what they’re considering buying. The good news is that it’s easy for a company to create and publish videos and pictures.
In addition to taking photos of products, you can also take pictures at office events as a way to highlight company culture. This not only helps convince others to work with you or to buy from you (consumers see that you are down to earth and one of them, instead of a stuffy company), it also helps your HR department recruit new employees. Who doesn’t want to work for a company that celebrates birthdays and has a good time?
Videos are useful for explaining complex how-tos or concepts. Showing step by step directions can have a greater impact than even the most well written article. Businesses don’t have to invest huge sums of money to create good videos, either. I highly recommend the relatively cheap Flip camcorder, which takes great videos and is easy for even a non-technical marketer to use.
Multimedia can break down the faceless business-to-consumer sales flow and make your company appear friendlier. Use videos and images to show that your business is fun, you care about your employees, and most importantly, that you care about your customers.
Example: WorldMusicSupply.com
WorldMusicSupply.com, an online retailer of musical instruments and accessories, has used YouTube () to build a strong online community. Their channel has built over 7,000 subscribers and has over 260,000 views.


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Promote, Market & Brand your Business!

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Courtesy of Business week:

Smart Answers August 7, 2009, 8:43AM EST text size: TT

How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Business

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn—all these can help you build a community of customers as well as introduce you to vendors and sales prospects

By Karen E. Klein

I have turned an old doughnut shop into a coffee shop/bakery and frozen yogurt store. I'd like to start promoting it with Twitter and other social media, but I'm not sure exactly what I would write about to get customers to try our new shop. Can you help? —W.W., Cypress, Calif.
Your aim should be turning customers, who may stop by any convenient spot for a morning coffee, into fans who will drive past other bakeries to wait in line for your offerings, says Chris Warner, vice-president of marketing for JackBe, a small software firm based in Chevy Chase, Md. that specializes in social media marketing.
To get that kind of loyalty, of course, you'll have to deliver a superior product with terrific customer service. Social networking can't make bad coffee palatable or make your yogurt creamier, but it can spread the word quickly as you build a reputation for excellence. "Web 2.0 technologies can help you make a virtual community that keeps your business top of mind for your fans and lets your fans help you engage new prospective customers," Warner says.

Getting Feedback

Creating such a community—whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, Ning or another social networking platform—can help drive foot traffic into your store, says Denise McVey, president of Boonton (N.J.)-based advertising and marketing firm S3. Post "daily updates on your specials of the day and information about special events, such as musical acts that might be playing," she suggests. With Twitter, you can announce when a fresh batch of danish is coming out of the oven, offer special discounts, and allow customers to twitter you their takeout orders.
On the feedback side, run polls through Facebook or SurveyMonkey asking customers to rate their favorite muffin flavors or yogurt toppings. "Give every poll taker a coupon for 20% off," Warner suggests. That brings them back into your store and gives you valuable information about which products to market in future.
Along with broadcasting news about your bakery and requesting reactions to it, social networking can also help introduce you to business practices, vendors, employees, and sales prospects. For instance, connecting with other independent coffee shop owners who aren't necessarily your direct competitors can give you advice on what works and what doesn't in your industry, says Patrick Crane, vice-president of marketing at LinkedIn, in Mountain View, Calif. "You might need information on how to get a new vendor, or you're looking for someone to renovate your space. Asking questions and getting recommendations from a network of other small business owners can help out," he says.
Consider using social networks to expand your customer base beyond your retail store. "You can do title searches at LinkedIn and then ask for introductions to local human resources people or facilities managers at large companies in your area. Once you've been introduced, ask them what kinds of products their employees prefer and offer to bring in a complimentary box of muffins for them to test at their next meeting," Crane suggests. Having a personal introduction from someone in your network is much easier—and likely to be more successful— than making a cold call to generate new business, he says.
Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues.

 Courtesy of Relationship Economy
The Real Reasons Why To Use Social Media
There are dozens of reason why but we’ll keep it to the top ten.These are:

1. You will find whomever you want to do business with somewhere online
2. You will find whatever knowledge you need about any market or any person online
3. You can reach your market by simply engaging in the right conversations with the right people. This is more effective than advertising.
4. If your business can’t be found, isn’t engaging with the market or worse yet ignoring the market you are not likely to be creating transactional opportunities while your competition does.
5. Communications is a system to leverage your organizations ability to communicate with your market. Social media is the new communications system.
6. Social media saves time and money if you use it right for the right things
7. If you learn “how” to use social media correctly then you’ll understand “what” your market is looking for and “where” they are looking. You’d want them to look for you.
8. “When” your customers and prospects are engaging about you, your industry or your products and services you need to be there listening. Otherwise how will you gain the necessary market intelligence, be enabled to respond or even be aware of problems or needs. If you are not present when and where the conversations are occurring you are basically out of touch with your market.
9. Communications is about reach. Communicating is about relational dynamics between people. Social media provides the means to effectively communicate with your market. However communicating in human rather than institutional terms.
10. If you are not communicating (listening first, initiating second) then how in the world do you expect to create relationship with people and businesses that may want the value you offer?

When people need or want something in the old days they’d look up information in the yellow pages. Today people turn to search engines to find what they want or need. Each day on average Google gets used 235 million times.
When people are looking to purchase something they want and need more and more they are going on line to find out what other people think or say about a product, service or brand. The relevancy that influences people’s buying behavior  is other people’s conversation, including yours. That is if they can find your conversation and if it provides value people are looking for.
To sum up: For many, the Web isn’t a place to look for information, it’s the only place.


Learn How to Brand your Business Online Using Social Media applications

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