By Mark Smiciklas

Word of mouth (WOM) is an elusive form of marketing that has the ability to either build or erode your small business brand. What are some of the characteristics of WOM as a communication medium that make it such a powerful marketing tool? What can you do to try to develop positive word of mouth for your small business?

Trust

The foundation of any great relationship is trust. One of the reasons that people talk about your product, service or company (WOM) is because they trust your brand – as a small business owner, it's important to earn the trust of your stakeholders with every interaction. As you develop relationships with customers, suppliers and employees, trust will slowly develop – this is an organic process that takes time. The best way to build trust is to deliver on your brand promises. For example, if your small business guarantees a certain level of service, make sure you meet or exceed the expectation level you've created with your customers – falling short on brand promises will result in the kind of communication you want to avoid…negative WOM.

Increasing Viral Capacity

As online social networks become common place, the viral capacity of WOM continues to increase. The ability for WOM to spread (at a rapid pace) beyond face to face communication or via other traditional means i.e. telephone creates both opportunities and pitfalls for small business owners. Let's use LinkedIn as an example – my 33 personal contacts connect me to a network of over 432,000 people. If I am passionate about a product/service, either positively or negatively, I have the ability to share that with my connections, who could pass it on to their network, and so on.

The most important thing to understand about the power of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc is how quickly they can impact your small business. In today's business environment, individual stakeholders have a voice – if you do not meet/exceed the expectations of your stakeholders, consumer empowerment fueled by technology could have negative effects on your small business.

Enigmatic

WOM is complex and difficult to control. Some of the fundamentals that help position successful WOM are:

• having a great product/service
• building trust with your stakeholders
• delivering on your brand promise
• exceeding expectations

There are no guarantees that your small business will ignite positive WOM at every customer touch point. A recent blog post by Seth Godin lists a number of reasons why your product/service may not be "worth making a remark about."

WOM can be so intangible that sometimes it's easy to lose sight of how it can affect your small business. It's really important to remember the power of WOM and to do the best you can to position your small business to reap the benefits by developing relationships, building trust and exceeding expectations. A good way to keep WOM top of mind is to be empathic across all touch points – If you were in your stakeholders shoes, how would you feel about the execution of your brand promise on your website, in your store, on the phone…and who would you tell about it?

By Mark Smiciklas

One of the most important assets of any small business is its reputation – stakeholder opinion can be a driving force when it comes to establishing the value of your brand in the marketplace. As consumers continue to enjoy unlimited access to information and unprecedented freedom of expression online, it seems that Reputation Management has taken on a heightened level of importance for small business owners. What is “Reputation Management” and how important is it to your small business? What is involved and can small business owners manage the process themselves?

What is Reputation Management?

Have you ever “Googled” yourself? Using a search engine such as Google has become the universal way to perform research on a person, product, service or company. The results of these searches are the foundation of Reputation Management. More and more, your small business identity is being established through online content. What is written and/or posted by you or others in websites, news, press releases, blogs, social media, etc essentially defines your small business.

Reputation Management is the process of identifying and managing your online content. In an Internet Duct Tape guest blog post, Tim Nash, a reputation management consultant and co-founder of Venture Skills, defines the three basic areas of Reputation Management as:

1. Finding out what people are saying about you
2. Creating a persona or brand image
3. If needed, defending this image

The scope and nature of your online identity is becoming an important way of defining your small business. Right or wrong, true or false, what you or others (clients, employees, competitors, etc.) are saying about your small business online will affect your reputation.   

The Importance of Reputation Management

“Reputation management is particularly important to small businesses,” says Aerial M. Ellis, Owner of Urbane Imagery, an urban marketing and public relations firm located in Nashville, TN. “I’ve seen it become a very important component to building public relations strategies for several clients. Because small businesses are heavily reliant on word-of mouth and return customers to impact their revenue, the mismanagement of their image can be crucial; ultimately the consumer determines the business’s reputation.”

Managing your reputation has always been important – “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it…” (Warren Buffet). Nancy Williams, Managing Director at Tiger Two Ltd., a U.K. based online reputation management firm, feels that “your reputation is what makes you succeed or fail as a small business – with the internet permeating every aspect of business (and social life) it is even more important to be managing that reputation both online and off line.”

Managing the Process

Assessing your identity, building your personal brand and managing your reputation online can be a very involved process. Some of the components include:

• ongoing search engine research
• website development
• search engine optimization
• blogging
• participating in social networks
• posting articles
• issuing press releases

Laura Marshall, Senior Manager of External Relations at Lumetra, a health care consulting organization located in San Francisco, CA, defines the online management of your small business reputation as “a daily scan of blogs, news, and other online information to see what people are saying about you.” She adds that, in addition to what is being said, it’s important to note the source of the information and “how likely their words are to get picked up by others.” Marshall elaborates that a post on a popular online news site “may hit the national media” where a post from an individual blogger may not have as great an impact.

Hiring Out

As a small business owner, you may not have the time or staff resources to take on the challenge of Reputation Management. “Online reputation management isn’t just a matter of setting up a blog and occasionally spending time on a discussion forum,” says Nancy Williams, “It is an ongoing and strategic process which requires constant review and action.”

Williams also notes that it can be feasible and “often more effective” for small business owners to manage their online identity but adds that “guidance to ensure that the time is being spent well in respect to the aims of the business owner is pretty important.” Depending on your needs and budget, there are different companies and individual consultants that can help manage your online identity. 

One thing to remember about managing your reputation online is that it’s impossible to remove all traces of negative press. A good Reputation Management consultant should be able to help you increase your exposure online and help you develop a positive online reputation.   

“As a PR practitioner, I have seen small businesses attempt to manage their online reputation via MySpace, Blogs, Google, etc. And for some, it can be quite a struggle – That’s where a consultant with some level web expertise can be an asset,” says Aerial M. Ellis.” The mismanagement of an online reputation and waiting until a crisis arises can be the root of a credibility problem. By then, it may be too late to do any damage control.”

“If your business is too small to have someone do the daily web screening (and personally & promptly respond to people who say good and bad things about you), then you may want to hire someone to do it for you”, says Laura Marshall. “Even if you decide to hire a consultant to manage the process, Marshall still feels it’s critical to have your own employees be the source of any company information. “Because of credibility and accuracy issues, try to get comments from your own people rather than having them (consultants) speak for the company.”

Reputation is Built Over Time

Developing your online reputation is an organic process that takes time – every time you engage in communication; your small business has the opportunity to build its reputation.

“It’s re-established day by day with each mouse click, each online newsletter, each email or e-blast or forward, each web page,” adds Ellis. “Managing a reputation requires constant attention to learning about your industry and the changes that take place with your target consumers. Nowadays, for most small businesses and even non-profit organizations, a good online reputation is mandatory for survival.”

Laura Marshall concludes that “the larger issue of Reputation Management is having company leadership that understands it’s a proactive thing and not reactive – Think about it with every business decision you make.”   

Contributor Links

Aerial M. Ellis: Urbane Imagery
Nancy Williams: Tiger Two Ltd.
Tim Nash: Venture Skills
Internet Duct Tape: Reputation Management Blog Post

By Mark Smiciklas

It’s not a stretch to suggest that an organization has a greater chance of achieving success when it employs the right people.  Obviously, the goal of any company is to hire well, but many small businesses mis-step during the process of seeking out the right employees. What are the characteristics of the "right" people? As a small business leader, what ideas do you need to understand and embrace in order to get the right people into your organization?

Having the "the right people on the bus" is one of the business concepts discussed by Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap..and Others Don’t. Collins researched over 1400 companies and discovered a set of ideas that, when embraced and implemented, differentiated great companies from their "good" counterparts.

The Basic Principles

1. The first step your small business should take is to hire the right people, even before establishing a strategic direction. The idea: getting the right people working together will help your organization manage change. For example, if your small business attracts people because of your products, service offering or strategy, you might have issues if you have to change the direction of your business. On the other hand, if people join your organization because of reasons such as values, working with like minded people, etc. you will likely be able to "change the direction of the bus" without too much difficulty.
2. The right people eliminate the need for your small business to focus on the motivation and management of your team. The right people are driven, self-motivated and responsible.
3. Your small business will never maximize its potential with the right strategic direction but the wrong people. To quote Jim Collins: " Great vision without great people is irrelevant."   

Characteristics of the "Right" People

The concept of having the right people on the bus is rooted in the belief that it’s critical to hire the right people first, then establish a strategic direction for your small business. An interview with the author (www.jimcollins.com) inspires the following list of things that your small business should consider when looking for the right people:   

• The right people must share the same core values as you and your small business. An important thing to understand about core values is that they can’t be taught – you can’t force someone to change their behaviour to correspond to the values of your organization – it’s critical to find people that are the right fit.
• The right people do not need to be managed – they may need coaching or mentoring to ignite the fire and tap their full potential, but they do not need to be "baby sat". Trust can be a good indicator when assessing whether or not a hiring may have been a mistake. Do you trust an employee to manage a critical situation or speak with an important client without feeling the need to look over their shoulder?
• The right people possess the ability to be the best of breed in their positions. Do your people have what it takes to be the best client service managers, salespeople, administrators, etc?
• The right people understand the difference between "having a job and holding a responsibility." Jim Collins refers to this trait as being "productively neurotic".
• Knowing what you know about people after they have worked in your small business, would you re-hire them? If the answer is no, they they are likely not right for your organization. 

The right people are critical to a small company. In larger organizations, wrong people can make it difficult to succeed – in more intimate cultures the wrong people will suck the life out of your small business. Hiring the right people and letting go of the wrong people is not an easy task…it requires discipline and courageous leadership. Is it worth the commitment? Mediocre companies are a dime a dozen..good organizations are slightly harder to find…but great companies are few and far between – they stand out in the marketplace.   

By Mark Smiciklas

Change is an ever-present component of small business ownership. The ability for small business owners to effectively manage change lays the groundwork for growth and helps build the foundation for the development of a positive corporate culture. What can small business owners do to make themselves better change leaders? What are the most important factors to consider when managing change?

Have a Plan and Take Small Steps

Change is something that your small business is sure to experience. A great way to prepare yourself to manage change as a small business owner is to develop a change plan. Take a look at all facets of your business and write a simple list of strategies that take into account possible changes in each functional area.  "Build a big plan with small steps. A ‘big’ plan isn’t an enormous impenetrable document, it is the summation of big ideas necessary to build belief and overcome inertia…it functions as an overlay across the business to keep initiatives in balance" says Philip Stanley, Founder at Minutecoach in the U.K. "For the owners, small steps mitigate risk and allow fluidity of movement. If the pace of change gets a little aggressive or laggardly, you can jiggle your blocks into a new pattern."

Communication

One of the most important components of change management is effective communication. Terri Maurer, Planning and Strategies Consultant and Owner of The Maurer Consulting Group in Cleveland Ohio believes that "communication is the key to a smooth passage of change in any organization. Getting as many people as possible into the change process, even if it involves no more than gathering input from staff through management, will do much to move the process forward." She also mentions that keeping your team "appraised of what is going on and why" should facilitate a smooth transition. "Utilize as many channels of communications as possible: face to face meetings, company memos, e-mail, newsletters, company intranet, etc." 

Vijay Shah, Engineer and Operation Manager at Bauer Controls in Detroit, developed the following list of change management best practices:

• Communication: Every change requires communicating the goal to all who are involved. And listening to the all who are involved
• Humility – Understanding the constraint of your resources and making sure you do all in your power to accommodate.
• Democratic dictatorship – As someone said, “The Roman empire was not created by committee”, you need to communicate/listen but then take quick decision. It may not satisfy everyone but it will allow you to move forward knowing that you communicated with humility.

More Change Management Ideas

I will leave you with a few more ideas on change management derived from "The Biggest Mistakes in Managing Change" (Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.):

1. Appreciate and acknowledge the importance of people in any change initiative. "Organizations don’t change. People do — or they don’t." Whenever possible, include your employees in any change discussions and recognize that each person may react to a specific change differently. Let people know the reasons for change and include them in any change planning conversations.
2. Treat change as a "mental, emotional and physical process" as opposed to another business "event". Acknowledge the fact that change may be a very emotional process for your team. 
3. Direct, honest communication is the best policy. Don’t attempt to "protect" your employees by withholding facts about any pending changes or trying to spin doctor the details. Also be aware of communicating change in a timely fashion – people are smart and will figure out pretty quickly that something is up. If you create an information vacuum by ignoring the need to communicate changes quickly, your team will fill the vacuum with their own interpretation of the changes are taking place.
4. Believe in the potential of your group and their ability to embrace change and flourish. "Trust in the innate intelligence, capability, and creativity of your employees — and people will astound you."