Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog. Over 57 million Americans read blogs. There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.

That’s a lot of conversation.

Does your business have a blog? More and more, people looking for information on your business are going online to see if you have a website. Having a blog is the easiest and fastest way to get new information about your business online and to your customer.

BlogWorld and New Media Expo, is taking place next month in Las Vegas and if you are a business owner, marketing, PR, or media professional who is interested in learning how to take advantage of the opportunities that blogging and new media represent to you and your clients, then you might want to check out the information on this conference.

Kimberly L. Coerr from Blog World Expo offered BusinessInGeneral.com a code to pass along to anyone who wanted to get a discount for 20% off any registration type at the Show. Visit the website blogworldexpo.com and use the code “BHLDKC” to receive the discount.

Take advantage of this quick - the registration window is closing soon!

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Tags: blogging, conference, education, Marketing, networking, new media, social media
Posted on August 21st, 2008 | No Comments »

Today we launched our long awaited new marketing planning software: Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing. We are so excited to make this product available to our customers, and to bring the expertise and sheer marketing genius of John Jantsch to our product line. While Marketing Plan Pro has been an award winning software for years and years, we now bring to the market a product that really captures the simplicity of marketing espoused by John and the Duct Tape Marketing system.

Now you really can get your marketing plan together in just 30 minutes. You can use our software and be guided through the process by John himself - just think of this product as John in a package! The great thing about combining our software with John’s methodology is that John has been able to put together a system that helps people:

1. Understand marketing
2. Apply it effectively and quickly to their business
3. Create a real action plan
4. Realistically follow the plan to grow their business

We are excited to put this product into the market, just as small business owners are looking to batten down the hatches in this tough economy. All businesses need to make sure that they are spending every penny wisely — and that they understand which marketing spends actually work. So if you find yourself looking at your revenue, and then comparing that to your expenses, and scratching your head and wondering where you SHOULD be spending money, and where you SHOULD be saving money, this is the product for you! Check it out and let us know what you think.

-Sabrina Parsons aka MommyCEO 

Tags: Duct Tae marketing, grow your business, Marketing, marketing plan pro
Posted on August 20th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Product release days are kind of like juggling a couple dozen china plates all at once. With the occasional addition of a feral cat thrown in for fun.

This will be the 6th or 7th product release I’ve been through with Palo Alto Software and each one is completely different from the last. Well, except for the juggling and ending the day with a brand new shiny product to show our customers and the rest of the world. That is always pretty much the same every time.

Leading up to every release is weeks and weeks of hard, exhausting work and one brilliant day of relief in getting a job done and done well. Followed immediately by starting all over again.

So let me pull back the curtain a bit and explain what goes through the usual release of a new or updated product at Palo Alto Software.

With a refresh of a product, as what we’ve done with Marketing Plan Pro, everything starts with a brainstorm meeting. Key members from Product Development, Customer Support and Documentation all get together and go over customer feedback, general updates, platform considerations and they decide what should be updated, and if any massive overhaul is required for the new program. Then all those “wouldn’t it be nice to have” ideas are given over to the Development team who comb through them and start coding the software. Fast forward a bit past all the hard work put into product development, quality assurance, editing and documentation, we get to a point where the rest of the company starts gearing up for the actual release date. Customer Care and Technical Support start to learn the ins and outs of the software, the new features, etc. The Web team starts mapping out what the new Web pages are going to look like. Marketing starts creating copy and figuring out just exactly how to position all the information. The PR department starts writing press releases, updating social networking profiles and starts writing blog posts like this one.

Then everyone holds their breath for that moment when the switch on the server is flipped and all the new content goes live.

It’s an exciting moment, usually met by a loud celebration quickly followed by a lot of naps.

It’s important, especially in the software world, to keep up with the movement of the industry. Computers, programs, platforms, computer language… it’s all constantly changing. Software produced a just few years ago is obsolete today. As a company we have to grow with the demand of the world and the technology, or poof! we go away.

Recently, Shuna Fish Lydon from the Eggbeater blog wrote about sustainability in the Restaurant business. She’s smart and talented, and never fails to make me see things from another viewpoint. In her article she concludes - “My industry is not sustainable. Restaurants are not sustainable. Not for the employees. Or most employers.”

We talk here a lot about planning and knowing your market. We want people to succeed at their business. We want people to grow their businesses. But there is a hard truth out there that not all businesses succeed. For whatever reason, they eventually close and something new replaces them.

It takes a lot of hard work to start a business. It takes guts to keep it going, especially in an industry you know has a very steep sustainability curve. But sometimes business isn’t about sustainability and longevity. It’s about making money, or creating a product or service that fills a [sometimes short-term] need in your community. It’s about doing your best and making it work for as long as possible. And celebrating that amazing achievement.

Having a plan and making sure you are smart with your money and marketing yourself right is going to give you a huge advantage over someone who didn’t bother with planning. It makes sense to think about what your goal is before you start the process.

Maybe, when it comes down to it, you’ll only go through one product release during the life of your business. So make the most of it.

Break a few of those china plates and make sure to watch out for the cat.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Tags: business planning, Marketing, sustainability
Posted on August 20th, 2008 | No Comments »

Purchase incentives are an every-day occurrence. We see them everywhere, from simple coupons to instant rebates to frequent flier miles.

Does your business offer a purchase incentive as a marketing tactic? How much good does it do for your business… really? Does your fulfillment deliver the goods?

I’m a geezer who remembers mailing in breakfast cereal box tops for plastic Moon Rocket kits. These were great marketing tools in the Sputnik age. Howere, sometimes those Moon Rockets never arrived. And boy, was I one angry little kid! I quit eating that brand of cereal… that showed them!

Incentive fulfillment is now an industry in its own right, with good and bad offers and good and bad businesses. We all know the good examples, such as the rebate checks that arrive in three weeks instead of eight weeks. They leave us with a good impression of the offering company.

When fulfillment is slipshod, or poorly delivered, or misrepresented it is the offering company that loses its good reputation, not the fulfillment company. For example, my wife recently decided to try out a different brand of home product because it offered a $15 rebate. However, when the rebate arrived, it was not a check but a voucher for credits at a third party redeem-for-product website. What the….!?!? Grrrrrrrr!

None of the products offered were of any interest so she passed the credits along to her sister. Unfortunately, the third party website company deducted credits for transfer, and deducted credits for checking the credit balance, etc. until there were not enough credits left to redeem a pack of facial tissues (to say nothing of the shipping and handling).

And who is taking the heat for this scam? Not the fulfillment company, not the people who sold this system, and not the third party website that we would never have visited (and never will again). Nope. All the frustration and ill will that was generated by this thoroughly unsatisfactory purchase incentive falls squarely on the product company. The incentive may have gotten them one sale from us, but they’ll not get another.

So this marketing tactic backfired. And any good impressions chalked up by other marketing expenditures by the product company were wiped clean off the board. Money wasted.

If you are going to offer a purchase incentive, decide if you really want to offer something of value, and whether your goal is a bunch of one-time sales or if you want to attract repeat customers. Then, find a reputable fulfillment company with a good track record, and a commitment to serving you and your customers well.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Tags: , fulfillment, incentive, Marketing, offers, rebates, sales, tactics
Posted on July 28th, 2008 | No Comments »

While some people associate business planning narrowly with sales forecasting, or as a means to obtaining investment, it can also be used by companies to assess the impact of changes to the environmental context. This analysis of the future can help inform strategies and tactics in the present, which help to minimise the likelihood of certain outcomes, particularly negative ones happening in the future.

I spotted an advert in a recent edition of Newsweek which resonated strongly with me. The advert was placed by a company that clearly had one eye on the future, had identified a significant threat to a key supplier and had begun to put in place a number of clever activities in an attempt to protect this key supplier.

Who was the key supplier?

It is the humble honey bee, and the company in question is Haagen-Dazs.

Recognising that the ingredients it uses in its ice cream rely heavily on pollination by honey bees, Haagen-Dazs has set up a website which strives to raise awareness of the alarming decline in honey bees. The advert in Newsweek went one step further, consisting of an advert alongside a printed recyclable sheet embedded with wild flower seeds. The instructions suggested you ‘save a bee‘ by planting the page and watering it.

Not only is this a clever campaign that both engages and drives action, but also one that essentially carries no cost for the consumer. In economic terms it is a great solution to a real growing strategic problem, and also a very effective marketing ploy. For ice cream lovers the world over, it is also a very worthy cause!

Alan Gleeson
Palo Alto Software Ltd (U.K.)

Tags: business plan, business planning, ice cream, Marketing, Strategy, suppliers
Posted on June 17th, 2008 | No Comments »