I help your business get found
OUR INSPIRATION
The innovator, The Over Achiever, The Small Business or Everyday Joe or Josephine who dares to get noticed.
Ever look at local upstarts 3 Dog Bakery or Foos Frozen Custard and wonder, how did they do it? How bout KC phenoms Walt Disney, or Hallmark Cards.
Ever heard of Marion Kaufman, a salesman from KC who Iwe not only met while he was alive but did business with (both buying and selling) in his earliest incarnation as an Oyster Shell Calcium Salesman to the owner of Marion Merrill Dow and the Kansas City Royals. Small guy, great big ideas and the drive to succeed.
How about Harley Davidson from KC, once looked at as a business for "Bikers", the fringe element. Now a Billion dollar company looked at as a "Lifestyle Solution". Same company, basically the same bikes, a whole different approach largely branded in the media.
Image is everything, you just need a platform to brand and promote your unique vision.
FROZEN CUSTARD, BIKES AND DOG BISCUITS
Was their product really that different? Frozen Custard, Vitamin Supplements, Dog Biscuits and Bikes No. Did they promote, promote, promote, until they could promote their business, their product by every means necessary and get word to the masses? ABSOLUTELY!!!
Is their budget bigger than yours, maybe, can you do the same thing with all of the free tools available to you, a little (alright, a whole lot of hard work and dedication) and by combining the traditional word of mouth and the entrepenuerial spirit that built this country. POSITIVELY!!!
CONNECT THE DOTS
Take facebook, linked in, google blog, google merchant center, craigslist, twitter,word press, myspace, twitter, craigslist, photobucket and every other FREE social media.
Taken separately, a bunch of cool social tools, a way to "keep connected". put together, the most powerful marketing machine ever invented.
Ever wonder how did that silly video on youtube get 12 million hits, or how did I get 143 friends on facebook?
(Facebook press advertises this is the average number of friends per account.)
It is friends of friends, the power of the cell phone and the internet all working to spread the word on the good, the bad, the silly and the serious.
Think about the money you have spent on Yellow Pages ads, door hangers, newspapers, even TV and Radio.
Not very targeted, very short lived, sometimes less than 30 seconds, and a real shot in the dark that someone will read that particular newspaper section, of that particular newspaper on that given day.
WHAT IF?
What if there was a simple way to connect to more customers, make more connections, network in a meaningful way all to promote a great cause, YOU.
There is, it is all free for the taking, you just need a vehicle, or like Picasso, Coppola, King, Presley, Enzo, Harley and all other great artists, A CANVAS. Yes, business owners by design are some of the greatest artists and innovators ever. Look at Alexander Graham Bell or Thomas Edison,
both small businessmen and innovators.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Everybody has a cellphone, Anybody can sign up for a free social media account like facebook, twitter, you tube, linkedin.
These tools by design are so simple, even the smallest child can use them, and use them they do.
WHAT WE DO
Give your small business or idea for a business the tools needed to succesfuly compete in an every changing business world. To level the playing field.
WHY WE DO IT
In 1914, my great grandfather, Lee Thompson, Sr. started Thompson Paper Inc. with his son.
They survived two world wars, the great depression and the ups and downs through the decades.
They 80's phenomenal, the 90's, the beginning of the end.
Competition got fierce, technology changed and their core business went the way of the typewriter.
I noticed a disturbing trend "The Walmart-ing of America"
Big Box chains in every industry, restaurants, hair salons,
electronics, cars, you name it, dropped bombs.
Small business owners hunkered down to weather the storm.
They are still disappearing at an alarming rate.
If you want proof, go to any small town, find the "Town Square" and count the businesses that have been there for 10 years. Bet that number will be cut in half by the next 3.
WHAT WE DID
With a handful (small handful of bucks, a cheap laptop, an internet connection and a LOT OF EFFORT, we were able to resurrect a business that was not only one foot in the grave, but laid to rest.
Soon, fellow small business owners in the same boat, were asking "HOW DID YOU DO IT".
With a little trial and error, an ocean of time and a lot of creativity, found that it works for any small business, any person with an idea or marketable service.
121 businesses later, here we are.
Will the game change?, COUNT ON IT, Will we adapt new strategies?, DAILY, Will we give up on small business?, NEVER!!!!! We are dedicated to our craft.
Face The Facts
1. The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
2. More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) is shared each month.
3. There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
4. The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.
5. People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
Need a Business Idea ?
We have a turnkey online business website for sale complete with shopping cart and product. Click Here
DRIVERS, START YOUR ENGINES
It starts with a vehicle and a bunch of add-ons.
Sign up for a facebook account, load up a profile, have
fun, be real, be relevant.
Sign up for a linked in account. Have it look for connections, it will use your email and come up with 100's if not 1000's of connections. Set up a profile with all of your business info.
Start the Daisy Chain simple, remember the plastic toy monkeys you could chain together, we will get there, chimp by chimp. Don't worry, you are missing a few chimps in the chain, we will get there.
FERRARI OR FORD?
We got the tires and wheels, let's put the chassis on this hotrod and get her rolling.
We do build websites, darn good ones, but that is not the point. You need a car, anything to get into the race.
Start with a free website building tool online, maybe hit up the "Crazy shut in Aunt" who will build you one.
The point is, get in the game, at all costs.
It won't be a waste of time, even if you need to switch cars in the middle of the race.
FUEL UP
The following are the steps to take in order.
1. Find a url - your www.mybusinessaddress.com.
GoDaddy has a free search on their homepage, just type in what you are looking for. Hint: Be flexible- it is not always possible to get exactly what you want. Try adding your city at the end , eg. www.mediafrenzykc.com, DO NOT SETTLE for a .net, .biz .org,, people think .COM.
2. Register your domain name for a year. It is cheap and easy. You can leave it "Parked" until ready.
3. Go "Siting". Look at websites, don't just look in your industry, look at everything. Look at a great magazine cover,
(this practice will teach you a lot, not just web design, but article writing and the all important, HEADLINE.)
People do not read webpages, they SKIM them. Be a word miser, be concise, it will help readers find what they want and help you obey the "3 Click" rule.
4. Once you have an idea of what you want the website to look like, get down on paper what you want to say. Again, be concise. That's right, a Big Chief pad and a #2 pencil all the way on this one. Visualize then Build.
5. Put together your visual elements via photo editing software, try to keep image size small so the pages will load faster. Use the best images you can. The web is a visual medium. Don't get carried away though, leave White Space.
6. Take your time put all of the elements together, get suggestions from everybody, Think Tank It and Build.
7. Finally post it online, be sure relevant keywords (words people use to search for your website are in place and sprinkled generously throughout every page on the site.
8. Google loves titles - look at your newsprint - take their cue.
9. Link ALL of your social media to your website and submit to every search engine and directory you can find.
10. PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE.
Go back and enter your url and business info on Facebook and linkin. Let the world know you and your business are out there. Keep your content updated and current.
A GREAT START - ON TO THE FINISH LINE
Time to Lance Armstong it. Push it to the Max, Repeat the last step with myspace, twitter, google blog, photobucket, wordpress,craigslist, ebay, article directories, internet directories, anwhere people are online.
Make sure your url is on every single shred of material your customers come in contact with. Business cards, invoices, emails,signs, traditional print ads. I MEAN EVERYWHERE!!!
See how a couple players did it!
www.forgetmeknotpaper.com
www.ihelpedcleanupthegulfoilspill.com
This will work for every business of every type.
From Hair Salons to Auto Mechanics, Restaurants to the person who wants to turn a Great Idea or Hobby into a fun living.
It is only limited to your determination and imagination.
Socially Speaking
1.Twitter receives 180 million unique visits each month.
2. There are more than 600 million searches on Twitter every day.
3. A new member joins LinkedIn every second.
4. LinkedIn receives almost 12 million unique visitors per day
5. YouTube receives more than 2 billion viewers per day.
6. You would need to live for around 1,000 years to watch all the videos currently on YouTube.
7. 77% of Internet users read blogs.
8. 90% of Internet users know at least one social network.
9. The average social user has 195 friends
WHO WE ARE
A group of "Average Joe's and Josephines" dedicated to help
small business stay relevant.
CONTACT US 913.538.5614 email:kansascitytony_aol.com
We are setting up a free resource blog for entrepeneurs startups and anyone wanting to learn the basic mechanics of how to use their website as a vehicle.
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