Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

Developing a marketing plan is vital to the direction of your company. Without a properly formed marketing plan it’s easy to waste resources and get sidetracked with your goals. Small business counselors SCORE outline 7 important steps in developing a marketing plan:

1. Develop Specific Goals and Timeframes
   The very first step should be to nail down specific goals. Get as detailed as you can! When you developed your business plan you didn’t use generalizations like “I want to grow.” Think of your marketing plan in the same way in terms of specifics
   Once you know what you want to get out of your marketing efforts- set challenging but not impossible time frames for completion. Without planning for when goals should be met, it’s easy to misallocate time and resources and under accomplish on your goals.
2. Communicate Goals Internally
   Having more collaborators on your marketing plans means a bigger pool of ideas to pull from and more help along the way. Make sure all of your employees know where you’re going and how you’re planning on getting there. In the beginning when you just have a few employees that’s easy, but the breakdown in communication can start when the company begins to grow. (more…)
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Will you be at SXSW this year? Are you ready to learn more about Volusion and meet the team? Good news: We’ll be at the Interactive trade show from March 13-15, 2010!

“We’ve attended SXSW Interactive over the years and have been impressed to watch it grow into a major industry event. By exhibiting for the first time in 2010, we’re excited about the opportunity to share ideas with technology leaders and work with entrepreneurs that are ready to take their online businesses to the next level,” said Clay Olivier, Volusion COO and CMO.

SXSW will span March 12-21 and will feature an impressive line-up of panels, presentations and performances spanning the fields of film, interactive and music. The Interactive portion will take place from March 12-16, bringing together some of the best and brightest minds in technology today.

Don’t miss out! Come find Volusion at SXSW! We’ll have more details for you as the date draws closer.

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Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)- Office of Advocacy released a working paper in August detailing some business start-up statistics:

• 92% of start-ups are new independent businesses
• 50% of start-ups are home-based and 40% rent or lease
• 91% have fewer than 10 employees

So, in general it can be said that the average start-up is probably a home-based independent business with just a handful of employees. These statistics are reassuring for many small business owners who worry that their business won’t be taken seriously because they haven’t left home, or don’t have a large team of employees.

We’re All in the Same Boat

The reason so many other small business owners are in the same position as you is because that’s what works! When you’re first getting started it makes sense to start fresh (instead of trying to negotiate the legal waters of buying a business) and to use your home as a base of operations (rather than spending money you haven’t yet earned to get yourself a separate location for your business) and get by with as few personnel as possible to keep business operations running (in order to save money).

The Importance of a Co-Captain

There was one surprising statistic that the SBA paper revealed: Businesses with multiple owners have a higher rate of growth than those with single owners. (more…)

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At the Innotech eMarketing Summit I attended a presentation entitled “Communication Shifts: How Brands Communicate through Twitter and the Blogosphere” by Simon Salt and Chad Sour (yes, those were their real names). I came away realizing that social media is really a tightrope act. Mastering social media requires that you learn how to play the game with today’s rules, while simultaneously preparing to play within a different set of rules (or a different game entirely) tomorrow to leverage social media for your company. This balance between focusing on the now and looking forward to the future will determine who the real social media “winners” will be.

Today’s Rules

Today’s rules are important to follow because without abiding by them your brand’s social media strategy will never get off the ground.

There are some rules that apply to all social media platforms today (and probably always will), such as:

• Make people want to follow your company and talk about it with their circle of friends
• Establish a clear company voice (not necessarily your own voice as a business owner) and stick to it
• Know how you’re going to handle negative situations before they arise and then stick to your plan when the time comes

Rules are always evolving on social media platforms. Major changes like the Facebook news feed, FTC blogging guidelines, or Twitter follow limitations changed the game significantly for brands that were utilizing those platforms. These changes serve to demonstrate that with every new rule a company’s focus must remain on the here and the now first and foremost because otherwise your social media strategy can easily become outdated, ineffective, and potentially harmful to your business goals.

Tomorrow’s Changes

But it’s easy when one or two major changes happen on a well-established social media network, what about when a former favorite starts to die of old age and new networks are emerging? (more…)

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Throughout the month of November we will be running our “SMB blog series.” While SMB traditionally refers to “Small/Medium Business,” here at Volusion it has come to mean something else: “Small Made Big.” This month we will be sharing resources, tips, stats, and inspirations to help you turn your small ecommerce endeavor into something greater- something BIG!

If you’re a regular reader you’ve probably noticed that we run a Volusion success story about once a month. Each success story features a Volusion client that has made it big with their business. If you haven’t read them, here’s a quick summary of our most recent success stories, as well as the business lesson to take away from each story:

• HockeyShot
  In two years, JP Brun managed to create one of the busiest hockey training sites on the web. His clientele ranges from beginners to international hockey stars and his markets include the US, Canada, and all of Europe. Moving to Volusion’s platform gave his company the boost in efficiency that they needed to be able to grow the business by more than 300% last year.
  Business Lesson: Choosing the right tools can have a huge impact on the future of your business!
• AceTool
  In the three years that Maria Polidoro has had her online store with Volusion, it has climbed the search engine ranks and now is surpassing most of its competitors in the highly competitive industry of hand and power tools. Their SEO investments have paid off significantly!
  Business Lesson: Invest in your future! (more…)
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