WP Blog Host's Blog » Entrepreneurial

Fatten Up Your Wallet by Using Online Videos

John Hoff — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:00:58 +0000

I’d like to thank the Shoemoney Newsletter for bringing this site to my attention, and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with all of you.

Andy Jenkins (a.k.a. The Video Boss) is releasing a set of videos showing us how we can use video to increase sales and conversions on our sites. I have to say, this video series is freaking awesome and well worth your time.

In the videos he shows us which camera to use, which programs he uses to create video slides, how the video’s message should be focused, and so much more.

If you sell products or services online, this is a must see video series. I definitely plan on following his advice and will be working on perfecting my video skills for our WordPress video tutorials site.

Andy does ask for your email address before you can watch the videos, f.y.i. But if you’re like me, you have a special email address for subscriptions so as to not clog up your primary email address.

Here’s the link to the tutorials (not an affiliate link): The Video Boss.

How I Obtained A $30,000 Credit Line With A Bad Credit Score

John Hoff — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:00:37 +0000

Why some people almost always get the lowest interest rate on their mortgage… and never pay too much in points or “junk fees” If you want a mortgage with the lowest rate… for the lowest points and fees…here’s exactly how you do it!

Your bank can help you build your empire.
Image by DavidDMuir

Today in the United States the economy sucks.

The term “credit squeeze” has been floating around lately and refers to the fact that banks are in so much trouble themselves that they have tightened their lending policies almost to the point where credit scores don’t matter.

Cash is king, yes, but there is a “queen” out there that is almost as good as cash.

What is it?

Trust.

Being that I deal a little in real estate, people sometimes ask me questions about how to improve their credit scores or what’s the best way to obtain a line of credit.

My answer has always been you need to build trust with a bank, preferably one you can physically walk into and meet with someone face-to-face. If you already have great credit with an out of state bank that’s ok too, continue building that credit and trust, but nothing beats being able to walk into a bank and getting to know the staff.

I bring this up because it has always been something I’ve said you need to do as a business owner and real estate investor and a couple weeks ago, my belief was put to the test.

Because of this poor real estate market, my credit score has basically been ruined; I made one bad investment which has trashed my credit and there’s little chance a bank would easily loan me money based off my credit score alone. But over the years I’ve gotten to know a few bankers at my banks of choice (yes I have a few) and I rarely can walk in and head for the teller window without waving hello at least twice to friendly faces.

This is also great for networking. Bankers are often times the first people to know when someone is starting a business needs a website or might be going into foreclosure. So networking with a bank and getting to know a banker or two is a very powerful tool you can use to find business and make a little money by solving people’s problems.

What Happened When I Met With My Banker

Personally, I’ve networked with a few banks and have a decent relationship going. A couple weeks ago my wife and I decided to transfer one of our business accounts over to another bank in order to simplify how we move our money around.

We sat down with the banker we know at that bank and opened a new business account. When she asked me if I’d like to apply for a line of credit I thought to myself this would be the first time that my somewhat recent tarnished credit score is going to hurt me. I wasn’t thinking about the good relationship I had built with this bank in the past.

She popped my information into her computer and within about 10 seconds I was approved for a $30,000 line of credit, no questions asked!

I joked with her and said, “Only $30k?”

She laughed and said “Well I can run your credit and see if we can get you some more.”

I of course declined as I didn’t want her discovering that my credit score has recently been lowered.

I think of a bank as a silent partner in just about everything I do. In the beginning they don’t know me, therefore they don’t trust me. However, over time as I build a good relationship with them they will begin to trust me and even bend a few of their rules to help me succeed.

So if you’re a business owner or are thinking of starting a business, realize one of the best first steps you can make is to start building relationships with the right people and other businesses.

Quick Tip To Build Trust & Credit With A Bank

To quickly build a decent credit history with a bank you could do the following. Find something you could use to obtain a loan for through your primary bank, like refinancing your car or something. Pay on it for the next 4 to 6 months and then pay off that loan with another bank’s loan (i.e. refinance).

Yes it ends up costing you money to refinance but if you obtain 2 or 3 decent size loans through a bank, pay on them for a bit, and then pay them off, the bank will be willing to loan you money a bit easier as time goes on even though your credit score isn’t so great.

The bonus too is they will report your great credit history to the credit reporting agencies.

Question: Have you built up trust with a bank? If not, what are you waiting for?

The Unplugged Entrepreneur

John Hoff — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:25:02 +0000

What would you do business-wise if Internet marketing went away tomorrow? Could you still run a successful business?

In my last couple of posts I mentioned how I feel with the growing popularity of social media and blogging as a means to grow your business has in many ways made some entrepreneurs lazy.

True it is possible to grow your business by only networking online and never off, but limiting yourself in such a way could be a huge mistake.

One of the main reasons for starting a business is to generate wealth. Yes, freedom to do what you want and be your own boss are other reasons, but without the wealth, you won’t be able to do any of those for long.

If you own a business and want to generate substantial wealth, don’t let your knowledge of the Internet (which is a strength) become your Achilles heal in business. What billionaire or even millionaire do you know sits at home, blogs, toys around with social media and comments back and forth on blogs every day all day long?

Do what you love and turn it into a business, true, but keep your eye on the reason you started a business as well.

What Entrepreneurs Did Back In The Day

Before the invention of the Internet as it is today, entrepreneurs had to meet people and talk with people. They set appointments, went to conventions, got to know their bankers and CPAs, all in an effort to network.

They would make sure their hair was cut, fingernails trimmed, dressed nicely, drove nice cars to meet with customers and associates, etc.

The point here is they had to do everything offline.

So as a business owner, I suggest you don’t only limit your business dealings to the online community.

So let’s pull the plug for a moment on you, the web entrepreneur, and see what you might do if you ran a business without a computer.

Looking Credible

The first thing you need to do as an offline entrepreneur is concentrate on your look.

I hinted at this above. You need to make sure your fingernails are trimmed, your hair is nicely combed and cut, you dress moderately (i.e. not too successful), your shoes aren’t tracking mud or toilet paper, you drive a decent car to meet clients and possible associates, your pants are on properly, etc.

You want to dress and look somewhat successful, but not too successful – don’t look like a shark!

If you’re driving to meet potential clients or associates, try to drive up in a nice car, again nothing too “successful”. If you don’t have a nice car, try to borrow or rent one. Just don’t show up for a meeting with a banker riding a bicycle. On the flip side, unless you’re filthy rich, don’t drive up in a Lamborghini – you don’t want to look like a fool when the banker goes to pull up your assets and sees that you’re renting a house and working at Starbucks.

Networking

Just like you see people online saying how you should network with other bloggers or online entrepreneurs, so should you do offline like they did back in the day.

Get to know your banker (or bankers), a few CPAs, and lawyers.

Get to know how? You might ask?

Let’s say you own an online company that helps people with their credit. I’m sure this profession existed before the Internet, so how did they make money back then?

Off the top of my head you could design a brochure showcasing how your company helps people improve their credit scores and then meet with local bankers, loan officers, real estate investors, Realtors, etc. showing them how you can help their clients. Some investors, for example, offer lease-option agreements where the renter has an option to buy. Obviously they need a decent credit score to buy the home. Maybe the investor will refer your company to their buyer.

What if this investor owned 10 large condo complexes? Just remember if someone helps you, try to help them back. It’s a cold world in business and people like to know what’s in it for them.

My best suggestion is to just think what entrepreneurs did before the Internet and what you would do if it didn’t exist. If that doesn’t work, seek out help and guidance.

Making Profit Today

The Internet gives you the opportunity to sell your product and services to billions, much better than selling only locally. But while you’re networking online and trying to grow your business there, don’t forget that getting out and networking in your community is a great way to generate business now.

If I were to take my marketing tactics for web hosting and WordPress services (services geared around the Internet) offline today, here are a few options I might have to market my company locally and generate business.

Create a free workshop. Oh you better believe I’m going to try and get the news to cover it!
Sit down with someone of influence and get to know them. For example, visit my local S.C.O.R.E. association and chat with one of the tutors there, maybe even take them out for coffee. Oh, was that my business card I left there? Or did she say her daughter needed a website? Here – let me take care of that for you, no charge.
Hold a local contest for kids. Maybe the grand prize is an XBox. Oh darn, did the wind blow away some of my flyers?

Get the point. Doing things online is great, but don’t let the ease and anonymity of the Internet make you lazy as an entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur you need to be useful to people. Be a problem solver and thinker. You can be a one person corporation and take an annual officers meeting all by yourself and just think. The government gave you that option as a tax write off for a reason, it helps you grow your business.

If you own an online business and have yet to take your business venture offline, feel free to mention what you do and we’ll brainstorm together.

The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing and Does It Teach Us Bad Habits As Entrepreneurs?

John Hoff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:14:58 +0000

Craig Newmark, owner of Craiglist.org
A social media entrepreneur that
does more than sit at home all
day at the computer in his PJs

Image by AP/Stephen Chernin
source Wired

So much has already been written on how powerful of a marketing tool social media can be that I don’t want to spell it all out again here. Visit Problogger, Dosh Dosh, and sites like those to learn more.

The major downside I see with social media is how much time and effort it can take to create a profit.

For example, I’ve been seeing a lot lately on how to grow your blog. One of the more popular ways is to comment on other people’s blog in order to get those bloggers to in turn visit your blog and read and comment, in other words, return the favor. This is probably one of the best ways to quickly build your comment section and community.

But as an entrepreneur trying to succeed in business and needing to make money, you have to ask yourself, “so this is a community of what exactly?”

The interesting thing about this is that I’ve noticed when I comment on other’s blogs, many of them will come over and comment on mine ( much appreciated! ). However, if I stop commenting on their blog it seems they stop commenting on mine.

What does this tell us? Just how targeted is this means of marketing? How long does it take to read 30 blog articles, write your own, comment on your articles and elsewhere, etc.? What is the return on investment? If you’ve put in 5 hours a day blogging only to see you’ve made $20 for the month, that comes out to $0.13 per hour of work working 5 hours a day for 30 days.

OUCH!

If, however, your primary reason for blogging is to create a community and your business path is to simply market your blog and generate some income from there, the above strategy is definitely something you want to do.

The positive side of things is the longer you do this, you’ll end up making more than just $20/month, hopefully.

Other sites like Digg and Stumble Upon are great for getting your blog articles traffic and linked to, but just how targeted is that traffic? Sure the traffic might be targeted for your article, but 9 times out of 10 your blog articles aren’t pushing your product or advertising your services. In fact, authority sites like Problogger show us how we’re not suppose to market directly in social media.

The instant a blogger feels like you’re trying to push your product on them too heavily you risk losing them. When you run a Stumble Upon campaign, for example, the advice is not to push your actual product’s landing page (e.g. web hosting), but rather an article that provides information.

Most people using social media sites are looking for information and news, not a new tea cup.

Investing Time In Social Media Marketing Business-wise

Pros & Cons

By social media marketing, I’m referring to:

Spending time creating and marketing a MySpace and Facebook profile
Working at getting your articles popular on sites like Digg and Stumble Upon
Participating in online forums
Guest Blogging
Commenting on other blogs to get more comments on yours

As I see it, these are some of the pros and cons of social media marketing. Can you add any?

You can work from home
You can be a bit lazy
Not expensive to do
Eventually you can make a name for yourself
You gain permission marketing
Google gets to know your website better (SEO)
Ease to connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime
Can build relationship marketing
Forces you to keep learning

Consumes A LOT of your time
You can be a bit lazy (yes, that was a pro, too)
Business and product growth is typically slow at first
Not a direct marketing method
Can easily become non-targeted (e.g. you write a great article, unfortunately it has nothing to do with you making money)
Not great if you’re anti-social
Your community might not buy from you but still require a large portion of your time
Need of staying interesting and appearing fresh
Your communication skills online could severely hurt you
At times can be very non-personable

As I mentioned at the top of this article, the main problem I have with social media marketing is time. It takes SO much time to write articles, read blogs, comment, respond, network on social sites, visit forums, etc. I actually like doing those things (to a point), but as the owner of a web development company and a father of two, it’s very difficult for me to justify spending too much time in social media.

I by no means am putting down social media. Heck, when starting our company our primary focus was to not be corporate and to be more social. I took a hint from Craig Newmark over at Craigslist.org. He’s the “band leader” of Craigslist, so to speak. That’s exactly what I’m doing here at WP Blog Host. I give a face and voice to our company just as he does his.

There are of course success stories out there where entrepreneurs invest most, if not all, of their time in social media marketing. The technology is here to stay and I look forward to see where it goes. I think every entrepreneur needs to be a web entrepreneur to some extent.

The Reason For This Article Is This

I don’t want new younger entrepreneurs thinking they can sit at home in their PJs, build a website, and socialize a little on the Internet and expect to become highly successful.

Can it happen?

Sure, anything’s possible.

T Edwards from Poverty101.net said something that made me think in his comment on my last post:

Getting out and pounding the pavement may not fit the internet business plan but there is definitely a need for a lot of behind the scenes marketing, development, programming, monitoring, revising, etc to build a successful online business.

I do agree that this seems to be the “idea” of social media marketing – the idea that you don’t have to go out and pound the pavement. And you can be successful by not doing so. But for me, Craig Newmark is the ideal web entrepreneur.

He socializes online AND pounds the pavement. That’s how you become highly successful. That’s the difference between $150,000 per year profit and $5 million.

In my next article, we’ll take a look at the way old school entrepreneurs did things and what lessons we can learn from them and how it might apply to building a successful business online.

Building A Business Through Social Media Vs. The Old-Timer's Way To Business Success

John Hoff — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:38:01 +0000

We all know the economy sucks. We hear it in the news, we read about it in print media, and we read about it online.

I see shows on MSNBC and CNBC with people arguing with one another about how to better our market and we see experienced entrepreneurs shelling out helpful advice to help your business grow.

Then I get online and read articles and blogs which teach us about the effectiveness of social media marketing and how many people use this as their only means of marketing and building their business.

For example, they leverage social media sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, and del.icio.us to help drive “targeted” traffic to their site. Another idea is to comment on other people’s blogs in order to get other bloggers to comment on your blog as a strategy to get your website noticed and talked about.

With so much noise trying to give direction in this sour market, I can see how it might be difficult for an entrepreneur starting a business try to figure how to either start a new business or save their existing struggling one.

With the Internet comes a whole new wave of business possibilities and marketing techniques and it’s easy to get caught up in spending way too much time online. Sites like problogger.net and Dosh Dosh offer great Internet marketing and blogging tips.

That’s great, read those and expand your knowledge. But try not to get too caught up in the success of a few of these sites which rely heavily on social media marketing only. There is a lot to be learned from those who did business before the Internet was ever even conceived of.

Lately, I’ve been concerned that new web entrepreneurs growing up in the information age are forgetting the lessons learned by their predecessors and are getting too comfortable sitting at home in their PJs while they “work”. Entrepreneurs back in the day had to do everything by hand. They had to get out and network and actually pickup a pen and write on paper.

They knew what it took to build a successful businesses from the foundation up to generate wealth; and they weren’t lazy (well, some might have been).

In my next post later this week, I want to talk about how blown out of proportion I think social media marketing has become. It’s the new fad, the in thing to do, and lets us be lazy and work from home.

I’d be willing to bet if we were to interview 500 highly successful entrepreneurs at random, most of them don’t work from home in their PJs spending a majority of their time blogging and using social media. Not that there’s none, but few.

Following the next article on social media we will take a look back at how things were done before the Internet and what we can learn from our predecessors.

So here’s a couple of questions for you to ponder. How much time do you put into social media marketing for your business? Are you blogging for business or pleasure? Is your blog a tool for your business? How much time and effort can you afford to put into one tool for your business?

General Partnerships: A Not-So-Great Business Structure

Theresa Hoff — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:00:11 +0000

No one with any sense advertently forms a general partnership these days, yet I hear over and over again new entrepreneurs looking to start a business with a partner mention how they want to form one.

As any smart business person should do, you need to first research your options available and listen to those who know.

The worst way to hold any assets or to do business as a partner is a General Partnership. In my opinion, it’s all negative and there’s absolutely no advantage whatsoever.

Ok, what is a general partnership?

Here’s the definition: A general partnership is one in which all partners are general partners.

More specifically when a group of individuals (two or more persons) agree to collectively act as a business, a general partnership is formed. The emphasis here is on general. Most people have found that you can sue not only the partnership for all the assets it has, but if it doesn’t have enough, you can go after the individual partners and reach their personal estates. Ouch!

That’s called the disadvantage of unlimited personal liability.

Why is it such a disadvantage?

Each member of the general partnership is liable for all potential liabilities of each of the other partners. For example, if an employee of the general partnership causes an accident while on company business, each of the partners individually can be held 100% liable.

My advice – forget the general partnership and stick with a limited partnership or the LLC structure.

How To Split Business Income Between Partners

Theresa Hoff — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:00:59 +0000

Article by Theresa Hoff

One of the hardest things for new business owners to figure out when forming a new corporation or partnership is how to split profits.

Often times 2 or more entrepreneurs will enter a business venture with the notion of sharing profits 50/50. But what happens when one person does 90% of the work while the other only contributes 10%?

Is this still a fair split?

To complicate things even further, what if your business partner was a family member or close friend? If you’re the one doing 90% of the work but only receiving 50% of the profits, how do you go about approaching your partner with a request that you take home more of the profits?

Here’s one possible solution.

Do You Have The Right Business Structure?

This is where so many people who try to save a dollar and incorporate themselves without really understanding the different business structures can do more harm than the pros of saving a few bucks.

I understand when you’re starting a new business you’re probably building it on a skeleton budget, but there are a few places you should not skim on, one of those being structuring your business.

Understand this: If you set up the wrong business structure you could severely limit your business’ growth potential, profit distribution flexibility, asset protection, and tax incentives – among others. This is why it is so critical to contact John if you’re thinking of setting up a business.

As a quick example, we could take a look at one major difference between a S-Corporation and LLC.

In a S-Corp, tax liability and profits are set 50/50 for partners (or equal percent if there are more than 2 owners) whereas in a LLC partners can easily reallocate these.

So your first step is to make sure you have the right business structure in place for the dynamics of your business.

Create Positions In Your Company

The next thing you can do is sit down and figure out all the different functions in your business. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Are you the person who hires and fires employees? You’re the HR department.
Who does the accounting in your company? They are the accountant.
Who meets with vendors and stocks inventory? They are the Purchasing department.
Do you handle your website maintenance and computer issues? That’s the IT department.
Who does the advertising? This is your marketing department.

Do this for every function in your business. If both you and your partner share some of those responsibilities, try to figure how much each contributes percentage-wise. If you’re not sure (and you’re in no particular rush), set this list aside and jot down how much time each of you contribute to each department over the course of a month or two.

Assign Wages For Each Position

Now that you have a nice outline of the different positions in your company you can then assign wages to each of those departments. If your business’ income fluctuates, it’s often times easier to divvy up income for each department as a percent.

At this point, you should now be able to approach your partner with a logical outline of how your business is really being run and evidence to support why you deserve more of the profits than 50%.

Have you ever experienced a situation where you felt you were due more $$$ in your company because you did the majority of the work? How did you deal with it? Or did you just let it be?

The Foundation Of Successful Thinking

John Hoff — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:00:51 +0000

What is your perception of
the world you live in?
Image by borzikako

Do you do great things or do great things happen to you?

What is the foundation of successful thinking?

For me it’s the way in which we perceive and think of ourselves. I’m not talking about simply thinking happy thoughts and good things will happen, I’m talking about the level in which you perceive yourself and the world around you and your place in it.

Your mind-set and belief system will greatly influence your creativity, potential, and most likely determine your success in business.

Life sort of molds us into the person we are today. Determining factors can be such things as where you’ve been and where you live, who your friends and family are, your income level, environment, etc. The elements around us condition the way we think. And the way we think determines how well we do in business.

This conditioning many times make people think of themselves in terms of “me,” and not “I.”

Do you see the difference?

You can think of it like this: Me is a person who is acted upon; the person who believes in God because his or her parents said there is a God. They have been molded into the person they are today because of influence from others without self discovery.

When you think of yourself as “I,” you are thinking in an active subject way and not the passive, me.

This line of reasoning can be displayed by looking at simple grammar. Let’s look at the following two sentences.

“I started a new web development company called, WP Blog Host.”
“The new web development company, WP Blog Host, was started by me.”

Do you see the difference? The first one is active, the second is passive. In business and as an entrepreneur, you need to think in the active subject way. And this is something you need to beat into your core beliefs. In my real estate investing experience, I’ve had plenty of Realtors and contractors tell me this is what needs to be done and this is how you should do it.

But guess what? I am the entrepreneur. I am the one who knows how to turn a profit, they don’t make the profit for me.

Do you know who the real you is? Do you believe in yourself because you founded your own beliefs or were they someone else’s beliefs that you adopted? In business (and in life), are you the active subject who does things or are you the passive object things happen to?

If you’re a me, what can you do to become an I?

Like Morpheus said in the movie The Matrix, “I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”

Welcoming Theresa Hoff – Director of Incorporation and Living Trust Services by WP Blog Host

John Hoff — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:00:51 +0000

It is my pleasure today to welcome aboard Theresa Hoff to the WP Blog Host team. Yes, you may have noticed her last name is the same as mine and I have a perfectly good explanation why.

She’s the person who taught me many things in life and along with my father, taught me such things as thinking laterally in business, integrity, and good will. You’ve probably guessed it, she’s my mother .

Theresa has worked in the legal field nearly 20 years and is our resident paralegal, notary, and director of our new department which will provide incorporation and living trust services here at WP Blog Host. Oh yeah, and she also knows a thing or two about filing state trademarks in case you need one or have questions.

What This Means For Business Owners & My Blog Community

To put it simply, this means we can now help you structure your business entity (C or S corporation, LLC, Partnerships, etc.) and help you protect your personal assets from lawsuits against your company. Theresa and I are here to help and answer any questions you might have.

You might be wondering how much it costs to set up a corporation or LLC.

Our rates are relatively low compared to many other companies out there because a) we don’t believe in price gouging and b) we realize starting a business is tough both mentally and financially and we want to help you get started without breaking your limited start-up funds.

See our incorporation home page for more details on this service.

Theresa also guest authored months back an articled called How A Revocable Living Trust Can Save Family Heartache where she detailed the advantages of a living trust over a living will and also why a living trust can be important for business owners.

Now that she’s joined our team, every now and then you’ll see an article of hers pop up. She already has a few articles in the works such as:

Why Nevada is the best state to incorporate in.
Why Delaware has long been a desired place to incorporate and how it compares to NV.
The true facts about which state governs how your company will pay taxes if your business is incorporated in one state and you are doing business in another.

If you have a moment, please feel free to welcome Theresa aboard and if you have any questions about corporations, state trademarks, or living trusts, feel free to ask.

Welcome aboard, Theresa!

2 Keys To Beating Your Competition In Business

John Hoff — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:00:17 +0000

Imagine if you were the first
company to own a printing press.
What value could you bring to
your customers?
Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sean D’Souza wrote an article on Copyblogger entitled Why Urgency Succeeds Like Nothing Else In A Bad Economy.

While I agree with Sean that creating a sense of urgency is definitely a key factor in boosting sales during a slow economy, we also shouldn’t forget the power of adding company value to the list.

In marketing, you should always keep these 3 things in mind that your customer wants to know:

So What?
Why Now?
Why Your Company?

The so what? factor isn’t necessarily a key to beating your competition, but rather simply shows potential customers the need of your product or service. “So What?” “Who Cares?” “Why Do I Need This?”

Once they understand what it is you offer and how it can benefit them, you have to show them why they need to buy from you and why they need it now.

Key 1: Creating A Sense Of Urgency

I think Sean explained the why now? very well in his article about creating a sense of urgency. He shows us how without a sense of urgency, people wait to buy.

Oh they might need it – they might even need it really bad, but without someone showing them that by waiting they could be making matters worse, they’ll just put off buying until the very last moment.

So the first key to beating your competition, in any market really, is to create a sense of urgency. Tell them the benefits of buying now opposed to the frustrations of buying later.

Key 2: Adding Value To Your Company

This part may involve a little creativity. Maybe you need to spend some time finding your Purple Cow or researching your competition to examine what it is they are lacking in and you can improve upon.

Company value tells your customers, “Hey, I provide those services, too – but guess what you get (or can count on) when you use our company?”

For example, I am co-owner of a landscape company called Modern Landscape that’s based here in Las Vegas, NV. My brother is a genius when it comes to landscape design and creating a beautiful lush yard filled with vibrant colors that beautify our barren desert.

Problem is, there are a ton of landscape contractors out there. Why should someone want to use us over the next guy?

After doing a competitive analysis among local contractors and evaluating our own customer feedback, we found there was a great deal of mistrust going on. Customers didn’t trust contractors to show up on time and finish the job. Therefore, because we are truly a family business and personally we knew our good family values would shine through, we decided to market our landscape company as a family-owned business that always shows up on time and completes the job.

And you know what? It worked. At first we just stated it. But as time went on word has spread around the community and local businesses that our company is very trustworthy.

Can you see the value our company has built up for customers? We built trust through our actions and word of mouth. What better value can you provide your customers?

Here’s a quick list off the top of my head that companies can use to increase company value to their customers:

Slash prices (not my favorite method but still works)
Increased customer support and service
A better warranty (think how some car manufactures market this way)
2 for 1 deals
Money-back guarantee
Free subscriptions
Free bonuses
Gift wrapping

To figure out what kind of value you can bring to your customers, you need to evaluate. Evaluate you, your business, your expertise, your budget, customer profile, competition, products offered, surrounding neighborhood, lack of services in your area, conversations in message boards, educate yourself, and maybe throw in a little unconventional thinking.

What other values can you think of that a company can market to their customers which once they overcome the urgency factor, they pick you?