North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: December 9, 2011

It’s that time of year. We are all busy wrapping up our books and taking stock of the 2011. How was it for your business? Did you achieve the goals you set at the beginning of the year?

In this episode I’m going to share some tips to prepare for the best year yet, 2012. With a few tips and some local resources you can create the path to a very successful year.

North San Diego Business at Large
Show Notes: April 8, 2011

Did you know that San Diego has it’s very own speakers guild? The San Diego Speaker’s Guild offers meeting and event planners a convenient way to find speakers in San Diego and the surrounding areas.

In today’s episode I’ll be interviewing Vicki Garcia, one of the directors of the San Diego Speakers Guild about how they connect planners to speakers here in San Diego.

Ruff Haus Design founder and pack leader, Jonni Bailey, has two decades of graphic design, promotions and marketing experience. Jonni honed her marketing instincts while earning a degree in Graphic Design at SDSU and by serving companies of every size and breed all around town.

In 1997 she began successfully guiding San Diego Businesses in developing and maintaining their brands. Over the years, Ruff Haus Design has grown while faithfully serving a variety of organizations with identity and marketing campaigns, collateral materials, websites and promotional programs.

Mike Rosensteel is Sales and Marketing Director for San Diego Uptown News. In a climate where national and local city papers are on the decline, free community publications continue to thrive. And San Diego Uptown News delivers news to eleven communities that you can’t find anyplace else. With 22,500 copies – half of them delivered – San Diego Uptown News reaches over 30,000 readers every issue. Mike ALWAYS looks for ways to maximize his clients advertising investment.

If you are starting a new business check out Mind Masters Entrepreneur Association, a vibrant online community whose Pros are dedicated to your business start up success!

North San Diego Business At Large

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: June 11, 2010

Jeanette Alessio-Way, The History Lady, is a unique lecturer who illuminates the past using fascinating objects that spark memories and prompt audience participation. She commands a wealth of historic facts and anecdotes, delivered in a warm and congenial style. From schoolchildren to seniors, audiences are enthralled by Jeanette’s fun and educational presentations.

Jeanette shared how she came to start such a fascinating business. She also shared many stories, not only about history, but about the reactions and recollections from the seniors she meets during her visits to their care centers.

One of the other treasures to come out of what Jeanette does is capturing the stories as she visits the senior facilities. Sitting down with, and listening to, the seniors and their first-hand accounts of our recent history. Jeanette is truly one of the “jewels” in our small business community.

The last 15 minutes of the show I shared a few search engine optimization terms and tips about how to make your blog content a little easier for the search engines to read and index.

North San Diego Business At Large

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: April 16, 2010

Today I interviewed Vicki Garcia, Marketing Impressions, about small business marketing. Vicki has over 20 years experience with all aspects of marketing a small business.

Some of the tools we covered were:

• ISSUU a site that allows you to upload pdfs then turns the pdfs into ebooks with pages that flip. It includes a widget bookshelf that you can put on your website.
• EzineArticles a site that let’s you publish articles that are available for bloggers, webmasters and others to use as content on their site. It also gives out an “Expert” badge for your site.
• SlideShare is a site that you can upload your PowerPoint presentations to and share them with bloggers and others.
• Meetups for Small Business Marketing, San Diego Speakers Guild and Numbers At Work
• San Diego Airport Green Build Contractor Sign Up

There is an interesting event I’ll be attending Wednesday evening, Bloblive, even though it’s in the Gaslamp district at Henry’s Pub. This exciting event begins at 6pm and you’ll be done by 9pm.

Bloblive is about exchanging ideas with your fellow "big thinkers." It’s the perfect time of year to bounce your new ideas and marketing strategies off other small business owners. Who knows what will become of the exchanges and introductions made Wednesday. It could foster your next big money maker for your business.

If you are considering going, contact me and let’s see if we can get a few carpools together. If you can’t make it, check out the live web stream they are offering. If you do attend, look for me, I’ll be wearing the hat! Technorati Tags: business, San Diego, networking events

Ah the end of the year and the compressed networking schedule! There are a couple of events in North County this week that will be perfect for expanding your sphere of influence.

On Wednesday, December 10th, from 5pm to 7pm, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce holds it’s networking mixer, know as the Sundowner, and this one promises to be fabulous! We’ll be meeting at the new Sheraton at The Crossings.

On Friday, December 12th, from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the Shadowridge Country Club, The Meet Market will hold it’s Drive By Christmas, Mix, Mingle and Jingle. This is a North San Diego Business Community event with the proceeds of the $8 ticket sales to benefit Becky’s House.

This is an opportunity for you to meet other North San Diego Business owners and get a little holiday shopping out of the way, at the same time. There will be vendors with pre-wrapped gifts that all you’ll need to do is add the tag. What could be simpler?

Here’s an interview with Stacie Marotta of The Meet Market
 

Also, on Friday afternoon at 3pm Pacific Time, you’ll want to tune into North San Diego Business At Large, our online radio show, where I’ll be chatting with Barbara Eldridge, Mind Masters, continuing our series about Creating The Ideal 2009 Business Year!

Building upon Roger Lane’s information last week, Barbara will be sharing more about planning and systematizing your business. This is part of our series designed to help you learn from experts more about running a successful business in this coming year. There are a lot of opportunities for small business owners. Let’s make the most of them.

The online radio show has five available phone lines. This is your chance to ask your questions from business experts and advisors that know what they are talking about. It’s as easy as tapping the link in your browser and listening. If you can’t get a call in line, there’s a text chat area to ask questions.

We’ll be reserving time to share your business name and website address. You’ll just need to type it into the text chat and I’ll make sure it get’s on the audio. Better yet, call in and be on the audio yourself. The previous episodes are archived here at North San Diego Business, the right sidebar!

The San Diego Special Edition is a collection of posts from San Diego Bloggers. Visiting the site, you’ll find posts on business (my interview with Sheila McDonnell), the economy, lifestyle…some great St. Patrick’s Day posts, and of course, sports.

Carol Lane published the Special Edition the 15th of each month. If you are a San Diego Blogger, then you should check Carol’s site. This is what we call, spreading the link love.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Mindy Selinger, Power Partner Connections and The Link System, to talk about business networking. This is the perfect time to hone your networking skills. The Four Chamber mixer is coming to Tri City Hospital on April 17th.

Mindy also publishes the San Diego Networking Guide, which I strongly recommend you sign up for, given she covers approximately 200 networking events each month. You’ll be "in the know" with the San Diego Networking Guide.  She’s also a WordPress.com user, which I love. Her San Diego Networking Blog is a good read. Check it out.

Here’s the interview.  Join the conversation by commenting below. How do you network?

A lot of people have asked me, “How do I break into the competitive market in San Diego?” I have to admit, after just moving my company out here a short year ago; I was extremely intimidated and anxious about how to market my company in this overly competitive, overly communicated market. It seems as though businesses here are extremely set in routine, extremely busy, and don’t really want to hear what you have to say. But, as with anything, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Over the past year, while working with clients, friends, colleagues, and with my own business, I have developed a list of five things to do to effectively and efficiently get your business in front of your target market here in the San Diego business arena. They are:

1. Know exactly what your brand image and message is.
   What is it that you are really selling? Use benefit terminology instead of functional terminology. For example, Kodak doesn’t sell pictures, they sell memories. If you don’t have this information, the business owners in San Diego won’t give you the time of day and look at you as a nuisance in their busy life.
2. Know exactly who your target customer is.
   Here it is again. Know your target. This will save an extreme amount of time and energy. Knowing the following information, you will be able to identify and empathize with your prospects. This will help you build rapport and understand exactly what they want.
   1. Demographic – What your target looks like?
   2. Geographic – Where your target lives, works, and plays?
   3. Psychographic- Why and How your target purchases?
   4. Lifestyle – What does their day-to-day life look like?
   5. Seasonality – This is key for the San Diego Business culture. You must know when your prospect will be available and looking for your product or service. The key season’s to watch out for is Summer and Holiday Season.
3. Identify and Understand how your customer communicates.
   This information will be helpful in putting together your marketing mix. The more you understand this, the more cost-effective your marketing strategy will be. Simply ask your prospect where they gather information, what types of publications they read, etc.
4. Have a plan for every aspect of your Marketing Mix. 
   A great marketing plan doesn’t have to be a long 40-page document with everything written out. But you must have a plan. You must know what you are going to do in every aspect of your marketing mix (advertising, PR, Guerilla, Networking, Sales, etc.) each month. In your marketing plan, you also must outline an execution and accountability plan to ensure it gets implemented. Without a plan, there is no action. Without action, there is no marketing.
5. Test and Evaluate.
   The key to any marketing success is to know what works and what doesn’t. This is especially true in the San Diego business market. To stay competitive, you must be extremely cost effective with your marketing dollars, to ensure growth and sustainability.

All-in-all, the San Diego business market is full of possibility and wonder for any business big or small. Follow these five steps and you will soon realize your potential in the precious San Diego market. 

Enjoy!

Paul Miser is the President of Miser Advertising and Marketing, an International Marketing Strategy and Branding Agency in San Diego County. Miser Advertising is a full-service marketing agency that acts as a complete marketing department for small businesses in the San Diego area and the World. You can reach Paul Miser by emailing him at pmiser@miserad.com.