Phantom CTO

Think Fondly of Our Past but We’ll Likely Kill You in the Morning

You might be dressing up for a pirate on Halloween or love Captain Sparrow but we’re still around today and we’re actually the complete opposite. Grimy and Bloodthirsty, Yes. Adorable and Romantic, No.

Buried Treasure #1

Build your own presence to match what you want your market to know about your business today.

Not here for the just the booty, but for the money!

It’s just so hard to get out there as a pirate. I mean, we’ll attack ships with tons of food on board and what are we going to do with that, open a market stand. Nah, just give use all the money on board so we can upgrade our weapons!

Buried Treasure #2

Build value for your market, give them what they are asking for. Let them want to give you money (and booty) in exchange.

We Pirates Are Here to Stop Piracy!  We Shall Call Ourselves Marines

There’s nothing like an official sounding name to convince the gullible that we’re looking out for their best interests. Sure, we’ll stop illegal trafficking in exchange for taking over the benefits of said illegal trafficking.

Buried Treasure #3

If you’re a small business, stop acting like your some big fish. If you’re head captain and sentry, be real about it. Your customers will embrace your honestly. Be real about who you are and what you bring to the table.

We’ll be looking for prey on waters with fuzzy government and no laws

When there’s no clear direction or laws around, who’s going to stop us? We make the rules to serve our purposes and destroy everyone and everything that comes in our way.

Buried Treasure #4

If there’s no leader in your market, you can establish and be the dominant authority. Instead of pirate ships and guns, you can use web presence and social media to put yourself at the forefront of your market.

We’re fond of the bait and switch maneuver to sneak attack your ship

You might think you’re navigating through some hard times, but what we’re doing is waiting for the right time to distract you and get inside your ship when you’re not looking.

Buried Treasure #5

It’s in times of struggle, in times of distress that your market can use your help most. Be that critical help that lets your clients do more with less. If their budget’s been cut say “Hey! We can still make your goals happen! Here’s what we’re going to do instead.”

A big Arr Matey to Dave McLure and the holiday as the inspiration for this post!

Solutions Stars Video has some great video clips about the value of being online. Guy Kawasaki adds that any business who’d like clients in more than a 5 mile radius from your store should have a blog. Or at least a site.

Web Presence Can Tip the Balance of Market Access to Progressive Companies

Having a web presence can show what you’re about to your market is the great flattener of reaching out to your ideal market. No longer is it large companies that have the resources to stand out and grab the attention of their market but small companies can speak equally as loud and draw in customers from their market by showing what they stand for and what they are passionate about.

Here’s our general strategy. Lets just be real and authentic and show customers our personality.

We tell our employees: use your best judgement and be yourself. –Tony Hsieh

Maybe your small business should just have a blog, maybe as a business owner you should be on Twitter. Really, there’s no way to tell if that’s the right web presence for you but the barrier to entry has been demolished by these kinds of web tools. The bigger question is if resources are not limiting you from showing what you’re really about to your market by having a web presence, what excuse will you let yourself believe?

Social Technologies: Your Customers Are Revolting

The Small Business Take-Aways on Social Technology

Embrace your customers.

Turn negative customer experiences around.

If you have negative comments out there, find a good will advocate or find people to answer on your behalf that align with your company.

If people are complaining about your product and service, ask them directly how they could do to improve it.

Take the influencers of your market inside your company and give them a sense of belonging.

If your market is ignoring your messages. Give up control and let the market make its own meaning. GoDaddy did this by just giving talking points then free reign on the creative aspect and their company stood behind the finished work. They are now getting better results than their lagging ads.

Thanks to Simon Stapleton for the find!

I recently watched Jason Fried’s Business of Software talk and was struck by his thoughts on what a small business can do to stand out in their market.

Jason called it “Follow the Chefs”. The celebrity chefs have done something extremely well. And no, its not being a great chef. There are many, many great chefs out there. The difference between the famous chefs like Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse and their unknown and equally great counterparts is that the famous ones out-share, out-teach and out-contribute.

Famous Chefs Build Brands by Sharing

That’s right, they are giving away more valuable information and content than any of their competitors in a crowded industry. Famous chefs have cookbooks, cooking shows on local networks, cable channels or youtube clips. Famous chefs teach regular people at home how to use the same recipes and make the same foods that they serve at their restaurants and in their homes. They passionately want their audience to follow along and create the same dishes because they are lifting the curtain on how to cook delicious foods and giving away their secrets and styles on cooking.

A famous chef puts their name or brand on a product, and as a consumer you’ll carry that association over of what that famous chef has given you before. You have more faith that their product will be better that the next generic cookware set because of what you’ve experienced with them before.

If a small business can take the same model that has successfully worked for a crowded industry full of greatness and use the same principles. The next question is…

What’s going in your cookbook?

What are you going to tell people that you do that can work for them  about that will get them excited about what you’re doing? This cookbook idea doesn’t have to lead to a purchase right away. It can be a primer in your sales funnel, it can get your name out there along the lines of your biggest competitor. Having your eagerly sought for market pay attention to your business and receive the value you’re giving away puts you a powerful advantage over your competitors, regardless of how crowded your industry is.

You can out-spend or out-teach your competition. –Kathy Sierra.

If you’re a small business without a lot of money, don’t try and compete with your better funded competitors on their turf. Make your own playing field by giving away value to your market. Out teach them. You’ll be on the same level as they are and you’ll have a first mover advantage and build momentum that they’ll be trying to catch up to.

Share your knowledge. Let your market of future clients know what makes your company, products and services so special, and why you are so passionate about it. The means to share is available to you right now using blogs, youtube, social networks, and more. Your market is hungry for this kind of value.

If you’d like to see Jason’s talk the Follow The Chefs portion is from 20:05 to 22:12