Is your website prepared for the mobile revolution?

Episode #15 of Power to the Small Business: The Mobile Web

The Internet show about small business marketing.

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On this episode of Power to the Small Business, we welcome Holly Kolman. Holly is passionate about the coming mobile revolution. She tracks it, writes about it, and advises on it on her blog: Mobienthusiast. Are you prepared for the coming mobile revolution? You should prepare because it gets closer with each passing month and each new iPhone sold. The good news is you can prepare rather easily and Holly's going to tell us how.

Photo Credit: Flickr photo by dyobmit

What you are getting in this episode is short, concise, and yet so important to reaching your customers in the future. There are very few opportunities to be the first in the game, this is one of those opportunities. The opportunity is called the mobile web.

Guest: Holly Kolman of Mobienthusiast
Length: 24 minutes

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The Mobile Web vs. The Desktop Web

More than 270 million smart phones will be sold worldwide next year. Smart phones are those web-enabled mobile phones like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Moto Q. As the use of smart phones rise, so will the use of the mobile web. That's a great opportunity for the small business, but it's also a challenge.

Websites display differently on mobile devices than they do on your desktop or laptop screen. The desktop web is a long, graphic-rich, application intensive experience. That won't work on a mobile device because that website will take forever to load. And it will look like a jumbled mess on the mobile screen when it does load. But what to do? Holly thinks you should develop a mobile website as a companion to your existing site.

The Basics of Mobile Website Design

Holly Kolman shares with us some basic tips.

1. Make your site is long and skinny.
2. Develop your site without frames or tables.
3. Use small graphics and don’t make your site big.
4. Use ready.mobi to check the mobile readiness of your site.
5. Test your mobile website on several different phones to see how it looks. Mobile websites do not look the same on all phones.
6. Use site.mobi to create a free mobile website.
7. Add a "click to call" feature
   

What To Do Right Now

1. Register your .mobi domain name
   
2. Get a basic site up
   
3. Start getting traffic

Holly Kolman - Mobienthusiast

Mobienthusiast.mobi
Holly's website and blog with news and advice on the mobile internet

Listen to all of our previous shows:
Power to the Small Business Archive

Related information on mobile marketing:
Mobile Marketing: Not quite ready to help you get business
Everything Will Go Mobile

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Weekend Marketing Reading July 19

Here are some of the week's best small business marketing blog posts. They are categorized by the four spots of The Marketing Circle of Life. Enjoy and be educated.

Photo credit: Flickr photo by achichi

Promotion: Catching the Local Search Wave by Marjory Meechan on the Natural Search Blog @ MoreVisability. The mobile internet is coming. And that means the need for websites to be mobile ready is increasingly important. So what can you do? Here are four ways to help boost your local search rankings.

Branding: The Murky Coffee Incident by a cast of characters. Do you believe in your brand enough to say "no" to customers? Murky Coffee in Arlington, Virginia does. If you've missed the internet hullabaloo this week check out what happens when an angry blogger crosses paths with stubborn brand. (Caution: strong language) First read blogger Jeff Simmermon's post Murkey Coffee, Arlington: Hold That Espresso Between Your Knees, then read the Washington Post article about the incident, Espresso, Extra Bitter by Joe Heim. Finally read Murkey Coffee owner Nicholas Cho's Open Letter to Jeff Simmerman and then the Follow Up on the company website.

Experience: Declaring the Value of What you are Worth? by Missy Caulk of the Ann Arbor and Saline Michigan Real Estate Blog. Missy has done a exemplary job of mapping the customer experience she delivers. It's a fine example, with accompanying video, of how to raise your perceived value by delivering a superior, and planned, experience.

Conversation: How to Get Rave Reviews on Your Customer Reviews by Paul Schwartz on Customer U. Consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising. However, there is a trust disparity with consumer opinions posted online. We don’t trust them as much. Paul explains why, then gives don’ts and dos for getting rave customer reviews.

Coming This Week on The Marketing Spot
The mobile web is coming and you need to prepare for it. Don't know what to do or even what the mobile web is? Join us Monday for our next Power to the Small Business podcast. Holly Kolman, the mobienthusiast will educate us on being prepared for the coming mobile revolution.

We continue Build Your Marketing Plan month with Conversation. This week we tackle the conversation spot. On Tuesday, July 22, we'll help you identify your word of mouth message. On Thursday, July 24, you'll learn how to create conversation opportunities for your customers..

Thursday and Friday I will be in San Francisco for SMX Local & Mobile to get educated on local search and mobile marketing. I hope to interview some experts at the expos and you might see some bonus posts later in the week. Stay tuned.

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The Customer Experience Map

Part 4 of Build Your Marketing Plan Series

July is Build Your Marketing Plan month on The Marketing Spot blog. This is part four of an eight-part series on how to build an exceptional small business marketing plan. Each "lesson" of the series contains a background article, down loadable worksheets and a slidecast. This information is part of my full-day workshop, DIY Marketing for Small Businesses.

(See Part 1: The Brand Promise)
(See Part 2: Your Signature)
(See Part 3: The Customer Experience Theme)
*Note: The next live, DIY Marketing workshop is September 24 at the Houston Small Business Development Center.

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"Marketing only begets trial. It is the daily, one-to-one activity that occurs inside your own four walls that creates compelling word of mouth and repeat business."
-T. Scott Gross, Positively Outrageous Service

The most important marketing you do is actually at the point of contact with your customer. What happens at this point creates word of mouth and instills customer loyalty. It should not be left to chance. Your customers' experience should not be meandering trip of exploration. Instead, think of the customer experience as a guided tour in an exotic destination. And you are the tour guide.

Suppose that today you are leaving for summer vacation. You are driving to Destin, Florida. The thing is, you've never been to Destin. Logically, you pull up Google Maps and get directions to take you from your front door to the sandy beaches of Destin.

Now let's look at your business. Everyday you ask customers to start from their front door and end up at your check-out counter (Destin) to make a purchase. Are you asking them do it without a map? Are you asking customers to navigate the treacherous waters of retail without directions? I'm not talking about physical directions to your storefront or website, I'm talking about emotional, relational directions during the customer experience.

Consistently great customer experiences don't occur by chance. They are carefully planned. Yours should be too. With this installment of the Build Your Marketing Plan series, you will use The Marketing Spot's Customer Experience Map to design a remarkable customer experience.

But just like a guided tour of The Vatican, a remarkable customer experience is not just about going from point A to point B. No, it's also about those little unique moments you retell later to your friends and family. I call those Magic Spots, and they need to be sprinkled throughout your customer experience.

To map out your customer experience with magic spots, download the two PDF worksheets below and print them off. Just right click and save them to your computer.

Then watch the slidecast below for details on how to use these customer experience tools.

Watch the slidecast below after you have printed the worksheets. If you cannot see the slidecast in your reader, click here.

Build Your Marketing Plan Part 4 - Customer Experience Map

view presentation (tags: spot the ehret jay)

Additional reading on building your marketing plan:
spotlight...ON MARKETING: Writing Customer Stories
What a Country Music Superstar Can Teach You About Marketing
A Remarkable Customer Experience

If you have questions or comments, click the comment link below.

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The Customer Experience Theme

Part 3 of Build Your Marketing Plan Series

July is Build Your Marketing Plan month on The Marketing Spot blog. This is part three of an eight-part series on how to build an exceptional small business marketing plan. Each "lesson" of the series contains a background article, down loadable worksheets and a slidecast. This information is part of my full-day workshop, DIY Marketing for Small Businesses.

(See Part 1: The Brand Promise)
(See Part 2: Your Signature)
*Note: The next live, DIY Marketing workshop is September 24 at the Houston Small Business Development Center.

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Marketing Purpose of the Customer Experience
You cannot expect customer loyalty without a remarkable customer experience. In Managing the Customer Experience, Shaun Smith and Joe Wheeler say,

"Creating loyalty is about being intentional, consistent, different and creating value."

Unfortunately, most small businesses take this to mean offering excellent customer service. But it's much more than that. Because your goal in creating a remarkable customer experience is two-fold. You not only want create loyalty, you also want to inspire word of mouth. That cannot be done with simple good customer service. Remember, people expect good customer service from you. It's a requirement and just the starting line.

Your goal in designing a remarkable experience is to exit commodity status and break from the pack. Remarkability is achieved only when you can measurably separate yourself from your competition in a meaningful memorable way. Ideally you will engage your customers so that they will be absorbed by the experience. The result will be the creation of a customer experience that people have to talk about.

Remarkable customer experiences don't happen by accident. They are not constructed by throwing together a bunch of good ideas. In The Experience Economy: Work is Theater & Every Business a Stage, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore say that great experiences must be well conceived, correctly cast, and convincingly portrayed. Yes, they must be scripted and designed, just like a stage show.

In the next to parts of our Build Your Marketing Plan series, we are going to design, and then map out the customer experience. And it starts with a theme.

It's important to deliver a consistent and coherent experience so that customers are able to simply enjoy and revel in it. If you have elements that are out of place, it sends subconscious messages to your customer that things are just a little off, even if they can't put their finger on it. An easy way to avoid experience incoherence to organize all the elements of the experience under an umbrella. That umbrella will be your theme.

Download the two worksheet documents, and then watch the slidecast below. In the next part of the series we will take your theme elements and build a remarkable customer experience.

To download the PDF worksheets, right click on each and then save to your computer. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

After you download the worksheets, watch the slidecast below and make sure your audio is turned up. If you cannot see the slidecast in your reader, click here.

| View | Upload your own

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Choose Your Conversation With Purpose

Can conversation really accomplish anything?

It has been said that we are in the Age of Conversation. And I’ve staked a lot of time on that notion. Not just with this blog. In late August, the second edition of The Age of Conversation, will be available on Amazon. The book is subtitled “Why Don’t They Get It?”

Like 236 other people, I have contributed 400 words to the project in the form of a manifesto. None of the contributors are being paid for the work. But did we do it just because we wanted to contribute? I’ll speak for myself here: admittedly, no.

Yes, I did want to be part of an exciting project that is bigger than I am as an individual. And yes, it’s important that proceeds from the book benefit Variety the Children’s Charity. If that were all there were, would that be ok? What if the authors were all required to contribute anonymously? Would 237 conversation mavens still participate if there weren’t a status story to tell afterward?

I’ll be forthright here: contributing to The Age of Conversation is part of my package of marketing tactics. In order for me to gain authority as a consultant, coach and speaker, I need to have credibility. I have to have status stories. And you do too.

The Age of Conversation provides me with a status story, and at the same time I get to contribute to something meaningful that's aligned with what I do for a living. It works out.

You are a busy business and you have limited resources and limited time. It’s not good enough to just be good. You can’t contribute to just anything. Every decision you make is a marketing decision, even if you just want to give to a worthy project. Your choice shouldn’t be random. Choose projects and causes that are aligned with what you want to accomplish. It's the reason I chose to contribute, and was allowed to contribute, to The Age of Conversation.

And that’s why I’m hoping conversation really works.

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Here are the names of the other 236 contributors. But these just aren’t names. All contain links to that person’s website or blog. You’ll find some pretty amazing stuff. Enjoy.

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

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