Some grammatical errors....

To those of you who read this blog, I must apologize for some grammatical errors I've been finding in the articles. I've haven't been proofreading like I should and checking grammar. Shame on me! I've gone back and made the corrections. I'm sure it made some of the articles sound wierd! Once again, I apologize and it won't happen anymore.

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Will shopping search engines impact Minnesota business?

Here's an article regarding a new shopping search engine called Become.com and some of the background information on it. I often wonder how many of the shopping search engines are going to come out before people start to get choked by these things. The ideas have been around for several years, where people can go and shop for things and compare prices in one place. The problem with this is there is more to buying something than just a price. I would say that a lot of cases people will pay a higher price for a greater level of service and selection in a product. It's not always about getting a lowball price for something. How many times if you bought the lowest price thing and had problems with it? I would guess that for many people that has been a problem. So this is another search engine that will claim to find you low prices comparatively on many products. It may work great and there may be many people that benefit from it.

Will it affect local business like businesses in Minnesota? I don't think it really has any bearing on local business per se, but it's just another change in the online world that can affect a local business. It might have its effect if what you sell can be acquired from a larger chain store and they can do it at a much better price. But I think people have to look at what they sell from a personal or service standpoint. It's those kinds of extras that will keep people loyal to your offering even if it's slightly higher in price. There's more to this whole shopping game online than just a low-price. Businesses in Minnesota and need to look for opportunities that make them unique or create a good value added situation. If you're just about a product number and a price then things like this shopping search engine will be a problem for you in the future. Just remember, not everyone is looking for a lowball price, they want a reasonable price knowing they're buying from a decent company that can help them now and in the future.

Real results in marketing from RealWebMarketing.com

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Is Minnesota a good place to do business?

Well, it probably isn't the best place in the world to do business. I know this is a little harsh but perhaps I've been taking a new look at Minnesota as a hotbed of corporate interest. Let me back up a little bit. Minnesota is a good place to do business when you take a look at the whole picture of the quality of life and general disposition of this place we live in. That's the reason people stay here and do business. If it was solely based on the tax structure or the business climate or the climate in general, many companies would not do business here. There are some constrictive corporate tax structures that are not good and don't promote business in Minnesota. We have commercials running on our radio stations constantly about the advantages of doing business in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's just a guy who talks on the radio from the Sioux Falls Development Council and he makes compelling points about how it's better to do business there. I know they've had some success as a result, pulling people away from Minnesota. If I lived close to the border there in that area, I'd move it across the border. It only makes good monetary sense. But one of the things that isn't considered too often is that the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are a powerhouse of commerce in the Midwest, only behind Chicago. Many companies no matter how they feel about the tax structure or anything else, need to be here.

So is Minnesota good place to do business? In some ways yes and in some ways no. If you look at the education of the people that could come to work for you and all the other advantages of living here, then yes it is a good place to do business. But if you look at the way our state is structured and how it doesn't favor business very much, it's not. That's a cold reality that anyone who considers being here has to either live with or move. It's the same with our weather, a cold reality in which you must decide whether you can brave the cold of winter or you must move away. We do it that way here to keep the riffraff out. It's been very effective for many decades and we are not about to change it now. It's kind of funny how our business climate matches our real climate!

I guess it doesn't make any sense to complain about it now does it? A true Minnesotan doesn't complain like this. He keeps his stoic nature, talks about the Vikings, the weather and the great hotdish you had last night for dinner. You bet.

Minnesota web marketing to make your website grow, RealWebMarketing.com

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Best Buy and the "Jill Initiative"

As a new marketing strategy to appeal to women, Minnesota based Best Buy is doing something called the "Jill Initiative". They're trying to make their stores be more appealing to women. It's about changing advertising to soften up the image of Best Buy to be more style conscious, making it more attractive to women. I imagine that tech gadget laden Best Buy appeals more to men than women and some internal figures must show that. It's about time that these electronic chains did more to make women feel more comfortable about the shopping experience.

I find that most of these super electronic stores are an assault on the senses with splashy signs and loud music everywhere. It's more like a circus and I don't like making serious purchases with some clown behind the counter. So I think it's a good idea to cater to women, but how about all of you superstores cater to a little bit more sophisticated buyer? The people with the disposable income are professional working people, why not gear the store towards them? Ultimate Electronics does a better job doing this, it's a much better atmosphere for a serious buyer looking to drop $300-$10,000 dollars.

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Mid 50s in February in Minnesota, not much better than that.

Although this doesn't have much to do with Minnesota Web marketing news, it is significant to note that today February 12 it reached almost 55° here in Minnesota. And for that, I need to say a special hurrah for the coming of spring and the thawing out of our collective hibernation here in the suburbs of Minnesota. Of course, this is all very deceiving and next week we could get 24 inches of snow and experience -20 with a windchill of -60.

But I think it's refreshing to note that we're a lot more like California today than we are like Minnesota. And for all of you who think it's always cold up here in the winter, it's not. We usually have one major midwinter thaw and that's what were experiencing today. Once again this really has nothing to do with Web marketing for Minnesota business or web sites, it's just that I'm feeling really happy to feel the warmth of the sun and to know that there's a better day ahead. And it stays like this that make me feel good to be a Minnesotan, that we stick it out in the winter and that we live through all four seasons fully like no one else in this country. It's a cause for celebration and makes the feel good about what I do.

Real thoughts on web marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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Salespeople are still important even with the Internet.

Here's a good article about salespeople and the kinds of jobs that they're getting these days, and how much they're being paid. It's good never to forget that salespeople make business profitable. Of course the research and development team is important to create things that people can sell, but the face-to-face selling is still important even in the age of the Internet. In fact, the Internet really is just another type of salesperson if I could say it that way. No matter how you look at it, people still need to be sold on the features and benefits of what a company offers whether it is online or off-line. Sometimes where web-based companies fail is that they think it's all about providing a product at a price for someone to buy. It's more than that, it's telling them something about the product and how it will be able to be used by them that will bring them benefit. This is no different than the traditional salesperson.

I enjoyed the article because I'm a traditional salesperson at heart and have been that for most of my professional career. It's all about people, relationships and applying your product to solve their problems. There are some times when there is no problem to be solved, and when that happens, you need to move on. It looks like some of the salespeople they profile in this article move on by going to another company that has more opportunity. I think sometimes the average person thinks a salesperson will say almost anything to make a sale. And I suppose in some cases that is true. But most salespeople today are more of a consultant and a problem solver, whereas in the past they were pushers of a product or service. I've been selling in Minnesota all of my professional career and I find that we here in Minnesota like to work with honest, hard-working people. It's that kind of character that we value here in the Midwest. It's always good to remember that when reading articles like this, because I think people are the same almost everywhere. It's good to see that there's probably many opportunities for marketing products and services like never before. The ultimate combination is probably a good sales team along with a good web presence. That covers many bases that couldn't have been covered before and it probably helps the salespeople themselves make more money. When it's done right, I think this is a good method for finding new customers and servicing them.

I don't think there's ever been a better time to be a salesperson. The opportunities for them abound like never before. The one thing it does do is keep companies on their toes so they don't lose good people to competition or even to another industry. I don't know about you, but I like working with a salesperson that makes me feel like I'm the only one he's talking to that day. I like guys who don't take themselves so seriously and are having fun at what they do. It's that kind of person that will always be valuable in the business world no matter if there is an Internet or not.

Marketing for Minnesota business on the web, RealWebMarketing.com

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Caribou Coffee, a big Minnesota success.

With all the different coffee companies out there like Starbucks and many others, you would think the market would be getting very saturated with the bean. But it really isn't true, because there are companies like Minnesota's own Caribou Coffee which has been doing very well since 1992. They now have many locations in 13 states and are looking to expand even more. I have Saturday morning coffee and a Caribou location here in a St. Paul suburb and it's a great place to have coffee. The coffee they serve is very good and many times it's their own brand which probably makes all the difference. Now this really isn't a web marketing success, but they do have a nice web site that reflects a lot of what the stores are actually like. That's what I think makes it a really cool web site is how much it looks like the stores. That consistency and identification makes it a good fit. So when you go to their web site, you really see what you might see in the store. They offer so many fine coffees and the atmosphere is very friendly, especially the people behind the counter who seem to be into coffee as much as the people that want to buy it.

I think they sell some of their products right over the Web and if you try some of their coffee blends you'll find them to be very rich and special. You can really get a jolt from their coffee if you have 2 cups in the morning of Saturday, I get plain jumpy from it. Another thing about their web site that I like is that it's focused on their stores, not on other things like ads or links to other sites because that isn't what they're about. They want you to get into their stores or by their coffee online and it's that focus that makes them successful.

I sometimes wonder when there will be enough coffee shops in the world, but evidently were nowhere near the end yet. There is a love affair with coffee here in the United States and not just with coffee but with premium coffee. People like to have the special blends and that's what makes this whole thing work. I often wonder how well small coffee companies to when they sell in the web exclusively. Are they able to convey the wonder of their special coffee blend? Is it even possible to do over the web? That remains to be seen but companies like Caribou have a good handle on how to use their web site and have it marry well with their storefront ideas.

Web marketing for Minnesota business, RealWebMarketing.com

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Map24, and excellent mapping site.

I know I mentioned this in another blog today, but I been using map24.com to find addresses and more what I'm looking at maps. It's a nice software application and does some things that no other mapping software does. It's quick loading it is helpful. I think those of us who do local web marketing these type of tools can be helpful. In Minnesota, it would be nice to know where certain small town is and how it relates to a larger town. There are ways that kind of information could be helpful even when working on the web. I think there will be more true these tools in the future and I imagine there will be things like statistics on population in an area, the commerce that takes place there or something else that might be helpful to anybody doing marketing in the US or just here in Minnesota.

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The Super Bowl after the game product push.

I watched the Superbowl yesterday over at a friend's house and the game was pretty good. The New England Patriots are an excellent team and came through with consistent play throughout the game. When I got back home, I turned on the TV and flipped around looking for something to watch just online as I was going to go to bed. One of the stations I landed on was the Home Shopping Network and QVC doing what they do best, which is selling products but they had preempted any special product presentations they may have had four Super Bowl memorabilia.

It was amazing to see how quickly they can jump on this type of product and sell it immediately. Granted, they have a lot of this planned out ahead of time and what I would like to see are the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl champion hats that they didn't put out. I imagine those would have some value. They were even selling framed memorabilia that was very fancy and they said this plate will have all the correct Super Bowl information on. The Home Shopping Network was even on the vacated field of the Super Bowl and one of the players came out who must've had a deal with them to promote the product. From a marketing standpoint, what they did is a beautiful thing, the immediacy and the planning that makes them such a success.

As the Minnesota Vikings fan the last 35 years of my life, I don't hold out any hope that we'll ever see Vikings Super Bowl Champion T-shirts, jackets, baseball caps, helmets or anything like that. I like the Minnesota Vikings but I'm also a realist. Like the Minnesota Vikings, I'm amazed at how the real professionals in their respective fields do what they do. The really good ones, like QVC or Home Shopping Network are truly amazing just as the New England Patriots are today. They should give out trophies for companies like this and their abilities to react. I know it was planning that did this, but it looks so spontaneous and special.

Real Minnesota web results from RealWebMarketing.com

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Average pay per click cost drops.

After the holiday rush, many companies might be cooling their heels on all the internet advertising. What's being said is the average cost per click is going down. That's good news for retailers who might be experiencing a slower January as they might be able to afford more paid ads. It would be interesting to get detailed statistics on the habits of people who do ad buying for their respective companies. That might reveal some attitudes and beliefs about where a certain market is going online.

Real results for web growth, RealWebMarketing.com

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