Personally, I’m always eager to enter free giveaways or use online discount offers.  Who doesn’t like a bargain, especially these days?  Sometimes you can find good deals not only for personal products but also for items for your small business.

Small Business Trends realizes how important it is to keep small business budgets in check.  That’s why they have decided to publish special small business discounts and monthly giveaways for their loyal readers to take advantage of.

Some of these discount offers are exclusive to Small Business Trends readers and you won’t find these deals anywhere else.  As time goes by, new offers and discounts will be posted so be sure to bookmark the Small Business Trends giveaway page and visit back often.

You or your company can also offer products, books, services or discounts to Small Business Trends readers.  Simply fill out the donation form at the bottom of the Small Business Trends giveaway page.

Yesterday Business Week announced the beginning of their second annual search for America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs.  Business Week is looking for reader suggestions of U.S. based companies that are profitable while solving social issues at the same time.

We want to find entrepreneurs who are building profitable business models in which doing good is an intrinsic part of the business and not just a philanthropic sideline. Concepts are great, but for this roundup we just want to hear about companies that are up and running and willing to disclose annual revenues.

Suggestions will be taken until March 26, 2010 and narrowed down to 25 finalists.  Readers will have the chance to read about and vote for the finalists from May 4 to May 21.  The top 5 social entrepreneurs will be announced on June 1, 2010.  You can read about the 2009 social entrepreneur finalists or submit a suggestion now.

We hear story after story about organizations trying to reinvent themselves or wondering why they have lost market share or stakeholder support. Often times they are so close to the root challenge that they overlook it and try to advertise or promote their way out of slumping sales. A better approach: look deep to examine and refine your true brand essence and never loose sight of the essential emotional connection your brand must make to each guest, customer or stakeholder.

Over the years we have accepted the challenge of assessing and developing strategies to both launch and expand market share for operators and their suppliers in a multitude of industries. There’s always been a common thread: be true to what made your brand great and never loose sight of what makes you, your product, and your service authentic and unique.

Often times, when business goes south, the immediate reaction is either to slash proactive marketing expenditures or to try to advertise to regain market share. Neither works. What does work is having all principals and operations folks look back to what drove business when expansion was taking place. What products built the company? What did the brand stand for? How was it conceived? What made guests and customers come back?

With increased competition comes a desire or tendency to “act like the Jones’s,” rather than keeping the focus on a unique and authentic brand story. Long-term success, we have found and suggest, is found in remaining steadfast in delivery of a product that is beyond anyone’s duplication. Good managers, in any type of business or organization, will realize the need, every couple of years, to take an objective and impartial view of what message their brand is sending - both by operational execution as well as through visual merchandising in all form of external outreach.

Our advice to operators in today’s ultra-competitive environment: examine and refine your core brand. You may be too close to daily operations to see how your original focus has morphed into something that is truly “not you.” Don’t be afraid to call in expert help to look at all that you are doing, internally and externally, to see if you are truly showcasing your authentic core message. Whatever you do, don’t wait until it’s too late or spend thousands on unfocused advertising dollars.

When you stand back and get assistance in taking a hard look at what truly put you on the map to begin with, you’ll realize that same core brand message and product can take you to new heights as well. Just realize that as you examine your brand and your operations, you need to always seek to build emotional connections with your guests, customers and stakeholders.

Great brands aren’t reinvented, just are continually improved and reinforced. When’s the last time you really took a hard look at how true your operations are to your brand promise? Now would be a good time!

About The Guest Author: Tom Kelley is Managing Partner of Concept Branding Group. The firm specializes in examining, refining and expanding brands for small and large businesses, trade associations, and non profit organizations.

With smartphones growing in popularity, it’s not hard to imagine that newer marketing tactics will involve tapping into the mobile market.  It’s amazing to me just how many people cannot disconnect themselves from their mobile phones.

In a recent podcast interview, Paul Rosenfeld discusses how text message marketing is quickly becoming the next must have marketing tool.

Let’s face it, we’re all connected to gadgets and information 24/7 these days. So, it only makes sense that tapping into these channels is going to be the next wave of the future.

Paul Rosenfeld, CEO of Fanminder, joins Anita Campbell for a discussion to explain, in detail, why text message marketing, in particular, is poised to be your next must-have tool to grow your business in 2010. Paul explains exactly how you can take easy steps to drive immediate revenues for your business.

Stay on top of upcoming marketing trends, visit Small Business Trends Radio to hear the entire interview with Paul Rosenfeld…

Yesterday I discovered that we were mentioned in a list of CEO blogs on Accounting Degree.com.  In 25 CEO Blogs Every Biz Student Should Read, you’ll find a nice variety of informational blogs.

Whether you’re working on your MBA or just starting out as an undergraduate business student, you can augment your education with a little help from the web. These blogs will give you a window into the world of a CEO so you can see what they do, how they do it and just what goes on inside upper management in a company so you can learn more without spending a dime.

On this list you will find the CEO blogs categorized into 3 sections; CEO Blogs, Tech CEOs, and For CEOs.  I think you can find just about everything you may need to know about CEOs within this list of blogs.  Visit Accounting Degree.com to start exploring these great blogs.

I have to say that I’m a little surprise that I am sharing the link I’m about to mention.  Why, you ask?  Because the blog author is only 12 years old!  But from the content I’ve read on Gloson Blog, the author seems wise well beyond his years.  You can find evidence of this in the recent interview of Gloson by Sarah Cook on Saturday Morning Mastermind.

Gloson’s blog is very impressive.  If his articles were posted anywhere else, I don’t think anyone would even realize the author was so young.  That’s why I was prompted to share his site with you.  I think it’s important to encourage young minds.

With my personal blog, I’m a recent Wordpress convert.  It took me months of trial and error to get things settled.  Gloson’s article, 17 Important Things To Do After Starting Your Wordpress Blog, would have come in really handy back then.

This step by step guide will come in handy for anyone just starting out with their own blog.  And even though it’s written as advice for Wordpress users, most of the tips also apply to bloggers using other platforms.

Go through Gloson’s checklist and see if you’ve overlooked any of these Wordpress blog startup tips…

Brickfish and Cisco have come together to bring small businesses the Heroes Of The Human Network contest.  This contest gives business owners the chance to win a complete network makeover worth $10,000!

If your small business would benefit from working faster and being better connected to your customers, staff and suppliers, Cisco is prepared to help. Simply tell Cisco about your small business and either (1) how technology has helped you to advance or (2) how the right technology could help your small business advance, and you could win a Cisco® network makeover valued at $10,000. Plus, you’ll be exalted to “hero” status in an upcoming “Heroes of the Human Network” advertisement.

In addition to the grand prize, there are other prizes that will be given away also.  You can see the entire list of prizes along with the contest rules and regulations here.  Get your entries in soon, you have up until March 3, 2010 at 11:30 PM (PT) to enter.

By now, the predictions for 2010 have faded into the background and, for many, so have those business and personal New Years resolutions and top 10 lists.

So now that February is upon us and new products and technologies are on the horizon, here is a brief synopsis of things to do and avoid that will leverage your PR efforts.  These tips were created with the goal of a high ROI program that will support the sales process and the effectiveness of your company’s overall marketing efforts.

To do:

• Subscribe, read newsletters and contribute to the top outlets that impact your business.  Even if they are niche.  Have a voice with a clear, concise point of view. More specifically, demonstrate how you are the expert with the relevant, real-life technology, business and customer experiences.
• Recognize that PR is a verb not a noun. The days of the lawyer-scrubbed and -approved press release as a primary communication mechanism is obsolete. Beyond that, it is a true dialog.  Be conversational in tone and content.
• Follow your customers and your customers’ customers, including events they attend, speeches they give, earnings calls, etc.  Keep at the pulse of what your customers are doing and how they will evolve to remain competitive. Leverage this knowledge in all of your outbound communications.
• SEO: Link all of your communications - Web, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  If you are a panel participant, provide the link, audio file and slides via your Web site and Twitter.  Push content out, change your auto-reply signature to include links, refresh your Web site bios to include links to what you and your company say.  This is a topic a lot of people talk about but few actually do.  Want proof?  Go to your company’s own Web site and under the executive bios tab, see how many of those pages include live links to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the like.
• Community: You employ talented people in a strategic location.  Give back, no matter the scope or scale.  Get creative.  If you are a small company, invite other companies your size or within a few miles to join forces with you.  Don’t get caught up in getting “credit” - Do the right thing; the benefits to your community and employees will resonate.

To avoid:

• Avoid participating in venues that are too big for the size of your company and/or resources that enable you to be successful.  The phrase go big or go home applies. Go big could be a major speaking event (even if you don’t have a booth).  No matter where you go, have a presence that is memorable to a majority of the attendees.
• Avoid becoming more concerned with responding to competitive claims than keeping ahead of the competitor in the first place.  In most cases responding is vital, but be cautious about being more consumed by your competitors than you are with the success of your own business and valued customers.
• Stay away from trying to do too much with too little.  Historic thinking indicates that with fewer publications, the PR universe is getting smaller.  This is not true.  There are more influencers than ever and they may or may not be with “traditional” publishers or analyst firms.  Find out who they are and if/where they are syndicated. In most cases, there are about 10 key media outlets or individuals that truly understand and influence your market and are on the top of your customers’ must-read list. Focus, focus, focus.
• Avoid being in the weeds when the real issue is much bigger.  For example, are you focused more on a specific competitor when in fact you should be having a high-level voice in patent reform?  How secure is your supply chain and what are you doing (and saying) to be sure you can deliver to your customers?  Avoiding the minutia will greatly help you up-level your message.
• And of course, while it may sound pedestrian, at all costs avoid anything cut and pasted.  Everything MUST be customized, specific, targeted and relevant to the audience.  Generic pitches remain one of the biggest complaints by editors across the entire spectrum of outlets, including major daily newspapers.

Comments?  Questions? I’d love to hear from you.

About The Guest Author: Marla Kertzman, vice president of The Hoffman Agency, has more than 20 years’ communications experience in corporate and agency environments, including startup, pre-IPO and Fortune 500 companies. She provides practical and aggressive hands-on expertise in day-to-day strategic and tactical PR program execution. Marla’s focus is on great client service, bringing a unique perspective, coupled with drive, passion and an understanding of the technology ecosystem.  You can also follow Marla on Twitter @marlak.

One of the biggest challenges facing small business owners is “How do I distinguish myself from my competitors?”

The answer is simple, and so, there is no shortage of people toiling to make it complicated.

To stand out, dedicate yourself to your customers. Care more about helping them than you do about making money. The company that cares more will understand more. And the company that understands the customer’s world will think up ideas that will impact their world. In other words, they will stand out.

If you really care, you will even ask questions that risk making you look bad, because it serves the greater purpose of helping your customers.

A CPA once asked my advice on attracting more large company clients to his firm.

“Simple,” I said. “Go to the larger clients you already work with and ask questions like: “Why did you start working with my firm?” “Why have you continued working with my firm?” “What should we understand about you and your company so we can be even more valuable to you?”

He hesitated. “But won’t I be opening the door for complaints?”

“Well, that may happen with some,” I said. “But if negative feelings are there, isn’t it better that you know about it so you can correct it? Otherwise they’ll pick up and go without ever giving you a second chance.”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask his clients these kinds of questions and so he will forever be guessing as to what is most important to them.

To stand out usually doesn’t need great genius so much as great discipline and courage. If you’ve been shirking from difficult conversations it is hurting your business.

Innovation, once you get past the buzzwords and the hype, is simple if you really care and aren’t afraid of difficult conversations.

About The Guest Author: Dov Gordon helps small company CEOs build such loyal employees and life-long customers, that even their competitors enviously spread their renown. You will also enjoy downloading his free, practical and applicable .mp3 on “The Critical 10% of Management Skills that Make You Look Brilliant 90% of the Time.” Get it now at http://www.DovGordon.biz/the-10-percent.htm.

So you benchmark your company against others in your industry. Maybe you look at maximizing revenue per full-time employee, increasing first call resolution in your contact center or IT expense as a percent of revenue. How do you compare to your competitors? Is that the right comparison?

Your customers, whether they are consumers or businesses, rarely measure you against others in your industry. Think about it. When you pay your doctor bill, do you compare that process against other doctors, or do you think about being able to pay your credit card bill online? Health care organizations get compared by consumers to their auto insurance company, their bank and their cell phone companies. A customer’s last memory of service is rarely another organization of your type.

For business to business companies, the comparisons may be different but they still happen.

* Can your client look at its transactions online? Their bank lets them view transactions, transfer funds and make payments.

* Can they easily get a human on the phone if they need one? Their accounting firm probably makes it easy, and can take a message or route the call to the desired accountant’s back up.

* Can they schedule an appointment online? My reservations for my last business lunch were done via opentable.com which promptly sent a notification to the person joining me for lunch. Easy.

Think about giving your client the ability to interact with you the way they are most comfortable, whether it is by live person, by phone or on the web. Make it easy for your customers, according their definition of easy. They will order more, and will continue to do business with you as they learn to rely on you as a data source.

Understanding and, if appropriate, matching your competitors’ offerings is important as well. However, it’s most important in vendor selection. Once selected, it is human nature to no longer compare to vendors one hasn’t spoken with in awhile, but instead compare to those currently in use. If your customer is comparing you to other vendors of your type, they may be unhappy with your service and are starting to shop.

If you manage an internal support organization like Information Technology, Human Resources or Finance, re-visit your internal benchmarks. What could you strive for even if it’s not industry-standard? Allow employees to update their information online. Make budgeting easier. Show open IT tickets and their statuses online. Then think big. Leverage technology to automate processes so you can radically improve your revenue/FTE ratio.

Compare yourself to your competitors, but ask your customers who, of any vendor they have, has the best service and why. You may be surprised.

About The Guest Author:  Laura Pettit Rusick assists CEOs at small and mid-sized organizations with strategic technology planning and management. Her company OPT Solutions helps them grow, reduce costs and increase productivity by optimizing business processes and technology. For those interested in benefiting from business process efficiency projects, sign up to receive the PDF “Ten Critical Success Factors for Optimizing Business Processes“. Laura’s website is http://www.optsolutionsinc.com.