So you have a new online business and want to get it up and running. As we all know, money is scarce and both VC’s and Angels have tightened their belts. Angel investors are trying to stay a bit more liquid and really looking hard for the right investment. Often times they are looking for proprietary technology rather than service based businesses. The problem with that as an entrepreneur with a new company is that its take time and money to develop proprietary technology. So how does someone with a new start-up tackle the challenges and stresses of bootstrapping?

These economic times are going to forge smart, savvy, and tough minded business people because we will all be forced to make hard decisions and in the long wrong might be better off for it. Not getting those much needed investments can often turn out to be a blessing in disguise. You will be forced to work hard, keep your company lean and mean, and focus on your core initiatives.

Step 1: At first, focus on cash flow rather than profitability (this will quickly change of course and profitability will be your life line). The reason for this is that you will have expenses and your own bills to pay (need cash to pay them). Keep your overhead as low as possible and pay your bills on time.

Step 2: Forecast from the bottom up not the top down. In so many business plans you see people making projections based on the percentage of the market they plan to capture…usually it is the standard 1% to 5% depending on the industry. Rather than make these estimates, keep it more simple. By focusing from the bottom up you can project the productivity of your team, the ability to sell a certain amount of your product or service each month, and the growth plan for each component.

Step 3: Hire people you can actually afford. It may not be the time to go out and build your dream team. This can lead to a massive payroll expense and overstaffing issues. You will end up having a bunch of high paid people sitting around doing nothing. Make your team building strategy gradual and understaff if you can. This will lead to each team member having to work a little harder but so what…thats part of the start-up experience right? Once you hit a threshold where you think quality might start to suffer, go hire another person.

Step 4: Make good hiring decisions. You can’t afford to waste money on people that will not produce for you. Have a formal hiring process even for your lowest level positions and call references given. At the end of the day though you have to go with your gut feeling. I have hired people who I knew would be great even though one of the references was not that great. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we have made.

Step 5: As mentioned above, even if you plan to develop proprietary technology, you may not have the resources to start with this at the beginning. This will take time and significant resources. Have a service you can sell that will build a client base and get your name out there. This can include providing consulting services related your industry and future proprietary offerings.

Step 6: Don’t spread yourself thin. Focus on your core competencies and internal processes. The more formal your internal process is, the more scalability your model will have.

Step 7: Keep your eye on the competition and have a value proposition that differentiates you from the existing competition. Be ready to answer the question, “Well ABC Company has been around ten years and has a similar pricing model…why should we use you”. The answer can of course include more customer attention, better quality, a unique approach, a niche focus, etc.

Step 8: Accurately project your cash flow. Now how much cash you have; and if you are running negative, by how much? What is your burn rate and how can you decrease/slow the bleed?

Step 9: Have a cost effective Internet marketing strategy in place that will help bring you new business. If you can invest in SEO then my suggestion is to never wait. Creative social media marketing can also be a great way to drive some awareness to your new online business.

Follow some of these basic steps and you will be able to focus on growing your business rather than constantly worrying about investors that aren’t calling you back. In the long run, you will make better decisions and still have controlling ownership of your company!

These days it all comes down to budget planning.  The people making the “money” decisions will eventually hand over an overall budget for marketing that will no doubt be meant to use for any and all marketing expenditures.  The next step of course is trying to figure out how to allocate the appropriate amount of budget to each desired marketing channel.  Many companies are moving the majority of the budget only for a few reasons:

• Online marketing is more cost effective – companies have less money to spend and need to find the most appropriate channels while eliminating the excessively expensive media like print advertising.
• Internet marketing is more measurable – companies need to measure and track every penny to ensure their marketing budget is being spent in the best way and achieving the optimal ROI.
• Online marketing is more targeted – The best way to achieve that optimal ROI is to design a Internet marketing strategy that will focus on the exact target audience so no money is watsed on consumers that won’t convert.
• Online marketing appeals to the consumer more these days – The average consumer is more savvy and cost conscious than ever before.  They would rather go online and see what others consumers have to say (Web 2.0)

More and more companies are realizing that they need to improve their online brand if they want to survive and compete.  They understand that their competitors who are doing so, are gaining market share and reaching audiences that they themselves can’t currently target.

What are you doing about your online media strategy?

Whether you are a marketer or a company seeking an Internet marketing company, you no doubt realize the importance of an enhanced online plan.  Most of the top companies out there have shed the old ways and embraced interactive strategies that include search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, email marketing and of course….social media.

So the question remains, how do I allocate the funds available to each online channel?

These days budgets are tight so one needs to research each channel thoroughly to see if it is a good fit.  Just because you have heard of social media for example, it may not be appropriate for your immediate business goals.

Take the following steps:

• Finalize your marketing budget for the year broken down by quarter
• Outline your exact business goals
• Asses how you want to achieve those goals through your marketing strategy – a good Internet marketing company can help you put this plan together
• Choose the online channels that best suit your needs.  Traditionally, a good mix of different online components will give you the best comprehensive strategy.  Keep in mind though that if the budget is limited you should choose the best one or two components that compliment the overall plan.
• Execute your plan – don’t wait!  Business won’t grow by sitting around and discussing the marketing plan.

No go get ‘em!

According to economists…it is going to these key industries:  Energy, Green Tech, Water, Canada/exports, Higher Education (notably non-public institutions), Health Care Practices,  Leisure, Pets, Funeral Services, Alcohol, Security, and Legal Services.

For all you marketers out there these are the industries I would be targeting for new clients.  There will be many start up businesses in these industries as well in need of website design and online marketing.  Being a San Diego Internet marketing company, we are in one of the best locations for clean tech companies and healthcare.  There is a lot of institutional money funding these companies large and small.  I would suggest reaching out to Venture Capital firms as well and seeing what their clients are in need of.

Another great area mentioned above is education.  Online education is growing like wild fire and educational institutions are spending big buck on online marketing!  These are interesting times and we all need to be creative when seeking new business opportunities.  Follow the money!

I was watching A Rod on the news morning admitting his steroid use and it got me wondering how this news would have been different 10 years ago. 10 years ago when the Internet was a baby, this news would have been released and people would read it in the paper that day. Now just this morning it was reported that over 200,000 blogs already had commments about the story and over 200,000 people already voted about their thoughts on the story on ESPN’s website. Twitter was rampant with people commenting on the story. Our world has completely gone online. My question to our readers today is, “Is your business online?”

The average marketing budget is now pushing close to 40% online for many large companies however some industries are still lagging behind. Some old school companies still think they will get more out of one $100,000 weekend ad in the paper than they will in an entire year online. Wake Up People! Print is Dead! Regular Advertising is Dead! The world is online.

If you are not running a full scale Internet Marketing campaign for your company and performing search engine optimization, you are missing out. I spoke to a massive company yesterday with thousands of clients and been around for 50 years and they have never once even tried email marketing. How does this happen?

Companies get stuck in their ways and they are afraid of change. What worked 10 years ago will not work anymore. CEO’s need to wake up and start placing more of their advertising budgets online. It is 2009, not 1999 and I am sick of it people not embracing online.

I urge all companies to consult a top Internet Marketing Company such as Internet Marketing Inc and start thinking about new ways to promote their company and their products and services.

By now we have all heard of the large Christmas bonuses that companies usually give to their top employees in good years. 2008 has not been one of those good years. The stock market thinks that is 1929 and we are in a recession. Bonuses occur when companies have a large profit. Instead of paying large taxes on that profit, they take the profit and bonus it out to employees. Smart companies are holding back those bonuses this year or giving more reasonable bonuses.

Last year Google gave extensive bonuses to its employees including wads of cash and stock options. This year each employee got a $180 G1 Google Phone instead of a large amount of cash. This may seem silly but this is one of the reasons that Google is so successful. They have smart business men and it is a wonderful internet company.

Other companies such as Goldman Sachs did not seem to get the message. Goldman Sachs gave many of their employees million dollar bonuses in 2007. In 2008, the company reported their first ever loss since going public. A large majority of their clients lost money and they fired over 20% of their staff. To top it off they got a lot of money from the Government Bailout Package. So if there was no profit, government help, and layoffs, how did Goldman Sachs still find the money and the sense to give their employees massive bonuses. It is true that 6 of the top executived decided to skip their bonus this year, but hundreds of others still got massive bonuses.

I know this is not a post related to Internet Marketing or Internet Marketing Companies which is why people read this blog, but the internet exposes all of us to all kinds of businesses. It is interesting to see how some businesses react to the current economic condition of the country. I am sure there are people without jobs out there hurting to get by and make their mortgage payments that would want to know why Goldman Sachs reported a loss, got government bailout help, but still managed to give away massive bonuses.

I personall have friends in some of the other top Wallstreet investment banks and hedge funds and many of these people depend on their bonus but this year they did not receive one. In this recession companies need to look at all their expenses and adjust their budgets accordingly. Many companies are completely getting rid of their print marketing campaigns and switching completely to internet marketing campaigns while saving millions. If anyone has a comment on my rant on Goldman Sachs, please comment back.

-Brandon

This may seem like a finance focused blog but this is important for all business owners. We are now in the worst financial climate since the great depression and there is a massive credit crunch. This means that more than ever, “Cash is King.”  Whether you own an Internet Marketing Business, a Pharmaceutical company, A restaurant, a pet store, or any kind of business in the world, you need to make sure that your business has enough cash to get through this tough economic climate. The best way to make sure of this is to take out your entire credit line. Many business owners that I know have a large credit line $50,000 to $5 million and most of them have not taken a penny from it. If you have a good relationship with your bank, go there today and find out what your credit line is or apply for one. the window for getting a new credit line is closing, so go there quickly.  Here is the example I want to use. If your company has a credit line of $250,000, take the entire amount out of the bank and put it into a short term CD earning around 4.25% which you can get with any online back. At the most if you have good credit you will be paying about 5.25% on the credit line. That is a 1% cost of business insurance. Store the cash away. You may need it for new employees, payroll, business equipment, Internet marketing, and more. you never know when you will need the cash, but I guarantee you that the 1% will not effect your bussines sin the short term. Draw the entire credit line now because many banks are starting to freeze these credit lines. As an Internet Marketing company, we are seeing many businesses draw out their credit lines and use some of the money on Internet marketing, while dropping their print advertising to bring in new business and in most cases that is working very well.  Take all the cash you can and take it now.

-Brandon