Overview: Keep track of invoices, inventory, sales and payments from your iPhone or iPad. In addition to keeping track, you can apply discounts, add notes to invoices and send invoices to customers from your phone. If there is a question that your customer needs answered, sales are searchable by date, customer’s name and invoice number. You can even view all of your paid or unpaid invoices at a glance.

Small Business Benefit: You are not confined to a computer to manage your inventory and money. Updates can be made on the spot with every sale to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity.

Price: $0.99 on iPhone $9.99 on iPad

Evernote

Overview: Sometimes a simple notepad just won’t do. With Evernote you can create and edit lists, record voice and audio notes, organize notes by notebooks and tasks, check your list items off as you go, and take snapshots of important items. Another helpful part of this app is your ability to share your information. Your files can be synced or shared with others. It interacts with Facebook and Twitter for easy sharing and allows you to email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account.

Small Business Benefit: Not everyone needs a complete task management system, just the ability to create lists and keep track of what is necessary for the day.

Price: Free

MBA Learning Solutions: Learning To-Go

Overview: Intersog has developed an app that allows you to further your business education right on your phone or tablet with MBA Learning Solutions. The courses include Strategy Management, Business Math, Marketing, Business Law, General Management, Economics, Information Technology and even Multinational Business and Finance. The app includes full course texts, flashcards, tests and numerous reference options.

Small Business Benefit: Anything you can do to give yourself more credibility as a small business owner is worth it. The market is tough, and earning even one more credential that can potentially set you apart from the competition is worth your time and money.

Price: $9.99 for app and per course on iPhone, $19.99 for app on iPad

Receipts HD

Overview: Tidal Pool Software’s Receipts HD application allows you to track expenses easily from your iPhone, iPod or iPad. You can organize and track personal and business expenses (including mileage, which many entrepreneurs find hard to do). You can enter the receipt details or take photos of them; you can also record voice memos or attach emailed receipts.

Small Business Benefit: Receipts HD generates overview graphs that help you keep track of spending at a glance and allows you to export your information as an Excel doc, or in CSV or PDF format … which will include receipt images. You can also upload receipts to Dropbox, Evernote or Google Docs. These reports will help you or your accountant record all your expenses and mileage. This application is convenient because you will no longer forget receipts and mileage since your iPhone or iPad is likely to be with you wherever you go.

Price: Free

Schedule Planner Pro

Overview: This productivity app incorporates all of your favorite features of a planner into one. You can plan your daily activities by category and priority to ensure that you aren’t missing anything. This app allows you to quickly transition between days, create tasks from scratch or from pre-existing templates to save time, color code tasks, integrate either your Google calendar or your iOS calendar, set alerts and notifications, and use the copy and paste feature to avoid typing the same things over and over.

Small Business Benefit: With a planner keeping your day straight, you are less likely to miss a meeting or networking opportunity increasing your possibilities for new leads and clients. Also, your customers respond well when you are punctual, prompt and on top of your game.

Price: $5.99 on iPhone, $9.99 on iPad (non-pro version is free)

Pages

Overview: Pages allows you to create, edit and view documents on the go, but it’s not your regular mobile processor. With 16 templates to choose from, you can create letters, memos and reports on the go. It even gives you the practical side of a word processor allowing you to view word counts, insert pictures, and use charts and tables. Pages saves your document each time you make a change, so you won’t lose your work. And of course, by using iCloud, you can easily transfer your documents from your phone to your computer.

Small Business Benefit: Typically in a small business, you are your only employee. Maybe you have one or two others that work with you. Regardless, when things have to get done, then have to get done and sitting down in an office is not always an option. Pages allows you to create the documents you need, when you need to make them.

Price: $9.99

Omnifocus

Overview: If you need a way to keep track of everything in your life and business, Omnifocus provides task management by project, place, person or date. You can plan your day’s errands by listing them and then viewing them on a map, showing you the most efficient way to accomplish your day’s goals. Specifically for you iPhone users, Siri communicates directly with your Omnifocus inbox for easy access. It even allows you to break large tasks up into smaller steps that you can complete over time, and when making notes to yourself, it allows you to attach audio or pictures.

Small Business Benefit: The more organized you are, the more likely you will provide better customer service, meet your bottom line and stay on top of your projects. This app helps you be efficient.

Price: $19.99 on iPhone $39.99 on iPad

CWR Mobility

Overview: This app allows you to take your office with you when you are in the field. Track leads, record sales, import pre-prepared forms and track products and inventory. The bottom line of this app is to have all the information you could possibly need from your office computer concerning your clients with you while you are out (i.e. account numbers, sales history, appointments, tasks, etc…). (Works with Dynamics CRM [Customer Relationship Management] Online)

Small Business Benefit: Excellent Customer service is what gets you more customers and the best way to serve them is to be informed.

Price: Free

Have you ever had an amazing story to tell? You call a friend on the phone and start talking. You know your story is hilarious especially since you told it complete with character voices and facial expressions your friend will never see, but for some strange reason, your friend isn’t responding. 5 minutes and 33 seconds into the call, you realize that your friend is no longer on the other end.

Don’t be that “dropped call” Facebook friend that doesn’t respond, interact and form a key networking relationship. It isn’t enough to simply post something here or there and fulfill your professional social media obligations for the day. Try finding other professionals or businesses that produce quality content. Like their statuses, comment on their videos, and re-post helpful articles.

2. Get the Word Out Using the Events Feature

Whether it is a physical gathering or an invitation to your new website launch, make it an event. You can view and print a guest list, send messages about the event and create a buzz. You have complete control, so can edit it at any time, upload a custom graphic, send updates, add guests, delete guests and bring on people as administrators.

3. Check In and Encourage Others to Do So

If telling the world your every move wasn’t enough, Facebook introduced the Check-In feature that tells your friends where you are and who you are with. If you own a business, encourage your customers to check-in from their smart phone or laptop. Talk about free advertisement! Consider posting a sign or hanging a poster reminding your customers to check-in.

4. Use Ads on Facebook

Not only does it make sense to advertise on Facebook, but you would be silly not to. Facebook ads allow you to target your audience by location, age or interest. And if money is an issue, they also allow you to set a daily budget , so you don’t exceed yours.
Also consider that people tend to trust Facebook based on their everyday familiarity with it. Some customers may even be more likely to click on your ad because it is on Facebook as compared to somewhere else. Just a thought.

5. Install Facebook Insights

Insights allows you to see who is visiting your page, what they are looking at, and follow the trends of your users. It’s a free service available to any Facebook user and is updated on a daily basis. You can even export your data as an excel file to keep a record or share with others.

This type of information puts the power in your hands to optimize your social media marketing experience, get to know your fans and followers and be able to give them more what they are interested in.

People assume that branding your law firm makes you more accessible to everyone, but in essence, that is not true. Effectively branding your firm just makes you more accessible to the right people. It allows your efforts to be more efficient and tailors your services and look toward the people that need it.

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
You may think that this strategy is only for those selling a tangible product, but your services, and the way you provide them to your clients is truly a product. If you can develop a USP, you will be singling your firm out to definitely tell your clients why you are the best for them, and they will be reminded of that each time they see your logo and hear your name.

Your Credibility
Why do people go to Starbucks? Is it because they have free WiFi, or because they have the best iced Chai Tea in town? No! (No offense Starbucks) The truth is that when you think of a complete coffee shop experience with good beverages and a decent place to read or work, their logo and services pop into your head. They have true creditability in the world of coffee, but that didn’t happen overnight even if it feels that way to the consumer. It was cunning, creative, and intentional right down to the Siren on their sign. (Side note: In Greek mythology, a Siren’s main focus was to lure…)…Get it.

Your Financial Growth
Proper branding increases your productivity and volume. Employees truly understand and can get behind the image you create. They feel like they are part of something unique and helpful to the community which increases their buy in and overall investment. Clients feel and see the effects of a firm that cares about their image, takes excellence seriously and seemingly has their best interests in mind.

Your Emotional Appeal
Chocolate double layer fudge cake or carrot sticks? Most people understand the health benefits and logic in choosing the carrot sticks, so what makes them go for that cake? Maybe your USP or general services is not as unique as you’d hoped, and you find yourself constantly competing with Blank & Blank Law Firm down the road. Could it be that their clients find an emotional connection with them simply because they have a logo that is memorable and a tagline that reminds the client of exactly how he/she will be treated? Just a thought.

1. Media

People’s eyes are naturally drawn to pictures, graphics and videos. You can post enticing pictures of new listings, happy clients in front of their new/sold home or videos of you giving tours through your current listings.

2. Industry News

Your clients are deeply interested in the housing market, at least for as long as they are trying to buy or sell a home. Give them information that will be useful to them, news about interest rates, foreclosures or special offers.

3. Links to Your Blog Posts

You should have a website with a blog that you update regularly. On your Facebook wall link to your blog posts that will be particularly useful to your clients. Tips for getting your home “show ready,” how to refinance and win big, the best times to sell, etc.

4. Events

If your company is hosting a conference, mixer, seminar or open house then post a flier, pictures, directions or other information about the event that will get people excited about attending. Always highlight the benefits, as in what they’ll be able to learn, who they’ll get to meet or what treats will be available to snack on.

5. Some Personality

A few tasteful jokes about the industry or colorful scenarios will help your clients to see your company for what it is and be a bit entertained in the process. People want to work with other people who are like them. Show that there are real people behind your business.

Image credit: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This frustrates us just as much as it does you, and all firms simply cannot afford to hire a top dollar marketing consultant.

Throughout this blog series you will receive information explaining:

• why branding is important
• different marketing processes such as word of mouth, direct mail, email marketing, commercials
• your website and what it should be doing for you
• ways to track whether your website is serving its purpose
• how social media relates to branding specifically for law firms
• why blogging is crucial for your firm’s branding identity
• what you can effectively blog about and who should blog be doing the blogging
• ideas for immediate brand recognition

So, we may not have heard the question come out of your mouth, but we don’t have to. There are certain questions that hang in the air whenever budding entrepreneurial minds are in the same room. Are there some free tools to help build my small business? Do I really need a logo? Can I really get an affordable website?

Yes. We say yes to all those questions.

But then you may say that the word affordable is relative. Small businesses differ financially. The term “inexpensive website” may not hold the same number value for everyone.

Well, we still say yes. Introducing The 1-Pager.

This one page website can be temporary for a small business that needs a lot of web presence now but isn’t ready to launch the full site, or it can be a one stop shop for all the information your clients need to know.

Because we aren’t just blowing smoke here, and we do understand that different businesses have different needs. We’ve taken it one step further.

The 1-Pager actually has levels, so you can go as in depth as you want without going over your budget:
• The Basic
• The Premiere
• The Ultimate

Each of these packages offers a more in depth opportunity for you to wow your clients with just one click. Visit The 1-Pager web page for pricing and more details.

For clarification purposes, I am specifically referring to independent copyeditors, not the editors in publishing houses (their jobs are a bit different). This is a simple list, and if you say yes to one or more of these items, start shopping for an editor that fits your needs (we’ll talk about that too in this post).

1. You have read your work out loud and it sounds good to you, but you still feel like something is missing.
2. Your friends or colleagues have read your work, and say it is great without any real feedback.
3. Your friends or colleagues have read your work, but your writing did not solicit the response you desired.
4. The publisher to whom you submitted your work suggests that you have an editor look at it.
5. You have gone through an extensive round of rejections, and you need some further input.
6. You have hit a wall and need someone to read it and give you feedback that could promote new ideas.
7. You have obsessed over content, but don’t have the first clue what people are talking about when they say “Formatting”
8. People constantly try to sit you down to talk about alternative careers (just being funny, but if they have … hey, try an editor!)

So, you need an editor, but what kind?

There are many types and titles that people have thrown out there, but summing what these editors do without trying to crawl through the vats of terminology is my main goal for you. As you search for an editor and you read through a description of what he/she offers, you can decide if that is the right one for you.

Some editors just proofread. They look through your writing and correct spelling, grammar, and sentence structure. Some editors proofread and comment on style and voice. They identify awkward areas and note spots in the piece where the style may unnecessarily shift or where your voice no longer flatters the mood of the writing. Some editors develop the story. They look at character and plot development and map it out so that you can see what they see. They can show you dead ends or areas that could be elaborated. Which editor do you need? Well, that depends on if you have a strong story that just needs polishing or the manuscript is giving you run for your money and needs extra attention.

We all know that we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when you are a business, that’s exactly what happens. Think it through and come up with something great.

Your business is more than its services. It is a statement that is made with every business card handed out and every flier posted. More specifically, anytime your logo is seen, your business is speaking to the public. Don’t you want to be confident in what it’s saying?

No one is saying that your logo has to be large and elaborate. It doesn’t have to look like a piece of art, but it does have to be memorable, professional and even clever to the point that it stands out among the rest. A good logo will show your potential clients that you mean business and you are willing to go the extra mile for them because you went the extra mile for yourself.

Never underestimate the power of appearance. The only time a good logo can turn bad is when you don’t follow it up with good business. But that part is up to you.