To Build Your Dream Team
How Coach Pop' Recruits Talent This week marks the 69th annual player draft held by the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft is the major mechanism by which teams re-stock their bench with new, young talent, either from college or abroad. While we won’t truly know how the various teams fare in this talent grab until draftees lace up their sneakers and get onto the court in a real game, I do know this. Many of us entrepreneurs will spend considerably more bandwidth debating the various permutations of how our favorite teams made out in the NBA draft than we do thinking seriously about how our own business is going to restock its bench with next season’s top talent. A Grizzlies fan for better than a decade, I’ve seen a lot of change happen in the friendly confines of the FedEx Forum in downtown Memphis, most of it for the better. However, two things won’t ever change: Our dislike for the Los Angeles Clippers, and our fear of the San Antonio Spurs. The first one’s easy. Every team has a rival, even if you have to invent the reason, but the fear thing is real and rational. Every right-thinking team in the NBA fears the Spurs. In the last twelve
Many of us entrepreneurs will spend considerably more bandwidth debating the various permutations of how our favorite teams made out in the NBA draft than we do thinking seriously about how our own business is going to restock its bench with next season’s top talent. A Grizzlies fan for better than a decade, I’ve seen a lot of change happen in the friendly confines of the FedEx Forum in downtown Memphis, most of it for the better. However, two things won’t ever change: Our dislike for the Los Angeles Clippers, and our fear of the San Antonio Spurs. The first one’s easy. Every team has a rival, even if you have to invent the reason, but the fear thing is real and rational. Every right-thinking team in the NBA fears the Spurs. In the last twelve
The first one’s easy. Every team has a rival, even if you have to invent the reason, but the fear thing is real and rational. Every right-thinking team in the NBA fears the Spurs. In the last twelve seasons they’ve compiled a 71.6 percent regular season winning percentage, capped off with 12 trips to the playoffs, four trips to the NBA Finals, and three sets of championship rings. Gregg Popovich, aka “Pop”, the Spurs’ head coach for 19 years, is the longest tenured active head coach among all the major U.S. pro sports leagues, and certainly one of the winningest. At 67 he still works his magic with players easily 40 years his junior, seemingly without whining about millennial entitlement.
Why Smart Entrepreneurs Are Swiping 'Right' on Recruiting Apps When recruiting new players, it’s obvious from a glance at the team’s demographics that Pop is looking for more than just the brightest flash in the talent pan. Not to mention that the team usually falls later in the round (the Spurs have only enjoyed two top-20 draft choices in Pop’s tenure and with the 29th choice this year, that stat will remain intact). With average roster tenure of 5.4 years (half the team has never even played anywhere else in the NBA), Popovich and company clearly take the long view when assembling their team; preferring, of course, players who are talented , but also coachable.
From my own game-time observations, Coach Pop makes no distinction between veteran stars and rookies when doling out praise, or voicing his thoughts about a missed opportunity or game-time errors. Players with outsized egos, thin skin or excessive neediness don’t seem to last long around Coach Popovich. Ask Dennis Rodman. Conversely, those who are willing to work exceptionally hard in a “no star system” and develop their talent to take advantage of changing styles of play in the league seem to have a happy home with the Spurs. Related: How LinkedIn Fundamentally Ruined Recruitment If your business, like most, relies as much on internal teamwork as it does pure talent, you would be well-advised to seriously consider a talent strategy that, not unlike the Spurs, features a higher percentage of home-grown, long term players. By playing heavy minutes together, your employee teams gain
How LinkedIn Fundamentally Ruined Recruitment If your business, like most, relies as much on internal teamwork as it does pure talent, you would be well-advised to seriously consider a talent strategy that, not unlike the Spurs, features a higher percentage of home-grown, long term players. By playing heavy minutes together, your employee teams gain competitive edge by adapting to one another’s capabilities and tendencies, just like players do on the court. They know instinctively where their teammate is going to be, and stand a much better chance of completing a no-look pass, or getting defensive help, thereby improving the odds of winning. When it comes to your talent development strategy, aim to strike a balance between recruiting talent and developing it in-house. Study its suitability relative to the needs of your business over the next several years.
If your company is at all labor dependent, you should be up to your eyebrows in both the talent acquisition and development process. Those are responsibilities that should be well shared with the entire management team. Don’t neglect to extend this to your leadership bench; the level that likely keeps you up at night more than any other. Related: Recruiting at a Hackathon? 5 Tips for Success Well-meshed business teams can be as much of a joy to watch as well-meshed basketball teams. Yet, they require skilled coaches who can keep people on their toes and sort thru a mountain of data to identify and adopt incremental performance benchmarks. So get on with it. Time is not your friend when it comes to recruiting top talent to help your business’ future, and your player draft marches on.
How to Choose the Right Partners In Business
- Find a Co-founder with a complimentary skill set: Try to choose someone who makes up for your flaws. If you are someone who hates networking for your business then find someone who loves to network and can bring in leads for products and services. Make a list of all the things you need an expert for such as build a website, marketing, advertising, networking, accounting, analytics and posting. There are many aspects to running a business and finding the right people to do business with will be a good reflection on your behalf. Look for experts with a proven record who have a good work ethic and provide services in a timely manner.
- Share a similar Image: Try to visualize where you want your business to end up years from now. If you want a business that can be developed and sold at a later date and your partner has a different vision like living a dotcom life style and hold on the business you want to sell. Realize that you both have different goals in mind for the future and this may not be a good partnership. Be honest about where you want your business to end up and if you’re not on the same page, move on and find business partners with the same vision and expectations that you do.
- Have Similar Expectations About the Partnership: Make a plan in advance that you all agree on concerning the time and effort you intend to put in the business. Decide how many hours each person needs to put into the business to keep things fair and balanced. If one person is putting in 40 hours per week and the other person is putting in 20 hours per week that is not a fair situation. Designate certain tasks and times for each individual that will enhance work flow to its full potential.
- Share Expectations Around Equity. If this is your first partnership then you may be tempted to split things fifty fifty. Don’t! You can redistribute equity later on the split should reflect an investment and commitment to the business at the current state. If you are bringing in an existing business and all of its clients to the table and your partners are hoping on board then you should expect more equity from the business to reflect the initial investment value. If they are not okay with that then move on and find a partnerships that coincides with your goals.
- Share Common Financial Expectations: If you want to reinvest your revenue back into a growing business and your partner has different plans about how money should be delegated, you are going to have a problem. Set clear goals in advance as to the expenses necessary to run your business and how much money needs to be reinvested. Hirer an account or CPA Accountant that you can trust to handle the finical aspects of the business. This will help you set clear financial goals that have your best interest in mind. Monitor and maintain the business financial with a good software like Intuit software or Quick books. These are two great programs that are easy to use and implement in your business.
- Be Friendly but Not Friends: Business partnership can be stressful at times and making a clear business decision can be a challenge at times. It is okay to like someone and the contributions they bring to your business however you may need to make changes that are in the best interest of the business and it is much easier to make those decisions if your business relationships are not personal. Cut ties with individuals that are not fully contributing to your vision and goals.
Making Every Interaction Count Positivity A few months back I had coffee with an individual who I informally met at a leadership event. This individual was interested in joining my organization and had invited me for a meeting to learn more and share her experience. During our conversation she did ...
Facebook Advertising for Success
Leveraging social media and technology in small business. Facebook Ads have emerged as a popular and cost-effective way to promote a small business online. According to recent research from MerchantCircle, 22% of small businesses have used Facebook Ads, and 65% say they would use Facebook Ads again, citing ease and flexibility as the top reasons to run another campaign.But not everyone enjoys success with Facebook Ads — among the one-third of users who say they wouldn't run another campaign, nearly 70% say that it didn't work to acquire new customers. With this in mind, here are five tips to ensure you're set up for success with Facebook Ads: Follow 5 Tips for success.
1. Set Goals and Plan Your Approach Accordingly The first step is understanding what you want to achieve with your ad. Are you looking to building awareness for your company, drive traffic to your website, promote a specific event or generate sales? Facebook offers a number of different ad options that work to achieve different objectives. If you're looking to build awareness and grow your fan base, you might want to start with standard marketplace ads. These ads point to your Facebook Page and allow users to "like" your page directly within the ad unit. If you already have a sizable fan base, you might also try a "Page Like" sponsored story, in which the ad shows friends who have liked your Page.
Targeting with Facebook Ads allows you to advertise to the right people based on their real interests. You can even target people who are friends with people who already "like" your Page. This social context will show up around the ad according to global marketing solutions at Facebook. A study from Nielsen shows that on average, people are 68% more likely to remember seeing an ad with social context than without, twice as likely to remember the ad's message and four times as likely to purchase. When you want to promote a particular post from your page, such as a special offer or important news, you can also use
Page Post sponsored stories to convert your post into a News Feed item. But this approach isn't limited to your own posts. Notes that you can use Sponsored Stories — Facebook's newest marketing tool — to help surface the word-of-mouth recommendations about your business that are already happening in the News Feed. For example, you can sponsor stories about people checking in to your business or "liking" your Page.” Whatever your goals and approach, make sure that you are set up to measure success. While click-through rate (CTR) is an important metric to track, it's not the only one, and according to Webtrends, the average CTR for Facebook ads is only about 0.05%, which is half the industry standard of 0.1%.
On Facebook you can bring your page to life and post your business on your Facebook page. Connect with others and grow your customer base by posting on a daily basis and becoming an authority in your chosen area of expertise. Write informative content that is valuable and interesting that readers will want to follow. Offer free newsletters, products, webinars, tips, free EBook and resources that are valuable to consumers.
Post consistently. This allows people to know what to expect from your posts and what kind of content you will deliver for your business. A content calendar will make sure your posts are consistent, similar in message and go out on a regular schedule. Create messages that tell a story. Highlight days for specific business news and updates. Schedule you post ahead of time to remain consistent. Schedule your post when your audience is online and get more views.
Clint Fralick, VP of client services at social media agency Pandemic Labs, recommends that you aim instead for increases in comments, Likes, impressions and active users. "If you pick up 500 new fans, but all those other numbers stay the same, you haven't gotten them engaged — and you probably won't make any money off them," says Fralick.
2. Get Creative with Targeting The Facebook ad interface makes it very easy to select the demographic profile of an audience you want to target, including age, sex, location, education level and interests, but it is also unique in its ability to micro-target very specific audiences. Sheila Hibbard, founder of small business marketing firm The Marketing Bit, notes that while most advertisers come to Facebook with the traditional advertising mindset that says "more is better," that isn't the case with Facebook. "It's better to have a couple thousand very targeted people than tens of thousands of disinterested folks," says Hibbard. She suggests that you zero in on a very specific target audience with your ads, even if it means reducing the size of your audience. Learn how to make money on Facebook and get expert advice Click Here for more information.
For example, if you're using Facebook Ads to promote an event or a seasonal sale, you might want to only target your existing fans, who may be more likely to respond to an immediate offer. When targeting local audiences, it is recommended that you look beyond self-reported location and "use every possible angle to find those locals," since not everyone lists their city in their profiles. "Put the names of popular local businesses, colleges and clubs into the ad manager to find the people that city and zip code doesn't. Another creative idea is to develop and target birthday ads to promote your business or product.
One of the most fun targeting methods is sending an ad that shows up the week before your fan's birthday. I tell business owners to create an ad that links to video of them wearing a birthday hat or throwing confetti while delivering a birthday message, or their staff singing 'Happy Birthday' that ends with a special offer and a link to where they can download their special birthday-only coupon. I can assure you that when someone sees an ad in their sidebar that says 'Happy Birthday,' and they click on it and the guy from the local deli is singing Happy Birthday to them, it gets huge mileage.
3. Choose Text and Images That Pop When designing your ad, Facebook recommends that you write clear, targeted ads with concise text that speaks directly to the audience you will reach. Be sure to highlight any special offers or unique features that differentiate you from the competition. If your goal is brand and company name recognition. Facebook also suggests using your company name in the ad title or somewhere in the body of the ad. While your ad can include up to 135 characters, marketing specialists cautions businesses, "not to feel like you have to fill the entire ad. Sometimes a simple line does the trick.
For example, some experts recommend asking a question or making a bold statement rather than touting your features. Either way, remember to include a call-to-action that encourages users to click on your ad and explains to the user exactly what you expect them to do when they reach your landing page. The pictures you choose for your ad are also critical, since this is what will catch people's eye, and you should think beyond your logo. Typically the best photos for conversion are close face shots of people — smiling women tend to generate a high click rate, I recommends that you avoid typical stock photos and instead try use more natural photos with colors that contrast with the blue color scheme of Facebook, such as red, yellow and orange. These colors are often used in advertising composition and will get noticed by viewers due the vibrancy of hues.
4. Create and Test Multiple Ads. One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners making is creating and running only one ad within each campaign.Visual Website Optimizer is great A/B testing marketing tool that allows you to run a split test on your advertising campaign. For example if you have one website with products to sell and the website color scheme is primarily blue. Now make the same website in a different color scheme such as red as the primary color. Create your campaigns and run a split test to see which website or advertising attracts the most customers and converts into sales.
Even the smallest change in the words you choose or the graphic you use can have a large impact on the click-through rate for your ad, so it's best to create multiple versions of your ad and test them to see which ad gets the best response. Facebook makes this process easy: Once an ad has been created, you have the option to "Create a Similar Ad" and simply swap in a new picture or text. Creating four different ads for the same campaign, running them for a day or so and then viewing your ad statistics on Facebook to discover which ad performed the best. You can then create a new ad that is similar to your best-performing ad, but tweak it just a bit to see if you can beat the previous performance. And, don't forget to swap out ads after a short period to reduce fatigue. According to WebTrends, social ads have a very short shelf life, with interest waning after three to five days.
5. Be Ready To Capitalize on the Traffic, a common mistake small businesses make with Facebook Ads is focusing on their ad while neglecting fresh content on their Facebook Page. They might spend a $100 on ads, but the last update on their fan page was a month ago. It is recommended to spend one hour per day on Facebook to become established in your Facebook community making posts and comments in your related niche.
Your ads are only as good as your Wall. Remember that most people don't click through to your Facebook page; they click 'like' right in the ad. Have status updates or special offers planned that follow up on the messages in your ads, and get people to connect more than once." In fact, Fralick urges clients to think of a click as the beginning of the campaign, not the end. "When someone likes your page, they're giving you permission to talk to them over and over again. That's just as valuable as an outright sale. Have you run ads on Facebook? What was your experience?
Small Business Resources
These are great resources to keep on hand for building your business and brand awareness. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think about this article.
Patricia Lynn
Images Courtesy of Nenetus, Smarnad, Arztsamul, Photostock, Nenetus FreedigitalPhotos.net