A big part of online promotion is creating content that can be shared.  This includes email newsletters, article submissions, press release distribution, and blog post writing.  Social media is a great place to share this high quality content once it has been created.  Social media is important for numerous reasons.  It helps to build a brand and improves SEO.  Businesses are realizing that it’s not just a fad and that it’s time to get involved, if they haven’t already.  One of the most important decisions that needs to be made is who will be the social media voice that represents the company and brand.

The first thing that needs to be decided is whether the voice should be a brand or a person.  Should the Twitter profile that’s promoted for business use be “CompanyX” or “JaneDoe” (President and Founder of Company X).  This usually depends on the company.  If it’s a product based company, it might be easier and more acceptable to use the brand name.  If it’s a service based company, it’s more about forming relationships and establishing trust with an actual person.  Certain situations, especially in the service industry, need that personality.  People like to put a face with the company name.

Once you’ve decided that the voice should be represented by a person at the company, the next step is to determine who that person should be.  Depending on the company, the right person differs, but it could be anyone including the owner, President, CEO, or VP of Marketing.  This decision is extremely important because the brand will be built in this person’s name.  You need to think about whether or not this person will still be working at the company in 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years.  If the brand is built in their name, and then they leave, they take all of that brand equity along with them and it’s like starting all over again.  The name needs to be consistent across all marketing channels including all business and social profiles.  One of the possible dangers of using a person is that the personal and professional sometimes blend together.  If an account is being used for business reasons, the content needs to remain professional at all times.

It’s also important to consider if more than one person should represent the brand.  For a small business, only one person should be the voice of the company.  If there are too many people it’s not consistent and could lead to confusion.  Seeing one name promotes brand recognition.  People see the name over and over and get who that person is representing.  The brand behind the name is less recognizable as more names are used.  For a large corporation that has numerous divisions, it is more appropriate to have multiple people representing the brand because they can represent the various divisions or products lines.  In this case, using only one name will cause too much clutter since the information isn’t relevant to everyone.

Determining the social media voice is the first step in establishing and building a presence in the social media space.  This is a decision that will affect major online marketing initiatives, so it needs to be made wisely.

With everything going digital, there’s nothing like the human touch to liven up your marketing materials.  Cartoons are a fantastic way to add a human touch to your marketing materials, especially if your business is technical, industrial or B2B.

Why Use Cartoons

Cartoons, by definition are drawn by hand.  That alone makes them interesting and different, because they are hand drawn, each one is unique by definition and it’s that irregularity and uniqueness that draws us in.

Another wonderful reason to use cartoons is to convey those subtle emotions and conversations that we all know exist in the stratosphere, but that we don’t have the actual words to communicate.  Cartoons evoke unsaid emotions that make them an extremely powerful and effective way to say things that are either difficult to say or talk about.

Cartoons are very sharable.  People just love sharing cartoons that resonate with them or make them smile.  It builds a sort of bond from the sharer of the cartoon with the receiver and creates this nudge, nudge, wink, wink moment that creates a subtle understanding

Humor sells.  Cartoons almost always have some level of humor in them and humor sells.  When you combine the human element with the emotional communications that only a picture can provide, you evoke a smile and smiles sell.

Creative Ways to Use Cartoons

So, now that you’re sold on using cartoons, here are a few ways that you can use cartoons in your marketing materials:

1. Business Cards.  Here is a picture of MY business card with cartoons on them.  These are custom cartoons created by Mark Anderson of Andertoons (@Andertoons) .  We spent about 30 minutes on the phone where we talked about a few concepts and then he created these variations.  These cards really stand out from others and it’s not uncommon to have people take more than one and share them with other people.  My challenge was communicating the value I offer to my clients – the cartoons did a perfect job depicting common circumstances or trigger events that often prompt people to call me in to help them with their marketing.
2. Note Cards & Letter head.  The obvious extension from business cards is to create notecards and letterhead.  Don’t stop with one cartoon. Create a handful of cartoons that describe a common circumstance your customers can relate to.
3. Web site/blog.  Using a custom cartoon on your web site is a great way to grab a reader’s attention and get them engaged in your content.  Think about creating cartoons around the top frustrations or pains that your customers encounter – when your customers see themselves in your cartoon, they will assume that you really understand them and won’t be able to resist the content.
4. Newsletter. Whether you print a newsletter and send it to your customers or just send one via email, give your customers something to look forward to by inserting a custom cartoon.  People will often go straight to the cartoon section of the paper just because they look forward to seeing what the characters are up to.  The same will be true for your newsletter.  Create custom cartoons to illustrate a recent technology breakthrough or solution to a customer problem.  You’ll not only entertain your customers, you’ll show be promoting your products, services and solutions as well.
5. Calendar of Tips.  Create 12 custom cartoons featuring tips that make sense for that month and use them as holiday and new year gifts.
6. Promotional items like T-shirts, Mugs and Luggage Tags.  Create a series of custom cartoons that feature your theme for a trade show and put them on your promotional materials.  Embroider shirts or caps for trade shows, create a funny scene using your company name, logo and address and use it as a luggage tag or create mugs your customers won’t want to be without.
7. Book.  I’m always telling technical and manufacturing companies to create a book using cartoons.  They usually freak out because it’s too HUMAN – but that’s exactly what’s missing from their products and services; a human approachability.  Well-designed custom cartoons sprinkled throughout a technical book lend perspective and context to products that can appear cold and lifeless.
8. Contest – for the caption.  Contests are a really fun way to engage customers and build traffic to your web site.  Why not create custom cartoons and then get your audience to submit their ideas for captions.  You can select as many winning captions as you like and then get multiple uses out of the same cartoon.
9. Customer service.  Create a series of custom cartoons to match your most common customer service situations.  Here are a few ideas; Ooops –  we goofed, I hate when that happens, thank you for choosing us, checking in to see how you’re doing.  When customers receive these notes with a personal handwritten message inside, you’ll be sure to create smiles and repeat business.
10. Advertising.  If you’re going to do advertising, why look like everyone else?  Make a real statement by creating a custom cartoon that illustrates the features and benefits of your product and service and the experience it creates for your customer.
11. Direct mail.  Direct mail is most effective when your target audience receives a series.  Custom cartoons are an ideal way to create a story that your audience will love to receive.  Create a story that mirrors your ideal customer’s buying situation and the people who relate most to this circumstance will respond.
12. Presentations. Spice up your presentations by using custom cartoons instead of clip art.  Create a series of characters or scenes that you can use and reuse in a concept presentation that you give over and over.
13. Training Materials.  This is a really fun way to engage your audience inside a training session.  You can use cartoons to start discussions or debrief a training session.
14. Product Packaging.  When you print boxes or envelopes why not print something that will set you apart from the rest?
15. Product Demonstration.  People remember visual messages longer than written ones.  Why not incorporate a custom cartoon within your next product demonstration documentation or video.  A cartoon illustration the proper use (or the incorrect use) of a product will stick in the mind of a customer.

There are so many different graphics that are available for any of these applications, but using custom cartoons in the ways I’ve described will not only set you apart, but will further engage your customers with your product, service or information that you are trying to communicate.

Sure, we know effective branding is crucial for a company’s viable success, but that doesn’t get us any closer to knowing how to implement a realistic branding strategy. Branding can be even more challenging for small business owners who might not have the funds needed for extensive marketing platforms. Fortunately, small businesses owners still have a number of inexpensive avenues they can explore when looking to brand a new enterprise — they might just have to think outside the box a bit.

When branding a new business, you should really take the time to explore all of the options thoroughly because the decisions you make now will define your company’s image for years to come. The following are five questions you should ask yourself before you begin developing potential branding elements.

1. What are you trying to say?
   Your first priority should be to develop a communicable message that accurately represents your business and what it offers consumers, whether it be a product or service. Take the time to think about every aspect of your business. Writing a mission statement for your enterprise is a great way to solidify what your company is all about.
   You need to have a well-thought-out message from the get-go so your branding practices can be implemented consistently in the future.  The overall design concept, individual logo and expressive colors should flow seamlessly to deliver one comprehensive message about your business.
2. How much money can you afford to spend?
   Some small businesses might have the start-up capital necessary to hire a freelance designer or marketing specialist to help them brand their company. Others might not have funds to allocate toward developing a marketing strategy, which makes the initial branding process that much more important. If the latter is true for your business, contact the marketing or graphic design departments of colleges/universities in your area. Higher education programs often offer opportunities for their students to get real-world experience by working with local businesses. You’ll get free marketing and branding development, and they’ll get college credit and professional clips for their portfolios.
3. How do you want customers to perceive your business?
   The first branding component potential customers will see and remember is your company logo. People should be able to recognize your business by its logo, and color choice plays a big role in your decision. Choose something that will draw attention but still look professional. Get feedback from as many people as you can before you settle on a logo. Ask your friends, family members and professional colleagues what their opinions are, because, as consumers, their opinions are all relevant.
4. What should your online presence be?
   Today’s consumers expect to find the companies they do business with online. As such, every business should have some sort of online presence. The extent to which you promote your brand online will depend on your staff and its financial capacity, but there’s certainly no reason you can’t establish a profile on social media sites for free. If you choose to set up a unique website, make it easy to navigate with contact information that’s readily available. Websites should always be eye-catching yet informative to best meet the needs of potential customers.
5. How will you maintain your brand?
   Once you’ve established what you want your brand to be, consider the various marketing strategies that will help you promote it in the future. Carefully consider who your potential clients are and how to best reach them. Take advantage of every viable opportunity to get your brand out into the public. The more familiar the public is with your brand, the more likely they will be to work with you in the future.

Considering these questions from the get-go will put you on the right track to building a brand that will give you positive results. When developing a brand for your new small business, the takeaway point is to keep it simple and keep it consistent.

This article was written by Kristen Bradley SuretyBonds.com, a nationwide surety bond producer. SuretyBonds.com helps new small business owners meet licensing requirements every day. The agency provides professional advice to entrepreneurs to help them open for business as soon as possible.

Steve Wilkinghoff is the author of “Found Money” (One of my MOST FAVORITE books).  Steve’s gift is the rare combination of managerial accounting smarts with a marketing focus.  In other words – he can tell you which products are making money and which aren’t — and what to do about it.  In this debut article, you’ll get to see why his insight is so valuable!

About a week ago I had a client excitedly tell me all about an outdoor advertising spot she had committed to.   She explained to me that the location had been measured and received a large number of drive-by impressions each day.

Therefore, she concluded, the advertising location “worked”.

Now I’ve got nothing against any type of advertising (I love it all, and truly believe all advertising has the potential to help improve any business).  However, based on this discussion, it was clear that my client could be headed for financial disappointment because she hadn’t properly defined what “works” actually meant to her – or what it should mean to her.

She had fallen into the trap of assuming that the number of daily drive-by impressions was the relevant measure of success.  But the assumption was wrong.

How do I know?

Because she isn’t in the business of selling drive-by impressions.

What she is in the business of doing is to sell a service to people that need it, and create an adequate financial result for herself in the process.

Because of that fact, the relevant measure of how well any type of advertising (or any other elements of her business for that matter) “works” is the degree to which it contributes toward her financial results.

In other words, the daily drive-by impressions are only the raw material.  Before those impressions work for her, they need to translate into more prospects.  And those prospects have to translate into more customers who can be served at a profit, in a way that fits in with the style, approach, and personality of her business.  And there has to be enough new customers to create additional profit in excess of the cost of the advertising.

All of those things must happen before the advertising spot works for her business.

When she takes that view, it is relatively simply to put measures and metrics in place to tell very quickly if the new advertising spot is working.  If those metrics tell her it isn’t working that doesn’t mean the advertising spot needs to be dropped.  But it does mean she might need to change the message or the content of the advertising.

And she is in a great position to do it early and translate that large number of daily drive-by impressions into more money for her business.

And that is when the advertising spot will truly work for her.

I’m launching a new members-only web site for CEOs with no marketing department called “30 Minute Marketing” — if you’ve ever watched Rachel Ray’s “30 Minute Meals” you get the idea:  In 30 minutes or less, you will have read, learned and implemented a marketing task, strategy or concept.

But I need a Logo!

About a year or two ago I heard about a site called 99Designs.com.  The idea was that you sign up for a dollar level that you want to invest in a design – you can go as low as $99 for a ready made design that you customize to a couple of thousand dollars, depending on how complex your project is.  99Designs will do Logos, Twitter backgrounds, web sites, business cards, web buttons, banner ads, icons and more.  If it needs graphics 99Designs will do it.

I thought it was an interesting idea, but I already have a designer that I love and hadn’t had the opportunity to use it.   But I also thought it was an awesome tool and wanted to see if I got what they promised.  So when I decided to launch “30 minute marketing” I decided to give it a shot and tell you all about it.

Results in Less Than 24 Hours

I decided to use the $295 logo design option.  The first thing that happens is that you go to a “design brief” — it’s an automated design interview that I was able to complete in about 10 minutes — and that’s because I had to go back a couple of times to tweak my thoughts.

The first part of the design brief asks you to choose a logo STYLE.  You can choose a wood mark, pictoral, abstract, letter, emblem, character or web.  I chose WEB since I was going to use this logo as part of a web site.

The next step was to start quantifying the more emotional components of your logo

99Designs uses this nifty scale feature that allows you to assign relative values that the designers will use in the concepts that they submit.  I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about how close the designers would come to what I was looking for.

It’s been less then 24 hours and I’ve received six  designs so far!  And you know what?  Three of the designs were pretty close to what I wanted.  I was pleasantly surprised.

So these are the top three designs — which do you like – you can vote!  http://99designs.com/logo-design/vote-tzv3he

I’m going to wait for the results to pour in and keep you posted on how things are progressing!

Tune Your Sales Management Engine for Peak Performance

In manufacturing, nothing is made until a sale is made. If a manufacturing business were anautomobile, the sales departments would be the engine, the driving force that moves the entire organization forward. So take care when you’re considering cuts. Cut too deeply and you maynot have enough horsepower left to take you through this recession.

In a global economy that’s being “reset”, changes in staff are unavoidable, and it seems reasonable to make those changes across the board.  But it’s when times are tough when you need the motive power of your sales department most.  These days, instead of stalling your entire business by dropping the revs on your sales engine,  it’s best to tune it with a redoubled emphasis on coaching your team.

Coach Your Salespeople to Maximize Performance

In the same way that not every manufacturer is suited to every market, not every salesperso npossesses the personal characteristics and skills needed to sell effectively in an economy like this one. That’s why so many salespeople who burned up the sales track just a few years ago are stalled out and directionless today. And it’s also why coaching your salespeople in the followingareas is more necessary now than ever:

• Desire: Salespeople with this quality don’t “have to”; they “want to.” Because they’re motivated by money, prestige, and an overwhelming urge to be the best, they do what’s necessary to reach their own goals – goals which are often loftier than yours.
• Commitment: There’s an old saying: “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” Desire, while necessary, is not sufficient. To succeed, salespeople must be committed to doing what others won’t. They must be willing to risk security for reward. They have to push hard enough that they risk hearing “no.”
• Accountability: I call this quality a “responsibility reflex,” an automatic willingness to beheld accountable for failure and expect recognition for success. In contrast to salespeople who blame outside factors in a knee-jerk fashion, salespeople with the responsibility reflex refuse to rationalize or externalize. They accept challenges and relish being held accountable for – and rewarded for – their efforts.
• Comfortable talking about money: When it comes right down to it, money’s what business is about, right? To sell in this economy, a salesperson has to be comfortable with that and able to bring up the subject in a forthright, confident, and timely fashion. The successful salesperson knows the value of what they sell and won’t beat around the bush when it comes to talking dollars and cents. And they’ve come to terms with the fact that their value to their own companies lies in the revenue they create.
• Little need for approval: I’ve yet to come across anyone who didn’t appreciate a pat on the back from time to time, but the best salespeople don’t let a need for approval get in the way of making the sale. They’ll ask the tough questions and won’t accept waffling answers. They will ask for the business and risk getting shot down. They won’t stand for put-offs, stall-outs, and unclosed sales.

When the economy is recovering from the reset– and it’s likely to be resetting for years to come– tuning your sales engine for peak performance takes precedence over cuts.  By developing your sales team in the qualities needed to succeed when the road is rocky, you’ll be giving yourself the green light for better sales now and record-beating performance when the market accelerates again.

About the Author:

Nationally recognized sales management and leadership expert Danita Bye built her reputation on building and inspiring process-oriented, no excuse, high-performance sales teams that deliver bottom line results. Danita can be reached at Danita@SalesGrowthSpecialists.com.

At Fanminder, we’re on the front lines of a re-invention of marketing. The days of expensive local newspaper or Yellow Pages ads are fast waning. Direct mail lost its punch years ago. And even email is on the ropes, knocked about by a bevy of real-time communications services such as texting, Twitter, and FourSquare.

With consumers having abandoned the old ways of finding you, it’s a survival imperative to learn new ways of engaging with your customers. At the same time, a crop of new tools are emerging that make it easier than ever to engage those consumers most likely to spend at your establishment – your current customers.

Let’s call these new tools Fanbase Marketing Services, ok? And few things in fanbase marketing are hotter, or more effective, than Mobile Marketing. While there’s as many variations of mobile marketing as there are of Lady Gaga’s outfits, here are five immediately-implementable ideas drawn from the recent text message marketing experiences of our customers:

1. Ditch the Fishbowl or Guestbook! Open an account with a text message marketing service and watch your customers whip out their phones and simply text your business’ name to a 5 or 6 digit # to join your fan club. Voila! Hands-off list building.

2. Give an incentive to join your Fan Club. Think of your incentive as essentially building your own marketing capability, instead of perpetually “renting” access to new customers from a Valpak or Google. Incentives can be Dollar Off, a Discount, Bring a Friend … just make it simple to get and as big as you can afford.

3. Send an Instant Promotion Once a Week. In under five minutes, you can use a text message service to schedule a months’ worth of promotions that go out on slow days. No graphic designer needed. And best of all, each message is typically read within 15 minutes.

4. Give Your Customers What They Want. Often, it’s a deal. Daily Deal sites like Groupon prove today’s consumers are thirsty for deep discounts. Or it could simply be education or inspiration. A fitness center customer of ours sends each new customer one text message a day for her first ten days. Here’s a recent one: “It’s a new week ladies! GREAT workouts and accountability = results” Feedback is off the charts.

5. Make it a dialogue. Use your new mobile list to poll your customers with simple questions for feedback such as “How are we doing?” One online retailer of baby gifts asked her customers to find the birth date of her baby girl on her website. The winner received a shirt. She was shocked when she booked 7 new sales that morning.

There you go! Five ideas in five minutes to grow your fanbase and sales.

What tactics do you use to engage your fans using mobile marketing?

Branding can be an expensive proposition.

Either you do it yourself and pull all your hair out.  Or you hire someone and they pull all your money out.  At the end of either process, you level of happiness for the time, money and effort may or may not be what you’d expected.

Just this morning, I was introduced to this wonderful resource that I’m exploring as I write this.  It’s called “How-To-Branding.com”
DIY Tools and Techniques for Affordable Branding Success.  This is a blog by Michael DiFrisco, a branding expert with my same passion for DIY techniques.

First Impressions

The first thing I see is this HUGE list of brand-rich subject matter that hits home with me:

• Differentiate
• Create Tag Lines
• Branding Strategies

There are a ton more topics to explore on this information-filled site.

I’ve already subscribed to the mailing list and hope to get lots of great tips to share with you – either as part of the blog or as part of the weekly tips series that you can register for.

Discovering Your Brand Essence

I’m immediately drawn to the button that says “Unique Selling Prop” because even though this seems easy, it’s always harder when it’s yours.  In fact, I’m a big collector of Unique Selling Prop tools and I think this one will go into my mix IMMEDIATELY. I didn’t read too far down the page until I ran into a link that said ““The inverted pyramid exercise” — pay dirt.  I never read past that and clicked over immediately.

This is a really – really interesting exercise.  And while I’ve done elements of this before, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this one.  here’s the summary of questions:

1. List your products, services and offerings (at the base of the triangle)  List them ALL.
2. Now segment or categorize or group all these offerings (that goes above the base)
3. List the fundamental customer needs at the top of the triangle — these would be emotional, what’s important to them,
4. Almost done- what’s the common denominator that ties them all together?
5. Finally flip your triangle and your brand essence is at the top.

There is so much more – but you will have to visit this new site and explore it yourself.

I’m looking to learning more from Michael, my new DIY Branding Buddy.

While it’s always great to grow the size of the pie with new customers buying new products — competitive selling something we all have to do.  If you’ve decided to dominate a specific market niche and the top customers within that niche are buying from someone else — you’re in a competitive selling situation.

I received this amazing no BS sales book called “Competitive Selling” from the author Landy Chase and just loved it.  You will see the book review on Small Business Trends but in the mean time, here is a little preview article I received from Landy on the topic of selling and keeping the competitive customer.

Selling to the Competitive User
By Landy Chase, Author of Competitive Selling : Out-Plan, Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time

Nothing is more rewarding for any business than taking an account away from a competitor. Successfully persuading a competitive user to leave their existing vendor for you takes an enormous amount of patience, skill, and strategy. Unfortunately, most business people don’t approach the strategic issue of competitive loyalty properly, and they pay for it with limited success in their take-away efforts.

To be successful in taking accounts away from your competitors, you have to begin by looking objectively at the situation from the viewpoint of your potential client. Consider for a moment the implications to your prospect. By asking them to move their business to you, you are essentially asking them to:

• Tell the current supplier that they are fired;
• Go through the process of setting up an account with a new supplier, including all of the tedious, time-consuming paperwork;
• Get to know a whole new set of people to work with;
• Get to know a whole new set of different and unfamiliar procedures;
• Take the risk of making a bad business decision, and paying the consequences.

This collectively adds up to a sobering fact that you must accept and work with: Unless your prospective client is having a major problem with their vendor, trying to persuade them to abandon that relationship is an exercise in frustration and futility.

Does this mean that you should abandon your efforts to sell to the competitive user? Not at all. The key to success here is to abandon the notion that you can immediately replace the existing supplier. Instead, re-think your strategy for success. Look for ways to supplement the existing relationship without replacing it, by providing a product or service that meets a specific special need that the primary vendor is either not capable of addressing, or has chosen not to.

Unless your prospect is having a major problem with their vendor, trying to persuade them to abandon that relationship is an exercise in frustration and futility. This approach is much more productive, and gets you over the two major obstacles you face in selling to the competitive user:

1. You find a way to get your foot in the door and prove yourself.
2. You turn the prospect into a customer, opening the “pipeline” for additional opportunities if you deliver.

My biggest new client one year was a competitive user who told me initially that they were happy with the resource that they were using, and weren’t open at that time to new alternatives. Accepting this, I was able to persuade a decision-maker within the account to allow me the opportunity to supplement their existing relationship by delivering a specialized service that the current supplier was not addressing.

This initial program soon led to more opportunities, and before long I had successfully acquired a full business relationship that has proven to be one of the best I have ever had. This strategy worked because I requested — and received — a small opportunity to prove myself, without threatening the existing vendor relationship.

Look for ways to supplement, not replace, the needs of the competitive user. By delivering value on  a small scale now, you can position yourself to reap big rewards later.

Author Bio
Landy Chase, author of Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time, founded his own sales training and consulting firm in 1993 and has clients in more than sixty industries on five different continents. He has delivered more than two thousand paid presentations as a professional speaker and holds the Certified Speaking Professional (CPS) designation from the National Speakers Association, the highest earned level of excellence in the industry. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For more information please visit www.LandyChase.com.

One of the most common pieces of advice that I share is for small business CEOs to get out there and blog.  Yes — get out there and actually write your blog posts.  Take what’s inside your head and share it with your customers and potential customers.

I’m often met with this “deer in the headlights” stare that says “What am I supposed to write about?”

Well, HERE is what you’re supposed to write about:

Take a look at Paul Rosenfeld’s blog: http://fanminder.com/blog

Paul is the CEO of Fanminder – a mobile marketing application for small business.  While you’re reading the blog- you should check out Fanminder too.  But that’s another post.

Here are just a few things that Paul does amazingly well:

• He posts relatively often.  And he changes it up.  So sometimes he posts every day, sometimes he posts once a week.  But he POSTS.
• He alternates between “professional” posts, short posts, long posts, notes and other variations. This is how I know that Paul is a real life person.  He’s literally COMMUNICATING with his readers in a human way.  Sometimes, he’s sharing an official article type of thing that tells me that he can communicate.  Then he blasts off a quick bit of news that he thinks I should know.   Love that.  I know he’s real.
• He shares customer ideas and strategies (and pictures). I can trust Fanminder works because Paul’s got actual pictures of businesses – their cards and ideas from their campaigns posted on the blog.  I love this latest one with the the “Psycho Donuts” donut shop that has a donut called the “Cereal Killer” and where the people who work there dress up — freaking hysterical.
• He tells you what he’s thinking and what he’s up to. Paul doesn’t limit himself by rules about what he posts and formulas about how he posts it.  It’s clear to me that his objective is to tell me what’s happening and how small businesses are using the product.  Help me use the product, make it easy and fun for me to share what he’s offering.  And more.

I could go on and on, but I won’t.

Thanks Paul for an outstanding example of CEOs (like us) blogging to build our brand and grow our customer base.