Blog Case Studies

Social Media Headhunter Cafe Launches

If you head on over to the Social Media Headhunter Cafe, you'll see the results of 4 months of planning, packaging, design, and content creation in our store of products on how to use social media to hire.

Don't be fooled by imitations.  These products are developed by a recruiter running a live desk.  Our next step is setting up a store for small business, to showcase how retailers can drive foot traffic and microbusiness can get more bang for their marketing buck.

That store will replace the Brandstorming blog in early March.

Education Can Be Expensive

There's a story I tell about a Java developer in California. One of the best I've ever met.

A client came to him and asked how much money it would take to solve a problem.  He told them $20,000.  They laughed, and went away.  A few months later, they called again.  He told them $40,000.  They got angry, and went away.  A few months later, called, and he told them $80,000.  They sent the check by courier.  I saw that check.

When I started my business in 2006, selling blog consulting along with web design.  I charged $60 an hour, and a lot of people laughed.  The next year...I was charging $125 an hour.  Some people went away angry.

Today, I'm working to make sure that the courier business is alive and well.

I'm just saying.

St Louis Blogging Boot Camp

I get a lot of requests from small business owners looking to improve their online brand.  For those not in the know, blogging is one of the easiest ways to build a online profile, and in comparison to paying an SEO company or marketing expert to do it, the return on your money is phenomenal.

The problem of course is one of scale.  What might work for a larger company isn't always feasible for the budget of an owner/entrepreneur. There's also the question of community, as I find a lot of people are excited to start blogging, but can't keep it up without support.

So the result, is the first St Louis Business Blogging Bootcamp.  I'm going to work with 5 companies to show them how to use blogs to increase sales, referrals, and their online presence.

The classes will be conducted online using GoTo Meeting and in-person when necessary, and will be a six week course (one class a week) on how to set up and run a blog.

I need businesses that aren't competitive, and in some ways are complementary.  Some great examples would be real estate, b-to-b sales, b-to-c sales, a recruiter, a car dealer, a furniture store, a mortgage company, and a professional services company like an accountant or financial services person.

I'm hand-picking the class for best fit, and will run other classes in the future, but if you think this is you, contact me through e-mail at jdurbin@durbinmedia.com

Women's Small Business Expo

Long gone are the days where women are chosing to stay home to be barefoot and pregnant. It appears that today's women entrepreneurs are starting their own businesses at twice the rate of men. Girls Who Network reports that...........

"Women make or influence over 80% of all purchases in America. Currently there are over 10.6 million women-owned businesses employing 19.1 million people and generating $2.5 trillion in sales."

So where are these women going to learn how to do what they do? Evidently, these fast forward business women are taking their high-octane entrepreneurial power to Los Angeles, California for the Women's Small Business Expo on November 6th, where they will learn ways to shape their future, plan their success, create their destiny, and increase their profits.

Topics include: financing, power selling, “potato chip marketing”, branding, success planning, internet wealth, and how to avoid the most common business blunders.

SMART Boards: Small Busines Blogging 101

One of our clients is TheWinningPitch.com, a PR firm in California.  The founder's brother, Mike, sat in on one of our training sessions, and immediately saw the value in business blogging.

Today, SmartBoards is a vibrant weblog used by Mike Palacek to help spread the word about his educational products that are sold to school districts.

His company is Smart Choice AV, and we expect this makes his sales calls that much easier.  Don't forget to send us the updated business results, Mike.