I had a brief stint working/consulting in the advertising department of a local newspaper in Queens, New York (for privacy purposes, I won’t release the name of the paper.)

The year was 2009, but you would swear you were still in the mid 90′s when you walked in there. I was half expecting a monochrome screen and floppy disks.

Just SOME of the things wrong with this place:

• There was no wireless internet for the workers
• There was ONE computer for the entire ad sales team (10+ people, so I just brought in my own laptop)
• Lead generation was done with researching competitor papers and Yellowbooks.
• They had an absolutely dreadful website that was barely updated,
• They had ageneral old school (not in the good way) state of mind.

Let’s be serious – the print industry is on its way out. So to no surprise – the paper was (and still is) struggling. Ad sales were down, readership was down, home delivery subscriptions were VERY low (I’m talking under 100 whereas Queens has millions of residents).

So you’d think they would make a conscious effort to try to get with the times, increase readership, diversify, and become modern, right?

Nope.

As a publication for the locality, this is what I think they could have done to make their situation better.

• They could have at least updated the layout of their website. Driving web traffic to a content-based website can lead to an increase in ad revenue, and a whole new  revenue stream altogether for the paper.
• On the social media front, there are thousands of Tweeters in Queens, and I’m pretty sure they would love to hear about the latest local news first. Not only that, but the paper could have added ANOTHER revenue stream by offering sponsored Tweets by local advertisers so that their potential 5,000+ followers would see it directly on their computer screens, or on their phones.

It also didn’t help that their top competitors were already on the way to becoming modern. They had the proper content based website, they had Twitter accounts (though they were still not properly utilizing them), they had proper lead generation tools and services for their workers.

In an effort to help the business see the light, I proposed to them a competitive case study as to why they should update their website and work on building up their social media accounts and web presence. I even got them some quotes from some great web designers.

It’s been well over a year since my stint there, and still – shitty website, a twitter account that was last updated over 2 months ago, and somehow they’re still in business.

The sad thing is that there are SO many businesses like this that could definitely thrive in the ‘new world’, but just refuse to because they’re stubborn or want to stick to the old methods.

Their loss.

Throughout the article, Murrell touches on a number of subjects that explain the exponential growth and success of Five Guys Burgers from one spot in the DC area, to a chain spanning across the North America. The summary of the article explains it all:

“Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fries. Don’t cut corners. That’s been the business plan since Jerry Murrell and his sons opened their first burger joint in 1986. When they began selling franchises in 2002, the family had just five stores in northern Virginia. Today, there are 570 stores across the U.S. and Canada, with 2009 sales of $483 million.”

What does that mean? Quality is important.

Today, small businesses absolutely CANNOT get away with providing poor products or service. With tools like Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, CitySearch, Google Places, blah blah blah and the list goes on – the world is a smaller place.

Your customers are constantly rating you. If your product is spectacular, you’ll get a good review and more people will come to you. If your product is poor, you will get a bad review, followed by another, followed by another and you’ll be shut down in no time. Long gone are the days of fronting businesses and fancy advertising campaigns keeping them open. One way or another, word will get out – and if people go looking – they will know if you’re worth it or not.

The moral of this post is simple. If you’re doing something, don’t half-ass it. Barbershops – cut GREAT hair and give only the freshest shape-ups. Steak houses – marinate for three days and make the juiciest steak. Clowns for hire – BE FUNNY and don’t scare people. Y

ou get the picture – because now that someone is always reviewing you, and you want that review to bring more people to you.

Also check out another post on Five Guys from Inc. – “5 Reasons Why Five Guys is a Big Success”.

I always thought it’s pretty awesome, and small businesses can really benefit from something like this. Whether you’re a taco truck, painter, carpenter, consultant, clown-for-hire – these systems make collecting payment pretty easy.

Intuit launched the GoPayment system in the 3rd quarter of last year. The company Intuit is well known in the small business world as the makers of Quicken and TurboTax, so they already have access to a lot of small businesses that use their products. That’s why they featured your every day average Joe lunch-truck owner in their ad campaign. Check it out:

For more information, check out this video. “Intuit GoPayment comes from a brand you can trust”:

Square is a San Francisco based start-up that began back in 2009. It provides the same service as Intuit’s GoPayment, with a smaller and cooler looking device to take the card.

Check out the official video from Square:

For a comparison between the two products, and to see which one is better for you – click here and check out this article on BusinessInsider.

Personally, I would rather sign up for Square square because of its lenient policies and lower fees. However, since Intuit has such a strong brand name and access to millions of small businesses already – they’ll probably end up with more users.

*Quick Update* – I went to one of my favorite Halal Food Carts in Queens over this past weekend (Homelawn St/Hillside Ave Corner). They accept Credit Card. Badass!

If one customer is happy, they tell their friends and family and direct them to your establishment and/or service. When those new customers are happy, the ball keeps rolling bringing in more and more people.

Sometimes, people aren’t quick to jump and let their friends know about their newfound secret. That’s why, especially now, more small businesses should sweeten the deal and offer incentives for referring a new customer.

A lot of places are already on board with this, and have been for a while. They offer incentives for referrals. Car dealerships offer free oil changes for customers bringing in other customers. Gyms offer free t-shirts and classes for referring new members. Clubs and bars kick back some money to promoters who throw their birthday parties at the venue. Yoga studios offer free lessons to those whoever refers their friend to join, and so on and so forth.

The point is – the referral system works, and the incentives just sweetens the deal for your customer to let their friends know.

If you’re small business isn’t already on it – you should try it. Free drinks, entrees, free consultancy, $25 off your next purchase, discounts on lessons/classes, whatever it is and however you relate it to your business – let your customers know that they have an incentive for bringing more people in.

If you need help brainstorming ideas on incentives from your business, you’re more then welcome to contact me.

Absolutely genius.

If you can’t read it – it says:

“We do three types of jobs here… Good, Fast, and Cheap. You may choose any two!

If it is good and cheap, it will not be fast.

If it is good and fast, it will not be cheap.

If it is fast and cheap, it will not be good”.

Perfect example:  About 10 years ago, when I was still in high school in Queens – a few of my friends were all raving about these new street vendors out in the city. One group of friends were all about the “Chicken Guy”, another – all about the “Gyro Man”. I wanted to see what all the hype was about, so I asked them to take me.

As it turns out, both the Chicken Guy and the Gyro Man are the same vendor – he just serves both.

We went to the corner of 53rd Street and 6th Ave in Manhattan – and the line was literally 3/4ths down the block. And this was a street vendor. I thought to myself – wow – the hype is real. People really got the word out about this guy. He went from a lunch cart, to a late night drunk food vendor, to a New York City must-visit hot-spot in just a few years.

So how did the 53rd and 6th street vendors do it?

Simple. They made good food. People started eating (and enjoying) their good food. They got the word out to their friends, who told their friends, who told their friends.

Now, it’s to the point where people around the nation CRAVE for this stuff. When you order – all they say to you is 4 words – “hot sauce, white sauce” and you tell them what you want. They never say “tell your friends about us”, or “hey come back soon!”. They’ve never advertised either.

All word of mouth.

Keep in mind – these guys don’t have their own website – Fans made it. They don’t have a Yelp business page – fans made that too.

And now, even 10 years later – if you visit NYC, you must have 53rd and 6th “Chicken and Rice” street vendor at least once. And whether its 10PM or 4AM, there will always be a line.

All because of a good product, which led to a great word of mouth campaign.

Sites like Craigslist, Google Places, Yelp, Citysearch, MeetUp, etc. can all be considered free advertising for your business. It may take a little bit of optimization to accurately describe your business and place it in the right category, but if done properly – it will definitely show you 100% return on $0 investment (minus the cost of a computer and monthly internet service, which you probably need anyway).

On Craigslist – place ads in  designated sections that relate to your business. People look through Craigslist for all kinds of stuff – from things to buy, to jobs, to services, to other… ahem… services.

For example, if you have a banquet hall – place a posting in the “Events” community and advertise as a space that’s ideal for any event. Make sure you link it to your website, give contact information, name, and address of your venue so that the viewer knows where to find you. These postings last a week, so make sure you are consistent in renewing. If you have special offers, make sure you write those out as well. everyone loves a deal.

On Google Places - make sure your business has a local business listing. Some businesses are already listed but not claimed, so do a search for your business and claim it as your own so you can optimize. These listings are 100% free by Google, and fully customizable. You can add pictures, videos, payment information, hours of operation, your specialties, keywords, coupons, map placement, and even a 160 character update for special deals. It’s actually pretty spectacular. This way, when people search – say “embroidery” in “Elmont, NY” – your business will show up first.

On Yelp – you can list your local business (for free), and people can write reviews of your business. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perception. The reviews are completely open, so they can either be positive or negative. False postings aren’t allowed, and Yelp is very strict on deleting them (by IP address). So if you’re a restaurant that serves shitty food and you’re listed on it, then Yelp should inspire you to step your game up and improve the taste/service/whatever it is that you’re doing wrong.

When a user logs into Yelp, the homepage immediately gives a short listing of ‘reviews near you’. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of listed businesses. There is a Yelp community for almost every major city/state/township in the United States (and now UK too!). Businesses are broken down by category (restaurant, nightlife, hotels & travel, event planning & services, etc). It serves as a social network in itself, where you find and add your friends, pictures, etc.

Citysearch is pretty much the same thing, but may cost money for some of the things Yelp offers for free. I suggest you stick to Yelp.

MeetUp.com is particularly useful if your small business hosts events, nightlife, entertainment, or something of the sort. MeetUp is a social network that consists of groups in your locality who literally meet up maybe once a week or so at a place to do a certain thing. For example, there are groups like “comedians” or “technologists”, and they will gather at a given place to discuss whatever it is the group is about. You can create an account for your business, join groups that relate to it, and suggest that their next MeetUp is held at your venue. You can start a group or be the ‘sponsor’ of a group, but that usually costs money. It’s a great and unique tool.

There are dozens of other sites that I didn’t list or mention here. Just keep your eyes and ears open for these opportunities. Nothing like some FREE exposure!

Enter YouTube, Google’s $1.65  billion dollar baby.

As another addition to my post on free advertising – small businesses can really take advantage of posting a (free) YouTube video (or even a series of videos).

Yes, with the 2 billion+ video views per day that YouTube experiences – there is probably a very small chance that someone would stumble across your video. However, it is YouTube’s integration on other sites that allows you to take advantage of this.

You can link your YouTube video to the Google Places page for your business, Yelp site, blog, and pretty much any other free listing your spot is on. When potential customers find you, they’ll find the video as well so they have a good idea of what your specialties are.

Now for the production of a video – for slightly more advanced users, you can take a video with your a Flip MinoHD, or a digital camcorder, and edit it together using a tool like iMovie.

Or you can go even simpler and create a slideshow video. Tools like Picasa and iPhoto makes this really easy.

Take a bunch of pictures of your business in action. For example, if you’re a restaurant – take some pictures of the settings, dishes, and kitchen – add some caption and text pages with  information, add some mood setting music and you’re good to go. Post it on YouTube, link it to your listings and bam! You have an ad!

Just make sure it’s not too long or boring. Get some semi-professional input on it.

Nothin’ like free exposure.

I wasn’t satisfied though, so I decided to post my own Ari Gold hall of fame. Enjoy!

#5 – Ari Gold vs. Josh Weinstein. Ari goes buck wild when Weinstein, his former assistant, tries to steal Vince by inviting him to a beach front party.

#4 – Ari gets his anger back. After hitting a funk, Ari finally gets back in the swing of things.

#3 – Ari vs. Amanda Daniels – Ari tries to level with Amanda Daniels, but when she refuses to work with him and Vince… well, you’ll see.

#2 – Ari’s lessons in negotiations. When MGA and TMA merge.

And my #1 moment – Ari gold cleans house with a paintball gun, terminator style.

In the case of larger companies, you also have to keep in mind that for every issue they probably get a thousand replies per Tweet.

Chances are you probably will not be responded to directly, but if there is something wrong or if they have found a solution to whatever is going on – they’ll probably announce it on Twitter and link you to a troubleshooting site.

Start-ups, midsize firms, and of course small businesses actually have the ability to respond to you directly when you have a question. For example, I wanted to find out more about SquareSpace as an alternative to WordPress CMS – so I just tweeted at them.

They responded. I had a couple of more questions, so I kept tweeting at them, and they kept responding. I was impressed, seeing that someone was there to answer my questions and get me on board.

In my opinion, I still think nothing beats speaking to someone on the phone about your issue with their product/service, or even a personalized non-templated e-mail.

But social media adds a great, quick, and effective dimension to customer service. If you are a growing business and you don’t do so already – I suggest you set up a twitter account, put it on HootSuite, and keep a look out for when you are mentioned.

If someone has a question or concern in regards to anything you do (whether it’s one of your web apps, cleaning services, beer you serve, how hot your hot wings are, etc.) – get at them and let them know you’re listening. People are more likely to try you out if they know you have an interest in them.