Published On: Thu, Nov 8th, 2012

The Small Business Code Word – YCDBSOYA

YCDBSOYA, pronounced Yuca-dubis-soya. This acronym is meant to bring you to your feet and snap you to attention! It simply means: You Can’t Do Business Sitting On Your Ass-ets.

Sitting behind your desk, surveying the office, looks very prestigious, but today’s ever-changing competitive market requires that you keep up with what’s happening.

As we all know, advertising and public relations are vital tools for branding, gaining recognition and customer acceptance. These tools have changed and taken on additional dimensions to include social media, blogs, and a new approach to networking, events and community involvement. How you use these tools and how you stay on top of these changes will determine their effectiveness.  These tools are only as good as your knowledge of how to use them.

Here are a few of the tools that you should fine tune:

Social Media – Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, MySpace and LindkedIn can play a part in delivering your story. Bear in mind the objective of Social Media is to get involved with your target market and create word of mouth. It’s not advertising; you are not selling anything. Its purpose is to disseminate information to benefit and entertain people who visit these social media entities. Understanding the objectives of the tools and what they can create will help you make the decision of how much time and effort you wish to spend on these activities.

Blogs are one of the most dramatic avenues for disseminating information. How many businesses are using blogs? To be an effective participant means working at it and managing it. This open forum is a cost-effective way of creating word of mouth news and also to gather feedback from your base. It can also become an indirect focus group giving the company direct information about your product or service.

Networking typically brings together an extended group of people who share similar interests. It allows these people to interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support. It also offers the opportunities to meet and forge business relationships with potential clients, suppliers, peers, and other members of your business community.

Networking can become a highly organized activity. Networking events such as those organized by the local Chamber of Commerce and membership groups comprised of business people from a wide variety of fields and industries typically fall into this category.

You can find networking opportunities in places you never dreamed of. For instance, doing something for the community – volunteering or serving on the board of a local non-profit organization is such an example.  Another excellent avenue for combining community work with networking is the Rotary Club which is the world’s first service club formed on February 23, 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization’s dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service above Self.

Business leaders today should participate in various areas of communication in order to make the marketplace aware of their product or service. Sitting behind a desk is passé and must be replaced by being out in the market place and understanding that we can’t wait for the market to come to us because YCDBSOYA.

Learn more about Social Media. Attend The Boca Raton Tribune workshop sponsored by The Boca Raton Tribune and Sherman & Perlman LLC in November. Conducted by Pedro Heizer. Limited seating. Call 561.715.2788

Excerpts from the book, The Real World Guide to Fashion Selling & Management, Gerald J. Sherman & Sar S. Perlman. Fairchild Books, Division of Conde Nast Publications,

Gerald J. Sherman, MBA, DBA of Sherman & Perlman LLC, Public Relations & Marketing is a Boca Raton-based, author, educator, marketing consultant and public relations person who has written several books and articles on these subjects. http://www.shermanperlman.com jerry@shermanperlman.com 561.715.2788

 

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