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Promoting Your Business with Internet Marketing

Melvin Feller both a business owner of online and offline businesses, knows the importance of utilizing today's technology. Having taught business classes as an adjunct using online tools, he is adamant about teaching others the ways to success in business. Melvin Feller has over 20 years’ experience in the online business world.

The development and implementation of a successful marketing plan for your newly launched internet business is key to its overall potential for success. In the world of eCommerce, competition is fierce, and growing stronger with each passing day. Virtually every aspect of your organization’s planning — site design, development, service and product offerings, pricing, market selection — will be carefully watched, and potentially incorporated by entrepreneurial minds searching for additional opportunities. How do you stay ahead of the pack, ensuring your operations staying power? With a well-organized array of consistently improving products, services, and marketing components.

The keys to successfully created brand awareness on the web are innumerable. In today’s eCommerce world, fiscal responsibility and control are an imperative, an experience taught by the dot com failures of recent years. The days of exorbitant spending on web-based advertising, without relative gains in the overall profit margin are long gone, though the opportunities to spend magnificent sums of money on an infinite variety of marketing approaches are not.

Preparing an effective, and targeted internet marketing strategy requires a number of elements. Knowledge of your target group. Awareness of available mediums for communicating to that market, be it via the internet, or otherwise. And the final imperative — a keen insight into what it is that motivates that market, grabs their immediate attention, and brings them over the line, from looker to buyer.

Commonly, online operations utilize in-house creativity to develop a successful methodology of communication. They understand their market through and through, and via that knowledge have created an outstanding message to brand and define their company within that marketplace. The question that most often arises within those groups new to the internet economy is where to go from there.

Several options are:

Affiliate Programs:

Affiliate programs provide the developing online business a potential for exponential traffic, directed to your site via operators in all areas of expertise. The creation of traffic is a daunting, and at times potentially expensive proposition for the newcomer to the market. Competition is fierce, and the cost-effective acquisition of customers can be the most challenging aspect of achieving success.

By developing an affiliate program, you create an immediate interest in other online entrepreneurs to promote your site, and products at their property. Unlike most advertising propositions, there is little up-front cost involved. Instead, an agreement is reached to share any revenues generated from that property with its owners. Generally, the only direct cost associated with setup is an account deposit with the party managing your program for you.

There are a variety of services available to assist you in the implementation of an affiliate offering on your site. Software packages are available to allow the developer to incorporate the affiliate program onto their own servers, which then requires the site owner manage it as well.

The alternative is online services that provide back to front management of the program on your behalf, including affiliate signup, tracking, and payment. The benefits associated with this system are a considerably lighter workload, as well as exposure of your program to all visitors at their central directory. This can be of strong value in making your program effective, and profitable, in a relatively short time-frame.

When developing a program, there are a few key items to keep in mind, to ensure its popularity and profitability. The first step should be to comparison shop other programs selling products or services similar to your own. What are they offering their affiliates? Is it pay per click, a straight fee, or a % of sales? What % are they paying? Are there incentives based on overall volume? What other steps do they take to promote webmaster interest in prominently placing their links?

Submission to Other Key Sites:

Since the dawn of the popular internet, and the growth of interest in being online, there have been those who have dedicated their time and efforts to the review of new web-based properties. These critics have in turn garnered the respect and interest of web travelers everywhere, folks practically begging for information on the freshest new properties.

Submitting your newly developed internet wonder can be rewarding in more ways than one. Firstly, there is the infinite satisfaction of being recognized for the serious efforts applied in the preparation of your web project. Secondly, there exists the potential for traffic…

Award sites that have been in operation for some time can deliver the selected “site of the day” thousands of visitors in a very short period of time. Their online, and email publications are in demand, and those in receipt of the information waste no time in visiting the newest web commodity. Some sites offer no cost submission, while others may charge a range of fees depending on time of review. As in many pay per service internet areas, payment does not promise the featuring of your site, merely its review.

When considering such a submission, it does the business owner good to keep in mind that all things are not what they seem. Many internet-based award sites are merely intended to draw you, and your site visitors to their site, via visual awards that must be placed at your property in order for you to be considered. The traffic given in return is often minimal, and not worthy of the additional download time on your site relative to the added graphics.

Banner Advertising:

In recent years, banner advertising has experienced a plunge in popularity. The reasons for this shift in advertising interest was simple — banner advertising was not delivering on its initial promise to draw hordes of traffic, and the costs then associated did not reflect the true value of the medium.

This is not to say that banner advertising has gone the way of the dinosaur. Certainly, there are other means that have proven to be more effective, with higher pricing that reflects that value, but banner advertising continues to offer an opportunity to introduce and brand your product within your target market. It’s ongoing prevalence in the marketplace is a clear indicator of its potential. The key to the creation of a successful and reasonable campaign is to ensure that the expenditure involved reflects the actual bottom line impact the advertising will have.

When reviewing a potential banner ad campaign, be it through an advertising network, or within a site complimentary to your line, take care to assess the package thoroughly, breaking down costs to an expected price per delivered visitor. This can be accomplished by utilizing a conversion rate from impressions to visits of about .5%. Some campaigns can deliver returns as high as 1%, but in assessment of a marketing expense, it always pays to play it safe.

Once you have determined an approximate cost per visitor, compare that cost to achieving traffic through pay per click search engines, based on the current bids for keywords relevant to your product and/or service. If you find value in the offer, take care to develop a banner that draws the attention of your market, as design can make the difference between a profitable campaign, and yet another wasted expenditure.

Banner exchanges offer an additional opportunity for the internet business owner to create awareness, at no cost. These common systems vary in their offering, but generally guarantee the site owner willing to place the banners of other operators on their site a ratio of 1:2, or one of your banners shown elsewhere in exchange for delivering two impressions at your property.

Though a cost-efficient manner of generating some exposure, banner exchanges have their negative side as well. Many systems have insufficient controls, which can result in direct competitors actually gaining exposure on your site. As well, there is a sense among those experienced with internet business that users of an exchange program are “small time”, which can later impact your ability to negotiate effective partnership agreements.

Content Sharing:

A primary goal in the development of a successful web property is the inclusion of high-quality content of value to your organization’s target market. The assembly of such content can be a significant endeavor, requiring in depth research, writing, review, and editing of the information to be presented to your visitor’s critical eye.

Once the process of developing your site’s content is complete, and the information is placed on your server for consideration by both your potential clientele, and the almighty search engine spiders, many newcomers to the industry presume themselves to be getting maximum value from their efforts. This is, in fact, not the case.

The market for usable content on the web is growing as quickly as the internet itself. Many site operators, heavily focused on either the development side of the business, or the customer satisfaction and retention end, have little time to devote to the continued creation of articles and information. Though they may lack the means, they do not fail to understand the value of presenting fresh material to their visitors on a regular basis. Doing so can have a significant impact on the ability of any site to generate a high level of repeat traffic, a mainstay of any internet operation.

With this key to success so clearly ingrained in the minds of webmasters everywhere, the world of content sharing presents itself, hoping to fill the need for on-site information, without any of the time restrictions that self-development can entail.

Content sharing can take many forms on the internet. Often, deals are struck between complementary projects to share articles, media, or even software-based add-ons, in exchange for mention of the provider’s site address, or a reciprocal provision of some sort. Other available options include the submission of your site’s content to news feed-based organizations who will distribute topical headlines to interested parties across the internet. Included in those articles are direct links back to your project, as a sort of payment for services by the news feed operator. A third potential, one of growing popularity, is the provision of articles to complementary newsletters, who will again feature your site link in exchange for the sharing of your article with their readers.

Utilizing services that provide a means to share your content, thus promoting awareness of your web-based project, can be an excellent means of establishing your company within the minds of potential clients, and industry leaders across your market.

When developing your property’s content management and sharing strategies, keep your goals in mind. Though there exist many large organizations focused on presenting your content to the world, it is often true that the most lucrative of sharing arrangements are those made directly between complimentary properties, both focused on the provision of customer value, and the creation of future growth.

Email Marketing:

Email based advertising has taken the internet eCommerce world by storm. Currently considered one of the best available investments in web-based promotion, email ads have proven themselves to be both affordable, with a strong return on investment potential.

Utilizing email as a marketing tool can involve a wide variety of methodologies, goals, and results. Covering the gambit of advertising intent, email promotions are used to introduce new properties and products, acquire new customers, refresh relations with previous purchasers, announce contests, and in general, develop positive relationships with markets of all shapes and sizes.

Email List Rental:

Email based advertising presents a level of flexibility that is hard to match in other environments. Many available lists are well targeted, with a known demographic, and click through rate. This allows the savvy marketer to carefully research, locate, and sell to a group with a known interest in their products or service. Arranging a company specific mailing to a specific market via a rented list can be an expensive proposition, but done correctly can quickly and efficiently create awareness of your new online property, and sales of your product. Many list managers also provide opportunities to buy ad space within a topical mailing, a means of reducing costs associated by sharing in the expense with other advertisers.

Ezine Advertising:

An increasingly popular form of email-based advertising is the purchase of ad space within one or more of the thousands of regularly distributed ezines on the market. These ezines can have subscriber bases running into the hundreds of thousands, and a well-placed, market specific text ad can draw a strong click through rate to your property, and products. The ezines are generally subject oriented, creating a simple means of targeting a group with a natural interest in your product line. This form of advertising can often provide the budget minded entrepreneur an affordable opportunity to create awareness of their web property. Many ezines even offer free ads to subscribers, as an incentive to grow their readership, allowing for pay for inclusion ad rates down the road.

Keywords:

As the demand for targeted and effective advertising venues continues to grow, so does the ability of service providers to institute ads directed at very specific markets.

Keyword bidding is commonly related to the growing pay per click, or pay per placement search engines, but there exist marketing opportunities that allow for the placement of ads, text based or otherwise, that are sourced only during specific keyword queries.

The value inherent in these advertising options is strongly dependent upon your ability to correctly target, and communicate with your market.

One provider of such a service is Google Ad Words. Achieving a listing is very similar in nature to pay per click-based keyword bidding, with the exception that the end result is a text-based ad to the right of the usual search results relative.

Payment for services is based upon the positioning of your ad, which is dependent upon the number of advertisers who have chosen to associate with that keyword. Google will even generate an estimate of costs associated with specific keywords, based upon previous search volumes for that term.

As in all ad-based marketing efforts, the copy of your advertisement can play a strong role in its overall click through rate, and thus its effectiveness in promoting your property. Take the time to carefully develop your ad, and be willing to experiment with different ads to allow for some response rate comparisons.

Link Exchanges:

The exchange of direct links between internet properties is a time-honored tradition on the web, one that continues today. Doing so can garner two parties with complimentary sites some exposure, increases in traffic, and improved overall link popularity ratings — a key to enhanced listings on certain spider-based search engines.

The end result of a link exchange depends on a number of variables. Visibility of the link. Organization of the links area. The number of links being carried overall. The search engine listings achieved by the link exchange parties.

When searching for a potentially valuable link exchange, keep link popularity top of mind. Look for sites that appear on the spider-based search engines, thus ensuring that your link placement will be found, positively impacting your site’s link popularity. Try to determine sites that maintain a solid traffic base, and an easy to find, and navigate links area.

Placing the expected reciprocal link on your site can also present certain challenges. Many of the larger web properties no longer incorporate link pages into their design, believing that in not doing so, an aura of professionalism is maintained. As well, for many eCommerce-based sites, the idea of representing other sites offering products and/or services of any kind presents a level of competitive discomfort that simply cannot be ignored.

In choosing to incorporate a links area within your site, ensure that a level of professionalism is maintained. Only support listings for properties that are both complimentary, and non-offensive to your client base. Keep the area well organized, and if necessitated by the number of links, categorized. Update your page regularly, to ensure that all links are active.

If you want to participate in the area of link exchange, but are not comfortable in presenting a “links” page within your property, give consideration to incorporating the partner sites into your search results. Utilizing a search engine provider whose software can also spider, and incorporate, results from sites outside your domain is an excellent means of making your partner’s site information available to your clientele, when requested, without clearly advertising that your property maintains a link exchange.

Developing your internet business’ link partners list can be an arduous task, at best. Researching complimentary sites, with sufficient traffic numbers, and listing potentials, can at times seem to be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. But don’t despair! There are a number of software available whose specialty is the scouring of the internet; sourcing properties whose nature matches specifications you indicate as of interest. Online has also sourced available services, whose sole purpose is to maintain your links pages, ensuring each link is active, that your link has been activated at the other end, even rotating links to ensure equal coverage for all your partners.

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Melvin Feller MA Discusses How to Start Your Own Business in Texas

Melvin Feller MA knows that there’s a lot to love about Texas. The abundance of Tex-Mex, Texas people, and the Texas Life-style. But one of the most important is the state’s staunch support of its business community. Melvin Feller MA points out that starting a business in Texas has the advantage of the nation’s second-largest population and a number of fast-growing metropolitan areas.

Melvin Feller MA asks “If you are new to business and wanting to start your own business in Texas. Do you know what you want to do?” Therefore, if you’re thinking of starting a business in a Texas location and a field of business that’s new to you. Melvin Feller MA believes that you will always be successful in a business that you have a passion for especially in a Texas friendly environment.

Texas’ support for small business is evident in its low business licensing fees, its lack of red tape, and a profusion of relatively low-priced real estate. Few states can boast a similar lack of regulation that lets businesses be born almost as soon as they are thought of.  Best of all is that starting a business in Texas can be done with a small investment.

Best of all you don’t have to go it alone in Texas. A number of state and federal resources, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration, offer business advice, low-interest loans, and grants. Their programs are geared toward helping veteran-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, and women-owned businesses, and they’re worth exploring if you qualify.

Melvin Feller MA, Educator, and CEO, states that during stressful times and times of distress and economic hardships, more businesses are created and more people are actually successful in rendering products and services that are vital to our economy.

In order to have a successful enterprise, you should address a number of topics. Many of these items will be incorporated into your business plan, so consider the use of this list as a preparation for business and market planning. In each of these topic areas, determine which apply to your enterprise and then address those issues. However, there are basic steps in starting a business that can make a positive impact. It is best to start by asking and answering critical questions pertaining to you, the business owner and your business concept. Melvin Feller MA goes on to state that these are the must have and hard questions to really ask yourself:

Have you determined what products and services you are going to offer?

Have you determined that a market exists for your offerings and is accessible to your selected location?

Have you determined if there are any names, logos, or other intellectual property that must be covered through patent or trademark registration?

What is the legal form of the business? (proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company)?

Have you registered your business name?

Have you determined a formation for your business (i.e. sole proprietorship, partnership, S-Corporation, C-Corporation, Limited Liability Company, etc.)?

If you have chosen your business to be a corporation, have you filed a Certificate of Incorporation?

Have you addressed, if necessary, a Partnership Agreement or Limited Liability Company Article of Organization?

Have you researched local, county, and state license and permit requirements?

Have you selected a physical site for your business?

Have you addressed local zoning regulations to see if your business conforms or if you will need to seek a variance?

Have you researched Federal, state and local regulatory agencies to determine what you need to address?

Have you determined your insurance requirements?

Once you have these questions answered and have a solid plan then it is time to think about your business location. There are many things that must be considered during this period. In fact, according to Melvin Feller MA, most of these things are never considered and could actually hinder a budding entrepreneur’s success.

Melvin Feller MA compiled this list of the key issues to keep in mind when you’re deciding whether a new city is right for you.

Workforce. In today’s labor-tight, knowledge-based economy, this is far and away the single most important factor to examine, according to relocation experts and several executives who have recently moved their companies. If the location doesn’t support your ability to recruit and retain a world-class workforce, everything else is secondary.

Will your company be able to offer employees’ salaries and benefits that are competitive in the region? If not, you may not be able to recruit the best talent. Remember that people often have families. Is the local economy deep enough and diverse enough to support careers for employees’ spouses? How is the quality of life in the area? How are the schools?

Sources of funding. “Venture capital is a contact sport,” according to Melvin Feller MA. “Be near sources of financing.” Is there a venture-capital or angel-investor community in the region? Is there a network of lawyers, accountants, or other professionals that can help you develop a business plan and market it to potential investors? Are there formal and informal networking opportunities in town? Are low-cost loans available from banks and other lending institutions?

 Economic-development incentives. Does the city or state you’re looking at have aggressive policies — including tax incentives and low-cost loans — to recruit and retain businesses in your industry or start-ups in general? Be on the lookout for places that have developed economic strategies for attracting the kind of business you’re in.

Transportation. Air service is particularly important in today’s economy. How many flights go into and out of the nearest airport? Is there a hub airport nearby, making it easy for customers and clients to get to you?

Manufacturers should check out trucking routes and other transportation needs that support their companies’ logistics. What will it cost to get the supplies you need to your new location and to ship your product to your customers? Will you be able to deliver your product at a competitive price?

Technology. How wired is the area you’re considering? Are broadband services available for Internet access? Such offerings are important both for web-based companies and for those that use the Web just to enhance their brick-and-mortar business.

Cost of living. This issue has major implications for both your employees and your company. Can your staff find affordable housing in the area? In terms of commercial real estate, Melvin Feller MA suggests that you look at both cost and flexibility. He recommends negotiating a short-term lease that gives you options to acquire more space as needed.

Universities. “All the hot zones have great universities,” says Feller, founder of Melvin Feller MA Business Group. Universities provide cheap but knowledgeable part-time labor (students), as well as readily available consultants (professors). When the students graduate, they help form a skilled talent pool from which to draw employees. Many universities also host small-business development centers and programs.

Character of the local economy. What sectors are strongest in the region? If you’re a manufacturer, for example, you probably don’t want to go to a tourist or service-oriented economy, since it might not have an appropriate workforce, essential suppliers, and other resources.

Personal preferences. Do you have friends, family, or professional contacts that keep you in one area or draw you to another? You want to be happy in the place where you do business. As your company grows, the personal aspects of running a business may have to give way to more practical considerations, so think about such factors now, while you are still in control.

Melvin Feller MA knows that opening up your own small business can bring a host of benefits — more freedom, flexible working hours, more career opportunities and many of your dreams realized.

 Statistics show small businesses started by women have a greater chance of success — experts think it’s because women plan more, and take things step by step. A recent study on factors influencing career success conducted by Accenture, a global management consulting company, found that women feel juggling family support, planning and ambition is important for them to advance in their careers.

 Melvin Feller MA also knows that planning is important? Because he knows and has proven that a great business starts with a great idea. But there’s so much more. Often, would be entrepreneurs get so excited about their idea that they forget to find out whether it’s viable or not.

Small businesses make up more than 99% of the businesses in Texas. Small businesses, in particular, rely upon funding and financing to get their new and current businesses off the ground.

The Governor’s Office of Small Business Assistance works closely with a variety of partners to highlight the various avenues for accessing capital. The Governor’s Office cannot recommend or suggest specific lenders but we invite you to visit the following nonprofit lenders and chartered banks. At this time, the Governor’s Office does not have a program for grants available to start-up businesses.

The partners included below have a state-wide presence, but there are many local options available depending on where you are located.

NONPROFIT LENDERS

ACCION ACCION is dedicated to providing the tools entrepreneurs need to operate, grow or start their business. They offer a community of support and are dedicated to increasing access to business credit, making loans and providing support.

BCL of Texas Established in 1990 as a statewide not-for-profit, BCL of Texas successfully promotes business and community development and provides business capital and commercial real estate loans throughout Texas. In addition to providing businesses with counseling and technical assistance, BCL of Texas originates, underwrites, processes, closes and services business loans for healthy, growing businesses.

LiftFund the mission of LiftFund is to provide credit and service to small businesses that do not have access to loans from commercial sources, and to provide leadership and service to the micro-lending field on a national level.

PeopleFund provides loans and technical assistance to people who are left out of the financial mainstream. PeopleFund provides flexible loans to small businesses, startups, and nonprofit organizations across Texas. They also provide business consulting, technical assistance, and a variety of other programs.

FINANCING RESOURCES

To find a Texas financial institution, visit the National Information Center’s website.

For international financial institutions in the state that enable international trade by issuing letters of credit, providing currency exchange, and making trade related loans, as well as financing projects in various countries, please visit Texas Bankers Association and the Independent Bankers Association of Texas.

Credit Unions: Cornerstone Credit Union League, a nonprofit that seeks to inform on the operating environment and strength of credit unions throughout the central southern U.S., provides information on the various chapters throughout Texas.

Banks: The Texas Department of Banking provides a list of Texas state-chartered banks and holding companies.

CROWDFUNDING AND EQUITY CROWDFUNDING

In the past few years, crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding have become very popular methods of raising capital. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are two popular crowdfunding sites in which individuals are able to give small donations with the goal to partially fund a project. In exchange, the crowd receives different items depending on the size of their donation. Equity crowdfunding is when individuals invest in an early-stage company in exchange for shares in that company.

GRANTS.GOV:

A centralized location for grant seekers to find and apply for federal funding opportunities. The website houses information on over 1,000 grant programs and vets grant applications for 26 federal grant-making agencies.

SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH/SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FUNDING (SBIR/STTR):

The federal government allocates over $2 billion annually to SBIR and STTR. These programs encourage small businesses to capitalize on commercialization opportunities.

The SBIR program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization.

The STTR program expands funding opportunities in the federal innovation arena. Central to the program is the expansion of the public/private sector partnership to include joint venture opportunities between small business and nonprofit research institutions.

To find local resources familiar with SBIR/STTR and can support small business commercialize, please visit their website.

With over 2.6 million small businesses, small business is big business in Texas. The Texas economy has continually outpaced the national economy in overall growth, low unemployment rates, and high consumer confidence. Highly ranked healthcare, exemplary education, low living costs, a strong heritage, and hundreds of miles of rivers and coast make Texas the perfect spot.

Small businesses make up 99.8% of the Texas businesses. Texas is consistently ranked at the top of business climates in America and has been ranked highly for over a decade. Texas is recognized for its strong economy, skilled workforce, low taxes and fair legal system, extensive infrastructure, and high quality of life. In 2019 Business Facilities recognized Texas as the #1 state for business climate and infrastructure. Area Development ranked Texas as #1 for overall cost of doing business, competitive labor market and corporate tax environment.

Out of the 2.6 million small businesses in Texas, more than 866,000 are women-owned small businesses and 1.1 million are minority-owned small businesses. The Texas Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Certification offers certification that increases the exposure of a business especially as it concerns supplier diversity programs in both public and private sectors. 4.6 million Texas residents, or almost half of the state’s private workforce, are employed by a small business. In fact, small businesses created 218,436 net new jobs in 2019.

All types of businesses flourish across Texas. Many regions in Texas boast large, existing concentrations of companies in a particular industry which creates a trained labor force from which other businesses can draw. As a result, regions with existing labor pools continue to spur new business expansions and relocations in those same sectors.

Cost of Doing Business

With no individual income tax, Texas has one of the lowest tax burdens in the country, ranking as a Top 15 Best State in the Tax Foundation’s 2019 State Business Tax Index.

Exports

Texas has been the #1 exporting state for 16 straight years. 93.1% of all Texas exporters are small firms and are responsible for 37.6% of all Texas export value.

Finally, Feller states, “Researching your idea or talking to a neutral business advisor keeps your goals on track”. However, Feller also says that when he first started, nothing happened so I got impatient. But Richard Branson’s book “Losing My Virginity” was inspiring, as he stuck it out and found opportunities where others said there were none.

It was through trial and error and lots of education, that he reached the pinnacle of success and was able to create a business which has gone on to help thousands of people to start the business of their dreams and fulfill their legacy.

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Melvin Feller Business Group and How They Measure Up

What should a great business group do when your business needs help.  According to Melvin Feller, CEO and founder of Melvin Feller Business Group, to be fully appreciated, sustainability cannot be an add-on, it needs to be combined. A strong and successful business group should deliver made-to-order sustainability strategies that become part of a company’s everyday operations, policies, procedures and company culture.

Those include and are not limited to:

Vision and Goals - We will help you develop your True North and SMART goals to achieve sustainability goals in both the short and long-term.

Materiality and Stakeholder Engagement - Connecting with Purpose. A true Business Group specializes in helping companies engage its key internal and external stakeholders to understand what issues are important to them and most impactful. Melvin Feller Business Group does this through a combination of facilitations, focus groups, surveys and summits.

Strategic Plans - Whether you need a 3-year plan or a 1-year plan just to get going, the right thing is to create and develop a plan to get you there.

SWOT Analysis – A great sustainability SWOT analysis must focus on ways to reduce risk and drive business value by using a unique lens that focuses on market, consumer and industry trends and pending regulation on social and environmental issues.

Industry Benchmarking – A business group must analyze a company’s peers and industry leaders to benchmark your sustainability efforts to highlight points of difference and competitive advantage.

Sustainability can and should enhance a company’s brand and serve as a differentiator in today’s competitive marketplace. Melvin Feller Business Group will help you tell your story – authentically – in a way that elevates your brand.  That is why it is called Brand Enhancement.  

Brand Enhancement includes:

External Reporting - Reporting sustainability performance is a valuable management tool for organizations to communicate social and environmental performance to customers, suppliers, employees and investors. The reporting process also helps you to:

Assess your impacts

Manage risk

Leverage opportunities, and

Increase transparency

Supplier/Investor Questionnaires – Most business groups offer and do sustainability questionnaires which are increasingly prevalent from customers, investors and suppliers. A strong business group helps clients navigate this complex process by gathering the necessary qualitative and quantitative data to answer them as well as to build a company capacity to do it efficiently without external support moving forward.

CSR and GRI Reporting – Many business groups work with their clients to develop sustainability reports that authentically tell their stories. From content development, to data collection and copywriting, the business group MUST partner with their clients to deliver the best products in order to share their sustainability story.

Internal Communications Support - Your good work is known only if you communicate it. A strong business group will help develop strategies and create customized materials to share with employees in order to tell your sustainability story. They will help you leverage your efforts and maximize return by amplifying your message through your social media platforms and creating inspiring and engaging case studies to be shared with various audiences.  That is a MUST in today’s world!

Finally, capacity building should go beyond just being an extension to your team, they should help you build your internal capacity and knowledge base for your organization moving forward especially through customized trainings and cutting-edge online videos.

Therefore, the bottom line is a first-class business group should and will start every project with a simple conversation, getting to know you and your business needs. Then create a customized work plan to bring your sustainability needs and vision to reality.

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Marketing — Getting the biggest bang for Your Buck as Discussed by Melvin Feller MA, MBA

According to Melvin Feller, MBA and business owner as well as an online educator, marketing is an ever-changing, sometimes elusive activity. Even the marketing experts are continually tweaking their strategies in order to remain focused on attracting the customers they want. So, what should typical small business owners do, whose expertise is in delivering the product or service they started the business for?

First, understand that marketing is simply the message you send out to connect with people who want what you sell. Communicating this message is actually easier than creating the message itself. And herein lies the problem. Most business owners focus exclusively on the type of transmission vehicle that carries the message instead of crafting a compelling message that entices their customers to want to do business with them. When this happens, most marketing programs are equally as effective and tend to deliver the same poor results.

 Melvin Feller teaches and analysis marketing messages and believes that the fact is, that business have an identical marketing weakness as do most industries where there are tons of competitors with virtually no obvious differentiation.

Most competitors’ web sites or marketing messages make the same-sounding claims, describe the same-sounding services, and make same-sounding lead generation offers.

Some try to break from the pack by making either of the three big marketing mistakes:

Mistake 1: Boasting about leadership. “We’re the leader in…” Even if it’s true, unless you’re a household name it sounds fake, and no one cares except your CEO. It’s not a key differentiation point.

Mistake 2: Making up terminology to describe yourself. “We use the unique A.B.C. process to…” If prospects never heard of it, they don’t care. They are not here to learn about you — they just want to know if you can solve their particular problem.

Mistake 3: Broad customer description. “Everyone from the Fortune 500 to small businesses use our services.” Prospects don’t think of themselves as generic (even if they are), so they don’t want to buy generic services even if it would suit them.

Melvin Feller’s bottom line advice is to focus your positioning on the customer — not yourself!

Feller recommends that you start by reviewing what you have received for the money you have spent on marketing programs. While every business has unique qualities that may favor particular approaches, here are some of the more common forms of marketing and some tips on how to evaluate their effectiveness.

Local phone books- Most of these directories have been replaced by more robust on-line services. Still, a tremendous number of businesses continue to advertise in ‘yellow page’ style books. Look at the section of the book you occupy. Based on competition, the size you select and cost you agree to pay, the listing should be big enough to have one main message plus contact information. Anything more and the cost associated with it can be put to better use.

Newspaper ads- Unless you do a substantial volume business or rely on holidays for the majority of your business, forget them. The cost grossly outweighs the benefit.

 Coupon mailers- These vehicles are acceptable for car washes, haircuts and pizza but not much else. Most people don’t even open the envelops and if they do, they usually don’t look through more than 4–5 on the top. In any case, the coupon redemption is less than 1% so figure out how much you will pay to get 2–3 people to call you.

Online local listings- Several companies sell services to place you in all local listings for an ongoing monthly fee of anywhere from $99 to $499. If you have the know-how, you can do 90% of this yourself and save some money.

Door flyers- Most of the cost of this promotional approach is in the cost of delivering the flyers. They can be very effective if combined with something free. Real estate agents do very well by advertising themselves on pads of paper. This way, your name stays in front of your prospect for some period of time.

Mobile Text Messaging- A relatively new advertising medium, this service sends text promotions and offers to people who sign up using a text message code. They can work very well for low cost purchases or time specific offers like free sodas with any sub during the lunch hour. Other than that, I predict this program will fade as people will tire of getting ads sent to their phones.

Radio- Broad reaching but can be expensive. Depending on the time slots, you may or may not even be talking to your potential customers. All times are not equal so ask lots of questions about the schedule you buy into.

Billboards- Predominantly dependent on your message and the location. Unless your business has a visual component, I would pass on this sort of advertising.

Networking events- An excellent way to build visibility and referrals but it can be time consuming. You may need to test a few different groups to see which ones attract the types of referral partners and customers you are looking for. For most quality networking groups, look at WWW.meetup.com

Websites- One of the single biggest marketing expenses for a small business, your content, appearance and functionality must all work together or your designer and hosting costs are going down the drain every month.

Be very critical of your returns with any of these marketing approaches. If you are spending $500 to $2,500 per month on a variety of programs, make sure you can message the business you get with the right message. If the return is poor, cancel the agreement.

[melvinfeller]

Becoming Better Through Life's Bad Times As Discussed by Melvin Feller

Melvin Feller asks, Do you ever struggle with negative thinking? If you have a harsh inner critic or get caught in worry, stress, anxiety, depression or wrestle with low self-worth, then you know some of the symptoms first hand.

Negative thinking patterns can have a strong and sometimes devastating impact on our relationships, our health, our work… our lives.

Melvin Feller personally knows that people often try many different ways to get rid of their negative thoughts, including distractions, diversions or ‘drowning their sorrows’ only to later mentally beat themselves up for being still stuck in their negativity. It can feel like a real internal battle. These are common strategies that attempt to stop the thoughts and numb the pain in the short term but they only make things worse in the long term. It doesn’t fix the problem at its core.

The research shows that struggling with, arguing with, trying to drown out or push away unhelpful thoughts only amplifies them and makes things worse.

Negative thought patterns are repetitive, unhelpful thoughts. They directly cause what we could describe as ‘negative’ (unwanted or unpleasant) emotions like anxiety, depression, stress, fear, unworthiness, shame etc.

Once we learn to recognize and identify negative thought patterns as they occur, we can start to step back from them. This process of stepping back from thoughts is called ‘cognitive de-fusion.’ In cognitive de-fusion we learn to see the thoughts in our head as simply that—just thoughts. Not reality. You see when we are fused with our thoughts (cognitive fusion) we tend to take our thoughts very, very seriously. We believe them. We buy into them and we obey them. We play them out.

When we are not fused with our thoughts—when we can step back into cognitive de-fusion, then we do not take our thoughts too seriously. We hold them lightly. We only listen to them if we find them valuable or helpful. We certainly don’t take our thoughts to be ‘the truth’ and we don’t automatically obey them or play them out. We see our thoughts as simply bits of language that pass through the mind. Mental events if you will, that move through the mind all the time just like the weather passes through the sky. We have a choice in how we choose to respond to them.

The example I like to use often to illustrate the difference between cognitive fusion and cognitive de-fusion is this…imagine waking up one day and looking out the window and seeing rain. It’s possible that a thought might come into your head that says “what a dreadful day”. Now is it true that the day is dreadful? No, of course not, it is simply raining. However if you believe the thought “what a dreadful day”, in other words if you are stuck in cognitive fusion (literally fused with the thought) then guess what you will probably have? That’s right, you will probably have a dreadful day! In other words if you believe a thought like that, it can generate what we might call negativity.

It’s completely normal to have negative thoughts! It’s part of our evolutionary history. There is nothing wrong with you. We all have minds that have evolved to be constantly on the lookout for problems and dangers, so most of us have minds prone to have many negative thoughts.

The problem is not that we have negative thoughts. The problem comes when we believe our thoughts are true. When you are no longer entangled in thoughts they lose their grip on you and lose their power to generate unpleasant emotions.

Let’s go back to the example above. Imagine you’re laying in bed in the morning, you look out the window and you see that it’s raining and once again the thought arises “what a dreadful day”. If you are not fused with the thought (you don’t buy into it) then your experience would be like this. You’re watching the rain falling, then you also watch the thought (as simply a mental event) “what a dreadful day” arise and fall away just like the rain is falling…and since you don’t take it seriously or believe it, it generates no negativity, passes by easily and you’re free to lay there relaxed and at ease, enjoying the hard drops of the rain on the roof.

As you can see, the ability to recognize unhelpful thinking and step back from it is incredibly liberating! It can change the quality of your whole day and indeed your whole life.

Worry is when the mind projects into an imagined future and conjures up scenes and thoughts about what could go wrong. Here it often creates ‘what if’ scenarios.

Sometimes it takes the form of imagining or expecting that bad things will happen or that nothing good will ever happen for you. You might fret about your health deteriorating, your relationship going downhill, your car breaking down or your career being ruined—even though nothing has actually happened yet.

You might focus on the lack in your life and believe that nothing will ever get better for you. Stress related to your financial future, the welfare of your children or your partner leaving you fit into this category.

Do you have a harsh inner critic? Are you always trying to whip yourself into shape, mentally beating yourself up for not being good enough yet? Are you on a perfection mission? Another pattern of negative thought is to constantly criticise and ‘self improve’ because you’re not good enough yet. You may be very harsh on yourself, focusing in on all of your weaknesses and perceived flaws.

Likewise, you may extend this habit of criticism to others in your life. This can be the cause of tremendous strain on relationships. Negative self-talk and self-criticism often results in low self-esteem and a lack of confidence.

One way some people cope with low self-esteem is to compensate for these feelings by attaining status, achievements and recognition. Others may feel completely debilitated by feelings of unworthiness, becoming depressed or even suicidal.

There is nothing wrong with having goals and aiming to get fitter or healthier and the like—we can simply choose to do those because they are good for us or we want to stretch and grow. It’s a very different headspace to be doing those things because we don’t feel like we’re enough yet.

When the mind continuously hones in on what is wrong with yourself (and your life) and disassociates from what is going well and is good, we can become stuck in negativity.

Negative thoughts often revolve around what’s wrong with your life. Your attention becomes fixated on, and exaggerates the so called negative aspects of your life. Here your mind will often downplay what is going well.

If you have this habit of lamenting over your sorrows and problems you may constantly feel frustrated, anxious, depressed and apathetic. When you’re so absorbed in what’s wrong, you’re unable to notice what’s right.

Looking out for and recognizing these common negative thinking patterns when they arise will help you be aware of when to use the tools below to work with them skillfully and break free from their grip.

People trapped in negative thinking often tell me they feel hopeless because they often wrestle or argue with the thoughts or push them away, but the research shows that trying to struggle with thoughts in these ways just amplifies them as you may have noticed in your own life. What you resist persists.

So how do you move through life in a way that is practical, peaceful and authentic without getting stuck in negative thought patterns?

Here is the first step. It’s a very powerful, simple, tried and tested technique for untangling from thoughts without struggling with them. It’s called the ‘name it to tame it’ technique.

‘Name it to tame it’ is a phrase coined by author and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Siegel. Here’s the basics of how ‘name it to tame it’ works:

Melvin Feller recommends that an unhelpful thought pattern and the associated emotion arises you simply mentally ‘label’ the story. You’ve probably noticed many of our thoughts are repetitive and involve the same story lines. For instance one of my stories often is, “Who am I to be putting myself ‘out there’ teaching mindfulness. Aren’t you supposed to be perfect first!? Have it all totally together?!” I find this story unhelpful so when thoughts come up along that story line, I simply mentally note to myself, “Ahhhh the ‘who do you think you are’ story is here again” and then I let it go.

By ‘let it go’ I simply mean, I stop giving it all my attention and stop taking it so seriously. I realize it’s just a thought, not reality, then I open my awareness to the world around me again—the birds in the trees, the sounds, the breeze. I get out of my head and into my life

As soon as you name the mental story or pattern, you have now stepped back from being caught up in it. In other words you have initiated cognitive de-fusion. From a neuroscience perspective, when you name the thoughts you stop being hijacked by them from the negativity they create because you bring the smartest part of your brain online (the frontal cortex). The frontal cortex is reflective and helps you step back and get a greater perspective. You can do the same thing with emotions, naming them to tame them like “ahhh anxiety is here” or “oh shame has arrived”.

When naming or labeling your thoughts or emotions, one important tip. Make sure when you mentally label, to do it in a soothing, kind tone of voice. This is important as it helps you to settle and invite compassion and soothing into that moment instead of aggression or struggle. We’re not going to battle with the mind here. We are gently training it into new neural pathways of peace and ease. At a biological level, when you ‘name it to tame it’ in a soothing voice you even get a squirt of soothing neurotransmitters in the brain! This brings feelings of calm and ease and comfort.

Notice that many negative thoughts mostly flow from two directions. The first is dwelling on the past—maybe you ruminate over mistakes, problems, guilt and anything in your life that’s did not go the way you believe it should have gone. The second is worrying about the future—fear of what may or may not happen for yourself, others or the planet.

This may take the form of stress over whether or not you will achieve certain goals or anxiety about the security of your finances or relationships. Or perhaps you may worry about getting old. Whatever your particular negative thoughts are, notice that in order to engage in negative thought patterns the mind needs to cast its focus mostly into past or future. Either that or we judge and mentally label things in the present moment to be ‘bad’.

When lost in negative thinking we tend to be so engrossed in thoughts that we completely lose touch with what is actually happening in the present moments of our lives. We miss the little pleasures of living each day. The sunlight on your skin, the taste of the food we’re eating, a real connection with someone we love while they are talking. When we’re lost on our heads we lose touch with the world around us….and we lose touch with ourselves.

To become more present, and able to step out of negative thinking, one powerful method is to ‘come to your senses’. To do this simply redirect your attention out of the thoughts in your head and bring your focus to your sense perceptions.

Whether you’re in your home, at the office, in the park or on a subway, notice everything around you. Use your senses to their fullest. Don’t get into a mental dialogue about the things you see, just be aware of what you’re experiencing in this moment.

Be aware of the sounds, the scents, the sensation of the air on your skin or the contact points with the seat beneath you. Be there fully in the moment.

At the core of each one of us is a space that knows deep peace. As we grow up, we tend to get more and more drawn into the mind – our problems, our goals, our hopes, our fears and desires. We tend to get so busy, caught up and lose touch with this deeper sense of self…this pure unconditioned awareness.

It becomes easy for us to get more drawn into negative thinking the more we lose touch with ourselves in this way and lose ourselves in the mind. In fact research from Harvard University shows that most people are ‘mind wandering’ 47% of their day and this is the root of what causes cognitive fusion which is entanglement with thoughts.

Mindfulness is the practice of waking up to that wellspring of wholeness and peace. It’s waking up out of mind wandering (where we are lost in our heads, our old beliefs, habits, reactions and thinking patterns) so that we are able to live deliberately. Through mindfulness we build our capacity to live from that deeper awareness and tame the mind.

Each time your mind wanders in meditation, your task is to notice it and then detach from your thought stream and come back to your senses, in the moment. This is a practice of untangling from thoughts over and over again, a habit which translates in the rest of your life too. It becomes a habit to notice and let go with ease.

Each time you let go of the thought stream and come back into the present moment you tap into the stillness and wholeness at the heart of who you are. A sense of peace, lightness and joy arises more and more with each time you practice.

Each time you are kind and gentle with yourself when your mind wanders, instead of criticizing yourself, you are strengthening your self-compassion for challenging moments in the rest of your daily life. You become more resilient to stress and cultivate a kinder mind.

Each time you observe the mind that is an opportunity for ‘insight’ into your mind’s habits and patterns so you grown in what we might call wisdom or self-awareness.

Some kinds of negative thinking patterns can be quite ‘sticky’. You may find that you try to ‘name it to tame it’ and come back to your senses but the thoughts continue to have a grip on you. If you find yourself in this position there are some further tools you can use to untangle from your thoughts and change your focus. These are called the helpful questions for unhelpful thoughts. These are drawn from ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy).

You can use some of these questions to mentally question negative thoughts and use others to change your focus.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you untangle from the thought. You ask them and then you can answer them in your head. Usually you would just pick one of these at any given time.

Is this thought in any way useful or helpful?

Is it true? (Can I absolutely know that it’s true)

Is this just an old story that my mind is playing out of habit?

Does this thought help me take effective action?

Is this though helpful or is my mind just babbling on?

Then you can (mentally) ask these questions below to create new focus and new possibilities. These questions will help you focus on constructive thoughts and actions and help you effectively face your day-to-day challenges and move towards living a more meaningful life. Again, you may only use of of these at a time but you could always try more than one too.

What is the truth? My deepest truth?

What do I really want to feel or create in the situation? How can I move towards that?

How can I make the best of this situation?

Who would I be without this negative thought?

What new story or thought can I focus on now?

How can I see this in a different or new way?

What can I be grateful for in this moment?

With these powerful questions you can change your focus from being stuck in negativity to being focused on what’s going well. They will also help you take constructive action and move towards living a more meaningful life.

Constructive thinking allows you to be happy when things are going good, and puts problems in perspective when times get tough so you can stay calm and clear headed and deal with them in a practical efficient way.

The more you practice these tools, the more they will become like second nature to you. It’s like building a muscle—the more you use them, you become mentally fitter and stronger. In time the old habits are worn away and rather than being preoccupied with negativity, you’ll become more calm, centered and self-aware, leading to better relationships, greater overall happiness and a sense that your life is being fully lived.