Mike Michalowicz

President

Obsidian Launch

thetoiletpaperentrepreneur.com

MIKE MICHALOWICZ (pronounced mi-CAL-o-wits) started his first business at the age of 24, moving his young family to the only safe place he could afford – a retirement village. With no experience, no contacts and no savings he systematically bootstrapped a multi-million dollar business. Then he did it again. And again.

His experience building three multi-million dollar companies fostered a philosophy rarely taught to entrepreneurs: the lack of money, experience and resources is, in fact, your greatest asset.

Mike is the president of a behavioral web optimization firm, Obsidian Launch; is the small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal; is a frequent television guest; is a keynote speaker on entrepreneurship; and is the author of cult classic book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. He is currently writing his second book, to be released in 2012 by Portfolio, an imprint of the Penguin Group.

Big may not always be beautiful, but all business owners dream big and local is now deemed to be big in a way that most local businesses are not. Mass marketing, once popular with big businesses, is no longer deemed effective. According to startupnation.com, “Today’s emphasis needs to be on local marketing - reaching individual communities with specialized messages.” Marketing gurus are calling this a trend of “mass personalization”. Marketing has come a long way since its onset. Early marketing pushed the message directly at the consumer; however, since the dot com era, marketing messages have become more subtle. Years ago, print media was the primary marketing tool. This later gave way to radio and television broadcasting before telemarketing reared its ugly head. The digital era brought email blasts, search marketing and blogging. Businesses had now entered the age of inbound marketing. Creating an effective marketing plan requires you to fully understand your company’s mission and the needs of your potential customers. You also need to know how to analyze results to generate sales statistics. Research shows social media and content marketing continue to grow and be effective. As summarized in anthrostrategy.com, “The stronger the bond at the local level, the more likely the customer is to buy.” A major disadvantage of digital marketing is that if you don’t monitor your presence, you may quickly lose track of where your business is coming from. And although online marketing may be cheap, it can be time consuming for small businesses. Creating an effective online presence requires a certain amount of skill and involves regular updates in order to stay current.  Businesses should consider where the future lies: mobile, mobile, mobile. Smartphones are leading the way for purchasing decisions both at home and in stores; search, apps, coupons and QR codes are transforming the shopping experience. To turn these trends into an advantage for your business, we take a lesson from the Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz. Focus your business on your best clients. Duplicate great clients through vendor referrals. Do not let opportunities derail your local business. Don’t forget that your local business is still a business. Lastly, connect with your local community to find ideal clients.