Number One Pinterest Goal – Drive Customers to Your Business

By Kristin Taghon, Cadmium Interiors, LLC

If you are trying to acquire new business, wouldn’t you want to know about a new and exciting option out there?  Let me tell you about Pinterest and how you can use it to drive business to your website.  

Pinterest is a virtual “bulletin board” which allows users to post (or pin) images into groups (or boards) within their accounts. Users can search for imagery and information using keywords and follow other users.

Pinterest is a social media site whose users are mostly females. Many use Pinterest to find new ideas, DIY projects, recipes, even imagery. You say you don’t produce DIY or recipes; imagery isn’t part of your game and your product isn’t gender-specific?

Fear not! Pinterest is much more than that and companies are finding innovative ways to use Pinterest to their advantage.  People are using Pinterest as a bookmarking tool, pinning/posting resource information, data graphs, how-to and educational materials onto Pinterest boards[1].

Entertainment and informational videos can be pinned directly from your desktop or your YouTube account.[2] Informational blogs are pinned to Pinterest boards, providing a new path to those blogs. 

Companies are pinning employee accomplishments and bios and company culture imagery to entice new employees; claiming it takes less time to attract good employees that fit right in![3]

In these ways, Pinterest can and IS being used by more and more companies to drive new business to their websites. This creative tool can be tied to other parts of your social media campaign: Twitter, Facebook and your own website or blog. You can also bring attention to your Pinterest Boards on LinkedIn and Google+. The following are some basics of getting started using Pinterest to your advantage.

• Create your account by using the same email address as your Twitter account ; then tie your Pinterest account to your Twitter business account. Tie the same Pinterest account to Facebook so that your pins can be shared on Facebook
• Install a “Pin It” button on all pages of your website enabling your users to easily pin items from your website onto their own Pinterest accounts. Once pinned, others will be able to click on the pin to visit your website, as well as to “repin” to multiple boards, virtually creating free marketing!
•  Set up a YouTube account, create videos and pin them to a board on Pinterest dedicated to your videos.
•   The objective is to pair interesting imagery with the materials you hope to share over this visual tool, Pinterest. Ensure there is imagery on your blog that can be pinned when that blog is shared over Pinterest.
• Any image or video you pin, whether from your blog or from your desktop must have an associated URL that takes the user to the intended website or blog.
•  Use your own SEO keywords to name and describe your Pinterest Boards, pins, blogs, and YouTube videos[4].
•    Make sure that your blogs, Pinterest Account, YouTube Account, and Twitter Account all contain your website URL!

Cadmium Interiors uses Pinterest to communicate visually with our clients, learn their design styles and share furniture and finish choices, resulting in a shortened design cycle and a design the client truly loves. Learn about YOUR target audience by interacting with Pinterest Users. Are they responding to your pins? Use Google Analytics to measure how well your Pinterest campaign is working to drive people to your website. Start by pinning content and search for similar content, using your SEO keywords. What are you finding? Start a dialog with your followers and others who are pinning that content. Be sincere about wanting to learn about your target audience: engage them, build relationships. When you get that first repin, “Like” or comment, you will have that first ah-ha moment toward understanding your next possible client! Every repin and interaction on Pinterest creates a potential click to your website, and sharing your information on one of the fastest social media sites out there.

Kristin Taghon is co-Principal Interior Designer at Cadmium Interiors, LLC. Kristin designs Residential and Small Commercial spaces that the client loves to spend time in.  She creates designs that are fully functional, efficient and reflects the client's aesthetic. Kristin ties the whole space together using color, texture and efficient space planning. She adds even more value by saving you time and money and working closely with contractors to get the job done correctly. 

http://www.cadmiuminteriors.com

kristin@cadmiuminteriors.com

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[1] Megan Marrs, (2013, February 4), 6 Accounts to Follow on Pinterest (And What You Can Learn From Them), Retrieved from http://www.business2community.com/pinterest/6-accounts-to-follow-on-pinterest-and-what-you-can-learn-from-them-0390034

[2]Krizia de Verdier, (2013, January 30), How to Drive More YouTube View with Pinterest, Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-youtube-to-leverage-pinterest/

[3] Jason Ginsburg, 2013, February 12), Meet the Rock-star Brands of Social Recruiting, Retrieved from http://smartblogs.com/social-media/2013/02/12/meet-the-rock-star-brands-of-social-recruiting/

[4] How to Use Pinterest for Business: Drive Traffic and Leads to Your Website with Pinterest, A Publication of HubSpot, Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/docs/ebooks/howtousepinterestforbusiness_april.pdf

Six Key Elements of a Good Business Partnership

Larry Gard, Ph.D.

There’s nothing like having a terrific business partner.  When the relationship works, the financial and emotional rewards are far greater than what either person could possibly achieve on their own.  A good business partner should have complimentary skills, a similar sense of ethics, and a compatible work style.  We’ve all seen the disastrous consequences when partners’ skill sets and ethics are out of sync, but in my experience not having a compatible work style is what causes business partners the most day-to-day aggravation.

If you’re contemplating joining forces with a business partner, consider the following six elements to help assess whether you have compatible work styles:

Planning and Organizing:  It’s essential for both partners to manage their time effectively, develop plans to achieve their goals, and be sufficiently organized so that they can handle multiple demands and competing deadlines.  When one of you is disorganized, waits until the last minute to tackle projects, or refuses to plan ahead, it can cause added stress for both partners.

Decisive Judgment:  Both of you need to be able to make sound decisions with conviction and in a timely manner.  If one of you tends to be indecisive, you’ll miss opportunities and too many decisions will be based on one party acceding to the other’s wishes.  You can’t achieve genuine consensus if one of you can’t make a decision.

Adapting to Change:  Both parties need to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.  If one of you is over-reliant on old methods and processes, while the other is more flexible, you’ll be butting heads about how to do things when you ought to be assessing and responding to emerging priorities.

Delivering Results:  Imagine what can happen when a business partner is undependable or irresponsible.  It is essential that both parties maintain a high level of commitment to getting things done.

Resilience:  Work-related stress and pressure is a given, and it helps to have a partner who can maintain a positive attitude in the face of frustration and setbacks.  If one person is consistently unable to deal with disappointments at work, it can be incredibly draining for their partner.

Interpersonal Communication:  Both individuals have to communicate effectively, without sending mixed or confusing messages.  You must truly listen to one another, clarify and avoid misunderstandings, and share information freely. 

As you consider whether your work styles are compatible, you should also think about whether either of you has a tendency to over rely on your strengths.  For example, it may initially seem like a good idea to join forces with a business partner whose attention to detail counterbalances your ability to focus on big ideas.  But ask yourself, what would it be like working together if either of you routinely over-emphasized those strengths?

About the author:

Larry Gard is a psychologist and president of Hamilton-Chase Consulting, a Chicago-based firm that helps individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses overcome the all-too-human obstacles that impede performance and profitability.  He specializes in Executive Coaching, Evaluation of Candidates for Hire, and Organizational Assessments. 

Larry can be reached at drlgard@hamiltonchaseconsulting.com

     

2013 Hamilton-Chase Consulting

Small Business, Big Savings!

Our next guest blog comes from one of our office client’s at 155 North Wacker Drive, here in Chicago. She has been a tenant of ours for  years and is working as CEO of her start up business, Taylor Made Business Solutions. Hope you enjoy!

When I am not buried in paperwork, I often wonder—what do all these people do here!!!  Fortunately, I sit in the brown (color of the hall walls) hole with no windows so I can stay focused.  On the off chance that your mind also wanders, let me introduce myself.  I am Evonne Taylor, President and CEO of Taylor Made Business Solutions.  I started this company in May 2011.  My offices are at the end of the hall on the north side of the kitchen.

We distribute office supplies, generic toner cartridges and furniture.  I am a dealer for United Stationers and a Tier 1 minority partner with Staples.  What does that mean?  Essentially, I can get you nearly any office product you like--most likely for less money than you currently pay.  We offer all the major brands of office supplies, janitorial and sanitation products and technology equipment.  We also distribute furniture.  We can assist you in the purchase of a desk and chair or an entire building of furniture—design and all!      

Generic toner cartridges???  Most of you know how terribly expensive printer toner cartridges are.  Most people use the brand name—like Hewlett Packard.  The industry calls them OEMs or an Original Equipment Manufacture.   About 20 years ago an entire industry was born from the remanufacture of these toner cartridges.  Since then nearly every product is remanufactured such as cell phones and automotive parts.  The remanufactured toner industry has evolved significantly and now many remanufactured toner cartridges are manufactured to the same standard as the OEM.  OEMs have about a 1-2% defective rate, and an end user can expect that same performance from a remanufactured cartridge.  End users can also expect to pay about 20% less than the cost of the OEM.   As companies look to trim expenses, the use of remanufactured toner cartridges provide savings that simply cannot be ignored.

Regarding Staples, it must seem odd that I partner with my competitor.  Many municipalities, such as the City of Chicago have minority participation clauses that require large companies to bring smaller/minority/women-owned businesses to the table.  As you would imagine, larger companies like Staples have a competitive advantage over smaller companies like Taylor Made.  These same companies take their profits back to their corporate headquarters and enrich that municipality or their shareholders.  Of course we don’t begrudge that but given that the City, County and State all operate under significant deficits, each must find ways to increase the velocity of the dollar in their municipality.  Local companies hire locally and spend locally.  When local companies prosper, it helps both the revenue and expense side of the local municipalities budget.  So buy from local companies—like Taylor Made!!

Through our dealership with United Stationers, we have distribution centers all across the country and can ship next day.  Currently, my largest clients are Northern Trust and the University of Chicago Hospitals.  We provide phenomenal customer service and can handle the purchasing demands of any company nationally.   We are rapidly expanding.   I just purchased a sophisticated software system that will essentially give me an “Amazon-like” store-front website.  Conversion and implementation of this new software will be completed by the end of the first quarter.  Until that time, you can visit my current website at TMBSLLC.com.      

Personally, I am married.  My husband Stuart, also leases space here—let’s just say it is NOT the brown hole!!  We have two boys Stuart 15 and Marc 13.  I was raised in Washington, DC and have lived in Chicago for……22 years!!

Stop by and say hi!