The Best Things in Life Are Free Essays

The Best Things in Life Are Free Essays The Best Things in Life Are Free Paper The Best Things in Life Are Free Paper The Best Things in Life are Free Over the decadesheck, even centuriesphilosophers, politicians, tycoons and other leaders have insisted that you cant get something for nothing: Theres no such thing as a free ride, or Nothing in life is free. Well-known economist Milton Friedman once said, Theres no such thing as a free lunch. Even Entrepreneur columnist Robert Kiyosakis rich dad told him the same thing. But in our evolving Web 2. 0 world and with Google leading the way, the rules have changed: You can get something for nothingand for entrepreneurs, that something can have a significant impact on their businesses. Today, the web is full of free tools to help entrepreneurs start, run and grow their businesses for next to nothing. Itll just cost you some time and an internet connection. On using free stuff * Just because its there doesnt mean you have to use it. Because theres so much out there, businesses have a tendency to be like a kid in a candy store, says Drew McLellan. Start with the strategy of what you want to accomplish, and then find the tool that will allow you to do that. Adds Mike Whaling, Its a matter of figuring out which tools are right for your business. Know your audience, and then go to where they are already having conversations. * You dont have to figure it all out by yourself. McLellan suggests doing a simple Google search on a tool or task you want to accomplish. Youll find people talking about it, he says. And people are incredibly quick to share what they know. * Dont lose your companys brand. Using a variety of tools can lead to an inconsistent company image and voice. Says McLellan, Run it through the litmus test of Is this right for my business? Does it portray my business the way I want? Whaling also emphasizes thinking about what your businesss name will be associated with because many free tools are ad-supported. * Push your preconceived notions aside. MySpace and Facebook arent just for the kiddies anymore. Says McLellan, There are a lot of people conducting business on [these sites]. * Does the tool have staying power? For every successful blog, video website or social network, there are dozens that wont make it. So, again, talk with people online and discuss their experiences with the tool to gauge its stability and reliability. It may be free, but you still need to invest. Just creating a profile wont cut it. Making the most of these tools requires time and effort, says Whaling. Theres an investment in reading other peoples blogs, commenting on posts, getting involved in the community and building relationships. Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founder of Wine Library, has been taking advantage of free business tools for nearly three years to grow his 11-year-old wine retail business. Using a combination of web-based tools, such as social networking, blogging and video, hes taken his company to annual sales of $50 million. His success with these tools has even landed him two book deals and regular speaking engagements across the country. Building brand equity and connecting with your consumers through these social tools has a global impact on your business and your brand, says Vaynerchuk, 33, who launched Wine Library with his father, Sasha, 65. Springfield, New Jersey-based Wine Library uses Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to notify its friends about daily specials, something it used to do solely through e-mail. Its Facebook presence includes a custom app called Ask Gary, where people can ask questions about wine. And the company keeps a regular video blog, Wine Library TV. Viral aspects of your message explode once you use these tools, says Vaynerchuk. When I think about how much brand equity I have with Wine Library TV and how quickly it happened for [so little cost], the fact that I spent millions of dollars building the brand prior to using these tools makes me want to throw up. As Vaynerchuk has found, customers appreciate the interaction, says Mike Whaling, president of 30 Lines, a social media marketing company that helps businesses expand their brands online reach. Traditionally, it was one way. It was shouting: brochures, white papers, advertisements. Now its much more focused on multimedia and engagement. And whereas brochures and advertising of days past had a price tag, more and more of todays tools are free. But aside from the obvious (duh, its free), what does this surge of tools mean for small businesses? It starts to level the playing field, says Whaling. It gives small businesses the opportunity to put themselves out there and really compete with the larger companies. It allows a little guy to look like a big guy, says Drew McLellan, owner and CEO of McLellan Marketing Group. It makes a small business look very sophisticated. For example, an entrepreneur can build a website easily with various blogging and web design options. A company can launch a targeted marketing campaign across numerous social networks. A business owner can manage calendars, clients and projects using different collaborative and project management software. All for free! Alison Boris and Kat hi Chandler, 38 and 31, respectively, have been capitalizing on free tools since nearly the inception of their Los Angeles-based online bag boutique, AllyKatStyle, in 2007. Like Vaynerchuk, theyve created a MySpace page for their company. They also have profiles on Digg and StumbleUpon, which are community-centric content sharing sites, to drive traffic to allykatstyle. com. Outside of the popular social networking tools, they use QuantCast (embedded in the website) to monitor traffic, frequency, demographics, geographics and more, and Skype is their official business phone. Says Chandler, Theyre great grass-roots tools to drive traffic to the site and provide free advertising through bloggers and word-of-mouth.