NEBA July 2015 Newsletter

NEW ENGLAND BUS ASSOCIATION

ISSUE 07/ JULY 2015

NEBA MONTHLY NEWS & INFORMATION YOU NEED.

Branding 101 for

Small Business Owners how to turn 70% of your prospects

Into Customers FMCSA Pursues

State CDL Audit

How FMCSA’s New Bus Lease & Interchange Rule

Affects You

HOW TO TURN 70% OF YOUR PROSPECTS INTO CUSTOMERS/

Sales organizations should double down on making sure sales reps go above and...

CHP CONCLUDES INVESTIGATION INTO FATAL MOTORCOACH CRASH/

After a yearlong investigation, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced Friday that....

DRIVER TRAINING COMMITTEE FINDS CONSENSUS ON BEHIND THE WHEEL TIME/

In Washington, D.C., a committee tasked with developing recommendations...

FMCSA PURSUES STATE CDL AUDIT/

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is overhauling its audit system...

7 REASONS YOU’RE NOT GETTING ROI FROM YOUR CONTENT/ Content as a marketing strategy is reliable and costeffective, but only if it...

SHARING THE ROAD RESPONSIBLY WITH PEDESTRIANS U.S. PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES REMAIN HIGH/

Bob Crescenzo, Vice President, Lancer Insurance Company The number of pedestrians...

BRANDED SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE NEXT WORD-OF-MOUTH PHENOMENON/

When was the last time you took advice from friends or family? If you’re like me...

LEVERAGING RESOURCES AND MAXIMIZING OPPORTUNITIES: SUPPORT STRATEGIES FOR WOMEN IN BUSINESS/

In 1814, Madame Barbe-Nicole Clicquot- Ponsardin shipped 10,000 bottles of Champagne...

6 OVERLOOKED WAYS TO VASTLY BOOST TRAFFIC TO YOUR ECOMMERCE SITE/ It doesn’t matter if you own a small shop on Etsy or a major ecommerce site, the fact...

6 WAYS TO MAKE FINANCIAL FORECASTS MORE REALISTIC/

It’s a rare entrepreneur who enjoys working on financial forecasts.

Many feel like the...

BRANDING 101 FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS/

Every business needs a brand, of course, but not every small business owner is adept at...

HOW FMCSA’S NEW BUS LEASE & INTERCHANGE RULE AFFECTS YOU/

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently issued a final rule...

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Secretary’s Message On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to personally thank all 127 Members that attended our Annual Meeting. Those that did not attend you missed a great meeting and an outstanding time was had by all.

Some of the highlights were; Newly installed members of the HALL OF FAME, Clyde “ Mr. DC” Hart, Harry “ Woody” Blunt, Mike “ Gummy” Felice, Dave “ Diver” Millhouser.

We celebrated our association’s 90th Anniversary We are “ Living the Dream” due to our guest speaker Curtis Zimmerman We are preparing to use Apportioned License plates due to the help of Crowe Fleet Management We learned more about driver qualifications from Bob Crescenzo of Lancer’s Ins. We were updated about “ What’s happening in DC”

by Ken Presley UMA and Peter Pantuso ABA We went on the COG to the top of Mt. Washington

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We got pumped up by KAT at his private museum........

And we all ate way too much Ice Cream at a special desert stop.

Most importantly we all renewed our friendship’s old and new. We received some more info from Chris Riddell from the Motor Coach Council. AWARENESS AWARENESS, was his take away, using anyway you can to offer the traveling public awareness of why to ride on our Motor Coaches.

Now for a sad note, after two years as President of New England Bus Assoc. Scott Riccio has turned the “ Lobster Cracker” over to Gregg Isherwood for the next two years. Chris Anzuoni was voted by the Board of Directors to become our next Vice President. To Scott, Thank you very much for all your energy to keep our association on a positive path, growing and educating our members.

SEE YOU ALL VERMONT......................

Mitch Guralnick

NEXT

YEAR

IN

Chairman’s Message Greetings !

It was great to see over 127 members at the 90th annual NEBA meeting in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The Mountain View Grand Resort provided us with perfect weather and an overall superb location to hold the event.

As outgoing President, I want to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity to serve as your President. There is nothing more Rewarding for me than being a part of the New England Bus Association. It’s an amazing group of operators and vendors.

Scott A. Riccio NorthEast Trailways Past –President, NEBA

A special Thanks Mitch Guralnick who serves as the Treasurer and Secretary of the organization. I have enjoyed working with you and am always grateful with all that you have done for the organization.

Enjoy the summer and I look forward to seeing you at next year’s meeting.

Regards,

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Motorcoach Crash

CHP CONCLUDES INVESTIGATION INTO FATAL MOTORCOACH CRASH After a yearlong investigation, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced Friday that it is still unclear why a FedEx truck slammed into a motorcoach bus carrying high school students in Northern California last year. The collision killed 10 people, including five students.

Investigators concluded that the 2014 accident was caused by the FedEx driver due to an “unsafe turning movement,” which happened for unknown reasons.

“Our investigators carefully analyzed every aspect of this collision and concluded that environmental factors, roadway conditions and vehicle maintenance were not the cause,” said CHP Northern Division Chief Ruben Leal. “The collision was caused—for unknown reasons— by the driver’s unsafe turning movement, and although

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fatigue or an undetermined medical condition may have contributed, there is no conclusive evidence.”

The CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) did find some evidence of possible fatigue or sleepiness, such as the long, straight section of the roadway and the departure angle of the tires, which is consistent with fatigue-related collisions. An eyewitness reported that the driver was slumped towards the truck window before the crash. However, these findings were not considered conclusive.

On April 10, 2014 at about 5:40 p.m., a FedEx truck traveling southbound in the right lane on Interstate 5 near Orland, California, veered left into the 58-foot-wide median, crashing through bushes and entering opposing traffic. The truck collided with the Silverado Stages motorcoach bus and a Nissan Altima. The impact caused

the FedEx truck and motorcoach bus to burst into flames.

The bus passengers were 43 high school students and three adult chaperones headed to Humboldt State University for a weekend visit. The accident claimed the lives of the FedEx and bus drivers, five students and the three chaperones. The surviving students suffered injuries of varying degrees, while the driver and passenger of the Nissan Altima suffered minor injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still working on finalizing its own investigation into the crash. Earlier this month, the

agency opened the accident docket, releasing approximately 2,150 pages of documents. The docket contains, among other things, questionnaires with the surviving passengers, the majority of whom indicated that there were no safety or emergency instructions prior to the trip. “No one showed us how to open emergency widows like they do when we go on school buses,� wrote one student.

The majority of respondents also noted that while they were aware of the lapshoulder seatbelts in the bus, they did not wear them.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that that both FedEx and Silverado Stages are currently facing three lawsuits from families of the victims and crash survivors, with more expected to follow.

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Consensus Behind The Wheel Time

Driver training committ behind the wheel time 12 www.greenazine.com

tee finds consensus on www.greenazine.com

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In Washington, D.C., a committee tasked with developing recommendations for a rule on entrylevel driver training for truck and bus drivers has come to a consensus on language to present to the FMCSA on or before June 15. Among them are a required number of hours behind-the-wheel and the creation of a new national registry for driver trainers.

The Entry-Level Driver Training Advisory Committee – an appointed group of 26 stakeholders in transportation, safety and education – has met for six two-day sessions this year to find consensus as part of a negotiated rulemaking. OOIDA Director of Regulatory Affairs Scott Grenerth represents the Association on the committee and went to bat on the issues of behind-the-wheel training and core curriculum.

Land Line Magazine Managing Editor Jami Jones was in D.C. to cover the committee’s final session that concluded Friday, May 29. She reports that committee members had gone to the mat during discussions about whether a training course should require a certain number of hours behind the wheel. It took a while to get there, she says, but in the end, the committee decided the answer was yes.

“They did come to an agreement, but it was a topic that would come up and hit an impasse. And they would leave it for a while and come back to it. It took at least three attempts today to come to a consensus on hours behind the wheel,” Jones said Friday. One of the reasons was the different levels of commercial driver’s license.

For a Class A CDL, the committee is recommending a minimum of 30 hours of behind-the-wheel training, consisting of a minimum of 10 hours on the range and a minimum of 10 hours on the road broken up by multiple trips. The remaining 10 hours could be broken up between the range and the road.

Jones said the committee is recommending that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration develop a national registry of driver trainers, not all that far off from what FMCSA created for medical examiners.

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“Small operators have the door open to be trainers as long as they don’t train more than three people a year,” Jones reported.

“You’ll have to register to be a trainer,” she said, adding that the registry would consist of different levels including one for a single operator who wants to train up to three people per year. Owneroperator Bryan Spoon, an appointed member of the driver training committee, fought hard to make sure the small-time trainer would be able to train a friend or family member.

“Small operators have the door open to be trainers as long as they don’t train more than three people a year,” Jones reported. “They would be certified as a small trainer.”

The committee did not recommend there be any fee associated with being part of a national registry, but trainers may incur expenses in obtaining an approved curriculum.

Important at this stage, Jones said, is that the driver training committee considers its recommendations to be a “term paper.” It is not the rule, and there will still be a public comment process.

“What they have agreed upon will serve as a framework for FMCSA to file a notice of proposed rulemaking, but the public will still get a chance to comment and provide input,” she said. “This does not shut out the public at all. They’ll get their crack at that later this year with the goal of FMCSA having a final rule in 2016.”

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State CDL Audit

FMCSA Pursues State CDL Au 16 www.greenazine.com

udit

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is overhauling its audit system for state commercial driver’s license programs. As part of that process, the agency has filed an information collection request with the Office of Management and Budget. If approved, it will give the FMCSA leave to access information from state CDL programs. FMCSA says the request will allow it to ensure that “states are complying with notification and recordkeeping requirements for information related to testing, licensing, violations, convictions and disqualifications.”

Among other things, the agency seeks to verify the accuracy of state information and assuring that it is being submitted within the regulated periods of time.

The new audit process will increase state reviews from every three years to every year, which the agency says will lead to earlier detection of deficiencies, faster correction and greater compliance with CDL standards. The FMCSA’s information collection request includes a new spreadsheet that will be key in collecting and organizing state information.

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Content Marketing

7 Reasons You’re Not Getting ROI From Your Content 18 www.greenazine.com

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Content as a marketing strategy is reliable and costeffective, but only if it generates high-quality leads.

To succeed, you must not only create and promote content, but also analyze and optimize the content.

If your content marketing results are falling flat, here are 7 reasons why it might be happening and what you can do about it.

1) You Don’t Know Your Content’s ROI If you do not understand how many people access your content, where your content is shared, or the new contacts it generates, chances are your marketing efforts are not nearly as effective as they could be.

A piece of content that gets a lot of traffic but few leads likely has some value in brand awareness-- it might hit the target when it comes to exploring an idea but isn’t as compelling as it could be. On the other hand, a piece of content that gets little engagement and few leads likely indicates a lack of relevancy or visibility.

The Fix: Measure the Basics Measure indicators on a monthly or quarterly basis, and then use the results to focus your efforts accordingly. Ultimately, you want to know how many leads a piece of content is generating and how that content translates into customers.

If you’re unsure about what to measure, check out our eBook, “Measuring Digital ROI”.

2) You Have Low (or the Wrong Kind of) Search Traffic If you do not use the language your ideal customers use to ask questions or describe problems, then chances are your content is not providing the right answers to your target audience. Content marketing goes hand-in-hand with SEO. You can create content all day long, but you cannot expect results until you target the keywords and phrases your preferred customers are most likely to use when looking for the solution you provide.

The Fix: Research Keywords and Use Them in Your Content To get started with keyword research, use what you know about your business and industry to identify relevant topics. For each topic, brainstorm a list of

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potential keywords, and then optimize your content for a relevant keyword.

How do you determine what is relevant? Use a keyword research tool to gain an understanding of search volume and traffic estimates. HubSpot customers can use the keyword tool built into the marketing software. Google also has a free keyword planner available.

3) Your Blog Is Your (Only) Content A blog alone is not enough to deliver ROI. Offers that engage users are needed to provide marketers the opportunity to capture contact information in exchange for valuable content. White papers, eBooks, templates, and the like go beyond the blog to engage users on a new level.

Just as some people prefer to read the book while others prefer to watch the movie, people consume digital content via different mediums. Efforts to reach your target audience solely by the written word, no matter how eloquent, are less effective than offering content in different formats.

Your content will be more effective when it caters to those who learn best through reading as well as to those who prefer audio or imagery.

The Fix: Repackage Your Content It is not necessary to create a unique piece of content for every platform. Rather, simply adapt a quality piece of content to different distribution channels. Is there a way you can condense your best-performing blog posts into a slide deck or infographic?

Perhaps you can turn a series of blogs on the same topic into an eBook. Can you show who you are through a video instead of the standard “About Us” page full of text? By repackaging your content, you will to appeal to a broader audience.

4) You Only Offer Branded Content To use the tried-and-true cocktail party analogy, no one wants to engage in a conversation with a stranger when all that person does is talk about his self. We all have our story to tell; yet there is a time and place to tell it.

When a potential customer learns of your business by searching for an answer to their question, they want

the answer they came for before they entertain the solution you offer.

trumps frequency every time, and you can always publish more content as time permits.

Content that disrupts a user or looks more like a way to sell than a way to engage is less attractive to today’s plugged-in consumers. When content educates or is presented at a natural point in the conversation, people are more likely to see your company as a trusted advisor.

6) You’re Ignoring the Call To Action

The Fix: Develop Educational Content Create content around the overall values or pillars of your company. For example, an industrial equipment manufacturer might create content educating people how to extend the life of their equipment in addition to how to select the best equipment to purchase.

Educational content can still support your brand through complementary color schemes and appropriately places logos.

5) Your Content Takes a Back Seat to Other Tasks We often compare content marketing success to the flywheel effect. It’s much more difficult to get something started than it is to keep it rolling. When you publish blogs or post on social intermittently, you bore search engines and confuse your audience.

Content marketing is not something you can set and forget.

The Fix: Establish an Editorial Calendar An editorial calendar will help you in two ways: it will help you think of topics to create content around, and it will keep you accountable to a publishing schedule.

First, develop your calendar with themes your audience cares about. For instance, the budgeting season for many companies gets underway midsummer with budgets set by early fall. Is it relevant for your company to address the challenges of budgeting, either in a blog or a sales email?

Next, choose a publishing frequency and stick to it.

Keep in mind that it is better to under promise and over deliver. If you know you can only publish content one time per week but want to post three times per week, go with the former.

How much you post is important, but consistency

A piece of content without a call to action is like walking into a store where none of the merchandise is for sale. You invest time and effort into every piece of content you create, so once you have a reader, be sure to close the deal with a call-to-action that encourages your reader to take a next step.

The Fix: Add Calls to Action What is that next step? The answer is likely to vary with the piece of content. And remember, every piece of content you produce (hello, landing pages!) is a marketable asset.

If you are interested in building a community around your brand, encourage dialogue by ending a blog post with a question and encouraging responses in the comments. Need more social reach? Make sure social sharing icons are included with the content you create.

To generate leads, encourage visitors to exchange their contact information for a white paper or eBook.

7) Your Content Lacks Context Publication, distribution, and promotion define the context of your content. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to email your award-winning case to existing customers.

Likewise, it doesn’t make sense to run a print advertisement if your target audience spends its time in a digital forum. No matter how good your content, it will fall flat without context.

The Fix: Consider the Audience to Give Context its Due Segment your email lists to send relevant content to contacts based on their lifecycle stage. Engage in conversations on social, but save the sales offers for calls-to-action.

A few years ago, most of your visitors probably accessed your website or read your emails via their desktop or laptop computers. Now, it’s a good bet a good portion of that traffic comes from tablets and mobile phones. Is your website mobile-friendly?

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Content as a marketing strategy is reliable and cost-effective, but only if it generates high-quality leads.

To succeed, you must not only create and promote content, but also analyze and optimize the content.

Have you replaced outdated “click here” language given mobile users tap with their fingers rather than click with a mouse?

If you are uncertain what content creates the highest return-on-investment, you are most likely spending time and money creating content that does little – or at the very least could do more - to contribute towards reaching your online marketing goals.

An immediate return-on-investment is rare and not without anxiety. However, when content does take hold, the benefits can be quite rewarding. But you’ll only know that when you measure.

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Turn Your Prospects Into Customers

How to Turn 70% of Your Prospects Into Customers [New Data] Sales organizations should double down on making sure sales reps go above and beyond in providing great customer experiences, according to “Start Your Winning Streak: 7 Lessons for the Modern B2B Sales Leader,” a new study from PeopleMetrics.

The research found that customers’ Net Promoter Scores increased from 37 to 51 (on a 100-point scale) when their salespeople went above and beyond. NPS is a numerical representation of how likely customers are to recommend a product to a friends or colleagues, and is calculated by subtracting the

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number of unhappy customers (those who rate a product a 60 or below) from happy customers (those who rate a product 90 or above). An NPS above 0 indicates that a company has more happy than unhappy customers, and an NPS above 50 is considered excellent.

But what does it mean to go “above and beyond?” Survey respondents who gave this label to their sales rep identified the following four characteristics: Communication: The rep had strong listening skills, sent the appropriate amount of correspondence, was

responsive to the prospect, and provided thorough explanations of the product.

Personalization: The rep provided personalized solutions and demonstrations.

Attitude: The rep was welcoming, interested, authentic, and candid.

Thoughtfulness: The rep attended the prospect’s company events, sent thank-you cards, and entertained stakeholders.

And reps who delight customers can tap into the benefits of the “champion cycle,” the process by which existing

NPS is a numerical representation of how likely customers are to recommend a product to a friends or colleagues, and is calculated by subtracting the number of unhappy customers (those who rate a product a 60 or below) from happy customers (those who rate a product 90 or above). An NPS above 0 indicates that a company has more happy than unhappy customers, and an NPS above 50 is considered excellent. customers’ referrals create even more leads and customers for a product or service provider.

“Once the work begins under the new contract, buyers who have experienced extra effort during the sales cycle are more engaged clients,” the study report explained. “They are also more likely to say they love working with the company, and more likely to be promoters of the company to others by spreading positive wordof-mouth.”

In an age where 78% of B2B buyers begin purchasing decisions by asking for network referrals and

76% of successful vendors were referred, according to the data, the importance of having customers who act as vendor spokespeople can’t be understated.

In addition, salespeople who go “above and beyond” tend to lead “high-value meetings,” according to the study, and the quality of meetings correlates with larger deals. Buyers who rated meetings with a “5” value spent $100,000 more on average per contract than buyers who rated meetings with a “4” value. Of the buyers who experienced high-value meetings, 70% became customers

and evangelists for their vendors’ products.

The reach of a sales meeting or engagement extends far beyond its implications for the current month or quarter. If sales reps build the right foundation, they can find themselves looking at multiple future referrals, and an ever-expanding network of customer advocates.

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Pedestrian Fatalities

Sharing The Road Respo U.S. Pedestrian Fatalities

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onsibly With Pedestrians Remain High Bob Crescenzo, Vice President, Lancer Insurance Company The number of pedestrians and bicyclist fatalities has been increasing since 2009. When considering the possibility of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries the number is even larger.

Pedestrians, as well as bicyclists, share space with motor vehicles on city streets, rural roadways, and, at times, on busy highways, and collisions can have serious consequences. As a professional driver, you should practice these safety tips to help decrease the likelihood of being involved in a pedestrian-vehicle collision: l Familiarize yourself with the local laws

concerning pedestrians and bicyclists in the areas where you will be driving before getting behind the wheel. Know your route and directions, and identify spots that may be problematic. Also check your mirror settings and clean your windshield for maximum visibility. l Keep your eyes moving as you drive to help spot pedestrians and bicyclists. Remember that trees, shrubs, signs, poles, buildings, snow banks and other vehicles may hide them from view, and poor weather conditions, lighting and vehicle blind spots can diminish your ability to see. l Consider driving conditions. Weather and road conditions will affect your stopping distance, which means it will take more time and distance to stop should a pedestrian suddenly step out or a bicyclist unexpectedly swerve into your path. So, always adjust your speed according to the weather. l Scan both sides of the street when approaching intersections and when turning – either right or left, and be prepared to come to a full stop.

Pedestrians and bicyclists, whether in front of you in crosswalks or in your blind spots, could present a conflict. Yield the right of way to pedestrians www.greenazine.com

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and bicyclists, and wait until they have crossed and are clear of your vehicle before you proceed. l Do not block crosswalks, whether marked or

unmarked‌being forced to go around your vehicle puts pedestrians and bicyclists in a dangerous situation. Avoid honking the horn or revving your engine when pedestrians and bicyclists are in front of your vehicle in a crosswalk.

l Do not overtake and pass any vehicle that is stopped at an intersection or crosswalk for pedestrians or bicyclists. When you stop for someone in a crosswalk, stop well back so that other drivers can also see the pedestrian or bicyclist as he or she is crossing the roadway. l Be patient with elderly and disabled people.

Seniors and those with physical disabilities may require more time to cross the street. l Be especially attentive to pedestrians using hand-

held devices. Distracted walking is on the rise and emergency room visits have soared in recent years due to pedestrians injured while walking with cell phones. When using such devices, pedestrians typically walk slower and are often less likely to look at traffic before crossing the road. There have even been claims involving distracted pedestrians walking and bicyclists riding into the sides and backs of vehicles.

l Remember that children commonly dart out into the street without looking and are the most difficult to see. Exercise caution when driving near schools, bus stops, parks, playgrounds and ice cream trucks.

Always expect children to be around stopped school buses, even if the red lights of the bus are not flashing as you approach. l Pay particular attention when driving on streets

lined with parked cars as people in those cars can quickly become pedestrians. Slow down and keep your eyes moving so that if the car door opens at the worst possible moment, you have a better chance of avoiding a collision.

l Take your time when pulling out of alleys and

driveways. Expect people to be walking on the sidewalk and bicyclists to be riding along the side of the road, and be prepared to stop.

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l Keep your guard up as you navigate in and

around special hazards such as toll booths, work zones, vehicle breakdowns, accidents, police activities and parking lots. These are definitely times for you to exercise courtesy to pedestrians.

l Be well rested and don’t let your guard down.

Avoid dangerous distractions that can put you and others at risk.

By following these tips, you can safely identify and help avoid potentially risky scenarios. And, as a general rule of thumb, yield the right of way to pedestrians and bicyclists whenever you’re behind the wheel.

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Branded Social Media

Branded Social Media Is The Mouth Phenomenon 30 www.greenazine.com

A study by Nielsen found that 84% of respondents cited family and friends’ word-of-mouth recommendations as the most trustworthy form of advertising.

Gaining this trust is a huge marketing victory as it builds brand loyalty and reliable brand advocates.

e Next Word-ofwww.greenazine.com

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When was the last time you took advice from friends or family? If you’re like me, chances are good that wordof-mouth recommendations influence the decisions you make every day.

I’m increasingly intrigued by word-of-mouth marketing’s (WOMM) relationship with social media. Social networks constantly connect users with hundreds of other consumers that they know and trust.

And, as smartphones continue to grow in size, social channels lend themselves even more to visual content that makes sharing so fun.

Despite these strengths, the American Marketing Association revealed that just 6% of marketers feel they can successfully combine social media with WOMM. Social media has become one of the most powerful drivers of WOMM, though, and all marketers will benefit from mastering it.

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Inherent Trustworthiness All WOMM follows a basic blueprint. A brand creates a campaign. That campaign generates buzz and, through cyclical sharing, that buzz goes viral. I think that this process works so well because it centers on trust.

A study by Nielsen found that 84% of respondents cited family and friends’ word-of-mouth recommendations as the most trustworthy form of advertising. Gaining this trust is a huge marketing victory as it builds brand loyalty and reliable brand advocates.

WOMM is hardly a new strategy, but its legacy actually makes trust more important for marketers.

No matter how WOMM changes, we as humans will always be predisposed to seek out and value peer recommendations. Social media has become an excellent medium for this. Across all social platforms, consumers are constantly engaged with thousands

of peers they have self-selected and inherently trust.

For marketers, trust equates to business success because consumers are more likely to be persuaded by consumer-shared posts than by the same recommendation from a brand.

Visual Nature We see users preferring visual platforms because they can consume visual content quickly and with minimal effort. This is particularly true on social platforms where consumers can scroll through the majority of content without having to click through or read anything. Social channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are among the market’s most popular platforms because they’ve keyed in on the power of

visual content.

Visual content is so popular that it gets up to 94%

more engagement than text. I think the real power for marketers is that visual content prompts consumers to share their recommendations instantaneously.

Once, peers could only persuade me in person. But now I’m influenced by their digital persona and daily social activity, too. And, because we’re inclined toward visual as consumers, social channels push us to share recommendations even when we don’t intend to. For example, even if I just want to highlight my lunch on Instagram, my post automatically becomes an advocate within my network of social contacts.

In simple ways — adding a branded logo to pictures, or creating a filter specific to a company event — brands can link themselves with these deliberate and visual consumer actions. Throughout the process, brands can gather even more consumer information through integrated lead capabilities, too.

Expansive Reach Social media also works well with WOMM because of its massive network of users. While many marketers have existing social media strategies, few successfully use their profiles to promote content. Branding can take this process one step further.

Social media operates along a one-to-many trajectory, where a single user’s content has the opportunity to reach many. Consider this — while Instagram says that its users post just 70 million photos per day, the channel records 2.5 billion likes daily. That means that each photo on average reaches 35 people. For marketers, I can’t think of a more powerful ratio to invest in. Brands can reach so many new consumers without investing a great deal of time or money. Their branded content does most of the work for them.

I believe that any brand can do this. By combining these three features, brands can link their campaigns more directly, more visually and more authentically with consumers. Inherent trustworthiness offers brands credibility. Visual content makes brand messaging easier to consume. Expansive reach lifts brands to unprecedented audiences. WOMM is incredibly powerful, and at stages simple branding efforts can amplify positive results across social channels.

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Support Strategies

Leveraging Resources and Ma Support Strategies for Women In 1814, Madame Barbe-Nicole ClicquotPonsardin shipped 10,000 bottles of Champagne from France to Russia in the midst of a continental trade embargo.

Imagine the challenges of conducting business in an era with no electronic communication and distances that took months to traverse.

Madame’s risk paid off; her wine was celebrated in St. Petersburg by the likes of Pushkin and Chekhov. Her success is still known to us today as Champagne Veuve Clicquot (veuve means widow in French).

Inheriting a small Champagne house from her husband in 1805 at the age of 27, the Veuve Clicquot built her business into one of the best-known Champagne brands in the world.

Maximize opportunity: Get certified Women in business were a rarity in Madame Clicquot’s era. She could have ceded responsibility or sold the business outright.

Instead she maximized the opportunity, leading the company to international success.

Today, legions of women own businesses.

According to an American Express analysis of Census Bureau figures, the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. rose by 68 percent between 1997 and 2014.

Part of the increase is due to the difficult job market since the recession, but women are also discovering opportunities for entrepreneurship and the resources to help them.

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The Office of Women’s Business Ownership, established by the U.S. Small Business Administration, helps promote the growth of women-owned businesses. Its services are tailored to the needs of individual communities through Women’s Business Centers.

“The SBA’s Women’s Business Centers offer women entrepreneurs throughout the country, especially those women who are economically or socially disadvantaged, comprehensive training and counseling on a vast array of topics,” reports Tiffani Clements, public affairs specialist with the Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. “That includes access to capital, marketing, federal contracting, international trade and manufacturing.”

Earning Women-Owned Small Business Certification (WOSB) provides access to federal contracts set aside specifically for this kind of enterprise. To qualify, the business must be at least 51 percent unconditionally and directly owned and controlled by female U.S. citizens who manage the day-to-day operations and hold the highest positions in the business. Many states offer similar programs that provide preferred access to state-level contracts for historically underutilized businesses, including those that are owned by women. Check with your state’s commerce department for more information.

Certification can be a valuable way to win good contracts for your business. But the process requires a lot of documentation,

aximizing Opportunities: n in Business

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which can be time-consuming to collect. That’s why the Office allows you to self-certify or use approved third-party services that do most of the work for you.

Leverage your resources: Grow networks and contacts No woman accomplishes anything in a vacuum.

Think of the contacts Madame Clicquot needed to get her wine to Russia. While you have a great idea to build a business around, you need to build your network, too.

“Almost any situation can be an opportunity to network,” says Lynn Burns, CEO at Burns & Partners Health Coach Agency in New York, NY. “I always tell people what I do and give them my card. If the conversation warrants it, I’ll commit to following up with them and then I do it — I’m amazed at how many people don’t follow up. It makes a huge difference to your business. Make an impression while you’re still fresh in their mind.” There is a myriad of ways to connect with other professionals: Internet. The Internet is a great place to get preliminary background information, read the latest articles, and participate in online communities. “The world is at your fingertips,” says Burns. “I Google everything all the time as a way of information gathering and finding resources.”

Join professional organizations. Memberships keep you in the loop with women in your field and connect you with others who are fielding or have solved whatever challenges you are experiencing.

Organizations like Ladies Who Launch, the National Association of Women Business Owners and the American Business Women’s Association are great resources in addition to industry-specific groups for women only.

Reconnect with former co-workers. Whether still in your line of work or in another field, reach out to these folks who have a whole new set of contacts you can tap.

Social media. Certain social channels may be more beneficial than others depending on your industry, but everyone benefits from LinkedIn. “It can really connect you with key people,” Burns says.

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Don’t Get Eaten by the Sandwich: Balance Work and Family A Pew Research Center study found 48 percent of adults aged 40 to 59 provided some financial support to at least one grown child, and 21 percent of adults in that range provided financial support to a parent aged 65 or older in the past year. Additionally, 38 percent said both their grown children and their parents rely on them for emotional support.

This is the reality of the sandwich generation, and it’s especially challenging for women. Research shows women do an hour more of chores daily than their male counterparts, and that they often handle more of the family care responsibilities.

Balancing family with business ownership can be daunting.

“Time management and organization are critical when running your own business,” says Burns.

Consider hiring someone to run errands weekly or addressing and mailing holiday cards. Strapped for cash? Seek out peers in a similar situation and offer to trade time and resources.

“I’ve coached and counseled many women with children at different times in their lives. Every situation is different, but you need support for both your business and family,” she says. “And you need a plan for how things would run if you needed to step back a bit.”

And don’t forget yourself! “Show up for yourself first,” says Burns, “The health coach in me says your own self-care is critical. If you don’t feel healthy and strong, you’re not going to be as effective.”

Leverage your resources, know your strengths and maximize available opportunities and you can build your own legacy, like a 21st-century Madame Clicquot.

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Web Traffic

6 Overlooked Ways to Va Your Ecommerce Site

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astly Boost Traffic to It doesn’t matter if you own a small shop on Etsy or a major ecommerce site, the fact remains that online traffic drive sales.

Discovering ways to increase traffic can be time consuming and really difficult. So I’ve devised six often overlooked ways to vastly increase traffic to your ecommerce site:

1. Create a value-driven blog As you know content has become the new form of search-engine marketing. It’s estimated that over 80 percent of companies employ some sort of content strategy but only 32 percent feel their strategies are effective. The truth is, content marketing is a tough animal to wrangle. To outsiders content seems simple: write a blog, post an image, create a meme and presto you’ve got a blog. It isn’t that easy.

Companies must create highly targeted and quality content to receive the results they desire.

One of the secrets to powerful content marketing is making your customer the hero.

For example, seek out your customers and get their stories.

Ask them why they choose your brand over others, what your brand means to them and how your brand makes them feel.

Imagine the meaningful content you could create while putting your customer center stage.

2. Produce and publish videos of your products I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to buy clothing online but refrained, because I had no idea what it would look like on me. Video is a powerful selling tool that provides the right information at the right time to consumers. Take 6pm. com for example. Almost all of their shoe products have a custom-made video showing off the item on a real person.

There are two ways to publish the video on your site. The first is to self-host the video on your site. Self-hosting is great for sites that want their sites to rank for the videos (remember to correctly optimize the video when uploading). The second way is to use a thirdparty service like YouTube or Vimeo. One of the nice things about using these platforms is the video is hosted on their servers and won’t affect your site’s page load time. A benefit of publishing on YouTube is the fact that it is the second largest search engine behind Google.

3. Buy misspells of your domain This is an often-overlooked strategy by most online businesses. Most companies focus on buying domain variations like .net or .org, but www.greenazine.com

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fail to buy misspells. Let’s take modest swimwear line LimeRicki for example. At the time of publication LimeRicki could buy: LimeRicci.com (available) LimeRiki.com ($6,425) LimeRikki.com ($1,250) LimRicki.com ($299) TheLimeRicki.com (available) LimeRici.com (available) LimeRicky.com These are just a few of the dozens of misspells for LimeRicki.com. If you own 50 misspell of your domain and each misspell averages 10 visits, you’ve essentially increased your traffic by 500 per month or 6,000 visits per year. It can add up really quickly depending on your per visit value.

4. Social-media campaigns with purpose Social campaigns are a no brainer but often poorly executed. If there’s one thing to understand it’s this: Social campaigns shouldn’t be used to drive leads but to drive brand awareness and engagement.

Social media is an opportunity for ecommerce brands to engage with their customers. To once again make their customers the hero. Don’t shy away from asking questions, being concerned, and genuinely caring about your fans. When your customers know you care about them, they’ll start to really care about you.

But besides engaging with customers, it can also affect your traffic volume. For instance, Google+ is tied into the Google search engine algorithm. Google looks for social signals when ranking websites and pages.

Building a robust community that actually engages with your posts will increase the likelihood of your blog posts or product pages ranking higher within the Google search engine. Thus driving more traffic.

This tool allows users to convert their Instagram photos into commerce. In other words Liketoknow.it’s technology gives users the ability to tag items in their photos that links to the item online where people can actually make purchases.

Users are incentivized to publish and tag photos, because they receive a portion of each sale made from their tagged photo.

If you own or run an ecommerce site I recommend either signing up for Liketoknow.it and publishing photos or reaching out to trendy bloggers and Instagrammers and incentivizing them to publish/ tag photos with your products in them. Oh and guess what? Liketoknow.it allows you to track which photo generates the most revenue and drives the most engagement. More analytics and data to make better decisions, yay!

6. Push users to leave reviews By now, most ecommerce sites and storefronts have the capability to receive user reviews; however, most sites are not effectively pursuing this strategy. Did you know that 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations? Each user review has an immense impact on the purchase decisions of your customers.

So how does this impact traffic? First off, user reviews are unique and relevant content. Second, user reviews keep your static pages fresh and search engines love pages that are constantly refreshed with new content.

Third, people who take the time to leave reviews are generally the people who take the time to share their experience with friends. User reviews give your product pages higher chances of ranking as well as more social engagement.

These tips are just a few ways to increase traffic to ecommerce sites. Continually audit your efforts and look for innovative ways to provide value to your customers.

5. Use tools and apps to promote your product There are new tools being released every single day that can benefit your online efforts. Here is one tool that I consider to be on the cutting edge of ecommerce sales: Liketoknow.it

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In regards to the Motorcoach Marketing program, we love it. So far, we have made the 1000 postcards, and we did some full page handouts. We just got a stand up banner.

When I get some time, I’ll be making new rack cards for both offices. We made 500 church theme postcards and 500 in the safety theme.

We sent out the church cards through a local mailing company to every church within 50 miles. So far, we have had a great response and 4-5 people booked trips from it. I plan on using the safety ones soon by sending them to our new customers. All of our staff and drivers love the modern design and the finished products. Only one of my staff has watched the videos so far, but we will be working on that next month. So far I’m very happy with the service. It works well and looks great!

Chris Knittel

Owner/General Manager New Mexico Texas Coaches, LLC

We Help Operators Sell More Charters To More People.

Easier. Faster. Far More Effective.

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Financial Forecasts

6 Ways to Make Financial Fore 42 www.greenazine.com

ecasts More Realistic

It’s a rare entrepreneur who enjoys working on financial forecasts.

Many feel like the time could be better spent on actually developing and running their business. Still, forecasts truly are a necessity. You need them to attract investors, but more importantly they help you develop long-term strategic plans.

Unless these forecasts are fairly accurate they aren’t helpful at all. Inaccurate forecasts can lead to upset investors, mismanaged expenses and, potentially, running out of cash. Here are a few tips to help you make your forecasts as accurate as possible.

1. Use multiple scenarios.

There is a strong temptation to be optimistic when forecasting growth. To counter this, many entrepreneurs end up using extremely conservative estimates.

In reality, neither is the only option you should forecast. You should devote your predictive energy to at least two scenarios, one optimistic and another cautious. This is especially true if there is uncertainty surrounding major factors that could impact your business, such as government regulations, new competition, or even overall economic growth.

It can be frustrating to use multiple forecasts. It clashes with the part of our brain that is hardwired to desire certainty and precision. Still, it helps you maintain flexibility in your strategic planning and create more realistic expectations for your investors.

2. Start with expenses.

In general, it’s much easier to predict your expenses than your

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revenues. Start building your forecast model by outlining your fixed expenses, things like rent, utilities and insurance. You can be almost certain these costs will occur in the coming quarter/year.

From there, think about the costs that could fluctuate directly with revenue. If revenues grow by 5 percent, you can probably expect your cost of sales to also grow by about 5 percent. There will be fluctuations in these expenses, but for the most part they should mirror revenue to a good degree.

Finally, project the expenses over which you have the most control.

This is one place where multiple forecasts can come in handy.

Identify which discretionary costs you might slash if business is rough, or where you will invest for future growth if you exceed expectations.

3. Identify your assumptions.

Any forecast requires you to make assumptions about things that are outside of your control. The best way to manage these assumptions and avoid subconscious bias is by explicitly identifying and writing them down.

The assumptions you should list include how much the market will grow or shrink, changes in the number of competitors and technological advancements that will impact your business.

4. Outline each step in your sales process.

Your revenue projections should go through the entire funnel of your sales channel rather than just guessing at a top-line number.

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You should create projections for each step of the sales funnel, and use that to arrive at the top line number.

As an example, the revenue projection for a pet supply store might involve the following steps: 1. Identify the total addressable market (i.e. number of pet owners) in the area.

2. Estimate what percentage of that market can be reached through marketing efforts.

3. Estimate what percentage of pet owners exposed to that marketing actually come into the store.

4. Estimate what percentage of people who come into the store will actually make a purchase.

5. Finally, estimate how much the people who do make a purchase will spend on average.

5. Find comparisons.

Assess the plausibility of your financial forecasts by comparing your projections to the results of comparable companies. For certain niche businesses, it can be hard to find data on comparable businesses, but at the very least you can compare your projections to your own operating history.

Look at certain key financial ratios such as gross margin, revenue per square foot (for retailers), and total headcount per customer. These ratios aren’t set in stone, but they can be very difficult to meaningfully change.

If your projections include one of these ratios improving by over 10 percent, you might be getting too optimistic. The same goes for

Unless these forecasts are fairly accurate they aren’t helpful at all.

Inaccurate forecasts can lead to upset investors, mismanaged expenses and, potentially, running out of cash. when your projections for these ratios are significantly superior to every single competitor in your industry.

6. Constantly reassess.

These forecasts should not be static. Don’t make one at the beginning of the year and then ignore it for the next 12 months.

Regularly evaluate how close your operating results mirror those forecasts, and make changes to reflect any new information. The more up to date your forecasts are, the better prepared you will be to make informed strategic decisions.

Also, you’ll become more skilled in the process over time and will correct mistakes in your methods. As you become adept at forecasting costs and revenues, you’ll be more confident about making future projections, even if not all business developments that occur are desirable.

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Branding

Branding 101 for Small Business Owners Every business needs a brand, of course, but not every small business owner is adept at creating one.

Fret not! We’ve outlined key small business branding elements to help you build or remake one for your endeavor.

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What Is a Brand?

“A brand is what distinguishes one company or product from another,” explains Juily Gite, a design consultant for Staples® Design Services. “It is a promise to the consumer, communicating to the

consumer what to expect when they buy from you; whether your brand is built on ‘fun’ or ‘easy to use,’ or ‘looking cool,’ it serves as a way to make the buying decision easier for a consumer faced with many choices.

“A brand is the sum total of many activities and communications that

communicate who you are, what you stand for and why you are different.”

What Are the Elements of a Brand?

Logo: Your company’s logo is the most visible and consistent representation of your business and your brand, because it can appear anywhere from your front door to your Web site to your business card.

Gite says it’s crucial to determine what your logo needs to communicate.

“This will drive the design elements used, including graphic types, color and typography.” Then consider how you will use your logo. “Design

is driven by usage. For example, if you’re printing the logo on the back of a package, you will want to make sure it reads well when reproduced on the packaging material and when small.”

Colors: Colors influence people’s

feelings and perceptions about your brand, so selecting the right hues is vital to branding your small business.

“What kind of business are you in and are there colors that associate well with what you do?” asks Andrew Coulter, senior marketing director for MushKush Integrated Marketing in Kaysville, UT. Consider the feelings you want people to have about your business, like trustworthy, exciting, relaxed, luxurious, etc. There’s a color for every emotion. Adds Jon Baker, CEO of FodderTech in Sandy, UT: “Our systems use water to produce green sprouts, so naturally we chose green and blue.”

Voice: Your voice is the “sound” of

your business, a tone that resonates with your customers. “It needs to be based on who you really are, what your service or product really delivers,” Gite explains. “It needs to be consistent. You can’t try to build your brand on being easy to work with, and then have a complicated, hard-to-navigate website with a 10-question-long ‘Contact Us’ form.”

Tagline:

If it’s important to communicate what’s unique and different about you, you may want to create a tagline or slogan that quickly communicates with words how you’re different. “You immediately know which paper towel is ‘The Quicker Picker Upper’ and which coffee is ‘Good to the Last Drop,” Gite says.

Messaging: Beyond a tagline, your

brand message is a theme or two that drives your “story” and informs how you communicate in brochures, web copy, sales training, etc. “We sell a

“A brand is what distinguishes one company or product from another,” explains Juily Gite, a design consultant product that is both the same and different from what our competitors sell, so we’ve spent time building a message of ‘We have what you’re looking for and here is how we’ve improved it,’” Baker explains.

Fonts: Typography reflects brand

personality and can become iconic — think Coca-Cola or Disney. The fonts used in print and online materials should complement your logo while remaining legible. “Choose a font that’s easy on the eyes,” Coulter suggests. “I like to stick with fairly basic fonts. I had a former customer who insisted everything be done in the Papyrus font, but people get tired quickly of too much use of a novelty font.”

Images: “The type and style of

imagery are also important for communicating who you are,” Gite adds. Whether you use illustrations or photography, and color or black & white, will affect how consumers think about your brand. Distinctive www.greenazine.com

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images can also be a key differentiator in small business branding. Think about how different an Apple photographic image is from the Android cartoon robot, for example.”

What Branding Mistakes Should I Avoid?

Working in a vacuum. Before you get too far along in developing your brand, get some feedback. “Reach out to friends and family who understand your business or product and the other options available in your market, and ask them if your brand communicates what they expect,” Gite suggests. “Use any informal research as a gut check, but don’t spend too much time or money on it.”

Doing it yourself. Some things really are better left to a professional. “We’re engineers, not designers,” Baker laughs. That’s why he looked for a design partner to help with the company’s branding who “understands and is willing to get inside our business a little bit to understand what we want to accomplish. Someone who can articulate to us the rationale behind the design elements they used. And of course, someone who is accessible.”

Neglecting your brand. Too many small businesses spend a lot on a logo, but neglect all the other elements that influence customer behavior. “Every business needs to be strategic and deliberate about defining what makes them different and why someone should buy from them. Otherwise, they won’t be successful,” Gite asserts.

Building and maintaining a strong brand is key to building a sustainable business. “You can’t sell without having a brand,” Gite concludes.

“Whether or not you put in the effort to create and manage your brand, your customers will have a perception of you — if you leave it up to them to decide on their own what your brand is and what you stand for, you’ll have no control over your brand promise.”

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New Bus Lease & Interchange Rule

How FMCSA’s New Bus Lease & Interchange Rule Affects You The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently issued a final rule concerning the lease and interchange of passengercarrying commercial motor vehicles.

According to the notice, FMCSA issued the rule “to prevent passenger carriers from evading FMCSA oversight and enforcement. It is intended to prevent carriers from entering into questionable lease arrangements to operate under the FMCSA authority of another carrier, without the other carrier exercising actual control over the operations.”

The rule is intended to put an end to the so-called “chameleon carriers” that have occasionally eluded FMCSA and other enforcement authorities, and it seeks to ensure that the identity of the carrier responsible for complying with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) is transparent.

This rule was initially proposed in 2013. ABA and other industry stakeholders filed comments with FMCSA, which the agency considered in finalizing the rule.

ABA’s Government Affairs and Policy team has reviewed the new rule. The key points you need to be aware of to make sure your company is in full compliance with the regulations

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are provided below. Petitions for reconsideration of the final rule, in the event individuals seek to challenge it, are due Friday, June 26, 2015.

If you have questions about the final rule or how it applies to your operations, contact ABA staff: Suzanne Te Beau Rohde Vice President of Government Affairs and Policy (202) 218-7224 srohde@buses.org Brandon Buchanan Director of Regulatory Affairs (202) 218-7227 bbuchanan@buses.org

Main Points The primary purpose of this rule is to identify which motor carrier entity is responsible for regulatory compliance with the FMCSRs when an exchange or interchange of vehicles occurs between carriers involved in passenger-carrying operations. This includes determination of who is responsible for insurance and who is operating the vehicle (including tort liability), regardless of the length of the arrangement.

This Rule’s date of compliance is January 1, 2017.

A written lease agreement and appropriate receipts need to be carried in the vehicle throughout the duration of the lease and retained for one year beyond the completion of the lease’s terms.

Vehicles exchanged or interchanged must be marked with lessee’s (operator’s) name and DOT number: e.g. owned by XXX and operated by YYY. Typical charters, where a single carrier interacts with a chartered customer with its own vehicles and drivers, are not impacted by this rule.

When a movement is subcontracted/ reassigned, or the contract is transferred (or farmed out) in whole to a second carrier, the transaction also does not fall under or trigger the requirements of the rule and is exempt.

Key Exemptions In the event of an emergency breakdown, where a replacement vehicle must be procured, the operating carrier and the lessor still must execute a written lease, but they have up to 48 hours after a transfer of possession to do so and to ensure a copy of the lease remains with the procured vehicle.

Vehicles in pooling or interchange arrangements must be marked with the name of the operating carrier, and the driver/vehicle must carry a list of all entities that are part of the pool, all routes operated by the pool, and all points of origin/destination/ interchange.

Commonly owned and controlled carriers (families of companies) do not need to possess individual receipts or lease agreements but must carry a summary document listing all members of the corporate family with the appropriate DOT numbers and contact details for each company.

The document must also include

trip-specific information such as operating carrier, trip identifier, VIN, and the trip’s date. This new document must be retained for one year after the completion of the trip.

Vehicles leased under financial lease agreements, from manufacturers or dealers, or financial institutions, are not subject to the rule unless the lessor is a motor carrier.

If a trip is subcontracted (or partially farmed out) to secure additional vehicles, the contracting carrier must notify the tour or travel group within 24 hours of establishing the subcontracting arrangement that a different carrier will also be providing the service, and the additional vehicles will need to be marked with the “owned by and leased by� convention.

Under a different rulemaking, FMCSA will address notification requirements related to carriers who have been placed out of service. They may be required to notify FMCSA before transferring control of their vehicles to other carriers.

For a full copy of the final rule, Click Here.

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