True Colors Jennings Technologies Online Publication :: Committed to your business success.

So I am gonna keep my post short and sweet this week. I want to address the issues of businesses losing existing clients and having trouble driving in new ones! Now I could talk or write forever and a day about all of the things I as a technology professional can do with digital marketing to help you improve your business, but I want to approach these topics from a different angle. And I am going to dare to say that there is plenty YOU can do on your own to improve the picture that is your business…here goes:

Kindness is Free

It can be easy to look at every business issue your clients have from a selfish place and think: “How can I help and how much do I charge?” As a business owner myself I understand this thinking and know that it is a natural and fine way to approach business. You want to help your clients solve their problems and you also want to see your business flourish; this is great, but there can be trouble if you don’t occasionally ask yourself: “What can I do for free to make my clients lives better?” I am not suggesting that you turn yourself upside down and lose your very important revenues; I am only suggesting that you at least ask yourself this question, because often times you will find that there is plenty you can do to improve your worth with clients and it can be free. Sending a simple “thank you” email every once in a while can help brighten your clients day and let them know you appreciate their business. Writing a blog like this and letting clients know what’s on your mind can give valuable insight into things and often the information and tips can be of value to someone; even if it’s one person. You can give your client two cherries on top of their ice cream sundae instead of one. You can chop an hour off of an invoice if you know you can afford it and your very loyal client could use the break. You can vacuum the floor of the car after you change the oil. You can offer up referrals to other businesses you trust if you know they can help your client save money and get trusted service in one area or another. You can offer a choice of paper or plastic. You can let them keep the pen. You can ask them how their day is going. You can update them on the status of a project. YOU can figure out something…

I appreciate my clients….very much! Thank you for being you.

-Justin

Posted under Uncategorized

I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Businesses in the US are hurting and the economy is experiencing a bad spell the likes of which we have not seen in a long time. So, the obvious question for business owners is “What can we do to recession proof our business?”. While this is a complicated question with no sure answer, there are definitely steps you can take to ensure survival during these tough times.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Most business owners are very familiar with the traditional steps needed to keep the revenue stream steady while driving more business through the door. There are very specific things that are done to advertise and establish a brand in the real world which include: creating printed materials like business cards and brochures, purchasing advertisement space on television, radio and billboards, and hiring staff to perform sales calls and setup sales meetings. These are very true and proven methods of marketing and that’s fine and dandy, but should you still be investing the same amounts in these things to keep your eggs in one basket? The answer is no.

In a world where digital technology and digital advertising is everywhere from your home computer to electronic coupons at the grocery store; the question you should be asking yourself is “How does my business stack up within the digital landscape?”. Digital marketing is a must for companies who expect to weather the growing financial storm.

Top Analysts Rank Search Engine Marketing in Top 3 out of 10 Ways to Generate High Quality Leads

It’s true; people would rather use a search engine when looking for goods and services. Not only are Internet based Ads and Websites a “greener” approach to marketing due to the lack of ink and paper that magazines and postcards require, but consumers of all types find it easier to shop and compare when using Internet Search Engines like Google and Yahoo. On top of this a Digital Marketing Strategy can save your business thousands of dollars. We all win.

Things you need to do to stay competitive:

1. Get an Attractive User-Friendly Website
2. Get Your Website Listed with Google (this is a necessity..compare the stocks of Google(GOOG) versus a top competitor like Yahoo(YHOO) http://www.nyse.com/)
3. Drive High Quality Leads to your Website through precisely targeted Pay Per Click Ads
4. Consider Blogs, Newsletters, and Email Marketing
5. Close your Sales and Stay Competitive!

Contact me at justin@jngstech.com for more information!

Or visit us on the web: http://www.jngstech.com

Posted under digital marketing

I have fielded many questions in the past few months by clients, prospects, and the business community in general about cutting costs in their business, specifically IT costs. As a business owner myself I fully understand this.  The one thing we must keep in mind is being careful not to cut muscle while in the process of trimming the fat. So how do we know what is fat versus muscle? 

The key is “The Line”  (thank you Kent Erickson! http://www.pointivity.com)

Draw a line on a piece of paper.  Now think of all of the systems, applications, etc you use in your business.  If it is strategic to your business write it above the line.  If not, put the item below the line. 

Once you identify what is below the line do everything you can to drive down costs and focus on efficiencies (within reason and without hurting your business!)  Typically items in this category include things such as IT support, hardware costs, routers, switches, etc.  While these items are essential to your business they are not strategic (more to come on this topic in a future post).

Once you identify the items that are above the line you know what is strategic to your business.  Continue to invest, improve, and expand on these items as they help fuel growth, value, and competitive advantage.  Items such as Digital Marketing, CRM Systems, Line of Business Applications, and Data Mining fall into this category. 

The final step is to reallocate funds that may be budgeted for items that are not strategic to your business.  By taking these funds and investing them into Digital Marketing, for instance, you should see a far greater return than if you had invested them elsewhere.  For more information feel free to post a comment or email me at stephen@jngstech.com. 

Posted under Save Money

In an ongoing four-part series, I investigate ways to save money using technology.  This week I will go over the process of streamlining business processes using technology to increase efficiency and keep costs down.

We often take technology for granted.  For example, email is a huge time saver.  If you were to consider the amount of time it would take either to call or visit each person you email in a day, you can start to appreciate how technology has made your life easier and more efficient.  Instead of having to catch up with an associate when they are available or when you have time, the email can be composed and responded to at any time.  Combine that with the super low cost - often free - of email, and you can see a technology that is already saving your company money.

Especially in “economic downturns” like we’re experiencing now, it is important for companies to immediately address their inefficiencies.  Sure, you may currently be using email, productivity suites like Microsoft Office, and Quickbooks to handle your accounting, but are you really leveraging technology to squeeze the most out of our business?  For example, does your business have large quanitites of paperwork?  Are people filling forms out by hand ?  A solution can be found or built that will take that information and catalog it so it can be efficiently input and retrieved at any time.  Hospitals, for instance, have saved a great amount of time, space, and resources by simply taking x-rays and moving them into a digital medium.

Bottom line, time is money.  The sooner you can streamline your processes, the sooner you can begin to save.   And with technology, the savings continue year after year.

If your ready to start saving with technology, please feel free to contact Jennings Technologies.  We have experience helping companies streamline process using both prebuilt and custom applications.

Posted under Save Money

In tough economic times every business owner is keeping their eyes and ears open in hopes of finding better and more efficient ways to conduct business and drive up revenues. One place that few businesses are cutting back on is marketing, and for good reason. A business needs effective and consistent marketing no matter what economic climate exists, just look around and you will notice very few have cut back marketing by dramatic and noticeable amounts. While it may not be smart to cut back or eliminate marketing, I think we can all agree that smarter, cheaper, greener and more efficient never hurt anybody! Digital Marketing is a great way to advertise, attract and retain new and existing clients, but what should you look for?

Here’s a few of my thoughts on that question:

• Metrics..does the Digital Marketing company you are looking into offer proof that your investment is paying off? There is little reason behind dumping your money into an investment that remains “virtual”. Make sure that you are seeing results on a regular basis, monthly reports should be a requirement. The proof is in the pudding!
• Flexibility..one of Digital Marketing’s great strengths lies in its flexibility. Traditional marketing relies heavily on consistency, and that’s a good thing, but you can’t fix a typo or color flaw on 5000 postcard mailers without some pain and money loss. Digital Marketing should give you the ability to change your strategy at the drop of a dime….without spending one! This brings me to my next point…
• Flat-Fee Pricing..Flat-Fee pricing is the way that smart businesses will price and pay for services now and into the future. Be secure, know what you’re getting for how much, you deserve it! Death to the hidden costs!

Consider these points a good place to start when looking to invest in Digital Marketing. Check back often for more thoughts!

Visit our website at www.jenningstechnologies.com.

Posted under digital marketing

While we have already covered the green benefits of digital marketing on this blog, it is also easier on your company’s bank account as well. In this blog, I will go over how digital marketing can save you money and offers additional benefits over traditional marketing.

So just how does Digital Marketing save you money? First, it takes away some of the costs that occur getting your message to your customer. Think of the cost of doing a direct mailer to your customer vs. an email. A direct mailer has both printing and shipping costs while an email is free. This makes the Digital Marketing scalable as well. If you decide to go larger with your campaign, you do not have to worry about getting more mailers printed up or budgeting for them; it’s the same cost for 1 as it is for 10,000.

There is also the efficiency of Digital Marketing. Whereas a storefront and sales force usually only work during business hours, about sixty hours a week, a digital campaign can be working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. A potential customer can go on your website any day or night and request additional information from your company. If you sell products online, you could even be making sales while you sleep, the traffic being driven to your site by a well-crafted online campaign.

With online advertising methods such as pay per click and digital banners, you really can control the audience you want to reach. You can target people searching for certain keywords in certain parts of the country during a specific timeframe during the day. This comes in really handy if you are trying to reach a niche market. But if you are going for a larger market and want to take your campaign nationwide, it’s the same cost to market to someone in Boston as it is Los Angeles.

Most importantly, Digital Marketing allows for every aspect of your digital campaign to be measured. You can track how many people click on your links in an email blast or what pay-per-click ads are converting into sales on your site. Your potential customer is tracked from first impression all the way until the sale or contact is made. And since digital media is easily altered, you can make changes based upon the collected metrics until your message and sales flow are perfected. Instead of having to get a brochure reprinted, you are simply rewriting some content in a digital document. Finally, when it’s time to justify the cost of your digital marketing campaign, you have a definite ROI based upon those solid metrics.

For more information on our Kinetic Digital Marketing and what it can do for your business, please feel free to check out http://www.jenningstechnologies.com/digitalmarketing.asp.

Posted under Save Money

So I was doing the dishes, yes us extraordinarily handsome web marketeers do occasionally partake in manual labor…hard to believe I know. Anyway I got to thinking about how cool I am for saving all of the little plastic containers that my takeout Chinese food comes in so I can reuse them for things like storing tuna fish for 3 weeks in the fridge..before my wife eventually throws out the tuna and re-washes the container. I was thinking about how I am doing a small thing to make this world a little more green, and while I am proud of my eco-friendly tendencies I can’t say that I am perfect, as no one is, but the little things add up. Enough rambling…read on.

I realized in my moment of Zen that by partaking in Digital forms of marketing, companies and individuals are actually doing a great deal to help the environment. Think about all of the paper you can save by moving your traditional postcard mailers to email blasts. Think about all of the non-renewable resources you are preserving when you choose to record a digital commercial and have it sent out to millions via the internet as opposed to traditional “tape” and broadcast methods. Yes my friends you can feel eco smart and business smart when you see your ROI shoot through the roof by using things like blogs, email, websites, flash presentations, webinars and more “renewable” forms of marketing to communicate your products! Traditional marketing is going to stick around for a while, but everyone can do their part by moving one or two methods to digital.

No more stuck in ink magazine ads! No more carved in stone billboard advertisements! No more money wasted on postcard mailers! VIVA The GREEN Revolution!

See more at: http://www.jenningstechnologies.com/digitalMarketing.asp

Posted under Green Revolution

There are two schools of thought when it comes to pricing projects regardless of the industry that you are in.  Time and Materials based pricing and Flat Fee pricing.  Jennings Technologies is a huge proponent of the Flat Fee structure so when I came across this information in an article by Alan Weiss yesterday I felt I had to share it.

Benefits of Flat Fee Project Pricing

1. There is a cap on your investment. You know exactly what is to be spent and there are no surprises.
2. There is never a “meter running.” You do not have to worry each time our help is requested that we might be here for an hour, a day, or a week.
3. It is unfair to place you in the position of making an investment decision every time you may need our help. Otherwise, you’re trying to determine the impossible: Is this an issue that justifies a $2,000 visit or a $500 phone call. No client should ever be in that position.
4. Your people should feel free to use our assistance and to ask for our help without feeling they have to go to someone for budgetary approval. This only makes them more resistant to sharing their views, and at best delays the flow of important information.
5. If we find additional work that was unanticipated but must be performed, we can do it without having to come to you for additional funds. In those instances, legitimate, additional work would otherwise be viewed as self aggrandizing and an attempt to generate additional hours or days.
6. If you find additional, related work that must be done, you can freely request it without worrying about increased costs.
7. The overall, set fee, in relation to the project outcomes to be delivered, is inevitably less of a proportional investment than hourly billing.
8. If conditions change in your organization, you won’t be in the difficult situation of having to request that the project be completed in less time. The quality approach is assured, since the fee is set and paid.
9. If we decide that additional resources are necessary, there is no cost to you and we can employ additional help as we see fit.
10. This is the most uncomplicated way to work together. There will never be a debate about what is billable time (e.g., travel, report writing) or what should be done on‐site or off‐site.

Posted under Save Money

Welcome to True Colors!

This is our first post and I am extremely excited and proud that we have launched this site as a way to communicate with other business owners on the topic of Information Technology.  This site is much more than a simple blog about technology.  It is an online publication dedicated to educating our clients, prospects, and fellow business owners alike.  You will notice there are several sections of this publication.  Topics range from Digital Marketing and Managed Services to Custom Application Development and Information Security.  Hopefully there’s valuable information you can use immediately to better your business.  If not, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll be happy to address your questions and issues.

Simple Philosophy

When it really comes down to it Jennings Technologies and True Colors are designed to do 3 things.  Help you use technology to Make Money, Save Money, and Reduce Risk.  That’s it!  You will notice the three different colored logos throughout the site.  The Green logo is dedicated to helping you make money.  The Orange logo is dedicated to helping you save money.  The Blue logo is dedicated to helping you reduce business risk.  This is why we call the publication True Colors. 

What You Can Expect

Each week we’ll cover topics that are important to your business and to discuss ways you can reach your business goals by using technology.  A different topic will be discussed for each of the three core areas (make money, save money, reduce risk). Feel free to use your favorite RSS reader to obtain instant updates! 

Plea for Help

So this is the time where I beg for your help.  As this is a new publication we really need your help to let us know if we are on the right track.  Please leave honest comments to let us know your thoughts on the topics discussed and your impression of the site.  We are here to serve you and your feedback is invaluable to us! 

About Stephen Jennings

Stephen Jennings is the President and CEO of Jennings Technologies located in Medford, NJ.  Jennings Technologies was founded in the summer of 2004 when Stephen left his full time position as the Director of Information Security with Applied Card Systems and started providing independent consulting services to mid market and Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States.  Read More…

Posted under First Post