Articles & Reports

Column by Janine Popick, Inc.com "Girl Power Female CEOs" November 29, 2011

I treat Facebook and Twitter pretty differently – I use Twitter (@janinepopick) for business and Facebook for both. I am somewhat selective when it comes to whom I accept as a Facebook friend. But with Twitter, I think the more followers, the better. If you follow me on Twitter, I pretty much set the scene for what I'll be posting.

I allow my employees to friend me on Facebook if they'd like. I don't get too crazy on Facebook, but you might find more personal posts from me from time to time. I post for business there, as well.

And I won't say that I'm 'Big Brother,' but if people who friend me post, I see it in my newsfeeds and in my Twitter stream. It can be a great way to get to know your employees (to the extent they let you) and find out a bit more about their lives outside the company, which can be a positive.

Of course, you might also uncover how they are feeling about their jobs and your company; positive or negative, it's still good for you to know. Hopefully they're all positive, but there's always a possibility that you'll come across a post or tweet that may put your business in a bad light.

If you do find that you're bothered by an employee's negative post, and he or she is defaming your company, talk with him or her and ask how you can work together to make it better. Show that you're open to discussion. You may have just opened up a door that the person was afraid to. Look at it in a positive light; that post may lead to changes that will make your company a better place.

Do you let your employees follow you on Facebook or Twitter? Where do you draw the line? I'd love to hear how it's working for you!

Column by Janine Popick, Inc.com "Girl Power Female CEOs" November 14, 2011

My email marketing company, VerticalResponse, is growing steadily. We're lucky; we've got great customers and great employees. Serving non-profits and small businesses gives us a charge, especially since we know we're helping them survive and grow.

We've been around for 10 years, seven of them in the same building (which I loved). But as a result of our growth, we ended up on two different floors. Divided. It's tough to keep a culture together when a company is split in two. We tried group lunches, but it's hard to get 90 people together at once when space is limited. We also have an offsite company-wide event every quarter and have a great time. But, it still isn't enough on a day-to-day basis.

Recently we moved to a new office so we could have the next few years all together on one floor. I'm a realist; if our company continues to thrive, we'll be there again, for great reasons, the same reasons that split us before.

Through the move, I find it amazing how much little things matter. For example:

• We always had a VerticalResponse sign on our front door in the old space, but in this new space we put up a company sign right when you get out of the elevator, and another pretty large one when you arrive in the reception area. I can't tell you the number of times my staff has told me how cool the sign was. They're proud of where they spend their days, so when they come in, it's great to see the name of the company lit up!
• We had two kitchenettes in our previous space, one on each floor. Both were pretty small. The new office has a vastly larger and improved kitchen with plenty of space for people to hang out and get their coffee. Lots of great conversations about the business take place in there that may otherwise never happen if everyone has to elbow their way to the fridge.
• We purposefully didn't "cube" the entire office so we could have some open space where people can meet, eat their lunches and chat. Remember, we had different groups of people on separate floors, some who had never met! I went to IKEA and got some great-looking tables and chairs, a few couches and some fun bean bag chairs. The bean bags get used like crazy!

You don't have to move to a new office to make it a fun place to work, but having things around the office or in your place of business that your staff can be proud of works wonders for morale!

Column by Janine Popick, Inc.com "Girl Power Female CEOs" October 31, 2011

You go into a dressing room with 10 pairs of jeans to try on, even though you just need one. You take off the ones you're wearing – your beloved pair that fits so well. You try all 10 pairs and luckily one of them fits as well, if not better, than the pair you thought you could never replace. You feel that after pulling on all those jeans, you know what works for you. You have a winner.

It's the same in business. You should be constantly trying new things in all parts of your business to get better results and, in the long run, grow. Here are a few ideas you might try to test:

• Messaging - Test messaging on your search engine marketing campaigns. "Free Trial" might work better than "Try it Free!" We've even used search engine marketing to test pricing for a new product. Another idea is to split your email marketing list and test subject lines in your campaigns to see which one has the better open and click rates. Finally, include separate opt-in forms all over your website to see which page works best for getting newsletter sign-ups.
• Sales - If you have a retail store and you've got a window display, test which ones bring in more people on a week-to-week basis. If you've got a daily sandwich board, test your messaging on a day-to-day basis. If your company takes a lot of phone calls, end it with a "would you like fries with that?" type of messaging and change it up to see which ones pull the best.
• Shipping - Test new shipping companies for your products. Split shipping down the middle and see which one gets the packages to your customers in a more timely and efficient way, UPS or FedEx? You might find you have happier customers with one versus the other.
• Website - There are plenty of tools that let you test your home page to see how many more people are converting. My company, VerticalResponse, uses Visual Website Optimizer to handle this.
• Social Media - Test offers on Twitter and Facebook to see which brings more visitors to your website or traffic to your location.
• Events - Try hosting an event and see if that draws new customers or drives existing customers to talk about you.

Throwing a bunch of new ideas against the wall to see if they stick is more important than ever if you want to grow your business. And doing it often is important, so that you're not stagnant. So, what are you testing today?

Column by Janine Popick, Inc.com "Girl Power Female CEOs" October 17, 2011

My e-mail marketing company, VerticalResponse, recently partnered with Startup Weekend, an amazing event where entrepreneurs get a little over two days to come up with an idea, pitch it to a crowd and work on one of about 20 ideas selected by their peers. Participants choose whether or not they want to participate on any of the 20 teams and they start to solidify the idea of a product. Most of the products are technology based and many are online solutions for businesses or consumers. At the end of the weekend, the teams present their new products to three judges, who select an event winner.

I was lucky enough to be on the judging panel for the Startup Weekend here in Palo Alto, Calif., where about 150 designers, developers and marketers participated. It was an amazing experience.

I got to the event on a Sunday evening for the judging and Go Go Mongo creator Ahmed Siddiqui, who was running the event, greeted me. He wanted to know if I could meet with the women across all of the teams for a quick sit-down so they could ask me questions about being a woman in tech. I had no idea what I was in for, but about a dozen women soon gathered around me, all very sharp.

Two very pertinent questions that were asked: How can I find a technical partner since I'm more on the product marketing side? Good question. I had a great idea with VerticalResponse, but I don't have a technical background so I can really relate! I was lucky in that I knew two tech folks whom I trusted and that I could rely upon. So, in taking that approach, I simply said that we have to reach out to our networks. We must have conversations with people we trust, and we have to reach out on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to pose the question to your friends and followers to further the reach. Finding someone you've got a link to could be a great way to start a business relationship. What were your biggest hurdles being a woman in tech? My answer? Frankly, our level of confidence. Going into a VC meeting to ask for money? A guy can sound really confident about how he's going to get from zero to 60 in four seconds, more so than a woman. It's just a fact. We need to trust our gut and be confident in our decisions right from the start.

So, if you are a woman in tech, check out a Startup Weekend near you – they have events all around the world – to meet some incredibly fun, creative and likeminded people. Also, make sure to reach out to your social networks. You never know who in those networks might just be the technical ticket to your startup extravaganza!