After you get the idea for the business fully formulated, you will need to start reaching out to others who may be able to get your company’s plans off the ground. You will seek investors if you do not have enough money to pay for your venture and not enough experience to qualify for a loan of any kind. When you come to the investors or the loan agency if that is the case, you will establish a working relationship that will hopefully be in place for many years. No one comes to the business world thinking they only want to work a year or two and then fold. They want to be successful for a very long time, until they chose to retire or sell the company and live out the rest of their lives. This is relationship capital. Anyone you will have contact with more than a few times will have a working relationship with you- and you must nurture and grow it just like you would any other relationship in the world.

Human capital is established every time that you speak to or deal with someone that you may never have called to deal with again. A customer who is calling to complain about a product wants more than to just vent; they want to know that they have valid concerns and that these concerns matter to the company from the ground up. They want to know that someone is listening to them and that their disappointments are not going to be overlooked. They want to know that someone is going to be looking out for them, and that someone is going to make it right.

Of the three, human capital may take the slight edge of importance. After all, it does not matter how great your business idea is if you cannot get anyone to listen to your thoughts because they cannot deal with your personality. You cannot build a relationship if you do not have good human contact skills. All of the mental capital in the world will not do anything to increase your business capital if you do not have the basic human skills to back it up.

When a customer expresses interest in your product or service, they are expressing interest in your company and by default, in you. In the world of internet marketing there may be times where a million transactions can be carried out without a single human connection being made. On the other hand, there may be days where the technology itself is faulty and you will field hundreds, thousands or millions of calls from bewildered consumers. By providing excellent service at this point, you are adding value to the product that the customers are interested in, an inherent quality that perhaps no one else offers as well. How many times have you been forced to choose between two similar products with comparable prices: what is the deciding factor in your final choice? The human quality may be what edges out the others- even if it means spending an extra few bucks. Remember: most people are willing to spend a little more to be treated specially.

The bottom line to selling is creating a need for consumers. You need them to need your products and services. You need them to want to come back time and time again. Just having a great product at a reasonable price is not enough in the super competitive market places today. The edge is going to come down to the old-fashioned personal touch, even in the global, computerized world of today.

Once you have created a driving need for the products, you start to add value to your customers by treating them with a little extra care- what does it cost you to say Good Morning to a caller, even if you know the caller is going to complain? It does not cost a dime, but what does it give you in return? Perhaps a customer who was calling to complain because they were unhappy about a small detail walks away with their complaint resolved, product and discount in hand and still a loyal customer. You have saved a sale, practically ensured another sale as well and you invested nothing more than a bit of time, a cheerful greeting and a discounted amount on a product. (Your marketing budgeting should be flexible enough to take these types of transactions into account anyway). In essence, you have spent nothing at all.

The human quality in business is often lacking, especially when all marketing, sales and other transactions are handled online. Even a cheery email to say thank you for a past sale that invites the customer to a future sales event is more than just a good idea, it is imperative.

For other people, the musical industry can be broken down in to genres, which can then be broken down further into sub genres. The sub genres can then be even further broken down to the point where only one aspect of the industry is being focused on; the niche.

Finding a niche is like doing a mathematical equation without numbers: you keep subtracting facts and descriptions until you get down to the lowest common denominator for that market- the niche in other words. When you are doing niche marketing, you are exploiting the needs for that particular part of an industry- that small segment of the targeted audience who may have a specific and very definable need.

Keeping with the musical industry theme, we focus on this genre of the musical industry: the marching band. For each section of instrument types, there is a sub genre: the brass, the woodwinds and the percussion sections. Taking the brass section sub genre then, we can break that down into the niches: trumpet, French horn, tuba and trombone. Of those four niches, there are some similar needs that can be addressed, but each will have specific needs that have to be focused on as well. Niche marketing would address those specific needs for each of the four niches found within this sub genre.

The music that is written for a trombonist for instance, is different from that of a French horn. You could never fit a tuba into a trumpet case, and if you did, that thing is never coming back out of there, and you owe someone a tuba. There is never a trumpeter that will need a comfort strap to play his instrument. All of these separate aspects of the same basic family have different needs that must be met. Have defined your targeted audience? Have you defined your niche? Now its time to find the best ways to market your product or service to that audience.

For example, the product is music lessons. You could offer the generic “music lessons” but then would find that you are being flooded by calls for oboe or electric guitar. The problem is simple- you do not know how to play neither the oboe nor the electric guitar. By clearing defining the niche that you are marketing to, you save yourself needless expense on ads that will greet the wrong people and you save your customers time by spelling out exactly what you can offer to them.

The more defined or specialized a niche, the higher the demand and the lower the supply meaning that you will be able to garner top dollars for a need that is not being fulfilled. The wider your appeal, the more likely you are to have competition and therefore have to keep your prices low to remain comparable and fair.

Define your targeted market and you can rule that particular niche. Find the lowest common denominator that will satisfy enough need to be a valid pursuit and keep enough customers to be financially worthwhile and you will be struggling to keep up with the demand in no time.

Regardless of what product you are selling, what service you are marketing, you are going to be selling to relationships. You may never see a single customer’s face and you may never even hear their voices. You may only do your business online over the computer. Who exactly do you think is placing the order at the other end? You don’t think that the computer has developed independent thinking and needs, do you?

Building relationship capital should be the easiest aspect of your business venture. It should be far easier to treat everyone with dignity and respect than it would be to get venture capital from reluctant investors, but still somehow this is the sticking point. Imagine for a moment, a business person; Susan. Susan has given a really stellar presentation on what she predicts will be a million dollar seller in its first year. The investors are impressed by the presentation and give her the venture capital to go forth with the idea. It is a good product after all, the need is there and the market is wide open for exploring. But, each of the investors has a reservation, not about the product, but about Susan herself. She seems cold, unemotional and disconnected somehow. After the presentation was over, the others all agreed to go out for a meal to celebrate. Susan simply packed her charts and graphs and left.

A month goes by and the numbers for this new product are lousy. The investors are concerned so they do some investigating. What they find is that Susan cannot keep employees because she is robotic at best- and impossible to deal with when she is frustrated. Because Susan’s employees have such a high turnover rate in nearly every department, there are poorly trained and working positions that are not right for them. Desperate for help, Susan has taken to just hiring whoever shows up without an interview.  No one who is worth having will stay in this horribly mismanaged company.

Customers are frustrated because the untrained staff lose calls, or worse do not answer them. Orders are being cancelled, products are being returned. The company that Susan is running is losing money hand over fist. The investors call an emergency meeting and discuss their options. Susan is brought in and given the facts. Reluctantly, she agrees to step down and give the day to day operations over to her second in command, Lisa. Lisa does not have a high degree from a fancy college like Susan does. What she does have is relationship capital. She is likeable and funny, but hardworking and dedicated. Within a month, most of the open positions are filled with qualified, competent workers. In two months, the flow of orders and sales is at the level of its estimated potential. The workers are well trained and happy. They are more than willing to give good customer service. Lisa keeps things running with good business sense and the intangible business assets that they do not teach in any MBA program in the world. Sometimes in business, just as in life, either you’ve got it, or you don’t. Nurture and cultivate your relationships and your business will flourish.

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This world is filled with opportunities for those that understand the vast importance of developing brand equity. Regardless of the current economic conditions, you have every right to choose what you want to dedicate your time and effort to – and enjoy your life instead of being miserable.  If you care about creating success, then you have to do more than simply listen to your community.  If you want to effectively brand yourself and your business, then you have to actually care about each member of your communities.  Everybody listens, but very few people take action.  You actually need to spend time answering emails, addressing questions and showing that you care in every way that you can think of.

Social networking is shaping the way that all businesses grow now!

Take a minute to look at yourself in your mirror and ask yourself exactly what it is that you want to do every day for the rest of your life.  Ask yourself what you really care about.  Face the facts and learn to discern what will make you happy in this life – as opposed to what will continue to make you unhappy.  And then do that!  If something appeals to you to the degree that you can actually see doing it every day for the rest of your life, then you definitely can make money at it.

You can monetize any idea that you’re passionate about – and that you are willing to be patient with.  Even if the mainstream population has no interest in what you’re promoting, the non-mainstream population will eat it up.  You are building a business!  You need to develop brand equity.  You need to hustle.  You need to give every bit of energy that you have.  You need to stay up late and rise early.  You need to give up nights of partying for nights of work.  You need to rise above your competition by doing what they will not.

Monetize your ideas with patience and persistence!

You must have a business model.  Remember that the legacy that you’re creating is of the utmost importance.  In this age of electronic informational transference, nothing will ever be forgotten.  Anything and everything that you do online will be available for every single person to see for the rest of eternity.  Pay attention to what you are doing.  Add quality to everything that you do.  From each word that you write, to each picture that you present, to each product that you promote – keep your mind focused on quality.  Keep your mind focused on building brand equity.

If there is even one second that you do not fully believe in your personal brand – in what you are promoting – then you need to get out of it and do something else immediately.  You need to understand that you are engaged in business – not a game.  And, you need to understand that the realm of business is changing dramatically and quickly.  Traditional vehicles for informational transference such as television, radio and newspapers are no longer in control.  You need to take advantage of that fact and begin to develop brand equity today.  Set your own rules.  Create your own playing field.  Be a leader.

Learn more today about the amazing power of social networking and about how it can affect your personal branding efforts.  Creating success is more distinctly possible than ever before.  Face the future boldly.  Shape your life and recognize your goals as only you can!