In today’s video I talk about the recent trend in pricing models – “Name your price” or “Pay what you wish” strategy. This kind of pricing model is not suitable for all businesses but for the ones it does work, it would be quite a unique and innovative way of gaining customers and making a difference. The strategy comes with both pros and cons.

In today’s video I talk about the powerful concept of remarketing and how you can use this to handle customer bounce on your ecommerce website. When you visit a website and look at products and then leave the website with out purchasing anything, Google remembers this via cookies and then serves ads on subsequent websites that are related to the website that you left with out making a purchase and in some cases, even the very same product you were looking at. This can be quite powerful but as with any kind of marketing strategy comes with some risks which I explore in this video.

In many ways, the marketing world has been turned upside down. The ‘big’ marketing media such as television and publications are now secondary to blogs, social media, and other free means of gaining exposure. This gives small businesses an unprecedented advantage in the corporate world. You can turn your business into a success simply by getting people talking.

However, gaining this positive buzz often proves easier said than done. By the time you master a new strategy, it has already been replaced by newer, more effective methods. Here are a few guerilla marketing strategies that are hot right now and will likely be for the 2012.

Creative contests. There was a time when contests were relatively simple; you could have people drop their business card into a fishbowl and hold a weekly drawing, or some similar tactic. On the other hand, who wants to talk about that? Guerilla marketing is based on word-of-mouth, so design your contests to be both interesting and relevant.

Here’s a good example: a professional organizing company in Chicago, Hire Order, recently held a contest for the messiest desk. People sent in photos for the chance to win free services from the company. This provided three different kinds of positive buzz and exposure for the company. First, interested parties and the media paid attention quickly due to the uniqueness of the contest. It doesn’t hurt that the likely entrants were also prime potential customers. Second, there was more positive PR when the winner was announced. America is a country of voyeurs, and who doesn’t want to see what the messiest desk in the country looks like? Last, the company could use the end result as a case study to show potential customers what they do. And all it cost was a couple hours of time.

Instant expert Customers are more likely to buy from people they perceive as experts in the field. You can create an expert persona in a variety of ways, depending on your personal talents. If you are a charismatic person, you could volunteer to speak at an event, present an award, or otherwise place yourself in the public eye. This creates instant credibility, especially if you offer interesting information rather than a dry sales presentation.

If you are reluctant to get up in front of a crowd, there are still opportunities for building your star power. Try to participate in panel discussions regarding important issues in your community or even to sponsor a local team or event. Some people are good writers; if this is the case, you should begin submitting articles related to your business to both internet and local sources. Include links to these sources on your website and in your social networking pages. It is actually relatively easy to get published, but it still gives you the aura of an expert. Again, molding yourself into an expert costs only a few hours of time, but it can get your name out there and present your business as one of the best in its field.

With so many low-energy and low-cost ways of promoting your small business brand on the internet, many people assume that they don’t need to promote their brand ‘in person’. While internet branding and marketing venues such as social networking are certainly important, live events can also be valuable in building your corporate image. Whether you choose to be a sponsor of a live event or set up a booth at a local convention or show, live events can help make that personal connection that is so important to your customers. Here are a few of the advantages of live event marketing:

1. Live event marketing allows you to get to know your consumer base. It is easy to lose touch with your customers when they are merely numbers in an analytics report or faces you see only in business contexts. However, getting to know your market a little more intimately will help you to lead your business in directions that are more customer-oriented.
2. Live event marketing allows your customers to get to know you. Have you ever bought cookies from a Girl Scout? Sure, they’re a little over-priced, but the salespeople are undeniably customer-friendly. You are probably even more likely to buy the cookies if it is a niece or a friend’s daughter selling them. While you can never match the cute factor of a little girl, you can bet that your customers will be more likely to buy from you if they have met the people behind your business.
3. Live event marketing builds buzz. In a consumer survey by Jack Morton, eight out of ten people said that they tell others after participating in an ‘experiential marketing event’—that is, a live event that allows them to see, sample, or otherwise interact with products. People remember and discuss real life experiences. If you have a great product but just cannot seem to generate that all-important word-of-mouth advertising, this may be the missing link.
4. Live event marketing promotes brand recognition. What do you remember most: things you read about, or things you actually do? Allowing customers to interact in-person with your small business brand will make it more memorable to them because they have an experience (hopefully a positive one!) to associate with your name and logo design. Live events set you apart from every other name in the industry and plant the seeds of brand loyalty.
5. Live event marketing allows customers to get to know your products. If you are having trouble generating sales, the problem might not be your products. It might just be that customers don’t know enough about them to really want to buy. If you set up a booth at an event and allow customers to interact with your products, they just might decide that they need them. This is the concept that makes all of those home party sales work so well. When consumers actually put their hands on a product and experience how it works, they can then picture how it would benefit them in their day-to-day lives.

A little while ago, I made a video called How to fire your non-ideal customers. Today I talk about the ideal customers and where and how you can find them. There is not point in getting access to 1000s of site visitors when your conversion of the right kind of customer is not good. In fact, finding the right kind of customer ensures you keep your sanity and run a profitable business in the long run.

Move over traditional advertisement; alternative marketing is the wave of the small business future. Cross promotion is one of those alternative marketing methods. It allows you to cut your time and money invested in advertising in half while wooing a market that you otherwise might never have reached.

Cross promotion doesn’t have to be as difficult as it sounds. It basically is marketing your business together with other small businesses. These don’t have to be competitors (in fact they should not be), but rather different businesses with the same market that you serve. Not only is cross promotion generally cheaper than traditional marketing, it can be more effective as well. You gain credibility and a sense of presence by linking your business to others in the community. Here are a few ideas for cross-promoting your business brand with others in your community.

• Trade sign space at your establishments, giving partners and yourself a free advertisement space.
• Create a flyer or postcard with advertisements for both businesses, then send it to both of your mailing lists.
• Make an agreement to mention each other when you deal with customers or the general public.
• Offer a special coupon that can only be offered to customers of the partner store. These can be distributed by placing them in a basket or a Lucite box at both establishments.
• Offer freebies or samples at the partner store (if your product allows this).
• Sponsor a local team or event together.
• Get together regularly to compare notes and talk about what has worked for you and what hasn’t, not just in the cross promotion but in other areas of business.
• Offer special sales events involving both businesses.
• Link to each other’s websites and social marketing pages.

Cross promotions are not free, but in many cases they will cost you half of the price of doing a promotion yourself because you have a partner to split the cost with. However, it is crucial that you choose the right partner. Here are a few tips for choosing a promotional partner in your community.

• Choose someone who is not a direct competitor, but rather is offering a very different product to the same group of customers.
• Look for businesses that offer related products (a local spa and a local health club go together beautifully for example, as do a shoe store and a clothing store).
• Approach the business owner or manager in person or in writing during a slow time.
• Put your agreement in writing so both parties feel that their interests are protected.
• Choose a business that is as successful (or more successful) than yours.
• Make sure your brands, including visual identities and logo designs, don’t ‘clash’.

Cross promotions are not just a potentially lucrative and more authentic feeling marketing style, but a huge opportunity to reach out to untapped members of your target audience. If a business offers great service and a needed product, a customer will be very likely to take their recommendations for other local businesses.

Shopping is a major part of the typical American mother’s life. Although we joke about women’s love of shopping, most of it is very necessary. They are responsible for procuring all of the food, clothing, cleaning supplies and other necessities of daily life in almost all households. The fact that moms shop is not changing, but the economy has certainly changed the way that they select and complete purchases. Today you are going to meet a customer who is very likely a part of your target consumer base: the new frugal mom.

Many consultancies are looking at the behavior of the new, frugal mom with good reason. When the economic crisis hit, many businesses found that their products were no longer selling. Old marketing strategies and old ways of approaching the market were suddenly not effective. The numbers show that people are still spending money, but many entrepreneurs are having trouble keeping their piece of the pie. Here are a few facts about the modern mom’s shopping habits.

1. She is still shopping. Although many people cut back when the recession hit like a ton of bricks, consumer spending has rebounded, especially among moms. You can only go so long without buying your children shoes or replacing a worn-out sofa. The new frugal mom is shopping once again, but she is buying in different ways and with different motivations.
2. She holds the purse strings. Women are currently in control of most discretionary funds in the nation, and mothers of households are a huge subgroup. Moms are making the decisions for their families, including their partners, so your messages should be as female-centric as possible if you are selling a product or service that is used by any member of a nuclear family.
3. She is reluctant to spend. The recession is the Great Depression of our times. It has left an indelible mark on the public psyche. Even in families that were not devastated by the recession, the mothers are aware that money is a limited resource in a way that they were not aware ten years ago. Although the new mom is still spending, she is giving more thought to her purchases and looking for value more than ever.
4. She is less brand loyal than ever. A recent study found that only a little more than a third of moms are still staying with the same brands. The recession created a survival mentality, in which many people simply went with the cheapest options regardless of personal brand preferences. This was an eye-opening experience for many women, who discovered that their favorite brands were not as superior as they had always assumed. Many of us tried a generic cleaning spray or a lower priced laundry detergent and were satisfied with the results. This has led to general questioning of brand loyalties. This, of course, is a huge opportunity for the many entrepreneurs out there who no longer have to break through a wall of brand loyalty in order to build a consumer base.
5. She is blind to traditional marketing. The only way to live without spending in the modern world is to develop mental blinders, to simply stop noticing or stop responding to marketing. This is what many people did several years ago. This means that you must reach them in new ways. Special deals, coupons, social media—those are the more effective ways of reaching the new frugal mom. Right now, peer-to-peer advertising is on the rise. If you can win over a few moms and get them to tell their friends about your product, you are set up for success.
6. She still wants quality where it counts. There were certain areas in which brand name consumption did not change. One of these was baby formula. People are willing to skimp in some areas, but not when it comes to their children’s health and well-being. Even in the worst economic situation, the mothers still will consistently spend on their children if they think the expense gives them an advantage. This is a powerful insight for entrepreneurs offering products for children; the new frugal mom still wants her children to eat, wear and play with the very best.
7. She has different values. Remember those old laundry detergent commercials promising whiter whites with no ‘ring around the collar’? The new mom could not care less whether her kindergartener has the whitest underpants on the playground. She cares about whether the detergent is safe, whether it will irritate her child’s sensitive skin, whether it will hurt the environment, and whether the packaging will fit neatly in her cupboard. The same story has occurred in almost every industry. The new frugal mom simply does not care about the same things as her own mother, or even her older sister. Get to know what she wants from your industry, and offer it.
8. She is incentive-oriented. The main incentive right now is saving money—getting the same quality for a lower price. Coupon usage has gone way up in the past few years for this reason. If you can offer a coupon or other special offer, the new frugal mom will be even more likely to choose your company. This is even more effective than simply offering a lower price, because the shopper sees herself as getting a high priced item for a bargain price. Suddenly it’s a bargain, not a compromise. Almost eighty percent of mom shoppers report that they will try a new service or product if they have a coupon for it.
9. She is developing new brand loyalties. That mom who just became a customer because of a coupon? She may have scrapped old brand loyalties, but she is busily building new ones. If you offer a great product and superior service, she may become a loyal customer. Don’t assume that those coupon-bearing customers are perpetual deal-seekers that won’t be back; in many cases, they are simply a new frugal mom who is open to trying a new brand if the price is right.

Although you don’t really notice it, local marketing is all around you. Every time you open a telephone directory, turn on the radio or even go to your kid’s football game, local marketing is there. If you are like most people, you really don’t notice it. This is because local marketing tends to be really, really bad. Those little guys have all these advantages over larger corporations, but they just don’t know how to take them. If you are one of these little guys, avoid making the following mistakes.

Top 5 Local Marketing Mistakes Video

#1 Not putting your stats in marketing. 

All marketing for a local business should include your address, phone number and website. If you are near a well-known landmark, point that out. Otherwise, people who encounter your marketing will not know how to make that next step. Sure, they could always look you up. But they won’t. You can count on that. While you are at it, make sure this information is easy to find on your website and also through locally-focused websites like Yelp. By ‘easy to find’, I mean put your contact information somewhere obvious and ubiquitous, like your header and your footer.

#2 Failing to tag. 

If your business has a physical location, this needs to be in your title tags and meta tags. Why? Google bots are just as clueless as your customers. They cannot magically discern where you are located. If you want to come up on the first page of local search, and believe me, you do, then you need to tell the bots with your tags.

#3 Ignoring major local business sites. 

Yelp and Google Places are the two most important of these that I can think of, although there are certainly others. Why are they important? Consider the way a typical customer searches. They type something like, “shoe store Cleveland” into their browser, and one of the common local search sites will be the first to come up. The customer will then click on one of these reputable, recognizable sites and browse a bit. If your business is listed, they will then see it.

#4 DIY marketing.

If you plan a more complicated marketing scheme such as a television ad, an internet banner or even a simple flyer, please PLEASE consider hiring a graphic designer or at least someone with design experience. If you are going to go through the trouble and expense of creating a marketing campaign, let’s make sure it has a chance of bringing in new customers! There are so many pitfalls to design that I cannot even cover them here. Just take my word for it: DIY design is never a good idea.

#5 No means of measurement. 

Marketing is one of those “practice makes perfect” areas. You need to start somewhere, see what works, and change your plan as you go. The problem is that you will never know whether something works, much less how well it works, without having some form of measurement. The great thing about business is that most of it is highly measurable—you can look at traffic, leads, conversions, anything you want really.

Marketing is one of the most important parts of running a business. Most of the small businesses that fail, do so because of either a lack of marketing, or bad marketing. You need to get the word out about your business, and you can do so most effectively by avoiding the following five mistakes.

Do NOT Commit These Marketing Mistakes!

Mistake #5. Focusing on Marketing Rather Than Relationship Building. 

Marketing should be about creating a relationship with your customers. You probably know a lot about your customers, so put this knowledge to work! Compare it to dating: you don’t simply hand a lady a list of reasons to choose you; it takes a little more finesse than that! You need to build a relationship over time. If you have any experience with dating, you know that different women have different preferences; some want flowers and dinner at expensive restaurants, while others would rather spend an afternoon at the park. Customers are the same. That is why traditionally selling has been compared to seducing. Because you know your customers pretty well, you should be able to figure out what will really wow them and how to best deliver it.

Mistake #4. Fading Out of the Limelight. 

I have seen this so many times that it is beginning to feel like one of those depressing, predictable Greek tragedies. A small business owner will run a brilliant marketing campaign, which begins to gather momentum, and then the campaign ends and the owner simply stops. This is a mistake because you will never build momentum this way. Running a small business means that your marketing wheels must always be turning. Once you have your customers’ attention, don’t let it go! Do not give up the limelight, not even for a day.

Mistake #3. Marketing to Everyone. 

Some of the most popular marketing techniques are also the most expensive and least effective. Why do people use them? Because they fail to see the obvious. Whether you are running a small town business or an online empire, only a handful of the people who encounter your business are going to be potential customers. Marketing to everyone is expensive, and is a waste of time. Instead of doing this, put a little thought into where your customer is likely to visit and what types of nontraditional marketing will appeal to them. Focus on your primary target market first!

Mistake #2. Not Getting Help When Necessary. 

Most small business owners somehow believe that outsourcing marketing will be too expensive.. The surprising face is, marketing and branding consultants are not that expensive; in fact, when you consider what your own time is worth and take into account that it will take you at least twice as long to perform the same tasks, I bet you are probably going to save money by outsourcing a lot of your marketing.

Top Mistake #1. Doing Nothing. 

This is probably the most common mistake. You spend so much time planning, preparing and researching that you rarely get a marketing campaign off the ground. Remember what I said earlier about momentum: you need to be marketing constantly. Constantly. It is better to try something new and fail than to sit around second-guessing yourself. The only way to be a success is to take action: track results, learn from your mistakes and always look for new ideas to market your business.

‘Local’ is the new black—or at least the new green. Many modern people are eager to support their communities and help the environment by buying local. This can be a boon for small business owners, but only if you market your small business brand as a local option.

One of the big challenges in developing and marketing your small business brand is that the cheapest and most available marketing methods are online. This means that you must adopt a hybrid approach that combines your local brand with online marketing strategies. Here are a few tools to help you get started.

How To Market Your Local Business Online

#1 Get listed with online classified ads.

Which is easier: digging through the yellow pages or getting the same information on the internet? With the emergence of high speed internet and smartphones, many customers will hop on their favorite device rather than picking up a phone book. However, many businesses make the mistake of not getting listed on the most popular online classifieds. Google, Bing, and Yahoo all have free local classifieds that will place local businesses at the top of a search. Google will even show the customer a map to your location. It only takes a few minutes to get your listed, so put it at the top of your ‘to-do’ list.

#2 Take advantage of social media.

When you think of social networking, you probably think of sites like Facebook and Twitter. While it is important to maintain a presence on these more traditional social media sites, it is equally important to develop a presence on websites that combine social networking with local search. You have probably heard of Yelp and CitySearch, and you may even be listed on these already thanks to customer reviews. However, you need to take control of these pages. You can give additional information about your business, respond to negative feedback (if there is any) and use them as an opportunity to communicate with potential customers in your community. Best of all, most of these sites are totally free.

#3 Offer online-only deals.

Recent studies have shown that small businesses are spending more on promotions than ever before, and online promotion sites are likely driving this trend. Sites such as Groupon allow you to offer exclusive deals for online customers. Because many people use these sites to find special deals, you can develop an entirely new customer base this way.

#4 Include your location in your search engine optimization.

Many small business owners have discovered and profited from the boost in internet traffic that results from search engine optimization. However, you may be losing out on foot traffic if you don’t include your city and/or suburb name in your keywords. Make sure your SEO gives your website a definite place that crawlers will pick up on.

#5 Encourage check-ins.

Many customers use their mobile phones to access the internet. Websites such as Facebook allow you to create a loyalty program that gives special points or deals to customers who check in on their phone while physically at your location. This encourages customers to physically walk into your locations—from there, it’s easy to make a sale.

These are just a few of the ways you can market your local business online. Just remember to always be on the lookout for an opportunity to engage your customers both offline and online.

There was a time when product placement on popular television programs was the biggest thing, but lately a new cowboy is in town. Branded video content is becoming increasingly big in the world of branding and marketing. This genre includes several key advantages over other forms of advertising. First, it costs little or nothing to place a video of any length on YouTube or another popular hosting website. Second, there are no time limits; if you want to spend 60 seconds or even sixty minutes developing your brand, you are free to do so. Another benefit is that there are no censors for online content; if your business is trying to appeal to a younger, edgier audience, this can be a real advantage.

There are so many advantages to branded video marketing that it can be difficult to name them all. In fact, many brands are jumping on this lucrative and fast-moving bandwagon. A good recent example is style powerhouse Chanel. Chanel recently released a video promoting their legendary brand called Night Train. In two minutes and twenty-two seconds, viewers can see a long and yet strangely magical Chanel ad. Although the new video does not really present any new information about the brand, it definitely drives home the salient aspects of the brand: sophistication, elitism, style, magic.

We’ll be seeing more videos like this one in the future from Chanel and here’s why: although there are costs associated with producing and filming a video such as this one, these are nothing compared to the cost of a television campaign. Further, because the time limits are determined only by the audience’s attention span, the film can be as long or as short as it needs to be, with no artificially imposed time limits.

If you decide to create a branded video for your own company, then you should consider the following tips for getting the most out of your marketing:

• Consider your audience. You will need to first decide whether video marketing is really right for your company. Afterward, you should think about the storyline, genre and techniques that will appeal most to your unique audience.
• Spring for a professional. You may be tempted to try on your film-making hat, but now is not the time. Get a professional to consult on your script if you are delving into cinematography. In addition, you should hire someone who knows how to film and also invest in professional equipment (even if you simply rent or borrow it). If you are trying to attract a new audience, going cheap will only ruin your efforts.
• Offer value. First, there needs to be inherent video in the commercial. It should be funny, inspiring or otherwise give viewers a reason to watch. Second, you need to express a different kind of value—your brand values. Ensure that customers leave the film with a good idea of what your brand is all about.
• Promote your video. Place it on YouTube, on your social networking sites and of course on your website. Make sure customers can find it and that it is easy to pass along to friends.

Image via Wikipedia

Is your small business smartphone friendly? A few years ago, most people would not have understood this question, much less contemplated an answer. However, the future is here, and it looks like smartphones are going to be a huge part of it.

In fact, many technology analysts are predicting that 2011 will be the year of the smartphone. Asymco, a market research firm, estimates that by the end of this year, half or more of Americans will be using a smartphone. This represents a sharp increase from eighteen percent at the end of 2009 and thirty percent at the end of 2010.In addition, Asymco predict that about one-third of smartphone users will be using an iPhone or an Android device in just a single year.

What does this mean for small business? While an internet presence has been and remains a necessity, it is growing increasingly important for this internet presence to be smartphone-friendly. Your website should have a mobile version that is easy for smartphone users to access. This will come in handy as more and more Americans turn to their smartphones rather than their PC’s when they need to access online information.

In addition, creating apps has become more important as a marketing device. Not only can you actually make money in creating and selling apps that are related to your line of business, you can use these apps as a way of getting exposure for your company brand and logo design. If you are among the first in your industry to offer apps that are useful, convenient, and fun for modern consumers, you will be well ahead of the game when other people switch to the more fully functional mobile devices.

Smartphones will also leave their mark on the business industry when it comes to advertising. There was a time when few people thought of mobile phones as a place to market their business, but smartphones have changed this. Google and Apple both are currently dominating the market, but they have a market share that comprises less than forty percent combined. This means that you can also reach the mobile advertising market through smaller advertising companies right now. Whether you decide to promote your business brand over smartphones now or later, it is an eventuality that you will have to deal with.

So this leads to another question for small businesses facing a future dominated by smartphones and other technology: How exactly do you accomplish the task of making your website and other online presences friendly to the modern consumer? Part of the answer lies in the physical changes discussed above. However, it is just as important to present a brand that is attractive to tech-savvy consumers. This is accomplished through logo design and other visual branding elements. In order for your mobile website, apps, and other smartphone technologies to reach target markets, your brand must invite and entice consumers to make that first step. In other words, logo design and branding will be just as important—if not more so—in the future.

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Email marketing is an important component of running any kind of website, but especially so in the highly competitive, brand-driven world of ecommerce. However, many retailers unwisely decide to do without email marketing or run their programs in a way that actually alienates their customer base. Here are five simple rules for creating and maintaining an email marketing program that will build your online business website.

1. Ask permission.

   There’s a fine line between email marketing and spamming, and asking permission is what makes the difference. Customers need to be asked to opt in to your campaigns, and they should be able to opt out as well. If your messages, however useful and well-written, are unwanted, they will only build animosity among the very people you are trying to impress. In a worst case scenario, you may even be blacklisted by many ISPs. The good news is that it’s not hard to get permission, especially if you offer a special coupon, ongoing offers, or other tangible benefits.

2. Build your database.

   You can start by offering an incentive to opt-in, but this should not be your only strategy for building an email list. Many websites offer ‘co-registration’—that is, people have the option to join more than one email list at a time. You can join these programs, such as www.listopt.com, and then your website will be included as one of many options. However, take care that any outsourcer you choose for this function is indeed giving people the choices that they deserve and also that they are specifically targeting members of your target audience.

3. Offer more than a pitch.

   Once people have the option to opt-out, you must give them a good reason not to do so. You should include a mix of information, with marketing messages mixed with useful tips and articles as well as a little humor or other entertainment to spice things up. Keep the tone appropriate for your brand, but ensure that people have a good reason to open those emails.

4. Be persistent.

   Love at first sight is a myth, and nowhere more so than in the world of business. Customers need time to warm up to your company and get to know what your brand is all about. An old rule of thumb is that advertising requires an average of 7.3 impacts to even make an impression. Because modern people are bombarded with marketing, that number may even be higher! Don’t spam people, but make sure you are sending out emails on a regular basis. Determine what interval is best for your customers and then stick to it.

5. Change with your market.

   Once you have built an email marketing campaign and have a clean, targeted database, it is time to test your methods. Try sending out two different emails (one to half of your list and one for the other, for example) and see which works best. Often, slight changes can make a huge difference. Constantly modifying your email marketing will ensure that you are always in touch with your market.

Related articles

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Image by ShashiBellamkonda via Flickr

When you hear the word “network”, you probably think of the wireless internet connecting your computers or even of sites such as Facebook. However, there is another important type of network: the people who you know in the small business world. While you may think of them as acquaintances, colleagues, or even friends, these people form part of your small business network.

The most successful business owners in every field are those who have successfully made relationships. These people often have a Blackberry full of contacts they have made in the business world. These contacts often become suppliers, employees, customers, and collaborators. It never hurts to have a few more people on your side, which is why we offer the following tips for building your small business network.

1. Don’t let your fears hold you back.

   Many people are wary of aggressively building business contacts because they feel that they are too introverted or otherwise just not social. You may also fear rejection or worry that you will spend too much time for a limited amount of payoff. However, networking does not require that you invest huge amounts of time or that you be a natural public speaker. You likely deal with people successfully on a daily basis; simply place yourself in places where potential contacts will be and act naturally.

2. Set goals.

   Try to quantify, measure, and evaluate networking the way you would any other aspect of your business. For example, try to attend one networking function every other week and to follow up with three contacts on alternate weeks. Routinely take time to go through your contacts and touch base with a few of them. These types of contacts will build a network organically and give you a list of people to turn to when you have a question or need a favor.

3. Get organized.

   There was a time when businesspeople had a Rolodex, but few use that kind of system anymore. However, your contacts still will need more management than a Contacts entry on your cell phone. Many people find that making a database is the best way of dealing with this issue. List your contacts, their business, any pertinent information such as birthdays, and the last time you contacted them. This will help you easily access information and keep track of a growing network.

4. Be a good contact.

   Everyone dreads dealing with someone who is always asking for a favor, but we all love to help an old friend. Keep your contacts on an ‘old friend’ basis by sending them cards at applicable holidays. When someone does you a favor, thank them personally and warmly. In other words, be the kind of guy that people want to have in their own network.

5. Be your brand.

   You may think that your brand is limited to your logo design and your marketing plan, but you in fact are a personification of it. Making contacts is not like making friends; you are representing your business and need to toe the party line. Think about what kind of person your brand would be, and then try to be that person when acting on behalf of your small business. Personal branding is an important part of small business branding, and networking is a great way to build your personal brand.

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Let’s face it: social networking and other free types of marketing will only get you so far in small business. In order to get your brand and your logo design maximum exposure in target audiences, paid advertising is almost always necessary. However, advertising can be expensive, even prohibitively so, for small businesses. Here are a few tips for making your advertising dollars work as hard as you do.

1. Target your potential customers.

   A lot is said about this in small business blogs and other media, but most advertising seems to break this rule by reaching out to a much broader audience than recommended. Once you know your target customers, think about where they are likely to see your ad. Are they readers? Television viewers? Do they listen to certain radio stations? Would a mail campaign be more effective than other media? These are important questions that will help you focus your efforts and marketing dollars where they will count the most.

2. Make a tangible offer.

   Your advertising needs to say something more than, “Look how (insert adjective) we are.” You need to make an offer that your target customers can’t refuse, whether it is a coupon, a sale, or even merely a promise of excellent service. This should be stated briefly and wrapped up with a call to action that prompts readers to take the next step in becoming your next satisfied customer.

3. Stay true to your brand.

   Even if every single potential customer who views your ad doesn’t immediately become a sale, advertising is a great way to build brand awareness. Use colors, images and language that are consistent with your brand and include your logo design whenever possible. This way, your target customers are learning about your company and forming a positive opinion of you that will drive them to your business sooner or later. If you don’t have a logo design and a professional brand, now is the time to develop both—before you waste time and money advertising without them.

4. Start small.

   Don’t jump into paid advertising with both feet; start with smaller, less expensive ad campaigns and see what strategies work best for you and your small business. Look at inexpensive sources both online and offline. Starting small will keep you from over-extending yourself and allow you to gauge what approaches work the best. Once you know what is effective, you can dedicate more resources to advertising.

5. Modify your plans as needed.

   While you need to make a basic marketing plan before you set out into any advertising campaign, this should never be written in stone. Make sure all of your advertisements include a way of tracking, whether this is a special offer or a simple question at checkout. This will allow you to identify what types of advertising pay for themselves and which are merely an unnecessary expense. This is just as important for established businesses as for new ones, because markets change over time. Never be afraid to change your plans!

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We all have heard that social networking is the wave of the future when it comes to small business. However, there are so many social networks that it is literally possible to spend all day on them and forget all about the objectives of your company. This means that the smart business owner has to prioritize their social media activities. What networks are right for you? How involved should you be on them? Here are a few things to think about when setting your social networking priorities.

1. There is strength in numbers.

   Because it takes people to be social—and the more people, the better in most cases—you should consider the size of different social media sites before investing too much time and typing into them. At the time of this writing, Facebook has more than 110 million users while LinkedIn has 30 million and Twitter has 5 million. Size isn’t everything, but it is nonetheless an important factor.

2. Demographics are important.

   MySpace has more than twice the number of users than Facebook, but it didn’t even merit a mention in the previous paragraph. Why? Because it’s no longer a credible social network for small businesses. LinkedIn on the other hand, may be small, but it is home to the social profiles of Bill Gates and other Fortune 500 CEO’s. Facebook comes in second when it comes to credibility, with a respectable mixture of business and pleasure.

3. Invest where it will pay off.

   Some social networks are not likely to last long, especially not in the current economic climate. You can guess that Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook will be here next week, because they have a business model that works and a large following. However, some social media sites are too new to meet the challenges of our economy, while others have insufficient income for their growth rate. There is a lot of potential in newer social networks, but the established ones offer stability that can’t be beat. Similarly, the older, more established social networks have higher page ranks on the most used search engines. They can give you a more substantial web presence than their lower ranked peers.

4. Be a team player.

   Once you have selected the right network or networks, you need to participate in them in a fair manner, responding to other people’s posts and posting interesting information. Sticking to commercial material alone will weed your network to almost nobody and severely annoy whoever is left. Maintain your social networking accounts on a regular (like, daily) basis and keep an interesting mix of posts. This will help you build a large sphere of influence and also give people who are new to your company a great first impression.

5. Set a daily time for social media.

   This is the best way to make sure you manage your social networks and not the other way around. Set a finite time period every day to be dedicated to updating and maintaining your social networks. Other than that, leave them alone and go about your business. You may need to experiment to come up with a system that works, but in the long run you will find the balance that you deserve.

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Sometimes running a small business feels a little bit like high school. There are the cool kids—people who seem to have untouchable popularity no  matter what they do—and then there are the rest of us. We seem to do everything right, but it simply doesn’t pay off. After all, some people are just cooler than others, and there is no way to change where you fall on the scale. Or is there?

Unlike high school, there are things that a small business owner can do to make their brand cool. In fact, many of these things are economical and entirely doable even for the smallest business. Here are a few ways you can up your coolness factor and become one of the popular kids in the lunchroom.

1. Find the right cool people and be their friend.

   Just like in high school, having a popular friend can do wonders for your own coolness. In the business world, other people are following the cool people. Identify natural leaders who would be interested in your product. For instance, if you are selling cat toys, look at cat enthusiast websites and message boards. There is a good chance that a few people will stand out as being the best liked and most prolific on the board. Some of these people will even have influence on several different boards. Offer your product to one or two of these people in exchange for their posting about it. There is a good chance that many people will then see your product as cool and be more inclined to buy it themselves.

2. Have a passion.

   The coolest people aren’t fake at all—they are passionate and opinionated. If you want to be cool, you need to channel a little of this passion. The most successful business owners are selling something that they care about passionately. This comes through in their products, in the way they run their business, and in the fervor with which they market it. Enthusiasm is contagious; the target audience sees these leaders’ passion and gets a little excited themselves.

3. Solve a problem.

   There is nothing that will get you liked faster than making people’s lives a little easier. Whether you are offering a solution to a difficult problem or simply making their daily commute a little more pleasant, you should always try to be a problem solver. Not only will people be more likely to buy a product or service that solves a problem, they will like your brand even more as well. It’s a win-win situation that you can’t afford to pass up.

4. Make connections.

   Popular people aren’t popular in a bubble; they maintain their status through meaningful connections. You need to maintain a presence in your customers’ life, whether you do this in social networking, email, or with face to face interactions.

Why put all this time and effort into being cool? The answer is simple: for a small business, being cool means having profit. It’s as simple as that.

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There was a time when driving people to your small business website was as simple as buying some Google advertising and participating in a few link exchanges. However, these days are gone. Customers are getting very savvy when it comes to search engines and many pay no attention to the ads whatsoever. This means it is more important than ever to find organic ways of attracting traffic. Here are a few ideas for accomplishing this. The good news is that these methods are for the most part free as well. You can also read the related 10 easy ways to pull traffic to your website.

1. Clearly mark your site for search engine success. This means using title tags, header tags, keyword meta tags, and of course keywords. The more keywords you can fit in these areas, the better! These will tell the search engines know what your page is about and direct traffic searching for the same terms to your website.
2. Submit your site to search engines. Search engines do not automatically index every page on the internet; you will have the best luck if you formally submit your site to them. Many free services offer to do this for you, but it will better if you submit to the search engines individually and on your own. You can also build links to your website ensure your website if found by the search engines and then crawled.
3. Add text encouraging return visits. This can be as simple as adding a ‘bookmark this site’ script to key pages. You also may want to add a ‘Recommend this site’ button to relevant pages.
4. Join relevant web rings. These will make your site visible on web pages with related content, where there is a high chance of relevant traffic. Choose carefully, because these web ring banners can be flashy and clutter up your web pages.
5. Allow interested people to subscribe. You can send out an occasional newsletter or e-zine for these people—whatever works best for your company and your customer base. The point is to allow people the opportunity to form a long term relationship with your brand.
6. Be ethical and trustworthy. Your customer service policies and privacy policies will make people feel better about continuing to visit your website and doing business with you. Always stick to these policies; what goes around comes around, and nowhere more so than in the buzz-driven internet.
7. Court the media. Offer a downloadable media kit on the internet and never turn down an interview. Links to your website from these pages will drive up your site rating and also bring more interested customers to your web presence.
8. Visit related chat rooms and bulletin boards. Don’t spam these boards with commercial information, but form real relationships by posting relevant content on these boards. Place a link to your website in your signature.
9. Become a part time writer. Write occasional articles on your business’s topic and submit them to article banks and other similar websites. This will set you up as an internet expert while also getting your website out there in the public eye.
10. Pay attention to branding. Make your logo and colors visible on your website. After all, there is no use driving traffic to your website if it doesn’t help your business increase sales and promote awareness of your company.

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Are you doing everything you can to market your business but finding that many of your fantastic ideas fall flat? Sometimes the cause may be a lack of targeted marketing. To put it simply, targeted marketing is identifying and marketing to the exact people who would become customers if they knew about your business. As many small business owners know, this is easier said than done. However, the following tips should help you get started.

Know Your Customer

Only a very small number of people are going to become your customers. The first thing that needs to happen in order for you to target your marketing more effectively is finding out who these people are. What key element do all of your customers have in common? Sometimes this is as simple as an age range or a geographical area, but in other cases it is more complicated. Your target customer may be defined by a psychological aspect such as political preference or a more pragmatic one such as dog ownership. There may even be a few different groups or a list of overlapping factors. Know exactly what you are looking for, and you will quickly find that your marketing is more effective.

Become a Specialist

There’s a market for everything; once you know who your target market is, you must begin marketing specifically to them. Design a brand that will appeal to them specifically. Invest in marketing that is highly targeted. Don’t mail a flyer all over town if only people in one neighborhood are going to be interested. Every dollar that you spend marketing to people who are not in your target group is a dollar wasted. Your product or service needs to fulfill a need or a desire for your target market, and everything else is irrelevant.

Define Success

What kind of success are you looking for? Sometimes a marketing effort may seem to fall flat, but it in fact is working in a more subtle way. If your target audience is learning about your business and your brand, the venture is not a total loss. They may not buy today, but rather in the future. Sales are important—after all, they are the only way to keep your doors open—but building your brand will lead to future sales.

On the other hand, you need to have a dollar amount that you plan to get out of every marketing venture. Define how much you realistically might earn from a marketing scheme and then use this as a guide for how much time and money that venture deserves. If a particular type of marketing doesn’t meet your expectations, either adjust your expectations or adjust your actions.

Targeted marketing is essential to success because it will allow you to get the most out of your marketing and lead your business in the right direction. If these tips seem confusing, it may be time to talk to a branding expert about how to develop and market your small business brand.

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It’s easy to feel intimidated by the big corporations out there, with their easily recognized brands, staffs of consultants, and multi-million dollar marketing budgets. However, what many small business owners forget is that there are inherent benefits to being one of the ‘little guys’. In fact, sometimes the secret to small business success is to think small. Here are a few ways of using your small business advantage to market your company straight to success.

1. Maximize advertising space.

   The largest, flashiest, and most colorful ad is not always the one that gets the customers. In fact, many small business owners find that running several smaller ads brings in far more sales than running a few larger ones. Try different ad set-ups and see what works best for you.

2. Work with other small business owners.

   Contact other local businesses—not direct competition, of course—and offer to trade advertising. Allow them to post a flyer or other advertisements in your location in exchange for their doing the same. If this works out well, you may want to venture into joint promotions and other ‘co-branding’ schemes. These often give you the same level of sales for half the cost.

3. Think outside the box.

   Small businesses are able to respond more quickly to changes in the market, so use this to your advantage. Always be on the lookout for unconventional ways to promote your business and bring in new customers. This will help you tap into niches that your competition is neglecting while introducing new ways of doing business. Often the most unconventional methods are the cheapest and the most effective.

4. Stay true to your brand.

   Once you have talked to consultants and have a firm idea of what you are selling and who you are selling it to, you should remain true to this vision in every possible facet of your business. While this may not seem like a marketing move, branding is an essential piece of the marketing puzzle.

5. Track results.

   Large companies can’t always tell what avenues are bringing in the most customers and sales, but you can. You can try simply asking customers where they heard about you. Another successful ploy is to offer a special discount code, with a different code for each of your different marketing ventures. Once you have solid numbers on what methods work best for you, you can move on to the last step.

6. Focus marketing efforts in areas that have proven successful.

   This is the best way to grow your business steadily. There is always room for experimentation, but most of your marketing budget should be spent in ways that increase sales and increase awareness of your brand.

7. Cater to repeat business.

   It costs nothing to make old customers feel special, but this sense of appreciation can mean the difference between success and failure. Offer special hours and special promotions for repeat customers. If these aren’t practical or affordable, simply thank them for their business on a regular basis. You’d be surprised at how far a simple thank you will take you!

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You know that your small business idea is a recipe for success… or do you? We all think that we understand the way other people think, but sometimes there is no way to tell for sure. This is where market research comes in. This is basically a broad term that covers many different ways of finding out important information about your business and product from the point of view of your target customer. Market research may sound complicated, but it is the simplest way of finding out whether your small business plan has potential.

Market research won’t just give you a flat-out yes or no answer. Even if your new product or service is a winner, it may need some refining. There may be a certain type of brand that is ideal for selling it. Market research can help you discover this and a variety of other things about your future small business product.

Many small business owners ignore the issue of market research, but they usually do so at their own peril. Here are the two main reasons that they do so, and why these reasons should be completely ignored.

1. Negative feedback. It’s normal to feel a little insecure about your plans, but wouldn’t you rather find out now if there is a flaw in your plans? Don’t be afraid of negative feedback, especially when you are using this feedback to improve your company’s chances of success. It just may save you from a devastating loss.
2. Expense. We all know that starting your own business is an expensive proposal. However, there are certain costs which should never be neglected, and research is one of them. You don’t have to hire someone to administer your surveys, product trials, and/or other research; you can instead round up a group of your target customers and get their opinions on your own.

If you need more market research than you can effectively collect on your own, there are still several options available for you. First, you can check with trade organizations to see if they have similar research that has already been completed and published. Second, you can look at the library. University libraries in particular seem to have a wealth of research that is just waiting for you to access it. Last, the internet is a valuable source of information. Certainly some of the information contained here is inaccurate or otherwise untrustworthy, but if you check the data carefully you should be able to figure out which is reliable and relevant to your cause.

Will consumers want your product or service? Are there flaws that can and should be fixed before you open your doors to the public? What kind of brand will best appeal to your target customer? These are just a few of the questions that market research can answer for you. This is one expense that is not just necessary but crucial. In fact, it can make all the difference in the world in the success of your business.

Is your small business in a slump? If so, you aren’t alone. Small business owners all over the nation are looking for ways to keep money coming in, but most tips seem to focus on the long term. The only way to get to long term success is to keep your doors open for the short term. In this spirit, we offer the following five ways to increase your workload today.

1. Call old clients.

   If you flip through your contacts, there are likely a lot of clients that you haven’t heard from for quite a while. The great thing about these clients is that you don’t have to market yourself as aggressively to them—they know your business, your brand, and the quality of your work. If you have taken care in the past to keep your customers happy, you can likely drum up quite a lot of work in this manner.

2. Offer excellent service to your existing clients.

   These people have already chosen to do business with you, so make sure they have good reason to continue to do so. They are keeping your business going right now and should never be taken for granted. You can be assured that your competition is doing everything in its power to woo them away from you. If possible, offer them special deals or loyalty discounts, but keep in mind that these aren’t necessary and certainly not worth compromising your own profit margins.

3. Be flexible.

   There was a time when business owners could turn away clients that were too small or otherwise seemed like a lot of trouble. Those days are over, and have been for about a year now. Don’t be afraid to consider clients that don’t fit within the traditional boundaries of your business—just make sure your price is fair and makes up for your trouble. Not only will they keep money coming in, these nontraditional clients just may lead you to interesting and lucrative markets that aren’t being tapped by your competition yet. If you are concerned about your ability to make a profit from these clients, take on one or two test subjects and see how they work out.

4. Offer intangible benefits.

   It may seem that your competitors are undercutting each other to the point that no one could possibly be making a profit—and it’s entirely possible that this supposition is in fact true. Instead of trying to undercut them, maintain your bottom line by offering a fair price and the best service they have ever received—or the best product, or whatever sets your business apart from the competition. Give your clients something to talk about—there is a good chance that they will, and you will get more than a few new clients this way.

5. Market yourself aggressively.

   Can marketing bring in people today? If you are talking about social networking sites, then the answer may be ‘yes’. Many businesses have been successful at bringing customers in their doors within minutes by offering highly targeted posts on Facebook or other networking websites. Just be ready for a potential flood of customers!

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Marketing to college students and young adults of different age groups can be a challenge because it seems like each has their own sense of what they are looking for in a brand. Children and teens have such different preferences that there is almost no overlap in the brand aspects that please both groups. Marketing to college students and teens also has its own unique challenges.

The Mobile Generation

One thing that differentiates this generation of Marketing to College Students and Young Adults from the ones before it is the mobile nature of their lives. They didn’t just grow up with the internet; they grew up with it available on telephones and in their cars.  They are more likely to buy an app on their smart phone than a book and more likely to patronize the shops and businesses that their GPS leads them to. This means that businesses wanting to reach them must have not just an online presence, but one that can be accessed by cell phone and/or text.

Make It Quick

Marketing to College Students and Young Adults tend to perceive themselves as very busy—even if most adults remember this time as one of the more carefree in their lives! You must keep it simple and as fast as possible when it comes to sales pitches. Simple copy is often the best choice for this group, especially if you can work in a little humor without adding to the word count.

Catch Me if You Can

While many companies assume that they can reach Marketing to college students at a college or university, this is no longer the case. Over half of today’s College Students and Young Adults live at home and are commuting to school or attending classes through nontraditional means such as the internet. You’ll have to look in unusual places, such as book stores (online and off) and coffee shops. You’ll have to identify your demographic with a tag more specific than ‘college student’ and then market to them from that angle.

Keep It Real

Marketing to College Students and Young Adults can smell a fake, so don’t try to be cooler, hipper, and younger than you really are. But that’s okay, because they don’t mind dealing with another generation. If you are technologically savvy and sell products that meet their needs, you won’t need to fake trendiness; they’ll be happy to patronize you anyway. They define what is hip, and you will never be “it”. Be yourself; that’s cool enough.

Don’t Forget the Parents!

As with children and teens, you will need to make sure that your products and your brand are attractive to parents as well. After all, they are usually the ones who have the checkbook and the regular cash flow. While you don’t need to market directly to them, you have to make sure that you are professional enough not to scare them off completely.

Focus on the Product

This will help you to obey our other rules, like keeping things simple and avoiding a forced sense of sense of cool. If College Students and Young Adults are enticed by your brand and wowed by your product, you have just won over this demographic.

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With the internet a ubiquitous part of life and countless nontraditional marketing methods available, many business owners focus on marketing through nontraditional means. This has led many to speculate that direct marketing as well as traditional marketing measures are obsolete. However, there is a place in many small businesses for direct marketing. Here we will look at what direct marketing is and how you can make it work for you.

Direct marketing is a form of marketing that bypasses normal media and instead focuses on communicating directly with the customer, as the name suggests. Instead of general ads in billboards, magazines, and on television, a direct marketing campaign might include fliers and street advertising. Successful direct marketing speaks directly to the customer and includes a strong sense of brand and a call to action.

There are several advantages to direct marketing that are particularly attractive to small business owners. First, these campaigns tend to be less expensive. Larger media campaigns through traditional avenues tend to be prohibitively expensive, but they have another huge disadvantage: it is difficult to tell if you are getting your money’s worth.

This leads us to a second advantage of direct marketing: it is much easier to track. Because you can give a specific phone number or landing page in your advertisements, you can easily tell which type of advertisement and even which wording is the most effective.

A third advantage of direct marketing is that it actually tends to be most effective, especially for new businesses that have not yet developed a strong brand. In fact, it is a good way to begin to refine your brand message and figure out exactly what appeal your business holds for your customers. Direct marketing is very upfront, offering customers a product or service that they need and making it clear that they ought to buy it immediately. While there is room for a strong brand presence, it is secondary to the call to action.

Last, there are such a variety of direct marketing techniques that a small business is free to find the one that suits them best. Direct mail and leaflet marketing may work for more traditional customers, while telemarketing and email marketing are better suited to a technologically savvy young customer base. There are almost as many types of direct marketing as there are small businesses, and creativity is a definite bonus in this area.

Is direct marketing right for your business? It certainly is an excellent way to begin a small business marketing plan. Cheap, effective, and straightforward, direct marketing is an attractive option. In many ways, you are beating your competition to the punch, selling to your customer before they even know that they need your products or services. However, it usually is not enough marketing on its own. In order to continue growing your business and moving toward success, building a strong brand is critical. Consulting a logo designer and a branding consultant will allow you to create a business brand that will appeal to your customer whatever the marketing method you choose.

Although many claim that print marketing is on its way out, a new report finds that businesses are continuing to use the medium in increasingly savvy and modern ways. The catch is that many types of print marketing are now created to interact with digital media such as computers and smart phones.

Everyone knows that digital marketing is key to success in modern business, but print is holding its own. This report, which was researched and released by NewPage in the fourteenth issue of the company’s Ed newsletter, found that print is not going anywhere, but that it is increasingly being used in new ways. In fact, a mix of traditional and digital marketing may be crucial to winning over modern audiences.

There are several ways print can ‘interact’ with digital and print advertising. For instance, printed materials can be made to interact with computers to give interactive content. Bar codes can be placed on printed materials that, when scanned by a smart phone, direct customers to your website.

Another study conducted by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization found that paper products don’t detract from forest growth and actually may contribute to it. This is because most paper trees are raised specifically for the purpose, and not all of these trees are cut down. In fact, trees planted and raised for paper represent most forest growth in modern times.  Tree farmers plant an estimated four million trees every day and harvest just a quarter of these trees.

Using print materials just may help the environment, but that is not the only reason to use them. Many customer niches are reached most efficiently by print. People like to use printed coupons and can easily save a piece of paper for later reference. Digital materials are not always so functional. Further, direct mail can make it easy to put information quickly into a customer’s hands, and it is more likely to be seen than email marketing. Print is easy to work with and accessible to people who have limited access to a computer due to age, income, or ability.

While direct mail can be expensive, targeted direct mail strategies ensure that only the most interested and profitable customers will be on your mailing list. This cuts back on both waste and expense.

Good design is the key to making your print marketing as effective as possible. Printed materials can be created that draw in your customers’ eye and grab their attention. You should also create materials with both your logo design and your brand in mind. This way, even if every paper doesn’t lead to a sale, it will still be instrumental in building your company brand.

The continuing widespread use of printed marketing materials makes professional logo design all the more important. Many clipart designs and those created by ‘logo design contests’ have not been crafted to work well in a variety of different media. A professional logo designer knows what makes an image work on paper and on a computer screen, and can design your logo accordingly.

Sometimes it seems like marketing a small business costs almost as much as marketing a huge corporation. After all, the small businesses are competing against the larger ones and often don’t have the same brand recognition that huge brands enjoy. However, small business owners can be comforted in knowing that there are lower cost avenues that they can use to market their business. Here are just a few of your lower cost marketing options.

1. Get creative. One of the benefits of having a small business instead of a huge one is that small businesses can be more creative. Ad campaigns don’t have to make it through endless meetings and committees before they can be run. They don’t have to appeal to people all over North America and in every walk of life. You are nimbler than that, able to make decisions in just a few hours and target a very specific audience.
2. Go small. You don’t need a billboard, just a small nook where customers can see your logo design. Reducing the size of your ads will make them cost less, but if your brand and logo design are good they will have just as much impact. Sometimes a small ad has even more impact than a large one, especially if you are trying to sell your business as a smaller, more local option.
3. Give them something to talk about. Are you worried that your customers aren’t talking about you? Try giving them something to talk about. Make sure your products and services stand out against their competition, whether it is because they are cheaper, better, more humorous, or otherwise better and more interesting than the rest. This will give customers a reason to talk about your business and a reason to keep coming back to it.
4. Work with other small businesses. Find out what works for them and compare notes. When possible, you may have luck with co-branding and joint promotions. This can often cut the price of marketing in half while doubling sales—a win-win situation for everyone involved.
5. Keep the customers you have. If you already have convinced a person to become a customer, you have already done most of the hard work. Keeping them should be the easy part! Earn their trust and give them a reason to keep coming back. This is the best and cheapest marketing plan you could have, but it is also the most effective.
6. Avoid competing with the big guys. After all, they are serving a completely different niche than you. Your logo design and brand should be completely different from the huge multinational brands in your industry because you are catering to a very different kind of client. They are in a completely different stage in their business life, so things that work for them will likely be disastrous for you anyway.

Marketing logos doesn’t have to be expensive, but a small owner definitely has to think outside the box. Use a little creativity and leverage your unique advantages; this will give you an advantage that no corporation can match.

Internet marketing is an attractive solution for both online and traditional businesses. The internet seems to offer an endless number of places to get free publicity—if you could just figure out how! Indeed, internet marketing can be promising for businesses of all sizes, but it comes with a set of rules all its own. Here are just a few of the walls you may be running up against.

1. Internet marketing is not a guarantee. We all hear about the people who did everything right and ended up millionaires. However, you never hear about the people who make all the correct choices and get nowhere. These people are everywhere, but they are too busy recovering from their loss to make a huge deal of their story. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, even if the basket looks as secure and stable as could be. Try a variety of different strategies, both online and through traditional avenues, to see which works best for your unique situation.
2. Internet scams are more common than legitimate opportunities. It’s important to be wary of any technique or company presented to you as surefire. You should be similarly suspicious of fast fixes. Few people get rich in small business; this is a line of work where slow and steady usually wins the race. Keep in mind that even ‘overnight successes’ rarely became so overnight—they worked hard for years to prepare for that big moment. This needs to be the pace that you aim for.
3. All internet exposure promotes your brand. Positive exposure, that is. Even if a marketing strategy fails to skyrocket you to fabulous wealth, it still was not time wasted. Getting your small business name and logo design out there will be a small piece of the puzzle that eventually turns into a picture of success for your company. You never know when that one person who saw your ad and walked away will return and become a loyal customer.
4. Free internet marketing opportunities exist. What’s more, they often work better than expensive ones. Facebook, Twitter, and other websites are not fads; they are legitimate parts of our culture and often the best way of reaching out to your customer base. This usually comes across as more authentic and more interesting as well. Plus, once you learn how to use them, they can actually be fun ways of getting to know the people who make up your customer base.
5. Experts can help. Many people disparage the use of consultants for things like branding, logo design, and marketing. However, these professionals are experts in internet marketing. They have worked with hundreds or even thousands of businesses just like yours and often have the right mixture of intuition and experience. Sometimes just a few small ‘tweaks’ are all it takes to turn around your internet marketing and create the success that you are dreaming of! You can’t be an expert in every possible topic, so don’t be afraid to ask for help where it could make all the difference.

What is a sizzle reel? If you are a small business owner, you need to know the answer to this question. A sizzle reel just may be the most powerful branding tool that your business has ever had.

A sizzle reel is also known as a demo reel, a public relations video, and a promo, as well as about twenty other names. This is a short video, usually no more than five minutes in length, that is used to get a message across about your business’s brand.

These videos have a variety of uses. First, they can be used for business to business communication. This allows businesses to get an idea of what your business is about in a short amount of time. Second, they can be released to more public entities as part of a press kit or a plea for funding. Last, they are often used to draw in customers, especially when posted on YouTube or a social networking website.

Sizzle reels are definitely useful tools, but they must be topnotch in order to leave the impression you desire. Here are a few tips for getting the effective, attractive sizzle reels that your company needs.

1. Plan ahead. Look at similar videos from your competitors and note how they are organized. This will give you an idea of the industry standard as well as a framework to start from when planning your own reel. You’ll need to plan each frame ahead of time to make sure that the lighting and timing are just right. This will make it easier to put together a professional video with minimal time from costly videographers and other consultants.
2. Make the investment. Like logo design, this is one project that you won’t be able to complete without professional equipment and several years of education. So why waste your time? Leave the videography to the experts and you will end up with a product you can be proud of. Do it yourself, and you will likely end up with an unprofessional mess that you are ashamed to show in public.
3. Choose content and music carefully. These will be used to create a mood, one that says more about your brand than you ever could. Your content should be arranged in short, catchy phrases that are memorable and flow nicely. The music sets the tone for the video, so choose a piece that matches your brand and walks the fine line between catchy and unprofessional. Avoid anything trendy or timely; you’ll want for this video to last for years. Similarly, avoid stock images and music; the only statement that they make is that your company is boring and too cheap for anything better.
4. Create with your target audience in mind. If you are unsure about music or other aspects of your video, let your ideal customer make the decision. Keep this ideal customer in mind throughout the creative process. After all, they are the ones you are making the video for in the first place!

Small businesses have no lack of information. From the guy next door to almost every website on the internet, it seems that just about everybody has a few ideas about how you should market your business. However, some of these suggestions are no help at all because they are in fact false. Here are five of the top small business marketing myths.

1. DIY saves money. There are so many things that we do ourselves in life—typing, decorating, minor car repairs—that help us when we are opening a small business. However, this can give many small business owners a false sense of security when it comes to things that can’t be done yourself, such as taxes, logo design, and marketing. Not only will these DIY activities NOT save money, they will likely end up costing a fair amount. Marketing and branding is a subject for the experienced. Designing ads and logos yourself might save money upfront, but it will only create an unprofessional image and drive away potential customers. We won’t even get into tax issues!
2. Good marketing gets instant results. Many small business owners hire a marketing consultant, start their first campaign, and then back out when the doors aren’t falling off the hinges from customers in the first week. Marketing doesn’t always work that way! In many cases, you need to build momentum, and marketing merely gets this started. While instant success stories abound, don’t expect them to be the norm.
3. Broad is better. Small business owners make this mistake all the time, in several different areas of marketing. First, and most commonly, they assume that marketing to a broader audience is always better. However, this is rarely the case because a large audience is usually a less targeted one. Not only will you spend more money, you will likely get fewer conversions. Second, they assume that having a wider range of products will always be advantageous, when it will only confuse customers as to what your company is truly about.
4. A great product will sell itself. What good is a great product that nobody knows about? On the same line of thought, what good is a great product that is being marketed to people who don’t need it? The whole point of marketing is to identify the people who most need your product and make sure they know about it. No product sells itself until marketing has laid the foundation for these sales.
5. Marketing and branding are one time investments. Many businesses think that once they have the winning brand and the perfect marketing plan, they are done. In fact, your brand will need regular refreshing and your marketing plan will be in a constant state of flux. The world is changing constantly, including the economy, your community, and your customer base. You can never afford to stagnate, or you will watch all of your hard-won momentum slow down to a crawl… or a complete stop. You will need to form a relationship with a marketing logo design and branding expert and consult them every now and then to keep the ball rolling.

Eye Catching Logos Vs. Cluttered Logos - In advertising, companies want to put as much as possible into a small space, giving prospective clients a solid idea of who the company is and what it does. Logos and ad banners are great examples. There are however, a few pitfalls one should carefully consider, namely clutter.

Clutter is an advertising term for when there are too many eye catching pieces all competing for attention. An excellent example of this is Myspace, where there are so many advertising logo designs and banners that the eye has a difficult time differentiating them. Though there are many ads many of which are targeted to a specific user, these are caught up in the larger whole of just another advertisement.

Targeted advertisement has been one of the strongest revenue producers for the internet, sky rocketing companies such as Google.com. Google has had so much success in large part because of the ad placement it has used. As opposed to websites such as Myspace, who have used as much space as possible for advertisements, Google has taken a much more fine tuned approach.

Google has used its Google ads sparingly, not interrupting the web users experience, while still placing strong ads. The unobtrusive nature of these advertisements has garnered a great deal of respect for Google and its business practices.

Facebook is gaining popularity likely because it does not have the incredible amount of banner advertisements, unlike Myspace. Facebook have used a very simple and elegant targeted advertisement approach. Facebook only has a few advertisements easily distinguished and recognized. These simple targeted advertisements make it easy for the advertisement’s audience to decide if they are interested in the advertisement at all. Read more advertising tips for your small business.

Google and Facebook advertising models lie in stark contrast to the business model of websites such as Myspace who use clutter and a constant stream of advertisements to clutter web pages with advertisements. The human eye can only recognize so many advertisements in a given setting. These causes a mental block in the intended audience, making then irrelevant to consumers.

If there are too many advertisements vying for attention, they can easily become lost. This can result in throwing good money after bad, replacing content with advertisements, driving business away. People dislike advertisements as a general rule, and dislike places where advertisements are more prevalent than content, so striking a balance where advertisements are noticeable but not taking up a web page is important.

Advertisers pay better when they receive more hits. Cluttering a page with banners and logos can overwhelm a prospective audience, because it is difficult for them to navigate around them. Imagine that there are two good websites, both of which have excellent content, but are in roughly the same category. Taking the prospective of a possible user, we would choose the one less difficult to navigate. Ad banners with flashing lights, big bright captions, and promises of great prizes can easily take away from the content relevancy. This forces users to turn off their receptivity to any advertisement, resulting in lost revenue.

Ultimately the industry leading websites have opted for less advertisements which are better targeted garnering a higher degree of loyalty from users.

Many books have been written about guerilla marketing, but few small business owners can define it. The same way a guerilla uses creativity to win a war, the small business owner can use ingenious and original methods to triumph over the competition. Here are a few ways you can use guerilla marketing to find success in small business.

1. Talk to local trade organizations. Many of these associations are constantly looking for speakers on niche topics, so pick up your phone and call around. Giving speeches as an expert on your subject has two effects. First, it makes you appear to be an authority in your field, which is always a positive impression. Second, it spreads the word about your business to many potential customers. This win-win situation costs your business absolutely nothing.

2. Treat your customers like friends. This is one area where small businesses can offer more than a large corporation ever could. You can send out not just Christmas and other holiday cards, but also cards for birthdays, graduations, and other events. If mailings are too expensive, even a phone call gets across the point that you are a smaller, more caring alternative to the more impersonal competition.

3. Advertise in unlikely places. Everyone is used to ignoring a flyer left under their windshield wiper or on their doorstep. Try tucking your business communications inside relevant books at the library or in other places where people who need your services are likely to turn. This will reduce your printing costs from becoming someone else’s trash while getting your message directly to the people who need it. Think creatively like this about all marketing expenses; you might be surprised about where you can be more effective and more targeted in your communications.

4. Generate buzz. If you do things that make people talk—in a good way, of course—you will be sure to get a lot of buzz. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to become your local media’s next human interest story. Many flagging small businesses have found huge success when they caught the interest of national media; while this is difficult to do, you can get a similar though smaller effect from your much more approachable local networks.

5. Be loyal to your brand. Make sure your brand and your logo design always take center stage. However exciting guerilla marketing can be, it is easy to get carried away and take actions that are not representations of your brand. Because this will only weaken and diminish your business in the long run, guard against it carefully. Before taking any action, ask yourself: does this work with my brand? How will it affect me in the future? How will my target customer feel about this? Asking these questions will help you make good decisions.

As you can see, guerrilla marketing logos means being creative and motivated. Luckily, imagination and drive are two things that most business owners have plenty of. Use your skills to promote your business and don’t be afraid to be different from the pack.

Merchandising 101: 5 Tips for Presenting Products So They Sell

You have an attractive store, a winning merchandising logo, and products that can’t be beat. Why, then, isn’t anyone buying? It may be your merchandising. Merchandising is the art of displaying products in a way that interests and entices customers. Here are the five golden rules of merchandising the small business.

Keep it simple. When you think of the most visually attractive and memorable images, you likely are thinking of relatively simple ones. In order for your display to attract customers, it will need to be interesting enough to create interest at one glance and simple enough to be remembered in the same glance. At the same time, cluttering your store with too many displays can be detrimental as well. To avoid clutter, merchandise key products, with lesser items displayed more simply.

Use good aesthetics. No product looks good under harsh lights or on an unattractive shelving unit, so make sure key products are merchandised in the most attractive and visible areas of your store, with good lighting and quality shelving units. Take care that the area surrounding your displays is clean, uncluttered, and of reasonable quality. This is not a place to cut corners or go cheap. Any shortcuts will detract from the perception of your products.

Offer tie-in products nearby. Impulse buys are the bane of every home budget—and the delight of every small businessperson. Give people a chance to buy tie-in products that will compliment your key products. If it doesn’t conflict with your brand, you can also offer items such as wrapping goods, filler gifts, and other needful things. There is a good chance people will buy these types of things anyway. They might as well buy them from you.

Display a picture of the product in use. Nothing is as compelling as a photograph of people happily using the product—the more attractive these people, the better. You don’t need a billboard—a small color photo should do. This gives customers the opportunity to picture themselves being one of these attractive people who are enjoying an item bought from you, a daydream that often inspires people to buy. Fantasy is a powerful marketing tool because it can inspire people to make impulse purchases, so don’t be afraid to use it to your own advantage.

Use your merchandising logo. If you have a developed merchandising logo, make sure its colors, fonts, and other aspects are used in merchandising. This will allow customers to tie your products to your business and vice versa. Make sure your merchandising is congruent with your merchandising logo, and it will do more for sales than any expensive marketing campaign ever could.

Display quality is one area that can make or break your business altogether. Good merchandising sells products, while bad displays can keep even the most attractive item sitting on the shelves month after month. By using these five fundamental principles, you can make sure that your brand remains congruent and your sales high.

Tired of Paying for Advertising?

Marketing and advertising can consume a sizeable portion of the small business person’s budget. Fortunately, there are ways to get the word out there about your business without dropping a ton of change. Here are five sources of free advertising that you probably haven’t thought of yet.

Be thankful. When was the last time you dropped a thank you note or thank you email to a few of your biggest customers? Not only does communication of this nature make them feel positively toward you, it keeps your name in their short term memory and makes them think of services and product pages they just might need from you. If your thank you note includes a coupon, expect a sizeable response.

Join local online groups. The key there is ‘local’ sites such as Facebook have local groups that you can join. This will get the word out about your small business among younger, tech-savvy consumers who are more likely than any other generation to buy the latest thing. You will get a bonus if your homepage for these sites is well designed and includes enticing information about your business.

Become a writer. Starting an email newsletter about your business’s topic is a great idea. Generally, people who are interested in your field will also be interested in your services, making this an interesting and free way of promoting yourself. Describe problems your customers have had and how you have solved them, as well as other scenarios that make you and your business look like the hero. This is your change to paint yourself in the best possible light, so make sure you are the hero of every drama.

Offer a discount if your current clients can refer new clients to you. The one-time savings will be a huge motivator to them, but that same money is just a drop in the bucket compared to the money that can be earned from just one new long term customer. Nothing is as powerful as a word of mouth recommendation, so this is guaranteed to get results.

Break into movies. When on film, people can see you in your natural setting, and you are free to retape until you are happy with the take. See if your local television station needs a short, few-minute slot filmed on your subject every week. Alternately, film one by yourself and put it on youtube. Link that account to your Facebook and other social network accounts, and just watch your business soar. If you have the type of charisma that comes through on camera, this can be a real boon to your business.

Many people think that free sources of advertising must not be as good as the ones that cost money, but nothing could be further from the truth. Each of these methods can bring in a decent amount of work; combining them should leave you inundated with work. In this case, the best things in life, and the best advertisements on the web, really are free.

Do You Copy? Five Tips for Writing Small Business Ad Copy That Sells

Many business owners are tempted to write their own copy, but don’t even know where to begin. While most people are better served hiring an advertising specialist to do this for them, there is a sizeable minority that could write their own advertising copy if they only knew the basic rules. If you think you are member of the latter group, here are five simple guidelines to follow for attractive, effective ad copy.

Know who you are reaching. Before you even pull out a piece of paper or flick the ‘on’ switch, you need to have your target customer in mind. What makes them happy? What makes them tick? Most important of all, what makes them buy? Write down everything you know about your target customer and really evaluate who you are trying to reach. You have to have a clear picture of who you are trying to reach.

Know what you are not writing. Many people waste their time trying to make everyone happy, ignoring the simple fact that you can’t please everyone. This is a sure recipe for advertising failure, and even business failure. Once you have determined your target audience, focus on them, even if it means completely forgetting everyone else. Think about their taste, their sense of humor, and what makes them want to buy a product or service like yours. If you are marketing to teenage girls, disregard what their grandparents might think.

Be catchy. Modern consumers are inundated with advertisements, so it will take a lot to get their attention and keep it even for a few seconds. This means you may have to be brutally honest, a little humorous, and as short and sweet as possible. Feel free to use off-color jokes or double entendre if that’s what your audience would appreciate. The most important aspect of your ad is how memorable it is. Without that, even the best message will be lost in the jumble of modern life.

Be honest. Don’t lie about your product or make claims you can’t back up solidly. Your customers will not shop somewhere with zero credibility, so protect yours like it’s the crown jewels. It just may be the secret to your small business’s success. Ensure you do not make the common advertising mistakes that most startups do.

Be speedy. The average ad space allows just enough room for a condensed message, so distill what you want to say into the few words that you are allotted. Don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘more is more’ in this area, either. Most consumers will lose interest in just a few seconds, so you might as well save your money by keeping your advertisements to the bare minimum. If you are catchy enough, that’s all you will need, anyway.

Writing ad copy is definitely a job for a seasoned professional, but if you follow these five guidelines you should be able to write an ad that draws in your audience. Just know your audience and get their attention, then tell your message as quickly as possible. There are few things more difficult than writing your own ad copy, but even fewer that can give your business such a sizeable boost.

Many people outside the field don’t realize it, but most graphic designers are also experienced marketing consultants. These two fields are so closely related that there is a great deal of overlap in the duties and required skill set. In fact, many of the concepts used by marketing consultants also go into the development of a custom logo or just about any graphic project. Here are just a few of the areas in which professional graphic design and brand marketing overlap.

Reliance on research. Like marketing consultants, a person involved in professional graphic design will be aware of research into psychology and other fields as it pertains to the world of marketing and branding. This knowledge is not based on opinion, but on a broad base of research performed and compiled over the last century. Psychology and related sciences have been able to give marketing consultants and other professionals a profound insight into the human mind, including how it perceives and stores information. Graphic designers must know, for example, how certain shapes and colors make people feel. This wealth of knowledge goes into the development of every product, whether it is a custom logo or a website design.

Customer focus. Marketing consultants know that ultimately, the success of a product depends on how it is perceived and received by the intended audience. Professional graphic design shares this focus. Like marketing consultants, graphic designers never lose their focus on the customer. After all, the whole point of a custom marketing logo or other graphic design project is to create recognition in the community, which then leads to increased income, positive regard, or both.

Branding. Marketing consultants know that every successful product in our modern economy must be a brand—that is, it must be perceived by its target audience to have a distinct personality and a mission that consumers can identify with. Corporate identity design is also the specialty of most professional graphic design artists. Your custom marketing logo and other professional graphic design products have been created to be the cornerstone of your company’s brand, portraying what makes you unique in a very tangible, visually striking way.

Specialized graphic design tools. Marketing consultants have a set of tools used by their trade, and so do people who work in the field of graphic design. From standard tools used by artists, such as professional quality pencils and inks, to the latest in software technology along with computers that are sophisticated and powerful enough to run it, a graphic designer has experience with some very specific materials that help him or her in their job.

Constant change. Marketing consultants must change with their clients and with the consumers as well. The latest techniques in advertising and marketing must be used or the product will appear dated and not get the attention it deserves. Similarly, professional graphic design artists must stay on top of the latest trends. From the newest design concepts to the latest technologies, your graphic designer is a master if reinvention and versatility. When you hire a professional graphic design artist, you will have the benefit of this as well as all of the tricks and secrets of the trade.

Whether you use Google or not, you -er- should be using it! When you peek behind the curtain from the front page, you’ll find a staggering panoply of tray-kewl stuff. More than 23 specific “Search” refinements join 11 “Communicate/ Show/ Share” tools that you gotta wonder why you’re not using! What’s the web about if not finding stuff and sharing stuff? Goog-antua 101!

Many folks have not yet taken the time to customize their Google home page. It’s your iGoogle and after you sign up for a Google account, a customized home page is just one of the services.

You can even choose a graphic theme for your iGoogle page. The City Scape choice even uses time zones to reflect your time of day in your browser as the sun moves overhead. Sunsets are the best.

It is possible to make the case that as an advertising message, “excellent customer service” has become a waste of time/ink. Everybody claims to adore their customers more than any competitor. People know it’s their credit card/checkbook that is adored.

Touting customer service as a differentiating factor is reminiscent of the 1950s, when offices and shops were just beginning to install air conditioning. Many advertised this fact with “It’s Cool Inside” door stickers and even in their ads. Today, advertising that you have an air conditioned facility is somewhat like announcing that you have “flat floors” or “adequate lighting.”

At the same time, there is far more to customer relationships than just promising to “care more” than your competition. “Defy conventional wisdom,” says Frances Frei, associate professor at the Harvard Business School. When you apply her insights to your business, you may come up with new ways of leveraging customer value. For example, learn how an insurance company quickly weeds out high-risk customers who end up denting their bottom line. Sounds implausible, but it just may be possible you don’t want to sign up every customer who lurches through your door!

Because your Website is most often the first point of contact for your customers, it must be professional-looking and search engine friendly. While there are many ways to improve the design of your site, it is important to always monitor the effectiveness of your search engine optimization (SEO) activities.

If you’re just starting your online business and don’t have much money to burn, one of the resources you can use is Website Grader – a free SEO tool designed for entrepreneurs that incorporates things like webite traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors to come up with an overall rating. Moreover, it offers free basic advice to improve your site.

Of course there are many freebies available online like the SEO Company’s 136 free SEO tools and Aarol Wall’s SEO book. Website Grader is quite different because it combines all information in just one place. It may not be as comprehensive as other free tools but it can help you see the big picture easily and the problem areas you need to work on.

You simply need to provide your URL, related keywords describing your site, competitors, and your e-mail address so it can send to you the final report.

Note: This free tool is owned by Hubspot, an inbound marketing system company helping small businesses to get found on the Internet. Naturally, this company will encourage you to avail their services to get comprehensive consultation.

Via Duct Tape Marketing Blog

Although consumers in general plan to spend less this holiday, online shopping is still growing. If you are running an e-commerce store, this is the busiest and most competitive time of the year so you should be more aggressive to increase your sales.

Although there are many Internet marketing strategies and tactics today, email marketing logos continues to be an effective and cost-efficient strong weapon of choice. According to Direct Marketing Association, “For every dollar spent on email marketing in 2007, marketers can expect an estimated $48.29 ROI. Without a doubt, email marketing achieves the greatest ROI of all marketing channels we look at.”

Another statistics from Shop.org shows that email delivers sales at an average cost per order of less than $7, compared to $71.89 for banner ads, $26.75 for paid search and $17.47 for affiliate programs.

Here are 2 clever ways to use email marketing this holiday season:

1. Suggest a gift. Offer gift ideas and packages specific to a person like dad, mom, friend, lover, brothers or sisters. This will make shopping a lot easier for many of your customers.
2. Offer Christmas deals. Most consumers are in the mood for shopping these days so why not offer a promo they simply can’t resist? This will encourage them to buy more in return for a small concession like incremental discounts (example: 10% for purchase above $100, 15% for above $200, etc.)

If you think selling over the phone is easier than face-to-face selling, maybe it’s time for you to think again. Phone selling is very challenging given the high level of mistrust of many consumers and the lack of physical contact to gauge the openness of your customers. If this type of selling is vital to your business, you should consider the following tips:

1. Establish relationship in less than 10 seconds. Since you can’t convey your message with a good body language, you will have to rely entirely on your friendly tone and charming personality to forge a relationship. Make your approach more casual so your customers won’t know you’re reading a script.
2. Keep it short and sweet. Don’t bore your prospects with details by focusing on the key benefits of your product, the main message you want to tell, and some personal positive experiences from other customers.
3. Plan your calls. Segment each call if it’s a prospect, cold call, close, follow up, or existing customers. Each segment needs different approach and phone selling tactic.
4. Follow up. Don’t expect to make a sale after just one selling session. It takes time and persistence to win a customer. Remember, you’re not the only one pursuing that customer so take time to call again on the date agreed by both parties.

When starting a business, will you imitate the leading brand or do things your own way? While the latter is the typical answer, Marty Nemko of Kplinger.com says it’s better to replicate than innovate:

Being a guinea pig is so risky: Your idea or its execution could easily be flawed, or it can be so new that the public isn’t ready for it. Tivo, an unquestionable improvement over the VCR, lost hundreds of millions of dollars in its first five years as it tried to educate the public. You probably don’t have hundreds of millions of dollars and five years to wait for profitability.

Although our main goal is to differentiate our brand from competition, some situations justify the need for imitation:

1. Benchmarking or adopting best practices from another industry
2. When a particular feature, process, or service is considered a standard in your chosen industry. If these are not available then your business will not be considered at par with the leading players.

However, there are certain limits to imitation such as:

1. Using a confusingly similar brand name, trademark logo or colors.
2. Copying the content from your competitors’ websites, marketing brochures, sales letters, and other marketing materials.

Tired of spending countless hours surfing the Internet and looking for best marketing lessons suitable for your small business? Don’t worry! We’re compiling the most relevant marketing articles and news that will guide your small business towards success. Today, there are 7 marketing tips you may want to read:

1. Ageless Marketing offers a comprehensive guide on how an understanding of the seasons of life can make you a more effective marketer.

2. Branding Autopsy explains why the notion “to get a customer, a marketer must be willing to lose a customer” is one of the most important lessons he learned.

3. For online entrepreneurs interested of hiring SEO experts, Scott Buresh of The Post Chronicle offers a good advice – for your search engine optimization campaign to be truly successful, a search engine optimization company must understand your business, products and services enough that it can accurately promote them on the Internet.

4. Understand why Branding Blog doesn’t believe in low rent strategy.

5. Testimonials are great, if you know how to do it properly. Guerilla Consulting explains the trouble with testimonials and how you can avoid it.

6. A new marketing study by the University of Missouri-Columbia reveals it’s a customer’s loyalty toward the salesperson – rather than the products and services tied closely to the seller – that can inspire greater sales. However, this loyalty can make your business more vulnerable.

7. Running an online business? You should watch this insightful video loaded with important online statistics to help you understand the internet better.

Many of us are familiar with promotional items. These are free stuffs like pens or shirts bearing a company logo given to consumers or business partners. Some entrepreneurs don’t believe it is effective but a recent study (pdf file) conducted by Promotional Products Association International shows the positive impact of promo products to brand and company image:

Promotional Products have a positive impact on brand image. Specifically, when comparing people who receive a promotional product from a company with others who do not, this research shows that people who receive a promotional product have a significantly more positive opinion about a business through more positive overall image, more positive perception of the business, higher likelihood of recommending the business, and higher likelihood of patronization

Before you employ this method in your business, you should know the reasons behind your giveaways. Is it to increase sales, encourage trials, build brand or company identity, or generate new leads?

This important question will lead you to the right direction and right approach towards your customers. Otherwise, it would result to a complete failure, similar to what happened to Pontiac/Oprah giveaway 2 years ago.

You’re probably wondering what promo items are best for your business. It would greatly help if there is a strong connection between your brand and promo items. Knowledge of your target market will play a large part in this tactic.

For instance, your business is connected with helping other people earn money online. You should give away free information products like e-books or videos on different tips to increase traffic or improve conversion.

If you’re a big fan of any sports like basketball, baseball, football or soccer, why don’t you build a business around it? Your passion will be a major motivating factor but can also be your very weakness. Make sure you scan the market first before investing. Here are some of the business ideas you can build around your favorite sports:

Sports camp

Every summer many parents enroll their children in different sports camps or clinics to enhance their skills and boost self-confidence. Minimum startup cost is about $10,000 to pay for accommodations, equipment, marketing campaign, salary, and a possible endorsement by a local sports celebrity in your town or city.

Designing and Printing Team Uniforms

If you pay particular attention to team uniforms instead of the actual game, why not start selling and designing uniforms to different teams in schools or companies. You can pattern the logos on your favorite teams and subcontract the actual printing on the clothes if you are afraid to invest initially. Minimum cash outlay is about $2,000.

Sports Coaching

Some play on the field while others with their minds. If you have experience as a coach of any sports, it is feasible to offer a one-on-one service both to starting athletes and aspiring coaches. You can also run monthly seminars if you prefer dealing with many clients.

Even if your business is not connected with sports, sponsoring sports activities can help increase awareness about your company and possibly reap additional revenues.

Would it be nice if we can promote our business and contribute to the society at the same time? Cause marketing logo design is a not a new concept but many entrepreneurs have a misconception that this is only applicable to big companies.

They say a good deed is often rewarded. In the case of cause marketing, it can boost your company image and make your customers feel better about themselves. According to a new research,

The perception that a company is doing good raised the premium consumers are willing to pay for a brand by an average of 6.1 percent.

Among survey respondents, 70 percent said purchasing products from companies that support causes makes them feel they are being socially responsible. Fifty-three percent said the connection makes them feel like a part of something beyond the scope of their own lives.

In case you are interested to integrate this approach in your small business, here are some things you should consider:

1. It needs passion and commitment. This step can be very risky if you simply want to increase your revenues. Choose a charity that is close to your heart and take time to know more about this group before you implement this strategy.
2. Deal with the right charitable group. You should also check the credibility of your chosen institution. Unfortunately, there are numerous swindlers who use charity as their front. Also, make sure the organizers are equally willing to promote your company as well.

Tired of spending countless hours surfing the Internet and looking for marketing logo lessons suitable for your small business? Don’t worry! We’re compiling the most relevant articles and news that will help your business succeed without wasting your precious time. Today, there are 10 marketing tips you may want to apply in your business.

1. The Trump Blog exposes the core of entrepreneurial success and it’s about finding a fit between you and your business idea.
2. Roger Dooley of Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog gives us 5 keys to selling to tightwads or customers who resist spending money even when the expense is reasonable and perhaps justified.
3. Learn about the two gynormous mistakes when it comes to marketing to women at WonderBranding.com.
4. Neuromarketing highlights the smart marketing move by Endless.com from “Free Shipping” incentive to offer “Negative $5 Shipping.”You may want to try this approach.
5. Paul William of Daily Fix elaborates why it is important to calibrate the meaning of “service” in your small business.
6. Fan of Seinfeld? Do you know that there are 7 marketing lessons you can learn from this sitcom? Download your free pdf copy of Seinfeld in Marketing now.
7. Brand Curve recommends that you research your brand name before you launch it. It will definitely save you money in the long run.
8. Richard Watson of Fast Company believes there are five trends that will transform the society – globalization, localization, polarization, anxiety, and search for meaning.
9. Jeffrey Phillips of Innovate on Purpose reminds us to always check our business assumptions regularly and never take them for granted.
10. Do you want to distinguish yourself? Rajesh Setty of Life Beyond Code says we should increase our capacity to increase capacity of others.

Not all entrepreneurs can get that much-coveted media coverage. It takes a lot of promotional efforts like press releases and other ads to finally ignite the curiosity of the media to highlight your company. And if you did manage to get their attention, your popularity might only last for a few days. Luckily, there are some practical ways to sustain your popularity, such as:

1. If you are featured in leading magazines or newspapers, you can photocopy that article and attach it in your brochures and other printed marketing materials. This will help build your reputation to your new and existing customers.
2. If you are featured in leading online publications like Entrepreneur.com or Inc.com, you should create a link in your website pointing to these sites. You should also include a “Press” or “Media” section in your site to save all your press releases, interviews, and media kit for interested parties. This will create a long-term impact as every new visitor has a chance to read the articles about your company.
3. Frame it. If you have an offline store, it would be better if you can frame a copy of your article for your visitors to see. In case you had a TV interview, you can also play it from time to time. This is a very common practice among restaurants.
4. Talk about it. As they say, talk is cheap. You can mention it to your key customers, suppliers, business partners, and even personal friends. Don’t forget to bring it up in as many conversations as possible.

However, you should be careful in dealing with these media companies. Startup Spark has cited about a new scam from a company called Platinum Television Group. Read more about building media empires.

Customer service has transcended from a mere support to become a very important function in every business, irrespective of size and industry. In fact, CNN Money reports that mid-size companies believe this is now a competitive differentiator to fuel growth.

However, there are still many entrepreneurs who do not appreciate the value of this service and continue to commit the 8 common mistakes that will eventually undermine their business performance. These include:

1. Failure to fulfill your promises. Once a commitment is made there must no excuses or apologies.
2. Lack of flexibility. Saying “that’s our policy” is one of the quickest ways to lose a customer. You should explore all possibilities to meet the demands of your customers, even if you have to bend some rules from time to time.
3. Selling substandard products. If you can’t bridge your product claims with actual experience then there is no sense continuing your business.
4. Not accessible to customers most of the time. If customers find it difficult to contact your customer service then don’t feel bad if they switch to your competitors right away.
5. Lack of training. As they say, winning is a habit and so is losing. If you have lousy customer service agents, don’t expect any miracle that they will improve without any effort at all.
6. Lack of proper manners. Basic customer service protocols like greeting your customers and saying “thanks”, “sorry”, and “please” do matter to most customers.
7. Inaccuracy. Misspelled names and wrong contact information can bog down your customer service and might vex even your loyal customers.
8. Ignoring complaints. Some customer service agents like to jot down complaints but don’t really act on it until a customer makes a follow up.

Despite the growing popularity of online advertising, some entrepreneurs still rely heavily on print ads given the nature of their business or target market. Whether you’re advertising on newspapers or magazines, here are some tips you should consider when doing your print ads in general:

1. Ask the publications for a media kit. This contains important info such as rates, sizes, readership, and profile of readers to validate if this is the right medium for you.
2. Use captivating headline. Similar with the Internet, magazines and newspapers are both cluttered with ads from different companies. Use the 10 surefire headlines formula that work as your reference.
3. Highlight you key benefits over competition and prove it. Cite some useful testimonials from your customers or statistics to back up your claims.
4. Motivate readers to take action. Give them a reason to act now such as discounts, bonus, freebies, or limited offers.
5. A pretty face can turn your readers away. GrokDotCom has a very interesting heatmap research about using pretty models in your ads. Although it used an online ad for the test, the lesson is still relevant for print ads.

Business intelligence is about gathering information on current market situations, upcoming trends, and competitor activities. If you think this applies only to big companies, think again. A new survey has revealed that poor intelligence results to substantial losses:

58% of surveyed business executives admit that business opportunities have been missed or problems have not been spotted as a result of not having access to relevant information at the right time;

The survey indicates that the Fortune 500 companies are losing approximately $250 million per year in missed business opportunities as a result of inadequate business intelligence.

You may not lose thousands or millions of dollars but the point is you will lose lucrative opportunities and might not stay on top if you don’t take business intelligence seriously. The good news is you don’t need to spend too much money on this, if you apply the following tips:

1. Check your competitors’ websites. Most businesses now do have websites and that is a rich source of competitive information. Important sections include “About Us”, “Press Releases”, and “Products or Services”. Don’t forget to check the profile and competencies of its founders or co-founders to gauge how well they know the market.
2. Internet research. A simple Google search will give you tons of information about the market trends and financial data of your publicly traded competitors. If you are looking for annual reports and financial info, check out Yahoo! Finance and SEC Filings & Forms (EDGAR). Also talk to your accountant about any information that they might share with you.
3. Use your network. If you have friends or professional colleagues connected in your industry, why not give them a call or set an informal meeting? This is your chance to collect info not commonly available in websites like hearsays or daily operations.

In this game called business, information is power. The more we know, the better our chance of surviving this competitive venture. We should exert extra effort to know what our competitors are doing. At the same time, we should learn to protect our startup idea.

A good way to handle information is to go on stealth mode or under the radar. This is a popular strategy commonly used many internet developers because of some proprietary technology involved. Still, this is also effective across business sectors as proven in the recent price cut by Wal-Mart. Stealth mode is appropriate for the following situations:

1. If you want to surprise your competitors with a new product or service
2. When you’re first in the market for a particular product or service
3. When you need time to develop a new system or technology to make your product or service work
4. If you want to create a mystery or buzz around your product.

Keeping quiet is just the starting point of stealth mode. You should impose utmost secrecy all the time. Here are the common tactics used by many software developers:

1. Limit media access to employees, particularly those involved in your stealth project.
2. Ask employees, suppliers, customers, and even some VCs to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to hold them liable in case they share any information to the public or media.
3. Keep all information and materials in a very secure place with only a few people having authorized access.

Some of the best business ideas started from gut feel and luck. In this very competitive period, however, we should go one step further to validate if there’s really a profitable market for our ideas. It’s time to do your market research.

Some of you may be a bit apprehensive about market research because it is commonly perceived as an expensive method. Don’t worry for there are economical ways to collect info without sacrificing quality. Check out the tips below:

1. Use Phonebooks and Online Directories. If you want to know how many businesses are competing in your chosen field, you can easily check phonebooks in your library and surf online directories like YellowPages.com.
2. Get in touch with local associations. These groups offer a great deal of information such as market trends, size of the market, unmet needs, best practices, and industry events. Although some require membership fees, you should not hesitate to invest in this group. This will also be a big help in different stages of your business from finding reliable suppliers to grabbing bigger opportunities.
3. Partner with a business research center in your area. If you have extra money but strongly feel you’re not qualified enough to do the research yourself, there are many facilities, usually connected with libraries, offering comprehensive yet inexpensive research services. Go to your nearest library and borrow this book Internet-Plus Directory of Express Library Services: Research and Document Delivery for Hire to find the nearest center.

We have this popular dictum that excellent salespeople are made, not born. In reality, it is easier said than done. Some of us come from different technical backgrounds and don’t have much experience in selling. Others are introvert by nature and might not have good people skills.

Although there are many selling tactics and exercises to help us become effective sales person, it is very important that we change our attitude first before anything else. Otherwise, all these trainings and lessons will not work. Some of the things we need to improve on include:

1. Patience. Selling is similar to a tree for it takes time to grow. We can’t be very successful salespeople overnight. We should be patient to learn each lesson and not too eager to get ahead.
2. Hard work and persistence. Don’t believe those e-books claiming they know the 150 powerful secrets to closing sales in less than 5 minutes. There are no secrets at all. What we have are basic selling strategies, practice, practice, and a lot more practice. You have to rely on hard work and persistence if you want to be effective.
3. Being objective all the time. A good salesperson should always be open to suggestions and criticisms from other people. You should not blindly believe your product is effective even if your customers are saying it’s not.

Sometimes, having a good customer service might not be enough to encourage customer loyalty. It is important to deliver consistent customer service. Consistency is one of the essential ingredients of success, regardless if you want to lose weight, attract more customers, or achieve any goals. As entrepreneurs, here are 5 things we can do to make sure we’re consistently providing excellent customer service:

1. Make your employees as important as your customers. Remember this magic formula: happy employees = happy customers. Since they deal with your customers directly you need to make sure they are satisfied first.
2. Commend and reward your consistent customer service agents. You should also check with your employees what rewards are enticing to them. It need not be expensive as long as you show your concern to their well-being.
3. Consistently train your agents to improve their skills. Preparing your agents to react to worse-case scenarios will also prevent potential major problems from occurring.
4. Talk with your employees regularly. Fifteen-minute daily meetings can help you solicit suggestions for improvements and foster relationship among employees.
5. Turn your employees into friends. Hopefully they will turn customers into friends as well.

One of the many ways to grow your business is to cater to a new demographic. It can be from one age group to another or from male to female market and vice versa. While a number of entrepreneurs rely on gut instinct when expanding their businesses, consider careful planning. Below are the things you should consider:

1. Is there a Market? Validate if this new market really needs your products or if it’s just a faulty assumption. Do a simple survey and if you have the capital, consult with a research agency.
2. Consult Your Existing Customers. Even if there is a profitable market, consider seeking the opinion of your key customers. Adding a new market means there is a possibility that you will tweak or even revise your entire marketing plan. These changes might irk your loyal customers and force them to shift to your competitors, if for some reason you eliminate your core offerings.
3. Create a New Brand. If there is no strong connection between your existing market and your new target market, it is a lot safer to create a new brand. For instance, Lexus is the luxury vehicle line owned by Toyota. Still, you should always be aware of your branding limits.

Even if you’re managing your small business efficiently, there might be instances wherein you face negative publicity. It might come from an irate customer or from your not-so-friendly competitor. These things can easily damage your business reputation, shatter relationships with your customers, and affect your profitability. Here what you should do in these situations:

Keep it Cool

Although it’s more easily said than done, you should try to keep your cool and analyze the situation objectively. Don’t be compelled to answer right away for it might further damage your business. You may want to check the information reported for any inaccuracy or false claims.

Talk to the Source

Contact the writer or editor if you find any inconsistent information in the report. Most writers are very open to reactions from the other party to complete the picture. If your point is valid, they will issue a correction right away. If they stick to their article, you can go to their direct media competitor and share your story. I’m quite sure this competitor will be very delighted.

Issue Your Official Statement

They say silence means yes, so you should clarify to the public what needs to be clarified. Send your press release to different sites and also email all customers in your list. Aside from stating the facts, try to make it more personal and heartfelt to win your customers back.

Having problems increasing your online sales? You might have thousands of website visitors and great article content but for some reason you can’t convert them to buy. It basically tells you that there might be something wrong with what you are doing right now. Here are some pointers you may want to look into:

1. Use High Quality Images

It’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Since there is no way for your online visitors to touch and test your products, using high quality photos will somehow make your products look real. Don’t just put any photo you have for it may damage your image. Try using professional photos to create credibility. If you want to use background photos, you can get free and low-priced high quality images at sites like Stockvault.net and SXC.hu.

2. Limit the Options

While it is good to offer numerous products on your website, you should limit the number of products to display per page and add more information – such as key benefits, shipping options, and answers to common questions. Too many choices can be intimidating and/or confusing, so some customers end up not buying.

3. Problem Comes Before the Solution

Try to establish a relationship first and hard-sell your products. Online visitors love to shop for free information related to their problems. Try to connect with them by giving away information and sharing your experiences or even stories from loyal customers.

Ever wonder why many families refer to Disneyland as “The Happiest Place on Earth”? Underneath this enchanting place, where fairy tales are real and many childhood dreams come alive, are some hidden treasures for entrepreneurs. If you have a chance, try to visit Disneyland and observe how they operate. Before the day ends, you will learn these things:

1. Find Your Passion. From Walt Disney’s simple ambition to make great cartoons, it expanded to Disney movies and theme parks. As they say, if you love what you’re doing, you don’t have to work for the rest of your life. In case your business is not your passion, Lifehack has an insightful guide on how to enjoy what you are doing no matter what.
2. Embrace technology. From silent short films in the 1920s to digitally-enhanced movies today, The Walt Disney Company constantly anticipates and adapts cutting edge technologies to their business.
3. Create Magical Moments. Give your beloved customers the fairy tale experience they deserve by giving them Disney style customer service – exceeding their expectations and being more responsive to their needs.

Blurbs, client testimonials, and quotes are a great way to promote yourself or your book as you let the clients and readers do the talking. No worries about sounding like a braggart. But there are good, bad, and tricky testimonials.

“This is a great book!”

“Joe did an excellent job on the project!”

Do these tell you anything? These are empty and generic quotes. Here’s one that’s an example of a tricky testimonial, but you wouldn’t know it:

“Jane is very reliable.”

This tells part of the story. The rest of the story… “Jane is very reliable in arriving late for work every day.” Makes it easy for someone who didn’t like the person’s work to avoid saying something bad. But in most cases, the employee wouldn’t use such a person as a referral.

When reading book reviews in Amazon or elsewhere, you can tell which ones might be friends of the author’s. They’re short and empty. They tell you nothing about the book. It’s better not to have a testimonial than one like this. What if a big name wrote this kind of blurb? The blurb is useless in terms of convincing you to buy the book, but the author’s association with the person could convince some people to buy it (that old “It’s who you know.”).

When asking for a testimonial after the person agreed to supply one, ask the person to answer this results-oriented question and the testimonial will more likely be valuable.

“What has [product or service] helped you achieve?”

Or, if it’s too soon to know the answer to this, ask for a testimonial about the process of working with the company. How well they did in meeting deadlines, how well they did meeting requirements, and so on.

You can make your testimonials more credible if you include one that’s not positive. Why would you want to include that? It shows you’re honest and human. But why would we want to show our weaknesses? Everyone has weak areas and we might as well as be up front about them and earn credibility points.

About the author

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies build relationships with clients and prospects through content.

Some entrepreneurs say that success is relative. Some small businesses are after market share while others focus more on profitability. Regardless of what your business objectives are, here are 3 helpful tips for succeeding in your endeavors.

Be Water My Friend

You should try to be flexible with your strategies and general direction of your business. If what you’re currently doing doesn’t seem to work, try another way. Learn how to react to new opportunities and adapt to future trends. In the words of the late martial artist, Bruce Lee:

Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Love Thy Employees

Don’t be like one of those rotten leaders who treat employees as slaves. There are different ways to instill a sense of ownership to all your employees such as having an employee recognition program or sharing a stake in your company through Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). However, make sure you pay attention to your hiring policies to get those passionate and highly qualified employees.

Choose Your Customers Wisely

Don’t be a one-size-fits-all business to satisfy all people. Instead, take time to find your niche and learn more about your target customers. It’s all about your customers, so offer something they want and not what you want.

Despite the technological advances in terms of business networking, the use of business cards remains relevant until now. Aside from being practical, compact, and easy to carry, it is also loaded with important info about you and your company. You can check out samples of our stationery design as a reference. Here are some tips to help you maximize the use of your business cards:

1. Always bring your business card. Some entrepreneurs leave their business cards at their office or don’t carry one if they don’t have any meetings or conferences. Try to keep at least 10 cards within your reach because you never know when you’ll meet new prospects, alternate suppliers, or other entrepreneurs. Also, don’t wait for your card to run out before ordering another batch.
2. Attach your business card in every communication. Even if you are not meeting other people, you can still share your business card by attaching it with your thank-you cards, correspondences, holiday greetings, project quotations, and newsletters. You can also leave it at the restaurants, hotels, and other business establishments.
3. Write something. A number of business cards end up in trash cans for many reasons. You can minimize this by writing something on your card such as your alternate e-mail address or mobile number. This will add some personal touch in your business card.




]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-tips-on-using-your-business-cards/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/practical-tips-to-help-your-business-stay-on-top http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/practical-tips-to-help-your-business-stay-on-top#comments Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:00:37 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/practical-tips-to-help-your-business-stay-on-top



Many entrepreneurs dream that someday their business will be the number 1 player in its industry. But once you reach that much-coveted position in the market, a bigger challenge now is how to stay on top as long as possible.

One key strategy to maintain your strong position is to make sure you have relevant products all the time. You should constantly check every product line you’re selling and observe if there’s any downward trend. The bottom line is you introduce new products and manage the graceful exit of your obsolete products. Here are some tactics to ensure your relevance:

Monitor technology changes

New inventions or improvements might render your product truly useless. Classic examples include the obsolescence of the typewriter because of PCs, pagers due to SMS or text messaging, and someday possibly snail mail because of email. That’s why it is very important that you understand how technology will affect the future of your business.

Suggested activities include reading journals related to your industry and regular online research. It would help greatly if you can keep an eye on what changes might be in the pipeline of your customers lives.

Pay Attention to Changing Market Trends

As they say, nothing is constant but change. The buying behavior and preferences of our customers also change for a lot of reasons and you should be one step ahead to make your products really relevant. If you are in the fashion industry, for instance, you should know the 2007 fall trends many months ahead of time so that you can offer products customers will be dying to buy come time. The website TrendHunter.com is very useful for this task.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/practical-tips-to-help-your-business-stay-on-top/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/basic-design-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-online-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/basic-design-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-online-business#comments Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:00:49 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/basic-design-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-online-business



Setting up an online business is affordable and easy. You don’t need to learn the technical stuff (although it helps) like HTML advanced coding or programming. In some cases, you don’t even need your own product to sell because there are many affiliate programs like Clickbank and Commission Junction. (Sign up if you qualify, then use a chunk of code with your tracking ID, and you can sell their merchants’ products on your site.)

The main problem now is how to design your website to attract your online customers. The term design sometimes deludes many entrepreneurs to focus on creativity alone. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Here are some of the common design blunders that may affect your online business:

No General Outline

Some entrepreneurs set up websites without knowing its importance or connection to their small business. You should have a clear purpose for putting up the website. Some use it as a support to motivate customers to visit their brick-and-mortar business while others rely on the website itself as the main source of income. This will greatly help you create an appropriate design and publish suitable content.

Too Techie

With thousands of cool fonts, eye-catching colors, and flashy web templates and flash logos, there is no limit to your creativity. However, it is not just about you and your likes but your dear customers. These things, while very creative, will often distract your online customers from reading your product offerings. Keep things simple yet effective.

Simple Things Matter

In our effort to come up with an attractive site, we might forget the basic elements such as use of the back button, posting contact information, not checking broken links, and failure to update our website regularly. Learn what customers are searching for in a website. Also, find out from BloggingStocks what you can learn from iPod about killer designs and gather insights from our Logo Design Blog.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/basic-design-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-online-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-differentiate-your-company-in-4-easy-steps http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-differentiate-your-company-in-4-easy-steps#comments Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:00:16 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/how-to-differentiate-your-company-in-4-easy-steps



If you talk with your customers and ask them what sets your company apart from your fierce competitors, do you think they can tell the difference? If not, you should try to differentiate your business. Mavenblog expounds on how to make your company unique in terms of price, focus, product/service, and customer service. As a supplement, included below are the 4 easy steps you can implement in your business:

Step 1. Know Your Enemies

Differentiation is worthless if you don’t have a standard to compare with. You should gather all info about your direct and indirect competitors, like marketing materials, web content, prices, press releases, and even financial statements if available. This will help you find the chink in their armors and dodge their strong points at the same time.

Step 2. Look in the Mirror

Find out if you have something to offer that your competitors can’t. If you have, make a list of these things and proceed to step 3. If not, you will need to make some adjustments to be unique. Use the weaknesses of your competitors as your guide towards differentiation.

Step 3. Hype the Difference

Create compelling marketing campaigns anchored on your uniqueness and its benefits to all your customers. Consistency is vital to your success here, so make sure your all your initiatives are always well connected.

Step 4. Be True to Your Word

Don’t just say it, prove it! A clever marketing strategy can lure customers to trust your company and try your products. If there is a wide gap between your promise and performance, all your efforts will be wasted. Do your utmost to delight every customer.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-differentiate-your-company-in-4-easy-steps/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/do-you-really-need-2-sales-teams-in-your-small-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/do-you-really-need-2-sales-teams-in-your-small-business#comments Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:00:52 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/do-you-really-need-2-sales-teams-in-your-small-business



When it comes to selling, some entrepreneurs have an ongoing debate about which is generally better: on the phone or in the field? Although selling’s importance varies from industry to industry, some business experts recommend that you don’t choose which method is better. Rather, you should use both to have better sales performance.

Field Team

The field team are your good old traditional salespeople who visit your clients. The advantage of this team is its power to build more personal relationship. Also, a face-to-face communication motivates customers to share more details about their preferences and complaints.

Inside Team

Your inside sales team is composed of contact center agents who spend countless hours over the phone to close a deal and generate new leads for prospecting. Generally, this team is relatively cheaper because you can sometimes outsource the work to contact centers in various countries. In some cases, your inside sales team can also be your customer service team.

Integration

You should pay attention on how to seamlessly integrate both teams so they work optimally. Some helpful activities include weekly coordination meetings, setting of shared goals, sharing of information and best practices. When it comes to motivating your sales team, check out Biz Plan Hack’s advice.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/do-you-really-need-2-sales-teams-in-your-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/10-effective-tactics-to-build-your-startup-e-mail-list http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/10-effective-tactics-to-build-your-startup-e-mail-list#comments Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:00:31 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/10-effective-tactics-to-build-your-startup-e-mail-list



Having a comprehensive e-mail list is one of the key challenges faced by many startup businesses. This list will help you promote your products or services in a very practical way and kick off your prospecting initiatives. Here are some basic tips you can apply without spending too much money:

Online Tactics

1. Include a sign-up form on every page of your website and place it where online visitors can easily see.

2. Use a call to action to motivate online visitors to sign up. Support it with freebies or coupons.
3. Add an “Email to Friends” option with every interesting article and press release you post on your website.
4. Make the subscription link a part of your email signature and ask all your employees, family members, and friends to add the link to their email signatures as well.
5. Submit articles and press releases to several online article and PR directories and include the subscription link at the footer.

Offline Tactics

6. Put a subscribe link in your invoices and receipts.

7. Gather email addresses during trade shows.
8. If you have the postal address of your existing customers, send a card or catalog and request to join the e-mail list to get more interesting information and big discounts.
9. If you are running tri-media ads (TV, radio, and print), prompt your customers to visit your website and subscribe.
10. If you have extra money, conduct a free enriching seminar and the only entrance fee is an email address.

According to MavenBlog, having a database is just one of the 7 fundamental must-do’s of a small business marketing strategy. Read the other 6 to complete your strategy.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/10-effective-tactics-to-build-your-startup-e-mail-list/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-network-online http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-network-online#comments Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:05:27 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/how-to-network-online



The online world made it possible for me to become a full-time freelancer. All of my clients come from outside of my home state. Here are examples of where I met clients and people online:

Through blogs (especially in earlier days). We bloggers left comments or sent emails to each other. Over time, we learned about each other and became friends.

Through an interview. I found the client because I interviewed (by email, of course) a co-worker of his who connected us.

Through referrals. Two other clients come from referrals from someone I met on the Internet – one through his blog and the other from working on a Web site together. An online networking group, also brought in more clients and friends.

Through searches. One gig came from the editor’s using the search engine to find me. He did a great job because my experience fit well with what he needed.

Obviously, the Internet offers many routes for meeting people and finding gigs (emphasis on gigs as the chance of finding a full-time job is only about 8% as reported in a career-related column). The following lists ways to meet others online:

• Blogs: Leave a comment and link to another person’s entry from yours.
• Forums and email mailing groups: Join discussions.
• Email newsletters: As an editor, I respond to all reader emails and survey feedback.
• Online groups: Mailing list and forum discussions.
• Web site: One that’s content-rich and frequently updated (this is where a blog or blogging-tool can help).
• Emails: Contacting people. Compliment a writer on an article. Congratulate a business on a recent success.
• Articles: One of my first freelance gigs came from a guy who contacted me based on an article I wrote. There, I met another editor and we recently connected and helped each other.
• Chats: You might attend a chat where there’s a guest. Usually chats are secondary — meaning you meet the person some other way before you talk in instant messenger.

You never know who you’ll meet through the Internet. Interact with the virtual world — you never know who you meet.

About the author

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies build relationships with clients and prospects through content.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-network-online/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/2-simple-ideas-to-help-entrepreneurs-convince-customers http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/2-simple-ideas-to-help-entrepreneurs-convince-customers#comments Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:00:41 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/2-simple-ideas-to-help-entrepreneurs-convince-customers



There are numerous ways to convince your customers to patronize your products. When dealing with your online and offline customers, what you say is as important as how you say it. For instance, Landing the Deal talks about using the hypothetical situation technique to persuade someone to do what you want them to do. Below are other different techniques you can combine to convince your dear customers:

Storytelling

We talked about storytelling recently and how our minds are conditioned to be easily stimulated with a good story. When dealing with your prospective customers try to share some real success stories and if possible show some testimonials from these people. You might also set up a bulletin board of testimonials in your office and on your website.

Scarcity

Our fear of losing something is a very good motivator. Use deadlines and that classic yet powerful phrase “limited offer only”. A common mistake made by some entrepreneurs is not going all the way with this approach. You should make your threat credible to your customers by either increasing the price of your product or pulling it out of the market temporarily. You can always have a come back in a “due to insistent public demand” approach.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/2-simple-ideas-to-help-entrepreneurs-convince-customers/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/ready-for-a-green-startup http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/ready-for-a-green-startup#comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:00:20 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/ready-for-a-green-startup



Green is the buzzword in the business world today. It is not enough that businesses satisfy customers; it should be done in a clean, sustainable, or environmental way. Big players are aggressively promoting this cause-worthy strategy but it doesn’t mean our small businesses can’t compete in that category.

The recent passing of Anita Roddick, Body Shop founder and prime advocate of environmentalism, should serve as an inspiration to all entrepreneurs. Her business started from a small store with only 15 product lines and grew into what it is today. Here’s a simple guide to start a green business:



Choose a Niche Product

Green business is not limited to cosmetics and foods, although they represent the chunk of the market. Other categories include eco-friendly blankets, baby products, vitamins, or books. Visit some of the credible suppliers in the following sites:

• GreenPeople.org
• Global Sources
• Alibaba.com

Following the advice from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you should seek first to understand, then to be understood. That’s why it is important that you know well your chosen niche product. Bootstrapper offers a comprehensive green entrepreneur’s toolbox containing 100 networking resources, guides, and links.



Practice What You Preach

It is very hard to convince your employees and customers to support green products if you don’t apply it to yourself. You are your business’ best endorser during the initial stage of this venture. It can be simple “green acts” like using recycled papers and other eco-friendly materials.



Capitalize on Word of Mouth

Eco-friendly products are strongly driven by word-of-mouth advertising so you should delight all your customers and motivate them to your very credible and highly active sales force.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/ready-for-a-green-startup/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/a-business-lesson-from-iphone http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/a-business-lesson-from-iphone#comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:30:30 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/a-business-lesson-from-iphone



What will you do after creating a massive marketing buzz and successfully launching a new product? For many entrepreneurs, we’ll say time to reap what we sow. Not for Apple. Two months after launching the ultra cool and revolutionary iPhone, they reduced the selling price by $200! While many investors reacted negatively, some business analysts believe there was wisdom in that move. MarketingBlurb says this price cut has far reaching effects.

Welcome to price-cutting strategy 101. It’s not an insane idea, only unconventional. In fact, it is proven effective for some established brands. However, this strategy is not advisable for startups. The value of this post is to give you a preview about the different strategies available to your competitors. There are two reasons why a company should employ this strategy:



Defensive strategy

Reducing your price increases barrier to entry, logically making the lives of startups more difficult and less profitable. Most startups base their pricing strategies on the current market price of leading brands. It means any significant drop in market price prompts a new player to look for a cheaper supplier, delay development, and suffer losses. Given this situation, many entrepreneurs will simply back out.



Expand the Market

Sometimes a price cut is aimed to increase usage or expand the market. Some experts think this is the reason why iPhone called that shot. The new price will attract more buyers and encourage other mobile users to switch to iPhone. However, this is an open declaration of price war. Apple is not worried because they have a very strong brand anyway.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/a-business-lesson-from-iphone/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/emotional-marketing-tactics-for-your-small-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/emotional-marketing-tactics-for-your-small-business#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:30:04 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/emotional-marketing-tactics-for-your-small-business



An interesting news came up yesterday and it’s about Wal-Mart’s decision to drop its tagline “Always Low Prices” and adopt a new one, “Save Money. Live Better”. The retailing giant wants to deliver a more emotional brand message instead of highlighting its price advantage.

You see, even big companies are shifting away from using price and focusing more on relationship or emotional marketing. Why? Because some studies conclude that emotions excites our minds 3000 times faster than any logical arguments! More importantly, relationships are built through emotions. You may want to try some of the tactics below to make your business more heart-warming:

Highlight the Benefits

Whether you’re talking to a customer, creating your brochure or designing your website, you should always hype up the benefits of your products and avoid focusing on the features. If you’re selling a car, for instance, don’t say it’s equipped with 220 horsepower V8 engine, front-side airbags, and anti-lock brakes. Instead, pitch about family safety and worry-free driving. If you have emotional testimonials from your customers, that will also do the trick. Include them in your brochure or websites to establish emotional connection and credibility.

Use Colors Properly

What comes to your mind when you see color green? Usually it’s money or eco-friendly logos and products. It may appear trivial but colors can trigger different emotions. Using the right color combination in your promotional materials might actually increase your sales and conversions. Visit Color Wheel Pro to know the different color meanings.

Learn how Better 4 Business applies emotional marketing and Small Business SEM’s analysis on what Apple’s marketing can teach small business.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/emotional-marketing-tactics-for-your-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-make-your-online-business-hip-and-cool http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-make-your-online-business-hip-and-cool#comments Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:30:57 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/how-to-make-your-online-business-hip-and-cool



The teen and young adult markets offer lucrative opportunities but you have to be ready against intensive competition. There is only one word to capture the essence of teen marketing – COOL. Although business experts find it hard to define coolness, brands like iPhone,YouTube, Apple, and Google exemplify the so-called “x factor”. Below are some basic tips to help your small business get that enigmatic coolness:

Go Beyond Demographics

The teen market is very tricky and many entrepreneurs made the fatal mistake of lumping together all the teens as one big target market. Inside this seemingly homogeneous market are subgroups with diverse needs and wants. The 13-year olds are very different from the 15 or 19 year olds. Decide which teen subgroup to target first and customize your marketing campaign accordingly.

Partner with Gadget and Gaming Websites

An interesting study from eMarketer advises marketing guys to take advantage of the teen proclivity for using consumer electronics and entertainment devices, and for visiting websites about gadgets and gaming.

Over two-thirds of people in this age group own PCs, DVD players, home stereos, mobile phones or handheld devices. Additionally, one-quarter own MP3 players and Internet-enabled or camera phones. But gaming presents the best opportunity for marketers who wish to reach this audience. Over 90% own a gaming device, and three-quarters play online and offline games on their PC.

Be a Teenager

See the world from a teenager’s perspective to make your content and communication approach relevant. Know what magazines and social networking websites they read, favorite movies and TV shows, celebrities they love to hate, and other activities. Try hanging out at Starbucks and you might pick up some valuable information about this market.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-make-your-online-business-hip-and-cool/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-tips-to-improve-your-companys-online-customer-service http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-tips-to-improve-your-companys-online-customer-service#comments Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:30:59 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/3-tips-to-improve-your-companys-online-customer-service



Ever wonder why your online visitors don’t come back anymore? You can drive huge traffic to your online business, but if you can’t motivate them to return and buy from you then you’re bound to lose. One major reason for this behavior is poor online customer service. Below are some simple tips you might want to use:



Write Detailed FAQs

Interested customers might have many questions in mind, so you should feed their curiosity with your FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page. Make it as detailed as possible but use simple words and images to avoid any miscommunication. You should also set a dedicated email address and possibly toll-free numbers exclusively for customer service. Using live assistance through Instant Messenger or VoIP will also help.



Add Personal Touch

Since almost everything can easily be automated, many online entrepreneurs forget the relationship aspect of selling. Talk to your online customers the way you talk to your offline customers. Show sincerity, concern, and willingness to help them solve their problems. Send personal greetings and if possible handwritten cards during birthdays and holidays.



Use Autoresponders

It would greatly help if you have an autoresponder or a software that automatically answers any e-mails sent to it. This is good for welcoming new members and notifying customers about the delivery of their shipment. However, I urge you not to rely on this technology too much. Keep it more personal.

Customer service is just one aspect of keeping your customers. Entrepreneur’s Journey has an interesting post on how to keep website visitors coming back for more.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-tips-to-improve-your-companys-online-customer-service/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/using-coupons-to-promote-your-small-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/using-coupons-to-promote-your-small-business#comments Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:00:28 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/using-coupons-to-promote-your-small-business



Ever consider using coupons to promote your business? In case you don’t know, coupons are documents or tickets that you can exchange for a discount on a particular product. Mostly, they appear in magazines, newspapers, and recently on the internet. You can check dealcatcher for sample coupons.

Marketing Blog suggests we use coupons as part of a marketing strategy because 9 out of 10 US consumers use coupons.

The upside of offering coupons can be improved branding, awareness, and transactions. Over the long-term you can see the benefits of this strategy. The downside however, if offered in an ineffective manner is that consumers get used to always using a coupon to purchase your product or service. This habit can be hard to break.

Here are some tips to help you succeed in using coupons for your small business:

• Highlight the benefits. Don’t just say big discounts, premiums, freebies, or bonuses but make your target customers realize the value of coupons: save money, look more beautiful, improve health, and other benefits.
• Use your company logo to increase brand awareness.
• Use images of product use to create desire.
• Create compelling headlines and use powerful selling words such as new, easy, simple, free, save, proven, fast, effective, and guaranteed.
• Combine with other marketing tactics such as contests or games.




]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/using-coupons-to-promote-your-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/target-audience-checklist-for-your-small-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/target-audience-checklist-for-your-small-business#comments Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:00:11 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/target-market-checklist-for-your-small-business



Having a well-defined target market or niche is the first important step towards success in your small business. Previously, we emphasized the things you should know about your customers. This time we will dig deeper and present the details of target audience segmentation. You may want to copy the following bases for segmentation:

Demographic

• Gender
• Age
• Education Level
• Monthly and Annual Income
• Occupation/Profession
• Marital Status
• Nationality
• Religion
• Social Class
• Number of children
• Family lifecycle

Geographic

• Region
• Seasonality
• Population size

Buying Behaviors

• Key benefits they are looking for
• Usage rate or how often do they buy
• Decision-making process
• Key motivators for buying
• Readiness to buy

Psychographics or Lifestyle Factors

• Attitudes (are they socially-conscious, family-oriented, fun-loving, conservative, liberal, eco-friendly logo designs, trendsetter or trend follower?)
• Activities/Hobbies
• Interests
• Opinions
• Values

While it helps if you can conduct a formal market research, you can still gather these things through customer feedback and membership to related associations or groups. You will find several groups of customers as you do this exercise. Instigator Blog suggests that the next step is to identify your best customers and create a persona to capture their essence.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/target-audience-checklist-for-your-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/what-entrepreneurs-should-know-about-their-customers http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/what-entrepreneurs-should-know-about-their-customers#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:27 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/what-entrepreneurs-should-know-about-their-customers



Gathering information about your target market is very important to assess their needs and wants. However, you should also know what information is vital in order to serve them better. Below are some things you need to find out before it’s too late:

• Demographics and Location. While you have a target market in mind, your actual customers might be different from who you intended to target in the beginning. Information includes sex, age, location, and income bracket. Compare it with your profile and probe deeper to know the underlying reasons.
• Buying motivation. Discovering what motivates prospective (and existing) customers to buy from you is crucial to finding the right customer. In most cases, customers are either buying your products to solve a problem, or to prevent a problem from happening. This is very important information that will help you create good advertising campaigns.
• Product Usage. Are they using your product aside from what it’s supposed to do? For instance, the mouthwash Listerine is also proven effective for cleaning foot problems like toenail fungus. You might be missing a lucrative segment if you don’t point and market alternate uses of your products.
]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/what-entrepreneurs-should-know-about-their-customers/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/why-entrepreneurs-should-use-storytelling-as-a-marketing-tool http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/why-entrepreneurs-should-use-storytelling-as-a-marketing-tool#comments Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:30:55 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/why-entrepreneurs-should-use-storytelling-as-a-marketing-tool



Once upon a time, an entrepreneur was very troubled because he didn’t know how to effectively communicate with his customers. He climbed the highest mountains and fought against 7 dragons in search for the secret formula. Little did he know, the answer is very simple. It’s…

storytelling

Yes, this simple childhood activity might be the missing element in your marketing campaign. Since it has been with us way back to our younger years, our minds are conditioned to be easily stimulated and interested whenever we hear a good story. More importantly, we all crave a sense of adventure, drama, and fairy tale happy ending.

Why use this to your business?

This is because reporters and customers go for great stories and marketing logos. This is a great publicity tool for your small business once you know the right elements. Here are some of the things you need to prepare to create a compelling story:

1. Anecdotes or success stories. These real life examples of how your company helped customers solve their problems.
2. Statistics. Make your stories credible by stating some facts and figures related to your business and industry.
3. Passion. If you are speaking with your customers, they should feel the passion you have for your business. Don’t focus on yourself. Do highlight the strengths of your company.

There are several element of storytelling you need to learn. Visit Story Theater to understand the Art of Storytelling in Business.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/why-entrepreneurs-should-use-storytelling-as-a-marketing-tool/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-your-startup-can-survive-price-wars http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-your-startup-can-survive-price-wars#comments Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:00:53 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/how-your-startup-can-survive-price-wars



Many business experts warn entrepreneurs not to use price as the main competitive advantage. Even if you can offer low prices, once you engage a big player in a price war, your chance of winning is nil.

A good example is the ongoing price war between online video rental sites Netflix and Blockbuster that will result in lower profitability or possible losses for both players. Even big players like Samsung lose money due to price wars. Nevertheless, the biggest winners are the customers.

So what happens when a competitor engages you in a price war? Will you fight? The answer is both yes and no. Yes, because you have to do something about this situation or you will suffer. No, because you don’t need to lower your prices to compete. Here are your options:

• Focus on building a powerful brand. Powerful brands like Nike don’t need to lower their prices even if the prices of athletic shoes went down by 50%.
• Build value-added services. Don’t just over promise to your customers but make sure you over deliver as well.
• Talk to your customers. A creative way of handling this situation is to paint a grim picture of this price war over the long haul. Tell them that if you lower your price, you will have to shut down your business. If that happens, there will be lesser options and your competitor can dictate higher prices once again.
]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-your-startup-can-survive-price-wars/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/innovation-tips-for-entrepreneurs-part-2 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/innovation-tips-for-entrepreneurs-part-2#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:00:18 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/innovation-tips-for-entrepreneurs-part-2



Most entrepreneurs find it difficult to think of innovative ideas. In the past months, we already discussed some practical innovation tips you can apply to your businesses right away. If that’s still not working, you can try the following during your next brainstorming sessions:

Utopia Technique

In the absence of a plausible term, I like to call this tip as the Utopia Technique. Utopia is defined as the perfect place. Ask yourself this question: If you can create a perfect product or service for your customers, what will it be like? This will free your mind, for a short time, from limitations like budget, patent infringements, and other technical constraints.

Vertical Thinking

When looking for fresh ideas, you can either think of vertical solutions or proven methods used by your competitors or any other businesses. There are plenty of white papers, articles, and surveys you can read over the internet for reference.

Reversal Method

If you already have an existing product or even a concept, try doing the complete opposite of what you are doing now. What you might uncover is a new market segment waiting to be exploited. Also, you can do role reversals where your marketing guy will be your R&D chief and vice versa. This will help all parties to understand the perspectives of other members.

To make this session very effective, it is very important for members to assume different roles. Visit Innovate on Purpose Blog for a list of innovation roles.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/innovation-tips-for-entrepreneurs-part-2/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/learn-the-new-business-approach-towards-customer-service http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/learn-the-new-business-approach-towards-customer-service#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:00:29 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/learn-the-new-business-approach-towards-customer-service



Many small businesses consider excellent customer service as their main competitive edge to convert the neglected customers of the big players. Despite the importance of this function, many entrepreneurs are still baffled about the right training for their customer service agents.

The good news is that a new study published at Strategy+Business has discovered the subtle signs [requires free registration] to be aware of that will help boost the effectiveness of your customer service operators:

Successful operators, it turned out, speak little and listen much. When they do speak, their voices fluctuate strongly in amplitude and pitch, suggesting interest and responsiveness to the customer’s needs. Operators who speak with little variation come across as too determined and authoritative, but by speaking invitingly, being responsive but not pushy, a skilled operator can let callers find their own way to a sale. “Like a mother speaking singsong to a baby,” says Pentland.

It means we should take a holistic approach with regard to our customer service. Too often we are busy with “major” activities, such as writing the best script for our agents or crafting wonderful loyalty programs. Unknown to us, we can achieve victory in small ways like adjusting the tone of our voice and taking time to really listen.

Via Business Pundit

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/learn-the-new-business-approach-towards-customer-service/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/expanding-your-small-business-through-cross-marketing http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/expanding-your-small-business-through-cross-marketing#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:00:10 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/expanding-your-small-business-through-cross-marketing



Expanding your business is a major step towards sustain the life of your business. However, there are many barriers towards expansion. You might find yourself lacking in terms of financial resources or the appropriate business skills. On these occasions, you may want to engage in a strategic alliance.

Yes, you heard it right. Don’t be afraid of this corporate jargon, for it can potentially save your business. In basic terms, strategic alliance is any agreement between 2 companies to share their resources for the purpose of generating more revenues.

Don’t think that because you have a small business doesn’t mean you can’t enter in strategic alliances. One possible type of alliance you can explore is called Cross-Marketing. This refers to a partnership with unrelated businesses serving the same target market to generate sales or increase awareness. For instance, a starting marketing consultant might want to partner with a local magazine targeting entrepreneurs. Under the cross-marketing agreement, the consultant must write marketing-related articles weekly for the magazine readers for free.

You might wonder about the benefits of this set up. For the magazine publisher, this means more high quality articles to entice readers to subscribe. The best part is it doesn’t need to pay the marketing consultant! On the side of the marketing consultant, the benefits to him are exposure to build his credibility and free advertisement. As the subscribers grow, the consultant can get more referrals. The latest live example of cross-marketing is the partnership between Apple and Starbucks to sell music through retail stores.

Aside from strategic alliances, Integrity Business Blog lists other ways to expand your business.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/expanding-your-small-business-through-cross-marketing/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-protect-your-business-against-competitors http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-protect-your-business-against-competitors#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:48:56 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/how-to-protect-your-business-against-competitors



How do you handle new competitors? Do you allow every new player to enter your market easily or do you go out of your way to intentionally build barriers to discourage them to play?

This is a big question lingering in the minds of many entrepreneurs. More importantly, this one of the 10 difficult questions venture capitalists and angel investors are going to ask you, according to Instigator Blog.

Brutal or even unfair as it may seem, pre-empting competitors to enter the market is more practical than letting them compete and take your chances. Here are some tips to protect your business against approaching competitors:



Be Exclusive

If you are using a unique technology or raw materials, you may want to sign an exclusive agreement with your supplier so your competitors will have difficulty sourcing it elsewhere. However, this move usually requires you to increase your minimum order because you are, in a way, limiting the business of your supplier.



Master Your Turf

If you are an amateur basketball player, will you play one-on-one against NBA superstar LeBron James? The same is very true in business. Yes, your expertise can be a very intimidating barrier against new players. It means you have to work closely with employees, run things more efficiently, and maintain stronger ties with your key customers.



Pimp Your Ride

If your business relies heavily on technology, you should allot money to upgrade your systems regularly and acquire cutting edge technologies to further improve your business operations. If you want to see this strategy in action, you might want to observe the mobile phone sector wherein new products are released every few months.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-protect-your-business-against-competitors/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-steps-to-enhance-customer-loyalty-for-your-small-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-steps-to-enhance-customer-loyalty-for-your-small-business#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:30:28 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/3-steps-to-enhance-customer-loyalty-for-your-small-business



If you think customer loyalty can be achieved by using cutting edge customer relationship management (CRM) software and different loyalty programs, think again. Just like in friendship, loyalty must be earned through excellent service and high quality products, over a period of time. Borrowing the words of Zoomstart, loyalty is all about making unconditional connections.

Customer loyalty does not happen overnight. You should be sensitive to their needs and follow it up with action. Here is a simple 3-step method to start building loyalty:



Sit Down and Listen

If you want to learn more about your customers, then you should talk with them as often as possible. Know their habits, buying patterns and their feedback about your current performance. You might also want to use them as part of your crowdsourcing initiative.



Test Drive

If you are implementing some changes in your products or services, you may want to test first if it will satisfy your customers or if it will add value over your current offer. In some cases, they will agree with the idea but totally disagree with the execution. Product testing will bridge that disconnect.



Say Sorry (If Necessary)

If you make some mistake, admit it right away and assure your customers that it will not happen again. Do not let this matter escalate to a point of breaking up your professional relationship. You should also offer something in return like discounts or gifts for giving you another chance.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-steps-to-enhance-customer-loyalty-for-your-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/entrepreneurs-guide-on-how-to-relate-to-customers-effectively http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/entrepreneurs-guide-on-how-to-relate-to-customers-effectively#comments Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:00:52 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/entrepreneurs-guide-on-how-to-relate-to-customers-effectively



Knowing how to communicate effectively is very important, both in our personal and professional endeavors. When dealing with your customers, you should learn to deliver your message in a very informative yet personal manner. Below are some things you should know about effective communication:

Establish Two-Way Communication

Some of us are so passionate about our business that we end up dominating the entire conversation. As Common Sense PR adequately states, the more you talk, the less you communicate. Learn when to stop talking and start listening. You will miss a lot of insights if you don’t let your customers’ voices be heard.

Keep it Short and Sweet

Simple and clear answers to customers’ complaints and inquiries improve responsiveness and lessen miscommunication. If you are sending e-mails or snail mails, do not bombard them with so much information by focusing on the important points only.

Repeat, Repeat, and Repeat

A good way to help your customers understand the important points of a message better is to repeat the information from time to time. Aside from being consistent, it will also prompt some customers to know more about your company and hopefully you can encourage them to buy more.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/entrepreneurs-guide-on-how-to-relate-to-customers-effectively/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/strategies-on-building-buzz-for-your-brand http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/strategies-on-building-buzz-for-your-brand#comments Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:00:58 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/strategies-on-building-buzz-for-your-brand



Launching a new product is one of the toughest challenges faced by many entrepreneurs. It entails a lot of creativity, determination, and clever planning. You should keep your campaign focused, consistent, and simple all the time. It would greatly help if you have a catchy tag line and a creative logo to attract your customers. Here are some practical buzz marketing initiatives you may want to try:

Public Relations

One of the proven strategies to create a buzz is using press releases. There are several websites where you can submit your press releases and you can see them at Yahoo! Small Business Directory.

It is advisable that you partner with an experienced PR firm to effectively manage your campaign. Try working with a small agency so you earn more attention. In case your promotional budget is small right now, here is a simple guide on how to write a press release.

Industry Events

Actively participate in industry seminars and trade shows related to your target market. Spend some money decorating a really glitzy booth to create a good impression. You should try to make your logo the center of attention all the time. Equally important is the product presentation you will make once you convince your potential customers to visit your booth.

You might also want to visit Conversion Marketing and learn another type of buzz marketing known as petition marketing.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/strategies-on-building-buzz-for-your-brand/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/niche-marketing-for-startups http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/niche-marketing-for-startups#comments Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:00:15 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/niche-marketing-for-startups



One of the critical success factors for small business is finding a profitable niche or a narrowly defined group of users. Competing in a broad market segment against big and established companies would result in immediate failure.

In the words of Blog de Groot, entrepreneurs should dig deep for small business ideas before starting the wrong business. Here’s a simple guide about finding your niche market:

Identify the Common Needs

There must be common needs related to your business that are somewhat different from the general market. A good niche example comes from Small Business Trends:

Here is an example of niche marketing: a brand new print magazine, called Magazine Soho. The publication targets not small business — a broad category to be sure. No, it targets a segment of small business: Soho’s — small office, home office workers. And with a particular geographic emphasis on southeastern Wisconsin, USA.

More importantly, you should check if the product you are offering meet the needs of this group and if it is better than the competitors.

Measure Profitability

Before targeting a specific niche market, you should see first if this particular niche has enough paying customers who can avail your products or services. If not, find other niches to conquer. Also, the level of competition has a significant bearing on profitability. Check how many competitors are fighting to win in your chosen niche. Remember, a niche is a relatively small segment. Having fierce competitors will easily erode your profit margins.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/niche-marketing-for-startups/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/practical-incentive-programs-for-startups http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/practical-incentive-programs-for-startups#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:30:01 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/practical-incentive-programs-for-startups



Offering incentives is a common practice to motivate employees and increase sales. However, you might have an impression that incentives are for employees only, particularly your sales force. Yes, it is very important to some businesses and you might want to read Young Entrepreneur’s comprehensive discussion on creating a sales incentive program.

But do you know that you have a hidden sales force waiting to be tapped? Yes there is, and they are your beloved customers. Their incentive program comes in different names such as a finder’s fee – which is common in real estate logo designs – and affiliate or referral fee for online marketing.

Powered by word-of-mouth marketing, your existing customers can help you get new customers and encourage trials of your products or services. Even if you do not have extra funds to create an incentive program for customers, you still have alternatives such as:

1. Product discounts
2. Group discounts
3. Free samples or consultation
4. Extended warranties

To make this incentive program effective, you should consult with your customers and brainstorm what rewards will entice them to actively recommend your products or services.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/practical-incentive-programs-for-startups/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/do-you-have-a-business-mantra http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/do-you-have-a-business-mantra#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:00:10 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/do-you-have-a-business-mantra



With so many things to do in a day, it is sometimes difficult for employees and some entrepreneurs to appreciate the big picture or the essence of the business. That’s why Bootstrap Me says knowing your core goals is one of the patterns of success.

The best way to remember all these goals is to write a mission statement and share it with your colleagues. It may appear trivial but it serves as your lighthouse in the long run.

A mission statement or mantra captures, in a concise sentence, what business you are in, your philosophies, and aspirations or goals. To come up with the right words and phrases, some of the key questions you need to answer include:

• Who are your customers and in what way are you helping you them?
• What sets you apart from the competition or what makes you better than others?
• What business values do you like to emphasize? Is it customer delight, innovation, social responsibility, continuous improvement?

Even if you know the answers to the key questions above, the big challenge is how to make your mantra sticky and powerful. Contrary to traditional mission vision statements with 2 or 3 sentences, Guy Kawasaki’s best advice is keep it short with 3 or 4 words only. This would help you and your employees understand easily the essence of your existence.

The ultimate test for a mantra (or mission statement) is if your telephone operators can tell you what it is. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can’t, then, well, it sucks.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/do-you-have-a-business-mantra/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/4-marketing-tactics-resources-for-startups http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/4-marketing-tactics-resources-for-startups#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:00:19 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/4-marketing-tactics-resources-for-startups



Marketing tactics are specific actions you employ to achieve your planned marketing goals. If you are in need of business inspiration or preparing for a marketing war, here are some useful sites about different marketing tactics:

• Guerilla Marketing Article Archive (free membership required). If you are looking for unconventional marketing activities on a very low budget, visit the expert, Jay Conrad Levinson, and his archives filled with powerful and practical tactics.
• 10 Marketing Tactics Under $10. Your lack of money does not limit you from deploying different creative marketing tactics such as advertising with fliers and hiring students to “picket” your business with a sign protesting something positive.
• Forbes’ 6 Marketing Tactics Worth Paying For. If you have enough money to boost your marketing programs, Forbes suggests tactics like conducting market research, getting a board of advisors, testing new products, and creating a community through blogging.
• Free Psycho Tactics. Unlock the mystery of the business brain with free articles on psychological tactics like how to commit brand suicide and how to get your customers to beg for your business card design.
]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/4-marketing-tactics-resources-for-startups/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/is-it-time-to-extend-your-brand http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/is-it-time-to-extend-your-brand#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:30:21 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/is-it-time-to-extend-your-brand



So, you finally have a widely recognized brand. What’s your next step? This is a question faced by entrepreneurs after a successful marketing campaign for their initial brand. If you want to grow your business, you can either introduce a new brand or come up with product extensions.

Unfortunately, some entrepreneurs immediately decide to extend their successful brands without analyzing the consequences of their actions. Before you decide on this alternative, you should do it for the right reasons. Brand Curve highlights the top 5 reasons to extend your brand and the main goal is:

Brand extensions can reduce the costs and risks associated with launching a new product. Since the brand name is already known and (hopefully) popular, using that brand name on a new product (particularly when it’s in the same line as the original product) immediately communicates the same level of awareness and perception.

For brand extension to have a value, it should serve the unmet needs of the main brand and expand usage to different segments. If the main brand is strongly associated with one category, you should limit your brand extension within the same category.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/is-it-time-to-extend-your-brand/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/entrepreneurs-guide-on-closing-sales http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/entrepreneurs-guide-on-closing-sales#comments Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:30:26 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/entrepreneurs-guide-on-closing-sales



After finding the right business prospect, the next challenge for you and your salespeople, if any, is how to close a deal. At the end of the day, all your efforts are wasted if you fail to get that “yes”. Here are some tips to guide you:

The Bottom Line Approach

Start the meeting by stating how your customers can benefit from your products or services. In some cases, an upfront approach projects your honest intentions and this can easily gain the trust of your customers. Try to create a sense of urgency so they won’t have to look for alternatives. However, not all situations call for this method. Sometimes, you need to be indirect to gather more information.

Pay Attention to Cues

Be very particular with your customers’ verbal and nonverbal gestures because this indicates to you the appropriate time to close the sale. When they start asking for details about deliveries, payment methods, or free goods, then it’s time for you to ask for their commitment. Visit the Public Speaking Advantage to know the emotional meanings of our nonverbal gestures.

Assume Agreement

In some cases you need not ask your customers if they are willing to buy because that will give them a time to think things over. Instead, you go to the specifics right away by asking them how much is their first order or when is their preferred initial delivery.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/entrepreneurs-guide-on-closing-sales/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/building-membership-site-as-part-of-your-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/building-membership-site-as-part-of-your-business#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:30:08 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/building-membership-site-as-part-of-your-business



If you are looking for ways to start or expand a business, you may want to consider building a membership site to earn recurring income. These are paid sites where your customers are given access to exclusive data, insights, or secret tricks. Most often, customers need to pay monthly fees to access membership sites.

While this is a popular technique now among many internet marketing experts, isn’t it wonderful if you are the first to do this in your industry? If your business is related to the stock market, for instance, you can set up a membership site to give some hot tips and mentor starting traders.

The heart of a membership website is the value of information you are sharing with your members. It’s important to give something that will truly help your members achieve their goals. Otherwise, it will become a short-lived project.

If you are wondering about the strategic value of this venture, here are some key points:

• Captured Customers. Instead of selling just one product, you have more opportunity to promote all your products. The mere fact that they paid for membership means these customers trust you. It’s up to you to make the subtle moves.
• Steady income. With customers paying monthly subscription, you already have guaranteed sales. Take advantage of this opportunity by offering lower subscription fees for customers paying 6 months or 1 year subscription in advance.
• Low Cost. You simply need a domain name, web hosting, and a well-designed template with your company logo. Try membership site software for quick implementation. If you already have your website, then setting up will not be much of a problem.

You can learn more about launching membership sites by reading Entrepreneur’s Journey.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/building-membership-site-as-part-of-your-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/target-influencers-to-grow-your-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/target-influencers-to-grow-your-business#comments Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:30:11 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/target-influencers-to-grow-your-business



Word-of-mouth marketing is definitely one of the most powerful marketing techniques to build your brand identity. One critical task is targeting the influencers in your industry. They are considered the thought leaders who have this mysterious power to seduce our minds to follow their leads.

According to a research by eMarketer, the most powerful influencers are family, friends, and strangers having experience with a product. Education and religion also play critical roles, since teachers and religious leader have strong clout over a community. More importantly 93% of the respondents follow the influencers.

Buzz Law highlights the reasons why we should establish relationship with the influencers as soon as possible.

If you’ve invested wisely, you’ve built a great relationship with them. They know your name. They answer your email. They may not even be a fan or brand champion, but they trust you.

When it hits the fan, and you have great relationships with them, they will give you a forum to tell your story.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/target-influencers-to-grow-your-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/start-a-contest-to-promote-your-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/start-a-contest-to-promote-your-business#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:00:56 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/start-a-contest-to-promote-your-business



Start a Business Contest to Promote Your Business - Since many entrepreneurs do not have enough money to finance a massive awareness campaign, using viral or word-of-mouth marketing tactics prove to be very valuable. In fact, a powerful word-of-mouth marketing can turn your customers into your own sales force.

We already covered how video marketing works; this time you might want to consider contests as your awareness tool. Holding a contest is a classic tactic used way back before the internet era. Given the wider reach of the internet, it has evolved as a deadly weapon for many online businesses.

The key here is to make the contest related to the nature of your business. A good example is the IKEA Small Business Big Dreams contest. Entrepreneurs can submit the three-minute video about their business and its impact to the community. The winner will receive $5,000 cash and $50,000 makeover for his or her business.

The first thing you need to do is find an exciting contest relevant to your business. In our case, a logo design contest is very appropriate. (See our free blog logo campaign.) To ensure that this will build awareness and garner referrals, ask every contestant to refer their friends and family members who might also be interested to join. In case you plan to have an online contest, make sure that every contestant will provide their e-mail address and give at least 3 referrals.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/start-a-contest-to-promote-your-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-sales-prospecting-tips-for-entrepreneurs http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-sales-prospecting-tips-for-entrepreneurs#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:30:41 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/3-sales-prospecting-tips-for-entrepreneurs



If delighting your customers builds loyalty, prospecting is essential to expanding your business. This is the part of selling wherein you will be looking for hot leads or new customers to increase your sales and boost your profitability.

Often referred to as cold calls, these potential customers may come from customer referrals and your marketing campaigns, such as direct mails and online newsletters. Before you embark in this very challenging process, here some things you should know:

Rejection is Part of the Game

Don’t feel discouraged even if you are rejected 8 out of 10 times. Even the best salespeople in your industry cannot avoid rejections. Keep this mind at all times, to maintain the same passion in every conversation.

Act Now

Referrals are often compared to perishable products because you only have limited time to utilize them. Otherwise, your friendly competitor could snatch them away. Once you get a referral, stop contemplating and start talking with them. Every passing day might decrease the probability of closing a deal.

Use a Script

It would greatly help if you have a well-written script that you and your salespeople can follow. This will help you organize your thoughts, improve your presentation, and develop a professional image. Key success factors are your acting skills and your ability to converse naturally while recalling the script from memory. Role playing is a great exercise for improving selling skills.

If you want to know more about prospecting, visit Marketing Proof to learn the different personality types of sales prospects.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/3-sales-prospecting-tips-for-entrepreneurs/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-avoid-price-increase-in-your-small-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-avoid-price-increase-in-your-small-business#comments Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:00:44 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/how-to-avoid-price-increase-in-your-small-business



Given the economic slowdown we are facing today, it is very common for our suppliers to increase their prices in order to stay afloat. In this situation, most entrepreneurs are compelled to pass this cost to their customers by increasing the selling price.

But do you know that there is a way to maintain your selling price despite the increase in your cost? It is called downsizing or reducing the quantity of the product.

Although this is not a common strategy even among big companies, an interesting study by Harvard University shows that consumers are more sensitive to price increase over quantity decrease. If the ingredients of Starbucks’ Mocha Frappuccino have increased for instance, it is better to maintain the current $4.60 price of venti size but reduce the quantity from 24 fl. Oz to about 22.

The downside of downsizing is the perception that you are cheating on your customers. Knowing this, you should inform your valued customers about this plan to avoid any misunderstanding.

On the other hand, you might also be interested to know why Drew’s Marketing Minute believes dropping your price to keep a customer is never a good strategy.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/how-to-avoid-price-increase-in-your-small-business/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/common-advertising-mistakes-by-startups http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/common-advertising-mistakes-by-startups#comments Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:30:13 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/common-advertising-mistakes-by-startups



Every entrepreneur should advertise to increase awareness and encourage customers to try your products or services. However, a poorly executed advertising will backfire and hurt your business venture. That’s why it is important to avoid the common advertising mistakes such as:

Advertising in All Media

Some entrepreneurs believe that the best way to advertise is to go all out and target all channels like Internet, television, billboards, radio, and newspapers. Even if you have enough money to finance this campaign, you must learn to focus on channels with most readership or exposure to your customers. It requires you to know your target market first so you can tailor-fit all your ads.

Inconsistent Ads

Advertising seeks to create a personality that customers can relate to your company and brands. That is why it is very important that you remain consistent in all your communications. If you advertise about your low price in newspapers for instance, make sure you communicate the same message to other channels like the internet. If not, this will create confusion among your customers.

OA (Overdoing Ads)

Focusing more on the artistic aspect of your ad instead of creating quality content is a very grave mistake. While aesthetic appeal is also important, you should put more emphasis on finding the right content that will surely capture your customers’ interests.

After learning these mistakes, you might want to visit Business Advice Daily to know the 9 ways to improve your ads.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/common-advertising-mistakes-by-startups/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/defining-the-target-market-of-your-company http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/defining-the-target-market-of-your-company#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:30:14 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/defining-the-target-market-of-your-company



In the movie Jerry Maguire, you might remember what the business mentor, Dicky Fox, said, “Unless you love everybody, you can’t sell anybody.” It simply stresses the importance of finding your target customers instead of selling your product to all. If you have a clear cut definition of your target market, you will be more focused and very effective in allocating your financial resources.

In addition, make sure you include this in your business plan and refrain from launching any marketing campaign until this is finalized. To do this, simply follow the steps below:

Understand Your Customers

Small Biz Unplugged has a comprehensive list of questions you need to answer to define your target market.

Assess the Profitability of Your Chosen Target market

Once you have a target market in mind, it is time to assess if they are worth your effort. Ideally, a target audience research is needed to determine the potential of a particular segment.

For now, you can start by reading secondary data from newspapers and different organizations like local SBA branch, public and university libraries, and your local Department of Commerce. The Internet is a rich source of information to guide in your evaluation.

Know the number of your competitors and try to spy on them. Check if there is a space left for you to compete and grab sizeable share. If the competition is too intense, you can always go back to your drawing board and find a more lucrative niche.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/defining-the-target-market-of-your-company/feed/ 4 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/finding-customers-for-your-startup http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/finding-customers-for-your-startup#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:00:17 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/finding-customers-for-your-startup



For startups there are many ways to inform your target market about the opening of your business. You options include press releases, paid ads in newspapers, on radio, television, and the Internet. It may take some time before these initiatives yield any results. In the meantime, you are faced with a tough challenge – where to get your first 10 customers.

A good starting point is tapping your personal and professional networks. It is a three-step method that is very easy and practical:



Step 1. Build Your Database

If you are a people person this will be very easy to build. List the names of people you know that will benefit from your products or services. Start with your business connections like former officemates and managers, neighbors, former classmates, civic group members (if you are a member), your spouse or partner’s friends, and other professionals you are dealing with like doctors, lawyers, insurance agents, and even your dentist.

Although some business experts recommend you start with your close friends and family, you should learn to approach them very carefully. There are many broken relationships because of poorly handled money issues.



Step 2. Initiate Contact

Once you have the list, it’s time to start talking to them. You can start with personalized e-mails then follow-up phone calls to check if they are interested with your products. Sweeten your offer by giving away some freebies and discounts.



Step 3. Get Referrals

Do not assume that your friendship will easily translate to sales. A number of potential customers will decline and there is nothing you can do about it. Learn to maximize your effort by asking your friends to refer you to some of their contacts.

When the time comes when you already have many customers, head over to Great Sales and Marketing Ideas blog to download a pdf ebook about turning your customers into your friends.

]]> http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/finding-customers-for-your-startup/feed/ 0 http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/using-a-call-to-action-for-your-online-business http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/using-a-call-to-action-for-your-online-business#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:00:19 +0000 Mash Bonigala http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/using-a-call-to-action-for-your-online-business



The success of many online businesses starts with a powerful email marketing campaign. This is your first and last chance to establish a relationship with your customers and promote your products.

Use proven ways to convert online visitors such as using captivating headlines and several other techniques to generate sales leads. Another vital component is a “call to action” or ad copy encouraging visitors to take a well-defined action.

AllBusiness.com says a persuasive “call to action” is one of the components of a successful email marketing campaign.

You need to give your readers a clear call to action. What do you want to achieve from your campaign? Do you want people to sign up for a catalog? Buy something? Take advantage of a special deal? If so, make sure that’s clear in your message. And make sure that the links in your email take customers to a landing page specifically geared toward that particular call to action.

One of the best ways to do this is what I like to call the Godfather Strategy. Be like the great godfather Don Vito Corleone and make an offer to your online customers that they cannot refuse. Needless to say, you must know your customers by heart before you can make an irresistible offer.

Customers in general love products that are less costly, save time, are more user-friendly, and even environmentally friendly. Make sure you claim one of these benefits when crafting your “call to action” copy.

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