Month: October 2012

Categories
Networking

Presenting Your Small Business at an Event

Conferences and conventions provide an excellent opportunity to gain exposure for your small business. These events bring potential future customers and clients directly to you. However, if you have never presented your business at an event before, the process may feel complicated or even daunting. The following is a short guide to preparing for a conference, trade show or convention.

Initial Preparation

Contact the organizers as soon as you learn of the event. If it is a popular trade show or convention, there may be a lot of competition for booth or space rentals. Guarantee your slot by reserving early.

Discuss logistics with the organizer. Before you plan your booth, you need to know if tables or other structures are provided, or if you are simply renting floor space. Some shows may provide different kinds of structures at various price levels. Choose what makes you feel most comfortable. The money you save on an elaborate setting you can use on promotional materials and freebies. With a little ingenuity, you can make even a small table booth eye-catching and interesting.

Choosing and Designing Promotional Items

Magnetic business cards are much better for events than standard paper cards. Paper tends to be lost or thrown away whereas visitors may place your magnet card on their refrigerator when they get home. There it will serve as a reminder of your company’s name and products or services.

Brochures for an event should be colorful and printed on glossy paper. Your business logo and contact information should appear on both the front and back cover. People may take home the brochures and read them later, so you should supply artwork or photographs as well as text. Pictures in a brochure should grab attention and make the reader want to learn more about your company. Even cardboard brochure holders should be designed to draw people in.

Everyone loves samples and freebies. Promotional items such as key chains and pens are nice, inexpensive freebies. If your business sells products — such as office supplies — have some inexpensive sample items available as well.

Offer small plastic or paper sacks so that visitor’s can conveniently carry their free items. If your budget allows, have these sacks printed with your business logo. You get free advertising as visitors tote these around with them. Interactive displays draw attention to your booth. If your business sells smoothie machines, for example, demonstrate how the machine operates by making a delicious smoothie. If food licensing laws allow, offer visitors samples of these smoothies.

Choose Your Crew

At least two people should staff your booth so that it is never left vacant. If you are the only owner and employee of your small business, bring a trusted friend with you. Otherwise, ask for volunteers among your employees or co-owners.

Decorating Your Booth

You can hire companies to take care of this aspect, but if your budget does not allow this, there are other options. Visit your local printer or look online, to create a professional banner with your business logo. Make sure the lettering is as big and bold as possible so that it can be read at a distance.

For the walls and table, use bold, solid colors that match or compliment your logo. Arrange all of your brochures, magnets, freebies and other items neatly on your table or on stands next to your table. Keep your area free of trash or clutter to present a professional image.

Advertising Your Attendance

Make sure potential clients are aware that you will be at a particular event as well as the location of your booth and other relevant information. For example, you can post the information on your website’s home page, on social media sites, and conference apps.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Starting Up

Planning for a Smooth Start

Starting a business requires many hours of planning and preparation. Professionals such as, doctors, accountants and attorneys must choose a business form that is best for them. Sole proprietorships, partnerships and corporations have advantages and disadvantages that can cause grief or gratefulness when certain events occur.

Getting Business Advice

You should consult with attorneys, Certified Public Accountants, other business people and the Small Business Administration to determine the following:

Best business organization for you Legal requirements for your business Required licenses and fees Ways to establish lines of credit Adequate capitalization Business plan for a minimum of one year Establish a supply chain management system

In developing supply chain management, you should consider LTL providers in planning the best strategies.

Building and Surroundings

Make certain that parking space is adequate for the maximum number of customers. If the business is operating after dark, adequate lighting and security cameras should be installed. Security guards should periodically patrol the area.

All equipment should be checked to see that it is working properly before the customers are admitted for shopping.

Proper amount of cash should be placed in registers.

Packaging materials and shopping bags should be checked for quality and number.

Check aisles to be certain they are free of all obstructions.

Check shelves to be certain they are fully stocked.

Check the stock on the shelves to be certain that product are marked and priced correctly. Be certain that enough checkout aisles are always available so that customers do not have long delays ig being checked out.

Staff and Other Personal

Checkout clerks should be present and wearing clean clothing or uniforms.

Be certain that a sufficient number of stock clerks are available to restock shelves throughout the day.

Check to be certain that supervisors and all support personnel are present and ready for work. Make certain they present a clean, neat image that represents the business.

Have a designated employee assigned to help customers in each department. Other employees may be available to assist as well, but one should constantly be watching for customers who appear to be lost.

Carefully plan rest breaks so that there is no disruption of work routines throughout the day.

Supervisors

Supervisors should constantly be aware of what is taking place in their departments. They should be ready and willing to assist when problems arise, but they should not attempt to micromanage. Employees who feel that they can do their jobs well will do their work with pride because they expect to be promoted.

The success of any business depends on how each employee does his or her job. Employees who know that they will be rewarded for their work will exert extra effort to please. Employees who feel they are in dead-end jobs will do as little as possible. Supervisors should motivate employees so that the excitement continues.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
People & Relationships

How Important is Your Reputation?

Maintaining a positive reputation is one of the top most important factors for business success. As a business owner, you will always experience critical issues, that’s why its very important that you try to control these before they get out of hand. “Reputation Management” is a defensible option for businesses of all sizes to protect against negative online reputation issues.

What is Reputation Management?

Most businesses practice reputation management to some degree, but usually only after a crisis hits. Online marketing experts now realize that repairing existing damage to an online business reputation can take an irreplaceable amount of time.On average, it requires at least three to four months, which unfortunately, gives the negative comments enough time to create havoc on your profit line.

To compensate and prevent this from happening, online reputation management firms suggest you implement great online reputation management techniques, even before any damage occurs. This involves posting large quantities of positive and reputable information about your company. Such information includes industry-related news, comments and reviews, that demonstrate the company to be responsible, reputable and committed.

What’s the Point?

Many businesses may see this large quantity of positive information as being superfluous and unnecessary. However, reputation management testimonials demonstrate that the process is effective, helps increase revenue, and creates needed branding. This can ultimately increase your profit substantially. The testimonials show that the following three advantages are worth the extra effort of reputation management.

The Advantages

The following are just three advantages to using online reputation management services:

1- It minimizes any negative review a person can post about your business. When consumers research your business online, they will find a lot of interesting and helpful information before the one or two critical opinions. When this occurs, a consumer is less likely to be influenced by the few negative reviews they find mixed in with the positive. On the other hand, a company with no implemented reputation management processes, could easily suffer from negative reviews, since there is no positive information to compensate for it.

2- Online reputation management processes also increase the organic listing of your products and services. The easier it is for a consumer to find positive information about your services or products, the more likely they is to be come a customer.

3- It creates outstanding branding for your business. This type of branding demonstrates you to be reliable, committed and helps consumers get a glimpse of the principles you stand for.

Online reputation management offers you reliable online marketing, branding, and helps minimize any anonymous negative comments an unsatisfied customer could post to the internet. It promotes trust, commitment and online engagement between you and your customers.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Entrepreneurs Sales & Marketing

3 Ways to Put Fresh Spins on Old Marketing Concepts

Are you struggling to find a new twist for your advertising or marketing campaigns? Tired of sounding like everyone else and want something new and fresh? Never fear. Here are 3 ways to get those creative juices (and new ideas) flowing.

 

But before I get to those, there are a few things you should do to prime the pump, so to speak. What this does is clear your “conscious” mind so your muse will have an easier time sending messages to it.

 

First, review all the information about your product or service. Then, write down all the benefits (why customers would buy those products or services).

 

Now write down all the concepts you have used before or you’ve seen other people use before. This is an important step. You need to move the old stuff out of the way to make room for the new. Writing those concepts down helps do this.

 

Okay, now you’re ready to start generating some fresh ideas.

 

1. Take another look at testimonials. Testimonials are always great selling tools, but that’s not why I want you to do this. Customers may come up with a key benefit you never thought about before, and that may become the foundation for a new campaign. Scour every testimonial you can get your hands on and see if you can find something new. You might want to even try calling a few customers for quick interviews. (Don’t have testimonials? Now might be a good time to solicit some.)

 

2. Study other ads. Flip through a magazine or turn on the television — except this time focus on the ads and not the content. (I know, I know, this is counter to what you usually do.) Which ads do you like? Why do you like them? Are those ads doing something you can modify for your own campaign?

 

The key word is modify, not copy. I don’t want anyone committing copyright infringement. What I’m talking about is using an existing ad to jump-start your own ideas. Maybe you really like the use of an evocative photo with a single caption. Or the use of repetition in Mastercard’s “Priceless” campaign. Or the idea of turning the “money can’t buy everything” on its head (which is essence of that campaign). Can you use that concept in your campaign?

 

Another resource for great ads is Communication Arts Magazine. Each issue showcases some of the most creative and beautiful ads found anywhere.

 

3. Check out what a completely different industry is doing. For instance, let’s say you sell software products to computer professionals. Techy market, right? So, pick up a yoga magazine. See how that industry communicates with its audience. Now try selling your product using the same language and concepts. Take it a step further and brainstorm ways your software product is similar to doing yoga.

 

Why this works: One definition of creativity is taking two everyday ideas and combing them so they become something original.

 

This is a very powerful way to jolt your own thinking and start your muse down a completely different path, one you might never have discovered before.

 

A variation on this idea is to force a connection with a random object rather than an entire industry. You ask yourself, how is your software program similar to a stuffed dog? Write down everything you can think of, no matter how silly or foolish. Sometimes the foolish ideas are the ones that lead to the great ones.

 

A final note: If at all possible, don’t rush this process. Give your muse some time to ponder and play with these techniques. I know it often seems like ideas pop out into your head out of thin air, but usually that only happens because you’ve given your muse the necessary tools and “incubation time” to make it happen.

 

 

Categories
Work Life

Get More Creative – 5 Ideas That Really Work!

There is no such thing as a person who is not creative.

We all have a creative spirit and creative potential, the question is: Do we nurture and develop our creativity, or do we stifle and suppress it?

I often meet people who say things like –

Well, that’s easy for you, you’re so creative!

I’m just not a creative person

I don’t have a creative cell in my body

I don’t have great ideas, I’m just not an’ ideas’ person.

I don’t buy it, I think it’s either a total cop out, or it’s simply the product of years of suppressing creativity and concentrating on other stuff.

There is no such thing as a person who is incapable of creativity.

So, here are 5 ideas to help you access your innate creativity, figure out how to rekindle that creative spirit, and connect with your true creative self

1.       Take a walk, early in the morning

Here’s the idea, you get out while the rest of the house is asleep (perfect time to walk your dog if you have one!).  If you can, get into nature, even if it’s a small park inside a city.  There won’t be many people around so you’ll feel the quiet and serenity of the early morning.  Notice your environment, watch everything wake up around you.

2.       Create a practice of gratitude. 

You have some options here; you can keep a notebook that you write in, in the evening, simply stating what you are thankful for today.  You can introduce a practice (we do this!) at the dinner table in the evening.  Simply ask, who would like to say a ‘thank-you’? What happened today that you are grateful for? Or you can do a morning ritual (perhaps during your early walk) where you list the top three things you are thankful for.  And make this your morning prayer.

3.       Listen to a GREAT piece of music

At least once a day, listen to a song or a piece of music that you love to sing along with (the singing along with is really important!).  Don’t worry about who may be listening, just sing out loud for one whole song!

4.       Dance (preferably for at least 10 minutes every day)

You can do it while you’re singing along (there you go, two in one!) or do it in addition.  Find some music that lifts your spirits and moves your body.  You can’t help feeling a surge of creativity and freedom when your body is moving to a sound and beat that totally resonates with you!  (you know it’s Zumba that does it for me!!).

5.       Hug someone

Okay, you’re probably thinking, she’s really lost it now.

But here’s the thing.  It really makes a difference.  Having that human or even canine contact, yep, hugging your pet will work too!  It doesn’t really matter who you hug, just make sure it’s a real hug.  You know the kind; no whacking the back of the person you are hugging but just that open hearted closeness.  It’s magic!

So, 5 really easy things you can do that work. This isn’t just about being happier, but it actually gets the creative juices flowing.  Try it and let me know.