Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Finance & Capital

Five Different Types of Landlords Small Businesses May Encounter

Renting a commercial space makes up the largest of many small businesses’ monthly expenses. The location one chooses for their business significantly impacts the overall success of the organization. Factors such as accessibility from major roadways, the amount of foot traffic the location offers and local zoning codes and ordinances all play a role in determining the best commercial location to grow a business successfully.

Finding the right commercial location takes time and care. No small business owner wants to get trapped in a lease for a space that fails to suit their unique needs or proves too expensive. When determining a location, business owners interact with various types of landlords, and do well to proceed with caution to build a mutually beneficial business relationship for landlord and tenant alike.

Different Types of Landlords

Five primary types of commercial landlords exist, and which one best fits a small business’ needs depends primarily upon the nature of their daily business operations.

The first type of commercial landlord, the mom-and-pop variety, generally own only a few properties in their investment portfolio. They take great pride in their properties, screen prospective tenants carefully and consider the personality of the lessee and the mission of their organization, as well as the potential profits.

One benefit includes having only one person or couple to deal with when negotiating rent, leaving more wiggle room for those on tight budgets. Also, the personal level of the relationship business owners can establish with this kind of landlord leads to opportunities to create a friendlier workplace by allowing employees to occasionally bring pets to work or creating an onsite childcare room.

Family investors make up the next group of landlords. Like mom-and-pops, they know their properties well and take great pride in them, with the difference being the size of their portfolio. Family investors amass a multitude of properties often handed down from generation to generation. While they will work with lessees on things such as improvements, since they’re managing the family fortune, they also possess strong business acumen and may require large down payments to protect their portfolio.

Property management companies, while not technically property owners themselves, manage many property portfolios, meaning they can offer a broader range of options to prospective tenants. However, most management companies operate within strict rules, meaning companies leasing through them must have substantial capital and an above-average credit rating.

Those beautiful high-rises replete with all the bells and whistles generally fall under the purview of real estate developers. These properties feature the most luxurious amenities, but at a price point to match. The high rental price tag of these properties more or less reserves them for the high rollers of the business world.

Finally, real estate investment trusts, or REITs, exist to allow investors to diversify their portfolios by including real estate. With this type of landlord, business owners never deal directly with an individual investor. Since the goal of these entities is maximizing cash flow, like real estate investors, they generally charge high rents.

Tips for Negotiating with Different Landlords

Each type of landlord has unique needs, so when a business owner approaches them to negotiate, different tactics lead to getting accepted as a tenant of that perfect commercial location.

When negotiating with mom-and-pop landlords or family investors, the personal touch means as much as financial records. Business owners should bear in mind these landlords often have a sentimental attachment to the property in addition to a business interest, especially in the case of mom-and-pops, so landlord and tenant must agree to build a friendly relationship in addition to a mutually beneficial business arrangement.

When dealing with property management companies, business owners never deal directly with the property owner, so this type of relationship requires impressing the management company with strong business financials to score that perfect retail or office location. The same goes when dealing with real estate developers and REITs, the difference being that when the business owner works with a real estate developer, they may have more initial opportunities to request personalized options in the build.

Consider Using a Tenant Advisor

Tenant advisors know the commercial properties in their area like the backs of their hands. These experts provide an invaluable resource, not only when it comes to finding the right location, but also in negotiations over rent price and expansion options.

Every small business has different needs, and leasing the correct company location can lead to long-term financial success. By knowing who they’re negotiating with, business owners and tenant advisors can locate properties that truly fit the unique needs of their organization.

Categories
Starting Up

7 Startup Ideas for the Outdoorsy Types

People who love the great outdoors and have a desire to share the experience with others, as well as a desire to start a business, should check out the outdoor company scene. It’s a thriving industry, given the right market, and there’s plenty of room for growth and opportunity.

If you have a cutting-edge idea for a new business in this field, now is as good a time as any to get started in any of the following specialties.

  1. Golf Course

Although most people don’t regard golf as the “the great American sport,” it is an essential part of our culture. It’s particularly popular among business executives; professionals meet and conduct deals over the fairways. It can also be a highly relaxing use of time.

Building and managing a golf course is a great business. Look for an area that could use an additional golf course and develop the land accordingly. This is certainly not a cheap startup, but it offers fantastic opportunities for growth; plus, you can spend plenty of time on the course yourself.

  1. Sports Complex

Many cities would treat a sports complex as a huge and welcome addition. Parents with children who are athletes but have no sports complex in their part of town must travel, sometimes upwards of an hour, to get to each game.

Building a sports complex in such a region would be incredibly beneficial to the nearby municipalities and would provide excellent opportunities for growth and profit. Obviously, this would be a substantial investment, since you’ll need to handle everything from the landscaping to the lights and equipment. But the industry holds great potential!

  1. Niche Farming

It’s not easy to start farming in today’s market unless you inherit land or purchase an existing operation. But you can make a comfortable living and spend your days outdoors if you take up niche farming.

You might grow a few select types of produce or raise a small herd of animals. You could own a horse stable, rent out farm equipment, harvest and manufacture special dairy products, sell produce on the side of the road, or participate in other farming practices.

When you do, you’ll enjoy constant nature and exercise while pursuing your need to make a living.

  1. Landscaping

Since landscaping outside of commercial and residential buildings makes a big impression on customers and visitors, it’s a profitable industry to break into. It yields potentially high profits, particularly if you’re good with your hands, have creative ideas, and hire a reliable crew.

The equipment investment at the beginning can be pricey, but it won’t necessarily take that long to build clientele, particularly in areas where landscaping needs are substantial.

  1. Tour Guiding

Move to a tourist location like West Yellowstone National Park, Hawaii, Alaska, or other a similarly popular outdoor destination. From there, you can brush up on the history of the area and lead tours.

You’ll get to spend every day amid nature and wildlife, and educating visitors on the environment. It’s a highly relaxing and enjoyable career for the motivated outdoor lover.

  1. Pest Control

Pest control is popular in the Midwest and southern part of the country, thanks to the overabundance of insects and rodents in these regions. People will pay good money for extermination services, and you’ll get to work with your hands on a daily basis.

  1. Boat Broker

If you live anywhere near a body of water in a highly populated area, you can make a great living selling and repairing boats and yachts. Because boats are best showcased on the water, you’ll likely get to spend a fair amount of your time there.

Getting started involves obtaining a license and building up your inventory. You typically make money on commission, so it’s best if you’re a capable salesperson.

Categories
People & Relationships

5 Ways to Get to Know Your Audience

Regardless of your marketing goals, the only way for you to reach them is to get to know your audience. Now, identifying them by their gender, age, education, income and similar characteristics is simplistic and it doesn’t reveal nearly as much as you might hope.

For instance, you can see that your audience is predominantly female and see that Facebook and Pinterest are predominantly female platforms. From here, it’s logical to assume that posting your content on these two platforms will yield the best results, right? Well, both yes and no. You see, marketing is both a delicate science and a subtle art, which is why there are so many different factors to consider. The first step in doing so, nonetheless, lies in getting to know your audience. Here are five ways in which you can do so.

1.      Look at your closest competitors

The first thing you can do in order to get to know your audience is to look at the audience of your closest competitors. More likely than not, this is the exact same audience. In some industries, like the smartphone business, people are exclusive to one brand and will either buy Android or iOS devices. In most industries, nonetheless, it’s nothing unusual if the person within the same industry has several suppliers or brands they like. The best example is the fast food industry or the fashion industry (no one sticks to just one brand or eats at a single venue). This is also quite useful if you’re a new business and don’t have a well-developed audience group that you can study.

2.      Get to know them personally

The next thing you can do is get to know your audience on a personal level. Needless to say, you can’t get to know all of them, yet, having a candid conversation with a couple of representatives can be quite revealing. In this day and age, it’s quite easy to reach out to a potential client/audience member. Even though not all of them may respond, by customizing/personalizing your outreach and reaching out to enough people, you’ll easily get some prime candidates. From this point on, you get to speak on a personal level (as a part of a P2P marketing effort) in order to see who you’re dealing with.

3.      Try social media monitoring

The best thing about social media is the fact that a marketer no longer has to ask for information. Why would they when people are more than willing to offer this information for free, often without being even asked? Imagine launching a product trailer or teaser. How would you measure its effectiveness? Well, the simplest way to do so would be to check the engagement, look at the like/dislike ratio (if we’re talking about YouTube) and look at similar other metrics. It would be even better to find a reliable social media monitoring platform and get an in-depth analysis of your current status in the world of social media.

4.      Create a customer persona

Another covert way to do some market research is to make a customer persona and infiltrate all the places that your audience tends to visit on a regular basis. Imagine your average customer and use those crude metrics from the introduction in order to create this persona. How old are you? Are you a male or female? What do you do? Once you have this covered, try to identify which social media groups, forums and subreddits your audience visits the most. Try to adopt their jargon and don’t be afraid to ask a question or even get into an argument. This also gives your brand some insulation from the ramifications of arguing with strangers online, which is a bad practice for brands.

5.      Conduct a survey

The last thing you need to do is the old-school marketing technique of conducting a survey. Previously, we’ve talked about some basic traits of your customers and this can be figured out quite easily. On the other hand, if you want to know more about their characteristics or opinions on a certain topic, what you need to do is conduct a survey. This is quite easy to do on your own, yet, if you want to be 100 percent sure that your survey is adequate and efficient, you can find someone to compose it for you.

Conclusion

The very last thing you need to understand is the fact that it’s impossible for you to understand every single one of your audience members. Fortunately, you don’t have to. All that it takes is for you to get a general idea on what your market needs, wants and aspires to. Once you have this information, your business will be virtually unstoppable.

Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Holiday Essentials for Small Retail Businesses and Startups

As a small business or startup, the holiday season is a great time to watch your revenue grow — it’s estimated consumers will spend $1,536 each on holiday goods and gifts. But you have to plan ahead and develop the perfect holiday marketing campaign before you can reap the rewards. Here are eight holiday essentials for small retail businesses and startups.

1. Plan a Holiday Marketing Campaign

The holidays are about more than selling your items. You need different messaging and tactics to tug at people’s heartstrings and remind them of your brand name. Your holiday marketing campaign such include SEO, emails, influencer marketing and display advertising. Don’t forget to adapt those messages whenever an event or a holiday happens to bring in even more customers.

2. Create a Personalized Experience

During the holidays, you can choose to increase your revenue by bringing in more customers, or you can increase profits through quality, loyal customers. Neither way is wrong, but choosing to focus on loyal customers may pay off in the long-term. Try to make your business approach personalized to keep those customers coming back. Hand-write thank you notes for purchases that are shipped or create an email campaign that targets repeat customers to keep people coming back.

3. Take Advantage of Big Shopping Dates

The last quarter of the year is typically when the biggest shopping dates hit. Throughout October, November and December you need to plan for Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. Also look at some of the big online spending days to figure out when you should be pushing paid advertisements and more.

4. Decide on a Return Policy

This one isn’t as exciting, but you should decide on a return policy and payment options before you get a rush of customers. Some online and offline stores offer more liberal and extended return/exchange policies during the holidays. Consider what is best for your store and how it will impact sales. You can also consider accepting other payment options such as PayPal.

5. Offer Multiple Delivery Options

Another important aspect of holiday shopping is delivery. Holiday shopping is important to consumers, and you want to keep them coming back by offering multiple delivery options that will allow their package to get their on-time. Whether it’s FedEx, UPS, USPS and more, check out the drop-dead shipping dates to know when the last possible day you can ship something is.

6. Pay Attention to Pricing

All sellers know that consumers will buy during the holiday season, no matter what the price of the product. However, good sellers will drop or increase the price of an item at just the right time based on many factors. Either watch the changes yourself or use dynamic repricing tools that use an algorithm to price things accordingly.

7. Make a Few Site Improvements

The last thing you want is for consumers to have a cart full of items that disappear if your site crashes. Factors such as site speed, slowdowns, content issues and overall stability will impact whether or not you make a sale. Take some time before the holiday rush to see what you can do to improve your site and make it more user-friendly for individuals who prefer to shop online.

8. Decide Where to Advertise

Not every advertising channel is the same, and you need to craft different messages depending on where you’re advertising. The more targeted you get with your promotions, the more people will buy. Do your research ahead of time to see where your competitors are advertising. Will a Facebook campaign work best? What about PPC on Google? Find the best ways to reach your audience this season to realize the biggest rewards.

Have Fun While Doing It

The holidays can often seem stressful, but they don’t need to be. As a small business or startup, you should have fun experiencing the holidays along with your customers. Help them find the perfect gifts for friends and family and do it with a smile on your face. The holidays are about giving, so give back with a cheerful attitude especially when the sales start to pile in.

Categories
Finance & Capital

Think Social To Fund Your Startup

Building a startup is an exciting undertaking, but it’s also an expensive one – and most founders don’t have the funds to go it alone. So where does the money come from? While the occasional developer has the type of idea that attracts venture capital, the majority will have to pull together funds from a variety of sources, including crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending. In other words, to build a business, you need to think socially.

The Rise Of Startup Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a vital part of today’s economy, funding everything from health emergencies to product development, but in the startup sector, the platform that really got everything going was Kickstarter.

Launched in 2009, Kickstarter was specifically designed to fund creative projects, whether that was a film or a product, like the fidget cube. Many companies have used the platform to fund early production of multiple products, and because funding is only released if the project meets its goals, the platform minimizes risks for investors and helps founders get a sense of how successful their ideas would be if they got them to market.

Another advantage of crowdfunding is that factors that can prevent founders from accessing a loan, such as credit history, just don’t matter. That means if you have poor credit or limited history, crowdfunding could help you get the money you need to launch your business. Crowdfunding also lets you build an alternative reputation for success, as most display prior successful campaigns – and those can be at least as important in swaying funders as a traditional credit history.

The Peer-To-Peer Model

While crowdfunding is a great option for businesses that need to fund a product concept, for those starting more traditional businesses and need to rent office space and get permits, they aren’t always the most helpful; these businesses need a less-directed funding framework, though they may not need as much money as a startup that’s launching a product. These are the startup founders who can benefit most from peer-to-peer lending.

Peer-to-peer lending, which has had a major public presence since about 2014 when Lending Club went public, is a model that uses a variety of data points to assess creditworthiness. Then, based on this scoring system, approved borrowers can borrow small amounts at low-interest rates from other members of the network. Each individual investor is able to assess approved applicants’ profiles and decide whether, and how much, to lend, but because there are numerous lenders on each project, the group minimizes their individual risk.

Compared to crowdfunding, individuals relying on peer-to-peer lending to fund their startup typically need a better credit score and a more structured business plan; while crowdfunding relies on traditional social networks – your friends will toss some money towards your new endeavor and share it with their friends – peer-to-peer lenders are private individuals whom you’re unlikely to have a personal relationship with. They’re lending from a place of goodwill, but it’s conditional. Your project needs to deserve it.

Whether you choose crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending to fund your startup, the key is to find an audience that your idea appeals to – your crowd – and master the intricacies of the platform. Study successful projects and talk to investors about what they look for in a business plan. Even if this is your first foray into the business world, you need to put your best foot forward.