Does Online Group Buying Hurt Small Business?
There is a recent consumer craze sweeping the internet in the form of social media coupon sites. These group buying sites harness the power of group buying in order to drive prices down for consumers and, supposedly, to drive new business to small businesses and large businesses alike. The idea is that businesses will benefit from the attention such deals give them, even if they take a slight loss in selling their products and services at reduced prices.
Impact on Business
However, research reported on by The Christian Science Monitor shows that these group coupon plans don’t actually drive new customers to businesses. In fact, most customers use the coupon once, and then never return for repeat purchases.
Essentially, those who use group buying programs and deals aren’t in it to find new businesses to patronize, but rather just want a good deal. The author of the study, Utpal Dholakia, a professor at Rice University, told The Christian Science Monitor, “Because the Groupon customer base is made up of deal-seekers and bargain shoppers, they might not tip as well as an average customer or be willing to purchase beyond the deal.” That customer base does not make for a very loyal one.
Extreme Example
The greatest example of how group buying can harm businesses comes from the Gap and Groupon mega-deal that swept the nation this summer. Although Groupon deals are usually smaller, the company and Gap partnered to offer the deal concurrently in many different cities. This led to over 400,000 sales of Gap merchandise at half-price. Groupon looked to take half that revenue, but Mashable suggested that Gap may have lost nearly $8 million on the deal due to the above characteristics of an extremely unloyal customer base.
Buyer Beware
So what does this mean for small business owners? Ultimately, it means that small business owners should be wary of entering into any program that would make them a part of group buying deals. If such a program offers you membership, and you choose to do it, insist that there be some way to protect your business. For example, if there isn’t a clause in the contract that allows you to cap the number of discount sales, then a sudden run on your business could spell disaster.
Track Your Results!
If you still decide to go through with a group buying program just to try it out, be sure to track your customers. If they make a purchase with a group coupon, ask them if they are a returning customer or a new customer. Ask them if they would return in the future. Track the amount of money they spent on the purchase. Was it above the coupon price? If so, how much? If not, then you can count that as a loss. Above all else, having good records will help you decide as to whether or not such a partnership could help or harm your business in the future.
About the Author: This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of best online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katewillson2@gmail.com.
Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…
Eight Great Video Marketing Tips to Help Your Video Go Viral
There are tens of thousands of new videos uploaded to the Internet every week. Competing with these for a slice of viewers’ attention is difficult, but if you market your video properly, you can take advantage of huge viewer interest. Many companies ignore video marketing because they’re intimidated by the thought of filming a video or they don’t have the experience, but this is a mistake. More than 150 million people view videos online every year, most of them ripe to hear your business’s pitch if you produce and market your video effectively.
Tip #1: Prepare your video properly
You may have the world’s funniest video, but if no one can find it, it’s useless. Be sure to create a great meta description and title tag. Remember, you want to get their attention, not announce that your video is an advertisement. Use catchy, funny or even slightly misleading phrases that will intrigue visitors to YouTube and other video portals. Keeping it short also helps – 30 seconds or less is ideal.
Tip #2: Don’t advertise
Yes, the end result should garner interest in your product or company, but the initial goal of your video is simply to capture attention. Either educate your viewers or entertain them. Funny and shocking videos tend to go viral quickly, so produce content that will capture the imagination. You can blatantly tout your brand at the end, but don’t start off that way.
Tip #3: Take the time to submit your video to lots of video sites
YouTube may be the Holy Grail, but it isn’t the only site that can pump up the number of views for your creation. Submit to several sites, including heavy hitters like YouTube, Hulu, and Vimeo as well as smaller, niche sites.
Tip #4: Visit social media sites and generate interest
Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are famous for generating viral video marketing, but don’t neglect social media that are also business related, such as BetterNetworker or LinkedIn. Target your demographic and post comments with a link to your video to get people excited about the video. People visiting social media sites tend to forward and share quickly.
Tip #5: Post your videos on your company blog
If you don’t have a company blog, it’s time to start one. A properly maintained blog allows you to create your own content, creating buzz for your videos and giving you a platform to shape customer opinion on your own turf. It’s also a great way to create links to your website.
Tip #6: Visit other blogs and leave comments with a link to your video
This is a great way to quickly generate interest if done properly. Don’t simply post comments that say, “Check out this cool video!” on random sites; you could be removed by the blog’s moderator, or visitors may feel cheated when they click through and find something that’s of no interest to them. Choose blogs, post wisely, and keep the comments timely and relevant. If even one in twenty visitors to a blog click through after reading your comment, you’ll see an impressive spike in video views. You may also benefit from more incoming links to your blog when other blog owners check out your site. It’s a beautiful thing when your marketing efforts get your noticed on more than one front.
Tip #7: Generate controversy
This can take a bit more time, but the potential payoff is impressive. Create multiple accounts on video websites so that you, your coworkers, and friends can post comments, and then get a lively discussion going. Everyone loves a bit of controversy. Criticize the video or post a provocative observation and viewers will quickly want to join the fray, naturally leading them to check out your video marketing creation.
Tip #8: Get creative with visuals and sound
If your video makes viewers think, “Cool! I wonder how they did that?” it will quickly take on a life of its own, which is, after all, the goal of video marketing.
About the Author: Vern Marker has been in the marketing industry for more than 10 years. He is also a freelance writer for a HD camera company. When he is not working or writing, he loves to travel around the world.
Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks
Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…
Blogging for Small Business Owners & SME’s
Imagine if you could listen intently and get up to the minute information, like a fly on a wall to millions of people as they talk about your business? That’s what type of power blogging for small business owners can promote.
Now imagine if you could take that information and translate it into exactly what your customers want, how they want it and what they will ultimately buy and not to mention, what they will pay for it.
The Many Benefits Of Blogging
Blogging is a tool that businesses are using to make actual decisions on customer feedback and market intelligence. It’s the smartest move businesses are making today.
Blogs expand the ability for companies to operate and create growth. And blogs are taking this communication a step further by using mass marketing and transforming the old-boy way of one way dialogue into a two way dialogue. If you haven’t invited this type of marketing tool into your business, believe me your competitors have.
There are almost 500 million blog readers daily and it’s a continuous conversation, 24 hours a day. Part of the conversation may be about your company, good or bad but this gives you the opportunity to get leverage because you hear what your customers like or dislike; and you can make changes instantly based on that information.
Some Unique Challenges
But as good as blogging gets it has created a unique challenge; how do you keep up with the demand? You see blogs are an open door. They enter your customer’s home and office at any time and offer a transparency. If used correctly you get to use an authentic and authoritative honest voice to sustain real relationships. But can you imagine real relationships with millions of people 24 hours a day?
Many small business owners realize what blogging can do for their business but don’t have the manpower to take on this initiative. Some start out strong creating a blog but then fall short once they realize the commitment it takes.
Big businesses have learned to use outsourcing as an advantage; outsourced tasks, such as blogging gives small businesses the freedom to concentrate on other daily tasks and focus their attention on expansion.
What Exactly Makes you a Successful Blogger?
- You must listen to the conversations
- Disseminate what is being said by your customers
- Evaluate and Value the conversation
- Contribute to the conversation continuously
- Listen some more
As you become more aware of how the blogging process works and how you can benefit from it you’ll also make note to check on your competition via blogging sites. This not only gives your company a chance to sway some customers away from your competitors but it keeps you abreast of what you’re up against.
The point of blogging is to contribute some valuable information and listen to the results you get. Whether good or bad, the results will tell you what your next move is. But this is a continuous process and can become overwhelming for a small business owner. This is why businesses, whether big or small are outsourcing this marketing task.
The easier thing to do is hire specialist that gather and disseminate all the information and provide feedback to you. Outsourcing specialists for blogging can also see how blogger conversations grow and keep track of emerging trends.
Blog marketing has become a core fragment of every business. Blogging keeps your company visible, creates a stir among the marketplace and it builds trust within your customer base that you never realized before.
Author Bio: This article has been contributed by Nick. Nick blogs for Offshore Ally; a virtual assistant and outsourcing company for SME. Nick has been blogging since 2007 and has an entire team working on his blogging ventures. You can read more articles by him by subscribing to RSS from his blog or at twitter.com/offshoreally.
Photo Credit: antigone
Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…
8 Ways Small Businesses Can Use Twitter Effectively
Social networking can help a small business making more money. While having customers as friends on Facebook is great, Twitter is a tool that should not be overlooked.
8 great ways a small business can implement Twitter to increase profits are:
1. Growing Customer Relations
Being in business is all about people. Without them, there is no company to run. This is what makes Twitter so great. When people Tweet you and you them, they feel closer to you and your business leading them to your door because of the new personal relationship.
People like doing business with people they know.
2. Promoting Sales
Rather than let a stock item go bad and end up in the spoilage bin a message on Twitter might bring in some excited customers who would love to buy something at half price that they are going to buy anyway.
3. Getting the Word out About a new Product or Service
When something new and exciting comes in some people miss out on it. This is lost revenue that could be taken in as a result of building a relationship with clients through Twitter. Simply saying “Limited time new coconut M&M’s in stock” can go a long way compared to leaving coconut candy lovers out in the cold.
4. Special Offers Only to Those who Tweet
Twitter customers can become part of a special class of clientele. For example, you can Tweet to your customers “Bring this Tweet in for a free Father’s Day coffee.” Customers who see it will be there because they love free stuff, and those in the store who see it will want to be in on the special promotions as well.
5. Directing Customers to Product Reviews
When a new product comes into the store, business owners can sell them to customers by writing a review on their blogs. If customers like what they see they will either buy it from you or they can buy it through Amazon.com, which you can affiliate with to retain some of the profits.
This will result in satisfied customers to be very satisfied with you as their consumer advocate. Not only did you direct them to a product that you sell, but you offered them an online alternative to purchase it. The result is them saving money on the product and time by not having to go out to get it.
6. Cheap R&D
One thing businesses cannot often afford early in the game is research and development. The great thing about a small business, especially if it is local, is that owners and managers can use Twitter to gather information about customers likes and dislikes.
A gas station owner, for example, can ask his Twitter network, “do u like or dislike a full service pump option?” Some customers will reply that they like it in inclement weather, or that they do not like that it costs more at the pump and then they feel as though they have to tip the attendant. This feedback can be invaluable to the success of a business.
7. Special Customer Announcements
When a customer has a big event they may want to get the word out. You can offer free announcements to those on the network. This can be very exciting for those who get accepted into law school or want people to know they’ll be playing a concert at the park.
And when these people see that you care enough about them to help them get the word out, they’ll be loyal customers for life.
8. Promoting Worthy Causes
The best thing about influence is that it can be harnessed for good things. A compassionate capitalist will care about his community and support worthy causes in it. Simple Tweets like “Breast Cancer Walk Sunday, 9:00″ can go a long way in helping others and growing one’s business.
About the Author: Melissa Tamura writes about online degrees for Zen College Life. She most recently ranked the best psychology schools.
Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…
Making an Impact With Your Trade Show Marketing
Are your trade show appearances a success? Do you come away from each one feeling as though your money was well spent, that you made a positive impression on potential clients and everyone else who attended the show?
If you can’t answer that last sentence with a resounding ‘Yes’ then perhaps you need to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to the way that you market yourself and your company through your trade show displays, your content marketing, and the promotional items that you give away.
Do You Stand Out?
In a marketplace crowded with competing voices, all striving to drown each other out, you’ve got to make your company stand out in the boldest way possible. What are you going to do? You might consider live streaming from your booth at the trade show, interspersed with slick, funny, prerecorded content so you can have a 24/7 web presence during the trade show. That’s a great idea, but that should be only one of the weapons in your quiver.
Another great way to make an impact with your trade show marketing is hand out some kind of promotional item that becomes the talk of the trade show, the one cool item that everyone there wants to bring home. The kinds of things that almost everyone will use include things like 2 GB thumb drives on key chains imprinted with your company’s logo or name (preloaded with a small amount of marketing content for your company, perhaps a game or two). That’s something that everyone will want to take with them. A thumb drive will be used, and every time someone pulls it out, there will be your corporate logo to jog their memory about what your company does.
You can have a similar memory-jogging impact on people with the pens you choose to pass out. Just about everybody will take a pen (who doesn’t love free spare pens?), but if you’re going that route, be sure to pass out something extra special that makes people know that your company is different, edgier, smarter, more innovative. Something that will make your company memorable and stand out from the rest. For instance, if you’re giving out pens, why not give away ones with recorders and enough memory built in to make them truly useful? Pens like that are getting cheaper and cheaper to make, which puts them within reach of even company’s with very modest marketing budgets. You could even give away pens that are preloaded with a cheery message from the company CEO personally thanking the recipient for visiting your booth.
Think Bang for Your Buck
But whether you give out fancy pens or thumb drives or sticky notes, or even clever fridge magnets imprinted with the company’s logo, be sure that you are spending your money wisely to get the greatest bang for your buck. If you’re having trouble establishing your company’s unique brand, don’t just throw money at the problem, take the time to learn why your company is being overlooked or undervalued. Then, if your in-house marketing department isn’t up to the task, bring in some consultants like a brand advocate or specialized marketing company to help get your brand noticed. Think about all of the great marketing campaigns of the last decade, most of the best ones were remembered because they were funny, or really clever, or visually stunning. These days irony and satire are very in. It’s good to have a sense of humor in your advertising because ultimately, people will remember things that make them laugh, like Burger King’s “Where’s the Beef?” campaign, or Taco Bell’s hilarious ads with the little Chihuahua. The important thing is to be remembered. That’s the secret to forging a successful brand, and can be the difference between a successful trade show or a failed one.
About the Author
Dennis Nixon is the Sales Manager at Smash Hit Displays, a company known for their banner stands and displays. You’ve likely seen their work at a tradeshow you’ve attended, and their behind the scenes efforts make the difference.
Photo Credit: ncase Designs
Want to be our next guest author? You can! Here’s details…
Why Your Business Should Do a Shot of Jägermeister
Ever had a shot of Jägermeister? You know that slightly sweet, licorice flavored libation favored by the younger crowd?
I’ll admit it, back in my more impressionable days – I’ve had a shot or two, usually with a rowdy bunch of friends one of whom always seems to be yelling “Jäger!!”
And guess what…I don’t really like Jägermeister. Something tells me I’m not alone in this, and if I were to poll the audience right now I bet I’d find the overwhelming majority of you out there who’ve had a shot didn’t really care for it either. After a while you’d think nobody is buying this stuff, right?
Sales Tell The Story
Hmmm – so let me get this straight, a product hardly anybody likes, is still on the market, and not only that but sales have grown over the past 25 years by up to 40% a year!
Last time I checked my sales weren’t growing at 40% per year, and I humbly think I’ve got something that more people like than Jäger, yet they are more successful – what gives?
How an Unpopular Product Gets Popular
Sally Hogshead must have been asking herself that same question when she wrote “How to Fascinate – Why Your Brand Should Do a Shot of Jagermeister”
In this thoroughly enjoyable, 16 page manifesto Sally says Jäger’s success is due to one simple principal, they fascinate.
Jäger doesn’t succeed despite its horrific taste,but because of it … an overall toxic experience is part of the brand promise.
That’s right, Jäger succeeds because it taste bad. They’ve managed to use fascination to sell bad booze.
The Seven Fascination Triggers
According to Sally there is seven fascination triggers, that pull consumers to one brand over another:
MYSTIQUE – Why we’re intrigued by unanswered questions
LUST – Why we’re seduced by the anticipation of pleasure
ALARM – Why we take action at the threat of negative consequence
POWER – Why we focus on people and things that control us
VICE – Why we’re tempted by novelty and “forbidden fruit”
PRESTIGE– Why we fixate on rank and respect
TRUST – Why we’re loyal to reliable options
Each trigger adds to the attraction.
Could Your Business Use a Shot of Jäger?
Think about the seven triggers above and ask yourself how your business can start building fascination and capture the minds of your customers.
If Jägermeister can succeed in spite of its product what could you do with a little facicsnation and a great product? Sally points out that,
When consumers buy a certain brand, they’re often not paying for the utility of the item—they’re paying for the trigger.
Selling the Trigger
Do you think you could implement any one of the seven triggers above into your marketing and branding plans? And if you can what do you think that will do to your sales? We may not grow by 40% a year, but adding some fascination sure can’t hurt.
Building Mystique
Sally goes on to talk about one of the triggers, mystique, in more detail in this report. I think after reading her thoughts on building mystique with your product you’ll be ready to tackle the other six triggers on your own.
Free Instant Download
For more about Jagermeister, Green M&M’s, bull testicles, and secret recipes check out the whole report here:
How To Fascinate: Why Your Brand Should Do A Shot Of Jägermeister (.pdf 16 pages)
Photo Credit: Todd Kravos
30 Minutes a Day Online Marketing Tips
Don’t think you have enough time in the day to effectively market your business? Think again! This is a guest post by Stacey Cavanagh of Tecmark: SEO Liverpool and Manchester, shows that with as little as 30 minutes a day you can be on your way to attracting more customers.
30 Minutes a Day Online Marketing Tips
For the small business operating in a particularly tricky financial period, the bulk of your marketing budget may come in the form of time.
While it’s true to say that online marketing, SEO, social media marketing etc is a worthwhile investment, we’re not just talking in terms of money.
Putting some time into online marketing can pay dividends for a small business and you can even make a difference in just half an hour a day by implementing some of the following:
It takes just a few minutes to make a contribution to Twitter and making this a part of your daily business routine is a steady way to build up a network of followers interested in your area of industry. Share a link to an interesting news story relating to your industry or details of a special offer on your own website. Just make it a post that offers the reader something (information or a great deal) and your followers will gradually build up. Start to search for people in a similar area and follow them. Begin networking within your niche to meet contacts.
Blog
The same sort of concept applies with blogging as with Twitter, except the posts are much longer! This needn’t be an everyday thing but posting to a blog a couple of times a week is a way to keep in touch with your customers and to convey more about your business and the market in which you operate to your potential clients. This is an excellent means of marketing. It takes a while for a blog to take off, so have patience. 20 minutes or so twice a week can really get this going for your business.
Blog commenting
Contribute to the conversations on blogs by bloggers in the same niche in which you operate. This, again, is a form of networking and it also keeps you abreast of everything else happening in your industry. You also get back links when commenting, which potentially has SEO benefits for your website. A few minutes a day to read and comment on blogs in a similar niche will make a big difference in the long term.
Forum Discussions
Find and sign up to forums on a related topic to your business. Actively take part and get to know your fellow posters. Yes, more virtual networking but once again, the importance of this cannot be overlooked. It contributes to building an online presence for your brand and can begin to establish you, the business owner, as something of an authority in the specific area in which you operate. This can eventually lead to people getting in touch with you about the products and services you supply, as well as encouraging more links from the sites of others back to yours (more SEO benefit)!
Checking your content
Make it a goal to read one page of your website through each day to check the content. You’re looking for grammatical and spelling errors, typos etc. But you should also be keeping an eye on how frequently your keyword is mentioned. By keyword, we mean the word relating to what the page is about. It’s surprising when reading back over content how infrequently your keyword might be mentioned. When you think about it, the only way in which Google can recognise the topic of your page is by the words on it. So ensuring you mention the keyword in the content is critical. However, this should not come at the detriment of the meaning of your content and if you struggle to write keyword rich content that reads naturally, you should consider investing in a professional copywriter through an online marketing company. But it’s certainly worth investing a few minutes a day to read through your own existing content.
=
These are quick tips that will, over time, increase your web presence which will, in turn generate more traffic and thus more leads to your small business website.
Want to be our next guest author? Here’s how you can…Click here for details.
Photo Credit: mao_lini
The Tale of a Marketing Dictum, Mantra, and Yo-Yo
Here’s an old (old as in I’m not making it up) marketing dictum that I believe should be a mantra for all small business marketing efforts.
It was as true yesterday as it will be tomorrow when it comes to explaining consumer behavior.
We’ll look at each of these individually, but I think you’ll see that by approaching your marketing with all of these in mind will lead you to the results you’re after.
People Don’t Believe What You Tell Them
How many of you are selling your products or services by telling your customers what it can do for them or why they need it?
This Yo-Yo is the best Yo-Yo money can buy! I think you’re going to be so happy with this Yo-Yo you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
They Rarely Believe What You Show Them
So if telling them doesn’t work – maybe show them?
Watch the Yo-Yo go up and down, see it’s fun. Up, down, up, down. Walk the dog. Want to buy it now?
They Often Believe What Their Friends Tell Them
Ah, here we are finally getting to the meat of what good marketing should be doing – creating word of mouth. If my buddy is using your product, and likes it, that means something to me!
Dude, check out this sweet Yo-Yo I bought – I don’t know how I ever lived without it! WHAT? You haven’t got one yet? Are you living in a cave?
They Always Believe What They Tell Themselves
The crux of all effective marketing lies right here. If through your campaign you can get individuals to believe themselves that they need your product or service, it’s sold.
That is a pretty sweet Yo-Yo, and I hear the chicks really dig a guy that knows how to Yo – why am I living without one of these? I’ll take two.
Make this Your Mantra
What the above says to me is that you need to position what you’re selling in front of your potential customer in such a way that they sell themselves on it.
That’s right – starting selling to your customers in such a way they sell themselves, and you’ll start to see the results you want from your marketing. Whether you’re selling Yo-Yo’s or not.
Photo Credit: Sarah_Jones
5 Budget Online Marketing Ideas for Your New Business
Below is a guest post from Michelle Strassburg, a small business owner who shares her ideas for budget online marketing.
Marketing your new business has its fare share of challenges. Your marketing is supposed to generate leads and sales on a competitive budget, but you’re also expect to keep running the business on a day to day basis.
This means dealing with everything from cash flow issues to finding suppliers, therefore getting your marketing right is crucial.
Here are a selection of budget online marketing ideas for your new business which are easy to action and proven to deliver results. Let’s get to it.
1. Register Your Business with Google Local
Google has been offering local businesses a chance to register their business address and phone number in its local listings for some time. When the search giant started to display local listing in its search results, the service become a must service for many businesses. When a user searches for a keyword together with a location, for example ‘DC plumber’, the search results will include listings from Google Local displayed on a map. The service is free to register.
2. Register Your Products or Services with Google Merchant
Another helpful and free service from the search giant, Google Merchant is a place for businesses to upload a data feed which includes products or services. Under some types of user searches, Google will include feeds from this service in its search results. Creating a data feed is easy and quick. You will need to build a simple product feed based on the type of products or services which the business is offering and upload them. It’s that easy.
3. Promote Your Business Elsewhere
If you’ve reached the stage of been able to manage your own business, clearly you know a thing or two about your industry or occupation. To get your business out there in the public eye consider contributing your time and knowledge. Offer to write a guest post on quality sites and participate in the conversation across Q&A sites such as Yahoo Answers and Linkedin Answers.
4. Consider Paid Search
Google AdWords is the largest sponsored search result program. While this marketing channel isn’t free, it does fall under budget marketing ideas for new businesses simply because you are able to manage it yourself within a small budget. The idea behind any type of sponsored search result is simple. You bid on a keyword which best describes your product or service and pay a certain price for each click. While the price for each click depends on many variables the beauty of this channel is that you can set a daily budget to limit your investment. If you’re new to AdWords and think your business might benefit from this channel, Google has a fantastic online how-to resource.
5. Build a Basic Reward Scheme
Offer an exclusive incentive to your regular customers which will help the business retain customers and win new ones. The incentive could take the form of a discount on future orders, discount on bulk purchase, upgraded delivery method, end of stock offers, priority customer support and much more. A reward scheme could also be based on customers referring new customers which has the added benefit of helping to grow your business.What are your budget online marketing tips?
###### =
=
Photo Credit: Jeff Keen
=
Want to be our next guest author? Here’s how…
The Importance of Brand Identity and Logo Design for Small Businesses
Below is a guest post from Jeremy Schafer of MyCorporateLogo, who reminds us of the impact a good logo can have on our business and brand identity.
A logo represents a company – it defines its identity – its purpose. It is an integral part of a company’s brand strategy.
Without a logo or brand identity it would be impossible for a consumer to identify one product or service from the next.
Brand Connection
Most consumers have very strong opinions regarding their favorite brand. These opinions are more emotional than rational. Some brands (e.g. Nike, Coca-Cola etc.) resonate with customers more than others. They form an emotional attachment to these brands, often disregarding better products and services for ones with higher visibility and brand recognition.
Some brands even become synonymous with the product and the consumer starts recognizing the product by its brand name (e.g. Xerox).
It is therefore of the utmost importance that every company – especially the small business, has a sound brand strategy and a strong brand identity with a unique identifiable logo.
Logo Design & Brand Identity
Brand Identity and Small Business Logo Design helps small businesses in many ways. A few of the more important ones are listed below.
- It helps give the company an established and professional feel. This increases the customers trust in the products or services the company offers.
- A powerful brand identity is important as in general, people find it easier to recall images than text. There is an old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. The logo represents that picture and can be remembered and identified with greater ease than a thousand words describing the company.
- Logo graphics can bring about awareness of the products or services that you offer in cases where the company name is not self-explanatory.
- As the company grows, the consumer base stays loyal to the brand.
- The brand value generated can also be leveraged when selling stock in the company or the company itself for a higher perceived value than the actual value.
########
Since 2005, MyCorporateLogo.com has been offering affordable logo design and corporate identity design services to start ups, small and mid-sized organizations. Our creative team can effectively deliver any message across a wide variety of media. We have successfully designed thousands of logos catering to the needs of almost every industry imaginable. Additionally, we have designed hundreds of websites, brochures, letterhead, business cards, and stationary.
Photo Credit: kyz
Want to be our next guest author? Here’s how…
How Business Owners Can More Easily Reach the Affluent
Below is the fifth article in our $150 competition sponsored by BizSugar.com. It’s submitted by Maria of Elevating Your Business. Good luck to everyone who contributed an article!
Locating and Engaging Affluent Clients More Quickly in Your Own Community
Remember the scene in Pretty Woman when call girl Julia Roberts goes into the pricey boutique, money in hand, to buy some clothes, only to have the sneering sales ladies shame her out of the store? Well, Julia gets them back by taking her excessive purchasing power elsewhere, then coming back to flaunt it in their faces. The point is, don’t judge a book by its cover OR miss out on a great opportunity that may be right under your nose.
It is not always easy to spot someone with considerable purchasing power, namely because on the outside, they appear just like you and me. However, by changing your thought process and using some strategy, you may find that you’ve been surrounded by affluent prospective clients all along.
Affluence Today
First, let’s consider what it means to be affluent. Simply put, affluence indicates an abundance of money, property, or other material goods. For the purposes of this article, we’ll use the Wikipedia description of affluent to mean the top 1% of U.S. earners, which is about $350,000 in household income. Inarguably, this is a lot of money. But the upper class are still people like you and me; most of them are not in the multi-mega millionaire Donald Trump category.
Short of asking everyone you meet their annual salary (definitely NOT a strategy I’d ever recommend!), how do you go about identifying affluent clients? They demonstrate consistent traits and habits.
About The Affluent
The affluent are zealous about their involvement. It’s easy to see their passion because it’s where they’re involved the most. Besides their devotion to their vocation, the affluent spend considerable time in organizations that allow them to live their avocation – think sailing, flying, and cigar clubs. Meeting affluent clients in this type of environment allows you to see what motivates them outside of a traditional business setting.
Similarly, the affluent are generally very philanthropic. A simple search of social networking sites for various charitable causes can yield long lists of members; clearly these are people who enjoy helping others and spreading the word about worthwhile organizations among their peer group.
An affluent client also values self-improvement. Whether it is personal or professional development, this type of person makes time to attend workshops or classes on topics of interest to them. They spend their time on high-value activities to continue personal and professional growth, and ultimately be more successful.
It probably also goes without saying that the affluent are a very discerning crowd. Simply put, they like “the best”, be it a service, product, or perception. This means they demand individualized attention. No matter how many customers or clients you have, make sure your affluent clientele perceive themselves as your one and only concern. This may require some additional work on your part, but the return on investment will more than make up for it.
Finally, affluent individuals typically surround themselves with other prominent people. They want to work with someone who’s already a known commodity – someone who has been prominently published, has received considerable news coverage, or is already connected within the right circles.
Why Target Affluent Clients
Affluent clients, though potentially more demanding than other clients, can provide significant payback.
This client type easily makes referrals to people they like, know and trust. Similarly, if you can help one of their friends or family members, it typically results in a new client somewhere down the line, a lá the “pay it forward” mentality. As business owners, affluents like to be part of joint ventures or strategic alliances of others who work with their clients.
Like most other consumers, the affluent buy things based on emotion but they are looking for exceptional value they couldn’t get anywhere else. Affluent clients see such expenses as an investment because it ultimately helps them make more money. If you are able to complete a task faster than they can, their time can then be focused on their core strengths. If you can demonstrate how your product or service benefits affluent clients, you won’t be seen simply as a commodity, but as an advisor.
Where To Look For Them
Knowing the background and value of affluent clients, you’re ready to fine tune your marketing plan to seek them out. Chances are, you’re already involved in many of these activities yourself.
Arts & Leisure
Boating/sailing clubs
Flying clubs
Fitness centers (especially early in the morning or during the school day)
Wine/cigar clubs
Performing Arts (opera, symphony, theatre)
Extreme sports like rock climbing, mountaineering, and deep sea fishing
Golf & Tennis clubs
Spa
Personal & Professional Development
High-priced conferences or events (especially retreats and cruises)
Speaking circuit
Business or executive clubs and bars (especially after work)
Masterminds like: Visage, Entrepreneur Network, The Alternative Board, Young Presidents Organization, Women Presidents Organization
Reading magazines such as Town & Country, Millionaire, Worth, The Robb Report
Community
City/Country clubs
Board of Directors/Trustee for large non-profits, banks, large corporations
Philanthropic Associations
Rotary and other service related organizations
Political dinners/fundraisers
First class seating in planes
Volunteers or participants at fundraising events
Angel Investment Organizations, some of which have a “service provide” category
Church (specifically for the older affluents)
How to Engage Affluents
Reaching these clients can be more fun than work – it’s all in your thought process! From the list above, pick activities that sound appealing to you trying them on for size. Keep your integrity intact and never do anything you hate doing just to meet prospective clients. Some other ideas:
Consider joining a group where they hang out, if you enjoy what the group offers of course.
Consider marketing or speaking to a group where they hang out.
Considering joining an organization you enjoy in one of the more affluent zip codes near you.
Get involved on a board of something you’re passionate about.
More Resources
Reading about the upper echelon may provide you additional marketing ideas.
5 Tips to Organize Successful Promotional Giveaways
Below is the fourth article in our $150 competition sponsored by BizSugar.com. It’s submitted by Gagan of Fortepromo. Good luck to everyone who contributed an article!
Everybody loves Free Gifts and Companies are using this human tendency to promote their brand from years by organizing Promotional giveaways. Promotional Products is great way to improve your Brand Recognition and product reliability among your customers if organized successfully. In this article I would be discussing some Basic Tips on how to organize such giveaways successfully to get the desired Results.
Select Products for Giveaways Carefully
Selecting a Good Giveaway Item is the most important part of any Giveaway Campaign. The item should be something relevant to your products which your customers are always looking for and use on regular Basis. Conduct a short survey or do some research in places or online forums to find out some good suggestions for Giveaway items. For Eg:- If your Target audience is people working in IT industries, you can give them items like Flash Drives or Laptop Bags which they can use daily.
Selecting The Time and Place
Are you Running a Seasonal Business and people need your products only for a specific time interval? Then, Try to organize your campaign only when your business is in its peak season. You can’t expect your customers to buy winter clothes from you for FREE GIFTS in Summer Season. The place where you are going to organize your campaign is also important. Identify places like relevant forums or communities where your customers spend most of the time to launch your Campaign.
Offer Gifts as Package
Create a Combo pack of your Product and Gift and then sell your Products. The greatest Example of this is McDonald Happy Meal Toys. I had bought those happy meals lot of times for my kids only for those Toys. Your customer won’t mind to buy from you, if you are offering something to them for Free which they need desperately.
Imprint With your Information
I think this is common sense. Imprint your promotional products with your Brand name and Logo so that your brand name remains in your customer mind whenever they use your products. If possible include your contact information like your website url or Toll Free number so that they could contact you easily whenever they need to buy your products.
Measure Results
This is most important part of any Promotional Campaign but most of the times it is not feasible to get the accurate results very quickly. You can measure the results on various factors like determining your current Brand visibility, number of Returning Customers from total customer who participated in campaign, New Customer you are getting from referrals. You can also find some loyal customers in such kind of campaigns when you see the long term results.
These are few Basic tips which can help you in organizing your Promotional Giveaways campaigns in a successful way and increase your brand popularity and your overall Customer Base.
A Quick-Hitting 3-Step Content Marketing Campaign to get Customers this Month
Below is the second article in our $150 competition sponsored by BizSugar.com, submitted by Fernando who does content marketing in Latin America. Good luck to everyone who contributed an article!
As a fellow small business owner, you, like me, are totally on board with the concept that great content via blogging and social media is the new “killer app” of the Internet marketing world. You may have already started a blog, and you may already have 20-50 RSS subscribers. You’re slowly making your way up to your 1,000th Twitter follower, and you’ve gotten decent re-tweets whenever you share your latest post on your blog.
Great job, that’s better than most.
But where are all the customers?
Well you may have missed the part that this kind of marketing is a long-term proposition.
What to do if you want to eat this month?
Vaynerchuck clearly says that his strategy is to build a personal brand, and Chris Brogan says you’ve got to build your online presence so you can become a “Trust Agent.”
But you’ve got the pay the mortgage this month, make sure your fridge isn’t empty, and keep the lights on.
Well here are 3 quick-hitting tactics I’m putting into practice because I just quit my job and I need to bring in some customers really really soon, or else, as the clichéd country song goes, “I’ll lose the house, my wife and the dog.”
These tactics were inspired by my friend, mentor and coach Jim Logan.
1. Write an eBook like Brian Clark’s Authority Rules
I’m taking a slightly different approach here. Sure I’m writing an eBook that I’ll make available without a gate on my website for people to download.
In my case I’m a.) adding a very direct call-to-action at the end of the report to “call me to schedule your free 30-minute 5-point marketing readiness assessment” on the phone, and
b.) I’m going to be sending direct mail pieces offering my eBook to specific decision-makers at targeted companies who fit the profile of my ideal suspect, and I’ll be emailing a warm list of folks I know who are not yet subscribers to my RSS feed. My strategy here is to combine direct marketing with content marketing. The trick is not to sell directly, but to sell the “free content.”
My initial direct mail target will be about 30-50.
The philosophy behind this phase is you’re offering something of value in return for nothing. Even though there’s a strong call-to-action at the end of the eBook to call me (and I may very well get a few calls), here I’m just offering free content.
2. Follow-up with another direct mail piece
Two weeks later I’m going to follow-up with another direct mail piece to the original 30-50, as well as follow-up emails to my warm list. The message in this follow-up piece will be a business message.
I do not want to come across as a sales guy, but as a business person. I’m a business owner reaching out to another business owner, and I add value because of what I know.
I’m following-up on my eBook offer. I’ve helped businesses like yours with x & y (insert your key benefit here, do NOT mention a product or service). It may or may not be relevant to your situation, but I would love to chat with you for 30 minutes about your situation and how I’ve been able to help similar people.
The philosophy behind this stage is to sell the meeting, not sell your product or service. You should map out what the stages are in your sales cycle, and only sell the next step. In my case, and if you’re selling a B2B product or service, sell the meeting. And sell it as a business person, not a sales person.
3. Follow-up with a cold “warm call.”
Finally, I’m calling these folks. I’m calling, again, as a CEO of my small business.
Business people don’t take calls from sales people anymore, unless they called the sales person before and are expecting a call back. However, business people do take calls from fellow business people.
How do you think CEOs of major companies form strategic alliances with other major companies? They cold-call them!
You’re the CEO, you call the CEO of your target company. And you don’t sell your product or service, you have a business call about what you’re extremely knowledgeable about and what your prospect’s business situation is.
Business people want to learn from other business people.
I guarantee if you follow this method, in less than a month you’ll have some meetings and some closed business. It’s worked for Jim Logan and his clients, and I’m putting it into practice for myself.
Is Social Media Marketing Right for Your Business? Consider This
Still on the fence about whether or not marketing with social media has a place in your business?
Before you write it off, or jump in with both feet, here’s some interesting statistics you should consider.
Social Media Marketing Statistics
- 78% of 26,486 say consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising according to a global Nielsen survey
- Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions. JupiterResearch, March 2007
- 84% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. Marketing Sherpa, July 2007
- 78% of consumers trust the advice of other consumers. Neilsen “Trust in Advertising Study”, 2007
- Social networks are the most popular sites for 18-24 year old age group – besting search engines, email, and even *cringe* porn. Time, 2008
Still Not Convinced?
Here’s some more stats to think about before you decide if adding social media marketing to your mix is right for your business. I think you’ll come to the same conclusion I have – but see for yourself.
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Stop! Don’t Spend One Advertising Dollar Until You Read This
Don’t spend one single dollar on advertising until you know your target customer, inside and out, top to bottom. Period, end of discussion. Why draw a hard line on this?
Precision Trumps Plentiful Marketing
Too often businesses use the shotgun approach to marketing, and in this economy that’s wasted money. Sure if you blast off a bunch of advertising you’re bound to hit something, but how much ammo did you waste in the process?
Right now we probably don’t have the marketing budgets to try stuff out, see what works, and throw money around hoping to hit a buyer.
Wouldn’t it be better to know your target customer so well you can then advertise specifically to them – the people most likely to buy your stuff? I think so. You’ll get more sales with less money, and an overall higher ROI for your efforts if you are precise in your marketing efforts, not just plentiful.
Exercise
Imagine your perfect customer. Think about every single element of the perfect person to buy what you sell. Then answer the following
- Where do they live?
- What do they do for a living?
- How much do they earn?
- Do they have children?
- Did they go to college?
- Have a particular educational background?
- What do they do for fun?
- Who are their friends?
- Who are their influencers?
- What matters to them?
- What do they value?
- What do they want?
- What do they need?
Once you have a crystal clear picture of who your perfect customer is, you can go to the places they are most likely to see your advertising.
Pay Attention (For What Not To Do)
In the next week pay attention to what kinds of advertising you are seeing, and where. You’ll be surprised how often you’ll see the shotgun approach being used, even by the “big guys”. This won’t be you.
The random ad for eyebrow waxing on gardening website, the flier on your door to refinance when you live in an apartment, or the commercial midway through your favorite episode of “Golden Girls” for Budweiser are all examples of using a shotgun approach to advertising. Sure they may accidentally hit on someone interested in an ice cold Bud who also watches “Golden Girls”, but it’s also an inefficient way to go about things.
Be cognizant of this when you are rolling out advertising. If you can’t explain exactly what demographic and target market you hope to reach with your ads, put your wallet back in your pants.
Not Just Who, But How
Also think about how your customer likes to be marketed to – don’t send brochures to "on line" people, radio ads are lost if your target customer subscribes to XM Radio, and if your target customer values outdoor activities how much sense does a commercial make?
Get the "how" right and you’ll be saving yourself some money, and getting directly in front of those most likely to buy what you’re selling. Tailor your message to what you know about them, what they value, and what the benefit of your product is to them. Most of all be consistent, both in message and in frequency.
Put the Time In
Do this exercise and you’ll be giving yourself, and your limited marketing dollars, a chance to really work. Without a lot of money you need to be selective, don’t use a shotgun approach hoping something will resonate with your target audience, put time into knowing them before you spend a dime.
Photo Credit: sk8geek
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
