Posts Tagged ‘small business’

How Can I Promote My Own Business Online?

So you’ve finally decided to take the first steps toward exposing your small business to the vast ocean of prospects called the Internet; or maybe you’ve had a website for a few years that was built by your neighbor’s cousin’s daughter’s boyfriend. The fact is that if you’ve been in business for more than a year and you’re serious about your future and the future of your business then you need to continue reading because this post was written with YOU specifically in mind.

There’s really no good reason for any brick and mortar business to NOT have a web presence. Even if you’re a one man operation and the entire business revolves around your particular expertise or specialty, you owe it to yourself and your clients/customers to put forth the best possible image that you can for your business. Here are a few more reasons why a website is essential to business growth:

1. 1. A website can make your company look larger than it really is. Positioning is crucial to success.
   2. A website exposes your products or services to a wider audience than local advertising possibly could. Branding is crucial.
   3. A website gives you the ability to stay in constant contact with your clients/customers through auto-responders.
   4. A website that has been properly optimized will have you appear as the authority in your niche or field of expertise.
   5. A website gives your clients/customers a venue to make suggestions or offer feedback for you to improve your business while they can remain anonymous.
   6. More interactivity equals more satisfied customers which in turn equals more profit for you and your business.

Once you’ve decided to move ahead with creating a web presence for your small business there are a few things to consider before attempting to D-I-Y (do it yourself) or even hiring someone to do it for you. Make sure that you have some things crystal clear in your mind before you begin the process and you will save yourself time and frustration later on.
Things that you absolutely should have in place before moving forward:

1. 1. A mission statement. (If you didn’t do this when you first opened your business, do it now)
   2. A vision statement.
   3. A clear picture of exactly who your audience is.
   4. Short term and long term ATTAINABLE goals.
   5. A positive mental attitude.

If you’ve taken the time and forethought to really get these thoughts and processes ingrained into your psyche you’re well on your way to successfully taking your business to the next level and beyond.

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Use Video To Promote Your Small Business

If you’re a small business owner, it’s about time you began using video to promote your small business. The impact and reach that a short video can give to your current advertising can not be overlooked or under valued. It’s imperative that you begin to use video to promote your small business if you haven’t already.

The affordability of small, high definition video recorders like the Flip makes it even easier for the average business owner to get started. Many already have an HD camcorder in their family, it’s just a matter of using it to promote your business. There’s also no need to invest in high cost video editing software. If your PC came with Windows Vista or Windows 7 installed, they both came with “Windows Movie Maker” pre-installed.

There are a couple of ways that you can use video to promote your small business:

• The first way is to do a walk around your shop, from a customers perspective, and show people what you have to offer.
• The second method is to use video to highlight a “special offer or sale” and use that in your promotions.
• Another tactic is to use videotaped customer testimonials to give you better credibility and value in potential customer’s eyes.
• Use your imagination. Maybe you could show how easy your product is to set up or service.

Using video in your marketing, either directly (selling your product) or indirectly (testimonials & how-to’s) is an excellent way to add value to what  you bring to the table for your customers and clients. Remember that the more value that the visitors to your website perceive that you’ve given them, the more likely they are to buy from you…again and again.

If you’re the type of small business owner that likes to be involved in your community, you might consider hosting PSA (public service announcement) types of videos on your website. Maybe you’re a coach or sponsor of a local youth or church sports team and want to post a weekly rundown of local scores. Once again, you’re asked to call upon your own imagination and be creative as to how you could serve your community while bringing attention to your small business at the same time.

Remember, whether you utilize it directly or indirectly, as a small business owner you owe it to yourself to use video to promote your small business.

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Two Methods From One Model

Generating leads for local businesses can be a very lucrative avenue for you to think about pursuing. Almost every small business has a need for more customers and/or clients. By providing a venue to gather contact information you can become invaluable to local businesses. Imagine how thankful that new doctor or dentist in town will be after you’ve provided them with a patient base that they never could have achieved without your help and expertise.

There are a number of ways that you can go about generating those leads. One way involves having businesses pay you before you have the leads and the other will have those businesses handing you money for names, addresses, and phone numbers of clients whose names you already own and have permission to market to.

Your starting off point and the direction of your own business will be determined by your ability to gather that contact information. It can be as simple as putting up a single page website that does nothing more than educate consumers to the benefits of using a certain type of business or service. Once they’ve visited the site, ask them to express their continued interest by exchanging their contact information for the promise of a discount with the service provider which they eventually choose, no matter who that may be.

Another great way to gather information, which will also give you the opportunity to realize a greater profit, is to create the website with a keyword rich domain name, ie; chicagosbestpainter.com or bestdentistindenver.com or something similar to that. Once you’ve created the site and put an opt-in box near the top of the page to capture names, you then get the site optimized and ranked in the search engines. Once it’s ranked you have the opportunity to approach those painters in Chicago or Dentists in Denver to 1.) Sell them the leads you’ve gathered or 2.) Sell them the site that you’ve gotten ranked and offer to maintain both the site and it’s rank for $xxx/yr.

Either way you look at it there is profit to be made. Whether you take the long road or the shorter one is up to you. There is no wrong answer. Only your expertise and intuitiveness will determine the outcome of your efforts. The key is to take action. Choose a direction and begin to move that way.

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How Do You Know When It’s Time To Take Your Hobby Online?

You’ve been crafting most of your life. You absolutely love what you do, but you’ve gotten so good at it that you now have a house full of parts, a garage full of finished product and weekends that are filled with travel to local flea markets and craft fairs. The weekends that you’re not away doing a show or a fair you’re at home working out the latest modification or changes to your product.

There comes a time when your hobby becomes more than just a hobby. If you spend more than a couple of hours a day doing an activity it qualifies as more than a hobby. Isn’t it about time that you started earning something back for all of the time you’ve invested? Besides, when it’s something that you love to do, you don’t consider it work.

Therein lies one of the keys to success in business; make a living doing something that you have a passion for and you’ll feel like you never worked a day in your life. It may mean learning a new skill set in order to sell your goods more efficiently or to a wider audience. Your potential audience is what will determine the future of your business. If you restrict yourself to only those fairs and flea markets that you’ve always gone to, you’ll limit yourself as to how much money you can actually earn while you’re there.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with getting out into your community and meeting the public that makes up your clients or customers. It’s a great way to network with other entrepreneurial minded folks and seek out resources and relationships that are mutually beneficial.

Ideally, wouldn’t you love to have a constant flow of your product going OUT of your door? If you had a system set up to sell your doll clothes or whatever your particular craft or skill may be, it would free up your time. You’d then be able to use more of your free time to network with other WAHM’s (work at home moms) and learn the business side of your “hobby”.

Sometimes all it takes is for just the right person to come across your website that is looking to fill the inventory of his stores with the exact item that you’ve been producing and “hoarding” all this time to make your life a true success story. But stories like this can never come true unless and until you make it possible in your life. Seek out opportunity. Network with like minded people. Work WITH your competition to mutual benefit, not AGAINST them (everyone suffers).

If you don’t already belong to on-line communities that focus on your hobby, niche or product, seek them out. Find out who’s making money doing what you’re doing and how they’re doing it.

Once you’ve made the decision to move (all or part of) your business on-line there are some things to consider. You can either “do-it-yourself” or seek out help. You have many options to consider. We’ll touch on those things in our next article.

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Selling More in A Recession

Before starting out any new business strategies in a down turned economy, it’s always beneficial to bolster your position with preexisting clients and customers. Many times there is enough business to be found amongst your existing client base for you to then finance a “new idea” or strategy that you’ve wanted to implement.  Use these strategies to shore up your financial foundation and then go looking for “new” business.

Whether your primary business is offline or online the same principles apply. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling e-books or toothpaste, applied with the right amount of preparation and presentation, these ideas can make the difference between finishing your quarter in the red or in the black.

Try these tips:

• Begin calling your “inactive” customers.
  • Determine why they’ve gone inactive.
  • Ask for the opportunity to “make it good“.
  • “Would taking care of this immediately change your attitude toward us?”
  • Fix it immediately or task someone who will follow through to completion. (Whether it brings the client back immediately or not)
• Call 20 of your “active” customers/clients and ask them make an additional (wisely chosen) purchase.
  • Make them an OTO (one time offer).
  • Offer an upgrade.
  • Offer a “value added service“, something that improves your existing relationship with them.
• Call other businesses that offers complementary products or services to yours and ask for a trade of referrals. Don’t stop with one.
  • Offer to make it an ongoing relationship that’s mutually beneficial.
  • Over deliver! Offer more referrals than you receive. It will serve you well.

Since these principles apply to either an online or a brick and mortar business, they’re perfect strategies for the Offline Consultant to keep in mind when talking to or even prospecting for small business owners. These are the types of high value free advice that will in turn have those shop owners ready and willing  to do business with you.

In fact, the more giving you’re able to be, the more you’ll have people actually asking YOU to do business with them. It will quickly establish you as an authority  and as the person that everyone will want to be affiliated with.

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