Thursday, January 29, 2009

Bad Economy? Time to Get Aggressive

by Rich Sloan
Part of series: Weathering the Tough

The morning paper spins stories of doom and gloom. Customers and financing are much harder to come by. These are the realities of tougher economic times.

Some would say, pull back and be more conservative during the downswing. For other small business owners, though, tough times represent an opportunity to become stronger, to capture market share and to be poised for dominance when things turn around.

Just take the recent growth (yes, growth) of Two Men and a Truck. The Lansing, MI moving company, with nearly two hundred franchisees around the U.S., has actually grown its revenue in spite of the fact that moving among Americans in general has decreased 12%.

I talked with Brig Sorber, the President of Two Men and a Truck to capture his keys to taking advantage of tough times.

Band together.
Add more punch to what you sell by linking up with a company that offers something complementary to what you sell. Bundle your products or services with theirs and offer them at a combined discount. Two Men and a Truck does this with apartment complexes. “Free Moving” is a great incentive for renters, and the landlords get deep discounts in exchange for the volume of business they provide to Brig’s franchisees.

Tighten communications with customers.
With fewer customers calling in, Two Men and a Truck decided to start calling back. Whereas in very busy times, they gave quotes over the phone but typically didn’t place a follow up call, in slower times, they used the extra available minutes to call back people who’d inquired previously. The result? A game-changing 25% of the call backs become paying customers. In addition, they made a point to send out franchise owners to visit homes where Two Men and a Truck was underway with a move. This made their customers feel like VIPs and caused extremely positive word of mouth in the neighborhood.

Become more flexible.
To maximize the availability and convenience of Two Men and a Truck for customers, they extend their operations to 24 hours/day. This is a huge differentiator from the competition, which in many cases is actually reducing operational hours. For further flexibility, Sorber’s company has also added a menu approach to break down its service options into smaller, more specialized components, rather than the standard $100/hour offer.

Network with the community.
When a new franchisee signs on, Two Men and a Truck pays for that person’s first year membership in the local chamber of commerce. Over time, they encourage the franchisees to work their way onto the boards of chambers to hobnob with the fellow influencers also on the board. From that insiders’ clique comes awareness of trends in the community, credibility among other businesses, and extraordinary relationship-building. This has allowed Brig’s company to expand its clientele from solely home owners to commercial customers as well. Interior decorators, for example, become regular, repeat customers.

(This article is provided courtesy of CNNMoney.com)

Saturday, January 24, 2009

7 Amazing Ways to Promote Your Business on Facebook

Facebook Marketing - by Zeke Camusio

It boils down to this. Facebook is all the rage now, a social networking site that has grown so fast over the past year that it has overcome MySpace as the world's number one social network. There are currently about 130 million active users, a number that is still growing at a staggering rate. If you want to grow your business, the opportunities to promote yourself and your products or services are extensive. Facebook is definitely the kind of marketing tool you should have under your belt.

However, like similar social networking sites, it takes time and effort to master all of the features, applications and marketing possibilities that Facebook offers.

Facebook Marketing Tips

Here are some tips that will help you get involved in Facebook marketing and exploit Facebook to reach new customers, promote your business and drive traffic to your website.

Put Together a Killer Profile Page
Create a profile page that will look attractive to your customers or business contacts. It doesn't necessarily have to be professionally designed, but simple and effective. You should provide enough information to pique the interest of your target market, and your profile page should be created with this goal in mind.

Add Your Business Contacts
Many business owners, professionals and entrepreneurs already have a Facebook account. Invite your business contacts and customers to add you as their "friend" and invite those who do not have an account yet to get their own. This way, you can build a Facebook community around your business.

Start a Group
Another great way to create a Facebook network around your company is to use the site's Groups feature to network with your business contacts. This feature also allows you to reach your target market as you join existing groups or create one just for your business.

Buy Ad Space
This requires a small investment, but it is still a lot more affordable than traditional advertising methods. Facebook provides you with the tools to create your ad and target it to a specific age group, gender and location. It even gives you the choice to pay per click (CPC) or impression (CPM). Finally, you have the ability to track your ad's performance.

Post in Facebook Marketplace
You can promote and sell your products in the Facebook Marketplace for free.

Promote Your Blog
If you have a personal company or business blog, you can easily import it into your Facebook notes. Each of your blog postings will then appear in your news feed and that of your contacts. This is a fantastic way to keep your business contacts up to date with your blog.

Advertise an Event
Facebook has developed a free application called Facebook Events, which allows you to promote meetings, conferences, marketing events you may be hosting, product launches and your company's achievements.

Facebook Marketing Summary
Now you have some great tools to get started. As you familiarize yourself with Facebook, explore all of its applications, add-ons and possibilities; exploit its potential to the fullest and take your business to the next level.

In conclusion, if you are looking to promote your business to a new audience, start getting involved in Facebook marketing and open the doors to a massive opportunity.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

An Entrepreneurs' Guide To Public Resources

Maureen Farrell, The help you need in a brutal economy.

The good news is that there are myriad affordable resources--facilitating everything from raising money to finding talented help--and many are just a few mouse-clicks away. The key is knowing where to look.


Before the Internet, finding the right people to help bring a promising new idea to market was challenging. "Now you can get to that person in 10 minutes, and they might be in Kuala Lampur, or in Cambridge, or in Africa or even in the lab next door," says Carl Schramm, chief executive of the Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes entrepreneurship.

Of course, culling all those options is still a daunting task. Start with the usual suspects. The Small Business Administration offers a host of services, though many entrepreneurs don't know what's on the menu. Most importantly, the SBA guarantees loans under its 7(a) loan program, allowing entrepreneurs to borrow at friendlier rates, and its so-called 504 loans help fund real estate and machinery purchases.



The agency lends a hand in many other ways, too. It provides business counseling via 63 small-business development centers, 112 women's business centers and a SCORE program that includes about 10,000 retired executives organized into nearly 400 groups around the country. While often free, the counseling services are hit and miss, and some entrepreneurs lament long delays in setting up appointments.


If you have several SBA centers in your area, find out which counselors have the most expertise and contacts in your particular industry. You can also tap the SBA's Office of the Ombudsman if you have a run-in with another government entity that, perhaps, has been slow to pay.
Next on the hit list: local chambers of commerce. Most cities and municipalities have a chamber, each with its own offerings, depending on the needs (and zeal) of its member base.
Many chambers provide helpful networking opportunities, in the form of lunch seminars and other events where small-business owners can mingle. Some negotiate group deals on everything from office supplies to health insurance. That's how Harvey Meister, chief executive of GDS Business Displays, a signage company in Bloomington, Ill., claims to have sliced the open-market cost of a company health policy in half. Still other chambers offer relocation services and clout with local governments.


How about help in raising money? While getting the attention of venture capitalists is only getting tougher, angel investors--bands of established business types looking to take a flier on promising companies but who don't tend to wield terribly burdensome term sheets--may be a better option.


The Angel Capital Association counts 330 angel groups across the U.S. (and plenty more throughout the globe). "When we started CommonAngels in 1999, people were saying 'Don't put up a Web site because people might know who we are,' " says James Geshwiler, managing partner of the Boston angel fund and former chairman of the ACA. "High net worth individuals are averse to being hounded, but now any entrepreneur anywhere can see a list of groups all over the U.S. and Canada."


Like VCs, angels typically seek companies with high-growth potential, but slow-and-steady outfits can still troll these groups for new contacts. "Capital is always connected to complementary resources," says Geshwiler. Angel groups also host events and competitions, providing yet more networking opportunities. (Word of warning: Some groups charge fees to access their networks, so be sure you understand the terms.)


Raising money requires serious negotiating skills, especially when it comes to dealing with crafty, demanding venture capitalists. Enter TheFunded, a watchdog that allows capital seekers to research and critique VC firms. The site also tracks which deals are being funded and even lists specific information from term sheets. Having a better handle on how VCs operate can give entrepreneurs more bargaining power. "There's some honesty there," says Bob Nunnally of Balaya.com, a site aimed at bringing social networking to corporations. "It's basically my best single source [for tracking the VC community]." (For more on negotiating tactics, check out "The Negotiators Playbook.")


Cities and states offer a flurry of quirky grants and tax incentives for small businesses, and your local development council can provide the details. Massachusetts, for example, grants businesses $2,000 per employee and up to $30,000 a year per company, to cover training expenses for new hires who had been unemployed for over a year. Michigan's economic development center hosts a business plan competition as part of its 21st Century Jobs Fund. Companies can bag between several hundred thousand and several million dollars, provided they use the money to create more jobs.


If all else fails, you can always build your own support group. Entrepreneur Chris Holman, Michigan's small-business advocate, started his first "CEO network" nearly 20 years ago. These groups consist of 12 to 14 chiefs, each in a different business, who meet every month to discuss ideas and challenges. Says Holman: "Most business owners have no one they can talk to about everything."


The key to these gatherings is open and honest dialogue. In one of Holman's recent meetings, an entrepreneur admitted that he was six months from bankruptcy; the other 12 members spent several hours coming up with a survival plan.


For those looking to start their own network, remember: "If any one single member doesn't want a new person, you can't add them," says Holman. "Everyone in the room needs to feel completely comfortable with everyone else."

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Using LinkedIn as a Small Business Owner

by Josh Morgan

LinkedIn is looked at as one of the recent online success stories. The service, which is used to help people manage and make connections with other people, is easy to use and provides a helpful breadth of information.

Since the basis of LinkedIn is work information, the service obviously has value to recruiters and to those looking for a job. Over the past few months we’ve also used LinkedIn in a few other ways to help our business that may be useful to other small businesses.

New business - The number one question I’m always asked about LinkedIn is “Can it help my business grow?” The answer is yes. This month is our second month working with a new client, that came to us through LinkedIn. How did it happen? The answer is “Answers.”

Check out the “Answers,” section of LinkedIn. This is a forum for people to ask questions. So what happened? A week later we received an email asking us to present our capabilities. We won. The cost of the new business? Our time spent on the proposal.

Monday, January 19, 2009

What colors say about your business...

Colors are the first line of communication between you and your prospective customers.  Each color has a different meaning and evokes a different emotion.  Think about your business and what you want your logo/branding to say.  Following is a "cheat sheet" on what different colors evoke - just a sample of the science of color.  

Gray - wisdom, neutrality, respect, humility, elegance

White - purity, peace, life, hope, winter

Black - seriousness, sorrow, remorse, power, slimming quality

Red - warning, passion, aggression, energy

Blue - unity, calmness, loyalty, harmony, trust

Green - nature, envy, growth, luck, environment

Yellow - happiness, friendship, hope, wealth, joy

Purple - royalty, pride, creativity, mystery

Orange - balance, heat, enthusiasm, playfulness

Brown - calm, nature, tradition, roughness, earthy

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

7 Resolutions for Small Business

by Randy Vaughn

If “The Most Wonderful Time of Year” is behind us, what does January bring? For some, there are those nasty post-holiday blues. But for many, we design our New Year’s Resolution chart to plaster around the house.

For small business, you can do the same thing, too. Let’s take 7 of the most common resolutions and apply them to your business. Even as we face a long road ahead, we find renewed vision to start off right!

1. EXERCISE
The most successful weight-loss strategies typically involve muscle building. Businesses engage in strength training by first assessing their talent base. Look for ways to rotate some employees to various positions in your company. Give them exposure to new areas of responsibility. It’s easier to let everyone stick to what they do best, but by strengthening across the board, you eliminate the vacuum that remains if one employee leaves her post or if one guy just happens to be sick for a week. Learning other jobs also broadens the employee’s perspective and usually improves morale as employees learn to walk in one another’s shoes. A team with greater diversity of understanding and experience makes for a strong force when times are lean.

2. EAT BETTER
Small business must consume healthier options. The most demoralizing product your employees consume is the feast of silence from the top. Our human nature gravitates to boss-bashing, quarreling with other co-workers, and griping about wages. This is a buffet of disaster and makes businesses sluggish. Feed your employees praise and positive reinforcement. Acknowledge the good efforts and don’t just criticize the mistakes. Provide opportunities to learn new skills. There are many low-cost webinars that can empower and encourage. Don’t forget the power of surprise rewards, the unexpected financial recognition that every employee loves. Even year-end bonuses over time become expected and lose their intended purpose (just ask Clark Griswold of “Christmas Vacation”).

3. STOP HARMFUL HABITS
Many commit personally to quit smoking or stop excessive drinking. But what about those harmful habits destructive to our business? One of the grossest areas of abuse is in the area of self-promotion. Yes, that’s right, quit promoting your services and products! The most common marketing error is saying, “if they only knew more about X, they’d buy it!” People don’t care about your products, but they do care about how those products will benefit them. Consumers are self-focused - that’s why they dispense their hard-earned dollar to whichever company offers the better price. Spend your marketing words on talking about the consumer - speak in their language and in ways that benefit them. Harley-Davidson has long been recognized for not selling motorcycles, but for the way it makes their loyal customers feel.

4. SMARTER FINANCIAL DECISIONS
Small business must make better financial choices. In your marketing, look for ways to stop putting down alot of money for little ROI. Make sure you have strong measurables for that ad you’ve kept placing in your local yellow directory. Reduce your advertising space in the local paper and direct them to your website where you have unlimited space to tell about all the benefits. Quit sending out those same direct mail pieces if you can’t account for its success (TIP: set up unique phone numbers and web landing pages for each venue in which you advertise - this helps quantify the leads).

5. ORGANIZATION
I started my year already by cleaning the garage, our bedroom closet and my office (well, it’s a work-in-progress!) But we also decided as a family to make some family goals, plans and intentional efforts toward what results we really didn’t see last year. Don’t even begin to think of squeaking quietly through 1Q09 without a comprehensive yet simple marketing plan.

6. CONNECTING
Plenty of people start the new year committing to joining a networking group, signing up for their local Lion’s or Rotary Club, or even attending and volunteering more in your local church. We satisfy our desire to connect with those whom we can help and from whom we receive benefit as well. Your business has got to break down the impersonal barrier and connect with your customers and prospects. The web is ridding the world of formalities, walls, and sales pitches. People need to know your values, the things that are important to you. They must hear your story, your journey of challenge and reward. Again, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter may be a way to allow your target market to become aware of you, have more likeability toward your business, and ultimately trust you enough to become your advocates and champions in the community.

7. GIVING MORE
I believe that most of you in small business are not in it just for the money. If so, in a recession, you’d walk out in a heartbeat. No, most of us went down the entrepreneurial path because we wanted a better quality of life: more time with the family, control over vacation schedules, ability to influence the community and world through charitable giving, and putting us in the driver’s seat of our own destiny. I call them “greater things” - the often intangible, but clearly identifiable when you ask a small business owner why they continue to endure daily challenges and hardships. In a recent article, I talked about how charitable giving needs to be an essential element of how you present yourself to the community. This passion for influence and involvement is something often robbed of people sitting in a corporate cubicle. Rediscover your passion and recommit to making 2009 all about the greater things!

Randy Vaughn, Duct Tape Marketing Authorized Coach located in Fort Worth, TX. Find out more at MarketingTwins.com


We hope this article inspires you for the coming year! Let us know if we can help you with any of your 2009 Business Resolutions! We hope that this will be a rewarding and prosperous year for you!

Concept Design Studios
www.conceptdesignstudios.com
info@conceptdesignstudios.com
406.209.6544

Friday, January 09, 2009

Business Resources

If you own your own business, you are probably familiar with the Small Business Administration - a great tool/online resource for small business owners. There is information on anything from starting your own business to podcasts & tutorials on growing your business.

The following link is a great resource if you are just starting out -- or are in need of inspiration for your current business.

http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/index.html


Please let us know if we can help you start/grow your business with professional branding, graphics & marketing! We look forward to helping make your business reach its potential!

Give us a call/email!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Five things every small business must do to survive this recession

Small Businesses: Put Up or Shut Down
Five things every small business must do to survive this recession
By Bryan Jennewein

Many small businesses fall into the trap of spending little or nothing during challenging economic times. But there are proven strategies for not only surviving, but also growing during recession. Here are five easy ways to make sure your business comes out ahead.

Understand who your customers truly are
Understanding your customers is easy – just talk to them. Don’t have the time? Then use a tool like infoUSA.com’s Advanced Customer Cloner. Simply upload a list of your best customers, and it kicks out a list of people just like them – even if your customers are businesses. You can even order a report that describes these best customers for a small fee. It’s smart investments like this that help prevent the kinds of costly mistakes of less successful businesses.

You have to spend money to make money
We’ve all heard the age-old mantra, “you’ve got to spend money to make money,” and yet we continually resist doing it. If you’re in business, then people need to know you’re in business, which means you have to communicate with not only your current customers, but also potential customers. This communication costs money. Many call it “marketing dollars,” while I call it common sense. Committing to spending money is difficult – especially when you don’t see consistent returns. When you stop spending money on marketing, you only compound the problem. This vicious cycle will only help your business close its doors for good.

Use your money wisely
Now that you’ve committed to spending money, do so with a plan and a way to measure success. Do everything you can to understand how many dollars you’re making for every dollar you’re spending. Try a smart direct mail campaign, with a professionally designed mail piece that will get it the attention it deserves instead of a trip to the garbage can. Make sure you include a unique 800# or offer, so you can record these new customers when they buy. Understanding success is easy - just add up all the sales you made from your campaign, factor in future sales from new customers, and subtract the cost of the campaign itself. Or, for even more cost control, try email marketing. It’s a very inexpensive way to reach a lot of people. Typically, your response rate is lower, but because you can reach more people, a lot of times these campaigns see more success than their direct mail counterparts – and you don’t even have to pay for the stamp!

Craft your message carefully
Think about these three things when planning your campaign: Hook them with a great offer or special deal. Reinforce the value of your product or service.Issue a call-to-action.Get their attention, tell them why they need you, and tell them directly and specifically what to do. Your message might be something like “Seasonal Discount – 50% OFF of the best baked goods in town, baked fresh every morning by Mama Louisa herself! Bring this coupon when you stop by our store in the Old Market. Visit us today!” And keep some extra coupons on hand in the store. When a customer uses a coupon, just jot down the amount of the order. At the end of the first month, see how well your campaign did by totaling up all of your new business.

Create customer loyalty
Keep giving your customers what they want, learn from what they don’t, and look to them for ideas on what else you might be able to provide. This is the key to marketing smarter: a lifelong customer. It’s the customer that you’ve built an emotional connection to in addition to being merely useful. This customer will come to you first every time. This is perhaps the best investment of your marketing dollars, because you’ve spent money to acquire them once, and they keep buying time and time again.

taken from www.InfoUSA.com


We can help you survive this recession! There are many cost-effective marketing tools that will give you the most for your marketing dollars. Please give us a call/email so we can get started! Ask about our direct mailings (postcards, brochures, booklets, etc.)

Concept Design Studios
www.conceptdesignstudios.com
info@conceptdesignstudios.com
406.209.6544

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Business Advice During the Economic Recession

Money doesn't grow on sprees: In this era of belt-tightening, reduced budgets, unemployment, and fear, it is easy to see why one of the most obvious trends out there affecting small business is the desire of consumers and customers to save a buck, spend less, and get a bargain.

Even high-end brands are feeling the effect of this trend; the lavish Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas for instance, a resort that usually commands at least $300 a night, has lately been offering rooms for about half that amount.

Taking advantage: If people are looking for a bargain, give them one. Discount poplar products. Bundle services for less. Negotiate.

Copied from USA Today by Steve Strauss


Concept Design Studios can help you find ways to get money saving products/ideas out to your customers/prospective customers. Ask us about it!

Concept Design Studios
406.209.6544
info@conceptdesignstudios.com

Monday, January 05, 2009

"Shoestring marketing makes a comeback" by Steve Strauss

In this time of tight budgets, where both entrepreneurs and their customers are increasingly reluctant to part with a penny, it is actually more important than ever that the small businessperson step up their marketing. As Richard Branson advises, recessions are time to expand, not contract.

Most entrepreneurs instinctively know this and that is why the trend now is towards increased marketing that costs little but delivers big, such as:

•Online video: Online video is a way to better interact and connect with your customers. Teach them something new about you or your products.

•Blogs: Anecdotal evidence: At a conference I attended earlier this year, fully half of the small businesses surveyed said they are increasing their blogging and as such are successfully using blogs to grow their business. Blogs make you more accessible. Blogs increase your SEO. Blogs can build your business. Even if you only get, say, 50 people consistently reading your blog, that's 50 more potential customers than before.

•Old school: Coupons, word of mouth, direct mail, customer service.

Copied from USA TODAY by Steve Strauss

Please give us a call/email and we can get started on your "shoestring marketing" strategies!

Concept Design Studios
406.209.6544
info@conceptdesignstudios.com