Friday Five - Location
By · Comments
I look at many Facebook pages, websites and blogs, many of these have no indication of where they are located!
This week, I will give you five reasons to let people know where you are. I don’t necessarily mean to give an exact location, especially if you work from home and don’t want just anyone knowing where you live. In most cases a state and country is enough, or even something like “Melbourne, Victoria, Australia” if you want to narrow things down further.
- Buy local - there are many people who want to support a local business. This could be businesses in their direct local area or just in the same country as they are. If people have no idea where you are, they may move on to the next business.
- Postage - if you are an online store, postage may be cheaper if you are in the same country or state. Having a location on your Facebook page as well as your shop may help customers decide to buy from you as the postage costs won’t be as much as they would be if they were further away.
- Local information - one blog I read regularly has great business information and are located in the US. Because I know they are in the US, any information to do with tax or regulations I ignore because they don’t apply to us in Australia. The same with many recipe’s, metric and imperial measures are different. If you share information, it can help your readers to know where you are.
- Local Products - even with the Internet, there are some products that are only available in certain locations, or if you are the local distributor, it is helpful for people to know where you are. Another thing to consider is DVDs have different zones and something that is for zone 1 may not work in a DVD player in zone 6 (for example).
- Meet You - especially if you blog about markets or networking events, your readers and customers may want to meet you face to face. This is another place where it’s helpful to have a location. For example, if you say you will be at the local Farmer’s Market this Sunday, it is helpful to know where that market is. Also if you are travelling interstate to attend a certain event, let people know so customers know you aren’t in the same state all the time and to attend that event to meet you.
For me, the biggest thing about having a location is I love to support other Australian business mums, and I know there is a whole community of business mums out there who feel the same. At the very least, please put your country on your Facebook page, blog and website so we know where you are.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailySales - helping or hurting your business?
By · Comments
Sales - are they helping your business?
I see so many business mums have sales - whether they are Facebook garage sales, end of season sales, or some other sale - whatever they are, there are new sales cropping up all the time.
Are these sales really helping these businesses?
One thing that sales can do is teach your customers not to pay you full price. I know I head down to K Mart whenever there is a children’s clothing sale, rather than paying full price. If your customers know you will be having a sale at a regular time, they may wait to buy from you until the sale starts, especially if you have a lot of them (like K Mart does).
Another thing I’ve noticed with sales is the prices barely cover the cost of the product, let alone the business owners time or any other overheads associated with running a business. Some sale prices look like they are below wholesale!
There is nothing wrong with the occasional sale or special, or putting end of season or end of line items on sale to clear them out, it’s more the regular sales that will cost a business in the long run.
Before having a sale for your business, think about why you are doing this and what you want out of it. And remember, you still need to make money out of it! Set a budget for your sale to make sure whatever your sale prices are, it’s not costing you money.
Everyone loves a sale and love buying things on special, however you don’t want your reputation to be sales all the time or your customers won’t pay full price.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyMarketing Monday - Uniforms at Expos & Markets
By · Comments
Last Friday, I helped Bernadette from The Needlework Boutique at her stall at the Craft & Quilt Fair. I didn’t have much time to wander, but there were a few things I noticed about the people behind the different stands.
While most people just wore neat clothes, there were a few who stood out.
- Colour - some stands had their staff wearing the same colour. For the most part, they were different shades of the same colour, and it helped the staff stand out.
- Aprons - some stands had their staff in matching aprons. These had the added advantage of having pockets in the front to keep things like calculators, pens and keys, as well as giving the staff a uniform appearance, regardless of what they had on underneath. Some aprons had logos printed on them and others were in the business colours.
- T-Shirts - some stands had staff in t-shirts that had the business logo printed on the front. These people really stood out as you could spot them standing in the coffee queue as well as on their stand.
- Tiara - there was one stand that had all their staff in a kids plastic tiara. While the tiara looked a bit tacky, it was uniform and the staff members stood out.
These were all simple ideas and, other than the tiara, was duplicated on a number of different stands at the expo. The beauty of these ideas is that you can do them too at markets, expos, and anywhere else you may be displaying your business.
Is there something you have done in your business that helps your business, stall and helpers stand out from the crowd? Please share your ideas by adding a comment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyFriday Five - Uses for e Books
By · CommentsIt’s a great idea to create e Books and reports for your business to share your knowledge and give tips and ideas to your customers. Most people can think of one or two ways to use them in their business. In this post, I will share 5 ways you can use eBooks in your business.
- Sell them - this one is obvious. E Books can be a great product to sell and bring in additional income to your business. A product such as e-Junkie makes selling e Books easy.
- Incentive for newsletters - e Books are a great way to grow your email list. Give away an e Book in exchange for people signing up to your email newsletter list. You can send the e Book through an auto responder, or simply have a download link on the confirmation page.
- Goodie bag giveaway - there are many opportunities to include items in goodie bags. If you have an e Book, you can either print it out or burn it to a CD and use it as an insert in goodie bags. Make sure it is branded with your business so those who read your e Book can follow you up.
- Gift with Purchase - e Books can make a great gift with purchase. You can either email it to people after they have bought your products or provide them with a download link. You could also either print it out or burn it to a CD to include with the package you send out. How you present your e Book as a gift with purchase will depend on what you sell and how people buy from you.
- Strategic Alliance Offering - some of your strategic alliance partners may be looking for e Books to use as a promotion or reward for their customers. If you have an e Book, you can offer it to some of your strategic alliance partners for them to give away. Again, make sure it has your business details on it so readers can follow up your website if they want further information or to buy from you.
While printing an e Book or burning it to a CD may seem a bit odd, if you are able to do this, you can end up with an additional promotional tool for your business and a new group of people who will read your information and be exposed to your business.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyDo something different
By · Comments
Do Something Different
There are many things a business can do to be different, and I love it when I find examples of business mums that are doing this.
This week, I have found some examples of businesses that are doing things a bit differently.
- Spellbound Creative have a yearly design package. This means you buy hours each month that can be used for any project you need. Most graphic designers charge by the hour or by the project.
- Your Cheeky Monkey uses Fregie sacks (reusable cloth bags) for all their gift packs.
- Leaf Journals uses their own story starter products as inspiration for weekly blog posts, showing off their products as well as encouraging others to join in.
- Creating Order from Chaos has started an ‘in real life’ declutter club to support clients while they are getting organised.
These are just a few examples of the many I have found. What do you do in your business that is different from what everyone else does? Share what you do, or what you have seen others do, by adding a comment to this post.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyMarketing Monday - Useful Promotional Products
By · CommentsOver the weekend, I took advantage of the boys being away and did some cleaning out in their toy boxes. In the bottom of the boxes I came across a pile of promotional products - stress balls, Frisbee’s, yo-yo’s and similar toys that I had picked up at various expos, networking events, and other places I can’t remember where.
I am an advocate of promotional products, especially if you are putting things in goodie bags at events as it’s always better to have “stuff” than paper that will just be thrown away.
Added to the collection in the bottom of the boys toy boxes, I have a collection of mugs and pens from different companies. These don’t end up in the toy box - they get used.
Which brings me to the point of this post. If you are creating promotional products for your business, create something that is useful and will get used. This way your logo or message is not ending up in the bottom of a toy box!
Some ideas for useful products are mugs, pens and magnets, although it is possible to have too many magnets on the fridge.
When choosing something, think about your target market and what they will use. From one company, we were given some great sun hats. They are too small for my head, but perfect for my kids. When out and about, those are the hats we use all the time! One of my favourite mugs is a promotional mug I won at a networking event. And I LOVE my pen from Tilda Virtual Services, though my Dad pinches it!
So, when you are deciding on something to create as a promotional product, put some thought into it and come up with something that is useful.
PS, it is also possible to have too many of the eco shopping bags!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyFriday Five - Prize Ideas for Service Businesses
By · CommentsThere are many opportunities to promote your business by offering a prize. This could be by having a competition for your own business, or by donating a prize to one of your strategic alliance partners for their competitions.
If you have a business that sells products, it’s a lot easier because you can use something from your product range. If, however, you have a serviced based business, it can be harder. There are only so many free consultations or free time designing you can give away.
This weeks Friday Five will give you some ideas for prizes you can use if you run a service rather than a product based business.
- Report - Have you written a report based on your topic of expertise? Depending on how much you sell it for, you could give away one of your reports. If it is an eBook and you are at an event or somewhere you need to send a physical product, print it out and have a copy bound that you can present to the winner.
- Buy something - Do you have a book or favourite product that your customers would find useful? Then buy a copy and use that as a prize. If it is something you actively recommend to your clients, you may be able to do a deal with your supplier to purchase the item at a reduced rate.
- Gift voucher - Do you have a favourite restaurant or service that you recommend? Purchase a gift voucher to use as a prize. Again, if this is a place you visit regularly or that you actively recommend, you may be able to get a discount on the voucher or the owner may throw in something a little extra with the voucher.
- Strategic Alliance Partner - Do you have an awesome strategic alliance partner who may be interested in some publicity? If you are running a competition on your own site, one or more of your alliance partners may be interested in donating a prize for your competition.
- Promotional products - You can get your logo printed on just about anything these days. If competitions and having prizes is something you are adding to your marketing strategy, one option for prizes is to get some items created with your logo on them. Depending on your business, it could be anything from mugs to diaries to t-shirts. These can then be used as prizes as well as giveaways to clients.
I hope this gives you some ideas for your service business. There are other ideas out there you could use, these are just a start. Whatever you do will depend on your business and the competition you are running or donating a prize to.
As with any marketing exercise, set yourself a goal and then test and measure your results.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyChange of Scenery
By · Comments
A change of scenery can help the ideas flow
Do you ever run out of ideas for blog posts, marketing, or anything else in your business where you need to be creative? To get the creative juices flowing, try a change of scenery.
A change of scenery could be anything from moving away from your computer and sitting outside with a notepad and pen. If you have a laptop, try sitting outside in the sun.
Other places could include a local cafe, play centre, or even showing up for school pick up early and sitting writing or brainstorming in your car while you wait.
The change of scenery may also involve other people. Call up some fellow business mums and get together and brainstorm together and for each other. Come along with one issue each, for example topics for blog posts or how to market a certain product or service, and write down all your ideas for everyone involved.
It’s amazing how a simple change of scenery can help the ideas flow.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailySimplify your business with Strategic Alliances
By · Comments
Doing too much? Simplify with Strategic Alliances
Do you ever find that you are offering too much in your business? Especially if you keep adding on more services in response to your customers needs, or want to keep adding them. As a business mum, this can be an easy trap to fall in to.
One way you can still offer extra services to your customers without creating more work for yourself is to team up with some strategic alliance partners who offer the services your customers are looking for.
This can work in a number of different ways:
- Affiliate Program - if someone is offering an awesome product or service you want to recommend to your customers, see if they have an affiliate program. This is essentially a program where you get a commission on all sales, usually through a unique link added to your website.
- Reciprocal Agreement - if you have a product or service that your alliance partner can use, and they have one that you can use, then have a reciprocal agreement. This doesn’t have to be a formal agreement unless you want to set one up. It can be the sort of thing where, for example, you provide workshops and your alliance partner provides products.
- Reselling - if someone has a product you would like to recommend to your customers that would fill a need, see if you can resell their products instead of re-creating it. For example, if you sell hair accessories for little girls, you may want to resell other products for little girls, or products for Mum.
There are other ideas you can use, these are just a few that can help you provide a wide range of products and services without you having to do all the work!
For more about strategic alliances, join the Strategic Alliance Success club. This is an amazing resource that will help you with all you need to know about creating strategic alliances for your business (and yes, they are a strategic alliance partner of mine).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyMarketing Monday - Why have a competition?
By · CommentsRunning a competition is a great way to promote your business as well as businesses of your strategic alliance partners.
The sort of business you run and your desired outcome of the competition will have a huge impact on the sort of competition you run.
So, why should you have a competition?
There are many different reasons, including:
- Rewarding your current customers
- Boost sales
- Grow your email newsletter list
- Promotion for your business
- Show off your products (especially if it is a photo competition)
- Reviews
- Referrals
These are just a few ideas of why to have a competition. Before deciding to have a competition, work out what you want out of it, so you will be able to see if your competition achieved its purpose.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums Daily